Zompania Draft - Draftees only, days 1-3.5

[lucetimods]

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

Comments

[frost_jewel]

[They might be. They might not.

No chances.]

Then lean on me if you need to, and stop if you feel you can't keep going. [She can hold off a cultist or two; she can't hold his whole weight if he falls.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Two hundred pounds of nearly six-four pirate is difficult for most, true.

He just nods to it though as he eases himself up. No need spending more breath than he has to while moving.]

[frost_jewel]

[Mia can't hear anything or anyone approaching.

That's another matter to address when they have time. Law stands nearly a foot taller than her, and she wants to concentrate on helping him get behind their primitive fortifications. The bag over her shoulder is packed with filched supplies.

Nobody in Zompania is going to need them anymore.]

Tell me if danger gets any closer. [Otherwise, she won't encourage talking-while-walking.]

[deathsdoctor]

I will.

[He falls silent again. Concentrating. He's too well trained to stumble (or better put - he's too stubborn to let himself), and even now, sweating, pale, he still moves with enough cat like grace that from a distance the pirate's state would be deceptive.

The silence will continue until they are at (relative) safety or there's signs of incoming trouble. Whatever comes first.]

[frost_jewel]

[They're in luck - so far, no trouble. Well, none besides Law's condition.

When they get to 'safety', Mia does a quick search for somewhere he might be able to lie down...and there really isn't one, not readily available and out of the way. She has a guess that he won't want to be on display while feeling unwell.

So she finds him an out-of-the-way corner, instead. Even here they aren't far from skirmishes.]

[deathsdoctor]

[She's right - Law doesn't want to be stared at. This is bad enough already. He's weakened. He's vulnerable. Easier prey.

He slumps down against the wall, eyelids dropping to half mast and just focuses on the rhythm of his breathing. Getting air into his lungs to ease his tremors.]

... hrrn.

[Just a noise as he finally settles. And as adrenaline crashes and the weight of how worn he is finally bears down.]

[frost_jewel]

[It's still happening. Mia didn't expect it to stop, but a change for the better would be...too much to ask, apparently. She kneels on his left side, already casting; when Psynergy can't sort out his heart, she uses it to restore the rest of him instead, a muted cool wash of strength. On her second attempt she tries Nala, which takes longer.

It doesn't work, either.

Pulling out of her concentration and quiet, Mia watches Law in silence for a few moments.]

Tell me as much as you can about what was happening when this started. [He's sure to notice it hasn't gone away yet, but she isn't willing to give up on alternate approaches.]

[deathsdoctor]

[... Nala? He wants to object, tell her she's putting herself at risk of Shift Hunters.]

I had finished scavenging a building and was examining one of the bodies. [Where are the supplies? In a storage scroll. Why would Law examine a body? To figure out better how the sacrifice was done so John could maybe give his insights later. He had reversed Jacob's after all.] They're strange.

[What with the lack of rigors, livor mortis, the strange sensation from the wings... the bones.]

I was just finishing my notes when this started up. Wasn't touching them. I had found when we first encountered them that contact with their wings wasn't a good idea.

[frost_jewel]

[She didn't think about Shift Hunters. That's probably a bad sign. Mia listens without motion or comment, and when Law is finished, shakes her head.]

I know how these people died, but what are the chances you - any of us - were exposed to some kind of illness that begins this way? [She wants it to be connected to these terrible piles of the dead. Not to whatever presence that was, out there, in the boiling darkness beyond time and death.

But if it's sickness, she can't feel it.

And she only knows one such disease.]

[deathsdoctor]

If we were, then other people should soon be showing signs...

[There's doubt in Law's tone. He hasn't seen that, and he should given how worn down everyone was. Not complete doubt, because where there are bodies there is disease, and the people who worked with the dead were most at risk, but.

Possible. But unlikely.]

If it's just me, though, odds are against it. We are all worn down and vulnerable, so...

[frost_jewel]

[Other people should. Or Law is particularly susceptible. Or it's to do with what that thing may or may not have done to them, except that circles back to "it would affect more people". Maybe it was, and they just didn't know how to describe it - but no, because she would know, or he would, one of them would have seen it in more people.]

Then it is either the result of you overtaxing yourself while fighting- [And she's seen him fight, at a distance.] -or it's related to...to the bodies in some other way. Either way, you're staying here until this improves.

[Or gets worse. She won't say it, doesn't need to.]

[deathsdoctor]

Not the first. I've overtaxed myself before. The symptoms are different.

[He is damn sure it isn't the first. Law's face twists into displeasure. Can't fight like this, he knows, but neither does he feel at all good with staying on his ass either.]

[frost_jewel]

[Pity there's no busywork to bring him, either. Nobody likes hearing they're out of the fight...well, nobody with Law's disposition.]

Can I do anything for you? While you wait.

[deathsdoctor]

[Law's mouth opens. Then it closes. Regardless of what happened on the third day, things are more than grim enough that this worry is ever present for him.]

... have you seen Itachi out there?

[Better asked, do you know if my husband is okay? Itachi's even deadlier in a fight than Law, but he has much more limited stamina, and well, is practically blind without his Sharingan.]

[frost_jewel]

Not since this morning. I haven't been "out" too often. [There are more than enough people in here needing attention.] I can send a letter asking him to come watch you, but by the time he gets here you will have escaped.

[Mia's not much of a joker, and she can't even work up a half-smile for this one, but she hopes the sentiment is there.]

He hasn't come back injured, though.

[deathsdoctor]

Curses. My slipperiness has finally backfired.

[Joke's probably fallen flat - it's just a reflex out of habit. A man numb inside isn't terribly funny.

... as he closes his eyes in relief, the ice inside cracks...]

Good. He's strong... [He doesn't doubt Itachi.] ... it's just...

[frost_jewel]

[Mia almost shuts her eyes when Law closes his - and then he speaks. Few words, but important words, and after some thought she decides to wait and see if he'll say more, unprompted. Cutting him off, even with a "just" of inquiry, might stop him instead.]

[deathsdoctor]

... he hates fighting, hates killing. He's good at it, too good, really, and it saves him. But he's always looking for a reason do to the things he's doing in the fray...

[All his husband desired above all is peace.]

... I worry about him...

[frost_jewel]

Of course you do. I'm sure he worries, too. Actually, I'm surprised to see the two of you separated in this fight.

[It's smalltalk, one of her best subjects. Perhaps a welcome distraction.]

[deathsdoctor]

We got separated when we were dropped into this place - blasted teleporters. Didn't see him until after things. Barely seen him since. Everything's been conspiring to keep us apart.

[It. is. picking at him. He tries not to let it.]

[frost_jewel]

You can do more good in two places.

[How many times had she, had any of them, needed to be in two places at once? This wasn't the same, but having someone to trust implicitly out there elsewhere could be just as good.]

[deathsdoctor]

That's true.

[But it does nothing for the fear.]

[frost_jewel]

[Hm. She has an idea of what he's thinking.]

It doesn't help much, does it? Knowing that.

[deathsdoctor]

Uh uh. [Shaking his head.] It never does.

[frost_jewel]

I don't think I know anything that will.

[She's watching him, waiting for a sign of change in his condition in either direction. Trying to hide most of the worry.]