coquettish_trees: (actually sad)
Lady Alexandrie d'Asgard ([personal profile] coquettish_trees) wrote in [community profile] faderift2018-08-09 04:45 pm

OPEN | Looking Down on Empty Streets

WHO: Lexie, Evie, Loki, Thor, Fifi, Gwen, anyone else who wants to deal with this actual mess of a woman (special shout out to anyone who has a four letter (nick)name apparently)
WHAT: Late nights, early mornings, a bunch of processing the horrible things that happened!
WHEN: Post return from Tevinter (so... mid-month?)
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: cw: a nice violent nightmare, general mental trauma. hmu if you want something special, will do brackets or prose as desired.




I. The Apartments (Day)

When Alexandrie is home, much of her time is spent laying on the chaise out on the balcony staring into nothing and hardly seeming to care about the oppressive heat that so irked her the month before. Her hair, if it is styled at all, is woven into a simple braid and pinned up, a far cry from the way she used to wear it. Sometimes she is a fury of diplomatic paperwork, sometimes she is repetitively and grimly throwing a knife into a target that is a new fixture in the area. Sometimes she will, all of a sudden, snap into the light and cheerful woman she was, although her laughter is harder to come by. Whichever it is, she is still welcoming of callers.


II. Hightown (Night)

She haunts the streets like a ghost; all loose hair and pale wan skin and simple white dress, dressing gown layered over it against the slight chill that still manages to cover Kirkwall by second or third bell despite the heat of the day. Often, she is in the memorial garden, sitting and watching the fountain or pacing the paths repetitively. Sometimes she makes her way to wherever the sea can be best seen. Like a spectre, too, she is gone by the time the sky begins to lighten.

Anyone else out and about in the dark hours?


III. Loki/Evie:

Smell. Noise. There's so much of it. The screams of panic, the mortal ones unlike any other, some far too high to have issued from fully grown throats. The ozone of magic ripping the air mixing with the choking char of burning stalls, the metallic smell of blood. Blood. Far too much of it. How can there be so much. The visceral nigh-unbelievable revulsion at how thickly it drips. It clings to her hands, sliding, sticking. The wink of sunlight on silver. The noise he makes around it is so desperately wrong: liquid, bubbling. The same thing, then, on a far slenderer throat. Sudden. Silver again, but streaked with red. Silver where it doesn't belong. Cannot belong. Disbelief. Overwhelming horror that grips so hard she is frozen and the sound, the sound that comes from them.

She never quite screams. While there is noise that accompanies Alexandrie's gasping terrified surges to consciousness, the shriek in her throat never truly makes it past the hands that fly reflexively to cover her mouth to fiercely stifle it as her knees shoot to her chest, her heart pounding like something is trying to fight its way outside of her. Sometimes they are clapped flat against her face; sometimes it's the side of her hand between her teeth, her jaw clenching hard enough to bruise, even to draw blood, although that is more rare. Always it is a desperate bid to prevent her horrified shuddering panic from waking her bedmate.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it does not.


IV. Thor/Fifi:

There is a small disturbance in the kitchens. The pour of water, the clink of metal, of china, rummaging through dry goods. Investigating will reveal Alexandrie, wrapped in a white silk dressing gown, her hair finger-combed and tied around itself in a simple knot, quietly looking through the selection of tea as the glyphs on the kettle do their work of setting the water to boil.

She looks tired and subdued—she often looks so, recently—but she manages a small smile all the same.

Pardonnez-moi. Did I wake you?”


V. Gwenaëlle:

[ she has come looking for Gwenaëlle for a reason she can't really fathom. Perhaps it is because there is precious little in Kirkwall that is familiar and they had walked the same streets and halls, seen much of the same art, known many of the same faces, have the same mother tongue. Perhaps it is because Gwen too had been abruptly thrown from that world into one that so immediately included brutal violence and death that stood close enough to feel the hot splatter of it. Perhaps it is both things.

Whatever the reason, Alexandrie is knocking now on the door to the Provost's rooms in hopes of finding the small, concentrated, dark-haired woman, wearing a simple summer dress with her hair pinned up just as simply, the neck of a bottle containing something substantially stronger than the wine she'd offered at the Tourney in her fist. ]


notacrow: (:()

1

[personal profile] notacrow 2018-08-09 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Myira is tired. Very tired. She had ridden to Tevinter and back and had to deal with Lakshmi and Kitty acting like a pair of angry cats shoved into a bag together and also mind the damn refugees. Then there had been the flurry of worried activity around Kirkwall in preparation for escapees and she still wasn't really sure what's been going on around here. She needs to clear her head.

So she does what she always does, fly away and try not to worry about it. She wheels over Kirkwall in the warm air that rises from below her, occasionally flapping against a gust of wind from off the sea. Finally, after a couple of hours just riding the wind she begins to lazily circle down and down and down and finally settles on a familiar balcony. Without waiting for even a 'hello' she changes her shape and flops over onto the chaise with a tired groan. Her hair is... not as much a mess as it has been. At least today she seems to have combed and brushed it. She's still favoring simple clothing--today a tunic and breeches to try and ward off the summer's heat. ]


Wotcher, Lexie?

[ She speaks with a muffled voice, face buried in a cushion. ]
notacrow: (Default)

[personal profile] notacrow 2018-08-09 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Myira hasn't even looked up yet, so she has exactly zero idea what sort of reaction she's induced from poor Lexie. There's a muffled groan and she finally rolls over onto her back to look at the older woman. Her head tilts. ]

Oh. Ayuh. Sorry about that. I was just flyin' and I got kinda tired and I didn't wanna go back to the Gallows yet so I just... came here.

[ She sits up, tucking her feet under her as she tries to put her thoughts in order. She feels frayed and tired and emotional. Everything seems to be happening at once lately and she's struggling to keep up with it all. ]

...I been feelin' real windblown over all this stuff that's been happenin'. You doing alright? I just...

[ She rubs an eye with the heel of one palm, trying not to let herself get too jittery. ]

I dunno what.
Edited 2018-08-09 22:45 (UTC)
notacrow: (Default)

[personal profile] notacrow 2018-08-09 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Myira watches for a long moment, not really seeming to process that Lexie had been toying with a weapon. As the other sits, she seems to stir a bit out of her malaise and even laughs a little at Lexie's response. ]

S'funny... [ She murmurs the word and reaches out to take the offered hand. It's good to feel a hand in her own. She smiles a little, tired and wan. ]

You ever rode to Tevinter an' back with two folks what ain't talking to each other?
thorndergod: (This troubles me)

IV

[personal profile] thorndergod 2018-08-10 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
He's supposed to be standing vigil. Has been, even. But Thor cannot summon the energy to care if someone spreads word that he left his mother's side long enough to take a desperately needed break. He can't even care if Loki sees him and snipes at him, he doesn't think, though the presence of someone else in the kitchens startles him enough he takes a step back. It's just Lexie, it turns out, and Thor gives her an exhausted shake of his head.

"Is there enough water for two cups of tea?" This is not what duty requires of him, but they are not in Tevinter and he is not actually the head of the family.
rathercommon: (explaining you a thing)

i

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kitty comes by a few days after the rescue. In contrast to Lexie, her demeanor is altogether unchanged by her experiences in Tevinter. Part of it is that she didn't go through what Lexie went through, certainly - only saw the aftermath - but part of it is that this is also just how Kitty operates. She refuses to dwell. She just moves on.

So she comes calling as she ever does, a tall skinny figure brimming with scarcely-restrained energy. In one hand is a bundle of plums; in the other is a bottle of lemonade. Without so much as a how d'you do, she lifts the latter and asks - ]


Where are your cups?
Edited 2018-08-10 01:23 (UTC)
rathercommon: (explaining you a thing)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ They don't, of course, show her where they are, but instead take the lemonade and the plums from her with little murmurs of thanks. Kitty wrinkles her nose - she still doesn't like dealing with servants, makes her feel rather grotesque - but she supposes that's just something she needs to get used to around Alexandrie.

She sits down on a couch across from Lexie. She doesn't lounge; instead, she leans forward, hands loosely clasped before her. ]


So, when's the last time you left this room?
rathercommon: (are you insane)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Second bell. Honestly. Kitty didn't think she'd ever be one to miss the ways that the factory system kept them all enslaved to the demands of get up now, start work now, but things really would be easier if she could just look at her watch and know that Lexie was referring to - you know - ten fifteen AM or something like that. So - second bell. That means, what...? ]

Isn't that when it's still dark out?
rathercommon: (explaining you a thing)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Kitty looks down, fairly scandalized, at the pitted plums. As if half the joy of them isn't getting to make a bit of a mess when you eat them. Oh, well. She pointedly reaches past the fork to snag a slice with her fingers. ]

Right, well, I'm sure you know what I'll be asking next. Why go out at that hour?
rathercommon: (sympathetic)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Kitty relaxes just a bit at that answer. All right. Good. Not good that that's the answer, necessarily, but good that she's willing to be truthful (Kitty's pretty sure that was truthful, at least; admittedly, her track record on sorting out lies from truths isn't the best, but she feels like she can read Lexie). ]

Have you been out into the sunshine, though? I mean, getting out, that's good, but getting out into the sun is better.
rathercommon: (ummm whatever though)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
What, and it's not dreadful in here?

[ A shrug. ]

It's just as stifling in this room as it is out there. But at least out there there are things of interest. [ Then - ] I did a thing you wanted to do, right? With the spa.
rathercommon: (leery)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ You know, Kitty gets the distinct impression she's not really being listened to. Undaunted, she forges on: ]

So I want your help with something. As payment. Come help me with research.
rathercommon: (attentive)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That's a little encouraging - a real response, rather than just a vague grunt. A bit of humour. Honestly...Kitty doesn't know how much of a research asset Lexie will be. Probably, once upon a time, some bastard filled her head with rhetoric like reading will give your pretty forehead wrinkles, my dear. But Lexie is clever, and after what she's witnessed she's probably looking to do a bit of damage. If nothing else, it might provide an outlet. ]

Corypheus. What we need to completely destroy him and all his allies.
rathercommon: (bright-eyed)

[personal profile] rathercommon 2018-08-10 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Like speaks to like; Kitty nods in recognition of - and appreciation of - that rage. Good. When the grief's too much, when misery takes over, action is really the only way to see to it. Especially when that action has the potential to wreck someone deserving. ]

When'll you be ready to go? I'm ready now.

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