The tailback of timorous souls | OTA

[callada]

characters: Rosinante, OTA
location: Church, elsewhere?
date/time: 7/7 evening
content: After the dubious honor of being the first to die, Rosi also is the first to be revived in the church.
warnings: n/a for now

There's a crash out on the rocks; a rattle of glass and metal, caught just wrong on sharp granite, and then cold darkness overtakes him.

And for a moment, he thinks perhaps he dreamed it, for there is the oddest sensation of waking from a deep slumber. For a moment he thinks he still feels icy cold. But there's no wind over the water, no sharp ache in his chest. The church is comfortable and lit. How did he get here? Why is he basically just lying at someone's feet? Who-

"Uh, sorry. Hello."

A few minutes later, if you weren't present for him being tossed out the trap door, he'll just be sitting on the floor with legs bent at the knees and lantern beside him. Death is never pleasant and he needs a moment, plus it sounds like there were people looking for him. They shouldn't have, but so it goes.

Comments

action!

[preseance]

( gene's in the clinic when it happens, walkin' outta the small room he an' wade've converted with a stack of bandages and dressings purloined from unused clothing in the general store.

when he sees rosinante, he don't do anythin' so overt as drop 'em. he's used to the dead comin' an' goin' in his life, an' far be it from him to be shocked about it. but he does tip his head faint to one side like he's listenin' for somethin' far off. )

Commander?

[callada]

[Oh, well, there's a welcome voice. He tears his eyes away from the trapdoor - hadn't he just seen movement there a second ago? It's still now, and shut well - and turns in his seat to face Gene fully, as he scrubs his fingers through his shaggy hair and dislodges his hat in the process. Whoops, better fix that.]

Hey. Did you happen to see that?

[Never mind the rest of it for a second, as he nods toward the trap door.]

[paletteswap]

Kuai walks in later, having missed the shadowy spectre that tossed his body out like some discarded rubbish. He'd checked the church every few hours to see if Will had been telling him the truth, but he didn't want to linger in this place - not when there are so many other things to explore and find out.

This time when he enters the structure things are different. Rosinante is easy to spot since even sitting down he towers over the pews, and he looks to be uninjured and very much alive again.

"Welcome back." He wants to say something harsh about how he had specifically told him to be careful and asked if he was going to be okay when he left. Apparently the answer to both things was: No. Still he won't be too judgmental since having to protect an auxiliary object or you might die is new to all of them.

"How are you feeling? Is anything painful?"

[callada]

"Thanks," he replies. "I feel fine. I don't think anything's out of place, or... I dunno. New dent in my lantern," he says with a shrug.

That and the smudge of lakeshore grime on his pants are the only signs it even happened. Otherwise, he looks just as he was when he left - same clothes, no visible injury, even the bag of his few personal belongings he tends to carry under his bulky feathered coat has all its contents, which was a relief to find.

[primordialerebus]

[ Coraline runs over as soon as he posts he's back on the Network, throwing the door open. Hugging him is a near thing, but A, she's not a kid anymore. B, they've like just met and it'd be kind of weird??? But man is it great to see him back from the dead. ]

Hey, so you did come back to life!

[ She said after walking up to him, the relief apparent in her voice despite her attempts to maintain a nonchalant demeanor. As if she didn't run over (though to be fair, she wasn't exactly short of breath). ]

[callada]

[Yeah whoa calm down, kid. There is a disconcerting number of children here and they're nice and all but he's not really in the mood to just have hugs thrown at him. It's a relief when she stops short.]

Again. Seems to be a running theme with this place, doesn't it?

[He'd been perusing the network by this point, but he folds the tablet and sets it aside. Why is she so happy to see him? Why are any of them? He's known these people for a day or two.]

we're just gonna have multiple threads at once, don't even mind me

[voktys]

In the end, she does find him in the church, presumably while he gathers his bearings after what happened with Gene. In fact, she'll offer him a hand to get up from the ground, smile present as ever.

"It is a relief to see you alive, Rosinante." And her voice is as steady and warm and genuine as her hand. "Some have speculated you might get to be so lucky. How are you?"

[primordialerebus]

Uh... I guess? Sure?

[ She stares blankly for a moment before she gets what he means by again. ]

Oh! Yeah! Kinda!

[ Look, she overall likes people a lot. And considering the weird ass situation they're in, friendly faces are super welcome. Finding out one died wasn't a fun experience. ]

So uh. Did you actually fall on your lantern?

[ She asks, looking worried. ]

[paletteswap]

"I spoke to Will about it, in case we had to do anything to hasten your return. He said that subsequent deaths may have unintended consequences, but the first one should be fine. I'm glad he was telling the truth." His normal monotone gives nothing away, but he was pretty concerned that Rosinante might have either not come back at all, or come back injured.

"Death is often impermanent where I'm from, but those who come back from it are usually ... Not as they should be."

[callada]

"How so? I'm not used to people coming back once they've died," he says, and he almost has to fight to keep the sarcasm out of his tone. Not used to it? More like there's zero way for that to be possible. But sounding shocked and taken aback by what's normal in other worlds tends to drive conversations to a tone he doesn't like, so he has instead taken to acting with some sort of acceptance every time something like magic and raising the dead and zombie armies comes up.

[callada]

Not on it, no. But it smashed on the rocks.

[Yes, when he fell. But it's pretty sturdy-looking, and falling on top of it probably wouldn't hurt it any. Sharp angles on hard stone are a different story.

... Did people really assume he fell on his lantern? Huh. Well, he spent the last four years coming across intentionally as simple and clumsy, good in a fight but not for much else. If that trend is going to continue, at least he's used to it.]

All good now, though. I guess however I got back here, they fixed my lantern up too.

I'm glad tbh

[callada]

It's a little difficult, taking a hand up from someone so much shorter, but of course he accepts and stands anyway. She's unusual, but she's been nothing but kind, and "unusual" tends to be the regular way of things more often than not in his life. It helps keep things from getting boring.

So he stands, and even offers a smile, although he doesn't think he deserves her kindness when they barely know each other. When all he's done is talk about otherworldly wars and then died again.

"I'm fine, really. It's like nothing happened at all. I just went from over by the water to here in the church. And there was that... thing, in the trapdoor, but I didn't get a good look at it."

[preseance]

Uh.

( noting strange movements near the trapdoor weren't exactly high on his list of things concernin' him at the moment. gene glances towards it, then back to rosinante, and then. sort of. hikes his thumbs in his belt like he ain't quite sure what to do with his hands.

doesn't seem like rosi's a ghost. none of the usual telltale signs of it. lord, he wishes wade were here so he could determine whether or not it's just his gift comin' on through. )

Didn't see a thing, sorry. But, uh. You... feelin' okay?

[callada]

Yeah, fine.

[For all his problems, both physical and mental, he knows he doesn't hallucinate. His eyes are sharp, and he saw that hand lowering the door back into place. He's not going to dismiss it so easily, but he's also not going to continue going off about it with Hicks here. No purpose in doing that.]

Actually, I don't suppose I could beg a cigarette off you? I'll owe you one, once I get more from Rastus.

[Then he'll be better than just fine. Apparently dead or alive, he's still got his cravings.]

[preseance]

( well, that'll prove it definitively. ghosts can't smoke, no matter that they'd like to. so gene pulls out a rumpled pack of camels, one of them ones from the commissary rather than the ones you get in a k-rat, an' he holds the whole of the pack out. there's about six left in it. )

Go on. An' don't you worry about owin' anything, seems to me you've had a rough few days.

[callada]

Thanks.

[Rosinante will pay him back anyway. He'll insist on it, because that's how he is. But for now he doesn't argue, he just takes one and then goes to unscrew the top of his lantern to expose the flame.

Man, this feels a lot weirder now, conceptually, than it did before and he hesitates.]

Sure do wish my lighter worked. But I guess there's something appropriate in lighting a cigarette with my own flame, or whatever this thing really is.

[paletteswap]

"They shouldn't come back, but things are different now that the realms are in chaos," he says with a frown. It would actually be for the best if people never came back from the dead, it's worse to see them in that state and makes it impossible to mourn when they're still there only .. changed.

"There was a sorcerer who practiced dark magicks. He raised certain dead warriors but without any of their humanity. They only feel rage and anger and malice and are no longer the people they once were. Sometimes he does even worse." His eyes flick to the side, thinking about his brother. He hadn't been very nice to begin with, but he certainly hadn't been an evil wraith that wanted to shroud the realms in darkness forever. Kuai still hadn't accepted that his brother as he knew him likely wasn't ever going to come back.

"But you seem to be yourself."

[voktys]

Brief joys while they last, as she is back to craning her neck up at him. Truly, she has little clue that they aren't quite on the same page in terms of their friendship –– no, she does not suspect him to have any trust in her, she is not a trusting person herself, but ordinary mortal relationships hold some air of bafflement even after a couple of years in Westeros. Forming lasting bonds was not a thing in Asshai. He is friendly to her, she seems to strike something correct about her own friendliness towards him, so it's... all set for her.

Besides, war is all she ever seems to speak of in Westeros. That's just a normal, everyday topic, like the weather.

"But you saw something?" At any rate, she's still holding onto his hand, and makes to guide him towards a door leading further into the church. "I will leave an offering in a moment, after all, you were returned to us, and it seems to enjoy them from what little I can tell. You shall eat, too."

That's just... decided.

[withsadness]

Mary's there when he wakes up, though she misses the whole kerfuffle of being tossed clear out of the trap door. He might not notice her right away...nor she him, because she's fallen asleep, curled up on one of the pews. Eventually, though, presumably because of the other conversations he has, she rouses. Before he has the chance to leave, she's lifting her head sleepily, and seeing him, jumps from her seat, little fists gripping handfuls of her skirt.

"You came back...you came back! I waited, I waited right here!"

[callada]

Although he has met Kuai's brother, the connection is not immediately made. Perhaps it will be later, when he has time to reflect on this information. For now, he's too busy thinking about the awful idea that he too could die again and come back worse. It's not something he wants to experience. He'll have to guard his lantern with more care in addition to finding a way to carry it hands-free.

"I feel like myself. Whether that's fortunate or normal here, I don't know, but I'll take it for what it is." No rage, certainly, other than that which he's always held, buried but present.

"Have you spoken to any of the people we were thinking about for an expedition?" he asks, more interested in changing the topic for now.

[callada]

He lets her guide him, but slips his hand out of her grasp once they've gone more than a few steps. He can follow without being pulled, thanks - and contact isn't something he's fond of with people he doesn't know well anyway. But again, she is quite kind and he's only withdrawing because that's just what he does with everyone.

The offer of food is certainly welcome, so he won't object to that. "I - yes, briefly, something dark. You've been leaving offerings for it? And it takes them?"

[callada]

"Mary-"

Oh, no, was she really waiting here? Of course she would, she's attached herself to him for some inexplicable reason and he's frustrated with himself for encouraging it. But she's so sweet, and just as in need of someone to care about as he apparently is.

"Hey. I'm sorry I went away. I made a mistake."

[withsadness]

Mary runs the rest of the way, throwing herself into him--well, his knee, most likely. Regardless, the intent behind her embrace is clear as her shoulders shake and her voice warbles. "It's okay--it's okay! I forgive you, because I make mistakes sometimes, too. But don't leave again, okay? You said you would be okay, so you really have to be okay from now on!"

[paletteswap]

The change of topic is appreciated. He doesn't enjoy talking about death, especially not with the deceased. He was planning to simply never bring it up with the two from his realm. Maybe they'd avoid discussing the issue forever.

"I spoke to Nate, who said he may have another. But he didn't seem eager either," he says as he looks elsewhere, recounting what Rosinante had missed. Admittedly some of Nate's hesitation may have been due to a complete stranger trying to plan an expedition and inviting him along without much explination. "Another named Carol indicated they also wanted to join. I haven't spoken to the medics, but one of them made a broadcast about making sure they accompany anyone going into the woods so I think we're safe to assume they will join us. Grandmaster Hasashi also said he would come as well."

Though that conversation had gone about how he expected where he mentioned the forest and got scowled at until Kuai invited him with.

[preseance]

( appropriate or unsettlin', you go on an' take your pick. verdict's still out for him. )

Well... I guess it seems poetic in a sense. Light o'the soul an' all.

( hell, he gets out another pack of cigarettes, these ones a rumpled k-ration pack an' chesterfields besides, an' lights it off his own. there's a spell o'silence where he don't do much else than that, an' then he tips his head out. exhales just shy of hard. )

For what it's worth, I'm glad it weren't permanent.