[ACTION] BACKDATED TO THE LATTER HALF OF JULY 28TH obviously I win forever

[blessingone]

[The backyard of House 34 is perhaps one of the calmer and more beautiful holographic worlds in the rather chaotic mid-event Luceti. The rivers and cliffs of Fallingwater provide a wide view of the forest and town below as the water tumbles into graceful aqueducts that sweep across the lowest portions. Only a handful of eggbears and peepit chicks might ruin the atmosphere, but they are much too weak to give trouble to even to a first-level adventurer.

And even those who cannot defend themselves may not find themselves in danger. A bird stands on the edge of the river, about half as tall as a human, with a feather nearly as long as his tall neck on its head and a tail about as long as his height. Rather than being aggressive to any visitors, he attacks the holograms when they come near and quickly dispatches them, before returning to the river's edge. He's not a hologram, but the pet of the girl he is watching. So try not to kill him.

Said girl is sitting in the river, knees drawn up to her chest, her head down. She isn't moving or making a sound. She isn't really thinking about much, either. She doesn't really want to.]

[NOTE (Legendia Main Quest spoilers, I suppose): So, the thread hasn't finished due to my standard tagging rate, but it seems that Norma is going to have spilled the beans that Fenimore is going to be fatally wounded about a second or two after she gets back from Luceti. So she's not exactly taking it well. As such, she will be extremely moody and a bit short-tempered. And she might decide to refuse to talk to people for really irrational reasons. I mean, understandably. But this is to warn people that Fenimore may get angry or just clam up entirely for reasons that are not the fault of the taggers. So, yeah. Apologies in advance. I keep having to do this for Fenimore. She'll be at least acting like she's okay in a couple of days (by which I mean she was already doing so several days ago), though.]

Comments

[blessingone]

...stupid that it has to be a good thing. [Her grip on his hand loosens a little.] I never thought that I'd ever want to stay here that long. ...I mean, it's not that it's that bad here, but....

[She tries to smile, but it has no humour to it.] I guess I'm really never getting home now.

[markofthewise]

[He can only imagine if he was in that same situation. He'd... well, he knows what he'd hope for.]

Maybe one day we'll figure out something, Fen. I know it sounds like a long shot... but nothing is impossible. Maybe if we find a way to remember things when we go home, we can find ways to change things too.

[blessingone]

I don't know. [But, maybe it wasn't so bad to hope. Maybe they could, one day. Even if --

Her train of thought is derailed as she realizes she had heard about this idea before. That's what Shirley said, when Fenimore had first arrived. Not the exact same thing, but trying to get people out alive....]

She knew. [As she continues, she sounds...perhaps not angry, but her voice is suddenly firmer and there is a hint of potential anger beneath it.] Shirley knew the whole time, and she never told me.

[...Yeah, her thoughts are pretty scattered, so this conversation may take many such jumps.]

[markofthewise]

[... ouch. She can't blame Fen for being upset at Shirley. Yet at the same time, he can understand so completely. It was the hardest thing in the world breaking the news to Yue.]

... she probably didn't know how. She should have told you, but... I think she just wanted you to be happy. [Just like how he wanted Yue to be happy.]

[blessingone]

[She can acknowledge, if forced, that she was happier not knowing. She can even understand a little how hard it would be to tell her. But still...but still....]

She wanted me to be happy? And what was I supposed to do if someone found a way home? I would have gone without any idea what was coming! I would have walked right into my own -- ! I would have gone.

[markofthewise]

I'm not saying it was right. [He ends up bowing his head a bit. Having done this with Yue already, it's... not easy. But Fenimore's fate is worse than Yue's and he knows it. Yue gave herself up for something bigger than both of them. Fenimore's death is empty, meaningless, something that shouldn't need to happen.]

1/2

[blessingone]

I know that! I know that. It was stupid and...and selfish, and cowardly -- [She tries to fill the words with anger and hatred, all negative emotions wrapped in a veil of fury.

She fails.] -- and I wish that she -- [She wants to use Shirley as a scapegoat for her feelings by turning them to anger rather than despair, but, even now, she knows she doesn't really feel that way about her.] -- and I wish -- [She hurts, and it is so much easier to hurt than to be hurt.] -- I wish -- ! [If she could turn it to anger and blame like she usually does, she could deal with it.]

[blessingone]

[But she can't.]

I wish she was here to help me through it. [She's no longer shouting and she's almost collapsed on herself, her shoulders hunched and her head lowered.]

[markofthewise]

So do I. [Maybe it's just rose tinted memories, but he's sure she'd know what to say right now. She wouldn't be sitting in the river in front of her friend, not knowing how to make things better. He's probably just making things worse.]

I know it's not as good... but I'll try to do what she can't.

[blessingone]

[Her lip trembles slightly before she bites it still. Then she throws herself across the small gap between them to wrap her arms around him and try to bury her face into his shoulder so hard that she bumps her nose, hiccuping as she tries not to cry.]

[markofthewise]

[Without hesitation he pulls her in tightly, resting one hand behind her head as he does. He has no words to make it better. But perhaps just being there will help, no matter how long it takes.]

[blessingone]

[It may take a while, as, after a few moments, she loses the battle to keep it inside. There's been too much that she's bottled up to hold back. She is mostly crying from the terror of a death that could take her at any moment, the loss of a chance to ever see her sister or her best friend again, and a sense of futility from knowledge of a death waiting for her back mere weeks after escaping a more terrible death, but she never let herself cry over her last weeks in Vaclav's dungeons, over her anger at being made an experiment once more, over her fear of being captured by the rogue Malnosso in a too similar situation, or even over Shirley's depature. These and many more cause her to break into tears like a dam bursting.

There are people who manage to cry beautifully, but Fenimore is not one of them. She skips straight past sobbing into an outright wail, only slightly muffled by his shoulder. It's interrupted by hiccups as she tries to suppress it, but it arises again another couple of times before it settles into sobbing. There's a moment where she starts to scream, shaking to the point of almost struggling, before she collapses into sobbing and crying almost like a child, frustration and anger fueling the tears more than sadness.

But, eventually, if he waits through it, she will eventually slow down to occasional, quiet sobs and then, finally, silence. She doesn't move, though, and holds on limply, most of the tension drained from her body.

...He'll probably need to wash that shirt, though, as her nose ran almost as much as her eyes.]

[markofthewise]

[The state of his shirt is the least of his concerns right now. He stays there for as long as she needs. When she goes quiet, he is left feeling drained from all of it, because as blunt and selfish as he can sometimes seem, his sister didn't get all the empathy in the family. He feels terrible and that silence seems like it ought to be filled by more than just the sound of the river.

When he finally does speak, he sounds a little drained. Not as much as she does, but his voice ends up cracking a small bit as he finds his voice again.]

... come on, we should go inside.