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 Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:13 pm
Quote: The little village is unnaturally empty and devoid of all life sans that which came from Destiny City. To add to the eeriness of everything, sometimes a small area will randomly feel cold and unnerving more than the rest of the town. Close investigation of the area will result in finding a small piece of weathered metal; you can just barely make out runes carved into it, but it's not large enough for you to make out anything. As soon as the metal is picked up, the mood in the area immediately fades and, oddly, you feel safer holding it. You may only find one of these per character!
They never seemed to leave any significant traces, no signs of life or evidence that may have given some indication of what happened to them and he was beginning to wonder when the inevitable and final encounter would occur between his own group and whatever lived in the mists would be. At that point would he be able to overcome the mist and stand against it? A single breath of that substance and he had almost lost himself the last time, if that happened again then he wouldn't have a hope.
His mood was decidedly sombre as he picked his way through the quiet town and passed another home that had fallen in the night. He would have preferred not to express how he felt at this point in time, it wouldn't help anyone, but even he knew that those around him weren't oblivious to his declining mood. As one of the more practical individuals, one who often had rules, regulations and guidance to follow, he had come up short more than once in the last few days.
There were no answers here.
Still, where there were fallen homes there were often supplies and he would scavenge where needed.
This afternoon was no exception and in the dim light he held out his senshi phone to shine the light against the ground and walls in search of more weighty and useful items. Otherwise quiet, he probably didn't make for the best company, but that didn't mean that he was alone. After all, it had become very apparent that it was not wise to go anywhere alone and this was something he strictly enforced...even for himself.
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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:36 pm
If she were ever honest with herself, she'd admit that part of why she wasn't in an even worse mood was because their group was still alright.
Each time a night passed and the creature went after someone else's home, she felt equal parts relief and distress--followed by guilt for the former. Guilt that only grew when, next morning, they found another house torn into, and people missing.
But they weren't people she knew and cared for.
So the disconnection, disassociation, kept her from dwelling on it for long. Something that, when she stopped to think about it, made her feel sick all over again.
It was harder to sleep in her 'room' now. Nights often found her downstairs, listening to the Mauvians snore a bit in their sleep, listening to the fire crackle and pop in the hearth, a blanket pulled around her shoulders and arms to keep her a little bit warmer. Realta somewhat joined her, even if she chose to sleep with the other guardians.
If she did sleep, it was in short bursts. The longer ones, the ones where she actually felt safe... well. Those were moments spent leaning against someone else, dozing off with her head against an arm, shoulder... chest... The rhythm of a strong heartbeat was soothing to her in moments like that, additional body heat adding to her comfort.
It was easier to smile when she woke up after that. Push on a happy face, laugh like things were fine.
Lies, lies, lies. Bluff and bravo till even you believe it.
Those were the snide voices that echoed in her mind a lot. Cruel and laughing at their misery. They made her want to scream and actually punch something.
Going out and helping to salvage whatever could be found of use, that was the only real outlet she had. Usually, that meant collecting wood, or foods from the orchards, fields, or haphazard gardens. Sometimes that meant just accompanying someone out to the houses. She could keep watch, at least, while others looked about, and help carry things back. Any time someone brought back some blankets, she'd beam with delight.
Metis, at the very least, constantly checked her phone to be sure of what time it was, once they established a rough estimate for when the sun seemed to set there. And once it reached a specific time, she'd harass whomever she was with that they had to go back to the house now, and heard no objections to otherwise.
She refused to be out past dark, and if nothing else, was quickly becoming a bit of a mother hen. Counting energy figures in the house, energy signatures if people weren't in the immediate room--and followed by her checking to make sure they were indoors as she thought--was... becoming typical.
"Think Shaowei would let me cook tonight?"
It was a random thing to ask, sure, but the silence was another thing she didn't really humor after a point. If it was a comfortable silence, she was happy to enjoy it to its extent. If it was an awkward, fearful, or any other negative connotation sort of silence, she was quick to try and fill it.
Thus, even as she lingered in the broken doorway of the now abandoned, ruined house, she was going to pepper the mostly silent Athalia with random conversation. Either he'd have to join in by responding, or she'd just keep talking till he did.
Maybe her mood wasn't so great, either.
"Stew could be nice, if we get back early enough so the meat can have some time to cook and maybe soften up a bit. We brought back more veggies earlier, and there's still a bunch more in the jars down in the cellar. Hm... too bad there's no bread. Or anything to make it."
As she spoke, she stepped inside the house, carefully maneuvering around until she found the space that seemed to have been the kitchen area. Light hands moved about, searching for anything that could be salvaged and brought back--pots, utensils, bowls, mugs, so on. She'd removed one of her skirts earlier to use the cloth as a makeshift bag, tying off one bound up end with some of the teal ribbon from her uniform to make it a bit more functional as a bag.
She ran bare fingers against a mug, checking it for cracks or broken edges, when she finally spoke up again. "How're you holding up?"
When they were around the others, she kept such questions to herself. Athalia seemed to almost always have an air of confidence about himself, stability that made him effectively a cornerstone. An anchor. But he was human. He was allowed to falter and shake under high pressure. He was allowed to make mistakes or need a break--or a vacation--from such things. Without her blindfold on for the moment, it was easy to see the slant of her brows as she turned her head slightly to observe him, concern softening her features. "This... this isn't like other... happenings," she finally sighed, nibbling on her lower lip a little as she considered her words.
"I mean... invading Negaspace was... hard. But we had help, and it was a quick in, attack, and run back out via portals made by an alien aiding us. There's been illusions, making us think we were people we weren't, lived lives we hadn't... but none of those went this long. There's been massive fights, assaults that destroyed buildings and homes... good reason for the news to keep calling us terrorists, to be fair. But none of it's been like this."
Certainly, of all they'd gone through, Metis was pretty sure whatever was behind this misadventure was taking the gold on a few categories...
"If... if you're not okay... it's okay to not be."
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 7:18 am
"I don't see why she wouldn't, it's not a bad thing to share the load," he replied without looking up. By now he was somewhat used to the chatter, she seemed to do it when she found it particularly uncomfortable and he really couldn't blame her. He knew what it felt like to be surrounded by people in horrid moods, to be around them for five minutes felt awful. Metis had been around them for a number of weeks now and it was safe to say that even the most optimistic of souls was probably feeling a little less positive nowadays.
"Provided that I don't end up having to pop bubbles out of my ears again I imagine we'll be fine," he pointed out. He hadn't meant to sound intentionally bitter about it, but the side effects of the food had been inconvenient. At the very least he hadn't been left in pain by any of it, but there were moments in the evening when he had been left annoyed by the sometimes comical consequences of consuming his meals.
Just another 'joke' to add to the list.
"And if you need flour for bread there's nothing to stop me from grinding some of the wheat up, there's plenty of the damn stuff in the fields," he pointed out. They wouldn't have yeast to make it rise but it would still be bread, right?
The rest of what she said though, did make him take pause. He set down what he was doing and turned to face her, leaning against the wall as she went in to detail about other unfortunate experiences and how in the end things had worked out... but this one somehow felt different. The single overarching thing for all of them seemed to be that they'd all come to an end after a short time, whereas this one seemed somewhat endless.
If she had lost hope then they were done for.
But was he all right?
"I can't say I'm enjoying my stay here," he admitted after a moment of considerable thought. He was mindful of his words, while she may have been interested in what he had to say it served him no good to have her mood sobered further. Believe it or not he needed a pillar of strength and he'd been somewhat reliant on her for that!
"Hallucinogenic fog, angry beasts I can't actually hurt and living in something close to squalor isn't really what I'd call a good time," he pointed out with a sigh.
He had tried to make it less grim in terms of the 'squalor' though.
"I wasn't a fan of camping to begin with," he murmured and then gave a quiet chuckle. "But at least I had other hobbies than surfing the internet all day or I might be in a much worse state," he conceded.
"I'm ok Metis, I promise - you don't need to worry about me. Just make sure you look after yourself."
He sounded all right.
The truth? He wasn't, but no one other than him needed to know that and he wasn't prepared to drag everyone into the depths of his despair with him. What swept through his head in times of isolation, or as the fog rolled in, was something he preferred to keep to himself. To the rest of the world, including Metis, he was 'fine' - when he got home though (and he would find a way home), then and only then would he allow himself the chance to break.
In his eyes no one really needed that mess in their life, he would clean that one up himself. Well, he would once he figured out how at least...
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