Run Me Like a River

“NORMAL STRONG WILL DO,” he replies. he goes to sit down, pushing his hood from his head to reveal dark, stringy hair. it’s dirty. he doesn’t get the chance to wash often.

“MY… MY DAUGHTER… HER NAME WAS TOVE AS WELL. NOT A COMMON NAME. ARE… DO YOU HAPPEN TO BE ESTRANGED FROM YOUR FATHER?” fool. he thought he’d know his daughter when he saw her. perhaps he was losing his touch. 

“WOW!” tove’s eyes widened, a mushroom sprouting from her hair that she absently plucked out to add to the mixture, the pestle not even pausing despite her not holding it. “what a funny coincidence- your daughter is named tove and good with plants and i am named tove and i am good with plants.” a fox barks with laughter as tove adds some oil to the mixture. 

“MY…MY DAUGHTER ALWAYS HAD A KNACK FOR IT TOO. THAT I REMEMBER.” he smiles to himself and then at the crow who waddles towards him. pretty bird. always a good sign when you met a friend of the birds.

“HELLO, THERE,” he says, leaning down to scratch at the crow’s head. 

looking up, he asked another question. “MY NAME IS STEN LUND. WHAT’S YOURS?”

          tove hums beneath her breath as she grinds the herbs and mushrooms into a tea form. “did you want this extra strong or just a normal strong?” her hands gave off a light glow as she held them over the bowl.

Reaching out to gently brush her fingers over Munin’s feathers with a soft smile, Guanying fell silent for a moment before she spoke, describing the hairpin. “It’s silver and has beaded orange and pink tulips on it,” she explained, her free hand coming up to rub the back of her neck. 

over the eight or so years since the doom happened, sten had come across many strange powers among those affected. he could turn into a dragon. who was he to judge a girl who could grow mushrooms?

she seemed familiar in a way he couldn’t place, but he pushed that from his mind. he needed to sleep. focus on finding his daughter. 

“VALERIAN AND THE MUSHROOMS,” he responded with a grin. “YOU ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO GROW MUSHROOMS, OR IS THIS A RECENT DEVELOPMENT?”

rising to her feet, tove begins to gather the requested ingredients into a little bowl. “i have always had good luck growing things, but this-” and she pauses to raise her arm as several more mushrooms unfurl. “this is relatively new.” munin caws, hopping down to the floor to waddle to the man. “it came in very handy during my travels here.” and to emphasize her point, she leaned over and bit off what appeared to be a chanterelle. 

STARTER for @eridanuus​ ( tove ) from STEN

“I’VE BEEN TOLD YOU’RE THE PERSON TO GO TO FOR HERBS TO HELP SLEEP,” he says, ducking his head as he entered her hut.

“I’M WILLING TO PAY.”

          “you have come to the right place!” tove wiggles with no small amount of excitement as munin crows from his perch, large black wings flapping in time to her arms. “i have a lot of good things for sleep. chamomile, lavender, poppy, valerian- and some of these mushrooms,” she pulls back the fabric draped over her arms and several small mushrooms with a deep purple and gold coloring sprout from her skin. 

she almost convinces him to take the bowl, but then she talks about adding mushed up beetles, and he can’t help the wrinkling of his nose.  no matter how distraught he may be, miłosz is first and foremost a bard, used to certain levels of…well, civilised food.  “ah, well, i appreciate the thought, but surely munin brought the acorns for you to eat, not some broken bard you feel sorry for,” he demurs, giving her a soft smile.  there’s a hint of genuineness to it, even through all the other emotions wracking him.  “it’s a pleasure to meet you, munin and…?”

“Thank you,” Guanying said with a small smile, accepting the stick and tucking it into her hair. “It’s just..it was my mother’s and…it’s honestly the last thing of hers I have so…” 

With a small shrug, she held a hand out to the raven. “Would he mind if I pet him?” she asked softly. 

“MY DISGUISE IS FINE,” he grumbles. “ALWAYS WORKED WHEN VERAX DID IT.” he huffs softly before he hands his head a bit. he looks about the tavern, and in his emotional state, he truly thinks he might be better living in the woods.

“THAT MIGHT WORK. THOUGH, THE SQUIRRELS WOULDN’T BE RAW. I’D COOK THEM.” he frowns and sits down, shoulders slumped like they held the weight of the world on them. he leans back and looks up at his sister, trying to see if she was actually right.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN QUEEN. PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BULLIED THE HILAKI GENERAL INTO RUNNING AWAY. EVEN IF HE WAS POSSESSED BY…WHATEVER’S IN ME NOW.” he sighs again.

“I JUST DON’T WANT TO BE LIKE THE GENERAL. I DON’T WANT TO LEAD ARELLA INTO A WAR BECAUSE I’M POSSESSED BY SOMETHING PSYCHOTIC.” he ought to call on the shadow lord. mirza might know something. though faust would owe him plenty. 

“I’M SCARED, SIS. AND I’M NOT FUCKING AROUND. I’M SCARED.”

“my darling wonderful stupid brother,” ophelia took a deep breath as she considered her next words. “i adore you with my entire heart and will always love and cherish you. if my son wasn’t born, you would be my number one priority in my life, but you’re not the smartest man. you definitely think with your heart rather than your brain, which is why you are king and i am not.” her smile dims into something more genuine than her default teasing one. “but, sometimes you think with your heart too much and forget that you have a brain rattling inside that massive skull of yours.”

who: open where: anywhere

“I lost my favorite hairpin, could you help me find it?” Guanying gave the other person a pleading look. The hairpin in question had been her mother’s before she’d died, and if it was lost for good, she’d be absolutely heartbroken. 

faustus sighs and looks to his sister. he’d have to find a way to tell her what was happening. thus, his disguise. or well, a disguise for the new people. most of the veterans had expected the hood and kohl from the former bastard prince turned bastard prince mercenary turned bastard king turned…whatever he was now.  

“I’M IN DISGUISE,” he said, low and rasping, rolling his eyes in something like annoyance. “I’M HERE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH ME. AND THAT I’M PROBABLY NOT SAFE TO BE AROUND AT THE MOMENT.” ever the charmer, that one.

“I’VE ALWAYS FOUND WITCHES TO BE RATHER EXCITING,” she says with a laugh. rúna already likes the woman before her, funny in her rambling stories. now that renat was dead, she needed more to fill her life other than her dear wilbeth. “I MUST ADMIT, THOUGH, FRIEND. I HAVE NOT HAD HALLUCINOGENIC MUSHROOMS BEFORE. I’VE HAD BAD CHICKEN ONCE. TERRIBLE, THOUGH. I WOULDN’T SUGGEST IT IF YOU CAN HELP IT.”

“i am sad,” he huffs back at her, still rubbing at his eyes.  “does it truly matter that much to you?”  he finally looks up at the other person, a little startled to see a curious blonde woman with a crow on her shoulder.  a crow.  it almost makes him laugh incredulously, because she almost reminds him of fairytales his mother had told him as a wee babe.  “uhm.  what kind of soup?  and you better not be sick.  i can’t afford to lose my voice,” he replies, watching her with a little bit of wariness.  

          “i can’t say i don’t understand a busy life, just as the refugees storm the taverns they are in need of aid.”  the healer smiles gently as she packs away her herbs and cloth into her basket, glancing at the two children with fondness in her eyes. “i understand the feeling, my dear.”

the room is spinning, but magnus revels in the chaos. he’s been here plenty of times before, in fact he’s done some of his finest work drunk as anything. it’s practically a state of being at this point. the voice doesn’t alarm him, in fact in piques his interest. he can’t remember how he got here, did he come with her? he’d be surprised with himself, even with everything he’s capable of. “maybe you paid extra for a little ‘company’, huh?” he teases, his voice gruff. “it’s how i live, that’s for fucking sure. what’re you then? country royalty?”

miłosz + ??? , main square

miłosz finds himself sitting on a low wall overlooking the square, absently watching the people milling about, trying to figure out what they were going to do now.  he knows he could be helping, but…he can’t make himself get up and actually put one foot in front of the other.  just getting here had worn him out, but everyone had insisted he get fresh air after locking himself in his room since their boat landed.  fuck, his eyes were watering again.  he lets out a frustrated grunt and scrubs at his traitorously leaking eyes, not really realizing he’d been a bit louder than he’d expected.

“AHHH,” he starts, protest in his voice, but it quickly dies down as his sister starts talking. she says something vaguely familiar and then follows up with cheese and grapes, so he goes to grab some as she commands. he realizes how hungry he is and then starts on the meat. in some ways, he’ll always be the common boy born of some king.

with his mouth full, he replies, “IT’S REALLY GOOD.” what? it is. “HOW’S THE TAVERN BUSINESS GOING?”