Closed A Reef and a Croft

[Linie Moonreef]

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Linie watched the fight in the same manner as someone who cared for animals would watch a dog fight. Fear, anxiety, and a touch of anger. Thankfully Alex seemed to have a little more of an upper hand, not fully but he now had some sway over the battle field. His words
"You're about to see what I can do with it."
Were chilling and something about it excited Linie. She was about to watch someone good with a sword fight, rather than her clumsy, unpracticed swing Alex used his sword like a man with a reason. Someone who knew how to fight. He was angry, cold, electric. The sound of metal on metal rang through the atrium. She winced as Alex blocked the first strike and then the second, expecting Alex to get hurt and remembering when she had went up against the rat-faced man. Finally Alex slashed his chest and went for his knees, incapacitating the man. She jeered as Kenny fell to the ground.

Linie was impressed to Hai when he managed to slap back the dagger into Kenny's shoulder. That couldn't have been done twice. When Alex came over to her she looked up to him shyly as he checked over her wounds. A brief moment of intimacy passed between them.
"Aye I'll be fine, really. None were too deep."
In all reality they had already stopped hurting fiercely, now only really hurting when she moved.
"I may be needin' to sit down though."

She jumped when Kenny got up and yelled his threats, causing her to gasp with pain from moving her abdomen. The smile was strange on his face.
'Sorry for what?'
The light came into his hands once again. She expected the sword but in its place was a bow and a singular arrow. Kenny was coming fast towards them but with a well placed shot the arrow pierced his heart, sending him flying backwards and slumped in a heap. He was dead. The pace of her heart was still quickened as she watched his body turn to black dust and be swept away by the breeze, the only thing left to make it known that anything had transpired here were their wounds.
"Aye, memories."
She said, only half listening, still transfixed on the spot where the rat-faced man's body used to be. She came to when he thanked her.
"Thank me? I was gettin' slaughtered out there, you be the one who was savin' me! Though, I suppose I did get one shot in."
She chuckled.
"But you did pretty much all the work. So thank you."
His arms were red from blood.
"Really I should be checkin' up on ye! You took more damage than I, you're still bleedin'!"
She grabbed his arm above where the cuts were and inspected it, nothing life threatening on him either; but she still knew it had to hurt like all Hai.
"Will you be okay? Who was that guy?"

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Alex shifted his gaze lightly checking over the cuts and any deep damage. Thankfully it wasn’t to the point of endangerment but they were still going to suck.
Though her reaction to him thanking her wasn’t something he fully expected. At least not with her reaction from when they first met. She did get her one shot in as she said, but if she’d been a second later he’d of had his neck opened from ear to ear. She probably didn’t know that but could possibly infer it. However her shifted actions told him that as much as her wounds were causing her pain she was a little more shocked about the ones that littered him.

He really didn’t take as much damage as her, though it was true he was still bleeding if even one of those cuts on her was any deeper than it was, she’d be in a seriously dangerous spot. Testing out his arms Alex grimaced lightly as he opened and closed his hands. Would he be ok?
“Anger…Is a heck of a painkiller.” Ales smirked again that hollow façade over top of him though his continuation was something that explained things. “That, was a spectre of my past. A nightmare that I’d sooner forget. Someone I thought I’d dealt with almost four years ago now.” Alex glanced back towards her his fingers going to lightly touch the point on her side where the blade dug into the fabric and her skin and as his fingers touched the cloth it began to crack. Immediately his hand snapped back away from her.

“I spent some time in a place where only those who’re desperate and mad go. He, went by the name of “Smiling Kenny.” His thing was to kill people after cutting them to ribbons. Never deep enough to kill with each cut on them, just enough to draw out the pain. Then once they fell to their knees from weariness he’d open their throats, ear to ear. Leaving them with a large “smile” forever.” Alex sighed lightly sitting on the ground opposite her now as the blackness of the sky began to lessen and the bolts of lightning slow. The light of the moon now hitting the peak of the dome and refracting off of every pane of glass setting the entire dome alight in a wash of blue-green.

“He, was one of those people who couldn’t be saved. Not everyone has good in them. Not everyone can be saved. Some people just need to be stopped.” Alex heaved his chest now letting out a long deep sigh, a few more drips of crimson falling to the ground yet instead of cracking it they seemed to sink into the mud and absorb the moonlight glowing with the light itself.

[Linie Moonreef]

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She just realised that his touch previously hadn't brought about that strange feeling of realness. It was odd. Nor had when she touched him did that feeling come across. It must be that she was sure he was real now. No longer did she paint him as a creature of her subconscious.
"So you're really here, real. Hmmm..."
She nodded at his explanation of anger as a painkiller. It reminded her of when she and Buckeye would fight, she would feel numb during them. As if she was detached from the arguing.
"It would seem you haven't dealt with him, if he's coming up in your dreams."
Where he touched her and the fabric began to crack as everything he touched in this place did, as soon as he pulled it hand away her powers of repair made it whole again.

"What kind of place is that?"
It didn't sound like any of the places she had been to before, and every port on the Suvan was a place she had been. Perhaps it was somewhere inland.
"That is a horrible death and a horrible man. To be filled with pain before your throat is slit. A man with terrible creativity be comin' up with that."
She sat beside Alex on the ground, for a moment looking back to the bench in which they had sat before.
"I've never met a man like that before. And I've met pirates on the Flotilla with gazes hard enough to make a man nervous just by bein' in his presence."

"You have a lot haunting you. I could tell when I met you. You carry yourself with the air of a defeated man, though I've seen the goodness in you. The need to protect, like when you sheltered me from the lightening. You can be saved Alex. But you have to find it in yourself."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


“That’s not what I meant when I said I dealt with him.” Alex gave her a look of sullen sadness. He’d dealt with him in a very literal sense. However he didn’t kill him no, he’s dimply done what he did before cut open the back of his knees with his dagger and left him to the wolves. “As for the place, it was a place known as Sunberth. A dark corner of the world where no-one should go voluntarily.”

Alex listened to her words sitting on the edge of the bench now he lifted his shirt off, and began using the cloth to help staunch the bleeding on his arms. She’d never met men like that before never had to deal with something of that magnitude of evil. “To be honest, I’m both glad and not surprised.” Alex paused wincing a little as he pressed the shirt into the stab wound near his right shoulder showing off clearly the scar over his left. “People like that thankfully are few and far between, however they seem to congregate in that dark corner.”

Alex glanced up towards the sky seeing the myriad of colours reflected in the domes glass. She seemed to have him down pat. After all that how could she not, she was a piece of the horrors that lurked in the darkness of his mind. He could be saved? “It’s not a matter of if I can nor need to be saved. It’s a matter or repentance. I’ve failed too many people, let too many lives slip through my fingers.” Rolling the cloth in his hands over now he pressed it lightly into her abdomen to help slow the bleeding there a little further.

“It’s hard to forget the weight of your failures when every person you’ve let down is staring at you the moment you close your eyes.” Alex heaved his shoulders now feeling the weight upon them once again. And feeling the ground beneath his feet crack a little deeper. His vibrant green eyes swivelled around to meet Linies own bright blue ones. He held there a second, not looking away and if she looked deep enough she’d see behind the façade of a person who held it all together despite feeling defeated, there was a deep rooted sadness that never seemed to ebb, even when he smiled.

[Linie Moonreef]

¤

The pain in his face when she said that made her heart skip a beat. She didn't realise how cutting those words were until after she had said them. She patted him on the back lightly, leaving her hand there for a moment before taking it away.
"Sunberth... Rings a bell though I can't say I've ever been there. From what I remember there's a lot of homeless, thieves and murders there. Really though are you going to be okay? Those wounds be seemin' deep."
She sat with him on the bench and watched not so shamelessly as he took his shirt off. She was tall for a woman, but what was it about tall men that just so tickled her fancy? She noted the scar on his shoulder, though what it was from she didn't bother to ask. She would save that for later.
"Aye, so I've heard. I'm sorry that you spent so much time there. Well, how long were you there?"
She silently wondered if this place had something to do with his fall from grace and decided it most probably did.

Linie watched as the bleeding was mopped up with his shirt. It would take quite a few washes to get that blood out. Each time he winced she winced in turn, a ball of worry filling her gut. This was the most she'd talked to somebody in a long time. Talking with Buckeye usually went no where but the bedroom, and she had barely met anyone on Syka that she could call a friend. Maybe the same went for him, maybe he needed someone to talk to and that's why they were here. She shook her head, trying to figure out why Nysel had brought them together would only confuse her.

She winced again when he put the shirt to her abdomen, not from the pain, though it was there, but from his words. They were so filled with unbridled sadness and regret she couldn't help but feel the presence of his absolute deepness that he was something so much more than the face value people she had been meeting. They were talking about personal things, things that hurt. She had personally met one of his ghosts.

"I think the trick to it is recognizing when you did good and realising when you've done everything you could. That sometimes your best is all you can give. Maybe now you could have done better, but when you did it at the time you gave it your all and that's what matters."

She looked back into his deep green eyes, seeing herself in them. They were like a well of sadness and she realised that they had always held this pain in them, she just hadn't noticed before. Linie did the only thing she knew how to do. She reached out and touched his hand with her own, holding it for a moment and giving it a good squeeze before releasing it again.

"You're gonna be okay."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


“I’ll be fine. Not the first and certainly won’t be the last. At least not with the pace I’m taking.” He offered another light smile a gesture of reassurance but one that seemed more fragile than before. His words were as light as his hands were not wanting to cause any more problems with cracking anything he gently held the now bloody rag there which was once his shirt. Her question about the time he spent in Sunberth was one he didn’t really want to answer fully yet he gave her an answer still.
“A year. Though in all honesty, anything over a day there is vastly too long.” His actions didn’t have the weight nor confidence they did a moment ago. Though her words weren’t lost on him as she spoke. He’d heard much the same from another person before.

“And to be honest that’s what hurts. Knowing that even my all wasn’t anywhere close to enough.” He paused long enough to let those words sink in as she gripped his hand. A light touch but enough to let him know the feeling of reassurance. Was he going to be alright? He paused a moment looking now towards the ground. His free arm motioned down as he held his weight on it.
“There’s weight to what you say. However when the full weight of those failures comes bearing down on you, it finally sinks in just how deep that failure is.” His hand gave hers a small squeeze as he let it go.

“The more time that passes, the more it weighs on me. Linie, I don’t forget anything. Nothing. I can see every moment of my life with perfect clarity and detail. So for me those moments of suffering for the people I failed is still as fresh in my mind as the day it happened. There is no convincing myself that I did all I could.” He felt his shoulders fall as he let the cloth over her abdomen his hand moving away from her and settling on his other one. His eyes glanced up again staring into hers to show the depth of the weight behind them, and the words he said next.

“I break everything. I’ve even broken your peace. Someone I’ve never met before now. And for that I’m deeply sorry.” He let his head droop again. “I’ve exposed you to something you were better off not knowing.”

[Linie Moonreef]

¤

Without his sword he was a vastly different man. His words were so hollow. They had lost all intensity other than the intensity of sadness in which the held. She kept his gaze for as long as she dared before tearing her eyes away, not wanting to keep the stare any longer as looking into those depths were making her woozy. She opted for staring above her, at the glass that surrounded them all.
"Fair 'nuff."
She said to both what he said both the first time and the second time.

She listened to his words, not saying anything until he was done. They held a weight to them, he could remember everything that happened to him.
"That makes me wonder, will I be rememberin' this dream."
'I don't want to forget you.' Were the words she left unspoken.
"Still I can see how that can weigh very hard on someone's soul. You really remember everything. Even back to when you were a child?"

She could hardly remember being a child, some things stuck out to her like her first party to Laviku and the first time she could remember being on the Flotilla but that was all.

"I think you just need to keep working harder, make those times that are good stand out more than the times that are bad. You need to realise that your best really is good enough. Sometimes fate has other things in store for us. This depression you're in, it fuels your need to help but it doesn't fulfill your need to thrive."

They stared into each others eyes and again she was unnerved by the sadness which the held. That fire and electricity they had while he was fighting all but extinguished. His head drooped.
"Who said my peace is broken? This be merely a weird dream. Sure, I have a couple bumps and bruises but I would be shocked if I had them when I wake up. What was I better off not knowin'? I... I find you fascinatin'. This is the most exciting dream I've had in a long time. Watch."

She touched her hand to her stomach and focused. A warmth spread through her abdomen and soon the cuts were gone in a muted flash of light. All better. Even the cloth was as it was, though the blood stains were still there. Gingerly she grabbed his arm, not wanting to hurt him, and did the same to him.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


At her question Alex paused a moment a brief glimpse into the darkness that was his childhood snapped through his mind.
“Crystal clear. As much as I try and forget it.” He then cottoned on to what she’d said about remembering the dream. Alex offered a small smile a light glimpse into an honest man, a strange thing in this world. “I have a feeling you’ll remember. I know I will. And I have a strange feeling that we’ll see each other again.” He lightly tapped his finger against his head.

Linie continued on however her words trying to prise him out of the black hole that he’d found himself slowly spiralling into. “It’s more than fuel. It’s a promise. People were robbed of their futures because I didn’t do enough. And as such it’s my promise to give that time to other people. As much as it nearly kills me doing so.” Despite the feeling of a broken and defeated man there was still something some faint embers lingering in his eyes. A determination to see his words through.

Though apparently he’d been wrong about breaking her peace. The most exciting dream she’d had in a while? Though as she touched the cuts upon her skin they fused shut within moments. He’d forgotten her power to repair in this dream. Her power to “fix” what was “broken”. He gave a small recoil remembering what had happened the first time she touched him and how the sky itself had begun to shudder and the moon melt.

Though as she did he watched the deep cuts and the shallow ones alike pull and knit themselves together, without even a trace of a scar. Though as she did touch his arm something else happened. On the horizon the Blackness began to fade in it’s entirety. The yawning blackness giving way to a faint blue upon the horizon. To him it was both beautiful and signalled something he didn’t want. An end.

“Seems like the night is over, and our parting is at hand.” Alex smiled lightly, this time the hollowness was muted and there seemed to be a genuine spark of reassurance and comfort behind it. “If we ever meet in the waking world. I’m doing to be within the city of Alvadas for the foreseeable future.” He waited just long enough to hear her reply before placing his hand lightly on her shoulder, his fingers near transparent as he did so. And in a whisper of the wind and a ray of light he vanished into nothingness.

The cracks in the ground where he had been standing began to sew themselves shut, the world fixing into a perfect castle of glass once again. And the only sign that he’d even been there was a singular fracture across the ground where he stood before vanishing. In the shape of a bolt of lightning.


Alex's eyes parsed open slowly as he dwelled on the dream. The only things coming to the forefront of his mind with little effort were her name, and her face.

[Linie Moonreef]

¤

She shook her head at his words about his childhood. So much pain this man had went through. Even as a babe. Her childhood was some of her fondest memories. She had a tavan back then and how they would play. She and the other children delighted in the pod's many festivities. She listened to his next words carefully.
"I still think you be havin' a skewed view of reality, mate."
But that was all she said, leaving it at that.

That blue on the horizon was as he said, the night was over. She began fighting herself, trying not to wake up to hear the last of what he had to say. His smile was once again charming and she returned it in full.
"Alvadas? Why, that be my favorite port. The people aren't exactly... friendly. But they are interesting. Have some bread that tastes like candy on my part."

She didn't say where she was, she didn't have enough time. By the time she thought to mention it she was awake. Staring at the ceiling in her casinor. Buckeye was sleeping beside her, lightly snoring and she cuddled herself up to him, remembering the dream. Will they meat again? Reflectively she looked at her stomach. No blood, not even a scratch. Linie was unable to sleep that whole morning and laid there until Buckeye woke up, then they began their day of fishing.