(SE) so we light up (O)

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“House arrest?” He questions, flashing her a grin as his amusement replaces any of the worries he’d harbored before now. “I thought I was the Arbiter here, Vai.” He chides easily, a quiet chuckle slipping from his lips. As for her next comment? Well, he probably wasn’t the most hated person around, but he certainly was running out of his good graces with everyone else. “Mm, fair point.” He offers, raising his shoulders in a small shrug, a conspirators grin crossing his face.

Then she’s suggesting getting an entire bottle, and his brow raises slightly as he snorts in response. “Sure.” And he doesn’t have to ask her twice, not as he takes the glass and tips the rest of it down in a well-practiced manner. “Get me drunk enough and you might get my past world’s records too.” He winks and then moves to stand, to collect his glass and her mug should she wish to have it taken up for her, then pulling the clothes together he’d bought to prep them to be dropped off where he imagines James is staying while they go to walk.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

VAI The huntress ”You can be Arbiter all you like. I’ve got a teenage son, and I’d ground him if he kept getting into trouble,” Vai remarked with a wicked grin (never mind that Felix had only been a teenager for a couple of seasons, and boy was it a change for both of them). She headed up to the bar and returned only a short moment later with a full bottle of whiskey, accepting the mug from him so she could chug it back. Vai had spent her twenties around rough hunters and vagabonds; beer was nothing. ”Your past world?” she echoed, wrapping herself back up in the scarf and heading back out into the fine rain. ”From one bad reputation to another, huh? Sounds riveting.” Smirking, she opened the bottle and offered him the first pull from it.

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“Ah but I’m far from a teenager now.” He replies with an easy grin. He still hadn’t been a normal teenager by any means, not with the way he’d been thrust into danger since the moment he could talk. Only the strongest could survive, after all. But he gathers his things, the drinks with her (a glance curiously to her as she chugs down the mug), and before long they’re slipping out from the watchful eye of the bar patrons.

He takes the bottle from her and takes an easy swing from it, passing it back over as he huffs a small laugh. “The same bad reputation, sort of.” He says thoughtfully, a slight click of his tongue before he’s glancing over toward her. “Far less resistance and rebellion here so far though.” He winks. “A lot of the usual getting into shit without thinking, mostly. Though the wedding didn’t help much with that either. Spurred it on I suppose.” Shoulders rise and fall in a shrug, recalling the way things had started to shift hard once it had ended and there wasn’t anything holding him back any longer.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

VAI The huntress Vai wanted to say something sassy, like you could have surprised me, but it probably wouldn’t have gone down all too well. So she decided to simply grace him with a smile, taking the bottle back but not bothering to drink from it as they wend their way from the Hanged Man and, naturally, down towards the beach (because where else do you go when it’s raining and you’re drinking?) They continued to walk, the boardwalk becoming sand under their feet, and she listened as he spoke. ”Wedding?” she echoed. ”I didn’t realise that you and Nate were married... Congratulations.” She nudged him a little before offering the bottle back. ”What were you resisting and rebelling against?”

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

They move down the streets toward the beach, Sunjata easily embracing the rain that drizzles along his skin. His gaze remains forward for the most part, they’ll be passing by the Haulani soon, and he pulls out a piece of paper he’d had in his pocket from before — ‘for James’ written on it with a safety pin to pin it to the clothes to drop by the door — not really caring if it gets stolen before it’s noticed.

Maybe James wouldn’t see it anyway, depends on if Phoebe’s the one that spots it, knowing how she knows Sunjata’s handwriting.

His head snaps back to Vai at the congratulations, a slight awkward laugh leaving him as he drops the bundle by the door and returns to grab the bottle. “Ah, no… No Nate and I aren’t married.” He offers, taking a sip from the bottle before continuing. “Do you know a Phoebe Steadman?” He asks, turning his head to look at her with a bit more of a scanning look. “Her and I were married... So...” Provided she knows the woman or not might show why he had rebelled.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

VAI The huntress The beach was near deserted, which was unsurprising given the weather, and it meant that they could talk in peace. ”Oh, you aren’t? Forgive me for assuming,” Vai said, and before she could inquire more about her mistake Sunjata was freely offering the information. Her eyebrows shot up as Phoebe’s name fell from his lips, the huntress laughing quietly. ”Believe it or not, she delivered my son,” she said, though there was nothing about her to suggest that she had taken offence to his opinion of the (former) midwife. ”I can’t confess to know too much about her personal life, but if it wasn’t meant to work out... it happens.” She shrugged her shoulders. ”Are you happier now, at least? Apart from all the trouble you seem to be getting into?” Unable to resist the good natured jab, Vai offered the arbiter a mischievous smile.

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

A shrug is given toward Vai for the confusion. He doesn’t blame her for it, she’d been gone throughout all of that anyway. He hadn’t known her, hadn’t expected her to know anything about him either. But there is a small amount of surprise, of slight awkwardness as she reveals that Phoebe had delivered Vai’s son – and first off, he hadn’t realized she did have a child. Perhaps that was why she reminded him so much of his own mother.

But that’s in the past, and he listens to her own indifferent response, a nod given in response. “Much.” He agrees with a small huff of a laugh, lifting the bottle to his lips again and letting his gaze flicker back down toward her as the sand softens beneath their feet away from the hard packed earth of the streets. “I don’t know if anyone would recognize me as me if there weren’t trouble attached.” He snorts. “But… You have a son?” He shifts his attention to her, then, making it easier to collect his own thoughts as the rain continues to drizzle around them, trails of water running down his face and arms.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

VAI The huntress ”Then that is all that really matters,” Vai said with a smile as Jata said he was happier; at the end of it all, happiness was the only thing that mattered. ”Though I would disagree a bit. I brought trouble to you when we met, and we haven’t gotten into any so far, right? Or are we about to be waylaid by bandits or something similar?” Laughing, she strolled easily along the beach, their footprints wending back towards the boardwalk. Nodding at his question, the huntress glanced up at him, reaching out on autopilot to wipe some of the water out of his face with her sleeve. ”Mmhm. His name is Felix, he’s sixteen. Well... no, he’s actually a toddler. But a shrine mishap meant he grew up overnight, and now he is sixteen.” It was getting easier, the more she told people. And Felix seemed to be enjoying himself too, which was the main thing.

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

Her comment is a good point, and he snorts lightly to it, holding the bottle easily before he shakes his head – glancing down toward her. “Hopefully not. Got stabbed a couple weeks before you shot me. Jail’s done now though, maybe it’s enough of a threat.” He suggests with a rise and a fall of his shoulders in a shrug. He doesn’t know what else to add other than the fact he seeks it out or it finds him. Either way, if there’s trouble, he’s somehow involved it seemed like.

So he focuses on her comments of Felix instead, tilting his head toward her as she lifts her hand and her sleeve wipes away some of the water from his face. He blinks, unsure of how to take it, the uncertainty of it all and such a motherly gesture has him turning to face the way they walk again, lifting the bottle to his lips to hide any other sort of awkwardness before it blossoms further. “Overnight?” He repeats, letting his gaze dance back toward her. “I’m sorry, that’s gotta be hard.” He can’t even imagine.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

VAI The huntress ”I guess I’ll keep my fingers and toes crossed that we don’t run into any more trouble, then.” Vai grinned, though she did raise an eyebrow as he spoke about his most recent string of said... mishaps. ”Stabbed, shot, bad reputation with he locals... you ever get a break, Sunjata?” she asked, not entirely joking. The sullenness, the heavy drinking, the general air of unease about him... it didn’t exactly speak of optimism and motivation. She didn’t think anything of the gesture, clearly, offering little more than a sad smile at his apology. ”You have to roll with the punches, you know? He’s still my son and he needs me more than ever, now. I got no time to be sad about it beyond a few minutes here and there.” Vai turned her gaze up to the cloudy sky, enjoying the patter of the rain. ”Do you think you’d have children?”

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

“Could use some luck.” He replies swiftly, a soft laugh leaving him and replacing the awkwardness of before. And then his attention shifts to the walkway ahead, chewing on the inside of his cheek briefly as he mulls over her words, moving to hand the bottle over toward her for a drink. “Not very often, no.” He snorts, attempting to make a joke about it – refraining for the time being to reach up with his hand and wipe away the rain that’s collected along his face again if only to keep her from doing it to him again.

So he apologizes instead, at the idea of Felix growing up so quickly, swallowing down any awkwardness involved with the prior conversation before it gets worse and there’s a nod given initially before his head is whipping back toward her again. “I… Uh.” He pauses, collecting his words as the haze of the alcohol begins to make it difficult to keep a lid on things. “Never wanted to have kids.” He admits, though it had been before everything else happened. “Phoebe and I almost did, though. The Blight, you know.” Surely she had been around for that, but then he shakes his head. “I don’t exactly think I’d make a good fatherly figure. Take too much after my dad sometimes to be comfortable with it.” Finding the spot beside the water where the waves come up just enough, a nice sandy section, he flashes her an awkward smile before dropping down to sit within the sand, legs drawn up and arms resting around them, his free hand rubbing against his tattooed arm.

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

VAI The huntress ”I hear there’s a pool around here that you can throw pebbles in to make wishes,” Vai said with a crooked smile sent in his direction. ”Next time I’m around there I’ll wish for some extra luck for you. And maybe a vacation.” She chuckled. The two of them were quickly soaked through from their stroll, though there was little that bothered the witch in the way of the weather. A little water never hurt anyone, after all. Accepting the bottle back and taking her first sip of it, of all the things Vai had expected with her (supposedly) innocent question, this was not one of them. ”Yes,” she said softly, ”I remember the Blight. If anything could get you to thinking about the future that would be it.” It had been a terrible time, it was true. But then Sunjata was suddenly plopping down into the sand without warning and Vai had to turn to find him. Abruptly aware of the nerve she had accidentally hit, she moved to sink down and sit with him. ”One of those fathers, huh,” she said quietly. ”For what it’s worth, I think if we’re lucky we grow up with all the potential to be our parents, but all the knowledge not to make their mistakes.”

you should know, that i'm a ticking time bomb

and you're getting close

A quiet hum of thanks is given toward Vai, a small smile as well. “The Miana.” He nods to it, before subjects shift and he can’t quite help the slight pit in his stomach at the conversation topic. At least he doesn’t have the bottle in his hands, doesn’t have the ability to drown it out while he considers her words. “We weren’t intending on it. It was before I broke up with her the first time. She ended up miscarrying sometime during the blight. Didn’t find out until after.” A shrug to that as he’s plopping down onto the sands, somehow making his tall figure quite small in the way he draws himself in.

The subject of parents has him nodding a small amount as she sits beside him, understanding what she means to an extent, though Korofi had never worked like that. And maybe it’s the motherly feeling he gets from Vai that helps him open up (and the alcohol) but he tilts his head toward her, letting his steel gaze linger on her face for a quiet moment before he speaks.

“I was born to be exactly who my father was. Just as ruthless, cunning, strong. I wasn’t any of those things. I was supposed to follow his footsteps, win my trial or die trying, and then when he died I was to take his throne.” He pauses as if he’s trying to figure it out. “But I defected after I won my trial. Joined the resistance instead.”

so better watch your step, because i'm about to blow

and where the pieces land i guess we'll never know

SuNJATA

VAI The huntress ”Oh... I’m sorry to hear that,” Vai murmured, obviously meaning the situation with Phoebe. Whether or not they were meant to be together, or whether having a child together would have been the worst possible idea... It still wasn’t something to ever take lightly, losing one. She’d have said something else, like never knowing what might happen in the future, but it didn’t seem the time. As Sunjata glanced up at her, Vai turned to meet his gaze, the blue of her eyes as stormy as the sea that lapped up towards their toes. Something feathered in her jaw as she heard him out, and she broke his stare to look out into the ocean. ”He doesn’t sound like much of a father,” she muttered. ”What was the trial? And this... resistance? Did you manage to get away from it all?”