🌸FALL CATCHALL🌸

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🌸WHO: Otegine and many others
🌸WHAT: Closed prompts for Autumn including the date auction cruise
🌸WHEN: From Fall 1 through the end of the month
🌸WHERE: Various
🌸WARNINGS: some NSFW (labelled)

Hit up plotting or my contacts if you would like a closed starter! Open prompts including most bonus effects will be on the event posts!

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FALL 20 APOLOGY TOUR

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Syrlya

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[He doesn't make it home overnight. Who knows if he died or not! What a shame.

Sometime in the late morning, though, Otegine's trapsing through the front yard with fat less gusto than he'd has the day before. He sure has on a nice new outfit, but it's disheveled, his old clothes tucked against his arms.

He's not sure where his roommate even went... but he's carefully slipping into the house regardless, at least to drop his clothing off and change into something a little more... himself. A cable knit sweater in deep green, jeans (which he still can't get over as far as comfort), his normal tennis shoes... it doesn't hide all the bruises he's ended up with, but hopefully it's enough to avoid questions. Heaven forbid his former self see him like this.

Only when he's changed does he cautiously try to hunt down Syrlya. If he isn't home... well, they'll just have to have an awkward conversation after the karaoke party.]

[chronosynthesis]

[Whether it's really fortunate or unfortunate, Syrlya is hope. He's sitting at the table munching on berries, dress for the day.

So he hears the door open, and he's already side-eying the entryway as Otegine attempts to slink by.] Good morning.

[passthrough]

[He flinches as he first enters the front door, sparing Syrlya a quick glance drowning with guilt. But he doesn't say anything more, beelining for the bedroom. If he has to spend any more time in this outfit, he's going to die.

Only when he's properly changed does he slide back out to the dining room, a hesitant hand against one of the chairs without sitting down.]

Syr... About yesterday, I... uh...

Are you okay?

[chronosynthesis]

[Ah. So it's certainly worn off.]

I feel as though I should be asking you that. [He leans back in his seat.] I'm sure you're mortified about your behavior.

[passthrough]

[He whines, a whimper of a sound as he plops down to a seat and buries his face in his hands. At least he isn't hurt... he's got marks peppering his neck, but other than that he seems whole!]

W-what even happened to me, Syr? How am I going to look anyone in town in the eyes like this??

I screwed up. I screwed up so bad.

[chronosynthesis]

[Hmmmmm... Syrlya is going to be polite and not comment on the marks on his neck.]

Most likely, you were cursed by the goddess. Which is something I think most people will understand when explained to them.

[passthrough]

A-ah. I figure as much. But...

I still said such horrible things to everyone. To you, Syr... how I was treating you, how much I ended up just taking you for granted and not caring about you, I... put you in an awkward position.

[...

His head bows, hands clenching to his legs.]

I'm sorry. Sincerely.

[chronosynthesis]

You're forgiven. [Because Otegine was not in his right mind, so Syrlya doesn't hold it against him.

He does, however, hold it against the goddess.] I hope you did not come to too much harm while you were out of sorts.

[passthrough]

[His shame hasn't lifted in the slightest. But he nods his acknowledgement nonetheless.]

Something like that. I don't blame any of it... Really, I'm lucky I didn't end up worse off. I think Adelis was about ready to kill me.

[chronosynthesis]

Oh my. [Syrlya covers his mouth, suspenseful. This will either be funny or require care.] What happened with Adelis?

[passthrough]

I... I walked onto his property and started taking things from his orchard. When he came after me, I-I just... I egged him on until he started throwing weapons at me.

[It's stupid. It sounds so stupid coming out of his mouth.]

[chronosynthesis]

[Okay, it's kinda funny since Otegine seems stable. Fuck around and find out.]

As far as I know Adelis uses knives. If you need to avoid work that will pull any stitches, do let me know.

Ori

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[It feels wrong, to be standing in front of her door. But out of the dozens of horrific conversations he remembers from the day before, hers sticks out with painful clarity. Her tears, her earnest kindness, how hard she fought against his words in the only way she knew how... the utter defeat and hurt in her face when he'd dismissed her.

It has his grip hesitant against the door, his stomach in knots. How does he even start to repair this? Can he?

...

He breathes out. Breathes in. Hesitancy would never be easily fought, but... he values their relationship too much to just sit and gawk at the ground like a child.

He slips into the store, green cable knit sweater and jeans and sneakers, hair its usual mess. He's slow going, letting his gaze travel across the abundant number of plants, the way everything's laid out with care. She's... got a really pretty place here, doesn't she?

...

He's a deer in the headlights for a long moment, trying to spot her. If she isn't in the room... then he'll continue to browse, looking over each arrangement with a curious eye and staying quiet.]

[hearthwarming]

[ Ori is indeed not there at present, but a small bell hanging over the door that chimes when Otegine enters is enough to draw her out of the back room before long, her arms full with various bundles of flowers. ]

Hello there—

[ —even with the lush array of flowers and plants that fill the space of her shop, it's difficult not to immediately notice Otegine's presence. His height alone makes him easy to spot, but - well, yesterday's events have certainly left her a bit hyperaware of him in particular. Though he'd left her well enough alone after leaving her shop, for the remainder of her day, even when she trekked home, she couldn't help but wonder if she would see him again, and what he would be like if she did.

That he looks more like what she's used to seeing of him is a good sign, she thinks.

She wonders if he even remembers yesterday... And to that end of discerning as much, she says: ]

... I did say you would always be welcome here, didn't I?

[passthrough]

[He perks up to attention immediately hearing her voice, dropping his hands from the plant he was looking over.]

Ori.

[An eager step is taken forward, expression knit with concern... before he stops like a puppet on a string, expression glazing over with shame as his outstretched hand withdraws, fingers tightening and pressing into a fist against his side.

No. No, that... wasn't smart.]

A-ah. I know.

[He can't bring himself to look at her. But he lets his eyes travel the shop, slightly nostalgic.]

It's really something, you know? Everything you have here, how you're arranging things. It's like you've got your own little greenhouse to share with everyone else in here.

[One of Ieyasu's sons had loves the garden, hadn't he? He never knew Nobuyasu... but he remembers how fond Tonbokiri and Muramasa had been towards him. How gentle a soul he'd seemed. To cultivate the earth and what grew of it... it needed love, too, didn't it?

...]

You... really must have been working hard for this, haven't you?

[hearthwarming]

[ With widened eyes she watches him step forward, reaching out for her - and her foot moves forward, as if to meet him halfway - when he stops. So does she. Her arms tighten around the flowers being held in them, and her own gaze falls to the colorful blooms while she listens to Otegine, and his kind words. The sort of words she's more used to hearing from him. Perhaps... he's returned to being himself?

Or will this conversation take another turn, just like yesterday's? Will she say something wrong again, and upset him? She hates that she thinks this. She just wants things to be like before. ]

...I'm just doing my best, like everyone else here.

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...I mean, I don't think most everyone else could make a shop like this. Your best has made a lot.

It's really an honor to watch you thrive, you know?

[It aches deep, to glance over and see her not quite engaged, to remember the hurt he'd seen so vibrantly the day before. So his mouth screws shut for a long moment, before he says anything that might just add in to his pile of regret.]

...

Ori, I...

...

U-um...

[His glances towards the floor are heavy, lost, one arm against the other and shoulders tight.]

If... this isn't a place for it, then please, just dismiss me. I'll leave. But... I...

I owe you an apology. For yesterday.

[hearthwarming]

[ Is she thriving? She supposes that it's easy to think as much, when she's standing here in the midst of all of her hard work. But the truth is that everything is a work in progress. She's not a perfect businesswoman by any means. Half of the time, she doesn't really know what she's doing. All she really knows is that she hopes her flowers will bring some light into people's lives. It's all she's ever strived to do, just like with her magic. But at the end of the day, who knows if she's succeeding or thriving, when it comes to things like profits... It is all a work in progress. This endeavor is a work in progress.

Herself and M-21 - they are a work in progress.

And her friendships, too. A work in progress, just like this. And that's why sometimes, it hurts so, so much. ]

...It's alright. You... You weren't yourself yesterday, were you?

[ Even though he had kept insisting that he was just fine. She wants to believe that was part of whatever magic was at play. ]

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That doesn't matter!!

[A brief rise in pitch, a knee-jerk reaction, before his fists clench at his sides. He hates this, letting the actions if a self he didn't want to acknowledge slide under the rug as though it didn't affect people. He couldn't do that. He couldn't accept that for himself.]

I... it's not alright, Ori. I know it's not. The things I said to you, how I treated you and spoke to you and ignored what you tried to say... none of that was right.

I hurt you. It doesn't matter how I was thinking, I still hurt you, and didn't give you the respect your words deserved...

[He swallows tightly, bowing at the waist with his head dipped low. His fists shake against his knees.]

I damaged this. Us. With my reckless treatment. And I... I'm sorry.

[hearthwarming]

[ She squeezes at the flowers in her arms again when his voice pitches up, startled by the emotion charged in his words, and already her lips are parted, ready to insist that it's really alright—

But... It's not, isn't it? He's right. She'd felt so hurt - feels so hurt - because he'd pushed her away at every turn. Took her kind words and turned them against her, and made her feel so... unwanted. Despised. ]

...You're right. It's not... It's not alright. But... it also wasn't your fault. I can't hold it against you, when you weren't yourself. I can't.

[ She sets the flowers down on the counter and then walks up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. ]

I just need to know... if there's any part of you that feels the same way as the you from yesterday did.

[ If he resents her for her kindness, if he truly thinks she'll never be able to understand him... Or even if he truly meant what he'd said when he ate her chocolate. ]

1/2

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[It's a solid weight of a question, and he falls silent. He knows, now, how heavily she worries over everything, how no matter what he says she might just twist upon herself to think of what she might have done wrong. It paralyzes him in return for the longest moment. What does he even say, to help her without watching her possibly fall apart at his words?

...

But...

What can he say, other than the truth? She deserves the truth. And even if he's aware of it... he can never be in control over her worry.

...

With a slow exhale, he lifts one of his own hands to lay atop her grip against him, a careful touch as brown eyes stay towards the floor.]

I... felt a lot yesterday.

I don't understand a lot of it. I don't agree with some of it. But some of it, I...

...

2/2

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[He exhales again, taking her hand in his and bringing it in front of them.]

If... I had to tell you, over and over again, how much I love your kindness... how you light an entire room up by being gentle and caring, and how you always go out of your way to care for everybody else...

How brave you try to be, even when things scare or hurt you. How you try your best to solve what you can, even at the detriment of yourself. How deeply you feel things, and how sensitive you are to everything, and how you never think twice about using that as anything but a tool for good.

...

I'd tell you. I'll always tell you. Even if I cracked and broke under the pressure of it.

[hearthwarming]

[ The uncertainty that wraps around his entire demeanor as he stands in her shop today is... achingly familiar. She remembers this kind of confusion, the feeling of a hundred different things she'd done in a day all in a haze, coming back to her like the memories of an entirely different person. It's not the same, not at all, especially when you compare the kinds of days they had. But it's enough to make her listen to his words in earnest. He recounts what he'd said after eating her chocolate, almost verbatim - no, better than verbatim - and she finds herself recounting her own words in her mind, too, as they fall into a thick, contemplative silence.

The Ori that Otegine had seen in her memories would have all too easily brushed these words aside, and told him that he's being too kind, that she doesn't deserve it. Even now, she resists the urge to feel that his words are meant for another, for some other version of herself that couldn't possibly be the real her. But she has learned, since those days when she was so unsure of herself, to accept these words. Even if she doesn't believe in it fully, or all the time. She has learned that it's enough to know others believe in her, and her faith in those people is what guides her. In those dark days, it was her love and loyalty for her friends who so fervently wanted her to come into her own that helped her accept what she could be - what they saw her to be.

She only wishes she could be the same for him. But she realizes, thinking back on what the Otegine of yesterday had told her, that she can be obtuse. That there are things she may never truly understand. It hurt so much to hear it at the time, but... Maybe it's okay if she doesn't understand. Maybe she never will understand. The most important thing is for her to be able to be the kind of friend that Otegine needs - not the kind of friend that she thinks he needs.

After a while, she takes a deep breath. She moves her hands in his to grasp at them and give them a gentle squeeze. ]

Otegine... That means a lot to me. Really. And, I... I have to apologize, too. I was... Stubborn, yesterday. I didn't mean to brush aside how you were feeling about some of the things I said. I think I was confused by how you were acting, but still, I... I should have listened.

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Eh?

[She's apologizing?

He doesn't interrupt her, letting the warmth of his hands stay steady in her grip.]

Ori... no, no, it's okay. Don't feel bad about anything you said yesterday.

Just because I wasn't thinking straight doesn't mean you did anything wrong, or that you didn't try to understand! Even if you'd done everything perfectly... I don't think I would have listened. Not like that.

[He tries to lean down, to get a good look at her, to catch her gaze with his own.]

Please... I know it's easier said than done, but don't start blaming yourself. I'm not going to.