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

Current Mood: high

Entry tags:

∞ 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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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?

Ahh, well. [his only response to Caesar is to glance at him, as if sizing up his personality]

I can never stay for too long in one place, in my world.

So I can't tell you that with any certain. Most probably, it depends on the individual.

[As Ginko speaks, Caesar slowly moves back to his chair and takes a sip of his abandoned tea. It wasn't very warm anymore, but he didn't care. He needed to do something while they waited.]

Hey. Once you remove this stuff, what happens to it? I mean... is it still going to be here, in Luceti?

... I see.

[She falls quiet for a moment, debating on something. At least the act of getting up and grabbing a pillow and throw blanket would be better than just looking down at the body and feeling useless. Though she wants to hear the response to Caesar's question, as well.]

....[his mouth presses into a hard line at Caesar's question.]

I don't know why any of them are here in the first place-- or how soon they'll be gone. But even a world like this can't support such a high concentration of mushi indefinitely. As usual, they're toying with things they don't understand. [unless... somehow, it's his fault. And he drew them here. There's a brief pause]

But this single mushi should die, when I remove it. I'm more concerned about there being others.

They take the form of morning glories, and have a very strong scent.

So they weren't always here. [He'd considered that maybe these things, whatever they were, were always around but had been lying dormant for one reason or another - he didn't realize that they'd never been around until now. Somehow, though, it wasn't too surprising.]

Morning glories. Go figure. [This is a very bitter comment. Stupid flowers.]

[... Morning glories. She had absently made that connection earlier, and feels a chill when the words are said, but doesn't say anything until she has retrieved a pillow and blanket to ... make the dead man comfortable.]

What is the probability that someone... could get affected again, after they're cured?

[Ginko curves a hand over his mouth, expression impassive] I would have noticed their presence the moment I arrived... if they had been here.

[his eye shifts to Raine at the question]

Mm. As I said... that depends on whether they seek to return to that state of their own will.

But as it would take inhaling the scent of the flower intentionally to bring that about, so long as an individual stays clear of the blossoms, they should be fine. [he rubs his head with one hand] I'll go and search for them tomorrow, when I'm finished here.

He won't be going anywhere. [He'd just died, after all. Caesar couldn't imagine his brother would have an instant recovery. And that was normal, of course, but...

Time was going by too slow for him.]

Those flowers could be anywhere, though, huh?

I hope that no one else has been affected by them. Would they all be in one area...? [She gently continues her actions, attempting to ease the pillow in to support his head and neck, not intending to stop until he is 'made comfortable'. It was going to be a long night.]

[Ginko watches her movements out of the corner of his eye]

They grew only in places hidden from the sun, in my world-- which at least narrows down the places they might be here.

[And while Raine does that, Caesar is... looking elsewhere. It was a little easier that way.]

What a hassle. So, what, these things can't affect you?