After he'd hastily changed into clothes that probably wouldn't have been too out of placy in Mos Eisley, considering the wear and tear on them, he'd been led out to a wheeled ground vehicle (of all things) by the man he was beginning to think off as "Stormtrooper Want-to-be Number One". All of his questions had been met with silent glares. At least he knew he was planetside again. And somewhere with snow.
Why was it always snow?
He sat down in one of the chairs and stared out the window. More "orderlies", more prisoners.
What the Hell did it all mean? And how was he going to get out of here?
As usual, the morning came and Ruby started awake with a gasp. Sitting up caused agony to shoot up through her chest and she grunted out a quiet noise of displeasure at it, hand flying to the front of her uniform where the doctor -- soldier? whichever -- had been digging around the previous night. There was still a hot, painful thrumming in her veins, like a thousand needles stabbing into her
( ... )
Well, Luke wouldn't have described it as self-pity. But that was neither here nor there. He glanced away from the window with a furrowed brow as he listened to the strange woman - a fellow prisoner, apparently. She seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, shifting around in her seat as she spoke. Curious.
"We're prisoners, right? How long have you been here? What do they want from us?" He jerked his head toward the "orderlies", pointing with his chin. "And who are they? Imperials? Or some mercenary group?"
He paused and then added, genuine concern underlying his tone, "Are you alright?"
Fresh meat. She shouldn't have been surprised by the jargon that came pouring out of his mouth -- not really. But, by the sound of it, he was some lost military brat from … what, exactly? She couldn't pinpoint a place in time where Imperials were a threat, since he sure as hell didn't look like he came out of any part of Asia.
"Peachy," she retorted quickly -- it was a little sharp, but Ruby wasn't the type of person who let people ask her if she was alright. She was a demon, she'd coped with worse than this and she wasn't going to let it cripple her now. Admitting otherwise was something that was never going to happen -- even if it meant warning this kid about what he'd stumbled into.
"Prison's a good word for it. Most days, they at least pretend to cover it up, call us patients of some cracked out hospital, but you're not checking out anytime soon, that's for sure. So abandon that hope right now." Not entirely true, considering she was pretty sure she was going to do a lot more good getting through to Sam and convincing
( ... )
Knowing who to thank for good fortune was tricky when you were a supreme, almighty being. If Kibitoshin had been just that little bit more arrogant, he'd have thanked himself for the way that night had ended just as things were starting to get tricky
( ... )
At last, she was finally out of those stuffy military uniforms; spending the entire day yesterday was a bit disturbing, but at least she stayed asleep during most of the afternoon and night. Both the uniform and the increase of military personnel's brought up some unpleasant memories that she didn't want to remember. And to top it off, that side of her was becoming restless.
If the head doctor is not in charge anymore, it should be easier to escape now. Everybody else is now part of an army, so it shouldn't be too hard now...I have too...all of-"MOVE IT GIRL. I SAID KEEP ON MOVING
( ... )
"Thank you, I'm Chise. And, um, nice to meet you," she replied. He didn't seem to be a rowdy or a mean type of guy, which was always a good feature in her book. In a way, he appeared to be just as friendly as Fai, except for the slight pointy ears; and wondered if he was an elf.
"I suppose we do match," she continued, pointing at her own sweater. "...well, mine sort of matches a little. It would've been better if it was a bear or if yours had a dolphin on it...N-Not saying that bumble bees aren't cute or anything!" Or calling his sweater ugly. Hopefully he wouldn't be offended by her comment.
Kaworu's memories of the town were split now. Previously, he had only recalled a place that not only held death, but moved with it. Death was an energy, a force of its own, and it came after the others. Lilim that turned upon one another, so that all could be the same. It was a strange life that would cause its own destruction, but again and again, it was what humanity proved to be. Within the Tree of Knowledge, they had found that which now defined them, and hurt them. Always together, always alone, never certain. Unlike Kaworu, who, he supposed, was always alone with certainty
( ... )
Which described every morning he'd had for the past week, except this time he did remember lying down in bed, with Elena curled up beside him. He felt that absence first (the smell of her hair, her familiar warmth, the slow cadence of her breathing) and nearly awoke in a panic, before he saw the white walls of his patient room again, and Castiel in the opposite bed. They were still here. His fingers self-consciously tugged the tight collar of shirt - someone had put it back on him - as he listened for activity outside their door. Something was different about today
( ... )
Kaworu already knew what to expect when he turned to see who had joined him. Stefan, taller and older, and illuminated now. It was not the same warm sunlight he would have expected, nor the artificial glow of the indoors. The white light reflecting off the snow and pouring through the window was sharp. Kaworu blinked as his eyes adjusted, even just to turning his vision inward. The features of the Lilim darkened and became clear, but revealed nothing that surprised him.
"Yes," he agreed. Even if it wasn't his full intent, he wouldn't deny that he was always looking for that particular face. It was possible he also sought out others as well, searching for anything familiar, but he couldn't produce names. A hint of their existence would be enough to console him, though. He knew that much.
"Always. I think that you can understand." It was a venture, perhaps, but also a symptom of love. "However, I was mostly observing the snow."
Stefan found himself smiling at the way Kaworu blinked at him. It made him look... younger. That is, Kaworu already looked young (what was he, fifteen, maybe fourteen?) but normally possessed this serene composure which seemed out of place on a teenager. Stefan had taken it in stride before, given that a lot about Kaworu was out of place, but looking at him now, all of those little quirks stirred his thoughts. The boy's demeanour, his striking paleness, the bloody colour of his eyes. Kaworu looked nothing like Edward - even less so now that Edward's eyes had shifted to gold since their nighttime outing - but Stefan couldn't help but wonder how alike they were. For a fact, they weren't the only non-humans trapped in this place. If both he and Damon had been taken, would it be so strange if another of Edward's kind had been too?
Except Kaworu didn't seem like a vampire. Not human, sure, but not nearly aggressive enough for a blood-starved predator. On the other hand, Stefan supposed that didn't really mean anything. The
( ... )
It had to be the most confusing morning in his memory, and Hope wondered if he was starting to get used to the confusion since he barely batted an eye when he first woke up in his room again. There was light this time, much to his relief, although he had no idea how he got back to his room. Hadn't he gotten far away? Decently far, at least, or at as far as he could in the darkness.
And then that conversation...
He could have laughed when he realized what disturbed him the most in the morning was his change of clothes. Another world, possibly another universe, and he couldn't stop fussing about the old hand-me-down clothes that he got in the morning? But he had never seen old clothes like that, much less worn them before. He found himself just following along numbly as guards (soldiers? doctors?) came to held him out, not bothering to explain anything as they handed him items shoved into a brown paper bag.
What was this place? The call in the morning said trip, said going out... but all he could feel as he was herded onto the old
( ... )
That wasn't so bad, really. Anise had felt a lot of dread regarding their trip to the ruins, but in the end, they didn't experience anything to horrifying or disastrous. And they even got out of there with their pockets full of money!
... Well, they did, but as Anise's hands reached for Tokunaga and her pants pocket, she found no doll in bed with her, and nothing in her pocket. Right, the military took everything. Hopefully, she'd get it all back later. Those creeps better not have pocketed a few bills for themselves!
When Anise pulled herself out of bed, she was greeted by a familiar-looking nurse. After staring at the woman's face for a few moments, she realized when it was that she'd seen her before. "Hey, you're...!" The lady soldier who was escorting Anise around yesterday. Today, she was dressed in a nurse's uniform, with her hair pulled up in a bun. This was probably what the guy on the intercom meant by Aguilar's best men and women.The woman offered a small smile as she set a pile of clothes down on Anise's bed. "You'll be
( ... )
Hope could barely muster the willpower to look up when he heard someone who might be speaking with him, as reluctant as he was to talk to anyone. His eyes widened, however, seeing a girl who looked... around his age? Had she just appeared here, too? But no, she looked far more comfortable, as is she was completely used to this already. But then, from what he had gleaned the night before, everyone here just... found themselves here one day
( ... )
Well, it didn't look like he was going to shoo her away, which was a good sign. There was a chance that he was just a gloomy, antisocial guy, but maybe he was just a little down in the dumps. Nothing a chat with a cute girl couldn't fix, right? It was worth a try.
"Thanks!" Anise chirped in her usual high-pitched voice, plopping down on the seat next to the stranger. Her paper bag was set in her lap, with her coupons and card safely inside. It was kind of a funny coincidence that the staff would give them money so soon after Anise and her friends went and collected a bunch, but the new policy was definitely a welcome one. Finally, she could go shopping! It was nice to have something to look forward to for once.
"My name's Anise." It was only polite to introduce herself if they were going to spend the ride together. The guy next to her looked pretty uncomfortable, though. Either he had a really rough night, or... "Is this your first time going on the field trip?" she asked, tilting her head a little as she did.
There was a Lieutenant General now? This was getting complicated. Though...if they were lucky, all the people involved would be revealed before long and all their weaknesses exposed. Hopefully without anyone getting set on fire. Well, anyone except the soldiers and generals and pretty much anyone Mele didn't like.
Mele paused as she held up the clothing she'd been given, and after a moment decided it couldn't hurt much to ask- "There doctors around?" ... Of course there were, everyone was bandaged before waking up in their beds. And the guard didn't even answer. Ugh, whatever. It wasn't like she'd finally remembered why that room had seemed familiar, anyway.
Huddled in the plain brown coat on the way to the buses (against the cold, nothing more), she considered the extra privileges the Lieutenant General had talked about. 'Privileges' had better not be a code word for something unpleasant. Nothing had happened last trip despite Mele's caution, but there was no guarantee the same would repeat itself this time. At the very least, she
( ... )
"Ugghhhuuurgghhhhh..." The undignified noise that issued forth from Niikura's mouth as soon as he regained consciousness could not have been louder - or more over-exaggerated. That complete moron! He should have known better than to let total newbs help them out in an actual battle! Ugh! He probably even had a scab...that wasn't going to stand out against his pale hair at all--oh no, just kidding. He had gotten the classic bandage-'round-the-head deal instead. Now that actually looked kind of heroic. Niikura didn't have too much time to reflect on the awesomeness he had just achieved, though, as the door swung open as soon as the morning announcement had finished to admit one of the soldiers, now dressed so inconspicuously as a nurse, who dumped a pile of clothes at the foot of his bed before moving over to stand by the door, arms crossed
( ... )
"Nice hat," Mele deadpanned before her ears caught up with her brain and she registered Niikura's question. "It's hatty," she answered in response. Hats were hell on her hair, so that was not a Good Thing. At least she didn't have to wear one today, but she also didn't get to wear her own clothing and she still had to wear the necklace with the name on it, so it was a mixed blessing. Sigh, her life was so hard.
Stowing the coupons and card away into a pocket, Mele glanced over at Niikura while she thought some more. "It hasn't changed much, has it? No rooms filled with tear gas, and we're still trapped."
The trapped part was the most important part. Even if her (vague, intangible) plans had been ruined by the 'management' change, the logistics of their capture hadn't, so it was still bad all around. Of course, she could have done without the whole cleaning the cafeteria thing, and the new restrictions (and the hat) were just annoying. So it kinda wasn't all the same, after all. "You're cheerful about all this."
Niikura laughed. "'Hatty', huh? I guess that's one way of puttin' it." He didn't really approve of the berets - they ruined his hair - but this one was alright, even if it made the back of his hair stick out every which way. Not that it didn't already do that, just...more so.
He lounged back in the seat, lacing his hands together behind his head. "No, it hasn't, but I think they're still gettin' settled in too, so I think we're gonna see some more changes in the next few days." Niikura made a face. "Not that I'm lookin' forward to all those."
In any case, time to eat. Flicking open the paper bag, Niikura pulled out the muffin and took a big bite, chewing and swallowing noisily before smirking again at Mele. "And c'mon, cheerful, me? After I just said I wasn't lookin' forward to things? Man, ya must think so little of me."
Comments 127
Why was it always snow?
He sat down in one of the chairs and stared out the window. More "orderlies", more prisoners.
What the Hell did it all mean? And how was he going to get out of here?
[Free!]
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"We're prisoners, right? How long have you been here? What do they want from us?" He jerked his head toward the "orderlies", pointing with his chin. "And who are they? Imperials? Or some mercenary group?"
He paused and then added, genuine concern underlying his tone, "Are you alright?"
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"Peachy," she retorted quickly -- it was a little sharp, but Ruby wasn't the type of person who let people ask her if she was alright. She was a demon, she'd coped with worse than this and she wasn't going to let it cripple her now. Admitting otherwise was something that was never going to happen -- even if it meant warning this kid about what he'd stumbled into.
"Prison's a good word for it. Most days, they at least pretend to cover it up, call us patients of some cracked out hospital, but you're not checking out anytime soon, that's for sure. So abandon that hope right now." Not entirely true, considering she was pretty sure she was going to do a lot more good getting through to Sam and convincing ( ... )
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If the head doctor is not in charge anymore, it should be easier to escape now. Everybody else is now part of an army, so it shouldn't be too hard now...I have too...all of-"MOVE IT GIRL. I SAID KEEP ON MOVING ( ... )
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"I suppose we do match," she continued, pointing at her own sweater. "...well, mine sort of matches a little. It would've been better if it was a bear or if yours had a dolphin on it...N-Not saying that bumble bees aren't cute or anything!" Or calling his sweater ugly. Hopefully he wouldn't be offended by her comment.
Reply
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Which described every morning he'd had for the past week, except this time he did remember lying down in bed, with Elena curled up beside him. He felt that absence first (the smell of her hair, her familiar warmth, the slow cadence of her breathing) and nearly awoke in a panic, before he saw the white walls of his patient room again, and Castiel in the opposite bed. They were still here. His fingers self-consciously tugged the tight collar of shirt - someone had put it back on him - as he listened for activity outside their door. Something was different about today ( ... )
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"Yes," he agreed. Even if it wasn't his full intent, he wouldn't deny that he was always looking for that particular face. It was possible he also sought out others as well, searching for anything familiar, but he couldn't produce names. A hint of their existence would be enough to console him, though. He knew that much.
"Always. I think that you can understand." It was a venture, perhaps, but also a symptom of love. "However, I was mostly observing the snow."
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Except Kaworu didn't seem like a vampire. Not human, sure, but not nearly aggressive enough for a blood-starved predator. On the other hand, Stefan supposed that didn't really mean anything. The ( ... )
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And then that conversation...
He could have laughed when he realized what disturbed him the most in the morning was his change of clothes. Another world, possibly another universe, and he couldn't stop fussing about the old hand-me-down clothes that he got in the morning? But he had never seen old clothes like that, much less worn them before. He found himself just following along numbly as guards (soldiers? doctors?) came to held him out, not bothering to explain anything as they handed him items shoved into a brown paper bag.
What was this place? The call in the morning said trip, said going out... but all he could feel as he was herded onto the old ( ... )
Reply
... Well, they did, but as Anise's hands reached for Tokunaga and her pants pocket, she found no doll in bed with her, and nothing in her pocket. Right, the military took everything. Hopefully, she'd get it all back later. Those creeps better not have pocketed a few bills for themselves!
When Anise pulled herself out of bed, she was greeted by a familiar-looking nurse. After staring at the woman's face for a few moments, she realized when it was that she'd seen her before. "Hey, you're...!" The lady soldier who was escorting Anise around yesterday. Today, she was dressed in a nurse's uniform, with her hair pulled up in a bun. This was probably what the guy on the intercom meant by Aguilar's best men and women.The woman offered a small smile as she set a pile of clothes down on Anise's bed. "You'll be ( ... )
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"Thanks!" Anise chirped in her usual high-pitched voice, plopping down on the seat next to the stranger. Her paper bag was set in her lap, with her coupons and card safely inside. It was kind of a funny coincidence that the staff would give them money so soon after Anise and her friends went and collected a bunch, but the new policy was definitely a welcome one. Finally, she could go shopping! It was nice to have something to look forward to for once.
"My name's Anise." It was only polite to introduce herself if they were going to spend the ride together. The guy next to her looked pretty uncomfortable, though. Either he had a really rough night, or... "Is this your first time going on the field trip?" she asked, tilting her head a little as she did.
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Mele paused as she held up the clothing she'd been given, and after a moment decided it couldn't hurt much to ask- "There doctors around?" ... Of course there were, everyone was bandaged before waking up in their beds. And the guard didn't even answer. Ugh, whatever. It wasn't like she'd finally remembered why that room had seemed familiar, anyway.
Huddled in the plain brown coat on the way to the buses (against the cold, nothing more), she considered the extra privileges the Lieutenant General had talked about. 'Privileges' had better not be a code word for something unpleasant. Nothing had happened last trip despite Mele's caution, but there was no guarantee the same would repeat itself this time. At the very least, she ( ... )
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"Ugghhhuuurgghhhhh..." The undignified noise that issued forth from Niikura's mouth as soon as he regained consciousness could not have been louder - or more over-exaggerated. That complete moron! He should have known better than to let total newbs help them out in an actual battle! Ugh! He probably even had a scab...that wasn't going to stand out against his pale hair at all--oh no, just kidding. He had gotten the classic bandage-'round-the-head deal instead. Now that actually looked kind of heroic. Niikura didn't have too much time to reflect on the awesomeness he had just achieved, though, as the door swung open as soon as the morning announcement had finished to admit one of the soldiers, now dressed so inconspicuously as a nurse, who dumped a pile of clothes at the foot of his bed before moving over to stand by the door, arms crossed ( ... )
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Stowing the coupons and card away into a pocket, Mele glanced over at Niikura while she thought some more. "It hasn't changed much, has it? No rooms filled with tear gas, and we're still trapped."
The trapped part was the most important part. Even if her (vague, intangible) plans had been ruined by the 'management' change, the logistics of their capture hadn't, so it was still bad all around. Of course, she could have done without the whole cleaning the cafeteria thing, and the new restrictions (and the hat) were just annoying. So it kinda wasn't all the same, after all. "You're cheerful about all this."
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He lounged back in the seat, lacing his hands together behind his head. "No, it hasn't, but I think they're still gettin' settled in too, so I think we're gonna see some more changes in the next few days." Niikura made a face. "Not that I'm lookin' forward to all those."
In any case, time to eat. Flicking open the paper bag, Niikura pulled out the muffin and took a big bite, chewing and swallowing noisily before smirking again at Mele. "And c'mon, cheerful, me? After I just said I wasn't lookin' forward to things? Man, ya must think so little of me."
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