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don’t you say it - Vervain - 09-22-2020
She’d been able to smell the smoke on the air the night it happened. But by the time Vai got outside, by the time there was any help to be had, the Senzaok house was burned to the ground, and all its inhabitants were missing. It’s been a couple of days since then, and between running fucking Torchline and trying to take care of the rest of the sick, she’s been searching for her runaways.
That search has taken her to the Slagveld today, and up to where Sunjata had taken her previously. Vai looks ruffled, tanned from the LongHeat sun, her curls pulled up off the back of her neck, and she’s got no time for anyone’s shit, as is evidenced by the way she heads straight up the stairs. [say]”Sunny?”[/say] she calls, trying to hide the hope in her voice. [say]”Nate?”[/say]
RE: don’t you say it - Sunjata - 09-22-2020
There’s this sane part of Sunjata's mind where he knows he should’ve sent a note to Vai, should have shown up and explained what happened. But it’s gone in an instant, any time it’s close enough in reach, and instead Sunjata’s left fumbling as he focuses on trying to remember where he’d left Nate, where the Ascended might have gone, why he wasn’t home yet.
So when Vai finds him, he’s rummaging through a closet, trying to find out if Nate had brought clothes over, if it had been true that the Ascended had come here with him or if it had been a figment of his imagination.
Her voice causes him to immediately drop the shirt in his hand, turning to look the way the voice comes from, before his feet are moving and bringing him into her sights — not realizing why she might be here looking frazzled about as he tries to give her a big hug. “[say]Vai![/say]” He greets, a wide smile crossing his face. “[say]Nate isn’t here. I don’t know where he is, just that he’s not here.[/say]” Wondering if it were some work related thing that had caused her to try and find him.
RE: don’t you say it - Vervain - 09-22-2020
She’s looking around hopefully, tiptoeing so she can listen for any tell-tale signs of life, and approaching footsteps has her looking up. Then suddenly he’s simply there, swanning towards her as if nothing has happened, and Vai is too relieved and overwhelmed to react at first. She hugs him back, her arms moving around him to hold onto him tightly, her breath stuttering out. [say]”We’ll find him,”[/say] she promises, and if she hugs him a bit too hard for a bit too long, so fucking be it.
[say]”I was so worried about you,”[/say] she mutters, stepping back to look up at him, scanning his face for any sign of injury or illness (other than the obvious). [say]”How did you get here? What happened? I—”[/say] Taking a deep breath and letting it out again, she stops any further questions from tumbling out. [say]”I’m glad you’re safe.”[/say]
RE: don’t you say it - Sunjata - 09-22-2020
She wraps her arms around him, warm from the Longheat sun and the trek to get here, and he stays however long she chooses simply soaking it up like a lizard on a hot rock. “[say]That’s what Mel said too.[/say]” He murmurs, if perhaps a bit sadly that they hadn’t found him yet. But then she’s pulling away a bit and checking him over and there’s confusion that furrows his brows initially.
Why was she worried? Oh, right, the house. “[say]Oh.[/say]” He says as if he’s filtering through what was real and what wasn’t real. “[say]It was… Dark and we lit a candle. Only the candle exploded and the fire got really big. Nate, Haai, and Pemota helped get what we could.[/say]” He recalls, nodding along with it as if to prove his point.
“[say]The Advocates are mine. So we came here. Just like before, when I cheated on Phoebe with Nate.[/say]” His head tilts as if it makes perfect sense, unsure why she’d ask why he’d gone to his Guild of all places when he no longer had a home.
RE: don’t you say it - Vervain - 09-22-2020
That Melita had known about it has Vai’s stomach sinking a little, but she forces it back to focus on the here and the now. And that Nate is still missing... She swallows hard, already able to feel tears burning at the back of her eyes. A fire and a sick Ascended? She doesn’t have much hope, but she’s absolutely not going to tell that to Sunjata. Instead she hears out the (frankly absurd) series of explanations before reaching out to drag him down to her level, scowling into steel eyes.
[say]”And at no point did you consider coming next door? We thought you were dead,”[/say] she points out, giving him a little shake for good measure and wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him again. And if it’s uncomfortable to stoop to her level from his height? Good. [say]”You are such a stupid tall lump,”[/say] she informs him grumpily.
RE: don’t you say it - Sunjata - 09-22-2020
She hears him out before it starts to go south again, and his confusion flares in the form of feathers and scales that intermingle along bronze skin, the way she latches onto him and pulls him down to her level — him stumbling a bit as she does so, bent over slightly to look her in the eye as his brows furrow. “[say]Wha..?[/say]” He questions before realization dawns on him and he’s slumping a bit in her grip, as her arms wrap around his neck. “[say]I sent a letter…?[/say]” Because he was supposed to stay home and not go anywhere —
That’s exactly what happened, though, in the corner of the table there’s a letter with scrawled penmanship to show that he’d written her a barely legible letter but it had never made it off the table.
His arms wrap around her, however, trying to find some purchase with this uncomfortable position he’s found himself in. “[say]I was going to see you but I need to find Nate.[/say]” He frowns, deciding instead to rest his fevered and sweaty head on her shoulder.
RE: don’t you say it - Vervain - 09-22-2020
Instinctively, Vai attempts to smooth out the feathers and scales, the witch sighing heavily and leaning her head against his; they’re both sweaty enough thanks to the heat, though it’s more dangerous for Sunjata by far. [say]”It doesn’t matter now. You’re alive,”[/say] she murmurs; maybe she’ll find that letter at some point and it’ll all click into place. For now though, no.
[say]”You need to cool down,”[/say] she interrupts, letting him go only to back him up a bit so she can find somewhere for him to sit. [say]”Where have you looked for him? Nate, I mean?”[/say] she asks. [say]”Is there a sink here?”[/say] Not that Nate’s in the sink - she just wants to know if there’s somewhere she can fetch some water.
RE: don’t you say it - Sunjata - 09-22-2020
“[say]I am alive.[/say]” He agrees, oddly proud that he is. But then she’s releasing him and the sudden cold from where her warm body had been feels like ice pouring onto him, straightening up and stepping back toward the edge of the bed where he might sit and wrap a blanket around himself to make up for the warmth that’s now gone. “[say]I want to be warm.[/say]” He murmurs as a weak protest, clutching the blanket and feeling the way it folds and bends some of his feathers in odd and uncomfortable ways.
“[say]I looked… Here. And the beach.[/say]” He says, brows furrowing, before he points toward the edge of the room where there’s a small kitchenette, complete with a sink. “[say]He was here… When we got here after the house burned. We talked a lot more than we usually do.[/say]” He can still feel the bite mark on his neck, the one that had blacked him out without realizing it, too focused instead on where Nate might have gone.
And then, as if some horror crosses over him; his feathers flex and his gaze snaps to Vai. “[say]You don’t think he left me… Do you?[/say]”
RE: don’t you say it - Vervain - 09-22-2020
[say]”You feel like you want to be warm, because you’re unwell,”[/say] Vai says with a sigh, watching sadly as he sinks down onto the bed and wraps himself up. He directs her to the kitchenette and she makes he way over to it. Not for water - not yet, she knows better - but to soak a cloth under the cold tap so she can make a compress for his forehead. Sunjata says he’s spoken to Nate and at any other time she’d trust him, but right now? She doesn’t know that Nate is still alive honestly.
Has he left the Arbiter, though? Vai moves back across the room with the compress, sitting down beside him and reaching out to rest it carefully against his fevered skin. [say]”I don’t think he would ever leave you, Sunny,”[/say] she tells him, sounding certain. [say]”I think he’s just a bit lost, that’s all. And we need to find him, like you said. Where’s Melita? Is she looking for him too?”[/say]
RE: don’t you say it - Sunjata - 09-22-2020
He’s unwell, a statement he’s heard again and again and it’s been so long, nearly half the season wasn’t it? He’s exhausted, his body working on it’s last set of gears, his mind burrowing more and more into the insanity as the days stretch on and mold into one. And he remembers nearly none of it.
He clutches the blanket tighter as she approaches with the cloth, staring at it as if it might attack him, but when he doesn’t see the water he lets her press it against his fevered skin. His feathers tremble, scales crawling up across his chest and along the center of his throat, anxiety at play with the want to attack to get out. “[say]I don’t know where Mel is.[/say]” He murmurs, unable to remember what had happened after she’d found him. “[say]He was here that night and when I woke up he was gone. He was here.[/say]” He says with some intensity, as if the slow dawning realization begins to cross his mind that Nate might not have made it out, some semblance of horror overcoming him.
RE: don’t you say it - Vervain - 09-23-2020
[say]”Hey, hey... it’s okay, Sunny. It’s not to hurt you.”[/say] Vai knows that probably won’t make a difference to him, but even if the cool feeling of the compress doesn’t go away, she hopes the fact that she’s the one saying it might make it feel like less of an attack. [say]”I guess we’ll have to find Mel as well, then.”[/say] It doesn’t escape her, that he’s been sick for a long while, and it would be enough to conquer almost anyone by this point.
[say]”If he was here, then he will come back here. He’ll come back to you,”[/say] she says, dabbing the cloth across his cheek and down the side of his neck. [say]”Lay down, Sunny. You need to keep rested. You want to have enough pep for when Nate comes home, right?”[/say] Not that she knows that he will, not at all. But Vai doesn’t know where the Ascended is. She does know where Sunjata is, though, and he needs help now.
RE: don’t you say it - Sunjata - 09-23-2020
It won’t hurt him. How many times has he heard that and it done exactly that? But he believes her – he can’t remember fully why at the moment, but he knows that he does. He trusts her, and if there’s something Sunjata doesn’t give out much anymore, it’s trust. The scales remain, the feathers trembling until the soothing feeling of it cools him down and there’s a flicker of some clarity that slowly tries to break its way through.
Until it’s snuffed out again.
“[say]He’ll come back to me. He'll come back.[/say]” He repeats, gruffly, voice parched and hoarse as the cloth moves to his cheek and his neck. His eyes close, doing as she says, sinking back into the bed and letting the blanket slip away, the air cool against fevered skin and he wonders if the steam he sees is real or if it’s all make-believe.
There’s a quiet pause, jaw working as his teeth grind and clench together. “[say]I don’t know what’s real anymore.[/say]” It’s quiet, uncertain, eyes opening so his steel can focus on Vai’s face. “[say]I’m sorry… That I didn’t tell you. I thought I did.[/say]”
RE: don’t you say it - Vervain - 09-23-2020
[say]”Of course he will,”[/say] Vai agrees, even though she can’t quite believe it herself. There’s no proof to the contrary, so it’s not a lie, exactly, but unfortunately the witch won’t be the one to find out for definite if it’s true or false. As Sunjata lays down, she moves to carefully adjust the pillow under his head, peeling the blanket away so it’s folded neatly by his feet. Vai glances to the open windows, coaxing in a breeze with her magic as she’s done once before with Nate. Hopefully it will bring the temperature in the room down, if nothing else.
Letting the damp cloth rest against the back of his neck now, she sits at the side of the bed, smiling sadly across at the Arbiter. [say]”I believe it,”[/say] she whispers. [say]”I’m not going anywhere, okay? Not until we figure this out. You can’t keep running a fever like this for much longer, though...”[/say] And it never seems to break. [say]”Can I get you something to drink? No booze, sorry.”[/say]
RE: don’t you say it - Sunjata - 09-23-2020
She agrees with him, despite not knowing if what he says is true. He wonders if she realizes it – the way it sounds, the way he knows he sounds. Because what if he had lost him in the fire? Pemota wasn’t here. Nate wasn’t here. There were clothes of his here, sure, but that didn’t mean he had grabbed them. And with Sunjata’s memory he way it was, who’s to say it hadn’t just been a vision?
And then what does he do?
The cloth rests at the back of his neck, the blanket lost to clutching childish hands and folded at his feet. He tries to sink into the bed, tries to soak up the warmth from his fever warm body that’s leaked into the bed instead, goosebumps rising and flaring feathers and shimmering scales with the breeze that appears and coaxes over him, adding some relief and clarity though albeit not much.
“[say]I don’t know if you can figure it out… Even Safrin didn’t know.[/say]” His gaze slips over toward her, briefly, some hidden sorrow within his gaze, before he tears it away to look through the open window and watch the Hels along the rooftop across the alley. As for something to drink? No water, he still can’t handle it – the thought nauseating. “[say]Tea?[/say]” That was different from water, wasn’t it? Was it close enough for him to notice the difference, to know it’s not water?