#venturezone

————  “ Please tell me you aren’t dead… ”  ›› @venturezone​

VANIEL’S EYES cracked open blearily , and were not amused at what they saw. 

dead ? no. perhaps on the doorstep of such , but not while she had any say in it. she wasn’t wounded , she thought , past what was to be expected , but her head and back throbbed violently , and she felt her body tremble with what might have been fever. she didn’t feel equipped to check at this moment , hazy and winded , but she knew she’d need to soon. couldn’t let a fever go unattended. 

it should have been night by now. she’d returned late from her watch at the hospital , had stopped by the river to wash herself and her uniform properly , and had slipped into her quarters nearing one in the morning. where she was was not her quarters ; she’d be hard-pressed to tell you if it was even night. wherever she was looked to be underground , or ... perhaps caved in. ruins ? what would lead her there ? vaniel took a few deep breaths , just enough for her head to quit spinning , and felt at her pulse : erratic heartbeat , slight fever , nothing necessitating magic quite yet. as long as she remained lying down , she thought she might be fine.

cassandra had never seen any children like her before come around to the two-story, seemingly abandoned house in the middle of the woods. the closest thing she had seen was the two teenagers who threw rocks at her windows. ( the thought of that itself made her want to burst into tears. ) seeing a boy walking toward her house with the invisible sensor she somehow had cast without realizing it, it made her falter. it had been so long since she had seen anyone else, even longer since she had seen another kid who looked to be about her age. she wasn’t sure what to do about it. would they be as hostile as the adults tended to be? had they heard of the rumors about the monster in the woods and looked to kill her, too?

she sat on the floor, kneed curled up to her chest, just under the window of the second-story bedroom she called hers. opening the window just a crack, she tried to figure out what to say. she usually had something planned, just in case-- saying no one was home, calling herself a passing robin, but these seemed to leave her in the moment.

————  “ i need you to stay awake for me, okay? keep your eyes open. ”  ›› @venturezone​​

ELI WHINED , pitiful and mewling , and that was all. 

when he opened his eyes for the second time , too-strong arms bound to the bloody patch on the front of his shirt , he was able to keep them that way a little longer. mama’s words ( stay awake , keep your eyes open ) rattled around his head , a nice reminder that being lucid was on purpose - if it was up to him , he’d have drifted back into the inky black the second he surfaced , closed it up around him , hid from the nauseous pain that bubbled and rolled through him. his hands , slick with too many types of blood , felt shakily for the wound , weaved past mama’s fingers to find the source for himself. his fingers found purchase on the gash - without seeing it , he estimated it wrapped halfway around his stomach , shallow , but long and wide and painful. He whined again , and it sank into a groan , his breath coming out in miserable pants and heaves. consciousness was not a blessing. mama had it wrong. 

————  “  I saved your life, you saved mine. We’re square. ”  ›› @venturezone​

“ YOU CAN say that all you want , tarkesian , but that don’t mean i gotta agree. “ bim mused into his beer , the lip of the bottle never straying far from his own. the baseball game on the radio drowned out most of the uncomfortable background noise , but made it damn hard to concentrate on his own thoughts - whatever. leo asked for it on , and if leo wanted it on , it would stay on , as much as bim thought neither of them really cared. it was noise , and it kept things from feeling tense between them. it kept bim from saying what was really on his mind. 

and what was really on his mind ? how erratic leo had been behaving ? ever since bim had ... ever since , leo’d been a little more careful , a little less willing to toss himself into danger , for both of their sakes. but the last few weeks, he’d been coming back more than a little banged up ; more bruises , less energy , shittier attitude than normal. he hadn’t expected it to come to a head so quick - judging how leo had staggered in the door this morning , bim didn’t think he had either. it made him feel ... guilty , somewhat. like he should be out there too , despite leo’s dismissal , that he should be doing more for this cause they were both too wrapped up in. the most bim could do was patch up his assorted wounds and call him off of work for once - even that was recieved with reluctance. 

he actually has to take a moment to process what the director has just said to him, sitting back in his chair and peering down at his hands. he initially came to bug her about something - a topic apparently so inconsequential that merle has forgotten it all together. he did not expect the conversation to take this kind of turn, but one thing lead to another, and he began to vent to the woman about some things he’d been harboring within him for what felt like months. 

“lucretia, i...” merle’s voice drifts off as he raises his gaze to look up towards the other once more. his hazel eyes are glossy, a sight that is surprisingly rare. the cleric has always been good about keeping these kinds of emotions to himself, but perhaps that’s the exact reason he’s let himself respond in such a way. sure, he could probably vent his little heart out to the guys and get a helpful response back, but something about hearing that come from lucretia was drastically different.

————  “ This is no place to take a nap. ”   ›› @venturezone​

I KNOW , eli thought. I know. 

his brain and his mouth did not want to connect. he could not begin to tell minerva what sort of state he was in - he was barely able to show his new rise to consciousness , the slow and rhythmic expand of his chest turning to something more violent as he struggled for air. not because he’d been deprived of it , but because he was compensating for what he’d lost - breathing easily did not suit his panicked state of being , whatever terror his mind had been grappling with before darkness turned slowly into light. his head throbbed. he could smell iron. there was a wet spot on his forehead that he predicted was a casualty of being on the kitchen tile.

he was scared. minerva’s presence alone was soothing , but minerva couldn’t do a damn thing for him. couldn’t call for help. couldn’t keep a wavering hand out while he brought himself to his feet. couldn’t do anything but sit and talk and likely not have a clue anything is wrong if he couldn’t bring himself to move , and all that for only three minutes. 

eli swallowed , and grounded himself , and hesitantly pushed himself onto his elbows. with time he could get his legs underneath him. for now , he just kept his eyes closed and his breath easy. 

@venturezone + hold angus’ hand!

short legs have an equally short stride and angus struggles to keep up. they’re in a rush, following a rather time sensitive lead in a bustling port city before the ship that most likely houses the person they’re looking for, one with crucial information on the possible location of a grand relic, takes to the sea for the next seven weeks. it’s true, they don’t know for sure if the dragonborn man they’re looking for is even in the city, but angus has a hunch, and magnus knows he’s very often mistaken. though, detective work has never been an exact science.

smoke rises above the buildings and, before he can point out to his companion that it looks like the ship is about to disembark, angus feels a tug on his arm. big hands clasps around his and, almost pulling him right off the ground, magnus is tugging him along with great speed. when it’s clear he can’t keep up, he’s quickly swept up, up, up onto magnus’ shoulders, giving him a clear view above the crowd and allowing his friend to break into a run.

       💬  @venturezone​​​​ ASKED ;  ❝ if you wanna talk, i’m here. ❞ ( magnus @ lup / venturezone )

     Why would she talk about when she knew her anger was misplaced as it always tended to be. Some side comment Barry had made about something that she blew up about. Lup hated this, because she wanted to apologize but she always struggled with the words and getting the point across. It was good with Barry because he knew. He could read her. It made things easier. But, he couldn’t stop her from shouting and storming off. And in any other situation, she knew what to say, but when it came to apologizing, she’d rather act like it didn’t even happen.