painfell: (✦ 03)
𝑮𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑺 ([personal profile] painfell) wrote in [community profile] sranks2023-02-15 11:38 pm

alear deserves better

( do we need a catchall?? too bad. catchall for alear and griss. )
lyration: (💍 one)

[personal profile] lyration 2023-03-28 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, now he gets that eyeroll, but it seems more fond than anything??? It's fine.]

Don't get ahead of yourself, Griss. I'm paying off a debt and nothing more. But...I promise I will, yeah.

[And for a moment, Alear pauses at that. Lets the quiet settle over the room, and her brow seems to furrow a bit as she thinks. Griss will likely be able to see all of it, and when she looks to him next, her tone is serious.]

...But you know what that means for you, right?
lyration: (💍 fifteen)

1/2

[personal profile] lyration 2023-03-28 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
[...

Alear doesn't know what she expected.]
lyration: (💍 seven)

[personal profile] lyration 2023-03-28 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
...It means you're not allowed to die.

[She stops herself from adding onto that, but she says that with conviction. It's like a demand, an order she'd issue to attack, but there's determination in it.]

No matter what we face, no matter what comes next...I don't want you to die out there. I'm not going to ask you to stop protecting Zephia, or anything like that, but...I don't want you to be reckless in the coming battle. I want you to still be around when it's all over.

[The conviction stops there, and she hasn't stopped looking at him until now. She's not sure why those words feel like they've got her chest in a vicegrip, but she leans away from him and averts her gaze, suddenly just...very, very unsure.]

...Can you promise that, Griss?
lyration: (💍 four)

[personal profile] lyration 2023-03-28 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
[She's said too much. That silence hangs in the air for far longer than Alear wants, and for a moment she wonders if she's gone too far. Too far where? Alear doesn't know, but the vicegrip on her chest grows tighter and tighter, and for a brief moment she wonders if her heart might burst. She doesn't know why. Was it something she said? She just wants him to be careful. That's all it is. That's all it has to be, right? It's nothing more...right?

When Griss finally speaks up, it does nothing to release the hold on her chest. It lightens, if only briefly, but the grip of something else replaces it. She's not sure what; she's not sure she wants to know what. But...]


I promise. [It comes out breathless when she says it.] I promise that I'll do everything I can to be careful. We're going to put an end to my Father's ambitions, and at the end of it all, we'll both be alive to tell the tale. I promise, I'll do everything I can to make it so.

[Alear's hand seems to move on it's own--she's not sure why, but she's become so used to reaching out to him. But this isn't a hand meant to pull him up, off of the ground where they both lay tired. This isn't the hand of an apology, before one's final breath.

Alear doesn't know why she reaches for one of Griss's hands, but she lays it atop of one of them, like a tangible promise. Her skin is going to positively burn later, in embarrassment; it's already starting to now. But...]


...Thank you, Griss. It means a lot more than I can express.
lyration: (💍 seven)

[personal profile] lyration 2023-03-30 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
[Alear doesn't let go; she doesn't think she could even if she wanted to, but something about that gesture makes her heart jump to her throat. The unfinished sentence, everything about this--]

I won't. I'm going to look forward to the future, and to what will come of it. Because I know we're going to win.

[She should let go. She doesn't want to let go or move her hand, or do everything, despite the tension that feels like it's building. Towards what? Alear doesn't know, but...

...]


But...hey. Mind if I give something to you? Not a new scar or anything, but something else.
lyration: (💍 nine)

[personal profile] lyration 2023-03-30 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
[Alear has always kept the Pact Ring close to her; she always does. She keeps it wrapped up and on her person, as a precious memory and something to share with others, should the day come. It's cultural significance isn't lost on her, but Alear wants to derive her own meaning from it.

And...

She doesn't know if she's found it, but she's found someone she wants to give it to. That's meaning enough, right?

She only pulls away to grab something out of her pocket; what she holds out to him is a wrapped up box. A little messily wrapped, but still enough to carefully secure it's contents.]


Now, you're not allowed to open this until we've won, okay? I'm gonna hold you to it. But...when we win, you can unwrap it and come talk to me. Does that sound fine to you?
lyration: (💍 three)

[personal profile] lyration 2023-03-30 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeah, yeah, she didn't see it and she isn't smirking slightly. Nope. Not at all, all in your imagination.]

I appreciate it, Griss. Just think of it as something else to look forward to, when our battle is finally won.

[Because it will be, and soon. Alear has a pretty strong feeling about that.]