chrysaline | PCs with Quin

[ Logic says that if there hadn't been another announcement, then the remaining members of Kakapo should be just fine. But Psyche still isn't going to settle completely until she's seen them for herself. Once she's done checking the go-karts with Temenos she's going to go in search for whoever she finds first.

Which, in this case, is: ]

Waltaquin! Do you know what happened? I'm sorry, I didn't think I'd be so late coming back...

[How does Waltaquin sleep with an entire bed to herself? Actually, pretty well, all things considered. It's much better than sharing. One would almost think that she hadn't just had to deal with the tragic loss of two of her cabana-mates just a week prior, were it not for the strange, plucked-chicken-shaped animal she now keeps in her bunk with her, something she certainly.

She's also under no illusion that she and Psyche are growing closer for any other reason than their forced proximity. They are the only two remaining: For them to visibly turn on one another now would just cost more in the long run. They are not friends, but seeing her so regularly has given her at least a little fondness, a little familiarity.

As they enjoy the solitude of their treatments in the seacave adjacent to the spa, Quin grows tired of listening to the water drip in silence. She appears still perfectly relaxed when she barrels in with a real lead of an opening question.]

Do you ever feel homesick at all?

[ The after-party, such as it was, hadn't held much interest for Psyche. She could see how some of the others might feel better destroying anything Lobelia had left behind. But that's more Medea's form of catharsis than Psyche's; it isn't that long before she retreats back to Kakapo to rest.

Whether Waltaquin is already there or returns shortly, she'll find her roommate restlessly cleaning, sitting on the floor to rearrange things in her storage trunk. ]

Oh, Waltaquin... you didn't feel like staying with the others?

[ It's a question but not really a question, considering. ]

Edited 2023-06-04 01:33 (UTC)

[Well, their cabin is a resort of their own for the time being, and Waltaquin is a caged tiger going between the islands. She has been restless before, but the sensation has only amplified, seemingly daily, since the weekend, since they spoke. She has forgotten to eat, which she sometimes does when she is lost in research or restoration, and her appetite is catching up with her without any actual magical laboratory experiments to focus on. This time, she'll be making it herself.

Having thought Psyche, whose emotions earlier she did not know how to handle, working in the light here is a surprise.]

You don't seriously mean to tell me you're still cooking in here.

[Upon closer inspection, her roommate seems to be sitting over something unrelated to food at the moment. Everyone here does have their secrets, more than usual, but she's looking forward into scratching at one of Psyche's.]

((CW: Implied child abuse/assault, minor gore))

[You are alone.

This is not unusual. Your entire childhood has been spent never seeing another person save the servants up until your parents sent you here.

Haleg Lyn is a large monastery, but it feels like a box that you would put animals in without cutting any holes. People talk when you’re turned away, but you prefer this to the way your father looked at you as if he would erase you if he could. You eat alone. You pray in silence. You do not feel anything. Your mother is dead.

While you are alone, you encounter one of the Brothers. As he is walking toward you, you smell the sweat in his breath when he smiles.

He’s never heard you speak the entire time, he muses, not since your parents sent you here. You haven’t ever said a word. You unwanted, pretty wayward child.

How convenient for him.

He comes close, his hand reaching out to stroke the untouched, pale apple of your cheek. Something so sharp and cold and painful settles itself inside you that you know you’ll remember it.

Oh.

Is this what fear is?

You are dizzy and sick and he is touching your face and he is gone.

Just gone, like a fly that annoyed you. All that remains is a hot smear that runs down the side of your face. There is no other evidence that a man once stood here at all. As you touch your hand to your cheek and draw your fingers away bloody, something crackles in that dark void. Even in a child’s voice, it’s a sound that will become familiar for the rest of your life.

“Fuhaha…haha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

It’s the best you’ve ever felt.

There’s one more thing left, wreathed in the same darkness that seems to have burned out from you. It’s a key. Reaching down to grasp it, you know exactly what it belongs to as something pulls you forward, precisely where you need to go: Where the church keeps all its other dark secrets.

And everything there is calling out to you.]

[ Psyche has been tired more than once since her arrival here. But never quite like this, a sort of aching exhaustion she thinks has nothing to do with the side-effects of the injection or the slight injuries she'd taken in the fight. The disorientation of so many swaps in rapid succession... perhaps. Knowing that now everyone has seen the secret she's been keeping. Worrying about the strangeness she's been seeing in Waltaquin...

Psyche is sitting on their bed in Kakapo, feeling out her injured arm with careful fingertips. Probably not broken? Not that her healing would be a good idea to attempt right now if it were. She's unsure if she's troubled by it so much as she's simply having a hard time resisting touching things that hurt right now. ]

Waltaquin... how are you feeling?

[She'd left shortly after the meeting turned from one topic to the next, squeezed out by the increasing vivre. The secret to their success here is bolstering Merlin's power with their bonds, is it? She feels like she's back with the Foxes all over again.

She walks down to the ocean and stands in its incoming and increasingly threatening tide, not looking over her shoulder but strangely feeling as if she did not come down here alone.

Waltaquin takes off her gloves and throws them to the sand, then sits there.]

What a farce.

[ The letter had taken Psyche a truly long time to write, and Medea a considerable time to read and respond. She sits in quiet contemplation for a little while even after that, staring at nothing in particular. What a tangle of circumstances. What a way to finally get some modicum of explanation out of Psyche...

The thought makes her laugh, softly, as she finally gets to her feet. Even she can't fully explain the mood seizing her as she slides the star-shaped mood ring from Psyche's finger and replaces it with another ring, carefully kept. Does this make it too easy? She half wonders if something in Waltaquin would know her at a glance without such a signal. The challenge might be unfair in the current circumstances, and besides... If she intends to give a proper answer, she may as well dress for the occasion. With that thought in mind she sets out to look for her quarry. ]

week 2, post-invest

week 3, wednesday

week 3, post-trial

week 4, thursday

"i want a public thread this week but also we have to do unhinged memshare in pc" - clown shay

week 6, monday post-sickos

week 6, tuesday

week 6, thursday evening