[ it's disorienting, more than anything; waking up on the ground with a piercing, pounding headache. she tries to sit up and the pain alone almost causes her to get sick again. it takes a few moments before she steadies herself again, before she's able to get to her feet. she hates that it's not a totally foreign feeling, hates the way that this part of it, too, reminds her of aretuza. of tissaia. of information getting out. it takes her those few moments for her head to stop pounding, a few more before the pounding in her chest slows.
she supposes that there is very little, here, she should be worried about. supposes she should be grateful that most, if not all, of her secrets are already out. because the feeling of knowing she wouldn't have been able to stop it, that she wouldn't have been able to stop it. yennefer takes stock of her location, of where thancred kneels not far from her, and where stephen now stands, unsteady of his feet. she doesn't remember stephen in the memory, doesn't recall seeing him anywhere near, but then why...? ]
Stephen. [ her voice is a bit hoarse when she speaks, reaching out because he hasn't yet put it together - that the touch is what did it. that this is something happening to all of them. instead, she does reach out, sets a hand on his elbow, tries to get his attention because maybe he might have an idea of what this is, if it's singularity or if it's something else. there's something tight in her throat thinking ronan might be behind something like this again, but then her hand settles on stephen's elbow and they're somewhere else.
Stephen runs, or it's not quite Stephen, is it? Because the sign etched along the hem of his tattered cloak is that of the Chariot. And he knows he's not Stephen, knows that he's never been here before or seen any of this, knows that he's not really even choosing what steps he's taking at all.
But Stephen does run - he runs through the underbrush, through the rain. There are thoughts on his mind that aren't his, panicked fragments of sentences, of facts. It's gone and you're alone and then someone else's voice, a lower voice, a voice he knows saying you, me, and her. Stephen runs faster, more desperately, trips over the roots and shrubbery of the Continent. There was a woman, an older woman, and she'd promised him the chance to have it back. A chance he turned down. And he remembers her voice. I want your desperation crisp. You will beg me to take it from you, and I will. Blood, pouring down his palms.
Fringilla had offered for him to go with her, had shaken her head at him, as glib as ever, and he'd turned that down too. Instead, he runs through the countryside, through the rain and the forest. He screams words that should respond to him, chaos that should be his. But nothing happens. He just wants to go back, he just wants to be home, but over and over again no portal appears. Eventually, whether it's the mud or the exhaustion or something else, he falls to his knees - he falls, and he lifts his face up into the sky. The rain.
He feels the frustration and helplessness catching up with him. He knows it's happened, knows that it won't work. It's gone, his magic, his chaos. Everything.
He screams.
yennefer squeezes her hand on his elbow, tries to shake him out. she doesn't know why but she doesn't let go of him, her eyes searching his face.
whether she knows it or not, she's going to be able to ease that headache for him, when he comes to. he just has to come to first. ] Stephen.
stephen. tw; mentions of self harm
she supposes that there is very little, here, she should be worried about. supposes she should be grateful that most, if not all, of her secrets are already out. because the feeling of knowing she wouldn't have been able to stop it, that she wouldn't have been able to stop it. yennefer takes stock of her location, of where thancred kneels not far from her, and where stephen now stands, unsteady of his feet. she doesn't remember stephen in the memory, doesn't recall seeing him anywhere near, but then why...? ]
Stephen. [ her voice is a bit hoarse when she speaks, reaching out because he hasn't yet put it together - that the touch is what did it. that this is something happening to all of them. instead, she does reach out, sets a hand on his elbow, tries to get his attention because maybe he might have an idea of what this is, if it's singularity or if it's something else. there's something tight in her throat thinking ronan might be behind something like this again, but then her hand settles on stephen's elbow and they're somewhere else. yennefer squeezes her hand on his elbow, tries to shake him out. she doesn't know why but she doesn't let go of him, her eyes searching his face.
whether she knows it or not, she's going to be able to ease that headache for him, when he comes to. he just has to come to first. ] Stephen.