EVENT: UNITED EARTH AIR MAIL

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: 9/24-27
Location: Throughout Exsilium; above, below, and the in-betweens
Characters: ALL; tag yourselves in
Summary: The United Earth comes bearing gifts oh wait no those are bombs
Warnings: Violence a given, injury, other things probably (notify a mod if there's cause to add a particular warning!)



There was a horrendous symphony being played throughout Exsilium.

Sirens kept tempo, shrilling to life minutes (hours, if the instruments caught a lucky break) before the roar of strange engines affixed to strange machines cutting through the eastern horizon. Always the east; why bother mixing it up? According to drone scans, there was little the island could do to repel them, little to inspire a change in tactic. Amusement, perhaps, but there was none of that in play.

Sirens and distant, ever-growing roaring...and then the thunder and crack of buildings and earth suffering heavy blows from above. Sounds of war, yes, but seemingly so one-sided...

Seemingly.

The intelligence had been too sparse for countermeasures to strange, hulking warriors and supernatural speak. It wasn’t utterly ignored, however; their moles were some of the best. If they said the Initiative had wizards, the Initiative had...something dangerous. Maybe wizards.

Well, maybe those wizards would enjoy being blasted or eroded out of existence? That appeared to be the motivation at-hand as wave after wave of bombings battered the already-broken city, driving its inhabitants old and new underground like ants.

Most of them, anyway.

The United Earth was about to get a heaping helping of fresh intelligence on those wizards the week it struck out beyond its borders. Throughout the barrage, the housing units buckled under broken ceilings, the long-since ruined gardens burned and suffocated under heavy chemical smog, and almost-familiar haunts became cratered replicas of themselves. For four days, the planes kept coming, no matter how many were deterred or destroyed. And on the ground, masked men scoured through battered remains and marched toward the Hold, bent on tearing the place apart in search of valuable clues...and technology well beyond the island’s apparent means. Armed to the teeth, this onslaught was indeed...Armed, but not wholly prepared.

It wasn’t going to be the easy, bullying win it was supposed to be.

Comments

[implying]

[ His heart is finally starting to slow that rapid flutter, and Aleva has stopped buzzing in her frantic, invisible circles over their heads. But he still doesn't let go of her, just shifts to make his cradle a little less desperate and a little more intentional. ]

Because I care for you, my d— Collette.

[ One hand lifts from her back, takes to stroking her hair gently, and he lets out a long, slow breath to try and force some relaxation on himself. If his heart weren't partially inorganic, he's sure he'd have suffered a heart attack by now. Another kiss finds her temple, because really, it's difficult to stop. ]

Are you hurt anywhere? I'm sorry, I — I dragged you, that was— there was really no way around it. I'm sorry.

[whatsupcroc]

[ She listens to that slow breath out, trying to imitate it in an effort to deal with her confusion and the pain that had nothing to do with the light throbbing of the scrapes she could heal. By force of will, she makes herself stop with the waterworks. It's a little too much, she thinks. ]

It's okay.

[ She's not ready to let go, afraid on some level it will break the illusion. How can people care for two of the same person? It's impossible. Probably. Most likely.

It's still nice to hear. ]

None of it stays. I've been disemboweled, you know? This is nothing.

[ Her voice sounds thick, her nose stuffy even as it's running. Ugh, crying makes her so gross! ]

Morph once, and it's all gone. Good as new, just like that.

[ She wasn't the one with a delicate build in the end. ]

How about your arm? I heard scraping. Are you going to be okay? You were banged up in the rubble too, Vanadi. Who can help make sure you're okay?

[ Asked while she still can't make herself quite look up. Breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly. Get a grip and calm down, kid. You were fine, he was okay enough right now, and everything was fine. ]

[implying]

[ Disemboweled? Ugh, don't tell him that. His hold tightens just a little more at that mention. ]

I'm fine. [ She's seen his glowing eye, impossible to be natural, she's heard scraping, she's already commented on hard bits. He sighs, after a moment, and adds: ] It was only cosmetic damage, I think, if anything.

[ But more importantly, since it's apparently an option... ]

Will you morph, then? Now? I saw blood, and— are you still bleeding?

[whatsupcroc]

I don't know.

[ She doesn't, still riding an emotional and adrenaline high that doesn't give her full and proper feedback on what extremities were in communication with her nervous system.

His request makes sense. Her hesitation comes in knowing the energy cost, and that she probably won't morph back right away. She was going to crash hard soon. Better morph something that could move, afterward.

But before that... ]

I can -- I will -- but...

[ He tries very hard not to have this matter, doesn't he? What parts of him make him different, the things not considered natural. ]

Can you let me see for myself that you're really okay first? Even if it's cosmetic, I want to know. To be sure.

[ If there's nothing else she can do, she can at least properly worry over all of him, as long as he was here with her. There's nothing worse than the pushing away he's already done. ]

[implying]

[ Well, he can't really refuse that now, can he? Not if that's what it will take to get her to morph, and not after the terror of nearly losing her. Seems like a pretty small price, actually.

He shifts, finally unwrapping one of his arms—the left, of course—and nods over at it. ]

I believe you're a little closer than I am. Push up the sleeve, if you would?

[ It's a loose sleeve which will push up easily, and even with the mid-forearm-high gloves on underneath, the rest of his arm will very clearly be metal. Scraped, and with one of the flanges of an external vent a little crooked, but undamaged. ]

[whatsupcroc]

[ She shifts too, taking a moment to find her balance while relying on Vanadi for stability she's not providing herself right now. She uses both her hands to more roll up his sleeve than push it up. It's habit rather than an active decision.

Collette doesn't know what she was expecting. Prosthetic arms weren't built to be this complex or integrated in her time. She doesn't think they've figured out how to make the nervous system and body cooperate with foreign implants on that size, something about infection and deterioration. Something like Vanadi's arm is amazing in and of itself. Past the end of his glove, it's worked metal that has some kind of definitive form and function.

Only it's scuffed up and not following the kinds of lines it would if it were pristine. This was part of his body, and it didn't matter if he couldn't feel it, and it didn't matter if people didn't see it every day. It shouldn't be this way.

With one hand still holding up his sleeve, the other moves to trace gently over several of the scrapes. On impulse she ducks down and presses her lips to the crooked vent, pulling away again as she says with a small smile; ]

It might not work like it does for skinned knees -- [ the way she remembers it with her Mom, kissing to make it all better ] -- but I don't think it hurts to try.

[ And she made to roll his sleeve down, preparing afterward to move off his lap and uphold her part of the bargain. ]

[implying]

[ He'd glanced away, fully prepared to have his gaze casually and inadvertently elsewhere while she satisfies her curiosity — but he can't help but look back again when she ducks her head to kiss it. He's startled at first then, with a smile, a little amused.

And reminded all over again of why he'd come to be so fond of Collette in the first place, of course, but that's a given.

He lifts the metal arm once it's covered again, brushing gloved fingers gently against her cheek. ]

Not in precisely the same way, but it seems to do something. Thank you.

[ And yeah, okay, he'll finally allow her to move, lending a hand as he wraps both arms around her waist to help shift her. ]

[whatsupcroc]

[ She lets herself smile, then pushes for it to be that much more genuinely warm. She knows what he means. Or she thinks she does. ]

Anytime. And thank you.

[ If her eyes weren't red and puffy, and her face wet with snot and tears, and her hair and everything else a collection of dust and cobwebs and blood, she might have winked. Instead, she accepted Vanadi's help, offering him a quiet warning.

She was getting back in control. ]

This is going to take longer. When you get tired, it gets harder to morph and demorph. Not in a bad way or anything. It slows down.

[ With all the required energy that goes in... Collette closes her eyes to kickstart the envisioning process. They open again, strange in that for once they change first, color losing the deep natural browns she has in favor of speckled golden browns of the coyote.

Something close enough in size to not be terribly disorientating, and something she can walk away as before finding someplace to crash and recuperate for a while.

With what felt like agonizing slowness, bones started to reform, cracking and popping as joints re-situated. THere's a long moment where she looks like some grotesque half-formed hybrid of human and canine, mottled naked to the coyote's flesh and rat-tail pushing out of her former tailbone. The fur comes almost like an explosion, not there, then pushing out all at once while her own hair more slowly pulled in.

The teeth were last this time. Blessed with a coyote's muzzle, weirdly spaced human teeth grinned out before they pulled back, a new set dropping down into the familiar jagged edges of a canine.

When the morph completes, she thumps her tail on the ground, takes two steps, then sits back down unexpectedly. Oh, she was tired, even like this. ]

< All better now! >

[implying]

[ He doesn't watch the change. Not only is it not a pleasant sight, but it seems a little... personal. In a way that even Vanadi respects. So he adverts his eyes to watch down the length of the corridor they're in, glancing back again only when he hears her voice in his head.

He does it with a smile, crooked and fond, closer to the way he'd smiled at her when he'd thought of her as the Collette from Cittágazze. ]

Good!

[ And he leans forward, reaching out— looking to snag her again and drag her back into his lap, if he can. She may be healed and in a hairier shape, but he wasn't done there. Relief is a pretty powerful factor, here. ]

[whatsupcroc]

[ Her tail thwumps against the ground once again, offering no resistance to being pulled back in. If anything, she's glad. She's not sure how people stay brave though stuff like this (the whole week, and whatever was following) without borrowing on the strength of the people around them. Even if it was kind of cheap to look for reassurance running around as a coyote people mistook for a dog in the poor lighting.

If Vanadi's up for an armful of wiggly canine, Collette isn't protesting. She won't even wiggle that much. ]

< You know... there were bones in there. >

[ But unsure if she really wants to think about that too much, she sighs and closes her eyes. ]

< D'you mind if we stay here for a little? >

[implying]

[ If Vanadi even notices any difference between holding the human Collette and the coyote Collette, he's not giving any sign of it. Both arms are wrapped around her, and he leans his forehead against a furry shoulder.

He's perfectly okay with changing the subject of bones before it even gets explored if she is. There's nothing pleasant down that way. ]

Certainly, my dear. I have nowhere in particular to be.

[ The tone is just as polished as ever, but lacks some of the energy. Not to mention it's a little muffled by the fur. ]

[whatsupcroc]

[ She chuckles a little, both a mental "noise" and a half-pant canine laugh at the same time, content to lean against him. Hugs are nice, no matter the form. ]

< Just don't get too comfortable. I need to be back to human again in under two hours. >

[ She assumed he knew the rule on limitations from the self he knew in Cittàgazze. It's another time limit on something she appreciates more now that it's here again. It's nice to talk with Vanadi, even if they're not saying much. The cold shoulder hurt, no matter how well deserved.

And probably will be again. But that was then, and this was now. Focusing on one over the other was dumb. ]

< What was Cittàgazze like? If you... feel like talking about it. >

[ What was I like? she wants to ask. She doesn't really know if she wants an answer, not to that. Knowing more about how it was for Vanadi, learning more about him, she liked that.

Besides, it beat the stuffing out of her other train of thought, one that started with, "So what kind of accident landed you so many metal limbs?" ]

[implying]

[ In under two hours? He'd never considered that her shapechanging might have some kind of limit on it, if that's what that is. Well, good to know. He'll have to ask why, at some point or another.

One hand idly strokes the fur of her head and ears, and he tips his head back against the wall. ]

The city itself was wholly unremarkable, and covered in soul-eating monsters, on top of that. But they moved slowly and weren't difficult to avoid, if one was careful not to be penned in. Ah, but the worlds available for visiting... [ He smiles. ] I visited yours once! A forest of redwoods, you said it was. It was quite lovely.

[whatsupcroc]

[ She feels her eyes starting to close again. Collette blinks rapidly, knowing the danger lying that way. Vanadi's not helping, the soothing motion of his hand over the fur of her head continuing to calm her down. Little wonder dogs love this kind of attention.

At the mention of the redwoods, her ears twitch. ]

< The Redwood Forest! I haven't been there for years. Did you get to see the big tree with the tunnel right through the middle? I thought that was the coolest thing I'd ever seen when I was little. >

[ She just knows that going back meant she didn't just stare up at those trees this time. She flew up there, touched the sky and made a piece of the forest not everyone could see her own. ]

< Vanadi? Was the war over for the me you know? >

[implying]

I did! It was just as lovely as I could have hoped! [ Just not gonna mention that kitrites use that and better in their architecture on a regular basis...

He gives one of those ears a good rub, just a little bit delighted that this is technically a person he's lavishing attention on, and yet it's perfectly acceptable because she's not shaped like a person. How convenient! ]

It was, my dear. You won.

[whatsupcroc]

[ Collette would have loved to hear more about the kitrites... even if her architectural appreciation isn't top notch. Knowing more about places and people she'll never see has a bittersweet excitement to it all.

She allows herself to lean in, lulled by contact. There's nothing to protest in her book. After all, hadn't she been using this morph to specifically help put people at ease? If it worked both ways, doubly good.

Sometimes everyone needed a little comforting familiarity. She's not sure if Vanadi's ever had a dog before, but she'll be glad for the fact he's as attentive to what feels comforting and calming to someone wearing the genetic make-up of a member of the canine family.

Especially as he tells her the one thing she most wanted to hear: You won.

She can guess the cost. She can postulate, on what Vanadi has said, why she herself is alive for Vanadi to speak with. If their two lives were as similar as Collette suspects, then the changes came at the last minute. Windows to another world, or teleportation into another world, either way can save a girl as she's passing out of this world into whatever's next.

She's almost jealous of her other self, this Collette who has the option to go home. Seeing Phillipe again, seeing Anne, probably finally getting to go skiing and moving out of the hospital because wouldn't Phillipe get transferred back home after all of that? Of course he would. They'd be a family again, and that thought was nice.

She likes believing that's precisely the life other!Collette is living, one where she comes to Cittagazze for a lark and to find adventure, and that's all. It's a nice, if contradictory, fiction.

Collette tries to lick Vanadi, whatever's most convenient. ]

< Of course we did. Hah! After everything we did, there's no other way it could turn out. >

[ Not true, but true enough. ]

< Thank you. For knowing, and for telling me. >