+1 tragic grump

[vartex]

Who: Messer & you!
Broadcast: NA
Action: The Blameless
When: after arriving in the new system


( a: On the Blameless! )

[His brief stint on the Marsiva had given Messer a chance to wake up, acclimate to the idea of his new location- and with it, a tentative understanding of why he's even alive. Walking through the hall and finding the empty expanse of space ready to greet him through the window was at least a comfort, something familiar, peaceful, almost. It's not Ragna, it's not Elysion, it's not even Al Shahal (though that's a relief). His hand drifts to the back of his neck, feeling for the augment, taking quiet note of the new information pouring into his mind, and trying not to be overwhelmed by the disturbing nature of this place.

His calm demeanor is interrupted when he's suddenly teleported to the bridge of another ship, confetti and pudding on hand to add to the absurdity of it all. It isn't "his" ship just yet, however, and his professional instincts kick in, so rather than explore the rest of the ship he finds himself a corner of the bridge and pulls out his communicator, reviewing old logs, researching everything there is to see on the network. That's where he'll be until he speaks to someone with some authority. Rank and file is important, after all.

Once that's settled, then he'll venture into the rest of the ship. Find his room, meet the crew, gather intel. And... organize the cleaning robots, apparently? His new job is so weird.]


( b: A ghost on a ghost planet )

[It’s strange. He’s never been overly fond of crowds as a concept - he likes to keep to himself too much - but the lack of any is far too alarming. It leaves him an open target on the street, nowhere to lose himself. Sticking to the edges of buildings can only help so much. And being armed with one of the guns from the Blameless armory is little comfort. (He needs to find a place for target practice ASAP.) The way this planet functions is suspicious as hell, so rather than looting he’s stalking around the place, collecting information, and watching everyone and everything. He’s more or less waiting for the other shoe to drop. Pounds and pounds of free food everywhere, and he doesn’t touch a crumb.

...He should probably steal some clothes, though. This one outfit isn’t going to take him very far.

The way he wanders around with a quiet, calm expression instead of gawking at everything probably makes him look more like a native of the planet than a new arrival, and it doesn’t help that he watches every single member of the fleet that passes him by, either. So that’s a thing.]

Comments

b- closed to kaname, freyja, and messer

[axi]

[Lack of communication, landing procedures, and even visible civilian life have put a good number of the fleeters on edge, Kaname being no exception. She and Freyja take a shuttle to the more suburban residential areas of the planet, and after lecturing the younger girl thoroughly about being cautious and not running off, they set out to take a look around.

Kaname, armed with a firearm from the ship's arsenal, keeps her eyes peeled as they look around the first of many houses on the street. She leaves the upstairs bathroom and calls down the hall to Freyja.]

Anything yet?

[livesfastdiesung]

[Freyja is a little on edge herself, though she's not one to usually show it... even if her rune is a little dimmer than usual, all the same. She's taking her time to investigate the bedrooms, and when she hears Kaname's voice she's quick to respond.]

Nothin'! I don't see anythin' at all, Kaname-san!

[axi]

Meet me in the master bedroom, then. I don't think we've checked that one.

[She closes the medicine cabinet, eyes skimming over the pristinely polished everything. It gives her the chills. Kaname moves out to the hallway and into the room to meet Freyja.]

Are you all right?

[livesfastdiesung]

I'm fine. It's just... [She frowns. It still feels weird, and her rune only serves to amplify that.] I dunno, how can an entire planet not have anyone on it?

A

[padadin]

[What welcomes Messer is... a bark! Coming from a purple dog that runs away after seeing the new guy. And he comes back a moment later, this time bringing Shiro with him, who raises an eyebrow at Messer and his claimed corner of the bridge.]

A new crew member, huh? You can get more comfortable to do your thing - I promise we don't bite.

[vartex]

[Messer's on his feet as soon as the dog enters the bridge, so he's standing up when Shiro arrives. The offer gets little more than a nod, and he's very careful in how he watches the movement of both Shiro and the dog. A little suspicious, a little stern- not aggressive, but watchful of any sudden movements, certainly.]

Are you the ranking officer of this vessel?

[axi]

That's what we're looking for answers to. [Her own expression is more serious than usual. She opens a nearby closet and looks inside, closing it when nothing out of the ordinary sticks out to her.]

Check under the bed, I'll look in the drawers...

[livesfastdiesung]

[It doesn't take her long to confirm that there's nothing of importance under the bed, it's not like the light of her built-in-flashlight is making anything unusual obvious... but at this point, it feels like they've been through the entire house with nothing wrong.]

Nothin'. It's the same for everythin' in the house, we should try somewhere else... should we go back outside?

[axi]

[Kaname closes the last drawer, shaking her head to indicate there's nothing there either.]

Probably. We'll try another house on this street, then move on to a different one.

[The pair leave the room and head back downstairs. She gives the living room a quick visual once over before they exit to the street again.]

Other side, four houses up?

[livesfastdiesung]

Sounds like a plan to me!

[And with that, Freyja's off, ready to make her way down the street as quickly as possible. Some of it is just her being eager to leave, though, because of the unsettling nature of... well, everything. The rest of it is just her not being able to sit still for long.]

It's like a ghost town... there's no way a place like this should be this quiet...

[axi]

[Kaname's taking a slower approach, thinking things over and keeping her guard up.]

But it is. I can't help but wonder if something happened...

[She trails off, continuing her walk.]

[vartex]

[The sudden sound of voices in the street is impossible to miss as he turns the corner out of an alley, especially since he's been hypervigilant the whole time. What he isn't expecting is familiarity- first one voice, then the other, and it only clicks a second before his eyes zero in on the Walküre girls stepping out of a nearby house. And they're literally right there, leaving him no time to decide whether or not he should try to escape their notice, to avoid letting his presence hurt them all over again. As soon as his eyes lock on to Kaname it's like he's frozen in place, unable to move apart from his eyes widening at the sight of her.

She's okay, he thinks, desperate and relieved, his mind replaying those last moments as he'd done so many time since arriving here: her voice piercing through the haze of his Var-induced madness, bringing him back to clarity, his precious VF planted firmly as a barrier between her and the White Knight. Her last note ringing in his ear as the glass of his cockpit cracked apart. The sound of liquid, a burning sensation, and then- not knowing-

She's okay.]

[livesfastdiesung]

[Freyja feels that there's someone nearby before she even sees him, and she looks up sharply to stare in the direction that Messer's in.

And she can't even believe what she sees. She's always known that it's not impossible, that the fleet works in mysterious ways, but... it's an entirely different thing to experience it for yourself.

She doesn't even really know what to say, aside from reaching over to tug on Kaname's sleeve.]

[axi]

[Kaname feels Freyja freeze, as if stopped by some outside force, and she's reaching for her firearm when her sleeve is tugged. Not much can silence the Windermerean outside of something major. She almost dreads to see what's affected her friend, but she turns, hand tightly gripping the edge of her holster, preparing for anything.

Except this. Except Messer. Blue eyes widen in shock. She feels her heart skip several beats, and it's like she's been punched in the stomach, struggling for air to breathe. Seeing straight is hard, thinking straight is even harder. But Kaname's trained well, so her movements are automatic now. The fleet's messed with people before in horrible ways. This is a new planet with no one around. He could be a trick somehow related to that.

Even with all these thoughts flying through her head, her movements are delayed, but she still gets the gun out and pointed at him, albeit in an unsteady grip in one hand. Her other is already guiding Freyja to move behind her to stay as safe as she can make her.

Both of the others should catch on to the hitch in her breathing and the unshed tears forming in her eyes, ones she won't allow to fall... not yet. Kaname can fire at any time. At least, the gun can.]

Talk!

[It's forced and harsh, the only word she can force out without her voice completely breaking. She thinks if that happens, the rest of her will follow.]

[vartex]

[....Ah.

If he hadn't already been frozen in place, this would've done it. He looks briefly towards the gun trained on him, watching her hand wobble but remain firmly directed towards him. That's good. Smart. Kaname's always been practical like that, and he can't imagine that her first reaction to seeing a dead man walking would be to welcome him back with open arms. They're trained to react this way to suspicious situations, to defend those around them against any potential threat. Even now, a single trigger's pull away from another shot through the heart, he's proud of her for moving so quickly, for arming herself and getting between him and Freyja. It shows a strength of will he'd come to expect from her.

His gaze shifts back to meet her eyes, watching how they waver, grief fighting against caution. He's dead. He's dead, and he's here, and of course she doesn't think it's really him. He should've run. Just seeing the look on her face is destroying him. Idiot, he should have run the second her voice hit the wind.

Instead, very carefully, his hands pull away from his sides, fingers spread to show that he's holding nothing, and he slowly lifts them up into the air, surrendering. There's a gun at his belt but he pointedly keeps his hands away from it. Instinctually he's calculating- if an opponent approaches there's at least a dozen ways to get the gun away and pointed right back at them- but he knows he wouldn't use a single one of them against her. She could shoot him dead and he'd never make a move. It's on him to get her to recognize that he's no ghost or imposter, which is a heavy task considering he himself barely believes it.]

...Kaname.

[His voice is quiet, uncertain; he doesn't know what to say, doesn't know what to tell her. He has no explanation for why he's here, why he's alive again, why he's stumbled upon her of all people in this strange place. He doesn't know what would convince her.

With his hands in the air, the sleeve of his jacket slides down his wrist just slightly, revealing the glint of a familiar silver wristband.]

[livesfastdiesung]

[Freyja lets herself be pushed behind Kaname, because she's not armed, and because she's still not quite sure what to think about seeing Messer of all people. Her rune wouldn't lead her wrong, so she thinks that it has to be him, but on such an unnerving, barren world with no information on why it's like that, who knows if there's something that could mimic this kind of thing.]

Kaname-san, he... feels like Messer.

[But again, there's no telling what kinds of things await them here. She's not even sure she believes what her rune is telling her, and that's a first for her. Freyja had never been as close to Messer as Kaname had been, she was the rookie of the team, but that doesn't change that he was an important person to her. There's a little guilt present, mixed with her grief—she'd been the one to tell him that she lives in the moment, just before everything hit the fan.

She puts her own feelings aside though to watch what Kaname is going to do, and to see what this Messer intends to do.]

[axi]

[Her name in his voice-- hearing it again after so much time feels like a slap. She wants to recoil, to withdraw back to her room on the ship, and not talk to anyone. It's not impossible here, she knows, for him to actually show up. On a new, apparently deserted planet, in the middle of empty houses devoid of life, it's a stranger feeling. There's no one else around, just the three of them.

Kaname watches his motions, so familiar and foreign at the same time. A glint grabs her attention, one known all too well. She swallows hard, choking back what might be a sob... she doesn't feel like she knows what's what anymore. Steeling herself, the singer manages a step forward with her weapon leveled, both hands now gripping it. Her brows are furrowed together, and her tears are that much closer to spilling over, evidenced in her words.]

Before you took off... what did you say to me?

[It's a small miracle she can ask the question without faltering. Of course, it's all too possible for the Atroma or whatever else to know the answer. Kaname knows that before she asks, but a part of her wants to think that nothing can replicate how the genuine version of him would speak them, to her especially.]

[vartex]

[Before he took off... it feels like so long ago, so much longer than just a single day at most for him. How long as it been for her, he wonders? Does she remember it as vividly? The sand blowing wildly in their faces, the strain of his Var infection spreading across his cheeks, the determination filling her expression as she readies herself to grant his final request. Hair a mess, covered in dirt, exhausted- and she'd still never looked so beautiful as in that moment. An encore of AXIA to send him off, to save him- again.

His hand remain in the air, waiting for her to make a decision, and his eyes stay on hers, fixed, recognizing - and understanding - her indecision. The words are heavy in his throat, but he lifts his chin as he answers,]

Please... sing.

[Before I turn Var.

Before I die.

His wrist itches, fingers tensing and unclenching in the air; that feeling he gets when he needs to play her song. When just her voice can reverse the damage his own does to itself. The bracelet is there, against all odds and against all logic, but he doesn't touch it; it's only effective in person, after all. And he's given his answer, so he simply closes his eyes, waiting for her to choose.

Is it enough?]

[axi]

[That's all it takes. Those simple words are enough for her shaking hands to drop the gun and sink to her knees. Its clattering sound on the pavement seems to echo all around them, no other noise to disrupt it.

She doesn't look at him or anything else. She can't. The tears have finally spilled over, falling from her cheeks to her hands, clenched into fists in her lap. Eyes shut tight, Kaname knows she and Freyja would be sitting ducks if this wasn't really Messer. They're defenseless and open for anything to come at them. But she can't bring herself to reach for her weapon, because she knows it's really him.]

Messer...

[His name escapes her. Maybe she doesn't notice, but she certainly doesn't care. Saying it aloud makes it real. It makes him real. And that's all she can do for him now.]

[vartex]

[As the gun drops his eyes snap open again, looking up to see her begin to cry. It's what he'd been afraid of, what had made him want to run in the first place- and here he is, hurting her just by being alive. His mind races with indecision for a moment- he could still run. Let himself become a phantom of this place, disappear, try to give her a chance to forget him.

...Stupid.

Instead he lets his hands drop back to his sides and approaches her, his steps intentionally slow to avoid becoming a threat again. He ignores the gun, offering Freyja an acknowledging nod, and lowers himself to the ground in front of Kaname. He hesitates, unsure (this is so out of his league, he's ill-suited for it, why is he), and finally reaches out to touch her shoulder. To prove to her he's real, tangible, and... well, maybe it'll help. Somehow.]

I'm sorry.

[For dying? For being here? For frightening her like this? God, he doesn't even know. More than anything else he hates that he made her cry.]

i have no icons for this one

[axi]

[That touch and those words are all it takes for Kaname's eyes to snap open. Amidst her tear blurred vision, she can see him, so familiar, and not so far away anymore. Her fists unclench, though her palms will have nail markings for a few days afterwards, and slowly, very slowly, the tension begins to leave her.

Three thoughts are at the forefront of her mind: He's here, he's alive, and he knows them. Despite much else, everything else, this is what matters right now. It already feels like an eternity since he appeared in front of them, and she's still processing it. She likely will be for a few days.

In actuality, it's only a few seconds from his apology to Kaname reaching up and pulling him into a hug, her arms wrapping around his neck. Whether he's pulled down, or she moves up, she doesn't know or care. Her grip is tight and maybe just a little frantic as if he might disappear. She can't say anything else now, this will have to do.]

just a sec i'll get an icon of someone hugging mess- oh

[vartex]

[It's not entirely unexpected, but somehow Messer is still taken aback by it. People don't really hug him. He's purposely made himself unhuggable for the sake of everyone involved, and Kaname's aware of that. His boundaries were set for very good reasons which may or may not be as relevant now- not just because he's not feeling any symptoms, currently, but because everyone is aware of the problem now. Still, it isn't as if the Var just... goes away. It's a risk.

His fingers tense on her shoulder, preparing to push her back, but then he-- doesn't. He can't. The way she's clinging to him is telling, her body speaking in a language he understands all too well. Fear. Desperation. Shock and pain. He'd felt it on Alfheim, dizzy, alone, and covered in blood. He'd felt it when they dragged him from his cockpit, panting and sweatsoaked, and told him he couldn't stay in the only home (the only family) he'd known for two years. He'd felt it charging towards the Walküre to get between Kaname and the Aerial Knights' attack one last time.

Please, sing.

Very tentatively, like he's forgotten how, his other hand lifts to touch her back. He's not holding her, not exactly, but it's a small offering of support from someone sorely lacking in experience for this sort of thing. For her sake he's trying.]

lmao

[livesfastdiesung]

[Once the dam breaks, so to speak, and Kaname and Messer are hugging... well, Freyja has difficulties not just running in and joining. She even spends a moment debating it, because Messer's never been the most huggable person in the galaxy. But in the end, she can't help but rush in and wrap her arms around the two of them either.

Under normal circumstances, she'd just let them hug and reunite, but... nothing about this situation is normal. Messer was dead. Now he's not. Instead of being reincarnated as a jellyfish, he ended up here, and now they get to see him again when they'd all accepted that it'd probably never happen. That he'd just left their lives forever aside from them trying to live up to his memory the best that they can.

Messer's death was messy and traumatic and even though Kaname bore the brunt of it, Freyja still couldn't help but cling to Messer and Kaname desperately.

It's still a little like a dream, it seems too much like dream to even be real, but there's no way that they can deny the reality, either.]

[padadin]

[Shiro won't blame any newbie for being watchful and/or wary as hell. It's not easy waking up here after all. Been there done that - technically twice. Also excuse Procyon while he sniffs your feet, Messer.]

This vessel is the SS Blameless - and yes, I'm her captain. I'm Shiro. [He offers his metal hand to shake.] Welcome to the fleet. How much do you understand so far?

[vartex]

[Ah, good, a captain. Messer offers up a brief salute, more formality than anything else. It's best to start off on the right foot in new places, military or otherwise.]

First Lieutenant Messer Ihlefeld. I'm aware of the basics, but any additional information would be appreciated.

[After a moment's pause he does accept the handshake, though it's more physical than he's used to.]