April Catch All

[be_seeing_you]

Who: Number 6 & Open
Where: Around town and on the farm
What: Various prompts for April
When: Currently before Flood, might add some for After Flood
Warnings: [cw: Talk about spousal death, illness, grief, depictions of chronic impending fatal illness]

A. Around the farm

Number 6 is finally starting to look the part out here on the farm. He found a pair of dungarees and work boots stowed away in the attic of their home and he's donned them now along with a wide-brimmed sunhat to protect his pale complexion from the worst of the sun's rays. It can only do so much, and as a result, his face has broken out in an explosion of freckles. Despite that and the sunburns, he's happy. His hands are covered in dirt from plowing the soil and his shirt is soaked from the sweaty work of hauling logs and chopping wood. And he hasn't had to lie to a single person or keep a single secret to accomplish his tasks. It's all good, honest labor.

Unfortunately, the work is getting harder on him by the day. At the start of the month, all seems fine enough. But that ring in the shape of a skull jawbone on his finger is slowly but surely sapping that strength away from him. In the middle of pushing a wheelbarrow, he suddenly falls to his knees, out of breath and clammy with sweat so thick his hair is wet beneath his hat. It's fine, he tells himself. Get up. He has more work to do yet. But... maybe he should just rest for a moment, first.

...Just a moment.

B. Now I lay me down to sleep [cw: Be advised, this is directly following Ava's IC death]

He went out to lay beneath the stars with his wife. But now... now he's walking home alone. There's a bundle in his arms. The clothes she left behind. Still warm, but that warmth is fading. Like she faded.

Tears glisten in his eyes but he blinks them back. He has to stay strong. She will be a ghost. She might see. He doesn't want her to have to watch his anguish. Stiff upper lip. It will be all right. They knew the cost of freedom might be high. He let her pay it this time, but the next... and the next...

"I'll find a way," he says under his breath. "We'll stop this."

But, for now, there is nothing he can do but cross the short distance from field to the front door of their home, drift inside and... no, he doesn't think he can sleep tonight. Not alone. He resolves to go to the kettle instead, to brew something hot. He carries it back out to the front porch and sits heavily in one of the wooden rocking chairs. A matched set. Somehow that only makes him feel lonelier, watching the empty chair creak slightly in the breeze. On a night like this, he could use some company.

C. Wildcard Me
Can be next day, ghost shenanigans, etc. Just throw whatever at me, I'm game.

Comments

Around the Farm

[misbegottendreamer]

Drelasa just happens to be passing by when she hears the thud of a body against dirt and the sound of labored breathing. She rushes over as best as she can, given her limited ability to navigate.

"Goodness! Are you in need of assistance, sera?"

[be_seeing_you]

He's still breathing heavily, so his voice is rough as he says, "I'm all right. I'll just rest a moment."

He gives up on trying to get back on his feet now and instead works his knees out from under him so he can sit properly with his back supported by the wheelbarrow.

[misbegottendreamer]

"Are you hydrated? Have you eaten today?"

[be_seeing_you]

"Yes. A little."

He can't keep what's really going on a secret forever. It will become apparent soon enough. May as well explain it now.

"It's nothing so simple. You recall how you sang for my wife while she suffered? I am suffering this time, in her stead."

B

[redlightgreenlight]

She knows when it happens, that fleeting moment when a body dies. She's felt it time after time, for thousands of years, over and over again without a care. This one hurts though, it hurts because it's unfair. For a time she simply sits in a chair by the fire in her house while Max sleeps upstairs, staring into the flames. She couldn't have done anything to stop it, Ava had made it clear she didn't want help, but now Peter was alone again.

Much as she dislikes him, it's not fair to leave him to mourn by himself. She shoves the blanket onto the ground and grabs her shoes before exiting the house, but after a pause, she goes back inside to change, shoving her clothes into the custom bag she had made.

It doesn't take long to reach Ava's farm in this form, Peter has likely noticed her approach, but she says nothing as she pads silently up the path to their cottage.

Re: B

[be_seeing_you]

He spots her approaching but doesn't say anything to deter her. She knows, he assumes. Felt it happen, most likely. That part is easy enough to guess. But why is she here if she knows Ava isn't?

"Coming to pay your respects?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Just as Valdis knew when Ava died, so does she feel the sourness coming off of Peter. She stops just short of their porch, paws square, head held high as she fights the urge to curl her lips back.

No, actually. I came to check on you.

B

[saltwaterlungs]

There were some ideas to put plans in place, but... it happens so quickly that basically any of the ideas that Darcy had about rites or ceremony get shunted to the wayside. She was just coming over to check in, and Peter's out the front by himself with a look on his face. Even out at a distance, she knows. There's a weight to death, a feeling of silence in the air so thick that Darcy figures they used to stop all the clocks just to not hear them ticking so loud. It's a beautiful blue night and death resides even here.

Darcy makes the choice not to teleport the last stretch of the way, to put boots to dirt and arrive normally, doffing her hat just as soon as she reaches the porch.

"I'm too late," it's a statement, not a question, "I'm sorry."

Soothing will come in a moment, for the moment, there is only consolation.

Re: B

[be_seeing_you]

"There will be... other times," he answers hollowly as he fidgets with a new ring on his finger. It's designed like no ring he's ever owned, in the shape of a skull's jawbone.

"I'm told she will become a spirit for a day. You will be able to hear her, yes?"

[saltwaterlungs]

"Clear as day."

That's a very distinct and suspicious ring accompanying a very ominous statement.

Darcy sits beside him, a little slow and a little cautiously. It's been a very long time since she's had to do this.

"Is there anything I can do? Dishes? Or- I could make something so you have some leftovers?"

Now I lay be down to sleep (CW: brief mentions of implied self-mutilation)

[blindwatchersees]

After about fifteen minutes or so, he's approached by a stranger. He looks well-to-do but ragged at the same time, dressed in finery that looks like it neither belongs in this time or this place, with messy slits cut into the tips of his pointed ears. There are large, dark bags under his eyes; he looks like he hasn't slept in days. He's graying (and judging by the color of the ends versus the roots, it looks like a recent development) and he's got the scraggliest, sorriest beard.

"You're... waiting for someone," he says, sounding uncertain. He sounds like a Londoner trying to fake an Irish accent.

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 stands, setting his mug aside so he'll have both hands free. This is not someone he recognizes, and therefore not someone he feels particularly trusting of at this moment. But the look of him, mutilated and bedraggled, begs attention and sympathy.

"In a matter of speaking. She won't be in tonight, I'm afraid. Who are you? Do you need help?"

[blindwatchersees]

"I... I don't know. I don't know where I am, or what I'm supposed to do. But I... I feel like I need to do something. If I don't, I... something bad might happen." The accent definitely cracks a little as he says this.

"So I just... I'm trapped, you know?"

A.

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia's come out to the Starr farm deliberately, ostensibly to ask if they need any extra work done this month or next, mostly as an excuse to meet Ava's husband. She's been concerned ever since her first conversation with the woman, and this feels like a good way in.

She isn't expecting her first sight of the man to be him slowly collapsing over a wheelbarrow.

"Sir? Sir, are you all right?"

Re: A.

[be_seeing_you]

He grunts as he gets himself into a seated position against the wheelbarrow. Just a short rest and he'll be fine, he's sure. Oh, but he hates that he's collapsed in front of a new arrival on his farm.

"I'm all right. I only need a moment. I'll be fine," he says, while still obviously breathing heavily.

[tehilim127_1]

He answers her, in coherent words, and he's clearly in enough control of his body to turn around and sit. The worst of her alarm fades, leaving milder concern behind.

"You're sure? Sorry, I know we're strangers, can't be helped. I can get to the house pretty quickly from here if you need me to get anyone else."

B

[theydrewfirstblood]

He can’t stay away. Not knowing she’s going to die, not knowing Peter’s gonna be alone when she’s gone…

John takes Danforth out to the Starr farm at a gallop, slowing only when he sees a figure in the distance. Pulling the stallion up to a stop, he dismounts and jogs towards Peter…

…and he knows it’s done.

shit.

He’s heard from others what happens—hasn’t seen or experienced it himself, but he doesn’t need to know anything beyond what Ava told him and what’s in Peter’s face.

”You…not…forget…me?”

Reaching Peter, John reaches out to lay a hand on his shoulder, his own eyes shining with tears.

“She told me this afternoon…I’m sorry. I wanted to get here sooner—you should’ve had someone here to be with you when it happened, man.”

Ava has Peter…but John can’t stand the idea of Peter being alone with this.

Re: B

[be_seeing_you]

"I remember you," Number 6 answers somberly. His fingers dig into the bundle of fabric in his arms as John's hand rests on his shoulder. He doesn't want to shed tears here and now, but the act of fighting it draws his face tight.

"I don't think she'd have wanted you to... see." She barely wanted Number 6 to witness it and he's her husband. "But I appreciate that you are here. Very much."

[theydrewfirstblood]

The assertion is met with a huff that can't be called a laugh, but gives the grim, hollow illusion of one with a nod of understanding.

"I figure she wouldn't--but I'm pretty sure we both know there's some things you just can't do when you care about someone." he replies softly.

Like let good people die alone. Like leave a kindness without repaying it.

Like forgive yourself if you turn your back in the moments when you could help.

"C'mon--lemme walk you back to the house and get a drink or two in you." John continues, blinking against the burn in his own eyes. "I've known women like her, I've watched 'em die, too...and since we know this one's coming back? I know she'll kick both our asses if we don't look out for each other when it hurts."

And it hurts like hell--not just knowing she's gone, but the way it burns to have his hand on the man's shoulder. It's just his head, it's just his own brand of loss...

But fuck if he's gonna let his own fucked up mind stop him from being there for two good people who have been nothing but kind to him.

A.

[decohere]

Cradling his head in her lap, Ava soothingly strokes at his hairline, wiping beads of sweat away. She's watched him get worse over the days since he's slipped on that ring, and knows there's far worse to come. Knows how much harder it must be for him to endure this pain, when she's had a lifetime of boiling like a frog in a pot. That her own nerves are so fried that it's only at that high intensity she can still register.

Except right now the only thing that hurts is her heart, because he's experiencing this because of her. Neither side of this is fair. She bites her tongue every time she wishes to protest or argue about it, make him change his mind. Part of her keeps thinking he'll reach a point where he can't take it any longer, and she'll take back the burden of her own curse again.

But her husband never breaks, does he. She offers a cool cup of water to his lips, that she had rushed back inside to get once she witnessed his collapse.

"Honeybee
I can't imagine how my life would be
If all your gravity did not hit me
Oh, don't you see?
Darling, my honeybee..."

Re: A.

[be_seeing_you]

He never breaks. Never. But he does sometimes bend. He's bending to her now, resting his sweat-soaked head in her lap and releasing a shudder as the pain settles further into his bones.

Then she starts to sing. The tension in his shoulders eases, and he lays more heavily against her, letting his eyes drift closed.

"You're voice is sweeter than any honey cake."

[decohere]

She bends as well to press her forehead to his, tears mingling with his sweat.

Ava reaches for his hand to curl their fingers together, thumb tracing that ring, but she doesn't remove it despite all the temptations to end his pain (but it wouldn't end his suffering, would it.) Respects his choice, their agreement to trade off. They're enduring this in every way together, but she's more determined than ever to find an eventual solution. One that doesn't require going through this every month.

"It's awful, isn't it?" She won't pretend otherwise. "But you're so strong, darling."

A.

[worstorganplayer]

Snakes Tolliver is patrolling around, high on alert for unusual things, and promptly snaps to attention when he sees the collapse. He hurries over. "Hey, you okay?"

Re: A.

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 is shakily attempting to get himself into a seat position, wincing as he does so. And yet... "I'm fine. I'll be all right. Just tired."

Re: A.

[worstorganplayer]

"That's an understatement, Pal," Snakes says. "Looks like the farming's really getting to you."