[prp] this damp grows in my lungs like a plague [alexis/???]

[Daekie]

Alexis chokes and chokes and chokes and breathes in again.

They cough and cough and it's all water and bile, nothing else left in them -- it's a good sort of burn, almost -- but they're not thinking quite yet, not really, and their hands snap to the sides of their neck because who said anyone could touch them (not touching their own skin - they never do) -

"Why," they rasp out, and their throat burns, their shoulders heave. "Why-"

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

There is no hands actually on them and the feeling continues to persist. When they touch their own neck it feels like they are pressing something down.

"Are you deaf? I already said," a voice with a faded accent answers, the sound of bare feet on wet ground coming closer, "I was done with your s**t."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"******** off," Alexis bites out, trying to push themself to their feet but failing - their arms shake too much, and their eyes sting (they blink again and again, maybe it's water caught in their lashes but everything feels a little offkilter), and their everything hurts. Their chest, mostly, mostly. "Y'don't know anything - I was ready -"

They fall back into another coughing fit, white-knuckled hands pulling sharp lines through the ground as their hands clench into it.

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"I know plenty," the voice replies and crouches a respectable distance away. Their clothing seems a few decades out of style which means, of course, it is perfectly in style again.

"Which is to say I know you don't know a damn thing. Never took you for a coward."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Of course I'm a coward," Alexis laughs, hoarse; it's hard for them to speak above a whisper, because the breath just won't come into their lungs the way they want it to. "You seen me? I run all the time. 's all I do." They can't quite pinpoint the voice, but -- lifting their head seems like so much work.

They don't want to go back into the lake, now, because it all seems so stupid in retrospect; what they would leave behind, who they would disappoint - but when they were in there, it all seemed so easy; that it would stop and they would never have to hurt again or hurt anyone again.

(It's never that easy, is it, Alexis thinks, and tries to be a little less bitter.)

Ashdown WhaIer

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Dark hair curls and is brushed away from pale eyes. Freckles are spread across the young man's - for it is a young man - nose and he snorts. "Yes, I do and you don't run. You make other people run."

Water still does not seem to respond to them, not this water. Instead it clings to them, heavy and pressing. As if it was still trying to seep into them and take more memories.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Bullshit." It's a harsh huff of breath - it's heavy and it shakes them all the way down - and it's only now that Alexis notices they are freezing, and begins to shiver, their hair lank against their back; all the curls and waves weighed out by the water.

"Want to -- t'argue with me - ******** freezing." And, like they're trying out an unfamiliar outfit, unsure how it fits: "...Kiel?" It's -- all so blurry. The point in the seance where things all went uniformly grey for them -- it's spread backwards, through all the 20s, and they can't trust their own mind to recognize anyone. But -- maybe. "...what're you doin' here?"

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"Who the hell else is going to call you on your stupid s**t?" he counters, as if it is obvious that he is, indeed, Kiel. A Kiel who is no longer eighteen but now in his twenties.

There's a sigh before he snaps his fingers. A blanket, a warm one at that, appears and floats down from the air and settles onto their shoulders. "I'm here because, as I said, you were doing stupid s**t. You know what that place is and you still walked into it. What the hell."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"You were younger than me," Alexis says, like it's the biggest topic of discussion here, "what the ********." It takes them a bit to pull the blanket tight, struggling up to their knees; they look so very small, in their drenched clothing with their strange-dark eyes.

"...Iunno what it is. I just know it wasn't listening to me. 's all I wanted." They try to smile at Kiel. It's awfully weak; the smile of someone belatedly realizing how badly they just ******** up. "Would have settled for a bear, if one showed up, too."

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"... and?" Kiel counters, as if it doesn't even matter that he's older now. His hand flicks dismissively and if there's anything odd or the like about their appearance, he doesn't even care. It's normal as far as he's concerned.

"You heard of oblivion? You know what that is? That's all that water is so of course it didn't listen to you. It exists to eat things." He pauses. "... and there's no bears here, except for the ones that blow in on the wind."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I don't ******** know how anything works," Alexis grumbles, pulling the blanket tighter. "Half this s**t's metaphorical. I liked being older than someone. It was nice." They shake their head like a dog, trying to get a little of the water out; not willing to use their own magic, not now.

"It seemed like a good idea. You know how it is; sometimes y'just want a car to hit you or lightning to strike or -" a helpless strike. "Something t'make things stop. It's stupid, huh?"

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"Really." Kiel just stares as if he cannot believe this is coming out of their mouth. "I'll just walk into the waters of oblivion, let it suck out everything I've ever known and cease to exist because it seemed like a good idea at the time."

More stares.

"Stupid is an understatement, Alexis."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"******** you too," Alexis huffs, and averts their eyes to the ground.

...'m not gonna go back in." They cough, again; it's harsh and wet, and their voice is still quiet. "********, ow. When I feel like gettin' up -- I'll call someone. Head back to the other side. Just...iunno when that's gonna be."

Ashdown Whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Another roll of eyes.

Kiel shifts closer until he's not even a foot away. He sits on the ground, digs his toes into the soft earth. "That's all well and good but I'm still waiting to hear why you thought this was a good idea."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"'Cause I was trying to kill myself." Alexis looks at him with furrowed brows, genuinely confused by his apparent lack of understanding. "Why else would I do it?"

Ashdown Whaler