(open) i am not a builder

[bigbaddy]

Who: Bigby and you!
What: An encounter with an old woman and tea - and the possibility of seeing a memory of the Big Bad Wolf.
When: Somewhere between the middle to the end of August.
Where: A little bit outside Milton.

Content Warnings: Gore and people getting eaten (by a wolf) throughout all the memories. Think about the fairy tales about the Big Bad Wolf, those are practically the themes you're dealing with.

[ As it so happens, you and Bigby both seem to have come across the old woman. Maybe you were out there with Bigby while running into her, or maybe it's a total coincidence that you're both sitting here with her. Either way, the end result is the same-- a talk with the old woman, and then the woman moving to offer you both tea.

Bigby seems.. a little unsure of the offer, but he also knows that sometimes refusing is actually the wrong thing to do. You don't want to piss off a witch, after all, and this woman is very mysterious.

So even though he doesn't refuse the offer, he does give you a cautious glance, muttering only loud enough for you to hear: ]

Let's keep an eye on each other, just so we notice if it has some weird effect.

( ooc: this log is an opportunity to see a memory of bigby's past as the big bad wolf! i will be giving different memories to people, so feel free to tag in with a reply to the above starter and then i'll kick in a unique fun (okay, maybe not so fun, actually) memory for the thread!

also, replying with either brackets or prose is fine! i will match! c: )

Comments

[bigbaddy]

[ The sudden grip on his arm is a surprise. Not that it startles him, but Bigby just.. didn't expect it. Not in this moment. Not when his past deeds have come back to stare him right in the face.

(And of course it had to be Red, of all people. At least if it would've been Collin then Bigby could at least have the knowledge that he made it in the end, that he was fine, that he made it out of the Homelands with them. Red never really did get a better fate, even after she was saved from them.)

It takes effort to snap himself out of the sight. He remembers this memory like a split second thing, like something that was over so quickly, but the reality lingers so much longer than that while the wolf still feasts on the girl.

He manages to look over at Wynonna with that effort, but the look in his eyes in the moment is endlessly complicated, even as he slowly asks: ]

.. what do you mean?

[ Like Bigby doesn't understand what she's saying. Not in the face of this.

This is the first time Wynonna has been able to see this clearly that he really is a monster, after all. It's so much easier to hide when he's been walking around with human skin all these months. ]

[pacificator]

I mean, it's not gonna last forever.

[ Even though it definitely feels like it's going to last forever. She makes a face, wincing at the sounds, at the girl's screams, but she doesn't lift her hand away. ]

And I know how this story ends, too.

[ It's not with Little Red being slowly digested inside the belly of the wolf, that's for sure. She's not looking forward to the next player to enter this nightmare scene, or what happens after. ]

So we just get through it and then we can drink a whole lot of alcohol and not talk about it, okay?

[bigbaddy]

[ He's still staring at her. Silently, for a moment, as the wolf finally seems to finish its meal. A strange quiet returns to the cabin as he creature just sprawls out on the ground for a post-meal nap, looking weirdly satisfied.

Bigby doesn't notice any of it. He is only looking at Wynonna right now. His mouth opens a few times, but no words come out yet, like he can't settle on what to say right now. Like he doesn't even know what his feelings are in the moment, let alone know how to express them. ]

I don't get it. [ He finally - slowly - manages to say. ] Wynonna, this--

[ He shakes his head. Apparently it's still not easy for Bigby to find the words. Like Wynonna says - don't talk about it. It's what he always does. Just not talk about it.

But this is weird enough to him that he has to point it out. He can't just ignore an elephant of this size in the room. ]

This shit is why everyone hates me.

[ And, sure, Wynonna is wincing and all. She's looking kind of disgusted.

But she's not turning away from him. Not letting go of him. ]

[pacificator]

Yeah. Well, I wasn't exactly Miss Popularity, myself.

[ Maybe he is a monster. Maybe she is, too. She might not go around eating people, but she's carrying a family's worth of sins on her shoulders, along with her own personal ones. Maybe she'd tried to have a code, but how well had it really stuck?

What does it matter? She knows what it's like to be hated for the things you did, for everyone to cling to the memory of your wrongdoing until that's all they see. But Bigby saw her. And she sees him, too.

Her hand stays curled around his arm, as the wolf in the memory flops onto the ground, dozing off with a look of hazy contentment. ]

Whatever, just make the next time you eat a girl the fun kind. Not that I'd want to see that, either.

Well—

[ She shakes herself. ]

Yeah, no.

[bigbaddy]

[ He stares at her.

For a moment he doesn't seem like he knows what to say. Especially as there's the sound of approaching footsteps, and then the door opening. A big, bald yet bearded man enters, holding an axe in his hands. At first he doesn't even seem to see the wolf on the floor, instead seeming to look around for any living people inside.

Bigby isn't looking at him, instead still looking at Wynonna. ]

.. thanks.

[ Not that she has technically said anything.

But it's exactly in the space between the words that she's said so much. There's so much in the things she hasn't said here, that's what he's acknowledging. ]

I'll be on your side too. [ It's a little more quiet than Bigby usually says things. Like saying this is hard for him. It'd be easier to also leave that in the implications in the spaces between his words, but her standing by him even through this means so much to him that it'd feel awful to not say it.

Even as the man starts approaching the wolf after spotting it. ]

No matter what happens.

[ The man pulls back the axe and swings it down into the wolf--

And the memory ends, just like that. It's like a sudden jerk, and they're back in the forest where they were drinking the tea in the first place, the memory having burst like a soap bubble upon the contact of the axe with the wolf. ]

[pacificator]

[ The memory shatters around them, and Wynonna puffs out a heavy breath, lips pursed, as she shakes her hair back. ]

Oh, thank god. I was not looking forward to seeing the end of that story.

[ Not that the beginning was a joyride, either. She looks over her shoulder at Bigby, remembering how he looked when she took his arm, the way his voice sounded just now, making his quiet promise. ]

You might regret that.

[ She's on his side, too. Which means... he deserves a warning, just like the one she gave Kate all those months ago. I will always disappoint you. ]

My side's not usually a good one to be on. Historically.

[bigbaddy]

Are you kidding? I don't think that's something you have to tell me, given what you just saw. [ Aka - his side is pretty much the same. Who would want to be on the side of the bad guy in the story? The one who gets chopped open, filled with rocks and drowned, and everyone cheers about it?

Not exactly a fun side to be on.

But even though the fact she wants to be on his side regardless is wild and hard for Bigby to fully wrap his head around, he doesn't want to question it. He knows it's so hard for Wynonna to speak these things, just as it is for him, and so he wants to take her commitment genuinely - not wanting to seem he's questioning it because he distrusts her. It's purely just distrust of himself.

So rather than lingering on himself right now, he frowns at her as he asks: ]

What happened?

[ There's a story behind that 'historically', naturally. And this place may not be showing it to him, but maybe she'll tell him a little. Just so he can take it into account. ]