apocalypsehowcomm | closed log | seething seas and puppet strings

Entry tags:

closed log | seething seas and puppet strings

Who: Eda Clawthorne, Hunter, Raine Whispers
When: June 14
Where: Bonnie’s Flophouse
Summary: Eda just had an especially disconcerting canon update. She’ll be found by her semi-adopted child and, sooner or later, partner.
Warnings: memory loss, reference to major injury (limb loss), alcohol. Will update if more come up!

It was a chance encounter. A matter of Eda being in the wrong place, at the wrong time—she was simply rummaging for a snack in the kitchen when, unfortunately, the Visionary was apparently hungry too.

Eda had thought about asking him for a vision, any number of times, when she’d seen the kid around. Everyone had heard what they could do, what she could show people. But Eda had always been torn, uncertain if she wanted to let someone in her head only to see something that might not even be true. As it happened, the choice wasn’t her own to make in the end.

She’d barely looked up to realise she wasn’t alone in the room before something… happened. Pain and nausea, the room spinning and the feeling of claws combing roughly through the depths of her mind until something snagged on them.

The sound of a tune, played on a violin and a bell cittern—not perfectly. There were notes missed here and there, or out of sync. All the more memorable for the living process of a young bard teaching their friend.

It came to the surface of Eda’s mind, a memory she hadn’t thought about in years—and just as quickly it was caught tight and pulled, like a thread. The sound and the moment it was attached to slowly unraveling like a tapestry until all that was left was, somewhere, a strangely empty frame hanging on a tree.

And a sense of loss made all the worse by the fact Eda didn’t know why she suddenly wanted to cry.

But she didn’t have long to think about it before she was overwhelmed with a jarring collection of images and sounds and thoughts that she couldn’t begin to follow and a pain where her arm used to be. Was. Still was. What made her think used to be?

I promised. A special kid… I’d protect you.

When was that? When was any of this?

Stars. Glitter. Puppets. Puppets? Childlike laughter echoing and echoing and echoing–

Her own children. Carving with Luz. Luz and King telling her he was a–

The Titan being torn apart, pieces of its skull crumbling into the sky above–

Eda makes a choked sound, overwhelmed and feeling like she might be sick if she tries to get to her feet (when did she end up on the floor to begin with?). What she sees when she looks up is no less disorienting than what’s going on inside her head.

Everything about the Visionary looks wrong. Fractured and twisted and distorted, fingers impossibly long and spiraling–

Until Eda blinks. And then he looks like themself, albeit panicked and stammering fearful, guilt-ridden apologies as she scrambles out of the room and away from the disoriented witch.

“I– wait! Sky–!” But they’re gone, and Eda’s not even sure what’s real or not at the moment.

An hour or two later finds Eda, still thoroughly shaken, sitting at the kitchen table and having consumed more than a little not-quite-apple-blood. It certainly isn’t making the new memories any more coherent, but it is dulling them to a degree. Whether or not that’s actually an improvement, Eda chooses to see it that way.

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Hunter hasn't been home - well, "home", he doesn't really know how to think of his little space at Bonnie's. With Eda and Raine's help, his room feels like his own. The rest of the house, not so much. When he steps through the front door, it's with a bit of caution, his intent to head straight up to his room, but a sound from the kitchen draws his attention.

The first thing he notices is Eda at the table. She looks...bad.

The second thing he notices is that it smells like the castle barracks after a particularly bad mission. Or a particularly good one.

Flapjack chirps and leaves his shoulder to glide across the room and land on the counter. Hunter approaches the table.

"Eda? Are you okay?"

Eda doesn't notice the sound of the front door, or even when Hunter steps into the doorway. It's only when Flapjack chirps that her ears twitch lightly, and it takes Hunter actually speaking up before she finally looks up from resting her chin on her arms.

When she does, it still takes a moment for her eyes to focus on Hunter. She looks distant, then surprised to see him, and then confused again.

Part of Eda's mind is telling her that she saw him yesterday. Part of it is telling her that she hasn't seen him in months, and for that matter, barely knows the kid.

At least Luz and her friends are safe, and far, far away from this madness.

Isn't he supposed to be far away from—wait. No. That madness. Not this madness. He is supposed to be in the Human Realm. Wait. Is she in the Human Realm?

Eda blinks a few times, closes her eyes and shakes her head like she could rattle the disorganized memories into place. Eventually she opens her eyes again, a little more focused although that's not saying much.

"Sky. The. The Visionary—she... I don't know what's..." Eda rubs at one of her temples with the heel of her hand, trying to find words.

It takes her way too long to form a reply. By the time she speaks, he's gone to the cupboard and pulled out a glass. He fills it with water from the tap and sets it firmly in front of her.

And even when she speaks, he can't make sense of what she's saying. He looks back at Flapjack on the counter, who seems to give him a "hell if I know" look.

"The Visionary spoke to you?" he asks carefully. He's heard the Visionary...Sky...can see the future. While it is tempting to glimpse what may happen, he's had no real desire to find out. Perhaps a fear of learning the worst is yet to come.

He retrieves his phone from a pocket and scrolls quickly for Raine's contact.

Where U? comE.home pls

Eda just looks at the glass for a long moment, but then she takes a sip from it, before draining around half the water. There's another pause before she actually tries to answer the question.

"No, they... showed me things," she finally says. "And they..." she trails off uncertainly. She has the feeling they took something but she doesn't know what. Something is missing and it hurts but if should remember what was missing then... it wouldn't be missing to begin with. Thinking about it makes it hurt more.

It doesn't help that she knows that even minor damage to someone's memories can have huge effects, but she's trying not to think about that either.

"They showed me things. I don't... know if they're real." She's not sure whether she should try to tell Hunter about them, either. Some of them seem to fit things she remembers him saying, but right now the images are so jumbled it's hard to say. And she's fairly certain some of it would be bad news.

He takes the seat across from her, curious and concerned. "What kind of things?"

He's never seen her like this, and he's not sure how to feel about it. Or what to do, or say, really. Whatever she was shown, he imagines it couldn't have been good if it's put her in this state.

"Actually...Maybe we should wait for Raine?" He lifts his phone briefly, and probably not enough to see the text screen, but with intent to show he'd sent a message to the bard.

Raine's phone buzzed and they nearly jumped out of their seat when their phone buzzed. They glanced around them, to make sure nobody heard, before they slid it out of their pocket.

Is it an emergency? I'm on my way from work but I had a stop first...

Normally they'd be more than happy to come home, but the medallion that currently sat in a box inside the bag that they carried with them at a length perhaps uncomfortable to carry such a thing might be. They weren't even sure if this worked for the medallion. For all they knew, they could be turning transparent again.

If it is please tell me. I will come home!

But maybe getting away from it was a good idea. They could lock their desk up, and leave it until they needed it.

At the sound of footsteps down the hallway, however, the anxiety of being caught made Raine steer clear of where they worked. Home it was. For what might happen when they introduced the medallion into whatever home held, Raine was not excited.

Fumbling with their phone, they typed with one hand:

Nevrr mind Im onmty wauh

They grimaced. Not quite what they wanted. Try again.

on my way

Edited 2023-06-30 04:41 (UTC)

Eda takes a deep breath as she tries to sort out how to begin answering Hunter's question, but then she blinks at the next thing he says, at the way he seems to expect a response on his phone.

"Raine? But they're--" Eda shakes her head in confusion, then leans on her elbows again, pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes as she tries to focus. "They're a..."

No. She's here, they're here, they're all here and no one is a puppet here. She's almost certain. But right now the two sets of events trying to crowd into the same space in her mind feel about equally real.

"Wait. They're alright here. They're... alright here, right?" Eda looks up at Hunter again, nervous for the reassurance she appears to need. She doesn't mean to worry him, but right now it's hard to make herself think before speaking.

Hunter's phone buzzes and he reads the first message. Thanks to his slow typing, the rest of the texts arrive before he's composed even part of a reply. He sends a quick little, k before putting his full attention on Eda.

In the graveyard, Raine had told him about the visions they'd been subjected to, detailing their own death. Hearing Eda, he worries that she was given a similar vision. It's painting a bleak picture of the potential future.

"Raine's fine," he assures her. "They're coming home right now." He turns his phone's screen toward her, so she can see that Raine has been answering him.

The singular "k" only served to make Raine pick up the pace. Hunter didn't usually text them asking them to come home. They broke into a run, and ran until they reached their front door. They fumbled with their keys and, after a moment, finally open the door.

"Hunter?! Eda?!" They called, but stopped as soon as they made it to the kitchen.

Raine had never seen Eda like this before; they weren't a stranger to seeing Eda cry, but their time with her had been before she'd truly developed a taste for more alcoholic beverages. Raine knew from the smell that's what it was.

"Eda?" They approached cautiously, but glanced over at Hunter, their tone a little softer. "Hunter, are you okay?"

It takes a moment to focus on the screen, whether that's because her eyes are a bit bleary from her earlier crying, or from the alcohol. Either way, she seems to relax when she reads the messages, her shoulders softening. She's not completely reassured, but... she does feel better.

"Okay," she says quietly. "That's good."

Eda goes back to sipping her water, and trying to sort the conflicting sets of memories out in her head.

Her ears prick up at the sound of the door opening, and she breaths a sigh of relief when she hears Raine calling for them. Normally she'd probably feel bad about making them come home early and making them worry, but right now she just wants to see them.

When they come into the room she just looks at them for a long moment, before all at once scrambling to her feet and sweeping the bard into her arms.

"Raine... I'm glad you're here." She wraps her arms around them tightly, possibly with little regard for whether her claws dig into their back just a bit, and buries her face in their hair.

Hunter visibly relaxed when Raine makes it to the kitchen. He waves off the question with, "I'm fine."

He clears his throat, looking at anything but the little reunion. "The Visionary showed her something."

He stands to refill Eda's glass, and then decides to put a kettle on the stove for tea. He doesn't really want tea, but it's something to do.

The attempt to say something else is squeezed out of Raine by Eda's hug, and. They grunt uncomfortably, and their hands reach back to grab her hands and move said claws so they aren't poking holes in Raine's shirt. And skin.

"Eda, what happened? I'm- I'm okay!" They catch the alcohol on her breath and wrinkle their nose a little. "Have you been drinking?"

They try not to pay too much attention to Hunter, and the tea kettle too much. Their focus is on Eda. And right now she was drunk, and sad for reasons they didn't know. But his mention of The Visionary worried Raine, and they grow a little more timid, a little more scared as they look up at Eda and ask:

"What'd she show you?"

Please, they asked in their mind, don't say anybody's death. Certainly not anybody's in the room. Or Eda's kids. The only death they'd be happy about is Belos'.

Eda feels a little bad when Raine has to grab her hands, but not enough to let go. She curls her hands into loose fists, to make sure the claws are out of the way, but she keeps holding Raine.

She just nods, at the question about drinking. It sounds like Raine isn't happy about it, but right now she has bigger things she's worried about. Like their next question.

She wishes she could reassure them when they look up at her, but she's not sure she can. After a moment she buries her face into their shoulder before answering.

"She showed me... I don't know. There's so much. I don't—I don't know if it's real and I don't know what order it goes in and it—" Eda pauses to take a shaky breath and holds them a little closer still.

She was about to say it hurts, but Hunter is there and she tries to rein in her panic as much as she can. "It's too much."

Edited (Missed a word) 2023-07-11 10:58 (UTC)

Hunter stands by the stove, watching the kettle but listening. He's not sure if he should stay or excuse himself - though he very much wants to make sure Eda is okay. And if she received visions of the Isles, well, he wants to know that too. If they were good visions, she wouldn't be acting like this, and that scares him.

So he decides to linger, until and unless they tell him to go. He makes three cups of tea and sets them on the table. He doesn't want to interrupt, and he doesn't know what to say, so he seats himself at the table and waits.

"No more of that, please?" Raine asks softly in response to the nod, but they allow Eda to hold them, and bury her face into their shoulder. They stroked her hair, and gently rocked her back and forth.

"It's okay, Eda. We don't have to talk about it until you feel better."

Something about this pulled Raine back to when Eda's curse arrived- touching had been rare, at times, but sometimes she just cried. Or was avoidant. It still pulled Raine into somewhere dark and worrying, somewhere.. lonely, almost. But the way she held them made the feeling almost be comforted away.

"You don't have to wait down here if this is upsetting to you, Hunter," Raine looked over to the younger witch, concern in their eyes. They turned back to Eda, and nuzzled behind her ear before they added:

"Eda, why don't we take you upstairs?"

Eda almost argues back that the alcohol is not the problem at the moment and is, in fact, helping, but something in their tone makes her decide not to.

Something in their tone also reminds her a little too much of other times they used to worry over her, which doesn't help how she's feeling either. But they're holding her, and petting her hair, and that does help a bit.

She finally pulls away a little, when Raine tells Hunter he doesn't have to stay. She feels... bad that he's seen this, albeit less for the drinking and more for the fact that she's pretty sure her that her reactions to the Visionary aren't comforting.

"I... sorry," she finally says, glancing over at him. "It's--I don't know if it's all bad. It's just... a lot. I'll tell you when I... sort it out." Assuming she does. But she's got to believe it won't keep feeling like this.

"Yeah, maybe we should." She wants to curl up in her nest, if nothing else.

Hunter nods along with Raine, though he doesn't expect either of them to be paying him any mind. So he's surprised when Raine does address him. It...doesn't sound like a dismissal - at least not the kind he's used to.

He shakes his head. "Don't apologize. Take all the time you need."

He can wait. It isn't even his place to push for answers anyway. He drums his fingers on the edge of the table a second before standing.

"Actually...if you don't need me for anything, I'm going to take a walk." He played his part in getting Raine here, and they can take care of Eda now.

Raine admittedly felt a little overwhelmed by the entire situation at hand. Perhaps they'd been a bit too jumpy about the alcohol, but admittedly finding Eda in that state- with Hunter around no less had frightened them. The entire situation was frightening to them. And on top of that, there was still a fear-eating medallion sitting on the floor of their bedroom.

Raine's attention returned to Hunter quickly when he spoke, their expression worried but attentive.

"You don't have to leave, but if you feel like going for a walk, you can. I just want to make sure you're okay too, Hunter." They gave him their best, empathetic smile, before their attention returned to Eda.

"Can you stand up if I help you?" They asked, and moved out of her arms enough to pull Eda up if she was willing.

They paused, to try and calculate if maybe they could pick her up, but grimaced.

"This would be much easier if I could just pick you up.. but I don't think I can when you're a harpy..."

Eda gives a nod at the part about making sure Hunter is okay, and her best attempt at a smile. It's not very convincing at the moment, but she does want to make sure he's alright... not that she's certain there's much she'd be able to do herself, at the moment.

"Yeah, I can—I think," she falters a little in her confidence as she actually tris to stand. Her head is still swimming, and not in the way she's used to. Everything still feels disorienting, and slightly distant. Real, but not real enough.

She manages to stand all the same, leaning against Raine both for balance and to reassure herself that they're actually there.

"Dang... the one bad thing about harpy mode," Eda says with a sigh. She sounds genuinely sad about it, in this particular moment.

"You sure about that? Maybe I've got—hollow bird bones or something. Never actually checked." She sounds more than a little distant again, musing partly to herself. It's probably not true, but she'd really like to be held right about now.

Outside of his concern for Eda, Hunter is confused why Raine keeps asking if he's okay. He's certainly not the one who needs help here. Even if he did, it wouldn't be fair to divide their attention. (And in all honesty, if were asked how he's feeling, he wouldn't know what to say. This is a situation for which he has no experience and no reference.)

So he shakes his head. "Of course I'm okay."

He gathers up Flapjack, but doesn't leave. He watches the interaction between Eda and Raine and realizes he can't go just yet.

"Do you need help getting up to the room?" He'd feel terrible if he came home to find that they both fell down the stairs.

Raine began to walk Eda over to the stairs, but paused. They gave Hunter another worried look when he said he was okay, but they moved on for the sake of not wanting to upset anything.

Plus, he asked if they needed help bringing Eda up the stairs.

"Maybe..." They hesitated to ask for his help, but.. Eda was a little heavier than normal. "An extra set of hands might be a good idea."

"I can climb stairs I'm not—you don't have to carry me or anything," Eda points out, but in somewhat of a vague grumble. She's trying to break the habit of insisting she's fine in general, but she doesn't want to make Hunter help with something that feels that minor. Especially when she's not terribly convinced by him saying he's okay.

"Just woulda been nice." She still likes the idea, if she's being honest, but she isn't actually going to make them try. No, instead she takes a deep breath and steadies herself. Once she feels a little less dizzy, she turns to head toward the stairs, but stuck close to Raine all the same.

Maybe she'll have an easier time sorting this out after she gets some rest. Or maybe she won't, but having a nap feels like it would at the very least make things less bad than they are.

His gaze bounces back and forth between the two of them, and he's no less confused. Raine said an extra set of hands would be useful, but Eda doesn't seem to think so. Maybe Raine is just being nice and trying to include him. Maybe Eda is just too stubborn. Either way, he feels like he's probably just in the way.

Still, he doesn't want to leave until he's sure they'll be okay.

"I...have to get something from my room anyway..."

He can just follow them up and then leave once they're settled. Easy.

"I know. Trust me, I'd like to," They try to comfort Eda, though they're split between her and Hunter still.

"Oh," They're a little confused, and already frazzled by Eda. Though they're stressed, they try not to act too stressed at Hunter's unsure nature. "Then... Why don't you go up on first? If you're still trying to leave. I think Eda and I will be a bit slower. Unless you wouldn't mind helping."

They were mostly at this point worried that Eda would find that they were taking too long, and attempt to climb the stairs herself.

And, unfortunately, that's exactly what happens. Eda glances between the two of them, and decides they're over-complicating this, and that that's probably just going to make everyone worry more.

"...Well, I'm going to bed," she says, in as matter of fact a tone as she can manage. She'll also head that way, and the others can sort out how closely they want to follow her. She's still dizzy, but seems able to stay upright on her own, and she's counting that as a win.

Hunter realizes then that his frustration stems from not knowing his role in all this. He doesn't know what they really want, or need, but it's becoming clear that he isn't needed. A voice in the back of his head whispers that it's because he's failed to make himself useful.

If it were Belos, he would-- He cuts that thought off abruptly. This is not that.

Glancing at Eda briefly - she isn't falling over, good- he says a quick, "Hope you feel better." Then he takes Raine's suggestion and bolts up the stairs to his room. (He opts to grab a sweater and exit out the window, so they can navigate the stairs without his trying to get back down.)

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closed log | seething seas and puppet strings

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Hunter out~