* dreams eternal .

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳-𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 .

[amouralgia]

a tenderness took hold of her, a fantasy, a hope . . . private / highly selective / low activity / independent original character. 21+ friends / mutuals exclusive. brenda, she / her, 28. --- carrd .

[amouralgia]

luka staring @ mar

marce staring back at luka to assert her dominance with her big wet baby kitty eyes

[reienne]

this is different. everything about this is different, and the sudden intrusion of different sends aylen off kilter for just a moment. she freezes like an animal spotted in the brush. her line of sight wanders noncommittally before stopping to rest at marceline's feet.

thank you.

aylen can't recall if she's ever heard those words before. not directed towards her, anyway. and it feels strange. she's not sure if she likes it. she's equally unsure if she doesn't.

the barest twitch of a grimace haunts her face. " you don't have to thank me. it just ... that broker just made me mad. "

[amouralgia]

with the crystal clear vision of hindsight, she can't help but agree --- that broker did, and still does, make her angry. the choppy, kinetoscopic memory of her naivety being taken advantage of evokes enough shame to sting as it cuts her open with incisional precision. though, as to whether or not it was up to the exorcists to kill him is a weight of a question that still presses itself upon her even now. but still, even still,

❛❛  well ... even though we're gonna get in some sort of trouble, you still did a good thing.  ❜❜   reaching aylen, and clasping her hands upon aylen's shoulders, is more important to her in this moment than anything else that may continue to nag her. the order's resident ghost is finally in her grasp, and she doesn't dare to let go.  

❛❛   i'm really grateful you were there. seriously. no matter what anyone has to say to us when we get back home. we can just promise to work on your ... "temper" when we're back to training.   ❜❜

[amouralgia]

[stormbrained]

✦         TWICE HE'D ADJUSTED HIS GLASSES, AND BOTH  times they had fizzled out of focus, the interface glitching horribly.  kingsman equipment did not just lose signal.  there could be any number of reasons — along the range of high-spec interference to outright alien abduction — preventing headquarters from responding to their frantic distress signalling, but it did not make their predicament any less hairy.  one failure to connect was a fluke, but twice in a row was an obvious wall between them and painless escape.  shit, hell, fuck.  

at least he and @amouralgia had been deemed too ungainly and unimportant to be placed in separate jail cells;  always safety in numbers, after all.  “right.  two choices are before us, and we only need one way to escape, or die trying.  do you want the hard option or the harder option?”

[amouralgia]

❛❛  i think i'd like whichever option is more fun, considering we'll either be dying or severely punished as soon as we step foot out of here.  ❜❜    from the rather fussy sound of static and adjustments, her assumption that their glasses would be virtually useless down where they are  —  wherever it is they are  — was correct. she doesn't bother freeing herself from the bars her arms are idly hanging out of to bother even sparing a glance at her glasses long since abandoned, looking rather pathetic and glitchy, across the room where they'd landed. 

❛❛  now, if either of your ideas actually work out, i'll happily take the heat from arthur  —  ❜❜   one could almost read the offer as if it were encouragement, rather than teasing  —  almost.  ❛❛   or i could at least try, knowing how he can be. though, i suppose if they don't, i won't have to, huh?   ❜❜

[whirledskies]

#also you just had no way of knowing this but ari and i decided that marce would get burns from his fire and heaven stamp in the ark so

"...and i was supposed to find out... when exactly?"

[amouralgia]

i'd say ... never .................. <3

[amouralgia]

❝ i’m not sure what love is supposed to feel like. i’ve never really had it before…but i know i feel good with you. warm. like home. ❞

MAGNOLIA CASTILLO SENTENCE STARTERS / @whirledskies .

almost immediately does her attentive gaze snap away from him. and in the brief moments after watching him for what seemed like hours as they rested side-by-side in their infirmary beds, it's only silence that follows. a silence that hums. a silence that shivers with nerves. she considers their state of affairs with a surprising amount of diligence, or perhaps neurosis, for somebody so badly injured. now, it's undeniable that he knows, and that she knows, and that he knows she knows, and that she knows he knows --- but speaking it so plainly, or as plainly as either of the two of them can manage, is rather unexpected.

as she lies in a tense, contemplative silence, avoidant eyes staring at the grey ceiling, she can't help but consider the weight of his words, and what it means for him to be the one saying these things to her after she's kept them to herself for this long. to think that even he, somebody who seems to know everything, doesn't know what love feels like, but somehow finds a way to ascribe it to her; as much as her heart swells in this moment, it sinks twofold at the thought of reciprocating with something even more heartfelt than he did --- even if she did have so much more to say about it. her hesitation is unfairly prompted:

what good is your love in a war like this? a recently familiar voice echos something she remembers from within the memory of a dream. what good is it to love someone who won't ever love you in return?

the recollection of this all tugs almost immediately at the delicate, but worn features of her face: lips fall into a tight frown, eyes squinting the burn of tears back from breaching --- and for as much as the shock of the movement hurts, the pain doesn't seem to be enough to stop her from hiding as she limply curls her arms and bunched blanket up into her chest, her body rolling to the side facing away from him in order to keep him from seeing her fight against getting emotional. though, she already knows he'd notice regardless of how much she tried to hide it.

" sounds like head nurse might've missed a concussion ... or something. " she pretty miraculously fumbles this offering of a ribbing while trying to level her voice. now, the flesh of her cheeks feel as though they're as hot as the sections of burned skin across her arms and chest hiding beneath her bandages, the warmth of her flush heating up her body and making her already disturbed burns throb. for as much as she wants to sink entirely into the warm plush of his words and disappear into them, for now, it feels too soon. for now, a return to what's most familiar to them is something she assumes would help them both anchor each other back down from the ark.

a mumble: " ... i feel the same --- maybe we're both concussed. "

[reienne]

their cage stood tall, not with iron bars gilded to appear more noble than its intended function, but with plain rust and pragmatic wear and all the putrid time-bitten indignities that moaned against the pressure of a body contorted to fit inside. the black order and its history - its mission - was not a gold-plated dream. it was not heroism disguised. it was not a righteous story or a romantic tale, not even a white-lie uttered in panicked shame. the filth of the order was as stark as it was sullied, built into its rotted foundation and the corpse-dirt that foundation stood upon.

the holy war was their altar, and the exorcists the lamb.

why did animals prepped for slaughter follow the lead to the gleaming, smiling knife ? why did the father choose the child to sacrifice ? the answer lay in their size, in their brittle bone, in their still-growing eucharist. nobody, not even god, could pretend otherwise. it seemed they did not wish to.

fight back, they want to say. kick. scream. do something. do anything. aylen is so tired of watching blood be spilled for men who waste its meat.

" you should have told me. " they try to speak without tremor, but the first syllables shake regardless. they aren't angry. they know. they know how agonizing the founders' gaze could be. they know, better than anyone, how much that weighs upon marceline.

and it is because of this knowing that they cannot let it go.

aylen feels strange these days. they feel an anchor in their ribs that wasn't there before: a chain that extends past their body and links to others like a clumsy, sterling lifeline. brief visions of anarchy flash across their eyes. visions and memories. " i could have "

but they stop. their tongue gets caught between their teeth. what could they have done ? what were they willing to do ?

allen comes to mind, trapped in that room. the swarm of officials, the murder of crows. cross and the underlying current of truth. everything buzzes like herald-signs, sermons of the end spilled from the mouth of a preacher's coin-lined pockets, of pain swallowed but caught in their throat, and something / something aylen cannot place / something they must have forgotten /

how many martyrs would this millennium take ?

" ... i would have been there. " their hand reaches to her sleeve. gradually, inevitably, their grip becomes something solid in the midst of their unease. when they look up to stare marce in the eye, the edges have hardened to crystalline.

[amouralgia]

" yeah, i know you would've, " a resigned, but appreciative, release of air from her chest, and its subsequent slouch of her posture, are more subconscious than she's aware of. it's here in their presence, and within their sights, that she feels more at ease than she does scrutinized. she feels more capable of breathing here than she does anywhere else in this unfamiliar and bone-chillingly cold dungeon she's attempting her best to call home now. with them, the homesickness for their previous headquarters seems to ease its grip on her body, even for just a relieving handful of minutes --- it's with them that she's reminded of everyone who survived, aylen included, still being her home.

this, subsequently, is why central's intrusion during their adjustment unsettles her.

" i don't think they would've been worth the trouble though. " she says this knowingly, as if she could, within seconds, answer the question as to what it is aylen is willing to do when it comes to the officials in question. this knowledge is exactly why she makes the choice to omit the scalding burn of all their demands, reprimands, and expectations from her report to aylen. she knows that they likely already know, but at the very least, she's spared the need to relive the conversations in their entirety.

" it seems like they just wanted to gauge what i personally knew about allen's whole --- situation, but ... i'm not sure why they'd bother doing it themselves instead of just sending someone. " the lack of knowing her "family's" motives to close in on her seems to agitate her the most, considering the lengths taken to establish a life of her own and an acceptable distance away from them all. this, and the collective condemnation of somebody as beloved to them all as allen, seems to trigger a temperamental tension in her jaws.

" they kept talking about him like he was some --- " monster doesn't feel quite right, freak is too disparaging, and enemy doesn't quite capture the nature of central's attitude towards him. giving up on attributing their label to him seems best, and the most honorable on allen's behalf. " --- well, you've heard it. they're acting like he's a danger to them. him, of all people. "

a sudden interlude to the situation seems to come over her as she comes back to presence, adjusting to reciprocate the clasp of aylen's hand upon her's.

" have you gotten to seen him yet? or talk to him? "

[seireibi]

#codependentchildhoodfriendsredstringoffateslop

HEAVY on the codependent

[amouralgia]

[amouralgia]

❝  i’m not sure what love is supposed to feel like.  i’ve never really had it before…but i know i feel good with you.  warm.  like home.  ❞

MAGNOLIA CASTILLO SENTENCE STARTERS / @seireibi .

briefly, the fingers combing through their ivory waves of hair seem to unnoticeably still. for as much as this admission feels like it had been obvious, and unspoken, it feels almost revelatory to hear it come from their voice. in a matter of a few words, a few rare and succinct words, they've managed to articulate feeling the same way she's felt, even since they'd first met in the short grass of the play fields they're in even now. the indents of grass-blades upon her shins begin to ache as she considers the weight of this intimate connection, and its consequences the moment one of them is sacrificed without the other.

it's not enough to say 'i feel the same', nor is it the right time to tell them it's her wish for them to take that warmth and eventually live in it without her after she loses. she also knows that it isn't the time to admit that her love for them is enough to compel her into doing whatever it would possibly take to ensure that they win --- survive. even so, hearing their feelings from them in their classically abstract way that she understands thoroughly makes the sound of her heart beat quicker in her ears. she's sure her heart is beating loud enough for them to hear, and her cheeks burn so terribly, she's sure she's unmistakably red in the face --- but she's overjoyed that they're connected to each other in this way.

she feigns breaking through a very unlikely tangle as she resumes her final strokes through their hair. given how long she had been combing this head of hair prior to this moment, a tangle would be a near impossible sight. still, she commits to this, bringing her fingers to the ends in order to bundle it, twist it once, and pull it to the side and over their shoulder. she shifts up onto her knees, briefly scooting, then pressing them into the coolness of their shaded patch of grass, to close as much distance between them as possible.

" you could say we've always had that, no? " dainty arms wrap around the slight bird bones that make up their shoulders and pull their frames together in an embrace, the warmth of her cheek pressing against the cold ridges of their ear. she's resisting the call to pour the contents of her heart out. it's not the right time, but she hopes this is enough to know that she hears them. this unnatural resistance against herself stifles her, and keeps her responding to their admission in a matter that feels incoherent to her as her heart beats staccato against their back. " --- and i'm sure we always will. "

[leneemusing]

MAGNOLIA  CASTILLO  SENTENCE  STARTERS 

❝  what does ‘happy’ feel like?  ❞

❝  i think the real ‘monsters’ are the ones who create the monstrous things.  ❞

❝  broken things aren’t always ruined.  ❞

❝  healing isn’t always about putting yourself back together the way you were.  it’s about making something new out of the pieces that are left.  ❞

❝  they stole my voice.  this is me taking it back.  ❞

❝  dying isn’t so bad…it’s the leaving.  going away when you haven’t really even gotten to do anything yet.  ❞

❝  quiet.  the ghosts are talking.  ❞

❝  i think sometimes,  some people are just meant to carry pain.  ❞

❝  i’m not sure what love is supposed to feel like.  i’ve never really had it before…but i know i feel good with you.  warm.  like home.  ❞

❝  there are some things worse than death.  would you like to see them?  ❞

❝  you can get used to any pain.  but loneliness,   that’s what makes you break.  ❞

❝  the only thing that saved me was me.  ❞

❝  i didn’t survive…i just didn’t die.  there’s a difference.  ❞

❝  please stop lying i’m trying to think.  ❞

❝  i’ve always been at home among the haunted things.  ❞

❝  the world is too big.  and i don’t know how to be in it anymore.  ❞

❝  i’ve seen what ‘bad’ looks like.  you’re one of the good ones,  trust me.  ❞

❝  i think i’m afraid to heal,  because that means i can be broken again.  ❞

❝  there is good in the world.  i know there is.  i just don’t think i get to have it in my life.  ❞

❝  you have to hold on to the little joys when you find them.  ❞

❝  everything in nature is about balance.  i think the spiritual world is like that too.  maybe,  if my life is so filled with darkness and hurt,  someone else out there is getting nothing but light and warmth.  someone who deserves it.  ❞

❝  i don’t want to hide anymore.  ❞

❝  sometimes it’s easier to believe there’s something wrong with me.  it’s easier than if i didn’t deserve all those things and people knew that and chose to hurt me anyway.  that just seems worse somehow.  ❞

❝  you have a very messy brain.  ❞

❝  do you think the moon gets lonely?  ❞

❝  when i was little i used to believe fairies made it rain.  i think i just wanted the world to feel magical.  ❞

❝  people always go away.  even if they don’t mean to.  no one stays.  ❞

❝  anything can be a cage.  ❞

❝  at least,  no one can touch my soul.  that’s mine.  that will always be mine.  ❞

❝  time doesn’t speak to me.  ❞

❝  embrace your chaos…hug your demons.  ❞

❝  there are things you can never forget once you know them.  ❞

❝  don’t go poking around this stuff…it pokes back.  ❞

❝  i just live in each second as it comes.  that’s all i have.  ❞

❝  the only thing we can really control is ourselves.  but there’s a power in that.  only you get to decide what kind of person all the hard things turn you into.  ❞

❝  i feel like i don’t know much of anything anymore.  ❞

❝  a body is just something you’re stuck inside.  it’s not really you.  just a place to stay for a little while.  ❞

❝  i don’t know why people like to hurt me.  they just do.  ❞

❝  i killed him but,  now there’s a mess.  ❞

❝  i want to help.  please?  i just want to do something good.  ❞

❝  i’m not very brave.  or strong.  i broke.  they broke me…but i’m still here.  ❞

❝  i got blood on my dress.  i really like that dress.  ❞

❝  there are so many secrets in my head i never asked for.  ❞

❝  i’m in here.  i’m inside this body.  there’s still a person in here and it’s mine.   it’s my body.  i’m tired of so many people acting like it isn’t.  ❞

❝  i don’t really sleep much anymore.  but it’s okay,  someone has to keep the moon company.  ❞

❝  i’m so angry.  it’s always there.  but if i let it out i’m afraid i’ll never stop.  ❞

❝  i didn’t think i’d still be alive by now.  i’m not really sure what to do now that i am.  ❞

❝  everyone’s a little bit broken.  but it’s okay.  broken things can be pretty too.  that’s how mosaics are made.  ❞

❝  i don’t want anyone to hurt the way i’ve hurt.  no one deserves that kind of pain.  ❞

❝  i’ll be gentle with your heart.  ❞

❝  i like your soul.  it’s beautiful.  ❞

❝  you have a pretty brain.  ❞

❝  the pain gets better.  it won’t go away completely but.  you get used to it.  it will get easier to breathe,  bit by bit until you don’t really notice it anymore.  ❞

❝  let me make it better.  please?  ❞

❝  you’re hurting.  i can tell.  you don’t have to hide it.  ❞

❝  you can’t hurt me in a way i haven’t already survived.  ❞

❝  the thing about being broken,  is it’s already done.  you know you can get through anything after that.  ❞

❝  people are kind of like art.  everyone is going to see something different when they look at you.  ❞

❝  i choose to help people because no one helped me.  i want to be that person for others that i needed.  ❞

❝  fucking dumbasshole.  ❞

❝  i’m still trying to figure out what i want to be.  ❞

[amouralgia]

you'd think he'd be angry with a task like that.

the tale of the princess kaguya , @reienne.

she knows there's no expectation for her to say anything, but for as much as she wants to, she struggles --- searching through the sharp thistles of concern that have long since sprouted in her mind in order to pluck up something to say. he seems unhappy ... he didn't before, but maybe that changed. maybe she hadn't noticed it before. angry? unhappy? confused? she couldn't possibly guess the right answer if he didn't know himself --- which is what she assumes might be the case.

for as long as she considers it all, she's rather quiet. no hums, no animated gestures, no ramblings. just a clear gallery of his features in her mind's eye. smiles, tears, far-away stares, and the secret of something burning in his chest that he seems to be keeping from the world, and himself. it takes the guidance of intuition, a sensation in her chest that palpitates, to understand that he's probably just as mixed-up as the rest of them are.

the longer he lingers in her mind, the more shame stings across her body. searching for answers, for solutions, for reprieve --- all that comes to mind is a rather humiliating recollection of exposure in that dungeon of a dream. a memory that sinks its teeth into her chest and clamps its jaws shut, tightness that feels as it did in the ark --- she seems to squirm uncomfortably in her perching spot beside aylen, adjusting to relieve the numbness starting to tingle up her legs.

she visibly shakes it all from her head in order to come back to her partner, albeit without a direct answer. " ... well, i know i would be. " the pressure slightly releases from her chest as she speaks with a rather heavy heave of a sigh. recalibrating the attention onto herself, rather than remain focused on the original topic of their conversation, seems enough of a distraction to relieve a bit of agitation as her fingers fuss at the buttons on her coat sleeve.

" a life without being close to, say, you is painful enough just to think about, much less live. " she leans into the sturdiness of aylen's frame for comfort as much as she does for support. it's a horrible life to imagine, she thinks. one that would surely kill her. " maybe he is ... something tells me we might not ever know --- at least for awhile, anyway. "

[amouralgia]

i may as well not even be here.

the tale of the princess kaguya , @reienne.

" yeah, i feel you. " the informality of her response, as well as the way she sits and leans back on the steps behind them, dainty legs outstretched languidly, offers a stark contrast to the frill of her finery. for as minute as the similarities between their positions are, she finds herself empathizing viscerally nonetheless, rocking her head side-to-side as she searches for any means of ideas to revive her dearly beloved friend's spirits. " hmm ... --- " and, as suddenly as the idea struck her,

" ah! since it's so nice out, i say we just go out to the garden! it's not like they'd miss us anyways. "

[zachrp]

ᝰ🚬 𝚉𝙰𝙲𝙷𝚁𝙿 .ᐟ THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA (2013) PROMPTS. CHANGE ANY PRONOUNS IF NECESSARY. SOME MATURE THEMES MAY BE PRESENT.

be careful!

even a princess must sweat and laugh out loud sometimes!

i have always loved plants.

let us leave the capital and its formalities for a rich green land of flowers, birds, and leaping fish.

that's a weird song.

i'll run, too! as fast as i can!

but why are you here, and dressed like that?

i'm coming down.

please ask them to leave.

she treats everything as if it were a game.

let's go home.

i'm sorry, but please refuse.

don't be a fool!

don't just sit there! bring me a cloth.

they've already found me.

i'll carry you on my back.

even if they come to take you, i won't let them!

you're so elegant i hardly recognized you.

what are you doing?!

the rocks are weak here!

it's not too late!

it's my fault everyone's miserable.

it's me heaven's blessed.

i'm so glad to see you!

a noble princess does not open her mouth and laugh.

i'll get sweat in my eyes if you pluck my eyebrows!

then why not just stay?

what's wrong with it?

with this gold, i'll build her a fine mansion in the capital.

i never dreamed things would turn out like this!

carry me!

will you stop doing all this!

what's this?!

that's lacquer. you'll get a rash!

you don't mess with a wild pig!

no! you can't have those yet.

hold me tighter! don't let me go!

do you realize how important this is?!

what if she's some kind of spirit?

she's growing fast! like a bamboo shoot!

this is a banquet to celebrate the taking of my name?

what's going on?

she was just crawling.

the leaves were so beautiful..

she looked at us!

tomorrow let's have a stew!

the warmth you gave me deep, deep down comes to me now.

you can't mean that!

look at all these gifts!

all this time i've wanted to come home.

she is not his true daughter.

the joy i felt when i touched you went deep, deep down and seeped into every nook and cranny of this body.

heaven must have sent her to me as a blessing.

you deliberately called them to take you back?

i've begged them to let me stay!

where are you going?

she's fine with them.

did you hear that?

something's happened up ahead.

why are you dressed like that?

she's drinking it right down.

let me stay a little longer!

someone's coming!

i'll just leave this here.

i have never met a child so much in need of my instruction.

it's something, i can tell by the look in your eyes.

this is what i've worked for!

should we be letting her play with those boys?

keep your voice down!

so we can invite my friends?

hey, there's mushrooms here!

you don't understand!

i was born to truly live!

if you wish to accuse me of disobedience to his majesty then feel free to kill me.

what a pretty doll!

do you realize how much this cost?!

why would you hesitate?

first, allow me to ask how you came by it.

she's growing really fast.

to whom i would give my heart, would you accept that lovely flower and my devotion?

we'll have to hold a banquet!

are you hurt?

what's the matter?

will we be back in time for stew tomorrow?

what's wrong with us seeing if she's as beautiful as they say?

i wish to meet her all the more.

do you know this song?

you must marry a suitable gentleman as soon as possible.

come near and take a good look.

i've been blessed.

what does she look like?

i will never be yours!

out here she'll always be just a country girl.

she's weird!

we live in a different world to those hillbillies!

didn't you like the capital? you had nice clothes, a mansion, fine food..

this is very strange, you know.

you'll never be a fine princess looking like that.

she is truly a princess from heaven.

i don't want to be here!

no, she's sleeping.

that's stupid!

you're here again?

i've loved you as if you were my own child!

why do you say that?

it's beautiful!

she's funny!

i may as well not even be here.

how could you!

i'm the one who'll raise her.

you still don't understand how she feels?

i've lost everything!

what have we done to deserve this?

the trees are getting ready for spring.

did you catch something?

prepare a carriage, please. don't tell anyone.

what have you done?!

i'll remember, i'm sure in some nostalgic place.

somehow i have the feeling you'll just keep on growing and go somewhere far away.

you scared me!

so we come to celebrate and we can't even say hello?

i want us to run away!

i'm sorry.

there's joy, there's grief, all who live here feel them in all their different shades!

you sit every night and gaze at the moon.

you're a strange kid.

a noble princess does not sweat.

there's really nothing wrong.

get out of my way!

i have no wish to marry anyone yet.

we'll go far away, where no one knows us.

but i don't want to go. not like this!

come with me to some place that is not this one.

but how will we choose among them?

you must be hungry.

a little spit'll fix that.

all the time i was thinking about how we all used to play here.

coming over the pass, i thought i heard you singing.

we'll meet again, i'm sure.

put it into a fire.

she wants me to raise her.

may i ask who you might be?

everything we've done has been for your happiness!

there are so many fine gentlemen here!

give me a little more time.

no! you can't do this!

what a beautiful princess!

i want to go home! right now!

she's crying!

i apologize for acting in haste.

i don't want to leave!

what is the meaning of this?

i dreamed that?

that smells good!

we'll drive them away, no matter how many come for you!

i'll always be one of your gang.

it's not your fault. it's not.

do you want to come?

you'd think he'd be angry with a task like that.

can i call you that?

please show yourself.

i never dreamed a woman would ever turn me down.

i'll always be here with you, forever and ever.

no woman is unhappy when i do this.

let's run away.

i can't run away now.

there is no greater happiness for a girl in this land!

but isn't this all a bit pretentious?

it's hard to believe, but he's true to his word.

she knows nothing of the world.

is something the matter? you're very quiet.

a noble princess does not frolic and dance around in such a manner.

why are you doing this?!

you're bleeding.

do you wish to hurt your father?

i will take my leave of you.

if they find us, i'll protect you!

[amouralgia]

why are you lying to me? (ROT!!!!!)

the moment the lie had left her mouth, she knew this would immediately come her way. in an instant, she knew that this would be the exact question they would ask, and she knew they'd notice, to a supernatural extent, just how much effort she was putting in to not letting the buzz of her nerves show in her face, her stride, her posture ---

" i'm not lying, i'm just, " a pause. and an escaping glance elsewhere to conjure up the most effective excuse. though, even as she says as much, she already knows it's futile. her eyes click into place with their expectant stare, acquiescing with hardly any further resistance as she needlessly smooths out her skirt.

" ... sorry. " her apology is paired with a sheepish bow of her head. unsurprisingly, being caught doesn't keep her from slipping a neat little quip into the space between them. " no point in lying to you when you can read minds. "

silence. but this silence isn't uncomfortable, nor is it unprecedented. there remains an expectation of an explanation, but it remains an offer of patience. it's unspoken, but she knows that they know the depth of her gratitude.

" the family's here for the ... interrogation. " an entity, and an event, nameless, but known to both of them with certainty. the reminder of the encounter begins to stir the nerves that had only just begun to settle back into her chest. " we weren't expecting them, and i just got finished --- talking with them, so ... i just feel a bit out of sorts. i guess. "

[amouralgia]

#also hi dash lavimar is still as strong as ever

(finger on the monkey paw curls)

[amouralgia]

wow it's a little foggy in here haha