lucetilogs | Post-Event Blues

Entry tags:

Post-Event Blues

Who: Everybody, everybody!
What: The battle is won. Now what?
When: The eleventh, twelfth, and onward
Where: Luceti
Summary: With Zompano dead and the cultists routed, Luceti is restored. Kind of.
Rating: F for Feels

On the eleventh, things were slowly breaking down. Memories of their true lives were breaking through. The village, scarred by the battle with the cultists, began to rebuild itself. Community buildings that had vanished were returned to their rightful places. The battle dome was uncovered from the earth that had covered it. Hundreds and hundreds of fake homes slowly faded away. Paved roads gave way to trees and grass. It was an incredible sight for anyone who was willing to sit aroun and watch it happen.

Things wouldn't be easy for the villagers, though. The memories perpetuated by the last ten days would not be easily removed. The feelings and hatreds it had created would take time to conquer and remove. Perhaps, in a way, that was Zompano's nastiest trick of all. The village itself may heal from his invasion, but it would take far more than a few Shifts to fix the people left behind.

Towards the end of the day, their wings returned. Much like some of the buildings, they seemed to just reappear, as if they had never been gone. Their barcodes became visible again as a singular reminder that they were, ultimately, just the property of another entity who as a whole were not much better than Count Zompano.

By the twelfth, the village looked as though nothing had ever happened. Sure, the contents of buildings might have been messed up or destroyed during the battles, but things were otherwise as they were supposed to be. The night before, people would have had to find their old beds to go sleep in, as they no longer possessed the old ones granted to them in another life.

The village was peaceful.

Modly Note: That wraps up the event. As noted in the prose above, you have the option to play up the after effects of the event more than in other ones. While it won't have the same impact universally, the Shift was constructed in such a way that people may have difficulty shaking off the emotions they developed during the event. In effect, it was a cruel send off to Luceti so they would have to deal with the loathing and hatred that came with the less desirable parts of it. Of course, that means the feelings of familial bonds will also persist for awhile as well. It's up to you, as players, to decide how much or little to play with it!

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[It takes Gai a moment to find a comfortable position that isn't putting too much pressure on the crystals. But then he comes to the conclusion that the shirt he's wearing is just irritating them further, so he struggles back up into a semi-sitting position and tries to start wriggling out of it.

... it's not very successful.]

Just water for now, and painkillers if you have any.

[Elizabeth pushes off of the desk when she sees Gai is having trouble, and easily straddles his legs to help him out of his shirt. He was practically sweating through it anyway.]

I don't know if I have any heroin. Or morphine. But I may have some acetaminophen, if that's enough. Maybe Robert has morphine...

[How ironic that just a few short weeks ago they'd been in a similar position for reasons that were almost the exact opposite of this. There's nothing sexy about this moment, though, and once he gets the shirt off Gai is sagging right back down onto the pillows again, just enjoying the feeling of the cool air on his heated skin.]

I'll take anything at this point, as long as it works. Just to make it more bearable.

[Elizabeth holds his shirt, looking over Gai's flushed face and torso, the crystal structures she had purposefully not touched when they were together... and she feels overwhelmed. She should call Gai's doctor, she didn't know the first thing about this condition. She didn't know if she could make it more bearable.]

[But she nods and climbs off of him, the room swimming a little again.] Alright, let me find you something, I'll be right back.

[She weaves out of the room and into the bathroom. There's the acetaminophen, and a few tiny white pills marked as morphine. Probably for Booker's wounds or Robert's burns. She takes both bottles, plus a washcloth, into the kitchenette and gets a glass and a bowl full of water. Somehow, she manages to juggle all of it back to her room.]

We should start with the morphine. [Elizabeth sets it all down on her desk and starts reading the label on the bottle. Two tablets, easy enough. She holds the glass and the medicine out to Gai.] You should drink the whole glass of water, too.

Don't push yourself too hard. You need rest too.

[Yes, he's noticed just how pale she is, how she seems somewhat wobbly. Even the virus symptoms haven't dulled his powers of observation, it would seem. Had he more strength left, he probably would've tried to go get the pills for himself, but as it is, maneuvering himself up into a sitting position is the best he can do.

He'll just sit there waiting until she brings the pills and the water back.]

Should I ask why you have morphine lying around?

[At least he's trying to lighten the mood somewhat. She's worried, he knows she is, and who wouldn't be? He's got crystals growing out of his body and he's pretty sure that isn't normal in any world.

When she holds out the morphine and the glass, he doesn't need any further urging to down both, almost chugging the water in the process. Looks like he was more than a little dehydrated, not that it should come as a surprise.]

But, unlike you, I am able to stand up. So I think if anyone is going to push themselves, it's going to be me.

[She tries to smile as she watches Gai take the pills and down the water... and he nearly finishes off the glass in the process. She was smiling when he started, she knows that. And now she's looking concerned, almost scared.]

Robert and Booker didn't come out unscathed either. [Elizabeth directs her attention to the bowl and washcloth, and carries both with her onto the bed. Once she's settled, she dips the washcloth and starts trying to wipe away the sweat and flush that's covering Gai's skin. He's dehydrated, exhausted, who knows when he ate last...]

I'm sorry... I should have come to see you sooner. Maybe if I had, you wouldn't have had to crawl here.

I already told you, I'm the one who came here to check on you. There's nothing to apologize for.

[He's in no mood to argue, not when he doesn't have the energy for it. The wet washcloth prompts a hiss from him when it first touches his skin, but it quickly changes into a more pleased sound as the water begins to cool his fevered body down.]

This is just temporary... it'll go away after a treatment. I can contact Law for one tomorrow. I'm more than overdue for a transfusion as it is.

[Given that she's currently seeing the extent of what this mysterious virus does to him, there's really no need to hide anything else about it any longer. She'd find out eventually, anyway, given that he needs the transfusions just about every week by this point.]

I could have thought to check on you, too. [Even if Gai insisted she not apologize, Elizabeth can't help but feel as though she's had some hand in this. She was supposed to be in love with him, and she'd waited until he was gulping water like a man dying of thirst? She had just assumed that with Gai's strength he wouldn't have felt as fatigued as she had. What a stupid, stupid assumption.]

What sort of transfusion?

A blood transfusion, to help control the symptoms.

[He finishes off the last of the water, then settles back down against the pillows, shutting his eyes. Already he can feel a little of his strength returning... or maybe that's just the morphine starting to kick in. Either way, he's not complaining.]

I need them on a weekly basis to keep this from getting any worse.

And you didn't get one last week, obviously... [Elizabeth finishes sponging Gai's torso, then moves on to the inside of his right wrist. She's scared for him, hates this disease and the Malnosso all at once. This man had lifted her up out of the ocean, carried her to his apartment, fought next to her in the battle. And the one thing she couldn't stop was killing him.]

Whose blood are you using?

[It couldn't be Law's. Every week? The man would die from blood loss, even over a long period of time.]

Don't know. Whatever blood the Malnosso decide to give us. It doesn't seem to matter whose it is.

[He owes them thanks for that, at least. Back in his world, only Inori's blood would've worked to slow the spread of the virus. Here, for whatever reason, any blood seems to do. It's the only reason he's still alive here.]

But these experiments always end up interfering with the schedule.

[Elizabeth looks shocked and horrified by the thought of Gai putting whatever blood the Malnosso gave him into his body.] They could be making you worse! Giving you something strange or experimental without you knowing.

What if you had a transfusion every three days? Wouldn't that make you stronger and act as a, a safety net? Just in case you can't have one for more than a week?

...and what if you used my blood once a month? It has to be better than whatever they're giving you.

Law screens all of the blood before he uses it. If there's anyone I trust to keep strange things out of my body, it's him. He's the reason I'm not in worse shape than I am so far.

[Now his expression softens, and he tries to lift his hand up enough to rest it against Elizabeth's cheek. But despite his best efforts, he can't manage to get it more than about halfway there, arm shaking the entire time.]

I've lived with this for years, Elizabeth. It's a miracle that I've managed to make it this long as it is.

Don't say that...

[Elizabeth takes Gai's hand and holds it in both of hers. Tightly. As though that would pull the virus straight out of him. Her voice is quiet, but her grip is trying to make up for the fact that she doesn't feel verbally strong at all. She's lost, and there's cotton in her skull that's keeping her from sound thought.]

[Which is why her next thought seems entirely rational.]

I can fix this. I can change this. [She knits her brow and bites her lip, struggling. Struggling to open a tear. Open one, not just manifest it. There's a blue flickering sliver over their hands.]

You'll be fine, after your mind reconciles the new reality. No more transfusions-- [She grits her teeth and the hole opens up to the size of a small melon. But it hurts, dear God it hurts. The siphon is no doubt back in place and it's discouraging her, heavily, from using her ability.]

[It takes Gai a moment to realize what she's trying to do-- to remember that she'd told him she could open tears to other worlds and step through them. It's a moment more before he realizes that she's trying to open one to take him through with her in the hopes of curing the virus.

But he also recalls what he'd said to her when she'd told him about that ability, about how she hadn't been happy in any of those worlds. Not that he thinks she'll even be able to open a tear here - he's pretty damn sure the Malnosso have suppressed a power like that - but the last thing he wants is for her to make an impulsive and possibly dangerous decision out of a desire to ease his pain.

It takes all of his remaining strength to surge up from the bed enough to get his arms around her and envelop her in a hug. His goal is twofold: one, to distract her enough to get her to stop trying to open the tear, and two, to show her that he's all right, that he doesn't need her to do that for him, even if he appreciates the sentiment behind it.

He's all right. He'll survive this, no matter what.]

['Pavlov made a dog salivate.']

['We'll make this one weep.']

[Elizabeth holds onto the tear with such fierce determination, her shoulders are shaking from the effort. It hurts, it hurts, no tear has hurt as much as this one. It was hard to see the outcome, foggy and insubstantial, but she bites her lip until it's white while she works. No more, she couldn't let anything else be taken from her. This pain was nothing compared to what Gai went through with this illness, she just had to keep telling herself that and she could keep going.]

[Gai moving wasn't something she'd banked on though, and it does distract her. The little porthole-sized tear snaps shut and Elizabeth shakes in Gai's arms.]

It's alright, it's just the siphon, I can work against it. [She reaches around Gai's back, hands shaking as they rest on him. As much as she could pretend Gai stopped her because he thought she couldn't do it, Elizabeth knew he wouldn't like seeing her in pain. But she can't, she can't leave him like this.] Just let me try again. I can do it...!

Elizabeth.

[It's just a single word, yet it speaks volumes. There's no fear there, no anger, nothing but calm acceptance underlying a gentle command. She doesn't need to risk herself for his sake; he's already accepted his fate. Whatever the Malnosso choose to do with the virus here, he'll bear it, and if he dies, then so be it. He'll come back again. He won't let them win.

He's a survivor, the same way he always has been. He's already lost enough people in his name, and he'll be damned if he loses the one person who means more to him than anything in this world or his own.]

[And that closes the issue, doesn't it?]

[Elizabeth contemplates trying it again, even if Gai clearly doesn't want her to. She even reaches out to see if the crack is still there, but pressing her metaphorical fingers to it earns her a sharp wave of fatigue. She said she could do it, but she can't. She can't save him, she can only open tears when it served their purpose. Didn't she deserve something for following that purpose a few days ago?]

Everything is so backwards, I can't straighten anything out. [She wraps her arms tighter around Gai, trying to keep her voice in check, trying not to cry frustrated, premature tears.] I'm not okay, I only have scratches on me but I feel like someone took my life and shook it around until nothing was right. I had a family but it always felt like I was stealing those moments. I didn't know what a tear was, but I kept remembering small snatches of when I was studied for them. Our relationship made me feel guilty, I had doubts, everything was too complicated!

I just want to feel like one thing isn't being rattled around anymore, I want to know for certain that I love you. That I would put myself through any pain if it meant you were safe.

[Were he able to, he would lift a hand to stroke her hair and try to soothe her. But he can't even do that right now-- those damned crystals are affecting the movement in his right arm, and he finds himself mentally cursing that he can't even manage something so simple. He hates the virus more than anything... but he doesn't hate it enough to let Elizabeth risk herself in a misguided attempt to cure it.

Instead, he just settles for hugging her as tightly as he can, ignoring the pain it causes him to do so.]

Just that desire alone is proof enough to me that you do. But something tells me that my words aren't what matters most to you right now. You want to prove it to yourself, not to me.

Edited 2013-08-16 08:39 (UTC)

I want both! [Elizabeth shifts until it's easier for Gai to put his arms around her and easier for her to hold him.] What happened last week, after I remembered all of it I didn't know if you had doubts. Thought that maybe that was... how I truly felt.

[It was ridiculous, but that moment where she had been laying in bed with Gai, where she'd sworn that no matter what happened her feelings would always be ones of deep trust and affection, it didn't seem strong enough now. The desire to hear from him every day, to receive even the smallest touch from him... all useless unless she did something to prove she had earned that treatment.]

I didn't think to come and see you, I was too wrapped up in my own illness. What if I'm too selfish to actually love you? ...what if I don't deserve this kind of happiness because I don't really understand what it means to be in love yet?

Edited 2013-08-17 00:00 (UTC)

[Hearing those words from her makes his own heart twist painfully. It's like looking into a mirror reflecting his innermost thoughts, and he doesn't like it one bit. She isn't the one who should be feeling like that... she deserves love and happiness, deserves all of the things she hadn't been able to have growing up. As far as he's concerned, she's an innocent.

It's him who doesn't deserve to be happy, not after everything he's done. And he'd sacrifice all of his own happiness for her sake if that's what was necessary. Anything to make her smile.

He presses his face into her hair, kissing it.]

And you think I understand what it means? I've never been loved before, never even been treated kindly save for a few short months when I was a kid. I've seen the worst of human nature, the dark depths that the rest of humanity would rather pretend didn't exist at all. That's the world I grew up in. I don't understand what it means to care about someone else for anything beyond how useful they are to me.

If anyone should be worried about whether or not they deserve happiness, it should be me, not you.

[Elizabeth can't stand hearing this from Gai. It only makes her hurt more, thinking of Gai growing up in the sort of dark place she spent only six months in. She holds him tighter, leans against him trying to get Gai to lay down again with her. Comfort him like she wanted when she was alone too.]

No, no it shouldn't. You're overdue for it.

[She hovers over Gai, rests her forehead against his.] I decided weeks ago that you deserve me, and... I still make you happy don't I? Even after watching me pull an arsenal out of nothing? [Elizabeth smiles weakly, briefly.]

The fact that I had lied to you in that other reality hurt every time I thought about it. If I didn't care about you, it wouldn't have hurt, would it? I wouldn't have thought I was the worst woman in the entire town if I hadn't believed you deserved something better than a relationship built on selfishness... right?

[He gets what she's trying to signal by her leaning, and while he resists it at first, wanting to remain upright, he doesn't have the energy to do so for much longer. At last he relents and lies back, cradling her against him more delicately than he normally would to try to keep it from hurting him too much. This, he thinks, is probably the worst part of the virus, even worse than the crystallization itself.]

You make me happier than anything else in any world.

[But what she says... he can understand that, too. Almost every relationship of any kind that he's ever had has ultimately been based on selfishness on his end, on a desire to obtain something or achieve a goal. He can't fault her for that, not without being a hypocrite.]

... no. It wouldn't have. If you didn't care, you would've been like I used to be: able to use people without so much as a second thought, as long as it meant I would get something out of it in the end.

[Elizabeth nods. She seems to remember that in the beginning, she could detach and think of her time spent with Gai as a move to bring her closer to saving her family. It was wrong, and strange to think about how she'd acted now. Perhaps because there wasn't anything either of them could offer the other, save for what they had now: simple companionship, comfort, and affection. She wanted to give those things to Gai as much as she wanted them from him. Nothing else.]

[She props herself up and brushes a soft kiss on Gai's lips. It's brief, and a little tired, and Elizabeth suspects that's all the both of them can do right now.]

I missed you, so much.

I missed you too.

[Gai chases that kiss as much as he can, but like her, he's too exhausted to be able to do anything more than that. Dragging himself all the way here was a terrible idea and he knows it. Law will likely have Words with him for this, but he honestly doesn't give a damn if it means he can spend time with Elizabeth like this. Right now, that's something he needs more than any treatment Law can offer him... and he suspects that Elizabeth needs it just as much as he does.

After all, he knows quite well what experiences like the ones they've had can do to your dreams.]

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