notsosou

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The klaxons rang. The red lights flashed. The station sections slowly listed in the dark. Long past the edge of effort, long past the boundaries of hope, Stacy kept struggling, but there was no use to it; and in the end, even the static and the voices in her headset ceased to shout.

It was a jewel to her, the moment that she understood that it was over—

That willpower could not fix this. That effort could not fix this. That even “being better” could not have helped.

It was a jewel; it was an unfolding, glowing flower. It transfixed her with the simple beauty of it.

Her eyes no longer saw the console that spread before her. Her ears no longer heard the bells. Instead her eyes were fixed on that pure and clean and inner darkness, and the silver glow that burned within it; then up, beyond, and past it, to the beginning of the world.

- Glitch, by Dr. Jenna K. Moran

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From:

mewchan

Big sis saved my life, way before the sand pest. I won't ever forget that.

[ There isn't an accusation in Gin's words, but there is the knowledge between the lines that Shin wasn't there, that he hasn't been here for the town or anyone in it for the past five years. That's enough for a lot of trust to erode, and enough for Gin to give his warnings very little thought. ]

Fires might be scary, but I believe big sis and the city doctor when they say people need them too! [ Sara could be a fire in the heart as much as she might be the low burning glare of a steppe fire in the distance. Shin just couldn't tell the different, he hid away to long. ] Loner, your eyes got too used to the dark. You need to start paying attention, woof. What you do is important. You and big sis are more alike then you wanna think.

[ Threat or warning aside, Gin's made his point and spotting a water pump, he dashes towards it with usual good cheer and some animal noises. ]

I'm so happy, this part of town has the nicest water! You picked a good place to pass out. Meow, meow!

From:

notsosou

[To Shin, that time is why his warning feels that it should have weight, in the way where intellectually you know someone doesn't know what you do but emotionally it still feels important. Time is hard for him to gauge, in it's unseen erosion. This is the sort of thing that makes it painfully stark, like the incessant scratch of a needle or pin prick claws, that Gin was in danger and he didn't even know until this moment after it's long past... he can't unwind the clock (that far, at least).]

Alike, huh... [Not in the way Gin means, the mark of sunshine is what comes to his mind. The gleam of teeth, maybe.] Even if that's true... Can't see us ever getting along at this point.

[He's sure she hates him, after all. It would make sense. Then Gin's running towards the pump in excitement, breaking the moment. Shin follows behind at a paced walk so he doesn't pass out.]

Ahaha, they actually maintain the pipes over here, that's why... The Chine, too. Strange, isn't it? Looks like architects like having clean water themselves. If you took the Kains at their word they'd live on nothing but air...

[Shin takes on odds and ends jobs around town nowadays, when he has the energy, and repair of various mechanisms is one of them. If you passed him on the street you could probably get him to repair your gun... for a trade.

Well-maintained means the arm actually moves when Shin leans all his weight on it to get the pump running for Gin, too. He bends down to cup his hands and drink from them and while it's cold it's too refreshing for that to matter as much as it might usually. He gulps it down and wipes some across his forehead in the hopes it'll help with his headache, keeping the corner of his eye and his ears out for passersby. It's daytime, but people are bold and Shin's painfully aware of his ability or lack thereof to really fight anyone...]

H-hey, it's not like I chose to pass out at all...

[He was just... drawn here, and well, what happened can't actually have happened, so it must have been a waking nightmare. In the tapdance of hindsight, he thinks he might have heard a 'hey, get over here' on the way and just... drunkenly ignored it, which is just vicariously terrifying. He's never touching twyrine again.]

From:

mewchan

Grrr.

[ He can't "see" them getting along...that was the whole problem! Gin makes some kind of gesture back at Shin as he runs, paws near his eyes and flapping as if to say "open up!"

...It's important, it really is. It's hard to place why he feels the need to tell it to Shin, something about the double shadowed importance that's hounded so many people in town these days, the gleam of something he can smell. It's probably the twyre making his nose funny, but Sara says sometimes the future is something you can touch if you look hard enough, and thats how Gin feels when he looks at Shin. ]

Water is alive and air is dead, so they need to have water or they'd be dead. It makes sense to me. [ Gin sticks...his whole face and hands under the water...and probably a large portion of his cape as well before he backs up and shakes himself like a dog. Yeah, not sorry. ]

Yeah right, you worthless drunk! [ He knows what he smelled! ] Loner, you drink now!? What would bucket girl say... Its ruff enough on her without you going to the dogs. We aren't even near your house...

[ How did Shin even get here, is the question Gin really wants to ask. ]

Edited Date: 2022-05-27 08:10 am (UTC)

From:

notsosou

[Shin hears, Keiji sees, Sara talks and touches... and yet they won't listen, won't look, and won't communicate. No wonder it's Gin-maddening.]

Dead air more, but everything living needs water... Hey, quit it!

[You're getting water all over him - not like that! Although... he tries to splash some onto his front more deliberately to try get the gunk off... it doesn't quite completely work. Running the scarf under it and squeezing it out is a little more successful, flicking a little water at Gin with the tasseled end in return while feigning he's not.

He's going to have to hang the jacket and scarf from his window to dry when he somehow gets back, if the air is clean... and then bundle up, he doesn't want to catch a cold on top of everything else, esp since he should be taking his pills soon. He'd carried some on him, but someone didn't believe him and took the sheaf thinking they were precious antibiotics. It's somewhat a comeuppance, but he's not thinking about any results of that for his own sake.]

H-hold on...!

[Worthless drunk? He winces. The idea of Kanna finding out and it being both her AND Gin and probably the entire town judging him... he's not an alcoholic he swears, he knows drink can end up drinking you... it's a common affliction in this town after all.]

I'm not making a habit of it...! [Especially not now!] It's just they say twyrine can reveal secrets, don't they... Only I'm old enough for it, so you better not go trying any yourself, Gin.

[If there ever was a time to try learn more about what's going on, it's right now, when there's so much nobody including him knows, dangerous unknowns... but this still feels frustratingly fruitless, a tangled snarl of imagery and as for where it brought him...]

Not like there's anything to show for it... Everyone knows about the Polyhedron.

[Now I have to think about where Shin actually lives... Probably he works in one of the stores across the tracks from the Warehouse district, that good ol' bad side of town, and his actual house likely isn't that far from there. It's the grocery store behind the railway, I'm deciding, where lifeblood from outside reaches the underbelly of the town first. Midori's old house... that's in the Hindquarters most likely, facing the river and fenced in with semicircular wall. It's not too far from the pharmacy that's right next to a certain Broken Heart pub, which may explain some things. He's ended up walking all the way across town, which depending on which day it is means he's probably wandered through at least one infected district unscathed... alcohol sure loves to protect it's fools, in a walking across fifteen lanes of traffic way. In an eroding immunity juuust enough way.

Concerned with acquiring his own immortality Midori may have been, well-liked and accoladed... that side of town kept it's secrets better. Isidor's house was right in the center of it.]