mingle!

[grimpa]

Who: anyone!
When: Day 6, morning
Where: the lounge carriage (or, like, wherever, I'm not your boss)

[What's shakin', heroes? That sure was a trial last night, huh? What's on the agenda this morning-- still exploring, for new folks? Having team talks in light of having two trials'-worth of info on how this stuff is gonna go? Cooking something up in the public kitchen? Taking memories or testing out new powers? Playing with new purchases from the sparks shop? Just hanging out in the lounge? You do you; everyone's gotta find their own path on their magical interdimensional spacetrain journey.]

Comments

[crimeson]

[no she's a walnut now]

Fuck... What to do, what to do...

[he doesn't have his ARCUS arranged for Thelas or have any revive items, fuuuuuuck

trying. to pick her up.



then trying harder. good thing he's strong as heckie.]

[voreaciously]

[p sure thelas cannot help you if you are DEAD DEAD, but it's a nice thought.

She is out like a ragdoll.

good thing he's strong! go, randy, go.

you might like, wanna turn off that stove though, before something catches fire.]

[crimeson]

[yeah, no, sorry, that's someone else's problem. he's. gonna lug her to her room in jasmine.]

[voreaciously]

[and then the whole train burned down!

no, but.

She is in the room and still without a pulse and stuff, do you wait this out?]

[crimeson]

[he's absolutely gonna wait this out, yeah. pulling up a chair and sitting in it backwards, keeping watch like he's got experience with... keeping watch.]

[voreaciously]

[Time passes, and, as it does, the gemstones start to push out of her skin and either sit raised on her skin, or fall onto off and roll a little on her bed, revealing smooth skin underneath.

Her internal clock is telling her it's morning. Katsuki will wake up soon and wake up the entire house, in turn, to get started on the day's chores. Dark will grouse, until he gets some loving attention. Blank or Mary or whoever she is that day will fight to do a good deal of duties, Morin and Khuur will laugh with everyone when they aren't watching her from afar while she pointedly pretends not to notice, and pretends that she does not want them, either. Then, they will all work on their home improvement missions together, making something just for themselves in this purgatory. There will be laughter, there will be arguments, there will be people coming and going.

Just another day in Forest.

But it all starts here, in bed. Having always to be at the centre of attention, Katsuki is in the middle, Deku on his other side. Amane rises a little, utterly careful not to wake them and shatter the moment as she looks at their sleeping faces, though Katsuki isn't sleeping for long, stirring like someone pebbles in his boots.

"Ah, did I wake you? My apologies. Her voice is a whisper, but it carries.

"Come closer, asshole, it got cold all of a sudden." He says as much, but he's the one shuffling over.

She's tense, though, and he notices, far more perceptive than he's given credit for and he gives her a second glance, intent.

"What's wrong?"

"Everyone was gone. Deku-san, Dark-san, you--were gone." Her reply is immediate, sincere. The misdirection, dishonesty, and hesitation that she should have simply does not exist.

"It's too early for dumb shit, Mitsuki." he says, his grumpiness impressive in his soporly state, but in spite of the soft bite of his words, he reaches for her waist, half to cling to her, half to pull her back down into bed.

"I ain't gonna to leave you. You know that, right?"

She nods her assent, but she isn't nodding at anyone, anymore. She isn't anywhere. All around her is darkness. No, wait, there! There are lights in the distance, the faces of people who matter, but they begin to turn their backs and flicker into blackness like candles in the wind. Morin and Khuur. Blank. Dark. Deku.

Only one is left. Only one light. Her brightly burning star--

"Don't go." is what she tries to say as she runs towards him, but her words fail her, scratching at her throat like shattered glass, but all sound is swallowed by the void. She tries and she tries and she tries even as she tastes blood and bile. He just needs to hear her.]

D...don't...eave...m....

[Miraculously, she is closing the distance, she can see the light grow larger, it's enough for her to feel joy, even though she never stops but before she can reach, before she can touch and bask in that glow, she begins to fall and fall and fall, her hand outstretched.

No, no, no, no, NO--

Contemptuous of her failure, Katsuki turns his back on her and flickers away, and her screams are heard only in her mind.]

N--!

[She doesn't manage to get the sound out. 80H is awake, sitting up in bed so quickly she becomes a blur, golden gems flying off her body into various directions. She is breathing, hard, trying to vent impossibly hot air. Red tinges the edges of her vision, and she is doubling over, coughing, wheezing, her face red and flushed.]

[crimeson]

[Randy snaps into action, immediately at her bedside, though he has the good sense not to actually reach for her, just hovering close with his hands out helplessly.]

80H!

[he is NOTABLY stressed and worried]

[voreaciously]

[Where is she? Where is everyone? What is happening?

She remembers.

The train. No one is here. She is still running too hot.

She half-collapses forward, forcibly relaxing herself as much as she can so she breathe with as little strain as hum--mechanically possible.

There's a notice on her HUD that her temperature is falling because of her efforts, but still too high. She falls on her back and pulls the blanket away. She cannot sweat this out--doesn't sweat at all--and it makes her want to tear her flesh from her bones. If only she was not made of so many heat-retaining materials.

Her breathing is still laboured, but it begins to calm down.]

[crimeson]

[he helps, tugs the blanket away the rest of the way.]

That's it. Breathe.

[voreaciously]

...What are you doing here, sir?

[for that matter, what is she doing here? Her voice sounds surprisingly clear, because she is forcing it to be that way.]

[crimeson]

You collapsed. Do you know what's happening to you?

[voreaciously]

I shut down.

[crimeson]

... Why? It seems like you overheated?

[voreaciously]

[she just stares blankly at the ceiling.]

Yes.

[crimeson]

Did you know you weren't well?

[it's a rhetorical question in some ways-- HE knew, after all.]

[voreaciously]

It did not matter, either way.

[crimeson]

It fucking matters, 80H!

[voreaciously]

[She flinches. She' been acting how she's been acting, but she cannot shirk some forms of displeasure so easily.]

No. It really does not.

[she's already dead.]

[crimeson]

You could've died! You could've burned down the train! Why are you so determined to shut me out?!

[voreaciously]

Ah--

[That's right, she was cooking. She, for once, does not mean to deflect or avoid, but sits up and tries to get out of bed as she remembers she had food on, but she stumbles and falls immediately.]

[crimeson]

[tries to catch her

this is immediately proven to be a bad idea by the noise he makes but he overcommits, not letting her hit the floor.]

Care...ful...!

[voreaciously]

Let go of me, I weigh too much!

[crimeson]

You got it!

[carefully, slowly unloading her onto the bed]

[voreaciously]

The stove--did someone turn it off?

[crimeson]

I got it while you were out.