Zompania Draft: Coming Home

[frost_jewel]

Who: Anyone drafted to Zompania, or recruited as reinforcements, or left behind in the village. SO. Everybody!
What: The draftees and reinforcements return to the village.
When: May 26, early early in the morning
Where: Back in Luceti
Summary: Most draftees and reinforcements return to Luceti in the very early hours; now, instead of a medevac site for the draft, the village is a welcome (?) refuge from the nightmare of Zompania for its own. There's a high likelihood it still looks a lot like it has in the past few days; those in the fight didn't even get a chance to shower before returning.

(This is the place for all your post-draft trauma and reunions and every other thing. Have fun! And don't forget to entry-tag your character.)

Comments

[soheartless]

I believe that you have... said such things before. [He frets.]

But then... Why do I still feel this feeling?

[untrueheart]

I don't know. You have no reason to be lonely if I'm right here with you.

[soheartless]

Rue... [There is some affection in his voice, as he says that, and he takes one step towards her before faltering. His hesitation is punctuated by the chirping of crickets.]

No reason...?

[untrueheart]

[That's better, until he stops. Rue closes the distance instead, stroking the side of his face gently with one hand.]

Of course not. You- you want to stay with me?

[It's never been a question before; her hand on his face has lost nearly all of its crow's-claw severity.]

[soheartless]

[He closes his eyes at the stroke.]

Yes, Rue... When I'm around you, I feel so many of my emotions. There are so many things that I don't know, or don't understand, but being around you feels... right.

Maybe... [His hands hover over his chest again.] It's my heart that's lonely... to be whole once again...

[untrueheart]

[That, right there, that's what she wanted to hear. The first part. But if his heart is truly lonely to be whole...

Rue pulls him closer in an embrace (harder to do, in regular shoes and with him taller than she is), so she can whisper. It wouldn't do to draw attention to themselves, with the rising chaos going on as people come back from wherever they went.]

Don't you know that love will destroy you if it returns?

[soheartless]

[He quietly slips into her embrace with a quiet breath. He does have the feeling of affection, after all, and his hands slide just above her wings.]

I don't know what will happen. Is that really... what will happen?

[untrueheart]

I'm not willing to take that risk and lose you again.

[soheartless]

Rue...

I'll listen to what you say. [He pauses.] I won't be a prince again?

[untrueheart]

I wish you could be a prince again. That's...who you are.

[She remembers the cheerful false prince bringing her flowers, going for walks together, dancing.]

But your heart will not be complete even with love, will it?

[soheartless]

No. It won't. [He answers quietly. And he doesn't quite reminisce in his current state.]

I don't know where to find any of the other pieces of my heart.

[untrueheart]

It isn't as though I do. Don't you remember anything yet about your own heart?

[soheartless]

I... I remember some things. [As he thinks, he starts to wince, and he pulls back from her.]

[untrueheart]

[She is used to him pulling away because of those memories, and she holds on tighter.]

But not enough.

[soheartless]

No... It's never enough.

[He murmurs weakly and confused, but distinctly different from the normal Mytho.]

That's why... I need it back. I need... to feel that again.

2/2 whoops!

[ravenousheart]

[And for a moment, there's a glow in his eyes.]

Love... all the love in the world... I want it back.

[untrueheart]

[Rue's hand stills in its reach for Mytho's face, as her breath does in her lungs. That look in his eyes, that fire...]

What's happening to you, Mytho?

[soheartless]

[And then, his eyes close as he winces.]

I... I don't know. Inside me...

[untrueheart]

This- this can't be, not without- [Not without the love I tainted for you.]

Do you...feel love again? Is that what this is?

[soheartless]

I don't... feel it...

I... did. I can't... remember... [He can't quite pinpoint the Valentines effect in his current condition.]

[untrueheart]

[A familiar shadow crosses Rue's eyes as well; she feels the burn of the raven's blood just as strongly, although she's used to it in a way that Mytho cannot be.]

But you're...different again, aren't you? My prince?

[soheartless]

I don't know. Something happened... [He's not quite observant enough to catch the change in her own eyes.]

I felt that feeling, and now I don't. [He struggles to try to remember.] There had been... a festival.

[untrueheart]

Forget about the festival! [Rue could not be less worried about Mytho's in-and-out feelings if she tried.] Why- why did I hear the Raven Prince just now?

[soheartless]

W- why? [He grips his head.] I don't know. I don't know everything... that's inside me. [There's something that may not be in his heart, but it still in his blood.]

[untrueheart]

You have to know. How could he- how could this happen without love?

[It was her love that hurt him the last time and that's the way stories work, it would have to be love again...]