lifeaftr | The best part about winning is getting to loot the bodies [OPEN MINGLE]

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The best part about winning is getting to loot the bodies [OPEN MINGLE]

Who: Erryone!! And especially YOU!
What: There's a dragon carcass that needs to be picked over like it was a turkey.
When: Right now!!
Where: Nastrandir and Enso
Warnings: Nothing inherent. Please label your threads accordingly!

[Here's an open post for y'all to stock up on/scavenge everything Nastrandir has left behind OR to thread out anything you might wanna build, make or commission from the dragon's remnants. The sky's the limit!]

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[Oh. Oh. This is not, as Kravitz initially thought, an issue dealing specifically with death. Rather, this is something he's had to start learning to admit was a problem of his since he arrived here- loneliness. He lets out a gentle sigh, a release of some tension from his end as he settles into a problem like well worn shoes. He knows how to walk this path.]

I... it is hard, truly, to continue on with no one by your side. Especially so if you are so used to these connections.

[He doesn't really have advice to offer, seeing as he mostly deluded himself into not caring. Making fake connections he could pretend to have. It's hard, but Keith has always understood the problems he's had. It's been overdue for him to return the favor.]

It creates a feeling like you truly belong nowhere, when the other anchors that keep you moored are consistently taken with no warning. That is not a personal weakness, Keith. It's living. You are doing exactly as all living beings do, to reach for others in a trying time.

[He keeps cutting but he watches Kravitz bleakly. He keeps his words to himself until his friend has finished speaking. He isn’t surprised that Kravitz understands loneliness and how difficult it is to keep going.

Finally he speaks,] I’ve always felt like that. Until...until Shiro I had no other connections. People gave up or just didn’t care. So I gave up too.

[The claw falls and he sets to work on the second one. Doing something is better than standing still.] I’ve only had connections since then. I...I don’t see it as a weakness to have them.

[Rage and sorrow dance together in his eyes making them burn before he closes them and his tone is full of exhaustion.] I’m just tired of losing. Like we all are.

[People gave up. He's only had connections since then. It's a feeling he knows, something deep in him, something that's been changed by this island more than anything else. Kravitz takes a deep breath, in and out-- once unnecessary in these situations, but completed anyway.]

I did once, too. Spending a long time on my own, taking myself to be a person that did not need them with the living so outside my grasp. It was... simply too much, to know you would continue when they would not.

[He doesn't remember a lot of it anymore, but-- he does remember the day he took his last sister beyond the veil, the last living member of the family that had been his. She thought he appeared to her there because it's who she most wanted to see. He didn't have the heart to tell her the truth.]

It's harder to reach out and experience the gain and loss. But harder still to pretend it's not something we need.

Yeah. Reminds me how many people I’ll probably outlive just because I’m half Galra. [Its as if he heard Kravitz’s thoughts. Galra live for thousands of years. It’s something he has to consider. To say nothing of the energies he has been through in the war against the Empire and here.]

Not here. I hope not here. It’s been hard enough getting used to having Shiro back again. I don’t want to think about...

[Keith sucks in a breath as he closes his eyes. No. No he won’t think of losing him again. He can’t do it. Something in his breaks a little every time it happens.] but yeah. Not a death wish.

Not even close.

[Kravitz is really beginning to wonder if Drow and Galra are related across the planes, for all their similarities. Of course, if Kravitz was kept only to his natural lifespan he'd still cap out at 250 or so years. His situation, however, illustrates a different picture.

He steps forward, placing a hand on Keith's shoulder.]

Listen. There will be time for that mourning when it comes. There is no need to grieve for a future you may or may not have, when it is not an aspect you can change. It is still going to hurt. It is always going to hurt.

[There's no room for sugar coating here- just the truth. Dying will happen. Loss will happen. But...]

You are not ignorant or harming anyone by not thinking of that inevitability constantly. Just because you will outlive them does not make it your responsibility to tip the scales.

[He stares at him and then he closes his eyes his head tilted forward. Like this he looks older, the future him when he’s still in twenties. So many worries.

Being a leader aged him inside in so many ways. He sighs and slowly lets it go. No wonder Kolivan lectured him so many times.

Keith tenses as the second claw follows the first.] Yeah, you’re right. I just...sometimes I think about it. Galra live for thousands of years. Zarkon was unusual living for ten thousand years and more...but he was undead. So.

[He shrugs. Undeath is different. He sighs and adds,] No matter how much hurt is ahead I won’t regret a single moment with Takashi. It’s more than this whole Galra feel intensely and don’t do anything by half. It feels like we are repairing each other. Better together.

[In this instant, he truly wishes that he could lift this pain from Keith's shoulders, lift away the thoughts he knows so well. Both of them looking far too young for what they've seen, here on a bloody battlefield. It's apropos, but in the worst of ways.]

I know that feeling. Do not spend your time mourning for a future that is not yet upon you. Let your fear of Death move from you, for the time you can. And know you will join him in the end.

[He will make sure of it, when it finally comes. It is his purpose.]

We have had... very similar circumstances, to be in such different worlds. Despite the pain of being here, Keith, I am glad to have met you.

[Keith sets his knife on top of the third claw and offers Kravitz his hand.] Glad to have met you too. No matter what happens, Kravitz. Thank you for being a friend. It’s been an honor knowing you.

[Maybe Galra and Drow are the versions of the same people. He doesn’t know. But Kravitz has done a lot for him. Has resonated with him in so many ways. Together as friends they have found they’re not alone.]

Anything you need, I’m here.

[He smiles, something much more free than he ever imagined, and takes Keith's hand in turn.]

The same for you, my friend. For all that has occurred, this is worth it.

[Kravitz looks down to the claw, moving his hands to steady it for Keith's blade. Here, he can at least hold on. All of this suddenly doesn't seem so bad- or at least, that it was all worth something in the end.]

Yeah. I don’t regret any of it.

[It’s true. He doesn’t regret his actions that led him to now. Even if more people disappeared he met them and spent time with them. That matters in more ways than people realize it does.

He lets go and picks up his blade again, setting it carefully against the edge.] Maybe one day you’ll get to meet mom. I think you’d like her and she’s like you.

[He hopes so anyway. There’s something lighter in him now, the shadows a little less pronounced. He isn’t completely better but he can endure a little longer.]

...but you know. If this dragon wasn’t a god. There might be more of them around somewhere.

[He gives a little chuckle in response.]

I'm sure my Lady would smile favorably upon you as well. And I daresay I... hope this was not a god. Since the island isn't falling apart I'd say we have a good chance it's just a great beast, but I couldn't say.

[Kravitz peers out one more time towards the horizon, as if he might see something right just then. He doesn't hold there long.]

I suppose if that is the case, we will handle it when it comes.

We will. [If they have to kill more giant dragons they’ll have to kill them. His blade cuts deep into the third claw of five and he nods.]

Anyway, we just need to figure out what to do with what we’re taking here. I think some of these scales could be made into armor.

Maybe the bones into means to reinforce some of the buildings we want to keep standing? I don’t want to cut them down into blades. That feels like a waste of material.

I'm sure we can find use for them. The task right now is to remove them from the rot. If they are not dried properly, the marrow will certainly soak and damage the integrity.

[So as always, they get up and move on. He may have had hesitancies before, but now his mind is just on business, so they can get this done and get back to the people they care about.]

Yeah. Collect first, plan it out later. [Keith nods, setting back into the task. He can express he wants Kravitz to meet Shiro some time later. He braces himself on the foot and adds,]

Just tell me where to store these claws and we’ll work through those and then get scales and hide. Sound good?

[All they can do is live and keep going. Just as they always have.]

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The best part about winning is getting to loot the bodies [OPEN MINGLE]

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just about wrapped?

I’d say wrapped now