[ Open // Signius' Night Out ]

[bladeinthedark]

Method: [action/prose]
Who: Signius Dremire and anyone else.
Where: Around the Sleipnir (like with Allen's post, just say where)
When: January 23, Evening
What: Signius' awakens and decides that maybe -- MAYBE -- he should get a better look around the ship.

Comments

Floor 2 | Dining area (Most awkwardest of meetings, go? XD)

[sublimated]

Kanda, too, had awoken early in the evening, before the sun had fully set. Or perhaps it was not quite right to say that he'd awoken.

Having found his way (not without some guidance and subtle herding) to a quiet corner of one of the dormitories, he had lain for a while on the bed, still clothed and on top of the covers, battle-weary and fatigued. But his mind was still too stunned and haggard for real sleep. Mostly he had just spent several unmoving hours staring at the wall.

Eventually though, he had gotten up and wandered vaguely around the ship, not really exploring--he wasn't curious enough or deliberate enough to be exploring. He had found his way up to the dining area and from there to one of the viewing bays at its side, and even though he hadn't eaten in a long time, he had opted to simply stand at the window looking out over the now-dusky landscape.

He was still clad, as he had been upon arrival, in the torn and tattered remains of his uniform: his chest was bare, his clothes having been blasted away like the layers of skin and sinew from his bones. But though he had healed from that wound, there were still the telltale traces all over him of a battle not long ended, grit and dried blood on his skin, and his long hair (a strange pale purple color) falling in loose tangles over his shoulders.

He had no weapons on him now, but from the way he held himself, even in this world-weary state, he clearly was no less a fighter for that.

Woo! Let them stare awkwardly into the distance!

[bladeinthedark]

Signius saw Kanda from the doorway and paused there, watching the man for a moment. He stood in silent contemplation, before the light clinking of mail brushing against leather gave away he was moving.

He wasn't a very talkative man. Sure at one point in his life he had been, but the paranoia and threat that someone might come and cleave his head from his neck had silenced him pretty well. He stepped up to the window a few feet away, looking out at the horizon as well.

This probably went on for five minutes or so, the silence. He would speak eventually, his voice soft and low, barely above a whisper. "Warrior."

[sublimated]

The gathering dark of the landscape outside and the light within turned the windowpanes gradually from clear glass to mirror as the two men stood in silence.

Where first Kanda had been looking out at the landscape, the passing minutes superimposed his own reflection onto the tableau, and though he would have liked to, he could not prevent his eyes from focusing on it, this image of himself that was so unlike the face he recognized in his own mirror.

The two simple syllables spoken by the newcomer broke over this fugue state, a hailing that the swordsman could not fail to answer. In the mirror of the bay's windowpane, his gaze shifted and he looked at the other through the glass. He would not, now, have wanted to look at him straight on. But with the intervening surface mediating between them, there came some small inkling of Kanda's usual intensity and his firm, unyielding confidence.

Through the reflection, Kanda met the man's gaze as an equal, recognizing in the tone the word had been spoken, another who for whom it was a name. And he was also quiet for a time, like hard ground that is slow in absorbing water after a storm.

At length he murmured a simple response which might have been acknowledgment, or agreement, or something in between, "Hn."

[bladeinthedark]

Men had their own language of grunts, one that had been used since the dawn of time. Signius understood in his own way, bowing his head slightly towards the window. It was a sign of respect towards the other even if he didn't turn to send it that way.

"You look like you've been through Hel itself and lived to tell about it." His face remained passive, though his stance shifted a bit. His entire body shifted into a more neutral stance, a bit less defensive. "Nothing is ever easy for us."

He'd felt it in the past, a bonding between knights who had seen battle. They didn't need to be from the same war, or the same army, but when stuck together when things got messy the bond linked them closer than even blood ties. It had been a long time since Signius had felt a tie to anyone or anything, having erected walls of stone and steel around his heart and emotions long ago. Yet deep within he knew that if any of what he learned this day was true, he would need to learn to trust some of the people on the ship.

It's not their trust you need to worry about, Signius. The voice in his head mocked. His eyes narrowed slightly at the voice in his head, though all he could see was his own reflection glaring back at him, and the mocking laughter of his subconscious.

[sublimated]

His expression veiled and inscrutable, Kanda watched the other man through the glass and was silent for a time. As an exorcist--in his world, an elite soldier of the Vatican--and more to the point, as a "second exorcist" created from the fallen dead, Kanda had a complicated relationship to Hell.

He had been taught, of course, of the fire and brimstone and eternal damnation, the sins and their punishments. He'd been taught, too, that he was an apostle of God, chosen for the salvation of mankind. It was the tale that the Church and the Order spun him as a child to secure his compliance, to make him more tractable as they hooked his body up to the Innocence, leaving it to blow his limbs apart and burst through his flesh again and again as they tried to force him to synchronize with it.

The number of times he must have died only to have his body heal itself so that he could be blasted into death again--there was no tallying the count. It had, for him, always been interminable.

The threat of eternal undying torment, pain and burning without end? That wasn't what came after life, it was what happened during it, and he had long since stopped believing the stories the Order told about divinity and the ways of God. Between Hell and life, there was no difference, and no deliverance or salvation was real, no matter who promised it.

Yet it was only now, after all the years of his life in which he'd fought for them, giving his blood in battle to their cause, that he had finally learned the extent of their deceit, their hypocrisy and treason against the very faith they claimed. And the truth was that he didn't care. He couldn't even have feigned surprise. It wasn't a loss of faith which had cast him so low.

He closed his eyes for a moment, his head bowing slightly. It wasn't a nod of assent, but in a way it was an acknowledgment.

And then, finally, he broke his long silence. The words coming out low in a cracked whisper that didn't carry well, since really he was speaking more to himself more than anyone: yes, he had lived to tell about it. But what he said was just, "I always do."

[bladeinthedark]

There was something about death that didn't bother Signius, though it could be the fact that he never saw the halls of Valhalla nor the cracked ground of Helheim when he had been killed. There had been no valkyries to take him, no hands reaching out of the ground to drag him to his final resting place... he had simply ceased to be.

He had then awoke coughing blood and water, alone and cold on the bank of a river miles from where he'd died. He'd lost his country and was betrayed by those he'd done unthinkable for, and not even the Gods nor Demons wanted anything to do with him. In life he'd been exiled because of what he had done, and in death he was not wanted either.

Signius Dremire no longer feared death. He knew that at least for him, it was little more than the final darkness, an eternal night without stars.

The other man looked like he'd had better days, though most of them likely had. He wouldn't ask what had happened -- a courtesy he did, in all honesty, for himself. He did not want to have to answer that question in kind. Instead, Signius turned only slightly to give more attention to the other.

"Signius." He'd finally say. Most people would have held out a hand, though Signius only bowed his head ever-so-slightly.

[sublimated]

It was good that there was no hand extended in greeting--Kanda wouldn't have taken it. Even at the best of times he seldom deigned to shake hands with anyone, just as he seldom bothered with any other niceties or politeness. And this certainly was not the best of times.

It certainly wasn't politeness that drove him now either. He never gave a damn how rude he was since he was never interested in making friends, and would just as soon alienate people than build any kind of camaraderie with them. But the swordsman also had his pride and his honor. He conducted himself so as to be answerable to those values. And he had never shamed himself by disguising his identity or failing to give his name when it was asked for.

His eyes still closed, he swallowed hard and clenched his jaw against the hollow emptiness in his chest, the space where everything he felt he knew about himself and what drove him in life had once been. So little was left there now. A few tattered threads hanging from the ragged edges of the void, and yet it was this wreck out of which he would have to drag himself.

But there was already one strand to cling to, wasn't there: I always do. That's just how I operate. And from there, he could grab hold of another.

Say your name, something in him demanded, and he forced his mouth to do it.

"Kanda," he said without turning, his voice managing to disguise how the syllables felt like ash against his tongue.

[bladeinthedark]

A silence settled again for a moment, which didn't phase him any. Signius wasn't certain how talkative he really was, but it beat the lingering taste of that on his tongue. He involuntarily shivered, the mail on his armor rustling with barely a whisper when he did.

"They say we are going to be in this place for some time." His face fell into a slightly irritated expression, though he finally turned so his back was to the window. There was little left to see this night other than his own reflection, and even he did not wish to see himself right now. Leaning against the wall beside the window, he continued. "We are not prisoners, but it sounds as if it would be foolish to try to leave."

He would leave out the part where Kaite explained that they were originally sent to kill the group. That was probably for the best. He folded his arms over his chest, tapping his armored side with his fingertips.

[sublimated]

Kanda had heard this same discussion, or at least some part of it, between people in the hut that morning. Allen had talked to two men, one of them with a wolf, and some fragments had filtered in through the stunned fog of Kanda's brain. But he hadn't found it in himself to care then, and he didn't find that he cared now.

Though he was certain that the Order would have seen it differently, he had nowhere now that he felt he should be, no purpose to drive him on or pull him up. What he had instead was an answer to a question he had searched for all his life, and now that the answer had ceased to satisfy, he couldn't help but feel that even the question had somehow failed him. He didn't want to leave, though, because he didn't have anywhere that he wanted to go.

So now he did return to his silence, offering neither word nor gesture in reply, his eyes traveling back to the glass and trying to see something beyond it, something besides the image of himself it cast back.

/thread invasion >:)

[crossgraved]

There had been a particular plan of action Allen had in mind since their arrival on the ship and thus far it had gone pretty well--he had managed to get a sense of the ship's layout while Kanda had been watching the view, he'd returned to find Kanda where Allen had left him, and then--after a little while spent sharing in the desert air--he had lead Kanda to an empty dormitory to rest. The next step of the plan was to find something for them to eat.

But the plan didn't continue as smoothly when Allen found himself blinking awake, sitting up and finding that the bed Kanda had been on was empty. A kind of cold dread swept over him as he left his own bed quickly in search of his fellow exorcist. It was a panicked kind of search and he almost ran straight past him as Allen swept through the dining area, but something made him stop.

His footsteps stilled as he looked over to the windowed area, staring quietly at Kanda and then at the company he was in. Allen had seen the other man in passing, but didn't yet know his name. The momentary relief of locating his comrade began to slowly shift to concern given the encounters Kanda had experienced on this ship so far. Hopefully the man beside him wasn't about to start casting spells on him.

Cautiously, the white-haired boy began to walk over, presenting a polite smile and raising a hand in greeting.

"Good evening, sir," he said in a friendly but quiet voice "Have you been keeping my teammate company, or the other way around?"

oh noes

[bladeinthedark]

The knight's gaze snapped to the new man in the room and instantly began scanning him for any sort of danger. It was an unfortunate side-effect of paranoia; just because because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an assassin willing to take your life. Of course, then the man spoke and everything clicked.

He dipped his head slightly in return, glancing back over to Kanda from the edge of his vision. The two didn't seem like a likely duo, but perhaps that was how things were wherever they were from. "Something of the sorts."

:o A wild Allen has appeared! Quick, throw a pokeball.

[sublimated]

Kanda's expression didn't shift when Allen entered. There wasn't even a twitch of the frown that usually accompanied him hearing the other exorcist's voice. He doesn't know what Allen is thinking, and he doesn't care. Nor does he care to wonder what judgments his new acquaintance must be making of either of them.

He doesn't want any more or less to do with Allen right now than he does with Signius, and he doesn't even find relief in the idea that the two conversing might remove some pressure from him to do so. He doesn't care enough about social pressure or convention for it to matter. To judge by his reaction, Allen might as well not have come in at all.

/wiggle. wiggle. wiggle. POP! Try a stronger pokeball >(

[crossgraved]

The way the man stood beside Kanda turned that look on Allen made him pause and feel briefly like he'd touched on a sore topic or came in at a bad time. Allen certainly didn't look like an assassin, a fighter like Kanda, but not one that would be posing this knight any danger. He smiled nervously, trying to relax himself again.

His gaze flickered briefly to Kanda, not terribly surprised or shocked by his silence and lack of response to Allen's presence, before he looked back to the older man beside them.

"You were in that cell with us this morning, right? So then you weren't part of this crew originally," he paused, smiling faintly as he offered a hand in greeting--very unlike Kanda through and through "I'm Allen, and this is Kanda."

Allen hadn't heard Kanda speak a word since they arrived there, as such he'd been giving introductions for the both of them to this point. Under that assumption he wasn't to know that this man had not only heard Kanda speak for himself, but had been given his name. "We're exorcists where we come from, but that seems to be something very different compared to here."

You forgot to hold Down + B :[

[bladeinthedark]

Older? He was hardly pushing his late 20s. Why, ignore his wrinkl--

He glanced curiously at Allen's hand, before he unfolded his arms and reached out to take it. He squeezed a bit, unsure as to whether his grip was too firm or not. What Allen couldn't realize was that this was the first human contact that Signius had had in years. Well, outside of being roughed up by the men in armor earlier that morning.

"Correct." He glanced back to Kanda from the corner of his vision before he nodded slightly. "I am Signius, though your friend has already introduced himself."

Somewhere deep inside, he wondered if exorcists in their world were like knights. He wouldn't ask that, of course, but he wondered it all the same. Would that make their knights into priests?

That probably explains it. Clearly I am shite as a pokemon master.

[sublimated]

The conversation washed over Kanda like a low tide breaking waves across his back. He let it flush against his skin, over his ears. But there was no roar of the sea to drown it out, and the words rolled off him like a slow erosion of stone, a gradual wearing down of jagged edges.

He supposed that Allen would make something of him having told Signius his name--probably, knowing Allen's foolishness, the wrong thing. Only Kanda didn't care what Allen thought of him now. He didn't care what Signius thought of him either. Or, for that matter, what kind of judgments--right or wrong--he might make about Kanda and Allen.

Clearly he'd already made one: Allen was not Kanda's friend. Kanda didn't keep friends. His comrade-in-arms; his teammate. Fine. But not his friend. That was something they had never been, and it hadn't occurred to Kanda to think that maybe that constant had changed now.

Becoming a pokemon master is like mastery of any other skill--it takes time and patience ;p

[crossgraved]

It was indeed true that Allen could have no way of knowing that Signius hadn't made contact with another person outside of something violent in a long time, but even so he didn't take the handshake for granted and the smile on his face widened further. Allen was likely in his midteens, but he wore the signs of someone used to combat obviously in his eyes, in the way he held himself, the manner that his body was toned. But on the other hand, he was still cheerful, still polite and still...rather English. Not that that particular nationality would have meant much to Signius...

"Eh?" Allen's trajectory of greeting was distracted by the information the knight had given him: Kanda had already introduced himself. Allen couldn't easily keep the surprise off his face as his eyes darted briefly to Kanda. He watched him in silence for a second then the smile returned, bright and masking any kind of complicated, potentially selfish, feelings that may have been present under the surface.

"Well, that's good to know; I was starting to worry. I'm very pleased to meet you, Signius.

"Have you had chance to explore the ship yourself yet?"