[o] The dissonance of purgatory

Luka

I know there are angels singing somewhere
I hope they sing for us

He’s worn thin and few the excuses that satisfy his dad whenever he proposes leaving Halo’s borders. Offers of another region’s boundaries, a new home, some other change his dad in all his love and desperation to fix things can possibly dream up to give - none of it repairs whatever broken and off-center piece is sitting in Luka’s chest and stabbing at him every time he breathes.

He’d thought that maybe Frey’s waters could fix it instead. Prayed that whatever taint or rot was festering between his ribs was something tangible, something real and capable of being healed by hands greater than his own. It has no healing power like the springs Halo once had or Torchline’s fountain, but the former were destroyed and the latter is farther than he feels he has the strength to travel. So he’d hoped. Foolishly, childishly. As small and stupid as he’d been beneath Dahlia’s hands as she -

Luka rises out of the water and blindly grabs at the nearest hew of stone, ripping the loose chunk he can fit in his hands free and hurling it against the cavern wall where it explodes into tiny pieces. His shoulders heave with harsh breaths and the cacophonous echoes repeat in mocking layers down the tunnels that lead out of the cavern - but no other sound comes out of him for all his violence.

Shaking hands fist hard enough to risk blood beneath his nails as he sits stiffly on the edge of the spring and listens to the drip of condensation forming into droplets and falling to the stone floor. He’s fine. Maybe the springs didn’t fix him, but he’s fine.

For our bruised mouths are an act of resistance
and our singing hearts, together, make a beautiful prayer

Maea

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved

An echo of violence riccocheted down the tunnels and windings until it faded, as futile in its repetition as the act of destruction itself. The doe's ear twitched as the noise registered and she paused in mid stride, considering whether to press on and if it would be wiser to shift. If a fight waited for her in the cavern up ahead then the gentle feirwe would be ill suited to face it. As she listened however, only silence followed. Settling on a course of action she kept walking, more alert now - and admittedly curious about what had caused the disturbance.

A blueish glow preceded her exit from a smaller side-tunnel. Quiet flame licked the antlers on her head, illuminating the pale ivory of her hide and erased darkness from the path immediately before her. Soft lavender eyes took in the cavern with its hot springs and the ever curling vapor, scanned habitually for a sign of lilies and fell like an afterthought upon a young man seated by the water's edge. He appeared deep in thought, and for a long while she neither moved nor looked away; waiting, watching, for some indication that her presence was unwanted.

In secret, between the shadow and the soul

Luka

I know there are angels singing somewhere
I hope they sing for us

The light alerts him first, a glow of color that has no business being in the sheltered depths of the cavern he’s found himself in. No business being such a calming shade either for the way it doesn’t startle him half as bad as an unexpected presence might otherwise have. Luka’s torso twists to anxiously seek answers regardless, hand reaching sharply for his discarded clothes and the protections that lie within. Why is it even those few feet away? He’s a fool, he let his guard down again, the echo of steps are approaching and he isn’t ready -

But what turns the corner is an animal, not a sickly-sweet-smiling woman. Luka’s shoulders remain stiff, leery and unconvinced. It’s unlikely this is a wild animal, and Luka doesn’t feel any better knowing there’s a person in there somewhere, unreadable and unknown.

“You lost?” Maybe that’s why they’d shifted, to try and find their way out with better senses. Groping blindly for his clothes behind him without taking his eyes away, Luka tries to control his expression into something mild and less hunted. “I can lead you out. Or leave, if you’re lookin’ for a spot.” He’s not usually keen on company these days - if he ever was - but he’s never been able to stop himself from offering to help people. It’s the only way he knows how to be useful. Worth something.

For our bruised mouths are an act of resistance
and our singing hearts, together, make a beautiful prayer

Maea

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved

Offers broke the quiet much like the rock had a moment before. Options for the choosing, that had her pause mid stride, a foreleg curled aloft in contemplation over which path to select. Indeed, she was no wild thing. No more than he was, though there was something feral beneath the young man's voice that resonated with a part of her that was used to running. A state of mind she knew well, and was still learning to escape. Was she the lost one, or he? Whatever the cause of his outburst might be, it didn't strike her as the kind that was best resolved alone.

Eyes of a soft lavender hue regarded his scramble for clothes and the defensive posture that seemed as ingrained as any deer's, as though he was the feirw and she – well. She was a wolf in sheep's clothing, so his wariness was not unwarranted. But Maea didn't eat people, and she had no intention of disturbing him. Perhaps she ought to shift - that would be the polite thing to do - but she did not. Instead, she simply shook her head, sending soft rosy ears flapping and the blueish flames of her antlers dancing, and approached the edge of the water to nibble on the waterlogged algae and lichens growing along the rim. Lingering, for all intents and purposes, and leaving it up to the boy if he wished to stay or go.

In secret, between the shadow and the soul

Luka

I know there are angels singing somewhere
I hope they sing for us

The shake of her(?) head only confirms the humanity that lies beneath fur, but no shift accompanies the answer. Luka’s hand slowly parts from the clothing behind him, though this time he keeps it closer at hand. Had she shifted nude or something for the springs and now feels uncomfortable? Luka isn’t sure he’d be comfortable averting his eyes to give some semblance of decency so perhaps it’s best - though it leaves him stuck in many other ways. Hardly the type to talk excessively in the first place it’s daunting to imagine talking to essentially open air.

He keeps his legs in the hot water as he watches the interloper the closer they move, shoulders relaxing only slightly when the algae takes their attention instead of himself. Lifting one leg out of the water he props his foot on the ledge and drapes an arm over it to rest his too-warm cheek against his bicep. Eyes held on the deer…thing, he at least lets his eyelids fall halfway to give some illusion (mostly to himself) of relaxation.

“Not sure what Attuned find socially proper, but this is weird y’know?” It’s more an observation than an accusation, timbre too steady to be directly insulting. “Not sure you can even swim in that form.” He is only familiar with the animals regularly found in Halo and sure, deer can swim, but in a hot spring? Would she even be able to safely get in and out? All the weirder that they came to the springs just to eat then, but Luka isn’t the authority on normal social behavior, much less Attuned behavior, so what does he know. Maybe he’s just projecting so he won’t feel the sick squirming in his chest.

For our bruised mouths are an act of resistance
and our singing hearts, together, make a beautiful prayer

Maea

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved

In their defense, Attuned had the benefit of telepathy to cut the awkwardness of animal sounds and vague body language, and unfortunately it wasn't a skill ske possessed. Call it a mildly chaotic streak though - she was Ancient after all - but she found his confusion over the situation rather amusing. The way he determined her to be more than a wild creature yet questioned her ability to do normal people things contradicted itself enough that she leveled a long look at him.

Casually chewing on a strip of lichen, the white-coated feirw tripped right up to the edge and dipped first one, then a second front leg into the water. Hovering supported by her hind legs only for a second, the eventual leap into the pool was neither careful nor graceful - and it sent a spray of rippling water towards the youth. Was it on purpose? Who knew - either way, when the doe began swimming across the pool towards the other end, she did look quite smug. Like she took pleasure in proving him wrong.

In secret, between the shadow and the soul