a heavy rain falls

[foxable]

WHO: Fox and OPEN
WHEN: Catch-all for July
WHERE: On the Journey to Taravast
WHAT: Tattoos, magic, chatting - whatever your heart desires
WARNINGS: will add if they come up



Fox spends a lot of his time bothering Karsa, trying to learn as much as he can from her despite her tightened guard. The magic here is different, and it's taking a frustratingly long time to parse it, but he's starting to at least be able to grasp the edges of it. She shows him what runes to use for the spell he offered, and that tiny clue is what he clutches as he works into the night.

He has a bad habit of not watching where he's walking, lost in thought as he scribbles in a little notebook that he bought before they left Sa-Hareth. It isn't ideal. It's too small, his thoughts too big - the almost seem to tumble off the pages as he hastily scribbles. But then he also nearly walks off the edge of the narrow stairs... Hopefully someone is around to catch him.

He's more subdued than he was, before the siege, though when he realizes he's being watched he does his best to keep up his usual cheerful demeanor. This had all felt a little like a game, at first. A dangerous game, but still a game. A puzzle for him to figure out how to solve, one in a long line of many. Now, he's not so sure.

Now, he's worried that neither this world or himself will come out the same now that he's in it.

[ ooc: feel free to make your own prompts, or hit me up and ask me to write you one in particular! ]

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[descendency]

"Stop," Mingyu murmured softly, though his voice was firm as he spoke, the light in his eyes hard and brooking no argument. "Fix what, Huli? You always, always do this."

Sighing wearily, he cupped Fox's face in his hands, drawing him in for a slow, lingering kiss before he went on. Fox tended to listen a little better after his breath was kissed away. Not a lot better, but better.

"You try to fix things that can't be fixed, look for perfect solutions in an imperfect world. You get so far ahead of yourself, you can't see the trees for the forest."

Mingyu took in another tight breath, stroking Fox's cheeks with his thumbs.

"So stop, okay? Don't. For me. Don't try to fix this. We'll find another way, and we'll do it together, and we're not going to worry about anything being fixed. We're just gonna find a way to keep going."

[foxable]

The kiss helped. It always did. Mostly because it forced him to focus in on a singular, fixed point, and tied his wandering thoughts to a post. He let out a sigh when Mingyu pulled away again, his eyes dropping into his lap even as he felt the brush of thumbs on his cheek.

"That's what I'm trying to do," he mumbled. "Find a way to keep going. Find it, not just... let zombie warlords or space invasions or whatever else is next decide it for us."

He couldn't speak for that little part of him that still whispered that it was possible. That with magical that powerful, he could remake the world if he wanted. Or at least pull a timeline off away from the others and make it their own.

[descendency]

"Then let's just keep doing it," Mingyu whispered back, stroking his fingers over Fox's hair and down his back.

"Don't get caught up in it. Don't worry about fixing the whole thing. We'll take it as we go, and every time the path diverges, we'll stay on the one that keeps us together. Okay? Whatever else happens, happens."

[foxable]

He made a low noise of discontentment, raising a hand to rub at his face.

"I can't ignore it if I can see it, you know? I won't just - I refuse to just take one of the paths offered anymore. That's what-- So much of the mess is--" His words kept running into roadblocks, catching in his throat, and he clicked his tongue to try to free them.

"What if there's no path out where we are still together?" he asked finally.

[descendency]

"Then I'll make one," Mingyu replied without thought, without hesitation. That was the difference between them, he supposed. Fox was always looking ahead, at the big picture. Mingyu only saw this. Fox, right before him.

"No matter what, I'll keep us together. Everything else is just details."

[foxable]

Fox looked at Mingyu for a long moment, then breathed out and looked away again.

"... Yeah," he agreed quietly, after a silence that was a little too long to be comfortable.

He picked up a stick and poked the fire unhelpfully, having never gotten very good at tending them since usually he would just magically make one if he needed. But he'd been trying to get used to using other things instead of his magic, here. He wasn't sure why.

Maybe it felt like he was saving it up for something.

"... So you don't think about it at all?" He asked softly, watching an ember jump from the flames next to his foot. He put it out with the toe of his shoe.

[descendency]

"Think about what?" Mingyu asked, sliding an arm around Fox's waist and leaning in. He kissed Fox's temple, trying to put comfort back into the spaces between their words.

[foxable]

"About where we're going. About- about whether we'll go home, or--"

He cut off, frowning, leaning a little into Mingyu's embrace.

"... About whether or not maybe we should just find a way to live here."