#shiroikumo

The words had Groose pausing for a moment, feeling a little taken aback at being spoken to in such a manner. All he had commented on was that the stranger's hair was an unusual color - the shade of white was something he had only ever seen before on Impa (and he didn't like to think too much about Impa; there was an ache that was left behind when he remembered Granny's passing).

His clothing was a little odd too. Oh - and the fact that he was on the surface.

Surface dwellers were becoming more and more common of late. A large portion of the citizens of Skyloft had 'taken the plunge', so to speak, choosing to relocate on the ground in the homestead that Link and Zelda had started together. Groose himself planned to make the surface his permanent home soon too, and the only thing holding him back was worry over how those who wanted to stay above the clouds would fair. They had survived for countless years, but was it really a place meant for them to live indefinitely?

"Everything hurts."

That was what he wanted to say, spectacularly failing to achieve the ends. He was seeing stars, twinkling little lights exploding in his vision in a way that couldn't be disrupted with a rapid blinking of the eyes. Very much like it was when the gaze flitted across the open sky, straying over the blinding light of the sun. It hurt and was memorizing, all at once!

He could hear a voice speaking from some distant plain, a series of echoing sounds of various tones mingled together, it was impossible to discern one from the other enough to piece together the signature markings of a real conversation [or maybe just the sounds of the real world filtering through?].

“Uuughgg.” Came the only response he could muster, which could roughly be translated to 'uuuugggffhhhhhrrrr' ancient speak for 'paaaiiiin.' It was something between a moan and a cry, body swelling with renewed life, a hand daring to break free of its spot curled at his side to massage his aching temples.

Focus was fleeting, but it shifted to regard the only figure he could discern through the haze.

Chapped lips parted, and he chewed on his words silently for a moment, or perhaps it just took that long to get started. "You---" He couldn't really hear anything substantial outside the ringing of his ears. He didn't even know if he was speaking plainly enough to be understood, however disjointed those words were.

"I know you---" Not really. They'd met. Briefly. Very briefly. Hm. He didn't even remember how it ended, or if it ended. That was an entire lifetime ago. "... I was hunting you." How ironic. His name had been---

For someone who had lived as long as he had, it was hard to see anything that could come as a surprise. Most people were not happy to be told that there was very rarely ever anything new or original, a concept that applied to people just as much as it applied to creative endeavors. Things always happened in a cycle. Nothing was new.

So to see someone floating down from the sky didn't perturb him in the way it might have bothered another who was unfamiliar with the fact that people used to live above the clouds. It did confuse him, if only because Link had been certain all people of Skyloft had long-since left the floating cities - but what he felt was more concern and worry for them.

He didn't seem to be flying with the use of a loftwing, though. That... was unusual.

In the kitchen, packing the meals he prepared for himself in his bag, no one saw the Colonel’s hands shake. 

Kain’s worsened injury was the last straw. He didn’t wander far from the Comodeen, and yet—and yet—if White Cloud hadn’t found him in time… Roy wanted to just be thankful. He was thankful he could still look into his friend’s eyes every day. But, that emotion brought friends he didn’t care for, and they overstayed their welcome. Guilt flooded his veins whenever he looked at Kain, and he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if he helped cause the man to flee their safe haven in the first place. Anger followed shortly thereafter, lighting his blood on fire, as he dared to answer in the affirmative. 

Fear, though, was the most unwelcome. Heavier than the albatross, it sat on his chest and made it nearly impossible for him to breathe. Something attacked Kain and nearly killed him—he nearly died. What else existed in Wonderland? What other beasts roamed the lands for easy prey like those already injured like Edward? It hadn’t been that long since their excursion in the south. Neither of them fully recovered since then, and Edward couldn’t breathe like he used to. He couldn’t fight like he used to, and that was detrimental.  

Never mind Gaudium. And White Cloud couldn’t be everywhere at once to save the day. That was far too much to ask from one being, never mind one a dying one. 

He couldn’t keep asking White Cloud to search for his boys like this when he had much more pressing concerns to deal with. He couldn’t do that to his friend. Not only that, but he couldn’t… he couldn’t keep staying safe within the walls of the Comodeen doing what felt like nothing. Cleaning probably helped, and he taught himself Wonderlandian, but it wasn’t enough. Edward and Alphonse weren’t in his arms. For all he knew, they could be fending off beasts like what Kain dealt with or worse, or… or…

His breath hitched as he stopped packing for a few seconds. No, no no no no. He needed to push the memory down. He couldn’t let it resurface. All he needed to do was finish packing and—

“Colonel?”

Goddammit, she found him before he finished. 

Quiet as always, the Lieutenant appeared at his side without saying much, the question in her eyes as she met his gaze. Her stance said a lot for someone to someone who knew her: feet apart, as if ready to go at a second’s notice, but shoulders squared toward him to give him her undivided attention. Her eyes traveled to his bag and back to his eyes in milliseconds, a hint of concern present along with her business as usual. She wouldn’t say a word until he replied to her, and she wouldn’t leave his side until she got her answer. He knew that. With a heavy sigh, he stopped packing, and he turned toward her. 

“I only packed enough for me.” No, that was the wrong thing to say. She gave him a blank stare before she replied.

“I’ll be fine. When are we leaving?”

“… Ten minutes.” He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not trying to stop me, Lieutenant?”

“Trying to stop you will only end up with you being reckless without me. At least I can keep an eye on you this way.”

“As long as you’re sure.” His hands returned to packing the rest of his meals. Thankfully, he was almost done when the Lieutenant arrived. 

“My duty to you doesn’t waver, Sir. I will see you in ten minutes.” With a formal salute, the Lieutenant turned on her heel and walked back to her room. She had her weapons to prepare along with Hayate. While she did just get him back, a trip out into Wonderland wasn’t the wisest idea for him. There was no telling what they’d find out in the wild, and they didn’t know how long they would be gone. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be more than a few days, and the Comodeen wouldn’t miss them that much. They did just get most of the team back together. That, and leaving without saying goodbye… 

@shiroi---kumo keeps trying to warn.❛ Better get out while you can. ❜

She's using her leg as a brace, but even with every force of concentration, the automail's gears can't force the monster off of her. She can feel its hot breath on her face as it continues to snap its jaws. Weren't the hours spent training with Riza meant to help her in one of these moments? But the rat... if it even could be considered such a thing, was overpowering in every sense of the word. Even her knife is out of reach-

She just needs an opening, a chance to run back to the Comodeen. But this thing is unrelenting, and a part of her knows she won't make it back in one piece, if at all.

That is until she sees him-

"Isoveli!"

White Cloud's attack sends the rodent-like monster scrambling and right back into the underground burrow it emerged from. All Mar can do is watch as she tries to collect her breath. What was with his perfect timing in her life? She should be grateful, but it's all still a bit too much to comprehend.

A hand is offered out to her, and she takes it without hesitation. She rises from the ground, dusting herself off from the caked-on mud and dirt. There's that inevitable questioning as to why she was even out here in the first place. The girl huffs, bending over to grab her knife, "I got tired of sittin' around. I can only explain so many times to Cid how automail works for his research; better off gettin' Ed to make'm the new specimen."

A heavily shaded lie to hide her true intentions, more so, the undercurrents of turmoil laid dormant in her heart. Frustration from the adults' lack of action, fear for the worst to have befallen, and her own heart broken from the idea that two people in her twisted-up family may never come back to them.

She slides the blade back into the holster on her belt. "I'm not goin' back to the Comodeen until at least I can give them all more than 'we don't know, but we can hope.' Hope alone... it's stupid."

If he wanted to accompany her, he was more than welcome, but Mar folded her arms in defiance as if to say, 'You can try to take me back, but I'll kick and scream the entire time.' && more surprisingly, he didn't immediately try to force her into returning to the Comodeen.

Instead, a compromise is made. They will go back by the end of the day, especially since Mar didn't bring enough provisions for two to last more than a day or two. For now, he'll humor her and let her peer under every hidden spot in this forest for the boys.

As they walk along, any attempts of conversation have been pretty surface-level. Questions about this place, and were there any other villages around here...She wants to trust White Cloud with those thoughts from before. And he has been more than willing to listen to her before. So, is it not safe to do so now?

After a brief moment of silence, she begins, "You've always been honest with me, Isoveli." This forest, it was far enough away from the Comodeen. They wouldn't have to worry about peering eyes and ears listening into their words, "Aurora, she's a sugar coater. She lies through her teeth so I don't worry about anything.... and I think she's doing the 'they're okay because they have to be' thing to placate Roy's nerves too."

She swallows, her throat holding a significant amount of tension when she asks, "Do you think Edward 'n Alphonse are... dead?" Even she can feel the weight of that sentence hit her stomach like a stone.

Or is it the ground shaking?

It seems this grim question is left in the air because they're not alone anymore. The ground itself shatters into chunks as they're sent sky-high. The thunder of a few trees slamming against one another. Mar's fall is broken by a few tree limbs, and the eventual final drop to the uneven ground. She risks mechanical failure by allowing her automail to take the full brunt of the drop unless she'd rather have a broken leg on the other side of her body. And so, she chooses the automail.

She's on the ground, groaning from the pain. Fuck, that hurt. She heard a wire snap too. Dammit... Cid is going to have to help her investigate that. Can her toes move? Yes, her knee? Barely but it's there.

Then comes the scent of blood, but it's not too much. A tiny stream of blood is pouring from her nose, and her arm has a small slash in it. Nothing she couldn't handle.

"Isoveli, are you okay?" She asks hoarsely, turning over her body to face where she last saw the Misterican. Instead, she spots what looks like a standoff between Kumo and what seems to be the mother of the rat monster.

He's suggesting that she make a run for it.

Or is it a soft order?

"I can't... Kumo- I can't leave you; I don't know where to go."

if he was honest with himself, atlas had understood very little since he’d arrived in what he’d assumed was the realm of the gods- a statement that wasn’t wholly inaccurate. it wasn’t the realm he’d thought. nothing made sense, and much to his embarrassment- “ ... no, i’ll admit, i’m rather clueless about everything that i’m experiencing here ... ” 

@shiroi---kumo has entered. ღ – A hug in greeting