under the veil of the dark age

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

They quip and bicker and all Sunjata can feel is the pressure in his neck, the heartbeat thundering around the wound as it tries to calm down, inflamed and swollen to no end. But she stays, there’s some sort of apology granted between the two of them, and Sunjata’s arm remains on Nate wherever he can reach – giving his own sort of apology. There weren’t hunters in the jungle as far as he was aware, at least nothing humanlike, too used to seeing the fishermen out to really think.

And when Nate speaks next, Sunjata swallows hard and focuses on the fact that it had happened so soon after he’d said he wouldn’t get into stupid and dangerous situations because of this. And here he is, here they all were. The sigh slips from his nose now, steel gaze sliding over toward Nate. “Sorry.” He offers quietly, gaze lifting to Vai then as much as he can. “And thanks, Vai” For the conversation, the transport home, the healing after she’d shot him in the fucking neck. He can't exactly get away with talking more, not with the sensation in his neck with the movement of his throat.

SUNJATA

Vervain

”It’s okay. I don’t know the circumstances between you both either, and perhaps I was a little blasé about it given that I knew the whole story.” It was easy to apologise now that things were calmer, now that they had both put away barbed tongues and actions fuelled by panic. Smiling lopsidedly at Sunjata, Vai snorted. ”Don’t thank me, I shot you,” she reminded him unhelpfully.

Glancing around, she rubbed at the back of her head and gave them both another, fainter smile. ”I’ll leave you to it though, okay? Perhaps we can talk more again soon. I should be here for most of Deepfrost.”

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

- NATE -

but who am I to say?
let's all just run away

Blasé was certainly one way to describe the way she had arrived, recounted the events of the morning, but they were settled now, everything explained and straightened out and taken care of. There's even a smile, a little crooked, a little strained, offered out to Vervain. Even if Sunjata felt like shit, looked like shit, he was okay. Nate squeezes the hand he's still holding tightly, accepting or shrugging off the apology, like it didn't matter at the moment.

"Well, you know where the house is now, right?" Nate jokes, letting her take her leave without complaint this time. "I'm sure we'll see you around."

grab your saints and pray
and we'll burn this world today

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

The conversation between the two of them is left mostly to them – Sunjata having nothing else to add other than his quiet thanks, thinking of all the apologies for his idiocy he could muster when the door closes behind the witch. Still, there’s a slight smile that crosses his face at the mention of her shooting him – having meant the thanks for her healing so he didn’t have to continue to lean against the ground and spit up blood.

But he’s healed, settled, bandaged enough. And when Nate offers his own goodbye to her, Sunjata feels the light squeeze the Ascended gives him and exhales quietly, shutting his eyes tight against the dizziness he can feel as his heart continues to try and pound more blood to replace the fair amount that had gone missing now.

- FIN

SUNJATA