lucetilogs | Zompania Draft: Coming Home

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Zompania Draft: Coming Home

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.)

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[Colonel is a laid-back dog at three in the morning as long as any roughhousing ends in snuggling. In all likelihood he's pretty oblivious to Ion's tears.

Nephry, however, is not. She sees Ion begin to cry and it surprises her enough that she stands there, still, for several seconds. Careful, not wanting to burst into his space if he needs it, she sits on the edge of the sofa beside him. It could be so very many things. She wants to reach for him but doesn't, not this time, not without some sign that he would welcome the interruption of his privacy.]

[They're silent tears at first -- like the sort that seem to happen without him even being aware of it. It's only when he reaches up to wipe them away that the dam breaks, his shoulders shaking as he lets out a few nearly-silent sobs. He keeps the hand that had reached up over his face, almost as though trying in vain to hide the fact that he was crying -- though it was much more in an attempt to calm himself than it was to hide it from Nephry. By all means, even if it might look like he needs his space right now, what he really wants is some comfort.]

[To go in such a short time from wide-eyed and bloody to...this, it's astounding, it tells her everything she ever needs to know about how horrible the draft was. Without a word Nephry picks up the blanket she brought from his room, unfolding it to drape over his shoulders. Then she reaches for him, one hand pressed against his far arm to draw him closer. She can't just let him sit there and cry alone.

Soon her other arm joins the first, and she's holding him loosely in an embrace that will tighten if he allows it.]

[As it turns out, doing so without a word may not have been the best choice. The instant that blanket hits his shoulders, he jumps again, this time looking downright terrified -- perhaps due in no small part to the close proximity to his wings.]

[But hopefully that alone isn't enough to scare Nephry off, because right after that happens, he'll wind up meeting her halfway for that hug -- wanting more than anything to just feel okay again.]

[And though the hug isn't enough to quiet his sobs, with Nephry and Colonel by his side, he can at least feel a little bit safer. Even if only for a little while.]

[She doesn't expect he will stop crying until exhaustion claims him. And that look of terror in his eyes...]

I'm sorry I scared you. [Still holding tight, she lets one hand stroke his hair and rub his back alternately. There is no good answer for such heavy sobs, not one that she knows. She lets him cry for a little while with silence and presence for comfort, before she tries saying anything else.]

Shh, Ion. [And even then, it isn't much.] Shh. Take some deep breaths. It's all right.

[If she cries a few tears of her own? Well, he won't see most of them, anyway.]

[Ion practically clings to Nephry, still struggling to calm back down. But it seems like once the tears started, they needed to run their course before he could really reel them in. It was the same when he started crying earlier, and was one of the reasons his shower had lasted as long as it did.]

[But by the time Nephry speaks up, he'll be making more of an effort to try and calm down. He takes slow, deep breaths, keeping his eyes closed as if that might help stop more tears from flowing. When he does finally seem to quiet down, it's only because he's just too exhausted to cry anymore.]

[Feeling him settle differently, heavy, Nephry stops her hand on the back of his head. What if he is asleep? She has a plan, if that's true, but she cannot assume either way.]

You're tired and you need your rest. [Wary of making enough noise in the living room that they might wake more of the house, she keeps her voice very soft. If he is asleep against her, or mostly asleep, she's willing to stay that way for what remains of the night.]

[She might feel him nod against her, but that's about as much of a response as he can manage right now. He's still not sure he can sleep; even as tired as he feels, his mind is still wired from the battlefield. Even if he could somehow fall asleep, there's no doubt he would just return to that same battlefield in his dreams -- which wasn't something he was looking forward to.]

[So for now he just stays where he is. Really, even though a part of him knows he shouldn't be keeping Nephry like this, he also really doesn't want her to leave him here like this.]

[Good, because he isn't keeping her, she is choosing to stay. She does shift closer to the end of the sofa, gently pulling Ion with her. Colonel whines and lifts his head, hopping down to turn circles and flop on the floor instead.]

Put your feet up, Ion. [He'll have to find the strength to do that within himself.]

[He nods again, but the request might take him a bit of time. His knees were definitely the worst in terms of injuries, so having to bend or shift his legs at all was a chore. It was a good thing he'd been training with Cliff all this time, or his legs would have probably been even worse off.]

[But eventually he manages to pull them up, leaning more against Nephry as a result.]

[Good. Nephry shifts further, grabbing the pillow at the same time and putting it under his head before he can end up just lying in her lap. ...He rather is still doing that, halfway, but this way if he does fall asleep, she can get up if she needs to without disturbing him.

She pushes the remnants of his hair off of his face, and pulls the edge of the blanket to cover him better.]

Try to sleep, hm?

[Ion doesn't manage a reply. It's not until his eyes are closed that he finally nods. His mind is still racing a million miles a minute, and no matter how tired his body is, sleep won't come to him. It probably doesn't help that the more he recovers from the shock of everything that happened, the more aware he becomes of all the injuries on his body.]

[But the only indication he'll give that he's still awake is to occasionally open his eyes and look up -- as though checking to see if Nephry was still there -- before quickly closing them again. He probably won't be able to really fall asleep until later that night, but he might doze off long enough for her to find a chance to move.]

[On the contrary, between the warmth and the terrible surety of just where everybody was and how they fared (it isn't safety or comforting but it is better than not knowing, mostly) and her own long days, Nephry dozes off with her head against the back of the sofa. If she feels him stir too much, she'll wake to check on him. With injuries like those and all of his exhaustion and emotional pain, Nephry will not be surprised if he gets sick on top of it.]

[In that case, she may end up sleeping well into the morning, as the early hours of the day change to a more reasonable time. Ion managed to doze off enough for a little bit of rest, but overall no more than an hour. It's only once a few hours have passed that he starts trying to sit up, resting against the back of the couch by Nephry and trying not to wake her.]

[He's still exhausted, but at least now he feels far more sure that he's actually home and not still on that dreadful battlefield. A part of him would like to try moving to his own bed, but he wouldn't dare attempt to stand on his own. Even the thought of kneeling down on his aching knees right now was unappealing, and the pain was beginning to become more apparent.]

[Feeling the couch around her move, Nephry stirs out of sleep. Is Ion all right, she wonders before she sees him there, sitting up.]

You're awake again. [He still looks so tired.] How do you feel?

[He turns quickly when he sees Nephry awaken in the corner of his eye, hoping he hadn't woken her up. At the very least, he looks less shaken than he had earlier and manages something akin to a smile. Though with his hair still choppy in places and combined with his bedhead, he looks like something the dog dragged in.]

I still feel rather tired... I don't think I slept very much. [His voice sounds a bit more hoarse now than it had before, probably from all the yelling and the like during the draft.] I think the pain in my knees is starting to catch up with me.

[Hearing some of his humans awake, the actual dog picks his head up, then gets up, butting up against the couch looking for Ion's hand or anything else that could scratch his ears, really.

Nephry can't help but smile back at him, mostly at how disheveled he looks as he attempts one of his own. If he's putting on a mask it is a good one.]

We should have something you can take for it. Does anything else hurt this morning? [She doesn't want to bother Natalia if they don't have to, not so soon.]

[It's not really a mask. If anything, he's just too tired to be upset anymore. But after Nephry stayed here by his side this whole time, how could he not be smiling at least a little bit?]

I'm sure anything I could take for my knees would help with the rest. But I think they might be the worst of it. [He absentmindedly reaches down to pat Colonel on the head.] Mostly I'm just... tired.

[After the news about Asch and Tear, and seeing the state everyone was in when they came home, Nephry didn't relish spending another night by herself, either, Colonel or no Colonel.]

I imagine so. [Shifting away momentarily, Nephry stands, straightening her disordered...everything.] I want to check on the others, and I'll see if we have any pain medicine for you. Do you mind?

[He shakes his head.] I'll be all right. I have Colonel here with me at least.

[As if in response to that little "at least" tacked on the end there, Colonel gives a short huff before jumping up onto the couch, resting his head on Ion's lap while keeping his eyes alert. Best guard-puppy, yep.]

[Well. Colonel's on the job. What more can she ask for?

Nephry tries to make it quick as she does a round of the house; almost everyone else is still sleeping, or maybe recently sleeping, and doesn't need anything at present. It isn't long at all before she returns to Ion with a glass of water and two pills to take.]

Are you hungry? I can't imagine you had much time to eat.

[Ion will be just as she left him when she returns, though it's probably clear the pain is bothering him more than he was trying to let on. Although he sits up once Nephry enters the room, prior to that he had his head leaned back and his eyes shut tightly. He won't even answer until he's taken the water and pills, taking care to only sip at the water in case it upsets his stomach.]

[But the question does require a bit of thinking. When was the last time he was able to eat?]

...I don't think I was able to keep anything down for the last day or so. I'm not hungry right now, but I think I can try eating something... if it's light.

[It still shows, on his face, in the way he holds himself up: he's in a lot more pain than he's willing to admit.]

I don't want to force you and have you end up sick to your stomach. It can wait. But I wish I could do more for you. [With Natalia asleep, Jade either asleep also or doing a convincing job of faking it, and Tear- gone, she would have to go outside the house for help. It can happen, but she would rather not leave any of them alone, despite how together they would all be.

Nephry recalls how scared he was before they left, barely four days ago, how they sat together on this same sofa and she tried to assure him it would be all right in some way. And now, it wasn't.]

[Ion nods. It's true -- he didn't really want to think about how he'd handle getting sick right now. If anything, the fact that his stomach was one of the few things not bothering him right now was something of a blessing. It would only make himself even more miserable, and probably make things even harder on Nephry, the only one awake to take care of him right now. Though now that he's not feeling quite as shaken as he was earlier, he's starting to feel a little guilty about it.]

[He's quiet for a few moments before looking up.]

Actually, do we have any ice? I think it might help me to walk easier if I could keep the swelling on my knees down.

Is it worse this morning? [If it's so bad he can't move well, getting him to his bedroom could pose a challenge.] Let me see them again.

Zompania Draft: Coming Home

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