OPEN | prompt one | RAIN

[wrens]

prompt one | R A I N I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain - and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane.

 

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[tracked]

[ In the dark: ] It's alright, baby, I got it.

[ Quick as you like, the tent flap is refastened and there's a candle lit. (Sometimes things just happen, but Jonathan has always done his best to patch things up after the fact. He's good at that. At fixing things. His hands, though rough-skinned and indelicate in appearance, are careful, gentle things.) Once he's checked the flap of the tent again, he turns to look at his wife. ]

You alright?

[dogmas]

[ She struggles in the darkness to keep her composure, even as the shadows press in around her, the weight of them almost a tangible thing on her face, applying painful pressure on her temples and eyes. There are terrible things that lurk in the pitch black of night and it's been that way ever since the baby died. When Madchen was still young and Johnny young with her, she'd never been afraid dark, used to think being afraid of those sorts of things was funny and strange.

(Not anymore. She's seen the dark, the actual dark. The very edge of where the world drops off into a horrible, hollow nothingness.)

It's at a horrible cost, but they can't go without light, not ever, or else risk Madchen going into hysterics. Between the two of them they hardly see a whole night slept through, having to light and re-light the lamps so that there's always something to keep the darkness at bay. (It's such a burden, Madchen knows. Such a terrible weight.)

Her eyes are large and frantic when Johnny's match flares and his candle pierces through the shadows, bathing Madchen's face in blessed, thankful light. Her hand reaches for his sleeve, curls into the fabric, pulling him closer. ]

Just fine, Johnny. [ She sounds like she's trying to convince herself, not him. ] Good as ever.

[tracked]

[ To most, it might seem a high price, but to Jonathan — to Johnny – it's nothing. (Or if it's a price steeper than what he ought to be paying, then he doesn't notice. He never does, because all that he sees is her. He is devoted, and his devotion is a singular, loyal, stolid creature, not a fanatical thing in the vein of some of those who would lay down their lives for Mother Charlotte. It's a quiet thing that will protect Madchen until there's no life left in him anymore.)

His hand rises to curl gently about her elbow, the hand holding the candle kept to the side so as not to burn either of them, even if the wind should blow any harder than it does now. ]

Okay, [ is what he says (it's probably one of the most-used words in his vocabulary).

There are a lot of things to be afraid of, and he doesn't blame her for a single one. ]

I'll get the other candles, okay?