status: closed with @tamyrawilliams
location: the High House post-Flood
Lily supposed that it would’ve come up eventually. The island was not a big place, and Tamyra went as freely as Lily did. She could only avoid her for so long, especially after what had happened. The last time they had spoken to (argued with) each other was when they’d been separated in the Labyrinth — when Lily had shouted at Tamyra and lost control. When she had told the Labyrinth she would stay behind if it let Tamyra go.
And now here they both were, none the worse for wear, despite the drought.
So when she saw Tamyra walking toward her, Lily stopped her piano practice. Libby was out on a walk with Flora, and Tomas was working on the farm; there would be no one else to hear their conversation.
Okay. Might as well. Only way out was through, now was always the best time, etc., etc..
Lily closed the piano lid and half-turned toward Tamyra. She probably should’ve smiled, but she didn’t, looking at Tamyra with a polite but somber expression. “Hey, Tamyra. You look well.”
Daemon!AU for my Pathfinder character Vrenne : Meet Tamyra (aka ”Tammie”), Vrenne’s ghost bat daemon. Tamyra is female - making her pair with Vrenne an unusual one from the very beginning.
Magisterium Official Reynard was already pretty displeased to find out his only daughter’s daemon was female : it was definitely out of the norm. It was weird. When Tamyra settled as a bat - messengers of the devil - he pretty much lost all hope of watching his daughter follow in his footsteps - or at least a righteous path.
In her haste to reach the beach and the sweet escape she senses at hand, @tamyrawilliams finds herself snared in a net. Nearby, @no-gambit and Mallory respond to her calls for help, but like all things involving Mallory and Tamyra, it soon comes to sharp words.
After setting off the flares with Aurélie in hopes that the ship would see, Tamyra wanted to find some kind of higher ground to see when the rescue would come from the ship, she could know which part of the beach to run towards as fast as possible. SHe wasn't a good runner, but she would run as fast as she possibly could once she knew rescue was coming.
Going up the tree wasn't a problem, she got up relatively quickly, and when after about five minutes, she saw some kind of light flare up from the ship and keep up, she was certain it had to be the people on the ship signaling back. They took their time with it, but it only mattered that they acknowledged the flares and they were coming. They were coming.
She needed to get to the beach. Damn waiting for people coming, there was a sign, she needed to go.
Going down didn't go as planned, though, and Tamyra ended up slipping and falling - and it wasn't enough that she hit her shoulder, no, she also activated a fucking trap and the next thing she knew, she was hanging in a net, no idea how she got down. "Shit. Fuck. Who the hell--" but it didn't matter. Not now. Not now, when she was so close to getting out. Instead she started yelling, "HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP!"
《❀》
Magnolia trailed Mallory close enough to see, at least, her vague shape in the gloom. She forced the wind to carry every minute sound to her down to their very breaths to compensate for the fog, to patch together the terrain. She was about to protest once more, to urge them to turn back towards the more populated areas because surely this was just another trick of the island, one meant to trap and to maim and haven’t they been hurt enough lately, when she heard it. A cry, familiar in cadence.
No grabbed Mallory’s wrist, already hauling her towards the plea. “Someone-“ she knew it was Tamyra, but she doubted Mallory would be so easy to pull forth if she knew-“Needs help. See? This is why we don’t fuck off into the island bullshit for no reason, Mal.”
Mallory can't help thinking this is the creepiest the island has been. Ghosts are one thing - she can pretend it's a hallucination, for one, but this impenetrable fog? She squints, hand flailing about in front of her. Her fingers brush against a tree in the same moment a scream, low and far, reaches her ears. "What the--" Her swear turns into a yelp as No touches her wrist. "Hey, we were doing fine, we used the buddy system. It's not my fault someone else didn't."
Despite her retort, she doesn't protest as No hauls her towards the noise. "Weren't you hear for the ghosts? Isn't running towards screaming a bad thing?" she murmurs, gaze darting around. They aren't quite in the jungle, or she doesn't think so at least. Mallory swishes water around in front of them, hoping to clear the fog, but it does nothing. So much for finding this quick and easy. "Ugh. Okay, fine. Hello? Who's out there?"
《❀》
Somebody was out there and listening, and Tamyra only cared about that. The voice that called back even sounded familiar and she didn't even think about who it was, didn't even occur to her that the person who was asking her who she was could have been Mallory, she was just happy to hear a familiar voice. "It's me," very telling, Tamyra, very telling. "I got caught in a net trap, please help me!"
She looked around, wondering if she could do anything to speed up the process of getting down, but she couldn't see anything, and figured that her best chance was making sure whoever was out there found her anyway. "Here! Come, follow my voice, it's Tamy--" No appeared among the mist and Tamyra breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god it's you, I was afraid that nobody was going to hear me and--" and then she noticed Mallory Castle and she stopped in the middle of her sentence. "What is she doing here?"
《❀》
Rumor had it that net traps had become the second most dangerous thing on the island, directly after human stupidity. No had to choke on a snort rather than let Tamyra hear her exasperated laugh, while resolutely ignoring Mal’s retort.
She slid her hand from Mal’s wrist to her hand as she ventured within sight of Tamyra, huffing in relief to find her relatively unharmed. “Tam, I heard you—“ she began only to roll her eyes. The dramatics between them were getting tiresome. “Being next to me, that’s what she’s doing, which is much more sensible than whatever you are doing.” Magnolia had left the machete that usually graced her hip behind that morning. Stupid, she thought as she fiddled with her belt, but she hadn’t exactly anticipated this. “We might have to actually untie you from the tree…” she mused, ready to act rather than dawdle.
《❀》
Someone cursed her. It's the only reasonable explanation for why Mallory is peering up at Tamyra, contemplating how to fetch her down from a net. She considers leaving her there, eyes narrowed, and it's only No's hand stilling her from the sharp retort. Instead, she says idly: "We followed the yellow brick road to see who was screaming at the end of it. We better watch out, a house will fall on our heads next. That's how the movie goes, right?" Her eyes flicker up, but it's just fog, fog, and more fog. No house in sight.
She shakes her head, mildly disappointed. "Ah, well, you're the boss, No. I guess I wouldn't want a cursed house." And letting Tamyra get squished by one is a surefire way to get a haunted house. Mallory wanders to the tree trunk, trying to figure out whether this is Luke's contraption or another person's. His, at least, she knows how to untie without too much fuss. "Hm, I think this is some castaways, I've certainly never seen this style before."
《❀》
"It's not like I wanted get trapped here! It's not like I saw the net trap and intentionally walked into it thinking, 'oh, how fun will it be to spend way too much time today wasting it in a net when we can get saved any moment now'," Tamyra rolled her eyes at No. Despite her annoyance, though, she was glad to see No there. At least she could trust her to make sure Mallory wasn't doing anything unacceptable.
She ignored Mallory's dig (wicked witch of the west? really?), but followed the woman with her eyes to make sure Mal wouldn't do anything to jeopardize her getting down from here. "No, please check the trap too, I don't want her to try to keep me up here. And really, if you can just cut me down, I'm good with that, too, I don't get if I get hurt or something. Just get me down as fast as you guys can so I can get back to the beach." She looked to her side - most of the beach was hidden behind the tree canopy at this point, but she still remembered the light. "Have you guys seen that light as well?"
《❀》
Magnolia sighed, pitying and worried. She knew already that Tamyra was likely amongst the most desperate at this moment, the most invested in this phantom ship being real. The island was just taunting them now with a treat on a stick, as it always had. “I care if you get hurt, and Mallory has it in hand. I’ll try to slow your descent so you don’t just crash.” To punctuate her plan, she pulled a stout updraft around them, rustling their hair. It could at least cushion her inevitable fall from the net.
“I have,” she said slowly. The light, the ship, the fog all spelled strife. “Mal have you? Tam, it’s just the island. Or it’s a ship that’ll never reach the shore, we’ve seen plenty of those." Perhaps leaving Tamyra in the net would honestly be safer for her. She wouldn't be amongst the fools trying to swim to the light. “It’s just a trick, you have to realize that by now.”
As Mallory inspected the knots, No looked to her. “I don’t have anything sharp on me. Can’t you untie it? We can try to find a rock to fray it apart.”
《❀》
Mallory huffs, crouching. She prods the knot for a loose edge, eyes rolling at Tamyra's worry. "I'm not going to leave you in the tree, you'd probably scream like a banshee until our ears bleed and I'm squeamish around blood. Or it'll scare the boat off before my brother is on." She can't have that, not until Harvey is on its deck. Then it can sail off into the sunset with no one else and she won't care.
Has she? She halts, frowning. "I think so. I try not to pay attention until its responding to us, or closer than this one. Seems a bit strange that we've got this fog and this ship, doesn't it?" She asks, skeptical. "I don't think it's real."
She lets out a noise of triumph as she finds the edge of the knot, pulling on it and letting the knot unravel. When she finishes unwinding it, Tamyra only lurches down a few inches. Her lips purse in annoyance. Her knot is gone, but another one is beneath it. "This was built to be annoying, wasn't it? Look, it's knotted in like four spots. Let's try a rock, this is going to take too long to untie. Or we can try to freeze it and hit it hard enough to break. Dunno if we'll find a sharp enough rock in this mess."
《❀》
No's reassurnce only worked slightly because it was coming from No, and Tamyra was sure she wouldn't let Mallory do anything unacceptable. "Screaming like a banshee around you might not even be a bad idea... Maybe you'd actually listen to that," Tamyra pondered. Their insistence on the ship not being real, though, that was confusing and annoying in that moment. Why did nobody believe it was real? That it could be and was real? "If you ask me, the fog is the island. It realized that ship penetrated its defenses and is about to get us out of here, so it's trying to stop it as much as it possibly can. Can't exactly throw ghosts at the ghost, right? It would just go right through. Hence the fog."
She let out a small shriek when the net lurched down a few inches and grabbed onto the net itself, but she was still hanging high and the rope was starting to hurt. "A little warning next time?!" she snapped towards Mallory before turning to No. "Please, look at what she's doing. Can't you see how reckless she is? Not even a word of warning, anything."
Tamyra tilted her head, squinted her eyes at the trap, but she couldn't see it properly from up here. "You could always try to steal a rock... Oh, sorry, you don't steal unimportant items like rocks, only shiny, pretty, important stuff, hmm?" She couldn't help the jab as she reached up to touch her necklace just for a moment. "I think freezing it is your best option. And possibly the fastest, I vote for that one."
《❀》
Magnolia shook her head throughout Tamyra’s musings. The ship could not be real, it had to be a phantasmic tease, a trick, a cruel torturous image meant solely to prey on people like Tamyra. “If the island wanted to stop that ship, it would have sunk it or sent a monster after it or any number of things. Fog is just fuck with us, just as that horn and the light and the ship is. Come on, Tam, you’re smarter then this.”
Her power surged as Tam dropped, but she let it flit away into the smog when nothing else happened. “You did ask to be let down as fast as possible,” No shot back. “Mallory is the reckless one? At least she’s not desperate to get fall into the island’s trap. I trust her and-“ Magnolia looked towards her, though the fog showed only her silhouette and said pointedly-“I trust her not to do anything stupid, right?”
No groaned and leaned back on her heels. She saw the necklace, and felt the barbed implication, but now was not the time. She poked Tam in the side through the netting. “For fuck’s sake, the both of you. Enough of your idiotic feud. Mal, I have a bottle of water, can you use it to freeze it?”
《❀》
Sympathy wells in Mallory against her will. For all her anger with Tamyra - and she has enough to fly off the island using steam power - she doesn't feel right ripping the rug out from underneath her. But then she remembers the last time she spoke and her sympathy fades. "Yes, yes, I won't do anything stupid. Scout's honor. And I was a scout, before you doubt me."
She glares at Tamyra. "At least rocks are most useful than pretty shiny--" Mallory stops, but only because No's frustration boils over. She huffs, but doesn't respond except to wiggle her fingers for the bottle. "How good are you at freezing things?" She asks Tamyra, upending the water over the vine and freezing it with a touch. "Need it to stay frozen until we hack through it, but I can't do both." Freezing isn't her strong suit, even if she can manage well enough if she concentrates. "No, maybe you should hit it. You have the arms for it - or the attunement if you're feeling fancy."
《❀》
No had good points, but Tamyra didn't want to hear them, didn't really want to listen enough to start thinking about it and let it all sink in. In her mind, everything she thought made sense and No was just being skeptical because she's given up so long ago. So she didn't say anything, just huffed out some air and kept looking at what Mallory was doing.
No's promise that Mallory wasn't going to do anything had more weight than Mallory's - really, if she was lying about the scout thing, she was still say she was, so that didn't reassure anything for Tamyra. She let out a yelp at No's poking, and she wanted to tell No that it wasn't actually an idiotic feud, but Mallory stopped dead in her sentence and damn if she was going to seem the childish one out of the two of them.
"If you freeze, and No hits, you two should be good to go, I can't really reach that rope from here," Tamyra said, even twisting her arms somewhat to show that it was at the wrong angle for her. In reality, she really wasn't good with freezing and had too much pride admitting it in the moment. "And if you keep holding onto the rop while you keep it frozen, you can hold it after it's broken and let me down a bit more gentle." Another horn came from the beach, and Tamyra closed her eyes, her heart beating fast. "Just please, guys, hurry, I want to-- we need to... Please."
《❀》
Magnolia narrowed her eyes between the two of them, armed with another reprimand if need be. It had been decades, they ought to have used the semblance of sense the both of them possessed to settle this years ago.
She handed the water to Mal without further comment before stooping and running her hands through the short grass and dirt until she found a sizable rock. “Okay,” she murmured, bouncing it in her hand until she gripped it well. “Mal, freeze when you can. Tam, get your head on straight.” She waited, poised to hit the knot.
《❀》
Mallory sighs. "I was really hoping you were someone who could freeze from a distance like Matthew or Prince Charming, but oh well. We all have our faults." Or many of them, as the case may be for some of them. She taps the water with her pinky, sliding it along the length of the rope with the edge of her finger, wary of being anywhere close to where No will hit it.
"This fog is... not helping with a talent I'm not so good at anyway, so try not to break any of my fingers. These are my money makers. But, go, hit it." And as the rock strikes, shattering the ice and the vine with it, Mallory lets out a shriek of surprise as the vines unwind with a whoosh. It unravels and unravels, the net flying towards the ground, and instinctively she grabs the nearest edge, yanking on the edges of it, heedless of the burn against her palms.
《❀》
Tamyra grabbed onto the net - as if that would actually save her or help her from the fall while she watched as Mallory froze the rope and then No broke it. She fully expected Mallory to hold onto the rop and keep her up and then slowly release down. Maybe release her fast from the last bit at the end, but not instead she could only feel the pull of gravity in her stomach and then she was falling down. She completely missed the part when Mallory tried to grab onto the rope and tried to hold her upright, she just registered the hit to the ground and she groaned, pain surging through her back.
"Shit," she groaned and remained there for several moments before she snapped. "Was that really necessary, Mallory? I know you hate me and want to fuck with me, but did you really have to just let me drop down like this when you could have just let me down easily?"
《❀》
Too intent with aiming and not accidentally hitting Mallory’s hands No could only conjure the slightest of winds to try and ease Tam’s descent and winced when she heard the thud. She saw the rope burns on the former’s hands before she heard the latter’s words.
Magnolia hissed, her patience expended. “Enough, Tamyra,” she growled low and furious and imposing through the gloom. “Both of you, enough. This is needless, idiotic bullshit. You two think this island needs help torturing you? You want to be the tools of this place now as well?” With gentle hands, if not gentle words, No reached for Mal, turning her hands over to fuss over them. “Use the rest of the water for that.”
Her capacity to tut like a mother hen went just as quickly as it came and she turned to haul Tamyra roughly to her feet. “Listen to me, I don’t give a shit about your resentment for each other or whatever relief you get for sticking and poking and provoking the other. You want the selfish reason I want you to stop, too? I love you both, you hurt each other you’re hurting me. Do you want that? Do you want to help the island fuck with me too?” She paused, letting it rest for only a moment and glancing between the two of them, helpless rage alight in her eyes. “Put your useless feud to fucking rest.”
《❀》
Mallory hisses, shaking out her hands and then cradling them. "Oh, go cry me a river, you're fine," she retorts. Then winces as No rounds on them with fiery eyes and equally sharp words. A retort comes to her lips, but No silences her when she grabs her hands. She winces again, but reaches for the rest of the water with little complaint.
"I don't know if it's that easy," Mallory mutters, dumping the water on her hands and holding it in place over her palms. It eases the burn some, but the mark will remain for a day or two longer unless she finds something more fresh. Her eyes land on Tamyra, the same bitter swirl residing there, and she wishes she could swallow it as easily as she once did. "You know I don't want to hurt you," and yet she doesn't know if she can do that. "But this--" she gestures between her and Tamyra, frowning, because looking at Tamyra invokes outrage and useless nostalgia. "I don't think this will change, even if you're the one asking me to let it go. How can I?" She doesn't meet No's eyes, rocking on her feet.
Her heart pounds, and she nods to herself once, before turning around, putting her back to them both. It's the best she can do. "It's best if we just don't interact. You don't fuck with me, I won't fuck with you, Tamyra."
《❀》
No was at her limits, apparently, because suddenly she snapped, telling both of them off (it was a bit of a satisfaction to Tamyra that she wasn't getting all of it, despite how Mallory kept trying to put all of this on her, as if all of this was her fault), but as much as Tamyra loved No, she couldn't agree with her. And she could definitely not just up and forgive Mallory for anything.
To be fair, Mallory did seem to try to catch the rope at least, based on how her hands looked, but Tamyra was too proud to admit that out loud, and she just let out a small huff when Mallory said that she didn't want to hurt her. As if she wasn't the one who crashed their plane. The only reason she didn't say it out loud was because No was there. So, in a way, she was helping, even if just momentarily, and on the surface level. (She was irrational, of course, but she didn't realize that.)
"For once, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but this once I do agree with Mallory. I don't think this will change. I can agree to staying out of your way, I'll be the happiest person if I don't have to deal with you," she addressed Mallory for this, "but that is it, No. And since we're getting out of here today, we won't have to deal with each other much longer anyway." Which only reminded her of what was still happening. "Thank you, for getting me down," maybe it was petty and childish, but she pointedly looked at No for those words, "but I'm going to the beach now to see if anything changed and if we could start boarding again."
《❀》
"I don't care how you feel right now, just stop feeding the island and being idiots," No snapped. This wasn't a battle she could win and wasn't a war that belonged to her. It was frustrating beyond all belief. Their delusions with each other and their delusions of escape. There was none, they were trapped beside each other whether they liked it or not. "Tamyra," she began, fierce and angry. "Do not do anything idiotic, it is a trick. Nothing more. It will be my turn to shout at you if you fall for it." Magnolia shook her head a final time, spared Mallory a glance to check her hands and gauge if she would follow, and turned to stride towards (hopefully) the populated beach.
WHEN: sometime in May
WHERE: North Beach
@tamyrawilliams
For how overcast the island is, no one bats an eye at walking around wearing next to nothing. It’s a dull reminder of home, but a sharp reminder of their location. Her gaze swivels over the beach, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Can you believe it’s Tamyra Williams?” someone says nearby. Her frown, absent for once, returns full force at this reminder. She only found herself the other day. “We should go say hi. We can do that, right? I mean, she’s just like us now.”
They look to her for agreement, or argument. Clementine shrugs, but when this proves inadequate, she ventures an answer. “I, uh, don’t think she’ll care.” It’s meant to prevent. She has no wish to see Tamyra from anywhere other than a distance. But they take it the opposite and jump to their feet with excitement. She’s tugged along in their wake, grimacing. Tamyra can’t miss their arrival. Dread fills her the closer they get to the woman. She can see the wreckage of the plane, and near it a small stretch of beach where people sit in the water, safe from the tug of the current.
But underneath the dread, she’s, perhaps, the littlest bit curious. How long has she read about her - or, fuck, heard about her - and never seen her from anywhere other than a magazine? “Oh, my god! You’re-you’re- Oh, I don’t know what to call you!” Sylvia says enthusiastically, hands waving with such force that Clementine has to move under it with a grunt. She’s a bird-faced woman with too large eyes, and the others are in her shadows, nodding fiercely.
“Uh, her name. Obviously.” Clementine moves away before Sylvia’s enthusiastic gestures can strike her again. She hasn’t yet looked at Tamyra, still zeroed in on the sand at their feet. To look is to make it real. Fumbled words come from her lips, sharper than she intends in her haste to pretend: “What did you say it was again? Tamyra?”
It takes half an hour to convince Jo he's not going far. Only to talk with an old friend, and yes, he'll be back before dinner. Rose's eyes on his back is heavy, but Jo's sad gaze on his back is a terrible weight, burning his flesh long after he departs her.
This is for her, he reminds himself, pushing away the lingering doubt. Residual from his last discussion with Rose, heated and truthful as it was, burrowing into his skin. For her. If he says it enough, maybe he can leave the guilt in the sand behind him for all they've lost. It's beyond him to fix it, just as it was to stop it in the first place.
Though he hasn't spoken to Tamyra since the jungle, since their horrible argument in the wreckage of their old camp, his feet take him to where he expects to find her. In the swirling maelstrom of his thoughts, Frank nearly walks past it, catching himself a step before he enters the area where he thinks she is. "Tamyra?" He calls, haltingly. Isn't this a flashback to their argument?
But it won't end the same. Jo's gaze, afraid, only less jumpy from their first Christmas together in her entire life, lingers on his mind. He won't let this end badly. Expression steely, Frank gathers himself, stepping into the little alcove near the beach that they once marked as a fail safe location. "I need your help, if you'll hear me out. I..." he stops, hesitating a beat.
How to continue? He starts smaller, letting the worry knotting his stomach hold its breath. "I didn't thank you for coming after me in the jungle. You didn't have to, and you did anyway. It means a lot to me - and it made me realize that I don't want to fight with you."
DATE: May 27th, 2021
TIME: 04:24 PM
LOCATION: North Beach
Killing time. Luke learned last couple of weeks that he is incredibly bad at killing time. Before the injury, his day was packed with plans and schedules-- morning jogs, checking for traps and fishing, processing the catches of the day or delivering it to the Farm... Now, all he can do is either sitting around and rereading the same books over and over again, or some light work at the Farm but he is under the strict instructions from Dr. Akbar who sometimes keeps an eye on him while he works. Day by day, he can feel his sanity gradually wearing off. And of all the power he could get from this stupid magic island, healing is not one of them.
So the long walk at the beach has become a part of his routine. It’s not as stimulating as jogging, the same boring scene everyday, but it’s better than being stuck in bed. Today, however, he notices something new on the sand. At first he thought it was a log or a seal-- he has never seen a seal or knows where they live, to be honest-- but as he gets closer, he sees that it’s Tamyra Williams, sunbathing.
“Huh.” He makes a dumb sound, stopping on his track. “...I’ve heard that people sunbath but, didn’t think it was actually a thing.” He comments, taking a moment to take a break, catch his breath. The last time he has seen her was in the Jungle after she killed that beast. “‘sup, Williams. So you made it out in one piece.” He greets.
