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+---- Thread: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down (/showthread.php?tid=5258)
a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Harper - 03-19-2021
When he had finally awoken - or thought he had, mind clearing and clarity dawning like sunlight through clear water - Harper hadn't known where he was. It had taken some time to find his way back to Torchline, and we'd he had finally made it back to the Halenani, he'd been informed of just how many seasons had passed. And that Phoebe was gone.
Where was anyone's guess, and he assumed automatically that the same thing had happened to her. With no friends of his own to go to - dead or similarly vanished, which hurts to recall - Harper had buckled down and started searching by himself. Not that it has been fruitful, clearly, which is what finds him back at the Port once more. It's a busy marketplace with a lot of foot traffic, and a plentiful source of information when it comes to finding his sunshine-haired partner.
Time and isolation has led to a darker shade to his blue eyes, a sharp intention to his movements. Things are getting worse, and he has decided that if he can't find Phoebe in the next few days, he will ask Safrin. He'd thought he could find her before now, combing through the lands as he has, but even his reluctance to encroach on Safrin's time is nothing in the face of his worry for Phoebe.
Shouldering past a string of shoppers, Harper shoves his hands in his coat pockets and sighs, gaze roaming as he looks both for silken golden hair and his normal informant at the same time.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Phoebe - 03-19-2021
Harper had disappeared well before Phoebe had, and so as she tried to find her place in the world once more, he was naught but a sad memory. He had left or been taken or died somehow like every other man she had ever loved, surely. Such had been her fate, and with people coming and going so often in her life, it was hard for her to cling to the hope that they might someday reappear. Such was a fool's errand, and she had little time to focus on that, knowing any moment Cian or one of his minions might appear to try and whisk her off to their capital. Or was it the capital of Caido? It didn't matter. Frey would probably tell her capitals were a silly mortal concept with no real impact on reality, just the mortal need to feel control over their space.
She paused and blinked. Wow...where had that thought come from? Had Frey changed her thought patterns too?
Still, she ought to be focusing on trading for some clothes. She had yet to return to the Halenani, which had a new proprietor apparently, and so the only clothes she had were the ones Frey had given her - a very short white dress with a neckline the dipped all the way down to her sternum. And no shoes. At least that bit was fairly common in Torchline.
So she stood at a stall with Branbast draped over her shoulders and Pim making a nuisance at her side, growling at any who dared get close.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Harper - 03-19-2021
Harper does not have a companion's eyes to assist in his search, no fanciful nose or magical powers to help him as he combs through the crowd. What he does have is training. Falling back on it has perhaps only steepened his descent into old habits, his high defenses and solitary nature like stone walls blocking out any helpful hands. It hasn't been long since he came out of his weird fugue state, no more than half a season, but without Phoebe he'd lost the sunlight that kept the ice of his past from creeping back into his bones.
When his gaze slides keenly over the milling heads, the blonde hair is his first sign. A trait he has been chasing all around Caido, like a phantom in the corner of his eye. With the time that has passed, Harper doesn't dismiss the longer hair, already angling to move closer to get a better view without being obvious enough to intimidate whoever it is in case they're just an unlucky stranger.
Except as he gets closer, familiarity becomes too hard to ignore. His heartrate begins to pick up, graceful maneuvering through the crowd devolving into bumped shoulders and grumbled complaints left in his wake as his stride hastens. [say]"Phoebe?"[/say] A plaintive call on hoarse, ill-used vocals. Blue eyes only dare to leave her profile to glance around, and his pace falters with relief to see Prim at her ankles and Branbast on her shoulder. Shoving through towards her, his voice rises the closer he gets, feeling the empty ache of time falling away the closer he gets to her. [say]"Phoebe!"[/say] Bursting through he's suddenly left unsure what to do with his hands, terrified that she's not real and that he will disturb the illusion if he touches her. That pain is evident on his ever-guileless face, the hesitation apparent in his trembling hands, and yet all the same there is a desperation and a breaking joy dawning in his eyes at simply being able to see her. Even if she may not be real.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Phoebe - 03-19-2021
At the sound of her name, Phoebe lifted her head from the racks she was examining. It seemed she had been forgotten by most, so to hear it called out with such urgency. Who could it possibly be? "Well, well, risen are the dead." Branbast purred in her ear. Her brow furrowed. What in Frey's name did that mean? Only when she heard her name again did she turn..
Honeyed eyes widened as she stared into the face of a ghost. Surely a ghost! Harper...Harper was gone! He had died or disappeared to another world or...risen are the dead. Her mind couldn't process it entirely. She recalled the few times she had seen or hallucinated Emmett... he had seemed so real and yet... not nearly so solid as the man standing before her. Could... could it really be him?
[say]"Harper?"[/say] she said softly, still not sure if she ought to believe her eyes.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Harper - 03-19-2021
He is not close enough to hear Branbast's voice, to use that as proof that this is really her. While he has not had any sort of hallucinations since the sickness broke, no reason to believe she isn't standing here hale and whole that isn't rooted in his own despair, Harper isn't willing to risk it. Not when this world is so full of magic he doesn't understand and can't compete with.
They stand opposite, staring at one another with wide and disbelieving eyes. Frozen. Only when her petal lips part to say his name does he break, throwing any fears that she may be some impostor to the wind. He can deal with that later if he must. Right now, he can't stand the empty place in his chest that has been hurting since he made it home and discovered she was gone. Surging forward he pulls her into his arms, trying not to displace Branbast but unable to spare too much attention to ensuring it. Not when he crumples the moment his skin touches hers. Solid and immovable, no mere illusion. Harper buries his face in her golden hair, eyes burning as he breathes in her honeysuckle scent. [say]"Oh god, Phoebe. I found you. You're alive."[/say] It comes out disjointed but no less like a prayer of thanks.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Phoebe - 03-19-2021
His name had hardly left her lips when he surged forward. Automatically her arms wrapped around him. And though she should have crumpled as well beneath his weight, she found the burden manageable. Hardly noticable really. She might have pondered it more - how odd it was that he didn't feel any thinner than she remembered and yet somehow he weighed very little - but other things were currently more worthy of her brainpower.
[say]"I'm alive? You're alive!"[/say] she said, arms wrapped securely around his face. The Nightingale was so taken aback her own emotions had yet to rise. Where had he gone? And where had he come from? And when, precisely??
But then memories of monsters who could take any familiar form rose in her mindseye, and she shoved him back to arms length. A critical eye ran over him, looking for anything out of place. It wasn't Longnight, nor was she in the Hollowed Grounds... but stranger things had happened in Caido. Like spending several seasons in a chrysalis to transform into a demigod. [say]"What was the gift you made me for my birthday?"[/say] she said. The armband had not been common knowledge, so only the real Harper would know.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Harper - 03-20-2021
Her body is warm and perfectly familiar as he takes her into his arms, clutching her close as he tries in vain not to squeeze her too hard, unaware of the new strength of the body she's in. A sense of rightness finally falls across him. All that time wandering, lost to the sickness, and the loneliness of the time between waking and finding her seems to unfold in front of him and finally burn up into ashes. No longer holding the strength to haunt him now that he has her back at last.
He's alive? [say]"What? Yes, of course I'm alive,"[/say] he laughs, overwhelmed and reluctant to part from her as she pulls back. Sympathy comes on a second wave, recalling all she has lost and how easily Caido seems to snuff out the flame of life. He had thought they'd both been afflicted at the same time, but perhaps that was wrong.
It causes an itch beneath his skin to let her move back and look at him, wanting to hold on tight and never let her leave his sight ever again. That possessiveness may pose a problem later admittedly. Still, her question is understandable, and commonplace even in his old world when working with shapeshifters and magic. Smiling because he knows he can't get this one wrong, he lifts a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, thumb caressing the soft skin of her cheek. [say]"A new gown, and an arm band of gold with an opal stone. I gave it to you on the beach, the same day I told you I loved you."[/say] His smile finally returns, bright and beaming, as if the dark clouds had never haunted him in her absence.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Phoebe - 03-20-2021
Her brows furrowed, emotions finally starting to well up. [say]"No! No not 'of course'! You disappeared! You left me!"[/say] she said, voice strained as those days came to the forefront of her mind. The fear, the sadness, the heartbreak, the resignation...it all bubbled back up and threatened to turn to tears. She hated it. She had promised to stop letting such useless emotions tether her to misery, and yet here she was again when faced with a supposed Harper.
And yet it was all she could do not to tilt her cheek into his hand. Because she had loved him. A part certainly still did - but when you mourned the death or permanent disappearance of someone, seeing them alive and well again wasn't something to anticipate. But her answered correctly, and the Nightingale's lips pressed together tightly as she stared at him. [say]"It...it really is you then?"[/say]
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Harper - 03-20-2021
Her condemnation takes him aback, confusion apparent in the line that forms between his dark brows as they furrow. Blue eyes search hers, not letting the words hurt when he knows they're untrue. [say]"I would never leave you willingly,"[/say] he assures instead, because there is still the matter of his identity to confirm. There will be time to tell her why - it will come soon, in fact - but Harper can't let her go a moment longer thinking he would ever part from her side of his own, clear-headed volition. Hopes that it will comfort her in the moments between where he proves himself to be real.
[say]"It's really me. But what cookies did you bring me with my tea when you visited my room in the Halenani?"[/say] It's only fair to ask the same, if only to prove even more definitively that these memories they share are real. None of the workers had known Phoebe had slipped away to his room that night, and she had been the one to bake them. Even still, he knows she's real just by his answer being right, and so he continues to cup her face with a loving smile. Ready to explain regardless, but needing to assuage all possible fears and suspicions first.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Phoebe - 03-20-2021
Experience told her to doubt his words. Everyone left eventually because they wanted to. But...she knew Harper. He wasn't the sort to disappear without a trace on his own. He knew how many times that had happened to her, how deeply it would cut her. [say]"Then why?"[/say] she said, a slight tremble in her voice. Surely there was a reason - and hopefully a good one.
His question took her off guard though. It was so specific that even the omnipresent narrator couldn't remember! Phoebe's nose wrinkled briefly as she tried to think back. [say]"Ginger snaps. I had made them for you specifically."[/say] she finally said with a small smile.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Harper - 03-20-2021
Her answer is exactly as he'd counted on, and though her emotional state makes him hesitate to kiss her outright, he can't help leaning forward to press his lips to her forehead. It's hard not to linger, to pepper kisses all over her face and down her skin until no area has escaped this expression of his love, but she has questions that he needs to answer.
[say]"I got, well, sick I think. The people here said it afflicted more than a few people, regardless of where we lived. One moment I was in the Halenani, the next I was...hallucinating, I think? It was like the longest, weirdest dream I'd ever had."[/say] Discomfiting to say the least, and he frowns as he recalls it. Harper has never done drugs past the recreational stuff in his teens, but he certainly isn't inclined to try after all that nonsense. [say]"When I woke up - got better, I don't know - I had no idea where I was. When I finally made it back to Torchline, the girls at the Halenani said it had been seasons. And you..."[/say] here his voice goes tight, gaze refocusing to stare down at her with a raw sort of desperation. Only her current, live presence keeps him from revisiting how he'd taken that news. [say]"...you were gone."[/say] His hand at her waist squeezes, restless and needing to chase away the fear with the surety of her body. [say]"I've been looking for you ever since, I was going to ask Safrin where you were if I couldn't find you in the next few days. Where were you?"[/say] Fair is fair after all, he hadn't been the only one mysteriously missing. It's almost hilarious that they'd both done it.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Phoebe - 03-20-2021
As Harper's tale unfolded, the Nightingale's expression fell into a sympathetic frown. A sickness driving him to a wandering madness... in a past lifetime she may have commented on how convenient an excuse that was. But such diseases were common enough in Caido that she herself had suffered from them on two separate occasions. [say]"And you're... you're okay now?"[/say] she said, her ire and hurt quickly replaced with concern.
But of course, when he had awoken from his hallucinations, she had been gone as well. He deserved answers as much as she did... though she worried hers might be far more troublesome to him. [say]"Frey took me."[/say] she said quietly, not wishing to be overheard. Phoebe watched him, hoping to see him recall the conversation they'd had, the worries of what would happen if Cian's predictions came to pass. They had decided to cross the bridge when they reached it.
Well now here they were, reunited at the entrance to the bridge.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Harper - 03-20-2021
The soft murmur has him leaning closer, broad shoulders crowding close as if to block anyone from even so much as reading her lips. A frown draws at his lips, mind racing and trying to make connections as to what she's alluding to. When it clicks, his eyes go wide and travel from her bare feet to the tip of her head. There's no real physical difference aside from her longer hair, but then again maybe she didn't need to be changed physically anyway. [say]"So you're...one of theirs? Officially?"[/say] Keeping it vague enough just as she had. Kaiholo is quite packed, and he won't put her at risk. After a moment of stunned silence, he uses the hand still gently cupping her face to tilt her jaw and leans in to press a tender kiss at the very corner of her mouth. Not wanting to rush or take too much, to assume these are liberties he can still take after his absence. [say]"I don't care. I don't care, Phoebe. I was so scared when I was trying to find you, I'll take you any way you are."[/say] Pulling away, he stares down into her eyes, face serious and intense. [say]"You have me. No matter what."[/say] Even if that means war.
RE: a martyr on a bridge that's burning down - Phoebe - 03-20-2021
She smiled at him a little bit, a light laugh managing to break through her tumultuous emotions. [say]"Good... because I don't have anything to treat you with even if you weren't."[/say] she said. But a more serious issue was floating about, now that she was sure he was well.
Phoebe nodded, pulling her lower lip in under her teeth, watching reconcile her new reality. She wasn't the same Phoebe he knew. The one he had saved. The one he had loved. He had expressed his concerns before, and for a brief moment she thought he would turn and walk away. But then her face was pulled forward and his lips pressed to the corner of her own. A shiver ran down her spine and fingers curled into his shirt. [say]"Thank you."[/say] she said softly, a few tears of relief rolling down her cheeks.