RP Log: THERE'S A MAN IN MY COCKPIT D8
Who: Rubeus and Jamie
Where: hangar and around the village
When: backdated - October 31
Warnings: some language from Rubeus
Summary: Exhausted from roaming the island, Rubeus needs a place to rest...which results in Jamie finding a bedraggled stranger in the cockpit of his Zoid.
Despite Rubeus' efforts over the days of his absence, finding a way home had proven impossible and the island seemed unwilling to share any of its unnatural secrets with him, leaving the young insurgent in the position that had been laid out before him from the very beginning: he was stranded, stuck on this miserable pile of sand and stone. And so, the morning of the Halloween party had brought with it the reluctant return of the worn and distraught soldier of the Black Moon...not that he had any intention of announcing his less than triumphant advent. Instead, he'd opted to take up temporary shelter in the first of the island's many unfamiliar buildings that met his path: the massive, metallic affair that most would deem the hangar. After swiping the remnants of a meal left unattended by some unfortunate pilot or mechanic, he'd sought out a room to rest his head. Finding nothing but storage closets, none of which were large enough to accommodate anyone of his size comfortably, he'd eventually made himself at home in the cockpit of one of many bizarre machines that occupied the space, gaining entry by means of teleportation. Strange though they seemed, condensed versions of something akin to the ship he'd once made use of himself, the choice proved to be a wise one, giving him exactly what he felt he needed: silence, isolation and protection. At least his powers hadn't become completely obsolete in this place.
Completely unaware of any of this, Jamie made his way into the hangar, flicked a cursory glance at the Raynos, retrieved his toolbox (and scattered tools) from the gantry beside the green Zoid, and then headed for the Geno Saurer. Mild annoyance at his alter's constant use and shoddy care of the tools rapidly dissipated as the teen climbed onto the elevator platform beside the Geno and rode it up to the Zoid's cockpit. The hatch slid open automatically, as it always did, and Jamie was about to lean in when he noticed something amiss - namely, that there was someone in the cockpit already. Quite unprepared for this, Jamie recoiled hurriedly in surprise and uttered a startled squawk.
The red-haired young man that occupied the hulking machine's internal opening, looking worse for wear and thoroughly exhausted, did not stir even upon the opening of the hatch or Jamie's awkward, quiet squeak, leaving the pilot alone with his shock and his rapidly beating heart and a healthy dose of confusion.
For a moment or two Jamie just...stared, as the initial wave of alarm subsided. The man in the cockpit seemed completely dead to the world, having not responded in the slightest to the hatch opening; Jamie supposed it was better than the man lashing out at him in surprise, though. And speaking of dead, he didn't look so good. There were surely better places for the stranger to recuperate than the cramped cockpit of a Zoid.
The teen chewed his lip for a moment, started to reach out to shake the man's knee, thought better of it and instead called out, loudly enough to hopefully penetrate the other's slumber: "Hey."
Though he did not snap awake or return to the waking world with any quickness, Rubeus' brows drew in faintly at this deliberate sound, crinkling the flesh beneath that bizarre black symbol that rested so predominantly upon his forehead, and his eyelids trembled faintly before slowly beginning to open. His eyes, typically sharp and vibrant, seemed glazed over with sleep and stared up at Jamie for a few thoughtless moments before his mind began to register the event. His expression contorted suddenly into one of hard distrust...though it didn't seem entirely honest.
Jamie watched, brow furrowed, as the stranger seemed to slowly regain his senses; at the sudden steely look, he blinked. Though Jamie felt he was the one who had more right to glare (climbing into someone else's machine was just bad form, after all), and he wondered what'd possessed the man to stake out the Geno's cockpit for his little nap, he supposed he couldn't blame the guy for looking a little suspicious. Anyway, whatever indignation Jamie'd felt initially at the man's intrusion into his Zoid was rapidly disappearing; he couldn't help but feel just a little sorry for him, regardless of the situation.
"You okay?" he asked. "'f you need help, um...there's a first aid station I can take you to..."
Despite Jamie's good intentions, the comment seemed to summon a renewed tension, even agitation, in Rubeus, who began almost immediately to force himself forward onto weary legs and unsteady feet, "I'm fine. And I've had my fill of that place regardless."
"Uh - oh." Jamie drew back a little at the undercurrent of upset in the man's tone and movements; how long had this guy been on the island, then, if he'd already been in the first-aid station? "Well, um..." He fidgeted a bit. "Still. You don't...look all that 'fine'. You should probably go somewhere to rest, anyway." Somewhere that wasn't the cockpit of his Zoid, preferably. Then again, given how woozy the guy seemed to be - noticeable despite his obvious efforts to hide it - Jamie wondered if he had the stamina to climb down.
"What do you think I was doing?" The severity of the soldier's tone was beginning to wane, though whether by conscious decision or simple exhaustion was hard to say. He steadied himself briefly by placing a callused palm against the mechanical beast's surface before adding, "You want me out, I'm leaving. So what do you care what I do?"
"Wul - any particular reason you were resting here?" Jamie asked. "I mean, don't you have a hut yet? If you don't, uh...I could help you find...somewhere to stay that's more comfortable than this." He watched the man carefully, unsure whether or not any movements to help him would be met with hostility.
Rubeus was in process of opening his lips to respond, with matter-of-fact agitation, that the hangar offered little in the way of resting space when Jamie made mention of the living arrangements to which he still remained completely oblivious. The confusion that graced his features, particularly in combination with his partially parted lips, created a strangely humorous expression for the often intimidating soldier. "...a hut?"
The man's belligerently confused expression only made him seem more pitiable, somehow. "Everyone that ends up here gets assigned to a hut," Jamie explained. "You have to share with three other people, but you get your own room, at least. 's a little nicer to sleep in than the hangar." He shifted a bit, still wary about moving towards the stranger, and offered just a little reluctantly, "...I can take you to see which one's yours, if you want."
's a little nicer to sleep in than the hangar. Slowly, the man cracked a small, dry smile and tucked his hands into the pockets of his dirty camouflage pants, seeming steady for moment, "...Not saying much, is it?" The offer that followed seemed to be a genuine surprise, but he was quick to rein in his features and regain a sort of stiff detachment. "Yeah...fine."
Jamie nodded, feeling a bit more at ease now that the other man seemed to be relaxing a little, too. "There's a board in the middle of the village that has hut assignments and stuff on it," he said, moving to the control panel the corner of the elevator platform on which they both stood, preparing to lower it to the floor of the hangar. "...you might wanna hang onto something," he added, glancing over at the other man.
Between a glance down to Jamie's hands, which had settled upon the platform's alien controls, and the younger man's words, Rubeus had no doubt about the meaning of the warning. He responded with an absent shrug, then disappeared in a dark flicker to await the pilot's arrival on the ground. Perhaps it was an act of impatience...or perhaps he silently shared the same concerns of the pilot, unwilling to trust the strength of his tired form against the trembling crawl of the platform.
Watching to ensure the redhead had secured himself before activating the platform, Jamie recoiled as the man suddenly vanished. He glanced around the hangar and then peered over the railing of the platform down at the floor, where the man was waiting nonchalantly. So the guy could teleport. Jamie's look flattened a bit as he lowered the platform, though by the time he'd reached ground level he'd managed to assume a neutral expression once again. Stepping off, he gestured towards the bay doors. "'s this way," he said, leading off at an easy pace.
Whether he noticed Jamie's fluctuating expression or not, it didn't seem to faze the depleted redhead, still trying very much to appear more strong and sturdy than he actually was. As the pilot led the way, Rubeus fell into step beside him, remaining silent until they emerged beyond the doors and headed out into the heavy sunlight. "...Is it true what they're saying? That nobody has ever found a way off this miserable island?"
"Mn, pretty much." Jamie's brow creased a little as he thought of his own ill-fated attempt to go home, over two years ago. "A couple of people've gone and then come back, but not by their own will or anything. 's just something that...happens." Or something that a smirking mazoku did to screw around with you, as had happened to Duo...
Even without looking at him, Jamie could practically feel the heat radiating off of the former-soldier, hear the anger twisting his features and causing his jaw to clench. On this occasion, at least, the rage was not aimed at him, but at some abstract idea Rubeus could not even put a name to as he hissed tightly under his breath, "...It's fucked up. This whole mess..."
The teen shied away from the other man's palpable anger and, almost totally out of reflex, began trying to pinpoint his most likely escape routes, having no desire to be at ground zero if the guy suddenly decided to snap and take out his rage on anything within arm's reach. "Well...yeah," he ventured cautiously, casting an uneasy glance at the other. "Nobody's here 'cause they wanna be. 's just...something everyone has to live with." He doubted that this particular individual was going to be easily placated wtih any attempts to convince him of the island's good points.
The anger remained, but gradually seemed to go cold, calculated, sharp. Rubeus did not look to Jamie, but rather kept his crimson eyes upon the scattered sands and gravel that made up the path upon which they strode. "I don't think I'll stay long."
"...what makes you say that?" Jamie asked, a little dubiously. Though the stranger seemed to have reined in his fury a little, Jamie still thought it might be wisest to refrain from pointing out that the guy didn't have much choice about staying or leaving.
Strangely, this seemed to earn a small amount of amusement from the stern man, who cracked a faint smile as he shook his head, "...What a stupid question. Despite this detour, my fate still rests in my own hands." Rubeus paused briefly as they continued, looking momentarily skyward, a small, peculiar nostalgia peaking out on the edges of his words. "So far as I understand it...I should be dead. My compatriots are dead. I will wrap up some unfinished business and then put things back on track."
At this Jamie shot the other man a sidelong glance. Another dead guy, huh. "Well...yeah, I guess that could be true. No way to really tell for sure." He shrugged and then, after a pause and somewhat against his better judgment, asked, "What kinda...'unfinished business' do you have to do?"
"...There is no doubt," Rubeus reassured him stiffly, taking no pleasure in it. It had taken some time for the memory to return to him, but now that it had, his fate was spelled out plainly. The question that followed was unexpected, an act of bravery that seemed near unnatural in the somewhat docile young man in his company, and he took a brief moment to consider it. "First...tell me what you know about 'Sailor Senshi'."
'Senshi' was an unfamiliar term to Jamie, but he recognized the first word well enough. "You mean like Guardians?" he asked, brow furrowing again. "Uh...why d'you wanna know...? I mean, what are they to you?"
Guardians. The term itself seemed enough to send a small, intense wave of hate through Rubeus. No guardian worthy of their title would do to anyone what was done to them. "Tell me what you know," he replied with impatience and obvious frustration, "and I will answer."
Jamie hesitated, unnerved by the other's tone and sudden tension, and once again cast an uneasy glance around for possible escape routes. He contemplated throwing out some of the more useless data he'd obtained on the Guardians - like that they were all women or all named after planets - but he suspected that offering such transparently flimsy information would only make his companion angrier. Better give him something with a little meat to it, then.
"I...know that they have weird...powers. That one of 'em has the ability to send people to, uh, other dimensions, or something. Bad dimensions," he added, on the off chance the irritable redhead might seek Pluto out and try to force her to send him home or something. "Noplace anyone'd wanna go, I don't think."
"I know all that," Rubeus was quick to shoot back. If he were thinking more clearly, perhaps he would realize the miscommunication was no fault of Jamie's, but he was not and did not. "Which of them are here? How many?" The blonde he'd encountered on the beach had mentioned a few of them, but...he needed confirmation. Not all of them would be so foolish as Venus had been and come looking for him.
Yeep. The guy'd chewed up the bone Jamie'd thrown him and was barking away for more already. "I...dunno how many are here, exactly. Not anymore, I mean. People just...come and go, remember? Hard to keep track of who's still here and who's not." Jamie had no idea who this guy was or what his apparent beef with the Guardians was, but if he was actively attempting to seek them out on the pretext of resolving some undisclosed "unfinished business", he probably had the powers to follow through, regardless of his present condition. Unless he was just an amazingly overconfident idiot, in which case Jamie still wasn't sure it was fair to send him marching off to face someone like Uranus.
Good intentions aside, the words did little to satisfy Rubeus, whose dark eyes turned their glare back to the ground as he muttered irritably under his breath, "Useless." Though he suspected Jamie knew more than he was saying, he wasn't certain enough to turn what little energy he had left on the stranger, particularly when he had, for whatever reason, come to his aid. His fists clenched hard in his pockets. "...They're not who you think they are, you know. They are not righteous, they are not good. It's all pretense."
Jamie let out a breath as the flare of temper subsided once again. He wasn't entirely sure what to say in response to this latest comment; insisting that his experiences with the Guardians had (for the most part) been at least non-detrimental probably wasn't going to do much to keep the redhead calm, but asking why the man felt as he did seemed likely to produce the same result. "Well, what would you do if you did run into 'em here?" he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral. "They might be too much for you to take on all by yourself, and there's a lot of people here that don't exactly appreciate other people causing trouble."
Unlike the question, the warning seemed to fall upon deaf, or perhaps willfully ignorant, ears, and the redhead replied in a plain, uncompromising tone, "My Prince is dead because of them. It's my duty to return the favor." Despair tugged briefly and subtly at his features as he thought of Demande, despite his best efforts to hide it. The man had deserved better. He had always deserved better.
Jamie - watching carefully, though surreptitiously, for any more visual cues suggesting forthcoming violence - noted the brief twitch of emotion, though, as subdued as it was, Jamie wasn't entirely sure how to interpret it. He frowned and chewed his lip, mulling over the best way to respond. "...maybe 'duty' doesn't have a whole lot of meaning here. Maybe the reason you're here is to, I dunno...let go and move on." Jamie wasn't sure he actually believed that, himself, but it seemed the least incendiary thing he could offer, short of keeping his mouth shut altogether.
The words brought on a simultaneous rush of indignant anger and sudden, hollow desolation. Without his purpose, without his vengeance...what did he even have left? Rubeus' brows drew inward, his sharp face contorting in a way that seemed impossible to decipher. His own response was stiff and hard, "Hmph. You don't know anything."
"I know that there's a lot of people here that don't wanna get caught in the crossfire if some big fight breaks out," Jamie said, still trying to keep his tone even. Getting snappish with this guy wouldn't accomplish anything. Well, neither would talking calmly, given the way their conversation had gone thus far, but flying off the handle would undoubtedly only make things worse.
"If it happens, it happens. That's the nature of combat," the red-head replied with that same rigid, remorseless tone, "But I don't have any interest in involving outsiders. The White Moon are my enemy, the rest of you are nothing." There was no condescension in the words, they were stated as a matter of simple fact. To him that's exactly what they were...with the possible exception of Jamie. The boy wasn't so bad. "I'll make an effort to keep you out of it; is that what you want to hear?"
Jamie shot the man a sidelong glance. "...it'd be a start," he said at last. Granted, he had no idea how trustworthy the man was, and his words didn't sound terribly sincere...but Jamie supposed he didn't have much of a choice in the matter; if the man did have Guardian-level powers, Jamie couldn't exactly do much to stop him from wreaking havoc anyway. He sighed quietly.
The soft sigh and the averted glance that followed, for whatever reason, struck the soldier with precision, a tiny flicker of guilt shooting through him. Rubeus found himself clenching and unclenching his jaw for a short time as they continued on in silence, mutely grappling with the idea of an apology. Finally, with a faint touch of flustered anxiety, he snapped, "Fine. Fine, I said. You won't be involved. So stop with the moping over there."
The man's tone elicited another, more alarmed look, one that faded gradually into bewilderment as his words sunk in. Jamie blinked at the man for a moment, a little indignant at the accusation of 'moping' - and a touch embarrassed that he'd been called on it, by a total stranger, no less. Reddening a bit, he started to shy away, out of reflex; he forced himself instead to straighten up a little, not quite meeting the man's gaze but no longer staring at the ground either.
"Okay, then," he said, and though his tone was little more than a mutter, his voice was steady. "I'd appreciate that."
"...You should," the words were laced with what was, plainly, dishonest agitation. Rubeus didn't mind Jamie's presence, really, but he certainly wasn't about to let the young man get the wrong impression. He had no time for new loyalties; not while his mission went on incomplete, his Prince unavenged and his enemies unpunished. It was a simiple matter of repaying his debt, right? He looked forward again, crimson eyes staring hard at nothing in particular. After a time, he asked bluntly, "Where do you say we were heading?"
"The middle of the village," Jamie replied. "We're almost there." They were nearing the end of the shops and other buildings of the island's "business district"; the rows of huts were visible not too far away. Jamie levelled his companion a slightly contemplative sidelong glance. "Unless you just wanna...teleport the rest of the way by yourself," he added, making a little flicking gesture with one hand.
The soldier cracked a small smirk at Jamie's offer, the expression summoned forth both by the accompanying gesture and the words themselves. "Trying to abandon your responsibilities as a guide already? How shameful." Though delivered with the same derisive tone as usual, Rubeus' words were not barbed, not cruel or hateful as they almost always seemed to be. A joke? ...Possibly. But it seemed like a long shot.
Jamie hurriedly looked away again, squaring his jaw as he stared straight ahead. "'m not abandoning anything," he said, speaking above a mutter only so that he wouldn't be accused of moping again. "What's your name?" he asked then, switching topics. He'd need to know it to find the man's name on the hut listing, anyway.
Rubeus gave Jamie's averted eyes and abrupt change of topic little thought, not missing a beat as the request for his name was made. The boy had, he rationalized silently, told him enough. Requesting that he give a simple thing like his name was not too unreasonable a demand. "Crimson Rubeus."
The teen nodded, the unusual name giving him little pause. "I'm Jamie Hemeros," he responded, simply out of habit as the situation demanded. "Nice to meet you," he added after only the briefest of hesitations.
The custom, it seemed, was one with which Rubeus was quite unfamiliar. He turned his dark eyes to Jamie, raising a thin, blood-colored eyebrow and asking quite sincerely, "Why do you say that?"
Jamie blinked and stared back. Rubeus' question seemed honest enough, but having only just met the man Jamie couldn't be sure if he was teasing him or not. He shrugged a little uneasily. "You haven't done anything...bad yet," he replied. Insinuated that he might, yes; actually done so, no.
The confusion did not budge from his expression and Rubeus soon gave up on the comprehension of, what seemed to him, a strangely optimistic custom. He could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes, instead replying flatly, "Not much of a reason."
Jamie shrugged with just a touch of annoyance. "'s just...what people do," he said. "Introduce themselves and say 'nice to meet you.' It's polite."
The agitation that rested beneath Jamie's movements and words seemed to stir a small fragment of the same in Rubeus himself and the Black Moon soldier crossed his arms tightly, snapping with sarcasm streaming from his words, "You'll have to forgive me. Nemesis is not a place of pleasantries."
With a name like that, Jamie sort of guessed as much. He stifled another sigh. "I was just explaining," he said, trying not to let irritation seep into his tone. "You looked...confused." Rubeus probably had been mocking him, then, after all.
"Of course I was confused," Rubeus replied, his folded arms still held close to his chest and his features hiding their faint embarrassment at not understanding behind a scowl, "It's an absurd thing to say to an absolute stranger." They were coming into the village a moment later, the unfamiliar huts drawing weary, sharp glances from the former soldier as they made their way to the domineering board mounted among them. He hated the idea of such a mundane and simple object holding sway over his future.
Jamie was just as glad they were nearing their destination; the man's snark and veiled intents of violence were making Jamie uneasy, regardless of how beat-up Rubeus happened to look. He led the way to the bulletin board and scanned the list of housing assignments for Rubeus' name - realizing with dismay, as he did so, that the Guardians' names were likewise displayed for anyone to see, undermining Jamie's previous attempts to keep their presence a secret. He guessed Rubeus probably would have found out on his own anyway, if he was truly determined to finish his "business" with them, though.
"You're in hut fourteen," he said, pointing it out on the list. "That's over this way." Two buildings removed from Jamie's own hut, in fact, the teen noted as he started in that direction.
Rubeus lingered near the board a moment longer as Jamie began to step away, his dark eyes locked upon the listings. The young pilot had been right to find discomfort in the blatantly displayed list. Uranus. Neptune. Pluto. Artemis. Luna. He noted the absence of Venus with a faint, somewhat perplexed scowl, but shrugged the minor setback off and soon cracked small smirk. Once he felled an ally or two of hers, she would not be able to stay away. If nothing else, they were loyal...at least to their sisters in arms. Tucking the numbers away in his memory, he turned to follow the boy, radiating a renewed energy of vigor and hate and confidence that even managed to make the idle response of, "Fourteen, you said?" sound unintentionally dark.
Jamie hesitated at the comment - or rather, at the tone in which it was delivered - just a momentary hitch in his step before he glanced a little worriedly over his shoulder at Rubeus. "...right," he said, with a sinking feeling that Rubeus had noticed and recognized the Guardians' names and was planning something accordingly.
"Lead the way." The comment was similarly detached and absent, lined with thoughtlessly jagged edges seeping out from the dark thoughts that crowded Rubeus' head....Jamie was the farthest thing from his mind now and it showed. It seemed increasingly likely that the young man's intuition was fully accurate once again, though he would have preferred to be wrong.
The teen paused on the front step of Rubeus' assigned hut, fidgeting a little. He wanted to say something to discourage the man from trying to cause trouble, but he knew any admonitions would fall on deaf ears; Rubeus seemed wholly devoted to carrying out his self-imposed mission, a determination that would have been admirable if it didn't promise chaos and destruction. He sighed quietly and made an aimless gesture at the front door. "Well, this's it. Your room's probably the only empty one..."
Where: hangar and around the village
When: backdated - October 31
Warnings: some language from Rubeus
Summary: Exhausted from roaming the island, Rubeus needs a place to rest...which results in Jamie finding a bedraggled stranger in the cockpit of his Zoid.
Despite Rubeus' efforts over the days of his absence, finding a way home had proven impossible and the island seemed unwilling to share any of its unnatural secrets with him, leaving the young insurgent in the position that had been laid out before him from the very beginning: he was stranded, stuck on this miserable pile of sand and stone. And so, the morning of the Halloween party had brought with it the reluctant return of the worn and distraught soldier of the Black Moon...not that he had any intention of announcing his less than triumphant advent. Instead, he'd opted to take up temporary shelter in the first of the island's many unfamiliar buildings that met his path: the massive, metallic affair that most would deem the hangar. After swiping the remnants of a meal left unattended by some unfortunate pilot or mechanic, he'd sought out a room to rest his head. Finding nothing but storage closets, none of which were large enough to accommodate anyone of his size comfortably, he'd eventually made himself at home in the cockpit of one of many bizarre machines that occupied the space, gaining entry by means of teleportation. Strange though they seemed, condensed versions of something akin to the ship he'd once made use of himself, the choice proved to be a wise one, giving him exactly what he felt he needed: silence, isolation and protection. At least his powers hadn't become completely obsolete in this place.
Completely unaware of any of this, Jamie made his way into the hangar, flicked a cursory glance at the Raynos, retrieved his toolbox (and scattered tools) from the gantry beside the green Zoid, and then headed for the Geno Saurer. Mild annoyance at his alter's constant use and shoddy care of the tools rapidly dissipated as the teen climbed onto the elevator platform beside the Geno and rode it up to the Zoid's cockpit. The hatch slid open automatically, as it always did, and Jamie was about to lean in when he noticed something amiss - namely, that there was someone in the cockpit already. Quite unprepared for this, Jamie recoiled hurriedly in surprise and uttered a startled squawk.
The red-haired young man that occupied the hulking machine's internal opening, looking worse for wear and thoroughly exhausted, did not stir even upon the opening of the hatch or Jamie's awkward, quiet squeak, leaving the pilot alone with his shock and his rapidly beating heart and a healthy dose of confusion.
For a moment or two Jamie just...stared, as the initial wave of alarm subsided. The man in the cockpit seemed completely dead to the world, having not responded in the slightest to the hatch opening; Jamie supposed it was better than the man lashing out at him in surprise, though. And speaking of dead, he didn't look so good. There were surely better places for the stranger to recuperate than the cramped cockpit of a Zoid.
The teen chewed his lip for a moment, started to reach out to shake the man's knee, thought better of it and instead called out, loudly enough to hopefully penetrate the other's slumber: "Hey."
Though he did not snap awake or return to the waking world with any quickness, Rubeus' brows drew in faintly at this deliberate sound, crinkling the flesh beneath that bizarre black symbol that rested so predominantly upon his forehead, and his eyelids trembled faintly before slowly beginning to open. His eyes, typically sharp and vibrant, seemed glazed over with sleep and stared up at Jamie for a few thoughtless moments before his mind began to register the event. His expression contorted suddenly into one of hard distrust...though it didn't seem entirely honest.
Jamie watched, brow furrowed, as the stranger seemed to slowly regain his senses; at the sudden steely look, he blinked. Though Jamie felt he was the one who had more right to glare (climbing into someone else's machine was just bad form, after all), and he wondered what'd possessed the man to stake out the Geno's cockpit for his little nap, he supposed he couldn't blame the guy for looking a little suspicious. Anyway, whatever indignation Jamie'd felt initially at the man's intrusion into his Zoid was rapidly disappearing; he couldn't help but feel just a little sorry for him, regardless of the situation.
"You okay?" he asked. "'f you need help, um...there's a first aid station I can take you to..."
Despite Jamie's good intentions, the comment seemed to summon a renewed tension, even agitation, in Rubeus, who began almost immediately to force himself forward onto weary legs and unsteady feet, "I'm fine. And I've had my fill of that place regardless."
"Uh - oh." Jamie drew back a little at the undercurrent of upset in the man's tone and movements; how long had this guy been on the island, then, if he'd already been in the first-aid station? "Well, um..." He fidgeted a bit. "Still. You don't...look all that 'fine'. You should probably go somewhere to rest, anyway." Somewhere that wasn't the cockpit of his Zoid, preferably. Then again, given how woozy the guy seemed to be - noticeable despite his obvious efforts to hide it - Jamie wondered if he had the stamina to climb down.
"What do you think I was doing?" The severity of the soldier's tone was beginning to wane, though whether by conscious decision or simple exhaustion was hard to say. He steadied himself briefly by placing a callused palm against the mechanical beast's surface before adding, "You want me out, I'm leaving. So what do you care what I do?"
"Wul - any particular reason you were resting here?" Jamie asked. "I mean, don't you have a hut yet? If you don't, uh...I could help you find...somewhere to stay that's more comfortable than this." He watched the man carefully, unsure whether or not any movements to help him would be met with hostility.
Rubeus was in process of opening his lips to respond, with matter-of-fact agitation, that the hangar offered little in the way of resting space when Jamie made mention of the living arrangements to which he still remained completely oblivious. The confusion that graced his features, particularly in combination with his partially parted lips, created a strangely humorous expression for the often intimidating soldier. "...a hut?"
The man's belligerently confused expression only made him seem more pitiable, somehow. "Everyone that ends up here gets assigned to a hut," Jamie explained. "You have to share with three other people, but you get your own room, at least. 's a little nicer to sleep in than the hangar." He shifted a bit, still wary about moving towards the stranger, and offered just a little reluctantly, "...I can take you to see which one's yours, if you want."
's a little nicer to sleep in than the hangar. Slowly, the man cracked a small, dry smile and tucked his hands into the pockets of his dirty camouflage pants, seeming steady for moment, "...Not saying much, is it?" The offer that followed seemed to be a genuine surprise, but he was quick to rein in his features and regain a sort of stiff detachment. "Yeah...fine."
Jamie nodded, feeling a bit more at ease now that the other man seemed to be relaxing a little, too. "There's a board in the middle of the village that has hut assignments and stuff on it," he said, moving to the control panel the corner of the elevator platform on which they both stood, preparing to lower it to the floor of the hangar. "...you might wanna hang onto something," he added, glancing over at the other man.
Between a glance down to Jamie's hands, which had settled upon the platform's alien controls, and the younger man's words, Rubeus had no doubt about the meaning of the warning. He responded with an absent shrug, then disappeared in a dark flicker to await the pilot's arrival on the ground. Perhaps it was an act of impatience...or perhaps he silently shared the same concerns of the pilot, unwilling to trust the strength of his tired form against the trembling crawl of the platform.
Watching to ensure the redhead had secured himself before activating the platform, Jamie recoiled as the man suddenly vanished. He glanced around the hangar and then peered over the railing of the platform down at the floor, where the man was waiting nonchalantly. So the guy could teleport. Jamie's look flattened a bit as he lowered the platform, though by the time he'd reached ground level he'd managed to assume a neutral expression once again. Stepping off, he gestured towards the bay doors. "'s this way," he said, leading off at an easy pace.
Whether he noticed Jamie's fluctuating expression or not, it didn't seem to faze the depleted redhead, still trying very much to appear more strong and sturdy than he actually was. As the pilot led the way, Rubeus fell into step beside him, remaining silent until they emerged beyond the doors and headed out into the heavy sunlight. "...Is it true what they're saying? That nobody has ever found a way off this miserable island?"
"Mn, pretty much." Jamie's brow creased a little as he thought of his own ill-fated attempt to go home, over two years ago. "A couple of people've gone and then come back, but not by their own will or anything. 's just something that...happens." Or something that a smirking mazoku did to screw around with you, as had happened to Duo...
Even without looking at him, Jamie could practically feel the heat radiating off of the former-soldier, hear the anger twisting his features and causing his jaw to clench. On this occasion, at least, the rage was not aimed at him, but at some abstract idea Rubeus could not even put a name to as he hissed tightly under his breath, "...It's fucked up. This whole mess..."
The teen shied away from the other man's palpable anger and, almost totally out of reflex, began trying to pinpoint his most likely escape routes, having no desire to be at ground zero if the guy suddenly decided to snap and take out his rage on anything within arm's reach. "Well...yeah," he ventured cautiously, casting an uneasy glance at the other. "Nobody's here 'cause they wanna be. 's just...something everyone has to live with." He doubted that this particular individual was going to be easily placated wtih any attempts to convince him of the island's good points.
The anger remained, but gradually seemed to go cold, calculated, sharp. Rubeus did not look to Jamie, but rather kept his crimson eyes upon the scattered sands and gravel that made up the path upon which they strode. "I don't think I'll stay long."
"...what makes you say that?" Jamie asked, a little dubiously. Though the stranger seemed to have reined in his fury a little, Jamie still thought it might be wisest to refrain from pointing out that the guy didn't have much choice about staying or leaving.
Strangely, this seemed to earn a small amount of amusement from the stern man, who cracked a faint smile as he shook his head, "...What a stupid question. Despite this detour, my fate still rests in my own hands." Rubeus paused briefly as they continued, looking momentarily skyward, a small, peculiar nostalgia peaking out on the edges of his words. "So far as I understand it...I should be dead. My compatriots are dead. I will wrap up some unfinished business and then put things back on track."
At this Jamie shot the other man a sidelong glance. Another dead guy, huh. "Well...yeah, I guess that could be true. No way to really tell for sure." He shrugged and then, after a pause and somewhat against his better judgment, asked, "What kinda...'unfinished business' do you have to do?"
"...There is no doubt," Rubeus reassured him stiffly, taking no pleasure in it. It had taken some time for the memory to return to him, but now that it had, his fate was spelled out plainly. The question that followed was unexpected, an act of bravery that seemed near unnatural in the somewhat docile young man in his company, and he took a brief moment to consider it. "First...tell me what you know about 'Sailor Senshi'."
'Senshi' was an unfamiliar term to Jamie, but he recognized the first word well enough. "You mean like Guardians?" he asked, brow furrowing again. "Uh...why d'you wanna know...? I mean, what are they to you?"
Guardians. The term itself seemed enough to send a small, intense wave of hate through Rubeus. No guardian worthy of their title would do to anyone what was done to them. "Tell me what you know," he replied with impatience and obvious frustration, "and I will answer."
Jamie hesitated, unnerved by the other's tone and sudden tension, and once again cast an uneasy glance around for possible escape routes. He contemplated throwing out some of the more useless data he'd obtained on the Guardians - like that they were all women or all named after planets - but he suspected that offering such transparently flimsy information would only make his companion angrier. Better give him something with a little meat to it, then.
"I...know that they have weird...powers. That one of 'em has the ability to send people to, uh, other dimensions, or something. Bad dimensions," he added, on the off chance the irritable redhead might seek Pluto out and try to force her to send him home or something. "Noplace anyone'd wanna go, I don't think."
"I know all that," Rubeus was quick to shoot back. If he were thinking more clearly, perhaps he would realize the miscommunication was no fault of Jamie's, but he was not and did not. "Which of them are here? How many?" The blonde he'd encountered on the beach had mentioned a few of them, but...he needed confirmation. Not all of them would be so foolish as Venus had been and come looking for him.
Yeep. The guy'd chewed up the bone Jamie'd thrown him and was barking away for more already. "I...dunno how many are here, exactly. Not anymore, I mean. People just...come and go, remember? Hard to keep track of who's still here and who's not." Jamie had no idea who this guy was or what his apparent beef with the Guardians was, but if he was actively attempting to seek them out on the pretext of resolving some undisclosed "unfinished business", he probably had the powers to follow through, regardless of his present condition. Unless he was just an amazingly overconfident idiot, in which case Jamie still wasn't sure it was fair to send him marching off to face someone like Uranus.
Good intentions aside, the words did little to satisfy Rubeus, whose dark eyes turned their glare back to the ground as he muttered irritably under his breath, "Useless." Though he suspected Jamie knew more than he was saying, he wasn't certain enough to turn what little energy he had left on the stranger, particularly when he had, for whatever reason, come to his aid. His fists clenched hard in his pockets. "...They're not who you think they are, you know. They are not righteous, they are not good. It's all pretense."
Jamie let out a breath as the flare of temper subsided once again. He wasn't entirely sure what to say in response to this latest comment; insisting that his experiences with the Guardians had (for the most part) been at least non-detrimental probably wasn't going to do much to keep the redhead calm, but asking why the man felt as he did seemed likely to produce the same result. "Well, what would you do if you did run into 'em here?" he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral. "They might be too much for you to take on all by yourself, and there's a lot of people here that don't exactly appreciate other people causing trouble."
Unlike the question, the warning seemed to fall upon deaf, or perhaps willfully ignorant, ears, and the redhead replied in a plain, uncompromising tone, "My Prince is dead because of them. It's my duty to return the favor." Despair tugged briefly and subtly at his features as he thought of Demande, despite his best efforts to hide it. The man had deserved better. He had always deserved better.
Jamie - watching carefully, though surreptitiously, for any more visual cues suggesting forthcoming violence - noted the brief twitch of emotion, though, as subdued as it was, Jamie wasn't entirely sure how to interpret it. He frowned and chewed his lip, mulling over the best way to respond. "...maybe 'duty' doesn't have a whole lot of meaning here. Maybe the reason you're here is to, I dunno...let go and move on." Jamie wasn't sure he actually believed that, himself, but it seemed the least incendiary thing he could offer, short of keeping his mouth shut altogether.
The words brought on a simultaneous rush of indignant anger and sudden, hollow desolation. Without his purpose, without his vengeance...what did he even have left? Rubeus' brows drew inward, his sharp face contorting in a way that seemed impossible to decipher. His own response was stiff and hard, "Hmph. You don't know anything."
"I know that there's a lot of people here that don't wanna get caught in the crossfire if some big fight breaks out," Jamie said, still trying to keep his tone even. Getting snappish with this guy wouldn't accomplish anything. Well, neither would talking calmly, given the way their conversation had gone thus far, but flying off the handle would undoubtedly only make things worse.
"If it happens, it happens. That's the nature of combat," the red-head replied with that same rigid, remorseless tone, "But I don't have any interest in involving outsiders. The White Moon are my enemy, the rest of you are nothing." There was no condescension in the words, they were stated as a matter of simple fact. To him that's exactly what they were...with the possible exception of Jamie. The boy wasn't so bad. "I'll make an effort to keep you out of it; is that what you want to hear?"
Jamie shot the man a sidelong glance. "...it'd be a start," he said at last. Granted, he had no idea how trustworthy the man was, and his words didn't sound terribly sincere...but Jamie supposed he didn't have much of a choice in the matter; if the man did have Guardian-level powers, Jamie couldn't exactly do much to stop him from wreaking havoc anyway. He sighed quietly.
The soft sigh and the averted glance that followed, for whatever reason, struck the soldier with precision, a tiny flicker of guilt shooting through him. Rubeus found himself clenching and unclenching his jaw for a short time as they continued on in silence, mutely grappling with the idea of an apology. Finally, with a faint touch of flustered anxiety, he snapped, "Fine. Fine, I said. You won't be involved. So stop with the moping over there."
The man's tone elicited another, more alarmed look, one that faded gradually into bewilderment as his words sunk in. Jamie blinked at the man for a moment, a little indignant at the accusation of 'moping' - and a touch embarrassed that he'd been called on it, by a total stranger, no less. Reddening a bit, he started to shy away, out of reflex; he forced himself instead to straighten up a little, not quite meeting the man's gaze but no longer staring at the ground either.
"Okay, then," he said, and though his tone was little more than a mutter, his voice was steady. "I'd appreciate that."
"...You should," the words were laced with what was, plainly, dishonest agitation. Rubeus didn't mind Jamie's presence, really, but he certainly wasn't about to let the young man get the wrong impression. He had no time for new loyalties; not while his mission went on incomplete, his Prince unavenged and his enemies unpunished. It was a simiple matter of repaying his debt, right? He looked forward again, crimson eyes staring hard at nothing in particular. After a time, he asked bluntly, "Where do you say we were heading?"
"The middle of the village," Jamie replied. "We're almost there." They were nearing the end of the shops and other buildings of the island's "business district"; the rows of huts were visible not too far away. Jamie levelled his companion a slightly contemplative sidelong glance. "Unless you just wanna...teleport the rest of the way by yourself," he added, making a little flicking gesture with one hand.
The soldier cracked a small smirk at Jamie's offer, the expression summoned forth both by the accompanying gesture and the words themselves. "Trying to abandon your responsibilities as a guide already? How shameful." Though delivered with the same derisive tone as usual, Rubeus' words were not barbed, not cruel or hateful as they almost always seemed to be. A joke? ...Possibly. But it seemed like a long shot.
Jamie hurriedly looked away again, squaring his jaw as he stared straight ahead. "'m not abandoning anything," he said, speaking above a mutter only so that he wouldn't be accused of moping again. "What's your name?" he asked then, switching topics. He'd need to know it to find the man's name on the hut listing, anyway.
Rubeus gave Jamie's averted eyes and abrupt change of topic little thought, not missing a beat as the request for his name was made. The boy had, he rationalized silently, told him enough. Requesting that he give a simple thing like his name was not too unreasonable a demand. "Crimson Rubeus."
The teen nodded, the unusual name giving him little pause. "I'm Jamie Hemeros," he responded, simply out of habit as the situation demanded. "Nice to meet you," he added after only the briefest of hesitations.
The custom, it seemed, was one with which Rubeus was quite unfamiliar. He turned his dark eyes to Jamie, raising a thin, blood-colored eyebrow and asking quite sincerely, "Why do you say that?"
Jamie blinked and stared back. Rubeus' question seemed honest enough, but having only just met the man Jamie couldn't be sure if he was teasing him or not. He shrugged a little uneasily. "You haven't done anything...bad yet," he replied. Insinuated that he might, yes; actually done so, no.
The confusion did not budge from his expression and Rubeus soon gave up on the comprehension of, what seemed to him, a strangely optimistic custom. He could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes, instead replying flatly, "Not much of a reason."
Jamie shrugged with just a touch of annoyance. "'s just...what people do," he said. "Introduce themselves and say 'nice to meet you.' It's polite."
The agitation that rested beneath Jamie's movements and words seemed to stir a small fragment of the same in Rubeus himself and the Black Moon soldier crossed his arms tightly, snapping with sarcasm streaming from his words, "You'll have to forgive me. Nemesis is not a place of pleasantries."
With a name like that, Jamie sort of guessed as much. He stifled another sigh. "I was just explaining," he said, trying not to let irritation seep into his tone. "You looked...confused." Rubeus probably had been mocking him, then, after all.
"Of course I was confused," Rubeus replied, his folded arms still held close to his chest and his features hiding their faint embarrassment at not understanding behind a scowl, "It's an absurd thing to say to an absolute stranger." They were coming into the village a moment later, the unfamiliar huts drawing weary, sharp glances from the former soldier as they made their way to the domineering board mounted among them. He hated the idea of such a mundane and simple object holding sway over his future.
Jamie was just as glad they were nearing their destination; the man's snark and veiled intents of violence were making Jamie uneasy, regardless of how beat-up Rubeus happened to look. He led the way to the bulletin board and scanned the list of housing assignments for Rubeus' name - realizing with dismay, as he did so, that the Guardians' names were likewise displayed for anyone to see, undermining Jamie's previous attempts to keep their presence a secret. He guessed Rubeus probably would have found out on his own anyway, if he was truly determined to finish his "business" with them, though.
"You're in hut fourteen," he said, pointing it out on the list. "That's over this way." Two buildings removed from Jamie's own hut, in fact, the teen noted as he started in that direction.
Rubeus lingered near the board a moment longer as Jamie began to step away, his dark eyes locked upon the listings. The young pilot had been right to find discomfort in the blatantly displayed list. Uranus. Neptune. Pluto. Artemis. Luna. He noted the absence of Venus with a faint, somewhat perplexed scowl, but shrugged the minor setback off and soon cracked small smirk. Once he felled an ally or two of hers, she would not be able to stay away. If nothing else, they were loyal...at least to their sisters in arms. Tucking the numbers away in his memory, he turned to follow the boy, radiating a renewed energy of vigor and hate and confidence that even managed to make the idle response of, "Fourteen, you said?" sound unintentionally dark.
Jamie hesitated at the comment - or rather, at the tone in which it was delivered - just a momentary hitch in his step before he glanced a little worriedly over his shoulder at Rubeus. "...right," he said, with a sinking feeling that Rubeus had noticed and recognized the Guardians' names and was planning something accordingly.
"Lead the way." The comment was similarly detached and absent, lined with thoughtlessly jagged edges seeping out from the dark thoughts that crowded Rubeus' head....Jamie was the farthest thing from his mind now and it showed. It seemed increasingly likely that the young man's intuition was fully accurate once again, though he would have preferred to be wrong.
The teen paused on the front step of Rubeus' assigned hut, fidgeting a little. He wanted to say something to discourage the man from trying to cause trouble, but he knew any admonitions would fall on deaf ears; Rubeus seemed wholly devoted to carrying out his self-imposed mission, a determination that would have been admirable if it didn't promise chaos and destruction. He sighed quietly and made an aimless gesture at the front door. "Well, this's it. Your room's probably the only empty one..."