(Untitled)

[keep_hallways]

Who: dontgiveafock and whomever cares to join him.
What: Sheltering by the fire.
When: Any time from mid-morning on the 23rd onwards.
Where: The bonfire outside the Chapel

Comments

[stillseecracks]

This was not the first refuge of the dark Xanth took shelter in. The first was the station in the barracks, run by the lady Isabel - but Xanth avoided speaking with her. He had people to find.

But it was cold, and he was hungry, and so he sat on a bench by the fire with a bowl of potatoes in hand and blanket wrapped around him. He had his scarf and his poorly-crafted hat, but they just weren't enough. This was bone-chilling cold, and this was no normal darkness.

[lightyourway]

Kairi found the second fire when her candle was burning low enough that the wax had started to melt over her fingers. She had come under-dressed again. No matter how many layers of wool or quilting she found, they never seemed enough for the snow, and already the damp was seeping closer to her skin.

It was with relief, therefore, that she spotted the soup pot by the fire, and with shock a moment later that she saw the silver hair on a closer bench.

It wasn't Riku.

But it was still a friend, that that was what she had left the barracks to find - that and a meal.

"Xanth" She spoke from behind him, clambering over the bench to sit down. She eyed the bowl of potatoes with envy and shivered as a snowflake melted on the back of her neck and began to drip down her spine.

[stillseecracks]

Xanth looked up at the sound of his name and watched Kairi climb over. He sighed, relieved, but then that relief was countered with worry; she looked so terribly chilly.

"H-Hey."

Without even thinking about it, Xanth pulled the blanket free and draped it over Kairi's shoulders. He flicked his hand and the blanket fell around Kairi's side, but it wouldn't stay there long if she didn't grab it.

"I-- I-I'm glad you're-- o-okay."

So far, at least.

[lightyourway]

"Mm," She nodded and pulled the blanket closer around her, though she stopped when it pulled taut between them.

"You didn't look for me, did you?" If he'd been wandering around looking for her while she was wandering around looking for friends and food - well, it was both silly and unnecessary.

[stillseecracks]

When the blanket pulled taut, Xanth shifted just a little closer, the motion instinctive. Then, to her question: "W-Well, uh, y-yeah. I mean-- I--"

He was worried. A little panicky at the start, too - but who wouldn't be, when the dawn didn't come and the darkness encroached? In one hand, Xanth had carried his candle; in the other, he carried his mace. (Said mace lay under the bench now, out of sight and out of mind.)

Then, he realized that he'd cut himself off in the middle of a sentence, and he looked down self-consciously.

"I-I wanted-- m-make sure y-you weren't... l-lost. Or-- s-something."

[lightyourway]

At that, she smiled gently.

"I'm not scared of the dark, Xanth," The irony wasn't lost on her. But this wasn't that kind of darkness. "Although... Hm..."

Even if the Lord was right, and this world had somehow been connected, even if this darkness could carry her off to another world, well... She was used to that, and she wasn't afraid.

But she would miss her friends here.

She'd miss Xanth.

She realized she was staring and looked away hurriedly with an awkward little laugh.

"I think I'd miss this place if I didn't come back."

[stillseecracks]

"I'd m--"

I'd miss you too, he wanted to say, but he bit it back and bit his lip. That he would miss her was beyond obvious - especially since she knew about the Kairi he knew. Things were no longer quite as awkward, but they could easily go that way again.

He let out an awkward laugh to match Kairi's and smiled, lopsided.

"It-- i-it's not... such a bad p--place. C-Could be a-- a lot w-worse."

[lightyourway]

"Mm." She nodded. How could she not agree? It could be a lot worse.

"It's still one of the worst worlds I've seen." She said quietly.

Hollow Bastion had been dark and frightening when Maleficent ruled, but she remembered it when it shone, before that, a world of waterfalls and flower gardens.

[stillseecracks]

Xanth's smile waned, and he bit his lip. Staring down into his food, Xanth stirred his potatoes around.

"I-I guess I've o--only seen th-the bad ones," he said, "c-cause I-- well-- th-this is... one of the-- the best."

[lightyourway]

She watched him sadly and then turned her face the the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the star through the clouds and smoke.

"There are so many beautiful worlds out there," she mused, "Who knows? Maybe you will see them some day. The world where I was born was full of fountains and waterfalls and gardens. It was beautiful there."

She remembered little else, or little else worth remembering. But she knew it had been beautiful.

[stillseecracks]

Maybe he would see those worlds; he's seen three of them now, including his own. Maybe this time, things would end better, or maybe they wouldn't end at all.

"Th-that sounds nice," he said, a hint of a smile working its way back onto his face. "W-Was that the-- th-the island?"

[lightyourway]

"Mm," She nodded. It had been nice. Until the castle, and the dark. A frown creased her face for a moment. But she didn't want to think about those things.

"Hm? Oh, no. This was before... When I lived with grandma." A person who's voice she remembered more than her face.

"Hey, Xanth?" She chanced a looked up, trying to catch his eye as she failed to suppress a small grin, "Let's tell ghost stories!"

[stillseecracks]

She did catch his eye, and then he cracked a grin.

"Like-- r-right now? Wh--" He tucked his hair behind one ear. "What if I-- d-don't know a--any?" Or what if he did know some, but they were terrible?

(Or what if they were true?)

[lightyourway]

"Well," They didn't have to be scary, "What about other stories?"

He had been part a ship's crew. He had to have some exciting stories.

"Do you remember stories from the ship? On your world?" If he didn't, then she could always start first. "Did you ever meet pirates? Or go pearl diving?"

[stillseecracks]

He'd already begun compiling stories in his mind, but then she said that, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. For a split second, he wondered if Kairi meant what he thought she did, but no; she could never say something so dirty so straight-faced. She probably meant real diving for real pearls.

All the same, he was flustered, and he brought a hand up to scratch at his cheek (and maybe hide the blush).

"W-W-- Well, um, uh, I nev--- never went-- d-diving for, um, those, b-but, I-- I-I could, um, p-probably-- th-think of s-something else, if, i-if you-- give me a-- a m-minute?"

[lightyourway]

Kairi looked up as Xanth began to stumble through a sentence. He didn't look cold, but that was definitely more stuttering than usual. In fact, he looked flushed.

Could he have a fever?

"Hey, are you okay?"

She shifted closer and tried to rearrange the blanket around his shoulders to drape it more closely around him.