Lonely Bones

bright as the m o r n i n g soft as the rain Faith Raines Seamstress Devout

[zelda-byrne]

Zelda shrugged a shoulder. "Well, speaking from pure numbers alone, it's statistically likely that something'll happen to one of those kids. I'd prepare Mercy now." But she didn't really care either way what happened to them — sticky children or not. "As for speaking carefully, people do too much of that around here. I wish everyone would speak their minds."

[faithraines]

Faith's fingers twitched at her sides, curling briefly like they might catch something slipping away. "Mercy's a smart girl, she knows enough about loss already." she said quietly, her voice steady but cold. Her eyes dragged back to Zelda, sharp and unwavering, though a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, "I feel like plenty of people speak their minds already," she mused, "though, most of them have nothing worth saying."

[vera-crowe]

Very mysterious. Intriguing. "From who?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. She couldn't resist the urge to dig in further, to question and pry. "Who's the once that's in charge of telling us if we should be scared or not? How would we know?"

[faithraines]

Faith’s fingers stilled against the glass as silence settled between them. When she spoke, her words were slow and deliberate. "If we were meant to be afraid, we wouldn’t need to ask, or be told, we'd know." She lifted her drink, taking a measured sip before setting it back down. Her brow arched slightly, voice quieter now but no less sharp. "Unless," She paused, her head tilting just enough to suggest curiosity. "You've never felt it before. Is that what you're worried about? That when fear comes, you won’t even recognise it?"

[zelda-byrne]

"Well I, for one, hope that the next to be snatched is one of the Brady children. There are too many of them and they're all a bit sticky, don't you think?" Zelda was standing on the edge of the square where the body had been found. The Twelve were still cloistered away, discussing endlessly as they always did, and Zelda didn't have high hopes that anything would come of their private conversations. She was in fact quite sure that whatever was happening around here was just the work of someone trying to rile everyone up, and it was certainly working.

[faithraines]

Faith’s eyes remained fixed on the stain at the center of the square. The Twelve would deliberate, and the town would whisper, but the truth had already settled, unseen, in the spaces between.

She turned to Zelda once the question had been asked, her expression smooth, unreadable. “Careful,” she said, voice soft, almost thoughtful, “You never know who’s listening.” She paused, a small frown appearing on her face for a moment, “Plus, I believe Mercy is fond of the Brady children - even with the stickiness - and I wouldn't want her to be upset if one of them were to disappear.”

[vera-crowe]

"Think we should be scared?" Vera's voice held anything but fear, only excited interest at the recent turn of events in her new home. People died. That happened. But people dying in such interesting ways, a town reacting so strangely? She ate it up. Her eyes sparkled in the low light of the town's tavern, leaning in over the bartop to the companion who had just joined her.

[faithraines]

Faith did not lean in. Instead, she regarded the other woman in the same way she always looked at people when they spoke - head tilted slightly, gaze steady, carefully considering the question before weighing her own words as cautiously. Her fingers traced the rim of the glass that was placed in front of her, "People are always scared of the wrong things," she murmured at last, voice soft but certain, "If fear was the right response we'd know by now."