(Untitled)

[brthrs_watchdog]

Who: Machi, Tentomon (EMH Droid) [Open]
What: A log that has been procrastinated goes up when the mun should be sleeping Machi is haunted by her past.
When: November 20th, 2009, afternoon [backdate]
Where: Tetha, outside the Doc's old clinic

Another peaceful, silent day

Comments

[likesitodd]

"Ooof!" A soft body collided with Machi and managed to stay on her feet looking confused and annoyed till she saw the look of terror on the young girls face.

"What's wrong?" Stormy asked the stranger scanning the crowd for an attacker or something that was obvious.

Patamon had been knocked from Stormy's shoulder upon impact and fluttered around in the air confused and nervous.

[likesitodd]

Stormy remained calm eyes on Machi, "Sorry but I don't believe that. And either way I've already died once. You can't get much worse then that."

[brthrs_watchdog]

Her heart clenched. There isn't much worse than...

"All...of my friends are dead," she murmured, her voice shaking. "Because I met them. It's my fault they're dead." She swallowed. "I can't get close to people. I can't."

[likesitodd]

Stormy didn't like to admit it looked like she wasn't making much progress.

"It's gonna be OK." She tried to encourage Machi, "Nothings going to happen to me just because you told me your story."

Patamon didn't look like he agreed but he kept his mouth shut.

[brthrs_watchdog]

Machi stayed quiet for quite a long while, looking at her knees now and gripping her pants. She hated this. Feeling so vulnerable and so weak. Letting herself break. She wished she could still talk to the others. Ushiro especially. Even her brother. Even if they were just illusions, she wished...

"...I-I didn't come from the world the Digital World took me from," she murmured. "In my world...a man approached a group of people asking if they wanted to play a game. Th-they boarded a robot and fought against an enemy. ...And then the pilot...d-died. It wasn't a game. It was...a fight to save our world. The winner's world isn't destroyed at the cost of the pilot's life." She refused to look up.

[likesitodd]

Stormy's eyes narrowed as she tried to imagine this girl...so young and at the moment fragile fighting someone with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"What kind of a sick bastard would do that to you? Would make a game out of death?"

Though the sad truth was through Odd's life Stormy had come into contact with the kind of sick people who would.

[brthrs_watchdog]

"No one knows who," Machi replied, still just staring at the floor. "All we know is we have to fight or everyone we know will die. Only so many parallel universes can exist at once, and the numbers need to be," she felt sick to her stomach as she finished, "trimmed."

Her mouth again dry, Machi wet her lips before continuing. "...My brother was contracted in a big rush, before we know what was going on. I only thought it could be dangerous, but I didn't know you would..." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I signed up too. When we found out, brother tried everything to get me out of it, and...I never found out what he did, but he broke the rules somehow. Our guide then...he couldn't force brother to be the next pilot, but he could make sure he'd have to stay involved in the 'tournament.'

"When our world's battles ended, I was just spared from the fight, but brother went on to the next world, now as their guide - their Dung Beetle. He was never nice to people, and I didn't want that world to just not have a chance, so I...I went...

[likesitodd]

Now previously...back in Pico Mundo California if someone had been rambling like this Stormy would have written them off as crazy and that would be the end of it.

But after Odd explained to her the way this world worked Stormy had become more open to the weird and peculiar concepts then before...which was saying something considering how open she'd been in the first place.

Gently giving Machi a reassuring hug she spoke gently "It's not fair...none of it." Was all she could think to say to comfort the girl, "But it won't happen here, not if I have anything to say about it."

As funny as it sounds...the confidence and determination in her voice, the solid unwavering tone...Stormy sounded strong enough to take on God the Devil and Jason Voorhees were some peculiar circumstances to warrant such a battle.

[brthrs_watchdog]

Finally Machi looked up at Stormy, and her eyes again went wide and shone bright. "Y-you see, don't you? You see why I had to go with? I didn't mean for anything bad to happen. I didn't mean for them to get involved. I-I just thought... I'd be able to watch brother. I never wanted them to be contracted, I didn't! I s-swear I didn't, I didn't mean to k-kill them..."

She started to cry again, but she didn't retreat into herself. Her mind was again racing, thoughts of the day the fifteen of them went down to the beach and she suggested they look in the cave, and Kana said she saw a light, and there was Mr. Garaku and Do you want to play a game? and she didn't say anything.

At this point, Stormy could probably see the scar on Machi's face - not the one on her cheek, but the one on the right side of her forehead; the one that spread out like veins or a spider web as if something had ripped into it...

[likesitodd]

Stormy did notice it, and was sadly familiar with the kind of scar it was. She had seen that wound before in the company of odd...though never having seen it healed.

She gently took Machi in her arms in an warm embrace "It's OK, I understand you're OK." She tried to sooth the girl.

[brthrs_watchdog]

The feel of someone's arms around her - something so foreign now. How long had it been since she'd felt it? Years.

"I-I'm supposed to live for them, b-but how... How can I wh-when I couldn't die with them? I pr-promised, I was supposed to fight and die for their world, I promised! I-I w-wasn't supposed t-to...to come here. O-or get...shot."

Her tears wouldn't stop, and neither would the words pouring out of her mouth. She wanted to close them up in the back of her throat, but nothing worked. They were out now and not going back in their little cage.

[likesitodd]

Stormy rubbed her back gently holding her close and letting her speak, she had few answers for this poor tortured girl. Most of what she said barely made sense to Stormy to begin with.

"The hardest thing about this world, is to live in it." She quoted from a T.V show she'd seen once, "If you survive this world and all it's horrors, you are prepared for the next, and adventure frought with danger that would make lesser people who hadn't felt pain in their first life to their knees."

[brthrs_watchdog]

She'd said those same words to Ushiro when he wanted to be contracted. Well, not exactly those words, but something similar. It was so hard to believe when someone was telling her that.

"...I just want to see them again... I want to know if...m-my friend won his world freedom."

She wanted to see them all again. And apologize.

[likesitodd]

"You will." Stormy smiled warmly, "I was shot and killed too...but I was brought back to my boyfriend. If you really want to see them again...you've gotta keep fighting." She smiled a little more tomboyish "Show them you're strong enough that you deserve to see them in the end.

[brthrs_watchdog]

Machi by this point actually held Stormy's shirt in her weak hands. She didn't feel like she was fifteen - she didn't even feel like she was thirteen (which she felt more, her mental age, she supposed); she felt like she was a little girl, the one in the memories she didn't have.

"...I'm so lonely, though..."

[likesitodd]

"You don't have to be." Stormy insisted keeping the striking look of motherhood about her for a woman not yet old enough to drink, "I don't know you as well as I can yet...but I'm here for you. And I'm sure you've got people you've met in this world who want to be there for you as well."

She thought back to her own life, the people she depended on before her death, Odd of coarse was the most prominent figure but there were others in supporting roles.