[WE] The Truth Behind It All [Faydis/Farah]

[Painted Moose]

Fluff (via slack)

Every two weeks, Faydis needed to make the trek into town. She generally despised leaving the beachfront cabin she shared with her brother. It was too much work, and the trip was too long, and why couldn't someone else be enlisted to fetch her medications for her? Father had when she'd been young, but as a teenager living on her own, the task had been set upon Faydis' own shoulders. She could choose to stay at home and neglect the daily intake of herbs, but even Fay was aware of how unnaturally upset not taking them made her feel. Angry, jittery, sad, and hungry all at once. It was unpleasant.

So she went.

She still hated it and pouted openly as she pushed open the door to the little herbal clinic that she frequented. The woman was the same one at the counter Faydis saw every two weeks, though Fay hadn't bothered to learn her name. She didn't care to. The girl was perhaps only a few years older than she and her brother and more kindly than anyone else Faydis had ever met. She recognized Faydis immediately, knew of her needs and peculiarities, and treated her with a gentle sort of respect. At least, that's what Fay considered it to be.

After brief exchange of pleasantries, the clinic healer disappeared to retrieve Fay's medicines, then emerged only a second later. There were few people Fay found it worthwhile to converse with, and really this woman wasn't one of them. But they did come into contact more than Fay and anyone else, so the pair had exchanged words on occasion. As the crinkly greens were wrapped in a small leather pouch, the woman glanced to Fay and asked, "Are you staying safe?" The hybrid girl blinked in confusion at the peculiar prompt and stared at the healer through unblinking yellow orbs. "You and your brother live alone, don't you?" She continued. "So are you taking any precautions to avoid the dretch?"

Avoid? Why should she bother wasting her time avoiding anything, when everything was of little consequence to her? Especially things she'd never heard of. "No. What is dretch? Why are you avoiding it?"

The healer proceeded to explain the developing 'situation' between Tendaji and the creatures known otherwise as 'bug mages.' She spoke in quick, hushed words, leaning close to Fay as if sharing a secret. Faydis could only stand to be disgusted. Frightening bug mages. She wasn't scared of bugs or magic. If it was interesting, it was only so in such a way that the development of a story was interesting. Nothing would come to harm her. But perhaps Farah would like to know. He seemed to enjoy at least watching magic. Faydis didn't bother with a farewell. She collected her herb pouch and started back toward the beach.  

[Painted Moose]

Every two weeks, when Faydis made her trip into town, Farah would spend his day on the beach. While this wasn’t too far removed from his normal routine, as he frequented the seaside as much as possible, on days like this he would choose not to return to their cabin at all. The last time he had done so he’d acted out against Faydis when she tried to enter the cabin, and barred her entry for probably longer than anyone ought to have. His father had made him ‘aware’ of the wrongness in the situation after mentioning it offhand, and now Farah tried to avoid it.

Instead, he’d spent the better part of his day waist deep in salty, ocean water pulling in fishing lines and checking traps. The voices weren’t so bad today; they talked to him, like old friends, but ones who knew the value of silence. It allowed him to concentrate. Farah bent at the knee and pulled, dragging his net closer towards his torso in the pulling tide. Already he could feel resistance, which was good and-

All at once he dropped the net and spun around Something touched you, you know it did, but no one's there, they’re hiding now, watching you, maybe they’re in the cabin, waiting until you come back to finish it... He’d felt it; something warm on his back, and for a moment he could have sworn it was his father again, but Taavetti knew not to touch him. And yet...who else would come to their cabin? Faydis wouldn’t hide from him, but their father would…

Taavetti had been acting strange lately. Farah had noticed he wasn’t the same when he came back from the summons, but he wouldn’t say why. The man had kept agonizingly quiet about it, assuring his children with useless platitudes while it was plain to see how unnerved he’d been.

“I’ll be by to check on you more. Won’t that be nice? Maybe we can have more meals together.”

Farah couldn’t think of anything he’d hate more.

This time, when he bent down for the net, he blatantly turned so that his back was to the ocean and set about finishing his tasks with his peripheral on the beach.  

[Painted Moose]

Fluff (via Slack)

Everyone always claimed that her brother was so unpredictable, so dangerous, so difficult to reason with. Faydis didn’t see it that way. She thought Farah was a perfectly reasonable boy, and it was everyone else who made things difficult. Even now, she predicted where she might find him after returning from town, and sure enough, there he was, half submerged in water and playing with his nets and traps. To her, the beach and ocean was a messy sort of discomfort. So much sand hiding in her crevices only to be deposited in her bed when she was ready for a nap. Itchy is what it was. Faydis only journeyed to the beach when her brother was there.

As she did now. She stepped through the sand on her tiptoes, lifting the end of her short sundress as she did as if to help aid in the process of keeping it from dragging. It wouldn’t have whether she held it aloft or not, but the farther her clothing was from itchy sand, the better.

“Faaaraaaaah!” Faydis shouted as she stood at the edge of the water. Her voice was all but carried away immediately by the competing sounds of wind and waves. Fay huffed indignantly and squinted reproachfully at the ocean. How dare it, but whether it opposed her or not, the very least she could do was still reclaim her sibling. “Farah,” she shouted again, now waving her arms over her head. “You better c’mere if you wanna know a thing!”

Because she did have a thing of knowledge, and he would probably appreciate being part of it.  

[Painted Moose]

Even with the waves slapping against his lower back, threatening to drag him under, Farah didn't fear the ocean. At any one moment it could choose to knock his legs out from underneath him, and yet, what he feared most was the thoughts that would no doubt run rampant in his mind when he got out of the water. They were provoked by others, pushed and pulled until he didn't know what the truth was; like now, when he turned to look up onto the beach where Faydis stood.

Had she been the one to touch his back earlier? The thought made him furrow his brows, clenching the fishing line a little tighter than he should. No, that would have been too much energy for her, to keep dodging in and out and yet she was the only one there....

He snagged two fish from his lines and threw them up onto the sand, where they flopped to their death next to others of their kind. He'd taken the lives of six fish this way; allowing them to suffocate in the heat while he played around in their home. But now, instead of returning to his fishing, he moved towards his twin. Every ounce of clothing on the boy, who had been too foolish to remove his clothing upon entering the ocean, was dripping with sea water by the time he made his way out of the waves.

"What kinda thing do you know?"
 

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

Once Faydis was entirely certain that her brother had heard her and saw fit to join her on the sands, she decided she'd done quite enough standing for the day. As Farah made his way out of the salty waves, Faydis dipped to a sit, then flopped backward into a lay, with her head near the currently diseased objects of her twin's former attention. She prodded one with a pointed fingernail. It didn't move.

"A good, weird thing," she assured once Farah was close enough that she wouldn't have to shout. She blinked up at him as he approached, squinting against the warm sun rays that had the audacity to land in her eyes, and thinking that they would yield before she did. Then her brother's shadow was over her, and she huffed. "I was in the market, like you know I have to go to sometimes, and the medicine shop girl who fixes my herbs said there was something new and bad lurking around out here."

What had she called it? Oh, it had been something Faydis had never heard of before, but it wasn't so important that it merited remembering... "The betch. It's a combination of bug and b***h. Because they're scary bug bitches creeping around stealing people with magic. She asked if we were doing anything to keep them away. I told her they weren't gonna bother us, and I wasn't scared."

Faydis rolled from her side to her back and folded an arm beneath her head. Her yellow gaze flicked to her brother, and she felt a nagging of insistent curiosity coil in her belly. Would Farah care about them? Nah, she didn't think so, but he might care that Father hadn't told them about the betches... "Do you think Father hid them from us because he wants the bug mages to take us away?" She queried. "He would've told us specifics if he was really worried, wouldn't he? But he didn't. He's just around more to come check if we'd been taken, yet, I bet."  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

Farah dropped down to a crouch in the wet, packed sand before tucking his legs underneath him to sit. Something new and bad? The teenager furrowed his brow, wondering what it could be. Was there anything war? A part of him knew that even if that were the case they were safe on their island, and yet....

...he would need to take precautions.

Maybe he could use the jaw bones of the fish he'd caught to make better locks for the hut? And a fence of some kind, something that would make noise and alert them. Farah canted his head, looking at the bodies of the dead fish and started formulating a plan.

"A bug b***h with magic?" His eyes widened. Was there any thing he could do to prepare for that? He'd never heard of a betch before, and - Pausing abruptly, Farah clenched his hands in the sand. "He didn't tell us ANYTHING! I knew he was acting strange when he came back, didn't I? I told him he was hiding something, but he said I was acting up again. "

He pushed himself up off the sand and paced on the shore line, subconsciously staying close enough to Faydis to hear her. "You're right, you're right. If he loved us at all he would have told us about the betches so we could defend ourselves." He raised his right hand to cup his ear, looping his fingers around locks of curled hair in the process and tugging on them. Whatever calm he'd acquired from his time in the water was quickly fading.  

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

Faydis' gaze held intently on her twin. She never knew what exactly to expect when revealing new information to him, or how precisely he would feel when baited into an upset, particularly one that involved their father. But she wasn't too concerned. Her brother wouldn't do anything to her, and whatever her words inspired him to do to others would just serve as a great source of amusement and excitement. Before he had the chance to rise, she dug her fingers into the sand and dragged herself nearer to him.

"You did, you did," she agreed with a nod, full lips curling up at the corners. "You are so wise and... aware of people's intentions." And offended about it, most certainly, which seemed like more effort than Faydis thought she was willing to put in.

Especially when she wasn't frightened of betches and was relatively certain that whether their father was concerned or not, it wouldn't actually change the course of anything. Taavetti didn't seem to have a great many skills that would serve in warding off evil as strong as betch magic (if shopkeeper girl's information was anything to go by), so the man could say or do or not say and do whatever was best, and it felt like it mattered little in the grand scheme of things. Her twin sure was upset about it, though. Farah rose and strode away from her.

And that was probably the most frustrating of the day's occurrences.

Farah was still very near, close enough to see and hear and hardly more than a few steps away even at the farthest of his pacings. But Faydis felt only a dark stab of annoyance when she wasn't the sole focus of her brother's attention when she was sitting so near. She'd come with information and been excited to share, and it felt as though she deserved that much. She wanted it. She should have it. She pouted and propped herself up on an elbow to watch him as he moved.

"We don't need his warnings to be capable of defending ourselves," she retorted, sounding as irrationally bitter as she felt. "He is a useless, unnecessary man. I will protect you, if you are scared."  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

You could strangle him, you know. It would be easy, and then-

Farah squeezed his eyes shut, and willed the voices to be quiet for once. He didn't want his father dead; all he wanted was the truth, but they were merciless. How much information would Taavetti withhold from his children under the guise of 'keeping them safe'? It was maddening!

When he finally opened his eyes the sharpness in those golden orbs remained. "I could make talismans - lots of them - and you, you can bless them with your magic." Farah held his hands out at his sides and gesticulated with them, giving a sort of 'visual' representation to the disjointed words eeking out of his mouth.

She thinks you're weak. She'll leave you to die the moment those betches set food on your beach. "No, she won't." It was hard, sometimes, to remember that others couldn't hear the same auditory hallucinations that plagued Farah's mind. It got worse the more agitated he became, and for the most part he was good about keeping them in. Around Faydis, however, he didn't bother.

Crossing the sand, Farah made his way back to his twin, and settled himself down onto his side next to her. His body still twitched, as if at any moment he would spring back into life, but there was also a strong need in him to be close to her. Fay was good about distracting and grounding him; which was something Farah valued above all else.

"This is our home. I don't care how strong the betches are; I won't let them anywhere near this place."
 

[Fluffesu]

"Mm..." For a brief moment, Faydis' gaze wandered from her brother's steps. He could make talismans, and she could bless them... Fay's fingers itched to pinch at the little satchel of herbs she'd received only a very short time prior. Before she had begun taking her medicine, she'd been wild and playful with her magic, preying on strangers with sparks of fire and lightning and frozen icicles on a summer day. She'd been younger then, with hardly any time to develop proper skills and technique and with no idea what she could hope to achieve...

And now she couldn't at all. Faydis didn't know why it was, but whatever passion and excitement that had caused her to hazardously cast in the past seemed lost to her now. With her vigor and exuberance gone, so too were any ability she might have had. It should have bothered her. Maybe it did on some level, but mostly she felt indifferent. If she really wanted to use magic again, it wasn't like it would be gone forever. She'd be able to if the mood struck, she was sure. It was fine.

And Farah... Farah knew she couldn't, of that Faydis was almost sure. But if he wanted to here her say she could 'bless' something, she might as well say it. Faydis shrugged. "I suppose," she relented. "But I don't think it would take even that much to be rid of betches." They were just bugs, after all.

Faydis smiled a lazy smile as her twin approached and settled back into the sand. She slunk nearer to him, layering her arms and head over his hip and tugging her legs in close.

She wasn't frightened of insects or whatever magic they possessed. She wasn't concerned over what harm they may try to do to her, her brother, or their home. The Matorian villagers were frightened of many foolish things, as far as she was concerned, and there was no need to expend so much energy worrying or preparing for something that likely could do nothing to her family. "Don't concern yourself so much, Brother," she hummed. "I'm sure there is little danger. They won't be able to stand against us." No one could.  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

Farah both understood why Faydis couldn't perform magic like she used to, and hated it all the same. He blamed his father for it, most days; though when his fits were particularly bad he occasionally turned that blame onto his twin. If she really wanted to keep them safe then she could just stop taking the medicine and stay with him in their hut. With magic like hers Farah didn't see any reason to hinder it; if he'd had the ability the hybrid might even feel a little safer in his beach-side world. He could attack anything that wanted to harm them, though when the subject had been brought up to his father Taavetti erred on the side of caution.

"You would burn it all down, Farah; these things you see, they aren't real, and you would kill your sister in the process of making things 'safe'. The spirits knew that when they made you; that's why Faydis has magic and you don't."

"If it wouldn't take much to get rid of them, why hasn't anyone else been able to?" Subconsciously he moved his legs so that he was closer to Faydis, pressed as tightly against his twin as any one soul could be while still retaining any measure of comfort. If it were anyone else he wouldn't be able to stand the contact, but Faydis....she was always, and would always, be different.

"I need to do something. If father would only let me have a weapon then i could at least train myself to fight them." Any time he asked Taavetti was staunchly against it. All he wanted was a dagger or some sort of spear; anything was better than waiting around to die. "If I were taking your medicine he'd let me have one."  

[Fluffesu]

Painted Moose

"It is because everyone else is stupid and incapable," Faydis retorted immediately with a shrug of her shoulders and flippant flick of her fingers as she dusted them over her brother's thigh. Frightened people, as the villagers tended to be more frequently than not, seemed to be even worse off as far as Faydis understood it. Fear made people act ridiculously and unpredictably, and though she was sure that unexpected, chaotic actions were meant to solve their problems, from an outsider's perspective, it looked as though it often made things worse.

Faydis didn't understand fear. She supposed she didn't really like being hurt, and she would only die when she was good and ready, but she couldn't be bothered to fear such things. She wasn't stupid enough to fear, not like everyone else.

Her head tilted back, golden gaze scraping up the length of Farah's torso to find his face. "If Father would let you," she repeated in a quiet murmur.

It struck her as strange that their father thought he could move away from them, leave them to their own devices, and still have any modicum of control over their lives. Perhaps the hut they stayed in was his. Perhaps most of their funding was his, but if Taavetti were not to be there, as he rarely was, what did it matter what he told them they could or could not do? It struck her as even stranger how easily her sweet brother relented to such things.

"If he let you," she repeated again, more of a hiss this time, with lips curling up mischievously and bright eyes wide. She traced her hand up from where it perched at the top of Farah's thigh, walking her fingers up his abdomen to splay over his chest. Her fingers curled sharply into the fabric of his shirt, and she used the leverage to yank herself marginally more upright, still close, but now peering down into his face. "If there is something we can so simply obtain to make you feel more... secure, we will obtain it, whether anyone else lets you or not."  

[Painted Moose]

Fluffesu

Farah lived in an eternal state of paranoia and as such had found ways of discovering 'clarity' in the storm. Moments where notions and ideas made perfect sense to him, even if they did sound 'insane' by the standards of others, but he didn't care much about that. He hadn't liked it very much when his father pushed that kind of structure on him in his youth, but now...now he was able to make his own decisions and that helped.

"Yes, that's what I just said." At first Farah only caught her words, not the intent behind the repetition nor the glint in her eye. He huffed, wriggling his back down into the warm sand like some sort of crab as his eyes reached out to find hers. The teen felt, rather than saw, the fingers sashaying their way up his body and were it anyone other than Faydis he would have ended the contact immediately; it wasn't, however. He stayed perfectly still, something of a feat in itself given his propensity to twitch, and instead moved his hand to reach for hers.

Farah lazily placed his hand atop hers, and furrowed his brows. "And how will we do that? Even if we had the gold no one will sell a weapon to us, and if we took one father would find out. You know how he snoops." Regardless of whether Farah had proof of it or not he just knew his father was among the people who riffled through their things. He was always going on about how they couldn't have this or that, to be careful around things like bones and knives....but Farah hid them anyway. Still, it was one thing to hide away knives in crevices and loose floorboards, but a real weapon...?