Petal 03 -- Open to Action

[shylyintrepid]

[When the feed starts, Jehan is clearly not in his cabin. He's down by the shore.

And he's been crying. His voice is hoarse and when he speaks, his accent is a bit thicker than usual]

If...if anyone else knew Zane, son of Venus, he...

[He wants to say "died". Died would be so much easier than the truth]

He was a...he was an agent of the Red Room. This entire time. He...he was here to spy on us.

[And he cuts the IM. As he does, you can see him break down yet again. It's going to be a long time before he recovers from this heartbreak]

Comments

[shylyintrepid]

[He nods a little]

What's worse is I can't even go home. Everywhere I look, there's going to be a reminder of him and I can't hide in my garden back home and forget about it and heal a little and then come back to face it. I have to pour lemon juice on the wound.

[ospreyed]

One thing I learned is pouring salt in the wound helps it close faster. [The things you learn!][She's blocking out the not going home thing.]

When you think about him... And it gets to be too much... [Oh gods.] Just find me.

[shylyintrepid]

[He didn't expect that. He nods, though]

Thank you, Eponine. You...I think I may need the less delicate sort of comfort a little. At least for a while. Until this hurts less.

[ospreyed]

[She didn't expect it, either, to be honest. This whole thing is strange, and tomorrow, she's going to think this entire thing is a sort of dream. A really weird dream where she's giving good advice and opening up about tough stuff and touching people.

Mother fucker.]

Y'want booze, pot, I've got it. Y'wanna hurl knives? [She makes a small movement with her right hand, one of her rings disappearing as she holds out a small knife for him.] they always come back to me.

[shylyintrepid]

[He smiles a little]

The knives, sure. I won't get you in trouble for borrowing those.

[ospreyed]

If you do, it's worth it. C'mon. [She takes her arm from around him and moves to her feet, making the same movement with her left hand to produce another knife.]

That tree, right there. [she points.] Go for it.

[shylyintrepid]

[He takes the knife and stands, moving closer to the tree and making a vine wrap around it. The vine is thick enough that the knife won't hurt the tree and the dryad living in it.

He pauses, takes aim, and throws the knife. It misses]

Damn.

[ospreyed]

[She usually asks nicely first. She's on decent terms with a few dryads.

A few moments later, a ring materializes back on her finger, and she switches the knife in her left hand for her right.] Actually not too bad. Watch. [She places a finger along the edge of the knife and brings her arm back before sending it forward, releasing the knife and snapping her wrist forward to give it a nice spinning motion. The knife hits it's target, and she hands another one to him.]

It's an extension of your finger, hold it like that.

[shylyintrepid]

Like when I throw pens at people?

[What, that's typically what he has on hand and is fairly tame if thrown. He's good at throwing them, too.

He bites his lip, focusing and doing his best to mimic Ep. The knife hits, but it bounces off]

Damn.

[ospreyed]

...Yeah. Kinda like that. [She watches him as he takes aim again, nodding. And then the knife makes contact and she's actually smiling a little.]

There ya go! You at least hit the target. Y'just gotta worry about angle and the amount of speed behind it. You throw too slow, and: [She takes aim again, purposefully tossing the knife with less speed. It rotates less, and clatters uselessly against the tree.] that's what happens.

[shylyintrepid]

May I try again?

[ospreyed]

Throw to your hearts content. [She hands him another knife. Already the ones that they have thrown have reappeared on her fingers.

[shylyintrepid]

[And Jehan does, over and over again until he's not crying anymore and is just mad. Mad at himself, at Zane, at Markel, at Gaia, at whatever convinced Zane to join the Red Room, at Chiron and Mr. D for keeping him from his home, at the world for being so unfair that this is life when he's done nothing to deserve it.

He eventually as two blades stuck in the vine. He hasn't noticed]

[ospreyed]

[And Eponine just watches, occasionally giving him a few words of advice, but for the most part, she only hands him knives when he needs them. It takes some time, but finally, she's smirking at him again.] Jehan! Slow your roll! Check it! [She points at the tree.]

[shylyintrepid]

[He stops in the middle of grabbing another knife and looks. He doesn't smile, but he does seem a little calmer]

I finally got some.

[ospreyed]

You did. [She stands up from the position she's taken on a nearby log.]

[She looks at him, still smirking. His tears are dry, and he seems better. For now, at least.] You're not too shabby. [And now, she realizes almost too late, he probably has some valuable insight into her character.]

[shylyintrepid]

[As if he'd use it against her. He probably doesn't even realize it right now]

I can be, um, very single minded when I need to be.

[ospreyed]

It helps. So does the violence.

Feeling at least a little better for now?

[shylyintrepid]

A little.

[A tiny smile]

Thank you.

[ospreyed]

[She echos the smile.] You're welcome. I know it's a shit place to be in. And I don't want my friend to have to deal with it, on top of everything else we've been through.

[shylyintrepid]

Agreed. There's only a few ways it could be worse and I won't name a one of them.

[ospreyed]

Yeah. I think our imaginations have run over all of those enough times, thanks.

[She looks at her hands for a moment, then slides off a ring, handing it to him.] I want it back. But for now, whenever you wanna practice, now you can do it on your own.

[shylyintrepid]

[He takes the ring with a nod]

...thanks again.

[ospreyed]

You're welcome. Just treat that like it's the freaking One Ring, okay? Keep it secret, keep it safe.

But you're welcome.