[SE] storm it all to hell

Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?

Asta was right. Thal needed to turn to her friends right now; she needed to rely on them to help put the broken pieces back together, to help relight the fire that had always seemed unwavering in her chest. It's why when she'd planned to continue with her quest, she reached out to one of her closest 'friends' through the last few years, one of the only other people who might truly understand what she was going through. 

She tapped at the wood of The Marauder's railing as the crew gave her a wide, cautious berth as they prepared for the storm ahead; they'd seen the extremes of her emotions in the last few weeks (including unnecessary wrath to conceal all the things they didn't see) and had no desire to find out what kind of mood she was in, which turned out to be surprisingly somber. When she looked away from the lightning storm on the horizon, she scanned Tal, a small furrow on her brows. "How are you feeling? Now that... they're gone." It was hard to get out, the sensation feeling like nails on a chalkboard, scraping at the hollowness that had once been so full of purple direction and guidance, but she needed to know, to see if she was the only one who felt this pain.

Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die

Thalassa

With the Peregrine currently under new management and hopefully safe in King's End with Alys, Tal had also needed to rely on his friends. Finding himself in the unexpected position of needing to catch a ride, he'd been relieved when Thal had reached out to him first. She could give him a lift to meet up with Alys and he...

Well. He got it, in a way not many others seemed to. So unlike her crew, Tal leaned on the Marauder's rail beside his fellow captain and watched the storm with her in companionable silence. It was easier than watching the choppy water beneath their hull, at least, now that he didn't have the comfort of the Constellation Compass tucked into his pocket, ready to whisk him to safety if he fell into the wind-roughened waters. Boreal was curled up in the crow's nest with whichever poor soul was stuck on watch in the dicey weather and occasionally her broad head peeked over the edge to keep an eye on him, but she remained stubbornly out of reach most of the time.

Thal's question, though? That drew a deep sigh from the courier and then a wan smile as he looked over to meet her eyes. There was no visible outward sign of their status, but one Friend knew another and he gave her a sad little shrug. "...Lost, I guess? Abandoned, mostly. I can't help but feelin' like there should've been a way for it all t'work out, y'know? For them t'stay, here with us. After all they did t'help Caido out..." He sighed again, looking out to the storm once more as he leaned companionably into Thal's shoulder. "What about you? How are y'holdin' up?"

Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?

The storm slowly approached on the horizon, lightning bolts striking down through the clouds as she chose to watch their destination rather than Tal when he answered. Thal nodded her head, understanding so much that it made her heart ache like Pierce was leaving before her eyes all over again. They should have been able to do more, to help keep the Family in Caido; even though he'd insisted it wasn't her fault, Thal was convinced that this hadn't needed to be the way things ended, empty and alone. There should have been a way to stop it or someone to blame. 

As Tal returned the question, it was her turn to take a deep sigh. "I - " she paused, unsure how honest she wanted to be about it all before settling on something close to the truth "hate it." Stealing a brief glance at him, she leaned a little deeper into the railing as she whispered softly, "Pierce came to see me before he left, so I knew what was coming, but..."

Her head shook, trying to dismiss the hollow feeling despite how it never seemed to leave her. "It feels wrong, like..." Rain began to fall on her head and Thal shifted her head up to the sky, letting it fall on her face, the wind whipping in her hair. "Like someone stole my compass then threw me into uncharted waters that keep pulling me under the currents." She didn't explain that most days, it felt too overwhelming to bear, but she didn't have to when her eyes held a darkness that spoke of her suffering.

Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die

Thalassa

Hate, he could understand, and he nodded in silent support. But then, hearing that Pierce had come to her and not him--

He pushed back against the sudden surge of envy in his gut, harsh and sharp and cutting open wounds that still bled sluggishly with the Family's exodus. Of course he knew he was the 'youngest' of the Family's Friends, the one with the most to prove, to show that he'd seen the violet light and come to listen to reason at long last, but--

But it still stung, knowing that Thal had gotten a personal goodbye and he'd been left to hear about it with the rest of Stormbreak's Friendly citizens.

He swallowed it back, forcing the lump deep down, far enough that he could speak past it, at least. The rain that started slanting down upon them was oddly perfect in that moment and he joined the Captain in raising his face to it, letting it hit his face like the tears he'd been too proud to shed in the days since they'd been left...

Alone.

"That's... that's it 'zactly. Didn't know y'were such a poet, Thal." He tried a wan smile against the rain but it didn't seem to fit and he let it fall away beneath the rumble of thunder that crawled across the black sky above them. As the deck began to pitch he set his feet more firmly, one hand gripping the rail tight. "Maybe... maybe we c'n find a way t'bring 'em back? If we can convince th'leaders an' demigods that they don't mean any harm?"

Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?

Unaware of any envy, Thal narrowed her eyes at his shallow tease, a hint of that sharp wit hiding in their darkened blue depths. "I'm not." It didn't have quite the same bite when said towards Tal, but she still didn't admit that she sang the occasionally improvised song, lyrics and all. 

Thal shook her head insistently, having already asked that exact question. "Pierce said they agreed to never come back - that they had to leave because of the people..." And even though he'd insisted she wasn't one of the reasons, Thal couldn't help but wonder what she could have done better, about where she'd failed. It made her voice drop in a quiet, regretful tone. "They're gone, Tal."

As if to punctuate her words, a strike of lightning cracked just ahead of their course, the wind shifting to something aggressive and angry like it too was outraged by the departure of the Family. The crew knew what to do. She'd given Spook detailed instructions to furl the sails and coast into the storm, bracing for the choppy waves and bolts of lightning that might connect with the masts. That meant she could do her part of watching and observing the storm, wondering what it might be like to weild such power.

Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die

Thalassa

"Coulda fooled me," the courier said with a shrug, but his attempted smile had already faded back into the melancholy of their situation. The loss of their Family, and the comfort and freedom those connections had given them. Just the thought of it made him shiver, though the cold no longer touched him and the rain was nothing more than an inconvenience. It was picking up, hitting harder and faster, but he just tugged his Goggles up to protect his eyes, listening to Thal's explanation morosely.

It didn't occur to him to doubt her. She was a Friend and she'd never lie to him about something so important.

Even so, the final words hit like a fresh gut punch into a broken rib and he winced, flinching from the soft regret in her voice as it called forth an answering grief from within him. Or maybe he flinched from the lightning bolt that hit the sea so near at hand? Either way he sighed and pushed his fingers through his quickly-soaked hair, glaring up into the storm as if it was to blame for their loss.

"So... what d'we do now? Go back t'how things used t'be an' pretend like nothin' ever happened? Like they were never here at all?" The last of the daylight was swallowed by the ravenous clouds, turning the afternoon to sudden night lit mostly by the lightning that skittered through the sky overhead or struck the water near and far around them. Tal had to shout his question over the wind and thunder that had become a continuous roar around them, varying in intensity that dipped and cracked but no longer ceasing entirely.

Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?

His question was one she'd been asking herself a lot lately, and yet she hadn't been able to find an answer. Pursing her lips, Thal narrowed her eyes at the storm that was within shouting distance. "I don't know." She didn't seem bothered by the waves that began to crash against the hull or the lightning that grew closer by the second. "It's hard to think when everything feels so empty."

Thal shook her head, droplets of rainwater falling from her horns. "I don't know what to do without them, but I'm trying to focus on something - anything - else. Maybe I can lose myself in this quest or fill the time with friends or just..." Her voice was lost in a strike of lightning, but it felt hollow regardless, excuses that she knew wouldn't work, that she knew wouldn't be able to fix the gaping hole in her chest. It wouldn't bring them back, and everything felt so directionless and hopeless without the violet guidance that had once given her purpose. 

She watched as the ship finally broke into the storm, feeling the wall of wind snag aggressively at her clothing. "I don't know." It was more a whisper this time, buried in the chaos that slowly engulfed them. Thal stood her ground at the railing, watching it unfold as the crew worked behind her as she looked for the other side where they'd exit.

Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die

Thalassa

Tal nodded miserably in agreement at feeling empty, and while he could pretend it was because of the weather that his mood was so low, Thal would know better. Better then just about anyone else these days, truth be told, but most of the crew was too busy readying the ship to face the storm to pay much attention to the courier. The storm was practically on them already, the seas rough beneath the Marauder's hull and the sky a black maw of chaos lit by jagged teeth of lightning above.

He couldn't do much more than listen at the moment; he might run a one-man ship most of the time, but Tal had trained on the big skyships and knew better than to distract a captain aboard a vessel heading into a tempest. Besides, it was getting hard to hear Thal over the wind and thunder, so the courier settled for bumping his shoulder into hers as he scowled into the teeth of the storm. "Well, we aren't gonna just forget 'em. They were too damn important t'us, yeah? T'all o' Caido! An' y'spent more time with 'em'n I did. Y'knew 'em best. So... what would Pierce or Vox want us t'do now?"

Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?

Used to hearing things through whipping winds from her time at sea and cracking lightning from her home in Levinsward, Thal didn't miss any of his words. She nodded her head in agreement that she would never forget them. It was still hard to understand how they'd had such an impact on her, but there was no denying that Pierce had become an important person in her life, and as the rain began to pelt her face, she was reminded of all the tears she'd cried for him - the ones that still threatened to fall when she looked too hard at the hollow emptiness.

Determined not to lose her focus in the middle of a lightning storm, she took a deep breath, not bothering to wipe her rain-slick hair from her forehead. Blinking away a few drops, she watched as lightning streaked across the sky, the ship careening to the starboard railing where they stood, salt spray instantly coating her as she monitored the horizon, thinking on Tal's question with a small scowl. "It's hard. They never really told me to do anything, I just knew, and now... I just don't." And it sucked.

As if she was finding the silver lining in more than just the storm, her eyes narrowed, searching what she felt about the Family. "But I get the feeling they'd want us to stick together." Her weight adjusted as the ship tilted again, her grip on the railing tightening for a moment to ride out the pull of gravity, not the least bit distracted as she continued the conversation. "And maybe sew a little chaos for those who'd wronged them." Almost like Pierce was agreeing with her from whatever galaxy he'd traveled to next, another bolt of lightning broke through the clouds, connecting with the main mast of The Marauder in a spark of sizzling electricity. 

A few of the newer recruits panicked, rushing to think of how they'd stop the spread of a growing fire in the middle of a lightning storm; however, the seasoned sailors knew the drill. They'd traveled with her through the Brizo sea enough times to trust in her skills just as she trusted in theirs, and with a slow blink of acknowledgement, she banked the budding flames, turning back to Tal and the horizon that was just beginning to brighten with the promise of escape.

Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die

Thalassa

Tal gripped the rail with both hands as the storm broke over them in its full fury, not arrogant enough to think he could ride the Marauder's deck like Thal could. The Peregrine's, sure, but she was a skyboat and the winds tossed differently than the heavy waves that crashed with physical force against the hull. Still, he was a sailor in his heart, however late he'd come to the profession at last, and his legs were steady as his knees flexed with the rise and fall of the ship beneath him.

Tal listened to Thal's frustrations and epiphanies with a frown on his face, mouth tugged down in a scowl of deep and intense thought. Wiry shoulders flinched from the nearness of the lightning and the deafening crack of thunder that accompanied it, and he swore fervently beneath his breath as he shook his head to try and clear the ringing that followed. A glance over his shoulder saw the fire well in hand and already dying back to wet wood and scattering smoke. He exhaled into the wind, shaking his hair from his Goggles as he turned back to the horizon, spotting the clear path as well.

"Oh, thank Frey," he prayed with deep feeling. "No offense, Cap'n, but I prefer ridin' out these spats on my own deck!" He flashed her a weak but sincere grin and bumped his shoulder into hers affectionately. "An' for what it's worth? I'm with you. All th'way."

Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?

Contrary to the belief that Thal didn't care about anything or anyone, Tal held a special place in her heart, and as the storm roared around them she kept a close eye on his footing to ensure she didn't lose him to the raging seas. He seemed to do well enough on his own that she was able to focus on the horizon and the small fire lit by the lightning, even going as far as to offer a sharp word to one of the sailors who hadn't properly heaved his line around. Once she was certain he wasn't going to lose the vital rigging to the ocean breeze, Thal gave Spook the signal to head towards the edge of the storm. After all, their task was done. 

Despite her somber mood and overall inability to smile recently, Tal's words brought a hint of amusement to her face, a slight curving of her lips that might have been the start of a smirk. "Fair enough. I'm more grateful to Dygra for the quest, but I guess we should thank Frey taking it easy on us." Especially as she looked up at the clearing sky, the rain slowly dissipating to reveal patches of blue amongst the dark clouds. The lightning was already finding easier targets behind them, the crew not slowing as they righted the rigging and secured the lines to guide them farther out. Still, she gave a small prayer of thanks as she assessed the damage, taking note of what repairs would need to take place when they made it back to Jack Tar. 

Feeling content with the work, she nodded to her friend and returned his comradery shoulder bump. "Thanks, Tal. At least we have each other." Even if the Family was gone, she found solace knowing not everyone was celebrating their departure. 

[FIN]

Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die

Thalassa