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 Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 8:16 pm
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 12:43 am
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Three nights gone.
Three nights gone and the world destroyed in one.
Ephias waded through the swamp water to a tree where a ladder dangled down. Grasping the rope with his left hand, he hoisted himself up onto the first rung. Water cascaded down his legs and off his boots. A knotted piece of kelp clung to his laces. He gave his leg a kick, and the weed fell back into the bog with a splash. Balancing himself, he turned his gaze upwards. The forest canopy was as thick and dark as the waters of the swamp below. Sliding his hand up the rope and onto the following rung, Ephias took a step up. His second foot joined the first. Then, repeating the process, he took another step. He continued up the ladder in a slow ascent, climbing with only one hand. His right never moved from his pocket, a painful reminder of what had happened three nights ago.
Three nights and three days.
He only knew it had been that long because he had marked the passage of the sun as it made its journey across the sky. Had he slept, there would be no observable measure of time, only the uncertainty of the biological clock that he had been hatched with. And such a thing was unreliable, for when he slept, so did it. As it was, despite that he spent every minute in the waking world, he had no concept of the passage of time save for the evidence that presented itself. It seemed impossible that Alternia had completed three rotations since arriving in the village. Five more since he unknowingly left home forever. How had three days already passed? How had only eight?
Leaves brushed past his face and then his chest. As they broke clear of his knees, Ephias pulled himself up onto the deck. He grunted, momentarily bearing most of his weight in his one arm. Then he was back on his feet. Exhaling, he took a moment to survey the marshland below. Through the trees he could make out the shadowy forms of the other rebels moving through the swamp. While he could see them, aside from the occasional murmur of he could not hear them. Since they had first stumbled upon the abandoned village, a hush had overtaken them. Ephias was no exception.
There was too much work to be done for idle chatter. To ensure that they were not discovered, they had to take extra precautions: conceal the mother grub, gather supplies, fortify hivestems, patrol for royalist troops... and above all else, they needed to be prepared to flee again should worst come to worst. But that was not the only reason for their self-imposed silence. The wounds of their all-too-recent betrayal still weighed heavily on them. They had escaped somehow with their lives intact, yet they had suffered a heavy loss in the process. They had lost their standing, their headquarters, their identities, and... their friends.
Ephias thought all too often of Zindel and how they had left him in the swamp. In that moment, with the line between life and death, right and wrong, so clear to him, he had steeled his heart and turned his back on his fellow redblood without a trace of pity. Their choices were irreconcilable. Even so, days later, when the well-being of those who depended on him no longer required an iron will, he found himself facing remorse and cursing his own cruelty. Knowing that he had left Zindel alone wounded him on a level that went deeper than any of the cut or burn he had sustained in their escape. But what hurt even more, was that he knew if given the chance he would not change a damn thing.
Turning, Ephias faced the hive whose porch he loitered on. Like most the buildings in the village, it was run-down and badly in need of repairs, particularly in regard to a few missing pieces in the floor, but it had a solid roof and the tree did not sway in the wind too much. Until they settled into the village for good, it made a decent hideaway.
Ephias eyed the door, filled with apprehension. Since leaving Zindel, he had hardly spoken with Etsali. Save for what little discussion was required to relocate the mother grub, and organise their survival, he had taken on what seemed a self-imposed oath of silence. He worked in stoic dumbness and closed his heart and mind from the world. After what happened he did not trust himself to speak, not to his friends, and even if he did he had his own inner turbulence to quiet first.
But now the storm had settled. They had yet to lose their hiding place and three nights had passed. The time to break that silence was now.
Raising a hand, Ephias gently knocked against the door. “Etsali?”
KitsuneAura HOO BOY. About damn time. |
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 10:10 pm
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Etsali let her head fall back against the hive wall, eyes half-lidded as she considered the roof above, and only just managed to resist the urge to hold her breath. There was another creak as she let her eyes slide over the boards, checking for an imperfection that she already knew she wouldn't find, and she slowly exhaled. If she had been home, the ceiling would have been a mess of movement and shimmering light from the things she'd hung there over the sweeps. There would have been treasures strewn around in perfect order across the floor instead of this empty stretch of wood with its gaping holes here and there. The sound of Keeper's idle chattering.
There was another creak and the thief breathed in, hugging her knees tighter to her chest. She was tired, had been since before the swamp even, and that had been- How many days had that even been now? It was a bit of a blur still, following the Mother Grub and fighting the daywalkers and leaving Zin- Her breath hitched at the memory and she gasped in another one, squeezing her eyes closed.
She'd been putting her construction skills to use since they'd found the village and she'd been doing her very best not to completely lose it at the fact that she'd learned them to counteract rebels in the first place. But it was tiring work, and she hadn't been in the swamp long enough yet that the environment itself wasn't stressful, and she hadn't been able to rest well even though they'd gone to so much trouble to bring sopor slime to everyone and-
Another flurry of sound. There was someone outside. The thief's eyes slid open and settled on the door as she very carefully pulled herself to her feet. Her boots were by the door, because on top of everything she'd been tired of the mud perpetually caked to them, so her steps as she approached it were soft enough to probably go unheard. She hesitated by the doorway, hand at her belt, and for the first time thought she really understood Vulpin's reaction when she'd gone to visit him so long ago.
The knock made her jump even though she'd been expecting it, but the voice that came after had her rocking back on her heels with a breathy laugh. She gave herself another few seconds for the rest of the tension to fade, relaxing her stance, and then reached out to open the door for her friend.
"Ephias, hey." Her smile was tired but genuine as she started to step back to let him come in if he wanted. It felt like they hadn't just talked for ages either. "Is everything...Is everything alright?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 2:52 am
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Seconds ticked past. Inside it was quiet. As he waited, he worried that maybe he had been wrong about what hive she stayed in. Or that maybe he had been right after all. His digestive cavity knotted and he tried to swallow his nervousness. He had emotionally shut down when times were dire, and while that might have enabled their survival, he could not say what that had done to their friendship. A part of him wanted to remain closed off forever. His rationale though, never silent, drove him forward.
It was completely terrifying.
When Etsali pulled open the door, Ephias felt a surge of relief. Even as Etsali smiled, a ghost of a smile flicked across Ephias' features at the sight of her. Glancing at their surroundings, he rubbed at his arm. “Could be worse,” he said simply. They all knew their situation. No need to state the obvious.
“I'm sorry it's been a while,” he continued. “I needed... some time. I'm really glad to see you again th-though.” Biting his lip, he met her gaze. Despite the warmth of her smile, she looked exhausted. She could not have fared any better than he had.
“D-Do you mind if I...?” Before he could finish, Etsali stepped aside to let him through. Thanking her, Ephias went inside. The hive was small, but in better shape than some of the others. The floor seemed stable at least, though the ceiling was riddled with holes. Still, the bareness of the place struck him. It seemed... lonely. They were only guests after all.
Ephias turned from examining the hive to regard Etsali. “How are you?” he asked. “Wounds any better?”
KitsuneAura Should be a breeze from here! |
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 8:48 pm
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"Could be worse," Etsali echoed, glancing around the hive again herself. For a second she wondered what it looked like to him, if maybe there was something different in it for someone who hadn't been staring at it for hours, but then she felt a little ridiculous for wondering it at all and glanced back instead. "Just sore, mostly. Tired." A hand drifted up to rub at her arm, just over where a bolt had pierced it sometime during the fighting.
It was the worst offender most of the time, maybe because it had been such a deep wound, and she knew the building efforts probably hadn't helped it finish healing much. The fact that she couldn't even remember when she'd taken the bolt out, if it had even been her who had done it, was just one of the many things she tried not to think about. Better that way. Sliding away from the thought again, she let her eyes drop from Ephias's gaze to consider his shoulder instead.
"But hey, I should be asking that, right? Is your arm getting better yet?" She reached out, as if she wanted to test it for herself, but it was only a ghost of a touch over his shoulder, dropped before any real pressure was applied. Then she blinked, eyes sliding back away towards the wall before hurrying back to meet his again. She lifted her hand to rub at her cheek and gave an embarrassed little laugh. "Oh! Did you want to sit? You must be tired too, now that I think about it. The sturdiest part is over here, if you want to-?"
She took a couple steps towards it, then looked back, questioning.
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 6:59 pm
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Although she'd been leading the way, Etsali paused to let her guest settle on the floor first, deliberating over where she wanted to sit in relation to him. Sitting in front would have made sense for conversation, but even though a good deal of that earlier anxiety had eased, she still couldn't quite get over the feeling that came with the idea of the door out of sight behind her back. It was a hard argument to beat, and in the end she plopped down at his side instead. She tugged her knees up to her chest, curling her arms around them, and tilted her head so she could still see Ephias' face. She'd been sitting like this half the night already, but the improvement that came with a friendly presence at her side was astounding.
"Ahh," her little smile as he looked back at her faded into something more serious. "I'm going home. Soon, I mean, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow though? I just, um-" She flexed her fingers, didn't look at the gloves that were more than halfway to flat out falling apart, and continued on. "Keeper didn't even know where I was going, you know?" Maybe he probably hadn't known that, actually, but he did now. "But I guess it's more the after that that you mean, right? The 'am I coming back' part?" She drew in a breath and let it out slow, reaching up to rub at her cheek.
"Are you going to stay? I know you really wanted to, um, to at least try joining them, so if you still want to do that, I will too. I'll come back." The swamp scared her half to death, but leaving him in it scared her more, somehow. "But if you don't, you could come with me and we could find somewhere in the city. There's always lots of hidey holes if you know where to look, and I bet we could find somewhere to get sopor and everything without anyone caring who we are. I mean, it's-" Awkwardly, she realized she'd been about to wander off into rambling, so she stopped herself short.
"It's an option."
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 5:25 pm
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As Etsali spoke, Ephias felt a cold stab in his chest, like the pain of knife. Stoic faced as usual however, he nodded along with what she had to say. She made a lot of points, and they all needed to be considered carefully. He turned over his words in his mind, examining them and projecting them over their current circumstances. It was hard not to feel hopeless about the situation. He could not afford to be though. Etsali was counting on him not to.
It was quiet. Etsali had finished a while ago, and Ephias still had not said anything. He had been too deeply immersed in his own thoughts. He cleared his throat. “That would be nice,” he responded at last. Living with Etsali, he had never considered the before, but it filled him with a kind of warmth. The feeling lasted only briefly. “I don't think I would be as good as hiding as you though.” He offered the orange blood a sad smile.
“T-to be honest, I'm not sure I'm cut out for this. Overthrowing the system, I mean. All the fighting, and...” He thought back to Old Hemisect. Fighting, fire and death. “I wanted to make a difference. For people like you and me. Voscil and... Zindel.” He spoke the redblood's name more softly. “I still do. But I don't... I don't know if this is the way t-to do it.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 6:37 pm
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"Oh." It would have been easy for Etsali to tell herself that she hadn't expected Ephias to take her up on the offer, but the stab of disappointment that followed his answer hit too soundly for the thought to ring true at all. Of all their options, and it didn't feel like they had many now, that was the one she'd really been hoping for. But maybe it had just been a leftover from before, that little train of thought that had kept her moving through the fighting instead of fleeing, and she'd been too stubborn to let it go.
"I don't know either. I just- The system was just a thing that was, you know? I'd have never even really thought about changing it." It felt awkward to admit that out loud, knowing how strongly he felt about it, but she sort of figured this at least was a thing he'd probably known or guessed about her already. "So I mean. You're already better at that than me." After a slight pause, she let out a little huff of a breath and let her head fall back against the wall, position easing up gradually to be less curled in on herself.
"You'll figure it out." Simple and supportive a statement as it was, she believed it. "Cause you are, you're sneaky when you want to be, and you fight like- You're so good at fighting when you have to. So you'll figure this out too."
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 3:49 am
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“It's a crazy idea,” Ephias affirmed, interjecting between Etsali's faltering words. He had kept himself awake too many days, wondering whether the disease lie in society or himself, wrestling with moral ambiguities and nature's intent. The hemospectrum was so deeply ingrained in their culture, he could not even begin to construe what was wrong and what was right. The situation was complicated.
Ephias watched as Etsali reclined against the wall. Even though she put on a brave face he thought she looked... defeated, out of her element. In an instant her whole world had been turned upside down. There was no telling if they would ever be able to return to anything like the life they had known before. Ephias clenched his fingers around his knees. Were he able, he would take everything back.
At the orangeblood’s remark, Ephias let out a half-hearted chuckle and averted his eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess,” he said. “I’ll have t-to take your word for it.” He glanced back up towards Etsali, wearing a smile. His tongue pushed against the back of his teeth as he met her gaze. He lowered his arm.
“You’re going to try and go back… right?” he managed.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:57 pm
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"Good," Etsali said, maybe just a little too quickly after his comment. It was hard not to be a little embarrassed, even if the show of support could have been so much more. There was a whole list of things to admire Ephias for, and it occurred to her now that maybe holding some of them back to dole out later would be worth it if it drew out that smile every time. "The word of a great thief," she added with a bit of extra enthusiasm to her voice that sounded entirely too practiced, "is unquestionable."
It was good to be able to fall back on things she was so sure of, but the answer to his question was a trip right back into the unknown. She hesitated a few seconds before nodding. That much she knew, at least, even if the results of that decision still loomed unpredictably. "I have to."
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Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:21 pm
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Ephias nodded. He had expected as much. Etsali did not have the same obligations as he did, and others that she had left behind. He could not ask for her to stay. And even if returning to civilisation meant that she would be in danger, he had to have faith in her abilities. She had always proven capable. Still...
“I'll come find you,” Ephias said with a note finality. No matter how far their paths may have diverged, he would make sure they did not lose contact. “Once things settle down, I'll figure out a way to see you.” His pump biscuit squeezed in his chest, thinking of how far she would be. He stared hard into her face, comitting every detail to memory.
After a pause, Ephias reached across to take up Etsali's fingers in his hand. He held them gingerly, as though she might turn to smoke between his fingertips. “Stay safe.”
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:23 pm
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Etsali's eyes widened as she lifted them to meet Ephias's gaze again, lips parting with a quiet gasp. Even before she'd admitted she was planning to leave, she'd been set on coming back to him if he stayed behind. Either she would take him with her or she'd go and come back. There wasn't a plan that didn't end with them back together somehow. So it wasn't that his promise had come as a surprise, exactly, it was just that hearing the sentiment behind it echoed back was...something she couldn't put to words really.
"I'll be waiting," she returned as steadily as she could, though her own pump biscuit was pounding against her chest. She half wondered if he could hear it as she glanced down at their hands, the delicate way he'd taken hold of her fingers. She swallowed hard, decided maybe that feeling wasn't so foreign after all, thought maybe it felt a little like all those reckless heists and the rush of a chase and that glint of light in the darkness. She'd never been able to tug herself away from that call to action.
Her fingers curled around his and there'd been something else she was going to say, some little quip to not take too long maybe, but instead she was leaning in to kiss him before she could second guess herself. The future was uncertain, but right now wasn't, was it?
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 4:41 am
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Ephias Sagine
As Etsali averted her gaze, Ephias wondered for a moment if he had done something wrong. But then her eyes returned to meet his, she leaned in, and... and...
For once, there was quiet.
He felt her fingers' warmth against his own, as she squeezed his hand. Something told Ephias he should close his eyes. His pump biscuit raced in his chest. He met her a little clumsily, nose bumping around hers. Then their lips found each other, and Ephias did not shy away. The derelict world around them and all the strife and heartbreak that came with it faded. Tentative, he brought his fingers to brush the side of her face.
As much as there was wrong with the world, Etsali was the one thing right. And for Ephias, that was enough.
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