[se] wilder than this

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

Melita’s version of decorations had been anything shiny. Flashing lights she’d acquired from the markets, all different colors. Gilded layers of fabric and ribbon. Things that looked like fire. Enticing and tempting, as if she were a dragon hoarding golden filaments.

Which, probably wasn’t ever really far off.

“So, how’s shit going with you?” was a wonderful preamble as she balanced upon a ladder, steadily hanging garland with little dragons inlaid within the tassels. And probably some vampire gourds because she liked custom shit. Her eyes went to her uncle, a hint of anything occurring since the last time they spoke – like if he’d had conversations about engagements and marriage with Ru…or anything else going on.

All Mel had were pranks, wild magic, and plots of vengeance.

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

// now we are hanging out in the backyard //

“Oh, you know.” Sunjata rumbles with a soft little laugh, pulling up his bag of holding to produce a few additions to the décor, before stepping over to steady Mel’s ladder while she puts the garland up. “About the same.” He shrugs a little casually, nose wrinkling briefly before a realization dawns over him that he hadn’t told her the biggest thing to happen, all because she’d fucking died and been brought back and his entire focus was ensuring that she was okay.

She looks like she’s fine now, though, so the Flood peers up at her with surprisingly bright steel. “Saved the fucking day at the leader meeting in the Grounds, though. Did you hear about that?” His smile shifts a bit more playful and cocky – proud of himself over that entire ordeal, to the point that when he’d received the letter and Halovian trinkets from Deimos he’d been in the highest of spirits for days afterward.

the flood

// looking at a new point of view //

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

Her hands nimbly tied off another portion of the garland, wrapping it around a nail around neatly (chaotically) placed there as he began talking. She snorted, arching her brow and studying his face for a moment. “You know, I didn’t,” on account of not being involved, and gladly. She was already getting stupid ‘you’re a demigod’ letters that she didn’t want to be a part of. “Leadership sounds fuckin’ dreadful, by the way,” like, every day.

She could tell he was proud of the achievement though, and given predilections of the past, she could give a little to him. “All right then – what’d you do?”

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

// now we are hanging out in the backyard //

“Don’t blame you.” He says with a soft laugh, realizing that it was far past anyone to bring up Sunjata being seen in a good light for once. But as she continues when it comes to leadership, his nose wrinkles and he sighs a still very amused sound. “It has its moments.” Mostly the fact that nobody gets to tell him what to do in regards to it – something he’s realized over time that he craves. The freedom to make his own choices about the land he lives in. One that with Frey would certainly offer enough certainty to be possible.

But, she does give in to his shit eating grin despite it, and he moves to go and hand her a few more decorations she can nail to the front of her home, beaming up at her with a hint of brimming excitement. “Dahlia showed up.” He says at first, gauging her reaction. “And then Maea started to say something about how she wasn’t welcome there and wasn’t invited and I was pretty sure Dahlia would’ve done something.” He trails off, because his next line would have been along the lines of to garner respect rather than something dangerous and threatening.

“So I stepped in for the sake of everyone there, got Maea to apologize, and alleviated the situation enough for everyone to be fine.” Navy feathers sprout from his neck and shoulders, under his shirt despite the cold, fluffed up as if preening of pride for the action he’d taken.

the flood

// looking at a new point of view //

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

“Does it though?” with a wrinkled nose and side-eye to coincide and complete the facial expression, shaking her head thereafter. Concentrating on hanging a particularly annoying piece of garland, she victoriously pummeled it onto a nail and congratulated herself silently with a proud nod, before actually listening to the sentiments.

Which made her still. “Dahlia,” she started, remembering the notes across boards, Remi’s misadventure, the whole fucking nine yards about danger and the damned Starfall island being right over there. “And Maea started shit?” She blinked rapidly, then rolled her eyes. “Hasn’t learned anything, huh,” which may not have meant anything because Melita was a slow ass learner too. “Well congratulations on that though.” On multiple notions; including the Ancient apologizing and a stand-off not occurring. “So is that just going to keep happening until we somehow get rid of them?” Dahlia wandering in and out? The little asshole in their ears at the meeting?

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

// now we are hanging out in the backyard //

“Not having to rely on anyone to make changes to the region or where you’re at certainly has its perks.” He shrugs, before he’s fully delving into the shit eating grin on his face – crooked, as usual – but there nonetheless as he watches her nail the garland into place. He watches as she stills, but doesn’t comment on it as she takes in the entirety, a deep accented chuckle leaving him a second later. “Somehow thought it was gonna be some grand stand.” He shakes his head, reaching for another decoration to hand to her when the next part comes out.

He looks up at her curiously, before shrugging lightly. “Probably.” He starts to say, even if he didn’t seem particularly torn up about it. “If they do end up leaving.” It slips out, unsure where exactly he’s going with it – but if Frey isn’t concerned by it then he figures he shouldn’t be worried either. And so, paired with his infection status, he’s surprisingly calm about everything going on.

the flood

// looking at a new point of view //

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

She waved her hands around another portion of garland, clearly unconvinced. “Yeah, but then there are the responsibilities.” Power and leadership went hand-in-hand with still having to do shit, and then expecting others to do the same. Melita might’ve loved her own fundamentals of brawn and persuasion, but never enough to want to take on roles and duties for an entire region. She found freedom far too encompassing to ever shackle or tie herself to sovereignty.

She’d much rather bitch about Maea, anyway. “What a weird hill to die on.” Nor could she imagine it went well thereafter either, but hey, wasn’t her concern. Taking the next decoration, she placed the notches of tinsel so they’d hang primarily away from Fangorn or Sila’s gaping mouths.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at his last comment though. “If?” Nah, those fuckers better end up departing, somehow. “I’m sure we’ll find a way.” Just like they’d done with the Voice; though that wasn’t exactly smoothly done either – so she went without mentioning it.

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

// now we are hanging out in the backyard //

“Responsibilities aren’t that hard to manage.” Sunjata says with a soft snort, rolling his eyes slightly before stepping back to collect a little sign of sorts, adorned with a snowman that he moves to hang beside Melita’s door, looking up at a nod at the mention of Maea’s hills to die on. “Yeah… I’m not totally sure about that.” He admits, face scrunching up with the thought.

He does capture her narrowed eyes and can sense the suspicion despite her not saying anything about it, his tattooed shoulders shrugging before he keeps his attention on her. “Frey seems to think they’re here to evolve things. They’re not… too concerned over all of it, but I think part of it is the interest in seeing how things change because of it.” Not unlike what they had said when the meteors had first crashed – more of a there’s always a bigger threat sentiment that he has learned to try and deal with.

the flood

// looking at a new point of view //

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

She maneuvered down the ladder, picking it up and adjusting it to hit another corner of the room. This decoration had been purely vibes alone, with little dragons lined up with more garland, spewing icy breaths and snowflakes, combined with others who unfurled embers and flames. She scoffed in response to the first sentiment, because she didn’t believe it for a moment, and the second was met with another shrug. Part of her wanted to say some horrid things (like maybe she’ll just die again), but given who it was in the room with her, she’d learned to somewhat hold her tongue.

Not the suspicion though – continuing to keep her gaze narrowed and pointed on her uncle’s back as he turned to hang the snowman. “Evolve things….,” she uttered, not sure if she liked the taste of the sentiment over her teeth. “I mean, Remi almost died, and she quasi-threatened leaders…and we had those fuckers listening to us during the meeting…doesn’t sound like it’s all in innocence and growth.” More like ‘here to take over’.

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

// now we are hanging out in the backyard //

Content to continue to decorate Melita’s home, Sunjata offers what little bit of information he can in regards to Frey’s understanding, his nose wrinkling while his back is to her as he debates with himself whether to inform her of what he’d learned. Ru had taken it in stride, all things considered, and while he still didn’t feel like anything was wrong (made better by the fact Frey wasn’t worried), Sunjata isn’t sure how to feel.

He does know that he’s trying to change, though, and the past versions of himself would have definitely hid it until he could figure it out.

So he heaves a sigh and nods, before he turns back toward her. “I think that’s mostly due to being met with the potential violence first. I mean, it’s a cycle that just keeps continuing, isn’t it?” He reaches up to rub at his temple before he shakes his head. “Can I tell you something?” He asks suddenly, steel eyes locked on the Honeybee, all amusement and happiness fading away to a stark and sharp seriousness.

the flood

// looking at a new point of view //

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

She snagged at a few baubles here and there too; mostly reflective of gilded things or crimson embers, uncertain over the parallels in the Flood’s tones. “Did Remi attack first, or was it the other way around?” She hinted initially, head turning to gaze at him, foggy on the details and even more irritated that the implications were that they had started something. They hadn’t crash-landed on another world. They hadn’t moved some massive ass island into the middle of Torchline’s sea. They hadn’t started infiltrating and taking over other lands and regions. “Was pretty peaceful until recently,” she added, nose curling slightly, eyes narrowing into those dangerous little slits, a telltale sign she was pondering over the platitudes of violence and wondering if she’d have to enact on it.

The seriousness of his alteration, the fading into harsh reality, made her chin rise, as if she was trying to protect herself, or perhaps either of them, in her usual mannerism of defiance. Sometimes, within the bare bones of her entity, sedition was all she really, truly knew. “What?”

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

// now we are hanging out in the backyard //

“I dunno about the details, to be honest.” Sunjata rumbles, because he’d never thought to ask. Initially, he’d received Remi’s question in the letters and had answered appropriately. He had done what was asked of him, testing the Refuge against Dahlia, and had come up empty and feeling relatively good about the entire ordeal. Dahlia wasn’t a threat to him, nor were any of the void creatures that had been growing and multiplying across the world, and with it he didn’t have much else to add.

So, instead, he focuses instead on telling her the truth – being that person he’d wanted to be from the start even if it came with uncomfortable results and distrust and anger. If Frey thought he was fine, and he truly did feel fine, then what was the harm? “I don’t think I’m the best one to talk to about the whole… Void situation.” He waves his hand in a gesture to try and elaborate further, before he huffs a little sigh. “I guess I’m infected, even though I don’t feel like it. Frey noticed and isn’t bothered. Just told me to come and see them if things changed.” Which he’d talked with Ru about, ensuring that he couldn’t ignore it on his own. “But being one of them, nothing’s a threat. Dahlia’s not a threat. She’s actually quite pleasant.” He feels like he’s rambling, but he shrugs his shoulder and settles back, waiting for the Honeybee’s fire to unleash itself.

the flood

// looking at a new point of view //

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

The warning was enough for her jaws to snap audibly shut. Infected. A thousand other inquiries muddled through her head, and none of them could be answered – at least, apparently not by him. Frey not bothered.

One of them was an echo though, immersing itself through her mind like the beat of a drum; stark and brutal. Some of her self-control remained tied and tethered, inexplicably so, managing only to simmer, because she wanted information. There was already a new goal swarming in her mind, after all. “And what does that mean? One of them? Like you’re her fucking sidekick or something?” And pleasant?

The hordes of other inquiries scratched against the enamel of her lungs, and she put down the rest of the décor in her hands. Did she want him here, in her house? Could he infect others? What about Ru? Could he go towards this…bizarre ass family and tell them everything they’d been working on? Or did it matter, considering how they’d already infiltrated two meetings?

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

// now we are hanging out in the backyard //

Well, so far it goes better than he’d expected. There’s no sudden fire or arrows launched at him, but his shoulders are a little bit intense in spite of it. “I’m not one of them one of them.” He tries to clarify, nose wrinkling slightly. “I consider it friendly.” He shrugs, but he knows that doesn’t really answer her question, and so he instead folds his arms across his chest and settles on the heels of his feet, head tilting slightly.

“The point that I’m trying to make is that the void shit doesn’t bother me. The creatures aren’t aggressive nor do I feel anything being nearby them. Dahlia, herself, is quite lovely if you actually talk to her.” Another reiterating point, going to bat for the Reaper herself in spite of everyone sending off warnings about her. If only they talked to her, they would understand too, wouldn’t they? They had to.

the flood

// looking at a new point of view //