Complete Private Vintergard Oh Sweet Providence...

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Despite the attack having well settled, the injured didn't stop coming from all across Vintergard. And there were many tents still set up a day after. While the inefficiency of the Red Fever has always been noteworthy to Fiora, she had to give credit when it's due: they were quick, both traveler and lander alike, to set up medical tents and make use of the limited personnel to patch the wounded, feed the hungry, and stablish new perimeters against the crumbling wall that still stands miraculously, long gone over improvements by engineers, masters at patchwork and welding metal together. Not so different to a bandaid as opposed to stitching the wound.

"We need you on... Tent 5-A." The man gave a look over to the layout across the training grounds, long were the list of wounded and the medical tents they had to set up, so much that they had to start setting them up elsewhere. He hummed in thought, his index finger pointed past many tents then fell exactly towards 5-A. "That one."

"Again? I've just been there..." Fiora retorted, frown crossing her features as the elf let water roll across her fingers from her waterskin, washing up the blood from her last patient. Honestly, she didn't expect herself doing field work, less so play medic, but they were all short in staff, and she had to pay her stay somehow. Pull her weight or go home. Fortunately, 'home' taught her how to stitch stab wounds all by herself fairly well. So long as she doesn't have to play surgeon she should be fine.

"No, you just came from 4-A" He remarked, waving his hand for her to get a move on. "You think I supervise just because there's no one else to do this? You starcalled are amusing for certain. Go, or someone's gonna bleed out." A dry chuckle to match his dark sense of humour.

Fiora shook off her head in disbelief, fingers reaching out to her closed eyes, pressing against them and her forehead, a sigh following afterwards before the knightess made her way towards 5-a and pushed the cloth aside to step in. "Alright let's-" She paused that thought, rolling up the sleeves from her white, blood-stained undershirt. Having taken off her gambeson and armor alike gave her some breathing room for her, and oh boy she would need that...

Grey eyes squinted at the sight of who the 'patient' in question is, and for once she hoped this is just god's way to punish her with a poor man's poison. In her case, the very presence of an acquaintance that hadn't crossed paths with her ever since the Red Fever fiasco.

"Speaking of the devil..." Impassive, Fiora pulled a customer service smile juuust for him.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

The path back from the deepest part of Vintergard was rife with danger and very little time to recover. His decision to leave Zelrius to decide his own fate left him with no allies to patch his wounds, and Jin found himself on the brink more than once. Still, he pushed through and made it back with more than three fourths of his health missing. Endurance, it seemed, was the Bloodsworn's strong suit.

They wasted no time ushering him back to the tents he swore he did not need to go to and forcibly detained him with strict orders to not leave until he had clearance from a medic.

Not for a lack of several attempts.

They posted a guard outside after the second time he tried to make a break, and finally determined that the best recourse was to move him to the front of the list to be seen. Jin kept his eyes shut as they droned on about the danger he'd faced and how lucky he was to be alive, but in reality, up until the very end, everything had moved according to his plan. Nothing they said could take that from him.

It was the woman that appeared in front of him that finally managed to earn a grimace. "Out of everyone they could have sent," he muttered.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

In this world, there are very few chances for lightning to strike you twice. And yet here she is, lightning struck by the same idiot on her path. Only this time around it wasn't the same ol' feeling from before.

"If he's ever being a dick, or acting shady, don't hold it against him," That's what he said. She had to trust Ari's judgement, not only because she knew little about Theo, but that sort of sincerity they shared did not seem like a friend covering up for another. If that weeb had it this bad, then there's no reason to antagonize him just because.

That wouldn't give him a free pass out of a beating if he crossed the line, but how bad can he be, really, after their little trip to Japan? Man's a good cook, if not weird.

Her mind snapped free out of it, her body had moved on like a drone, automated and ready to reach for a torn piece of papyrus, the layout being practically generic to the rest of the tents and the placement wasn't any different, but the contents of these notes always vary. Of course, this one spoke of the many attempts to escape. And obviously how important it is that he makes it out alive. A starcalled that risked limb and life the way he did, and how he escaped death by inches is all they needed to keep him locked, against his best prisonbreak attempts.

"Elf ears. Hyper sense too." She pointed out, tapping against her left, pointy ear. Needless to say she heard him after that. "You've been busy. Word got out real quick. Not bad I'll say..." She didn't waste a second to get herself closer, gesturing down to the stretcher for him to take a seat as she knelt nearby and simply chose to open her pal menu, and from her inventory she materialized a package well sealed within a wooden box, which clearly did not seem standard-issue, but it helped her keep everything stored in a similar way a first aid kit would.

And on the other hand, a pendant with a golden hue within it's center. Dim, yet the light is yet to die off, and the magic that radiates from it was almost soothing to look at; Divine magic nonetheless.

And then she ushered cursed words neither of them wished to hear.

"Take the top off. And tell me where it hurts."

@Jin

 

[Jin]

It wasn't as if he minded her hearing his words. Jin found it vexing that out of all the people who could have been brought in, it had to be Fiora. She made no attempt to talk about the other world, so for as long as that remained true, he would tolerate her abrasive persona.

His brow knit in disapproval when she brandished her pendant and holy warmth radiated from it. "Don't put that anywhere near me," he said flatly. It was one of the few things his magic reacted poorly to, and even that was an understatement. The curse that festered deep within his veins burned hotter just from their current proximity.

"If you can't do it with your hands, I'll have to make due without," he said, complying with her request to bare his chest. Toned muscles and skin stretched like canvas were laid out on display when the fabric was pulled away. Pale flesh, scars from old wounds, and freshly healed cuts were scrawled across his body like a tapestry. In some places, the heat inside him was more apparent than others as evidenced by feverish red patches; and on other parts of his torso, black splotches and even tattoo-like etched symbols signified some archaic, unspeakable affliction.

He did not look at her again.

Her question was an interesting one, because the details of his injuries were incomplete. She could not have known about how close he had come to death, or that he had willfully bled himself near to out. Everything hurt.

"There's no part of me that isn't sore," he explained. "My injuries are mostly internal, however the bleeding has stopped. I'm low on blood because I lost a great deal, and I haven't been able to eat or rest. I was rushed here before I had the chance."

Jin's shoulders were tense, his entire body ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice. He did not want to be here. He did not like the idea of her seeing him like this, or having any authority.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

The strong reaction he got over the pendant got her brows rise in surprise. "It's for emergencies, and you better give me a reason not to." She retorted, yet she had no reason to make use of it... Yet. But the look in his eye just convinced her enough that it would not do any good, given how ready he had been to leave this whole time. But then, even that is hard for her to rely on- He's hard to read, much like Ari.

"If you can't do it with your hands, I'll have to make due without,"

"Seriously? Make do without?" She repeated with a venemous tone that practically bled into these words. "All that big talk last time, and yet that's the best course of action you can come up with? Didn't expect you of all people to act like another braindead reckless player."

Dumbfounded expression mixed with dissapointment as her brows turned to a frown. Moreso to Jin's baffling statement. The man fought all the way back to Camp Hope only to refuse medical treatment? Death sure is a sweetheart for holding it's punches back on him.

Yet anger had to be kept at bay for now as he finally complied and showed the museum of scarred tissue that is his body, listening intently to his description as silver eyes scanned through his body in search of any fresh wounds yet to be treated, but much like he said, the superficial damage seemed to be non-existant, at least not the kind she should be working on right now.

Except all these black marks... Necrosis? No, that would be impossible, yet that's just the first thought that her mind connected with. Fiora leaned closer, and Jin could tell exactly what she's laser-targetting right now: these tattoos, the lines traced in such heretic-like manner, it almost put her bones to shiver. "...Weird fashion you into. Ain't gonna share the artist's address?" Sarcastic, yet distant. There were pressing matters eitherway to start asking questions, but it all seemed clear as to what was needed.

"Alright, I'll get a third person to man 'the pump' and help me out." She wished this were a nightmare but it's not. Just thinking about a needle going through her arm just to tranfuse some blood had her in a cold sweat. "My gut just tells me our blood type doesn't matter. We are both players, so it probably works between us, unless you want to risk it with a lander."

A rhetorical, of course, because she isn't about to give him a say. The elf soon stretched out her left hand against his chest, index finger pressed right against his torso, a bit harder than necessary, if only to see if that would get a reaction out of him. . "Lay. Down. And tell me if you would like meat on your stew." A teasing tone for once, a cheshire smile crawled on her lips. While she didn't enjoy playing nurse for him...

The benefits were crystal clear, and he didn't seem to enjoy it whatsoever either, so that's a win for the one in charge here.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"The dangers of Vintergard didn't manage to kill me, but holy magic might manage it." No doubt she began to understand as the intricate and profane patterns on his flesh came into full view. Many players were "edgy" and took on magic that made them look "evil" or "dark." Jin's choices weren’t aesthetic. His magic actually had adverse effects. It was the price he paid.

"Are you worried about me?" he asked, shooting her a glance out of the corner of his eye. "There's no need. I'm not being reckless, I'm being careful."

His body was deceptively more sturdy than most. The curse elevated his vitality and gave him inhuman endurance. It wasn't that he struggled to get back to Camp intact- it was that healing was much more difficult for his body due to his prohibitive magicks, and rest was among the few methods left to him.

If she had any understanding of the language carved into his flesh, her expression betrayed nothing of it. She was visibly disturbed, but that was all. When she asked about the markings, he smirked. "I don't think you'd be interested in His work if I told you, honestly."

My gut just tells me our blood type doesn't matter. We are both players, so it probably works between us, unless you want to risk it with a lander.

It might have mattered for anyone else, but for Jin, it was inconsequential. His blood was cursed, and it had a way of infecting other blood with its vile taint whenever it came into contact. He was able to assimilate any sort as a result. That was, apparently, one perk to the corruption.

When she touched him, his eyes moved to lock with hers, grave, dark, warning.

"Keep the touching to the absolute minimum," he scowled. "And if you stick me any more than necessary, I'll return the favor."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"Shame, can't put that to the test now." She just dropped along. Moments after, Fiora pulled her inventory yet again, letting a wooden bucket filled with water splash on the ground just a little bit from overflow after catching it with one hand. Inside of it, a rag floated about.

"Are you worried about me?" That question made her ears twitch and flicker, and her attention to return back at him.

"As worried as an employee can be for their paycheck. The dead don't pay off their debts, and neither do the people in Camp Hope if you end up dying in my care." She replied, as a matter of fact. "But hey, you are just being careful, but you are running out of space for scars already."

If one thing Yugam and him shared it had to be were their expressions. Their own thoughts betray them with the mere shift on their deadpan. Even so much as a smirk and a comment like that just gave her enough food for thought, that from disturbance her eyes went back to fascination, like that of a scientist indulging in the tabboos of their specialization.

"Should I feel thankful or Is that you saying they won't look good on me?" Because damn, if they were tattoos out of some magician artist in Terrasphere, they surely loved mystery and lovecraft levels of archaic. Yet no matter how hard she stares, whatever these mean don't seem to give her any clue whatsoever as to what they represent.

Yet all options make her feel just as skeptical from one another, as usual with anything involving Theo, or Jin in this case. Even so much as touching him would make the man go from tolerable to a downright threat, almost like a murderous instinct held back behind crimson irises.

A warning he elaborated on with more than just glares. And one that got her whole body electrified, like something invisible just caused friction all over her body and got her to smile and flash canines back at him with a challenging demeanour all-set.

"In your condition, it wouldn't be nearly as exciting to stab eachother the fuck out until we bleed out and die." Her voice hit a new level of raw, blunt to the very end, and her hand finally retired back to her side. "And it's a waste of a life for us to do that too. There's better things out there to risk our three stocks in. So, as appealing as it sounds, I'll pass." She concluded, turning on her heel to head back outside, but not without her eyes chasing after him with the intensity she's known already for, until he was all but left behind. "Lay down, seriously. Gravity is part of the process, old fashioned tools and all."

---

By the time she returned, a man wearing a mask tagged along, almost as if Jin were contaminated and any kind of disease he had this doctor wanted nothing to do with it. The man wait until Fiora sat down and for Jin to be in position across the stretcher before dragging a table and urging the knightess to take an arm out of her shirt, which she did so, exposing the bandages she wore across her bossom and the bruised flesh that tracked all above a calloused hand, right. right on the table, a solution of sodium citrate remains on a cylinder-like container that connected from a bag to a set of plastic tubes that linked, from one extreme to another, to hypodermic syringes.

The first of these went straight into her arm, right after applying a tourniquet above her bicep, the man expertly doing the same for Jin as the needle would reach through both of their veins, and tilting the tube juust a bit upwards to let the tube take a slight curvature downwards in the dark-haired man's direction, the doctor gently begun the process of pumping it, while the sodium citrate made sure the blood would not clog on it's way there.

Suffice to say, this sucked. Bad. At least she thought so, having to turn her eyes away from the needle and get her mind to think of anything else but the process going on. It certainly looked far more crude than a IV bag would from their world.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

He sneered at her response. As if she were being paid to do this. He knew better than anyone that the people in Camp Hope were working for crumbs, the faintest glimmer of possibility that they might be recognized. None of that interested him.

In fact, if not for the expedience that treatment could bring to his mending, he would have elected to evade the Camp altogether after returning. Of course, they had woefully disappointed him with their choice of "healer."

"We all came here expecting to die," Jin shrugged when she said that no one would be pleased if he died. That he made it as far as he had and back in (mostly) one piece was a miracle. They wouldn't bat an eye if he died now, having accomplished his mission.

This world was unforgiving that way.

She flashed her own toothy, wild grin, and he closed his eyes and sighed. She was the most unreasonable woman he had ever met. Of course she would get hot and bothered if he threatened her.

He did lay back after she left the room, and when she returned with a masked man, he was positively bored when they began the arduous process of transfusing blood. It would have been much easier- albeit, most likely not nearly as safe or clean- for him to cut and bleed her, then take control of the blood and claim it for himself.

That thought kept him occupied as the process droned on and he stared at where the needle pierced his flesh, flooding his thinned out veins with fresh, new, healthy blood. It felt like a wave of springtime for the few moments before the curse took hold, and the raging inferno in his bloodstream brought back the apex of summer.

"...it would still be exciting," he commented wryly, as though he knew she was distracting herself. He wasn't picking a fight. More accurately, he was driving home the point that the prospect of death was thrilling, and he was not afraid.

Especially not of the stabbing.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora rolled her eyes. Of course, Jin couldn't keep these gloomy kind of thoughts to himself. It didn't affect her in the slightest, she's just used from people in Terrasphere to act like that, but he seems to have a very peculiar idea of how he should be playing this game in the first place.

And she took great amusement in playing contradictarian against him.

"Reality is often disappointing, isn't it? Woe to us that still breathe." Sarcasm dripped from an otherwise serious expression. Right now she could have dropped an insult, an attempt at mockery, even yet another sarcastic quip, but again did Yugam's words echo through her mind...

Blood begun to leave her body if only to sustain his own, a lenghty process that started to drag on for an hour exactly. Just a little more to reach a pint, give or take. With the knightess just counting through the conversation she had with the hunter, gray eyes closing for a few seconds as a little spike pierced through her nerves, a mere sensation that almost tensed her on spot. The shivers didn't stop though, as neither did her imagination picturing the whole situation from a spectator's seat. The tubes, the needles, the rhythmic pumping...

"...it would still be exciting,"

Lids opened, giving a side-glance back at him, for a moment debating between glaring to shut him off, or shying away at the red-coloured tube that went straight into his vein, opting to stare at the 'walls' of the tent instead.

"There's always a reason to live and not want to die. What's so exciting about it to you?" She took the bait, groaning as the apparatus was slowly retracted from both of them, their shared doctor, using a cotton puff to clean up their forearms before carefully bandaging, informing them to apply a bit of pressure for the time being before packing up and leaving them once again in solitude.

Just then did her eyes meet with his again.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

He sat upright moments after he was free to do so. With a hand idly pressed to the bandaged area to stem the excess bleeding, he listened with no expression as Fiora mentioned that there was always a reason to live, and when she asked what was so exciting about death, he smiled.

"How little we really know about it," he answered easily. "We wake up everyday to new possibility, but we remain shackled by our conditions and limitations. Life is a series of events that may shift and change constantly, but it has a determinate ending."

He folded his hands after that; for him, the pressure was a formality, a motion intended to placate the man who instructed it. Clotting small wounds like that was a trivial matter for a Hemomancer. With the chirugeon gone, he truly was at peace again.

"But what do we really know about what comes after that? Speculation, really- do the people who led good lives go to Heaven, while the dogged, low-lives who did as they pleased burn for eternity? Or do we wake up in a new body, with a new chance and none of the memories of a life previously lived? Can we become dogs, or flies, or cows depending on our karmic value? Thousands of years of human history and we have only ever scratched the surface of what comes next."

Jin smirked. "And right now, we exist in a world where that final ending is suspended. Three entire deaths before anything truly permanent can happen- do you understand the implications of that? Every time a person who has those three lives left dies in this world, they experience death, but they come back from it. What do they see? What do they feel? You can't tell me that's not exciting."

He sighed after a moment. His fingernails had dug into his pants and he could feel the pressure like a vicegrip, a moment of passionate enthusiasm bleeding through the mask of contempt and disregard he normally wore. Theo was a face that covered up the demon behind it. It was by emulating that true world apathy that people summarily dismissed Jin as unimportant and uninteresting.

The smile passed from his lips as he closed his eyes again. "In the world we came from, I come from a low-income, single parent home. My mother is disabled. I'm a high school dropout who cashiers at a supermarket. My prospects for the future are bleak. I'm never going to get a big break and live out a fantasy there like Ari does."

He shrugged and reached for the cloak to cover his marred porcelain flesh.

"You're right by the way, for what that's worth," he chuckled. "Reality is nothing but disappointing."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Perhaps it's the transfusion what left her eyes a tad more drowsy than when she arrived. Whatever the reason, when Jin revealed the short-end of his answer. A typical if not blanket term, at least until he finally elaborated (where the meat of every desire lies), and the deeper he dug into his own reasoning, Fiora begun to notice this... Passion. Macabre, enthusiastic. His manner of speech just eerie reminds her to scientists and researchers alike, people who don't see left and right, only what's ahead of them. A way that leads them straight to their goals, discarding their own humanity with every word out of their lips.

"What for?" She replied just as they finally agreed on what this reality is all about. For some reason she didn't feel anything, as if everything had turned mute from within. Unnatural, if only for them who are but tourists in a world they know little about it's rules. "We all die at one point, everyone does. People gonna tell you it's all about the road not the destination. But you gotta be pretty cocky to believe dying in Terrasphere is anything like dying out there. These 'deaths' prior to your last one are not real." She finally let go of her arm, resting both elbows against her knees, hands hanging down between her legs.

"Why is the menu so intuitive, why are all the masteries something we already know about. This may be a game, but it's meant to simulate, to speculate. Death here is just another collective of speculations. Once you don't get back up and take your last breath, that's when you will know true death and get your answer." To trust it or not, that's up to debate.

The knightess straightened herself once more. For a second shrugging felt fitting, and yet she didn't want to. Despite how resolute she felt and looked, it's as if existing became indifferent. "Is it exciting? My question is, does it matter if it is? It's the end of the road. No one knows what it's like, and there's only one way to find out that, by the time you or anyone else does, they won't care either because they'll be dead. People can't even recall their most vivid dreams after waking up, you think they will recall how death felt without skewed details? How you think we got speculations of how the afterlife is like?" She folded her arms under her bossom once granted that rhetorical. "I just don't care. Simple enough. Even what an overdosed junkie feels is far more real than what comes after death will ever be.

And yet after all, Theo still shows some humanity, no matter how hard he seeks to hide it behind fruitless endeavours. Some desire that perhaps never found purchase, just like her many own that had been left in the past. Whatever it is, she couldn't assume nor pretend to understand.

They were both very different. Call it two sides of two different coins.

With one last glance over that pale visage of his, Fiora finally took a deep breath and eased the monotony out of her features. "Imagine being reminded every single day that you are not up to someone's standards. That you will never be good enough, just because someone else exists. I wish I could be mad at my brother, but I can't. Not his fault he got born out of materialistic, selfish, traditional bastards. I get it, you are mad at life, and so am I. I got too many things I'm mad at." To that she could relate. To these words, emotion did finally carry itself with a glimpse, close to sympathetic, blended with the raw and harsh assessment of her own tone. "But don't assume Ari's living the dream just because of a streak of luck. I don't know, you don't know, nobody but he knows. And for the record, he dragged you and I to Japan. Out of the shithole that is the daily life of the mentally ill cashier and library duty."

Sliding her arm back into her shirt, Fiora finally stood back up to her feet, setting the chair aside.

"He won't bother, and neither will I, but all I'm saying is that you there is people who do care. You just need good company, that's all. But it's on you if you want to try harder to snap out of that miserable routine, or keep chasing your dreams inside a game." She shrugged, offering a hand for him to hold onto. "All I care about right now is some food. So how about we go grab some? I heard they make some nice, medieval fantasy stew around here."

@Jin

 

[Jin]

These 'deaths' prior to your last one are not real.

Not real. She asserted that the three deaths prior to final death were anything but genuine, and his gaze flashed toward her. What an amusing creature she was to assert the fraudulent nature of anything in this game. She talked about how life was worth living, and in the next breath, accepted that death came for everyone. If that was the case, then why should she have any fear at all?

Denial.

Is it exciting? My question is, does it matter if it is?

"Of course it matters," he mused. "What could possibly matter more?"

Excitement. Fulfillment. Ecstasy. The only thing that mattered was the intoxicating sensation that came with new experiences. Death was just another journey, and each death in Terrasphere presented new wisdom and greater knowledge. They expanded the horizons of their understanding, and at such a small price in the grand scheme. Their real life? The life in that world outside of this virtual world?

What life.

I get it, you are mad at life...

His smile faded. Any trace of amusement that existed in that moment was gone in the next. The expression that replaced it was unveiled contempt. The look of a demon rebuked. "You understand?" he asked, the words as hollow as his voice. "You're angry?"

But don't assume Ari's living the dream just because of a streak of luck. I don't know, you don't know, nobody but he knows. And for the record, he dragged you and I to Japan.

"How joyous that must feel, to come to grips with the understanding that your circumstances and someone else's are beyond your control. To accept mendacity when it is thrust upon you, and to be thankful for the merciful kindness of others, even against your will."

Never once had Jin asked for help. He had not sought to change his stars, or to find the silver linings around the pitch black cloud that had become Theo's life. His mother and Ari had conspired to send him on a journey far from home, to see the world, to experience new things- but his circumstances never changed. No amount of seeing the greener grass on the other side of the fence would make that lawn his.

No, the only thing that the unsolicited kindness of others did for him was confirm how much he hated it. All of it.

He won't bother, and neither will I, but all I'm saying is that you there is people who do care. You just need good company, that's all.

"I'm not angry at all," he said at last. "There are things that cannot change, no matter how hard one works against them. Just as you said," he made a quick, dismissive gesture at the offered hand as he stood up on his own.

"I don't recall asking to be saved," he said as his false smile returned, "and I wish that people would stop trying."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"What could possibly matter more?"

"Anything that you can actually get, really. Go overdose in drugs even, that feeling is far more real than the high of post-death you want will ever be. At least you will be able to prove or disprove anything you felt afterwards. Once you get what you want, you won't be to comprehend it enough for it to matter." There was weariness on her voice now. Hadn't this been their second rodeo at an argument? And of course, they both had completely different views. She can't understand why the moth runs to the flame only to die. Death sounds appealing for ones without a wish to live, and perhaps she's just overcomplicating what Jin really is beyond just that: A death wish as a reason to not call it as such.

By the end of it, it's just two players staring down at eachother, and woe be how a third party had to be involved such as Ari. Her mind steeled itself, because this is a person she knows and, for better or worse, shared an experience with.

"If you had paid any bit of attention, then you would have known I didn't got dragged through this from start to finish. I didn't meant drag that way. But then, that doesn't matter either, does it?" She should have smiled, but the elf didn't, not once her heart closed itself to others. "I know what mendacity is by every single synonym out there. But if you want to lie or put up excuses like you do right now, that's cool. I just stopped caring a long time ago."

How he refused yet again a hand, Fiora sighed and placed it back on her hip instead. "At least you are smart enough to know you need food to survive. Guess you could say the cook of today is 'saving' you against your will." Life had returned once again to hollow eyes and her voice fell neutral, much like her lips on a thin expression that felt far more idle than downright deadpan.

"You are right, can't change a thing as one against the world. But this ain't no anime, you shouldn't be trying to beat an army all by yourself. It's up to you to even the playing field though. I'm not here to do that, don't misunderstand me." She concluded, gesturing with her head to the side as Fiora begun to head her way out of the tent.

But she gave him a glance over her shoulder right before that.

"My two cents? You really need some pussy. If I ever bring a girl to your house, please don't give her the 'death is all that excites me' shit. That's just not everyone's kink."

@Jin

 

[Jin]

She continued.

Against the dismissal he offered, her response was to continue banging her head against the wall, hopeful that her words might reach him. Like everyone he had ever met, the ones who made the decision to stick around at least, she felt like she could do something kind. Offer him some kind of new and fresh perspective. Try to relate to his suffering, understand him, and pull him out of darkness. Jin wasn't Theo.

Theo wasn't even Theo anymore, really.

Her appeal wasn't rational. She said that he could do anything, even throw his life away and saturate himself with drugs, and it would be better than death. But he had seen those people. Their drugs hazed the world around them, made them numb and terminated the need to feel anything at all. He didn't want to feel nothing. If anything, he already felt nothing.

The difference between them wasn't that she wanted to live and he wanted to die. The difference was that he wanted to actually live. Everything before Terrasphere, everything he had ever experienced- he couldn't call that life. It certainly wasn't precious.

I just stopped caring a long time ago.

"If you stopped caring, why are you still talking?" he asked. In the same way she had proven once upon a time, she was dishonest with not only him, but with herself. She cared too much. Now, he felt no guilt in pointing it out as he turned to give her a sidelong glance.

You are right, can't change a thing as one against the world. But this ain't no anime, you shouldn't be trying to beat an army all by yourself. It's up to you to even the playing field though. I'm not here to do that, don't misunderstand me.

"Who's fighting?" he asked. "I've always preferred the path of least resistance. The world will fight itself without me getting involved. You're so fascinated with this idea that I'm going to "engage" or "fight" because that's your own experience. And in most people's cases, that's the logical response, I'll give you that. But I'm not interested in fighting battles I can't win, and because of that, I don't need allies to win the fights I do pick."

My two cents? You really need some pussy. If I ever bring a girl to your house, please don't give her the 'death is all that excites me' shit. That's just not everyone's kink.

He gave a sigh as he turned and headed for the door.

"You don't need to do me any favors," he called back. "In fact, you shouldn't. If you see me dying, let me die. Your kindness is wasted on me."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"If you stopped caring, why are you still talking?"

Her smile betrayed any sense of surprise. It's just the question she wanted, really.

"So you admit to lying? How surprising." She waved a hand in dismissal. "I just like being amused, that's all. You talk as if you had this conversation about 'not being saved' a hundred times over, and yet you keep doing it. But hey this is how you get to know someone, and the more I know the better." It went both ways, as knowledge comes and goes. Truth or not, there's information deep within words and gestures alike.

But she didn't care for that. It kept her entertained, and that's all she wanted for at the moment.

I don't need allies to win the fights I do pick."

"Fascination? Sure, you can call it that if you want. I'll only say, the word 'Tangleweaves' should be enough to remind you of one case where you didn't fight alone, and were it not for everyone else, including me, you wouldn't have come out of that alive. But neither would have I, or the kidnapped explorers." She shrugged. "Call me biased, but you have some pretty weird notion of what a losing battle is, and what fighting alone means. Every battle is a losing one if you give up before it begins." Thats as much as she could guess went through his mind, and in a sense, they weren't so different in that matter.

Losing battles are a pointless struggle one can easily avoid, but the line between difficult to win and rigged blurs the more complicated the situation gets, and how each person deems it.

Just as they left, the security left just outside his place was ready to halt him dead on his tracks, at least until his assigned 'doctor' came by next to him, hurried steps gotten her to his side just in time before they could even lay a hand on Jin.

That wouldn't end well... For them, that is.

"No promises. But know this: if I ever save you, it's not out of kindness. I won't jeopardize a mission because I hate your guts." That's as much 'kindness' as she could give. While she would love to put a shiv between his shoulderblades, cooperation, specially in a situation so close to a war against Magias, was the only way to go about.

---

Some time had passed between moving to the tent and get their own portion from the communal feeding, handled over by starcalled and lander alike. They were effective, and the servings remained hot despite the open-style they took for their 'kitchen'. Unafraid of weather and wind alike, yet clearly there had to be some magic at works, no matter how minimal, to preserve things that way.

The taste on that stew was nothing close to magical however, but nothing unexpected either.

Fiora didn't take the time to sit down either, just because crowds seemed to have already taken either. No, instead, her eyes soured towards the battlefield that still remains in shambles after it's assault almost reached past the walls. Almost.

"The magia that attacked managed to assimilate one of ours. I didn't get to know them, but that ain't the point: We haven't heard anything of the sort until today, or I figured the Lions would have mentioned the risks." She casually mentioned, figuring Jin hasn't been around for the big show that happened a day or so ago, time but a fading thought to her. "That they can or not beats me, but the why. Why now of all their attempts to bring down this place. Can't say I'm not thinking too much about it, but it's just weird." And when it's weird, her gut tells her so. Like an old woman and her knee pains telling her it's going to rain.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

Her intentions were clearer now than before as she spoke again. He recalled the woman from the trip to Japan, and her odd habits. Fiora was just a more extreme version. She wanted to get a rise out of him, and when she figured out that he didn't like her being around, she put herself uniquely in a position to be right fucking there.

If not for the doctor's orders, he would have left without a word. As it stood, some notion of perceived benevolence on the part of the Camp's staff tied him down.

Her words revealed an amusing truth- she thought that there was much to be learned from the things he was saying. She thought that she was beginning to piece together some mystery, and that she was on the verge of actual understanding. She went as far as to call him a liar by his own admission.

He had to shrug. Knowledge was power. Guarding it took preeminence over all else. Honor was a useless thing, and honesty was a gun pointed at one's own head. Talking in circles was getting them nowhere, but it was all he was willing to offer. Eventually, she would get tired. Eventually, she would leave him alone.

They always did.

No promises. But know this: if I ever save you, it's not out of kindness. I won't jeopardize a mission because I hate your guts.

"Finally, something we can agree on." He picked those words at that specific time with no other context to leave her in doubt. Did he agree with the idea of saving someone's life if it meant continuing the mission, or did he just hate her?

She would have to piece that together for herself.

---

He glanced out at the desolation that was a battlefield only a few days before. Had it been the right decision to sneak further into the ruined city? Had he missed a battle that would have been more fun? The very thought made the already bland stew taste bitter. Jin was used to eating food that others would have passed on.

"That tracks," he muttered as she described the situation with the strange Magia and on the spot assimilation. "You're probably safe assuming that units like that are elite and not mass produced, though."

He didn't elaborate on why he thought that; but he had seen the forge in the heart of Vintergard. Jin watched as they collected biomatter and scrap metal from the surrounding area and hauled it into the darkness. While he had not gone further, did not see what Zelrius had within, Jin did withness the multitude of Magia that churned out of the opposite side at a steady rate.

If they had units that could manage that process on the fly, they would not have had a need for such a facility. It didn't mean that they couldn't produce more, of course. Just that they were uncommon.

To the question of why the enemy wanted to destroy them, Jin only shrugged.

"People go to war for all kinds of reasons. Political, social, religious, pure hatred. Based entirely on our interactions with them, understanding why won't bring us any closer to a peaceful resolution. They want us dead. That's all I need to know. If someone wants me dead, it's them or me."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

'It tracks'

And that's precisely why it feels like less of an assumption and more of a certainty right now, with Jin just confirming it in the most Jin way possible: Without a fucking yes or no.

"Considering it's not the first time that thing attacked, yeah I would assume so. In the end it exploded, possibly self destructed. Some died, with a bit of luck maybe no UI-locked." Fiora added. She wasn't there by the time it did though, the explosion alone is what had her turn around in that instant once echoes rippled across the air and past the safety of the walls.

Fiora's brows soon fell to a frown, her annoyance clear, but moreso towards their food. The taste just didn't quite match up. Even by minimum wage standards this thing is plain shit. From all the things Terrasphere could be realistic about, this is the one she wished for it to be different right now.

He went on about the reasons for war, and while that's not exactly what she had in mind she still let him go on until conclusion before re-taking the conversation. "Oh no, to that I agree. Fully. What I meant is more of a why are they doing this assimilation thing now and not the last few times they invaded the camp. You would guess someone would fall prey to it three invasions ago. Even then, there's no reports about this. And of course, nobody knows a thing." She murmured. suffice to say, suspicion plastered all over her features right now. A fact that left her just as sour as the stew itself.

"What got you so beaten up though. People keep looking at you funny around the camp, it's starting to make me think I missed on something bigger than the deadnaught."

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"You're operating under the assumption that they gave us the entire story," Jin replied without looking up from his food. "These jobs were peddled to us as 'particularly dangerous,' and they gave us all of the information immediately pertinent to their completion. Its extremely probable that they left out certain elements of risk in order to prevent Players from backing out." He brought a palm up to rest his chin on.

"Recall that many if not most of the leaders of Astorea are people like us, who aren't originally from this world. They know how we think. They know what lines they wouldn't cross."

Distrustful as ever, Jin lazily lifted another spoonful of gruel to his lips. Only now, he didn't look away from Fiora. "If you think they'd hesitate to use us as their meat shields, you're delusional."

It was just his guess, but with the way that they had prepared for the conflict so quickly and even gone into battle with any amount of confidence Jin had to assume they had unique knowledge of their adversary. Simply scrambling troops would have been far less effective than calling for a tactical retreat under any other circumstances.

Of course, he also used that theory to shift her focus away from his condition and the root cause. He just gave her the (not so) boring truth. "I took fire from a large turret that sent me careening into a wall."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

As Jin spoke, Fiora scratched her chin, frowning expression found her eyes reaching to the skies above. "I'm expressing myself like shit." But it's hard to when being used to text based chats rather than the closest 1-on-1 to reality's form of socializing. If anything, Jin highlighted it more than others had done so far. Something to work upon. "All I'm saying is that it's very suspicious." Gray eyes turned silver for a second as they gave an overlook to the rest of Camp Hope as they moved. To the tents, to the buildings, both the now quarantined areas aswell as where the tops in command would house themselves to talk. To each Squire and knight, to every scout and every explorer. All but a quick glance that reached out to him once again.

She left the utensil on the cup, despite having taken no more than two spoonfuls of food, her voice dropped to mumbles and eyecontact broke all of a sudden.

"Either they are keeping details a secret and many around here are unaware of it. Or the Magia are planning something. And it got worse." She's sure they are both at least on the right track here. It's impossible to trust a kingdom made out of players.

It's already hard to trust games that have no political chains of lead with benefits as real as Terrasphere's. And unfortunately, only the deranged play this game.

"I took fire from a large turret that sent me careening into a wall."
"Forgot to pay your magia tattooist?" A sly smirk crossed her lips just then, half-lidded eyes gauging him once again, up and down, yet given his clothing, it's all left to her memory where these lines were. Not like they mattered unless dissonance suddently broke out of them. Just another thing for the elf tease him about. "Well be mindful if you decide to cover these. Let's just say someone has been playing traitor around here and got found out. Someone wrapped on bandages. A player broadcasted the message while we were fighting back the magia. I actually half-hoped it would be you."

Closed eyes, an innocent smile bursted out as she resumed her meal, one spoonful at a time. It never crossed her mind, but letting him believe so certainly felt amusing. Even if an old trick by now.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"Oh, there's little left to doubt," Jin gave a shrug. "They will be back, and in force. If anything, their loss here is part of a learning process. Consider what you saw from the DEAD.naught. The Magia are assimilating things. It's their nature to collect new tools and understanding to expand their functionality and responsiveness."

His gaze was less passionate as he looked out over the Camp, ironically named Hope. They had managed to pull victory from a situation stacked heavily against them, but he was under no delusions that they would be able to repeat the miracle. Unless Astorea took extreme measures and allocated a great deal of resources in a very short period of time, this camp would never fortify into anything with permanence.

Not with that constantly growing, adapting Magia force encroaching.

He took her advice without a response, noting that the flavor of the hour seemed to be bandages and just now, the guard were quite famished. "Won't kill me that easily, but you know..." he took another bite of the tasteless food that only seemed to make his stomach feel full. He did not appreciate or enjoy the meal at all. Someone really needed to invest in cooking lessons for the staff.

"If you kept your mouth shut from time to time or said pleasant things, you might actually get some male attention." he grinned devilishly, spinning his spoon before catching it to point perfectly at the woman.

"Boys like nice girls."

@Fiora Di Angelo