A light pressure on Colin’s shoulder, he flinched, stopped stock still, but it was just Loona. Not twisted and broken on the floor – somehow okay, flying about again. That was good. She placed a hand on the wound. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, but it stung sharply at the contact. He blinked, watching as the two edges knitted themselves back together.
Huh.
That was new.
She said something about a shower, and he looked at her, confused for a second, until he remembered. Right. He’d been going to bed. Because what else was he supposed to do? He nodded dully at her suggestion. What had it been again? Not that it really mattered. If she had a direction she wanted to point him in, then he might as well do that.
He started walking again. The sound of his footsteps flat, the sluggish crawl of the walls passing his periphery the only indicator they were really going anywhere.
His shoulder didn’t hurt anymore. That was… weird. No potion could do that, least not without knocking you flat for the duration. He remembered the question from earlier,
“You…” was that his voice? It sounded weird.
“You never said earlier… are you... a spell caster or s’umat?”The tiny, wingless, fairy let her legs swing to and fro once Colin had come slightly out of his stupor, one that she was pretty sure she accidentally caused. She idly brushed off the remaining dust clinging onto the fabric and initially torn flesh, eyeing him with her peripherals. She wasn't surprised in the slightest and could tell just by looking...this guy was already a mess far before coming here. It only took a few nudges here and there to eventually shatter his already crumbling psyche. It kind of reminded Loona of a a puzzle set, but some of the pieces had gone missing over the years and thus would never be complete again...
Loona attempted to get the other to say something with her suggestion, but she was only given a dumb nod. Geez, was he even listening? Despite the worried thoughts, the fairy remained polite, smiling faintly and clasping her hands together before pointing forward.
“Great! If we're fast enough, m-maybe we could catch up to Ms. Kiri.” She hoped to encourage as she place both hand back on his shoulder.
They had, well Colin had actually, walked in silence for just a little bit before it was the bigger of the two who started the conversation, Loona jumping at the sudden voice. Never hearing the term "s'umat" before, blame her secluded nature, the girl tilted her head slightly before answering.
“I-I'm a fairy of the Moon. We don't necessarily cast spells or anything like that, b-but we secrete dust that can promote and replenish life. Our dust is normally used o-on plants and the like, but seasoned fairies can make theirs potent e-enough to heal the physical and some mental ailments of others.” She explained slowly for his sake, keeping a friendly smile on her face.
“What about you? Where did you learn to f-fire and arrow like that?” The girl then urged, hoping to keep him talking until they get to the rooms.
Kiri. Kiri was in the room. The thought registered vaguely with Colin at Loona's words, but then faded just as quickly as he continued to navigate the seemingly labyrinthine corridors.
At her explanation, the smallest amount of surprise poked through the fog,
"A... fairy," his tongue still felt like lead in his mouth,
"you mean... like what's in the stories you hear from your mum?" she'd healed Kiri, and him, and in the trial room, before
when she'd touched his forehead, there'd been... something not quite like calm, but similar enough to allow a moment of clarity.
"That must mean... you're powerful then. If you can..." he trailed of, words suddenly becoming inexplicably difficult, the process of putting one foot in front of the other swallowing up a large chunk of his attention.
Her question punctured the fog again,
"Oh... that?" it took him a few seconds to think it through, details slipping through his fingers like sand,
"I... my uncle." yeah, that was right,
"Started me off when I was a littlun"Loona found herself nodding eagerly at Colin’s statement on fairy.
“Y-Yes, something like that!” Fairies normally are never seen were humans and other creatures resided, so it made sense that there were stories about the assumed fabled creature much like it was the other way around. She even remembered Nick looking at her with curiosity upon first meeting, mostly because of how rare she was, especially in a place like this.
A blush found found its way onto Loona’s face, lightly dusting over the freckles that lined the bridge of her nose and under her eyes.
“Me? P-Powerful? I mean, I just worked hard...n-nothing that special about me...” She mumbled as she started to play with her fingers, legs also now idle. Unfortunately, the fairy had been so flustered by the compliment, she failed to notice the other never finishing what he wanted to say…
As they got onto the topic of where Colin learned how to protect himself, Loona felt the need to tread as lightly as possible. She didn’t want to say anything that could possibly make Colin feel worse, or go completely unresponsive.
“He taught y-you when you were little? You must have been every disciplined to l-learn how to use such a weapon...” A pause, and then a thought came to mind.
“Hey, um, maybe after you get some rest and something to eat, how about you teach me how shoot w-with a bow and arrow? I-I’m pretty useless when it comes to p-protecting myself, but if I learned h-how to use a range weapon, m-maybe I could be more helpful?” Loona could only hope a little bit of training would brighten his mood, if only a little bit.
There was something oddly humorous about a mythical creature down on herself for not being 'special' enough. A hint of a smile tugged at Colin's lips, surprising him so much he quickly dropped it,
"For what it's worth..."he began, taking a second to get the words straight. It was muddy, but a little less than before,
"hard work's still, er..." he trailed off momentarily, what had been saying? Oh yeah,
"y'know, hard."His step faltered at her mention of his training, and he was dimly aware of his hand, reaching up, nails sinking into scar tissue, sensation muted. Disciplined. That was one word for it. More like his uncle had just sat him down one day. Told him if he didn't, he'd be leech food. "Didn't really get much say," he said eventually,
"Leeches don't care how old you are, if you've blood in your body they'll drink it."He could feel himself slipping. Pushed away the memory, tried keep his grasp on the present firm. He was in a corridor. He was walking. Loona was saying something about training, asking if he could teach her how to shoot,
"I'd be happy to..." he frowned,
"might struggle drawing a bow at your size though... 'd have to find a little one somewhere..."Too flustered to notice she brightened her companion's mood just a little bit, the fairy left her gaze downward, smiling shyly at his response, and only nodding slightly in agreement. He was right, hard work got her here, and it was now her job to make sure that everyone stayed here. Too bad she'd already failed on that regard...
Her originally loose grip tightened as Colin lost a bit of his footing, only frowning slightly at him. Maybe mentioning
anything about his past would do more harm than good, but before she could change the subject he obliged. Loona let him do his thing, not bothering to stop his hand, and instead focused on what he had to say.
“I-I...I can understand that. If you couldn't d-defend yourself, then you'd be nothing but a liability, worse than someone who needed to b-be saved...” It was nice to know that humans weren't all that different when it came to protecting themselves against threats. If only she had someone like that who told her sooner before--
A quick shake of her head brought her back to the conversation, nodding her head understandingly at the difficulties of drawing a bow. She thought about bringing up have she made her sword bigger in the trial, but...
“Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that.” Brilliant green eyes closed as Loona gave the other a toothy smile.
As she brought her attention back to where they were going, Loona quickly pointed to the room they shared with Kiri.
“In there, in there. G-Grab some clothes and we can head to the showers, okay?” Colin did as she directed, walking into the room.
Four beds. What would happen to Locksley’s now that-? Would it just be left? A permanent reminder of the burningscreamingmelting- He instinctively raised his hand to cover his nose again. It was only when it did nothing to block the stench that he remembered where he was. How it was too late to do anything.
He looked back at Loona, desperate for some kind of anchor,
“What…” he swallowed, looked at his hands – shaking. He clenched them into fists. Quiet, he started over,
“what d’you think they’ll do with his stuff?”Kiri glanced up at the sound of the door opening. She was sat on her bed, her dark hair hanging around her shoulders in damp clumps. She’d just finished her shower. Blood was no longer smeared across her face, and her cheeks were still slightly pink from the hot water. She was in casual clothes -- dark pants, and a long-sleeved maroon top. Seeing her ‘teammates’ walk in, she looked back down to her work. She’d knicked the edge of her sword when she’d scratched it against the floor. She ran her whetstone against the blade. She’d set to the task immediately after her shower, desperate for the rhythmic work that might distract her from the events of the day.
Upon entering the room, big green eyes went to the only other figure present, that being Kiri. Despite going through that whole trial together, Loona could still feel the 'ice queen' vibes radiating from the dark haired woman. Before she could open her mouth to greet the other female, Colin's words stopped her.
“They'd probably re-purpose his things and distribute them among the keep for others to use...” She responded honestly with a grim smile.
“It's better than getting rid of his stuff all together though.” In hopes of providing a bit of damage control, Loona stood from her perch on the man's shoulder and began to float towards the windowsill where she left her things.
“Th-There's no point in thinking of it now. L-Let's just take this time to w-worry about ourselves.” She sighed quietly, trying to decide what to wear.
Colin wasn’t listening, his eyes had fallen on Kiri. Or rather, the sword in her hand, and the scratches she was buffing out.
It was like being punched, square in the gut. His fingers were tingling, numb. The whistling in his ears was back. He couldn’t feel his tongue.
“So that’s it then?” he heard himself say, muscles tense,
“A man dies and we, what, sharpen out the scratches of his existence?” he glared pointedly at Kiri, anger bubbling in the face of her cool, uncaring demeanour
“Hey, do you even care that you pretty much killed someone?” Kiri’s hands paused. Emotions surged through her like a bolt of lightning -- guilt, regret, nausea, fear,
doubt. Her fingers tightened imperceptibly around the whetstone. She forced them all down. She found anger, like a familiar weapon in her hand.
What right did he have to stand there,
accusing her like that? What had
he done while she’d been so close to the monster’s oozing stench, its claws, its screams -- he’d sat at the back, a safe distance away, firing a single, pointless arrow while she’d done what was
necessary. A man had died (
oh god she’d killed a man, she’d heard him scream she’d smelled him burn he was dead and it was herfaultherfaultherfault they were right her father was right) but he’d known the risks. They all had.
Kiri forced her whetstone to slide along the blade.
”He’s dead. You’re alive. You’re welcome.”Just as she managed to pull out something that was appropriate, Loona flinched at the prospect of something that was bound to happen taking place sooner than she thought. They hadn't even had a chance to properly say anything to each other, and they were already arguing.
“C-Come on...b-both of you. Let's not s-start this. We all made mistakes in that trial...l-let's focus on what come after instead.” She tried to diffuse anything from escalating forward. Of course Loona wanted to point some fingers herself, but accusing each other would only lead to more arguing, and even worse, holding grudges. However, just to be safe, Loona position herself so that she was floating in between the two. She was good at making herself unnoticeable, but she needed to be recognized to prove her point.
Teeth grit he rounded on Kiri, face hot and flushed,
“Yeah, he’s dead because you didn’t give a shit about making sure he wasn’t! You never even told anyone what it was you were doing! Just went ahead and did it, left us all there like fucking lemmings!” His voice was loud, too loud, he didn’t have it in him to care,
“The rest of us are here because we want to fucking protect people” he spat,
“You seem to have different ideas though.” It was only then that he noticed Loona. He looked away, shame faced. She seemed quiet, nice. He doubted she’d appreciate his yelling,
“Sorry, Loona,” he said, quieter,
“but for anything to come after, we need to know if she” he glared at Kiri,
“Can be trusted not to get us all bloody killed.”“What did you do that entire fight?” Kiri said, her sharp eyes cutting up to him.
“She healed us,” Kiri nodded at Loona.
“I killed the monster. But did you contribute a single thing? Did you ‘protect’ anyone?” Kiri’s knuckles were white where she gripped the stone and her sword. Locksley -- he’d been half way across the room. Kiri had been the only one
close to the monster when she’d set it ablaze, how could she
know --. Anger built in her like a storm on the horizon.
“You know what?” She put her items to the side and stood from her bed.
“You wanna make me the villain, fine. Just remember that you get to have a clean conscience because you were useless. I’m the one who got the job done, and I’m the reason why we’re not all in the ground with him.”Colin suspected correctly when Loona curled up as he started to raise his voice. Hands cupped lightly over her ears, Loona shot Colin a disapproving look as he continued to berate Kiri for her actions.
“Mr. Colin, p-please, let's at least talk about this witho--” Words, well calming words, clearly weren't working in this situation, with Loona only getting a few words in edgewise against the two before being cut off by the other, but that didn't stop her from trying still. Despite her desire to calm the both of them down naturally, even the small fairy's overly abundant patience was running thin.
It was a little after Kiri stood up that Loona quickly clapped her hands together, a scowl plastered over the normally meek but polite smile.
“That's enough! Both of you! You're acting like children right now!” Loona scolded as she gritted her teeth to bite back a bit of the annoyance that dripped into her voice. Her attention moved to Colin first.
“Why do you think Ms. Kiri is some terrible person? I'm not sure if you were completely there during the trial, but she saved our lives! Like she said, we'd probably be dead without her! Mr. Locksley died because the monster at the trial wanted to take one of us down with it. Kiri played no part in his death after doing what the trial asked of us, so stop blaming her for something she had no control over! She did her job unlike us...” She hissed, turning to face Kiri without missing a beat.
“And I don't know if you realize this, but without Mr. Colin, you probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to set that monster on fire in the first place! His distraction played just as big of a part as you did, so why can't you just see that?!”Loona never thought in her life she'd ever be able to yell the way she did, face red and breaths heavy as she tried to explain that the series of events that took place were a team effort. However this little episode of her's quickly died down a she lowered her head to stare at the ground.
“But, if you two really feel the need to pass the blame onto someone, then let it be me, I'm...I'm p-probably the one that really deserves it. It's the healer's job to make sure that i-injuries are tended to and i-it's pretty obvious I d-didn't do that so...I-I'm s-sorry...” Loona took this chance to bow before both humans. Whether it was a sign of wanting to atone, apologize for yelling at the both of them, or to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks, the fairy remained in said position, waiting for the both of them to direct their hatred to instead of each other.
“Loona…” Colin said, guilt welling up and stifling his anger at Kiri,
“Locksley was done for the second that… that thing fell on him. That dust of yours is pretty impressive, but I don’t think it’s gonna be curing death any time soon.” He didn’t spare Kiri a glance as he continued,
“Wasn’t your fault Loona, you did your best, and you didn’t get anyone else hurt in the process, so don’t… don’t do…” he gestured in her general direction,
“that.” he gave her a small smile,
“You did a good job.”Kiri’s jaw clenched tight, her dark eyes not leaving the two of them. Something pinched in her chest, behind her lungs, against her spine. Guilt leaked from her heart into her bloodstream. Then she let out a frustrated huff of breath and shook her head. Turning back to the bed, she sheathed her sword and grabbed it along with her whetstone. Kiri moved to walk past them. She was done with this if they just wanted to berate her.
Loona reluctantly raised her upper half to look at Colin, a slow stream of tears that never seemed to end coming out of her now slightly puffy eyes.
“B-But it's not fair...” She mumbled out while she brought her fidgety hands to her face in an attempt to wipe away the tears.
“Ms. Kiri tried her...her best too, but you're blaming her for s-saving our lives... ” She squeaked out while rubbing quickly at her eyes, only making the skin around them irritated.
“I-Is it always going to be like this wh-when someone dies d-during a mission? A-Are we always gonna treat the hero like a k-killer?” The question wasn't so much for Colin as it was more a thought that came from Loona's unfiltered mind. She almost didn't see Kiri about to take her leave, but fortunately, the fairy was fast enough to float in her way, hovering at face level.
“P-Please, don't go. Y-You two need to realize that things could have been a lot w-worse, and u-understand that we need to work together s-so that i-it won't happen a-again. N-No one’s at fault.” Steadying her voice in hopes that it would get the point across, Loona gave both humans a pleading look.
Colin clenched his fists, anger at Kiri bubbling up once more, spilling over onto Loona,
“Do you not get it?” he said, trying to keep his voice low,
“If you kill a person, then how’re you any different to a monster?” He could hear himself getting louder, feel himself starting to pace agitatedly,
“there’s a line.” He glared at Kiri,
“she crossed it.” An air of finality hung over his tone. You had to know what was right and what wasn’t, there couldn’t
be an in-between, that was where things got messy.
Done with the conversation, he stalked over to where he’d left his things earlier, picked out the first shirt and pants he found, and left the room, headed towards the showers.
Rage ignited in Kiri, overpowering everything else. He didn’t get to just
walk away. She marched to the door, threw it open, and followed after Colin.
”Hey!” It was the only warning he got before Kiri grabbed his shoulder to spin him around to face her.
”You think I’m a monster, do something about it. Go tell the Hoods I don’t belong here.” A hand. Strong. Grabbing his shoulder. Shit.
Dirt, soft and cold between his toes. Adrenaline scoured, heart raced, hands lept to the daggers at his belt. He spun. Elbow up, angled - get the bastard in the nose.
”Move boy!” Didn't matter if it hit. Straight off, full weight, shoulder directed at his attacker's chest - attempting to pin them to the wall. Knife at their throat.
And then… the dark hair... the soft, feminine curve of her jaw… the steely look in her eyes… his eyes widened, instinctively, he released his weight.
Shit. Kiri.
Kiri was taken by surprise when Colin through an elbow her way, reflexes kicking in quick enough to dodge back and avoid the blow. Then she was shoved into the wall, blade at her throat. The surprise gave way to anger. As soon as she felt his weight shift, her hand grabbed his wrist, the other going to the back of his neck. She spun them, using his weight to slam him face first into the wall, her grip on his wrist pulling it up and behind his back, tightening it painfully.
“STOP!” Footsteps could be heard approaching the two humans. Without so much as holding back, the now human sized but still shorter fairy charged, forcing her entire weight onto Kiri's side to push her off of Colin. Once the two were properly separated, Loona stood in between them yet again, anger clear in her bigger features.
“God, you guys are acting insufferable!” With this new form, Loona's voice came out a bit deeper, darker, and without a trace of anxiousness nor reserve. Her hair was shorter, freckles much more prominent, and her eyes were like daggers especially because of her earlier crying. Even her clothes looked more mature and less like she'd been based off a doll.
“Making me resort to this is pathetic. It's one thing to argue, but to get physical is just stupid.” Words hard and lacking any sort of sympathetic emotion, the freckled girl folded her arms.
“Fine, if you want to act like children, then I'll treat you both like one. Timeout. From each other. No interacting until the next day. Cool off and think for the time being. We'll come back this later...” Large emerald eyes scanned over the both of them before she reached down to grab her now full length rapier.
“And if you can't follow a simple rule like that, then don't expect to get any help from me tomorrow. Are we clear?” Eyes now narrowed, the larger fairy awaited any kind of response.
One second, he’d been pressed up against the wall, arm twisted painfully behind his back, the next… Loona, except… not Loona? Was reeming the both of them out. For fighting. And that was not Loona. He gave her a confused look,
“You… you’re, err…. Loona?” he said, too stunned to really process the past few seconds.
Today was shaping up to be a day.
Kiri blinked at the new person. Loona… damn spellcasters. Kiri pressed her lips together, giving an unimpressed look at her lecture. Her eyes cut to Colin. She watched him for a moment.
”The next time you pull a weapon on me,” she said, her voice like ice,
”make it count.” She cast her eyes on the two of them again. Then she turned and stalked down the hallway, eager to be away from her two infuriating teammates.
It looked like being the nice little fairy wasn't going to resolve this situation. Acting any different was against her nature, but if it meant more arguing, she'd have to get over it and pull them back together. Even if it made her feel bad in the process.
Rolling her eyes at Kiri's response as she took her leave, Loona brought her attention back to Colin, the originally sweet smile looking more like a smirk in this form.
“Do you really not recognize me?” She wondered, tilting her head curiously before said smirk was replaced with a frown.
“Well, whatever...I don't like using this form anyways so don't talk about it nor get use to it. ...I'm going to the showers.” And with that, the girl stalked off back towards their shared room. However before she made her way inside, the fairy looked back at Colin with slightly squinted eyes.
“I was serious you know. Think about everything that took place from the trial until now. Then ask yourself if Ms. Kiri is really as bad as you're making her out to be, okay?” A bit softer this time, Loona gave Colin an innocent grin before dipping into the room to change back into her regular self and grab some clothes.
Colin watched her go, still confused, but also… strangely guilty. She didn't like that form, but she'd felt the need to use it because of something
he'd done.
Fuck. He needed a shower. And a nap. He slinked off, a scowl etched across his face.
