[ NEW SUITE LOCATION JUST DROPPED and Aventurine is living his best life exploring the one he's claimed for himself. Except that, unbeknownst to him, the room suddenly changes on him, and when he opens the door to the bathroom, he ends up opening the door to someone else's bathroom suite.
Essek better be decent. Makes you start our first memshare. ]
[DON'T JUST PORT INTO HIS FUCKING BATHROOM AND THEN DEMAND HE BE DECENT?
He is decent. And he is extremely dressed down. His hair isn't even styled, but a messy little wave on top of his head. The yelp-like scream Essek gives from being startled is swallowed up halfway through by the voracious metaphysical suction of being pulled into a whole other experience.
The situation is not familiar to Aventurine, but the people present are - he's someone with indigo skin, looking across at three others: a eyepatched man with wolf ears, a young woman blonde woman wearing a laurel crown, and a ponytailed man in a lab coat.
Scien is typing on a digital device while the four of them stand by a strange machine. Scien says, "It's still unstable. We need to do more work on it."
And Muelsyse, taking notes, responds, "This would be way easier if we could just steal more tech, but if we tried to bring in any more parts they'd probably notice..."
Nehan, sweet Nehan, takes some readings from the machine. "...It's almost been a week since they made a move," he reminds them. "We might not have much time."
Aventurine knows it's true and feels a churn in his stomach. There are sacrifices here now, and there isn't a lot of time left to do the things they need to do: to find a way to open some kind of pocket of safe space for the innocents which have been pulled in. If they fail, the people here die for the sake of whatever wish the four of them desperately need.
Not looking up from the book of magical research in his hands, Aventurine feels himself say, "We will have to work with what we have for now."
Scien instructs Aventurine to help them input magical parameters into the machine, hopefully balancing the marriage of magic and technology. They truly have no Viktor Arcane when they really needed it. Aventurine is worried about the instability, the forced mesh between these two almost incongruent practices. Scien is stubborn, naturally, and Muelsyse and Nehan are caught between the two of them.
The machine doesn't look very great. It is built as sturdy as it can be, but the gauges on it are yelling the impending dangers of overclocking.
Helpfully, Nehan posts up at the machine to help punch in data. Aventurine turns away to go retrieve another book, but Scien and Muelsyse have already started drawing the sigil on the floor beneath the machine. The reason it is finished so quickly is because it is done so poorly. By the time Aventurine turns around, they have stepped back to look over their work. Aventurine's eyes jump from shoddy corner to shoddy corner of the star. My gods. It's the worst induction sigil he has ever seen in his entire life. His stomach drops.
"Don't--"
Why didn't he draw it? Why didn't they let him draw it, Aventurine wonders, hearing tinny static and a deep ringing in his ears. His eyes flutter open, and he isn't sure when he had closed them. His lungs fill suddenly with smoke and dust as he inhales, and he chokes. His eyes focus on the rumble left behind; it feels like a dream. He struggles to sit up, counts two bodies off to his left. Muelsyse and Scien, dirty, stunned, but beginning to move. Quickly, he searches everywhere else. Two, two. The third. Where is the third?
Half of a body is sticking out of smoldering debris, the familiar cut out in grey clothes, exposing scarred skin beneath.
Aventurine jolts upright through the streak of pain and the burn of his throat. He tries to scream, "Nehan!" but the only thing that comes out is a broken, croaky half of a name.
He'd been holding it together so well until now, passing off his lack of sleep to other reasons besides the truth, his desire to be left alone just whimsy, but even Aventurine has his limits. Once the memory comes to a close, he's sinking to his knees in this bathroom that doesn't even belong to him, trying to keep it together as he grips at his head and squeezes his eyes shut in a poor attempt to chase the image of Nehan's dead body away.
[Just two men pretending to hold it together when they are really fraying badly and coming apart at the seams.
He has the front of his own shirt gripped tightly in both fists, like it's a lifeline. The outcome is fine. It's fine. Nehan survives this actually, though in this moment, he remembers the real horror he had at what happened. His heart is in his throat, but Aventurine scares him with the sinking, and he thinks Aventurine has maybe fainted.
The fisted hands shoot out to get a hold of Aventurine's arms, but all he does is sink down, too. Maybe it would have been better if Aventurine did pass out!]
[ Truly the wet paper napkin of it all, but Aventurine's mental fortitude has always been in shambles, and he can barely register the hands grabbing at his arms. He feels light-headed and dizzy, but he does not pass out!!
Instead, he reaches out with a trembling hand to take hold of one of Essek's wrists, needing to stabilize himself for a moment. ]
... It's fine. It was just... a memory. [ He opens his eyes to fix his gaze on a random spot on the bathroom floor. ] He's not dead.
[They're disintegrating exponentially. He allows Aventurine to hold onto him like a lifeline, that's fine. His other hand reaches out to cover Aventurine's own, to hold Aventurine's hand between both of his despite the fact he is also trembling from the aftershocks of the memory.]
He's not. He's safe. So are all our friends not here. So are the Mighty Nein, Caleb. They are alright. He was still okay even then, in the end.
[A frown appears.]
You have been holding this all in.
[A gentle, friendly, scolding accusation. He isn't stupid. He is doing the same thing. Has done the same thing. He can see it.]
[ He focuses on the reassurances, nodding along to the sound of Essek's voice, but it's impossible to keep the afterimage of Nehan's broken body from replaying over and over again in his mind. ]
You can't exactly accuse me of being an open book.
[ His troubles are his own, as they have been throughout most of his life. But he's clearly rattled in a way that he's never shown to Essek before. It's not helped by the faint ringing still left in his ears from the explosion, and he tries to even his breathing despite it all. ]
Distract me. Tell me about your friends. What would they be doing right now?
[Idiot. Well, they are both idiots here. It's almost disheartening how strange it is to see Aventurine shaken by anything, though it does not necessarily surprise him considering the topic.
A huff escapes him. His expression is pained and wry at the same time.]
I guess they would be frozen in time until I get back.
[The joke falls a little flat really, but he says it anyway.]
It's not... really... an uplifting topic. [Two can play the "we keep our emotions in here, and then we die" game.] We. What we would be doing right now.
...We had used something we had found to give us energy as if we had been resting for a while. We were about to... potentially take on a battle that I'm really not sure if any of us will survive.
[ OKAY! WHEN HE ASKED FOR DISTRACTIONS, HE DIDN'T MEAN THIS.
But it does work to distract him, and Aventurine snaps his head up, tearing his gaze away from where it had fixed itself onto nothing to stare at Essek instead. ]
What are you talking about? Why in the world would you do something like that?
[HE SAID IT WASN'T VERY UPLIFTING. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO ASKED, YOU FUCK!! Don't just let it distract you anyway. NO. STOP WORRYING ABOUT HIM! He can't even get mad about Aventurine dumping him with questions because the distraction is working.
He shakes his head, lips thinning.]
It is... a long story. It's... for them. I'm doing it for them. This is their journey; I'm only along for the ride because... they... are my friends. They came to me for help.
[Yes, they are stupid, and they are about to fight Lucien who is going to be turned into a Broly version of a nine maged puppet with eye tentacles.]
[ It is working... The grip he has on Essek's wrist loosens some, the trembling having subsided for the most part, though he keeps his hand where it is. ]
... You idiot. All that fuss about making friends when we first met, and here you are willing to die for them now.
[ He'd find it funny if he wasn't coming down from a near panic attack and also if it weren't so genuinely touching. ]
You'll survive. You're too stubborn and stupid to die.
[The lines of his face relax only because Aventurine relaxes. Okay, it's working. Good.]
I was a completely different man then. Please.
[He had only just begun the path of domestication.]
You are lucky I am feeling generous enough not to take offense to that.
[He'll bash your blonde head in.]
As if you haven't done the same, and are probably doing the same still somewhere as we speak. [Idiot.] ...You really weren't going to tell me, were you?
I thought you were the one who insisted we become friends.
[ A HEAVY SIGH as he tries to return to normalcy. He should probably get up from the bathroom floor, but he doesn't trust his knees not to buckle and the last thing he needs is for Essek to see that again. So... sitting on the floor together it is. ]
What's there to tell?
[ Other than he's an anxious mess of a human being. ]
I don't think any of us are happy to be doing this again, and we're all a bit worried, aren't we?
[They should probably get off the bathroom floor. Essek will help them up, but right now, they are just sitting together on this floor like morons.]
A lot.
[You aren't the only anxious mess, you bastard.]
I don't know, I don't think half the people here are worried enough because they are too confident in our collective ability to win. So that leaves me and you.
Not acknowledging the possibility of impending doom is just stupid. Then we get some sheet of - [a restrained pause, for a second] - fucking paper we don't know where from which amounts to us being entertainment, and now we don't know what to believe.
Maybe Jonas is right, this is divine punishment and why I hate gods.
[ Excuse him as he starts for a moment because it's like hearing a saint curse.
But okay, he's going to finally let go of Essek so he can have both hands to rub at his temples. ]
Entertainment... As long as there's no horrible beast at the end of this that we have to fight. Entertainment is simple. You keep the audience's attention, you feed them the crap they want to hear, and they're far easier to kill than a monster.
You, of all people, are going to tell me this? People are more terrifying than any beast, Aventurine. People with goals they are willing to reach no matter the cost. I know that better than anyone.
I am not particularly interested in fighting, but I would take a beast over... over a person, a person with a a single relentless goal, especially one delving into powerful, terrible magic.
[This makes him frown, and it looks like he wants to argue, but he drops it with a sharp exhale of relent.]
You started this.
[No one started this, but anyway. He's blaming Aventurine because Aventurine is here and ripe to be blamed. Irritably - not at Aventurine, though, at the situation - he starts getting up. He doesn't even ask Aventurine, but instead grabs Aventurine's hand and starts hauling the two of them up together.]
But all that arguing has at least managed to calm Aventurine down, and he takes Essek's hand to be helped up. Fortunately, he remains standing, and in an effort to break whatever tension might be left in the air, goes ahead and asks, ]
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w3, monday.
Essek better be decent. Makes you start our first memshare. ]
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He is decent. And he is extremely dressed down. His hair isn't even styled, but a messy little wave on top of his head. The yelp-like scream Essek gives from being startled is swallowed up halfway through by the voracious metaphysical suction of being pulled into a whole other experience.
]
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He'd been holding it together so well until now, passing off his lack of sleep to other reasons besides the truth, his desire to be left alone just whimsy, but even Aventurine has his limits. Once the memory comes to a close, he's sinking to his knees in this bathroom that doesn't even belong to him, trying to keep it together as he grips at his head and squeezes his eyes shut in a poor attempt to chase the image of Nehan's dead body away.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM ]
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He has the front of his own shirt gripped tightly in both fists, like it's a lifeline. The outcome is fine. It's fine. Nehan survives this actually, though in this moment, he remembers the real horror he had at what happened. His heart is in his throat, but Aventurine scares him with the sinking, and he thinks Aventurine has maybe fainted.
The fisted hands shoot out to get a hold of Aventurine's arms, but all he does is sink down, too. Maybe it would have been better if Aventurine did pass out!]
I'm sorry, [he whispers.] I'm sorry I teased you.
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Instead, he reaches out with a trembling hand to take hold of one of Essek's wrists, needing to stabilize himself for a moment. ]
... It's fine. It was just... a memory. [ He opens his eyes to fix his gaze on a random spot on the bathroom floor. ] He's not dead.
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He's not. He's safe. So are all our friends not here. So are the Mighty Nein, Caleb. They are alright. He was still okay even then, in the end.
[A frown appears.]
You have been holding this all in.
[A gentle, friendly, scolding accusation. He isn't stupid. He is doing the same thing. Has done the same thing. He can see it.]
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You can't exactly accuse me of being an open book.
[ His troubles are his own, as they have been throughout most of his life. But he's clearly rattled in a way that he's never shown to Essek before. It's not helped by the faint ringing still left in his ears from the explosion, and he tries to even his breathing despite it all. ]
Distract me. Tell me about your friends. What would they be doing right now?
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A huff escapes him. His expression is pained and wry at the same time.]
I guess they would be frozen in time until I get back.
[The joke falls a little flat really, but he says it anyway.]
It's not... really... an uplifting topic. [Two can play the "we keep our emotions in here, and then we die" game.] We. What we would be doing right now.
...We had used something we had found to give us energy as if we had been resting for a while. We were about to... potentially take on a battle that I'm really not sure if any of us will survive.
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But it does work to distract him, and Aventurine snaps his head up, tearing his gaze away from where it had fixed itself onto nothing to stare at Essek instead. ]
What are you talking about? Why in the world would you do something like that?
[ ARE ESSEK AND HIS FRIENDS STUPID? ]
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He shakes his head, lips thinning.]
It is... a long story. It's... for them. I'm doing it for them. This is their journey; I'm only along for the ride because... they... are my friends. They came to me for help.
[Yes, they are stupid, and they are about to fight Lucien who is going to be turned into a Broly version of a nine maged puppet with eye tentacles.]
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... You idiot. All that fuss about making friends when we first met, and here you are willing to die for them now.
[ He'd find it funny if he wasn't coming down from a near panic attack and also if it weren't so genuinely touching. ]
You'll survive. You're too stubborn and stupid to die.
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I was a completely different man then. Please.
[He had only just begun the path of domestication.]
You are lucky I am feeling generous enough not to take offense to that.
[He'll bash your blonde head
in.]
As if you haven't done the same, and are probably doing the same still somewhere as we speak. [Idiot.] ...You really weren't going to tell me, were you?
I thought you were the one who insisted we become friends.
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What's there to tell?
[ Other than he's an anxious mess of a human being. ]
I don't think any of us are happy to be doing this again, and we're all a bit worried, aren't we?
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A lot.
[You aren't the only anxious mess, you bastard.]
I don't know, I don't think half the people here are worried enough because they are too confident in our collective ability to win. So that leaves me and you.
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Don't say it like that... If we start spiraling about an impending doom, we'll never stop.
[ Not the fucking bathroom angst. ]
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Not acknowledging the possibility of impending doom is just stupid. Then we get some sheet of - [a restrained pause, for a second] - fucking paper we don't know where from which amounts to us being entertainment, and now we don't know what to believe.
Maybe Jonas is right, this is divine punishment and why I hate gods.
[Goodbye, he has already started spiraling.]
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But okay, he's going to finally let go of Essek so he can have both hands to rub at his temples. ]
Entertainment... As long as there's no horrible beast at the end of this that we have to fight. Entertainment is simple. You keep the audience's attention, you feed them the crap they want to hear, and they're far easier to kill than a monster.
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You, of all people, are going to tell me this? People are more terrifying than any beast, Aventurine. People with goals they are willing to reach no matter the cost. I know that better than anyone.
I am not particularly interested in fighting, but I would take a beast over... over a person, a person with a a single relentless goal, especially one delving into powerful, terrible magic.
[Seems a little personal.]
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[ The tone he uses to say 'people' is so derogatory... ]
Don't get me wrong, I'm just as concerned as you are, but we shouldn't be frightening ourselves. The last thing we need is to feed each other's fears.
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You started this.
[No one started this, but anyway. He's blaming Aventurine because Aventurine is here and ripe to be blamed. Irritably - not at Aventurine, though, at the situation - he starts getting up. He doesn't even ask Aventurine, but instead grabs Aventurine's hand and starts hauling the two of them up together.]
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But all that arguing has at least managed to calm Aventurine down, and he takes Essek's hand to be helped up. Fortunately, he remains standing, and in an effort to break whatever tension might be left in the air, goes ahead and asks, ]
Why are you in my bathroom anyway?
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He gives Aventurine a look.]
What are you talking about? This is my bathroom.
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[ Turns around and points to...
Wait a minute, that's not his room through the open bathroom door. ]
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[Peering around Aventurine to look at the room. SEE. YOU ARE A THIEF.
He glances back from the direction he came with a frown. Why would Aventurine just be walking up inside of his bathroom, though?]
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Don't tell me I'm going to walk into your bathroom every time I try and walk into mine.
[ That's such a horrible room layout?? also can you give me a Caleb mem :pleading: but make it soemthing gay ]
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