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[sunmon]

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alina starkov, 20

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[sunmon]

I cut my teeth on moving borders and encampments in a war zone.

[ she laughs a little. ]

A township is easy. I added your usual points of interest, got a sense for the districting, and cleaned up the extent of the farmlands and their structures, as well as the treeline of the woods. I also added some of the bodies of water from inside the woods.

[ she looks ianthe over, judging the sudden clean an appropriate level at which to offer out the journal for her to take. it's then that she notices they both wear the same bracelets, entangled threads tight around their wrists.

a smile twitches at her mouth, but with it comes a sense of responsibility. ianthe doesn't look okay. ]

What have you been up to?

[princess_of_ida]

That's far more than I was expecting when I handed this over to you.

[The journal was greedily taken back, Ianthe moving over to a clean surface so she could open it to the map. Her fingers traced the detail Alina added, steady in contrast to her eyes which were twitching all over the map, like there were two processes going on in her mind. The finger traced from the gates out to the edge, until it came to rest on those numbers doodled in the corner, idly tapping. She didn't even look up to answer Alina's question.]

Work. Research. Making these. [That was punctuated with her raising her left arm for the bracelet.] Missed work here yesterday, so I made it up staying extra long today.

[sunmon]

Missed work for ... research?

[ she tilts her head, inclining it a little closer to ianthe, who seems to have all but forgotten that alina is there in the face of the journal. not promising. ]

What exactly is it you're researching, again?

[princess_of_ida]

Don't really remember. I was going to go, but then it ended up being too late.

[Her words were distracted, eyes still not stopping to focus on one specific spot on the map, continually moving over the pages. At least she was responding to Alina, even if she wasn't paying any attention to her in the face of the map.]

Why it's 10,985 when it's supposed to be 10,984, when she has them. It doesn't make sense. If she's pulling from it, it should be 10,983 not 10,985. I need to know why. Fucking unknown variable, I will fucking find you.

[The last hissed to herself as her bone fingers started drumming on the counter surface, gradually getting faster and faster.]

[sunmon]

What is that number?

[ alina asks it carefully. it wasn't just on the map. she'd looked. ]

You wrote it in other places, too. Were you counting something?

[princess_of_ida]

Obviously. What else are numbers for but counting things? Measuring things. [Despite the slight shift of condescension into her tone, it was still unfocused and almost like she was talking to herself than Alina.]

The distance. The distance to the edge of the aura. Can't get too close or it calls too much, but the edge is safe. It won't get me from there. 10,984 except when it isn't and it should. Now that I have this I can take a different track. See if its the same other angles and... [Phalanges suddenly stopped, leaving the shop in a brief silence that gave away Ianthe's increased breathing. The bone finger went to one of the eleven sections she'd marked before that wouldn't cross with any of the water Alina had marked.]

There.

[sunmon]

There?

[ alina looks down at the map. ]

What's there?

[princess_of_ida]

The next track.

[Ianthe snapped the journal shut and finally looked at Alina, eyes blinking quickly a few times to get them to focus on her friend.]

Thanks, for the map. It's amazing. Truly. I'll see you later?

[sunmon]

You— You're going now?

[ alina flounders. ]

Surely you have time to go get something to eat or to rest, first.

[princess_of_ida]

I'm not hungry. [Why would she do to eat when there's SECRETS to pry out of the Void?]

There's only so much light and this will take me hours. I need to go now.

[sunmon]

[ she reaches out to grab ianthe's shoulder. ]

Hey. Slow down. Please.

[ she feels like she's being left behind already. mal got that way sometimes too. ]

If light is the problem, I can go out with you later. As long as you need, if you'll just ... rest. Get something to eat, sleep, take a bath with me. Then we can go ... [ she looks down at the journal, deeply troubled. ] Count the paces to the Void. It's not going anywhere.

[princess_of_ida]

[The physical contact pulled Ianthe out of her whirling mind just enough to wonder why Alina was being so insistent. It took effort, her brow furrowing, and she tilted her head. One of the braids swished into her peripheral vision and Ianthe picked it up, noticing she hadn't even brushed her hair out when she got up.]

Oh. Um. Okay. Do you know why I'm still in the braids?

[sunmon]

Not in the slightest. [ she laughs a little, admitting it. ] We can take them down for the bath.

cw: choking reference

[princess_of_ida]

This is how I do my hair for bed. So I don't choke myself. Not into autoerotique asphyxiation.

[She was quiet for a long moment, hands tightening on her journal, as she looked past Alina at the wall.]

I need my other journal.

[And she headed for the door again.]

[sunmon]

I've never choked on my own hair in my sleep ... Has that really happened to you?

[ alina is laughing, bewildered, but she follows after ianthe to the door. another journal seems reasonable ... ish. ]

[princess_of_ida]

Your hair isn't this long.

[Ianthe forgot to leave the butcher apron behind or take the dogs their food, heading to the boarding house.]

It happened once. I think. Or Corona did it to me. Again. Never was sure. But I could get her to braid my hair every night after that.

[sunmon]

[ laughing awkwardly. ]

I doubt your twin tried to kill you in your sleep.

[princess_of_ida]

[Ianthe looked over at Alina knowingly. The things the Tridentarii did to each other would shock her.]

Probably not. She only did that in the womb. But that's why I sleep in braids.

That and who wants to wake up with hair in their mouth.

[sunmon]

I see. [ she walks alongisde ianthe for a moment longer before admitting, ] I think they're cute.

[princess_of_ida]

[A smile tugged at Ianthe's lips. Huh. Cute. That was a first.]

Cherish the moment; you might not ever see then again. Certainly not like this. It's going to take forever to brush them out.

[sunmon]

I'll help you.

[ certainly, ianthe looks like she needs it. this can't really all be about corona, could it? she'd gone missing a while ago now ... but it's the best explanation that alina has, so she's presuming it for the time being. ]

[princess_of_ida]

[Coronabeth's disappearance was just feeding into Ianthe's obsession.

Of course, the moment they reached the boarding house, to the Locked Tomb Room (don't mind the bones or how she grabbed Alina's arm as they crossed through the threshold to bypass the ward or the chaotic college dorm room vibe), Ianthe went to her bed. She opened the journal to the map then grabbed a second journal or from underneath her mattress.

She immediate opened it, flipping pages... forgetting Alina was there. The writing in this journal looked absolutely unhinged, 10984 all over the place, and even a page with a dizzying fractal design before she settled on a half-filled page.]

[sunmon]

[ alina gives her a few minutes with it. clearly it was important, and she'd just deal with whatever had prompted her to look for it, and then they'd be on their way. in the meantime, alina inspects the bones, trying to decide where they'd come from, trying to suss out something about ianthe from all the decorations.

but then she gets bored, after a time. she settles onto the bed she presumes to be ianthe's and peeks at the journal to see the absolute house of leaves shit she has going on in there. ]

Ianthe, are you just about ready? [ there's something careful about how she asks it, like she realizes that she's puncturing something. ]

[princess_of_ida]

[It wasn't hard to figure out two other people lived with her and the human bones weren't on her side of the desk.

Instead of answering Alina's question, Ianthe turned to the desk to grab a fresh writing implement. It went between her teeth to idly gnaw on, the lyctor then grabbing another one that had thoroughly been chewed up.

And then she just... walked out of the room. Without pulling Alina through the blood ward along with her. Oops.]

[sunmon]

Ianthe?

[ she gets up, goes for the door. ]

Ianthe!