(Untitled)

[pratservant]

Who: calamitousnaiad & pratservant
When: Right after this.
Where: Verity's room, Outlander block.
Format: Action
What: Two sadfaises. :(
Warnings: See above.

Comments

[calamitousnaiad]

[Verity has lost count by now of how many times she had tried to dry her eyes. She feels a little safer inside the familiar four walls of the apartment where she's been living since she arrived in this place, but still there is fear. She feels it more than the cut on her arm, but even it is drowned by this shocked sadness. And every time she thinks of Arthur, of his death, or of Merlin, now bereft, any work her handkerchief had done is washed away again.]

[The knock on the door startles her for a moment before she rises, drawn up by the sound of Merlin's voice. Penwiper, unaware of the reason for Verity's crying, jumps onto the bed as her human crosses the room.]

Oh, Merlin.

[Even she is unsure if she repeats the name to herself or to the young man who is standing there when she opens the door. At the sight of him, her voice cracks and her hand moves to cover her mouth but it doesn't stop her crying.]

[pratservant]

[One look is all it takes for the bottom to drop out of Merlin's stomach. He steps across the threshold, thin arms reaching for her. He's never given much thought to impropriety. He's certainly not choosing this moment to start.]

You should not have had to go through any of that.

[At first he thinks it's only his voice that trembles. It isn't.]

[calamitousnaiad]

[When he reaches for her, she doesn't think twice about throwing herself into his arms and hugging him tightly. She's shaking too, from head to toe shivering as if she's been left out in the cold to freeze.]

I'm so sorry, Merlin. I'm sorry.

[Though what exactly she's sorry for is hard to say. It's not as if she could have done anything to stop Arthur's killers. She just doesn't know what else she can say, especially to Merlin who has been nothing but sweet to her.]

[pratservant]

You have no reason to apologize.

[Merlin thinks back to the way she wrapped him up before, how it helped, and tries to mimic it now.]

If anything had happened to you, Arthur...I...

[He can't even finish it. It's another horror the day can do without. Merlin holds her for a few moments, waits for some of the trembling to pass from both of them before he dares to speak again.]

You should sit down. I'll get you some water.

[Somehow, water seems to be the first solution for any crisis.]