week 6

[airlockedmods]

Week 6

[Six weeks. Twenty-three Champions whittled down to just seven. Where the halls of the station once felt crowded and loud now they're empty and echo when someone speaks too loudly. Again, the Champions will find themselves experiencing strange dreams on Sunday night but outside of the usual wake-up call there is no new floor announcement from CECE.

Like the trash compactor last week, the infirmary is pristine and sterile once again. As if nothing had ever happened.]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday



(( Welcome to Week 6! Don't forget to submit your memory regains and turn in your benefactor threads for sweet loot, too! There's going to be no AC this week.))

Comments

[playthedamncard]

[There's a flash of an amused smile, even if it disappears just as fast.]

As with everything else in this hellhole, I think we're all just making it up as we go along.

[le_mat]

That's fine.

[He takes the bangs between his finger, good eye narrowed as he took a good guess at where to start, and... 'snipsnip']

Isn't being adaptable what makes us human?

[playthedamncard]

[Listen, he's not expecting a work of art, so long as he isn't stupidly lopsided anymore.]

I know we can adapt, are adapting. I know we can overcome. It's just a lot at once. Between Yuri and Petuu, and Max and that farce of a trial. This, this isn't about vanity; it's control, and recovery, and maybe it's too soon for control and recovery. I just want the smallest semblance of normality. And it feels so out of reach, even though nothing is ever beyond my grasp.

[le_mat]

[He makes an agreeable noise, still trimming]

Well, D&D is today, right? Though I dunno if... it'll be hard, without Father Fisticuffs. We should all meet up, either way.

[He tilts his head]

You'll manage something.

[playthedamncard]

We've played through it all so far, why stop now?

[He breathes out a slow sigh.] I'm not used to this, showing weakness in front of anyone.

[le_mat]

Well, do you trust us to not take advantage of it?

[Not just him, but everyone here]

[playthedamncard]

Trust is a strong word. I trust you not to. That's why you get to sleep in my bed.

[le_mat]

[That makes his lips quirk a bit]

Well, then I'll cover that weakspot while you get things done.

[playthedamncard]

You make it sound so easy.

[le_mat]

'course it's not. But the idea is pretty easy. I'm gonna do it 'cuz it's what I decided to do. Make up the rest as I go.

[It was how he lived]

[playthedamncard]

...So long as I can help you in return. I don't want you thinking that I'm needy, that I'm unable to handle what comes my way. I've lived through a lot. I know you have, too. Accepting help is no easy task.

[le_mat]

You're talking like you haven't already helped me.

[It was one thing to go charging into danger. To fight and struggle and drag out every bit of his life. But it was pointless alone.

But he also realizes that... well, he hasn't been fair in sharing his own burdens]

... I think I might be dead. Back home.

[playthedamncard]

[He blinks, surprised and assessing.] Impossible.

[le_mat]

[He hums, still snipping away]

Heh, you've seen how I get. You're that surprised?

[playthedamncard]

You aren't dead. [Yet.] You wouldn't be here if you were.

[le_mat]

Still, last I remember is... not good. I still don't think Petuu can actually destroy a world, but... I don't think there's much left for her to blow up for me.

[His tone is casual, hands still steady. Like this knowledge has been put down so deep he hasn't really emotionally accepted it]

[playthedamncard]

Are you saying, however and whenever they brought us wherever we are, your world was ending?

[le_mat]

[He nods]

I mentioned it at Manaka's trial.

['The Holy Grail is an evil god out to destroy humanity']

And it's my fault.

[playthedamncard]

No. I refuse to believe that. Whatever happened, you would have tried to stop it.

[le_mat]

I did!

[He pauses his hands so not to snip more hair then he meant to]

I poked something I shouldn't have, just like here an- [Deep breath]

The world rejected it. We tried to make things better and humanity was just 'no, we'd rather not'. The Holy Grail isn't a god, not really. It's the will of humanity. And it didn't like being fought against.

[he shrugs]

I'm... I'm not telling you this to upset you. I just... I want you to know I'm in this, 100%. Not just because I want to live, or 'cuz I care about everyone here. There's... there's just nothing else. I can't fail again.

[playthedamncard]

Akira. [He reaches and grabs him by the wrists.] You did the right thing. If something tells you humanity should end, that it isn't worth saving, you fight it. You fight Manaka and her beast. You fight your grail. Because it isn't what it says it is. It isn't the will of humanity. Humanity persists. It survives. It thrives.

Just like you. You are alive. Not just here, but to even be here, you are alive. And if you, and your friends, and your world are worth saving, it will be saved. Because that would truly be the will of humanity.

[le_mat]

[He freezes, shocked... not by Kaiba's passion, because if he's learned one thing about this man it's that at his core he is all emotion, but by it having focused on him so directly. His hands finally start to shake]

You... really believe that, don't you?

[playthedamncard]

[He'll hold fast, because that's what they do--hold on to each other through the trembling of emotion and all else, to support one another. He knows it's not the first time he's had someone he could have called friend, but this is the first time he's acknowledged it.]

Fully. Humanity is flawed; no one knows that better than us. But that doesn't mean it should be wiped out. It won't be. It can't be. Not as long as there are those who fight.

You fight, Akira. Even if you don't live to see the effects of your work, it matters that you made the effort.

Look at it this way--if I'm to be the Champion of Denial, then I will deny the supposed fate of your world's humanity and will a new one into existence.

[le_mat]

[There's something like awe on his face, and the hand not still clutching the scissors in a death grip turns in Kaiba's hold, gripping back]

I like... that version of your title way better.

[playthedamncard]

It's about time I stop denying magic once it gets to the point where I'm actively attempting to use it in combination with technology. And it's about time I stop denying friendship, and emotion, and that I have no flaws to speak of.

What I will deny is that which isn't true, always. I will deny any future that causes so much pain. I will deny your death. I will deny a god that thinks so little of humanity.

And I'll keep denying our Overseers and this game and that there's no way out but to become the Ultimate Champion.