|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2025 9:01 pm
There weren't enough hours in the day. It had already been true, but it was more true now, even if Joy still had zero faith in the idea that they were barreling into the end of the world. Everything was too hectic, too busy. That snakelike half-youma had agreed with her that any calmness was just the placidity that came before the breaking of a storm. Didn't feel great to agree with someone on the other side, but then again, they'd both been speaking from a place of terrible and honest cynicism. But Elaine - and consequently Joy - was a person who would not be stopped by such silly things as a feeling of helplessness and futility. What were such feelings for, if not to prove that you were different from the people who bent their knees to them? She wanted to talk to Ekstrom. Not fight alongside her, but talk to her - not about storms and the end of the world, but about Ekstrom and everything she had been up to. And so, with stubbornness, she had made it happen, ignoring everything else she was having to deprioritize to get it done. There was no point in being a sort of superhero if you couldn't do cool things sometimes: like sit on a roof in a relatively quiet part of the city, your feet dangling over the quiet streets below, watching the sun towards the more distant buildings, eating cherries from a plastic bag. She felt the approach of an allied energy signature, but she didn't turn to see whether it was Ekstrom arriving to their pre-arranged meeting, or anyone else coincidentally stumbling onto it. Instead, she held the bag up, offering it to whoever it was. "Watching a sunset still sort of rules," she commented, spitting a pit into the street below. "Even if nightfall seems kinda ominous nowadays."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2025 9:23 pm
There was a part of her that just stubbornly clung to her routines. Yoga in the morning, work and school through most of the day, take Lulu out, and then more schoolwork when she got home. Her hobbies and patrols got sprinkled in wherever she could squeeze in the time while still ensuring she got anywhere between four to six hours of sleep. More if she was extremely lucky (or extremely tired). But Mel–and thus Ekstrom by extension–knew she needed it to keep her head on straight. With everything seemingly falling apart all around her–world-ending serpent and the storm and all–she needed to keep some semblance of normal. And talking with friends was certainly as normal as it got. Granted, most people didn't have magical aliases, but besides that this whole thing would have been completely normal. Ekstrom spotted Joy seated at their pre-arranged meeting spot, looking perfectly relaxed as she watched the sunset while snacking. She slowly stuffed her subspace with her jacket first, and then her hat, and then her goggles, and so she was left with just her shield, which she set down before flopping down beside her friend. "Not sort of," she corrected, adjusting the bag so she could dig a hand in and grab a few of the cherries. "It definitely rules. I think we can still appreciate how beautiful it is no matter what's going on. Nightfall, too, with the stars and all." She curled her lips before adding, "Or at least when the stupid clouds aren't blocking the way." Popping a cherry into her mouth, she chewed thoughtfully before carefully spitting the pit into her hand and carefully setting it aside. "So?" she started, then turning to Joy with the usual, friendly little smile of hers. "What'd you wanna talk about?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2025 9:36 pm
"Suzie Toot acing the makeover challenge and whatever the <********> is going on with White Lotus this season?" she proposed drily. She did not have Ekstrom's scruples, and spat another pit into the street below, apparently with some satisfaction at how far it went. Well, it was organic waste. It wasn't hurting anything. "I thought," she said, lapsing into a more normal tone, "that you might have some s**t to talk about last time, but it was sort of -" she grimaced expressively. "Well, I guess it was a bad time for both of us to get any kind of discussion out of the way. But you know." She spread her hands, encompassing the scene before them, in all its cloudstreaked beauty and the rows of white and red lights turning on, on the distant highway, as darkness started to fall. "All the time in the world," she said grimly. "And I'm nosy as s**t, so I wanna hear it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2025 11:55 pm
Her smile broadened slowly as Joy responded, finding more amusement in her dry response than anything. She ate another cherry as she listened, gaze following the gesture to the scene before them. Even when she wasn't worrying about the world ending, she realized she rarely stopped to enjoy it, so this was nice. Ironic or otherwise. Of course, her smile wavered some when Joy brought it back to what they started back on her Wonder before the storm hijacked the conversation. It suited her fine then, and she quietly hoped something else might do the same now. She could buy time, maybe, until something did. "Honestly, I haven't really dug into the specifics yet," she started, setting aside whatever cherry pits she had left in her hands so she could wrap her arms around her legs and sort of curl in on herself. "I must still be processing it, or something. Maybe still in denial? Anyway. It kinda goes all the way back..." So she did. All the way, before even her awakening. To that strangely vivid dream where she moved about her Wonder like she was in some FPS game, describing in detail what all she heard and saw and did...and what ultimately happened towards the end. "I woke up feeling like I died or something," she said, a heavy sigh escaping her as she tucked the "memory" away. And she went over the myriad of dreams and visions that helped her initially navigate through her Wonder. Of course, she conveniently left out anything entirely too personal since they weren't really relevant to her progress as a knight. And of course, she included the bits about how the Code Piece communicated with her through the console in her quarters, and gave her guidance on where to go to get started on restoring the power to her Wonder, though she kept the months-long process of doing the actual repairs short. "I transcended after all the power came back, and when I asked it to explain what just happened to me...it did." She made a sort of rolling gesture with her hand. "And then some." She went on, face turning pink at first, and then gradually darkening to a bright red in her frustration as she recalled everything. She'd been doing her best to keep it together, and to keep herself from being a burden on anyone, because in the face of the world ending, it didn't feel right to drop this on anyone else's lap. Well. Besides Belmont, but even then she'd have preferred to keep it to herself until after they all saved the world. Or died trying. "So with the power back, I can access all of my Wonder now, which means I can apparently now save my ancestor from wherever he's trapped. Which I have no idea where, by the way. I haven't bothered to even start looking. Anyway, because of all the security in place, no knight can take over without a mentor to guide them through everything I saw in my 'memories'. Which my ancestor obviously couldn't because trapped. So the Code stepped in and messed with my head and gave me 'memories' so I could get my bearings. Only they weren't my memories, they were some version of my ancestor's. His training, his experiences, his everything, including some personal– ew. I mean, nothing explicit or overly specific, but still just. No– ew." She started out calm but gradually her emotions boiled over, and she finally had to take a shaky breath to get past this particularly uncomfortable truth for the umpteenth time. By now her nose was prickling and there were tears ready to fall from the corners of her eyes, and her voice was such that she was clearly trying not to cry but it was barely working. "And now I'm supposed to just be okay with all of that. Just focus and move on to saving the guy from wherever he's currently trapped. And apparently by some Chaos something-something, too?" She sniffled. "I mean, way to lay it on thick. Probably along the way I'll have to fix some doors or lights or whatever else. And don't get me wrong, I love my Wonder! But with it being how it is right now sometimes I feel like that's all that I'm doing." The Knight let out a huff, a few tears escaping as she did. "Like I'm some kind of glorified maintenance worker." Possibly most frustrating thing about going over this again, only this time out loud to someone else, was that she knew she would eventually get there–that she would eventually come to understand why things had to play out this way, and why the Code felt it had to do what it did. But did that mean she had to be okay with it? Did that mean she couldn't be mad about it? Was this actually just a waste of energy? Was it worth being upset over being lied to, and for all intents and purposes used? Granted it would be to her benefit, but still. It could have just told her! Ekstrom sniffled again, resting her head on her knees and turning just enough that she could see Joy in her periphery. "Sorry," the word tumbled out of her mouth through a teary smile. "Was that too much?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 3:36 am
"No," she said immediately. And then, with a touch of that exasperated coldness - that uglier part of herself, perhaps, that Ekstrom had already gotten one tiny glimpse of; that part of herself that had no patience with people who failed to live up to her own level of assertive confidence and apparently thought that she could simply dismiss them into being Better - she added: "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to hear - I don't bother doing that kind of s**t. If I say something, I mean it. Please don't apologize. Makes me nuts when people apologize for no reason." She was quiet, for a time. She had polished off nearly all the cherries while Ekstrom was talking, and she rolled one around between her teeth in thoughtful contemplation. She had at multiple points during the narration put in a mental bookmark - unwilling to interrupt, especially when the topic was one on which her interests were purely selfish, but unwilling likewise to simply leave the questions wholly unasked. Well, most of them. Some of them probably weren't worth pursuing even when the timing was better. She took her time eating the cherry, finally spitting the pit into the now-almost-dark street below. "I guess right now you feel obligated to save him. I mean, I would. Their existence is already shitty enough without having any of that to deal with. And I know you say you love your Wonder," she continued, wrinkling her nose reluctantly. "But I mean - once that's all done - once you've gotten him out -" and she, at least, spoke in the confident absolutes that indicated that she did not believe failure was a possibility, which was perhaps the virtuous flipside to her earlier annoyance "-you don't have to do anything else. Right? You can do whatever you want." She hesitated, picking another cherry out of the nearly-empty bag and then holding the rest towards Ekstrom without looking at her. "We can sort of all - do whatever we want. I want to help you, by the way," she added calmly. "If I can, I mean. I don't know how useful I am, really, but I can try." A pause, and then: "And whatever you do after that, you don't ever have to talk to the ******** Code again. Because I don't care what excuses it gives you. They're just excuses. It's out there pulling child soldiers out of the ether and conscripting people and then it's gaslighting them and claiming it did it for your own good? It's letting you look into some other guy's brain without asking him about it either? I'd be pretty pissed if someone was going around showing people my memories, even if I was in danger. They don't need to do that. It's playing games," she finished flatly. "That's all any of them do. Games. Gouvernail calls them all God - not Gods, but you know, God, singular. I don't know if I agree, but if you think of God as someone who just putzes around playing with mortals for His own entertainment and causes problems for the pleasure of watching them have to struggle for His approval to solve them, I reckon it's not far off."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 6:51 pm
Ekstrom smiled at the immediate response to her apology, the slightest bit of guilt spilling into it as she heard the exasperation in her friend’s voice. She listened quietly from there, nodding her head when it felt…maybe not right, but fair to. And she took the offer of cherries, emptying the bag as Joy spoke and still politely setting the pits aside for her to toss into a trash can later. “Technically?” She started to reply only once Joy was finished, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts even if she had wanted to initially jump to her own defense of why she was putting in so much work on her Wonder, and to some degree why she wanted to protect the Code Piece that was there. “No, I wouldn’t have to do anything else once I save him. I would still want to, though. Clean it up, make it a nice little place I can escape to.” Gesturing to her marks, she added, “I think with these I need to go back pretty regularly anyway. Let go of some energy that builds up while I’m away.” She shrugged, having already resigned herself to that fate. “There’s still lots to explore if the maps it gave me of the space are accurate, so I'd be grateful for any help I can get." She flashed a smile over at Joy before going on. "Lots to see, lots to repair. There’s a part of me that’s excited to uncover it all, I’m not gonna lie about that, but as for the Code…” Slowly, Ekstrom shook her head. “Maybe if I have to for whatever reason, in the future, I won’t completely close the door to communication with it. But for now, I’m happy to keep my distance. As for the rest of what it does…” She let out a slow, heavy sigh, looking more defeated than anything else. “If I think about it too much, I don’t think I’d be able to do anything as a Knight. So I just…do what I can to do some good somewhere, maybe try and make some kind of difference.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 1:48 am
She was quiet for a second, looking dourly out over the distant headlights.
“The first time I talked to Gouvernail I told him I thought the Code made a stupid choice with me. He agreed with me,” she added flatly, aware that it would be hypocritical to be annoyed by that but annoyed anyway. “But I've changed my mind. I guess in some way with you and me it knew that if it put a weapon in our hands we'd feel obligated to use it to help people. And that we wouldn't go over to the other side and start yanking starseeds.” She shuddered at the thought.
She twisted her ring idly around her finger as she spoke. “But I still hope you do all those things and that you don't ever find it necessary to talk to the Code again. You don't owe it anything. Feeling obligated to do good and do things for Ekstrom is just something you owe yourself, making the most out of a s**t situation. I'm glad I've never had to talk to it. I never will if I can help it. At least Gouvernail doesn't lie to me and play God.” She sighed. “He hasn't even brought up where it is, for me. I guess he knows and doesn't want me there either, but I don't know if he's sparing me or if he's afraid I'm gonna - blaspheme it, or something.” She reached out and patted Ekstrom’s hand absently. “We can both do good and not worry about that s**t, I guess.” A pause. “Maybe it'll be better for you when there's an actual person to talk to on Ekstrom. Maybe yours won't be an absolute a*****e. And then he can help you instead of whatever the Code was doing.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 8:20 pm
Ekstrom’s lips went lopsided as she listened, because it sounded so…not pleasant. Granted, her initial meeting with Joy’s ancestor was very…professional? In nature. But professional aloofness wasn’t necessarily an indication of how someone was in private. To think that he just (rudely, in her opinion) agreed with her rather than gently encouraging her or trying to change her mind was surprising. Thankfully it sounded like Joy got there on her own, and she gave a little nod in agreement to the assessment about trusting them both with the responsibility of becoming a Knight.
She managed a small smile when Joy patted her hand.
“Thanks, and thanks for listening. I know it maybe isn’t exactly what you wanna hear. I’m usually more…upbeat about all this. I actually like being a Knight now–” she paused then, pursing her lips for a second before quickly correcting herself “Some parts of it, anyway. And y’know, I feel like I found a way to make it more like a contribution to my life rather than just thinking of it as another responsibility. Just, right now that’s…”
She stopped there, not exactly wanting to be more of a Debbie Downer than she already was. “But if there’s anything I can do to help you with any of this, just say the word and I’m there. If your ancestor can’t or won’t help you with something for whatever reason, or you just want someone to get through things with. Or even if it's just to talk or hang out, I’m always around.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:30 am
“You're sweet,” she said, with a slightly admiring tone. Joy herself not being a fountain of sweetness at least knew how to prize the quality in another. “And I appreciate that.”
She paused. “And I don't wanna - urgh - I have to be fair to him, don't I? I don't wanna be fair to him. He's never anything but helpful. More helpful than I want him to be. And if I asked I'm sure he'd tell me immediately - he does everything I ask him to,” she said, looking slightly uncomfortable as the words left her mouth. “I just haven't asked and he hasn't offered and I think that suits us both fine.” She wrinkled her nose. “But I'd rather get help from you when I can, and I'm sure you can help me with a lot of things he can't even if he wanted to. His information is only a thousand or so years out of date,” she added drily, and then, with a laugh: “And he calls me Lady and it's so funny and awful and makes me want to sink into the earth, and I know you aren't gonna do that.”
Another pause. “Seriously, though. I think it's sort of incredible how much you've done basically alone. I could never. I'd have thrown in the towel so fast and run back to-” she caught herself. “-well, away from the whole thing. I think that's really ******** cool,” she said bluntly. “I think you're really - what's the word I want - formidable. Like, I'm glad we're friends because you're cool but also because I feel like if we weren't friends I would be intimidated by you.” She turned on her a bright, genuine smile. “I'm always around for you too.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2025 10:10 pm
”Maybe just give credit where it’s due?” she offered, brows coming together at the question on fairness. At least until now, she’d never thought too hard about the fairness of any of this, never mind how fair she ought to be to the ancestor she’d yet to meet. “And if not meeting the Code suits you both just fine, I vote you keep it that way. Why rock the boat, y’know?” It felt hypocritical to say that, and Ekstrom couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose slightly when the words left her mouth, considering early on in her knighthood that was exactly what she did. Though speaking on fairness…to be fair to herself, the Code had actually been the one to reach out first. But Ekstrom couldn’t quite keep the amusement off of her face at the nickname her ancestor had apparently given her, so she bit her tongue in a rather playful expression directed at her friend. “I am happy to help with whatever I can, and I promise I won’t call you that,” she eventually reassured her through an equally bright smile, “and I’m also glad we’re friends.” She was happy to skim over the compliments. Half the things she accomplished was because the Code had given her the guidance that she needed to make progress, and she really didn’t wanna give the thing even a figurative pat on the back. She scooted a little closer and tipped herself over so she gently tapped their shoulders together. “So. Since we’ve established that we’re friends, lots of things are fair game I guess. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2025 2:50 pm
She laughed, entertained by this way of framing the situation and bumping her shoulder right back. "Now that you mention it... yeah. There is something I wanna talk to you about." She paused, her expression going very grave and serious. "Seriously, what the ******** is going on on White Lotus this season?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
