open / no, we ain't choose this life

[currysseur]

🧙 WHO: Izumi (currysseur), Century Egg (fellsound), and Kate (morns)
⚔️️ WHAT: TDM shenanigans, quest taking, coffee breaks with comedians and much more!
🕒 WHEN: Throughout February!
🗺️ WHERE: All over the shop
⚠️ WARNINGS: Prompts relating to the Land of Rot, the Forest of the Fisher King, Dark Magic, I'll update as necessary


Izumi

» Trust Trinkets
» Chocolate Cupid
» Prompt

Century Egg

» The Dragon's Graveyard
» Sashimi Slayer
» (to the tune of black magic woman) Dark Magic Food Soul

Kate

» Well, Sssshit
» Coffee with Comedians (closed to Sasara)
» Prompt

Comments

[morns]

( he isn't subtle, but Kate isn't exactly here, so even if she sees his gaze shift down to where she's scratching, she doesn't seem to comment or even fully notice it the way she should.

and he's talking about shit, stuff that sounds important that just can't really break through the fog of things cycling through her head. the image of pieces of her skin dropping from her body like flakes of ash, cracks and crevices revealing layers of muscle, dipping down into bone...

she blinks, some of the words finally seeming to penetrate the way she focuses too intently on the desk, getting her to lift her head and look at him. )

What?

( hate? but why? )

[hitokiri]

[ well. that's a little more anti-climactic than he was expecting. ]

Huh? I said it was me! It was my fuckin' fault all this shit happened, so jus' do whatever ya gotta do an' get it over with! Shit.

[ he doesn't like repeating himself, especially over things like this. he wishes he could just say things once and then never again, but hadn't accounted for if he ended up being overly vague. ]

Dunno how t' make it up otherwise... this was real bad, right?

[ he seems smaller somehow, even though he's not changed at all physically. it's more his energy and his posture — neither of which are ever particularly outstanding — but he's not usually so withdrawn. it had been a long couple of emotionally draining days before the ritual and the ritual itself had sapped as much magic as he could give like it might repay a debt. it's taken a visible toll and still doesn't feel like enough. ]

[morns]

( trying to navigate any conversation is like pulling herself out of the quicksand at the tomb right now, thoughts and memories clamped around the pieces of her mind that would latch onto the distraction and let it take her over. as Izō speaks, Kate pulls her legs up into her chest, curling herself up onto her chair in a pretzel that is hardly comfortable, picking idly at the skin around her nails.

what's under there, pulsing and awful and alive— )

... Wha— ( all her words come out slow and small, soft-spoken contrasts to how she normally is. neither of them look right, some distant, muffled part of Kate's mind can recognise that as she looks at Izō and the pieces knit themselves together.

this shit. there's only one thing that could be referring to, right? )

How?

( all she knows is she yanked that emerald and the Fisher King's body disappeared sometime during other people's arguments. )

[hitokiri]

[ he shrugs because its his most natural inclination, but he knows he can't get away with that. ]

It's a long story. Point is, I let some asshole talk me into somethin' I shoulda said no to when I had the chance. He said his brother got killed an' he needed help bringin' 'im back with some kinda ritual thing. Wasn't like I knew this was gonna happen! Wasn't that guy's brother at all, jus' some kinda bad news dead guy whose body he stole or whatever the fuck. This shit's all over my head, I don't fucking know!

[ izō is always louder than he strictly needs to be, but he gets louder as he goes on because it doesn't take much to get him worked up about this. he'd probably look way more anxious if he wasn't so exhausted instead. is that better? it's debatable. he does get a certain almost panicky edge to his tone that he tries to dial back by shutting up altogether, at least for a few seconds. watching kate be the way she is makes it all that much worse and he looks guilty about yelling, even if he wasn't yelling at her.

he's a lot quieter when he continues. ]

Dunno how t' make it right though either, which is what I'm askin'. If somebody put me through hell I didn't ask t' be gettin' dragged into, I'd be wonderin' who it was.

[morns]

( luckily for Izō's natural inclinations, they're far enough away from the gym proper that his voice won't disturb anyone working out downstairs. unfortunately for his guilt, Kate doesn't so much as flinch at the way his voice raises, her eyes don't focus, she doesn't fully snap back to the present moment. )

Don't know... ( she can't even begin to guess what would make this right. even if she could hear anything but her own body screaming out its wrongness, she's not sure she'd have an answer for him.

they can't turn back the clock. this wrongness may fade, eventually, but it'll always be there, same as the scars of war or the fear of being trapped which still permeates her bones to this very day.

how can she tell Izō the way to right a wrong when the effects of wrongs far older are still stamped across her like a map of all the ways she's been hurt before this? )