they wrestled with lifetime's grasp (open!)

[thenobledie]

Who: idk.
When: August 14th - August 16th, I guess.
Where: the Clinic
Format: whatever
What: Oh, shit. It's cannibalistic elves and whoever hasn't been eaten by them yet, and Lisa should stop making event-long open logs at the Clinic. u n s u r e.
Warnings: Um, let's go with a general warning of injuries. Otherwise, these are usually tame logs...

Comments

sixteenth.

[lumenrelegandus]

[On the fourteenth, he'd been one of the many furiously churning cogs of the working clinic, which by now clicked together so well he was only noticeable when he was absent. Which happened on the fifteenth, when he went to help Merlin. On the sixteenth, he's back and goes directly to find Shirley.]

I just received this.

[hands her his forge, set to his personal channel, and hits playback.]

[thenobledie]

[ interestingly, she looks very puzzled at first. mostly because one, why is he giving her his forge, and two, why didn't she see this before? then, she remembers those things called inboxes and voicemails or something like that that lilly explained once. (okay, what a time to be considering technology, shirley. really.) oh, right, anyway. she watches. ]

Very well.

[ when shirley looks up from the forge, she looks as though she wants to say something else. not at all related to convenient doctors in times of emergencies. but she says nothing and instead, holds lupin's forge out for him. ]

[lumenrelegandus]

[[ooc: do you mind if I switch what I said happens on the 15th and 16th? This happens before he goes to help Merlin? Oy, timelines ;-) ]]

[Lupin nods and takes the forge back from her, half-turning away almost before he has it to set back to work.]

no, it's cool! and...actually perfect for this thread, lmfao.

[thenobledie]

[ before he turns completely, she grabs one hand of his; there is a pause, some silent acknowledgement that this is the most they have probably ever touched, and then, shirley leads lupin through the crowds around them. only a short distance to an empty room. it seems like it shouldn't be empty, but this invasion is nowhere near as bad as the war that nearly destroyed all of anatole. she shuts the door and, for several moments, keeps her back to him, head bowed and both hands resting on the wood. finally, shirley faces him. (though her back remains turned.) she looks the most emotional lupin has probably ever seen her. ]

They are losing themselves - you must stop them before they become monsters.

[ her head is muddled; he's syuveil not-syuveil, but all she can see now is drake. he's not who she needs, though. drake deals blades; remus deals words. she will never forget the boy who taught herself, a child as well, that life need not be a battle. ]

Yay, good!! ...wow, indeed! Precognitive Shirley is precognitive. Or just observant

[lumenrelegandus]

[he keeps his hand in hers all the way, neither pulling away nor trying to take control.

When she turns away from him, he takes the opportunity, with occlumency-level deliberation, to shut down all other thoughts. Wait patiently until she's ready, break out of the rushing pace they've been functioning on. Something is happening here and he wants to be fully present with her.

When she speaks, however, all he can do for the first second is frown.

Somewhere, seeping in the cracks of his intense focus on the work, he had been feeling something different in the air of this battle. Something more savage, more vengeful. Coming from their friends and allies. Sea monsters and golems hadn't inspired this level of hatred: that had been pure survival instinct, without judgment. Civil war inspires prejudice but always tinged with more sorrow, reluctance, inextricable from a kind of sympathy. Both ultimately need-driven. Now… though the need was undeniable, there was more…

Eagerness. Desire to hurt. To inflict.]I wondered if I was imagining it

maybe both...!

[thenobledie]

[ a pause. and shirley moves to face him more, hands falling away from the door. ]

I know so.

[ and it isn't her powers that gives her such sureness. ]

I think so :-)

[lumenrelegandus]

[he considers her a moment - thinks about casting something privacy-ensuring on the door, as a statement, decides it would too likely be the wrong one; steps forward to her.]

You've said what's required.

You're allowed to say more.

[thenobledie]

[ shaking her head. ]

You do not need my guidance.

[ yeah, let's go with that, shirley. since everything she wants to say is of the war and the empire and how she never thought she'd feel that so deeply again and how, yes, there has always been a hole in her since she died because that is all she had dedicated her being to. she always knew that, but she didn't understand it until now. ]

[lumenrelegandus]

[does touch her now.]

Not for me. For you.

lol omg. you have no idea how happy i am to see her called out.

[thenobledie]

[ she pauses. considers how to even react. finally, she settles with honesty: ]

Another time.

[ the campaign was long and complicated, and it has carried its weight for over ten millenna. a stolen moment during an invasion isn't the time. ]

Mwaha :-D

[lumenrelegandus]

[squeezes her shoulder then lets his hand drop]

All right.

[She knows he means it, and he'll be here.

For now, both workaholics can let each other get back to it.]