[PRP] Resurgence (Luxara + Kursha)

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

“Mmm.” Kursha buried his face deeper into Luxara's coat. As usual, Luxara did not understand—maybe she never would. Hate was a part of his identity. While he regretted Luxara's involvement and his petty treatment of her over the sweeps, nothing else moved him. It was too much responsibility to claim.

After a time, Kursha's body began to loosen. He no longer gripped Luxara's coat quite so tightly, and his forehead rested gently against the crook of her neck. His breathing, which had turned tight and ragged during his outburst had returned to normal. Also the sharp stinging in his chest settled to a dull ache.

The last of the tension left him in a sigh when Luxara began to stroke his hair. His hand slipped from Luxara's collar and curled around her side, pulling her a little closer. He felt his eyelids flutter as a kind of drowsiness overcame him. “Xara, I...” He spoke at the same time she did.

At the sound of Luxara's voice, Kursha suddenly became alert. His head jolted and he sat up. It took a moment for him to gather his thoughts. “About damn time you asked,” he drawled. “I was beginning to think that I might have to beg.”

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

Kursha had sat up, which in turn made Luxara lean away a little and rest her back on the wall. She giggled at his light-hearted response. "Yeah, that'd be something. But I think a 'please' will work okay instead," the small greenblood said with a wink. As she prepared to get to her feet, she ended up jolting a little instead. "Oh! Right!" Luxara's hands went into her deep pockets and pulled the little white rascals out. She let them onto the floor, and they went back to scurrying and squeaking. "These little guys don't like being cooped up. I heard some trolls keep gerbils in cages. How screwed up is that? It's one thing to wanna keep them from getting sucked up into tornadoes n' stuff, but putting them in a dinky little space forever? Jeez." She stood up and stretched. "Oookay, food prep. Do you ever have to do this kinda stuff in the mountains?" Luxara asked of Kursha as she approached the table. She shrugged her coat off and draped it over the one chair she had in there; truly her place wasn't furnished with more than on person in mind. Like always since her growth spurt, she had on a simple black tank top, which revealed not only plenty of skin, but also injuries otherwise hidden by the big frumpy outerwear. Right now she had somewhat recent, kind of poignant scars healing in a few places. One from the tail end of her neck down to her shoulder. On the opposite shoulder, a scar ran down diagonally towards her torso. A couple others were on her arms. The cuts were too long and thick to have come from brush, that was for sure. She didn't acknowledge them, however.

A row of drawers ran down the one side of the table, and she pulled out a butcher's knife out from one of them. She adjusted the bird's form a little before getting ready to chop its head off. "Could you grab me the garbage can? I'm gonna need it if I don't want to make this place too messy, y'know?"

Katanari

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Luxara's teasing response came as a relief. The tension from earlier had been broken as well as... whatever it was that last moment had been. He still had butterbugs in his digestive cavity. His blood pusher skipped even just thinking about it. Emotional vulnerability was a frightening thing. He needed to get a grip on himself.

Kursha rolled his eyes, making a great show of how unlikely she was to extract any kind of courtesy from him. Now that he was certain Luxara did not seek to tear him down, he felt a little safer in projecting his ego. As she prattled on about the gerbils, he felt a familiar sense of ease. This was what their relationship was. She would go on forever about whatever unimportant thing occupied her thinkpan at the moment and Kursha would do his best to pretend like he didn't care. No complications, no meaningless bullshit in between, no...

Wait. Pretend?

That particular train of thought was thankfully cut short as Luxara removed her coat. Kursha's eyes were drawn to a series of fresh scars over her skin. They could not have been more than a couple of nights old.

“Sometimes,” he replied distractedly. Easing himself to his feet, Kursha made his way to the garbage. His nose wrinkled; whether it was at the smell or being reduced to manual labour it was hard to tell. Careful to avoid crushing the gerbils, he hauled it over to the table where Luxara stood. Somehow, he managed it without too much difficulty.

“Trouble with the local wildlife?” he asked, leaning against the edge of the table. To keep his gaze from lingering on the dead flapbeast, he watched the gerbils roll around the floor.

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

"Thanks," she said as Kursha put the trash can down. It looked to be at a good angle and distance, so she chopped the wingbeast's head clean off and let it roll off and down into the garbage. "Ta da...~" It was a bloody affair, yes, but necessary. Speaking of, that same bodily fluid was running down the table top to drip into the same disposal as the head did. Next she started plucking the rest of the body.

Luxara tilted her head a tad at Kursha's voice, though her focus was still on the bird. "Hmm? ...Oh, you mean?" The fresh cuts. Right. "Ugh. Those. I wish. Fighting off some big angry predator would've been a better use of my time. Get this. Apparently bloodsuckers are real. And they sure do glow. Cuz a blueblooded rainbowdrinker a*****e attacked me out of nowhere with a whip. And that's how I got these. I should've been smart and just taken my kill and ran, but nooooo." She rolled the body over a little harder than necessary. "I stayed and dickered with him, which just made him decide step on my kill so we went hungry that night. God. And the best part is he kept calling himself a 'gentletroll'. Yeah, because attacking someone and trying to use them as a blood bank against their permission is so cultured." It wasn't hard to tell that she was a bit ticked off still if given the opportunity to think about it. "Punched him in the face though. I mean. I couldn't see his face, but his mask was thin enough to get a nice hit in. ...And I stabbed him in the arm when he tried to get a hold of me. And that's why you don't see any bite marks on my neck." This sounded so ridiculous. But he didn't have any reason to think she was making things up, right? "Annnyway. After I take care of the feathers, it's gonna get really messy. Gotta chop the body up n' stuff. But once that's over with and I get the blood washed out, we can start cooking! Isn't that great?"

Katanari

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

“You sure you weren't hallucinating?” Kursha muttered. From what he knew about her, Luxara practically ate off her doorstep. It did not seem all that much of a stretch to assume she consumed something toxic. She probably just had a wild hallucination and and got entangled with a wild beast or a particularly nasty blackberry bush.

As Luxara continued her bloody work, Kursha allowed his gaze to wander, taking in the minute details of her hive. While he was admittedly a little curious about her state-of-living, he was more so trying to distract himself from the sickening sight of the carving out on the table. He had skinned animals before for food, primarily gentle hopbeasts, but even so, he still hated it. Everything was so messy, and Luxara's cheery attitude towards it was not helping.

“Ya ever think that maybe you're enjoying yourself a little too much?” he asked, risking a glance towards her. He immediately regretted it. There was an empty space where the wingbeast's head used to be. No, not quite. There was a steady stream of blood, a pile of severed bones and tendons where the head used to be. Gripping the edges of the table, Kursha steadied himself and focussed on his breathing.

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

Luxara chuckled at the idea of just seeing things. "Nah, I'm sure. I mean I'd rather think it wasn't real buuuuut the blood, the injuries animals and plants can't give you, the fact that he honest to god wanted my blood...yeah, it was real." She started plucking the rest of the body to prep for moooore chopping. "I wouldn't call myself enjoying this stuff, though. I guess I'm making the most of it...? What else can I do, considering? It's...a lot of just me, usually. Most people around don't wanna make friends. If there's anyone at all." Looking up, she noticed that Kursha was looking a little...woozy. "Uhhh, you're not looking so hot. You could sit or lie down." Did he have some issue with seeing blood? Now that was rich. Pitiful and weak. But in a moment like this, he could honestly keel over, considering how little energy he had. "I like your company and all, but I'm not gonna force you to stick around if you're gonna pass out or puke or something."

Katanari

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

“I'm fine,” Kursha lied again. Because if there was anything he had learned in the past fifteen minutes it was how to be emotionally vulnerable. Honestly though, his head was beginning to spin and he felt that he would not make even the short trip to sit down. It was much easier to simply stand there and use the table to support himself. Trying to blink back an onset of tunnel vision, Kursha forced himself to meet the sight of the slaughtered flapbeast and then raised his gaze up to Luxara. She was concerned but there was no need for that. He would prove it.

“Really,” Kursha said, voice firm. He forced a grin. His lie was definitely undetectable. Just in case though, he decided to change the subject. Suddenly feeling snarky he quipped, “And maybe that's why your neighbours aren't interested.” He pointed at the carcass. “You've got creepy hobbies.”

Gl!tch~

Should probably not write posts when I am on the verge of falling asleep but I felt bad making you wait so long.

 

[Gl!tch~]

Luxara took a moment to silently size him up. Before she could try to find any loopholes in his argument, he had gotten on her case again. She let out a laugh. "This? Creepy? It's just the circle of life! Survival and stuff." She used one of the feathers she'd plucked to poke at Kursha before she returned to chopping the now-naked bag of meat and bone. "It's not that different from butchers or anything like that. I'm making my own food. Why should I rely on anyone else when I can do it myself? Anyway, it helps me...keep things in perspective. Yeah. That's a good thing to call it."

Then it was time to remove meat from bone. Her hands were getting bloodier all the time. "Besides, the creepiest thing I've ever had to deal with is you. What kind of weirdo spelunks in sandals? Or live on a mountain and wear sandals all the time? I bet the people who live around you just shake their heads in your direction all 'he's gonna stub his toes really bad some night I swear'."

Once the meat was truly boneless, Luxara went to wash her hands, grab a big cooking pot, and pull the meat into it to wash the blood out then fill with clean water to set to cook.

Katanari

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

“Shoes cramp my feet,” Kursha complained. “Anyway, you're one to talk. How practical is it to go gallivanting through the forest in that get-up? ” He looked her up and down, eyebrows raised. From her skirt to her long coat, he wondered how she managed. It was no wonder the ends were as tattered as they were. She was always living second-hand it seemed.

Stretching out, Kursha leaned further over the table so that he was resting on his elbows. He clasped then unclasped his hands. “Hey Xara...” he began.

Gl!tch~

SHORT POST WOOP. Might touch up later but I gotta go to work.

 

[Gl!tch~]

"Practical enough, thank you very much!" She was plenty prepared for the elements, and that's what mattered. Any self-inflicted setback was a fun challenge. As far as Luxara was concerned, any criticism he could fire off could never pull her down to his level. He was the tourist here. Not her.

Once the pot and meat alike was drained of any extraneous color, she set it to boil. There should probably be some herbs and spices tossed in for flavor. He'd appreciate that, right?

She turned her head a fraction when Kursha started talking to her again. "Hm?"

Katanari

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Kursha kept his eyes locked on the table, away from Luxara's probing gaze. He rubbed the tip of his left index finger with his right thumb. While the usual argumentative chatter came as a relief, he also recognised it for what it was: a distraction. His heart and mind were still a jumble and he had invoked a quarrel for the sake of a sense of normalcy. Nevertheless it felt fake. The questions that tickled the front of his thoughts were not so easily dismissed.

“Do you think... that maybe...” He felt his digestive cavity plummet. He desperately wanted to know. But then he remembered on top of everything else, the words he had spoken to her upon waking. He lost his resolve.

“That maybe you should get a roof?” he recovered. Standing a little straighter, he gestured lazily towards the ceiling, or more precisely the lack thereof. “I mean, aren't you worried that some wild beast might crawl in? Especially if you're running your own butcher's shop here. There's no telling what your compost might attract.” He was back to faking. It stung.

Gl!tch~

Boop.

 

[Gl!tch~]

She looked at him, paused, squinted. "You know..." She trailed off a bit, hesitating. Looking like she was slightly...judging him? Despite that constant smirk on her face. The eyes. Her real expression was in her eyes. "You've only been awake for a bit and all you've been doing is give me a hard time. You bounce back quick, don't you?" The grin loosened and grew. "Does everyone have to deal with so much whining? Are you gonna be picky about the food, too? Sheesh!"

Luxara gestured up towards the opening, and the branches that curved up and around it like a canopy. Somehow, despite someone living in it, the tree was still alive, too. The branches had leaves and everything. "If you're so worried about any persistent little pests, I do have a cover I can put up. You'd have to make sure nothing boils over. Can I trust you with that much, considering?"

It was admittedly odd that he needed to gather his thoughts over something so small. If he was doing that badly, she might have to make sure he didn't keel over face first into his soup.

Katanari

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

“Tch. Don't worry about it,” he said, scowling. Why did she have to get so damn defensive? He tried to show some concern for someone other than himself and she thought he was whining. Well fine. See if he cared. “If something eats you in your sleep it's not my problem.”

He was about to make another comment, one about how she could go boil her thinkpan, but suddenly all the energy just went out of him. He could not stand it any more. Literally. As nonchalantly as he could, Kursha slid down to the floor, leaning against the leg of the table. He rested his forehead in his hand

Gl!tch~

Trying to find... ending point soon.

 

[Gl!tch~]

"It is your problem, though. You're staying here, re-" But she stopped, watching in slight shock as Kursha sunk down. Well, it was kind of inevitable. He should have sat down earlier, but there was no point in berating him about it. Luxara leaned down. "Hey," she said in a softer, somewhat intimate tone. "You're not looking too hot. How about I get you back into the respiteblock and get a bowl to you when the food's done? Better than being stuck on the floor where you're worried something might try to eat you, right?" Luxara asked with a light-hearted smile.

He certainly didn't need any extra injuries from possibly keeling over by being a stubborn s**t. And, whether he deserved it or not, he was her responsibility now.

Katanari

We can end here or within the next couple of posts if you like :0

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

So much for trying to play it cool. Luxara was on him faster than a howlbeast in mid-dark season. Sensing her lean over him, he averted his gaze. “I wasn't worried about...” he started to protest. Then he paused. That was dangerous territory. Lowering his voice to a sulky, barely audible mumble, he finished, “... me.”

He swore in the silence that followed he could have heard a pin drop.

“A-Anyway,” he interjected in a rush. “I don't mind just staying here. No need to trouble yourself.” At least, no more than she already had. Tilting his head back, Kursha closed his eyes. As he focussed on nice, even breaths, he pretended to ignore Luxara. He was more aware of her than he was of himself though and could not resist cracking open an eyelid to watch her as she worked.

Gl!tch~

Boop.