[SE] really rings a bell

girls can be dangerous and still win

Venturing to King’s End had been simple – along air routes and maneuvering winds before she’d settled the Firecracker by Sunjata’s house and then went to bother him in town. There were hordes to talk about, but Melita chose to focus on one in particular while they perused the merchandise nearby.

The stalls themselves weren’t wholly plentiful, understandable, given the time of day and season, but she’d paused every so often, sample wares or hold her hands behind her back, the picture of innocence while her mind navigated several avenues, then burst upon one without a second thought. “Heard Colt talked to you,” she offered as a thread, eyes glancing at her uncle once with a slight smile, hoping it was because the Accepted had apologized and not railroaded something else.

Melita

she knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in

// i'm not so good with tenses //

Luckily for them, it isn’t snowing terribly hard today. It’s enough to blot out the sky but the flakes that fall are relatively small in the grand scheme, unlikely to pile up too quickly on the walkways through New Haven. And with the shoveling and attention put on it for this season, he can very clearly see the glimmer of gold veining throughout the cobblestones as they walk – distracted by the thread that Melita offers.

His silver gaze flits up, scanning over to his niece as he nods and slows by a stall that has a variety of trinkets for the coldest season. “She did, yeah.” He hums, picking up a warm scarf to inspect, black and emerald yarn used to do interlocking designs. “She helped me with my quest from Frey.” And it had descended into a bad trip, which.. Honestly, was exactly what the Heartless needed, even if it had left him feeling relatively helpless in the moment. "Did she say anything about it?"

the Heartless

// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //

girls can be dangerous and still win

She hummed by the trinkets, glancing this way and that before determining none of those caught her eye, still toying around the subject line like a cat might bat at a mouse. “Oh, so you did get a quest!” came on a more excited tone, her smile there, meeting her eyes, rather than basking in the potential for ruin. “I didn’t hear from you, so I wasn’t sure.” Nor had Iskra, she presumed, as much as the three of them had discussed assistance in pursuit of said heart. “What do they have you doing?”

Her brow arched, the grin remaining, though she was somewhat distracted at the next kiosk by the sumptuous unfurling of treats. “She said you were…surprisingly happy.” She left him to fill in the gaps there, if he so chose – more details were likely to follow, as she was trying to pry apart the seams and all the unsaid matters. "Did she apologize for all that shit?"

Melita

she knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in

// i'm not so good with tenses //

As if the dawning realization hits him when he mentions the quest that Melita would be imagining a different quest, his steel gaze snaps to her with a slight wince and an apologetic gleam in his gaze. “It’s uh, not for my heart.” He reaches up to rub at the side of his head, ignoring the bells for the time being. “I did talk to them about it, though. We decided to give it a little bit before doing it, so, instead I’ve got a quest to get new magic to help people and myself feel inebriation better.” Here he is again, fucking up his words. But he thinks she’ll understand the gist with how much he’d complained about not feeling anything despite how much he drinks and whatever else he might try.

The next kiosk comes up, though, and Sunjata focuses on the treats within it – flashing an easy smile to the merchant as he picks out a cake pop and points toward another one in the shape of a bee with a raise of his brow, willing to get it for her if she wanted it (it seemed too fitting to not get it), after all. “She did. She also had a pretty bad trip, so.. We were able to talk it out.” He finally answers, taking the cake pop he’d picked out and turns toward Melita with a softer twitch of a smile to his face.

the Heartless

// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //

girls can be dangerous and still win

Her brows furrowed slightly as misunderstandings came into play – because they’d had a long and lengthy discussion about how he’d think about himself. About becoming better, doing things that mattered to him.

So now it was just…about inebriation.

Her expression emphasized a whole of unimpressed endeavors, glancing at him up and down as if trying to puzzle through the decision making, before rolling her eyes and moving away from the treats, suddenly either disappointed or dismayed by the answer. “Why, I guess? What’s the point of putting it off?” Sure, he could go and get drunk and have other people merrily lose their shit on drugs – and if that was some sort of end goal for Frey and whatever else influenced his decision making, far be it from her to strive and make a point. In one ear and out the other. That part of her uncle remained unchanged.

Maneuvering towards another stall and trying not to let the frustration seep outward – a constant reminder that it was his life and not hers – she only just then noticed the cake pop offering, all bee-shaped and cute. Narrowing her eyes, she took it, suspicious and mulish, before plopping it into her mouth and listening as her teeth hit honeyed confections. “Well, that’s good at least,” she answered from the side of her mouth.

Melita

she knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in

// i'm not so good with tenses //

The second the question leaves her lips, Sunjata knows it hasn’t landed the way he’d wanted it to. He works his jaw as he catches the brief way her eyes roll before she turns away and he follows after her with the treats in his hands. “It’s not really hurting anyone not having it.” He starts off, even though it isn’t exactly what he means. “It’s also kinda made my life a rotating wheel of disappointment lately.” His nose wrinkles slightly, shaking his head. “So when I talked to Frey about it, I decided that I wanted to wait a little more and work on things without it getting so complicated. I didn’t say I’d never get it back, I’m just taking a break.” He does still intend on getting it back, when he has some time to trust himself on making decisions without romantic entanglements to make everything more confusing. “And.. I guess part of me is worried what it’ll feel like when I do get it back.” The heartbreak of breaking things off with Ru was easier because he couldn’t feel it. And it also meant he couldn’t feel the hurt of Nate in his chest.

And it was entirely selfish but it felt nice to not have the heavy weight on his shoulders for once.

Regardless, he follows her to the next stall and hands the honeybee treat to his niece before he takes a bite of his own once she accepts it. As for Colt, Sunjata nods and glances to the items on display at this current stall. “She offered to help wrangle unicorns with us for the healing river, which I gladly accepted.” He shrugs a shoulder lightly, clearly relieved in that aspect.

the Heartless

// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //