(voice)

[hexrot]

—This is Jayce Talis. [ that's not going to mean anything, to anyone. this man's voice is rasping, dragging, in between sounded exhausted, heavy and ill. ] I'm a scientist. I researched . . . The Arcane, with my . . . With my partner, Viktor— most of my life.

[ frequent pauses are a must. he almost feels out of breath if he doesn't, and that puffs through the radio, ragged and sluggish. ]

All of us— seem to have a symbol. A rune, on our bodies. If you've been to the Shrine, then I'm sure . . . You have something else, now. Maybe a message. Please, if you could show it to me. I'll be . . . [ another hushed pause, ] Outside the Common Room. There's a truck, with . . . Butterflies, [ the irony in his voice is dry. ] That's— Where I'll be.

If it helps get us anywhere, I . . . Need, to crack it, I . . . [ i promised, he mutters, before swiftly adding, through a strain that's tight in his throat: ] That's all.

(action/flavor)

[ jayce is rebounding hard on his magic sepsis as his first symptom to becoming undead! so he is not visibly well for anyone who wants to come see him, but he is trying deathly hard with the symbols and trying to fight the clock with obsession. the iridescent pick up near one of the camp lights is a mess of papers in the front seats as much as the flatbed behind it, spread out and held in place with pebbles or stones, littered with those very symbols as well as formulas he's trying to link and complete like a map.

it's what keeps him from giving into sleep. ]

Comments

[hexrot]

[ jayce's head immediately ducks— because his eyes are gateways into his soul. he is broken beyond repair. he wishes for death to come, now. the one thing that was keeping him alive, and going— ]

It's gone.

[ and it's catching up to him. if he speaks more, he'll break. i've already failed is lodged in his throat. to busy himself— and to perhaps finish up, because he does not feel well, jayce begins taking every single note that's been splayed across the top of the truck's cargo bed into his shaking hands, and into a pile he can hand over to him. ]

It's the best I could do.

[bufudine]

[What the hell is that supposed to mean? A promise that's gone? There's more he's missing and it's frustrating not understanding, not having the full picture, and it has Serph stretching his wings in irritation before folding them back up.

Seeing the embers of the fire behind Jayce's eyes snuffed out like this... Serph reaches out to grab Jayce by the wrist before he can finish putting away all his notes.]

I died. Then I ended up here.

[His voice is low, quiet.]

Even if your path disappears, we can carve a new one.

[hexrot]

[ jayce hears what he's saying but the melancholic curve of his brows doesn't signal his consideration. does serph know, what it's like— to look into the eyes of a man who has given up? it's hollow, distant and set. thinking about all this again has triggered him to fall apart and show it. he doesn't want to carve a new path. and he certainly doesn't want to believe there is more life after death, because then his pain would just— continue. and where would he show up? back here again? it made no scientific sense, anyway.

he didn't want to live if it was without his other half. it was codependent and awful, but it was his truth. ]

Please, just take these. [ jayce pushes the papers from his hand to serph's chest. he doesn't want to elaborate further and he does not want to discuss the what ifs if he changes his mind. ] I'm tired.

[bufudine]

[Damn.]

...Alright.

[Serph reluctantly takes the papers, expression grim as his wings are tucked in even tighter. He can't reach Jayce like this and he certainly can't make him do anything. But Serph isn't willing to give up on him just yet.

So even if he silently nods and takes his leave without another word, Serph searches the Convoy for tools to make copies of Jayce's notes and drawings. They're nothing like reading Gale's reports but he makes as close a copy as he can while skipping making any attempts to draw people. But he fully intends to return them while the man is still alive.]

[hexrot]

[ and then he didn't 💀 ]