[Se] I need color

Darkeye

Nine strikes

Darkeye needed to clear his mind. He had heard that there are colorful stones on the Rainbow Road. That would help him with a few projects. And he wanted to bring some color to the Hollowed Grounds. Some stone for the place of Bastien too. Darkeye took his tools out and started to collect a few pieces of stone and shards to work with.

As the water started boiling near him, Darkeye looked at it carefully and started to slowly back away. Then there was a water fountain. And the waterdrops that hit Darkeye were hot water. With gritted teeth, Darkeye took a few more steps back. After that, he saw a rainbow on the top of the geyser. He looked at it with amazement.

each for one sin

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

Melita, effervescent and wild as ever, skipped along her way to the Rainbow Road, bag and weaponry over her shoulder. Fangorn toddled and bumbled and bopped right alongside, used to relentless way the honeybee traveled and traversed over the land. She half-intended to be on the lookout for any stray gourds, as they often ran into them around this time of year, but with nothing on the horizon, she flickered and floated towards the blended, hued section, infamous for its hot water – maybe to clear her head, and keep herself occupied with an impending task.

Whether or not she’d decided the subject matter hadn’t crossed her mind yet, and then she was distracted entirely by the familiar form up ahead. Though he looked less inclined to linger by the pools – given his ever-changing facial expressions. “Hi Darkeye!” She waved from the other side, before staking her claim on a boulder nearby, and propping herself and her companion along the top of it. “What brings you out here today?”

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Darkeye

Nine strikes

Darkeye enjoyed the play of colors and did not notice Melita at first. But after her second sentence, he turned and smiled at her kindly. "Melita, it's a pleasure to see you, as well as you Fangorn. I collect stones to bring some color and life to a sad place." Darkeye did not want to say that this was Bastien's wish and he tried to make it come true. He walked towards both of them, keeping a large distance from a geyser. When he was in front of the rock where Melita was sitting, he bowed first to her and then to Fangorn. "I am really happy to see you two again and I hope that you have fared well. Have you received the dragonegg yet?"

each for one sin

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

She waited for the response – out of the norm, given her wake of impulsivities. Her head tilted though, gilded eyes going from the brightly hued stones in the pool (which she often took liberty of too, snatching them into pockets and bags for any variety of reasons) and back to Darkeye. It wasn’t the notion of snagging at the rocks, but the semblances behind it that had her slightly mystified. “Sad place? What do you mean?” Was it a way to honor the Grounds? She’d known that to be a burdened, melancholic world, given everything it had seen and been trapped within.

But he made his way over, and she continued to sit, drumming her fingers on the boulder, and then swinging her legs aimlessly. “We’re good. And no dragon egg yet. I have to cook some meat and then I should be good to go.” Dragging Bart out to the Lava Pits would be a challenge in and of itself, but she’d manage. She always did. “What about you?”

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Darkeye

Nine strikes

Now Darkeye sat down on a stone nearby and took a big sip from his water hose. Stretched first. "I'm sorry that was necessary."

Darkeye sat down normally cross-legged and puffed a few times. "I'm currently living in the Grounds. I've been tolerated there until now. I don't know how much longer. It's a sad place. They desperately need more color in their lives." Darkeye left open whether he meant the people of the city. "I've been better off, to be honest. A man I would have liked to get to know better died. A man with a lot of potentials. But the land sharks just grabbed him. There is no body to burn or bury. I would like to pay my respects to him and I don't know-how. That's why I'm here. He was an artist. I want to make him something great. Do you have any ideas?" Darkeye wanted to share his pain, even though he didn't know Melita well, he appreciated her opinion at the moment. It was better not to be alone with these thoughts.

each for one sin

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

Melita picked at a strand along the seam of her bag, listening all the while to the brief description of the Hollowed Grounds – apt, and to the point. There’d been times where the world had been clambering with color – like Fiat Lux – but sadly burdened and destroyed in other moments, as if good things couldn’t last. Or maybe they weren’t savored enough. She wasn’t certain. The other lines he mentioned were far more appealing to her curiosity though. “Are they kicking you out?” Her head tilted while she opened her satchel, pulling out some wooden pieces, foundations of lanterns.

The other explanation plucked at the back of her mind, down the chiseling of her spine, and she found that the dread and apprehension were age-old, familiar, forthright, when it came to these kinds of discussions. With a knot in her chest and a barb in her throat, she quietly yielded to the harsh realities. “Landsharks? An artist? It wasn’t Bastien, was it?” Because something in her couldn’t quite fathom how that man – who’d once held his own damned funeral – could be gone. Maybe it was someone else. An apprentice of the kind, suave, maestro – something like that.

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Darkeye

Nine strikes

Darkeye looked at the play of colors and the geyser. He tried to avoid Melita's gaze. After a few moments, Darkeye began to talk. "There are people I have a hard time with, and the more I learn about them, the harder I feel. Do you understand what I mean? I like to say what I think. Not everybody can handle it. I know that I have to work on it. I have to earn this position to be taken seriously in this world. Serious mistakes have been made. Some people have attacked Stormbreak. People died..." Darkeye tried to sound calm, but his voice was full of concern.

Darkeye had to pull himself together and nodded after a moment. "He was the first person I talked to when I came to this world. He was a good man and I would like to honor and thank him for his friendly and kindly behavior. People like him are rare. Did you know Bastien well? He and I were not friends but I would have liked to be."

each for one sin

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

For once, Melita was quiet and contemplative, taking her time, biding out considerations rather than leaping into the first thing that sprang to mind. Picking out her lantern pieces one by one, she laid them out on the flattened proportions of the boulder, carefully mapping out the details in her head. “I think we all have opinions on many different things,” she began. “And our experiences tend to shape them.” Where Darkeye hadn’t been here very long, she could see where some of his statements might land him on opposing fronts – especially with those in the Hollowed Grounds, striving to prepare for what laid ahead.

Then her brow furrowed again. “Wait – what about Stormbreak?”

And then the other segments of Bastien being dead that widened her eyes. The shock pooled into her fingers, until she gradually had to hide the sudden shaking by curling them back into her palms. No tears came, but her head hung lower, a long, long withering sigh flickering out from her lungs. “I didn’t know him well, but when I did encounter him he was nothing but kind to me. Gave me some painting lessons.” Rexanna’s husband. Azrael’s father. Taken by a fucking landshark.

With another fire-forged air, she sat more upright, glaring at the lantern base now. “Well, what we do during this time of year is make lanterns for our fallen friends and family. At the end of the season, we have the Festival of Lights. We hang the lanterns, and Ludo chooses someone to see their loved ones again.” For a moment in time – however brief. “So we should make some for Bastien.”

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Darkeye

Nine strikes

"That's right. I am sorry for the innocent. Unfortunately, the war has come closer." Darkeye let his gaze wander over the landscape with its colorful sea of colors.

"Yes, he had a very very friendly way about him. With him, peace would have been possible. Now it will be very difficult to bring peace to Caido." Darkeye was very sad. The pain was deep. Even though they knew each other briefly, in Darkeye's eyes they were friends.

"When you do it like this. Then let's make a nice lantern. Maybe we make one side of him and on the other side his deceased wife."

each for one sin

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

Melita wanted to murmur something about being uncertain even before about peace and serenity; they’d had it in little pockets of tranquility, and hadn’t known, hadn’t understood, until it was entirely too late. Now things pushed in further, quickening the pace. Some numbed proportions pushed over her, and her fingers felt cold, hands going towards the first base of the lantern pieces, toying with them while she thought. “Oh, for Rexanna?” Her eyes got a little misty then, and a sudden sigh swept over her. “She was very lovely too. They made a great pair.” And she smiled, even though it was difficult, because she knew neither of them would want a crying, sobbing fit over their efforts.

Drama and showmanship and pageantry, yes.

“We’ll need lots of color, I think.” And she rustled through her bag, trying to find the sap residue to begin sticking proportions together.

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Darkeye

Nine strikes

Darkeye pulled out the drawing of Bastien that he had made to make the black stone sculpture. As well as the one of Rexanna for the white sculpture. "Yes, that must have been her. I would like to put both of them on the lantern if that is all right. I never met her but the pictures of her were impressive. I would have liked to have met her."

Darkeye pondered. "I don't know if this is right, but I'll probably try to find the body and hunt land sharks for it." He would do that, but alone it was too dangerous.

Darkeye nodded and took out the colored stones and his tools. "Yes, I agree with you, the more color the better."

each for one sin

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

To hear Rexanna, and Bastien, spoken of in such a way – as if they were nothing more than the past, gnarled and knotted something in her soul. Her hands clenched together, and then she found herself plopping off the boulder, fingers itching to grab at some of the stones lined along the geyser’s fringes. “She was kind, noble, and brave,” the youth murmured, plucking at a crimson rock, placing it in her palm. “And a nice ruler. Who listened to her people.” A remarkable change from those who thought themselves better than everyone else.

She gazed at Darkeye from her crouch along the banks, then touched over an orange pebble. “I’m not sure he’d want that. Not for someone to get maimed or killed for his sake.” And based on the predators that lurked beneath the surface, there was no telling if he’d be successful. “I doubt they’d leave a trace of him anyway.” And she bit at the inside of her cheek, taking a gilded sphere, ignoring the heat of the water.

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me

Darkeye

Nine strikes

Darkeye followed her to look in a nearby place for more stones. "Tell me more about both of them if it doesn't hurt too much." He tried to get as many different colors as he could and wondered if he should grind them up to make glass pieces out of them. He then shared his idea with her. "We could make glass out of the different stones and try to make some nice slices. But we could also try to cut these stones very small and join the splinters together." He thought both variations were not bad and hoped that she would give an opinion.

"I wouldn't do this just for his sake." Said Darkeye with a slightly sad look. "It's for the safety of the people something should be done about this but I can't do it alone or do it alone. I thank you for your thoughts though, I didn't know Bastien well enough to understand how he thought." There it was again the thought of being too weak to protect the people you care about.

each for one sin

Melita

I never had a chance to be soft
I was always bloody knuckles

Her brows furrowed slightly, uncertain where she’d even begin. “Bastien liked to host lavish parties. We had a murder mystery one, once.” Her hands closed over another stone, picking and choosing the brightest, the best, that came along the geyser’s outline. “And Rexanna always helped, it seemed. No matter what was needed.” She collected the fragments and stones in her palms, crouching down along the heat of the pool, casting her gaze back up to Darkeye for an instant. “How are you going to cut the stone?” She supposed she could always wander off for a bit and snag at some sea glass somewhere along the shores, if they couldn’t figure out another plan.

As far as the landsharks? She wasn’t certain. “I think the creatures have been around far longer than us. And most of the time you don’t hear anything too bad about them. Every once in a while…” and she shrugged.

and shards of glass
I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me