10/29 --- Δ Haggard Traveler’s Reprieve?????

[gluttoning]

Who: ??? & you!
What: Something's starting...
Where: Δ Haggard Traveler’s Reprieve (Twilight Shoreline)
When: Sunday, 10/29
Warnings: Will be added as needed.

( Perhaps intrigued by the mail allegedly sent by CC Corp, perhaps visiting the Shoreline by chance, gating into the Area goes as it always does, until the music stays cut for longer than it should, and the black, liminal transition screen lingers for a little too long. The seconds tick on. They near turn to minutes. You can't struggle, you can't argue— you can only simply be, and it occurs to you that maybe you'll be trapped midway here, conscious, for maybe forever.

And then you hear static. Your vision warps; pixels strain into words, blurred and unstable. You see them combat for your attention; you see— )



( And then you load in. )

( POST NAVIGATION )
( Sign-in Comment (Mandatory) • How to Play • Mechanics

Phase 1 • Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Round 5 • Round 6

Phase 2 • Round 7 • Round 8 • Round 9 • Round 10 •
Round 11 • Round 12

Epilogue )

Comments

[gluttoning]

don't burn yourself out, okay? we can't protect anything for very long if we fall apart doing it on our own. i think everyone showed me that much.

i think ill take it one day at a time. i don't even know if i can get a new cast like this. but i like the one I have. its got lots of memories.

if i can get a crutch somehow, yeah, you can draw on it. I like the ones you did before.

[dissimulative]

Rest, Mithrun. I bet Cubia isn't going to pop out for the next several days unless to appear in your dream to taunt about how you failed. In that case, you should sleep more so that you can actually catch him.

[ Flawless logic. ]

[tylorific]

dont worry, im a great team player. That's an important part of being a tank, after all. I might not be as tanky as you or Em, but I don't have enough damage to do much on my own either.

I trust everyone to do their best, and I'll try to keep them all alive. So if we all work together, everything will work out alright.

Oh, but i guess I would rather burn out while I still have something to protect. I don't want to die either though, that doesnt sound fun at all. So I'll do my best not to for you, okay?

And if we can craft board games, I'm sure we can put together some crutches! Want to color on mine?

[gluttoning]

Yeah. We will.

[His voice falls quiet as he meets that stern look with one that still brims, albeit much lighter, with an exhausted adoration. It really is nice to have Morgan back.

But he lets his smile drop to something a little more neutral, pushing his weight against one wrist so he can drop the other to the crook of Morgan's neck.]

Don't push yourself too much.

I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while. But... maybe it's better, if I don't. I won't like it very much. But I remember a lot of the words people tried to say to me. How much you all cared.

That I'm loved for what I am, not what I will be. So maybe... it's okay. If I'm not the strong one right now.

[It feels like it cracks something, deep within him, to want to commit to an idea like that. But when one has no other options, acceptance is the only way to move forward... and he's so tired of the downward spiral.]

I won't expect it from you, either. Okay? I know whatever you do, you'll do with everything you have.

Just... don't burn out on me.

Delayed

[tylorific]

wait, does it have lots of good memories? Like my drawing?

now in the right spot

[gluttoning]

yeah. your drawings, and a lot of names i remember. my family and my friends. people i know that care about me. it makes me happy.

it's not fun. dying. it's lonely. i don't think you're meant to be a lonely person, tylor. you're too kind for that. so don't die yet.

you don't mind? im not very good at art. but i want to help cheer you up.

[bleatingedge]

I mean, I've got some bruises and cuts, but nothing too major.

[There's more dirt and dried blood on Leo than anything, but a lot of the blood isn't his. When the entire area around you is meat, big AOE attacks tend to kick that shit up.]

How's your appetite?

[gluttoning]

[It was very gross in the meat dimension, it's true.

He has to think about it for a second. But his stomach answers the question for him for how loudly it growls.]

Ah. Hungrier than I thought I'd be. Maybe I just wore myself out.

I remember how good the meat you showed me smelled.

o/

[tylorific]

that makes me awful happy. It sounds like you know how much people care about you now. I was hoping you'd remember all of us, no matter what happened.

But isnt it easy to remember names when you can just view their stats?

I don't think I'm kinder than anyone else, really. Living all alone doesn't sound very fun either though.

Well, I like your art. You always try real hard and you pick nice colors. Art is what you make of it, right?

[bleatingedge]

[Out from Leo's inventory pops said meat! He graciously holds it out for Barrett.]

Here ya go, pal. You deserve a good meal after all the shit you had to go through.

Re: o/

[gluttoning]

[concern.jpg]

theres more to people than just a stat box. lily can make us forget that too, if he wanted. whatever we have left of our lives from before needs to be clung to really hard, even if it seems like it doesn't make any sense anymore.

i forgot morgan for a while. I almost forgot you and hani too. if he can do it to me, he can do it to you too. maybe it'll be hard to hear but i think it would be good to ask about what your friends remember.


you're nicer than my brothers. matt said it always looks like im trying to draw pigs in weird hats. i don't know what he means, but he always laughs at me.

Re: o/

[tylorific]

but no one really cared about me before this place.

I want everyone here to be able to go back, because that's what the people I love want. You should be able to choose how to live your life, so I'm fighting for that. For everyone.

I'll never forget any of you, because everyone I love is here. What else is there if I forget that?

[ If Bear looks across the beach at him, Tylor is laughing to himself, alone but easily visible from their distance. ]

That just sounds like laughing with you. Bringing joy with art matters too, even if it looks like pigs in hats to him. At least it made him happy.

[secondthoughts]

[ Hector only sighs. He seriously doesn't understand how the kid has the mindset to stay chipper even after this. But in a way? Maybe he admires that.

He glances up at Leo when he hears the command, gives a short nod, then moves into place. He doesn't have to touch the leg to know that it's been a nasty break. ]

This might hurt, Tylor. Grab onto something if you think it's gonna help.

[ And he turns back to Leo: ] Ready.

[tylorific]

Oh, okay. I sure am glad you guys are around to help.

[ Tylor nods, not mentioning that his armor helps. It keeps any sadness at bay, and he is more than content to let it be splinted into place. The gratefulness keeps him compliant. And there is no plan to take off this set any time soon.

He digs his fingers into the sand, jaw set and body more tense than either of them have ever seen. But he still... sounds chipper as ever, if a little tighter. ]

Ready!

[trashtier]

[Levi doesn't fight it, at the very least. He knows there were parts of what went down that he couldn't have possibly changed, even if he did things differently. What's done is done.

The pain in Barrett's voice as he recounts his last moments of lucidity is like a sharp poke to his own heart. He lets out a breath and gently strokes Barrett's hair in an attempt to comfort him.]

I'm not gonna ask you to describe it, but...it had to do with our sister, didn't it? Tarvos, he...said said he broke something when he woke up.

[gluttoning]

[His eyes screw shut.

But he nods. It's all of an answer he wants to give right now, it seems.]

I tried to stop. But he made my hands move. He called me a killer. He said I-- I always would be one--

[And his words taper off, because the emotions rise too high, and he can't stop how angry his tears feel. It's so much to remember, and still so raw in the wake of how Tarvos had left him.]

[secondthoughts]

You're starting to sound like me.

[ Turning Barrett's—No, Tarvos's angry words back on him once again. Oh, how much of a mess he had been when Yael died. Blaming himself, taking his blood in his hands and saying he shed it himself. Maybe he has the luxury of forgetting why he had been so set off at first, and the luxury that Yael is alive anyway. But he had still said similar things, in similar despair. ]

You were used. Manipulated. I knew that wasn't you, and I know you would never do anything like that.

[ The violence, the abuse... ]

You showed Cubia your heart, and he took advantage of that. That isn't your fault. And I think everyone here knows that.

[secondthoughts]

Of course I will. Don't you worry about me bud, I'll be saying hi to you real soon :-)

[ He doesn't want to stress him out, not after all that.

They can talk for real later. ]

[deto]

I know.

[ bright brown eyes meet red as he pulls back, taking yoshi’s hand, palm up. with a finger he writes two characters, six strokes, then four - which he promptly eats out of yoshi’s hand like kirby - nom ]

Thanks for the meal. Though I hope people come and thank you soon so we can leave. You need some serious rest, and I’m hungry.

[justonezero]

Misteaks messaged me. We can probably go now.

[Everyone else wants to reunite with their loved ones, after all... Other than Mithrun's moment of advice.]

Want to grab food somewhere?

[tinged]

[ hani allows themself to sag against him for now.

they’re glad for this moment - though they have not forgotten how serious the situation is and how many people could have died. a miracle happened, blood seemingly washed clean by it. but they still feel the phantom streaks of twisted human emotions splattering it’s false will on everyone - a person flung like a doll, a heart shattering like glass, and pieces of their own heart laying lifeless on the ground. no, they won’t forget. ]

Bear-kun, promise you won’t forget anymore. Not the things before you became Tarvos. Not the things during. Not what’s happened today. The future, too.

[ they touch his face with their good hand. ]

All of these things, our love for you, your love for us, all of it will be important.

And you are welcome. I held onto them because… [ they try to explain it in a way that makes sense to the both of them. ] You were so determined to be strong for us. Holding onto that was my way of being strong for you in return.

[tablescraps]

( it Is logical... but he's a cat trying to teeth at the cone on him... ugh!!! )

... If I see him again, I'm going to kill him. Dream or no.

( ughhHHHHHHHHHHHHH )

How bad are you hurt?

[tablescraps]

( ...

He looks up at Barrett as he speaks, his attention taken from his anxious thoughts of Cubia coming for Barrett; for Barrett's safety; for— becoming a tool in a greater machine meant to harm the people he was just starting to recognize he loved. And he gazes at Barrett, eyes fixed, listening, as Barrett says the things that maybe Mithrun couldn't really express in the right words, but wanted Barrett to understand, all the same.

He still has that fluffy scarf on him, even if he's not wearing it now (great for photos, not so great for moving your head, or visibility). In the space between Barrett's lips coming closed and Mithrun's first impulse, encouraged in part by Barrett's affection and the warmth at his neck, he whips the scarf around the back of Barrett's head a little like a lasso suddenly, and takes the other end with his other hand. He pulls Barrett down, and presses in for a kiss; not lingering, not long, more a statement than glib affection, hidden behind the mass wall of his scarf. )

... I'll always come back to you. So rest and recover, so we can go out to eat when I come back with good news.

[dissimulative]

Are you sure? Should I ask for someone to carry you out or take care of you while I'm gone?

[ He looks a little worried despite the injury healing. ]

1/2

[gluttoning]

[oh welp down we go

It catches him off guard at first, how fast Morgan moves to trap him and pull him down. A syllable of confusion is barely echoing in his throat before their lips are together.]