tushanshu_logs | Trouble Down Under

Characters: Vincent Moore & Raine Sage; Second part Open
Date: 07/07 -> 08/07
Location: Vincent's Room; Midnight Hotel Lobby
Situation: Vincent is dealing with some mental demons / The random vision of much suffering.
Warnings/Rating: Spoilers for CHAPPiE. Swearing, triggering content, including talk of death/suicide in the first section, as well as mention of the vision, which will be under a cut.

Vincent wasn't coping well.

He'd managed to persuade the... "healer" that he was well enough to take care of himself. They had him checked into some sort of hotel, and... he hasn't moved. He hasn't eaten, or ventured outside since, and that was about a week ago. He has been showering, drinking, cleaning his clothes, so he's not entirely despondent... but he has bigger things on his mind than eating.

Why was he here? Was this some sort of near-death experience? Was his life, in the real world, slowly ticking down the seconds until his brain stops thinking, his heart stops beating?

He could feel, though. Everything felt real. It was... Well, he didn't know what. Purgatory? Like he deserved that chance... not after what he did.

They deserved it, though. Did they? Vincent can barely remember what happened, just a maelstrom of emotions, of rage, of sheer pleasure, the bloodrush he hasn't felt since leaving the Army... He's done something awful. Murdered people. He can't remember who, though. Not yet.

He closes his eyes, trying to make sense of it. He remembers pinning Wilson against a desk, gun pressed to his head. "Give... Me... the... Guard... Key..." His lips form the words as he remembers them. He also remembers that... abomination. The one who forgave him.

To err is human, to forgive is divine.

And then, something else.

TELL ME!

That sudden voice has Vincent surging to his feet, stumbling back, and into a wall as the vision plays out, sinking to the floor and holding his head, bunching up into a ball.

---

OPEN - Late night Tuesday / Early Morning Wednesday

Vincent hasn't been seen since he checked in, but now he's shuffling his way down into the common areas, stopping by the kitchen first, securing some soup and heating it up. He's also brewing himself some tea and, by the look of things, it's mostly on autopilot. He does, occasionally, glance up and around, nervously, but, then again, everyone's on edge right now.

Food and tea prepared, he's going to walk into the common area, sitting down close to the fire, but removed from the centre of the room; a place with a good vantage point.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"And this... thing is gone?" His next question is obvious; "So why are people still showing up?"

He frowns. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful you managed to heal me up and all, but... It's not like I asked to be here."

"It's gone, yes." It had better be. Raine pauses there, and she looks a little bit troubled. In a moment she continues with less than optimal news.

"We don't know why. And anyone who had anything to do with the creation and maintenance of the spell is dead now." And extraordinarily unavailable for comment. She sighs. "None of us asked to be here, though many of us have made the best of it. Keeliai seems to offer second chances, of a sort, to many of those who had less than optimal situations in their home worlds."

There's a grunt to that. Not much he can really say in response. He can't say he'll take this supposed second chance... not when he isn't sure what his mind is saying to him any more.

A strong part of him wants to call bullshit on all of this. Sink back into the reasoning that this is all some crazed near-death experience, or that he's high on the drugs the hospital's using to treat his actual injuries.

That would make sense, but...

He feels hunger. He feels fatigue. He feels thirst. Stuff he shouldn't feel if this is a delusion, right?

Besides, after what you've done, your afterlife should be very different...

"I'm not... used to this sorta stuff." He admits. An apology? Maybe. "It's... a lot to take in."

Raine can recognize not-quite apologies, and can acknowledge that's probably about the best she can hope for right now. She inclines her head to him, a slow, careful gesture, and folds her hands in her lap.

She can't quite understand why he is still having so much trouble accepting his situation, but then again she's always been very good at processing data down into something that makes sense. Even when it's absolutely terrible. Perhaps, raised in a world without magic, without being able to sense the life of the world, she would not be nearly so open to new ideas? Impossible to tell. "It can be," she says, neutrally. "But the situation is unlikely to change significantly in the near future, and we lack an intentional way back." Denial is not going to do anything but delay him. Raine quiets there, half-expecting more questions from him.

"Intentionally?"

So there was a way back... It just relied on chance? The same as showing up here?

Raine nods. Looks, for a moment, downcast, before she shakes it off. "It's been determined that when we leave here, we return to our own worlds at the time we left," she says, simply. "Sometimes, people simply... vanish. No one is quite sure what causes it-- for some time, we ascribed it to Malicant, but that's obviously no longer possible. Perhaps the initial spell is degrading, and eventually we will no longer be called at all. It's impossible to tell right now." She'd love to study the spellwork, but she hasn't the faintest idea where to begin; it's something that's around them and woven into the world, it seems, and if there's a physical component aside from the gems -- which weren't even always a factor -- she's yet to hear of it.

"So, we know nothing about this bullshit. Bloody brilliant." He sounds irritated, but not at Raine. And then something else she says clicks.

"Wait... At the time we left?" So, back when he was half-dead?

Fortunately, she's well versed in irritation that's not directed at her, and isn't going to take it personally.

"...Yes, that's correct." Raine hesitates there, only for a few seconds. "I'm aware a number of people are from times that were exceptionally trying. Some Foreigners are even dead in their home worlds." She remembers how Vincent arrived. Close to dead himself, really. This can't be any good consolation.

A scowl, there.

"Cruel thing to do that... Disturb someone's eternal rest. I don't care how bloody desperate they were." Kidnapping was one thing.

"Perhaps," Raine allows, thinking of those of her friends who had wanted, above all, choice. "But it can't be undone, now. They will eventually return, just like the rest of us."

It isn't something she likes to think about, personally-- not only does it mean forgetting, but Bakura at least will find himself dead. Raine shakes her head. Moves on. "Did you have other questions?"

"Return to die." Vincent grumbles. It doesn't sit well with him. At all. Still, what can he do about it?

He shakes his head. "No. No more questions." Well, he does have more questions, but his head is swimming right now.

"All right." Raine doesn't get up, though, seemingly intent on watching him eat. Just to be sure. "If you do have further questions, I'm happy to answer them. Anyone at the Welcome Center will likely also be happy to help. In the mean time, I want you to start eating and sleeping as regularly as you can." She's very serious about this.

An amused snort. "Doctor's orders, eh?" He takes another spoonful. "Alright. I suppose I can try."

"I'll be checking in on you," Raine says pointedly as she finally does rise. In other words, do, there is no try. Though she will at least accept it as better than the alternative of not trying. "Please take care, Vincent."

Barring anything else, she'll nod to him and leave him in peace.

Trouble Down Under

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