concoctive | SCAWWY 😱 marina

We do. Surely among the 39 of us... we can put our heads together and make a real detective's time of it... we've already been able to go through a few places, so. There's a start.

[ she just isn't sure she wants to sleep after all this. because are any of us equipped to solve murders? i don't actually know! doesn't feel like it right now! she's just going to sink further down, her expression thoughtful for a long moment. ]

... This Sacred Flame - you and Rondo both talk about it.

Ain't much of a detective, but I'll do my best to help.

[ pretty sure that none of them are equipped to solve murders. but alfyn gives her a small smile when she says that, after, lowering his head briefly but staring into the blue, blue fire. ]

... yeah. Turns out we're both from Orsterra, but we've never met one another. It's the flame that protects Orsterra, brought from the Heavens by the Flamebringer Aelfric. The Order of the Sacred Flame is our church, though plenty of us pray to Aelfric's brother and sister gods - like me, I pray to Dohter the Charitable, patron of apothecaries.

[ seated at the bar of the winery is alfyn! he's got a drink, yes, but it's only maybe had a few drinks taken from it as he sits there with a spread of herbs and a mason jar on the other side from the drink. he's absently grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle until he gets it to the consistency and color that he wants.

he just looks frustrated as he works, and even with his ponytail there's clearly ink that yells losing more people across the back of his neck. but when he hears steps coming down the stairs into the basement, he lifts his head up and looks to see who it is.

seeing marina, he offers a wan, tired smile. ]

... come to take a load off?

[ she returns the smile, setting her book down on the table and taking up the seat beside him, taking a look at the work he currently has spread out before him. in her other hand she's going to hold onto her drink, taking a slow sip of it before answering. ]

... Yeah. Just a little while. What've you got here?

[ she glances a little at what she can see of his neck before lifting herself a bit on tiptoe and applying a light headbutt to his shoulder when his arms are still. ]

[ oh. the headbutt makes the smile wobble a little, because he's that kind of person that takes gestures of affections from people with cat personalities as gifts, and it's just. been a very long weekend. week. a long few months, really, but this has all been just bad for all of them. ]

Mostly yarrow. It's an astringent and helps with healin' and hurtin' both. Helps stop bleedin', takes the pain away, encourages your body to heal, and is easy to work into a salve. Rest of it is a mix of other stuff Death let me prune off. Easiest thing to make.

... figure we're gonna need it.

Yeah... I'm pretty sure we're going to be in for it after a spectacle like that. Hopefully your hands won't be too full if this holds a pattern.

[ a little tick of concern in her voice. ]

... How can I help you?

[ lmao lol...

this is. the most miserable friday. she's just heading to wherever alfyn might be, and will have a seat, arms folded over each other as she regards him quietly. hi man, what's up. how's he looking compared to yesterday (besides possibly more miserable). ]

[ he's in the same position that she takes, though his arms on top of his knees because he's too big to get them comfortably around them. there are angry, bitter tears rolling down his cheeks, and he sniffs, angrily scrubbing them away.

it irritates the cut across his left eye, but it's not bleeding, so there's that. his movements are still very stiff and he's cold, but it seems he's breathing and has a heartbeat! so he's doing ok there. ]

Really still happenin'.

[ she's just down by the stream looking at some rocks, kind of just perched on whatever stone looks the dryest for the moment. she's turning over a very flat one in her hands and just trying to assess its smoothness maybe as she runs her fingertips over it. once it passes muster, she puts it into her lap with a couple of other flat stones. anotha one...

though she might pause if anyone drops by, stones underfoot or the shuffling of clothing. her head whips maybe a bit too quickly but then her shoulders ease. ]

Hey... how're you holding up, hm?

[ his hand lifts up when she whips around, a greeting as much as it is a reassurance as he makes his way down to join her. his steps are sure and familiar, those that come from growing up near streams and water. there's always softer patches of earth, or roots and rocks to trip over that've been worn away. ]

I mean, honestly? [ rueful ] We could always be better, y'know. But you went through a lot yesterday - how're you doin'?

That's the truth.

[ that's about what she had predicted, but she doesn't say anything, juts gives him a nod. it's true, they could always be better - and it never really seems to get there despite the pleasant things that do happen to have every week.

she hums. ]

... I'm fine. All in a day's work, [ muttering: ] condemning a friend to die. What else is new...

[ she just pulls something from her sleeve and hands it over to him - soft cloth, a handkerchief. it's probably a little damp, but it'll do the trick. ]

Yeah...

[ the scrubbing, don't scrub. it's okay. her hand finds his arm gently and perches there if he lets it, though she understands if he would rather she not (she'll keep it to herself if that's the case.) but. anyways. ]

It is... and we'll have to be prepared to do last week all over again. [ but more so. as she speaks, her eyes wet a little, but she just blinks a bit and sits back further. ] Just... take it easy this time, okay?

[ moving to drop down next to her, graceless and stiff from tension and healing, alfyn settles crisscross and stares into the water. ]

... never gonna get easier. At least, not for me - and I'll ask one of you to knock me upside the head if it does. I don't... [ no matter how many people die, or what happens, he never, ever wants to get used to them having to kill their companions and friends. ] Used to fightin', used to survivin', all that comes with livin' in a place with wars and illness galore.

But I don't wanna get used to this.

[ tilting her head a little. ]

I see... suppose it's a big world out there, bound to be people you've never met, but... guess it's lucky to have landed here together in a way.

[ someone who gets you. it's nice, even if you hardly know them. ]

How big is this group of brother and sister gods?

[ despite the trauma, alfyn leans into her touch, welcoming it, accepting the contact as well as the handkerchief. he gives her a small, grateful smile as he does. ]

... I'll try to. I just - I want to find out what happened to all of them, but Pickles... he saved my life. He saved it more than once. [ he reaches his hand over to take hers, squeezing her fingers tightly when he sees her eyes tear up too. ] Is it gonna keep gettin' worse?

[ hey there's absolutely no preamble to this. the two of them are just minding their own business, perhaps standing in the gas station? he's a ye olde, completely bemused by modern things, and she's kind of. anachronistic. but the lights are so bright...

and the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows. shadows that are more than happy to ensnare someone, maybe two someones, and drag them into a terrible memory. ]

[ he's sitting outside somewhere with some swampy mud on his boots, absently trying to clean it off with a sort of dissociative state happening. his satchel is open and some things are out, but they're neatly closed and taken care of compared to him with his makeshift rag.

there's still a spark in alfyn's eyes, so he's not completely dead inside. but boy is he coping poorly right now. ]

... Mr. Daan'll be okay. [ when he notices marina. ] I took him to the swamp and saw to him, if you haven't gone to check on him yet.

[ she will find him wherever he is to check on him. at hearing all of that, she does look maybe a smidgen more relieved. the front of her dress is unfortunately slashed, but she seems fine actually. well. not fine mentally. she is extremely pale and tired-looking and her hair is just flared out from its braids from being frazzled all day. ]

... Thanks. For taking care of him...

[ wringing her hands angrily, just white knuckling her palms and fingers. ]

You didn't get caught in the... debacle, did you?

He was tryin' to protect people. I had to make sure he would come out of it, even if he didn't think before he did it.

[ alfyn gives her a wry smile, not reproaching daan for what he'd done - because he's done the same. he'll always do the same. ]

M'okay, though. Caelus and Vin jumped in and gave me the chance to get him out of there without takin' any damage, myself. [ a deep breath, in through his nose, out through his mouth, and he clenches his fists to keep them from shaking. ] Now, the rest of it..? Ha...

[ just reaches forward to very carefully touch those fists. her own hands are shaking, but she will settle them firmly atop his knuckles. ]

The rest of it, it's a real mess. Here I thought last week we were bleeding out, but this week...

[ it's gotten worse. haha. it's gotten so much worse and sure they've done a good job, but at what cost? ]

[ he takes those hands and squeezes them, instead of clenching his fists, bringing their joined hands up to press into his forehead. remember those pre-game threads we did? where they were emotionally fucked up and everything was implied to be awful?

the real thing is so, so much worse. we did not even touch upon the depths. ]

... we got everybody. At least, we think we did. Lucas wasn't even showin' any signs when Yuffie - [ bites his lip, before lowering their hands and looking up at her. ] It's not a win. None of this is. We really are bleedin' out.

[ HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO US TRULY. she's going to lace fingers tightly with his own and just press their foreheads together very firmly because she doesn't really want to be anywhere else except with a few people commiserating and grieving, some combination of the two in a terrible stomach-ache-inducing form. ]

We didn't win anything. We lose every week. It's not even about winning it's about surviving... surviving until the end somehow? Some...how...

[ her voice just wobbles a bit. she's not a crier, but she might just become one quickly at this rate haha. ]

... oh, Mari. [ considering how often girls have found him just bawling his eyes out, he advocates for crying when you feel it. but he squeezes her hands, before - he lets go of one, drawing it back, if only so that he can wrap that arm around her and squeeze her as his eyes shut tight. ]

Survivin'. That's the whole goal, ain't it? Find your partner, survive until the end, get a godsdamned wish - but they're stackin' the whole thing against us, and it's gettin' worse.

[ even an optimist like alfyn struggles to maintain hope, even if he's still determined to hold on. ]

Don't know if I even want a partner, I don't care how bad it wants it... I don't want to curse someone with that. The impending doom that if I go off like a bomb they'll die if I'm caught.

[ she clutches tightly at him now, still determined to cling onto the belief that maybe if they make it through this, there's a way... there's some way to... and...

what if there isn't? she doesn't let herself finish the thought, just closes her eyes and furrows her brow. ]

Find them and live, find them and kill the people you care about... it's definitely rigged.

... no, me neither. [ there's hesitation, a moment of consideration. but he focuses on holding her, squeezing his arms around her and pressing his cheek against her head. something about her reminds him so much of primrose, of therion, it makes his heart ache - and he wants her to stay safe.

if she finds a partner, what happens? ] The fear that we'll wake up and find out that someone's died, and we're about to lose another person, another two, three, even four. There has to be somethin' to break the cycle.

SCAWWY 😱 marina

no subject

no subject

wk 0; sunday

no subject

no subject

no subject

W1 FRIDAY

no subject

W1 SUNDAY

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

wk 2; monday

wk 2; saturday

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject