[OPEN] Catch-all!

[bemist]

WHO: Gebura and YOU
WHAT: Catch-all!
WHERE: Anywhere and everywhere
WHEN: Covering September-December (for the times when neither of us tled, how could we)
WARNINGS: Likely violence, spoilers for Library of Ruina, suicide attempt, will edit if anything else pops up




[ Please just shoot me a quick PM if you'd like a starter, we can work something out! ]

Comments

[bemist]

...

[ after a pause, she reaches out--but it's to clasp his hand with her other one, carefully; he can slip free immediately if he wants to. ]

Leave it. If it's another scar I get from protecting a friend, I'd rather not have it be like it never existed.

[siffriend]

[ He won't slip away, though tense less because of the touch and more because of

the words, surprise widening his eye this time rather than panic alone.

...

A small nod. ]

Um. If you want a real fight, then I can still give it to you. I won't hold back. Promise.

[bemist]

Yeah, I'll hold you to that. It'd probably be good for you to have at least one instance where you don't have to hold back for someone else's sake.

[ She closes her eyes briefly, then opens them again to glance at her injured hand. ]

But let's pick another day for it. We're not in the right mood for it now.

[siffriend]

... Right mood?

[ There's a mood? ]

[bemist]

Yeah. Right now, at the very least, I don't feel like fighting you. I've got a lot to process.

And you don't exactly look like you'd be up for it either.

[siffriend]

[ Oh. She's one thing, but he closes his eye with a smile. ]

I'd be okay.

[ ...

(What? Can't be honest with her even now? She isn't stupid.)

Their hand squeezes hers and hesitantly they lean on her too, expression slackening to something a little more tired. ]

... But, in the way... I can pull it inside and be okay.

[ So not really. The necessary okay, but not the fun okay. ]

Sorry... for lying. About Time Craft. And... my abilities. I think Elysium suspects me too.

[bemist]

[ Gebura is quiet for a minute, but she doesn't move away. She's at least gotten a little more used to contact from Siffrin and she'd made herself available for this much. There's a longer pause, and then she squeezes lightly. Almost uncertainly. ]

I can do that too. I have done that. But I don't want you to think a fight with me is something you need to be like that with--because it's not. There's no obligation.

... And it's entirely possible he suspects you, but that's your call to make. He might or might not call you out like I did. [ Who knows, with Elysium. Maybe if he thought it was something to be concerned about. ]

Either way, I know your reasons now. So don't treat me like I'm blind again and I'll forgive you.

[siffriend]

[ Maybe Siffrin'll just drop it in casual conversation at some point. No big deal. Funny to see his expression. ]

I won't. You... understand it in a way, too. So...

[ ... A little less alone, maybe... Her and Loop help. A lot. ]

I don't want to be here longer than I knew everyone, though.

[bemist]

How long is that again?

[ Because she does not have to worry about that ever happening, on her side. It's either ten years or ten thousand years, without any of them physically aging. ]

[siffriend]

[ (You






don't remember.)

Siffrin's hand clenches tightly. Trying to ground himself.

(Weeks? Months? How long, Siffrin. How long ago, Siffrin.) ]

... Um. A... while.

[bemist]

...

[ Her fingers flex lightly, and there's warmth that greets his palm, almost like one would feel holding their hands in front of a fire. It's very brief, flickering, and then it's gone. ]

Okay. Then you've got some time.

[siffriend]

[ It's enough to startle his panicking heart, force a kind of soft reset, and Siffrin glances down at their joined hands before up at Gebura.

... Had that been... ]

It'll pass by quickly.

[ (You have to work harder. To remember them, to not forget.) ]

[bemist]

[ No one can say she doesn't practice. But she won't draw attention to it. ]

A lot of people want to get back. You won't be the only one trying.

[siffriend]

[ (You stomach tumbles.)

... Siffrin'll gently pick up the dagger finally, shuffling out a black pant leg to wipe the blood off on, and returns it to his gloves. ]

Want or have?

[bemist]

Does it matter either way?

[ It would still be aiming to return. Though she has to wonder what the other Librarians would think of it. ]

[siffriend]

[ ... ]

No, guess not.

[ Either way, it's an aim to return. Siffrin closes his eye. ]

Just curious.

[bemist]

...

[ She huffs, very quietly. ]

You want to get back to your family. I... did my part, technically. But I can't leave the Library; my form's tied to it. Even if I went back, I wouldn't be able to reenter the City again.

[ Which is... fine, really. It is what it is. ]

[siffriend]

[ (You do want to see them again.

But you don't want to go back to the tedious grind of the loops, to trial and error, after breathing fresh air once more. The air in Dormont is as still as its name. The House is stuffy with sadness and dust. This place...

...

You're such bad person, Siffrin.) ]

Would you stay if they offered, then?

[bemist]

I don't know. [ Sincerely enough. ]

I haven't really thought about it. I guess I just assumed I'd go back.

[siffriend]

Mm.

[ That's understandable. ]

... I think... it's worth thinking about, at least a little. Since there's a lot you can do here.

[bemist]

... Yeah. I'll give it some thought.

[ Maybe it'll be a moot point, like the way Netzach had vanished, and then returned. But if not, she might as well figure out what comes next. ]

How are you feeling now?

[siffriend]

About what?

[ Or in general... ]

[bemist]

Today. Everything that happened, with this. [ she'd gesture, but one hand is occupied and she's waiting for the other to stop bleeding. ]

You look tired.

[siffriend]

[ (Oh.

...

You guess you feel something like that, maybe, but...) ]

... I don't feel tired when I'm with you. More... content. So, right now, I'm content. Not... as worried, as I was either. About what you would think of me.

[bemist]

[ Content.

Around her? That... isn't really something she's ever heard, and she blinks once, processing it.

Huh. ]

I was usually approached for greedy reasons. Or sometimes just because people would think my reactions were entertaining, which tends to be their reason for approaching me here. If I wait it out enough, if they realize they won't get anything from me, they move on.

That's what I thought about you, at first. That you'd get bored and find kinder people and move on eventually, because there wasn't anything really that I offered.