[ one x one; adoraтιon and arabmorgan ]

[adoration]

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ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
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cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Colette nodded through the new tension that had filled the cave, as she reopened her eyes and faced his direction. She had told him that she had been able to see a little bit more earlier, and she had described her ability, so why was it much of a shock to him? Then again, it had been a slight shock to her at first, with her demolished eyesight. She still hadn't seen too much though; not enough to even just get a basic outline of where he was from. She could barely even recall the fleeting images that had whirled throughout her mind.

"I didn't exactly see you," she said after a few moments, when she was pulled to her feet him. Stumbling up straight, she returned one hand to the roof of the cave, as she followed him outside. She could easily tell just by feeling the entrance that it wouldn't be pleasant to hit her head there; she'd have to make sure she never did. For all she knew, it could just make her eye condition worse.

Once they were outside, she was grateful for the occasional sounds, in a way. They were like warnings to her; pointing out what was where and when. The moon agitated her though. Just like in the cave, if she looked up at it, it ended up looking nothing more like a bunch of white paint being mixed in with black. But it was growing more faint. Soon enough, it'd be consumed by darkness. She'd be consumed by darkness.

Tearing her gaze away from the white blotch in the sky, she looked back in front of herself, at Alex. Her hand on his upper arm was skeptical; she didn't exactly feel 'safe' following him around without her own eyesight so see things straight. Even if he had gotten her away from the exiles, she wasn't sure of what she thought of him after hearing his plans. Once again, it was probably from indecisiveness, which wouldn't have been much of a surprise.

"I only saw two adults; I was guessing they were your parents," she continued, disregarding all other thoughts, "There was someone else. Younger, if I can guess right." He seemed tentative about his memories, for some odd reason, so she thought it would be best to mention, "I didn't see much, like I said; barely anything I could make out, at least."

When her hand was placed on the flat-topped boulder, she fell silent. That was all she could really say about his memories, really, unless she thought more about what she had seen. The glimpse had been fortuitous, anyways; she felt crude just delving into whatever issues he had in his past.

Running her hand along the sleek surface of the rock, the ache to see it once again settled in the pit of the stomach. She actually had to start putting effort into listening to what he was saying, as her hand recoiled away from the rock. What he said was enough to distract her; as she started to wonder how long she'd-- well, they'd be staying here. Bathing in the river would be nice to get the smut off of her feet and arms, especially if she was going to be sleeping in a cave, but it was a repulsive thought as well, now that she was blind. She'd feel completely exposed. But, she couldn't just avoid it forever.

After being led upstream, she silently let her fingers glide across the surface of the water, before outstretching the palm of her hand and leaning down to see how deep it was. It wasn't too bad; it would've probably gone up to her knees or thighs if she had been standing out in it. Hesitantly taking a reasonable amount in her cupped hands, she drank it without a word. It wasn't some high quality soda water, but it didn't have the worst taste. It was refreshing as it trickled down her dry throat, so that helped her to get over it.

After taking a few drinks, she looked up and over at Alex as he stood, asking her if she could find her way back to the cave on her own. What, did he think she had instantly memorized every footstep while explaining to him what she saw? Well, maybe she was over exaggerating a bit, but what could he expect? She had just figured out she was blind maybe an hour or two ago!

"Maybe..." was all she had time to say, before realizing he had already gone ahead a few steps. Jeez, he was the reason she was having to deal with this, anyways. He could've just left her back in the exiles camp; it wasn't as if his life had depended on helping her escape.

Following after him by listening to his footsteps, it took her longer than she had expected to get back after loosing track of where he was. Ducking into the entrance, she ran her hand along the side until she sunk back down to the ground herself. Looking over at him, she had to hold back a small huff for abandoning her. He definitely wasn't some charmer, that's for sure.

Crossing her arms over her stomach, she soon reached up and pulled her hair down, letting it cascade around her shoulders. It was cold in the cave, like he had mentioned, so it was nicer to have it covering most of her neck and her shoulders, almost like a scarf. Turning her focus onto the entrance of the cave, she didn't mind the silence that filled it once again. She knew it would be best to get some sleep, but she could already tell that the night would be full of insomnia for her. Even so, she still closed her eyes after a few passing minutes.
She was greeted by the same darkness; what a surprise.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

{ Sorry if my posts are lengthy; they'll most likely shorten down quite a bit. Anyways, I'm guessing we're just going to go ahead and go on to the next morning? c: }

[arabmorgan]

{ haha phew, this is actually the most i've ever had to write for a roleplay; it's challenging but strangely enjoyable xD and yups, morning!~ }

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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The sun was already high in the sky by the time Alex finally shifted in his sleep, and even then it was only because of the heat filtering steadily into the cave. His eyes opening a fraction of a second before closing tightly again, he groaned and stretched fully on the stone floor before all his limbs flopped bonelessly back down to the ground. It was another ten minutes or so before he sat up blearily and practically felt his way out of the cave, peering through half-lidded eyes at the ground in front of him.

It only took a single step out of the cool interior of the cave for him to almost buckle under the full heat of the midday sun. His steps towards the river quickened and he fell to his knees by the water's edge, reaching down to splash the refreshing liquid all over his face and neck. Some of the water trickled down his chest and into his shirt, but he ignored it, instead taking a firm grip of the side of the riverbank and leaning forward dangerously to dunk his whole head in the stream. Running his hands through his hair and grimacing at all the sand and muck in it, he repeated the process a few more times until he was satisfied with his general cleanliness.

It only struck him a half hour and a dozen berries later that he still had company back in the cave. Mentally berating himself, he made his way back to check on Colette, not really surprised that she was still asleep; the poor girl couldn't have gotten a lot of peaceful rest during her short period with the exiles, and with a stranger like him around she probably hadn't fallen asleep the previous night till quite late. He ducked back into the dim space, his eyes falling on her slumbering form immediately, lying on her side and curled up on herself. He was surprised to see that she had let her hair down; it was very long to him, cascading around her shoulders and neck in soft waves. Even though he could only see her back, she already looked much younger, just like a lost little girl.

He spent the rest of the time till Colette awoke deep in thought, wondering what to do, how much to tell her, what to ask her. By the time she awoke, he was full of bright ideas and followed her around cheerfully as washed at the river and ate breakfast, talking all the while. "So I was thinking, I could go scout around for a nearby settlement to get food and water, but at the same time, they'll definitely have a doctor of some sort, right? If I find one, we could go there and maybe find out what happened to your eyes. Maybe it's some infection and they'll have medicine for it," he suggested, idly plucking a berry off the bush and rolling it around between his fingers before popping it into his mouth.

He grinned eagerly, waiting for some sort of affirmation at a plan well thought out. Looking around, he wondered where a good place for a camp would be, immediately ruling out the direction he had come from the previous night. Perhaps he could just follow the river and hope some people had the common sense to set up camp by a water source. There wasn't any time to waste; without Colette, he couldn't really do anything at all even though he hadn't quite figured out a use for her powers that wasn't personal. In the back of his mind, he was slightly worried that the city might continue to send out soldiers to retrieve her; he was loathe to move from such a nice place, but they might not have any choice soon enough.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

{ Aha, yeah, it can be a bit challenging at time, but it is nice to have a few longer roleplays. c: And alright! }





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ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
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cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Sleeping wasn't too enjoyable, even if she was now out of the exile camp. Her 'dreams' were the same; memories people tucked away to the back of their mind, some to recall later, and others to always inadvertently cherish and keep locked away. This time, however, she was surprised to find that some of her own memories came rolling into her unconscious state, drowning her and sucking her under an unbearable wave. She almost flinched a few times in her sleep, as her hands stayed curled up near her chest, her hair giving her the smallest amount of heat.

When her eyes finally opened, a cold sweat was starting to make it's way up her neck. For a second, as she lied there, inert and frozen, she thought she was still engulfed in slumber. The darkness was still there, so her unconsciousness must've been as well; nothing at all had changed. Though, the tormenting memories had faded off; there were no more images of her father passing through her head, no more stories of her dead mother were being whispered into her ear. There was just the faint dripping of water, and obscurity.

Placing her hands on the sandy ground of the cave, she soon pushed herself up into a sitting position. It didn't take too much to remember what had happened last night after realizing that she was awake; she could faintly hear Alex's breathing despite the sound drowning into the cave. How long had he already been awake? How long had she slept? How had she even fallen asleep in the first place? For all that she could remember, the night had been thick with insomnia for her.

She didn't say much; she was guessing that he had already eaten and gotten some water, anyways. So after taking a few breaths to calm herself down, she lugged herself to her feet and felt her way out of the cave. It was hard to remember where the river was for a while, but she found her way to it by listening to the gurgle of water streaming through the obstacle of rocks.

Upon reaching the water, she first leaned down and put her hands in it. The cold water felt nice, in the now heating up air. She didn't do much more than that though, besides taking a few drinks of the frigid liquid. She was trying to focus on whatever Alex was saying as he followed her, anyways.

Standing back up, she tucked a few strands of her hair back behind her ears before directing her head towards the brown haired boy. She still couldn't see anything, so the hopes of her blind condition being transitional was starting to loosen. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to be blind? She wouldn't have to see anything that she didn't want to, after all. But that also included all the things she did want to see; colors, other people, things of the sort. At least she had been able to see in the start though-- she'd rather have lost her eye sight rather than not had it from the start.

"Maybe," she said with a small shrug, as she sat down at the bank of the river, turning her head back to facing the swiftly moving stream. "They probably won't be able to do much without knowing the cause, though... The chance that they'll even help is slim. The only kind of nearby settlement will most likely be an exile one."

Reaching over to one of the bushes that lined the river, she felt around it for a bit until she grabbed hold of a few berries. Delicately tearing them off of the branch they were on, she rolled them around in her hand for a bit, before looking back over at Alex. "Are these berries?" she asked, outstretching her palm for him to see. She didn't want to be eating anything poisonous; definitely not after becoming blind.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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Alex shrugged, resting his chin on his knees and staring out at the seemingly-empty plains. He turned at Colette's question, his gaze falling on the small red fruits in her outstretched hand. "Yeah, berries. I've been eating them for the past week and I haven't died yet," he replied wryly, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly in amusement. "They're sweet and juicy, but it gets boring after a while."

He was glad she seemed calmer than the day before, as if she had come to terms with her failing eyesight. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad even if they couldn't find a cure for her; it would be nice to have a companion on his travels, and surely there would be some other way to survive in this crazy world. Maybe they couldn't throw down the two warring factions, but they could stay out of their way and mind their own business. He began to envision his own settlement, one for folks who wanted nothing to do with the constant clashes between the Exiles and cities, where families could thrive in peace.

Shaking his head abruptly to clear those treacherous thoughts - that would be no better than hiding, hoping no one would attack them! - Alex glanced at Colette, still mulling over her words. "Trying won't do any harm. What if they do have a cure? You know they get all sorts of odd sicknesses in those camps of theirs," he said optimistically. "The only thing is, they'll probably need some sort of payment, and I don't think a bag of berries is going to cut it." With a sigh, he flopped backwards on the ground, heedless of the fact that his hair was going to be even dustier than before now that it was still damp. He closed his eyes, seeing only dancing orange shadows on the back of his eyelids, wondering if this was what Colette now saw, and how she coped.

"Whatever it is, I'll have to find the settlement first, so you just sit tight here, okay?" he said, after a short period of silence. He shot a glance at her, gauging her expression, hoping she wouldn't run away the moment he left. It was too dangerous to bring a blind girl along on a stealing spree, or he would have insisted on her coming along. He sat up and looked around, noting that there was nothing he needed to bring with him. Standing, he almost turned to wave goodbye to Colette but held back at the last moment, remembering that she wouldn't be able to see it anyway. Trudging off in the direction the stream was flowing, he couldn't help but take a last look back, no longer afraid that she would escape but more uneasy for her safety alone. He hoped there weren't any wild animals about.

His journey continued till the afternoon, the sun rising slowly in the sky before finally sinking slightly. Alex thanked the stars that he had decided to follow the stream or he would have fainted from thirst hours ago when the sun was scorching and high in the cloudless sky. Finally, when the sun was hanging halfway in the sky, the faint sounds of speech and civilization in general drifted to his ears, making him perk up a little. It wouldn't do to let his guard down now, not when he was about to commit a crime that would likely get him beaten up if he was caught. The shabby looking buildings soon loomed before him, not exactly imposing but not welcoming either. It seemed to be a rather small settlement, which meant it would be easier to find the stalls that held what he needed, but also harder to get away.

Turning to look at his footprints behind him, clear as day, he sighed. Perhaps he would escape out the opposite side of the town and find a way to double back; he didn't want to lead unwanted visitors to his little hideout.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

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ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
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cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Colette remained silent as she listened to his reply, bringing her hand back down to direct her fruitless gaze at the small red objects. She could imagine what they looked like; they must've been red, and of course round. Small, as well. And apparently they weren't poisonous, like he had said, so she disregarded the thought as she popped a few into her mouth.

Like he said, they were pretty sweet, but a little tart as well in her opinion. Even so, she ate a few more until she was the smallest bit satisfied, as she listened to him speak. Could there really be some kind of disease that just made people go blind all of a sudden? Now that she thought a bit about it, there probably could be one that damaged cells in the eyes, but probably only to the point of a fuzzy eyesight. No, this was far worse than that.

"I guess there's always a possibility," she said, as she pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Resting her cheek on her kneecaps, she kept her face directing him, almost as if she was expecting to be able to somehow see him all of a sudden. Of course, that never happened. Especially when he stood up to leave her. Now, had he thought that through? Probably not; leaving a blind girl all along in a forest wasn't something that was logical in the least. Though, bringing her along wasn't either.

She almost wanted to ask to go with him, but she only said an, "Alright." They had barely made it away from the earlier exiles, anyways, so having her go along would just be troublesome, even if he left her on the outskirts of the camp.

After a few minutes of staying by the river, she soon pushed herself up to her feet after eating a few more berries and taking a few more gulps of water. Getting to the cave took even longer than the day before; probably because of the tenacious feeling she got out of being left alone in the wilderness with her new blindness. It wasn't like she could do anything about it now though; he was already quite a ways away by now.

She spent most of the spare time in the cave trying to keep her boredom check, though she did come back out to the river once the afternoon finally hit. Having headed downstream, she got most of the grime out of her hair, before washing off her legs and arms. It wasn't too long till a few voices caught her attention through the gurgling river, and she snapped back to attention as her head shot up. There was around four people, she was guessing.

She didn't stop once to try and figure out whether they were exiles or city soldiers; she was up and off heading towards the cave before she even thought about who they were. Shrubs and branches smacked her in the face every now and then, but she pushed most of them aside. And once she finally reached the cave, she pressed her back up against the entrance's wall, before listening as her breath got hitched in her throat. Gladly, the voices faded off after a while.

Letting out a small, relieved breath, she let herself slide back down into a sitting position. Closing her eyes for a while, she started to wonder how long it would be till Alex got back. She didn't want to wait forever; boredom was already chewing at the corners of her mind, and the sun was already starting to make it's way down the sky. It wouldn't be too long till night hit; if he wasn't back then, she'd contemplate going after him.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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By the time what he had come to think of as his own territory came into view once more, the sun had long since set and the moon was high in the sky. He'd made much better time returning, probably because he'd been running half the way, wary of any followers who might be on his trail. He never thought he'd be glad to see the little cave once more, but as the sack on his bag grew ever heavier with every step he took, he had began to think rather longingly of the hard dirt floor that awaited. As he rounded the last bend of the river, his footsteps halted as he took in the jumble of prints mingling haphazardly along the damp soil.

"Damn," he muttered. The footprints didn't seem to lead any closer to the cave, but he broke into a tired jog nevertheless, his heart suddenly thumping fearfully in his chest and echoing in his ears. Colette would've heard them coming and hid safely, surely; weren't blind people supposed to have other heightened senses? A dozen different scenarios were presenting themselves in his head, each more exaggerated and unlikely than the last, although they seemed all too real to him then. The clearing between the river and the cave was deserted, and he headed straight for the cave, ducking halfway into it and sweeping it a with a single hurried glance.

He fell back onto the soil as his legs weakened involuntarily, relief sweeping through him when he saw that she was not only safe and sound, but sitting up waiting for him. "Who came by earlier? And why aren't you sleeping yet?" he snapped, covering up the worry that had plagued him with irritation. With a grunt, he swung the sack over his shoulder, plopping it down on the dirt unceremoniously. "We'll, since you're awake, look at what I brought back!" He grinned, pride washing away the exhaustion in his muscles, although he faltered in embarrassment when he realised his unfortunate choice of words. "I mean, check out...you know, the stuff. You can touch it," he muttered somewhat lamely, giving a weak smile.

Enthusiastically, he rummaged through the rather musty-smelling sack, pulling out an assortment of varied foodstuffs - a few squashed loafs of bread, apples, a handful of carrots, and some canned foods that he hadn't had time to thoroughly investigate. Somehow, he'd even snagged two tattered but warm blankets. "Not bad, huh?" he said brightly. "Some of these will keep, so we can just eat the perishables first. As for the blankets...maybe we should wash them in the river before using them." He was tempted to regale her with his stories of daring escapes and sneakily-taken side paths, but his aching muscles told him it was time to call it quits for the day.

"If you're hungry you can eat some of these," he suggested, guiding her hand to the bread and fruits. "I'm going to wash and sleep. If you feel up to it, we can go find a doctor back at that settlement tomorrow; they looked like they had some sort of technology, so it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully they don't recognize me is all." So saying, he left the cave with the blankets, draping them over the rocks to dry after washing, before starting on himself, grimacing at the grime accumulated after just a day. The quiet chirping of crickets was the perfect backdrop to his self-reflection - somehow, Colette's presence was loosening him up, giving him someone to be responsible for, providing a goal for him, basically bringing out the best in him. The thought made him laugh a little as he trudged back to the cave for yet another night of rest.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

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ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
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cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Going out to find Alex had almost been a tempting thought in Colette's mind after another hour or two passed, of waiting in the cave as she fought of boredom. Maybe it would have been better if she had gone with him, after all. If any of the exiles had approached, she probably wouldn't have had a chance to get away. Though, the spare time did give her a while to think; even if that wasn't the best of things to do.

In a way, she was almost grateful for what Alex had done; he had made her chance of getting away from the exiles. The problem was, she didn't know whether to trust him or not. He only helped her in order to keep her ability from falling in their hands, anyways. And with her new blindness, there was almost an empty feeling flourishing in her chest, especially since she could only guess she was so far away from what used to be her home. Thoughts of her father didn't help at all, either.

When she heard the sound of sifting sand, her hands scrambled along the floor of the cave as she was snapped out of her thoughts. As she pushed herself up to sit on her knees, she kept silent to listen. Gladly, it wasn't the people from before; it was only Alex, to her relief. What she hadn't expected was his irritation though; it wasn't as if it was her fault that there had been people who came close.

"I couldn't tell," she said, taken aback just the slightest by his snapping. "They were over a ways by the river, not here." At least his anger didn't stick around for too long; the sound of something falling to the ground soon replaced his chattering, before he announced his findings. In a rude way, too. She disregarded it though, seeing as she wasn't too used to her blindness either.

After he had rummaged through the sack he had, she delicately ran her fingers over a few of the supplies he had got. She seemed to pause when she felt the blanket, though she had let go of it when he spoke about washing them before they used them. Deciding to answer one of his earlier questions, she added, "And I just couldn't fall asleep, I guess."

As he went off to the river to wash the blankets, she said nothing more. Instead, she decided to grab a piece of bread and just let herself rest against the cave wall and wait for him to return. She wasn't too tired, so she didn't close her eyes at any point besides for the occasional blink, though her eyelids were starting to drag down in just the slightest manner. And by the time Alex had returned, she had her eyes closed, having already eaten.

"You're pretty reckless, deciding to leave a blind person in a cave when they aren't used to being blind," she said as she listened to his trudging footsteps and the grinding of sand. Opening her eyes, she directed her gaze over towards him. Though there was a faint red tracing her eyes, showing reminiscence of the broken blood vessels, most of them had faded off to a less noticeable point. Now, what almost looked like fog was starting to make her irises lighter, as their striking winter blue started to fade off into a pale azure.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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When he returned to the cave, admittedly in a much better mood than before, he set about packing all his stolen goods back into the grubby sack. He wouldn't be surprised if they contracted some sort of food poisoning simply because of the sack, which had surely seen better days, it wasn't as if there was any better place to store them. With his back facing Colette, he couldn't help but smirk at her words, although he finished packing and propped the sack up nicely against the back of the cave before replying. He turned to see her looking vaguely in his direction, although the cloudy tinge to her eyes made the effect sort of creepy.

"Reckless, that's me all right," he said with a laugh, relaxing fully with his back to the cave wall, holding a large apple in his left hand. "Everyone used to say that about me, no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. It's okay, I had faith that you wouldn't wander off a cliff or drown in the shallow stream. Anyway, you didn't get in any trouble, did you?" It felt good to joke around a little, not thinking too carefully about who exactly used to say he was reckless. "Are you used to being...well, not able to see now? Does it get easier?" Somehow, he still hesitated to say the word 'blind'; it just sounded so ominous, so irreversible and final.

For the first time, he glanced at her truly, realising that she wasn't just a girl, or an experiment; she was a daughter, possibly a sister, a friend, to people she had left behind. "Why did you let them do this to you? Don't you have family, or were you one of those homeless kids they picked off the streets to experiment on?" It sounded harsh, but it was what he had heard. It was indeed cheaper for the city to just pick those starving children off the streets, without family or friends to complicate matters, than pay off some random girl for the privilege to experiment on her. Those kids were usually willing to do anything for a shelter over their heads and three full meals a day.

"Anyway," he said, his mind leaping to another topic as it was wont to do, "we'll go find a doctor tomorrow, and when you're cured, we can move out of this terrible place." He grinned, not really thinking that the snug little cave was terrible, but somehow finding it funny to say it was so. "Seems like people are starting to explore near here anyway; I saw the footprints just across the river. If you were alone, what would you want to do? I mean, you can't go back to either of those crazy groups." He shifted so he was now lying down on the warm floor, resting his head on one of his arms and munching on his apple with his eyes closed. His hair was already dry from the quick rinse he had taken just now - one of the perks of short hair, he supposed, with an involuntary glance over at Colette's long locks.

When he sank into sleep later that night, his slumber was filled with disturbing dreams of faceless people who he could never catch up with no matter how hard he tried. He knew that he knew who they were, but at the same time he couldn't for the life of him figure out their identities. Then a door stood between him and the faceless not-strangers, leading into the room that held all the answers, a door that he didn't have the key to. A sense of hopelessness awaking deep in him, he crouched by the door miserably, unable to shake the sense that something very important was locked in that room.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

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ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Colette's dysfunctional gaze lingered on him for a while, whilst she listened to him unpack the supplies he had gotten. She had gotten a good idea of all that they had, but the thought that was impacting in her mind was how long it would all last. Rummaging food from settlements over and over again would come with an unwanted reputation anyways.

Her expression didn't change much as she listened to him laugh at her remark, though she couldn't help but let out the smallest huff. Whether it was out of irritation or just slight amusement was as hidden as the breath itself. "You can't just expect somebody to get used to being blind in a day." Maybe she had gotten a bit more adjusted with using her eyesight, but she still felt horribly lost, even if she knew where she was and there was someone practically constantly watching over her. There was just this lingering feeling of loss, as if she was still trying to cling onto something.

Maybe it was only because she still felt misplaced, blind and alone with an audacious boy who had no recollection of his memories.

The sound of his next questions made her jaw tense up, as strands of her hair fell down around her shoulders to frame her face. Whatever human that had made it's way into her mood disappeared as thoughts came rushing to her, like running into the dew-covered web of a spider. The words that came from his mouth afterwards flew past her ears, and she was barely even able to make it out.

Her expression had noticeably dropped, though she didn't say anything, as he gave her no time to reply. He seemed a straightforward person; he usually jumped to the point rather quickly. It was a relief to her though; having answered that question would have only made her feel more hollow than she already was.

The only answer she had was simple, "I volunteered myself..." If her ability only mattered to him, then she had no reason to give him some life biography about Colette Jolie Sylvestre; the girl who sacrificed herself for her father. The girl who was none other than Project AX. She might've as well had a bad code printed on her forehead, or the letters AX scrawled all over her body. They held meaning to those around her anyways; she was the beginning, while she was and wasn't the end.

When she finally regained her attention, and looked back over at him, she could only guess that he had fallen asleep. His breathing had become shallow and steady, while it was also loud enough to echo across the cave walls. He must've been exhausted from raiding whatever settlement he had gone to, so she wasn't too surprised.

Turning her head to one side, she leaned back against one of the walls in the cave, her inept gaze having fallen down to the ground. His question still ran through her head, even as she let her eyes fall shut and dozed off into a light sleep. And even in her sleep, she was lost, surrounded by the broken memories of others. It almost made her feel as helpless as a little girl, wanting to just cover her eyes and sob, while screaming out for someone. Who, though? Maybe her father, maybe anybody, maybe even nobody.

She really was an obscured weapon of war, in the end.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

{ i skipped a bit of the morning because i was lazy to have him wake up all over again cx }

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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"Well, you ready to go?" He was eager to set off as soon as they had finished breakfast - not just berries for once - to avoid the hottest part of the day that he had suffered through earlier. He wasn't sure how fast Colette could travel anyway, and the earlier they left the better. Eager as he was to get to the settlement, Alex almost forgot to grab a few cans of food that he had gained illegally the day before - hopefully the doctor would accept food as payment. His eyes settled on her slim form as they walked, him by the water's edge to prevent any accidents, and her traveling along unaided beside him.

Just halfway to their destination, he could already feel his muscles start to ache faintly, still not quite recovered from the exertions of the past few days. He kept his pace constant though, determined to make good time even as the burning in his thighs increased with every step. As a distraction, he decided to make more small talk with Colette; even after last night's sharing, if it could even be called that, he still felt like he hardly knew anything about her at all. Kicking idly at the pebbles lining the bank and amusing himself by observing the reflection of sunlight off the water's surface, he pondered questions he could ask Colette; he didn't want to be rude on intrusive, but he also wanted to actually learn something about her.

Finally, with a grin, he asked quite randomly, "Can you whistle? I was thinking a scene like this would require cheerful whistling, by the river and with such nice weather. I've never been able to whistle though." Pursing his lips and blowing out ineffectually through them, all that could be heard was a rather hoarse-sounding puff of air. Alex gave a quiet laugh, not having expected anything more; even years of trying had proved fruitless in this case. Lowering his head so the increasingly-hot sun was beating down on the back of his neck, he asked curiously, "Did you have many friends last time? Before you volunteered?" He shot her a quick look, gauging if his question had been too personal or not.

They had to stop once sometime after noon to rest, although Alex chivalrously pretended that it was for Colette's benefit and not because he felt his legs would collapse under him if he took another step. By the time they set foot into the small town, it was close to sunset, and he had his guard up, hoping no one would recognize him as the thief from the day before. Holding Colette's wrist loosely in his hand, afraid she would get lost in the bustling crowd, he had to ask for directions twice before they arrived in front of a rundown old shack with a lighted electric lantern hanging out front. Hesitating slightly, feeling nervous for no good reason, Alex climbed the front steps leading up to the front door.

"You ready?" he muttered under his breath. "Imagine, you could see again!" Raising his fist to the door, he rapped on it a few times, pushing it open when a pleasant voice from within called, "Come in!" The interior was brightly lit, and while shabby it was clearly kept clean. Alex felt a sense of relief; somehow he'd been expecting a dark room with an inept-looking old man holding a scalpel. Instead, the doctor looked to be in his mid-thirties, with a lean figure and long brown hair tied back in a low ponytail. "Hi! How can I help you?" he asked with a smile, looking up from a notebook full of scribbles he had been reading.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.