thusia | The Plot Strikes Back

Entry tags:

The Plot Strikes Back

Who: Coren & Everyone.
When: Day 107, Early Evening.
Where: Shrine Room.
What: Plot & Mingle.

[ Despite the memory shenanigans that have been happening the last few days, today has been exceedingly quiet. Perhaps some were nearby to witness the events that took place and returned the memories to those who had yet to find them. Some items with memories in them still might remain behind to be dealt with on another day, but there are more important matters to attend to.

Tonight there's certainly a rustling in the hallways, a flapping of wings. You have never seen so many birds in Thusia before, and they seem completely benign. In every inhabited hallway of the headquarters, there are large and small birds flying to the nearest door, tapping on it with their beaks, and leaving notes to meet on the fourth floor at the shrine room. Where the birds won't or can't go, there are illusions of signs requesting your presence for an urgent matter regarding your home and your memories, trails of light that lead you like an illuminated map from where you are toward the shrine room. If you shut your door on them or tell them to go away, neither will invade further. Aside from the birds roaming the headquarters and the commotion in the shrine room, life goes on. ]

[ Waiting | The Meeting: 2, 3 + 3.1 + 4, Final Questions. ]

( ooc: For those who didn't get to participate in the memory event end, we had to cut things a bit short, but we promise a more open end next time. We didn't get to do nearly as much as we had planned. )

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[And her hand goes back to-- and tightens around-- the top of the stairwell rail, more so to steady herself than in any sort of anger. Perhaps predictably, she's stuck looking at his eyes, nearly unblinking.

Why would he be...?

"We are not closer to gods," she wants to say, because such an assertion reminds her too much of men in white coats with their rose crosses shining in the slightest wink of light, saying to her that Exorcists are very special and chosen by God, and she feels she knows better than most of those men that Exorcists are not at all divine.

But instead, what slips out is a soft:] Has that changed anything?

[ Now that he isn't hiding his face, whenever it's cast in light there's a bioluminescent quality to his lashes and just under the skin of his eyes that's stronger than the other lines across his face. The only time the luminescence breaks up is where the scars. ]

[unsure:]... I..don't know.

[ His head is shaking back and forth a fraction. ] This world is dangerous now. The gods are dangerous. The people who were here died, and the gods who needed them brought others to replace them not knowing where they'd come from or having the ability to send them back.

They think I don't know or understand or care. Sometimes.. I think I hate them too, because we are not all that different.

I don't know why I'm telling you this. ..Maybe a side effect from Kessex taking those memories.

[...Definitely one of them. For a moment, she hadn't been sure; what Thusian god would say these things so bluntly? Every other had tried to justify what they'd done to her, paint it as the "right thing"-- the only thing-- they could have done.

Her expression twists up, first pained, a tight draw around the mouth, then veers sharply into more defeated territory. She feels... dizzy? Brings her other hand to a temple, brushing fingers across her forehead. A vague, wry smile, eyes lowered.]

You're... a fool if you want to choose us over them. They won't hate you like the people you all bring to this place can hate you. These are angry people. We've-- [ oop ] they've been played with. Hardly a week goes by.

But... you know... I don't think I've ever heard a god apologize before. Isn't that what that is? Showing me your face?

[ Maybe a slight nodded confirmation that he's heard her and is slowly processing everything, though it's not like he hasn't openly tried to express his sympathy or apologize since he's heard about the people who have suffered from gods. There are a lot of details he does not know about them even still.

Both of them seem pretty worn down. Coren's head turns her direction as her voice seems to slow.. fade. ]

[He would be hard-pressed to find someone willing to explain. Even Lenalee, in her current docile state, feels no such inclination. She pauses for breath, eyebrows puckering, and exhales it again and sort of... side-steps nearer to the wall at her right, reaching for it.]

Mm...

[ He can't call her name if he doesn't know it! Coren has to encourage a nearby bird to look their way and it takes a moment for him to focus through it... ]

... ??

[--! That certainly doesn't look good.]

Someone-!

[Having wall beneath her palm helps, somewhat; a steadying factor, something to ground her. Her breath is louder in her ears— or perhaps it's that she's more aware of it now, with the strained quality it's hoping to take on. This isn't stress. Briefly, her eyes flicker towards Coren as he calls out, heavy-lashed.]

I need to sit down.

[ He turns back toward her voice. A single hand out, but hovering rather than touching her.

Hopefully it isn't too late to make a chair appear for her. Although it's an illusion, it's certainly as real as any other chair when touched. It's rather abrupt when it pops into place, and Coren can only hope it place it in a good spot. ]

Sit!

[Some focus returns to her eyes at the order. What a strange tone of voice for him to take. But Lenalee, while a remarkably proud creature, isn't quite so prideful that she won't accept a seat when given one, and wobbles towards it; sits heavily, primly, with knees together.

She braces the heels of her hands upon them, lips pulling back at the way they seem to shake.]

Hey... can you tell me—? Do any of you know why so many of us keep getting sick?...

[ Maybe they're still a little fragile- He crouches down since she's sitting. ]

What are the symptoms?

[Folds herself neatly in over herself, elbows tucking in, face tucking down. Mm.]

Certain people have been falling into comas recently, sometimes for a few days, sometimes longer.

[A slow inhale, and she presses a hand to her eyes.]

I thought this was just a cold, but...

[ He hasn't seen or head much of it, but from the way she looks, he starts to frown. ]

You should be lying down. The comas that we haven't been able to cure are a mutated form of jungle fever here. This exhaustion is from anemia.. Maybe I could help a little of it..

[ He seems unsure how much he should do without her permission.. ]

There's a very good chance you'll wake up if you do fall into a coma. I know there are gods researching it and trying to find a cure otherwise.

[Oh, to never again in her life hear someone speak of chances. She takes a new grip, this time on the edge of the illusionary chair.]

I— [ "can't afford this." ] No.

[But everything wavers. Her voice stutters. 'Up' desperately wants to become 'down'. When it rains, she thinks dizzily, it pours.]

Not... not now.

[ ... Oh no. Birds and Coren likewise look away for a moment. Is everyone blind around here? Can no one obviously see this girl is feeling faint?! ]

Can someone get this girl some water from Dellen's shrine?

[As as fanciful as it would be to sit and swoon and wait for a chivalrous type to fetch her a drink of holy water, Lenalee prefers herself self-sufficient, and pushes herself to stand when Coren turns away (when they turn away, they can't try and stare you down).]

No, I'll help myself to it, don't worry—

[Her body objects to being upright, and staggers.]

[By the time he's done speaking with Tempest and Yayoi, he has time to glance back over at Coren (who he had been dutifully ignoring) and-- Um??]

--Lenalee?

[BEE-LINING]

[ This is a valiant attempt to turn back around and catch her really quick the moment she stops talking! ]

[Feels a little like being in the centre of a circus ring; now for her next trick, fainting dead cold, Chrono's voice melding with the mumbled "In a moment," what slips past her lips while she dries a bead of sweat from her brow, and she's down, she's down hard, right into Coren's waiting arms.

A perfect 10 out of 10.]

[Ha ha ha w e l p

Bristling instantly, already moving to try and take her from Coren. If looks could kill...]

What did you do?!

[ Um, no. You're going to drop her. Coren hoists her up carefully and he's giving you a rather serious stare down over there, jaw locked. ]

Nothing. She wasn't feeling well. I was trying to call for someone to come take her to rest.

[He is the tiny, furious picture of unimpressed.]

Then we'll take care of it, after you put her down. Do you think she'd want you touching her?

Edited 2012-12-31 00:43 (UTC)

[ You know that utterly unphased staaaaaaaaaaaare of either someone who does not even see you or has stopped paying attention. ]

No, but I'm not going to let you drop her. Is she human or not?

I wouldn't drop her.

[He lowers his hand to the frame of the chair, tightening his grip until one of the wood pieces creaks, splinters, and finally snaps under his fingers, as if he had applied some unrealistic force to it. To illustrate.]

I know you're all terrible at this part, but try respecting our wishes for once and put her down.

[ You are such a child! stares, turning his head for a moment until several birds go zipping off on their own down the hall ]

..Then swear to me you will look after her, care for her, and get her safely back to her room.

[... Why do you care?]

She's my friend.

No one needs to ask me to do those things.

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