[ It's night. Handy: Fewer folks in the way.
Vance waits under the orange, swinging light of a lantern; still, eyes cast strange to the dirt. His shoulder curls as a startled cat — doesn't uncoil. He stands frozen, with no alarm in sight.
No healers, either. Thank fuck. Seems there's still some turnover on the night shift (or just fewer brawls in the middle of it). They've a little time, at least, before being nagged into their graves. ]
Vance waits under the orange, swinging light of a lantern; still, eyes cast strange to the dirt. His shoulder curls as a startled cat — doesn't uncoil. He stands frozen, with no alarm in sight.
No healers, either. Thank fuck. Seems there's still some turnover on the night shift (or just fewer brawls in the middle of it). They've a little time, at least, before being nagged into their graves. ]
He charges.
Doesn't matter if it even connects — a barrel run below the chest — some things you just gotta start before you got a chance to stop them. To think, or freeze up. Cool down,
Same thing. Bad odds, anyway: Eighteen inches between them and Ellis ever the fucking anvil. Bad odds if you want anything other than a break.
(Needs one. Conversations get heavy on two heads.)
Doesn't matter if it even connects — a barrel run below the chest — some things you just gotta start before you got a chance to stop them. To think, or freeze up. Cool down,
Same thing. Bad odds, anyway: Eighteen inches between them and Ellis ever the fucking anvil. Bad odds if you want anything other than a break.
(Needs one. Conversations get heavy on two heads.)
Impact rocks the breath from him, then again: Sends Ellis' fist glancing off his jaw. There's blood in his ears, in his teeth, but nothing's cracked loose —
A friend of mine, The yard is quiet. It fucking hurt,
Somewhere above, the first soppy flakes of snow drift down to cap the walls, the grounds; their discarded sleeves. Vance's foot slips. It drives him forward again, lower now, stomping for an instep. Pivoted, an elbow for a hip. Trying to turn him, to tear some of that weight down. Like pulling at a tower stone.
(Pointless. The great grey shadow of her, the damp earth.)
A friend of mine, The yard is quiet. It fucking hurt,
Somewhere above, the first soppy flakes of snow drift down to cap the walls, the grounds; their discarded sleeves. Vance's foot slips. It drives him forward again, lower now, stomping for an instep. Pivoted, an elbow for a hip. Trying to turn him, to tear some of that weight down. Like pulling at a tower stone.
(Pointless. The great grey shadow of her, the damp earth.)
Edited (clarity) 2021-02-21 08:36 (UTC)
[ shortly after ellis chimes in with this. ]
What exactly is stopping Corypheus's people from monitoring the Gallows and Kirkwall, or coming in and taking people from here?
[ probably self-evident why he didn't opt to ask this in a public forum. also: after dreams, probably self-evident why this really fucking bothers him. ]
What exactly is stopping Corypheus's people from monitoring the Gallows and Kirkwall, or coming in and taking people from here?
[ probably self-evident why he didn't opt to ask this in a public forum. also: after dreams, probably self-evident why this really fucking bothers him. ]
[ it's worth remembering, of course, that venatori power is very different than it'd been in the dreams; that was, allegedly, the point of them. he remembers other things, too. richard, eyes glittering in the firelight, as he calmly laid out the assertion that rifters were a poison to a dying world. petrana, by a different campfire, reminding him in no uncertain terms that this war is for them as much for theodosians. he remembers the conviction he'd felt in the dream, the determination not to let any of it come to pass.
he breathes out, slow. ]
I'd like to take a look at those letters, [ he says instead of anything else. is there anything else to say? ellis is obviously right. ]
he breathes out, slow. ]
I'd like to take a look at those letters, [ he says instead of anything else. is there anything else to say? ellis is obviously right. ]
[ he doesn't, he thinks, need to ask why ellis would want to. ]
I'd appreciate it. If I do, it wouldn't be a one-man job.
[ and it'd be worth, too, having people there who aren't shard-bearers. he pauses, long, before going on. ]
There's a favor I want to ask you.
I'd appreciate it. If I do, it wouldn't be a one-man job.
[ and it'd be worth, too, having people there who aren't shard-bearers. he pauses, long, before going on. ]
There's a favor I want to ask you.
[ he thinks of amos, in the dream. all carefully kept cave, complete with a goddamn goat, i was supposed to get you out. he thinks, more recently, of naomi. all bright smiles, snow in her hair and her hands, the confession, i've missed you.
when he speaks, it's slow, but certain. ]
If anything happens to me, [ and god knows, it's not just about venatori or the war; rifters can vanish without warning, him just as easily as anyone, ] there's people I want you to look out for.
[ maybe he should be more concerned about ellis's absence in the dream, where he'd gone, what that means for him and for a promise like this. and he is; he is. but this is a selfishness, one that feels right in this moment. ]
when he speaks, it's slow, but certain. ]
If anything happens to me, [ and god knows, it's not just about venatori or the war; rifters can vanish without warning, him just as easily as anyone, ] there's people I want you to look out for.
[ maybe he should be more concerned about ellis's absence in the dream, where he'd gone, what that means for him and for a promise like this. and he is; he is. but this is a selfishness, one that feels right in this moment. ]
Edited 2021-02-26 03:54 (UTC)
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