OPEN

[lifespanned]

WHO: Misa & co.
WHAT: event aftermath!
WHERE: Achamoth, tiny smidge of Godsblood
WHEN: late Soviseri, early Firaseri
WARNINGS: will add if applicable!



I. early return (citadel, misa's room)

[ The return to Achamoth is, ironically, uneventful.

Misa is unconscious for most of it, and when she makes it back to the Citadel, those who see her right when the Godsblood envoy returns will see that she needs the servants' assistance walking to her quarters, and she favors weight far more to her right side. Even still, she doesn't wrap an arm around those who assist her, either, the reason for which is a net of bandages that cover and wrap around the entirety of her right shoulder.

Those who don't witness her directly may still become privy to her weakened state; she doesn't emerge from her quarters for a full day after after the return, which is highly unusual behavior for the outgoing and boisterous Misa, often seen around the Citadel bothering anyone she lays eyes on. Should any other Kenoma try to reach out to her with Communion, or further yet, knock at her door, she'll answer with a tired and irritable: ]

What is it? I'm trying to sleep, here.


II. later return (in the city)

[ When Misa gathers the strength to do more than keep herself contained to the Citadel, the first thing she tries to do is drag other people out with her. It's her number one way of dealing with anything unpleasant in life - to bury it, deeply, beneath something fun and happy and exciting. She's certain she won't be thinking about everything that happened in Godsblood if she spends a little time outdoors with a companion. And luckily, she'll drag just about anyone she knows out with her.

But it's perhaps that over eagerness to go do something to take her mind off things that prompts her to... push herself too fast. While she seems enthusiastic to go outdoors, the fact of the matter is that she's still not wholly herself - her hair remains un-styled, face bare of makeup, due to the lack of mobility in her right arm while it heals. Heavy blood loss in Godsblood has rendered her complexion a little paler than usual, and difficulty moving has rendered her wardrobe much less extravagant and cute than is typical of her outdoors fare.

Not long after she and her trusty out-on-the-town friend have made it away from the Citadel, she suddenly stumbles and slumps heavily in her companion's side in an uncharacteristically awkward fashion. ]

Woah...! I guess I'm still a little woozy.... [ She gives a nervous laugh, clearly trying to play off her dizzy spell— she even tries to reorient herself (with little success, still basically leaning into her Kenopal for support), sticking her tongue out cutely as if she'd just tripped on a rock instead of come close to fainting. ] Gosh, I feel so clumsy.


III. wildcard + closed starters

( feel free to reach out to me on plurk lunarians or in the discord if you'd like to do something aftermath flavored that doesn't fit into these! i'm ofc also open to communions for any pleroma that wanna do aftermath stuff, since it's not likely misa will be up and about in godsblood for long. anywho, i'll be putting closed starters below! )

Comments

[zauneyete]

Hm. In my experience, fatal wounds take some time to heal. Have you seen... [ Who was the healer, who was the healer... ] The priest? I believe he's a healer, isn't he?

[ Silco knew he was a healer. It seemed like it would be a good idea, given.. the fact that two of the Pleroma's own were held in Achamoth. His hands clasped behind his back, thinking about it. ] I noticed some of you had...come back rather injured, despite our...small victory.

[ It's neutral, without judgement. Silco had been one of many who came back with their attunement lowered. They'd both experienced defeats this month. He hated the Thing that had come out, but more than that, he wanted to lash out, desperately. Not at Misa, but the Pleroma. If they held two of them though... perhaps... ]

I'm surprised you're up and about, regardless.

[lifespanned]

[ Right, the priest.... she's really been meaning to talk to him, especially ever since she saw what he said at the Regent's address. He seems like the kind of person she can trust on this side, if only because he doesn't seem like he's going to be doing any backsliding any time soon. ]

Surprised? Did I really seem that bad...?

[ Misa hopes it's that the graveness of her injuries is what's causing the lingering sense of worry among the Kenoma she's seen rather than unfiltered concern for her as a weak link in the chain. It's such an antithesis to her usual play; normally, it'd be to her benefit to be having everyone see her as the harmless, poor teenage idol. Fine if the other side sees things that way. But here, in the Kenoma? As things become more serious, such a perception of her will only hold her back. ]

It's true that a bunch of us got hurt. I got shot a few times, [ She says, bluntly, wiping sweat from her brow as she lowers her arm. ] By that girl, with the rifle. I can't remember her name from the first communion?

[ Though she does recall Silco having a fair bit of something to say about her, when she recalls her vague memory of the discussion about a girl who was a good shot. Any further details than that have eroded with time. ]

I'm really only up and about thanks to Ciel. I had no idea that kind of thing hurt so badly...

[zauneyete]

The girl with a rifle?

[ Silco can't help it. He could have reassured her that it was more the fact that it had seemed bad in Godsblood, but Silco wasn't here for coddling, particularly not when Misa had mentioned something more important. Silco knew only one person who had a rifle, and she was the same one from the first communion.

If Misa thought that Silco would have something to say about her, she was right. ]

Enforcer Kiramman. [ Almost like a swear, the way it's punctuated out of his mouth like it's foul. ] I'm surprised she didn't try to make a nice speech about how she's only doing this because it's for your own good, or some other high-minded nonsense, while she ignores the refuse beneath her heel.

[ He ran a hand through his hair, and took a breath. ] Gunshots are rather unpleasant, aren't they? I'm surprised she didn't shoot to kill, given their... determination to release our captive.

[lifespanned]

[ Well, she's feeling extra validated, hearing all this ire from him. She knew it had to be the same person that Silco had had so much to say about back then. ]

Oh, believe me. She really did say a bunch of annoying stuff while we fought.

[ And it had felt very patronizing - Misa's displeasure over the encounter is evident in every inch of her body language, from her scrunched up frown to the tenseness coming into her shoulders. All the finer parts of their encounter - Misa being confused over whether or not Caitlyn was the same as her, going to great lengths to do what is "right," not what is legal - are easily overshadowed by the words from her ally. She has to trust Silco's appraisal of the woman more than her own - he's the one that's known her, after all. ]

I mean, I thought she might've killed me too, but... she said she'd "rather avoid lethal action." I nearly died anyways, so yeah right!!

[ And yes, she absolutely just did a mocking impersonation of her voice. Of course she's glad she wasn't fatally shot, but she can't help but still feel miffed over the entire ordeal, wanting to find reasons to complain and moan over how things had turned out, valid as they are or not. Complaining for complaining's sake, maybe. She just found she's in good company to let out some of her pent up frustration towards the woman, so why not do it? ]

[zauneyete]

[ Silco scoffed, a disgusted note, as his eyes rolled very nearly out of their sockets. His mouth moves with the words, almost a mockery of it himself. She can even imagine him mocking her tone, even if he's only had like...one conversation with her in his life. ]

Of course she did. Sanctimonious to the last, and do not doubt that she will try to hold that over your head, as well.

[ That was purely Conjecture. Silco didn't know Caitlyn that well, but he had quite the...image of your average enforcer, and Caitlyn was superimposed on top of that. The fact that she supposedly knew something about him -- had spoken like she knew him in that cave was another point against her.

Really, Silco hated her. ]

Enforcers say that until you're a threat. Next time, I recommend proving to her that you are one. They'll "avoid lethal action" up until you challenge them. Then they'll try to kick you down, with as much force as is necessary.

[ His eye -- the ever-open one swiveled, at that, another eye roll. Well, enforcers had been the one to hit him in the eye, and caused the injury that led to...that. ]

[lifespanned]

These "Enforcers" must have given you a lot of trouble back at home, huh...?

[ It's impossible not to notice the outright disdain Silco seems to have for all of them, Caitlyn especially. Of course, at this point, she's heard a bit about his ventures into the underworld where he came from, which begs the question of how much law enforcement was coming after him. ]

I've gotten in trouble with the police before too, and they can be really rough when they have to be... [ The way she says this speaks to experience— though she doesn't elaborate on just how she has living history with dealing with cops. She's sure Silco has an inkling, having seen that letter from Light. It actually makes it easier for her to be able to bring it up without having to actually spell it out, or worse yet, receive a disbelieving spit take, like she has when she's revealed her history with the law to others in Horos.

In any case, having regained her breath, she crosses her arms while she leans against the wall, not offering any pushback against Silco's appraisal of the law - her own opinion of them is rather loose, favorable at times and very unfavorable at others. ] But she said something about being a "terrible cop?" Who worked with terrorists and stuff? Is that actually true, or was she just saying that to distract me?

[zauneyete]

Enforcers are the arm of the law that keeps my city stuck under the boot of Piltover, so we're quiet, and complacent. So all we do is toil away in the mines to make them richer.

[ Misa had asked about the terrorists, and... it's the closest anyone has come to even mentioning a connection with Silco's own daughter. Of course she was a terrorist in their eyes, she was wild, and free. Perfect in every way, and the embodiment of what he wanted for the entire undercity. People free of the requirement to toil away for someone else, free to invent, to explore, to break the rules, break everything, and come out of it stronger and faster, to change the world unfettered by any restrictions.

He chose his words carefully, unwilling to bring up his daughter -- something nobody needed to know, about him here. ]

She calls us terrorists because some among us lash out at a city that has stomped us down every time we've asked, begged, or even gone to war, for independence. She calls us terrorists because we merely decided to become strong enough that they couldn't kick us back down.

She also ignores that the particular cop -- Marcus -- had a predecessor, who also worked with us down in Zaun. The difference then, was that she worked with the... [ A twitch of his lips, a tightening around his eyes, for who instilled hate in Silco more than Caitlyn? Vander. ] De-Facto leader, but instead of helping us achieve independence, they worked together to keep us meek, subservient, and cause no trouble.

She calls us terrorists because we're not silent, and that means she and the rest of Piltover can't ignore us any longer, or get fat and rich off the backs of the sons and daughters of Zaun.

[ Misa, you've activated Silco's Sons and Daugthers of Zaun speech, do you wish to proceed? Y/N? ]

[lifespanned]

[ Strangely enough that... actually makes sense to her. In a way, what Silco describes is not far off (in her eyes) to what she and Light herself were doing; fighting back because of a system that failed way too many. Of course, she never thought about it in such grand or deep terms back on her Earth, satisfied with simply following Light's will to change the world. Only now, separated from him, has she been forced to think about what they were doing really meant for the world, outside of the very simple and obvious "making it the way I want it to be" that floated around in her head.

From the sounds of Silco's description, things aren't so simple. By any regular measure of her judgment delivered by her Death Note, Silco is the kind of person who would be struck down, engaging in the seedy life of crime that he did (and still does, probably.) But, for maybe the first time, she wonders.... would that be the right judgment, based on his re-telling of the events? She and Light, together as Kira, were inclined to spare people who committed crimes of violence if it was to be believed that the perpetrator acted justly, or if the victim got what they deserved. Maybe Silco is one such case. If the people of Zaun felt they were getting the short end of the stick all the time, or not seeing justice, wasn't it just a matter of time before someone found or forged a power strong enough to do something about it, by whatever means? She and Light were called terrorists, too, but of course, she never saw him and herself that way. She saw herself and him as people risking their lives challenging what systems ruled their world.

It's a strange thread of commonality, one she didn't expect to feel with him, but she looks up and away while swimming in her thoughts, shrugging. ]

So, she works with these "people of Zaun," but still looks down on them like "terrorists." It's not like she actually agrees with you guys?

[ Which is the same as doing nothing, in her opinion. If Enforcers worked together with the people of Zaun, but only to try to placate them, isn't that basically the same as trying to stop them altogether? Misa herself had always extended her hand to the police to ally themselves with Kira, only to be met with refusal. To her, that signified an unwillingness to actually do what is right. Enforcers, the many police investigation teams after Kira, they're probably both the same. ]

That must be where all your different skills come from. From trying to help Zaun...

[ Misa says, but it's more like a question, wondering if he's going to refute such an assumption. ]

[zauneyete]

Works with them?

[ He asked, with a small tone of derisiveness. ] Most Enforcers don't even bother coming down to the Undercity unless they're forced to. Then they wear masks, lest their precious lungs get burned by the poison we breathe every day.

No, I don't think she's ever even bothered to step down there, up until... right before we all arrived here. I'd never seen her before in my life -- and I know which Enforcers will come down. Marcus was normally the only one, and that's because his greed outweighed his sense of supposed preservation.

[ It's almost sad. Silco was a monster, yes. He was aware of it, he understood and accepted it. He was a bad person, but he didn't care about that. So were the Enforcers, who so often beat them down when they were too rowdy, and slapped them with the butts of their rifles, or shot at them, but never dared to step down there if they could help it.

Zaun was lawless -- or close to it -- but it wasn't without a reason for that. They were nothing to Piltover, so why would they bother to act by their rules. ]

You are correct, however. I learned... a lot over my years. I grew up mining, you know. Back when I was a boy. Some of us banded together, and started a smuggling ring, so we didn't have to make money for someone else. I learned to read, and book keep, just so we could climb our way out. I'm sure the enforcer didn't mention anything about that. Not that she knew, or cared about our lives down beneath their feet.

[ Silco was self-taught -- across the board. Everything he learned or knew was from hard lessons or teaching himself. Like most from Zaun, they'd learned the lesson of self-reliance from the cradle. ]

[lifespanned]

[ For once, Misa actually listens to his story seriously. Growing up the way she did in relative comfort and unattached from most of the world of struggle and crime, the tale Silco spins isn't anything close to something she's heard before— not from someone real, someone who was a companion to her, at least. It's... eye opening, in a way. She'd always been swift and nearly unthinking with her judgment and executions, but Silco's words about smuggling to survive, needing to claw his way out of the position he was thrust into just from being born where he was... that does give her pause. It shifts her perception of him from the seedy, suspicious businessman who just seemed to know all the ins and out of how to succeed and thrive the underhanded way to.... an underdog, who had to fight for everything he had. ]

Gosh, I had no idea.... from what she said, I sort of got the impression she was supposed to be like Robin Hood or something?

[ "Doing what's right, not what's legal"— those words had made her think Caitlyn was outright sabotaging the police, or something to that effect. Going against what she was supposed to be doing, in order to help victims that fell through the cracks. ]

I guess that makes you the more Robin Hood like one. [ In a way, and only out of the two of them... though not exactly. Misa stands up fully again, leaning away from the wall. ] I think I get it. Those Enforcers could've done something at any time, but they didn't, right? I understand that completely...

[ Yes, she empathizes with a portion of the frustration over his circumstances. No, she was never toiling away in the mines, wasn't breathing toxic air. But she remembers that feeling of being wronged, and ignored, by the very people who were supposed to help. ]

Is that why you're here, in the Kenoma? To help Zaun? I'm doing the same thing, you know... wanting to make the world a better place.

[ Since the police and enforcers alone clearly hadn't been accomplishing it, in their home worlds. ]

[zauneyete]

[ Silco had no idea who Robin Hood was. ]

If "Robin Hood" is a good person, then no. She'd never even been to Zaun before... right before I saw her for the first time. When her and someone else were trying to disrupt what we'd built there.

[ Rather: trying to find his daughter, but Silco wouldn't share that. Nobody needed to know about Jinx here, and he wouldn't dare show a weakness so readily. He tipped his head, though, considering. ]

She thinks she's doing the "right thing", but the people she works with would rather see us quiet, meek, and easy to manage, instead of free, and resplendent in what makes Zaun... perfect. Imagine the entertainment district down here, filled with people, every stripe of life, cars on the streets, experiments unencumbered by restriction. We do that with nothing. Imagine what we could do if we had been given anything?

[ A pause, then. Why was he here? ]

I suppose you could say that I'm here to help Zaun -- although I realize it is gone, along with our worlds now. [ A tightness around his eye, then. The other, with the makeup covering the scar barely ever moved. ] Rather, I want a world without it to suffer, for the crime of not being Zaun. For being an existence without it. [ Or more importantly: without Jinx. ]

[lifespanned]

[ What she hears, and sees in his actions, is definitely a sign of spite. Vengeance. Frustration at always being held down. She has no personal experience which can even compare a little to what he's gone through, nor does she have similar aspirations for simply making the world suffer in spite of what had been done to him.

But... she could understand where the feeling may come from. She'd gotten her closure from the person who'd ruined her life finally being killed - she didn't lust after it like she had previously. But, say if he was still alive... she'd probably relate to the resent so evident from him more, especially if she'd been scorned on such a larger scale.

Nevertheless, she turns all that over in her head, absorbing the information neutrally. It doesn't lower her opinion of him, nor scare her off— if anything, this convinces her of his resolve. Passion like this cannot be forged, nor easily eroded. Silco really does care about the Kenoma's goals, at least as a pathway to get revenge for Zaun - that's what she makes of it. ]

Who knew you were such a passionate guy? I'd have no idea looking at you.

[ She remarks, lightly, eyes turning to look at the crowds of people bustling about, imagining for herself the world he's describing. ]

But I think it's great that you care so much about your people. [ she's a lover, why wouldn't she think this. But also, no matter how she slices it, it's what his feelings boil down to in her perception; only a deep sense of affection, care for a place or group of people could invoke such a hateful, spiteful reaction in someone, when that place or people are mistreated, erased. ] You'd do anything for this, wouldn't you? I'm the same way, so I know.