[prp] the brine and the meat and all the tiny ruins [t/a]

[Daekie]

Alexis was tired. It couldn't be their fault that the magic didn't want to listen to them, that it worked more on their subconscious than anything else -- it would be a personal failure. And while they were disgusting, a husk of a person more suited for violence than anything else, they weren't that much of a failure -- they had control. Calm. They were doing fine, even if the way people looked at them was -- they didn't have to think about it if they didn't want to.

They didn't have work today, they didn't need to worry about losing track of time, so...sometimes it was just nice, really, to relax in Other Ashdown and let the rain drench them to the bone, in the hollowed-out echo of a building on the other side. So what if it was the echo of the building Zac lived in? It was a good closeness, and it made them feel more secure, more even.

The Semblance of Unity

source here

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

It was so strange to come back to alternate Ashdown after all that had happened. She'd expected some kind of huge change, and yet it seemed the same as ever. Temperance walked down the familiar streets, not caring about the rain. As she walked, she spotted someone and made her way over.

"Hey, um, Alexis. What're you doing here?"

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I," Alexis said, with gritted teeth, their eyes still closed, "am trying to relax, what do you want?" 'How do you know my name' might have been a valid question once, but - they were getting used to everyone knowing their name here for one reason or another. They recognized her voice, barely, from the void.

But that was all fuzzy, and none of it was clear, and so it didn't matter except that it had.

(They were wearing one of Zac's shirts. And one of his jackets, actually. It was ill-fitting on their form, given the height difference, but with a scrunchie to take care of the excess fabric they made it work.)

The rain doesn't touch them - their clothes, their hair, are perfectly dry.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You don't look relaxed," Temperance pointed out. Alexis was the one with the blood from the void, she thought as she sifted through her memories. The one who was unnecessarily close to Zac all the time. That very fact alone made her kind of want to poke at them. It was a petty feeling, that she would normally resist, but Alexis' clothing sealed the deal.

And the fact that Alexis was standing outside of Zac's building. Like a creeper. "Where'd you get your shirt?" she said, casually.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"It's the ******** anxiety aura, leave me alone," Alexis groaned, half-opening their eyes. "I didn't ask to get magic that makes everyone around me feel like I'm gonna kill them, alright? And no, I'm not relaxed, 'cause you're bothering me." They scrunched their eyes closed again, frowning more pointedly.

"Why d'you want to know? You trying to get me undressed, lady?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Anxiety aura sounded, quite frankly, terrible. She was glad all of her magic was at least moderately useful. She did snort at Alexis' reply.

"Hardly." She didn't move, still looking at Alexis. "Why're you wearing his clothing?" Because yes, Temperance did recognize it. And Zac was like a brother (as if she needed more) to her and there was a stark obligation to protect.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"'Cause I like it and he lets me," Alexis snorted, their shoulders tensing, hands balling into fists. "'Cause we're friends? And friends lend each other things, and my clothes ain't gonna fit him? What answer do you want out of me? Seriously, the longer you bug me, the worse these answers are gonna bet."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, and you just happen to be loitering outside his building." Her eyebrows rose. She half suspected Alexis had a thing for Zac and while she didn't necessarily approve (okay, she didn't - at all), she wasn't sure Alexis could treat Zac right.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I decided to hang out in the otherworld here," Alexis smiled, and they were all teeth. It was not gentle. "You got a problem?" The water began to crawl upwards on the walls of the building, the rain stopping and hovering where it was. "You thinking I'd hurt him? 'Cause I would kill for him, lady, but I'd never hurt him."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Do I think you'd deliberately try to hurt him? I don't know." She frowned. "But I think you're dangerous and you'd hurt him without ever trying. I've seen the way you hang on him, Alexis." Above all, she wouldn't be able to stand it if Alexis moved in on Zac and then left.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

The water ripples around their feet -- it's all coalescing behind them, great and terrible, like a wave born from the building and the foot of bare ground between them and the wall. The air around Alexis is clear, and no rain falls on them or around them; it is still falling, but it doesn't touch them.

Their knuckles are white.

"I wouldn't hurt him. I wouldn't. I'd rather die. Don't you ******** dare tell me -- I'm dangerous but I'd never hurt him." Their lips pull back into a snarl.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance was not impressed. She did, however, eye Alexis' water. "I didn't say you'd do it deliberately. I saw - in the void - you tried to send water after a girl and it rebounded on you. I'm saying things happen." She was saying that Alexis wasn't safe for Zac. Zac was knowledge and books and learning more and more. And Alexis was wild and never seemed disciplined.

She sighed.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

It keeps building and building, layers on layers, the semblance of a hand developing and clinging to the wall. Alexis doesn't notice - or if they do, they don't acknowledge it. The water slithers past their shoes, around but never touching.

"I wasn't gonna hurt her," they snarl back at Temperance. "Was the void that pushed it back at me -- I don't need your s**t, alright? I've got it under control well enough it's not your business, and it ain't Mercer's either."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Except it is my business."

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"No it's not," Alexis smiles so so wide, all of their teeth so very white and their knuckles white from how tight their fist is clenched. "I'm an adult. I take care of my own business." Their enunciation is clear, princess-perfect, accentuation or accent - whatever it is - gone.

They step forward towards her, shoulders tight and tense; the water footstools under them, giving them enough of a height boost to almost look her in the eye. Their balance is perfect. (The arm sweeps upward, pulling itself out from the wall, coalescing a solid form.) "So leave me alone."

The Semblance of Unity

alexis says hi, also will probably attack come next post