Week 5

[airlockedmods]

Week 5

[In a tragic yet seemingly inevitable turn of fate, the Champions have lost Zombina this week. OsoKaramatsu and Korra, too, are gone, both having fallen in their attempts to help their fellow Champions out of terrible circumstances.

Again, the Champions will find themselves experiencing strange dreams on Sunday night, until they're awakened by C.E.C.E.'s announcement. This is all starting to become routine.]

Congratulations, Champions! By surviving your third trial, you have unlocked the fourth floor of the ship. A new mini map has been added to your P.I.P.!

[The trash compactor is completely shiny and new again. In addition, the profiles on the P.I.P.s still inticate that Karamatsu is dead. Because of course he is, right?

Fuck you.]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday



(( Welcome to Week 5! Don't forget to check in and submit your memory regains! Turn in your benefactor threads for sweet loot, too! ))

Comments

[le_mat]

[he huffs]

You got one too? Petuu probably thought it'd be funny.

... Are you wanting to see it?

[he couldn't ignore all the prodding]

[playthedamncard]

I don't know it was her. At least it might be useful. She wouldn't want that for us, now, would she?

[He probably shouldn't jostle anything anyway. The lingering stench of burning has faded, and they're going to have to figure out some kind of care routine until it all properly heals up. But--] Can't avoid it forever. I want to know how badly--[I fucked up] ...How bad it is.

[le_mat]

Okay. Hold on.

[It takes him a moment to get up, knock kneed as a colt, but managing. Luckily their beds aren't that far apart.]

Should probably make sure it's not infected anyways.

[He's sure the others checked while they were passed out, but he'll feel better seeing himself too]

[playthedamncard]

You don't need-- [But Akira's already up and shuffling over. Now that the giddiness and ability to pass out at a moment's notice have worn off, he's slightly more himself. But the drugs and exhaustion still keep him open like a book, and he hates it. Hates this. The guilt and the shame. When he looks back at his reflection, he can see it clearly on his face. God damn it.]

I can do it myself.

[le_mat]

And probably jab yourself. Just... Let me help.

[playthedamncard]

...You're not going to let me say no, so. [But he's also not saying no anyway. Kaiba shifts, angling his face to Akira better, and if there's any shaking, it's because of the cold and nothing more.] ...Thanks.

cw: just eye stuff from here down probs

[le_mat]

[Akira just nods, and sets to work. His hands shake a little, still a little numb from the nerve damage- but even injured, his Proficiency keeps his fingers deft and fast... if not as fast as they once were.

Might never be again, honestly.

When everything is unwound and the padding carefully removed he sucks in a sharp little breath between his teeth, but that's all]

fo sho

[playthedamncard]

[His fingers curl around the edge of the bed tight enough to go white-knuckled. Sure, people have seen it, and they've seen it fresh. People have been taking care of them, however they can. But they haven't seen the damage for themselves.

And it's a weakness that puts them in danger, leaves them at a disadvantage. They're vulnerable here. They're vulnerable without half their sight.

Akira's reaction says it all, really. He takes a breath.] It's just a simulation, you know. When we're out of here, our bodies won't be damaged. Data doesn't transfer that way. We'll wake up undamaged. [He has to believe it, because he believes this to be a sim, and he knows how that works. It's fine. It's going to be fine. This won't be forever.

He steels himself and looks for himself. His face loses color the way his fingers did. A hunk of marred flesh from just around the edge of the eye socket to glancing off the bridge of his nose (and here he'd thought all the damage was just from slamming his face into Akira's alone), an obvious line of momentum from the swing. Patchy black charring and otherwise red skin--his brain tries to recal, dermis, epidermis, subcutaneous fat layer, what are the levels of damage, how far down does this go, but he can't concentrate on that and the words just slip away. There isn't any such thing as an eyelid anymore. There's nothing left to open. It's ugly and horrid and his, that's his face with an angry line of damage. And now they both know, they know what Akira's is going to look like, and this is his fault, he said those stupid things, tried to provoke a reaction.

He's lightheaded and not sure when his breathing got so heavy. He shuts his good eye tight and tries to swallow down the panic, control, control, he has to find control again--]

[le_mat]

[Somehow, seeing Kaiba react like this is scarier then seeing his own could possibly be. Kaiba could be emotional, he knew that. But seeing him on the edge of panic is new and terrifying.

He grips his shoulders, trying to ground his friend in the now, in the fact that he's not on his own in this. That's regardless of the damage he's alive.]

Seto, focus...

[playthedamncard]

I'm fine. [His own voice sounds far and away in his head, but even he can hear the waver in it. He breathes through the wave of nausea, tries to relax in Akira's grip but can't. They should be dead. Death might have been kinder.

No. No, don't start down that path.]

...Knew it'd be bad...

[le_mat]

Yeah, it's pretty fucking bad. [he's not going to sugar coat it] And you're not fine. You don't have to be fine.

But... You're still here. [one of his hands leaves Kaiba's shoulder to press against the unblinded side of his head. Normally he wouldn't be so physically familiar- not with Kaiba who never seemed to have any want or need for it. But maybe it was more for his own sake.] And last I heard, Petuu didn't stab you in the brain.

[playthedamncard]

[The touch to his shoulders was strange enough--on top of Yuri's hug. Nobody gets physically familiar with him but Mokuba. He's closed off and prickly. Nothing about him looks comfortable to hold. It was only ever Yuugi--only ever the pharaoh who might dare to touch him in a way that wasn't a prelude to violence.

Everything is catching up, and it's overwhelming. But he can focus on touch. His eye snaps back open, regarding Akira with surprise mixed in with the panic guilt panic horror panic shame.]

She nearly did. Pretty sure. [Short phrases. Easier. Breathe. Breathe. Akira is warm, and warmth is appreciated right now.] We're...lucky.

[le_mat]

[Akira breathes right along with him, offering a deep pattern to focus on and mimic. He knows himself, knows this isn't purely empathy that makes him seek this out- if he can focus on Kaiba he can slowly ease himself into the idea that he wasn't ruined too. He always handled others better then himself.

Still, that raw scared look is familiar. He's reminded, suddenly, of Ryuji. Ryuji who couldn't be more different then Kaiba, who was physical and loud and warm. Who had that same look sometimes when someone touched him that he didn't see coming. Akira feels something like rage bubble in him. ]

Maybe, yeah. Maybe we got more shit to do first.

[playthedamncard]

[Breathing in time, slowing down, taking himself out of the moment back to now. Present. Here. Not on the floor screaming in agony. Not writhing in Blaze's grasp or curled in Bolton's arms.

There's part of him that demands he get away, but he doesn't. It's too late for that now. He's shown vulnerability to everyone, but with Akira, it's more than that. It's solidarity now, and if he's going to let anyone do this, if he's going to show this to anyone, it's going to be the guy he went through the experience with. His hands start to relax, and his shoulders, while still tense, drop.]

...We do. As long as we're alive, we can do something.

Plus, payback would be nice.

[le_mat]

[akira drops his hands, letting Kaiba go... But doesn't exactly pull away yet.

That comment makes him smirk, all dangerous promise]

Oh, it's gonna be so good.

[playthedamncard]

[He's so tired and frazzled and his heart is still beating a rapid pace, but even through that, the smirk he flashes in return has the taste of danger and wicked wildness that will be familiar now from confronting Petuu.

But it's only there for a second before it drops again. They'll have to figure out how to get around it; she could probably electrocute and kill them all in one swipe of her phone if she so felt it.

He reaches up to Akira's face, though he doesn't touch, fingers lingering outside vision range, hovering around the bandage.]

Should we check you, too, or was seeing this more than enough?

[le_mat]

... probably should. You up for that?

[Akira's not even sure HE is, honestly. Even preparing himself by seeing Kaiba might never be enough]

[playthedamncard]

Might as well keep the momentum up. I promise I'll be careful. [He gets to his feet.] Go on, sit. I'm not making you do all the work here.

[le_mat]

[Akira sit quietly, glad to rest his legs. They were starting to knock with something that wasn't just exhaustion.]

...

[playthedamncard]

[Kaiba's good with his hands, even with shitty nerve damage and the cold, long fingers working carefully to unwrap everything as Akira had.

Bad enough to see it on himself. To see it mirrored back on Akira, that someone else had to suffer for his foolish pride, makes him forget how to breathe for a moment.]

[le_mat]

[Akira was lucky in that his nose didn't end up damaged like Kaiba's had- but he pays for that luck in the wound trailing up into his hairline from Petuu's upswing. Otherwise the scene is about the same- red hot skin and char and... well.]

Y-you know, they say chicks dig battle damage....

[playthedamncard]

[Breathe. Shit. Akira was there for him, time to return the favor.] I think you're going to have to rely on your charm and wit rather than your looks from now on. But imagine the story you can tell.

[le_mat]

Good thing I have those in spades.

[For all his cocky bluster, his good eye is narrowed, like he's fighting the need to close it and hide]

[playthedamncard]

...We're going to get out of here, and we're going to be fine. [If he says it often enough, eventually it's got to be true.

He gently brushes away some of Akira's mop-like hair from both sides of his face.]

There might be side effects. They'll be temporary. We'll recover, and we'll take the next step from there.

[le_mat]

[This time he does close his eye, focusing on the light touch of fingertips. He wants Kaiba to be right. Hell, he had said it himself to him and to others.

Cognition. The world is what we believe it is. If he gave up heart now, he might as well have not survived at all. He nods]

Yeah. I'm not done yet.