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Ari is... so, so lost. He didn't know this amount of lost was physically possible. One minute he's in a briar maze deep in Winter picking frostberries for a pie, then he takes four left turns and he exits the briar and he's in a temperate forest. Not even any snow on the ground. He turns around and there's no thicket to be seen.
He puts the frostberry pouch in his backpack and mutters the incantation to open a Way back to the mortal realm; he might land somewhere dangerous, but better endangered in the mortal realm than completely lost in the Nevernever. And... nothing. Literally nothing happens, no backlash or fizzling or anything that would indicate that he fucked up a spell, but the kind of nothing that happens when you don't have a spell to cast.
In something of a panic, he tests that he still has magic by punching a nearby tree, which splinters and crashes to the ground. "So that's still working, I guess," he mutters. "Punching systems: still online."
So, recap: magic works, he just got snatched out of deep Winter territory and put into something that kind of looks like the Wyld, and the Ways are on the fritz. Either something big is screwing with him or he's very much not in Kansas anymore. Either way, he'd better figure out what the hell is going on.
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bitterchill
bitterchill
Ari curls up in his snowy little nook, trying not to think. Fears fly through his mind. You've known this girl for a year, says a familiar voice. I was there for you every waking moment until I was stolen from you.
"And you were going to kill me!"
I was. And what does that say about her?
"She's never lied to me."
Oh, and that worked out so well the first time.
"I loved you!"
And you're a fool. And you love her, and you're a fool. And you thought I loved you, and that's the joke, isn't it? Every good fool needs his jokes, and every good joke needs a punchline. I wonder what this one is going to be?
Ari doesn't leave his nook. Sleeps pass, and the frostberry harvests grow anemic. Ari doesn't care. He can't care. He was a fool to try in the first place.
"And you were going to kill me!"
I was. And what does that say about her?
"She's never lied to me."
Oh, and that worked out so well the first time.
"I loved you!"
And you're a fool. And you love her, and you're a fool. And you thought I loved you, and that's the joke, isn't it? Every good fool needs his jokes, and every good joke needs a punchline. I wonder what this one is going to be?
Ari doesn't leave his nook. Sleeps pass, and the frostberry harvests grow anemic. Ari doesn't care. He can't care. He was a fool to try in the first place.
imeanforever
Promise feeds the frostberries, from a safe distance, just a little, when it's clear he's not going to.
When she begins to be concerned for his nutrition - mortals do have to eat pretty regularly? Right? - she gathers up his favorite things to eat from her little garden/farm and looks for him.
When she begins to be concerned for his nutrition - mortals do have to eat pretty regularly? Right? - she gathers up his favorite things to eat from her little garden/farm and looks for him.
bitterchill
If she knows Ari the nook is probably her first destination, and it's no surprise she can find him there. What may be surprising is how utterly awful he looks. His hair, usually shiny and well-maintained, has gone lank. His face sports a sparse and regrettable beard. There are shadows under his eyes. The floor around him is covered with rubble. Most is pounded to gravel, but there are signs of the human form in a few of the larger pieces; two arms have flown almost fifty feet to land near each other, and they lie on the ground, feminine and identical.
Ari lies curled up in the pile of snow. The nook replenishes itself, now, instead of needing him to make the trek up to the surface and bring more down. He did that a few months ago. He's glad he did that. He wouldn't have been able to do that every time the pile needed refreshing.
He either doesn't notice or doesn't acknowledge Promise's approach.
Ari lies curled up in the pile of snow. The nook replenishes itself, now, instead of needing him to make the trek up to the surface and bring more down. He did that a few months ago. He's glad he did that. He wouldn't have been able to do that every time the pile needed refreshing.
He either doesn't notice or doesn't acknowledge Promise's approach.
imeanforever
"Winter, you've got to eat something," she says. "I'll leave you alone if you like after that but you've got to eat something."
bitterchill
He considers.
"Iron. Call me Iron." The word has a bitter taste on his tongue. Good.
imeanforever
She has never been a child but she has been new, opening her eyes in a dark dark bubble in the wood of her tree, wings scrolled up behind her without space to unfold, feeling that she has skin and a name and a mind and knowing things -
She has been new, untroubled by experience but beginning with fey common knowledge, and finding herself in radical opposition to almost all of it, no, how dare this be, how dare she have so much work to do just to get to adequacy, why this, why any of it, why is she so peculiar as for this to be what she wakes to learn, but at least she has forever -
She has been new in the dark making her tree give her room to sit up and deciding that she will give it forever, she promises -
She has been new, untroubled by experience but beginning with fey common knowledge, and finding herself in radical opposition to almost all of it, no, how dare this be, how dare she have so much work to do just to get to adequacy, why this, why any of it, why is she so peculiar as for this to be what she wakes to learn, but at least she has forever -
She has been new in the dark making her tree give her room to sit up and deciding that she will give it forever, she promises -
bitterchill
Ari was a child once and he was happy, his wonderful beautiful kind mother Belinda gave him everything taught him everything knew everything in the world, she loved him so much and he grew to be so happy
and then she was torn from him and he fell into darkness but he had a light inside him that told him that he could always be happy he didn't have to let them win he could live and love no matter what because she loved him
but she didn't she never did and he's loved for so long and trusted so much and nothing can ever be real because she didn't
and there's still a light inside him but it flickers and flickers and eventually it might go out.
Ari snaps back into himself and the tears flow from his eyes, but he knows now that Promise could never betray him like that. She's more than that, a thousand times more than Belinda. She's real. She hasn't lied to him, not because she couldn't but because she never needed to.
and then she was torn from him and he fell into darkness but he had a light inside him that told him that he could always be happy he didn't have to let them win he could live and love no matter what because she loved him
but she didn't she never did and he's loved for so long and trusted so much and nothing can ever be real because she didn't
and there's still a light inside him but it flickers and flickers and eventually it might go out.
Ari snaps back into himself and the tears flow from his eyes, but he knows now that Promise could never betray him like that. She's more than that, a thousand times more than Belinda. She's real. She hasn't lied to him, not because she couldn't but because she never needed to.
imeanforever
Promise drops what she's holding and falls backwards, hands flying to cover her eyes.
bitterchill
Ari remembers that this is Promise and she must be so terrified shit this is awful- "I'm sorry, oh my god, I'm so sorry," he stammers as he jumps up and runs towards her and-
gets dizzy, and trips on a pile of rubble, and falls flat on his face. Ow. He's probably not going to be running any time soon. Whose idea was it not to eat for a week? Oh, that's right, his. Everything is very, very spinny. Whoops.
gets dizzy, and trips on a pile of rubble, and falls flat on his face. Ow. He's probably not going to be running any time soon. Whose idea was it not to eat for a week? Oh, that's right, his. Everything is very, very spinny. Whoops.
imeanforever
"What - what was -"
And then she is not finishing her question because instead she's crying.
And then she is not finishing her question because instead she's crying.
bitterchill
Yep, that's a broken nose. Thank you, granite floor. Ari has a broken nose and a twisted ankle and his body started digesting muscle two days ago and the woman he loves is having a nervous breakdown twenty feet away from him, which is entirely his fault, and his pet frostberry vine is probably dead by now to boot. Today is a fantastic day.
But- light in his heart! Courage! "I'm so sorry, it's- wizard thing, if you look in our eyes for more than a second it- we see each other's souls. I'm sorry, it- it can only happen once-"
He tries to get up again and bashes his head on a rock falling back over. Explanations give way to miserable groaning.
But- light in his heart! Courage! "I'm so sorry, it's- wizard thing, if you look in our eyes for more than a second it- we see each other's souls. I'm sorry, it- it can only happen once-"
He tries to get up again and bashes his head on a rock falling back over. Explanations give way to miserable groaning.
imeanforever
Promise scrunches her eyes shut, but then opens them, and she shuffles on her knees over to him, and heals him, and then goes back to sitting on the floor and crying.
bitterchill
"I'm- thank you. I'm so, so sorry. It only happens once. I said that already but it- bears repeating. I'm sorry. I love you, I love you so much, if I hurt you I'll- I'll go to the ends of the earth, you're so important. I'm sorry."
He rests his head on a bit of broken granite Belinda-face. What a day.
He rests his head on a bit of broken granite Belinda-face. What a day.
imeanforever
"You love me?" she asks, rubbing one of her eyes with the back of her hand.
bitterchill
"Of course I love you, I, have I not-" Ari thinks, how could he not have told her? How can she not know? Isn't it obvious, doesn't he glow every moment with how much he loves her? "I love you. I can say it more. I love you. It's- that's important, that I love you. And that I'm sorry, and I love you, and I'm so sorry." The words come out in a rush, tripping over each other trying to get free.
bitterchill
"I've... never done it, before. It can't happen without a soul on both ends, and m- my caretaker taught me never to look anyone in the eyes. I, I don't think about it much, it's just something that I avoid."