and if you're still breathing, you're the lucky ones [CLOSED-ISH]

[punkisntdead]

WHO: Chloe, Ann, Subaru, maybe others?
WHAT: One surly punk's arrival and adjustment in the days leading up to Shit Going Down between factions
WHEN: Vaguely early February/mid-Emru
WHERE: Tree of Life, Highstorm, maybe other locations

Closed starters here for stuff Chloe's getting up to before the event. If you want a thread with her, wildcard something here or let me know and I'll toss a starter up!

Comments

[ex_fend346]

In my experience fate is immutable.

[ Unyielding. Such is the way of the CLAMP multiverse, really. No lone individual could make anything occur which was not meant to, and he's never known anyone to have such an influence without being bound by so many rules. Even a figure with potentially far-reaching influence like the Dimensional Witch followed a strict set of principles, and doubtless, her actions enabled whatever was meant to transpire.

Subaru has never been given the impression that the end of all things has been a part of that. Would all else not be pointless, then? ]

But right now, we lack evidence either way.

[ Subaru can concede this, being an older and perhaps more patient creature. Few have a tether so long as he does, so it's a high bar to set. He's reluctant to take a stance that doesn't allow for possibilities, even as he finds the sudden end of all things too absurd to embrace. They're told so little, with no proof of what is true.

In reality, what concerns him most is Kamui's absence. ]

[punkisntdead]

[See, Chloe’s had a similar experience of learning just how damn determined fate can be to make things play out they way it wants. It broke natural laws and wiped an entire town off the map just because Max had the audacity to let Chloe continue to live when fate, or whatever mystical bullshit you wanted to call it, had it set in stone that she was supposed to die.

That seems like pretty irrefutable evidence to her. This is like that, but on a much bigger scale. Why couldn’t things unravel that badly?]

You can fence-sit all you want, man. I know what I’ve felt and what I’ve seen.

[Yeah, concessions have never been her strong suit, and it's gonna take one hell of a strong argument to make her even consider thinking otherwise. If she has to get stuck in this nonsense, she has to make it count. Maybe it’s her turn to play the super hero, as ill-cast as she feels for the role.]

So if we can salvage something new from all of this mess, I’m there.

[ex_fend346]

[ The trouble is that they have only been told what to believe. They have only been told how they supposedly come to be here. Just the same, they have only been told what these sides purport to achieve, none of which sounds like following any sort of fate. Instead, it sounds to Subaru like driving a narrative to try and dictate what is already destined, when none of them know what that destiny is.

But Subaru isn't the argumentative sort and never had been, so he has no intention of trying to convince her that embracing all this on word alone may prove dangerous. ]

We do what we can with the information we have.

[ He says as much with a shrug, and in the same movement, unclasps his long, silly cape. In the next moment, he holds it out to her. They may not see eye-to eye, but she is clearly cold. ]

Though I admit I have no interest in a world without Kamui.

[punkisntdead]

[She almost wants to argue further, but it’s so not worth it. She only just got here and she’s not the one spearheading this cause; she doesn’t need to waste her breath trying to convince someone that she’s in the right here.

And it probably helps that he catches her a little off guard with the sudden offering of his cape. Christ, that thing is long and goofy. And super warm-looking. And it is freezing balls out here.

It’s given a long, contemplative look, during which she diverts her gaze back to him with a raised eyebrow. But then she sighs and takes the thing in one hand.]

I’m guessing that’s your brother?

[The guy had mentioned they traveled worlds together, so it figures that’d be a priority for him.]

I’d suggest talking to that lady in charge here. [She hooks the thumb of her free hand over her shoulder, in the vague direction of the city’s Great Tree and that fancy manor.] Sign up and she’ll nab you the soul crystal thing of whoever you want. It sounds like too-good-to-be-true bullshit, but she actually managed to pull it off when I asked, so…

[So, it seemed like a no-brainer—and a huge, bittersweet relief.]

[ex_fend346]

[ Subaru's eyebrows knit together. It's his first response to the suggestion. He dearly misses Kamui, yet if someone could truly pull him out of the universe, distill him into some stone... Asking for that to be done to his twin is something he quickly realizes he couldn't bear to do. If it truly is possible, then Kamui would be trapped. He couldn't hear his thoughts, or feel his touch, or speak with him.

For two years, Subaru himself had been confined to a sleep without end. Would it be like that for Kamui, if he asked such a thing of Yima...? No, surely it would be worse than that. Kamui could have no hope of waking — and if he did, surely he couldn't interact with the world.

It would be too selfish of him to impose such a fate upon his brother if he really is...

...No, he's not ready to consider that possibility yet. ]

Yes, he's my twin. Was the person you asked for also family?

[punkisntdead]

[There had been no such internal conflict on Chloe’s end when faced with the opportunity. To her, everything she’s come to understand about this place and these circumstances they all find themselves in might as well be set in a binary. If you’re here, you’re alive. If you’re not, you’re dead like all the rest of the universes out there.

So even if she can only have a hunk of crystal to hold instead of the hand it truly belonged to… that was fine. It meant Max was safe from all of that reality-imploding bullshit. It meant that one day, maybe she’d be back on her own two feet instead of slumbering away in a stone. It’s better than the alternative. She can feel that it’s her, and it means that Chloe is going to fight like hell to make sure they can finally get some damn peace.

She finally opts to awkwardly drape the borrowed cape across her shoulders when that question comes, and she grimaces a little.]

No family. A friend. [More than that? Fuck.] She’s… I loved her, I guess.

[They’d stupidly tip-toed around it for the better part of a year, because things were complicated enough just trying to figure out what to do in the aftermath of everything they’d gone through back in the Bay. But they both knew it—you don’t sacrifice an entire town of people for someone you’re just friends with. And then… time or fate or whatever decided it was time to give them another punch in the dick.]

She saved my ass, and now I’m going to save hers.

[ex_fend346]

[ A loved one. Regardless of the details, which Subaru privately acknowledges as not his business, he can appreciate making decisions based on a loved one. Only Chloe could gauge what was right for her own, so he makes no judgements regarding the business with Yima managing to pull the shard of her loved one. Instead he makes a soft, acknowledging sound.

He cannot imagine that, in his position, Kamui would make such a request. Surely, he would try to find or wait for him instead, as he had before. Regardless of which side he harmonizes with (if any), Subaru thinks that is what he ought to do.

Kamui had waited once before. Subaru can only imagine how difficult that had been. If it's his turn now, he should show the same patience and resolve his twin did. ]

I'm sure you'll see your wish through.

[ It's clear to him that, even if they don't see eye-to-eye (clearly they do not), that her care is genuine. Surely that will see her through to her goal. ]

[punkisntdead]

[Chloe wants to say she’s got that sort of confidence about it, but if she’s being fully honest, she’s feeling out of her depth and unanchored here. But what she’s lacking in confidence, she more than makes up for in determination. She has to make all of this work.]

Yeah…

[One hand still clutching the cape draped over her shoulders and the other reaching up to awkwardly run fingers through her hair, she averts her gaze for a moment. And she once again catches sight of that Benny’s sign lit up just at the end of the street.]

Look, enough of this heavy shit. You hungry? [She motions to the soft glow of the diner’s sign in the distance.] I could go for taking a break and getting a bite to eat, so…

[Dude’s been nice enough despite all her bullshit, and frankly she could do with more company for a while as she gets her bearings in this place. Not that she’ll plainly admit it.]

[ex_fend346]

[ Subaru spares the signage a glance. In truth, human food does absolutely nothing for him, but he supposes it won't hurt him either. If it's somewhere that she could feel more comfortable and center herself in the face of all this, then that's reason enough to go.

So he nods along, gesturing for her to lead the way. ]

I haven't tried it myself, but the name has me curious.

[ What sort of establishment would Benny's prove to be, exactly? It's a mystery to him, but one they can easily find the answers to. ]