what. event one, the bonfire. time. 11:45 pm. location. off to the side of the commotion, not yet daring to enter the woods. who. winnie / @seaschimed.
something had happened to that girl. and it wasn't just the ache lodged behind his ribs, the way it hollowed him out like a cavity of grief — it was the way his breath caught on the knowledge that his cousins, skulking on the far side of the treaty line, would seize this moment like it was made for them. use it. twist it. bodhi didn’t know what happened. couldn’t know — his gift was made for holding feelings, not tracing their scent through the woods like smoke on wind. but still… something didn’t settle right. there was a wrongness threaded through the quiet, and yet no guilt curled off the people around him. no crack in their facades, no buried horror trembling beneath the surface. only the usual weight, the usual thrum. his arms were crossed over his chest, brows furrowed into a low line of concentration, of doubt, as the femme stepped toward him.
"i don't think it was them." either group — he meant them both. the leeches didn’t reek of it, not this time, no matter how badly he knew the redmaw wished otherwise. "whatever happened (whoever happened) wasn't here. i didn't feel them. i can't..." he faltered, words folding inward. his eyes slipped shut, like he could press his palm into his chest and dig through the tonnage lodged there, like something vital might give way. a small shake of his head. "i can't tell." his voice was quiet, caught on the cusp of failure. he had always believed his gift — his curse, some days — was meant to bridge the space between people. to soothe. to understand. but now it felt like a punishment, this helplessness, this inability to do anything when it mattered most. "cade's gonna use this to come after us again. taunt us." the words fell out like stone — solid, inevitable, without a trace of doubt.
