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imasyd · 4 years

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Old Damage

“Argh!” Sonia yelled, kicking at the old brittle wood in their temporary tree-house shelter. The boy sharing the space with her had been trying to shake some of the water out of his deep blue curls to no avail. He looked up at her outburst. “Are you crazy? Don’t do that, if this place collapses I’m not saving you,” Jax huffed. She sat down, crossing her arms, “well if I die I won’t tell you how I got blessed.” “Like I care,” he mumbled. “Liar,” she stuck her tongue out at him. “Haha ok, if I’m the pot what are you?” he retorted, slipping his overcoat off and hanging it up on a cross-beam to dry.

She stayed sullen and silent at that, tugging uncomfortably at her wet robes. There that jackass was, undressing like it was nothing while she didn’t have anything else to wear. That flood had blindsided them, trapping them here with nothing. She was thinking of her parents in their simple home, had it compromised their safety? (Not that she thought of these things much before).

“Are you okay, Sonia?” Jax asked out of formality, tongue heavy in his mouth talking to her. “I’m lovely, thanks for asking-” her voice cut off as she caught a glimpse of him in nothing but his light pantaloons and a tank-top. Jeez, did he not have any decency! Sonia felt warm pinpricks rising to her face the longer she stared.... she turned away with a frown to examine the grain of the wood instead.

Well, he had tried asking, he wasn’t going to try again. Besides, the thought of touching her to check up on her, pose a reassuring hand on her shoulder- was still too daunting. How disgustingly ironic, that they got caught together in the treehouse he and his friends had built nearly a decade ago. She had thrown rocks at them up there, foul-smelling plants if she could find them and even a rabid squirrel once. He had to admit, he still had no idea how she managed that.

He sighed after a while, “this is new.” “What is?” she resisted the urge to snap at him. A grimace, “you acting remotely decent for my sake.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” she already knew, but it felt like the appropriate response. He seemed to consider his words, lips pinched. “You were a horrible bitch, Sonia!” he finally burst out, waved his arms as he spoke, “and I feel like I’m going crazy sitting here with you all quiet, not trying to start a fight or steal my things or convince me some great misfortune has come to my family, nothing!” “That’s pretty rude, I’ve never done anything wrong,” she sucked a breath in. “Yeah, that might convince someone who didn’t have to suffer through growing up with you.” “Oh,” she said in a sweet voice, “but you secretly loved when I antagonized all of you, it gave you a reason to play hero... to release all that pent up aggressive energy somewhere that felt righteous, you wanted a fight just as much as I did.” “That’s not true,” he swallowed. “Liar~” she taunted, letting her head bump up against the side of the structure and resting there. She had calmed down somewhat from that weird feeling earlier, and had a good view of him here. It didn’t take long for her eyes to catch a discoloured patch of scar tissue on his shoulder, about the size of a fist. Against her better judgement she inched ever closer to get a proper look. Jax noticed this.

“Stop,” he said softly, “you’ll make me self-conscious.” He could probably afford that, she thought. It would certainly make things less awkward for her. “What is that?” she asked. He scoffed, “like you don’t know,” he covered it up with his hand, “granted you gave it to me.” “I did?” His eyebrow lifted in disbelief, “you threw a massive rock at me when we were kids, it never healed right. Come on, don’t tell me you don’t remember, I won’t believe a word you say.” Ah, right, it was clear in her mind now. “ I remember, you cast zone of truth on me.” “I think a permanent zone of truth should be cast on you,” he said bitterly.

Sonia’s stomach twisted back and forth. It seemed so long ago, like it hadn’t really been her that did that. She would say Chalk had changed her, but the version of her that initially followed the god of joy was a fake. It was everything that happened after, probably. Adventures and parties and trudging through mud and putting on a brave face and solving puzzles and surviving a ghost city and a megalomaniac woman with an army of kidnapped children. It had been the decision to let herself try to pursue joy on her own terms; rather than an overnight transformation into the perfect child she could never be. To be wild and rambunctious but also a good person... maybe. And then she had agreed to go home.

“Let me touch it,” it came out as a command. “Excuse me?” Jax protested, but she was already in the process of removing the hand he had placed on that spot to hide it. “I won’t hurt you,” she promised. “I can’t trust you,” he said, wincing at the contact from her little fingers.

She did not hurt him, she didn’t want to anymore. She marveled at how tender the skin was, how wide the damage had been. Her fingertips running over little grooves and tiny peachy hairs that cut off when they met the scar, a contrastingly pale dip in his flesh, so obvious on his sun-kissed brown. This everlasting mark on this young man’s body had been all her fault. She hadn’t realized she was capable of that back then, and maybe she wouldn’t have cared if she was. She had been so carried away in her obsession with proving that she was the best. A stupid kid fantasy. Something about it felt different now, hit her a certain way. However, mistakes made in childhood are still your own to bear. “Are you done? I don’t get what you’re doing,” Jax mumbled. She buried her head in his shoulder, “I’m sorry,” she choked out. “What the hell?” he pushed her away, cheeks red, “you’re freaking me out!” She laughed, wiping away the budding tears, “sorry for that too.” He scratched the back of his neck, flustered, “can you at least give me a warning next time you decide to show remorse?”

The sun soon set. And under the leaky roof of the treehouse, listening to the rough water below; two teens trying to sleep reached out and hesitantly held hands.

#my writing #writing #fiction #short story #fantasy #dnd #dungeons and dragons #tabletop rpg #my ocs #cleric #text #1000+ words #Sonia Setlove #jax featherwear #old damage #ask to tag #this is a long time after the previous story featuring them #theyre both 16 here

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imasyd · 4 years

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One Decisive Rock

Sonia had been minding her business that day, as much as someone like her could. In spite of her aptitude for reading people and persuading them of this and that, she was perhaps not the most perceptive person. So it was a surprise to her when she found herself cornered by a small group of local children. She whipped her head around to look behind her and saw two young boys glaring at her back.

"Gods, do you have any idea how long we've been waiting for you?" came a sweet voice twisted by resentment. She turned to face the speaker. "What is it, Jax? I have things to do," she spat. "The only thing on your agenda right now is to tell us where you stashed Kokai's glasses, and Madlynn's photographs, and so on," he said angrily. He was so self-assured for a boy his size, of course the neighbourhood kids flocked to him. Ha, birds of a feather, as they said.

"What a shame, I seem to have forgotten," she said, a seemingly genuine expression of remorse on her face. "As if! Make sure she can't get away this time," he ordered. The two boys from the back each grabbed one of her arms and try as she did to shake them off, her strength posed no contest. When that happened she fell back on her charm, but she must have gone too far this time since her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Jax in the meantime was poring over a book he had stuffed in his oversized child's jacket, concentrating very hard. They all looked at him expectantly as he recited some arcane words. Sonia's affinity to magic was more innate and messy, and so she didn't recognize a word he said, let alone what he was attempting to cast, but she didn't like it at all.

"Hey, what are you doing? Let me go!" she pleaded, her nerves finally getting the best of her. This couldn't be happening, she always had the upper hand.

She felt funny, once he released the spell. The air around her was heavier and her thoughts felt strangely directionless. She couldn't have known that Jax's inexperienced magic only allowed for a range of five feet, or that the duration was only half that of a trained cleric; nor would it have mattered. She was stuck here in this moment.

"Do you regret any of it, Sonia? We've had enough of you!" he shouted, "From now on you are bound to the truth!" She struggled fruitlessly, "No, I don't regret it!" she was compelled to respond. Jax looked on furiously. Of course she didn't, consequences never caught up to her like this. She felt strong when she tormented them, she was too young to properly weigh what that meant. "Tell us, what have you done with our things?" Jax pushed. She paused, then finally laughed and dropped to her knees in their grasp, her weight the only thing allowing her purchase. "I bagged and threw them in the Lumshall river, they'll have wound up in the fishing nets of Drumnac by now," she told them pleasantly, "it might not be too late to retrieve them if you catch a horse."

One of the little girls at Jax's side burst into tears, was it Kokai or Madlynn? Sonia had never bothered to remember. The boy, to his own credit, only seemed to get more fired up by this.

"Fine, you can send us on your sadistic little fetch quest, but not before we make sure you remember your lesson-" he cut off as a medium-sized rock made impact with his right shoulder, sending him stumbling backwards. He was too shocked to do anything for the moment but look at her with an expression of pain and hold his hand up to his bleeding shoulder.

Sonia's arm was still extended, fresh dirt at her feet bearing a distinct empty socket. Jax made up his mind. He lunged forward and hit her squarely in the side of her face, then once more. their scuffle tore her from the grip of the two young boys who looked very much like they didn't want to be a part of this anymore. Neither of them remembered what they said to each other during the fight. She'd had this coming to her, hadn't she?

That rock was honest though, she had been under the influence of a zone of truth, after all.

#my writing #writing #dnd #dungeons and dragons #tabletop rpg #cleric #sorcerer #text #one decisive rock #Sonia Setlove #jax featherwear #my ocs #tw violence #700+ words

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