[FIN] savages (alexis & nasir)

[Daekie]

"When the fog got real bad, yeah." Alexis is quiet. Contemplative. Above all, tired - there is a sort of lovely tension in the curve of their neck, the close-clutch of their fingers, like a model would try to have. It might be nice, if they didn't look so worn out; but there is elegance in that too. "We found a foot. I don't remember a lot. Same old murdery s**t."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Alexis always seemed to have a way they held themselves. Nasir was constantly relaxed, everything easy but Alexis-

They were always poised, as if waiting for something to happen. To attack, to run, to do something.

".. a foot? You mean like ... how they found the one on the beach that belonged to the missing girl? Heliodora?"

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Same one, yeah. Hell if I know how it got there from a forest."

Their poise is strained - like it's about to lapse into something else. Something awful, something cruel -- but it's. Hard to pinpoint. Something in the flickering of Alexis' eyes, in the way their legs don't hang and kick at the empty air as usual.

"I didn't stick around too long. You know, if you get out'f this town, you can just make it all stop."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

It is hard to pinpoint but it's the little things he notices missing, not just the hair that's been chopped off (and looks like it was done with a knife).

"Wait, what?" Nasir blinked again, not expecting to hear that. "What do you mean?"

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Their fingers are newly scarred, the wrist brace half-hidden under their jacket sleeve, their lips chapped and half-bloody where the skin is broken. It's not a wonderful look for anyone, really.

"'s what I heard. You leave this town, all the magic bullshit goes away until you come back." They shrugged. "I've been thinkin' about it a lot."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

It is a quite terrible look that makes Nasir think about what Millie had told him once about the girl who had died. Not that it had been because of other ashdown but she had spoke of the place and-

Well, he still assumed it was somehow related.

"... that sounds like both a good thing and a bad thing? Especially if you come back." Nasir didn't imagine it would feel good to suddenly experience magic all over again.

(He took this all surprisingly well, all things considered.)

Alexis got a look, one that was unreadable and out of place on Nasir. "Really?" He supposed, with everything, that kind of ... made sense.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis huffs and looks down at their hands, holding tight onto the water bottle, grip tense. "Yeah. I'd find somewhere t'go. Maybe head back t'my family." It's not the first time I've done this, goes unspoken. Not Ashdown, no, but -- other cities. Other runaways. Things are the same, no matter how much they change.

"It'd get rid of the teeth, for me. That alone's worth a thought."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"... well ..." He says slowy, taking note of the teeth because how did he miss those. "If you want I can call my family?"

It was a loose term because while they were his family, not every one of them were related and they never stayed in the same place for long (a year tops).

"They're always moving if you like that? ... but could see what they're up to?" Nasir looked down at his hands, not quite sure if Alexis would react well to that or not but it was better than them going blind into another place.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I don't stay with other people," Alexis says, very pointedly, in the universal tone for we drop this conversation topic or things get ugly. "I'm thinkin' about it. Didn't say I was gonna do it. But when I have nothing keepin' me here, I'm gonna bail."

There's nothing else for them to say. This town is killing them, slowly but surely as anything. (They won't leave. They have their own reasons for it. But nobody needs to know that bit, least of all Nasir; sweet, foolish, Nasir.)

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Not to stay," Nasir replies, "but to help you move along quicker if you wanted to get somewhere sooner." Yet he drops it because he can read that easily on Alexis. He takes a drink of the water before he's pulling one of the seasoned fries from the container to nibble on.

"I actually, uh, chose to stay here even with knowing some of the spooky stuff." Not that he had ever admitted that to anyone other than Wil. "I can understand leaving if you've not got anything that gives you a reason to, though ..."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Not interested." His admission draws a raised eyebrow from Alexis, though, an easy-to-read confused look on their face. "This s**t isn't good for anyone. Why'd you want to stay? It's just gonna get you hurt and ******** things up more the further you get into it." They shudder. "Learned that the hard way."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I wanted a life that was more stable than what I had. We never stayed around for more than a year and it was ... strange to see people who have places that are permanent." Nasir shakes his head. "I wanted a home that didn't move in a place that felt like it welcomed me

"I guess I didn't realize that it might be because the town just pulls people into this stuff." Not that Nasir was really sure that was the case but it seemed so. He rubs at his left arm, near his shoulder, over the scars that were there because of Blackfriars.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis pulls their sleeves further over their hands, shoulders hunched, and stares at their water bottle like it holds the secrets to being less miserable. "I can't get that. Would've liked to move around as a kid, I think. But --"

A deep breath. They can't believe they're going to say this.

"If you're just goin' to try and give me life tips, leave. I don't need the help, and I don't need the patronizin'."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Nasir noticeably flinches.

"... I wasn't," he said quietly, "I was just saying that's what I was like, not you." He glances towards Alexis and then down and way.

"Everyone prefers something different than everyone else. You asked why I stayed, I told you why." He pushes himself up. This is the one thing he cannot ever handle and that is being made to feel horrible for who he is and the choices he made.

They've somehow done it.

Daekie

WARNING: CINNAMON BUN HAS BEEN HURT

 

[Daekie]

"Every time I complain about somethin'," Alexis says, softly, "you have a suggestion, like you know what's best for me, don't you?" They're not angry. They're not harsh. They're just...quiet. "Take it somewhere else to someone who wants to hear it. I don't depend on your charity. I can stand on my own, you know."

azuredreams

[KLAXONS ARE BLARING, PEOPLE ARE CRYING, IT'S GOING DOWN, PEOPLE]