RP:Keep the Fight, For Honey, You're Alive

Part of the Time Heals All Wounds Arc

Synopsis: Instead of talking about feelings between the siblings of their past. Kel and Nel come to the conclusion that they need to fight for the boy. Kel has promised Nel Ardelian druidic lessons, for they are alive.

Silent Forest

Old Halifax Cottage

The morning was quiet. Eerily quiet. The atmosphere felt like there had been an elephant in the room. It was not until Aeric and Alexia take their leave to go get fresh air that the room felt like less of a blow, however, there was still one being that had returned. Kellin. A night or so prior, Penelope had shattered glass all over the floor. Leaving shards of glass until the twin brother came and swept it up. Penelope had left that night and found her way to her own shop, but today was a new day and she had slipped into the cottage early to take care of the mess that was already gone. The Ardelian girl decides to do a deep cleaning anyway by wiping furniture and bundling sheets to wash them and hang them to dry outside. The woman with the tangled, dark chestnut hair is in a tired haze as she uses clips to pin the blankets on the hanging line. There was a light breeze, but the world had been sunnier today. Since she had nothing to hide in front of the ones that were living in the cottage, she wears a loose tank and a wrap skirt in order to feel the air press against her face. To feel something.

Kellin had not remembered most of those days, nor remembered much of his soul being buried. All he knew was that everything felt like he was waking up from a long slumber that had been filled with nightmares. They had said he was ill. Creating figments from his own mind. Had been tongue tied leading up to his death. All he knew was that there was darkness and that his spirit was not fully at rest. It was a blast of sorrow and anger. Confusion. Those were the only feelings he could register. With Aeric and Alexia still in the picture, he had still been cold and distant, but not as much as he had used to be. Perhaps the twin brother had learned that messing with some dude’s children that had a father who was attached to some sort of demonic force was not something he should mess with. Not again. So the children would be fed, have a place to sleep—if they could—and live their daily lives until… until Aeric would make the next move to bring Linken back. To bring the elf that had wrecked his sister’s world. Pakellin, too, had been quiet most days, and Ruari was really the one who was stopping by to check on the kids and his sister. The Halifax twins were lost in dazes, for Kel was grasping onto a new world and Nel was grasping onto her sanity. That past night when he heard the shatter of glass, he felt the suffering deep within his chest. Penelope was suffering, and he had not known how to approach her, nor her with him. So the morning that she finally returned, it was time to be the bigger brother that he had been in the past. Be the stronger one of the two, like he always had. The male with the freckles is sort of awkward with approach at first, as he rests his hand on the back of his shaggy hair. Moss eyes stare at the girl from a distance who looks lost, battered, and lost in the thought of bedding. “Smells like mom’s cliché lavender scent.” The brother had been… together with his words. Where to begin with such a heavy barrier between the two, although so connected and filled again.

Penelope attempts to look at him, but a sheet blows between the distance of the two, and then falls back down to its regular position, and then green eyes reflect similar ones before her. She made silence heavy between them as she took him in. The way he appeared put together with appearance. His hair styled, his outfit pieced together with a button-up that was open and black sleek denim. Towards the end of the twin’s life, there was moments of rash decisions that did not make sense. Down to the clothes that he wore to “protect” himself from whatever had been haunting him. This was not the same youthful boy that feared for his life, nor hallucinated. Lips part, “It’s just lavender. There’s no cliché thing about it. It’s supposed to be a calming scent.” The last sheet is then pinned up to cover his face from seeing her own. For when that sheet is pinned up, there is nothing but a swarm of guilt that swallows her. To let him rot for so long, without coming back to give any word of peace, had ate at her. Her feelings, however, had been mixed since the brother had tried to… kill her. Take her away from the pain that was this. End it all for the both of them. There was a layer of untrustworthiness there.

Pakellin makes his rounds between the sheets that she pins up. He was not who he used to be. When he steps beyond the thin barrier, he could feel the waft of pain. He could feel the tenseness that was coating her back. The empathy between them was thick. “Look, I know we both screwed up with wrong decisions, and we don’t have to talk about them right now. Only when you’re ready. But…” What was there to make her feel better? Distract her? “Ruari tells me that a boy is sick. That you need me to help you.” He treads lightly and avoids the heaviness of the rocky relationship between them.

The twin sister side eyes the brother before looking at the blank sheet to process what he had said. Eyes were heavy with drowse and distance. The girl then pivots where her back is facing towards him before beginning to walk away. Leon… why had he been talking about Leon? The girl makes it to the porch before she feels a gentle grip on her forearm, turning around to find her brother following her. She pulls her arm away. “Look, you already… did kind of help me. With my… friend Kyori. Kyori helped me talk to you while you were—“ dead. “You get it. I have to find uncle, you said. You said that only one that can balance all four elements who is Ardelian can open the vault for the ingredients I need. Only the elements and Ardelian blood can open it. I need to find uncle—somehow. I don’t even know where to start. That boy is doomed, Kellin. So leave it alone. He’ll die. Because that’s how life works. Suffering. I tried to give the boy some compassion, but look where that gets me.”

When his sister pushes him away, he lowers his hands and sticks them in his pockets. Her speech is one that makes him cant his head. “Uncle? Sure… I—“ He did not remember. She goes off on a rant, and the emotions begin to pour out in front of them. His chest swells and the brother begins to shake his head. “No, Nel. No. I—I may have said that, but you didn’t have –me-. You could have done it without uncle, but that would involve ritual and well… I’m alive.” Quickly he adds, “I’m your other half. You’re wearing the pendant,” he points to the triangle that is tied around her neck that resembles earth and fire. “I’m your other half.” He explains. The twin watches the other’s face fall. “We can open the vault together. I could teach you. I remember my druidic ability. We connect because… we create a whole.” He pulls up his sleeve where the inked octogram rests. A visual of their druidic witch and twin connection. “With me, it’ll be easier to learn and for me to teach you. So stop feeling as if you failed. We’re alive, Penelope. We got a second chance, so let’s help the boy because we can open it. I can help you.” His eyes look concerned and convincing. His words are clear. The request is clear. There was pleading to help… to do anything to start the bond again.

Penelope stares at the man as he explains briefly about their heritage. He had known about it all. The healer blinks several times before eyes land on the octogram. Moss eyes sort of graze her own tattoo before she inhales. ‘We’re alive’. Her eyes are steady for a moment’s time. If only he knew. She was alive, but she felt like a walking shell. There was only one thing to do even though distractions were probably the last thing she should have focused on. Instead, she should have been processing what happened. The boy, however, was not getting any better, so it was best to move forward, although the pain still ceased her body, and her conscience screamed at her and tricked her. “Fine.” Her eyes flick over him. “When do we start?”