The Void is Calling [OPEN]

[littlemhigan]

Who: Castor and YOU! Maybe.
What: Castor's been missing a few days. Turns out, Canonbumps are a hell of a thing.
When: End of September
Where: Enso and also maybe on the network a bit?
Warnings: None yet. I'll update this if that changes.



[1]


The beach smells wrong.


For a long minute, it's the only thought she can hold onto as she drifts in the twilight between sleep and waking. Her hands gently flex at the ground, and her face twitches into a frown at how soft the sand is to fingers that were expecting a coarse beach littered with seashells and refuse.


And the sky… her eyes crack open, blinking against the endless blue above them. Blue. Blessed, wonderful blue. She cranes her head back, expecting to see the white cliffs of Kholusia and stares dumbly for a few seconds when only the sight of a green jungle meets her.


Oh. Oh!


Castor comes the rest of the way awake all at once, scrambling to her knees in a flurry of damp sand and seaweed, looking about wildly - if she'd come here then maybe…No. No, she’d stepped through the Exarch’s portal alone, hadn’t she?


She sighs heavily to try and quiet the rapid beat of her heart, and begins to take stock of herself, examining her hands and arms, feeling about her face and neck and checking her clothing - so very different from the last time she lay upon this beach - for tears or other damage. Certainly, she feels fine save for a bone-deep fatigue and the general aches and pains of long days, but Gods, she’d come so close to…well, no use dwelling on it. She’s here for now, and if they’d been right, the danger is long passed.


She’s a mess, sat out on the beach like this, with her hair long and dishevelled and sand and seaweed caked and strewn all over her but the relief on her face is as bright as the sun above her.



[2]


It’s long past sundown when a text comes across the stones


Does ane one here keep the date????? 

Comments

[suspecteverything]

For a brief moment Jules' expression doesn't change despite the fact that his mind is whirling in response to that. Personally he thinks she's rather crazy. At the very least she's a random ray of sunshine over everything and just doesn't know this place well enough yet.

A second later he bursts out laughing.

"Might argue the point of whether being alive is worth being someone's plaything."

He's spent a lot of his life in the roll of plaything and hasn't enjoyed it. There had definitely been times when the only reason he'd been alive was because he'd been too ornery to die and let someone else win.

[littlemhigan]

"Ah, but fightin' fate's the best part! Any rate, I'm not one te roll over an' die while someone's dependin' on me, an' I seem to've avoided just the thing."

She seems to be uncaring of the fact that she's gesticulating wildly while covered in seaweed. Sorry Jules, you're dealing with An Optimist.

"'Cept now I'm back here for the time bein'. But, considerin' the moon I've had, it ain't the worst thing, and it ain't forever."

[suspecteverything]

Oh joy, optimists. Just the thought would be enough to make Jules puke. Life has beaten him to a bloody pulp more than enough times for him to realize that all optimism gets you is dead. An optimist can't be prepared for beings trying to kill them. This optimist at least has a point about fighting fate though.

"That's a sentiment I can get behind. Problem is, there's no way to fight the one controlling us in this Tophet. Can't fight what isn't there other than doing everything possible not to play their game and being a general ass."

All of which Jules is very good at. It just doesn't get him anywhere, which pisses him off more.

[littlemhigan]

"Tophet? Any rate, you're not wrong, but I'm of the mind that simply survivin' what was meant te kill ye is it's own rebellion, no matter where y'are. Here, home, doesn't matter. Ye live, ye breathe, ye move on - any've those are enough te ruin someone's grand design, aye? Not every play's gotta be a big'un. Sometimes, survivin's enough."

Somewhere in that speil, her gaze has moved from Jules back out towards the ocean, and while her face is smiling, her eyes seem very sad.

[suspecteverything]

"The Andarian Hell. Not a fun place."

Not that he knows from personal experience, but presumably it's worse than anything one could experience in life and his life has been pretty nasty.

"Point taken, and I agree. I've lived that philosophy. Pretty much the only reason I'm alive. Problem is you've just rebelled against one person and found your way into a worst one's net. Haven't found much way to win here."

Other than just trying to avoid the game in general, but that can only go so far.

[littlemhigan]

"Oh good, that makes 8 of 'em then. Any road, I think I like this one just fine for the nonce. Less world-endin' cosmic bullshite makin' my life miserable."

She finally manages to turn away from the water and back to Jules and she looks very tired, smiling despite that. "Only way te win is te live, regardless of what's out te kill you. Ye seem te be doin' that just fine."

[suspecteverything]

"Probably more than that, I'd figure. I'm sure there's a least that many just within the United Systems, and nobody here has even heard of them."

He snorts out a barely strangled laugh over the idea that this place is less world ending and bullshit that makes people's lives miserable. He's pretty damn sure this place checks all of those boxes. When she glances at him, her expression is enough that he tries to ignore anything that flashes through his mind. Whatever he's going to read off her in that moment won't be good.

"I can think of a few other ways, but staying alive is usually at the top of the list."