text | un: fairchild

[obstinance]

so i don't know if anyone else has noticed, but it looks like there's a definite trend of people going back into stasis without any warning

a few people i knew from back home woke up and just ended up... disappearing out of nowhere and returning back to their pods on the station

has anyone else had something like that happen to them?
maybe it's just me and i'm cursed with bad luck or something
an explanation for WHY it happens would be nice, too
not that i think it's going to make anyone worry less
i haven't had the chance to talk to darma about it, but maybe someone else has

[ not that clary is entirely certain she would trust darma's reasoning at this point, but... well, it's worth a shot. ]

uh, on a lighter note
i realize we already have a makeshift fight club in the works, but i'm looking for regular sparring partners
preferably someone who can't actually throw me through a wall and doesn't want to repeatedly punch me in the face, but i'm not picky
i figure it can't hurt to add a few new things to my skill set

Comments

[punshots]

[ He won't argue the point that she didn't need to get him anything, because he knows that point too well from being on the other side of arguments just like this. Looks like he's not the only person who isn't going to put themselves first tonight, but...he'd had more time to deal with Noct being gone than it sounds like she has with her friends. He'll find a way to do more for her than she can for him if it's the last thing he does, dammit!

(What a sad game of one-upmanship.)

He has an idea of the area they might be heading towards as they head past the market district. He's become pretty familiar since his patrols, but the market district proper is hardly conducive to the kind of chats he's used to having by a fireside. But as this isn't the best place to build a fire, this spot on the outskirts will do.

Humming out a sigh that can roughly be translated to "this is the spot", Prompto drops down next to her unceremoniously. ]

Promptwo? Ha! [ He guffaws. It's a good one, okay, and he slaps his knee. ] Just don't let him get any ideas about replacing Prompto Prime, no matter how cute he is. Can't be a-any cuter than the real deal!

[ Then he leans back on the palms of his hands. ]

- Yeah, this place? Kind of has a knack for making you miss things you never thought you would.

[ His words can be parsed two ways. If she wants lighthearted banter or a more serious segue, this is it. ]

[obstinance]

[ a sad game of one-upmanship indeed, but that seems to be the common theme of their interactions... which is a depressing detail itself.

his appreciation of her shamelessly cheesy pun is a little less upsetting, a little less gloomy. smiling in the face of unabashed laughter isn't an arduous feat, even if maintaining that level of mirth will be especially challenging with all that could be said. all that needs to be said, more aptly, unless she makes the mistake of bottling it up. ]

You can't beat vintage. [ in this scenario, prompto is the vintage, and daring to poke him in the cheek is only highlighting that meaning for him. promptwo will have to put forth some effort if he wants to tackle that task of recreating the movie single white female. it detracts from retrieving the mystery contents of her bag, but it's worth it — and she hasn't even accidentally smeared dirt across his face with that one action. amazing achievements.

his next comment isn't met with the same quick wit, though. her fingers fall to play idly with blades of grass as she muses, opening her mouth to speak before any words manage to come out. ]

Please talk sense into me if I start missing the subway. [ there's only a beat between that and her next sentence, and one in which her gaze flits from him to the green between her fingers. ] I lost my home once, and then I lost it again. Being separated from almost everyone I knew, on top of knowing it could happen to anyone I meet here, just makes it feel like it's happening for a third time.

[ because what makes a home if it isn't the people someone loves most? it's a lesson she's been forced to learn more than once, and clary has no fondness for the idea of repeating it here. ]

[punshots]

[ He draws one knee up to his chest and props an elbow on it, a bay of laughter bellowing out of him as she pokes his cheek. He settles back on his other hand, glancing at the city surrounding them, listening to the chirping of crickets. Sometimes, in the little details, it reminds him so much of home that he can almost feel like he's there again. It never lasts, though - not really, and that's for the best. This place was somewhere new, and they didn't need to pretend otherwise. And for as lucky as they were to even be alive, it...sometimes really sucks, too.

His expression calms from amusement to reflection, and it's a moment before he finally speaks up. ]

...Yeah, tell me about it. [ Those words ring so close to home it brings a fresh wave of heartache to his chest, a cold squeezing there at the memory of just how happy he'd been when he'd found Noct here, alive and well and awake. And now, knowing how fleeting it was, makes it hard not to feel like he'd been naive.

But would he act any differently if Noct woke up again? Would he be guarded and careful instead of overjoyed and open?

Of course not. ]

Believe it or not, I'm...kinda in the same boat. Things were...pretty bad back home, even before the Storm came. I just feel...helpless. Like we should be able to do something to keep people awake, and wake more of them up, but there's...not.

[ And so they're only left waiting for now. He'd wait forever for his friends, but that doesn't make it any easier to bear. ]