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[rudelanguage]

ANTIGONE INBOX: username ANTIGONEIGUESS
PENDING INBOX: username ITSPENDING
KNIFE INBOX: nonexistent (for now)

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[rudelanguage]

Yeah, well-- [huff.] I've done sleepless stakeouts before. Without potions! [for a fraction of the time BUT--] And I'm still alive. And being complacent here is not the play. This is--

[Changeling shit. maybe if they think it enough they'll be convinced of it.]

[oblige]

For weeks at a time?

That would be deadly to people of my world.

[ And so he must ask. ]

[rudelanguage]

Maybe your people are weak shit! Look-- shut up. It's fine! It's either this, or risk sleep and waking up hexed or something new snuck into my brain! I'm not havin' more fae bullshit in my brain.

[she's emphatic, stubborn beyond the point of irrationality. this is getting done, bad idea or not, simply because she chose it. she can control it. there's precious little she can. even if it's destruction.]

[oblige]

Why are these the only two prospects...

[ It's more lamenting to himself than anything, tail thumping against the tree stump much like an agitated cat. He doesn't like it, and some part of him must express the sentiment. ]

[rudelanguage]

[why the fuck does he care so much!! augh!!! it's stressing Knife out! they're already stressed! why do they want him to like them!?!?

irritably, still not looking at him:] I'll do two-hour stints here and there, but I'm not risking long rests, that's-that's crazy. To me. I'm not okay with this place like everyone else is and asking me to be is, is-- [she snorts.] Well, whatever. Everything I do is wrong to everyone anyway, so why not this!

[oblige]

[ He already does like Scartigone... ]

I would not say I am okay with this place... Yet the thought of leaving others like us trapped here is unacceptable.

[ Because, of course, he is one of those. ]

Who tells you that everything you do is wrong?

[rudelanguage]

[scoff. huff. well!!!!!!]

What, like you aren't already sounding like you think I'm crazy. And I'm no snitch on other people! Even if they're assholes to me.

[except Shadow.


but like.


shut up.]

[oblige]

It is not for me to deem you wrong. But because I know little regarding your constitution, I worry.

In my world, lives are fragile. For those who can channel aether, prolonged lack of rest has severe consequences. That was why I asked about your needs.

[ How else would he know, after all? ]

[rudelanguage]

[but that's so...............................reasonable! what the fuck is wrong with this guy!

she pauses in her foraging to squint his way, as if she'd fucking get anything from the stick bug-lookin' lizard. Knife's got an okay way of insighting humanoid faces, not...that.]

Youuuu...worry. [...] Because youuuuu...give a shit.

[oblige]

[ He straightens when that attention is directed his way, a career soldier in a dinky dragon body. ]

I may not phrase it that way, but yes.

[ It's only natural that he care, isn't it? They've known one another for quite some time. ]

[rudelanguage]

[sure, but...like, at what cost!

Scarlet squints. Maybe you SHOULD fuckin' phrase it that way sometime and I'll believe it.

one ear twitches in an echo of a very Antigone tic before she clicks her tongue and turns back to her work, face feeling hot.]

I dunno what to fuckin' do with you, man... [You, Long-term...]

[oblige]

I do not always know what to do with myself.

[ He says as much lightly, with an air of humor. It's fine by him that she doesn't know how she wants to regard his care. To him, it's enough that she understands it. ]

[rudelanguage]

[Great. Now I get to feel GUILTY about doing this? Scarlet's nose crinkles at the notion. Why do I have to feel BAD about doing something to MYSELF just because SOMEONE ELSE feels bad about it! He's not even--

she grumbles to audibly drown out her own grumpy thoughts, finding her pocket starting to be to packed to really retain many more leaves.]

Guess that's why you're out here doing this instead of virtually anything else.

[oblige]

I am here because I wanted to aid you, or at least ward off the predatory creatures you spoke of.

[ This, coming from a diminuitive dragon. ]

[rudelanguage]

Oh, the--yeah. [big, predatory--] Big...cat-bear-thing. Antlers. Started talking at me after it chased me up a tree.

[oblige]

They're capable of speech?

[ That comes as a surprise to him. ]

[rudelanguage]

That one was; I didn't wander around to find out if other ones were, too.

[oblige]

That is for the best, I suspect.

[rudelanguage]

Yeah. I mean, besides don't fuckin' eat me, I don't got a whole lot to say to the sort, y'know?

[she looks at the fistful of leaves remaining, wondering where to put them. I shoulda brought a bag. Or...something...

can't just...stuff them down her shirt; this outfit isn't laden with secret pockets the way Knife likes!

sigh.]

I guess...I make do with this. [But that means...going back... Eughhhhhhhhhhhhh.]

[oblige]

[ The sigh is cause for a curious tilt of his little dragon head. ]

Is something amiss?

[rudelanguage]

[she tenses briefly, surprised she said that aloud.

then, dryly:] Besides everything I've already been bitching about, you mean? [she rolls a shoulder, looking away.] It's whatever. We can go back, I guess.

[oblige]

I wouldn't have called it that.

[ He sees no issue with her airing her feelings. ]

But if you are ready. I'm in no rush.

[rudelanguage]

[the issue is.......what, exactly? Knife isn't sure. it's...hard to explain. they've already shown too much of themself to this man. lizard. lizardman. damn, a shapeshifter who is unbothered to share their other form... it's hard to wrestle with, given it'd seem to invalidate all the fear and anguish Knife's lived with in hiding, even if the circumstances are utterly incomparable.

the quiet forest is such a temptation to bare more of that true skin, but the threat of fae has been so rapidly conflated to take the shape of every nebulous fear they have that the prospect feels akin to simply walking off a cliff.

Dion has no reason to dangle their changelinghood over their head, but the chance is there. the forest doesn't need to have any interest in Knife whatsoever, but there's always a chance. the fae here may be simple, frivolous, self-absorbed cunts...or there may be a few in there not unlike the witch that wormed her way into Knife's head.

the more Knife wants to be seen and validated, the more the threat looms. the threat of attachment. the fear that it invalidates their feelings for Soliton. the danger of validating some bullshit outcome.

things could be easier, but...was that really right?

Scarlet stops shy of the pathway back into the castle, eyeing the glow of the wall sconces and the glow in the dark.]

...Don't die. Or give your real name. Or say anything with, like. "I swear" or "I promise."

[oblige]

Do not act like myself, someone advised me.

[ That someone was Antigone, as they both surely know.

His strong little legs kick off and his overlarge wings carry him up, taking to the air with the ease of one born to it. ]

I shall be careful.