Evernight

[Elle Joyner]

She received no argument, and for that she pleased. It wasn't in her nature to be contrary but what she set her mind to, she often felt compelled to see through and it would hardly have made for a comfortable evening, battling stipulations with their host. It felt good, knowing to some degree she'd been able to repay Thalion for all he had done for her, even if it would never really make up for it all. Heart a little fuller, she shook her head at the Antropoe's suggestion. Even when it was mirrored a moment later by Thalion, she had a difficult time finding room for anxiety.


"You were limping..." She replied, turning to Thalion with a warm smile, "I'll make due however I can, and if we have to go North, well... We'll figure something out. I'm not entirely useless with a needle and thread, myself. Maybe we'll find something with a hide thick enough that I can stitch together a cloak, if need be. What I can't do is fix leather boots... and certainly not in that condition." And that was, in essence all the debate she would take.


She followed Thalion and Fal, a little surprised to see so many Antropoes gathered together already. There were more of them than she'd expected, and as their beady eyes twisted towards her and Thalion, Minette felt a momentary sense of awkwardness. But the fire was warm and inviting, the smell of food making her stomach twist with delight, even if she couldn't identify any of it.


When she'd settled beside Thalion, she picked daintily at her plate, her lip curving in a soft smile at his words, "I can see that. And they're quite gifted at it, it seems. Father would hire them in an instant." Chuckling softly, she picked up her mug and took a slow sip, flinching a little as the alcohol, whatever it was, burned its way down the canal of her throat. Breathing out, she set down the mug again and returned to her complicated meal.


"Safe. I never imagined I'd hear that word again. It's funny, though. Even after everything... the watchcrew and that awful dragon, and knowing what I know... or rather not knowing much at all about why I'm here, I've always felt safe with you, Thalion. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that you've saved my life more times than I care to admit. Whatever it is, I'm grateful for it. If you'd... you'd left me behind, I doubt I would have made it nearly so far." Her smile softened and reaching out, she rested her hand over his for a moment, "Boots are the least I can do, really."


And with a shrug, she returned to her meal, watching the Antropoes around the fire with mild interest.

 

[Mordecai]

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“Needle and thread?” he snorted out with amusement, “That's charming you think you can fend out the kind of cold that is in the North with your sewing abilities. The type of cold that's in the North is unlike anything you have ever seen, or even heard of, in Green Reach. The wind alone will rip the flesh from your bones. It takes magic, Minette, not skill to survive in the North.” She was determined, but naive, and while he couldn't hold it against her necessarily, he did find it rather amusing all the same. Swallowing down the thought with a bit of mead that settled warmly in his gut, he approached the fire until the heat licked up his body and warmed him down to his marrow.


“You wouldn't have made it a day without me,” he corrected, glancing over to her with his dark eyes that had been turned orange in the hazy light coming of the bonfire. He plucked a few nut-like objects from a bowl and popped them into his mouth one at a time, chewing down on them idly. They were sweet and tangy, like the sour candy he used to buy in the Green Reach markets back home, and he liked them quite a lot. They sat nicely with the intensity of the alcohol, letting it seep through him and brush away all the stress that had been gathering in him since meeting the young woman at his side. She took a lot more work, he knew, but she had just afforded him a meal, a mead, and some things for his feet, so he couldn't complain.


“And as for the matter of my limping,” he commented, going back to earlier conversation, “I limp a lot. I'm always hurt. I don't remember a time since coming to Evernight I haven't been nursing a wound.” He was painted in scars-- some big, some small, some deep, some angry, some faint, and some barely noticeable at all, but they painted every inch of him. Even his left cheek bone had the faintest white line across it, paler than the rest of his burnt Sienna skintone. “And didn't I tell you to not feel safe around anyone, even me? I'm fairly certain I did,” again, Thalion felt the need to reiterate.


There wasn't safety in numbers, not in Evernight. There wasn't safety being alone. There wasn't ever truly safety, but at least they were somewhat safe for now... safer than they would have been otherwise.


Tipping his head back and taking the rest of his mead like a shot, Thalion hissed as the alcohol sizzled down his throat and burned with delight until it hit his stomach. Almost immediately his expression had softened as the tendrils of alcohol wrapped around his brain and soothed him a great deal. Ah, he needed that-- and as quickly as he had emptied it, someone had filled it yet again.


He'd be plenty drunk in no time. Good. It's exactly what he needed.

 

[Elle Joyner]

"Well, that goes to show what you know..." She teased, her smile never losing the edge of playfulness, "I did last a day, before you showed up. Tangled up in the roots of some great big tree." She hadn't been proud of herself, at the time, hiding the way she had, tucked away like a child... but it had kept her alive and she had learned since that sometimes that was the only way to survive in Evernight. Maybe it wouldn't have lasted long - that she had no real doubts about - but it had worked for her that first day, and that was something no one could take away from her.


"And whether it's injury or not, it's something a new pair of boots can't make worse. And you can say thank you, you know. Not that I expect it..." She hadn't done it for the gratitude. By now she'd come to realize that she needed Thalion in order to survive and if he was going to do that, he needed those boots. She hadn't really thought about what she might be giving up, but if what he and Fal had said was true - that survival was reliant on magic, well... she was just going to have to hope that they never had to journey that far.


The smile faded slightly as he continued, however, and straightening up, Minette shook her head, "Yes, you did tell me that, more than once, in fact. And as I did then, I choose simply not to hear it. You aren't a threat to me, Thalion... however you want to be perceived. Whatever you've been told about who you are, about what you are, it doesn't match up to the person I see, and I'd like to think I'm a better judge of character than your mother... who trapped me here."


Shifting, she set her plate down and plucking up her mug took a slow, thoughtful sip Te burn was a little easier the second time around, but the slight grimace was unavailable, "Speaking of your mother... I imagine that her surname... it's also Tel'Nair?"

 

[Mordecai]

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“Huh,” he snorted at her, working well into his second mug of mead by now before plopping down on the dirt near the fire and edging his feet towards the warmth of the flame, enjoying the way it baked out the water and dried out the leather, making it warm and cozy on his aching feet. She was right about one thing, though he'd never admit it, the leather really had begun to injure him. There were callouses and rub marks of where the leather has rubbed his skin down raw, leaving behind damaged, bleeding skin and nasty bruises. He would have walked through it without a complaint, but he was looking forward to something new on his feet.


“Maybe not yet,” he replied, leaning back on one hand and letting the other drape across his knee, swirling around the mead in the wood mug as Antropoes sung and danced around him, not once even seeming to notice he was there roasting his bones by the heat and nibbling on an occasional scrap of food every now and again. “But I might someday be a threat to you. You just gotta keep your eyes open n' always pay attention, alright? No matter what. You friends one day could be your enemy the next, a'right?” he swallowed down a whole mug full of the mead, purring with contentment as the alcohol continue to buzz through his head.


The inebriation brought a welcomed change to his face, warmth beginning to spread through him and even the first sign of a smile crossing through him as his mug was filled yet again, though he seemed less eager to swallow it down than the first two. “Huh?” he let his head loll to the side, glancing to her with his brows raised, “Yea, Tel'Nair, it's our last name. Why?” he yawned sleepily, “If I was gunna guess based on your face, I'd say that name means somethin' to ya. Am I right?” he grinned a little, laughing as the bubbles of alcohol continue to loosen him up until the steel mask he so casually wore all the time began to melt away.


“It's interesting, isn't it? The Antropoes? No idea what parta my mother's brain they come from. They're so unlike the resta her. They're actually kinda alright with all the singing and dancing. Pff. Such stupid culture in a place like this, though. It's useless, culture-- art, music, even alcohol. It's all useless in a place like this.” Tipping his head back, he took down a few more sips of mead, grinning sheepishly as warmth tickled through his chest.

 

[Elle Joyner]

It didn't matter what he said, or how many times he said it. There was no level of warning he could give her that would effectively make her believe what he said. The fact of the matter was, whether she should or not, she trusted him. She wanted to trust him and she did. He'd certainly given her enough reason to, regardless of what he seemed to think of himself. He'd saved her life, but it was more than that. He'd given her something she had never imagined she might find in a place like Evernight. He'd given her a companion. Someone to talk to... And in a place where loneliness was as dangerous as the creatures hunting them, that was important. Maybe more so... and maybe it was why he'd become so cold, so hollow...


Paying attention made sense, certainly. But fearing him? No. That simply wouldn't do. She needed him and in a way she dared to think that he needed her as well. And maybe, just maybe, he would see that soon enough. For now though, it wasn't worth the argument. Eventually, they would find a way to exist together in harmony, but for the time being she was content knowing it in her mind. Though it seemed the more of that despicably sharp, burning brew he drank, the less he seemed to be concerned at all with pushing her away and brooding.


His face warmed and though she knew well enough it wouldn't last, it was a welcome change - one that brought a smile to her own, light to her eyes that had all but faded over the past few days, even as the conversation shifted towards his mother again, "...Means something, indeed. I know her. Talia, right? She... she was there, in Edmund's kingdom. I never fully understood her position, but she was always around him... advising and pushing her ideas on him. I got the impression more than once that she fancied him. Well, not exactly him... but the idea of what he controlled. She... she wasn't fond of me. I think I understand why I'm here, now."


Lowering her gaze, she plucked a string from her skirt, "I think a part of me always understood. I wanted to believe it was something more than that. Something... something deeper than jealousy or a desire for power. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She trapped you here... and you're her son." Looking up again, she reached over, her hand covering his, "I'm sorry, Thal... for what she did to you. Whatever the reason, no one should ever have to face betrayal by their own mother."


Retracting her hand, she glanced towards the crowd and her smile brightened, ever so slightly, "...I think it's beautiful. They're beautiful. So full of life in a world where it's hard to find anything good at all. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's useless... but sometimes those things that seem to have no worth, no purpose are more important than we realize."

 

[Mordecai]

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“It’s Thalia, with an ‘H.’ I’m sure she doesn’t fancy him as a human being,” he corrected, swirling the remaining contents of his glass around with a tired smile, “But of his power. That is why you’re here, don’t you understand? You’re here because you were a roadblock. If you were to marry him, she would be unable to seize his crown. Magic is—“ he trailed over for a moment, digging his boots in to the moist soil and watching the ground bunch up against the toe of his nearly worn out boots, “Magic has limitations. ‘Thou shall harm none’ is much more difficult to work around than most people think. Perhaps she cannot kill you with magic, but she can dump you here and try and have me kill you. And if I cannot? Well, something here will… eventually.”


He yawned, though it wasn’t sleepy in condition but more as a sign of his relaxation. “She can jump through dimensions, my mother. Evernight is just one she built, but there are thousands… millions… she can go to. Green Reach is special to her though because it’s where she was born. No matter how far she tries to escape from it, she’s tied to it and cannot be gone from it for long. Truthfully, she hates it, I’m sure, but if she must be stuck there… she wishes to be stuck there and powerful.”


He was talking too much and he knew it, but he was having a hard time turning off the flowing spigot that was his mouth. Words and thoughts and truths were just flowing from him as if the alcohol in his hand was some kind of truth serum. He supposed in a twisted way, it kind of was. Realizing he was getting lost in his own thoughts, he shook himself in surprise when a warmth spread over his hand and he glanced her direction with both brows raised in surprise at the feeling of her hand across his own.


“Don’t be sorry,” he shrugged, “She made me a soldier, if nothing else. She taught me many valuable lessons, no matter how cruel her teaching methods. Hm. I wasn’t cut out for Green Reach anyways. This place? This is where I belong. I belong among the wild and the animals, because that’s what I am. I have elements of a human, but I’m not one… not entirely.” Leaned forward, he rested his elbows over his bent knees, fiddling idly with the laces on his boots.


“Wichons don’t belong in Green Reach and it took me a long time to understand that. She was doing me fa favor, honestly.” His eyes danced through the coals of the fire to look at the Antropoes that were celebrating like they didn’t have a care in the world. They were laughing, dancing, playing their music—“Really? But it’s so… it’s so pointless. Culture is pointless when everything is trying to kill you. Even the trees are trying to kill you here. They never seem to worry about when or where their next meal is coming from. If I lived like that, I’d be dead.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

"I do understand... I just wish..." A sigh escaped and shaking her head, Minette shifted, straightening up, "It doesn't matter. I'm here, because I was in her way, but I'm not going to make it easy for her. Maybe she can't kill me any other way, but that doesn't mean that she's going to succeed in killing me here, either. If she thinks I'm a threat to her, well, then I suppose that's what I need to be. I thought I'd be afraid, when I found out what was happening... why. But I'm not afraid. Not of her. She's a coward... and I won't let her win. Not with me, not with my home and not with you, either..."


He continued and her frown deepened as he spoke. It was to be expected by now, the way he talked about himself, but it was no less heart breaking to hear it. He had no faith in himself, and she supposed that was his mother's doing. She made him feel as though he had nothing of worth within him. She'd barred him from the world, sent him somewhere, trapped him with all manner of horrors and nightmares and what other choice did he have but to become the thing he was fighting... to survive.


But he was so much more than that. She could sense it in him - in those odd moments when his guard wasn't up. In those brief few seconds when he didn't know she was watching him. When he wasn't fully aware of what he was doing. There was a quality of goodness in him that even Evernight couldn't destroy and someday she would help him to see that... "That, Thalion...." She murmured, with a small smile, "...Is something we will never agree on. I see more in you than you ever will."


Rising to her feet, she looked down at him and with a decidedly determined expression, she held out her hand, "...And it's not pointless. It's because of those things... the danger, the fear, the confusion that places like this, that creatures like the Antropoes exist. It's balance and order... It's relief. And I'm going to prove it. Dance with me. Or are you afraid I'm right...?"

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

“Huh, well, agree to disagree then,” he shrugged it off, not in much of a fighting mood as he was currently enjoying the bitter taste of the alcohol seeping across his taste buds. It warmed him from the inside out like nothing else ever had and despite the turn in the conversation, which would have made him moody and quiet at any other time, still appeared quite friendly and warm. One small change in his expression, the hint of a smile, transformed him from a cold, aloof soldier to someone who everyone would want to meet. He was markedly more handsome when his features weren’t mired by a grimace.


His eyes peeled from the depths of the fire as Minette rose to her feet, watching her with an unsteady suspicion. “You’re going to what? Oh no—no, no, no, I don’t dance, Minette.” He slipped his hand into hers and hauled himself to his feet though, dusting off any loose dirt that clung to his clothing. “I will watch you dance, if you want, but I do not dance. I don’t honestly see a point in dancing. It doesn’t do anything—it doesn’t fill your stomach, keep you safe, or help you stay alive, so why bother wasting precious energy on something? It’s energy you should be saving for running or fighting something that will want to kill us once we live this village.”


Thalion had always been very systematic in his affairs. If it wasn’t key to his survival, his saw no point in it, and that stemmed from being a little boy in a very big, very scary world. In his youth, there was no opportunity to do anything except survive—eat what he could, when he could, sleep when he could, and conserve every ounce of his energy when given the chance. He had grown so accustomed to living like a wild animal; he didn’t truly appreciate art or music, let alone dancing. There had never been a reason to.


“Really, go—have fun, or whatever dancing does for you,” he gave her a shooing motion with his hand before going to take down another long sip of his booze, enjoying that much at least. Well, he didn’t know whether or not he was afraid of her correctness, but she amused him at least, and that was definitely worth something in a place like Evernight.

 

[Elle Joyner]

"Everyone dances, Thalion. You said it yourself. We're safe for tonight, and what better way to celebrate than enjoying life the way the Antropoes do. Besides, you can consider it repayment for that cloak I'll never get. I'll be dead, if we have to head up north and this might be the last chance I have to dance with someone. And I can't very well dance alone... and my options beyond you are rather slim. Would you leave me to Fal, then? Come now, be merciful..." She loved it, everything about it, dancing. It had been the only thing, really, that she had enjoyed about the night she'd met Edmund. She'd known that the competition was going to be fierce and that the trials they would be put through would be difficult, but that first night, before they'd been chosen from the hundreds of eligible maidens... she had danced and danced...


Edmund's maid, who had tended to her after she'd been selected as his bride, had informed her that it was her dancing which had first drawn Edmund to her. The way that she had seemed so effortless, so elegant and lighthearted. He'd been certain that she was the perfect future queen of Doyle - the grace and regal nature she possessed. And that had seemed so important at the time. It had been such a deeply rooted compliment. How things had changed.


But not her love for dancing...


Hand stretching out, she grabbed his, unrelenting as she shook her head, "There is no point to it... None that you'll see as logical anyway, but it's wonderful and freeing and well, I simply won't take no for an answer." She cupped her other hand around his as well and gave a measured tug towards the crowd. He was stubborn, but she had a strength of will about her that night, and she had to hope, at least, that the alcohol in his system made him slightly more malleable than he might've been entirely sober. Maybe it was exactly as she said... she wanted to enjoy herself, wanted him to enjoy himself. But maybe there was more to it. Maybe she needed him to see what she saw in him... to see what he was capable of.


Looking up at him, eyes wide and bright in the firelight, she smiled, but there was a soft desperation about her as well, a sense almost... of pleading. Maybe she needed it, too... as much as she thought he did, "One dance... and then I promise, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the night."

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

“No, I said we’re safer tonight, not that everyone dances,” he pointed out very pointedly, his eyebrows still arched halfway up his forehead. “Just because we’re slightly safer does not mean it’s time for such silliness. Dancing is—“ but she interjected with a lame comment about having to dance with Fal and she only shrugged in response, “Sure, go ahead. I’m sure he’d be thrill---“ but he didn’t even have an opportunity to argue anymore because she gripped his hand and gave him a firm tug. For such a small, little woman he had had to save on numerous occasions, she was a lot stronger than he had given her credit for.


“Hmmmph!” he dug his heels into the dirt, but she was stubborn and had the strength of a mule when she was trying to get something she wanted, and he found himself stumbling awkwardly after her. “Fine,” he finally gave in, looking down at her face that was shining, and he feared she’d burst into tears if he continued to decline. The only thing worse to him than dancing was trying to console a crying person, or a crying anything really, so he ultimately decided on the lesser of two evils. “Fine, one dance and then you can become a partner with Fal, yes?”


Finally obliging her wishes, lightening his feet on the ground and beginning to follow after her. “You know, this is quite possibly some of the worst music I’ve ever heard, and that truly is saying something, seeing as I have never heard much music at all. I remember it from when I was still in Green Reach as a kid. My mother enjoyed music so immensely she would hire minstrels to play around her estate at almost all hours of the day, from the moment she was awake, until she went to bed again. It’s one of the more pleasant things I remember.”


He didn’t remember what the food had tasted like, or what his bed felt like, or what it felt like to be able to rest without worry of being attacked by one of any number of dangerous creatures wanting to rip him limb from limb, but he could still remember the music—however faintly. The light tunes would occasionally float in and out of his ears. “Truthfully, I don’t even know how to dance. I’ve never danced before. No reason to—“ he shrugged. It wasn’t exactly a typical hobby there in Evernight.

 

[Elle Joyner]

“That sounds like the kind of talk I'd expect from someone who doesn't dance nearly enough. And it's, quite frankly, silly in and of itself. There is always time, in life, for moments... particularly when life is hard and there’s plenty to forget.” Without mercy, she tugged at him and when he finally gave in the smile that lit her features outshown the bonfire. He didn’t have to like it, and she’d promised only one dance and then she’d leave him be, but that he had relented… That he had given her just one moment to be a princess, to forget the world around them and return to the life she knew, the life that made sense. Maybe he didn't know what he was doing or maybe he did, but either way, she was immensely grateful.


"One dance... and then I'll dance with the Watchcrew, if that's what you want." Shifting her hands, she positioned them properly, one upon his shoulder, the other twined through his fingers and in time to the music, she moved carefully, allowing him to adjust to what was, undoubtedly, unfamiliar territory. But he was a fighter, she'd seen it before, and he had a fluidity to his movements that she had no doubt he'd catch up in no time at all. Granted, she had no doubt he'd hate it as well - especially considering he didn't get to kill anything - but he'd agreed, and that was all that mattered.


"I love to dance..." She remarked, as he spoke of his mother and music, "There's something... freeing in it. Something that makes me forget everything else. I can close my eyes and hear the music and I'm transported wherever I want to go. I'm not a princess... I'm not promised to anyone... I'm not invalid for being a woman, or having less than someone, or more than them. And here, well... I'm sure you can imagine all that I'd like to forget about this place. Though right now..." Glancing upwards through the thick canopy of trees, she smile delicately, "It's almost beautiful, when it's still like this. Like a world separated from everything else."


Looking back to Thalion, she chuckled softly, and moved her hand from his shoulder, gently guided his own to her waist, before resuming her position, "...It helps, Dear Thalion, if you hold on. Follow my steps, and in time to the music. You don't need to learn all the fancy steps and complicated gestures. It's really quite easy, when you avoid mucking it up with all that's unnecessary. Think of it as a bit like a sword fight, only you've a different goal in mind than wounding a man in the end."

 

[Mordecai]

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Thalion looked about as out of place as one could. Control over his life was what he had left. No home, no family, no money, but his mind was entirely his own. That was what he told himself on the nights he slept in the cold dirt with an empty stomach, but right then all the mental discipline of his barely counted for anything. He knew hundreds of protocols for dealing with animals and monsters that wanted to kill him, but this? There was nothing. He had been raised a soldier, emotions and reactions towards love, death, and everything in-between conditioned out of him, but this? He wasn’t sure what to make of this. His feet were trained like a man in a battle of swords: his feet light, swift, but stiff like he was bracing for a sword to plunge at any moment.


She was right about one thing; he hated it, but probably not for the reason she thought. He hated it because it represented in laymen’s terms everything he was not, nor could he ever be. This was not the man he was. He was a ruthless, emotionless killer. He was violent and remorseless, and he acted on the survival instinct alone. Things like dancing were… frivolous. This was a complete anomaly and his face was chiseled in an expression that read either terror or confusion, perhaps a bit of both. Minette had snapped up his hand and placed it where it was meant to belong and while she stated it would help, it most certainly did not feel like it was.


The movements felt awkward, though he had no trouble following along. “Did you just call me ‘Dear Thalion’?” he remarked, not sure what to make of that, either. She was just throwing so many things at him all at once that he could only hum a little in response, his brain desperately trying to grapple with all that she was doing to him, but also not being entirely sure how to begin compartmentalizing the music, the dance, the ‘dear’, and the fact that his hand was on her hip.


“I still am not sure I understand the purpose of dancing though.” It felt about as useless as trying to plant a seed in winter. Still, he was obliging her because he did pity her; he remembered being like her. He remembered what it felt like to be stuck in a new place for the first few weeks. Eventually, she’d harden to her reality and things like ‘princes’ and ‘princess’ would become things of her past. Eventually, she’d realize there was no escaping Evernight, not any one that Thalion had ever been made aware of, anyhow. “I still haven’t consumed enough mead for this, you know.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

"I did, yes. I hardly think it's worthy of shock... I've already told you, I don't think you're nearly as detestable as you assume. At least not to me, though you've done you're best to try, certainly." Her lip curved in a slightly saucy smile as she shrugged, "You're a good man, whatever you think of yourself, and it's difficult not to feel endeared to someone who's saved your life on so many occasions, whether intentionally or not."


He was out of his element - thrown for the same loop she was, every time they ran from some creature, every time she tried to sleep under the gnawing uncertainty of what was to come. And she was enjoying herself - maybe a little at his expense, for all he put her through in the beginning, but also because seeing him so self conscious, so uneasy, it was a little like seeing into the part of him he wouldn't let anyone see. It was a little like watching his guard lowered. He was a good man, she meant that, but he was certainly guarded... and removed from what made him comfortable, he was a man without a shield.


It helped, of course, that he was partially inebriated...


"Then stop trying. If you can't see a purpose, maybe it's because there isn't one. Some things exist because the whole world is full of purpose - and you need something that has no ... agenda behind it. It's just a dance, a moment in time when nothing matters but the music and where you put your feet. You don't have to think, or worry, or doubt. You just move in time and let go." Her smile softened, and she loosened her grip on his hand to spin herself, before rounding back in again.


"And I'd be worried, quite honestly, that if you had anymore mead than you've already had, my poor feet would be at your mercy."

 

[Mordecai]

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“Hmm,” a grumble rumbled through Thalion’s chest and provided the only source of response from him in that moment. He didn’t meet her smile with one of his own, but looked down at her with a bit of an arch in his brow, not sure whether to be amused or annoyed by her antics. “You are a very unusual woman, Minette. I am entirely certain I don’t understand you because you are a completely foreign species to me. I suppose I’ll just have to say it again. Monsters? Monsters I get, but people are crazy.” Then again, his exposure to ‘people’ had been extremely limited.


In Evernight, he understood the drive of the creatures to eat or be eaten. It made sense. But dancing? Moving in time and letting go? Nope, he didn’t understand it at all and it clearly reflected in the perplexed look emblazoned all across his face. Still, he kept moving all the same, following her lead with each gentle movement she guided him through. At her twirl, his brows seemed to arch even farther than they had been before, leaving him to just shake his head at her before they came together once more, his hand falling across her side where it had been.


“Perhaps if your toes were at my mercy, you wouldn’t be making me do this,” he responded casually, though there was no denying the distinct lack of pure hatred gripping his face. Instead, his expression seemed almost relaxed. ‘Pleasant’ might have been a stretch. “But at this rate, I’ll need more mead to suffer through whatever you’re planning for me next.” He hoped it wasn’t another dance; one had been plenty. The music trickled to an end before kicking up anew with a fresh song and Thalion took that as his cue to be done. He politely removed his hand from Minette’s waist and stepped away, though kept his eyes lingering across her.


“Well? Was that enough or do you plan on dancing some more with our mutual friend Fal while I go wash this memory entirely from my mind with the help of extremely potent alcohol?” He was joking… mostly. There wasn’t much time when Thalion got to relax and enjoy himself, but the few times he could enjoy Antropoe’ ale, he took full advantage of the situation. He could relax a little and not live with a constant, weary eye looking over his shoulder. It was temporary, of course, but the relaxation in his face was markedly more prominent than normal, as if he had just sighed out about four hundred pounds of stress.

 

[Elle Joyner]

"I make it a habit..." She said with a small, teasing smile, "To be very complex, but rarely am I complicated. The simple fact of the matter is, Thalion, whether it's something either of us likes, we're stuck together, for the time being... possibly for a great amount of time to come. This isn't my home, and I have no way of getting out of here, but if I'm to be here, I'm going to make whatever I can of it. You've lived your life with nothing to look forward to, always looking over your shoulder, always alone... and that's incredibly sad to me. But whatever happens, you aren't alone anymore. I could spend my time here, when I'm not running in fear of my life, wallowing in misery, or I can find the little things, and cling to those. My hope is that in time, you'll see not everything is bad."


When the music ended and he stepped away, her smile softened and she shook her head. She'd have liked to continue, but the reat to dance with Fal had been little more than idle. She had no real interest in encouraging the creature, who seemed to have taken a rather awkward shine to her. She'd gotten her moment, however brief, and that was something she would need to be grateful for, as much as she could be, "That's enough. Thank you for indulging me. I do hope it wasn't too entirely painful. As promised... I will leave you to your..." Glancing at the ale, she chuckled, "Whatever that vile substance is."


His was a difficult life, and no amount of explaining to him that there could be beauty found, even in a dark, horrible place like Evernight was going to make his life any easier. This might be the only chance he had to take a moment and not think, to take a moment and not fear... and she wouldn't get in the way of that, no matter how the company soothed her.


Tomorrow they would be leaving, and there was no telling what they would run into, what they might come up against. It was her relief, at least, that she wouldn't have to fear dying without experiencing at least as small bit of joy first, however grim her future might have looked. Hands clasped in front of her, she bowed her head to Thalion, "...Enjoy..."


And turned, she moved closer to the fire to find a seat where she could watch the frivolity of the Antropoes, without getting in their way.

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

Had that really been all Thalion been doing his whole life? Suffering? He hadn’t even considered it because he had never really had the time to be upset, angry, or sad about his situation; every minute of every day had been spent surviving and that was all that was ever on his mind: what was causing the brush to rustle? What animal made that cry? Where was the Watchcrew? Where would his next meal come from? He hadn’t so much wallowed in misery as he had ignored the definition of what life should have been. It was animalistic the way Thalion lived—live or die, hunt or be hunted—because there was no compassion there.


There was no passion or love or joy, but also no sadness or anger, either. Thalion seemed more like a shell, a heartless, soulless soldier, than a man and her words caused him pause for a moment.


Happiness had always been irrelevant and, truthfully, he didn’t know what he kept surviving for. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, and any last shred of hope he had once possessed left him long ago. It was a wonder than as to what kept Thalion going forward—stupidity, probably, or the innate human desire to survive, but there was nothing. There was no out of Evernight for Thalion Tel’Nair. There was no beauty or enjoyment in dance and it was mildly humiliating to not even understand the purpose of dancing at all. Maybe he really was an animal—no better than a Watchcrew, just on the other side of the war.


His fingers twitched at his side as he glanced away, “Good night, Minette,” he answered, though suddenly didn’t have the taste for mead. He was tired, but restless, and his mind both simultaneously wanted to run and sleep at the exact same time. Nothing felt coherent but the only thing he knew for sure was that he didn’t want to be by the fire anymore. The sound of the music was inflaming inside of his heart and the laughter was chiseling away at his brain. Hastily, he turned to pluck up his bow and quiver where it had been strewn aside.


“Minette,” he called to her, stepping up alongside, “I am going to go out. You should stay here, you’ll be safe here. I’ll be back by morning.”


He didn’t know where he wanted to go, or what he wanted to do, but he needed to get out. He needed to get back to what was familiar and the only thing that was familiar to him was the forests of Evernight: the evil, the wild, and the feral forests where he could be alone with his own inhumanness.


It felt so foreign to him to feel so broken, shattered really. He had been robbed entirely from an early age of the tape and glue necessary to put his soul back together. He wasn’t even supposed to have a soul, yet that was the only thing he could think of that could possibly be hurting so badly. His heart, poorly stapled shut, was beating hard but without purpose.

 

[Elle Joyner]

She hadn't meant anything more by her words than a bit of encouragement, but when Thalion appeared by her side and informed her he was going to take a walk, she couldn't ignore the expression in his eyes, the look on his face. It occurred to her, of course, that he was so used to the life that he'd led that the idea of anything new, anything different was just too much for him to consider, but it also occurred to her that maybe it wasn't a bad thing. That maybe he would benefit from a little change...


He was so miserable, and the life he lived was such a sad, melancholy one... It was hard not to think that he relied on that feeling, just for normalcy. And she'd interrupted it, however unintentionally, by suggesting it wasn't the only way to live, even in a world that was desperately dark and wicked. She'd meant only to give him hope, but hope when it was so difficult to comprehend could be as painful as none at all. It broke her heart to think she had cause him any stress, when that had clearly not been her intention... but he was gone before she could say as much, and she didn't dare to follow him into the darkness...


Instead, sinking down into her seat she watched him walk away with a strange, uncomfortable sense of loss, her heart aching for the man, for all that he had been through - for all that he had endured. How long had he been alone? How long had he thought this way? That there was nothing but darkness for him? And how could she think that mere words would alter his mindset in any way but a negative one.


Eventually, the fire began to die down and so did the music, the liveliness. She was taken by an Antropoe she hadn't met - one she assumed, though it was difficult to tell them apart sometimes, was a younger lady - to a small hovel that had been set up for her to rest in. She had no thoughts in her mind as she laid her head onto the pillow but that perhaps she had been wrong after all... Maybe she wanted to believe there was still hope, but the brokenness... it wasn't something she could repair.


It came to her mind, sometime shortly before sleep claimed her that what bothered her most of all was how much she cared... because she had never intended to.

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

All that was left of the blood that had flown thick and scarlet in his veins was clapsed against his calloused fingers. A dried patch of brown that had wicked into the fabric of his tunic and his mangled lip was caked in dried blood, congealed and cracked. The now browning blood had drizzled down his face like so much rain down a windowpane. Whatever monster he had encountered in the night, it was hard to tell from the injuries alone, but it was painfully evident that Thalion had not been alone in the forest during his walk.


He had returned to the Antropoes camp at the crack of dawn, just as the sky began to soften into a blue and the clouds blushed like a ripe mango. The air was delicate and cool and kissed his skin with moisture, though he was hastily swiping away at the blood that continue to collect on his hairline from a gash on the side of his skull. While bloodied, he was nothing more than a little worse for wear—no broken bones, no major gashes or lacerations—just a few bad nicks, a bloody lip, and a slight limp.


“Master Thalion! You have returned,” Fal peeped his head out from behind his door, swinging it open at the sight, “Our seamstresses have worked all through evening but have not yet finished what you requested. Breakfast is to be served. Come, join us. I have sent Telly to fetch your Minette to join, as well. My,” Fal snorted, “You look a right mess! Come on, come on—breakfast fixes all ailings. First, go wash your bloody self off! Go on!” Fal’s voice was brisk and Thalion was too tired to argue.


Stepping away from the village and towards the outlying stream. Thalion knelt down by the spring and dunked his hands below the cool and crisp waters so he could splash the blood away. The water running down his hands had turned russet as it began to pull away the dried chunks from his skin. Cleaning himself up, he rinsed the last of the blood away, but the split lip and the bruising remained all the same. It was a shame he couldn’t just rinse all of that away, as well.


The breakfast bell rang and like a frenzy, all the Antropoes spilled from their homes and dwellings to come sit in the center of the city to enjoy their breakfasts as it was meant to be enjoyed…


Together.

 

[Elle Joyner]

As Minette was drawn from sleep, she woke with a strangling sense of sadness... Not one she was attuned to by nature. Something about the way the evening had ended, truncated by Thalion leaving had left her with a hollow feeling, punctuated by the realization that despite her efforts to remain positive, she wasn't getting out of Evernight anytime soon. She wasn't getting home. This, undoubtedly, was the weight of emptiness, of numbness that Thalion felt every day, and alone, it was difficult to grapple with.


Rolling from the mattress of straw, plucking bits of it from her hair, she made her way after the Antropoe that had woken her, but something gave her pause as she neared the copse. A wrongness, tingling and uncomfortable, along her spine. Thalion had gone off on his own, into the darkness of the woods. He knew the dangers, he knew the risks, but he had still been alone. And if something had happened...


Shivering, she paused, and wrapping her arms across her chest, she turned to the small trail of Antropoes, bustling around her and searching, found the one she was looking for, "Fal!" She called out, with a small frown, "Thalion... He... he went off on his own. I haven't seen him, and I'm... I'm worried that something's happened..."


With a short stub of a thumb, Fal gestured to a path not a few feet off and his lips curved into a smile as he continued on without a word. Blinking, Minette turned to the path and followed it upwards, until she came to the end of it, where a small stream cut through the trees, the trickling of water over rocks the only sound. Slowing, she caught sight of him, bent over the water and breathing out, she smiled.


"There you are. You... you never came back and I Thought..." Stepping closer, she watched as he rose and seeing the state of him, her smile faded, "Oh!" Moving forward swiftly, she reached up, her fingertips hovering over the bruise, "You... Thalion, what happened...?"

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

So went along the hurrying brook, falling over in little cascades in its haste, never looking once at the primroses or daisies that were glimmering in dew all along its banks. The water was cold in his outstretched fingers, caressing the skin cooly and eddying in their wake. The blood had long since washed clean but he kept his hands in for a few extra moments because it made everything go numb for a while. Finally, he pulled his hand out and watched the drips, both transparent and opaque at the same time, before shaking them loose and rising to his full height. Against the thighs of his trousers, he wiped them clean and turned to head back to breakfast, only in time to nearly smack into Minette.


“You thought what?” he asked, his brows rising into his forehead a little with curiosity over her statement. Was that—worry? He couldn’t be certain. It genuinely felt like worry, but he quickly wrote it off. She had already made it a point that she wouldn’t survive Evernight without him, so of course she’d be worried if he didn’t come back. He was her lifeline in these forests. Never once could he even consider the concept that she may be worrying because she felt any sort of genuine emotion towards him. It was simply impossible as no one had ever cared about him before.


Why would anyone care about him now?


“I’m fine,” he explained dismissively, brushing it off as her fingers brushed across the heated bruise—as if to make sure there wasn’t any further damage below the skin. “A Gittlebear attacked me last night and he managed to hook my ankle and caused me to trip for a second. My head just hit a rock.” Again, he shrugged, “I’ve had worse. This is nothing.” He did reach down and lift up the hem of his shirt to reveal a few ribbons of cuts right along his left side where it looked like a paw of talons had just managed to clip him. Whatever a Gittlebear was, judging by the spaces between the talon marks, it was a big creature.


His skin was covered in them—scars, that was. Even the small patch of skin he revealed to her was dense with marks of various sizes, shapes, and severities. He really wasn’t joking when he said he had faced, and endured, worse. These were just every day, run-of-the-mill abuse one encountered in Evernight. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

As she watched him, lowering her hand, her cheeks reddened and her eyes darkened - there was something there... anger... and it was so unlike Minette that for a moment she worried her reaction was purely irrational. But rationality, more often than not, was a hindrance, and for once, she wasn't clinging to that need for order and conviction. He had gone off, for whatever reason he chose to justify his actions, and nearly gotten himself killed. And all he could say was that he'd had worse? Did he truly thing there was no one in the world who cared... that there was no reason to be on guard? Did he really think so little of her...?


But of course he did. It was what he knew - all he knew. It was why he'd left in the first place, because she had offered him a sense of something different, a new way to view his life in Evernight and it had been too much. He'd left because she had scared him off with her senseless optimism and need to see the brighter edges of the darkness they were under. It still bothered her, nevertheless, that he couldn't see her concern was genuine... that he seemed to think nothing of scaring her. That he seemed to think nothing of his own safety.


"It's so easy for you, isn't it..." She murmured, and her fingers rolled into fists as she shifted her gaze from his, "To dismiss all sense of reason. To assume that just because you're used to things being a certain way, they can't change. You think only of yourself, so naturally it wouldn't occur to you that someone actually cares what happens to you! What is the point in trying to survive, if you're only going to run off and get yourself killed, anyway? You knew what the risk was, and you took it regardless of the consequences... without a thought of what it would do to me, if you hadn't come back..."


A tear crawled along her cheek and brushing it away with haste, Minette looked back up at him, shaking her head, "You have no idea how frightened I was... thinking something had happened to you. And this?? This cavalier attitude... as if I'm somehow overreacting to the idea that you were nearly mauled to death? It's damn near insulting. Do you really me in such little regard that you'd assume you mean nothing to me? But then, I guess that's how you function, isn't it? You brush off the idea that any goodness, any kindness can exist here... Well, I'm not from here, Thalion... and lest you forget, neither are you."


Moving away, unable to keep the tears at bay, Minette sank down on a rock beside the river, "Go on then... off to breakfast. I'm not hungry..."

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

Like a dog that had just been smacked over the nose with a newspaper, Thalion visibly recoiled at her words and reaction because he hadn’t a clue how to deal with them. All his life, he wondered if there was ever a time he had seen a woman cry. Never would have probably been the correct answer, or at least it had been so long ago he couldn’t remember. Was he supposed to do something? Say something? React in a certain way? He didn’t know because he looked genuinely afraid—more afraid of anything he could find out in Evernight, more afraid than facing the gravity of his own death.


Minette and her emotions scared him because they caused something to stir uneasily in his chest. No, emotions were weak things… objects and feelings that would dull his senses beyond recognition and make him vulnerable in the wilderness. He couldn’t allow himself to feel because he needed to be a soldier—ever-vigilant and careful no matter what the circumstance. Emotions led to accident, like the one he had had with the Gittlebear. It never should have been able to get that close, it never should have been able to take him off his feet so swiftly, yet it had done so all the same.


“This is all I know, Minette!” he said in response, his voice louder and deeper than he had been expecting, “This is all I know. Years and years and years of conditioning in… this place,” he waved a hand around them, gesturing to all that was Evernight, “Do you think you could come into my life and could fix everything—that you could just so easily dust away the cobwebs and mop the floor and everything would be perfect? How do you expect me to know that you care? My mother didn’t care and in case you haven’t noticed, there is no one here! I have been alone almost my entire life in this… this forest. The way you think, the way you feel… you learned it. You learned it from being around people. And who I am? I learned it from being around the animals.”


It wasn’t so easy. He knew she thought he was broken and that she could fix him, but maybe she couldn’t. Maybe no one could. He didn’t even have a soul, after all. That’s what they said, anyways. You have no capacity to be human, Thalion, his mother had told him once, Only to fight, or be killed.


Turning off, her words caused him pause for a moment before he just ended with a shake of his head. “Maybe I wasn’t born here, but I am from here. Evernight is deep in my bones.” His fingers twitched over the curve of his bow, pondering if it was wise to go off to breakfast or not. He was hungry but she seemed awfully upset. “I strongly suggest you eat. Starving yourself because you’re angry will only make it harder for you later. Who knows when you’ll get another meal.”

 

[Elle Joyner]

"Just because it's all you know..." She started, and her voice softened, "Doesn't mean there's nothing beyond it... That there isn't something more." It wasn't fair, being angry with him, no more than it was fair to be angry with a bird for flying... He hadn't asked for the life he had been given and he'd adapted to the best of his ability, but that didn't mean that it had been easy. Struggling to understand, to accept that she was different... that she cared about him... it was natural for him. You could only question what you didn't comprehend, and she shouldn't have been so surprised that he didn't comprehend that she'd grown to think of him as a friend.


"But you're wrong. You're wrong, and... and I don't know how to make you see it. You are not alone, Thalion. You aren't..." Rising, she turned to face him, sniffling softly, trying to keep the tears at bay, "Maybe you don't want me here... I know that it's easier on your own, or so you think. But I need you... and... and maybe, maybe you need me. Maybe you don't even know that you do, but... but I'm going to leave you. I don't believe it, that you're some soulless, heartless monster... I won't. I've seen the heart in you, Thalion. I've seen the man you're capable of becoming, and I won't leave him."


Looking down at her hands, she shook her head, uncurling her fingers to find grooves dug in by her nails, "There is good in you... Humanity. And I cannot believe otherwise. I don't want to fix you... I just... I want to be your friend. But I can't do that, if you won't let me in. You're so guarded, and I don't know... I don't know how to break the walls down, I don't know how to make you see. I..."


Breaking off, she glanced up again, and a soft, sad laugh escaped her lips, "...I'm making a mess of this. I... I'm sorry. I... You should go. I'll be along. I just... I need a moment."

 

[Mordecai]

[/heightrestrict]​

It was very confusing.


It was probably like a young child looking at words for the first time in a book. The child was smart enough to know that there was something comprehensible there, that when someone else looked at them, they could see a story. To them though, they were just a jumbled mess of lines and dots that made no sense and it was frustrating. It was so close, yet so out of reach, and he hadn't a clue how to grasp it. He couldn't remember the people from Green Reach and the only other person he had ever known, clearly, was his mother and she treated him with no sense of love or compassion. He had only imagined that all people were the same way.


More importantly, he had never had anyone believe there was something worth saving in there. He had been trained to believe he lacked a soul, he lacked compassion, and lacked everything that would very well make him human. It's what distinguished him from them... it was what made him a soldier, through and through. He had survived all those years in Evernight because he had been hard and ruthless, unforgiving to any creature he had come across because that's what needed to be done. Why he hadn't been able to kill Minette that faithful day then, he didn't know. It still made him hazy to think about.


“I don't even know what is behind those walls,” he commented, still turning away from her, “It's been too long. I've forgotten.” Who was Thalion? He couldn't even recall anymore. He knew how to survive, how to scrounge, how to scrape by... but he had forgotten what he liked. Did he even like Oiler meat? He couldn't remember now. He only ate it because he had to. What was his favourite colour? Did he like the smell of the primroses? Did he enjoy the way the meade made him feel? Did he like the dance? He didn't know. Everyone was a stranger to Thalion, but no more so than himself.


“Okay-” the revelation had clearly shaken him a little and he continued to step away as she said she needed a moment. He moved quietly and swiftly on trained feet towards the group of Antropes who had already gathered at the table and begun to eat. Quickly, they ushered him towards the table and placed a bountiful plate in front of him, hastily encouraging him to eat and boy, he did. He ate in wolfish bites, swallowing down the food as quickly as his body would allow.


And he liked it, he decided. He liked the taste, especially of the Rumblerbee honey on the little biscuit. It felt good to like something again.

 

[Elle Joyner]

She was furious. She was furious, and she was sad. Never before had she come up against such a trial - one that had no real solution, beyond the continued patience that she was certain was already wearing thin. She wanted him to see what she saw... to comprehend it, and to know how special he was to her, how she'd come to care for him, not because he had spared her life, but because he'd enriched it. He was a stubborn, grouchy, miserably lonely man, but he was so different than anyone she'd met before, and it was hard to see the good in him, but it was there - beneath the surface, like a gem beneath rocks... buried in the center.


He'd protected her - against his own better judgment, against his mother's wishes... He'd protected her, and in some way, he had endeared himself to her. But it was more than that. He had shown her that she was more than what she had been made into by her father's pressing, by her lessons and the constant watchful eye of her nursemaid. He'd shown her that she could be strong, and brave... and whether he realized it or was entirely oblivious to it, he'd made her better than she ever would have been in Doyle.


And he angered her. He angered her, and he made her sad and sometimes, she wanted nothing more than to hit him - in the most unladylike display of aggression and fury, she wanted to wail on him. But there was a comfort with him. A safety. She knew that no matter what he said, no matter who he claimed to be, or what he claimed to lack, he would never allow harm to come to her... more than that, he would never harm her. Perhaps his guardianship seemed reluctant, but he had thrown all of his heart into it, and it had warmed her to him in a way she'd never anticipated.


But he didn't see it. He didn't see it and she wasn't sure if he ever would, and that crushed her inside. That broke her heart into a thousand pieces she wasn't certain she'd ever be able to place back together. She would survive - he'd shown her that she could, but Evernight felt so much colder, so much bleaker knowing that whether or not she was with him, he would still find the need to push her away... He would still feel the need to be alone.


Brushing her cheeks, she rose from the river and turned to make her way back towards the Antropoes. It did not escape her attention, the frivolity and noise, but somehow she felt numb to it and as she sank down before the massive piles of food, while her stomach growled and she knew she was hungry, she couldn't bring herself to taste more than a few bites before she became weary of eating. They would leave, soon. They would return to the world, so dark and dreary... and there would be little hope then of getting through to him.


And it was going to be a long, hard trip feeling so utterly on her own.