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[formidable]

Private AU/PSL RP. A tale of two brothers from alternate 1879 France, and the witch, her golem, and other colorful characters, who get entangled in their lives. Urban fantasy, steampunk, magic, guns, and coffee collide. ➤ PART I ➢ "La Caravane".

Comments

[nerine]

Hm... It's sad to admit, but I bottle up all the time.

[it's not hard to see why]

But that said, I'm usually calm. I dunno... It's hard to explain.

[crafting]

[ He hums lightly, catching fireflies on his finger as he thinks about what he's been told. ]

Hard for you. [ He states, simply, before reaching out to put one of the insects on Monts' head. ]

's fine. I don't mind it.

[nerine]

Is it weird?

[She tilts her head as he brushes the insect out of her hair.]

That I find you calming?

[crafting]

[ Without thinking: Yeah. Weird. Nue are supposed to be headaches.

[ And he's fine with that, that's just the way it is—

—but somehow he has a feeling that that isn't what she's saying, so he appends. ] Is it weird? That I think you are, too. Calming.

Kinda.

[nerine]

[Her smile brightens up when he asks the same of her.]

Kinda? Does that mean I'm making your heart race every other moment??

[crafting]

[ He's knelt down to look at a nice flower by the side of the walkway when she asks him this question.

Petulantly, he throws some grass at her feet. ]

Making me want to race the other way. With my legs. As fast as I can.

[ Hmph. ]

[nerine]

That's okay. I'd wait for you.

[she needs a way back en !]

[crafting]

[ Cue unintelligible noises of annoyance!!!! ]

Wouldn't leave you stranded!!

[ He's not that heartless!! He sounds so bitter about having to admit this, though. Even puffs up a little. ]

Do you want to go on an adventure or not!!

[ wow he's 3 years old ]

[nerine]

An adventure? You had something else in mind besides walking?

[crafting]

—Yeah! Heard from... the grapevine? [ testing out that idiom... ] That there's a big mansion. Abandoned. Full of cool stuff to steal!

[ OKAY EN THAT LAST BIT THO ]

[nerine]

... Where you do even keep the stuff you take?

[That's what she's concerned about!?]

[crafting]

...?

[ He genuinely looks like he doesn't understand this question... ]

I live in the park. [ HOBO CLASS ACHIEVED ]

[nerine]

...

[She reaches over to squish his cheeks with the palms of her hands.]

[crafting]

[ WHY THIS?! ]

Wh-what?! It's a nice park!

[ Shrinking back...! His ears have turned an unusual shade of pink. ]

[nerine]

It's not that.

[Monts puts her her hands down and shakes her head with a sigh.]

Remind me to take you to my place at some point. But anyways, I'm in. Let's go to that mansion.

[crafting]

We will, but...

[ He pauses, as if he wants to make a point. His jaw works, lips moving from side to side. A little kid, trying to prove his worth. ]

Lived in a house before. I know what houses are. [ hmph ] Lived in plenty of houses. Lived in a temple once.

[ technically he lived on the roofs of these houses or like, under them, but you know what monts ]

[nerine]

... Hey.

[Her voice softens along with her eyes.]

Am I making you feel bad?

[crafting]

...What? No.

[ The question, again, seems to genuinely puzzle him.

And, without a good brain-to-mouth filter, he states with alarming simplicity: ] Just. Don't want you to think I'm. Y'know.

Not good to hang around.

[nerine]

... Pffff.

[She lets out an amused noise, but there's sincere relief behind it.]

No wonder I like you so much.

[He's so eager to please!? And in a subtly alarming way, Monts realizes she wants to please him too, but maybe the way they go about it was different, that's all. She didn't want to shame him for his circumstances, but she probably didn't have to worry.]

I don't give up easily, so you're stuck with me.

[crafting]

[ He still looks baffled for a moment, but he breaks into a genuine grin at her last statement, "stuck with me". As if he finds that turn of phrasing funny. ]

Dunno. Might change your mind. Mansion might be scary.

[ Emphasis on that last word, and he cackles— the sound might be a bit off, almost birdlike. ]

Might run off screaming!

[nerine]

Do I look like someone that would scream...?

[Monts tilts her head, her eyes glancing to the side as if considering the notion novel.

Her sense of fear and her sense of pain were rather warped (or rather, underdeveloped in her opinion) and yet the one fear she may have is very common...

Ah, best not to think about it right now.]

... En. If you screamed, would that be a bad thing?

[That, however, is a question she finds interesting.]

[crafting]

[ Hm. That's right, he hasn't been very forthcoming with his powers, has he? Mostly because he keeps himself on a tether and doesn't really ever see the need in engaging in combat, but that's liable to change depending on the situation. ]

Mm. Yeah. If I took this off, 's even worse.

[ He taps at the particularly heavy earring on his left ear, a cuff that extends from his earlobe up to the cartilage's halfway mark. A good look at it, and it might almost look painful— clamped on in several different places, needles bolted into place with several fasteners. ]

One time [ he says, with a little bit of regret in his tone ], before I knew how to control it. Got mad at someone. Yelled at them. [ His feet scuff the ground, guilty. But he's never been afraid of admitting when he's done something wrong. ] Other guy got so scared, they threw up. Fainted. Almost died, I think.

[ It's not a happy memory; it'd been around that time that he'd realized he'd have to be a lot more careful than he'd been. ] So. I got better.

[nerine]

[It amazes her really, how he's willing to say more than she does. There were still things she hadn't divulged, but not so much out of reluctance as it was timing. There's timing for everything.

Her eyes move to his piercings when he gestured to them. If he hadn't pointed it out, she wouldn't have noticed how deep they pierced into his skin, how tight they were.

He's 800 years old. How many people that weren't necessarily spirits, had he been able to talk to before her? It's a sobering thought.]

... I'm glad.

You're good now.

[crafting]

[ The funny thing is, that despite all his posturing and puffing and getting offended for trifles, all he wants is for someone to look at him and talk to him. He's fickle, and it's often hard to gauge what sort of compliments he bristles and gets shy about, but this one hits the mark. 'You're good' is basically the greatest compliment he can be given, like a stray cat that waits until the last possible moment for someone to pet it between its ears.

En actually beams at this. ]

—Yeah? Not bad, right? [ he hasn't hurt anyone too recently, right? This is an accomplishment, for him. The designation is a reward. ] Got better, right?

[ The fireflies around him start flitting a bit faster, almost as if they're feeding off his energy. ]

Took a long time! Figured it out, though. Humans wear a lot of things. But piercings stick around! Not like clothes. [ he's chattering now, talkative. ] The first few were too weak. But this one did it right. No one's thrown up. Cool, huh!

[ oh my god en shut up ]

[nerine]

[There's a sigh of fond exasperation and she reaches up to ruffle his hair. But she meant what she said and it makes her happy that En's happy. It's been a while since her feelings towards another person had grown like this, like a flower that had the fortune to be uninterrupted in its blooming. The feeling had spread in her heart and it's unexpected warmth makes her smile.]

You're a very clever Nue and I'm glad for it.

Let's get to that mansion then, alright?

[IT'S BUSINESS TIME.]