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

[lordhotman]

[Definitely not alone. And Zuko is practically in the same boat. He's experienced some terrible things in his life, but nothing like this. Still, he seems to faring a little better than Wan.

That doesn't mean he can sleep through those screams either, though. Screams that will likely haunt his dreams for a long time. But he is just as determined to find a way into the city.

Crawling over broken concrete and debris, he quietly but desperately searches. Using firebending this close to the city is out of the question unless absolutely necessary. As one of the scouting parties it's their job to find a way in and not attract attention to themselves.]

sorry I was stuck on this tag forever ;_;

[justdid]

[Being unable to use his firebending made it more difficult to see in the darkness. It only added to his frustration. He hated how long this was taking, he hated feeling so useless and helpless. Not only was he unable to stop anything, others have gotten hurt trying to save him even before the bomb went off.

For most of the night, he did a fairly good job of staying focused and on task, he knew how to be sneaky when it was required of him. As the night worse on however he was wearing out. He still had resolve and he still felt that there were people he could save. However he was losing patience with finding an entrance. A night of frayed nerves wasn't good for emotional control.

Wan jumped when a particularly loud scream pierced into the night. This was it. He's had it. All of his anger boiled over. He took a small piece of chipped off concrete and threw it as hard as he could.]

Its okay <3

[lordhotman]

[And the broken piece of concrete hits Zuko.]

Ow!

[He hisses and turns a glare back into the darkness.]

[justdid]

Sorry.

[Even if he didn't want to hurt Zuko and feels bad about that, he sounds more fed up than actually sorry. There isn't a single thing about this situation that doesn't suck.]

[lordhotman]

[Zuko can hear it in his voice, and really can't blame him. He's not exactly happy about all this either. Still, he heaves a small sigh.]

Let's take a break.

[justdid]

[Wan tenses up. Taking a break now is not an option for him.

Even if he really needs one before he has a complete breakdown.]

I can't just take a break when we havn't found a way into the city.

[lordhotman]

Look, I don't like this either. But we're not going to find a way in if we don't focus.

[justdid]

Believe me, I am focused.

[despite himself and that they have already been through, there is an edge of anger in his voice. He doesn't get why Zuko would need a break to focus or how taking a break would help him focus. Not when there were people in there dying.]

1/2

[lordhotman]

[He doesn't need a break. But Wan sounds like he's about to lose it. And Uncle was off checking another area...]

Ugh... what would uncle say right now.

2/2

[lordhotman]

Anger will only lead to destruction. So when there's destruction all around you, don't be angry... because it won't help.

how does it feel when the shoe's on the other foot

[justdid]

That doesn't make any sense.

[Weird. That's almost like something Zuko would say.]

Sob.

[lordhotman]

... It did in my head.

[Man he's really bad at this. Sometimes he wonders why he bothers.]

/pats

[justdid]

[...Wan is going to go back to picking through rubble now.

He's still on edge, but he can't stay mad at Zuko when he has a job to do.]

[lordhotman]

[Zuko sighs. Well, so much for that, and he couldn't pretend that this wasn't getting to him too.

Thus he gets back to looking as well.]

[justdid]

[The night was long, hard, and exhausting, in more ways than one. But eventually as they make their way through the rubble the air is penetrated with a thick, heavy smell of blood. Far more overpowering than what was usual for the battlefield.]

[lordhotman]

Ugh...

[The smell of blood and rotting corpses was starting to get to him and he covered his face, trying to mask the stench a bit.

However, as he climbed over another mound of debris, something caught his eye in the very dim light.]

Wan, get over here.

[He had found what looked to be a tunnel.]

[justdid]

[Wan will climb over as quickly as he can. He doesn't say anything for a moment as he registers what Zuko is seeing.]

Let's check it out.

[He charges ahead. Not bothering to question if it was just more rubble or some kind of trap. They've wasted enough time already.]

[lordhotman]

[As Wan charges ahead, Zuko follows. Once inside the tunnel he creates a flame in his hand so they can actually see where they're going.

There is water and its getting deeper as they go in, but what horrifies him the most is that... it looks to be tinged in red.]

Is that...?

[Blood? And not to mention the stench is getting worse.]

[justdid]

[Wan also has a torch going, but unlike Zuko he needs more training to get it down to a smaller size. There was more than enough light to see the runnel in all of it's bloody glory. The thick smell made his stomach flip, and if he hadn't skipped out on eating Wan might've thrown up. He still might.

Wan can mentally connect the dots. He could here them screaming all night, and now they've found a tunnel filled with blood. It had to lead into the city, and whatever was happening inside-

he couldn't think about it. He had to focus on getting whoever was still alive out of there. Silently forging ahead, tuning out everything except his "mission", including Zuko.]

[lordhotman]

[Zuko tries not to think about the implications either, and instead about the reason they're here.]

Maybe this tunnel can lead us into the city.

[Thus Zuko plods along, trying to ignore the filthy water that's knee deep and rising. Eventually though, he finds a ladder and raises his flame to look up to what appears to be an opening.]

1/? because the horror cannot be contained in one tag

[justdid]

I'm going up there.

[Wan climbed the ladder without hesitation. Even if the screaming had stopped what felt like hours ago, he still had hope. Maybe the people who were left had found a place to hide. Maybe they were safe.

The first thing that would hit them after a minute of trying to push the cover up was the smell. After a couple days of fighting and a few hours literally wading through bloody, filthy water, he should have been thoroughly desensitized to the smell of carnage. But this was strong.

And it only strengthened his resolve to go up there. Poking his head up to see-]

2/? in which Wan IMMEDIATELY regrets his life choices

[justdid]

[Blood, a lot of blood. Dead bodies everywhere. It's sensory overload. It's too much for him to process all at once on every conceivable level. There was nothing in his life that could have ever prepared him for this.]

3/? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW RARE THAT IS

[justdid]

[Everyone was-
dead.

they were too late.]

4/4 aren't you glad he doesn't have the avatar state yet

[justdid]

[Wan slowly, climbs down the ladder. He's pale and shaky, but everything feels unreal right now. Like this is some really bad dream that he can wake up from if he's patient enough. Which is why he is neither burning everything to the ground or having an emotional breakdown in the middle of what was still a war zone.

He turns to Zuko and stares. Pausing for a minute because even if the other teen was right in front of him it felt like there was some invisible wall separating them. Or an invisible wall between himself and the rest of reality. It's not something he cares about enough to be alarmed by.]

Everyone is dead.

[lordhotman]

Be careful, I'll stand watch here.

[So with that, Zuko waits as Wan goes upside to take a look around. When he comes back, he brings the news that Zuko was dreading since the screaming stopped. There's a grim look on Zuko's face as he takes it in.]

We should find my uncle and tell everyone we've found a way in.