[SE] 100 bad days make 100 good stories

// Ring around the rosie - Pocket full of posie //

Forgoing his stick for a moment, Kaisel reached into the bag slung over his back and fished out an apple for each of them. He hadn't thought about Mittens when he'd packed, and looked uncertainly at the creature as he passed an apple to Lena one exchange for some jerky. He just then realized he didn't know what snowballs ate, but apparently, meat was part of their diet. He'd leave it up to Lena to split the food, he decided, as he bit into his apple and munched quietly.

Irritation swept over Kaisel's face at the mention of the vile purple man. "Yes, and it seemed like it summoned him, or something." Kaisel spat, turning around to regard Lena properly. "I mean, in your head, where he loves to spend too much time. But the paper I was using grew hot, and it seemed like... like he was still there even after he was done talking. It felt like the poem was a gateway or something." The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as bumps rippled along his skin. "And Noe was acting fucking weird. She was way too friendly with him." Maybe if he were closer to her, he would have recognized the infection for what it was, or if he'd bothered to talk to Koa more, have already known what his older cousin did, and done more to help somehow. "Don't tell me you're gonna write one too? It's so skibidi."

Kaisel

// I'ma fucking blow all the ashes down //

Lena

Lena placed her paper down on the rock for a moment, snagging at the apples offered and trading over, before splitting them between Mittens and herself. The snowball ate and snagged greedily, while she neatly parsed through, listening to Kaisel’s sudden irritation.

Eyes widening, she couldn’t help her grimace at the description and explanation. “Gods – then maybe I shouldn’t -,” except its an SE requirement, not wanting to summon any Family member at all, really.

The mention of Noe brought another crestfallen notion to her thoughts, and a deep, long breath that extended into a burdened sigh. “She’s Infected, at the moment. I know Koa has a plan to take care of it, but, in the meantime…,” that was the reason for all of the young woman’s antics. Though the comment at the end confused her, causing an arch to her brow as she tilted her head and looked back at Kaisel. “Skibdi?”

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance

// Ring around the rosie - Pocket full of posie //

"What!? Noe is infected?" Kaisel groans and leans back hard against the rock. Truthfully, he smacked his head on it a bit, but his mind was racing too much to pay the hum of pain much heed. "That explains it," he muttered, grateful he supposed to understand it a bit better. Still, how did he not know? She was family - he should have realized, should have done something. "Does Koa know?" he asked tightly. He supposed he would, with how calm Lena seemed. Still, he wanted to be sure.

Chewing on the knowledge still, Kaisel turned to look at Lena as she softly queried with the repeated word. He couldn't help himself and laughed a bit. "Yeah, you know, skibidi. It's, uh, well it's like when you... it's um, it's when something is..." Knowing when to use the word was much different from trying to define the word, he realized. Helplessly he looked at her, shrugging as if in resignation. "Just trust, the Family is very skibidi."

"In fact, you should write that poem. Let's see if it does the same thing for you as it did for me." not to mention Kaisel had half a mind to pop off on the head haunting freak.

Kaisel

// I'ma fucking blow all the ashes down //

Lena

“He does,” she nodded, resolute and composed – eternally something calm, never yearning to ruffle feathers across the world. Had it still been a mystery amongst the folds, she might’ve been far less of a serene, tranquil figure – but she trusted in Koa’s capabilities and determination. “It happened at the taco party. Vox just came up and hugged her.” And that had been that – no way to ensure it didn’t happen, no way to cease and desist…other than to no longer hold such wakes within Stormbreak. But a warning nonetheless, and perhaps more insight and information on how that individual member infected others.

Her brows remained arched and confused as he continued to explain the ‘skibidi’, or lack thereof, so she decided to nod and act as though she understood.

The experimental portions left her uneasy, and she didn’t withhold the grimace tightening across her mouth. “I can try. I hope nothing happens.”

From there, she dictated a couple lines; nothing too dramatic or overwrought:

Knowledge is necessary and keen,
But perhaps left to less of a preen,
Sometimes your words have me feeling green.

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance

// Ring around the rosie - Pocket full of posie //

"Good," Kaisel said with an exhale of relief when Lena reassured him that Koa did in fact know his baby sister was plagued by space fuckers. Finding out the how, though, returned some of the tension to the set of Kaisel's shoulders. The taco party... he'd had to miss that for a mission, gods damnit. And it was Vox, again, being a thorn in his side. "A hug," he said with a scoff, leaning on the anger to hide the helpless despair that otherwise threatened to crash over him. "Of course, sweet Noe would have been willing to hug him..." what a foul trick to twist her kindness into a weapon like that. There was no redeeming this Family.

He continued to glower into the distance, his thoughts full. It all circled back to him needing to be stronger, to be more capable of doing something worthwhile. He shouldn't have come out here, he could have been on the mat right now, getting stronger. The fact that he'd gained plenty of strength today through Lena's wisdom could not be articulated in this moment, not when burning anger circled inside his fingers, a fist waiting to punch the daylight out of Vox's all too cheery face.

Some of the tension spilled off his shoulders as he turned to watch Lena write. He paused, holding his breath unknowingly as he waited for what he was sure would come. "Anything?" he asked after a beat.

Kaisel

// I'ma fucking blow all the ashes down //

As Lena's poem lingered in the air, a sudden, sharp crackle of static disrupted the serene forest ambiance. The temperature seemed to drop slightly, and the faint scent of ozone permeated the surroundings. From the corner of their eyes, both Kaisel and Lena could perceive a flicker—a brief, ephemeral distortion in the fabric of reality.

A voice, smooth yet tinged with an unsettling resonance, echoed softly around them:

"Ah, such poetic endeavors! Lena, your words are as refreshing as a spring breeze. Knowledge and humility—a commendable combination. Continue on this path, and perhaps you'll find the enlightenment you seek."

The distortion shimmered once more, accompanied by a gentle hum, before the atmosphere returned to its previous tranquility. The forest seemed unchanged, yet an intangible weight lingered, as if an unseen presence had just departed.

Lena

After finishing the brief composition, Lena frowned. When nothing occurred, she simply shrugged, presuming it wasn’t worth the dramatics, and then listening to Kaisel over the situation. “I know, it was awful…and she didn’t seem to realize it at all…,” and while the insight was certainly valuable, she would prefer her friend have not been a victim of the circumstances.

She was about to shrug her shoulders and alleviate the situation with something else, when the sharp crackle of static flickered through the forest. A chill went down her spine, and then brief glimpses of something out of the corner of her eyes. Mittens, alarmed, screeched, but it didn’t seem to do much good. Vox was there, voice echoing from all sides.

Understandably, she flung the paper out of her hands at the first instant, until it drifted swiftly down to the ground. “I don’t think I’ll be doing that again,” she murmured, glancing down at the parchment and wondering how it could be best remedied.

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance

// Ring around the rosie - Pocket full of posie //

Vox's abrupt intrusion was no less jarring than all the other times. He was the same feeling you got when you had metal fillings and bit down on a foil gum wrapper. He tingled in an uncomfortable way through Kaisel's teeth. He grit them together, breath unknowingly held as his whole body tensed during the moment he was here. Even after, there was almost a residue, a stain, of his foul presence, however phantasmal it had been.

"Good to know he's predictable at least," Kaisel said, not sounding like it was good to know at all. "I wonder if he could be trapped some way with this...just, he isn't actually here, so maybe not." He sighed, resigned to the fact that he did not understand their awful mysteries. "I wonder if it's his name... or intent, that calls him to listen and pop in like that."

He shook his head, aware he was overthinking it. He shoved off the rock they were leaning against, his appetite dissipated. "C'mon, let's head back, I'm creeped out here now."

Kaisel

// I'ma fucking blow all the ashes down //

Lena

Predictable wouldn’t be what she coined anyone in the Family, but two out of two circumstances seemed to line up proficiently. Gulping back hundreds more, she nodded tentatively; she wouldn’t be the one trying or striving to trap anyone, but maybe word could be passed along. “I’m not sure I’d want to try again,” to test the impacts, as she hastily packed up her things. “But agreed,” she ascertained; all that steadfast determination at flower hunting and snacking had become nothing more than dismay.

Another day, another time, and another place might have far more benefits to the present notions.

[FIN]

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance