untrueheart | Act 2

Act 2

[After a confrontation with her (former? Were they ever?) friends, and several failed attempts to sway people to the side of the spirit of shadows, Rue ran away. There was no one to tell and, as far as she knew, no one to come looking, either. Even Twila abandoned her as she ran, south down the same path she’d taken into the village not three weeks before.

You see, the failures were hers. It was Rue that denied the influence of something that wanted her to turn others to her will. Its will. Nobody would know that she ran, of course, because she hid. In the same small forest dwelling that she first used, with its stock of unlikely to spoil food and its proximity to the lake and river. Running had no point if she just came crawling back again the next day, trying to appease…something, anything that would accept it.

Now, some days later, she is completely out of food and the slice from Mytho’s sword isn’t getting any better. It seems she has no choice but to return to the village proper and figure things out from there. The messages inside her journal indicated that they were working on some kind of solution for those still “possessed”; maybe they’ve found it by now.

The walk seems much longer in her current state, hot and tired and unsure of what she will find when she gets there. Rue remembers seeing and hearing about a clinic, and she thinks she should get there, but can’t seem to manage how. Or where, for that matter. When she reaches the village edge she wanders between the houses, keeping to what shadows exist.

Until she backs straight into someone, that is.]

[Later, after the escapades and the slinking around and, above all, discovering that a great deal of the village was “normal” again, she sits in the quiet alone and opens her book with intent for the first time, writing in shaky letters with her weaker hand.]

Is it always like this? Strange changes that turn everyone against each other? [A pause for anyone watching, but one that won't register later.] What did she want from us?

[[ooc: All avenues are, as usual, open. Which means! The 'someone' in the action bit isn't designated, it can be anybody. It can be more than one body but please only living (animate, you know) ones.]]

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[Part of the way there and she already wishes she'd stayed still and under the tree. Is it so much to ask for a little relief from the heat? Home was never this warm.]

[Is it hot? Mytho doesn't particularly notice, or have any opinion on the matter. Sweat does dot his forehead. But he trudges on regardless.]

[It's hot enough.

Reaching the doors to a hospital has never been such a relief to her. The sun's position allows shade to fall across them as they approach, and Rue stops to lean her head against the doorframe in silence. I'm so tired. Tired of all of this.]

[Mytho just stares as she does this.]

Do you want to go inside?

[Maybe she doesn't feel like it anymore. Maybe resting her head there is all she needs.]

Mmhmm.

[Then, because it is its own whisper, she looks at him.]

Yes.

Okay.

[He holds onto one of her arms to support her and with his other hand holds the door open.]

[Once they get inside, someone is there to help her. Rue doesn't retain many memories of even walking to the clinic, let alone what happens upon arrival, though she has a faint dream of someone scolding - Mytho? Both of them? - for waiting so long or letting her walk there, or...it's all very sparse and overlayed with darkness. She knows they are separated. Tries to tell them that he'll just wander off, if left alone. They won't be able to find him, no one told him to stay, maybe he- maybe he doesn't want to stay?

Not too long later Rue is asleep in a bed in a room and doesn't have to worry about any of those things. If Mytho managed to keep himself there for the twenty-something minutes of wait, someone will tell him that they want Rue to rest here for a few hours but then she can go home and rest if there is a friend willing to take her.]

[When they are scolded, Mytho makes eye contact, listens and nods, with some mild words of confirmation. He's used to the process of scolding by now, even if he can't retain the true emotions behind it. Oh, she shouldn't have been left unattended so long. How interesting.

Mytho manages to stay - perhaps his confused puppy dog eyes with his presentation of absolute harmlessness won the attendant over. He sits in a chair near Rue's bed - still and quiet, for however long is possible. And every ten minutes or so, he inquires.]

Rue... Are you awake?

[He may be asking for quite a while.

Eventually, though. Eventually, a persistent feeling breaks through her sleep enough to rouse her into that place where there are sounds and the play of light in the room but no actual response from her. Then she hears it again. ...awake?

So she opens her eyes to see who it is.]

[He will - automatically and almost robotically.

He could wander off on his own and do any number of things. But instead, he's adhering to what pretty much is the old chain of command - to attend to Rue when she's around... as long as it doesn't interfere with Fakir's wishes. And, seeing her there in such a damaged state, perhaps also reaches to the prince's instinct that still acts within him - to protect the weak and helpless.

Mytho simply glances towards her curiously. Are her eyes opening?]

[Yes, they are. For a strange disjointed moment she thinks she sees not Mytho but Drosselmeyer before her- but no. White hair, soft as down and framing wide sad eyes, that's Mytho if it is anyone at all.]

Mytho?

[It's him. Currently free of any tragic fate. Just existing and watching. And nodding at her call.]

Yes.

[If only that were the extent of the question.]

What is going on?

Medical help.

[That brings a lot rushing back in a hurry. Rue sits up to the best of her ability and looks around. The room does resemble the infirmary at the academy...]

You're- you didn't leave?

No.

[Sitting up is not going so well. Much of the dizziness and confusion is gone, but replacing it is a weariness that makes her presence in her own skin feel like sand.]

I can't even think.

[He rose and moved closer.]

Is that something you'd like to do?

[If she did not know better, so much better about what Mytho ought to be like, she could swear he said some thing just to be difficult.]

Of course I do. There is...so little I can do, I...

[Generally she isn't going to make much sense.]

[Welcome to his world. There's not much he gains from her broken sentences. So he recalls some of the last coherent thoughts he heard, from someone not in the room.]

You need rest.

[Then why did he wake her up?

No, wait. He didn't wake her, did he? If he did, he couldn't help it, and seeing him sitting here with her instead of meandering the world, his favorite heartless inclination, was...it was nice.

She's falling asleep again. The realization is enough to jolt her out of it, for a while, and she fights for her upright position again and looks at him, hard.]

And just how long have we been here?

[He hadn't been trying to wake her - just to see if she was awake. Even though that itself had a chance of waking her to begin with.]

Several hours.

[If it was hours, then at least it hadn't been something enormous like days. Rue lets her head fall into her hands, surprised that it hurts much less now to do so.

This isn't like her at all. It was the, the spirit's fault, showing up and ruining everything and making them fight. When she'd just started to get used to seeing him like this again!

Thoughts like these are easier than wondering why the light could cut her so badly, and why the darkness wanted to save her.]

[Mytho sits, watching blankly at her general state of being. And he tilts his head curiously. She doesn't seem to be resting anymore. Has she finished resting?]

[It's still hard to think. Something swims to the top of her awareness all the same.

At least he isn't a crow.]

What else do you know?

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