faderift | [open] got up, and kept on going

WHO: Benedict and you
WHAT: misc hanging around the Gallows while the squad is in the mystery jungle
WHEN: during the jungle plot mostly, will add stuff after if necessary
WHERE: the Gallows
NOTES: n/a

I. Droppin' Eaves

There's a pall hanging over the Gallows as another week drags on with most of Riftwatch far away and unreachable. It's a stressful time for many, and Benedict in particular, with no sending crystal of his own, is starved for information.

He tries to be subtle about listening in whenever he sees someone on a crystal, whether he's raking in the garden or eating in the mess hall or just walking around, but Benedict is not especially known for his prowess in subterfuge and it's pretty easy to catch him.

Sure, he could just ask, but that would mean drawing attention and perhaps questions to himself.

II. Arty Party

In the warmer evenings, when gardening and maintenance work is done, Bene can be found sitting on the steps of the plaza leading up from the gate, holding a small board and a pad of paper. Sleeves rolled up and hair pulled back in a little tail, he looks as common as he ever has, his charcoal-smeared hand trying to follow the architectural lines of the island's towers.
If someone looks his way, he'll meet their eyes with a guarded expression, not outright hostile but not especially friendly either.

III. Wildcard

figger it oat

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"If you have nothing to say, then you can say it in many different ways. Loudly, instead of being quiet."

Which, speaking of quiet. Yevdokiya cocks her head, curiously.

"Why can't you have a crystal for yourself? Can't be for talking too much."

"That's true," comes the halting response, which immediately turns more tense in light of the woman's question.

"Well--" Benedict stammers, clears his throat, and continues, "...well it's. It's a long story."

Doki's left eyebrow flicks up, briefly. She is good at body language, reading the signs in people like a wisewoman with a bowl of bones. And there's nothing subtle about this tension.

"And you are so busy and committed to your sweeping that you have no time to tell a long story. Mm?"

He purses his lips and looks away, becoming more uncomfortable with every passing second.
"...it's just that," he murmurs, "I suppose I'd rather not." And ruin his reputation with someone new before he's even begun to form it?

Her eyebrows slide up again. Then they turn down, and she lets her eyes get all big, puffs out her lower lip. This is a serious pout.

"Spoilsport."

She closes her fingers around her crystal and takes it with her as she wraps her arms around herself, closing herself in a hug.

"And me all alone and lonesome here, and thinking I was making a friend. Who I would share my crystal thing with, whenever he asked, because we are friends. And you want to keep your secrets jealously and not share. It makes me feel very lonely, skinny boy."

Glancing longingly at the crystal, Benedict's eyes move from it to the woman's face in an expression of quiet defeat.
"It's not a secret," he admits with some difficulty, hunching his shoulders, "I just don't like talking about it." And he scowls right back at her, pitting one pout against another.

He already has too many 'friends' who've ignored boundaries, anyway.

"Sounds like a secret to me."

She droops her lip lower, exaggerating her pout. Now it's a true standoff.

"Bad way to start being friends together. I wouldn't know the difference if your story was true or if it wasn't. You can't even lie to me to make me feel better, what kind of friends are we?"

"I don't care if we're friends," he snaps abruptly, straightening and picking up his rake with an intent to return to it.

"And neither do you, you're just bored." The motions of his raking are quick and angry, but getting the job done-- he can't very well leave this area untended.

"When I get bored, I make friends. It is good."

Languid, Doki stays right where she is, and releases herself from her hug so that she can stretch her legs out in front of her, maximizing the space that she takes up. It still isn't all that much. She's shorter than people remember her being.

With a tint of amusement, she watches the skinny man start his chore again.

"You should care," she says, once he's made some progress. "I am a good friend. I give good presents. I have many skills and talents. I have a shard of magic, in my hand--" She flashes her left hand. Her palm is covered by a handwrap. There's a greenish light that ekes out anyways, a faint glow. "So if there are demons, I can protect you. Unless you protect yourself?"

Benedict pauses raking long enough to look at the proffered hand, and, with a sigh through his nose, props the rake against himself to tug off one of his gardening gloves. He bears the same mark, which now casts their little portion of the garden in an eerie green light.

"Do you know how to use it?" he asks skeptically.

Her face lights up as his glove falls away and reveals the matching shard. Hastily, she begins tugging at the wrap on her hand--first with her fingers, and then with her teeth, when she doesn't get the results she wants.

That works. The wrapping shluffs off, and here is her hand, and the shard crammed in to her palm, all weird and wrong. The green light is stronger now. Doki tips her hand back and forth, admiring its glow.

"It's a hand. I can use it. Doesn't meant I will be doing your raking now."

"I just mean," he says evasively, "...you said you can protect people from demons with it. Do you know how?"

"Do you know how?" She rounds her eyes at him, all innocence. "Will you teach me?"

"...sort of," Bene admits, and looks down at his hand. "But I don't think I can teach you."

She makes a noise of understanding. And guesses: "Shit teacher?"

"Well." He thinks on it a moment, and-- yes, probably, but-- "I don't think I'm allowed."
This woman seems to have difficulty grasping that his limits of authority are, shall we say, minimal.

A grin comes to Doki's face. To call it wolfish might be an insult to wolves. She doesn't have the best teeth. But there is no mistaking it for anything other than a grin.

"Even better," she says, with great pleasure. "I don't want anyone allowed. That would not be fun. It is better if it is a secret. A surprise. You see?"

"No," Bene replies, more urgently, with a look of annoyance. "No secrets. No surprises. Not from me."

He sighs, pushes his hair back, and begins to walk away-- it's probably for the best, in this case. "Sorry. I have work to do."

"You don't," she calls after him. And in case he's not clear on her feelings, she blows a raspberry as well, a long wet one. "You're raking leaves! Who made you so boring? There is no one at all who is here anymore, we are in charge, we can all do what we want! Boooooring, no secrets. Boring, no surprises. Boring, boring, boring! When I am killing with my magic hand, I will be doing it all on my own and you will be here raking leaves and sweeping, you boring man! Me covered in glory, and you covered in le-eaves!"

He ignores her, difficult as that is to do, and hopes they NEVER MEET AGAIN (which surely they will not, on this very small island.)

[open] got up, and kept on going

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