angelcage: (Default)
Tristan ([personal profile] angelcage) wrote in [community profile] hauntstart2025-07-12 11:35 pm

UP AND OUT.

[Beyond the stranger cemetery, you can see the city of Lockcentre. On two sides stretch mountains, with a plateau edge visible above the town, a great waterfall plunging into a river that wends its course through the city, then down terraced edges as the city carefully steps its way down to the sea.

Now what? ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-18 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
That's the opposite of...

[ trails off. makes a vague noise.

eventually, ]

Why did you do it?
unkissed: (pic#17965702)

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-18 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ oh he does not want to look at him, while also being unable to draw his eyes away now. ]

The king ordered me to execute you, and I had to choose who's will to follow forever.

[ there's an implication there; no matter what path he took, his vows must be shattered. he was tossed from the ship and swam to the port he could consider home. ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-18 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Marius have you considered you don't necessarily have to have someone whose will you follow forever. you could take a gap year from having someone whose will you follow forever. Cobra should know he's like this but it's still like. how are you real. it's a little staggering.

inhales. ]

You know, I- and I acknowledge I do a lot to not necessarily give this impression, appearances-wise, but-

In my head, I'm just some guy. I've never thought of myself as that important.

I'm not asking if you're sure you're okay with me or anything like that. I understand your conviction. I'm just...

Well, I already tripped at the starting line, didn't I?

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-18 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ no ]

You've made yourself that important.

[ has no idea what a guy is either. ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ laughs, not disbelieving but close, emotionally ]

So... I better shape up, I guess.

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ A pause, as he carefully chooses the words he wants to use. ]

You're already a fine shape, Eric. [ NO IDEA WHAT SHAPE UP MEANS, BUT IT SOUNDS VAGUELY SAD? ] I wouldn't have chosen you if I had no faith.

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 06:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ laughs, again, brighter. something in his energy and mood has shifted. perhaps regrettably for Marius ]

Oh, you know I'm a fine shape.

[ flourishes a hand, then pats Marius on the shoulder. more seriously ]

I know. I'm just talking to myself. I don't have time to spare for another maudlin, drowning my sorrows in booze arc right now. Right? I'll... believe in the you who believes in me, as the saying goes.

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
[ how does each conversation end up being more confusing than the last. how come he hasn't been swept away into a vortex of madness yet. how come he hasn't run out of weird phrases. why hasn't swearing his body and soul to this man cured him of his bizarre mouth.

it feels like Marius just complimented him, accidentally, while trying to compliment him, purposefully. ]

Who said that?

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ if anything it's only going to get worse now that you've seen his tragic backstory. ]

It's a traditional mantra of my people.

[ taps Marius's chest ]

Never mind that. I do have something I need from you, as my...

[ ... ]

I'm still not sure what to call this.

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ looks down at his hand. then at him. then at his hand again, wherever it may be post-tapping. call him anything but evil minion. ]

Number one fan.

1/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ I've been doing great with minimal icons but it pains me now, in this moment, to not have a O-O face ]

2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ cracks up, helplessly ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ on one hand he wishes for clarity for the five hundredth time this past minute. on the other, there's a ghost of a smile on him. it does feel like a silly thing to say.

it also feels right, though. ]

I'm open to suggestions.

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
You know--

That might really be true. I'll take it.

[ who could possibly be a bigger fan of him than a guy who betrayed his king to swear a blood oath to him. honestly. he wanted to say something serious but now he's totally derailed, still snicker-giggling a little ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ there's a fierce battle happening within him. and he loses, valiantly, to an eyeroll.






anyhow, he's rolling his eyes and turning away. ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait, wait- listen.

[ grasps his shirt collar, just to keep him from turning. eye contact ]

I need something from you.

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ where did the air in his lungs go suddenly. ]

What is it?

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ serious as a heart attack, now ]

Don't die for me. Don't die after me.

[ easing off his collar ]

The goal is for both of us to live. The goal is for all of us to live. Got it?

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he swallows, hard. how does he do it. flip a switch like that? after a moment, he remembers how to breathe, and inhales slowly.

there it is, though. the steering that he craved—no, more than that. needed. Marius nods. ]

Yes. We'll leave this world together.

[ alongside anyone else the Cobra gathers up, as he tends to do. ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] canonrevue 2025-07-21 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he feels better. secure. good ]

Good. I'll get us a room.

[ over to book with the hostel front desk, now ]

Re: 2/2

[personal profile] unkissed 2025-07-21 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[ oh to scoop out a man's being and then waddle away with the spoon.

Marius doesn't want to just stand there like a tree, so he's coming to hover over his shoulder, some curiosity peeking through. there are inns in eyam, of course. he's probably been in... one or two. but it's still different, and he feels the need to catch up to Eric in this regard. ]