lucetilogs | Zompania Draft - Draftees only, days 1-3.5

Entry tags:

Zompania Draft - Draftees only, days 1-3.5

Who: All Draftees
What: This is your death. Followed by your time-traveling life and desperate bomb hunting.
When: From May 22 to May 20 to early May 23 (days 1-4)
Where: Zompania
Summary: Information post here
Rating: Varies on thread, please mark explicit material.

This post is for the draftee-only portion of the Zompania draft--the day 3 death, time travel to day 1, and then the events until the arrival of the reinforcements. Be sure to use the above info post for any plotting needs you might have. Enjoy!

Please note that there is a specific top-level comment thread for:

The day 3 arrival of the draftees and the 6 hours that follow until the bomb is dropped
Death--This thread can be treated as REFERENCE ONLY. Responding to it isn't necessary.
Threads prior to departing for Zompania--post resurrection freak outs, arguments over how to proceed, etc.

All other threading, from day 1 until the reinforcements arrive, should be conducted as normal.

Be sure to tag this post appropriately: [canon] character name

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Where Saori is too exhausted to stay awake, the heady combination of adrenaline, frustration, and nerves from the nigh inhuman wailing resounding from the other side of the wall kept Cliff far from sleep's shore. He took watch, as he needed something useful to do, and quietly studied the faces of the few who had found a means of sleeping.

He only came to a stop when he saw another familiar face-- Saori. They didn't know eachother well, but a few scattered conversations provided him a significant enough reason to stop by her side for a few moments.

...a small part of him was a little jealous of her, the same part that made him shudder when the shrieks reached a fevered pitch before subsiding again. Warily, he cast a look at the wall in the distance before he shook his head in resignation and sat down on an adjacent rock for a quick break and a drink of water.

Though sleep was a distant dream, he knew that he should still try to rest.]

[The feeling of being watched is enough to rouse her from sleep. She's a progressively light sleeper as the seasons plod on towards summer, and the wails of the dying aren't making it easy to sleep soundly anyway. She stirs faintly, inhaling deeply, eyes widening a bit to see who it is.

Cliff. Vegeta's friend and Souji's companion. Just drinking and looking somewhat sad. With good reason, she muses darkly, knowing she's not the only one suffering.]

[Sensing the movement nearby, Cliff wheeled his gaze over to Saori and tried to offer her a friendly grin--

It turned into a grimace of distaste when the shrieks continued their chorus after a pause, and Cliff fought back the instinctive urge to keep moving. Instead, he sighed and lightly tapped a finger next to one of his ears.]

I wish I had some headphones, [he confessed, blurting out the words without preamble, just for something that sounded more familiar and recognizable.] I'd turn on some rock music and try to get some shut-eye too.

[She just sighs and sits up, her face ashen and pale, but she offers a wan smile. The screams are unnerving, certainly, and set an eerie backdrop for the entire desperate battle.

Slowly, shakily, she makes it to her feet and shambles over to join him on the rock. If he's being friendly, then that's good. It's companionship, and companionship means she isn't alone.]

It's not easy to sleep. I thought I might try...but it's beginning to be a lost cause I think. [She smiles wanly, no real heart in it.]

No kiddin', [Cliff replied, shifting over to allow Saori some room to it beside him.] I gave up on it a long while ago.

[He shook his head. Up close, Saori would find that the normally upbeat Klausian was paler than normal, and that there was a certain wariness in his movements as he pulled out a bottle of water for her from his pack. He had stocked up on all of the nonperishables that he could reasonably carry on his way out of his apartment, and sharing goods was always a welcome gesture of camaraderie out in the field.

It was the least he could do.]

Here, [he said, offering it up,] Water's more important than food no matter where you're at.

Edited 2014-05-24 01:32 (UTC)

Saori sucks in another breath, her whole body shuddering as she does so. She barely notices his own looks, her own pale skin nearly ashen from exertion. It's hard to care, really, about anyone else. Even if she doesn't want to be alone.

"I think I may as well do the same and just try and conserve my strength instead," she answers back, leaning against him gently for support. He may be a stranger, but he's mortal and she's frightened. Her weight is likely barely noticeable, like a child.

"I don't need water though," she shakes her head. "Water is the one resource I'll never be without."

Surprised by the sudden contact, Cliff glanced over a the slim woman beside him with curious eyes.

"That's right," he replied after a moment, recalling the woman's singing and the flash of lightning outside of the shop window on their first meeting. "'Goddess of storms,'...right?"

Ever the sort who didn't pay much attention to anything that smacked at religion, Cliff was willing to bet that he got a few details wrong. But, goddess or not, Saori seemed very human in that moment.

He shifted once more to make her more comfortable, as he would for any child, and carefully put the bottle away. It wouldn't be forgotten.

"That's right," she says simply, any trace of her usual pride gone. Here she's just as vulnerable as the rest, perhaps moreso. After all, she's used to hiding behind her immortality, using it as a shield. "Give me your bottle. I'll make sure it never goes empty."

When he does shift, she leaned further into the contact, resting against him. And while Cliff is a relative stranger, he's willingly shared contact with her, and that provided some small measure of comfort. Because right now, she certainly felt like a child, a centuries old entity suddenly wrestling with a concept that'd seemed so...foreign...not even twenty four hours before. Death was something every child dealt with at one point, and she was no stranger to it. But having it suddenly apply to her? Breaking every rule she'd believed in? It's earthshaking...and even after a day of fighting and resolving to prevent that fate, it's still not an easy thing to wrestle with.

"...You can do things like that?"

There was a subtle note of disbelief in his tone, as if something so simple in concept were breaking one of the fundamental rules of the world that he adhered to, but he handed her he bottle regardless of his questions and chose to have faith in the woman. Although they were strangers, they also stood on the same battlefield.

He had no choice but to have faith in those also from Luceti, or die a pointless deah. And, having faced it not even a day before after leaping between planes of reality and being threatened with permanent non-existance, he wasn't keen on reexperiencing the sensation of being unmade.

"Yes, of course I can."

She took the bottle and closed her eyes as she traced a finger along the outside, her nail barely scratching the surface. Saori's lips moved in an unvoiced prayer, and the lines she made began to glow with a pale silver light as the rite came to a close. Then, to prove a point she opened it up and turned it upside down, spilling the contents on the dusty earth. Only, after a full minute there was still water coming out of the bottle.

"A small thing, really. The enchantment will last a month," she said matter of factly, still leaning against him. Doing these little things made her feel better, like her old self before the bomb, but just that thought made her shiver again as she became conscious of the fact that they might not have a month left.

Cliff gingerly took the bottle back into his hand, and experimentally overturned it's contents so that he could see it for himself. The water, still cold in the bottle splashed in the dust at their feet while he watched with a nearly academic fascination.

After a few moments he set the bottle right side up and capped it, but held it fast in his hands.

"A whole month, huh?"

He asked, keeping conversation on the relatively mundane subject at hand for both of their sake.

"That's impressive. I'm not sure if we've got anything like that back home...but, what most call 'magic' here is treated as a science there. The academics would have a field day with something like this."

Normally hearing magic compared to science would draw a derisive snort from her, but today? She barely even registered what he'd said, as wrapped up in her private fears as she is. Her hand reached for his and she shook slightly, a faint shiver racing through her whole frame.

"Y-yes. A m-month," she managed to say, her mind plainly elsewhere, and clearly needing support of some sort. This was the first time she'd really had even a moment all day since they'd...woken up...that didn't involve attacking and defending, and her mind had begun to wander.

Eyes widening in surprise at sudden motion and the desperation that was evident in Saori's gaze, Cliff stilled. They were strangers-- surely there was someone better for her to--

He cut the thought off before it could finish, and acting on a hunch, pulled her closer to his person.

"Quiet now. Don't talk if you don't want to," he gently advised, undeterred by the wavering tone that contradicted what little he knew of her reputation. Goddess or not, Saori was just another person in his eyes....one who was shaken by everything that the Malnosso had thrown them into.

The act of being pulled in is a relief, and she doesn't tense at all. If anything, she seemed to take some relief from the contact from one person to another. It's hard to ask for it, and she'd never be able to under normal circumstances, but being treated like a person...just like anyone else...was something she craved, moreso now than when she was stable.

"But...I...we..." she stumbled over her words, her resolve and composure beginning to come apart as she's coddled. "...that shouldn't have happened..."

"No, it shouldn't 've."

Cliff murmured the words in a low, husky tone of agreement, understanding what she was talking about without any further questions. Gently, he wrapped an arm around her and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder, doing his best to provide the comfort that she obviously needed.

"It shouldn't 've happened at all...but it did. And, amazingly, we can actually do something 'bout it this time too. It's a rare opportunity we've got our hands on here."

Her shoulders slumped a bit and she shook her head. Eyes closed, her words came out a whisper. "I...just...I've never died. I can't. But...I did. And it was like...I...like I...was just...a child again. Like before I became what I am...when I was cursed."

It doesn't even register that he doesn't have any context for this, as worked up as she is. It's hard to not just blurt out that it's not fair or that she's beyond death...and just throw a little bit of a fit, but the hug and the reassuring presence help shut down =that urge.

"I'm...five hundred years old, but...today I...felt like I was a nine year old girl again..."

She was saying so many words and giving him so much information that he simply wasn't able to process because he lacked any frame work.

"...'curse?'" He asked, wondering if perhaps what she truly needed was someone who was better acquainted with her and understood the full extent of her words--

--But, the frustration was something that he could understand.

"We all felt like that, Saori. Probably not the same way that you did, but...that thing violates everything that anyone knows."

Though he was able to keep his calm, there was still venom in his words as he thought over the memories that he had willfully shoved to the side. His own frustration and anger at being so violated bled through for a second before he turned his back on the emotions once more.

Later, he promised himself. Whenever later was.

He allowed himself to breathe, and to think.

"But, you know something? You're not that scared scared little girl anymore, are you? She's still there, but five hundred years is lot of experience. It's normal to be scared...but, you're not helpless either."

She shook still, and remained leaning against him, his hand clutched tightly in her own. The way he put things, the simple reassurances aren't lost on her, and she appreciated them more than she could give voice to. They were some perspective at least, and they mirrored her own.

She sucked in a long breath, her eyes closed tight as she tried to put words to what she was feeling. Emotions were never easy to express for her, and sharing them with a stranger...even a kind one...flew in the face of everything she'd been taught was polite, but she just had to say it to someone. Get it out so that she could begin to process it.

"I...became a god because I did not want to die. I...may not be helpless, but...I'm scared. I don't want to face that thing again. I don't want to fade away. Be unmade like that. I don't...I don't...want to die...and I don't know if we'll be able to stop it from happening a second time..."

Edited 2014-05-25 04:19 (UTC)

Cliff nodded in quiet understanding of her words, although he was almost certain that the action would be lost on her.

"Hey," he chided gently, allowing a little humor to bleed into his tone. "The rest of us here may not be as cool as you, but we're gonna get the job done."

Sighing heavily in his own weariness, Cliff idly rubbed her shoulder in an attempt to offer her some comfort.

"None of us wanna die, or fade away, or be forgotten. We all wanna live, and we're stubborn enough to make our marks on the world. It's...a kind of immortality, in a way. Just not literal. That's all."

She looked up sharply, not quite taking his meaning. Was she cool? Did she feel ill to him? But when he continued, she guessed that it was a joke and brushed it off.

"Yes," she finally managed to say, still leaning against him. "I know. That's one of the reasons my kind is so fond of yours. You are transient, but you shape the worlds you inhabit, remake what we created to suit you. It's fascinating, and in a way...we envy you. Our marks are made ages ago, after all."

Saori lets out another little sigh, this one slightly more steady, like her voice.

"I...suppose...I'm just not used to thinking like that. And it's frightening...that...violation was terrifying. I...haven't ever been so scared."

'Age still has meaning,' he wanted to say. The effects of what people did hundreds of years in the past lingered on in the form of rules and laws, in writings and data that could be added to the science and history books of the future. But, that was all silly conversation for another day and another place.

"We're all scared," he confessed. He'd be lying if he said that his heart stayed still in the aftermath of what had happened-- indeed, it danced in his chest when he thought of what was to come. "You've just gotta take your fear and ask it what you can do, not let it run the picture.

...Speaking honestly, only the dumb people don't get scared. They're the ones who cause problems for everyone else."

Edited 2014-05-26 21:54 (UTC)

She would not argue with that, her meaning something else. The course of history had been begun by the immortals, but the destiny of the universe had been handed over to mortals, for a purpose.

"I...recognize that. But...I just...I've never felt that way. I'm not supposed to be able to. That's...why I made my choice. So I wouldn't have to feel it." She looks towards the city in the distance, barely visible in the dimness, even with her heightened senses.

"And...I am just worried. Will we be in time?"

"We will," Cliff said, certainty ringing clear in his voice. If there was one thing he had learned about the people of Luceti, it was that they were hard to stop once they decided to do something. And, with the clock ticking on a chance that they by right shouldn't have had, he had faith that they would foil the bomb plot before it had a second chance.

"We definitely will," he added, "because we wanna make it back to our homes alive."

"I...suppose I'll just have to do my best then." At a lot of things. Like having a bit more faith in mortals. There are some real, legitimate heroes here, after all. That deserves some recognition. But there are just as many worthless dogs...and that troubles her.

He found himself smiling despite his weariness at her words.

"That ain't a bad plan, you know. It's really all any of us can do."

Zompania Draft - Draftees only, days 1-3.5

Late Night Day 1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Whoa-- SUPROSE!!

indeed!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)