(closed) cozy smokes

[pathlit]

WHO: Clarisse, Viktor & Jayce
WHAT: Elfroot therapy
WHEN: Post-forgetti, pre-dreams (Haring 9:50)
WHERE: Hunterhorn Lodge
NOTES: -

On a quiet, snowy Haring evening, occupying Jayce's room at the Hunterhorn Lodge, where the window is cracked open to permit airflow with minimal sacrifice of interior heat, are Clarisse, Viktor and Jayce -- specifically, sitting on his mattress, which has been relocated to the floor and supplemented with extra blankets and cushions scavenged from unclaimed rooms. Some of them still smell musty, despite giving them a good thwacking earlier.

The brazier serves as their main source of warmth, but the lantern on the floor beside them provides both heat and light. A wooden chair has been repurposed into a little table upon which lies a plate of humble finger foods: pickled vegetables, cheese and sausage on one. Beside it, on the floor, is a plate of cookies and brittle. Open before this likewise humble party is the wooden board game Clarisse had gifted Jayce for Satinalia.

What is a game without stakes? He doesn't remember who said that -- maybe it was him, and maybe the stakes include First Place invoking Truth-or-Dare upon Last Place. He's a bit light-headed in a fuzzy way that isn't wholly unpleasant, different from the way a glass of brandy might dampen the edge of his troubles. This is the first time Jayce has smoked elfroot, which probably comes at no surprise to anyone. The surprise instead might lie in the fact that he's the one who asked Clarisse about it earlier, in the stables, under the guise of decompressing after the week-long bullshit of memory-magic (true) with Viktor and herself (sincere, if not entirely forthcoming).

(Somehow, he wasn't that surprised to learn that Viktor was already familiar with this use of the herb. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut about the route of administration.)

Now, a few rounds into the night, Jayce interrupts whoever was just speaking, not maliciously but utterly self-centeredly, to blurt, "Did anyone else get a task from Isaac? On Satinalia."

Comments

[grindset]

Indeed, both these things are true: he has been preoccupied with thoughts of Isaac, off and on, his memories of the man slow to filter back in a way he finds challenging to bear; and he does not love being laughed at. But he does readily distinguish between at and with, so Clarisse's little sound goes unremarked upon.

Anyway, it's not about the nugs, Jayce. Now it's about— whatever is happening, or about to happen. Both his eyebrows have now engaged, and with great dexterity seem to be attempting to furrow and lift at the same time.

"Right now?"

It's not clear whether he's invited, no, but still—

[laruetheday]

Clarisse is already reaching for the vial. She pauses at Viktor's question, fingertips a few inches from the glass, not a hesitation so much as a huh. Then she says, "Do you know what it does?"

She's not worried, just curious. For one thing, she's high. For another, she trusts Jayce not to give her something that will poison her. For a third, if Jayce were to poison her, she figures chances are she won't die and won't catch any of the blame.

Test it on someone from Forces or Scouting. Why? She's dying to know.

[pathlit]

"Not a single idea," he says, passing the vial off to Clarisse. "Route of administration? Expectations? None. I'm assuming it's not dangerous--"

He shoots Viktor an alarmed look. "--right?"

Isaac wouldn't request testing a hazardous material on another member of Riftwatch, right? That's what Jayce's face is asking.