Event Thirteen.

[awashmods]

To love a human face was to discover The cracks of paint and varnish on the brow; Soon to distrust all impulses of flesh That strews its sawdust on the chamber floor, While at the window peer two crones Who once were Juliet and Jessica.

t's a regular morning here in the Town. The sun isn't shining at all, snow is falling like crazy, and...there may be the sounds of shouts coming from the well, thoroughly muffled. Okay, so it's not a regular morning at all, but you'd better go help those people! The newcomers are here again. Of course, once you get to the well, you'll notice that there's actually no real help you can offer -- it's totally frozen over. As for the newcomers, well... hopefully being suddenly dumped into freezing cold water in the middle of November in a dark, damp well is your idea of a good time, because that's your life now! And that's not even taking into account the mirrors in everyone's homes that are about to wake up and start chattering... Welcome to Awash's thirteenth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. Please keep in mind that while this is a general event log, it is also an intro log; be sure to pay plenty of attention to our newcomers! If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Comments

[regrede]

[ there’s something sierra wants to say, torn between the easy route of their banter and another display of sincere thankfulness for all that reim does for her, and her only saving grace is that he can’t read her mind.

she settles for something in between, her tone soft despite the stupid words. ]

…and I don’t mind masochism, so I suppose we’re even.

[allweather]

[in maybe a day's time he's going to deeply regret letting her call him a masochist, isn't he... well, that's for tomorrow's reim to deal with.]

Oh, I've finally made it onto the board. How fortuitous!

[regrede]

I take it back.

[ that seems cruel, but she just remembered something. ]

What is your mirror saying about you? I told you all about my life, it’s only fair.

[allweather]

Well— alright.

[it... is fair, that's true. he fusses with his many layers to tug the mirror out from inside his vest, and frowns briefly at it before showing it to her.

it is not actually talking, is the thing. not right now, anyway; right now it just seems to be stuck in some kind of powerpoint fueled by god's mistakes, which is to say, it's just flashing images of things like reim oversleeping, or reim with a huge ink stain all over his face, or reim being a lot smaller and getting poked repeatedly in the forehead while he looks increasingly distraught about it.

basically, it's fucking nothing.]

[regrede]

[ this is not what sierra expected, but also, somehow, it totally is. reim seems remarkably well adjusted, so it only makes sense that the mirror would have to pick up on something as small as the fact that he’s a person who has made mistakes in his life. ]

…I see.

[ she looks up at him. ]

This is the first time I’ve noticed how vast your forehead is.

[allweather]

[that's his only advantage, being a person with no extraordinary abilities... mental stability.

anyway, this is bullying, so he's putting the mirror away again already.]

Thank you, I had forgotten the thrill of hearing about it.

[regrede]

Oh, don’t be like that. I’ve been told the same thing.

[ that’s why she has bangs, reim! ]

[allweather]

[is this what she wants to bond over? big foreheads? sierra, please.]

And yet... [and yet!! he sighs, shaking his head.] Well, how about this? In the interest of fairness, you may as well ask me something directly if you're curious.

[because his mirror is just bad facebook photos he tried to untag himself in, and all.]

[regrede]

One moment.

[ they’re really going to settle in now, so sierra moves over to the door of the cottage to shut it a little tighter—she may not be human, but she knows people get cold, and she can feel the breeze trying to get through the cracks. ]

Tell me about that… hare of yours.

[allweather]

[oh, how thoughtful. it's still cold, but thoughtful! and of course she had to pick the most nonsensical thing he could have talked about...]

Oh. The March Hare... it's a creature from another, er, plane of existence, I suppose. [it already sounds dumb. unconsciously his hand drifts to where his weird blood mirror is tucked under all those layers.] We call it the Abyss, and the creatures, Chains... They can't cross the border into our world and survive without making a contract with a living human, so you could say I'm hosting its extended vacation.

[regrede]

[ haha, what ]

…I see. And here I thought I was asking about some dark curse of yours, not magical real estate.

[ she jokes, but she does cock her head and look at him—thoughtful now, after everything they just discussed. ]

It does offer you power though, does it not?

[allweather]

A curse that looks like a hare...?

[just imagine having a curse so cute! how lucky.]

As for power... sadly, no. These Chains usually have some kind of special skill, but mine is more or less completely useless. That's likely why I was allowed to contract with it, considering I spend most of my time behind a desk.

[regrede]

[ isn’t that sort of sad in its own way?

sierra wasn’t fishing for something sad though, as much as she likes to tease, and reim seems so comfortable in himself that she’s not sure she’d find anything even if she ripped him open. ]

…hm.

[ she sits on the floor of the room, motioning for reim to come near her. ]

Who’s the better boss?

[allweather]

[it's alright... he shrugs, much to that effect; it doesn't bother him that his chain can't fight because he doesn't want to anyway! it works out.]

Between...? [no, he knows, he's just wondering why this is now the topic as he comes over to sit.] I've worked for Duke Barma since I was six years old, you know. I'm not sure the comparison is fair.

[but unfair to whom is the real question, considering they're both Challenging.]

[regrede]

Since you were six? Goodness.

[ it seems to have caught her genuinely off guard, mostly because her imagination is supplying reim exactly the way he is now, only smaller. a child! ]

Were you always so… [ tactful pause. ] Studious?

[allweather]

Yes. [it's sadly true... he's always been this way, even down to the dangly earrings.] I had a bad temper when I was young.

[but not bad enough to be ashamed of it, judging by his mirror. all the old men he yelled at deserved it.]

[regrede]

You? A bad temper?

[ sierra’s first reaction is incredulity, but giving it more than a moment to consider makes it seem quite possible. reim does seem like he’s waiting to snap at the right provocation. ]

Ahaha. How foul…

[ like she doesn’t currently have a bad temper she never grew out of ]

[allweather]

[one day he'll kick a door clean off its hinges, just wait for it.]

Absolutely terrible. I once lost my voice from shouting too much. Naturally, I only made it worse after that...

[regrede]

[ this conversation is a good catharsis, and sierra can’t help herself—she laughs, happiness bubbling up in her chest even as she tries to keep it quiet by covering her mouth. ]

Haha! Naturally! You fool, what were you even so worked up about?

[allweather]

[oh, look at that-- he's doing a good service here, evidently, talking about his wacky childhood adventures. in that case-]

Someone decided it would be very funny to empty out all of my inkwells and refill them with sugar water. If the waste of time and ink wasn't enough, then the ants-!

[the worst day of his young life!! i'm making this up, any future castmates don't @ me]

[regrede]

Aha… ahahaha!

[ it would be amusing on a normal day, but sierra was just so low that this strikes her in a place she needed it desperately. reim speaks with the indignation of someone who never really forgot the anger of that day, and she gets it. ]

You…

[ he has done a service with this headcanon story from childhood, and sierra breathes out a sigh to force herself to stop laughing. ]

You are an interesting man, Reim.

[allweather]

[pettiness is forever, sierra. pettiness is all he has. of course he holds a grudge about the Ink Caper from when he was 12, and it's enough that he's actually a little genuinely irritated about it right now, after bringing it up...

but somehow sierra's delight in his petty youth scrubs most of that irritation away, and in turn, he looks almost sheepish. ha ha... ink, right.]

Just wait until you hear the one about Duke Barma's extensive stuffed bird collection... Thank you, Lady Sierra.

[regrede]

[ reim is handsome if she allows herself to entertain the thought… but she doesn’t, not for more than a second, because she’s feeling vulnerable and she is not going to do that to herself. ]

You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.

[ she says, and she rests her head on his shoulder. ]

[allweather]

[never before has a grown man been less certain of what to do with his hands. this doesn't feel like something he should draw overly much attention to, so he doesn't, merely shifting slightly so that the (frankly, vast) difference in their heights is not so uncomfortable.

because this is comfortable, if he's pressed to admit it. man cannot live on selfless acts alone, so this is not entirely that.]

One day, certainly. [...] I suppose you'll be stopping by my new home sooner or later.

[regrede]

[ it would honestly be more comfortable if she were in his lap, but she is not going to do that because she has much too much dignity to go any further than her head on his upper arm. ]

Is that an invitation?

[ there’s a smile in her voice. ]