[open]

[inflictwounds]

Who: Hieke & You
When: July
Where: The infirmary, training grounds, and Soleil.
What: Infirmary catch-all, plus some errands.
Warnings: Mentions of alcohol in the third prompt, but that should be it.


the infirmary;
[The infirmary is noticeably cooler than many parts of the school, as summer really gets underway. This is thanks to runes that Hieke wisely had commissioned and installed that act as air conditioning, keeping the infirmary actually rather chilly. If it’s too cool, students and staff can ask for the temperature to be adjusted, but Hieke seems rather content in there.

(This might be due to his predilection for wearing many layers and his daemonic disposition.)

Some days in July, Hieke can be found at his desk, quietly brewing potion after potion. It seems he’s stocking up, both for the Herald fight and to replenish his stock once the fight is over.]

the training grounds;
[Maybe it’s nostalgia that gets him out there, but...Hieke goes to the Mythril Cage to get in some training. He hasn’t fought anything in a long, long while, but despite that, his movements aren’t rusty.

He goes against a training dummy, enchanted to move and fight back, wielding two long, vicious looking daggers. His movements are fast and fluid - he’s clearly done a lot of this - as he nearly outpaces the dummy.

At one point, he drops the illusion of humanity he holds onto. The transformation is quick - abruptly there are leathery wings sprouting from his back and a long, thin tail that ends in a fork. He has two wavy horns, one noticeably shorter than the other, and deep, red skin covered in freckles. He is undoubtedly a daemon, as if there’s ever been any confusion. Like this he’s even faster, and much more acrobatic in the way he fights.

He manages to behead the dummy, and he stops to watch the head roll across the floor with golden eyes.

Then he realizes he’s not alone, and drops the daggers he’s been holding onto to the floor.]

soleil;
[Hieke doesn’t often go to the city, but every so often he makes the trek out there. It’s a nice place to go to unwind and destress.

This is mainly because of the bars.

Hieke isn’t exactly wasted, though he’s definitely beyond tipsy as he staggers out of the bar. He’s feeling good, though, and he grins and waves if he recognizes anyone from Daybreak.]

Hellooooo!

[Or, alternatively, you were in the bar when Hieke still was, and he gave you a nod of recognition. He’s just out here to have a good time, and not think about the world ending.]

wildcard;
[Feel free to run into Hieke anywhere and everywhere! He’s going to be very busy this month, probably. If you want something in specific, feel free to hit me up at daintily or in the game’s Discord!]

Comments

[onebetter]

[ After that angry phonecall, James bursts into the infirmary in somewhat of a rush, Keith's knife in hand. That... hopefully doesn't look weird or anything. If it does, apologies to Hieke.

At least he stops in front of Keith's bed and simply puts the knife down on the bedside table. ]

Here you go. How are you feeling?

[marmoron]

[Keith picks up the knife immediately, his grip way too tight on the handle. Despite that, there's clear relief in his expression as he gives it a lookover to make sure it hasn't gotten damaged.]

Shoulder hurts, but I'm fine. Don't really need to be in here.

[Which is probably of questionable credibility, but at least he sounds like he believes he shouldn't be in the infirmary.]

Just pissed.

[onebetter]

[ James does wonder what's going on with Keith and that knife, but this isn't really the time to ask. Instead, he sits down on the corner of Keith's bed and sighs a little. ]

Well, no surprises there. I can't believe this mess.

[marmoron]

[Keith lies back on the bed, knife still in hand. He doesn't meet James' eye, partly out of shame. So much for his cleaned up image, huh? It lasted about 24 hours before being some punkass kid in trouble again.]

I can. Feels an awful lot like how shit used to go down back at the home.

[And back at their old school, though he's careful not to mention that.]

[onebetter]

[ The home, huh. James hates imagining what that might have been like for Keith. It sits unpleasantly in his mind that all this time Keith was experiencing torment and he never knew. Added to it instead. ]

This isn't the home. This is a boarding school, this place is meant to be organized and you never even did anything to provoke her either!

[marmoron]

[Still not meeting James' eye.]

She whacked the back of my head at prom because she thought I was agitating Toki. [And though James can't see it, the fact that he's rolling his eyes is practically audible with how dry his tone's gotten.]

Toki was the one yelling at me, so I'm pretty sure she was just looking to fight. She'd fit right in with the kids at the home, too. We were all kinda fucked up like that.

[A beat.]

It's what the supervisors back there saw, too. We were all just some asshole kids. Who cares about figuring out what's fair or not.

[onebetter]

You held Toki back from a bad choice, you didn't do anything to him. It was kind of rough, but you didn't hurt him. This is just her being the worst.

[ James likes Toki a lot but he cannot blame Keith for stopping him there. It was the one right thing to do. ]

This place should be better to you than the home.

[marmoron]

Yeah, well. Not a professional victim, so I'm not gonna keep griping about it.

[But then he pauses. "Griping." It's what James would have called "talking about feelings" huh. He sighs.]

Sorry. I just don't like feeling sorry for myself. I'm fine. I made it. All on my own. It's more than most people can say for themselves.

[onebetter]

No, it's... I'm just so angry at your behalf. We don't need to keep talking about this.

[ Even if it's hard to not just keep bitching about the stupidity of it all. Looking for an easy topic change, James' eyes wander to the knife. ]

The knife is pretty. Where did you get it?

[marmoron]

[He lets out a sigh. He's been doing a lot of sighing, repressed sighing, repressed thoughts about punching pillows. The topic of the knife is almost a welcome reprieve, even if it's even more personal than anything else that's been said. Keith glances down, then as if finally realizing how tightly he's been holding on to it, lets his grip loosen up a pinch.]

My dad gave it to me.

[He could leave it there. He knows James won't ask more questions about it with just that explanation alone, but.... ]

Said my mom wanted me to have it.

[onebetter]

... oh. Wow.

[ James gives the knife another closer look. It's pretty. He'd already thought this when bringing it here, but now that he knows its history, he sees its ornate nature with new eyes. Keith's mom... Keith's strange unknown mom. ]

Giving a kid a knife... Sounds fitting for your mother somehow. It looks nice.

[marmoron]

[That's getting a scowl, his tone one step removed from bristling.]

Dunno what that's supposed to mean.

[Seriously is this supposed to be a backhanded comment on him and his mom now of all times.]

[onebetter]

I just mean...

[ James stops himself from the reflex to get defensive and starts over. ]

Sorry, that was way too flippant. Between knowing you and all I have heard about your parents, all of you seem like very intense people. I don't mean that as a bad thing at all. I respect that kind of dedicated personally.

[marmoron]

[A brief silence. Then Keith breathes out, seemingly having accepted the explanation.]

I don't know why she wanted me to have it at all. Is it supposed to be some kind of apology for leaving me and my dad?

[There's a kind of bitter huff.]

Stupid.

[And yet he is decidedly not putting that knife down.]

[onebetter]

Would be a kind of weird apology...

[ Like, a letter would probably do a lot better in that case?? Any kind of words of explanation? Just... anything? ]

So she probably put some other thought into it and thought it'd... somehow be obvious.

[marmoron]

Obvious, huh. Guess that makes me doubly stupid.

[Keith turns his focus back towards the glowing purple stone set into the knife.]

Don't know why I'm even holding onto this thing. Not like she ever cared what I wanted from her.

[Though that isn't true at all. Keith knows exactly why he's holding onto it. It's just not something he can readily admit to.]

[onebetter]

I can't possibly understand this situation, but.. from where I'm standing, I can't blame you.

[ Trying to think himself into Keith's shows is hard when the extreme clarity of who is family is and what they want from him has been such a huge part of his life, but... he thinks he can maybe get an idea. ]

Maybe the symbol means something? Though I've never seen it before..... aaand I also bet you looked into it way before I said this.

[marmoron]

[He's quiet for a moment, still not looking at James.]

I've asked people at the Anvil about the knife. They say it's made of luxite. It's some sort of compoud that only exists in one place in the Outlands.

[There's another moment of silence, then:]

Part of me's just pissed off that I'm even considering going to look. She never came looking for me.

[onebetter]

Only one place...

[ James repeats it lamely and falls quiet as well. A single narrowed down location is such an easy goal to try and check for Keith's mother. It's basically a giant neon arrow saying 'come here'. So obvious that it feels dangerous again, even without considering the fact that the Outlands are dangerous by default. ]

Do you maybe want to meet her to give her a piece of your mind? Get closure?

[marmoron]

[There's a bitter huff as Keith finally reaches for the bag he has attached to his hip and removes a roll of cloth. Carefully he starts wiping down the knife blade to remove whateve traces of Jolyne's blood and dirt are still on it.]

What's there to get closure for? She didn't want me. That's all there is to it.

[onebetter]

I don't know, just seems like it could be satisfying to tell her to go fuck herself?

[ Or at least, it very much seems like a Keith thing to do and James is trying to guess at the cause of Keith's underlying feelings here, so.... ]

[marmoron]

[It's awkward as hell trying to clean a knife with just one good hand, and though he's holding the handle fairly decently with the hand that's stuck in a sling, it still makes him wince a little when the smaller movements jostle his shoulder.]

That's a long journey to make just to tell someone that.

[It's stated a little nonchalantly, though it's obvious that's not how he feels.]

She obviously didn't care enough to come tell me I wasn't worth her time to my face. Why should I?

[He bites his lip, going quiet for a longer moment.]

I don't even know why I'm still holding onto this thing.

[onebetter]

[ James wants to say that it's because it is important to Keith to some way, because familial expectations or lack of them aren't that easily shed... but he also doesn't think that's what Keith really needs to hear right now. ]

Well, keep it until you figure that out and can decide if it's a good or bad reason to hold on? Tossing it when you're not quite sure what it means to you might end up being something you regret.

[marmoron]

[He stays silent for a moment.]

When I was a kid, I used to have this ... fantasy, I guess. That this knife meant she was going to come back and find me one day if I just held onto it.

[There's a dry, bitter kind of laugh.]

Been almost a decade since then.

[onebetter]

[ It hurts to hear Keith laugh like that. Way too much. ]

... maybe something happened to her. I'm... admittedly not sure if that thought if better or worse. Either option is horrifying.