[ she's quiet, giving camille what space she needs. but the concern is clear on her face, and she reaches out to place a light hand on her shoulder. perhaps inadvisable, but sometimes instincts take precedence of consideration. ]
...Would you like to talk about it? It's all right if you'd rather not.
Mm. [Camille doesn't turn into the touch. Doesn't turn away from it either. She's not sure if her theory about talking it out erasing the words is real or coincidental. This one needs to get gone quick.
At the mercy of strangers, once again. She turns her head, catching eyes.]
[ she nods. she knows it's not really her business, but... she also knows how lonely and self-defeating it can be to sit with the very worst of your thoughts.
sometimes it just helps to air them, rather than let them be indefinitely tangled in your heart. ]
[Refectory it is. They grab a small bite and a pair of seats, finding a blissfully vacant mess hall for their clandestine use. Camille settles with elbows on the table and her hair fanned over her back, eyes on Aqua.]
I have to confess, I can't make heads or tails of yours.
[ she smiles somewhat wryly. there are so many words, my god. i chose this. and they're still all interwoven together, ugly like a bruise. ]
...Before I arrived here, I was trapped in a dark place. Time didn't pass there, and it was like walking through an endless dream I couldn't wake from.
[Brilliant journalism at work, repeating exact phrasing. Camille runs her mind back over memorized scraps of her profile. There were just vague allusions to fantasy. Some stuff about locks and keys. She liked a raspberry ice cream flavour, or at least she thinks. Nothing illuminating.]
Some form of the afterlife, or were you put there by some kind of force?
[Camille listens, attentive. The furrow between her brow is lightly perplexed but the tight line of her lip is heavily mortified.]
So, ten years. Ten years of being in a black abyss? [Her head shakes in horror.] How did you not lose your mind? What about your friend, did you get them out?
[It's beyond the scope of her imagination. The best she can equate it to is falling into a deep crevice, somewhere distant in the mountains. Leg stuck or broken, dead phone, not a soul nearby. Even that's not quite right. Maybe a captive in a dungeon, without even a guard to sneer at you as he drops off your daily slop.
It's horrifying. Thinking about the hours inching by, dripping into days and ghoulish years. Camille is very quiet.
She reaches out. Takes the other girl's hand, light and soft.]
I guess any escape is a good one at that point. [I'm sorry.] You're a stronger person than most, bearing through all that alone.
[And now it's her turn. Camille grimaces, eyes flitting down.]
...Well. One was killed. The other became a killer.
[ her smile is small but appreciative, and she wraps her hand around camille's.
her grip then tightens, as the following words evoke the feeling of ice creeping down her spine. her eyes widen slightly—despite having seen the words on her, the context is somehow worse than she could've imagined.
there's losing a loved one to accidents, to natural catastrophy... but this is different. malicious.
she's just quiet for a moment, letting the terrible weight of that sink in, and she brushes her thumb across the back of camille's hand. ]
[Camille squeezes back. Her eyes are still elsewhere, voice as distant as her stare.]
My editor Curry and his wife laid out the welcome mat for me. Moved in with them a year ago to get my act together, and they've been nothing but saints to me since.
[ she repeats, expression soft. she's glad there are people there for camille, though she has to wonder what other scars haven't been made apparent by the ink, yet.
and a year is not that long, but aqua genuinely hopes it's been kind to her, given all that she's lost. ]
...They're probably worried sick about you. You must miss them, too.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Give her a moment. Clear up her throat a bit.]
At least that one's self-explanatory.
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...Would you like to talk about it? It's all right if you'd rather not.
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At the mercy of strangers, once again. She turns her head, catching eyes.]
I am if you are.
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sometimes it just helps to air them, rather than let them be indefinitely tangled in your heart. ]
Sure, I don't mind. Let's find somewhere to sit?
[ the refectory, perhaps. ]
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[Refectory it is. They grab a small bite and a pair of seats, finding a blissfully vacant mess hall for their clandestine use. Camille settles with elbows on the table and her hair fanned over her back, eyes on Aqua.]
I have to confess, I can't make heads or tails of yours.
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[ she smiles somewhat wryly. there are so many words, my god. i chose this. and they're still all interwoven together, ugly like a bruise. ]
...Before I arrived here, I was trapped in a dark place. Time didn't pass there, and it was like walking through an endless dream I couldn't wake from.
[ nightmare, more like. ]
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[Brilliant journalism at work, repeating exact phrasing. Camille runs her mind back over memorized scraps of her profile. There were just vague allusions to fantasy. Some stuff about locks and keys. She liked a raspberry ice cream flavour, or at least she thinks. Nothing illuminating.]
Some form of the afterlife, or were you put there by some kind of force?
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I fell into the Realm of Darkness to save my friend. I've been stuck there ever since... Until I made it here.
[ also sorry this is retconning timelines a bit because she technically told camille this during the mini event, but ]
When I mentioned I was older than I looked, that's what I meant.
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So, ten years. Ten years of being in a black abyss? [Her head shakes in horror.] How did you not lose your mind? What about your friend, did you get them out?
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I can't say I ever wanted to come here of all places, but in some ways I'm lucky I did.
[ she only thinks this because it's w0 monday ]
...I was able to save him from being trapped with me, but he's gone missing.
[ she takes a pause. that's enough kh for now. ]
But what about you? What happened to your sisters...?
Spoilers from here on
It's horrifying. Thinking about the hours inching by, dripping into days and ghoulish years. Camille is very quiet.
She reaches out. Takes the other girl's hand, light and soft.]
I guess any escape is a good one at that point. [I'm sorry.] You're a stronger person than most, bearing through all that alone.
[And now it's her turn. Camille grimaces, eyes flitting down.]
...Well. One was killed. The other became a killer.
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her grip then tightens, as the following words evoke the feeling of ice creeping down her spine. her eyes widen slightly—despite having seen the words on her, the context is somehow worse than she could've imagined.
there's losing a loved one to accidents, to natural catastrophy... but this is different. malicious.
she's just quiet for a moment, letting the terrible weight of that sink in, and she brushes her thumb across the back of camille's hand. ]
...I'm so sorry.
Have you had to bear that alone, too?
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[Camille squeezes back. Her eyes are still elsewhere, voice as distant as her stare.]
My editor Curry and his wife laid out the welcome mat for me. Moved in with them a year ago to get my act together, and they've been nothing but saints to me since.
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[ she repeats, expression soft. she's glad there are people there for camille, though she has to wonder what other scars haven't been made apparent by the ink, yet.
and a year is not that long, but aqua genuinely hopes it's been kind to her, given all that she's lost. ]
...They're probably worried sick about you. You must miss them, too.