♪ ♩ ♫

𝙱𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙳𝙴𝙳     𝙱𝚈     𝚃𝙷𝙴     𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚂

[m-bardbattled]

i don’t usually come armed. best i’ve got is a magic fiddle and a can-do attitude.     ( c. , c. )

[m-bardbattled]

i don’t usually come armed. best i’ve got is a magic fiddle and a can-do attitude.     ( c. , c. )

[bardbattled-mov]

....... ahem. hello.

[bardbattled-mov]

slightlybrcken​.

“ at least he sent a terrible assassin after you if he did. bastard couldn’t even SNEAK properly. seriously, as a thief, i’m insulted. you never know, I might get someone trying to knife me during court. would add some excitement to everything going on. ” she’s not a normal princess with how many want her dead in the upper circles of the nobility. but the people and the queen love her too much for any to risk success. “ you wound me. i’d never be caught. ”

❝ if one of the nobles wanted you dead, they’d never have you knifed at court. there’s too much of a risk they’d ruin their clothes with your blood. no, you’ll be quietly murdered in your sleep, or potentially set upon while you’re out riding. ❞   it might be somewhat telling that the royal has this much insight into the homicidal inclinations of the upper class. she shakes her head with a somewhat amused smile.   ❝ sir fyrewalker, i hope that you’re half as good as you think you are -- or else we’ll start a scandal. ❞

[bardbattled-mov]

carvienne​.

                              HE LEARNS THAT IT TAKES ALL PEOPLE ,     feels   some   sense   that   he   knows   humanity   better   now   he   is   like   this  ,      has   experiences   lives   he   never   could   have   imagined  .      this   world   is   bigger   than   he’d   thought  ,     so   much   larger   than   anyone   could   have   said  .               ❝   making   music   is   a   beautiful   thing  ,     it   gives   joy   to   people  .     our   riley   is   a   dj    .   ❞

❝ that’s a beautiful way of looking at it, capheus. ❞   elsie makes a mental note to research their dj, see if she can figure out who they are. she’s interested in expanding her musical taste  &  it’s always an interesting feeling, getting to see that the people she interacts with in her head are real. they have a genuine impact on the very planet her two feet are on. this thing she can do is pretty special. the people she meets are even more so.   ❝ i hope i bring joy to people. it’s all i’ve really ever wanted to do. ❞

[bardbattled-mov]

slightlybrcken​.

his life is normally this chaotic and dangerous. running from one danger to the next. but it seems that he’s never able to stop. since his parents abandoned him it was how he survived. the orphanage bred into him a need to fight. to prove he deserved what he had. to get what he didn’t. elsie seemed to see that fight and wanted to hold it close and dear. protect it. “ i know…i’ve not been safe anywhere else. you make me better. make me feel safe. ”

❝ you make me feel safe too. ❞   which, considering the kinds of situations she keeps finding herself in ever since their first meeting, is a little bit nonsensical. jared fyrewalker brings chaos with him wherever he goes. he is unpredictable, reckless, dangerous. there is a fight in him, and she does see that, but she’s not afraid of it -- she loves it. whatever fire burns inside of him, she’ll guard with her life, and with her heart. 

[bardbattled-mov]

sagaiisms​.

❝  harrowing.  ❞  for  all  her  strength  ,  alita  is  still  just  a  little  girl.  she  has  seen  all  of  her  parents  wounded.  has  listened  &  seen  them  cry  ,  despite  their  attempts  to  reassure  her.  but  that’s  something  gaea  has  come  to  realize  ,  being  a  mother.  parents  should  be  vulnerable  with  their  children  ,  allow  them  to  see  their  struggles  &  how  they  get  through  them.  she  never  wants  her  daughter  to  feel  she  can’t  come  to  her  ,  that  she  has  to  be  strong  all  the  time  (  it’s  a  habit  aramis  is  slowly  but  surely  working  to  get  rid  of  ).  ❝  you  may  not  be  able  to  get  all  three  of  us  ,  ❞  she  admits  ,  ❝  so  hopefully  that’s  all  right.  my  husbands  are  workaholics  but  …  their  hearts  are  in  the  right  place.  they  do  everything  they  can  to  keep  this  place  running.  but  i’ll  be  sure  to  let  you  know  as  soon  as  possible.  ❞  a  pause.  ❝  what  kind  of  questions  do  you  usually  ask  in  these  interviews  ?  ❞

empathy burns in the archivist’s eyes. she understands harrowing. she might not understand what it must be like for a child to be living through these times, but she does understand harrowing. elsie has to cope with her own lived experience, on top of the weight of everyone else’s -- one day it might crush her entirely. she’s alone. the others largely have someone to turn to, to talk to. even she has become someone the lonely ones could talk to. there’s no one to listen to her stories. she speaks them to the walls, sometimes, when she needs to. fleeting, polite smile captures her face. it’s gone in seconds.   ❝ it doesn’t have to be a group interview, ❞   she assures.   ❝ if i can only speak to one or two of you, that will be alright -- i can squeeze in whoever’s unavailable another time. i’m not exactly going anywhere. ❞   the question is met with a slight shrug.   ❝ it depends. typically, people tell me their stories, as much as they want to -- and i ask questions to clarify. i might ask about an order of events, or... about a reasoning behind an action. i’ll certainly ask about how you felt during these experiences. what you thought. but you won’t be asked to share anything you’re uncomfortable sharing. the future isn’t entitled to every corner of our lives. ❞

[bardbattled-mov]

msktfired​.

“ both of us. you’re the lamb. if they can use either of us they will. ” they’re both known well by the people. the man who killed over half the tributes and the woman who killed none. if they denied support for the rebellion it would turn support away from the fight towards the capital. “ athos told me if this happened to meet him at a specific part of the underground tunnels. that he’d meet me there to get me out. now, we have to escape together to stay alive. ”

the lamb.  elsie has hated that moniker since the day it was given to her, but she’s had to bite her tongue and pretend to be grateful. she’s a darling to the capitol for her wide eyed naivety, and he’s a favorite because of his skill -- not just in the arena. everything about their lives here makes her sick to her stomach. the thought of escaping it alongside him eases the nausea, however, and she squeezes his hand in hers.   ❝ together, ❞   she agrees.   ❝ i don’t know how to get to the underground tunnels, though. ❞

[bardbattled-mov]

sagaiisms​.

❝ no , ❞ aramis relents , huffing against her skin in amusement. ❝ not that old. ❞ with her permission , he pushes the shirt up , a trail of kisses left going up her sternum. he gets somewhat distracted once her bra is revealed , fabric left under her arms so he can lick at the skin right beneath the underwire. he assists her in removing the shirt altogether , sitting up over her & running his hands up and down her sides. words are beyond him , her beauty leaving him , so he hopes leaning down to kiss her while his thumbs find her nipples beneath her bra tells her everything she needs to know.

there’s a soft laugh at the huff of warm breath that brushes her skin. feather-light touch of fabric ghosts up her skin, followed close behind by lips that seem to leave a tingle in their wake. cool air caressing her torso raises goosebumps along her skin. a deeper breath is sucked in when she feels his tongue, her arms easily drawn above her head with the removal of her shirt... and remaining there simply because she’s content to stretch out under him while his hands explore. flush is brought to her cheeks so easily. when he leans down, she lifts her head slightly, meeting his lips eagerly and gasping into his mouth at the brush of fingers on her breasts. 

[bardbattled-mov]

carvienne​.

                               HE TENDS TO THE FIRE DUTIFULLY  ,     thinks   of   the   promise   of   a   warm   bed   one   day  ,      the   thought   that   somewhere   at   the   end   of   the   road   there   could   be   peace  .     he’s   called   a   dreamer  ,     someone   made   of   wishful   thoughts   despite   the   past   he’s   left   behind  ,     but   what   other   hope   could   be   found   in   a   place   like   this ?      he   knows   how   to   carve   out   a   smile   for   himself  ,     how   to   seek   happiness   even   in   a   world   painted   grey  .              ❝   we   do  ,    yes  ,      but   we   have   been   on   the   road   for   a   long   time   now   .   ❞

❝ you must be freezing up here. ❞   sympathy punctuates her words as she allows her hands to warm. elsie has nothing against southerners; no desire to humiliate them for their different climate, and no hatred towards the majority for the actions of the elite. perhaps she’s too good a heart for a world like this. the violence she’s experienced has not left much of a mark on her soul. only her body.   ❝ can i ask what you’ve come all this way for? ❞

[bardbattled-mov]

maegtig​.

❝  Elsie,  ❞  he  repeats  the  name,  heavy  drawl  and  THICK  accent  altering  it,  just  in  the  slightest.  ❝  You  may  call  me  MAGNI,  Lady  Elsie,  ❞  of  course,  she  has  stated  already  that  she  is  no  lady  –  yet  it’s  a  title  of  RESPECT.  And  every  woman  he  encounters  is  DESERVING  of  such  a  thing,  until  proven  otherwise.  HONEYED  hues  linger  in  the  crackling  embers  of  the  fire  as  she  speaks,  though  the  subtle  SIMPER  upon  his  lips  REMAINS  ever  in  place.  ❝  It  is  loyalties  that  draw  you  hence  ??  I  suppose  you  are  right  in  that,  bravery  &  STUPIDITY,  ❞  he  had  never  thought  of  it  in  those  terms,  but  could  find  no  QUARREL  with  the  statement  and  comparison  she  makes.  He  of  all,  knows  to  well  the  opposing  entities  that  are  the  right  choice,  and  the  SMART  one  (  his  life  thus  far  had  been  a  series  of  such  choices  ).  ❝  Good,  you  should  not  be  ;  i’ve  no  intent  for  anything  but  COMPANY.  ❞

she chooses not to correct him; if he insists on giving her more than she’s due, she’ll not argue with that. elsie can’t help but admire the way her name sounds in his mouth. it’s an accent she’s never heard before, and she likes the lilt quite a lot. she almost wishes he’d say it again.   ❝ it is, yes -- loyalty and affection. i could never refuse a friend who has called on me, no matter the cost to myself, or the distance between us. ❞   she’s not exaggerating. for elsie, there’s nothing more important than bonds of the heart; the people that one chooses to tether themselves to. in many ways, she and jaskier are linked at the soul. her body is completely relaxed, unwary.   ❝ which i am grateful for. company, that is. the road can be a lonely place. ❞

[bardbattled-mov]

slightlybrcken​.

“ hi there. ” he grins. she’s kind and loving, especially in the bedroom. sometimes it’s just pure sex. clothes can’t come off fast enough and touch becomes all they need to survive. but days like this are good too. a content cuddling in the evening light. “ comfy? ”

for elsie, physical closeness  &  touch are vital to her affections. there’s no such thing as purely sex for her -- it doesn’t matter how badly she needs him inside her physically, there’s always an undercurrent of needing him emotionally in it as well. but there are also nights where they don’t sink into the throes of passion; where they simply tuck in together with joined hands  &  soft words. they’re no less special in her mind.   ❝ yeah. completely. ❞

[gael-garcia]

[bardbattled-mov]

hi friends, i’ve queued up some of my drafts! i had an odd spike of muse for elsie tonight so i took advantage of it. i will return here properly soon, i’m sure, but in the meantime, you can find me on my archaeologist @sobelows. she’s the best. please come write with me there.

[bardbattled-mov]

HI HELLO I’M TAKING A BREAK FROM ELSIE! YOU CAN FIND ME ON @sobelows FOR NOW!

[sobelows-a]

△   VISIT THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE EARTH; BY RECTIFICATION, THOU SHALT FIND THE HIDDEN STONE.   ▼ 

ind. pri. sel. scarlett marlowe of as above, so below   –   as explored by corvus.

[bardbattled-mov]

sagaiisms​.

gaea hums ; she knows something about crying. and the people who had been so sure they’d never be able to escape ryder & his runners were the same ones that had overwhelmed them , taking the base for their own. it never would have been able to be accomplished without them & she’s so proud , knowing they’re able to smile because of their strength. popping another pickle chip into her mouth , the blonde isn’t surprised that elsie has made her way to her & hers. as much as she’s worried about what the others have said about her family , she’s even more worried about being interviewed herself. ❝ i’ll need to ask my husbands. for now , that sounds good. there’s just one stimulation : you can ask questions of any of us but my daughter. ❞ she only just stopped having nightmares about what had happened.

❝ of course. i can’t imagine what this has been like for her. ❞   to be so young  &  suffering so much -- elsie counts herself fortunate to be an adult in this time. her mind is not still forming  &  changing; she has more learned ability to cope with what’s happened. the children she has talked to, although that hasn’t been a large number, have all been traumatized. it doesn’t surprise her. it just breaks her heart.   ❝ let me know tomorrow, if you can. that way my plans won’t be thrown for too much of a loop if you need a later date. ❞   she hasn’t had a lot of consistency in her life since the event, she’s had to learn to be adaptable, but she’s tired. she tries to structure her days as best she can.