if i'm shinin', everybody gonna shine
when & where: june 7th, midday, near the beaches of montañita
closed to @suvaris
“I don’t have anything to wear to the beach.”
That was not as pressing a problem as the ley line, in Lailani’s mind, but it did pose an issue to getting out to help fix the line at all. Her typical sweaters had been fine in Manglaralto, but only because of the rain, and she’d had to hang them up to dry all night besides. Sweaters definitely wouldn’t fly on the beach.
But, Lailani really did not like the idea of exposing any skin. Despite her hands being the only conduits on her body for visions, it just felt too risky. Even here, surrounded by strangers.
Then again, it was hot.
Which was why she’d gone to Azra, chewing her lip nervously. Rose was taking a desperately needed break from life in general, as she deserved, and Lailani was a little worried Bree would try to put her in a wetsuit and take her surfing. Azra was the happy middle ground for wardrobe problems. “Can I... get your help with that?”
Daniel couldn’t stop pacing, thinking about his encounter with the stranger who appeared and spoke almost identically to him. The eccentric stranger that knew everything, all the logic and possibilities leading to one alleged solution… no matter how grave. The data scientist went to find Balfour instead, the lair suddenly feeling eerily empty. He eventually stumbled upon the cat, wondering, “ … sorry to bother you, but is it possible for past reincarnations of the council to still be alive? Did I, judgement, ever harm or kill anyone on the previous councils?"
With much of the Council sent away to handle their business, Balfour took to stalking the halls of The Lair, his ears sharp and alert. Every so often he got the sense that someone was nearby, but doing his rounds found nothing out of the ordinary. The hair on his spine still rose with suspicion. Something was there, or different, or even wrong, but what? Without Feiyan around, he had no one to confide this to-
“Sorry to bother you.”
Balfour sighed deeply, coming to a half and sitting with his back to Daniel. His tail twitched at the tip. He was ready to respond with his usual attitude, but Daniel - as was typical for Judgement, and why Balfour sometimes found himself, unfortunately, respecting the Councilor - got right to his point.
And what an interesting point it was. Balfour twisted to look up at him. Curiosity and cats and all that. “That shouldn’t be possible, as it is your...” He tilted his head. “Soul, or whatever you prefer to call it, that reincarnates. Your body will always be different, but the core of who you are and what your magic is tied to is the same, and there is only one of it. Two of you existing at once would mean two of the same soul, which shouldn’t be possible.”
He eyed the man up and down, his curiosity only growing at Daniel’s apparent agitation. “Judgement is a difficult position,” he said slowly, watching his reactions. “Sometimes deciding others’ fate was the original version’s job. They took it too far when The Ambitious Three got to them. You can’t be surprised that some death was involved in that.” His tail swishes once, twice. “Technically speaking, that is still the job description, which is why Feiyan has worked so hard to ensure you feel like part of the family, as it were. Some of your past versions have forgotten their empathy from time to time. Logic isn’t just numbers, you know.”
“But, why do you ask, and look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
don't give it a hand, offer it a soul
don't let it in with with no intention to keep it
jesus christ, don't be kind to it
honey don't feed it, it will come back
when & where: june 11th, 11:57AM, in the woods behind the lair
closed
A breeze rustled through the leaves shading Lailani’s head, the faint noise accompanied by the shifting of many little bird wings. She had come out into the woods to seek out nothing n particular. What do you look for when you’re not sure the ley line you’re on is actually disturbed? Out here and around The Lair, the magic beneath the soil was so strong she could feel it in her hands. Part of her had begun to wonder, now that they had ley line-related disasters cropping up all over the globe, if the magical mishaps they’d struggled through hadn’t been linked to a similar sort of break or blockage.
Then again, those had sorted themselves out, it seemed. There may not have been anything to find in the first place. She went out anyway, her sweater sleeves rolled up to her elbows so she could press her fingers into trunks and roots and dirt freely. She hadn’t found anything yet, but it couldn’t hurt to keep looking, especially if any information helped the rest of the Council.
Caught up in her exploration, she didn’t notice the silence that fell around her. It wasn’t until she heard slow, steady footfalls through the dropped leaves and twigs, headed right toward her, that she turned to take note of the change.
Animals often approached her in these woods, but none of them had ever looked so feral, or so much like her.
Lailani’s throat constricted. The person across from her had the same narrow chin, the same eyes too big for her face. Identical to the reflection Lailani saw every day in the mirror, except for... The way she looked at Lailani, uncanny and intense, her eyes holding none of that characteristic unfocused dizziness.
Are you the eye from my vision? The words died before they ever reached her tongue. Could one ask a vision if it is a vision?
The sweater this other version wore was shredded in places and stained deep with dirt. Thorns and leaves were tangled in her hair, which hung in haphazard chunks. The hollows under her cheekbones and at her temples were too stark. An thin cut on her cheek bled in tiny red rivulets. She didn’t seem to notice, or care. She stared Lailani down. Both of them sunk into their shoulders, but where Lailani’s posture was a nervous response, the other’s was tense. Predatory, even.
She took another step toward Lailani, her bare toes curling into the ground. Lailani skittered back, her heart fluttering in her chest. Both of them stilled again, watching each other. “Are you here to tell me something?” Lailani finally asked, shivering from an inexplicable chill.
“Yes.” The voice that came from the reflection was a guttural rasp.
She lunged. Lailani reacted too slowly, a squeak of shock leaving her lungs as she was caught by her wrists and yanked close. The reflection’s eyes glazed over momentarily, though she still looked right at Lailani. Right through her, really.
“You’re all alone,” she whispered in that rattling voice. “No one can ever get close to you. None of them want to. Not when you see too much.” Her forehead creased, lips twisting with pain. “It’s even in your role. It’s all you ever were. Alone on a mountaintop, waiting to be someone else’s tool for enlightenment. Never remembered or wanted below the summit.”
Lailani’s gut clenched, her own brow furrowing. Whatever this was, it hurt. The fingers clamped around her wrists hurt. The words it spat at her hurt. She always felt alone, even when she wasn’t. Only a few shiny moments - Eve in front of the cards, Mitch in the window ledge, Salma letting her in, Aeron talking her through confusion, Dana’s I want to know you - only those gave her hope. Hope was tenacious.
She shook her head. “I have my family,” she said, not sure whether she meant one or the other, or both as a whole.
The reflection’s eyes narrowed. “Do you?” A cold wind ripped through the clearing. “Do they care about you, or are you just useful? Everyone wants to know what will happen to them, or what’s going on in their enemies’ heads. The ones who let you come close... They just want to use you. They can see right through you. You think Salma can’t tell?”
Lailani’s breath stuttered to a halt. The reflection smiled, too sharp, unnatural on a face that looked so much like hers. “Why do you think she draws you so close, but never quite enough? Why do you think she asks you how you are with such carefully feigned care, warning you about the others taking advantage? She wants you to trust her. She wants you to let her closer than anyone because she can see that you’re weak to her and she has her own designs on power.”
Shaking her head vehemently, Lailani tried to twist out of her grip. “No-” she started to protest, her words morphing into a sharp gasp as the reflection’s nails dig into her skin. No vision had ever captured her like this.
“And the rest of them see it, too,” she went on. “The ones who let you come close just want to use you, and the ones who keep their distance don’t trust you.” She jerked Lailani by her arms, the violence of the motion stilling both of them. She leaned in, her voice rasping over the shell of Lailani’s ear.
“They have a point. You have all this power. You could use it for yourself.”
She pulled back so her glimmering eyes could meet Lailani’s, which had grown to mimic tea saucers. “W-what do you mean?” she asked, her Virginia vowels trembling.
The reflection watched her, hawkish, before releasing one of her wrists. Her hand came up to pull a lock of Lailani’s hair over her shoulder, fingers twisting and tugging at it lightly. “I tried to be like you. Patient, freely giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. I still ended up lonely and unwanted. All I ever wanted was to be known, to be held.”
Lailani’s chest shook as a panicked sob tried to break free. She clenched her teeth shut. She had to listen, had to be quiet, because whatever this was - vision or apparition or otherwise - it was important. It had to be.
“So, I... stopped giving them what they wanted. I still saw what I did, but I didn’t tell them everything, or twisted the details. The more I held onto, the more they came back, desperate.” The reflection grimaced. “They still didn’t want me, but it was more than before, so I took it. I found ways to keep them as close as I wanted. People will do a lot to keep their secrets out of the light.”
“That’s wrong.” Lailani’s voice rose, her nerves getting the better of her. “I don’t do that. I won’t. It’s wrong. It hurts people.”
The reflection shrugged, tugging just a little bit harder on the lock of hair. “Maybe it is, but they needed to be on my good side. They needed me. It felt so good... I didn’t want to stop.” She looked into Lailani’s eyes, her own softening. “You understand, don’t you? I just couldn’t stand being so lonely anymore.”
Seconds, maybe minutes, went by before Lailani’s chin dipped in a short, anxious nod. She did understand, even if it seemed wrong, abhorrent, impossible.
“You don’t have to be alone, either,” she went on, her voice dropping into something pleading. “You can have more. It’s not perfect, but it’s better. Let me show you.” She yanked at Lailani’s wrist, and the insistent pull broke the spell of sympathy she had woven.
“No,” Lailani whispered. “Are you a vision? I don’t want to see.” Whatever future this was, she would find a way to avoid it. She wouldn’t follow this path no matter how desperate she got. “I don’t want this. I want to go.”
The reflection went quiet, slowly baring her teeth in a snarl. “You’ll see. You’ll come looking for me again, desperate for what I can give you.” Her grip tightened so suddenly Lailani couldn’t flinch fast enough. She shoved her backwards with a growl. Heartbeat pounding, Lailani scrambled away, her wobbling legs barely holding her upright as she took off. She looked over her shoulder once, twice, but her mirror image stood watching her, making no move to follow. Her eyes seemed to pierce right through Lailani even at a distance.
Only when she reached the edge of the trees did she look over her shoulder once more and find nothing at all behind her except shadowed woods. She didn’t stop, making all the way to Eve’s garden before leaning against a tree and panting, her pulse showing no signs of slowing soon.
What kind of vision was that?
She looked down at her hands, spotted bruises blossoming in the shape of fingers around her wrists. No vision had ever attacked her before, or left behind evidence.
Lailani shoved her sleeves down over her fingers, hiding their shaking, and quickly glanced all around her before ducking inside the building and all but sprinting to her bedroom.
pick me up when i fall down and out / dust me off and show me all truth
when & where: june 11th, 7:22PM, the roof
closed to @incinerxtes
Her wrist still hurt like she’d never been let loose from that steel grip. Hours later, Lailani struggled to distract herself from replaying that few minutes in the woods over and over in her head. She so rarely saw herself in her visions. What did it mean? Who was she supposed to warn? What happened if she didn’t figure it out in time?
Her eye started to twitch, a sure sign she would get a headache if she didn’t find a way to relax. Gradually uncurling her legs and forcing herself out of her room, she drifted around The Lair for a while, avoiding company as best she could. Everything looked just as it always did, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she would turn a corner and come face to face with herself again.
Eventually she wandered up and up and up the stairs, finding her way to the roof. The evening air was chilly enough to almost send her back inside, her thoughts flying to the apparition again, but instead she wrapped her arms around herself and ventured out under the sky. It was peaceful, quiet, a little lonely.
A tall figure moved in the corner of her vision and she jumped an entire foot in the air, only to find herself facing Kian. “Oh s-sorry, I didn’t- didn’t see you-” She fumbled with her words, her heart fluttering. It was only Kian. He only thought he was scary. There was nothing for her to be worried about - but the spike of adrenaline that had surged straight to her heart when she thought his silhouette had been something much more intimidating was stubbornly coursing through her. Her whole body shook with the urge to run away. “Sorry t-to bother you, I’ll just, I’ll go, sorry-”
before it falls apart, oh / help me piece it all together
when & where: june 5th, late afternoon, church grounds in manglaralto
closed to @thedevilupright
It’s hot in this little town, but rainy, too. That had been their biggest obstacle in finding missing photographs so far. Lailani had long since given up on avoiding the rain, instead ducking out from under their umbrella and letting raindrops soak into her sweater as she bent over the ground to pick up stray pictures. Her hair got so slick and heavy with water that she had to hold it back every time she reaches down, but she didn’t care. Progress was slow going anyway. They had returned a few photos, but the ones they’d found yet were muddied, and the ones still missing would need to be found, or summoned, if that was possible.
It didn’t help that she got distracted every few minutes peering over her shoulder at Rose. She was never good at reading people but she knew Rose well enough by now, through talks and touches and whatever else besides, that it wasn’t difficult to see the tension holding her up by the spine.
She wandered back to where Rose stood, her shoes sinking into the grass beneath her. “We can go soon,” she offered, tucking her wet hair behind her ear. “Tomorrow we can get the rest done... It shouldn’t take too long. I think.” The faster they could leave this place the better, if Rose’s tight shoulders had anything to say about it.
on our way to something more uncertain
when & where: june 12th, one of the kitchens, late morning
closed to @mitch-nom
Her nerves were utterly shot, having spent most of the previous day jumping at every pin drop and much of the night tossing back and forth in fitful sleep. She’d been awake since before dawn, unable to drift back off, too aware of how solitary she was in her bedroom.
What if she came back, snarling and adamant to show her more?
But it was hard to go to anyone in particular for company. Rose deserved a break after their trip, not just from Lailani but from everyone, really. Salma’s reaction had been... complicated. Dana would have so many questions and Lailani truly just felt lost every time she recalled the vice grip on her arms or the hunger in her reflection’s eyes. Just thinking about it made her quiver and look over her shoulder.
When she got too hungry to avoid it any longer, she tiptoed to a kitchen, freezing when she saw a figure already at the counter. Just like on the roof with Kian, her pulse picked up, but she recognized this silhouette faster. She went straight to him without announcing herself, wrapping her arms around his chest and clinging like he was a life raft.
“Hi,” she murmured, small and trembling. She didn’t know what else to say.
