â Â â Â Â DUSKILDAN .
the aftermath of a battle always feels like a shadow draped itself over the sun   ,    something quiet taking the place of what chaos was erupting around them   (    because it is always chaos   ,     that is their forte   )    ,   though the sinister always lingers in the air too  .    none of them are strangers to darkness or pain   ,    having dealt enough harm towards any -  and everything that could walk or fly or crawl    ,    and not always out of a defensive stance either   .    may it be him walking ahead and bursting through doors or windows   ,    even badly maintained walls    ,    or his sister deciding to take a shot   ,   literally    ,     or may it be percival    ,   out on a quest for vengeance that still echoes inside of him not per demonic smoke but some crack that etched itself into his heart the day he lost his family   .    vaxâildan held many things against the gunslinger      -     but not that    ,   never that  .  Â
@badnewseâââ comes to vax after being injured .
his tongue presses against the back of his own teeth    ,    biting his comments downwards and back where they came from when he sees percy walk up to him  .    this place barely has the same qualities a temple has   ,   or any other set-up that included healers and generally medically equipped people  .   but they could all be glad enough they made it through together in one piece   ,   setting up a makeshift camp for the night   .    â   you should have gone to pike   ,   â    he chides   ,     first words that come through   ,    but he reaches for percy with a no-nonsense approach anyway   ,   taking him by the elbow and inspecting the wound on his other arm   .     itâs not too deep   ,  but itâs not good to have for a man wielding pistols for a living  .   â   youâre shit at close combat  ,   freddy   ,   you stupid man  .  â  but he begins to clean and dress the wound anyway    ,   making sure it would be fine till anyone of the others have rested up enough to actually heal it  .     â  just let me go first next time  .   â
RAVENâS MESSAGE Â Â : Â Â accepting!
MOST OF THEIR FIGHTS PASS HIM IN A BLUR OF STEEL AND IRON HISSES AND THE DISTINCT   but intensely suffocating burst of black gunpowder.     it is hard to recall things  through a haze of adrenaline  and a hint of undeniable fury.     (  there is something that sleeps curled in his heart,   something that is no longer a demon of shadow  but something of his own doing,   careful and coiled and angry.     it becomes his bane in slow motions.  )    he had seen daggers fly,   arrows shot,   beams of light and fire burst from the hands of his friends  ;  none of them had been exempt from pain,   nor any of them so close to death as he had once thought.
the camp light had not been particularly welcoming either,   though everyone made it a frank and curt habit of patching up wounds  ;  pike clearly had her work cut out for her mending the various other cuts and open bruises over grog and keyleth.     nothing had hurt quite as much as  the arrow that had torn open his shooting arm,   and though he might have had better luck patching it up himself,   he needed a steady eye  and a sharper tongue.     (  and vex,   certainly not now,   would not be a viable option,   though he had more often than not rebuffed that himself.  )      â  pikeâs busy,   and I didnât know who else looked relaxed enough to see to this.  â     vaxâs disappointment and gloating would only  last mere seconds  before he would be bound by the strange strings of their friendship to help him with the gash,   though  he is betrayed  by the smirk that leaves him still.    â  freddy  âŚÂ  supposed I deserve that.     I thought I could get away in time.     quite stupid of me,   really,   though now I think I owe you one.  â
