[if april showers bring may flowers, then july showers bring. . .?]

[sevenhorrorsmods]

Who: everyone!
When: July 31st throughout the day
Where: outside, but also wherever you want to be!
What: a general all-purpose mingle with flavor
Warnings: nada

[Today, for the first time since your arrival, dark and angry clouds gather in the sky above to block out the sun. It is sweltering outside, so when those clouds eventually open up in the early afternoon, showering everyone with cool rain, rolling thunder, and a few flashes of lightning. . . it probably feels good!]

[It seems to be normal rain, for the most part. Look at it from the wrong angle and some if it may seem to be tinted red, like blood. And sometimes, when a drop spatters against the ground, a spider lily suddenly blossoms in its place. The flower dies almost immediately upon springing to life, its petals dissolving into dust that is quickly washed away by the rest of the water]

[dwbi]

[. . . things have been awfully quiet since your arrival. It feels almost a bit like the calm before the storm, doesn't it? Are you still waiting for that other shoe to drop. . .?]

[What else are you up to today!]

Comments

[ratiocinations]

[POINTED, CONCERNED GLANCE AT HIS RIB AREA... He will comment upon that, and very soon, but first-]

...are you the one behind the trail of violently sundered trees I've seen here and there?

[brokenlance]

Oh, yes - I've been using them for training, when I don't have a partner.

[pauses to consider Adair's wording.]

...I apologize if the sight of them has alarmed you.

[ratiocinations]

I was somewhat leery as to what could've caused it, but now that I see it is not a "what" but a familiar "who", I feel less anxious.

[BUT.]

I hadn't realized your strength was so immense.

[His first impression deductions! Failed him!]

[brokenlance]

[to be fair Azure hadn't been handling anything fragile when they met]

Great strength has always run in the royal family's blood. Though it can be... inconvenient at times. As you can see.

[ratiocinations]

Ha! More inconvenient for the trees.

[And now he gestures at Azure's middle.]

Except for the one that chooses to retaliate. Strength does not imperviousness make. You are hurt.

[brokenlance]

Ah, but you haven't seen the destruction I cause in our dormitory on a regular basis... how many times have I snapped a tray of food in half, or crushed a pencil as I was writing?

[life... is hard]

I'm certain I only cracked a rib - it's not broken. I've had far worse than this, I swear.

[ratiocinations]

[Goodness, his strength is cartoonishly strong; that much is obvious looking at the tree, but to constantly be breaking things in the dorm...?]

I do not doubt that, but "only" a cracked rib is still reason for concern when there's no medical aid to be found. You will wallop no more trees on this day.

[brokenlance]

[i can't control when the 10% proc to break whatever I'm holding kicks in

I concede your point... I can hardly continue in a state like this.

[he's also like covered in dirt and mud and leaves now, to add to his embarrassment]

[ratiocinations]

[Good, he doesn't have to further Dad him, because Dadding is not necessarily a strong point of Adair's, anyway.]

No, you look like a creature of the swamp. [Not to add to his embarrassment or anything-] Come now. I'll walk with you back, Azure.

[brokenlance]

You needn't go to the hassle - and yet, I have a feeling that you will insist.

[ratiocinations]

You are correct in that! I do insist.

[motions back towards the school :) ]

[brokenlance]

I suppose I have little choice but to comply.

[u_u walking back...]

May I ask, what brought you out at such an hour in the first place?

[ratiocinations]

What, can a man not wander the twilight hours as he sees fit?

[He is joking. Off the go, walking back to the school.]

I have excess energy, and the need to expel it in ways that may be productive. Who's to say when something useful might crop up in and around the school, at any given moment?

[brokenlance]

[walking at his side,]

Ah. I'm much the same way. I often find it difficult to sleep without tiring myself out utterly.

[ratiocinations]

[Ah.]

And is that what you were doing now? Hoping to exert yourself to the point of exhaustion so that sleep can finally take you?

[brokenlance]

[ 🙃... ]

More or less, yes.

[ratiocinations]

[Buddy,]

Matters of the mind making it difficult?

[He can ask this with ease because. Same hat, when such applies to him.]

[brokenlance]

[It's obvious that he doesn't want to go into it, from the way his eyes shift away, to how his tone grows shuttered.]

You could say that... in any case, it's simply become habit.

[ratiocinations]

[Oh, yes. Quite obvious.]

I daresay this school doesn't lend itself to restful sleep even amid less bothered minds. Much less one that worries, or replays the day's events, or settles on thoughts that one has no control over. Though I see it is not something in which you wish to expound upon.

[brokenlance]

[Hmms. He's quiet for a moment, before allowing a small piece of his composure to slip into somberness]

It is not so much the day's events that haunt me, but years past. In truth, I'm not accustomed to elaborating - the events of my father's murder are already widely known by near everyone in Fódlan.

[When the king dies, everyone knows. Grief is no longer a private affair - it is politics.]

[ratiocinations]

[His father's murder? The context widens and becomes far more sweeping than he thought. Yes, to lose a loved one is a terrible and scarring thing, but no doubt Mr Azure was not given the... space to grieve, he thinks. Especially when it comes to something as inflammatory as murder itself; if such a thing happened in his world, the news would spread like wildfire, creeping into every nook and cranny of every alleyway.]

You are not singular in that, to feel the past dogging at the heels of the present. My friend once served in the military, mending the terrible wounds of soldiers and even incurring a bullet wound to the leg. And there are mornings in which I can easily see the hauntings of the past night having caught up to him, like old spectres at his bedside.

[Not always, and never to a worrisome degree, but he sees it all the same. A pause. He realizes that he is not always great at these kinds of discussions, and amends with-]

It is far from the same as your situation, I know.

[brokenlance]

It is not so far removed. I may not have known war, but I've spent my whole life preparing for it.

As prince, it is expected that I lead our battalions... whether to quell banditry or suppress rebellion, I have taken lives. And for all virtues of knighthood that the Kingdom upholds, there is no glory in battle - only senseless waste. Each lost life, a failure of governance, of understanding.

[anyways he's 18]

[ratiocinations]

[He's only 18; a man by some standards, but it is another matter completely to be entrenched in war, burdened by the responsibility of it, to have taken lives in the name of one's kingdom. Forced to grow up quite quickly.]

Then it is no wonder that you cannot sleep at night. You are burdened by past, present, and future.

[brokenlance]

Perhaps, but... that could be said of many people. I'd hate to put my burdens above anyone else's.

[he really does have a tendency to be self-efacing at every opportunity]

Thank you for listening, all the same. I really do try to minimize how much my worries may affect others.

[ratiocinations]

[He really does. It must be a tangle inside this young man's head, he thinks. Between being royalty, his responsibilities, his father's murder, the lives he's ended in battle... and yet, still, the attempt to be amicable, put-together, and conscientious of those around him. Like a storm inside a china cup.]

There is little to thank me for. I hardly mind it.

[It helps he is nosy, and it helps that he is empathetic, but not to the point of taking on heartache for someone else's sake.]

I can offer a little bit of aid in the present, anyway. You will be resting to heal those ribs of yours [you WILL be resting, young man], and so! You will need something to stimulate your mind instead of tossing and turning in the long hours of the night. Shall I recommend a book to you?