#the three of them are the perfect examples of 'casually paranoid 24/7' so naturally they have 2 hang out

[captusmomentum]

AMD: Midnight Paranoia Club Part 1

Decided to make an executive choice given the way I think/write, in general and re: A Mirror Darkly. Since I come up w/ things wildly out of order I’m going to write and post those as they come then take the scenes I have and hammer them into chapters as I complete the needed content then post those in order. I figure that’ll keep things fresh enough. 

So starting that off with much longer than anticipated scene from Uthvir’s perspective! like seriously I’m still technically writing it and it’s WAY long than I’d thought and not even done like YIKES.

prayer circle I didn’t fuck up Uthvir wildly

Tace and Inanallas are mine, Thenvunin (mentioned) and Uthvir are @feynites!

Aprox place in AMD timeline: post-expedition to the Temple of Andruil (working title) where Uthvir was rescued from statis and Inanallas fucked up on a cosmic level. A solid amount of time past the start of the fic.

PART 2 HERE

The temple had been fire and blood but it had been real fire and real blood—real wind on their face and blissfully cold solid armor on their body as they’d finally, finally moved after millennia. Those first moments of consciousness were an unholy barrage of sensory overload as they came screeching back into existence. Fear crashing back into them with all the force of a tidal wave on the ship of a ship. It had become so much More and they had not been of one mind for so long they thought they would break in pieces from the strain of it all.

They’d attacked wildly the first thing they saw, Fear’s howling wasn’t what started it but certainly made it more visceral, necessary. They don’t remember seeing much past wide, terrified eyes in a pale marked face before they lunged. It had not been a hard fight, they didn’t know if that was because the other was pathetic or unwilling, knowing their victim now they’d say it was a little of column A and a little of column B.  

Their first clear thought came when Thenvunin bore down on them. He was instantly recognizable, long hair shining in the midday sun, handsome face contorted in an expression of outrage and determination, a sight they had seen many times on many a varied field of confrontation. It takes a few moments after that for them to finally hear him, like they’ve been too close to an explosion and their senses were only then recovering.

They do not know what to make of the rest of everything now that that’s all done. Past that it’s a shit show. They are happy that the Evanuris are all trapped in some pit somewhere but it seems like the rest of the world, as usual, has been irrevocably fucked because of them. Still, post apocalyptic nightmare or no, they can move and talk and eat and do whatever they want and go wherever they want so it’s heavenly to them.

They’ve been given a meager apartment of their own near Thenvunin’s own equally unimpressive apartment, a fact that is not lost on them. They do not mind it too much, they were not close with any of their peers in truth and even fewer of them can they even pretend to tolerate now, Thenvunin at least was a well known entity, familiar and easily handled. It was better than Curiosity who would use the closeness to wheedle into their life and pluck out what information she could or being completely surrounded by the unknown. Still Thenvunin could be tiring to say the least.

The taller man did not question them too much once it became clear that the answers would be hard won and deeply horrifying. He was too inelegant in such conversation to navigate those kinds of treacherous waters to attempt generally and Uthvir was deeply happy for it. They did not want to talk about it. They did not mind for the most part coming over to Thenvunin’s, there was not much for them to do at the moment past acclimate to the new era, which was anything from dull to so overwhelming they and Fear would be worked up into such a state they would not leave the apartment for days, instead pacing its length fully armored.

They were personally not bothered by the size of their own lodgings, they had had nothing grand in Elvhenan nor had cared to, but it was a massive step down for Thenvunin they knew. If it troubled him greatly he hid it well, past the complaints about the lack of garden for the birds, it was finely decorated as expected from him and there seemed to be enough ridiculous trends to keep him partially occupied. But they did not miss the looks he shot them, the way he treated them like glass or a wounded animal, the concern and sympathy.

They chafed under it, knowing that when they saw him they also risked that hovering worry was sometimes too much for them to tolerate. So then they walked. They had routes, the ones they’d learned while first being settled into this place. They did not deviate from their routes, Fear had too many good points on the dangers of deviation from the path for them to even consider it. It was too early for that, every time they stepped out into this hellhole was a victory at this point, better not to rush.

Tonight was one of those nights, They could not bear their apartment, could not bear Thenvunin and couldn’t find any way to settle— so they walked. Tonight they walked to a convenience store not too far away to pick up some dinner. The last vestiges of twilight clung to the sky, their nerves were already skyrocketing to near crazed from the encroaching darkness. It had been made expressly clear to them that armor was no longer acceptable dress and wearing it would gain unwanted attention and possible interaction with the law, They wanted neither so here they were, in the flimsy clothes these creatures wore, made even worse by the fact is was summer and Antiva City had the gall to be actually hot, wanting to scream at the vulnerability, shove all the passersby aside and find the nearest defendable spot to hide in.

They did not do any of that, instead they counted breaths, chewed at their lip and dug their claws into their palms as they went. They moved even faster then their already brusk pace had been once the convenience store was in sight, anything was better than being out in the open. The light inside was that sickly yellow these sorts of places seemed to have, the majority of the interior was obscured by rows upon rows what these people called food. They walked in and began to weave through the store, weighing choices as they made their way to the premade meals in the chilled section.

It was when they came nearer to the alcohol section, a set of glass doors perpendicular to the wall of open shelving they’d been aiming for, they recognized two figures. The diminutive form of the elf they’d bloodied at the temple and the odd emaciated shemlan who was constantly covered in bruises caused by an unseen hand. It was hard to tell if they were planning to make a night of it or just popping out to get something since the elf, Inan—Inan’len? Inan’Bel? Inanbel’len? Eyes-something who cares— was dressed in intensely baggy and patterned pants and what seemed to be a very fancy bathrobe while their companion was dressed casually but in a much more cohesive manner which could have been what was considered fashion now or just knowing how to put on a shirt and pants. They hate to at admit it but coming across familiar faces makes them almost instantly more relaxed.

As if to live up to their name Inan-whatever notices them first and triple takes up at them from their squatting position, the other one’s attention is drawn by what could best be described as the intense spasm of the head and neck their friend just did, spots Uthvir and grins. He leans on the door to the alcohol display languidly as he turns to better face them.

“Hey Spikey, crazy seeing you here.”

They grunt. They’re still not as good as they want with the language but they gather his meaning well enough from tone at least. The other one gets up with impressively little grace, and they’re given their first good chance to look at them without two black eyes. The younger elf’s face is still somewhat discolored from the beating they’d given it, they’re surprised by that for a split second, but remember that healing magic is practically useless here and they are very, very pale— marks stay in skin like that for months sometimes years— it does not mean they’re still injured, specially since there is no more swelling. It does certainly add to their look of a haggard waif though, that seems to be what they go for since they always look like they’re dressed in rags and stolen things.

There is a brief awkward moment that hangs there hideously between them that the shemlen laps up every second of. Then the little one finally speaks.

“Picking up dinner?”

“Yes. And you? Picking up the festivities for the night?”

They grin and laugh a little.

“Sort of. We know basically what we want but the real question is how much, since it—y’know depends on what we wanna do.”

They’ll admit, they’re mildly curious. What do people like them get up to.

“Oh? And what are the things you want to do?”

“Well, we can’t decide if we want to just go back to my place and drink or if we want to go out into the woods and drink. My place means more drinking but less fun breaking up and the woods means less drinking but more magic stuff.”

They’re about to ask why on earth would they want to go out into the wilderness in the middle of the night and wreck havoc on pointless shit when that urge is redirected almost instinctually by their eye as a hunter. The two of them are haggard with deep bruise like circles under their eyes from lack of sleep, they look exhausted run down but wild and wired, caught on the knife edge of no discernible name. They radiate something Uthvir will not name —cannot name or face— that they know too well is burrowed deep in them as well. They don’t ask.

They consider it idly, going with them to the woods just to avoid their empty apartment but Fear rears up immediately. It is right too— too dangerous, too dark, too early to trust in too new and potentially disastrous a scene.

“If you want you can come with us back to my place. You can pick something up here or get something at my place, I’ve got plenty to eat.”

Now this they do consider. This is a much more manageable concept. They already know they can decimate them in a fight if needed, they can pick out their own food and drink here to ensure its as safe as possible and they do know with reasonable confidence where they live compared to the other. This can work.

They grin toothily, a display of their fangs more than anything. They note with amusement it does not seem to phase either of them. They get the sense very little scares them anymore, and if it does that are too far gone to even react. Another note of similarity they cannot decide if they dare to acknowledge.

“How kind. It’s gracious of you invite me after our disastrous first meeting.”

They shrug. “It was an understandable ass-kicking. And I have a very beatable ass so—” Their expression is the picture of nonchalance.

That startles a short bark of a laugh out of them.

“Then I suppose we have a plan!”