[EVENT] Phase II reunions!

[zenderael_mods]

Who: OPEN!
When: Week 32
Where: Bastan/Fall City/Underwood
Before/After: After the Phase II merge
Warnings: TBA

[Suddenly we have almost the entire cast of the game in the same place at the same time! What does that mean? REUNION THREADS!]

[Here is an open post for all your threading needs! This should make it easier to have mingling threads, open threads, random encounters, multiple participants, etc etc etc]

[Basically any characters you'd like to have meeting up in the new, merged Bastan may do so here. Stick a time in your subjectline and if you're doing it on a day other than Sunday (this post is good for all of week 32), add a date tag for it. Go wild!]

Comments

[taking_names]

Why don't you believe him Ravindra do you think he would make this up!

"Don't people lose things in the Dark a lot? I assumed it could be something different for everyone."

[paladont]

"Ah..." Hadn't he mentioned Missie being blind now, too, come to think of it?

But then, what had Victor lost? Nothing that Ravi had noticed. He looked perplexed for a moment as he considered this. ...He hadn't spoken with Victor much since his resurrection, come to think of it. That was a depressing thought. Maybe he should write, now that the dragons seemed to be working again.

...and ask whether he'd lost anything in the Dark...? Was that appropriate?

Fuck, was there etiquette about resurrection too?

He looked distinctly troubled for a few seconds before yanking himself out of his thoughts and back to his present context.

"Ravindra," he said. "You wanted me to write it down for you?"

[taking_names]

"Your name? Yes, please."

He produced a colored index card from his bag; he seemed to have a set of them, and offered it along with an earth-style ballpoint pen.

"Wait, does this mean you're still going to keep speaking to me?"

[paladont]

He took the card and the pen, paused with the pen poised over the card to look up at Nova, not quite understanding. "Yes?"

He still didn't quite have a clear picture of the situation, ie Nova killing Missie for no good reason rather than because the rivalry had naturally escalated to that point.

[taking_names]

Nova smiled at him brightly, confused but delighted that Ravindra had decided not to shun him as a murderer.

The expression was perhaps a little unnerving considering the grimness of the crime.

[paladont]

Yes. Yes, it was unnerving, and Ravindra shot him an odd look before turning away from it to write his name on the card.

Just in case, he included his rank as well, so it said 'Sergeant Ravindra Savarna' with the Ravindra underlined. He didn't know if Nova could remember ranks, or if it would ever come in handy to have that, but it certainly couldn't hurt.

He handed back the card and the pen.

[taking_names]

"Thank you."

Nova took it back and examined it. He could read and recognize the sergeant part just fine, and wondered why Ravindra had included it. Did he want him to start using his rank in conversation?

Either way...

He held the card against his hand as a makeshift surface, and proceeded to draw a passable cartoon likeness of Ravindra next to the name, with prominent eyebrows, flowing hair, and an endearingly grouchy expression.

He flipped it to show it to Ravindra.

"So I won't mix it up with everyone else's."

[paladont]

"...Thanks."

Was this really how people saw him? Uuugh fuck you Heimdall

[taking_names]

He turned it back to look at it, himself.

"What? It's cute."

[paladont]

"Never mind." He was not addressing his image issues with Nova right now tyvm.

Subject change, let's see--oh, yes, there was one readily available, as a matter of fact. It'd gotten lost in the tide of other more important things, too. "What was the Dark like?" he asked, before Nova could press him.

[taking_names]

"Bad", Nova said. "It's black and silent and you're all alone there and your life is over."

His idea of Hell might be a little different than Ravindra's.

"And it's terrifying to move around because you can't see, and I felt like I couldn't breathe but I don't know if that was me or not..."

[paladont]

That didn't sound so bad. That was all the things Ravi looked forward to about it, actually. Well, maybe not the breathing part, but if you were dead then breathing didn't matter...?

He could not stop himself from looking skeptical. A quiet, empty place where no one expected anything of you and you didn't have any obligations to concern yourself with? Yes that sounded just awful. "That's it?" he asked.

[taking_names]

Nova looked at Ravindra like he'd grown another head.

"What do you mean 'that's it?' "

[paladont]

"You make it sound terrible, but that's exactly what I thought it would be like." And Nova had been there to hear him say he welcomed dying, sooo...

[taking_names]

What...

RAVINDRA REALLY. REALLY.

"Don't get any ideas," Nova said, sweeping out an arm for emphasis.

"You wouldn't like it at all. It's way too cold to be happy there."

[paladont]

"I don't think you have a good idea of what I don't like," he replied flatly.

[taking_names]

"But-- but-- but--"

How could he make Ravindra understand that the Dark was the very worst place there was?

"You can't change your mind once you're there, you know! If you went and you were like, oh no -- uhhh..." An effort to talk in third person was prematurely thwarted when he bumped up against not knowing his own name.

He pointed to himself, instead. "This guy was right--"

A deep breath.

"You couldn't just turn around and go home!"

[paladont]

...Oh, goddammit.

He knew what was going on here. This was exactly the reason he didn't like telling people how he felt about death and dying.

He folded his arms with a sigh, looking away, annoyed. "I'm not going to kill myself, Nova," he muttered.

[taking_names]

Nova took a step closer, reaching for Ravindra's shoulder.

"Are you sure?"

A few days ago, it had seemed inevitable that everyone who couldn't live with what they were would eventually choose to die instead.

And Ravindra had said out loud that he wanted to die!

[paladont]

"Yes I'm sure," he grumbled, still looking away. He didn't want to see whatever concerned expression Nova might be making.

If he could make it through his suicidal teenage years without ever going through with it, he could damn well manage to wait until something external did him in.

[taking_names]

The look Nova was giving him was, indeed, embarrassing, and he was now clinging to Ravindra's arm.

"Because I know it's hard being a created person and that you lost... that-- that guy-- your boyfriend... but people care about you and I would list them but I don't remember their names."

He paused. "Please don't kill yourself because of how terrible this pep talk is."

[paladont]

"Nova!" he snapped, his head whipping back around to fix Nova with a glare as he tried to yank his arm out of Nova's grip. "I know people care about me. That's why I won't."

[taking_names]

Ravindra pulled away, leaving Nova grasping an arm-shaped nothing.

"Okay," he said, sounding chastened.

He still didn't know if he believed him...

[paladont]

Silence, for a moment, as Ravindra glared at him, as if waiting for Nova to continue.

When he didn't, Ravi relaxed, the glare softening to mere annoyance.

But he didn't...have anything else to say... He certainly didn't want to keep talking about it, and you couldn't just change the subject after something as awkward as that, and an abrupt good-bye was equally awkward...

[taking_names]

The silence stretched for a few moments, with Nova watching Ravindra for his next move, until he realized there wasn't going to be one.

"This meeting could have possibly gone better," Nova decided aloud.