[GP] All we can do is learn to swim

[st_oriedqueen]

Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim. - Vicki Harrison

"You're sure?" Regina already knew the answer but demanding that Sam tell her what she already knew satisfied something petty in her. Or maybe just something hurt that hoped he'd have a different answer than her locator spell had already provided.

"Yeah." Sam half-rolled his eyes at her as he leaned across the pink bar counter to grab bottles of beer from the Silver Bar ice bin -- probably the results of Rebekah's last work-effort at the Inn -- for himself and his newly arrived companion.

Briefly, Regina considered burning a hole in the seat of his jeans, but it wouldn't bring Rebekah or any of the absent ones back. Instead, she took refuge in straightening her A-line and walking around the stylish counter Sam lay across like he was surfing the waves of grief. She took down a bottle of pointlessly pricey champagne, and then found the precise cut-crystal glasses Rebekah and Miss Fisher had preferred for their afternoon indulgences. She poured herself a glass and one for the person who dared her openly bitter expression.

"So who all are we missing?" they both said at once, glared at each other and sighed. They both knew the answers, in their own way and for their own reasons. And neither of them wanted to say.

Rebekah Mikaelson. Henry Winchester. Jack Robinson. Phryne Fisher. Dorothy Williams. Angua von Uberwald. Jaime Vegas. Harry Dresden. Lydia Martin. Raleigh Becket. Yasmeen. Joanna Beauchamp. Constance Bonacieux D'Artagnan. Lindsey McDonald.

"Grief is like the ocean," Sam clearly quoted from some fucking where, and Regina tuned him out until he added, "All we can do is learn to swim. Rebekah told me that."

Now Regina rolled her eyes; they weren't friends. "Shut up, Sam."

Comments

Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow was not anywhere near the hotel. Rather, she had made a point of getting entirely out of earshot of the place. Not because of the people, well. Not most of the people. But the noise she was letting out would fear the horses too much. And Mama.

Finding Lindsey was gone was... well, the feelings as far as she could tell were rather mixed. She didn't know how she was going to handle the horses all by herself, but damned if she couldn't try. Lindsey was a snake, but as there hadn't been any reason or advantage to hurting her, he had not. And he'd let her be. He was a snake, but he had not been the worst.

Yasmeen, though.

Okay, okay, the girl would tell you for free that she didn't exactly like Yasmeen and she didn't think Yasmeen really much liked her either. But they had an understanding. And the woman had been there for her when Regina was not, when she'd had horrible dreams nightly. And now she was gone.

She had grown up a little, perhaps, to know it was probably for the best.

But the noise kept coming.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arknaked]

Dyson hadn't been avoiding the inn, except that he'd sort of been avoiding the inn. Giving Regina space. Giving himself space. Besides, he was as comfortable outside as he was indoors so it felt right to leave her domain to her.

The noise was distinct even in the den he'd made himself, it made his ears twitch. Something, or someone was... in pain. That was what it sounded like. He shifted back into human form, slipped into a pair of jeans and a pulled on a shirt as he loped toward the sound.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw her.

"Shit," whatever it was that inspired this, he knew it wasn't good.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

It took a moment for Snow to recognize the feeling of eyes on her, but she did, and she whipped around, black eyes full of fire. It was not her mother, she had known that even before she confirmed it. "You," she said.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arknaked]

"Accurate." He was himself, he took a few steps toward her still concerned but relived that her faculties seemed intact. And thanking the gods that she'd stopped making that unholy noise.

"I'm sure I wasn't who you were hoping to attract, but now that I'm here..." he wasn't sure why he was offering, or what he was offering. She was important to Regina, and despite his own inability to feel more deeply which had ended their liaison he certainly cared about the woman as much as he was capable of.

And because of that, cared about the girl as well.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

"You hurt Mama," Snow whispered. She wasn't supposed to know it. She hadn't been supposed to know that Regina cared about Dyson at all, let alone that they'd broken up, but while she was half-feral, she was not a fool.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arknaked]

"I know," he said after a long moment of silence.

The somewhat antagonistic friendship, and sexual relationship had started to become... more. More than he was capable of giving.

"You won't understand, but I did it so I wouldn't hurt her worse later."

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow's eyes narrowed to black slits. "Try me. Or go the fuck away."

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_ingofthehundred]

Still thinking about his talk with Vex, Kash headed out away from the inn. This time, it wasn't so much a full retreat as gather and regroup. He'd try to help, but he needed to help himself first.

The howl crept across his skin, sank into his soul and stood his hair on end -- and that was when he thought it was the blonde wolf girl. When he realized it was a human sound... he wanted to bolt, to vomit, to call down flame to kill what caused the hurt.

Instead, inexplicably, he moved toward it, as if somehow he'd known... Shitdamnfuck.

"Snow?"

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

The noise could not be made to stop just because Snow knew someone else was there. She kept it up until she ran out of air.

It wasn't gone. It was still storming inside her. But she made herself keep it in, let it ricochet inside her like a misfired bullet. Her gaze was wide and wild, but she was, technically, quiet.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_ingofthehundred]

Faced with that gaze, wild, hurt and mean, Kash felt puny. Nothing he could say and none of his magic could fix that kind of hurt and he had the clear sense there was nothing he could destroy either. Best he could do would be make her sleep, but it would all be there again when she woke up.

He rubbed a hand over his face and then gestured out in front of him. "Don't stop on my account. Nothing worse than having a scream trapped in your chest, scratching and clawing to get out." Hell, he'd join her if he could. That just wasn't his heart's sound.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

Eyes burning like the coal her father had compared them to--an idea that would only make her more mad--Snow only breathed for several heartbeats. Sharp, jerky breaths that could mean anything. More screaming, an attempt to calm herself, a threat to cry. In the end, what came was only two sharp words. "Yasmeen's gone."

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_ingofthehundred]

Yasmeen. Kash scoured his memory for the name and finally came up with a reference. Vax and Percy's friend. The Captain.

With someone else, it wouldn't matter. The loss of a friend was the loss of a friend. But Snow wasn't like everyone else. She was more like him, before Zahra. Even after, some of the time.

"And something was a little bit better when she was here?"

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

"She scared me," Snow admitted. Because that much had probably been more readily apparent than the idea that she had any affection for the woman. "But she was there when I had the nightmares and didn't have Mama."

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_ubby]

Half the inn seemed to be grieving over the recent disappearances – or "check-outs" but that sounded too mild for a third of the characters just being gone with no warning – and while Vex was blessed to still have those she cared about most still here, not being able to do anything to help the others was getting stifling. So after running into Kash, she'd decided to take Trinket out for a ramble-slash-hunt.

They'd wandered far from the worn hiking trails following a rabbit track when suddenly a sound broke through that made Trinket growl and Vex nock an arrow before either of them realized they were doing it. On the broom Vex was as fast as Trinket, and they took off toward the sound at full speed. She was too far from the inn to send a Jenga over the earrings, but it didn't occur to her to do it anyway.

Vex and Trinket both drew up short when they came across the source of the sound rather than barrel into Snow when she might not even notice them in her anguish. Trinket sniffed the air for signs of anyone or anything else, muscles all bunched for an attack, and Vex scanned the area around them, but there was no one.

"Snow?" she said softly, not knowing whether the girl would hear but wanting to give some warning as Trinket lumbered up and flopped down beside Snow. He really was such a good bear.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

It was perhaps more the feeling of Trinket beside her than Vex's voice that made Snow go quiet almost instantly. Trinket wasn't Florimond, but she knew he'd be afraid to hear her going on like that. She buried her face in the bear's fur, breathing in the familiar animal scent in an attempt to calm down.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_ubby]

Trinket was worried, but not quite as worried any more when Snow clung to him that way. He was a very good bear to cry on to feel better, Vex had told him. And Vex knew, because she'd cried herself out into his fur more times than she would admit to anyone, and Trinket, of course, would never tell.

Vex sat down on the other side of Trinket while he nuzzled at Snow, one hand kneading through his fur, as she waited for the tension to leech its way out of Snow's body.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow didn't shed a single tear, even now, as if the anger had burned them all out of her. But after a while the bowstring tautness of her muscles loosened and if nothing else she seemed much less likely to shake herself apart.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_ubby]

Trinket snuffled Snow's hair, then licked up the side of her face delicately for a bear before glancing at Vex.

"I'm sorry." She tried to think who Snow was close enough to to miss that fiercely, but all she could come up with was Lindsey and that wasn't right. They spent a lot of time in the stables, but Vex was pretty sure he wasn't close to anybody, especially not Snow.

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

The lick probably did more for her than the words, and she didn't try to wipe off the bear slobber. Snow turned one black eye on Vex, though for a long moment she continued not to say anything. Then, two words. "Yasmeen's gone."

[st_arkunderitall]

Sansa could have stayed at the hotel but, ultimately, chose not to. While she would have recognized the names of the people who had disappeared, she hadn't known them. Anyone that she might know a little was still around or so she hoped. There was one person that she hadn't spotted as of yet so far and it made her worry.

So she left the hotel in search of Snow, a concerned expression resting on her features as she tried the most random spots she could think of in hopes of finding the other young woman.

Finally, it was the noise the caught her attention and gave her pause. With a frown, she followed it until she found the source. There was a brief sense of relief but it was quickly replaced by concern as she took a tentative step forward. "Snow?"

[st_arkcrowblack]

The noise stopped at once, like a faucet. It was all still there, still pressing to get out, but firmly and immediately held back.

Snow turned to look, and for the first time that day, felt relief. "You're still here," she croaked.

[st_arkunderitall]

Sansa nodded her head a little while moving a bit closer, her hands half hidden in the folds of her skirt as she kept her movements slow. Almost like she didn't want to startle Snow.

"I am." She confirmed before pressing her lips together. "When I couldn't see you, I started to get worried that you weren't. I've been trying to find you..."

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow nodded once, a jerky motion. "I've been here. Yasmeen's gone."

[st_arkunderitall]

"I heard her name mentioned." Sansa's voice held a note of sympathy before she sighed. "I'm sorry, Snow. I wish there was a way I could bring her back for you."

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow's shrug was just as stiff and jerky and awkward as her nod, as though she didn't quite know how to move her own body. "Thank you." She wrapped her arms around herself, not sure what to do with them. She had not cried; her anger had burned the tears out of her.