( open and closed starters )

[wrists]

WHO: laurent & friends (questionable).
WHERE: here and there in stygia.
WHEN: december.
WHAT: catch-all for monthly tidings. plotting comment is here.
WARNINGS: mentions of csa and the ongoing trauma surrounding it, bloody violence, angst and general unpleasant fuckery.

Comments

[wrists]

[ it's a common story. the pets in the palace, the slaves in vere, the children gone unprotected from those who would exploit them — there are few words suitable to describe the sort of duress they might've endured for years on end. laurent does not like to think of it, but the boy he used to be and the man he is now bears little resemblance to each other. it might not have been so, under different circumstances, if his uncle had never touched him, if he'd never grown intimate with the meaning of survival. ]

Then, when we go back — [ when they're off of this accursed ship, away from their tethers, once they're relatively safe again. ] You and I will spar and we'll see what you remember.

[ a sense-memory, a trigger, something familiar that might unearth any sort of feeling of recollection, no matter how small. ]

You can always learn anew. [ he's quiet for a long moment before continuing, his shoulders tense. ] I wasn't — gifted with the sword, like my brother was. Even now, I'm only half as good as he ever was. But being half as good as Auguste still means being better than everyone else in Vere. I trained relentlessly. I gave up all my childish pursuits in the goal of revenge, because I knew I had to be very, very good if I was to succeed at it.

[ he closes his eyes, waiting for a throb of pain to pass. when he opens them again, his gaze is cloudy. ] Aza and Wisteria are your tethers? Auguste is mine. And —

[ damen. the man he's supposed to want to kill. that name is better left unsaid. ]

[terraria]

( aspen starts with a bewildered expression, but it softens.

this isn't the first time someone suggested he spar and train. aza did, too. his heart aches fiercely for a moment, but it's compounded. )

Your brother? ( aspen draws his long legs in, settling his arms atop them as he looks to laurent. this is the first he heard of family. the one who attacked laurent, as far as he's concerned, does not count as family. the notion of revenge is so familiar that he has to close his eyes. it's not familiar because he wants to kill whoever hurt his tethers - it's familiar because so much of what happened a year ago was borne from his own thirst for revenge.

he understands. he really does. )

Yes. Aza, Wisteria, and my mother's sword. Those are my tethers.

... so then, Auguste may be... ( if their tethers were harmed to cause this pain, that must mean auguste - and whatever or whoever he won't name - are in peril. he doesn't want to force laurent to explain himself. aspen has long since learned how to expose bits of himself to seem forthright and open, but it's unlikely laurent is the same in this respect. he wouldn't expect laurent to expose himself so blatantly. he pulls his satchel near and begins to rifle through it. ) We'll fix this. Be it with force or wit, winds guide us.

Did you use the explosives I gave you?