lifeaftr | get your towels ready, it's about to go down

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get your towels ready, it's about to go down

Who: Whoever would like to have been picked up after March's event.
What: We're on a boat. No, seriously. That's the whole pitch.
When: Very late on March 19th, presumably.
Where: The middle of the ocean, my friends.
Warnings: Y'all can handle that.

On paper, the plan was simple: get a boat, sail everyone back. In practice . . . It was a lot less simple.

Getting the boat had been something of an ordeal, but it happened. Nobody has to know that the blind man stole it, because Connor is the one sailing it. He is sure as fuck sailing it back to Enso, despite the fact that he has never in his life actually sailed anything as big as the boat they stole and may have lied a little when he said he could "sail." Nobody had to know that either, okay? Nobody had to know any of that, because he is going to sail this boat back and the Jormun are going to fucking help him.

Hours 1&2
Unfortunately, Connor was in such a hurry to, like, leave? That he did not exactly ask the Jormun what the best route back was. He just kinda picked a direction and went which has led to a run in with some new shit from the bestiary: lightning eels. To quote the bestiary:

Considerably territorial, lightning eels range between four to eight feet in length. Sleek grey, their pointed, though rather small teeth may convey a sense of little threat- until they begin to spark, that is. Lightning eels are highly conductive to electricity and store up to a lightning bolt's worth of electricity in their small frames; whilst they won't release it all in one go, those close by them will certainly find these slithering creatures to be quite... shocking.

Have fun with that. The lightning won't really do much to the boat itself, so just don't fucking fall in, yeah? Seriously. Please don't fall in, Connor did not actually complete his lifesaving merit badge and only has a vague idea of how to perform water rescues.

Hours 3&4
A decent chunk of the way into the journey back, Connor will point to something in the water and say "Oh, they're here. We're going the right way." In the water is a group of sea otters. If you ask nicely, the Jormun will catch a few so . . . you can all eat. Unsurprisingly? Connor did not think to pack food for this hastily assembled rescue mission, so if you're hungry, sea otter is all you're getting. Bone apple tea, everyone.

Bonus: sea otter pelts. They're very soft and warm. Sea otters have fur up the wazoo.

Hours 5&6
Do you want to sail the boat? Great, because Connor is about to hand the wheel over to whoever's closest because he has to go talk with the Jormun about something. It's fine. Just keep the boat straight for ten minutes, you won't crash anything out in the open sea. If you want to listen in, Connor and the Jormun are discussing a type of plant known as lightroot. It can be picked and will act like a lantern for a while, but what they're actually talking about is cultivating it as a kind of . . . underwater landing strip. Don't worry about it. I'm sure this will never come up again.

Once Enso is in sight, Connor will actually sail around the island until he reaches the cove in D8. He's just gonna leave the boat there, like 20m/22yd out in the water, so. If you wanna swim to shore, that's fine. If you can't swim or don't want to, he'll come back with the boat from islet 2 after he swims to shore. Y'all are responsible for getting your own asses home after he brings the boat, though. It is not his responsibility anymore? He got everyone home, he's out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know [They've never even met before. Of course he didn't do it for him, it's just a consequence of Gabe grabbing the bags. But still]

It was clever to think to grab them though.

[Gabe gestures at the spoils of his labors with an opening of a hand.]

Free stuff. Who'd pass this up?

[Free... Shion blinks at him. He's struggling against the numbness but it strikes him that something is off here...] You're giving it back to people, right?

[Right?]

[Gabe's smile widens.]

Maybe. [If they ask, he supposes.] After all the work I did toget all this back, I say I get first dibs.

That's not... [He blinks] It's not yours. You shouldn't take peoples things...

[He shouldn't have tried to burn down a city. But still.]

Yeah?

[He stops rummaging through whoever's pack he's picking through and lets it drop to the floor of the boat with a dull thump. Leans forward, slow and deliberate, fixing Shion with his signature, mocking stare.]

What're you gonna do about it?

[Um. Shion blinks at him, he's not... really sure? Confrontation is definitely not his thing and he's really not sure he has any right to tell anyone off right now. But. Stealing is wrong, especially from allies who are hurt and as trapped as you are.

And so even though what he really wants to do is curl up again and ignore everything, he can't really... let this happen.]

Stop you? [It sounds pathetic, even in Shion's head. He tries again] You need to put everything back in the bags.

[Because Gabe has yet to learn his goddamn lesson in regards to picking his battles, he leans back, putting up his feet on one of his pilfered knapsacks with a lazy smirk.]

You gonna make me? [Yeah, 'cause that's bound to go over well. Tempt fate, Gabriel. Just fuckign do it.]

Yes... [Was he? Yes. Yes he was. Stealing was wrong, going through peoples things that had been taken from them when they had been captured, hurt, thrown away.

Just like Safu's coat. He had found it, in a store that sold the clothes of the captured, of the dead.

Shion had thought he had burned all of his anger, all of his feelings. But it turned out he still had anger to spare, not dangerous anger. Not the anger that would take over him. But anger that someone would be so...

He moved closer and reached out to grab the pack the boy had put the candy into. Guessing that was likely to be his own.] Tell me which bags you took it all from.

[Turns out Shion never learned to pick his battles either]

What, you can’t read?

[Everyone’s names are stitched to the front, after all, but hell if Gabe is just gonna sit idly by and watch it all go down. He’s got a good position to defend his loot, and as Shion leans forward, he aims a kick directly at the other boy’s face.]

That’s mine.

Edited 2018-03-26 17:24 (UTC)

[The kick lands squarely, Shion is flung backwards, he rolls as he lands though, he's not forgotten his training. Everything hurts, the kick awakens all the pain from the blows Laurent had dealt him earlier. He brings a hand to his face. Blood.

It was a moment before he could focus again. He had been an idiot, he should have expected that, he had practically walked into it. For now he stays where he is crouched but he does fix his attention on Gabe again]

Yes, it's yours... and that's how people will feel when they realise you've taken their things...

[Rat had once told Shion that he should not waste tears on others, that he should only cry or be angry at wrongs done to himself. It was a lesson Shion had never mastered, it was almost impossible for him to be angry when he was hurt or wronged. But wrongs done to others he would always be sad at, he would always be angry at. He would fight for them even when he really should give up.

He really should give up]

Put it all back

[Gabe stands abruptly, shooting to his feet. That's one thing in his favor - he's tall like this, taller than he has any right to be. Almost eighteen, six foot square, and he might not know much about how to actually fight, but he can make up for it in sheer brute strength, right?]

[Maybe.]

Since when do you care, huh? It's not your stuff.

[That's a warning. A hint that he should walk away now.]

It belongs to people I care about. [Even if he doesn't know most of them. They are people and so he cares. They have been hurt by a city that was so much like the one he grew up in he felt he shared the guilt.

He stands up as well, Gabe towers over him. Even back when he was taller Shion hadn't reached that height. He stands tall though and meets Gabe's eyes.]

It belongs to other people who have been stolen from their homes and they don't have much. It is not yours to take so please return it.

Oh, they care about you, huh? Then where are they?

[He sure doesn’t see anyone flying to Shion’s defense! Maybe, if this were someone obviously more intimidating, Gabe would be expressing a modicum of caution.]

[But it isn’t so he isn’t.]

It’s people acting like you that got so many of us jailed in the first place. Maybe you don’t deserve to get your stuff back.

I care about them. [Some of them care about him back, some probably don't even know he exists. But that's not the point. He can fight his own battles. Sometimes.

He flinches at the words though. Because they were true, it was his own stupidity that got him arrested. Maybe he doesn't deserve his things. But other people do.]

Maybe I don't. But I still won't let you take everyone's things. So put it all back. I will not ask you again.

[He's drawn himself up, trying to act as much like all the people he knows who can actually make demands like this; Reno, Rat. Despite the fact he is smaller and scrawny and his face is already a mess of bruises from where Laurent hit him. Trying to act as if he's got the might to back up his words.]

You were never asking before. Just ordering me around, like you've got anything to back that up.

[He can pretend as well as anyone, he's sure, that he's someone bigger, older, stronger, braver than he really is. He's taller. He looks older, even if the likelihood that Shion himself surpasses him in age is practically inarguable.]

[The look he shoots Shion is both scornful and blazingly pitying, and it's intended to be utterly and wholly infuriating.]

Anyone ever tell you that's gonna get you into trouble one day?

[It was infuriating, Shion just stared back, not answering the question. He tried to keep his stance confident, to act like he wasn't panicking inside. Deep breath.

He was going to just collect all the knapsacks, if this boy would not give things back he would do it himself. He took a step forwards, like Gabe wasn't even there, to start doing that]

[That's not really an answer at all, huh?]

[So Gabe aims another kick, this time for Shion's shins, and follows up with a fist clenched tight, swinging for the boy's jaw. He has no idea how to fight properly, really. He's scrapping, lashing out, kicking and pushing like a schoolyard bully.]

[But he aims to teach a lesson.]

[This time he's expecting it. The kick to the shins makes him stumble but he ducks low to avoid the fist. He might be tiny and scrawny, two years too weak and injured but Reno taught him to fight, to fight especially when everything was against him and he hasn't forgotten.

So he doesn't even try and punch, not properly because this guy is stronger than him. He goes for pressure points, for places where his blows will count. His kick aims for the back of the knee, aiming to bring him down to Shion's level. The heal of his hand aims for the point between neck and chest.]

[Connor is a little bit Busy steering the ship, but the boat isn't big enough for this nonsense to go unnoticed. Like, he has to look out over the entire boat to see where they're going and fighting is pretty damn noticeable.]

OI, I WILL THROW YOU BOTH INTO THE WATER IF YOU DON'T CUT THAT SHIT OUT. [He doesn't have the spoons to be dealing with this shit calmly, sailing the boat is stressing him the fuck out.] NO FIGHTING ON THIS FUCKING BOAT!

[Shion has two advantages: actual training, and the fact that Gabe's own grasp of his strength and abilities is miserable at best. Still, he's for all intents and purposes a healthy teenage boy, and Shion's malnourished and spindly. One kick to the back of Gabe's knee has him thumping down onto the other with the hollow thunk of kneecap against wood.]

You - [He's about two seconds from trying to grab the little shit by the throat when Connor helpfully intervenes.]

He started it! [SHION DEFINITELY DID NOT START IT.]

[Shion stopped like he had been hit at Connors voice. It wasn't so much the threat as the tone, the anger. Enough to remind him that actually he and this boy were meant to be on the same side. He was not an enemy to fight.

He blinked when the boy spoke. He had started it? Had he?

Maybe he had? He was the one who had spoken first. But he was not the one who had stolen, who thought he could just take from people who had been hurt.] I'm sorry.

[Mostly to Ceej but he is sorry for kicking Gabe] You still need to give the things back though.

[Connor gives Gabe a Look, because seriously? Seriously?]

Apologize for whatever dumb shit you said, you big baby. [It's Gabe's fault. He doesn't even know wtf they're fighting about, but he is 500% sure it's Gabe's fucking fault.] Do you seriously think I'd believe Shion started a fight?

[Like, he has no doubts that Shion can fight but also Shion is a creampuff and Gabe is an asshole. If someone started the fight, it was not Shion.]

He tried to take my stuff.

[THIS IS VERY CLEARLY NOT GABE’S STUFF. But gosh darn it he blew up part of a building today and he’s gonna ride that adrenaline high all the way to its logical conclusion.]

I found it, so I get to keep it.

It's not yours. [His voice is quiet, he's embarrassed that they've drawn attention and also shamed by Ceej's faith that this wasn't his fault.

Because Shion had done awful things. People shouldn't... They shouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt.

He just looks at Gabe. Because really? That's what he believed?]

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SO LET ME KNOW IF THIS ISN'T COOL

ITS COOL

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