Winter Month: 1 
Day 
Song: Codeine Coca Cola by Amélie Farren.
(With some slight adjustments to the lyrics to avoid as much repeating and make it more accurate to characters in certain places)
Characters: Machai and Yrja. Preacher’s mentioned and implied a lot.
Context:
Have a song about Machai and Yrja’s friendship. Also about, mostly, Machai’s past. A lot of it has to do with Preacher, honestly. Which probably makes sense given that he was the closest thing to a best friend the system had before Kimashia made them desert their post and left Preacher behind.
*~*~*~*
*We start with Machai telling Yrja about his life. Because, yeah, he seriously sees nothing wrong in how he grew up. My boy thinks he’s got zero trauma and that his childhood was just fine.*
Machai, just setting the scene for the fact that he was a child soldier; “Pissed off, dark sky, indecivise war cry.”
Mchai, going over how defying orders would, of course, result in punishment from superiors, and using what happened to Preacher as the biggest example; “Angels fired bullets to the skeletons who dare defy.”
Machai, literally just describing Preacher to Yrja; “Preacher, painless reaper of the blameless– Obsessing over virtue, sin within the shameless…”
Machai, describing Preacher’s prayer beads, you know, just to further illustrate his old friend to Yrja; “The thorns are held in precious wooden beads…”
Machai, describing the superiors and the relationship there was between them and the inferiors; “Fury at the mares inside their stall… Silence keeps them satisfied, and misery is safe.”
Machai, kind of just hinting towards Preacher and him having grown somewhat close and how that worked in the environment they were in; “Caution in creation of the call.”
Machai, just some more hints towards the different types of endurance training; “My power stems from codeine coca cola– Opioids within the shell that I refuse to call a brain.”
Machai, literally just going over his mindset a little now, the lesson he’s kept from his childhood the most; “Submit to purpose, bow to pride, ignore the entity inside.”
Machai, again just hinting towards fun endurance training, but also hinting at his mindset some more; “Poppy keeps me paranoid– Or is it sane?”
*Now we actually go back to when Yrja and Machai had first met and proceeded to absolutely trauma dump on each other as if it’s a fucking competition. Just throwing back and forth stuff they went through until it delves off into things they’d heard people say in the past. This then jumps to Yrja leaving with Machai and then Machai giving the same talk that he gives above.*
Machai, just listing off that trauma that he doesn’t realize is trauma at all; “Seared flesh, sharp knives–”
Yrja, kind of admitting that, yeah, okay, that’s a bit much for a first meeting, let’s tone it down; “Ditzy, hopeless housewives.”
Machai, being reminded of something and quoting Preacher; “‘Ewes are worthless, ensure the lamb survives.’”
Yrja, being reminded of something in turn and quoting some of what the people that her adoptive mother brought over would say about her; “‘Cheated.’ ‘Skipped turn.’”
Machai, bringing up the instances of the unit he was in utilizing the scorched earth strategy to basically use like a ‘liar, liar, pants on fire’ sort of thing because that’s just the kind of guy he is; “Heated, watch the grass burn.”
Machai, and in turn reminding himself of something else Preacher said to him and quoting it; “‘The dead are only dying faster, living never learn.’”
Yrja, derailing into trauma again, oops, just because that quote kind of lends itself to that happening, basically saying that her adoptive mother isn’t really actually in her life; “The crown is held in empty woollen robes…”
Yrja, switching it up practically immediately to instead compliment Machai and basically tell him that she’s enjoyed talking to him; “Passion for the people with a voice.”
Yrja, after being encouraged to continue trauma dumping by Machai; “Silence keeps her satisfied, and misery is safe.”
Yrja, after leaving her adoptive mother’s house with Machai, about Machai; “Hark the herald angels who rejoice.”
Machai, and now we’re right back to Machai going over endurance training and mindsets and his past in general; “My power stems from codeine coca cola– Opioids within the shell that I refuse to call a brain. Submit to purpose, bow to pride, ignore the entity inside. Poppy keeps me paranoid– Or is it sane?”
*And now we reach Machai and Yrja doing one of their duets. They’re hilarious. Machai’s a total theatrical sorta guy and Yrja kind of likes to mix theatrics and dance/ballet.*
Machai, gesturing towards Yrja; “Hear the fear it brought her–”
Machai, gesturing as though he’s rallying troops; “Call forth the river’s slaughter!”
Machai, shifting to standing at attention; “Hell or highest water, I will not give in.”
Yrja, combining theatric gestures with different ballet points/moves/gestures to make very smooth theatric gesturing; “Feel the fear it brought me? The river’s current fought me– Goddess Ocean, blue sea, I did not give in.”
Machai, gesturing towards Yrja again; “Hear the fear it brought her–”
Machai, gesturing as though rallying troops again; “Call forth the river’s slaughter!”
Machai, still gesturing as though he’s rallying before moving to hit his fist against his heart while standing at attention; “Hell or highest water– I will not give in!”
Yrja, using mostly theatrics now to instead gesture around and convey a sort of determined fury; “Feel the fear it brought me! The river’s current fought me– Goddess Ocean Blue, see, I did not give in!”
Yrja, using and slightly shifting/twisting Machai’s past words as she goes back to doing a mix of theatrics and ballet for that smoothness; “My power stems from codeine coca cola, opioids within the pool I wish I still could call a brain… Submit to purpose? Bow to pride? Accept the entity inside. Poppy keeps me paranoid… Or is it sane?”
*Still part of the duet, but this is all done in a relative unison.*
Yrja, using less of both theatrics and ballet/dance as if she’s calming down/losing steam as she goes on now; “My power stems from codeine coca cola…”
Machai, gesturing first towards Yrja and then as if rallying; “Hear the fear it brought her! Call forth the river’s slaughter!”
Yrja, almost completely still now; “Opioids within the pool I wish I still could call a brain…”
Machai, still rallying at first and then beats his fist against his chest; “Hell or highest water– I will not give in!”
Machai, shifting to standing at attention and then bowing; “Submit to purpose, bow to pride.”
Yrja, slowly picking up steam again; “Hear the fear it brought me?”
Machai, shifting back to attention, slowly gesturing to seem a little more smooth than he usually does; “Accept the entity inside?”
Yrja, basically just theatrics for a quick, sudden gesture before the end; “The river’s current fought me!”
Machai, shifting to attention to end it; “Poppy keeps me paranoid… Or is it sane?”
Yrja, slowing down to a stop; “Goddess Ocean, blue sea, I did not give in.”
