#int ft. amrita

[erenozturk]

setting: during the trust falls activity

featuring: eren öztürk & amrita singh @dvsconocvdo

A dribble of sweat rolled from the base of his neck, down past the collar of the bomber jacket he wore, and Eren tried unsuccessfully to brush it away with a gloved hand. It was hot — but of course it was. It was nearly mid-July, the middle of a sunny day, and the entire town was huddled into an outdoor space to go through trust fall exercises. No thank you, it had almost left him so fast he must have sounded ruder than normal. Please, no thank you. He limited his touch to very specific instances — predominantly the times he was required to do so for work, grateful for when the ability to touch objects to witness what he needed to could take the place of another’s hand. But outside of those rare moments? Eren didn’t touch anyone. Not even his dog. The idea of touching someone made his skin crawl, brought back trauma he had carried with him throughout the majority of his life, and stunted him. He couldn’t function much under the fear, the heart palpitations, the quickened breath, the anxiety gripping him. So he passed, as politely as he could, tucking himself away on the sidelines to watch time and time again as people fell back and either were caught, or plummeted to the ground.

He didn’t understand how this was supposed to build trust. To him, whether or not someone would catch him didn’t tell him whether or not they were trustworthy — if someone touched him, he’d consider it an instant red flag. Then again, he wasn’t sure he’d done a trust fall exercise before. Maybe not since he was a lot younger. Before that night, before the hole, and everything that awoke in him. Decades ago, lost in a life that he would never have back. He dismissed the memory, the thoughts, once more swiping at sweat on his brow with a gloved hand. Content to be alone there, except the sun was a bitch and a spot of shade would be nice if he would be forced to watch this display all afternoon. So he moved to a shady patch of grass beneath a tree, sinking against said tree with a deep and contented sigh. It was only after he settled that he realized Amrita was also leaning against the tree. He acknowledged her with a soft nod of his head. “Not participating, either?” He knew he wasn’t alone. Cece barely participated, and Eren thought he heard her brother’s hushed concerns of illness as the culprit, and he didn’t think Kui was doing it either. He supposed it was nice, to know he wasn’t alone in his dysfunction. “I thought you were too pleasant to actually be trustworthy,” he tried his hand at a joke, the lilt in his tone portraying it was all just in amusement.

[jroycethethird]

“Nonsense,” he started with a lofty wave of dismissal, “This is a public garden, you are more than welcome to interrupt me.” He had recognized Amrita almost instantly, and in the back of his mind was a nagging voice recalling the fact that Amrita was one of the two witches who caused a small bit (understatement) of property damage at the Emerald that terrible night. Royce had tried to pay penance, as much as Nyra would allow, for the damage. Despite himself and how he sometimes acted, he felt an odd sense of responsibility over some of the actions of other witches, and if there was one thing that money could be good for, it was cleaning up problems. Paying for property damage was hardly a heroic offer, but for someone as cowardly as him it seemed the best he could offer. He held no ill will towards her, or any witch that caused some metaphorical or literal mess Royce felt like trying to patch up, coven affiliate or not. So he smiled broadly, at least as broad as he could when he heard that buzzing around him.

“Something tells me you’ll have a wonderful harvest, then,” he said, having noticed the bits of earth manipulation she used, as well as from what he knew of her. He snorted lightly at her comment on competition, amused sideways grin gracing his handsome features as he replied, “I have a feeling that you may beat me there — which is saying something, because I am a cocky bastard and believe whole heartedly in my tomatoes, but I’d say that earth manipulation you have may come as a bit of an advantage, hm?” He flashed her a knowing smile, before shrugging and turning away. “What we should do is start a giant pumpkin association, start doing weigh offs and pumpkin regattas, do a whole fall festival around it — I’d go toe to toe with you in that competition. I’ll raise the biggest pumpkin you’ve ever seen,” he laughed, eyes darting around for that tiny fuzzy predator and it’s venomous stinger. “Carrots and cucumbers are great, though I’ve yet to grow eggplants myself. There’s always next year, hm?”

When she acknowledged the bee, Royce gripped his epipen tightly, watching with abject horror as she called the new bear. It appears she had Animal Telepathy among her inherent witch abilities, and his hand shook around the epipen as she spoke, dancing carefully away but now all too aware of other bugs buzzing about around them. “Perhaps we should shoo it away,” he offered coolly, trying to not give up his pure anxiety at the sight of the thing. “Absolutely fine to ask,” he said courteously, shuffling a bit away, “Uh it was during my youth… Horticulture club at the boarding school I attended.” He spoke fast, eyeing the bee as she engaged with it. Royce wouldn’t expand on the fact that he had joined because his father had told him that his birth mother, Millicent Van Doren, had had Earth manipulation, and that the greenhouses at Verdant Vale were initially installed at her behest. It was private and sentimental, and kept so dearly close to his heart. “Yes, every year. I’ll try to mix things up, but I enjoy tomatoes for their simplicity. Without using your powers? Hmm… Maybe I could be convinced to do a tomato off, then,” he laughed, still keeping a comfortable distance. “…I take it you’re an Animal Telepath,” he started around a thick swallow, “…Could you possibly, if you’d be so kind to just, um… Send the bee away? And any of his friends that might be lingering.” He glanced around for signs of any others before adding, “Not to be melodramatic but I’m actually a tad allergic. And by a tad, I mean incredibly.”

Today was her day off which meant that Amrita had slept in (for the first time in two weeks), and had decided that all she was going to do was garden, play with her pet bunnies, and do laundry. Coming to Out of Stalk felt like coming to her second home. Engulfed by the scent of dirt and surrounded by vegetable patches, she truly felt at ease. There weren't many occasions were she came across other people in her gardening down time, but she was pleasantly surprised to see someone nourishing his plants with such kind words. She too spoke to her plants, she found that it was rather quaint company. So, the young witch did her best to stay quiet as she passed by plants that weren't hers, she used a big of earth manipulation to help a few sad plants before landing next to Royce. It was rather hard to swallow down the innate nervousness that filled Amrita by being next to the advisor, but she did her best to contain it. After all, right now they were just two gardeners.

In her own journey to shove down her nervousness, she completely missed the presence of the bee. It was rather easy for Amrita to let animal thoughts or feelings to dwell in the back of her mind especially little insects. "No, you're not crowding them at all. I didn't want to interrupt you." She offered a well practiced smile before kneeling into the floor. One of her two pairs of jeans was used exclusively for moments like this, and hence the fabric surrounding her knees was always darker due to the dirt stains. "Some Jwala chili, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and a bit of basil." She notified him with a proud smile. "I see you have some tomatoes too! Are we going to have a tomato show off? See which one is the best?" She joked before giggling, shaking her head at her own words. "I wanted to do carrots, but didn't have enough space. I also want to try to go eggplants or cucumbers next year. Even my little garden at my balcony is getting crowded."

Just then she heard it, the faint buzzing of a bee. Amrita turned away from Royce in the direction to the bee. "It looks like there's a little friend nearby." She whispered, hand reaching out as she used her powers more intentionally, calling the bee towards her. "When did you start gardening? If I can ask. Have you grown tomatoes before? I always try to grow something new in each season. I even try to make it work without using my powers." If she wanted to, she could make every plant in her garden grow and bear fruit regardless of the season, but Amrita liked the process. She enjoyed waiting. She enjoyed letting nature take its natural course with her garden. Some times she lost plants or flowers, other times they bloomed beautiful, and other times they bore fruit in all shapes and sizes. It could be an unexpected process if she didn't involve herself. A time of unpredictability that made her expectant.

[erenozturk]

setting: the rec center

featuring: eren öztürk & amrita singh @dvsconocvdo

Eren looked at the admittedly crumpled homemade flyer which he had saved from a few crude teenage boys in the parking lot of the local convenience store. One raised dark brow from him and they scurried away, a slightly crinkled paper falling to the pavement. At first he’d only grabbed it to take it to a waste bin, because littering was among the most heinous of crimes to Eren, but he had paused when he’d looked over it. An Archery Class, hosted in part by Amrita Singh. He didn’t know the witch well, but she had been among the group outside of the hotel when the Catalyst was “torturing” Lunar Covians. The ragtag group that was trying to save their friends on the inside, and gathering important intel on the disgraced sheriff. If their lives had been an 80’s film, they would have succeeded in glorious style, and walked off as the sun rose on a peaceful Lunar Cove morning while Jim Keer of Simple Minds crooned an unforgettable tune, fist pumping the air. Don’t you forget about me. Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. Sadly this was real life, and it didn’t play out like a cool 80’s film. Instead, it ended with tragedy. As Eren looked at the flyer, he decided not to throw it away, instead neatly folding it and placing it in his pocket, to be forgotten until he’d next pulled that particular brown suede jacket on nearly a week later.

Now he stood before the rec center, a place he had been familiar with when he first arrived in the 90’s. When he and Zehra were first becoming acquainted with the town, and had yet to secure proper lodging. The memories brought a hollow ache to his small, and surprisingly still beating, heart. Who knew it was still so sentimental and saccharine? He shook the thought away, once more folding and putting away the flyer as he walked about in search of the familiar face. It wasn’t long before he’d found her, practicing in a designated space for archery. To his luck, she was alone. Perhaps this wasn’t one of the times for this class she was advertising, but he hoped she wouldn’t mind him inquiring. He still didn’t like using his phone in most situations, and he wasn’t tearing off his glove to send off a text. Did the flyer even have her number? He wasn’t sure, and he wouldn’t check. So Eren approached, clearing his throat after she had made a shot to grab her attention, a faint and shy sort of smile on his lips as he awkwardly waved a gloved hand at her.

“Hello… It’s Amrita, right?” He started in his low and somewhat monotonous voice. “I’m Eren, we were both part of the group outside of the Emerald when… Well, you know.” He dropped his gaze somewhat solemnly before sobering, and motioned to the target she had been using. “Nice shot,” he commented with a slightly lopsided smile, a rare dimple showing in his left cheek. He was a great shot with a gun, though he’d stopped regularly carrying or using one in the mid 2010’s. His investigations rarely called for it, anyway. But times were getting desperate, and the offer to learn a new offensive technique felt like a necessity. And the roguish boy hidden deep within his dour and professional exterior thought a faerie with wings and a bow and arrow would be pretty metal. “I saw one of your flyers,” he started, carefully pulling it out of his pocket and smoothing the paper out on his thigh before holding it up. He was embarrassed by the state of it, and the slushee stain those horrid boys left on it, but pressed on, “I was hoping to inquire on it. I take it the lessons are held here? But more than anything, I’m just wondering… how hands on these lessons are?” The ever glooming threat of touch, which kept his life so odd and far from normal in the eyes of most others. Eren dropped his gaze in a shy sort of way after the question left his lips, scrutinizing the ground between them for a moment before he wiped away all emotion from his face. “I think it’s a great idea, by the way. What you and… is it Sebastien? What the two of you are doing. More people need to be ready for what’s ahead. Though I think your skill in literally uprooting buildings is a bit more impressive.” An attempt at a joke, marked by the way his lips curved upwards and his voice sounded lighter. A smile, warm and genuine, but oh so fleeting as it went away seconds after it bloomed on his face.

[erenozturk]

His eyes darted about as wildflowers grew around him, the faintest smile gracing his often severe face. Eren quirked a brow at Amrita, head tilting to toward his shoulder as he replied, “Oh I don’t know about that… Some flowering plants are rather deadly. Oleander is extremely poisonous, for one. And they can attract deadly things. Such as bees, which one can be highly allergic too.” Despite the seriousness of his words, there was an air of amusement to his tone, as though Eren were teasing her. Plucking one of the wildflowers that she spontaneously grew, he spun it delicately in his gloved fingers before offering it to her. A rare and friendly gesture, marked by a warm bow of his head. “You haven’t? Duct tape crafts are all the rage for camps. At least… that’s what I have seen.” He had taken the time to look up camping activities in preparation for the retreat, though that all seemed futile now. He hadn’t prepared for these “trust building” exercises, and he had the dreadful feeling he was woefully underprepared for the days ahead. “You can make just about anything with Duct tape, since it’s so sturdy. You just need quite a bit of it. And since it comes in so many colors and even patterns, you can make some unique looking things,” he shrugged. Eren watched her carefully a moment, playing with the cuff of one of his gloves. Nodding slowly, his eyes travelled back to the trust falls when the next contender prepared to fall back into (hopefully) waiting arms. “I understand completely,” he said, before bluntly adding, “I can’t imagine why anyone would choose something so divisive for the sake of ‘bonding’.” He glanced at his hand for a brief moment. “Then again, maybe it’s because they knew that only a small handful of us would reject this.” At least he wasn’t alone.

Eren shook his head, having never made any sort of friendship bracelet alone. He could reason it was because he wasn’t all that crafty, but the reality was he hadn’t had friends to share with. Maybe back when he was a kid, though back in those days he was bullied more than befriended. And now? Well, the last person who ever got close enough to see him for who he was underneath the surly demeanor had long gone. “I’ll hold you to it,” he said to her invitation to teach him, figuring he may as well learn, even if his only friend was the Doberman who waited for him at home and wouldn’t keep a bracelet on if he tried. Any sort of calm in the man disappeared the moment she brought up paired events. Tilting his head back to stare at the leaves above, Eren sighed deeply. “I truly don’t look forward to that,” he said quietly. But he didn’t allow himself the space to dwell for long. If he got so worked up about it now, he’d be woefully unprepared for the day these paired events would take place, which would only prove to make things worse. “Of course,” he answered, drumming out an upbeat rhythm on his thighs. A couple years in marching band before he gave that up to be a sullen withdrawn teenage banshee, and a long obsession with music, gave him some basic grasp of rhythm. “Can’t speak for the others, but definitely for myself.” He spoke with a resolute assurance which gave him the faintest air of arrogance. “Is a whisper challenge where you have a phrase which you then whisper into each other’s ears until the last person reveals what they were told, and you try to see how close to the initial statement you can get?” He was quiet and thoughtful a moment before shrugging, “That would be more fun than falling into people, I suppose.” He said it with such a dry sarcastic tone, the joking nature of it could have been so easily missed.

Amrita didn't truly know how to feel about Elena. The young witch decided that shoving the thought of her being involved in Mason's death deep and as far away as possible just for her own sake. It was better to think that there was no one to blame even if it was a lie. Her expression soured, brows furrowed for a second before her attention shifted back to Eren. "Then you must be on your guard with me throughout this whole event. Though I don't think flowers are that scary." With an easy move of a hand, small wildflowers sprouted all around Eren. She shook her head with a small smile. "Duct tape wallets? I've never heard of that." Eyes widened in curiosity. Was that a campy thing to do? How had she never heard about it. How fun. Probably a waste of tape. "I do love s'mores. I hope we get those. It'll be much more fun than..." Her voice trailed off. She didn't want to be a downer, truly, but this whole thing felt ridiculous.

The young witch chuckled at his words, thinking there is definitely going to be a white guy on a guitar. Wasn't that how the movies surrounding camps went anyway? "Hm, both? Have you made them before? I like the beaded ones because it's quite easy to make flower shapes with them, but the ones with embroidery floss feel sturdier. I like any crafty hobby if I'm honest. It's nice to work on something repeatedly. I can teach you... if you want? I don't have embroidery floss here though." As Eren mentioned how cool the embroidery floss bracelets were, she promised to make him some. Maybe it could be black, grey, and white? Would he like that? He didn't seem to use colors on his day-to-day clothes. "That sounds about right. Who knows? Maybe at the end of the event we'll eat our words. I heard there will be a pairing event. Kinda nervous about that." Being stuck with a stranger doing an odd activity sounded like a bad time, but maybe it could lead to new friendships? Amrita touched her forehead, massaging it. This whole back and forth was tiring. She wished she could settle on how to feel about it. "Do you have a basic grasp of rhythm? Is that something the Fae Court does?" The idea of Eren and Aiyla doing some silly sign games with music in the background brought a smile back to her face. "Or a whisper challenge? Have you heard of those?"

[erenozturk]

He gave her a sympathetic smile, eyes following the line of her gaze to the people sabotaging Elena during the trust fall. Grief was a fickle thing, wasn’t it? For a faerie shrouded in death, he supposed he understood. He saw it a lot in clients using his banshee abilities for some level of closure, saw it most recently with an elderly widow whose husband disappeared so long ago on a hiking trip, clutching his favorite wrist watch, begging him to try and try to see what exactly happened to him. The gruesome images of a man falling down a rocky cliff side he didn’t know he was hiking on still clung to his thoughts. He knew it was still haunting that woman, as it had for years — some people needed time to work through things. Maybe they shouldn’t have put those still struggling in the same vicinity as the person they blamed, while also asking said person to fall blindly back towards them. “Don’t they say it’s always the person you least expect who turns out to be dangerous?” He teased lightly, surprising even himself with the soft jovial tone of his voice. He flexed his fingers a little, distracting himself with sweeping a gloved hand through the grass beneath him, shrugging a little at her words.

“I was hoping for a craft day. Duct tape wallets and such. Less contact sport and more relaxed and ‘chill vibes’. Or more campfires and s’mores. Some mediocre white guy on a guitar, leading the whole camp in a rousing chorus of ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’,” he ticked off some things on one gloved hand, watching as another person took their turn falling. “Yeah, friendship bracelets are ‘campy’,” he agreed, “What kind would you make — the beaded ones, or the ones made with embroidery floss?” He started gesticulating, leaning his head back against the tree, “You know, with the complicated patterns in all those different colors? I saw that tall vampire going around with the bead ones, which are whatever. The embroidery floss ones can be so cool, though.” He was rambling, which was odd, but he felt comfortable with Amrita. One of maybe three people in the whole town he felt at ease around, and perhaps the only one not in the Court. He frowned and nodded solemnly at her words. He was often pessimistic, and he’d had his feelings on this type of exercise, but he was trying to improve. You have to look at things more half glass full rather than empty, the nasally voice of his secretary had reminded him. Look on the bright side. “I guess some of this is well intentioned, but a bit ill-advised,” he said in agreement. “I wonder if we can convince them to put one of those call sign games on the docket instead. Campy, competitive, and no touching required. All you need is a basic grasp of rhythm.”

Trust falls. When Amrita had heard Elif and Safiye describing what would take place, she felt like she had grown a tail. What were they supposed to do? Fall and hope someone caught them? What logic was that? The witch quickly ushered herself to a corner, not wanting to participate in the event. Trust. The word felt heavy on her tongue. She didn't want to see who would catch her and who wouldn't because there was always the possibility that someone dear to her would reveal that to them she wasn't anything at all. Of course, that wasn't the only reason Amrita was nervously in a corner, biting her nails. A habit that she had outgrown ages again, but she had nothing else to focus on. The mere idea of people touching her and feeling her scars made her want to retch. Thankfully the t-shirt hid the bad, grotesque scars well enough, so Amrita didn't need to wear a long sleeve shirt.

Still, as she watched people drop and then being caught, Amrita shuddered. She wanted to leave. Her bunnies were waiting for her, and this whole ordeal felt so overwhelming now that she knew that trust was the core of it. Eren's words snapped her out of her own thoughts. Relieved to see a familiar face, and to not be the only one not participating, she gave Eren a tired smile. "No. I'd rather do anything, but that." She emphasized that as she watched Elena fall and people purposefully trying to sabotage those who caught her. "Is that how it works?" She let out a dry chuckle at his words. "I thought it was the opposite really. Maybe I got my memos all mixed up." She tried to joke back before noticing his gloves. The young witch wondered if he was hot, and if she could find less hot gloves. She disliked summer the most given her clothing situation, even if it was the most fun season to garden in. "Do you reckon all activities will be like this? I really hope there's some trust exercise in which we don't touch anyone... Like... making bracelets or something. That's campy, no?" A small pause. "Maybe that's too much to ask for though." There was such an uncomfortable feeling at the back of her mind. Did she have to trust strangers? Or everyone in town?