in the cold, cold ground

[lancifolium]

WHO: Lily Evans & You
WHEN: From late June through early July(ish?)
WHERE: On the road!
WHAT: A catch-all! Travelin, watch keepin, ghostly mystery puzzlin, whatever's clever.
WARNINGS: None as of yet, will update as needed

( starters in comments, feel free to reach out if you don’t see anything that suits your character via pm or on plurk, or just wildcard me! also, if action is more your thing i’m good to match format. )

Comments

middle watch

[weifinder]

Wei Wuxian lowers his flute, quirking up his brows. "Mm, not necessary. It'll be gone come morning anyway." Bathed in blood for an evening was unpleasant, but also not the worst when it was a passing sort of illusion. Not the right terming for it, perhaps, but whatever magic fueled the lukewarm rain would return the world to rights within a handful and some of hours.

He pats the log being used as a seat, with the banked fire at their backs. Looking out into the rain and to where the ghost army camps, he clucks his tongue. "An umbrella, that's what we're lacking in abundance. Let's see about making a few, ah? That would be useful!"

[lancifolium]

It was without question the most blood she'd seen in one place, and it was deeply unsettling. Straightening up once the last bit of blood had been removed from the sides of her shoes Lily shook her head. "While it's here it drives me absolutely bonkers. Your music helps. Music's definitely the thing I miss the most about home."

Crossing to where he sat Lily sat on the opposite end of the log he'd been using, looking out at the bleak landscape. "An umbrella?" She nodded, suddenly thoughtful and thoroughly distracted from how morbid she found their surroundings by the prospect of a new project.

"We could do, if we can find a decent enough stick for a handle I could try to make it into a whole umbrella, maybe a bit of good material, blood-proof like those tents." Turning to look towards the rest of the encampment she wrinkled her nose some at the sight. "It makes a person wonder who's blood it's all meant to be," she added offhandedly.

[weifinder]

"Sticks I can manage," he says with a thoughtful cant to his head, a finger tapping his chin. "Material might be more of a negotiation. If we don't mind paying through the nose in one way or another, our fine caravan leader might be of assistance."

He smiles, not commenting any further on his thoughts about said caravan leader. Instead, he considers her offhand remark.

"Theirs, I'd imagine." He nods his head toward the increasingly listless collection of ghost soldiers. "Though it's cool enough it might be nothing more than metaphor. Perhaps from the singing." This is a different form of... if he's going to stay neutral, than illusion compared to any he's seen before. Even here, in his months spanning longer and longer.

[lancifolium]

Pulling her bag into her lap, Lily fished through the larger one, reaching into the little makeup bag she kept concealed inside. Procuring a handful of dried leaves gathered from back around the farm she set them on the log between them, dividing them into two before using her wand to make both piles into cups of tea.

Lifting her cup and leaving the other for Wei Wuxian to take as he liked, she looked back to him with a thoughtful frown. "Raining metaphors," she said quietly, her gaze drifting in the direction of the ghostly soldiers as she considered the idea.

"If that's true then, I think they must be in a lot of pain." Lily's expression darkened and she looked back at Wei Wuxian, her thoughts lingering on the tombs she had seen after one of the carvings in the walls had gotten hold of her. "When I went into the wall one of the tombs I saw began to bleed, too. It can't have been unrelated to the rain." As she spoke her voice became softer and softer, obviously concerned that one of the spectral soldiers would hear her and she would inadvertently cause some sort of strife for the group, or for the spirits as a result.

[weifinder]

He blinks at the transformation; he knows she can do things like this, but it's still enchanting every time. Clapping his hands softly, given the mandate on sound, he smiles, dipping his head to her.

"My endless gratitude, Miss Lily!" Picking up the cup left to him, he looks sideways, out at the soldiers.

"They may... or they may not be remembering it." Still, the skies bleed for them, and what Lily says about the walls pulls his attention. Now that people have been kidnapped and released, his initial panic when Sizhui and Catra had been in the same situation. "You're doing okay after that?" Which, she was, but he didn't know how to ask how she was doing when it's been years since he's truly had juniors to look after, and none of the ones here were part of a structure that defined how they interacted.

[lancifolium]

Following the line of his gaze back to the soldiers Lily tilted her head from side to side in consideration. "They may, and then they may not recall at all." She had tried to be covert while working spells, but far more often than was prudent, she forgot herself. "I ought to be more careful - no matter how much I needed a cup of tea, though-"

Cutting herself off Lily shifted in her seat, moving close enough to be able to speak in a whisper and be heard by only him before continuing, cradling her cup of tea in her hand. "They seem a bit more out of time than the ghosts at school, do you know what I mean?" Lily's eyes narrowed as she considered how to articulate what it was she meant by that. "As though they're moving through certain events, regardless of what happens, rather than being more," she considered Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor house. "Aware, I suppose - that certain events may not still be happening." Nick knew very well that he was dead, and while it was certainly rude to bring it up (which was why she hadn't yet attempted to broach the topic with any of the soldiers - manners mattered after all) he was aware that time had marched on, and the students of the school came and went with it. These ghosts seemed almost like sentient recordings, after a fashion - but she had a feeling Wei Wuxian would not get that particular simile should she attempt to make it.

Taking a sip of tea she smiled warmly at the question. "That's kind of you to ask, I'm quite alright - nothing sought to harm me in the walls, which, considering the ordeal we've just come from back at the farm, was an almost lovely improvement - though it left me with pages and questions, not unlike most of this experience thus far."

[weifinder]

He listened to her with a hinted at smile on his lips, inclining his head her way only to say, "I have no idea what the ghosts of your school are like, to be fair." So no, he didn't know, because he had no real sense of ghosts having much tracking of time. Those in Yiling certainly hadn't, only the intensifying of their resentment as more time passed, until a hundred years worth for the oldest hundreds murdered echoed louder than anything else around. "But if it's as you say, then yes, to some extent they're unaware of time passing, or the cycle they're caught within."

He watches the soldiers, most of them tucked into their own tents, a few walking perimeter watches in the blood rain.

"I'm glad you're all right, Miss Lily. And now I'm also curious about your pages and questions, though I don't doubt we share some number of them." He takes another slow, savouring sip of tea. "What are your thoughts, at this point? What did you see in that temple of stone?"