The Ninth Trial

[advisories]

Who: everyone
When: Day 18, starting just after dawn
Where: The Hermit's Tent, and all around

[This morning as the sun begins to pour through the train's windows, there's the tremor that signals a Trial.]

Come hither, Heroes. Prove thy worth. Or something like that!

[It's the same older man's voice from the sixth trial, and outside is the same fortune teller's stall. Today the front flap is lifted to show a normal interior -- there's a wooden table, carved with geometric patterns and painted in bright colours, lit by teal-coloured carved candles.

At the table sits a man of indeterminate age, somewhere between 30 and 60. He's wearing what appear to be monk's robes, teal with patterned trimming. In front of him is a crystal ball and a stack of bingo cards, along with a stand-up sign bearing the rules of this Trial.

Across the top in large font, it says:

Icebreaker Bingo

Good luck and have fun!]

Comments

[voreaciously]

...It is you.

[bad_crowmance]

It's me!

[ He looks completely unashamed to admit this. ]

[voreaciously]

[She doesn't laugh, but there's a soft, perhaps amused exhale.]

Pardon me a moment.

[Her demonstration is done so she gives the bottle a toss. There's a bit of a blue glow where it lands as it takes it form back.

she needs to be in the water for this so she heads back to let the waves lap at her feet, feeling immediately better. She bends down searching for flat stones and finding some, but not enough. There is one, far too round, but blink and you'll miss something from the water coming to slice the sides, the flat-sided dome ends slipping into the sand and one stone becomes four flat ones.]

Did you want any?

[bad_crowmance]

Sure, but first-- who's your most important person? Unless you wanna skip that square.

[voreaciously]

I did not forget.

[Her voice is a little quietly, but her voice resumes its regular volume]

This is just for...its own sake.

[She is trying to be careful, she does not want to ruin the casual thing that they have at all. It is, truly, the only thing she really has and she does not see the irony in being so careful, fighting so hard for something that is not supposed to matter. But she does not know how else to be, she has always put the needs and comfort of others before herself if she was able to, unless it involves winning.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ He considers her for a moment... Then he takes off his boots and rolls up the hem of his pants before he joins her in the water. ]

Skipping stones?

[voreaciously]

Yes.

[and, because he's like this.]

Let us do a few, I may have an idea for a game, and we can make wagers.

[bad_crowmance]

[ He grins. ]

Alright, I'm up for that. Let's do it.

[voreaciously]

[she skips, a smooth, sharp flick of her wrist and tap tap tap tap goes the stone. Eight times, easily.

She is really holding back.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ He watches what she's doing carefully-- the flatness of the stone, the way she moves her arms, her wrist. When the rock is done skipping, he holds out his hand for a stone of his own. ]

May I?

[voreaciously]

Certainly. Pardon me, I thought you might already know how. You are very talented and good with your hands.

[bad_crowmance]

Heh! While that's true, I'm not sure if I ever had the opportunity to pick this up.

[ Still, he takes a stone and mimicks how she threw it. He gets a good four skips out of it before it falls in. ]

[voreaciously]

[Her tone is light, somewhat impressed.]

That is very good, Crow-san.

[She skips a couple more and then...]

I suppose...

[and she feels like she's betraying someone, this does not feel good. It does not feel right, but what is the alternative? What does that mean?

She doesn't want to think about it.]

The person most important to me is m--the person who is largely responsible for my existence. [very roundabout way of saying it, certainly. she skips another stone. Nine skips this time.]

She is absolutely perfect and without peer in everything she does. A true prodigy. Beauty beyond compare that sometimes drove people mad. She knows she has it, she knows she could use it, but it's such an afterthought to her. Her shoes are stained crimson with the blood of all the hearts she's trampled underfoot, left to rot in her wake, but she would never do anything as deign to look down or behind her.

[fifteen skips this time. she gives Crows stones as he needs them.]

Forward. Always, always forward. No reflections, no regrets.

One could either keep up or be left behind, she does not stop for anything or anyone. And yet...she could be standing at your side and you would be keenly aware that a universe could fill the space between.

[bad_crowmance]

[ He's listening as she speaks, absorbing every word even as he does his best to keep his face and his movements completely casual. As he gets more of a feel for skipping stones, he manages to get more hops out of them. Five, six. Eight.

He hadn't expected, with the way she sometimes spoke, that her favourite person would mimic his-- he knew it would never be "herself." He finds himself wondering who she was-- a family member? A mentor? He could ask and maybe she would even answer. Curiousity almost propels him forward, moving him to ask---

But that's too close. If she gives up the answers of her own accord, that's one thing. But if he pushes to much, asks too much... It's almost like he cares. And every single one of his instincts insists that he needs to keep that distance present.

(...What kind of life had he led that he felt such a strong need to keep people at a distance? The thought barely crosses his mind though, in and out before it's even fully formed. It doesn't matter, not right now. This is who he is.) ]

Sounds like a hell of a woman.

[ His tone's light as he says it, almost impressed.

Ten skips. ]

[voreaciously]

She is.

[And here, she misses. It's only three skips. Her lips thin and the water spits her stone back at her, as though it were something distasteful. She catches it without missing a beat and tries again. Fourteen, this time.]

If you told me she was divine and Heaven-sent, I would believe it. Her intellect, strength, ambition, ruthlessness, beauty. Anyone would kill for or in service of any one of those things at that level, and she has them all and more.

[She inhales and skips another. He's already given his opinion and she agrees with it, there's little more to be said on the matter when he cannot know such an unknowable person.

So she moves on.]

An experiment. Hm.

[bad_crowmance]

[ There's more to that story, far more. He can tell.

And he moves on. ]

Honestly, this one I'm at a loss for.

[ Unless it's in bed, but. ]

[voreaciously]

Come now, that one is not so difficult. We simply need a working hypothesis, the rest will follow. Is there anything that you have been wanting to test, of late?

[she says, like, everyone is a fucking nerd wanting to test shit]

[bad_crowmance]

[ He slides his eyes towards her, grinning. ]

Weeeeell.... ♪♫

[voreaciously]

...What do you have in mind?

nsfw i'm so sorry

[bad_crowmance]

I'm curious if I can get you to come in under five minutes... using only my mouth.

you're not sorry

[voreaciously]

[but this counts as physical affection. She's blushing, but she's also thinking about this.

Deeply.]

That is a hypothesis, yes. Um. I suppose I could use...previous data as a control, but should I already be aroused? Hm, no, I should not be, but would that even be possible...?

[please, crow, you need to stop her.]

no, i'm really not

[bad_crowmance]

[ "Deeply nerdy about sex" isn't a turn-on but it is hilarious.

Still. He silences her with a kiss, keeping his hands to himself even as his tongue moves to explore inside it. Shut up, 80H, is what that kiss is saying, with no small amount of amusement to it. ]

DIDN'T THINK SO

[voreaciously]

And--

[Oh.

Oh, this is happening right now. It takes her a moment to catch on, but she is kissing him back, eagerly.

Shutting up, Crow.

She can think of better things to do with her mouth and her tongue slips out of it to twine with his.]

[Bond][nsfw] just getting those tags out of the way

[bad_crowmance]

[ He spends a good several seconds kissing her quite thoroughly before he pulls away almost reluctantly. ]

Shall we move out of the water? I'd rather not get my clothes wet while doing this.

'-'b y they like this

[voreaciously]

[She is just as eager, following his lips a little when he draws away before focusing on the task at hand.]

I suppose that is fair. [Does she sound a little...petulant? Couldn't be.

Wait.]

...Did you wish to do it here, then?