There'll be trouble when the kidz come out

[lucetimods]

Who: All remaining draftees
What: Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!
When: The 29th to 31st
Where: Vaskoth
Summary: Please read here for event information
Rating: B for BRRAAAIIIINSSSS

On the 29th, the Malnosso announce over the radios that the power cap will be lifted to a full 100%. Carol broadcasts a message.

On the 30th, the Malnosso declare Vaskoth completely lost. Those with radio access will discover that the enclosure is to be bombed.

On the 31st, survivors will have one last chance to evacuate or try to find the cure. 3PM is do or die.

Comments

[alloys]

He could feel the warmth of her lips through her mask, his heart still thundering in his chest. He'd said it. He'd finally said what he should have so long ago, and he wished it hadn't taken him as long as it had, that he stood on the threshold of losing her before he found a way to say it. He made a promise to himself, then: that when this was all over - whatever that entailed - he wouldn't ever hold himself back from saying it again. She deserved so much better than that.

I love you too.

And just like that, she spoke the same words back to him, ones he'd read over and over in her letter; it was something else entirely to hear her say them out loud. His lips managed to turn up as he responded to her words the same way she had and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He wanted to do this right, to tug away her mask and kiss her properly and forget reason, but he knew how badly she wanted to keep him safe, and even if that seemed futile now, a simple but sincere kiss on the cheek would have to do.

He realized, then, somewhere between their confessions and their brief, happy moment, he'd stopped leading. He was still, and his hands moved from her waist and her hand to the sides of her face. He met her eyes purposefully, before leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead, too.

Nothing had changed, not in the grand scheme of things. She was still dying, the sky was still dark, he was still falling apart, and the bomb was still coming. and yet? Everything had changed, on a quantum level that was shared so intimately between them. They had each other, and knew exactly what was in the other's heart.

[handing]

She smiled brightly enough that it showed in her eyes, raised her hands to cover his as he kissed her forehead. Nothing had changed, but everything had for them, in a way that was beautiful beyond words. He'd finally broken through that self-protective wall, let Pepper see what she had known was there, but had never been given permission to view. It was a single point of light in forever dark days, something she could hold onto through whatever came, because there would be an after, and they would be together.

But moments were by their nature brief, and Pepper had pushed herself as far as her body would allow. She could only ignore the pain for so long before she braced against Tony, trembling as it burned through her all the more strongly for having been denied.

[alloys]

He could feel as she started to tighten and tremble, the signs of her pain manifesting themselves again in nasty ways. It made his stomach turn, and he hated that it ended the only moment of peace they'd had since this whole ordeal began. But he felt less hopeless as he wrapped his arms around her to guide her back towards the bed, a lofty feeling still hovering in his chest.

In a sense, at least it was a good thing there was an end in sight. Another day, and they would know their fates. And beyond that? Well.

They knew one thing they could absolutely count on.

[handing]

One way or another, things would end tomorrow. Even that was more of a promise than Pepper's had since the infection set in. She still hoped for a cure, of course, because the price they'd pay without one was so high--but an end, even a horrible one, was welcome in a way.

An end meant they could move to after.

With Tony's help, Pepper laid down in her hospital bed. She didn't want him to go far, to completely lose the contact between them. So she held onto his hand, still able to keep her fingers tight around his.

[alloys]

He settled back in that old-familiar chair, fingers linked with hers with no intention of going anywhere. At all. They would be just like this - through the pain, through the strife and through the promise of an end - two people, connected by something unbreakable, something infinite.

They would make it through this together. And that made all the difference.