forgingfires | Seasons Inbox

And yet, they cut it even shorter for themselves going for a fight they couldn't win.

[There is a low growl.] ...true. [And he hates that thought, honestly. A slow starvation is a terrible thing to do.]

[ She reaches out to rub his back. ]

If Joel ever shows up here, you get first crack at him. I'm not sure I could, for all my bluster and how much he has it coming. He had me thinking I was his child.

Understandable.

I'll make sure he'll never darken your doorstep.

I know plenty of ways to deal with someone who can't die.

[ She looks confused. ]

Joel was human. He can die, and did. Diva's first act when I let her out. Sure, in this place he'd come back from death... is that what you meant?

It's his assistant that Diva turned, Amshel. If that one ever shows up here, there's nothing that can kill him permanently except my blood which would turn him to stone. Which we should do as soon as possible. Even without a Queen behind him, he's dangerous. He's as smart as you are and with much less scruples.

The whole this place doesn't let people die thing, yes. If he arrives here, I'll have to circumvent that and there's certainly options.

...that is a question of if that would send him to the flower garden or if he'd just stay a statue wherever he is.

There's always chopping him into bits and spreading them all over the map. Technically still alive, just needing a few years to reconstitute.

[ Welcome to how vicious Saya can get when it's warranted. ]

That is a fairly popular one with immortals who can take a lot of damage.

[Sounds legit to him.]

Given what he did to Diva, if you could make a cage that would hold him that would be just desserts. An electrified one. We can't die easily but we feel pain as much as any mortal, near as I can tell.

[ She lets them both into her house. ]

Would you like some more distractions? After I get changed there are a plethora of options. I usually sing I know, but being here I could play if you wanted, or show off my dancing. If I can't distract you with my dancing it might be hopeless.

He might manage to kill himself on an electric cage. No, no, the idea would be to do the things he can survive, but is slowly maddening. A cage just high enough in temperature to be uncomfortable, but doesn't cause heat stroke. Constantly dripping water with matching temperature, so it brings no relief, and he would struggle to ever properly sleep. A kind of droning sound. That takes a little trial and error, but everyone has a tone that irritates them. Things of that nature.

[Immortal punishments were often forcing them to endure the max of what they could. Him being human means it can't be as extreme, but it could certainly still be at maddening.]

I haven't gotten to hear you play yet. Plus then you'd have more options for music to distract me. [And maybe playing something would help take her own mind off the Wukong situation.]

Your options for torture all sound fine. [ She waves a hand, she specialized in murder and not torture. ]

Very well. Violin, cello, or piano?

[Red Son has the advantage of so many stories. Also he probably likes Saw type movies, lbr.]

Hmm.

Can I sit beside you while you play piano or would I be in the way?

Not at all, just don't elbow me unless you want a burr in the chords.

Let me change into something dry and I'll meet you in the music hall. That's where his-- the piano is.

[ She gestures toward the music room and vanishes before he has a chance to say anything about the verbal stumble. ]

[ And will emerge into the music room a few minutes later, taking a seat at the piano. ]

I'd ask if you have requests, but I have an idea. Make room.

[ She strikes some tuning notes, just habit really even though she can't tune a piano on the fly the way she'd tune her stringed instruments, and proceeds to play a song that starts out low and simple and haunting, and builds into something complicated and triumphant before dropping down again at the end. ]

Edited 2023-10-23 04:47 (UTC)

[Oh. His piano. Well. He won't call her out if she doesn't want to address it.]

[He nods and]

[Oh right, he should take care of the sand.]

[He'll take a step outside. He's dry enough that his fire is back. He'll kick up a tornado around him as he stands a little away from the front door. And then he'll fire himself up, hot enough to melt the sand and another hard burst of fire to launch the glass pieces off.]

[Catching it in the wind. Pulling the wind around him and pulls the bits of glass to his hands. Heating them up again and getting all the random bits of glass all into one solid lump.]

[He'll head back inside to meet her, definitely less sandy now and will set down the glass on the floor as he comes to sit beside her. Nodding and giving her plenty of room.]

[Watching her hands dance across the keys as he listens, eyes getting lidded. Letting himself relax into the sound.]

[ When that song is done, Saya pauses with her hands hovering over the keys like she might continue -- and then puts her face in her hands and sobs, just once. Shaking all over. ]

...I'm sorry. You don't need this right now.

[Ah]

[So it came for her anyway.]

[He moves closer to her and wraps an arm around her.]

You've been dealing with a lot lately. Something had to give.

[ Saya draws a few slow breaths. She isn't actually crying, thank goodness. ]

I can't have a breakdown every time I see his things. I'll manage it better. I didn't want to make it a thing since you're going through so much.

[ A pause as she leans into him. ]

...Would you hate me if I asked for more time?

[ More time apart. Her "I need to figure my head out" time got interrupted by complicated by grief so nothing really was resolved. Her conversation with MK is proof enough of that. ]

MK asked for a week or so with just you two, anyway. But I'm thinking maybe... until after the full moon? I'll make sure MK knows that weremonkey isn't to get me because watching that--

[ She can't do it. She'll either make a big nasty thing of it and make a mess and hurt everyone or she'll go nuts from corrosive jealousy. ]

I hate being away from you, but I'm not okay. All this grief the festival churned up, and talking to MK about boundaries and all that just hurt. I don't want my hurt to spill onto you, or him. And you have all this to handle, and a new relationship.

Edited 2023-10-23 10:24 (UTC)

He's important to you. It hurts to have someone beyond your reach. And you have been going through just as much, if not more.

You don't need to apologize for this. Not to me. [He wraps his other arm around her, kissing the top of her head.]

[Though at the question, his hold does tighten on her.]

[He's missed her, these past couple of weeks. He's been worried after hearing about Venti, wanting to come, to offer her comfort. The thought of distance again claws at his insides.]

[He swallows thickly.]

[Hearing she isn't okay isn't helping his want to be near her. To help however he can.]

[He presses his face to the top of her head, let's his hold be tight. Take several deep breaths.]

You promise to not be alone?

[He needs something to latch onto that isn't his own want to be the one to help her.]

[ She leans against him and sighs with relief. And sadness. ]

I promise. [ She's being honest but she doesn't know how hard she'll really try to not be alone. ]

And we can talk like we did before, when you're not busy with MK. If you're too busy, then... that's fine, it's not necessary...

--It'll be good for you two, to figure things out without any... complications.

[ Which Saya sees herself as. She's not only having to deal with being second to someone else, but feeling like she's a blade cutting two people she loves without even meaning to. ]

[ Her language here is probably raising some big flags, overall. Seeing herself as a problem to be overcome, something Red Son and MK need to Handle rather than a participant or partner. ]

...

Saya, you're not a complication. That-your time away is to help you adjust. To wrangle your instincts as you got used to something new.

Its not because you're in the way.

[He holds her tighter. It'd probably be painful if she was mortal. Luckily she's not.]

Is this time away going to help you, or is it...is it some kind of attempt to see if I'll stop caring about you?

[ She draws a shaky breath. Absolutely feeling like she's in the way. Superfluous. Her instincts tell her that she should be first or not at all, and MK is first now, and that's a lot. ]

I just want both of you to be happy. You have MK now, that's what you-- [ really wanted. ]

...I understand the situation, I do. I don't think you'll stop caring, you don't abandon people. I just need to get used to where I stand now. You have priorities and I need to respect that.

...where do you think you stand?

I-- I mean, it's MK. If Mei were here, it would be her too. You said it yourself by the labyrinth, he's special.

[ He described MK as special and that it probably terrifies her. It didn't until that moment, when MK was special and she was only pretty and powerful and someone who would fit in on the demon courts. There's a clear difference. ]

There's no way I could hear you talk about him and not understand. You have a shared history. I'm on the outside of that. And if you left from here, you'd have to rebuild things some, but you'd still know him, you'd still have that.

[ She might be just a tiny bit petrified of him vanishing and forgetting her. Her being without a home at all. ]

It's okay... I'll find a way to manage. I won't be a problem.

Of course he's special. But so are you.

I would be a different person if I hadn't met you. We have a shared history. A history that's important to me. If I left here, if I lost these memories, I would be losing more than just whatever progress I made with him.

I'd lose you. I'd lose the things you made better in me. I'd be losing a lot of important things.

You aren't a problem. You'll never be a problem.

If I lost those memories, that would be the problem and that's why I want to make sure I will go looking for what I lost!

[ She's trying to listen. To believe what he's saying, since it's exactly what she wants to hear. But everything in her is insisting she brace herself for the inevitable. ]

There's no if. I lose everyone I love. Dozens of them. [ Popping up in her dreams to remind her of her failures, night after night. With one notable absence. ]

I always knew that I was what you settled for because you didn't think you could have him. Or Mei. I should have accepted it already. I will. I just need time.

[...okay, it might be time to change tracks.]

[He straightens up. He doesn't let go of her entirely, a hand on her arm, but he is still a demon prince. He can put on the regal airs when he needs to, tone that of one demanding attention he rightly deserves.]

So I should be insulted is what I'm hearing.

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