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]

[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.

[le_mat]

[His face breaks into a grin, growing wild and free]

Someone told me, once, a Trickster is someone who fights fate and desires change. Good or evil, right or wrong... so if you're going to accept your title, I can't fall behind on mine right at the finish line, can I?

[playthedamncard]

I'd never forgive you if you did.

[Akira looking wild and in his element makes something in him let loose, just as wild and fierce. Even if it's something unhinged and dangerous, better to cling to that than wallow, right?]

Better to take our titles, embrace what they mean to us, to spit it back in Petuu's face.

[le_mat]

Right.

[He takes his hands back, eyeing the scissors]

Well, gotta look the part when you see her next. Hold still, I'm almost done.

[playthedamncard]

Good. Whatever comes, we'll face her down looking as damn good as we can.

[He settles back down, willing to ride this feeling for all it's worth.] I think that means not hiding behind the bandages, too. Start embracing the pirate look of that eyepatch.

[le_mat]

Yeah? Sure, fuck it. Go hard or go home.

[A few more snips and everything is at least even.]

Wanna trim down the back while I'm working on cleaning it up?

[playthedamncard]

Why the hell not. Let's go all out. You even got your dramatic sneaking outfit back; we might as well look as good as we can. Not too short, though, or I'm taking all yours off.

[le_mat]

Rude, my ne'er do well air depends on my hair.

[Don't worry Kaiba, he's not going hack crazy... he does try and tame the mullet a bit]

[playthedamncard]

[Eh it's been over a month here anyway, everyone probably could use a trim except Bolton.]

I think it depends on you being a ne'er do well and slinking around in black and red.

[le_mat]

There are parts involved, all of them important.

[Snip snip... ]

There, all done. Take a look.

[...he's def no hairdresser. but he kept it simple so it's not embarrassing.]

[playthedamncard]

[He peeks in the mirror, running hands through it and watching how it falls. It's different. It hasn't been this short since he was a boy. But it's not bad. He gives it one last shake out and then offers his hand for the scissors.]

A little wash, a little blowdry, and I'll be ready to feel slightly more human again. All right, fluffy, your turn to get straightened out.

[le_mat]

Nothing in my life has ever been straight, including my hair, thank you very much.

[He does sit, chin up. His is gonna take a bit more work]

[playthedamncard]

[He's no stylist but he's good at visualizing an end product and working out how to get there. It's going to involve taking Akira by the chin and tilting him this way and that, though.]

Only a few things in life are certain: death, taxes, and Kurusu Akira not being in any way straight. Got it. [It's nice, this easy teasing. He doesn't get to do it outside of home much.]

I've dealt with mopheads before. Working around the damage is going to take some doing, though, and I can't promise I'll make it look any good. But I think I can mitigate some of it.