The Void is Calling [OPEN]

[littlemhigan]

Who: Castor and YOU! Maybe.
What: Castor's been missing a few days. Turns out, Canonbumps are a hell of a thing.
When: End of September
Where: Enso and also maybe on the network a bit?
Warnings: None yet. I'll update this if that changes.



[1]


The beach smells wrong.


For a long minute, it's the only thought she can hold onto as she drifts in the twilight between sleep and waking. Her hands gently flex at the ground, and her face twitches into a frown at how soft the sand is to fingers that were expecting a coarse beach littered with seashells and refuse.


And the sky… her eyes crack open, blinking against the endless blue above them. Blue. Blessed, wonderful blue. She cranes her head back, expecting to see the white cliffs of Kholusia and stares dumbly for a few seconds when only the sight of a green jungle meets her.


Oh. Oh!


Castor comes the rest of the way awake all at once, scrambling to her knees in a flurry of damp sand and seaweed, looking about wildly - if she'd come here then maybe…No. No, she’d stepped through the Exarch’s portal alone, hadn’t she?


She sighs heavily to try and quiet the rapid beat of her heart, and begins to take stock of herself, examining her hands and arms, feeling about her face and neck and checking her clothing - so very different from the last time she lay upon this beach - for tears or other damage. Certainly, she feels fine save for a bone-deep fatigue and the general aches and pains of long days, but Gods, she’d come so close to…well, no use dwelling on it. She’s here for now, and if they’d been right, the danger is long passed.


She’s a mess, sat out on the beach like this, with her hair long and dishevelled and sand and seaweed caked and strewn all over her but the relief on her face is as bright as the sun above her.



[2]


It’s long past sundown when a text comes across the stones


Does ane one here keep the date????? 

Comments

[thermalwind]

Relief enters Keith's eyes as he takes in the differences in her appearance and adjusts his grip on his small net of fish. "They don't. You went home for a bit. That happens here sometimes. Feels a bit surreal, right?" He plants his spear into the sand and offers her a hand up.

"You weren't gone too long. That dragon corpse is still there. It's actually been pretty peaceful...so far." Kosmo leans into her a bit and closes his eyes. "But we probably better hurry and gather what we can from it." He flicks his braid back behind his back and turns his gaze to the sea. "That can wait a day or so."

[littlemhigan]

"I suppose we were due for some good news," Castor muses as she takes Keith's hand, hauling herself up, "Could use a project or two, an' pickin' a dragon clean sounds fun - ain't had the chance te do that before."

Once on her feet, she goes back to stroking Kosmo, letting her fingers tangle in his fur and seems to take a measure of comfort in doing so.

"Surreal's a way te put it, but I can't tell if it's cause've comin' back here or just....what all happened while I was there."

[thermalwind]

"I couldn't tell you either. It felt like that for me but, I went through two something years of my life then returned. It could be related to how much time passes." He says as he lets go of her hand. She can stand on her own even if he stays close enough to grab her if she stumbles. "I can catch you up on what little happened over some fish, if you want."

Keith holds up the net with the fish within it, his violet eyes a little brighter than they had been. It's something he can do to help. She could keep petting Kosmo while he prepares the fish to cook. And inbetween he can get the rest of his clothes back on. He adds in a tentative tone of one unused to offering something, "Not the best at comfort, but if you need to talk I'm here to listen."

[littlemhigan]

"If you're offerin' food, I'll take it."

Nevermind that she still smells like Ocean. She's content to follow Keith to whatever campsite he erects and keeps her attention on Kosmo while he works. Finally, after a long silence, she says "I wouldn't know how te start. Or where, for that matter. S' a lot te tell."

[thermalwind]

He lets her be silent. Shiro always let him do that and it always helped him. Kosmo stays close to her with his head under her fingers. It leaves Keith free to set up camp. He arranges the fire and cleans then guts the fish without thinking about anything.

He sets up a cooking rack for the fish when she finally speaks. He looks up, "Take your time and pick whatever sticks out to you. Or you could start by asking things of me. I've heard that helps." Keith lays the cleaned fish fillets on the rack and shifts it so they're directly above the flames.

"Not much happened while you were gone. The corpse is still there. I think the water dragon might try to talk to us somehow. These gods all seem to approach us eventually."

[littlemhigan]

"Oh good," she says almost absently, "we can net our weight in dragon's scales and leave the rest to foul the water supply, which I'm sure the other bugger out there will fix by his very presence."

She looks very, deeply, profoundly tired of the thought of higher powers. She leans a little more weight on Kosmo.

"Y'ever find out ye've been wrong about somethin? Like, somethin' important?"

[thermalwind]

Keith doesn’t bother to hide a wince. His first time as Black Paladin has been full of that and then events afterward. “Yeah. I have.” People nearly died because of it. Both his time as the new leader and the truth of what he is by virtue of his mother’s side of the family. He doesn’t elaborate. This is Castor’s time to tell a story.

Kosmo curls around her like a large furry shield. If there’s one thing the space wolf is good for, it’s managing people who are had a hard time of things by their own actions or the world’s hand. Keith checks the fish, adding a little seasoning to accent it. He’s no Hunk but he gets by.