driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Sorey, Zaveid, Dezel, Mikleo
Broadcast: Closed to those listed above
Action: Huntress
When: post Lailah's departure

Action. Huntress

[Sorey is just finishing up assembling their second engine when he feels it.

The abrupt lack of something, deep inside him, resonating like the strike of a gong. He smacks a hand against a bulkhead to keep from lurching forward and smacking his face into the wall, reaching frantically out for cords attaching his soul to his seraphim. Dezel, Zaveid, Mikleo-

Lailah.

She's still there, it's still there, but weak and distant. Like Edna's. The warmth of her fire has vanished, barely a flicker of what it was when she was here. Does that mean she's been sent home? Gods, Sorey hopes it does, prays that's what it means and not something...not something horrible.

To be sure he jumps to his feet and rushes out to check the ship for her. Maybe just- maybe something just happened, an augment glitch, maybe she just traveled too far from the ship for him to feel her (but he's pulled Dezel's wind across the ships before, it shouldn't have changed anything). He grabs his comm and hurriedly locks a broadcast; he has to check on the others, make sure they're okay, to see if they're still here.]

Broadcast. CLOSED

Guys?! Are you still here, is everybody okay?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sorey. [Quiet, but insistent. If she's gone, then she's gone. That's just how it is.] You can tell that she's safe. Can't you?

[Sorey goes silent; he even pauses in running, catching his breath. Dezel's wind swirls around him, ready to carry him to the shuttle bay in half the time it would take him to run it.]

...maybe her augment malfunctioned, [Sorey chokes out, more than just a touch desperate this time.] I- she could be in trouble. I can't just assume-

[A pregnant pause greets Sorey on the other end, but it's replaced with a fwoosh as Dezel windsteps to his position.]

You're so stubborn, [he mumbles.] Come on. Let's go.

[Sorey rubs his hands down his face before nodding, breaking out into a run again. He'll scour each of the ships he can get onto, if need be, starting with the Iskaulit. He has to make sure she's not trapped somewhere that he can get to before he starts assuming anything, even if it does feel just like the distance he's had with Edna for almost a year now.]

[Dezel gives the Shepherd more than a little boost. The wind rushes around them as they zip down the ship's hallway and onto a shuttle. He can't do much about space, but when it comes to running through the corridors, there's only one person who can match him.

He could stay back, he could call Sorey foolish until he broke. But he doesn't. Not being here for Sorey before--

-- well, they all saw how that turned out.]

[One tense shuttle ride later they reach the Iskaulit and Sorey points to the left while leaning right.] Dezel, could you-?

[He nods.]

Meet you on the other side?

[Sorey taps his fist to Dezel's chest gratefully before turning and hauling righteous ass down the hallway. There aren't many places she could be, and his connection to her never strengthens as he checks the rooms.

Dezel meets him just before the halfway and Sorey can already tell he's found nothing...but still, Sorey can't say it aloud. He just pauses to catch his breath, hanging his head, hands on his hips.

What if she's in danger? What if the Atroma took her somewhere? He can't just give up.]

[Dezel looks down at his Shepherd-- his Shepherd-- and he doesn't need working eyes to tell that Sorey is losing hope. He's out of breath and desperate, on the edge of frantic. He needs an answer. He needs someone else.

The wind seraph who dedicated himself and Rose's body to revenge is probably not the best choice, but he's the only one standing here right now.]

-- Hey.

[He reaches out tentatively until his hands find Sorey's shoulders.]

If she's in trouble, she'll get a message to us somehow. Or she'll burn through everything to get back-- you know nothing can put her out.

...I know. I do. [Sorey smiles a little to himself; Dezel's so awkward with this, open affection and reassurance, but he comes by it so honestly. He really must sound terribly worried if Dezel can pick up on it.] You're right, of course. Lailah's so powerful, I just... I don't like the idea of us being apart.

It won't happen again.

[Dezel can kind of guess why Sorey doesn't want to be apart from Lailah. He doesn't trust himself after last year.]

It won't. She knows that, too. That's why she trusted you with the pact.

[Dezel and Mikleo too, though that goes unspoken.]

[Count on Dezel to cut right to the heart of matters.

Sorey doesn't quite have his confidence, but it's not like he has a choice. Allowing himself to fall again simply isn't an option.] She told me as much as she could, about her previous Shepherds. [Sorey sighs and leans back against one of the walls, sliding to sit down and hang his head.] How she's had to say goodbye to so many Shepherds in the past. Losing them to malevolence, to their own broken wills, or because they died in battle...I don't know where she found the strength to trust me again, honestly.

She just seemed...grateful.

[Dezel sits beside him. Any other day and he might remain standing, aloof and untouchable, but things are different now. He wants to be within reach. He might need to pull Sorey out of trouble one of these days.]

It can't be easy being a Prime Lord. She has the same kind of power that a Lord does, but she's just like the rest of us.

[He sets his hand on Sorey's hair, pointedly glancing elsewhere.]

Of course she's grateful. [He scoffs lightly.] You came back.

[Sorey sighs a little, though he says nothing on that. Each of them keep saying it: you came back, like he returned triumphant from a bloody war instead of crawling in the muck, begging for his life like a coward.

He isn't cruel enough to deny them their gratitude but Sorey's not sure he'll ever understand how they can say that like that's everything that matters.]

...we should get back to the Huntress. There's no point checking the other ships; I can't feel her fire at all. She's not here.

[He can kind of guess. It's almost exactly Dezel's reaction when people seemed glad that he was alive. To that end, he doesn't prod the wound.]

Have you checked on the others? [Lailah's important to all of them, not just Sorey-- and it might ease something in his heart as well.]

I heard from Mikleo, he knows. [Sorey takes a slow breath and lets it out, pushing himself up to stand, hands on his knees.] I haven't heard from Zaveid yet but I can still feel him.

... You might feel better if you see them.

[Despite that suggestion, Dezel tilts his head a bit.]

I can put off my shift a while if I need to.

Oh- no, that's okay Dezel. I'm sorry I distracted you from work, I'll be fine. [Dezel would want to know about Lailah regardless, but he didn't have to follow Sorey on his wild goose chase.]

You didn't.

[It's not a lie, really. His shift starts in the next hour or two but Crowley is the most lenient boss around.

He huffs a bit, turning his head away.]

Your well-being is more important.

[Elbows Dezel gently. More for his benefit than Sorey's; don't get too mushy now man, you'll embarrass yourself.] I'll be alright. I'll go find Zaveid and Mikleo, make sure they're both okay.

(no subject)

voice;

voice;

voice --> action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

Re: action;

action;

action;