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#1
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by Nightcrawler - March 28, 2024, 09:57:28 PM
Fletcher grunted. After a moment's consideration, he spoke up. "Mm. Yep. He said you might do this. The stubborn bit." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then tilted his head a bit as if to say, 'Well, I warned you.' He set the medicine aside again and made his way around the bed to the door, hesitated in front of it for a moment, then locked it. As he returned, he removed his coat and laid it carefully over the chair he'd pulled up. He retrieved the medicine and turned back to Theo.

"Last chance. It's going down the hatch one way or another, Theo. I'll not see you screaming yourself hoarse over this hand when it really starts to get bad."
#2
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by GoblinFae - March 28, 2024, 09:09:45 PM
"Mandragora," he corrected with a deep scowl. "You can put it down, Mr. Daw. It won't be necessary."

'I don't deserve it.'

His words may have come off calm and clear but his left hand still picked anxiously at his bandaging, causing the edges to fray. Theo's thoughts still oozed with self-disgust and a desire to punish himself for his perceived misdeeds. 
'Besides,' he reckoned to himself, 'what's the worst Jack can do to me? I broke bones punching a tub after months learning how to throw a proper one. I'm clearly too fragile to be manhandled and too exhausted to give chase. He's bluffing.'
#3
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by Nightcrawler - March 28, 2024, 08:05:06 PM
"Mm." Fletcher's expression darkened, though a trace of the smile remained. "No. He was a little too good at taking medicine, actually," he replied. Some part of him left again, and the dead-eyed man who remained by the bed held that medicine out as though he'd become a statue. Then he breathed in deeply and came to again and squinted at the glass. "Mandrag — mandra-something. Healer said it was for pain. I'm supposed to give it to you every eight hours. So you and I are going to be spending quite a bit of time together, I think. Now. You going to make this easy, or am I doing it the hard way?"
#4
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by GoblinFae - March 28, 2024, 07:50:32 PM
"Mhmm," he hummed back, not at all catching on how it sounded. Theo raised a brow back at Fletcher's declaration while eyeing his movements. The return of the teacup though caused a slight grimace and another sigh. 

"He got sick often too then? I've heard healers are always bad about taking medicine." Theo attempted a half smile but gave up as he continued to refuse the cup and instead stared at it in contemplation. "What's in it?"
#5
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by Nightcrawler - March 28, 2024, 07:45:14 PM
"Erm." Fletcher's smile turned strange, like he couldn't quite comprehend what he'd just heard. "...did you?" He blinked rapidly again and then stared at Theo as though it was the first time he'd truly seen him. Like he was putting pieces together again. "Huh," he grunted at last. "S'pose looking's free."

He shrugged and stood, rather unbothered considering the conclusion he'd just spoken aloud, and went to retrieve the medicine. He held it out to Theo again, brows raised in a mock warning. "Right. I think you've avoided this long enough. You know Ven was a healer, yeah? So you know I was stuck with one for over ten bloody years. So I know some tricks to getting medicine down a gullet. Don't make me use them."
#6
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by GoblinFae - March 28, 2024, 07:31:25 PM
Theo looked embarrassed but nodded along. "Aye, that I can do, although you owe me nothing...not even your friendship."

He sighed and leaned back against the headboard some looking utterly exhausted beyond belief. "It's good to see you smile again though." Theo gave a half smile back in return. "I missed it."
#7
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by Nightcrawler - March 28, 2024, 07:22:48 PM
Fletch blinked rapidly, taken aback by the fact that his friend still blamed himself. "There's nothing to forgive. We were drunk and you were...in the moment. It happens, and truthfully I forgot you even did it. And today, I was an ass. I was awful. You called me as much. If you'd broken my nose over it, I'd consider it fair payment."

The rest caught up with him: a knife to the chest from which guilt spilled forth. The leash means nothing unless I'm alone. He averted his eye. Theo didn't understand. He didn't know. It was still for the best if Fletcher left before this place undid what little good he'd built around himself and drew forth that selfish, harsh, and blackened core. He owed Theo an explanation, it was true. But he wouldn't say it now. They'd talk about it later. Even if that subject pained him just as much as the topic at hand.

"I..." He stared down at his hands and picked at his cuticle as he tried once more to focus. His thoughts slid around it again. "Fuck," he muttered. He returned his gaze to Theo, though his head was still hung like a guilty dog's. "I know I owe it to you after how I've been. Believe me. But that's a thing I need to loosen with whiskey."

That gave him a thought, and Fletcher cocked his head. His smile returned, albeit a tired one. "Have a drink with me some night after my shift's done. Maybe I can tell you about it then."
#8
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by GoblinFae - March 28, 2024, 01:49:36 PM
He stared intensely at the other man, his face a mask of guilt and sorrow that turned into compassion. Theo wanted nothing more than to ask if he could hug the other man, to seek comfort as much as to provide it, but he knew better. It had ended so poorly last time. Just as today had gone so terribly because of him.

"...will you forgive me then? Just as I forgive you? I...I want my friend back and I don't even think I deserve that, but I am selfish and spoiled and I want that Jack. The leash means nothing unless I'm alone. The changes," he sighed and looked to the side some and shrugged before continuing, "I hardly notice them. They come, they go. It has been like this in varying ways my whole life. But, I can see how that is entrapping for you."

Theo licked his lips and picked at his bandaging as he hesitated anxiously. "Will you tell me now what he said to you that upset you this deeply? If it was about me, I assure you it was nothing I have not already heard before," the nobleman added with a very calm and resigned expression.
#9
Coastal Serendipity / Re: Latent Dream (Summervale) ...
Last post by Nightcrawler - March 28, 2024, 01:04:36 PM
His jaw worked like a fish before he closed it and let the man finish. At the mention of Theo kissing him, he cocked his head and frowned — he'd quite honestly forgotten all about that, but clearly Theo hadn't. Every other thing he said echoed his own thoughts, and by the time his friend had finished, Fletcher had leaned forward and now peered at the man intently.

"Theo," he grunted. "Is that really what..."

He sighed, groaned, and rubbed his face. "Shit," he muttered into his hands before dropping them to his lap. Behind them, his face had fallen into that haggard look that aged him a decade beyond his years. "Is that what you thought this was about?" he asked. His eye flitted anxiously to the door, then back again. He tried to find some way to explain, but the thing he wanted most to say aloud kept getting stuck on his tongue. "I'm the one who should be sorry," he rasped. "I wanted to fix this. All I did was tighten the leash. And the Baron, I — "

He paused. Swallowed. His eye went wide as he fell back into memory for a moment before pulling himself together again. "Can you trust me when I say that it's not you? That it's nothing that you've done? That it's...him?"
#10
Sirantil Valley / Re: Mirror, Mirror
Last post by MadEmperor - March 28, 2024, 12:46:08 PM
"Right." Dan nodded. "I think I can convince my parents to look the other way long enough for that to happen."

"Which begs the question of how to contact them."



"Go ahead," Grav answered.

"Then I suggest you brace yourself. I'm told it can be quite intense," Beatrix advised. When he nodded that he was prepared, she placed a hand over his heart and pushed glowing energy into him.

He gasped as his entire body became energized. "Wow... Yeah, I'm not tired now! Woo!"