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*REN & LI. / @ourfinities (sc.) -
“at first... when i defeated the nuckelavee... i thought i’d feel relief immediately. but i didn’t. for a few more days, i still felt... angry. sometimes, empty. when i finally felt the weight lifted off, it was simply because it was a part of my life i realized i could move on from.”
a sad smile, before looking back to the man. “... that must sound silly, doesn’t it, father?”
" chill, sen. it wasn't even poisonous. " he's talking about the webbed crag he's carelessly stuck his hand into, having accidentally disturbed a spider's nest. " 'ere. found the book inside. " he says, handing it to her.
“ i don’t care about the book right now ! “
it might’ve been the first time she said that to him as she set the tome aside to look over his hand, checking to see how much the area around the bite was swelling, how hot the skin was. pulling out her canteen she poured a bit of water over the bite then reached down into the pack she had sitting on the ground and pulled out a small bag of first aide supplies. a disinfectant was rubbed over the wound before she put a piece of sterile gauze sponge over the bite and then wrapped the hand with bandages. it was more for the purpose of keeping the wound clean and preventing infection from an outside source than anything else.
” you’re supposed to use a cold compress in intervals but i don’t have any with me right now... i’ll see if i can find one when we get back, and some medicine too in case it ends up developing a rash or something. you need to be more careful vitani, one of these times you’re going to stick your hand in some cave and get bit by something and get really hurt or sick. i don’t want to see that happen. “
it made the knot in her stomach that’d formed the moment she’d realized he’d been bitten by something tighten in an almost painful way at the mere thought. after feeling satisfied that the bandages wouldn’t come off easy she paused for a moment, hands still holding the phoenix’s own injured one, before relinquishing her hold and carefully taking the book that’d grabbed for her in her arms.
” let’s head back for tonight- sound good ? “
rolls eyes at. from li.
they’d made something of a habit of this. meeting at the edges of their borders, not doing much in particular. just talking, sat against a tree’s roots and watching the stars through the foliage as if it would do anything to make the time pass slower. as if either of them really knew what they were doing there together when they knew the punishment, the recoil that would come if they were caught together. if they were known to be interacting peacefully with one from another tribe.
corvid isn’t sure why he let the other get this close. why he didn’t get those same alarm bells whenever they’re nearby. whenever the other came closer than most were allowed. his nerves aren’t as shredded, his fears less obvious and able to be pushed to the back of his mind - the constant, suffocating fear that he could hurt anyone just by being near them was lessened when li was nearby. how? he doesn’t know. he doesn’t really care, at the end of the day. it’s nice. to be able to just… exist without feeling like he was a burden. like he was a constant threat to the other’s wellbeing. like he was something that needed to be exterminated simply because he was born into this world with a soul that brought harm to everyone around him.
perhaps that was just qrow hoping. being too naive to think that his own burden was permanent. that childish hope pushing through the fear and the paranoia.
he thinks it was an attempt at a joke on his behalf. a half-hearted comment about how he should be trying to kick li out of his territory. that is, if he felt he actually belonged in the tribe in the first place. that, really he should just run away and join someone else - somewhere that wouldn’t use him as a weapon or a defence against the superstitious. as a being to put on their front lines to ward off the village’s defences for fear of angering a power beyond their control. beyond qrow’s control.
but the roll of eyes and soft features turning away from him to gaze skyward is what catches the younger off guard. what gives him reason to falter in his self hatred. li doesn’t say anything. not with his voice, anyway. but what his expression says in those few seconds? that’s enough to send the corvid’s mind crashing to a halt with little to no restraint as expression falls blank and jaw threatens to drop at the sight. it’s not the revelation h’ed been expecting. the heat that rises up his throat and into his face is what gives qrow reason to scramble to his feet - eyes wide and features flushed as he stumbles both over himself and his words in an attempt to get out of there with what little of his dignity he still has intact.
“i gotta--i... my pa--he... he--i gotta go--” // @ourfinities // a meme i forget
' are you afraid of going to sleep ? ' riku's shoulder pushed up against sora's, leaning back where they sat against mysterious tower walls. the mastery exam had been tiring, and they should have been resting, but he could understand an unwillingness to leave oneself vulnerable after such a nightmare. he slowly reached over, guiding sora's head to his shoulder, fingers carding affectionately through his hair in a way he wouldn't dare if sora was wide awake. ' it's okay. i'll protect you. '
unprompted knife amigo + @ourfinities.
what if i keep failing ? what if the keyblade chose all wrong ? what if — a sudden pause in doubtful mindset , though psyche of innocence still haunted &. plauged by his own inability to join riku amongst the ranks of master. not that sora is jealous in the slightest , don ‘ t get things twisted ! warrior of light will always be beyond proud of his companion for climbing the ranks ; it is something riku once found unobtainable after all , with the whole darkness fiasco continuing to weigh heavy upon the shoulders of boy atlas , but then again … this wouldn ‘ t have been such an issue if he hadn ‘ t fallen to the darkness himself. even if just momentarily. a heart once so strong &. overflowing with abundance of light , so easily swayed &. manipulated by the very thing he &. the others have sworn to combat against so , so valiantly. he would be lying to say that there isn ‘ t some form of disgust swelling something thorny in the back of throat &. pit of belly. silence veils save for the occasional chiming of bells in the near distance. legs formerly outstretched ‘pon massive architecture now brought to chest , arms snaking ‘round &. chin finding some form of refuge atop knees. perhaps the only thing truly keeping sora sane &. from spiraling in this very moment is riku himself. perhaps he is the very reason that lids find themselves so heavy in the midst of such immense stress. back to back , shoulder to shoulder , heart to heart. a bond forged from unbreakable diamond that sora treasures more than most things in this world. without riku … there ‘ d be no shine to his sun. there ‘ d be nothing to keep him grounded , he ‘ s certain.
island youth seems to be fending of oncoming sleep via very obvious dips of crown &. the sudden feelings of panic erupting within sanctum of ribs each times ocean wave hues comes to a minor shut. he ‘ s terrified , forget being scared. if he sleeps , he is certain there will be a reminder of his failures. of the nightmare that so viciously had him by the throat. so willing to rip his jugular clean open. maybe m ‘ just not cut out for sleeping , he thinks , though no sooner is sora graced with comfort laced familiarity of the one he trusts the most. albeit vocals are battered with a series of stubborn , childish mumbles , sora still finds himself leaning into riku ‘ s touch without question. it belongs there. he belongs here , side - by - side with his grin wearing hero. ❛ you ‘ re pretty comfy , y ‘ know . . . ? ❜ gentle murmur as crown of wild mocha gossamer settles unto riku ‘ s form. ( more so than it already is ? ) in an instant does sora ‘ s form find calm , once tense stance softening &. stretching out as it once did. ❛ you ‘ ll be here when i wake up , right ? ❜ eyes are heavy yet again , only this time is he able to peacefully drift to slumber. thank you , riku.
“ i hurt people. it’s all I’m good at. ” from riku.
betrayal and regret.
❛ that’s a lie, and you know it. ❜
sugarcoating words was never a skill she’d learned. she’d typically fell onto the rule that honesty was the best policy – when applicable, of course; she’d had to bend the rules for her own sake at times. but even so, despite the implication of her tone, his words did not anger her.
rather, she just felt sad.
she was mourning. she longed for their innocent childhood, for times where their only care lay with silly activities that bore no consequence. absolutely mindless things, truly, such as who won the races across the shore, or the games of blitzball the boys on the isles would group together to play, her and selphie bickering over who could cheer the loudest. or perhaps those hazy late nights, when they’d first grown old enough to paddle the small boats back to the main island on their own – the soft cricket chirps and splashing of water beneath enough to calm her even after the most hectic of days. she dreamed for these simpler times; wishing she could pluck the moments from her memory and dive back in. ideologies she could truly drown in, had the impossible been possible.
it wasn’t just childhood dreams in which her sadness lay, either. it was the friendship they’d all once held, their trio, their once seemingly inseparable companionship – torn to bits in the matter of a year or two. she missed what they’d once been, what they could have continued to develop into, the adults they could have became together – rather than the strings of fate that’d once tied their limbs to one another tearing apart at the seams, leaving them nothing but hollow and bruised.
was growing up this harsh for every teenager, she could not help but wonder? and if so, how did adults bear this loneliness she felt; the darkness she’d never quite had still threatening to swallow her whole.
in it all, though, she really just felt for HIM. for one of her (once) best friends, for riku. not pity, simply sadness. despite her own turmoil, if she’d had the option to tear the burdens from riku’s shoulders, she’d don them herself in a heartbeat. she’d let them crush her into the sand beneath (perhaps then, she could truly become one with the sea, free from all worry), if it meant riku did not have to let these sinful beliefs fall from his lips in confession.
instead, all she could offer was her words. and what they could do, she did not know; yet she spoke them with as much sincerity as she could.
❛ you never hurt me, not once. ❜ her voice was quiet, and something within made her avoid his gaze. viridescent hues, typically mesmerising in their determination, now intimidated her. since when had they become such strangers? ❛ you made – make – ❜ she corrected, wishing she could bite her tongue off for every mistaken word, ❛ sora and i both happy. so please… don’t say that. it’s not true. ❜
@ourfinities continued from here
she’d expected the reaction honestly, not that she was any more pleased at dealing with the sudden barrage of questions. vitani was a good guy ( if not more than a little too trusting ) from what she’d managed to gather from their interspersed interactions, the fact that he had been willing to give her so much lien the first time she’d helped him out proof enough of that. he didn’t really seem to have a malicious bone in his body which could be a bad thing considering their somewhat shared living situations. but he was definitely better off than she was, the fact that he ran with an actual established guild proved that easily enough. there was a wary eye kept on those they passed as she followed him into the guild and to his room, unwilling to let her guard down when she was in such a vulnerable state and not on her own turf.
grey eyes slowly ran over the expanse of the room, of the different things that littered the place, the sense of the room really belonging to someone. part of her had expected a half beat to shit mattress on the ground, maybe a mini-fridge or a hotplate to use for cooking but it was colorful and showed signs of him really living there and making it his home. it felt so... weird, so foreign to her. part of her didn’t really know what to do with herself aside from look around at all the things scattered about, all the pieces of vitani’s life, his proof of owning the space. it wasn’t even until he came back to her with some water that she even really processed what he’d said before and what he was saying now.
she’d known she wouldn’t really be able to hide her face aside from putting her hood up and moving her hair in front of her face to obscure her features, the blood that’d dried on her lower lip from where it’d split, the darkening bruise under her right eye. kahili was slow to unzip her jacket and toss it aside, the black tank top she wore underneath revealing more bruises old and new alike along her arms, her shoulders, her neck ; there were cuts that were a few weeks old that were mostly scabbed over and healed or in the process of healing and there were the track marks lining both her arms and on her back small burn marks crossed over in a seemingly random pattern. slowly she lowered herself to the ground and sat, groaning and wincing in pain, breathing in sharply before shakily releasing the air taken in.
” ‘s pretty much all bruises. not really anything you can do for that- ‘less you got any painkillers that work real good. “
she wasn’t entirely sure if her ribs were just bruised or if one might have actually broken- wasn’t like she could go to a hospital to get it checked. slowly she leaned back against the nearest wall, eyes having fallen shut as she worked to steady her breathing, calm her racing heart a bit, and push the pain away.
talk about me? ( from ephmrele )
talk about blake. / @ephmrele
“what is the saying? don’t dip your pen in company ink?”
“oh, fuck off.”
“gomen, gomen. okay. i’m all ears.”
“... it’s. i don’t - think there’s any which way about it. and - i’ve always felt it. since i began working with her, after beacon, after haven, it, uh... i felt it even since then. she’d look when she thought i wasn’t paying attention. the sideways glances, the half-assed ‘coy’ flirting. it wasn’t ever anything blatant. that’s not her style.
i’m one of her right hand men. it has always been my responsibility, my duty to protect blake. and i’ve always followed that. but now, i... when that fucking asshole almost got her at the event the other week - i saw red, nao. i imagined her gettin’ hurt, and... that hurt more than the busted nose and the bruised ribs. there’s this tension, and it’s so thick you can cut through it with a hot knife.
... she means a lot to me. we’ve been by each other’s side for so long, i. fuck. thinkin’ of spending too much time away from her just seems so weird, so... alien. i’ve seen her grow into something amazing. she’s come so fuckin’ far, and i’m proud of her for that. i am, honest to god.
... and i’m attracted to that. dunno what the fuck’s got her lookin’ at me the way she does, but, uh. i guess - part of me is kinda glad. and the other part has no idea what the fuck to do. i like my job. i like protecting her. i... don’t wanna compromise that.”
golden optics can do naught but stare at velvet in her little sundress, and her jaw drops in awe upon seeing the other’s faunus’s beauty once again. “ you look amazing, ” belladonna addresses, eyebrows raised. “ and i like the hat, ” she adds with a wink. taking another step to the doorstep of the orphanage, blake extends her elbow to velvet, waiting to escort her / link arms the way ghira told her he once escorted kali around. maybe the old fashioned way isn’t so bad, she muses. “ are you ready? oh, and i remembered my poetry book, too. ” old fashioned or not, tonight with velvet would prove to be a special occasion for them both. how long had they been admiring one another?
@ourfinities, velvet, plotted starter.
