driftfleet | The Bunker of Nariba Relia

Who: Everyone!!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: The bunker in the surrounding desert.
When: Sometime recently, see this post for full information. Below is the excerpt of information listed there. Feel free to make a top comment and thread out the sad truth and whatnot.

[Records buried in the library, the research facility, and cues from the power plant will eventually reveal the bunker in the surrounding desert. The passageway leads several yards underground, and it doesn’t appear to have been used in a long time. Those brave enough to venture inside will find that it is not much more than a tomb. Eerily enough, the emergency lights are still on, casting a soft red glow over sheets and the once-bodies beneath them.

It has been long enough that paper journals, books, and personal belongings (like bags and such) have deteriorated to the point of being extremely fragile. Handled with care, however, they are eager to tell a story.

“The engineers should have been more careful. I’m not sure I’ll be able to recoup my losses from this… At least I have enough money to buy a ride off this planet!”

“No one could have known this would happen. Hopefully it stabilizes so we can go home soon. In the meantime, I’ve been teaching my daughter how to count. She doesn’t understand what’s going on, and I don’t know what to tell her.”

“It’s not getting better. So many people have died that we’re running out of room in the morgue. We had to move all of the food to another room so that the smell doesn’t leach out, but we all know what’s back there.”

“The replicator was supposed to repair us, too.”

“I don’t know if we can go back yet, but it doesn’t matter. Even if the city was back to the way it was, there’s no cure for us. The dead are dead, and we lay down next to them as we wait for our turn.”

There is nothing that can be done for these people except to give them the eternal rest they deserve. Ultimately, the fate of Nariba Relia is a sad one and not altogether preventable.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He smiles faintly. He recognizes compassion if he continually rejects it when it is applied to himself. ]

I tend not to linger.

[Her gaze rests on him a moment longer, assessing. Then she starts to take her scarf and wrap it around her head.]

Then I hope you'll do what you need to do to be alright afterwards.

[Stupid desert sun. She was going to have to walk back under you now; at least the scarf provided some relief from the constant glare.] Do you have someone here you can talk to?

[ He blinks. ]

What for?

[Katara blinks back.

Oh Loki. That is so sad. That is just... genuinely sad. Most people would at least have enough of an association with community to guess why, or to deny that they need it. He just looks honestly confused.

Gently, but not too gently:] Because sometimes talking about it helps. Not always, but more times than you'd think. And like you said - I don't think anyone can be okay after seeing that.

[ Loki purses his lips. He has Thor . . . but Loki has gotten the feeling that Thor doesn't want to talk to him. Or want much to do with him.

He never should have come here. He's not wanted. ]

I cannot say talking has done me any favors.

[...okay, that was not an answer she expected. She'd been planning on beating it out of there, but instead she turns to look at Loki directly.] Why do you think that is? How often have you tried?

[Communication isn't easy, Loki, it takes practice. And talking. And listening. And she's only had like a fifteen minute conversation with this version of you so far, and she already knows that you are not necessarily the most DIRECT with your words.]

[ His lips thin into a censorious line. He's never been good at it. The long years spent on Asgard had him retreat into himself and certain truths hammered it in. ]

I know why it is. I do not need to be told that.

[...told... what? She'd just asked questions?] I wasn't offering to tell you why it was, I was offering to try to help you figure out why it was. But if you know already, then that puts you in a really good position to start to do something about it.

[...] Listen, I know we just met and you probably don't want to hear this from me, but... I know there are some things that nothing helps, that nothing can touch. But for almost anything else, the only thing I've ever really seen work is talking about it. So it's worth trying again.

[ It's petty and he feels surly about it. ]

What good would it do? It is long past. And they won't listen. They never have.

[...Katara is no longer certain they are talking about the same thing.

Her brow furrows.] I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. If you mean that no one listened in the past, then you're right, there's nothing you can do to change that. And that's hurtful, and I'm sorry that happened to you. But you can learn from it, because you're not in the past anymore. [Which means that you don't need to be stuck there.] Maybe you weren't talking to the right people, or maybe they didn't know you needed them to listen.

[People are stupid about that sometimes.]

[ His fingers curl themselves around their elbows. ]

I don't want to try anymore.

[She wants to say a dozen things, they are hot on her tongue, but she pauses for a moment and her blue eyes assess him again. Everything from his posture to the way he is holding himself indicates pain, and... she can understand that, even if not in this context.]

I can understand that. [And... she can. How many times had she been left? Hurt.] It hurts to keep trying. But it can be very lonely, otherwise.

[ Loki shrugs loosely at that. He may not like loneliness but he finds it preferable to being around scores of people and having his own voice drowned out. Silver tongue turned to lead. He may have finally achieved something along equality, saving Thor on his own volition, his own power — but it might not last and it might fade quickly enough. ]

I do not mind that.

[Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee does not believe him. But she is not going to call him on it, all the same, besides a slight eyebrow arch.

...no, wait, apparently, that's not true.]

Then you've spent a lot of time talking about something that you aren't interested in trying. [She ameliorates it with a slight smile.] Think about it, Loki. And if you want to practice... I'm not the best at listening, but I can try. [...heh.] Which is probably a good thing, if you want to practice.

[ To be fair, he doesn't seem particularly believable. He closes his mouth abruptly, not sure what to make of the offer. ]

. . . Perhaps.

[Due to the surrounding circumstances, Katara is satisfied with a 'perhaps' for now. FOR NOW. Count yourself lucky.

And so she gives him a small, genuine smile and a nod.] Good. I'm going to walk back now. You're welcome to come along, if you like.

[Just to be clear on that, but it was not a request. He could go do... broody Asgardian things or go... beat up a... sand dune... or something, she just hoped that he wouldn't go back in the bunker, but she wasn't going to try to stop him if he did.]

[ Loki turns back to the bunker. There is a well of bitterness that he is purposefully indulging in that place. And it is partly fear. Loki has fallen. Been forgotten. It was always his greatest fear. His feelings are so mixed that he feels compelled to stay. To find some nugget of truth that would help him with his own situation. ]

Not yet. . . . But soon.

[She wasn't entirely happy with the idea of leaving him here, but she didn't want to go back in there either. And... he said 'soon,' which kept her from giving him an outright concerned and disapproving look, settling for more of an assessing one.]

Alright. Take care of yourself, Loki.

[ He tilts his head in polite acknowledgement as Loki watches her depart. A strange conversation . . . but not unwelcome. ]

The Bunker of Nariba Relia | OPEN PLOT MINGLE POST

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