middaeg | [Closed] April Catchall

[ She's finding her own senses are a little enhanced, but she doesn't have enough knowledge to really think about the scent of other Mirrorbound. It's not something she thinks much about at all, really. Besides, in the moment her attention is elsewhere. She turns to follow him with a determined stride, lengthening her step to keep up. ]

As well as I can be expected to. The changes have been a distraction and I am adjusting as best as I am able.

[ She shoots him a sidelong glance. She's not exactly insulted; it's a reasonable question, after all. Saber still isn't sure how she feels about being asked that. ]

I have bonded, if that is what you mean. Rest assured, my focus will not waver. I am in no danger of running wild or ruining our expedition.

[ She gives him a rather bland look. ]

I understand your caution. However, I have given you no cause for alarm, have I?

[ Felix shakes his head. Yellow eyes flick toward her for a moment, thoughtful, and then back to the path ahead of them. ]

Not yet.

[ Ahead of them, around the bend, is the butcher's. Felix knows it before he sees it by the stink of livestock offal and blood that hangs around the place—no need for a Turnskin's nose to detect that, either. ]

I only asked because I believe your word, [ he says, as they approach the front threshold of the place. ] You don't seem like the sort to lie if you were compromised.

[ He pauses at the door, turning toward her. ]

And... because my own changes have not been simple to navigate. I would hope yours have been easier.

[ She can smell it herself and for a moment she's distracted, glancing ahead toard the bend of the road. Then her attention is back on Felix, listening intently as they come around the corner and head towards the shop. ]

Lying would make little sense, true.

[ He pauses in the door and she does likewise. ]

They... have been complicated. And not always easy. I think all of us who are afflicted with them find them difficult in some way. [ She shakes her head. ]

I wasn't able to find a bond by the first full moon. It did not go well for me.

[ In spite of himself, Felix winces in sympathy, his expression tightening. His own first shift had been... unpleasant, and that was with a Bond on hand to keep him as lucid as reasonably possible. He knows his time out in the Wilde likely contributed, and since she had gone on the same expedition...

Well. No wonder her shift went poorly.

Inside, he exchanges a few words wit the the butcher, who is well aware of the mission of the mercenaries from Aefenglom here. While the man steps into the back to get them the necessary supplies, he glances at her. ]

If it's any solace, the Sisters are a formidable foe. They can sway even the strongest mind when they're full.

[ He frowns, and looks away ]

I was... not myself, either. Only the grace of preparation stopped me from harming anyone.

[ Saber waits as they order the meat they'll need and then glances at Felix as their conversation continues. He's right, of course. For whatever reason, the magic of this place badly affects monsters. She still doesn't know why, but it's enough that it does. ]

I should have been more prepared, but... I am used to my willpower being enough to sustain me.

[ She clenches her jaw. Perhaps - well. How much can she really ask? ]

May I ask how it went? If it is not probing too deeply.

[ He watches her for a long moment without answering, until footsteps in the back tell him the butcher is returning with their goods, and he presses a finger to his lips silently. Quiet. This is not a conversation to have in front of ordinary village folk.

He trades his coin for a jar of coppery cow's blood and the unplucked corpse of a hen, and then they step outside, their business done. ]

...I'd tell you, if I remembered.

[ And he sighs, frowning down at the ground, his expression distant for a moment. ]

I knew something was wrong, so I locked myself in the cellar. Most of the night after is a blur. I only know how I came to in the morning—the evidence tells me it went poorly.

[ Claw marks all over the flagstones and the door, and a ruined set of clothes. That part, he doesn't care to delve into. ]

[ Saber can't quite hide her grimace as he describes his own experience. Hers was similar enough, although she hadn't had the sense to lock herself up. She hadn't known how bad it would get. ]

My experience was similar... except I ran a little wild. I only truly came back to myself after I ended up at the abode of an acquaintance after several hours. It was... well. Unpleasant is the only true way to describe it.

[ She shakes her head as they begin their walk, gaze a bit distant. ]

I attacked someone. Thankfully, not fatally or seriously.

[ Felix listens impassively, picking up the trail back through the trees, out to the farmlands at the edge of the village. Now might ordinarily be the time he'd offer a sharp remark, maybe a good scolding to go with it, but all he has for her is... a shrug. ]

So long as no one was hurt, take it as a learning experience.

[ He's been there. Experienced the Sisters' sway. He understands what it's like, and can offer no more judgment than is his usual. ]

You likely won't make the mistake of underestimating the pull of the moons a second time, now will you?

I am doing my best to do so.

[ She seems quite serious about that. She's quite serious about a lot of things, honestly. ]

And I will not; I have... fortunately... been able to find a bond recently, which should help with their pull. It is perhaps more out of necessity than anything else, but they seem a reasonable sort.

[ He glances at her, and after a moment he inclines his head. Good enough for him. ]

Why else do we Bond, but for necessity?

[ His eyes are back out on the fields now, scanning for the best spot to lay their trap. Somewhere where the two of them can find a place to hide downwind of the forest, preferably. ]

None of us want someone digging around in our heads like that.

No. We don't.

[ Saber agrees quietly, eyes sweeping the fields and copses of trees that dot the landscape. The forest looms ahead of them, but they can't go too far. They need to make this work the first time. ]

Too many moments we would rather keep close to our hearts.

[ She sounds vaguely saddened. ]

Although I have heard some people with those they love or care for. I am not sure if that is wise.

[ There's a spot close by—a dip in the rolling hills, an overgrown thicket downwind to conceal them. They'll have the high ground, and an easy ambush come nightfall.

He's quiet for a moment, frowning, more to himself than at her. ]

It's... not easy, even with those you're close to.

[ He's speaking from experience. So much they've had to figure out between the two of them—none of it simple. ]

You learn things about each other you would rather have kept hidden.

[ Saber silently approves of the location they seem to have mutually drawn themselves toward. The conversation they're having is much heavier, however. ]

Agreed. And you learn things you might not have and perhaps didn't wish to. It makes you view them in a different light - and they, you.

[ She shakes her head and glances at him. ]

Baring one's self like that, even to someone you feel close to is a difficult task.

[ She's all too right, and Felix winces vaguely in recognition of that fact. In just a short time, he's learned far more than he ever feared to know about Sylvain... some things included that would've been easier to let lie, but now that they're out in the open...

He exhales quietly. ]

Be glad that yours isn't so close to you, then. Less likely either of you will accidentally see something you weren't meant to.

[ He juggles the jar of blood he holds into one hand, and passes off the hen to her. ]

Slit its throat, and bleed it out upon the ground. I'll do the same with this.

[ Come nightfall, they'll hunt, and hopefully by then this conversation will be but a distant, uncomfortable memory. ]

[Closed] April Catchall

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