[log] Did the devil say to you, you can make it through [closed]

[spoileralert]

Characters: Steph, Zach, Al, Church, Luna, Kesara, Watson, Quark, Tifa
Location Building 58 and environs
Date: Days 157/158
Summary: A meeting of many people
Warnings: In comment headers, please!

58: A simple single-story building, the snow weighs uneasily on it, and it creaks and groans under the strain at the best of times. It's very dark, and only the kitchen and living room are intact. The kitchen has a back door. Two snowmen have been built outside. A message has been written on the wall in blue ink: "Don't wreck the snowmen! That's super mean!" "ALPHONSE ELRIC, MAMI TOMOE, FREYA CRESCENT, GREED, EDWARD ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, DAY FORTY ONE, TRAVELLING EAST." has been carved into one of the walls. The following has been written on the wall in blue pen: "This is Building 95 97 on the composite map. Contact @CaptSteveRogers for details." Underneath this is a fairly accurate map showing the house in relation to the school and buildings 29, 35, 35, 37, 40, 41, 47, 48, 50, 53. House 34 is labeled "Medical assistance; hot, clean water. Contact Dr. Epps @claytonator". The school is labeled "School. Food available in cafeteria; DO NOT STAY HERE OVERNIGHT." The shed is labeled "Shed".

Comments

Day 157 (Building 58)

[brokethefirst]

[armoured]

[Al is by the door, keeping a watch for anyone else approaching the house who might need to stay for the night. The door is propped open for now and he's gathering snow to melt down to use for drinking water.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice that one of the cloths he uses to clean himself has attached itself to his arm with the freezing water. Not until he flaps it around, looking irritated even with an immovable faceplate.]

Again? Really?!

okay here for real this time

[brokethefirst]

[It's too cold.

Too cold, too late, and too familiar to the scenario she'd found herself in only a couple days before. Luna can't help how frantic and frightened she feels as she stiffly pushes her way towards the only building in sight. She's wrapped up as best she can manage, hood puled tight around her head to hide what remains of her hair, but it doesn't help how the dark metal of her face contrast to the lightness of her clothes or how her uncovered eyes now shine red, two bright pinpricks against the snowfall.

Luck was all that had kept her away from others the last few days, and seeing Alphonse now so close to the doorway only clinches the fact. As soon as she recognizes his shape, she instantly freezes, not daring to move for fear that he's seen her.]

[armoured]

[He has seen her.

Bright white eyes meet red ones, and for a moment Al strikes a defensive pose as if about to get into a fight. His bulk blocks the doorway deliberately and he reaches around so he's ready to slam it shut if necessary.]

Hello out there?

[If this thing approaching doesn't answer, he'll assume it's an anomaly and slam the door.]

[brokethefirst]

[He blocks the door and her panic rises to desperation.]

N-no, please--!!

[The cry is tinny and distant, like it's being spoken through a pipe. But it's still very recognizably Luna as she stumbles forwards a few steps, her arms still tightly clinging to her coat and makeshift hood.]

P-please, I'm sorry, I-- I don't... I d-don't want to stay out here...! Please--!!

[armoured]

[For a moment he doesn't move, but it's only because he's frozen in fear, before all of a sudden he's practically tripping over himself to run out towards her.]

Luna?!

[At least he physically can't show emotion on his face, which is also covered by a lurid pink scarf, so she can't see just how shocked he is at her appearance.]

Luna, what happened to you? Here, take my arm-- it's okay, I've got you, you're safe.

[brokethefirst]

[She doesn't close the distance. Instead, her hands fly up to cover her face, ducking her head down. Wisps of her hair sneak out of the hood as it loosens, still a familiar bright orange, while the edges of skin can still be made out just past her jaw and hairline in some places, pale white and crumbling like dried mud.]

It's... it's the temperatures, I-I-- [Up close, that metallic quality of her voice clips and stutters like a poor phone connection. Her fingers curl into fists against her face, trembling hard.] I-I'm so sorry, I didn't... n-no one should see me like this, A-Alphonse...

[armoured]

[He knew she was a robot, but knowing isn't the same as seeing. She looks terrifying, unnatural, and she sounds almost as bad. But the overwhelming feeling he has for her is pity. She sounds so scared and so tired, and she's still Luna no matter what she looks like.

So he breaches the rest of the distance himself and, without thinking, reaches out to try and draw her into a hug.]

Shh-- it's okay, I don't care how you look. I just care that you're hurting, come on-- hold onto me, we'll get inside and then maybe we should call the Admin. They might be able to help.

[brokethefirst]

[She doesn't pull away, limply following his hold and curling against him with what sounds like a dry, tired sob from behind her hands.

Still, she shakes her head fervently.]

No, I've... t-this has happened before and they can't... they couldn't do anything, even when medical calls was in order... it's... i-it's not an emergency.

[armoured]

Then we can try again, I'll try, I promise.

[Poor Luna. He can't imagine any way this can't be considered an emergency. She looks like she's breaking down, even psychological issues aside.]

There's others in the house, are you going to be okay?

[heavensreader]

A - Happy Smol Tiems

[It's early on in the evening, and Kesara is practically floating. It's been some time since she'd been in the company of so many people and able to enjoy it. Seeing Zach alive again, feeling him alive, hugging him, being near and basking in his warmth, him and Steph reunited - it's like a blanket of light over her, making her beam wherever she goes, whenever she talks.

She goes about the house, searching and scavenging with great enthusiasm, and she has questions and kind, smiling comments for everyone she meets there, even those she's never met before. She's happy to come up to anyone with a small wave of hullo! It's lovely to finally meet you!, and she's just as happy to share her little finds.]

Look, I found these stretchy bands! What are they for? And this?

[Even if the finds in question are just a few rubber bands and a TV remote without batteries. It's the thought that counts.]


B - The one with the intense grief/kid in distress CW

[And then, not that much later that night, everything breaks.

Kesara is sitting on a commandeered surface, tapping away at her tablet, when Alfie's message comes through. It makes her freeze. Suddenly, like the slamming of a door, her face empties. Her muscles go rigid. Even her breathing stops.

When movement begins again everything about her is different. She takes the tablet in one tremulous, straining hand, throws herself to her feet, grabs the backpack lying next to her. Storms out of everyone's way. Hurls herself into an empty room and hurls its door closed.

But even burying her face in the backpack, even closing the door, can only muffle so much of her screams.]

B

[majorlazer]

[He had no idea what had happened. She'd been so happy, relieved to be here, and so had Zach; he had her back, and he felt right - even with the blindness, it felt right to be with both Kes and Steph, now.

But then, it's like she goes cold. In seconds, just mere seconds, she'd gone from being her normal self to - being broken. And Zach could feel it, without even being able to see her, he could just feel it from the way she tensed up next to him, how she went hard and stiff and quiet. And then she'd walked off, and then - the screaming.

Zach was up in a second, possibly knocking over furniture, but he didn't really care; he didn't think anybody else cared, either. He walked towards the noise that he knew was Kesara, the door between them. He rasped his knuckles against it, giving her a moment, before walking in, and closing the door behind him. He sat right against it, not knowing where she was, he just sat there, staring at nothing, waiting.

Waiting for Kesara to be ready to talk.]

[heavensreader]

[One minute. Five. Ten. The screaming eventually stops, but the silence that follows - interrupted by occasional murmuring, Kesara speaks very low inside - is dark and brittle, like it might collapse any moment into shards of glass. That is what she feels like when she finally opens the door. Like she's swallowed a bagful of broken glass, that scraped her throat and tore her heart to shreds.

She has Zach back. She stares at him, half-numb, as he opens the door. The sight of him should soothe everything, every pain, because he came back to her. But coming back doesn't mean death hasn't happened. That is what death means.

Two deaths, vile and violent and meaningless. In seventy-two hours. Two of the people she holds dearest in the town and in the world. It's too much. It's too much. She's too small to swallow so much glass.

She stumbles over to Zach, tablet left discarded in the corner, and bodily collapses against him. She throws her arms about his neck, buries her face in his chest, and shivers like a little wounded animal.]

[majorlazer]

[He's not sure he wants to ask what happened. He sits there for a moment, ears straining to understand what she's murmuring - failing at it - and then he hears her move. He braces himself, and indeed here she is, collapsing against him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her face to his collarbone.

He holds her to him, not making a sound for a while, just allowing her to be upset if she wants to. God knows he allows himself that right, and he's not an 11 year old thrust into the shittiest place on Earth. He rests his cheek on top of her head, hoping to be as reassuring a presence to her as possible.]

You wanna tell me?

[It's just a whisper, as gentle as he can make it.]

[heavensreader]

Mr. Solomons died.

[Her voice is flat, hoarse from the screaming, wooden. Like it's detached from her tears and shivering. It was the same after she'd screamed herself out at Zach's death, after she was done sobbing and the screaming came. A part of her numbly notes that this is a good trick. Scream until something breaks and freezes inside.]

It was stupid. He fell. He was hurt. They couldn't stop the bleeding. He called to talk to me before it ended. He was in a lot of pain and it was slow.

[She can't convey the horror of it with her voice. So she goes into details. It's like giving a report. Every word she speaks feels more detached, and easier in a sick way. But colder. Her shivering gets worse. She presses herself desperately into the warmth of his grip.]

[majorlazer]

[Ah, shit. Zach squeezes her a little tighter when she says it; he had no idea, but now it's no surprise anymore why she reacted like that.]

I'm sorry, Kes. I'm sorry.

[Zach, himself, isn't extraordinarily upset by the news. There's the fact that he wants to be strong and hold himself together for Kesara, but it's also...it just makes him feel kind of numb. This goddamn place that keeps on killing people whenever they're trying to do something good. This goddamn place that rewards people like the Joker. Just. This goddamn place.]

Maybe he wanted to talk to you for comfort. Maybe knowing you were okay, that helped him.

[He's pretty sure that's not going to be comforting to her, so he just holds her a little tighter, gathering her up in his arms to give her something, something real and alive.]

[heavensreader]

[His warmth should help. It should. Like saying the right things to Steph when they'd spoken after his death was supposed to help. She doesn't know why it doesn't and it terrifies her. Her mind whirls with sick thoughts. That talk with Steph had only been a few days ago. She can hear Steph's hollow voice so clearly in her mind. She can practically hear it.]

No, stop... [she mumbles at it, whimpering as it fills her ears. She hadn't said anything good to Steph. She hadn't helped her like she hadn't really helped Alfie. She knows that, she's sure of that. There is no helping. Even if someone comes back, that is what death means...]

I'm sorry, Zach! [She suddenly wails.] I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you when you - when you - I'm sorry I couldn't help!

[majorlazer]

Oh, hey, hey, no, don't go there. [There's nothing more that Zach can do; he's holding her but he can't look at her in the eye and promise her it's better that way.

He's glad, she didn't have to suffer through his last few breaths. It wears on him enough that Steph had too, he's glad Kes didn't have to. It's much better like this. He frowns, kissing the top of her head, completely absent-mindedly.]

I'm glad you didn't have to see it. I wouldn't have wanted you to - it's better like this, you know? I'm sorry I didn't get to - to tell you, I guess. I'd have liked to say goodbye. But I'm back, and I'm fine. There's no need for that, okay? No reason for you to apologize.

[Taking a deep breath, he rubs a hand along her good arm. He's the one that's been apologizing, and with good reason; he's the one who left her.]

I was thinking, if I hadn't left you and the tunnels, I might not have died. But I also wouldn't have Steph right now. So even though I...did die, I'm not. I don't regret it.

[He's not sure why he's saying any of that, but now that he's started, he can't really stop. Maybe it will change her mind enough.]

But I did miss you tons, and I'm glad we're back together now.

A a million years late

[armoured]

[Al is less than happy.

It's good to see Steph again, and know he helped reunite everyone, but he's been slowly breaking apart these past few days. He hides it well, however, and he's definitely not about to show it to a kid he doesn't know very well at all.

So he chuckles when she holds up the rubber bands, looking down from his massive height (wow, she's smaller than Ed!) to examine them.]

They're used to hold things together, usually document pages. Don't you have them where you're from?

[heavensreader]

[Kesara looks up... and up, and up, until her neck cricks and her eyes gape round. No amount of seeing him around the house, or with the others, could have prepared her for this face to face encounter with the hulking suit of armour who has a boy's voice.

She isn't frightened, not really, because few things are as frightening anymore as crawling between frozen bodies in the dark - it was a good trial by fire, she thinks to herself - but she still backs a bit, instinctively. When he's this close, she has to look so far up that she nearly sends herself, kitten-like, into a backflip.]

Oah, you - we - we have these elastics, but they were never very good, before Mr. Goodyear patented his process last year...

[armoured]

[He's used to being taller than everyone around him, and it's not exactly hard to see that she's a little intimidated by it. So he crouches down in front of her, putting his helmet more on eye level so she doesn't have to crane her neck up.]

Mm, they're not used a lot where I'm from, but we do have them.

[A little bit of mischief enters his voice.]

They don't just hold documents together-- here, give me one and I'll show you.

[heavensreader]

[He can make himself less tall, but not less enormous. With that helmet on eye level, Kesara can see the size of it up close, the metal, the spike. The eyes. Good lord, why does he sound like a boy?

She can tell he's trying not to frighten her, though. And she decides he deserves a fair chance. Part of her reflects that if he wanted to hurt her, no one at all could do anything about it.]

I don't have so many, so please don't ruin it, [she says meekly, but she does hand over a rubber band, holding it out and watching closely to see how his huge fingers move.]

[armoured]

[His fingers move with all the dexterity of a normal hand as he carefully takes the band from Kesara and holds it up. He winds it round one finger and then uses his other hand to pull it back, before releasing it so that it flies across the room and pings on the door.]

I used to fire them at my brother all the time when I wanted to annoy him, they make surprisingly good little weapons.

[FOR PLAYING ONLY.]

[heavensreader]

[She is so fascinated by watching his hands that she doesn't understand what he means to do until he does it. When the band goes flying she's startled into an embarrassing recoil. Her head darts to the side to follow the trajectory of the shot. When she looks back to him her eyes are huge again, but this time not with alarm but with the utter delight of a horrible brat taught a horrible new trick.]

It's like a tiny slingshot! How far can they fly? Do they hurt when they hit? Can they break things?

[armoured]

[He laughs at her delight, not at all sorry to have given her a new way to be a demon child. At least it means she doesn't look as scared of him any more.]

They sting, and I guess you could hurt someone if you hit them in the eye, but they can't do any real damage. You can't get them that far either. Here-- why don't you try hitting me with it? I won't get hurt and you can practise your aim.