Log - Complete

[manifestwill.livejournal.com]

When: March 17th. Night.
Rating: PG.
Characters: chaos [manifestwill] & Elena [lady_turk]
Summary: (Please Note: this scene takes place after the girls stolen and raped by Sandalphon died.  Yes, it is backdated like woah!)  Having run out of time, Elena is granted a merciful end at the hands of the one she loves.  A day passes, and, as an exhausted Jr. rests unconscious, the young Turk awakens to another visitor--who seems to have neglected to obey proper procedure when it comes to locked doors.
Log:

chaos:
Rubedo's quarters are silent, occupied only by the dead -- and dead exhausted -- until there is another presence there.

There amidst objects broken instead of passersby by hands horrified at the work they had to perform the night before.  Without disturbing the URTV lying prone and unconscious from fatigue, a lone, white feather drifts, swirling around one ankle, where white pants meet low-rise boots and alights on the floor.  The pale-haired visitor turns his head, regarding Jr. in silence.

So by those small hands, the Red Horseman waged war against such injustice.  Oh, but at what cost...

It's difficult, looking away.  But chaos should not disturb him.  Let him sleep.

Rest now, Rubedo, for a little while.

It's to the blonde Turk that he approaches on quiet feet, smoothly lowering himself to a knee.  One gloved hand extends out, reaching, intending only to brush a stray lock from Elena's brow.  "...Elena."

Is it time?


Elena:
Death was an interesting thing in a city where a majority of the dead came back to life after only 24 hours. The last time had been a simple matter since she had traded her life rather than actually die. She had gone to sleep like normal and woken up the next day, same but without a heartbeat. So waking up this time, when she had actually died, was a little different.

It was her mind that awoke first, registering the feeling of the bed underneath her and then the presence of the hand that was coming closer. Still though, it was taking her mind and body time to awaken fully so the only response Elena gave was a flutter of her eyes until the process of waking up fell into normal patterns, rather than that of waking up from the dead.

Blinking her eyes up at the head of white hair and tan face, it took the blonde a moment to remember who it was she was looking at. "...You're... chaos, right?" she questioned, still rather sleepy and dazed. 


chaos:
There's a silent nod, and chaos' gloved hand retreats to rest on a bended knee. "In better sorts, I assure you," he answers quietly.

And then: "Welcome back."

You've endured an ordeal he'd much rather you didn't, Elena. Not only for the pain it brought the Turk herself, but to his close friend, the URTV who loves her.

"Are you all right?" Doubtlessly, if there is lingering trauma, it may eventually present itself--and not necessarily to a relative stranger such as chaos. But if there is something else wrong, something fundamental, then perhaps he might pick up on it before Jr. has to spread himself any thinner than he already has.


Elena:
In better? Oh right. Now she remembered what he meant by that. They had first met when there was that odd curse going around. Though Elena had still been a little under the influence, so to speak, so a lot of the facts took a while to remember. "So no more pulling arms out of sockets, right?" she joked lightly, really starting to wake up and clear the dust out of her head.

Sitting up, Elena put a hand on her forehead to quash the small headache that lingered. Wasn't really all that much. Just something about the same as those she'd gotten reading too much or something trival like that. "Thanks and I'm pretty sure I'm fine. I don't think anything broken at any rate."


chaos:
The silver-haired youth breathes a soft, mildly embarrassed laugh. "Yes, I think there was plenty enough of that for one lifetime." He'd rather not repeat that particular performance.

He'll have to try harder to prepare himself for those sorts of ... overriding curses. At least he's managed well enough so far.

chaos notes the hand against her forehead without much visible concern, but rather vocalizes it with the patience of one attempting to reintroduce a sense of normalcy to the recently un-deceased. "I'm sure. How's your head?"

"It doesn't seem as if Jr. fared any better." A gesture indicates where he rests. "He's just tired."


Elena:
"I might have to protest if there was," Elena teased, grinning, though rather weakly, to show that she was only teasing. If both Mary and Jr. had said that he was their friend, she would believe them and believe what chaos said.

Giving him another small, half-grin, Elena lightly shrugged. She really wasn't one to complain about such trival aches or pains. Or well, large ones for that matter, but chaos didn't have to know that just yet. "It won't do any harm than it already is."

Lowering her hand, Elena looked worried at where Jr. was resting, if it could really be called that. Just how long had he been up before finally passing out? All because of her... "We should put him to bed so he can get some real sleep."


chaos:
chaos is accustomed to some very rough humor. Unfortunately, he can't really introduce his new friends to the crew of the Elsa. ...He misses them. He misses an awful lot of people, but one doesn't live quite as long as he does and still smile nearly all the time without having the very resilient tendency to move on. Elena seems to have a good nature behind even gentle teasing.

He finds it rather charming, really. It's easy to see why Jr. is so fond of her.

"I'll take your word for it," answers the youth quietly. If something was truly hurting her in a way she couldn't personally endure, she'd doubtlessly confide in Jr., at least. He isn't one to pry unnecessarily. chaos turns his head to glance back, across the room at where Jr. lies.

"You're right."

chaos rises, stepping carefully over to the red-haired URTV. Gingerly readjusting him until he's seated -- or more accurately, slouched -- in the support of one arm, he makes quick work of taking the other hand and placing two gloved fingers against Rubedo's brow. "...Rest a little longer."

The effect is subtle, a sliver of power to perhaps sink his consciousness a little deeper into the cradle of sleep, so as not to disturb his rest as chaos scoops the URTV into his arms. "...It seems," he notes after a moment of looking around, "That you're occupying his bed."

He looks briefly wry. "Should I leave him there? I doubt he'll complain."


Elena:
Nodding, Elena could only watch as chaos did... something to Jr. She didn't see what it was, because for all intent and purpose, it looked like all he had done was simply touch Jr.'s forehead. But the lines creasing his face evened out a touch more and it looked like he was really resting now. So whatever it was, it hadn't hurt him any.

Flushing slightly, Elena wondered if she should say that it was her bed too. It wasn't like it was a secret or anything and they had certainly shown as much that it would have been easy for someone who knew them to tell... Deciding it was unnecessary, Elena shook her head and moved over so that there was ample room for chaos to put Jr. down on. Her head still hurt a little and she didn't feel quite up to speed, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to go back to sleep just yet. Though the thought of sleeping right then made her a little sick.

Sliding the rest of the way off the bed, Elena had to brace herself slightly as she stood. Ugh... Dying hadn't been nearly as bad last time. "Are you going to stay with him too? I don't think I could stand sleeping right now and someone's got to clean up this mess."


chaos:
chaos had guessed, to be honest. There was really nothing, in his opinion, to be embarrassed about; he had been but sixteen when he'd been in love, and she had been the taller of the two. Love, trust, affection -- those things found affirmation in languages the body spoke more than the mind. It was only natural.

That all had been lifetimes ago.

As Elena moves aside he places Jr. in the space provided, and promptly sits on a corner of the bed for no other reason than to begin unfastening and throwing off the URTV's boots. Furthermore, the fact that he unbuckles certain belts next is for nothing more than making sure he doesn't sleep with guns digging into places that make it impossible to sit comfortably later.

But that's chaos, thinking about the important things. The belt and their holstered guns are placed carefully to the side.

"I'll help. He'll rest fine on his own."

...chaos had, however, noticed her unsteadiness upon getting up. He chooses now to make quiet note of it, his tone soft. "It was hard on you, wasn't it. Are you sure you're all right?"


Elena:
She'd seen and done very much the same that chaos was currently doing with Jr. so it didn't faze Elena, or make her suspicious of any other sort of motivation. To her, it was simply what it appeared to be.

Giving the resting figure on the bed a small smile, Elena agreed as much, even if she didn't voice the thought out loud. But the fact remaind that she was going to stick around for a while. Worrying was one of those things she couldn't help but do sometimes.

Elena had started to move to begin and at least pick up some of the bigger messes, when chaos words made her pause for a moment. Normally, she'd have just answered automatically that she was fine and that she was a lot tougher than she looked, but well...

"It was one of the worst things I've ever gone through. But I have to be fine so you shouldn't worry too much about me," she stated honestly, resuming her effort to clean up the smashed pieces of a broken lamp.


chaos:
Good! That... saved him the trouble of explanations for misunderstandings. chaos tries to be a good friend. Sometimes, his efforts confuse people. One supposes being openly affectionate with one's companions might contribute to many misconceptions, but it's hard to break someone like chaos of habits that... are really rather pleasant.

"Elena--" he starts to say.

chaos instead joins her, halting her efforts with the broken lamp with only a brief touch to her shoulder. He wears gloves.

Let him.

Plucking the fragments from the floor with more dexterity than gloves normally should allow, he continues conversation in low tones. "You don't have to be 'fine' for me. My worry is not for you alone. There are other people who are ... personally touched by your well-being."

Rubedo, to name one.

"Because of that connection, as a friend... I do what I must to contribute to his happiness. So ..." Be honest. "Don't feel as though you must wear a mask." If death has left you weaker, who would judge? chaos is hardly in a position to do so, considering...

Well, a lot of things.

"Was ...the end," chaos asks, his head bowed to the task, not looking at her, not yet. "Was it merciful? It's a dreadful question, but--" He'd prayed for it. Even he has to wonder if such prayers are heard, are answered.


Elena:
Elena's hands stilled when chaos put a hand on her shoulder almost on their own and the blonde had to swallow audibly to get her vocal chords to start working once more. How was it that she could be so affected like this? She didn't... She couldn't...

Licking her lips, Elena concentrated on not stuttering or stumbling over her words, finding each one hard to say for some reason. "It's not a mask. I'm not trying to be... I don't want people to think I'm... "

Weak. Worthless. Helpless. Scarred. Elena was the way she was because if she wasn't, then she didn't know how else to be.

Taking a deep breath, Elena pushed back the overwhelming swell of emotions to answer chaos in a clearer and slightly stronger voice. "As much as death can be. It was fast, but it still hurt, if not phsycially."


chaos:
All gestures are mild. It's all right, suggests the nuance of his oft-soothing demeanor. It's all right to feel, to second-guess, even to hesitate. There is no weakness in being human. One could say it's less words outright spoken than just a fragment of the peace he often wraps around himself like a mantle, that portion offered to another. No strings attached, it wouldn't make her the first to confide in him.

It's something of a talent.

chaos' head lifts, "...The severance of the thread of one's life -- a change of fate always hurts." There is something unmistakeably sad about the words, even if his expression notes a quiet sort of patience, a silent kind of hope. "I had prayed for a favorable outcome, but in such a place, I wonder who hears it?"

So Wilhelm arrives instead.

Who hears them, indeed.

There's a bin in here, and there he carefully deposits the broken pieces of the lamp, and spends a few moments more plucking what pieces remain stuck to the fingers of his glove. It doesn't take long. There's still a number of things left in here that might be irreparably damaged. Nothing can be done about them now. However...

chaos approaches Elena, and lowers to the floor in a kneel to meet her eyes.

"Do you regret your choice?"


Elena:
Prayer. The concept of God alluded Elena and she didn't know quite what to make of it. Even if Elena had been a praying sort of woman, it would have taken a bit to understand.. She'd done some reading on it, in those idle moments when she hadn't had anything else to do, but all the pieces didn't fit all the time.

She had the Planet and Holy. She'd seen both in action and knew what happened to the souls of people after they died back home. There were the Anicents, or Cetra, who could hear the voices of the planet and use its power. And then there was the Lifestream, the power and force that kept everything and everyone alive. These were the facts of her world. So to think of something outside of all that was a little mind-boggling and difficult to understand.

"You would have had to been an Anicent for anyone to answer your prayers back home," Elena states, sitting back on her heels and crossing her arms over her legs. "Otherwise the Planet tended to just ignore you."

Looking chaos in the eyes, Elena wonders just what chaos had gone through to have eyes like his. She found herself bowing her head and speaking, almost on automatic. Her voice is soft and catches sometimes, but steady despite that. " I don't regret staying and I don't regret dying. I don't have any more fear of death, but... I wish there hadn't been a reason or a need to go through all this."


chaos:
One can't explain how you gain the qualities that those like chaos and Wilhelm -- both very different people with a habit of smiling almost all the time -- but one could easily assume time and experience contributes. Both of them carry the karmic debt of several thousand years, layered, stacked one upon the other in untold repetitions of the cycle of Eternal Recurrence. How many lives repeated, how many steps retraced, since the first time Zarathustra spoke?

...Maybe chaos had forgotten.

"Where I come from," he says quietly, "No one knows if their prayers are heard. They pray, and the hope that someone hears them, that... sometimes is all that keeps them going." As he pulls away, he wears a reassuring smile. Prayer is not all that keeps chaos going, but some more fundamental understanding.

He knows his purpose.

"I wish none of it had to happen to you. But the future is always changing. I hope the rest of it is kinder than the past has been."


Elena:
"People need something to keep them going," Elena replied automatically. It was redundant and it had been said countless times in the past, but that didn't make it any less true. So what did it mean when you had stopped, but were still going somehow? This City really did break all the rules.

Nodding and letting out a small shuddery breath, Elena tilted her head to the side and offered chaos a small smile. It was the kind of smile someone gave when they were trying to assure someone that things were going to be okay and that the world wasn't as mean as it really was. Odd that she would be the one to try and be optimistic in such a situation. "We can only see, right?"


chaos:
There's no need to give chaos assurances; he'll worry about those who suffer in silence as much as those who suffer in more overt ways. But one doesn't carry the depth of experience that he does without being equipped to handle it. So too, in this way, can he acknowledge the pain of others without being dragged down by it, weighed down by others' troubles. It makes him particularly well-suited to consoling others.

Sometimes, those methods don't work, or have entirely unintended effects, but fortunately those cases are rare enough.

For now, it seems best to give her some space, some time to let events sink in. At least, in the course of their conversation, the room had become considerably tidier. "That's right." We can only see. "I'll be around on the ship. Meanwhile, please take it easy."

(Scene end.)