Under a sky, no one sees Waiting Watching it happening

[onlyeverdoubted]

WHO: Bodhi
WHERE: Around town, the inn
WHEN: Forward-dated to March 18
OPEN TO: All!
WARNINGS: None, will update
STATUS: Open

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The storms didn't bother him a bit--he had far more on his mind when he first arrived, and wild weather has always been a bit of a specialty of his. The odd little flickers of light excited his curiosity, but he's known planets with much odder bits of phenomena. The soft, wet cold is just as unusual by his standards. Fog is kind of fun. Not, it turns out, the best thing to wander into alone, not when he can't trust his memory to race away to unsafe places, when shifting shapes and unpredictable dimness can so easily evoke... Well, he learns not to stay too far after the first time out.

Aside from that, he doesn't give the little lights or insects or weather much thought. He has Jyn's crisis to deal with, after all, and while he has yet to really find his niche, he's always intent on staying busy, contributing enough with odd jobs to justify the time he spends meandering physically and mentally. He doesn't try to avoid the little lights.

He notices the fever itself. He was a sickly kid, and he's not particularly sturdy now, but what he lacks in immune system, he makes up for in resilience. He moves a little more slowly, takes a few more breaks, but he keeps going. The other symptoms come on more slowly, and these, Bodhi doesn't notice. He's always sure he's doing everything wrong and that if anyone knew the truth they'd hate him. He glances to the side too quickly to see shifting shadows that couldn't be there more often than he'd like to admit. It's a little bit of a bad day, but he's not feeling well. It'll work itself out.

There are slips he doesn't usually make, though, or not without checking carefully to see if anyone's around. Talking to himself--a low, constant murmur, hard to make out any individual pieces. Drumming his fingers in complicated patterns against each other and whatever satisfying surface is nearby (actually, he's done that all his life, but if people notice they sometimes ask, and he gets flustered by having no answer). Long moments that, left uninterrupted, stretch on and on of just being... absent. It's so easy to slip back under, let bor gullet have him. Keeping his head together is the hard part.

There's nowhere he really does belong, and he winds up in the trees and the fog over and over again, but once in a while he gets lost near the inn, his usual base of operations.

Comments

[scepterschild]

Wanda found this new world strange. If it wasn't for those she knew she would have hated it. She spent a great deal of time in her room and then helping Clint in whatever task he'd given himself that day. She had a lot on her mind and she had to remind herself not to get caught up in her own head.

This sent her pacing about the small town, the green hue of her gaze flicking around her as she took in every detail. The fog made her tense and she tried to reach out and sense those around her. Her powers were weaker than before and she couldn't keep it up for long.

The fireflies made her weary. She didn't know what was happening but at this point she had come to the conclusion that they were most likely the cause of the rampant fevers and mishaps. Whenever she saw that familiar flicker she raised the red mist from her hand, surrounding the firefly and then suffocating it until it fell to the ground.

A shadow caught her attention and she turned, a red mist twisting around her fingers as her eyes narrowed. "Who's there?" She called out, her accent thick.

[onlyeverdoubted]

The accent at least lets him decide quickly that he doesn't know the voice. He can't think of anything he did to attract attention, but he can't imagine anyone wanting to talk to him for good reasons (he can't really think of any good reasons, actually), so he has to assume he won't like whatever results. Disappearing off into the fog is a very appealing thought, and he considers it closely before he spots the flickers of light, immediately bringing blasters to mind, and he freezes instead before he remembers he's been seeing those all along.

All of which plays out in his head rather quickly, and in the end all he does is peek around a tree shyly. "Me?"

[scepterschild]

Wanda's muscles relax some though there continued to be a readiness in her stance. She lowered her arms, the red mist slowly fading.

"What are you doing out here?" She eyed him, trying to place him among those staying in the village. She should really go to the inn more frequently than she did. "It's dangerous out here." Her voice sounded protective, as if she couldn't help but try and help those around her.

[onlyeverdoubted]

There's nothing significantly threatening about this woman to look at, which doesn't really help in his current state. Bodhi blinks dazedly at her, holding tight to the tree as he peers at her, digging his fingers into the bark for the sense of security the solid object provides.

He suggestion doesn't phase him much, though. It doesn't seem any more dangerous here than anywhere else. On the contrary, it's dark and quiet and he likes the fog. "W-walking..." He didn't think it was dangerous, but now that she said it, he wonders.

[scepterschild]

Wanda's eyes met his and she understood, if only a little. She tried to look disarming but she knew that there was only so much that she could do in that regard. It might be safe now but the fog had it's own dangers and she didn't want this man to get caught in them. As it was, there were two in her home who'd gotten bitten by the fireflies and were currently to sick to do more than lay in bed.

"I'll lead you. There are empty houses we can take shelter in. Anything is better than staying out here?" Her tone was a little softer but it'd be apparent that something in the woods was spooking her and the fog did not help.

[onlyeverdoubted]

He disagreed. The woods were quiet, the air was soft. Nothing felt altogether safe, but being out here was better than trying to keep his head on straight around people and noise and lights and too much input, too many distractions, so many easy ways for worse things to sneak up on him. Someone trying to make him leave the relative security of the trees and the fog felt much more like a trap. "No."

[scepterschild]

He was being difficult.

Wanda would at least try to explain but if he wanted to stay out here then she couldn't rightly stop him. She might be able to drag him back to the inn but that'd only make things worse. "It isn't safe. There are fireflies that have been biting people and making them sick." She knew because she's had to take care of both of her housemates. "Follow me to an empty house on the edge of town." He could bunker there alone and there wouldn't be much light. At most he'd see the smoke of the fires in other houses or the soft glowing lights of the inn where the fire burned through most of the day and night to keep the building warm.

[onlyeverdoubted]

"I don't... I wanted to come out here." He could find his way back to the inn if he wanted. He just doesn't want to. "It's... I don't need anything else, I..." He suddenly hates the idea of being hemmed in and stuck in a house. No movement in the air, no easy way out if there's a threat, and of course there would be a threat, sooner or later. He takes a firm step back, feeling hunted.

[scepterschild]

Wanda watched him, her eyes betraying the confusion she felt at his reaction. "Why? I've seen what these bugs do." There was pain in her tone though she tried to talk pass it.

"They set people on edge and they start hallucinating. My good friend was bitten." She frowned. Wanda hadn't been able to protect Clint which made her want to protect Bodhi, if she could.