This is my Kingdom Come

[PoeticJustice]

She pushed herself up from the sand by her arms, trying to keep her spine straight. A look of frustration crossed her face. Her arms trembled and, after another second, she collapsed into the sand. She didn't move from that position for a second, just wrapped her arms around her face and wiped angrilly at the tears on her cheeks.

Nearby there was an old walkman with a pair of battered headphones. The music was quiet, but playing, through the worn headphones.

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide

After wallowing in whatever she was feeling for a second, she sat up to a crosslegged position, touching the empty space in front of her throat. Her fingers traces over the various chains found there, but lingered on empty space. No hemp, no beads, no bones. She inhaled, exhaled, and a tremor went through her.

So they dug your grave
And the masquerade
Will come calling out
At the mess you made

Don't wanna let you down
But I am hell bound
Though this is all for you
Don't wanna hide the truth

More tears, this time of frustration as her hands spasmed into fists. Anger caused her to verbally snarl, slamming her fists into the sand as she did. Goosebumps covered her skin and she felt the air tighten uncomfortably around her before she shook her head.

She should just go back to her pathetic yoga attempts, but it wasn't helping today. Wasn't helping to drown out the screaming or the feeling of something missing or that she had failed. This wasn't swimming, it was treading water. And no matter how much people kept telling her she hadn't failed it felt like empty praise.

So instead she just sat, staring out over the water and with her hand around the chains.

They say it's what you make
I say it's up to fate
It's woven in my soul
I need to let you go

Your eyes, they shine so bright
I wanna save that light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how

[Chloe]

"Meow." It was a word, not a sound, pushed through a deep breath. The sand shuffled a respectful distance behind Alice's right shoulder. Hunters knew better than to sneak up on other hunters.

Chloe's shoulders and chest heaved, drenched in sweat.

"That was gutsy, you know. Challenging him. The Alpha is out of control." She wiped her forearm across her brow, holding her breath for four seconds.

"So was what you did for JD."

[PoeticJustice]

There was only the barest flickering of uncomfortable energy around her knuckles before it faded. She wrapped her fingers around her chains and closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of absence.

"Needed to be done," she shrugged. "I didn't want him to kill all of those people and I only had one really short term way of stopping him. Also, you know, everything I said was true. He is out of line and balance and the rest of that. Even if I couldn't even a little bit hope to ever beat him, maybe it would help show him a little. And he didn't even kill me, which is a better outcome than I expected, honestly."

"As for what I did for JD..." she considered and frowned, opening her eyes to look up over her shoulder. "I'm afraid I... don't know what you're referencing?"

[Chloe]

Chloe turned her hand palm up, pointing two fingers at the empty space around Alice's neck.

"That thing you never take off. You took it off." She released the clip holding up her hair and fluffed it out.

"It didn't look like it, but I was paying attention to what you and JD and the raccoon said. You'd have said something if he tricked it out of you, and I'd definitely have known if he fought it out of you, you wouldn't just throw it away, so the only option left is you gave it up for him."

Chloe gently knelt down beside her friend and lazily rolled onto her back, arching in the sunlight. "And I know how important that medal is to you. So. Gutsy. Am I wrong?"

[PoeticJustice]

"I didn't give it up for him," she said quietly. "I gave it up for this place," she gestured around herself and then up towards the AAA. "And for them."

"I like JD, most of the time. The only times I don't are when our ideals clash in a way that you'd expect, given the spirits we are the Favored of. And I recognize now all that he gave up trying to do what he had to do without breaking whatever trust and faith I had with these people. I didn't realize in the moment, but I see it now and I feel guilt that I didn't see it sooner."

"But even with that, with all of that, it still wasn't for him. It was for the same reason I challenged Amarok. Needed to be done. If Amarok is the reason we fail, it won't be because I let it happen."

"Things people told me after I gave it up lead to think... If I had made the choice to keep it... Others would have come for it. And there would have been blood. And if there had been blood, there would have been war. And I refuse to be the thing that tears those people apart if I can help it."

"These people are my Pack. They're the ones I fight beside. But Amarok is the Wolf Who Walks Alone. He has no Pack. He is a force of nature like the cold winters of old who decides which of the children will live and which will die. And his purpose important. But here, in this time and in this place, he is going to be our downfall if someone can't at least slow him down."

She looked over. "Gutsy? I don't know. I don't... feel fear like most people do. I feel purpose and drive that makes me fail to question. I feel fear when I believe I will lose those closest to me. When I feel helpless. I felt fear when you were clinging to me and shaking and speaking of the parasite crawling inside of you and I did not understand what was happening to you and I could not help. But I did not feel fear when I stepped up to challenge the wolf, even thinking he would kill me for my impudence. I felt a weary exhaustion at the thought of coming one step closer to the Dark Man when I awoke, if I awoke, and the knowledge that it would be worth it if I saved at least one of those he lunged after when he smelled the radiation on them."

She blushed suddenly and looked at her hands. "I'm sorry. I... ramble. Also understand that my perception of things is twisted and confusing..." Her hand slipped down from the chains to the dog's head medallion and that read "Always Vigilant" on the back.

[redraverfae]

"Tell me about the Alpha Wolf Dude, then."

Red has one ear-bud blasting out Kirby's Adventure, the other dangling on her chest with all the other rave necklaces and candy-coated accessories as she tromps up noisily on Chloe and Alice.

"Why do you really think he's lost it, and needs to be slowed down? Why do so many people in Whisper Hill not like him? Silence is the enemy and all that shit; 'hence why I always keep my tunes blastin', but a lack of information gets peeps killed. True story, ladies."

She sits herself down next to Alice, uninvited, with a soft 'whump' onto the rocky sand with a wince. "Man, I need a better tailbone. So? What's the dealio? You gonna tell me a story or what?"

[Kenny]

Xavier walks out of the woods. Despite the nice day he is still wearing his jacket.
"Hello there" he says looking around at them nervously "i'm not intruding am i?"

[PoeticJustice]

Alice self-consciously picked up her battered walkman and headphones. At the new whirlwind of thoughts and emotions and sound she winced once and rubbed her temple.

"Hey Raver," she said with an upnod. "I am not sure I am the best to explain, but I will if you want me to." She opened her mouth to continue when the movement of Xavier caught her attention and she tensed and grew silent.

When she realized who it was, she let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and nodded to him once. "I do not believe so," she responded. "But I could not speak for the others. I wanted to speak with you and perhaps further explain the situation anyways."

She pushed up to her feet from the ground, sliding the walkman into her pocket. A circle was walked as she explored and visible quirked her head listening for something. An annoyance crossed her face.

"Red, can you pause your music for a moment? I wish to make sure that there are not any other eavesdroppers out there who should not be listening in on this. Given the current... soup situation, I would not like to repeat earlier mistakes."

[Kenny]

As Xavier walks out of the shade of the trees a brief frown crosses his face and he pulls his hat down lower to keep the sun out of his eyes and mumbles something under his breath about never getting used to that.
He walks onto the beach and lays down on the sand close to red."well if anyone doesn't want me here let me know and ill go back to my walk in the woods"
As Alice gets up to check the surrounding Xavier says "i didn't see anyone else in the woods but i also wasn't looking"

[PoeticJustice]

((I haven't forgotten this! Promise! I may need to wait to give the full rundown until after Wrathborn this weekend tough.))