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

[noholdsbard]

[ He hadn’t exactly meant doing any sort of violence to it, but he decides against pressing the issue. It hardly matters anyway when he has no other alternatives to offer—nor does she seem to need one with that tangent.

But he does give her a hopeful smile at that olive branch, carefully reaches for it: ]

And I am Archer. [ He gives her a short bow. ] If it is not too much trouble, might I have the pleasure of joining you, Miss Alexa?

[poetryslamming]

[ Archer? Is Archer even a name? She raises an eyebrow at him, smiling slightly, maybe slightly amused, even - before making a sweeping gesture towards the other side of the table where a chair is standing, unoccupied. She's only giving him the green light, because he's being respectful and polite and not forcing himself on her, like so many other guys she's met in her life. Like, shit, the entire male half of the population, right? Like, shit, men like Jean Louis Girard, for example... A slight frown that she shakes off quickly, leaning over the table somewhat. ]

You need to stop calling me Miss or I'm gonna hit you, yeah? [ A pause. ] But sit down. Tell me about all the action you're taking.

[noholdsbard]

[ He takes his seat anyway, looking a little concerned when she shakes her head—as if she might be having doubts about his company. Which is perfectly understandable, given the circumstance, though it’s not like he wouldn’t leave immediately if she told him to.

So he stays put, regarding her with a slight smile of his own, and a slight cock of his head. ]

Alexa, then. [ Honorifics are a hard habit to break, though. ] But as to my actions…ah, I fear you might find them insufficient: I thought I might go to church to sort it out.

[poetryslamming]

What's church gonna help you?

[ It's fine like this, the two of them sitting opposite each other, not within any immediate touching distance and discussing things that are relevant to this shit hole they've ended up in. Thinking of the church which Alexa has walked by a couple of times by now, she can't immediately place is as belonging to any one denomination and consequently, she can't place Archer as belonging to any one religion either, but just the presence of a church is, in her mind, also the presence of institutionalized religion and that shit ain't never helpful. If you ask her. Few people do, but Alexa likes to make herself heard nevertheless.

As she does now. ]

[noholdsbard]

That is where a man can lay down the burden of his sins, even for a brief moment.

[ So no, ultimately he doesn’t think it’ll get rid of the mirrors, if getting rid of the mirrors has been the goal all along. But he doesn’t appear to be offended at her question, either. He’s lived in strange enough circumstances that religion feels like a very minor point in comparison. ]

[poetryslamming]

[ She looks at him for a moment, deciding after a while to just leave the matter be. Although she herself thinks of religion as the root of all evil, she isn't one to take away faith from others, if they've chosen to believe. That's not her game. Nor her spirit.

Unless the religious fanatics are giving her shit, in that case they'll definitely get shit in return.

So she focuses on the big picture and runs her fingers a bit restlessly down the open page of the book in front of her. The smell of literature hangs dusty and close in the air. The mirror keeps sobbing loudly, but there's nothing much she can do about that shit, so she lets it. Lets it do whatever the fuck it wants. ]

I don't think sin is the problem in this place, honestly. Well, not in the Christian understanding, at least. From what I hear, it sounds more like karma.

[noholdsbard]

[ He never joined the Crusades if that makes her feel any better. ]

So to you it is comeuppance then? [ How strange to speak of such things in the presence of a woman who is clearly not comfortable with revealing the more vulnerable parts of herself. He still sits, as is his wont, with his head bowed and his eyes shut—so like a man sleeping, dreaming.

But oh, how hard it is not to remember that he’d sat before the presence of someone similar, with a large and round table between them…but Alexa is not his king, even if he imagines that his king might have sobbed like that—like a scared little girl—during her final moments in Camlann, fighting for a cause that was always too big for her.

His lips purse, his smile pained when he looks up at her. ]

Oh, that is a cruel way of looking at it. And yet…if so, then it must be true.