cumulative | marina [pcs]

Kind of lucky then, no need to move much.

[ it is very convenient. her hair is completely down today, and it certainly is an attempt to hide the edges of some inky words, even as they crawl over her fingers from time to time like a terrible little marquee. ]

... Already having a rough morning too, huh? With this weird stuff on our skin...?

I... I think that must be what they meant by... the magic here.

[thanks he hates it!!]

Yeah it's... it's really not ideal.

[ she won't purposefully try and read it, but she does try and look him over a little at least. ]

... Figured I'd distract myself a bit. I got a book from one of the masked folk from yesterday. You wanna join me?

O-oh, you... did...? I was talking to one of them about stories...

[three way handshake let's start a BOOK CLUB except he doesn't know what a book club is

when she looks him over, she'll catch his tattoo shifting a bit. it reads 'camille'.]

Seems like they don't mind getting us things if we need them, so... maybe we can slowly build up a collection between the both of us, hm?

[ ah. and there it is. on her own arm, a morphing, twisting series of words that ooze quietly as her fingertips move. coward and traitor interchanging themselves. ]

We'll weather this...

I-I wish we could at least... cover them...

[he shakes his head, trying to move his hand to cover where his own tattoo has moved to. come on!!! let him hide things!]

Yeah, not my ideal way of getting to know people right out the gate. Bit like being dunked headfirst into cold water.

... I won't bring it up if you don't want. But I also don't mind hearing you out.

I'm not very used to... getting to know people, already...

[TRULY being thrown in the fucking deep end here.]

Um, but i-it's... complicated.

Then it must be a lot - all of us here clamoring.

[ she just kind of laces her inked up fingers together. ]

I think... a lot of these are complicated. Not like we don't have the time, though.

It is. I usually... stayed inside...

[so this is SO MUCH. god.]

A-and this is so... hard to avoid.

Yeah, they've made a real spectacle of it all.

[ a beat... she thinks about this and just. takes a very big breath, letting it out slowly as she gazes at one of the windows of the church. these things on their skin aren't easy to talk about, but she thinks about it, and she decides maybe... maybe it's worth it. ]

I'll tell you a story. My father. He was a big name priest back in Prehevil... performed all kinds of old rituals and rites to try and earn favor with the old gods.

[ she slowly rubs at her knuckles. ]

It's tradition, for a dark priest's first born son to take on his mantle, and all of those rites and rituals, hoping for gods steeped in pain to gaze upon them. [ a pause ] ... But my mother wasn't into that kind of thing. Don't know why my father married her - maybe just to secure an heir.

[ the words elongate, shift, twist, still the same just bigger, worse, up her arms like fetid roots. ]

She gave birth to a son, and she lied to my father. Said that she had born him a daughter instead. And she raised me just like that. He's called me a traitor and a coward for abandoning "his ways", but... I'd rather see death than become some bug-eating misanthrope that'd sell my own flesh and blood to hell for just a sliver of power.

Th-that's....

[he's horrified as he listens to that story, to the way she describes the things her father wanted her to take on; it's enough to make someone queasy, thinking about it. what could be important enough, to go so far? what would make a person desire power so badly-?]

I think... it's very brave of you, to know that you weren't willing to do those things a-and... refuse what he wanted.

[that's the opposite of cowardice. he's wrong.

another bit of that is curious to him, though, and he can't help but ask-]

U-um, if I may ask... is it strange for you, to have been raised as... something else? F-forgive me if this is too personal, but I had never heard of...

You may. [ a little smile flickers over her mouth as she shakes her head a bit. she doesn't seem to mind. ] I wanna get to know you... so I think it's only fair I share the complicated and uncomfortable times.

[ to show safety. lacing her fingers together, she looks towards them and smiles a bit, self-satisfied. fuck you, old man. ]

My mother raised me as a daughter from birth - and as I grew up, I felt like it was right, even if I was perhaps... different from my peers. Maybe I was simply born under the right soul to do just that.

So no, it was never strange for me...

Oh...

[he listens quietly, curious. it would have been unpleasant to be raised a way she didn't actually feel was right, but if she felt like it was, then-- that's what's important, isn't it? mathis might not necessarily understand, but she sounds satisfied.]

Th-then I'm... glad it didn't feel as if you were living as someone you weren't.

[ a small nod, and a very gentle shoulder nudge. ]

I... don't regret it. Not one bit. I think living with the decisions made for you can be difficult, but ultimately... you should live your own life. Best you can.

marina [pcs]

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