[Hmm. This sounds like a tough situation to be in... Yu can't say he doesn't get it; some people need to be stopped. No matter what.]
I get it. Sometimes you have to do tough things.
[Assaulting a police officer. His own crime, a testament to that very idea. He exhales, looking around, testing the surroundings. A bit charred, but otherwise not so bad.] ... I think it's alright now. [Then, with a faint, lopsided smile, he adds:] I hope.
Why should I have to know them to care? [he asks, his voice faint but backed by a forceful rebuttal in his expression as his eyes meet hers.] I don't need a personal connection to understand... that everyone deserves so much better. To want that for them.
[Ange is young; perhaps her world hasn't expanded far enough for her to see—truly see—the fact that everyone lives full lives, filled with complexities. Or perhaps it's not in her nature to even consider others to that point. He doesn't know that it matters; he's aware that he doesn't think like other people.]
But maybe you're right, and no one else feels that way. Maybe that's how... things like this can happen at all... [He clenches his jaw in a grimace.] Because they won't think of anything outside of their own lives—or can't afford to.
Edited (my space bar is on the fritz 😩) 2025-03-10 21:07 (UTC)
[ Claude pauses, frowning down at Czeslaw's bare feet. He knows, he knows that this kid must be older than he looks, but he cannot help basic human instinct: any grown adult would look at Czeslaw and see a child, a child in desperate need of help. ]
Here, get on my back, [ he says, crouching down. ] Just until we find you some shoes to wear. You could heal from any broken glass you trod on, I suppose, but there's no reason to feel pain just because it's temporary.
[Despair is not a lie, it is the only truth. But it is also comfort, he agrees and knows this well. Long ago, he gave up struggling for hope and allowed the depths of despair to claim him. For thousands of years, he's been sinking deeper into the darkness, finding the only comfort he can in absolute surrender.
His silver eyes sweep upward, reflecting the stars.]
Light takes time to travel.
[He says, then his gaze cuts back to Visas.]
Even the stars you see in yonder expanse are long dead.
We live, we suffer, then we are nothing. So why live at all?
[Before she can answer, he continues.]
Life brings only pain. Such is my answer.
You say I am apathetic. Well! Mayhap I am. But know my poor, beleaguered soul spent ten millennia considering its answer to the question. I've had my entire life to think on it... I've lived. I've suffered. I've felt every hurt of my star as I watched over life itself. My heart is naught but scar tissue now.
[Saying this, his pale features light up in a pained grin and he reaches out to playfully rap her upper arm with his knuckles.]
Which grants me impartiality in my verdict, I think. What fun!
[Scott doesn't really understand how Ryoji can jump from being so serious to having the dopiest smile in the universe. Not that he can see it very well in this position, but he can imagine it after hearing that cheerful encouragement. He's seen it enough by now.]
I do. [His voice is still quiet, but not as pained. Maybe this is a better talking point, somehow.] I mean, like I definitely don't take for granted the people I have now. My friends, Kotone, and everyone else. I made a promise to Kotone to live each day to the fullest.
Something is definitely wrong. And Scott is freaking out. Ange reaches out, her hands landing on Scott's shoulders. She isn't shaking him the way he's shaking Alex, but that's exactly because she's trying to steady the other in this moment. ]
Scott, it's--
[ ...
It's like something hits her. Like she's snapped out of something. Ange gasps, and then voices: ]
[He's about halfway through the door when he hears Yu, a worried little glance shot back his way as he looks at the newcomer-- his friend. For a moment, he thinks that the other teen is having second thoughts, but that doesn't fit and as he asks 'what is this,' Scott's eyebrows knit in worry. Like, what?? Is that supposed to mean something?
They're just going to the mall, right?]
Huh? What do you mean? We're going on a trip. Because you're... here now, with me and everyone else. As things should be.
[You don't want to leave this place ever. Nothing visibly changes around them, but there's something tense in the air now, a sense of wrongness that wasn't there before. If Scott notices, he doesn't say anything, but that discomfort is growing on him even if he's trying his hardest to hide it.
They don't have to say goodbye to anyone again and that's good, right?]
[ it is a hard thing to witness — scott's palpable distress, the way his voice gives out and cracks with the force of his emotion... the way alex summers disappears, fading away like he'd never been there to begin with. ]
I'm sorry, [ charles says quietly, and he isn't entirely sure if he's apologising for his presence and the way he still believes him being here made alex fade away, or if he's apologising in sympathy for scott losing someone important to him, like this... but whatever the case, he grips his friend back, just as tight. ]
That must've been hard to see. But I... I'm not going anywhere. So we can figure out what's going on together.
[ and eventually they will, eventually they'll realise this is a dream and scott can show him around the manor and all... but for now, they're here, in this together. he won't fade away like alex did. he can make sure of as much. ]
The kitchen is over there - [ Lots of evidence of Hiei's snacking is about, actually. Thankfully Scott won't get a demonstration of Hiei physically on the counter to crouch over his snacks to eat them right this moment, though who knows. There is a lot of time in the future for him to witness the fire demon's feral habits. ]
And then the.. [ Nose wrinkles again as Hiei makes a general motion, trying to conjure up the words. ] ... Dining room and living room things.
The communal areas are all on this floor so it's where it's most chaotic a lot of the time. Especially now that Kuwabara is here.
[ The teen is loud and Hiei has sensitive little ears, obviously, but beyond that it is his national passtime to pick on Kazuma Kuwabara as much as possible just because he can. Call it his petty little revenge for the crush on Yukina or something like that. Hiei's hands tuck into his pockets, then, assuming his usual casual stance. ]
[Something still seems off about Shroud, but they can't quite put their finger on it. The way he was nearly playing with that demon was perfectly normal for the guy, but the rest of it was starting to set off some alarm bells.]
Do you know anyone else that could clone a full-grown woman, except for Sinister?
[They ask it with a sour note to their tone, turning as a demon dives towards them. The demon's claws screech against their metal shoulder, and in response Morph grabs it by the arm, using their increased strength in this form to outright throw it at another nearby demon, taking them both out of the sky.]
The hard part would be getting to her! She doesn't have to be in the same room to do this. I think... she must still be in the mansion. She would never leave Nathan behind.
[The solid weight of Ange's hands on his shoulders, unlike the way he tried to grasp Alex's, brings his full attention to her-- along with all that unconcealed emotion that he's doing a poor job in hiding. He doesn't fully understand what's happening right now, but at least he can tell that she's still with him and that helps, more than maybe he realizes right now.
Even if it doesn't do much to stem those upset feelings.]
Huh?? What do you mean? He's standing right there...!
[There's a hint of denial entering his voice, like a part of knowing that she's right, but doesn't want to admit it still. Maybe they're just both mistaken, even though Alex is remaining eerily frozen and unresponsive to everything that's going on.]
[ It's entirely possible to grab Ange's shoulder, though something strange will happen a moment after Echo does it.
Ange's shoulder feels.. soft. Weirdly soft. Definitely not the way you would expect a regular part of anyone's body to feel like. And if Echo moves her hand even a little bit, or grabs onto the shoulder more tightly, she might feel Ange's shoulder just coming off.
Like a discarded chunk of meat. Ange even lets out a gasp, though she doesn't scream or anything - but she looks like she's in pain. Maybe she's trying to hold some of her reaction back here. ]
How.. is it meaningful..? [ She slowly says, trying to speak through the pain. ]
[ The words come out slowly. It's like Ange is only realizing the full picture in this moment herself, and so her realization is coming out of her mouth very slowly too.
Kind of how it feels when you suddenly wake from a dream, leaving you all woozy for a moment. ]
It's your dream. [ It's got to be. This place-- It's Scott's home, right? The place he went to back home. The place where.. his brother was too..?
She isn't so sure what's based in reality or not anymore at this point. ]
[ The trip downwards certainly doesn't make Ange look any better - though it's not like there's anyone left to see it now, between Toph's lack of sight and Ange not seeing anything either in this darkness.
But she can tell. She feels even weaker. It's not like this is the first time this has happened to her, after all. Ange knows exactly what it feels like to fall apart more and more, to slowly reach an end.
It hurts like hell, mostly. But she's determined to not make a sound about it. Maybe even more so in the face of Toph's attitude right now. She just sucks in shaky breaths and releases them just as shakily - telling herself to just keep breathing to avoid screaming or whimpering from the pain. ]
So that's how it is..?
[ Ange's voice is weak at this point, but still audible enough, especially when there's no other sound down here in the darkness with them. ]
I can't tell you what to do, but you get to boss me around..?
[ Ange breathes out, and it sounds shaky - though that's probably not that surprising, given her current physical state. It's like the girl is starting to look more and more weak with each passing moment. ]
How.. [ Another breath. It seems like it's even hard for her to just talk now. ] How are we friends..?
Well... yes. It does. I sympathize with your mother's plight, but you and I are strangers -- if I'm to leverage my abilities and my connections, I need to know what the consequences may be. What's stopping whoever did that to your mother from doing it to one of my Mages in retribution?
[ He shoves his hands in his pockets, smiling ruefully at Kurt. ]
I am not so heartless as to leave your mother to her fate. But nor will I let someone else put their neck on the line for a stranger without knowing what the ramifications of that may be. Do you know why he decided to double-cross her?
[Kurt frowns. He doesn't really like his hesitance. He wishes this guy could just see the urgency of all this!]
I don't know. No one was there to really witness it. It might have been part of the ritual to revive him, or he just did it for the heck of it... Either way, this guy's bad news.
[As Kurt thinks about Apocalypse, the skies darken. And an image of the being starts to appear in the sky, as if looming over the entire world.]
They don't call this guy Apocalypse or nothing! Whether you mess with him or not, it seems like he's going to try to conquer or destroy everyone eventually! So I really don't think it'll hurt your chances if you help her. Please!
They say Emperor Edelgard is the most charismatic leader this land has ever seen. Perhaps they did do it willingly. We have no idea what it is she's told them about us.
[ Words have power. Nobody believes that more sincerely than Claude -- and while Claude has a gifted tongue and can dance around negotiations and sidle his way through politics like nobody's business, Edelgard is gifted with a different oratory skill than his own. She's powerful, commanding, incredibly persuasive, speaking only as someone who believes so whole-heartedly in her goal that one would think those who follow her see her as having the same divine right that she scoffs at.
He's seen how Fodlani and Almyrans have gone at each other's throats for generations, having heard only bitter tales of cowardice and brutality. What someone like Edelgard could have told her men... he shudders. Or perhaps he's deluding himself. Perhaps he wishes to kill a foe who had a choice in the matter over yet another victim of a pointless war. ]
They've been fighting with these beasts for so long... there's no way they're not aware of the consequences. If they're given a choice in the matter.
[ He inhales sharply from his nose. ]
Focus on the beasts! [ He calls out, suddenly imperious. ] Their hides are too thick to be penetrated by your weapons -- focus only on their haunches until you draw blood!
[ He gazes upon them, waiting for anyone to turn tail and run. He wouldn't blame them. But to his pride, to his horror, his men stay staunchly committed to their efforts. ]
Attack!
[ What comes next happens in a flurry; the beasts are so mindless that they're apt to turn on their own if one of the enemy soldiers find themselves underfoot, with Claude's men all but ignoring the footsoldiers in favour of the beasts. Up at the very front, high above everyone else, is Claude. He darts to and fro, dodging arrows and magic with a deftness he rarely displays, raining arrows upon one of the beasts in a way quite unlike any archery Ethlyn would be used to, focused more on unloosing as many arrows at a time as possible than strictly aiming for accuracy. Even from above, he makes eye contact with Ethlyn in mid-battle, searching her face for answers: how fare you down below?
Claude does his best work from the sky. As does the rest of his wyvern battalion. But... still. Sometimes it feels like cowardice not to be at risk of being snapped at by those massive jaws like the rest of the army. ]
That's right. They're going to the mall. It's an ordinary thing to do. Maybe they'll meet up with the others at the food court--
...
Thou hast established a genuine bond. These genuine bonds shall be your eyes to see the truth... That's right. Yu has never been able to look away from the truth, not really. Back home, he... he and his friends... (His friends. He looks at Scott again.)
As things should be.]
Are they? [as they should be. A fine mist begins to seep into the edges of the dream itself, softening the world around them. The air feels stifling.]
This...isn't real, is it.
[The words are a question, but said with certainty. He can't do anything now but accept the truth as it is -- and help Scott accept it, too.]
[ There's a strange sound. At first it kind of sounds like the way rain hits the ground, but somehow even wetter than that.
Because it's not rain. It's.. pieces falling off Ange. It's like she's falling apart on the spot, but very, very slowly. Just random chunks of her flesh falling down, like pieces of meat, even as the girl is still standing there and looking at Minato. Even with the blood still dripping down her face in this moment.
At least she isn't denying his words. But it still sounds like the girl is struggling. She's still falling apart, bit by bit. ]
It honestly makes the most sense, why he's back here at Xavier's when he spent so long in Aldrip (a name that now feels so familiar it almost feels dumb he forgot it in the first place). It's been... two years, right? Two years since he stepped foot in the mansion, since he's actually seen his brother. All of this is just a mixture of his memory and wants. And it hurts. It sucks, because it's getting harder to deny what's going on and realize that none of this is real. That this happiness is false.
His face tightens, looks pained as he stares at his friend in front of him. He thought Ange was truly here with him, huh? Safe. With his other friends and family. And...]
But I don't want this to just be a dream. [He shakes his head, voice now full in denial. He knows what's happening now and yet.] You're here, my brother's here... it's everything I want.
[There's a link in the chain that positions the world over Aloy's shoulders: there's one person alive who can access everything needed to ensure the future of Earth. Or rather, there was only one person. She won't be shut out, she won't be rejected again.]
Unacceptable. [Like 2-- should say. But then, with a sharp determination laced through with desperation:] I won't accept that.
[Her arm sweeps through the air, punctuating herself. HADES told Aloy once that this is Earth's last iteration. Its last chance.]
There has to be an access point - an override. There's always a way forward.
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