[OPEN] cold wind blowing beneath my wings

[coerthantorment]

WHO: Estinien Wyrmblood and YOU
WHAT: Estinien is back in the real world and not particularly happy about it, at least until he manages to meditate his way into the Horizon again. Meanwhile, his cellmate Relena goes missing and he gets very angry about it.
WHERE: In prison and also the Horizon.
WHEN: From July 24th to August 12th
NOTES: If you'd like something more specific with Estinien feel free to hit me up on the Discord or at quixocalypse.

I➔ And Back Again

The descent from the Horizon feels akin to being summoned back to a dead body, both in terms of power and relative comfort. The aches and pains of his imprisonment return with merciless acuity. While his energy had been boundless in that higher realm, here it is reduced to scraps as the ravages of hunger and exhaustion weigh down on him. It's the contrast itself that is the most jarring, along with the fact that he wakes up in shackles.

Yes, the fear that had been haunting his subconscious his entire stay in the Horizon has come back into context. This is what he'd been desperate to escape, and now that he's returned to it, he feels no less dread. Even worse is the fact that Ambrose seems perfectly chuffed with himself for what they've experienced.

Upon being returned to prison, he wonders what it was all for. Any connection to the power of the Horizon seems to be gone, and given that somehow accessing the Singularity was his one hope of escape, their return leaves him in a rather dire mood. To make matters worse, it seems that the guards haven't forgotten about his aggression on the way to the portal, and also on the way back. They decide to deny him food entirely on his first day back to his cell. He should be glad he's not been simply put back into solitary, something in his gut says.

The atmosphere around him is one of miserable defeat, during those first few days back in prison. Even during the recreational hours, his accumulated frailty can be seen. As much as he tries to flex his muscles, he soon finds himself slumping against the rec yard wall. He's tired, starving, and clinging more and more tenuously to any sort of hope. Was the Horizon an escape at all, when it was all according to the High Mage's plan?

II➔ To The Horizon

Fortunately for him, his obsession driven life means he is not one accustomed to giving up for good. It takes only a couple of days before he realizes the futility in surrender - especially when he's hardly explored all his options. The Horizon was something experienced outside the body, was it not? So why not see if the connection remains?

He spends the rest of that day attempting to sink back into the Singularity's power, carefully clearing his thoughts. He is used to stilling his mind from years of being connected to Nidhogg's eye, but it has been a while since such intense concentration was required of him. He's not sure when it happens, but finally, something clicks.

Instead of awakening on his prison mattress, he wakes in a field of rolling grass - and not long after, a pile of snuffling karakul. Everything comes rushing back. He'd remembered his time in the Horizon, but something about experiencing it again reforges the connection between those two states of mind: the mind of the dragon, and the mind of his true self. To think, that all of this had been made by his hand.

He frees himself from the overzealous affection of his flock, a lifetime of memories allowing him to better keep his reflexive fear of them at bay. He wanders the valley for a while, his memories casting all he sees in a new light. What did it mean, that his unshackled soul decided to build this? Was this what he wanted, after everything? He comes along the long bit of housing within his domain, a single-family household carefully crafted of timber, but left completely empty inside. For all the time he'd spent in the valley, he spent little time dwelling on this creation. He thinks he can understand, the emptiness of its walls resonating with a similar emptiness in his heart.

He traces his fingers along the windows, across the door, but he doesn't dare open it. Instead, he decides he'd rather go somewhere else.

Without his memories, he hadn't been particularly curious about other people's domains, mostly interested in his own creations and keeping them safe. Now, though, a lifetime of experiences draws him to the outside world. He wonders if anyone else has reawakened to this place. He traverses the Horizon on foot this time, and occasionally in soaring leaps and bounds that are nearly akin to flying. Yet, he summons no wings. He can't imagine he made a particularly good impression on anyone, the way he was before.

III➔ The Weight of Absence (Aug 5+)

And then, some days later, Relena is taken.

He doesn't know the meaning of it, at first. The guards simply come to remove her from the cell, saying it's for some manner of 'trial', and she goes, with nothing he or Himeka could do to stop it. He demands answers at the time, shouting at the guards, but receives none. Initially, he wonders if she'll be freed, much like Kay was. It'd make sense, he thinks. If the trial was just, he could see no reason for her to be put in solitary or anywhere else, and he knows she has at least one friend on the outside.

Yet, when he doesn't hear anything from her in the coming days, he can no longer rely on that hopeful thought. Kay has been allowed to come and go, just like the other guests. Would Relena not have come to speak to them, after being freed? If not for him, for Himeka or the others?

As each day passes, his frustration and worry increases. He'll start attempting to flag down any passing guests, asking if they have seen her amount the others upstairs. On the way to recreation, he will check to be sure she hasn't simply changed cells, and ask around the other prisoners.

"Relena - the girl from my cell, with the long sandy hair - the guards have taken her somewhere. Have you seen her?"

With fewer and fewer kind possibilities in his mind, he'll start turning his aggression to the guards, shouting at them to ask for her location, and trying to grab at them through the bars when they inevitably ignore him. Finally, he manages to catch sight of a guard he thinks he recognizes from the day she disappeared. He manages to catch them by the arm, dragging them back against the bars of the cell.

"Where is the girl?" he snarls.

Comments

[extremethirst]

"You had two sweeties in here?" A beat. "Guess only one."

His mouth opens as he lets out an annoyed sound. He bobs his head around as he has to accept that Relena is apparently a child, so it isn't like he could diddle Himeka while she is asking why Mommy and Daddy have different parts or whatever. Still, he's a little jealous.

But it seems like the two of them have to get serious.

Nero decides to show a small ounce of sympathy for his cousin. He breathes in deep, letting out a long, agonized sigh. His head drops as he works himself up to finally say with a sincere and consoling voice, "You might have to accept that she's dead."

[coerthantorment]

Estinien has been fighting the urge to slap this man silly on and off during this whole conversation, but the subject of Himeka and Relena is something he's much more sensitive about. Particularly Relena, on account of that she may already be lost, somewhere he was helpless to reach. They've not known each other long, everything considered, but given their last conversations...

They'd spoken of the future, of plans they might follow - everything on hold, until they were free. And if Nero's right, if she's really gone, he's already failed. She'll never get the chance to grow that he'd tried to help her believe in.

He clenches his fists.

"I'm well aware," he growls, looking away from Nero, irritated by his theatrical sigh. "If the worst has already happened... it will fall to me to be sure the perpetrators pay dearly for it."

[extremethirst]

That's the spirit!

Nero wants to break out laughing, but keeps his expression somber. He just thinks that it is hilarious that Estinien would carry out revenge for a young child that advocated peace until her dying breath. His throat vibrates pathetically as he keeps his laughter inside.

I love it.

He turns his head to let out a shaky breath, attempting to regain control over himself.

"Yeah, really chokes me up to think your little darling might be gone." He breathes in sharp and finally gets control over his desire to laugh. "So, for now, we'll just have to think of cute Himeka, huh?"

[coerthantorment]

Estinien would hate to hear that sentiment, if only because he would recognize the merit in it. As it is, he can't stand to think of how vengeance would accomplish nothing. Not when it's the only thing he has to hold onto, in sea of helplessness and despair.

His only consolation is the idea that, someday, the scales may be balanced. In some ways, it's the only coping mechanism he ever learned.

Now that he's been forced to think about it, to really confront that Relena may be beyond hope for something as pragmatic as escape plans... he can't handle Nero's line of conversation anymore. Not his weird reactions, not his disturbing ways of referring to them... he needs to be alone now, he decides.

"Spare me," he says, his voice clipped and this throat tight. "If you can find a way out, I will follow your path. Until then, we needn't discuss it further."

[extremethirst]

"Aw, we done?"

He thinks of imparting some wisdom onto Estinien. It's the same that he attempted to give to Link. The three of them are elves; they are going to outlive a lot of the people around them. They may very well outlive Thorne itself if they are unable to be returned to their "stars."

Hundreds of years will pass, the three of them might still continue to live on this fucking piece of shit world, and watch as everything around them rots and the names of everything cease to matter.

And it will just be the three of them that know the "truth" of the world and their own existence in it.

But he looks Estinien over carefully, and decides it is something better to say when he sees the light and hope drain out of his cousin's eyes. That will be when he'll be able to hear Nero's words.

"Okie dokie. I'll be sure to bring you more bread tomorrow. Try not to be too upset ... but if you are, you can probably cry your tears into Himeka's chest, right?"

[coerthantorment]

With his already spiraling mood, that is apparently one too many perverted comments than Estinien is willing to put up with. Though it is not the most cutting he could be, he certainly sounds out of patience with Nero's quirks for now.

"Get out of my sight, you cur," he says. If he had the ability, he would have disengaged from this conversation already. As it is, Nero has a captive audience, which is something else that sets him on edge.

He goes to sit on his mattress, scowling. This is stupid, anyway. He has no reason to believe that Nero is capable of anything uniquely capable of setting them free. He's just playing along with the whims of a madman at this point, out of sheer desperation for any trace of hope.

If something comes of this, he'll be shocked.

[extremethirst]

"Okay, okay..."

Nero holds his hands up in surrender as he takes steps away from the cell. He drops his head like he understands that he has gone too far, and begins to slink away like a scolded dog.

It is only when he gets further away that he realizes that he should have been attempting to convince Estinien not to use his magic. Any elf that uses magic near him will activate his seal. However, seeing how different they are from one another in looks, Nero doesn't think the elf has the same kind of magic as he has, so he didn't attempt to really get on his good side like he does with Link.

Well. Shit. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Not a great situation, but hey, the conversation could have gone worse.