chikaidestroyer | ∞ 83: A chronicle of life and death [action]

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∞ 83: A chronicle of life and death [action]

[What a wonderful afternoon. The sun is shining, the sky has cleared up, and the ground is drying after two days of rain. And Albert is around the village today, weaving through the streets and between houses and even to the edges of the forest.

Little do people know that Albert received a beautiful flower last night, and he happened to smell it. When he awoke up the morning, getting out of his room proved to be an ... arduous battle. And getting out the front door? Well, he had at least discovered what a doorknob was by then.

He has a vague, wondrous look on his face as he looks at swaying tree branches and flowers he would have otherwise ignored. His hair is in slight disarray, as if he had rolled out of bed and fought his way through a bedroom door. His clothes are in a similar state, and notably the same as the ones he had been wearing last night.

This isn't strange at all.

He will be wandering around for the entire afternoon. Attempts to talk to or capture the 6'1" strategist will be bizarre. ...And he won't be returned home until sunset or so.]

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No- [--

Still moving in that automatic way, Raine somehow manages to reach in her pocket and find the unicorn horn. Quickly, undoing the wraps of the rag it was in, the horn glows faintly as she clutches it close and starts casting, again It's hard to concentrate. She pushes.]

Resurrection!

You- you idiot! [Caesar moves to grab a hold of Albert's shirt, but he hardly touches it before backing off when he notices that he's stopped breathing. He's stopped breathing.

That's all Caesar can think of. He can't say anything, and he can't do anything, and... He's scared, but he can't look away, and he doesn't want to look at Raine, almost as if he thought doing so would confirm what he thought.

This wasn't fair.]

[Like the Recover spell, the Resurrection spell causes Albert's body to glow for a moment, but there is again no sign of improvement. His aged body remains deathly still, lips parted and face turned slightly to one side.

Then, invisible to the normal eye, a burst of fine purple dust escapes his nose. It dissipates quickly.]

[... it didn't work.

She can only look down at him for what feels like several very long moments.The spells should have worked, if this ... this power, this ailment wasn't beyond her capabilities. It's not enough. She vaguely registers Caesar being there, suffering. As long as someone is there, she has to keep herself together. Somehow.]

... Albert. [She hears herself speaking, though from very far away. A hand gently moves aside the limp hair. So fragile. So brittle.]

[It hurts. He doesn't know what it is, but it hurts.]

Is this guy coming or what, Raine? [He speaks harshly. He's not trying to be strong, he's just... angry. He looks at her for a brief moment and motions toward the body between them.] When he comes back, I... I'm going to hit this guy really hard for leaving me behind again, Miss Raine.

[Saying it, acknowledging it, however... He wanted to cry.]

If he got the message, he should be on his way... [But she doesn't know. It can't have been that long.]

... I know. [She slowly holds out a hand to him.] Lets... let us get up, Caesar. We don't know if... [If there's still a danger. If whatever killed Albert could get them as well.] Just... have some of your tea, you barely touched it.

[It's a moment before he lifts his hand to take hers. It was hard to move, and it took a lot of effort to do so, but he knew that if he didn't, he'd probably be stuck here forever. It didn't matter to him that whatever killed Albert could still be there - this supernatural stuff was beyond him normally, and at that moment...

He nods a little, and he's able to stand, with Raine's help.]

If it tastes cold and gross, I'm not drinking it.

[But he probably will anyway, because he feels really empty.]

Then... lets hope it doesn't. [Or she can just get fresh tea. But the kitchen seems so far away right now.

She guides Caesar back to his chair. Automatic.]

... I'm sorry.

What a jerk. [Caesar shakes his head at the apology. He sits down and stares at the cup of tea that he'd left on the table earlier.] Doesn't he get that I... [need him? But it's hard to say that.] It's not your fault. Or his. I just want- need him to be okay again.

He will be. You just... need to hold on until then. Else he'll turn this all back around on you, in that way of his... [And hopefully by then she would have stopped replaying it all in her mind. The way his hair turned and his body withered. Wilted. Like his damn morning glories. The flowers he was following just earlier laying crumpled and withered on the low cabinet.] He will be. [Her hand brushes absently against Caesar's shoulder. It's trembling.]

[There comes a rap on the door of House 42, at this point-- not too long after Ginko's received Raine's message in his journal. Only long enough for Albert to follow the cycle of the flower-- a thought which strikes him as he waits. Pack on his back... blowing smoke at something clinging to the doorway.]

((ooc: sorry, LJ is screwing with my comments today))

Edited 2010-06-17 22:40 (UTC)

[Caesar can't say anything to Raine, because inside, he's still in a panic. He can't help it - thinking of the worst thing first is something of a habit, after all. He reaches for the cup of tea he'd been ignoring when he hears the knock on the door, though, and nearly jumps to go and answer it.]

Could he have taken any longer? [...even if it hasn't actually been that long. It already felt like an eternity. Of course, he nearly trips over himself when he remembers-] Oops. Guess our trap's been rendered useless now... [So he's going to go ahead and move that cabinet out of the way, a bit quicker than he had earlier.]

... Seems like it. [It's somewhat of a relief to hear that knock - after what did feel like an eternity, though it's hardly his fault, of course - though even now she wonders if it isn't even too late for something to be done. What could be done? She lets Caesar get the door and moves slowly back to kneel at Albert's side.]

[when the door opens, he'll respond with a quiet-] Yo. [out of habit removing his shoes before he steps inside]

Where is he?

He's- [Caesar pauses, clearing his throat. He motions toward the withered body Raine's kneeling beside, but he can't look in that direction himself. Not at all.] He's there. Right over there.

[He didn't like saying it. It was unreal.]

[He would only have to cross the foyer to the sitting room. Raine barely glances up at Ginko's approach. Her voice is very quiet.]

... he's passed away.

[.....ah.

Ginko crosses to where he's lying in a few swift strides. All of the signs are the same-- but he needs to be certain. He inclines his head respectfully to Raine, and to Albert's body. A muttered-] Pardon me for this...[and then without further ado he kneels to tip Albert's head back. He lowers his own until it's at the level that the single eye can clearly perceive what he was hoping to find.

Something purple, like a polyp or a flower bud, attached to the nasal cavity. He leans back with a slight sigh-- and looks from Caesar to Raine. He's too pragmatics... and has seen too many people die to have much of a bedside manner, sometimes, but his voice is quiet and completely confident.]

He's going to be alright.

I can cure him.

[After he shuts the front door, Caesar walks back to where Raine and Ginko are. He stands at a bit of a distance, though - he didn't want to get too close, not until he saw that his brother was alright.]

How long is that gonna take?

You'll be able to restore him from such a state?

But... the penalty...

[Ginko shakes his head, and gestures to the prone figure.]

Right now he's harboring a mushi which harmonizes its own biological clock to its host's. This particular mushi has a lifespan of twenty-four hours, after which it reproduces. His body will return to life with the next dawn, to repeat the cycle indefinitely-- so the penalty should not be a factor.

[a pause as he leans back to take a draw of smoke, glancing at Caesar]

I first encountered this mushi on an island where the infected where regarded as gods, for that reason. But once he returns to life this morning, I can remove the mushi very simply.

[muttered, as if in thought] His emotional state might be a little more complicated...

So we have to wait. [He hadn't been concerned with a penalty. And whatever that guy just mumbled about his emotional state? Yeah. Caesar didn't care about that, either. It didn't matter right now, he just needed his-]

Is there anything we can do until then?

[Raine's quiet, listening as Ginko explains. No penalty. It could be cured. But there would be more to deal with afterward. And that-]

What are the... likely complications? [Because if Caesar is going to dismiss everything, someone needs to ask the questions.]

[bluntly] No, there's nothing to be done.

[and he gives Raine a careful look.]

As I said-- he's experiencing life the way the mushi would... [a pause and he looks down]. They say, that though every living thing has a different lifespan-- the number of heartbeats we are allotted are the same. In other words, even living life for a single day feels like a complete lifetime.

Many of the people I cured on that island voluntarily returned to that state afterward. [a slow inhale and exhale of smoke, curling through his fingers] They found the long stretch of a human lifetime too uncertain in comparison.

He wouldn't do that. [Caesar shakes his head. He finds himself speaking automatically. He knows Albert, he would never-] He wouldn't choose to do something like that.

[But obviously, it wasn't like Caesar had any experience with this kind of thing. Maybe he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.]

A complete lifetime...

[In the space of a day. It sounds so long, so unnatural. She's known people who have lived for thousands of years. But having that much time experienced in such a small frame? And... he was hardly himself throughout it, was it?]

And the ones... who didn't allow themselves to return to that state. How long did it take them?