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 [right][code]Days Earlier...[/code][/right][hr]

Dirty boots splashed through a crystal clear brook as the sun peeked through the boughs of massive evergreens. Sully heard nothing more than his own heavy, labored breaths, the soft  babbling of water over stones, and the chirping of birds too stubborn to migrate south. There was a pain in the side of his ribs that wasn’t wholly unpleasant. How long had it been since he’d pushed himself like this? College? High school? He pushed the past out of his head and focused on the path before him. Nothing mattered more but the sticks, stones, and leaves on the ground before him and the destination he had in mind. Just another two miles. Two miles was nothing. But when he factored in the distance he’d already gone, and the distance he’d have to go to get back, it made him pause. The Spring Maiden had said it was an awesome view, but a view couldn’t really be worth all this effort, could it?

He heard his dad’s voice on the wind whisper to him to push on and so he did. Each step was heavy, like the mud around his boots had turned into concrete. The fire in his side spread to his lungs, the gasps for air becoming pained. He remembered how Coach barked at him and the other boys, pushing them until some of the boys were bent over on the ground and heaving up their breakfast. He’d probably laughed, not in a mean-spirited way but in a way that said not to worry about it, everybody made an ass of themselves at practice, and then gave them a hand up. He was happy there wasn’t anyone out here now to watch him struggle, although he would’ve taken a shoulder to lean on. He settled on a tree instead, letting the mountain air cool his lungs down.

The Chalice felt heavy in his backpack. Sully knew he could just reach back, undo the zipper, take a big swig of its elixir, and be ready to keep pushing on. He didn’t. The reward at the end of the trail was amplified by the struggle. He leaned back against the tree and groaned, staring up at the branches overhead, the world a swirl of colors. He closed his eyes and listened to the nature around him as his breathing slowed. The reward at the end? He was already being rewarded with this moment away from everything: away from the city, away from the pollution, away from the dead-end jobs and neverending distractions and obligations. A moment of peace, a second of clarity. 

Ashley was being buried today. Sully was supposed to be at the funeral, supposed to give a speech, even had it jotted down on a crumpled piece of paper in his pocket. He’d be expected to lighten up the mood, make everyone leave feeling slightly better then when they had arrived, leave them thinking that they’d all gathered here today not because of one senseless death but because of one magnificent life. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t lie to those people. He couldn’t lie to himself. It had been a pointless death piled on top of other pointless deaths: Jade, Ripley, Lionel, Kura, Sam, Elsa, Kari, Jin, Bella. He felt his legs grow weak. Sully let himself sink down to the dirt, buried his head in his arm, let his shoulders heave. He wasn’t making it to the summit. He wasn’t going to the funeral. Maybe he’d just stay lost here in the middle forever.

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[b]with Auri Auclair and Sloane Faris[/b] [/center]
[right][b]Interactions:[/b] Kali [@Damycles] Finn [@Theyra], Drake[@Punished GN]
[code]Flowers and Canvases.[/code][/right][hr]

Sully may not have made it to the funeral, but he was happy he’d come for the reunion. Even if all he actually committed to the group was letting one more of the witches forget that there were consequences to her actions it still meant he was of some relevance. He patted her—Everleigh, Eve—on the shoulder as she latched onto his other arm, polite code for ‘alright, let the fuck go’. She eventually took the hint. Sully turned to Eve’s crutch and clapped him lightly on the back. 

[color=goldenrod]“Good to see you too, Finn. Where’s—”[/color] Sully stopped himself. He’d almost stupidly asked about Bella. [color=goldenrod]“Sorry. Dark times, man, dark times. Bella was a good egg. How you holding—”[/color] [color=3874f4][b][i]"SULLY, YOOOOOOOOO!"[/i][/b][/color] [color=goldenrod]“[b][i]AYYYYYYYYYYYY, LOOK WHO FINALLY CAUGHT UP! DRAKEY BABY!”[/i][/b][/color]

Sully left Finn hanging, as thankful that Drake had pulled him out of an awkward moment as he was that he’d put away that lightning sword. Something about Drake yelling the Beer Chalice triggered a devolution in Sully, further reverting him into a simple meathead. He let out a valiant cheer of his own and scooped Drake up like he’d just scored the game winning goal in a mighty bear hug, complete with a full spin. He was about to holler for someone to bring him some solo cups when Auri and Kali ended their seven minutes in heaven with about four minutes to spare. Auri shouted so loudly at Eve for smoking in her store that Sully felt like he was guilty by association for not saying anything. 

He set Drake down, patted him on the shoulder, and found himself a chair as Kali took the floor. Everybody was talking over one another, seemingly in protest of something Kali had done. Sully had the sinking feeling between showing up late and spinning Drake like a ballerina he’d missed something massively important. Nevertheless, Sully knitted his brow and rubbed his chin as he pretended like he was following along as Kali showed off a picture of a wolf  carving. [color=goldenrod]“Right, the Russians,”[/color] he muttered, suddenly feeling like he was being held hostage at the Thanksgiving table by the weird uncle who’d already shown up to dinner six jack and cokes deep. As with Uncle Jim, he just nodded along. [i]Mhm, yeah, NSA, yeah, totally. Oh, you need help cleaning the dishes?[/i]

Sully shifted in his chair uncomfortably. Surely, someone would speak up and put an end to this unhinged speech. Kali was always one of the quieter members of the Coven. Not necessarily a bad dude, maybe a little weird, but nothing like this. This guy seemed completely incoherent. This was cruising past the lands of uncomfortable straight down the highway to depressing with a brick tapped to the gas pedal. And then the gun came out. Sully tensed up in his seat as the air sucked out of the room. His eyes darted across the room towards the others, trying to gauge their reaction, trying to judge the distance between himself and Kali if he needed to tackle the man. He watched Everleigh move towards Kali, saw the look in her eyes, the signal from his brains to his legs firing too slowly as he made the connection. Sully stood up too slowly for his own likely, the metal legs of his chair screeching against the floor as it slid back. Eve had already closed the distance.  His pupils dilated as she pushed the gun against Kali’s head.

[color=goldenrod]“Hey, wait—”[/color] His voice broke, his throat running dry. Ancient shadows of limp bodies too close to the end to drink from the Chalice flashed on the walls as Sully braced himself to watch yet another person die right in front of his very own eyes. Oh God. Everleigh tucked the gun away. Sully heaved out a loud sigh mixed with a ‘what the fuck’ as he began to pace with his hands on his head. Eve proposed they continued with a vote. Sully stopped, still unaware of the full situation, and exploded on an assumption, [color=goldenrod][b]“Jesus fucking Christ, I’m not voting on a public execution!”[/b][/color]

“We’re just voting on whether or not to crowd-surf Kali out the door!” clarified Auri. 

[color=goldenrod]“Oh man, what the hell you guys,”[/color] said Sully, wiping his hands across his face with relief and sinking back down into a chair. He looked at Kali. The man seemed unstable, unwell. He’d offered to let them kill him and had hardly even flinched when Eve grabbed the gun. It’d be uncomfortable to keep him around, but throwing him out in the cold would likely mean it was the last they’d ever see of the guy. He’d been part of their team once. They couldn’t do that to him. Even if Sully had been fully caught up to speed, his decision would have remained the same. [color=goldenrod]“I mean, let the guy stay right? He said he still cares. I still care about you too, dude.”[/color] Sully gestured towards Kali. [color=goldenrod]“So, like, no more Russian Roulette and I think we’re good.”[/color]

[color=silver]“A vote where the final call is made by the one with a gun doesn’t seem very democratic,”[/color] said Sloane. [color=silver]“I abstain.”[/color]