crying in the bleachers | slay v adepti v niko, day 5
Mar 18, 2023 20:01:57 GMT -5
Post by ✨ zozo. on Mar 18, 2023 20:01:57 GMT -5
Actions speak louder than words. It's why Francine has stayed quiet since last night, wrapped up in Autumn's motherly embrace. She'd crawled back to her in the night, nestling her head underneath the girl's outstretched arms. She bathed in moonlight, she bathed in Autumn. She smelled lovely, despite all the blood and sweat and tears shed. Like soap mixed with the earth, like laundry days in spring. She felt like a comfort Francine had never experienced before - and if Francine was going to die, she might as well get a taste of what it felt like to be cared for.
Still, she cried. For Adan. For Steele. But Autumn let her, until she fell asleep with tears on her cheeks and woke up to clear skies and the chilling bite of mountain air. Sunlight thawed out her freezing hands, dried her tears. Her legs felt like lead, her back ached, her arms exhausted from hauling that damn katana around - but still she climbed the mountain.
High ground seemed wise - vantage point. There were just two of them now - Francine and Autumn, little girls lost without their fighters in stead. But the vastness of the mountain gave the youngest a sweet sense of comfort, allowing herself to breathe for a moment. The wind picked up, swirling around them, she hears Adan. Steele. Ghosts all around her. Screaming, crying, dying.
(her screams weren’t lost on the wind. i heard every one.)
Everything hurts, but her heart sings and her pace quickens. Her ghosts, her ghosts - they had just gotten lost in the chaos. Floating higher, up to safety, hiding. She had found them again, smiling giddy - stupid grin, skipping forward ahead of Autumn, laughing. Her seelies follow, singing and chirping in the breeze.
(death is only temporary.)
Francine comes to a stop, waits for Autumn, closes her eyes. Deep breath in, (every breath, the potential to be our last. savor them.) Out, in, out, in.
When she opens her eyes her breath catches in her throat. What follows is something horrid choked out, rage and regret. Blonde hair catching in the wind - a boy stands ahead of them but she doesn't see him. Not really. All she sees is that wisp of yellow and a name curls around her heart, squeezing tight.
Svetlana.
"YOU!"
This time her fists won't cut it, so she takes up her blade in one hand and points at her forest sister with another. Wisp vanishes, as does Bubbleboy, sensing the fight in her. Honourary Forrester, she nearly spits at the memory. How desperately she had wanted to be one of them, just like her, back home in Seven. How deluded she was. How stupid. How-
childish. Little Francine, too small to save Adan or Steele. Not big enough, not strong enough.
Little Francine no more, she roars at Svetlana something violent. Swings.
table coding elegant
francine attacks svet, katana (sword)
gRKeqVTFgTsword
8.5
swordgRKeqVTFgTsword
8.5