Zompania Draft - Draftees and Reinforcements, mid-day 4-early 7

[lucetimods]

Who: Draftees and Volunteers
What: The draftees and the reinforcements must hold against the Third Party army until rescue arrives
When: From May 23 through the wee hours of May 26 (days 4-7)
Where: Zompania
Summary: Draftee information and Volunteer information
Rating: Varies on thread, please mark explicit material.

This post is for the rest of the draft, beginning when the volunteer reinforcements arrive. Look up in the sky--your friends are parajumping in! Be sure to use the above info post for any plotting needs you might have. Enjoy!

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

Comments

[corrinesbell]

[Sheena recognizes this pattern; if she didn't have one arm holding Raine up she'd cross them both.]

I'm not playing this game with you. I wanna hear what happened, and I think you wanna talk about it, but it's not going to be me forcing it all out of you with questions. Just say what you feel like saying.

[wise_maiden]

... maybe... maybe part of me does want to talk. To -- but the other ... is it so wrong to want to try and protect you from this?! You've been through so much and you hate this, this world, this being here, and ...

[ She's rambling, she feels a little half-crazy, and not herself, and can't she go back to focusing on healing others now? You are that person. ]

... there... there was a bomb and we ... we were all the casualties. That's why ... I can't do this now, Sheena, I can't -- I can't. Not here in this place. Please.

[corrinesbell]

[There was a bomb and we were all the casualties.

They gave us more time.

It was our only chance to change things.

Sheena stills, all arguments about what she hates and shouldn't be protected from forgotten. They changed time. They changed time in order to give the fight a chance. Luceti barely felt it, there was a breath of it and then nothing unusual again, nothing bar the call for emergency help for people who had only left two days before. Except it was a week, too.

After one hard swallow, Sheena is surprised to find herself breathing without panic.]

I didn't know they could do that. [And Raine is begging to be let off the hook for something she clearly can't let go of.] But you can't sit and be quiet and let it take you over, either, so I don't know what else there is for you to do.

[wise_maiden]

[ For a beat, or two, Raine remains silent after that last outburst, mentally scavenging for pieces of wall that were nothing but rubble now. Swallows, hard. She had been doing so well up until now. This wasn't supposed to --

and there was much more she hadn't really said about it, either. More than she could allow in this moment. Maybe. ]

... John. [ Her voice is tight, caught in the back of her throat but she fights the wave as much as she can. Not here. Not here. ] ... it was John. H-he could only buy time for ... those of us from Luceti.

[corrinesbell]

So...you guys were using different time in here than- what?

[That doesn't make sense. If they can somehow change time (change time change time) for one group of people then all the other people in the same area would have to change too, wouldn't they?]

[wise_maiden]

I... don't know. He brought us back to... two days before the sa -- before the explosion. If we failed, the same thing would happen all over again, anyway. But you still remember us being in Luceti for those days, don't you? So... it's just us that are different.

[corrinesbell]

So there really were two of you at the same time for a little while. [Not in the same place, which is a big relief. But dying, because that's what they did or came close to, dying and going back and trying to stop that same death from happening-

It's a time gift Sheena's always wanted. The chance to go back and fix just one mistake, make one decision different enough to change all the wrong she'd done her people. Erase the nightmare.

Would that stop her from reliving it, even if she was the only one who knew?]

I really don't know what to say.

[wise_maiden]

[ Raine's had many moments like that, even after accepting the belief that the past couldn't -- or shouldn't be altered. Was that fair to say even in this place? When the difference was between not existing at all and having the chance to do it over?

It reminded her of the eternal sword, and the power it had over time and space. Or at least, it would remind her, after more time and more thought. ]

There's nothing anyone can say.

[ There was a period of time in which two hers existed. Where they merged... or split apart. How many others were there? Was she really herself again, or something else entirely? It was hard to feel whole. ]

It... happened. This happened. If it hinders it from happening to anyone else down the line... then there's that.

[corrinesbell]

So you're just gonna bury this thing too until it turns you crazy one day?

[If only that was not a legitimate outcome.]

It's bad. I get that it's bad. If you wanna hide it under the mat that's your decision, but nobody's forcing you to do it. That's a choice you make yourself.

[When Raine gets into 'it's fine if this happens for the sake of others' mode, there aren't many more answers to be found.]

Think you can get up and get going?

[wise_maiden]

What do you want me to say, Sheena? I can't - there's nothing else that I can do.

[ It's going to haunt her and upset her, but she doesn't want other people to be inconvenienced by her being upset. ]

... it's not numb anymore. I think we can get going.

[ She's still shaky, which is clear enough, but she doesn't feel as nauseated, either. Physically, anyway. Mentally is the other ballgame. ]

[corrinesbell]

You can stop trying to force yourself through things like you've gotta handle it all alone. [Sheena received similar lectures, back home and in Luceti. Apparently one of them stuck.

She gets up, one arm around Raine's back to help pull her up too.]

When we get back there, one of the other healers is looking at you and then you're taking a break.

[wise_maiden]

That's --

[But Raine chokes, then swallows hard on her words, swallowing them down like the lukewarm water in the canteen. The time for such thoughts or arguments was past, now, as she instead forces a nod in understanding as Sheena assists her to her feet. With the effect of the poison still ebbing away, the task is managed a lot easier than the effort to get to that location in the first place.

She reels at the thought of someone taking time away from any other people to look over her, on top of how much time they surely lost with her coming all the way out here in the first place, but that wasn't a battle to wage right now. You are that person. It stung, but didn't make it any less true.]

We'll see how things are... when we get back.

[A murmur, a concession perhaps an end to the conversation flow from Raine, now that walking and getting back was ahead of them. To focus, and not to freeze, however far they had managed to get from the camp on this quest. She shivers.]

[corrinesbell]

That one wasn't a suggestion. You need to get away from all of this for a little while.

[There's still a fight going on outside. Sheena takes them toward the 'back door' instead, hoping there still is one.]

Don't worry about trying to walk yourself if you can't yet.

[wise_maiden]

[There's some debris to pass through, some overturned furniture, though the quest proves fruitful; there is a door.]

... I don't think I can yet. I could use my staff --

[The thought breaks off, in some mild confusion. Her staff, had they left it? But even then, what would she do with it?]

[corrinesbell]

Your staff?

[Wait, she brought in a staff?

Damn.]

I don't have your staff, I was just gonna let you lean on me the rest of the way.

[wise_maiden]

[Forgotten, then. Did it matter? No, not really.]

As long as you think you can, then ...

[Another. Her thoughts went to that cursed one, of all things, though thankfully sealed, though she knew better.]

It's fine. They show up in the shop sometimes ...

[corrinesbell]

Then we'll worry about getting you one later. Let's go.

[They have to make it back to Luceti first. Then they can worry about new weapons. Raine's got mana whether she has a stick or not, anyway.]