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 Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2024 5:16 pm
Tears from anger and pain were furiously blinked away as Reims appeared on the Moon. As the last time he’d visited, the Theatre was peaceful but still in ruins. Above, the ceiling sparkled with stars, all surrounding a bright white star.
He avoided looking at it.
He wasn’t in the room where the Code was. Not that he would have cared. His sword was already in his hand, and he brought it down hard on the first thing he could see. It was a broken pillar, cracked with age.
There was humiliation and shame eating at him as he whacked harder and harder at the stone. He could feel the sword’s glass cracking under each strike. He wasn’t sure if he was crying out with rage and sorrow or if it was all in his head, the sound of metal and glass on rock deafening everything else.
The sword slipped from his hand, already shattered into a mangled mess, clattering onto the debris covered floor. He stumbled forward as well, catching himself on the stone, his hand staining the pillar with blood.
He hissed and quickly used his other hand to wipe away as much of the blood from the stone as he could. The dings and chips in the pillar twisted guilt in his gut, and he slumped further to the ground so he could finally tear off the soaked glove and shrugged off his jacket. He was lucky he only had to roll his white-stained-red sleeve up to his elbow to inspect the jagged gashes across his forearm. There were still pieces of glass he could see, but without anything to pull them out with, the most he could do was to just try and stop the bleeding. Somehow.
Using his discarded jacket seemed like the best option, even if the fabric wasn’t all that absorbent.
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2024 5:24 pm
The Code was not entirely bound to its room, but by will or necessity, it remained. It was not the sort of entity that could travel as it pleased and it needed someone to manipulate it--not that it would have let just anyone handle it. It did not need anyone's aid to summon someone to it. Reims was pulled from the other room just before the Code. There was no fanfare, just the brief sensation of wind on an otherwise impeccably still night. The Code had pulled Reims to stand just before it, and even without a face, it was watching him. The Moon was not under attack. The Code didn't need to be in the other room to understand that there was no assault. There were defenses here; the Moon could have ejected Reims. The Code could have ignored him. Well, no. Not really. A Knight in distress? It wouldn't have been right to ignore him. The jacket didn't look like it was doing much to help, or maybe Reims just didn't really know much about first aid. The Code was not human, but it was magic. "If you need help to stop that bleeding, come here and give me your hand."
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2024 7:22 pm
For a few moments, Reims wondered if he’d passed out. How else could he have been in one place and then suddenly in another? It was brighter here. And the presence of the Code was impossible to ignore.
Reims immediately tensed, standing once more on now shaky legs. He wasn’t sure if the amount of blood he’d lost could have caused the reaction, or if it was any of the other injuries he’d endured, although thankfully not as visible as the gashes in his arm.
He thought that he would have surely been scolded and ejected from the Moon. Dropped back on Earth and forced to figure things out where there was no guarantee of safety.
And then the Code was speaking to him. Reims was piecing together that it must have brought him there, similar to how he and Maisie had been brought there before she’d been offered to become a knight of the Moon.
He looked at his arm, which was still covered with fresh blood and pieces of glass.
“Nah, I’m good,” he growled through gritted teeth. He knew he probably should show the Code more respect. After all, hadn’t he yelled at Zinkenite about how they served their Wonders and the Code rather than the Royals the General seemed so obsessed with?
But then again, he didn’t want the Code thinking he was some dumb kid who couldn’t handle an injury or two.
Although, he supposed the Code might have just been concerned about him dripping blood all over the place.
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2024 7:43 pm
“Your attitude is wasted on me. I don’t understand the need to be stubborn. Do you think it will impress me if you refuse aid? I am not an expert in human physiology but I don’t think you’re supposed to be losing so much blood. If that gets worse, I won’t be able to help.” Not that Reims had asked, but it was illogical to want to be in pain, wasn’t it? The Code did not feel pain–not in the way the people did–but it sort of understood. Pain should not be pursued. “If you pass out here, I’ll have to summon someone else to help. I can’t let you bleed out and die here.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 6:59 am
“What attitude?” Reims scoffed, rolling his eyes and then lowering himself to sit on the ground.
“No, you couldn’t let me bleed out and die here. It would ruin the decor. Any other visitors would complain about the smell. Come on…”
He didn’t want to tell the Code that he knew his limits when it came to blood loss. He wasn’t even feeling dizzy yet. A bit shaky but that could also be from adrenaline.
“You can’t honestly expect me to believe any you care about all knights bullshit beyond what we can do. You’re making new Wonders here, aren’t you? You could just replace anyone who dies with another warm body, because that’s what we are when the newest of us can’t even protect ourselves without decent magic or weapons. The Negaverse can teleport. They can tear starseeds from our chests. We can’t even go to our own Wonders if we’ve been recently. And especially not if there’s an emergency, or we’re in danger. And you’re recruiting teenagers to be protectors of things they don’t even understand. It’s a joke.”
There wasn’t much heat behind the words, but it sounded like he wanted there to be. If he wasn’t getting so tired. Not dizzy. Not in danger of passing out. But he was preparing for his adrenaline to fade and for the pain to spike.
“I don’t have tweezers or whatever to get the glass out. I can’t just have the bleeding stop and it healed -- since you’re not an expert in human physiology. “This place sucks. Don’t you have a bathroom or running water or… chairs?”
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 9:52 am
“No one has lived here for a millennia,” the Code reminded. “Such amenities surely exist. Somewhere.” The Code had no need for them and was not responsible for stocking such things. An oversight, maybe, but it wasn’t like it could just summon all things to itself. “There is a chest with some supplies down the hall. I don’t know how much it is, I only know that it was left here not so long ago. No one has come to reclaim it so I assume it is meant for public use. I was told it was for emergencies.” Reims might not call this an emergency but the Code didn’t think it necessary to argue semantics. Not when Reims was already so antagonistic about it. “You might find something useful there, if you care to look.” Or he could bleed out and die in some act of teenage rebellion, spouting nonsense.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 1:17 pm
“You can’t magic it to me?” he huffed and grumbled and pushed himself up from where he’d been sitting. He immediately swayed on his feet but steadied himself and glanced down at his arm once more.
He knew he needed to get it patched up. It just sucked that he couldn’t run it under water and pull out the glass and wrap it up and be done with it.
“Maybe you should consider… I don’t know. A cot or something. Are there bedrooms around here? Or places to sit? Obviously no one has lived here for a millennia but they haven’t lived at our Wonders either, and we can still find stuff there.”
He was mostly talking just to talk. He’d made his way out to the hall and found the box in question. Opening it revealed some bottles of water and a first aid kit and some snacks, although Reims grimaced at the sight of chocolate anything. He would have to check the ingredients before bothering.
Reims could still see the Code through the doorway, so he didn’t bother going back to where it was housed. He struggled with opening a water bottle, and then mumbled an apology as he stood close to some debris and crumbled columns so he could slowly rinse his arm off. He knew he wasn’t doing it in a place that was probably better suited for cleaning wounds, but it was the best he had at the moment.
He hissed from the sting, but at least this way it got rid of most of the small, loose pieces of glass. He took a sip from what was left in the bottle, and then took the first aid kit with him to go sit in front of the Code again. Just not as close as when he’d been poofed there.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, since he didn’t have what he needed with him, so this was better than nothing. He just hoped there was something that could help him get the rest of his wound cleaned up once he got the kit open.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 2:56 pm
The Code did not so much say anything as it did just reverberate a little hum of energy. It heard what he said, the good and bad. The thanks might have been offered, but Reims had been avoidant enough about it that he didn’t seem like he wanted much attention brought to the comment. “If you are unhappy with the accommodations here, you are welcome to decorate if you like, if you can find a space to do so. Take a break from fighting the Negaverse. I haven’t even seen most of the Moon but I’m certain there are better accommodations here somewhere. Much of it is under lock and key.” Even the Code was not privy to much of the Moon’s secrets. It didn’t know who–or what–was. “Is there nowhere in Destiny City set up for a situation like this? I am surprised, given how often most of you are down there.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 4:00 pm
“Only if you want to show everyone who you are while you’re not, you know… a Knight. Or Senshi,” Reims grumbled as he flipped open the lid and started digging through the kit.
There were tweezers at least, but he wasn’t sure how useful they would be if every time he looked back at his arm, more fresh blood had risen from the wound. He pulled out some of the gauze they had tucked inside the kit and used a little to dry an area at least temporarily, before making an attempt with his non-dominant hand to pull the shards out.
“Not all of us are super enthusiastic about showing everyone else who we are. It could put people at risk. Or maybe they’ll just not like us outside of being powered. Or vice versa. We can go to our Wonders, but we only have energy to go every so often and only bring so many with us, which I get. So we’ve been going to the Moon with Mary and Effie -- Amarynthos and Ephesus,” he amended, in case the Code wasn’t aware of their nicknames.
He hissed a couple curses when he couldn’t grab the glass, and tried drying the area again before making another attempt.
“The Negaverse sucks, and will probably love to find a group of kids to harass.”
But the idea of setting up a place on the Moon to chill out, especially when he couldn’t go to his Wonder or back home… it sounded like it had potential.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 4:33 pm
“I see.” The Code watched, in the way that it did. Maybe it was trying to learn from Reims. Maybe it was judging him. “I have noticed activity at Ephesus and Amarynthos often. I am surprised you did not want them here to help. I could bring them here to help. Especially if you cannot stop the bleeding. I was under the impression you were in a Brigade together. Though, I suppose if that were the case you’d be at your Headquarters and not here.” Another thoughtful moment. “Unless you were afraid they might find out you were hurt.” It assumed Reims must be the sort who wasn’t super enthusiastic about showing everyone else who they were since he made a point to mention it. “But why would you care to hide that?”
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 5:06 pm
Reims had clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth when of course the golden children Amarynthos and Ephesus had been noticed at their Wonders. As if he and Yvoire weren’t at their Wonders as often as possible. The only reason he was on the Moon now was because he couldn’t get to his Wonder.
But before he could really roll his eyes or wince more from the trouble his arm was giving him, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion and frustration, and he glanced up at the glowing orb.
“What headquarters??” he barked, clearly caught off guard by some magical place that the Code apparently expected him to be, instead of there. He didn’t know what a Brigade was either, but he didn’t want to reveal that he knew even less.
“I don’t know! Maybe I don’t like when people get all up in my business!” he hissed. Misplaced frustration, but there wasn’t exactly any chance to take it back now. His ears were red, and he felt a bit panicked.
“If you don’t want company, just say it! You’re the one that pulled me in here! I was fine out in the hall!”
He knew he needed to calm down, but he felt like he’d stepped off the edge of a very steep slope and there was little he could do to stop. Maybe the Code would kick him off the Moon.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 6:25 pm
The Code was quiet for a moment and then made a low, humming sound. “You’re very quick to react to things I didn’t say.” Maybe it was the blood loss. Reims looked pale, and it didn’t look like he was having much success actually taking care of that arm. He looked like he was shaking too much. Maybe blood loss was making him ornery. Maybe he was panicking. “It didn’t sound like you were fine in the hall.” Hacking at whatever he could until his weapon shattered? Maybe he was embarrassed about hurting himself so badly. Something had still agitated him enough to put him in that state to begin with. “You sound like you don’t want anyone to care about you. Am I wasting your time right now?”
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 7:08 pm
“Why would they?” Reims snapped back before he could stop himself. “Don’t pretend like you care. We’re all just blips in your existence. As long as we protect our Wonder, right? That’s all that matters--”
Everything was spiraling. He couldn’t get any foothold to stop.
He didn’t want to do this. What if the Code decided to take away his knighthood? Could it do that? He didn’t see why not. It could just revoke his Wonder or something.
Reims didn’t know how to respond to the Code’s question beyond a hissed curse under his breath and burying his face against his hands.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 7:48 pm
The Code didn’t answer. At first, it seemed as if it was just taking some time to think about its words. And then, it became clear that it might not have intended to answer at all. It wasn’t ignoring Reims. It just wasn’t getting through to him. So it decided to bring people who might. It didn’t apologize to Reims, who had said he didn’t want people getting into his business, but he didn’t seem like he was in much of a state to be thinking clearly, anyway. He might be bleeding out. He was certainly trying to minimize his existence.
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