sticksandbones | [OPEN] baby wake up i found the plot

Who: Elsword & You
What: A curated selection of our finest bullshit including: making a grave for a child, sharing the Plot, repairing his armour, and... fishing!
When: Backdated to mid-June
Where: Outside :)
Warnings: There will be mentions of a dead child, but otherwise not too grim. Other warnings TBD/in tag headers.

i. this is the plot-relevant prompt
cw: electrocution mention

[Elsword is feeling a bit better after getting electrocuted within an inch of his life the other day, finally able to move about and do things again. The first thing he does isn't something ostensibly normal, though — the boy never is. Rather, he's coming up to you with a framed photograph, large and featuring a group of many people. One of the people in it looks like you from the past, however you were — younger, in a different form, whichever it may be — and Elsword taps a claw against the frame as he hands it off to you.]

Did we... Did I know you when I was a kid? And I... forgot about it?

[It's difficult to see, but the little redheaded boy in the photograph — no older than thirteen — bears a striking resemblance to the boy in front of you now. If you squint, anyway.]

ii. in memoriam
cw: mentions of a dead child

[Just outside the manor — well, actually, about ten feet away from it, but still — Elsword is holding a large piece of stone in his lap, sitting down in the grass and dragging the clawed finger of his gauntlet against the rock face. If you look closely or approach, you might catch the soft, golden glow of magic, as he tries to carve something into it.

Your footsteps alert him, but all he does is swivel his head around briefly to look at you and nod, before setting back to what he's doing. He's got a few flowers next to him as well, and Leon is curled up at his side, slow-blinking at you with his head against his giant paws.]

iii. i didn't go to blacksmithing school

[It's late into the evening, a bit past dinnertime, when Elsword finally doffs his armour and sits outside the inn hammering away at it. When he went into the mansion, it got messed up by a giant wolf attacking, see, and the consequence he suffered upon leaving it made it worse. He hasn't had time until now to actually sit down and try to repair it, and boy...

...boy, he gets why this is a Profession and not just Something Anyone Can Do.

Dinged-up, broken armour isn't good for combat. It gets weaker every blow until it fractures, and by that point, you're likely to get pieces of metal embedded in you when it fully breaks, depending on luck. He's like... pretty sure that's how it works, anyway. But man... man, every hammer strike seems to make it worse, and there's not a proper forge to fix things in.]

Do you know how to fix armour?

[Maybe he should just give up and go without.]

iv. feesh

[He's feeling a little out of sorts for the rest of the week, no idea why other than "emotions are starting to bubble up to the surface" and "had a generally bad time with the mansion"... so to take the edge off, Elsword can be found doing what Elrians do best.

Fishing.

He's silently sitting by the riverbank on a log, wearing a hat that reads "THE EL WANTS ME, FISH FEAR ME", and catching just... myriads of fish. So many fish for to munch. They're piling up on the bank fairly quickly.

Please feel free to just rob him he won't miss any of these.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...
I would not mind for you, I think. But Tyr'oc, I know so many songs...! One hundred years then more! If I sing.. promise to say to me if one tires you.

_{[ hmm... swishes one bowl a little bit... this is how long HE'D let it sit before pouring off the extra juice and eating, but maybe just a little longer since he'd made a snack for two. ]}

Edited 2023-07-25 20:21 (UTC)

I promise, but I doubt I'd get bored.

[Despite the fact that he's still fishing, Elsword pays rapt attention to Rennuid, like he's gone to the concert of his favourite singer. Except it's just them in the woods, just them and the fish Rennuid is preparing for lunch.]

_{[ And so, Rennuid sings for him.

His first song is... him easing into it. He sings in Carseve, the language they share, a song about tadpoles frolicking in a shimmering river, and their feelings waiting for the day they'll join the larger current. It's bouncy, but has a slow stride with lots of holds; definitely in the style of gospel singing.

...he squints at the bowl again, feels more settled. And sings another, this time in Elze.

This one is a little less prosaic. After he's done with that one, he sighs wistfully. ]}

[Rennuid sings, and Elsword eventually stops fishing. There's plenty here to be cured and preserved for later, and there's something... relaxing, about laying on the bank in his stupid hat, while Rennuid sings and makes lunch. He's quiet throughout, eyes closed, and one might think that he's fallen asleep right next to the water's edge.

When Rennuid stops and sighs, Elsword cracks his eyes open, gaze shifting from the boughs above to the elf at his side.]

You do have a nice voice. [He says, rolling onto his side.] It's soothing.

_{[ At first, rennuid's smile was a little shy, and strange.
Singing, like most things he felt good at, was... Complicated.
it would praise his voice primarily as bewitching, beseeching, becoming... teach him songs that could only be theirs, because they had lived, traced through time, then, as it followed, died quietly away from the world; left only as old bones for it to gnaw. it would say such inciteful things...

Reflecting too much on it made him feel shame like a ribbon of flame passing over his face. He wondered if Tyr'oc could tell.

But soothing was a word he still liked. It didn't feel... poison. Like it was something embarrassing to be seen as in the clear light of day. He would like to be that thing, as uncomplicatedly as possible. He hums happily, as his smile seems to drop a weight, and he finally passes Tyr'oc his bowl.... after... he's tipped it to drain to his full satisfaction. He. Uh. He doesn't want Tyr'oc to try and drink the extraneous Fishy Acid Juice, potentially... ]}

People say so. ...Do I sound very different, in Elze? _{[ he knows he must sound less stilted, anyway. ]}

Edited 2023-07-27 21:25 (UTC)

[Elsword would absolutely drink the extraneous Fishy Acid Juice, thank you.

He sits up when the bowl is passed to him, and though Rennuid's brief expression shift catches his attention, he chooses not to comment on it; it wouldn't do to risk upsetting the man. Elsword lacks tact in most ways, but not all of them. Not when it comes to friends, and things they clearly hold close to their chests.]

Sort of. It's like when you experience a new language for the first time. Everyone sounds different, and maybe a bit weird. But it's not a bad weird. ...I think it's a pretty sound, too.

_{[ rennuid just barely passed his roll to remember utensils for them, too. everyone clap. ]}

~🎵.

_{[ wordless happy humming is truly the communication mvp.

okay but he is Starving by now so. Rennuid is doing a lot of shutting up and imbibing his fish.

When he's done eating (quickly. protein makes him Extra Hungry) he has found himself with a hell of a question on his mind, though, taking a glance at the Large Stack elsword had fisher-gathered. ]}

...If you salt a fish, does the river wants its bone after you eat it...? Or... is it... waiting that whole time....?

Edited 2023-07-28 03:12 (UTC)

[A silent lunch is nice. Elsword came out here to take the edge off, even if he's none-too-emotional as always — the events of the week have him pretty high-strung. Tense. Just relaxing after a good song and round of fishing, with good food and pleasant company, is exactly what he needs.

He, too, will polish this fish off in record time.]

...hmm... maybe we should debone the fish so that the forest doesn't wait. That, and we don't want anyone to bite into preserved fish bones.

[Mm. Crunchy.]

_{[ rennuid mourns the loss of Texture for every single way he knows you can cook a fish to makes its bones edible. ]}

Wouldn't want to risk it~. This _{[ playfully.. waving the knife he used to flay the fish. ]} ...is something I am good at. Meat is the best. And the river is so.. kind of us.. now.

You know how to do a lot of cool things, then.

[Elsword draws that conclusion easily. Rennuid can sing, he can prepare food, he can cast magic. These are things Elsword finds impressive, partly because Elsword finds any friend of his impressive, partly because they're a set of talents that he believes himself subpar at.]

I know how to make food enough to survive, but not anything like you made, and definitely not with magic like you did. I can't speak multiple languages like you, and I can't sing as well. [Then, teasingly:] I think I have you beat when it comes to swordplay, though.

_{[ before rennuid can demure that he can mostly cook because his taste in food is finicky... wait, there's something better to respond to. look who very clearly knows he's being teased. ]}

Tyr'oc is so mean~. I can hold a sword.

_{[ he can hold a sword. he can swing a sword. if he tried to guard with a sword he would simply turn into mist and melt away and it would clatter onto the ground, and if they have ever attempted sparring with them this is not a hypothetical, this is Witnessed Truth. Rennuid's reflexes are way too trained to flow away like water if he gets that big of a physical shock. ]}

Can you?

[Elsword challenges, and then he holds his hand out before him and flicks his wrist. Hovering in the air in front of him is a flat, golden blade made of raw magic. A claymore. He grips it tightly by the handle before something playful appears on his face, and then, it's passed to Rennuid.]

Prove it.

[OPEN] baby wake up i found the plot

2/2

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His voice is way higher than this guy's but I WANTED THIS ONE

i love him

References to past. weird groomer isolating tactics under cut

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