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

[lifespanned]

[ Best she can, she intermittently swipes at her eyes with the wrist on her good arm, nodding her head once in acknowledgement of his apology in turn. If she thinks back on it for a few moments... it was a bit strange to feel something like that from him; she's so used to him being so calm, so able to take things in stride, that feeling the literal effect of him getting irritated with her was enough out of the ordinary to be noticeable. Never once since meeting him has she felt that she was getting on his nerves, until that very moment. Which, to be fair, is par for the course in her relationships with others, with her either willfully ignoring that she irritates others, or is actually oblivious to it - it's hard to let it go unnoticed when sharing a Legacy means literally being able to feel what others feel about you. Still, she supposes everyone, even Amos, has an upper limit of what they're willing to put up with. And they were in a stressful situation. So... she doesn't think much of it past that. ]

As long as you weren't mad for real...

[ Someone getting annoyed with her, she could handle (read: ignore), but actually, really upset with her? That's hard for her to leave alone, when it's someone who's close. ]

I only wanted to help you. I thought, you might be in less pain if I did something...

[ And be able to fight better, if the wound was stopped in time. That, and she has little sense for how much a person can bleed before it begins to affect their physical performance - naturally, she assumed it was better to prevent him from bleeding at all, if possible. Inwardly, she's aware that Amos can endure much worse than a deep cut to the arm, but still.... she couldn't help but want to make something easier for him, with whatever methods she had at her disposal. He endures too much, in all matters, it feels. ]

But there was probably nothing we could've done. [ Misa drops her arm from her face, eyes red rimmed, but clearer than they were before. It's a waste of time to talk about the could've, would've should'ves, right? Even if she hadn't gotten in Amos's way, she thinks things would've ended up like this, anyhow. There's only how to go forward from here. ] There were two of them... did you see? That dogboy was just the distraction.

[baltimores]

I wasn't mad for real.

[ He was something for real, but it'd been cut off when his throat had gotten cut, bleeding out of him along with everything else. That's all in the past, now; he can't fathom actually being mad at Misa. It's incomprehensible. She has to know that, and thanks to their shared legacy, she probably does.

He has to pause, though, because everything else she's saying is only bringing up more questions on his end. He remembers what happened that morning — remembers it too well, maybe — but it's only now that some pieces just aren't fitting together, and his brow furrows at the thought. ]

You mean Ernesto. His name's Ernesto. [ Just in case she doesn't actually know, but that's beside the point. ] I didn't see anyone else. I just saw him. I was busy fighting him, I guess... Busy trying to kill him.

[ A longer beat. ]

I wasn't in pain. I mean, I was, but it wasn't important. I don't mean like, I deserve to be in pain kind of thing — [ he's not a Martyr — ] but more like I could ignore it. It was a non-factor. It wasn't stopping me at all.

[ The only thing that did was what should have been a killing blow, and even then, he remembers he'd had the ability to go on a couple of steps anyway. Now that he's thinking about it, it's a little disquieting; any emotions Misa might be picking up from him end up subdued at the thought, like trying to see something through a thick fog.

It's a security blanket, and he lets himself fall back down on his own bed properly. ]

If I'd killed him that might've stopped them. Might've been able to stop the other one, too. No use crying over spilled milk, but if I'd been a little better that might've been enough.

[ So, you know, damn. And, an afterthought: ] I gotta get back to learning magic.

[ That might've given them the edge they'd needed; if anything, his time here the past few days has taught him he needs to rely on more than just his strength. The rules here are different, and it's time he adapts. Properly. ]

[lifespanned]

[ Even Amos admitting that he hadn't been in pain doesn't ring any particular alarm bells to her; he seems like such a huge, tough guy that she's sure a little cut to the arm probably doesn't bother him all that much. Probably? She doesn't know, it's so hard for her to gauge these things, foreign as the realm of serious injury is to her. Though his confusion over the matter does pique her interest, she doesn't comment on it, thinking that if it ends up being a clue— it'll certainly come in use later. But there's no need for her to try to solve the mystery now. ]

The other one, Akua, she's good with magic... and Rand is, too. It's hard to fight against someone like that without magic of your own. We need a better strategy next time, that's all...

[ She says, agreeing with his sentiment that it's best for him to practice. In hindsight, she should've thought of a better strategy to use her power from afar, or disabled Rand, or found Akua first... only experience in situations like this will make decisions like that more obvious to her in the future, she's sure. Unless she does that, this head-on stuff will feel out of her league no matter how she slices it.... maybe a difference in experience is what sets them apart. In any case, Amos's own mellowness helps soothe her, brings her back to (moderate) equilibrium, though her voice still comes out meek when she continues. ]

Have you always had to fight like that since you got older? [ She already knows about the past, but now that she thinks about it, she has to wonder just how normal this kind of situation is to him. It's possible it's just leftover from his childhood, though there's reasonable chance such strife followed him to adulthood, too. Does that have anything to do with him being able to endure it? Or does it have more to do with the lingering mystery clouding his emotions? ] I thought you like... did more computers and building stuff.

[ Sure, he's jacked, and knows how to build (and fire?) a gun, but ever since she found out he was a space engineer, her image of him has been that he just... she doesn't know, welded stuff on the ship? And maintained weapons, maybe? It's not like he was fighting aliens day in and day out, was he? ]

[baltimores]

Would've been nice to have a gun. I don't know how well magic can stop a bullet to the brain.

[ No matter how quick someone might be, a proper shot from the kind of weapon he's used to is hard to beat. There's a sense of grumbling from him, both for his own misfortune and the fact that Misa had been shot, like that helps prove his point.

He should probably go back to the Machining Guild again while he's here. As soon as he's feeling better, probably. See how far along things are.

But anyway. If his presence is helping Misa, then he should sort himself out; it's always easier to operate when you know you've got a plan of action. And he's got one now, so things'll be fine.

Amos' head lolls to the side to look at her again at her question, and everything in him softens. His body, finally appreciating the chance to rest, even if the bed can't be anywhere near as comfortable as his own back home in Achamoth; the way she gently asks him bringing up something in him that wants to hold her, shelter her. He knows she knows the worst that's happened to him, has seen some of the worst he's doled out, knows exactly what his hands have already done and will continue to do — but.

She still accepts him for everything he is, and he knows his level of care for her is reciprocated.

Fuck, he'd tell her just about anything at this point; as soon as he's good enough to get up, as soon as she's good enough to receive one, he is going to hug her like nothing else. ]

I tried to.

[ There's a degree of fatigue to his voice, not because of the toll of recovery, but because everything she's giving him is something that had been hard for him to come by in the past. Only up until a few years ago, really. ]

Ships need mechanics, and I'm a good one. But when you're on a ship, you need to make sure the crew gets along. Good morale is as important as anything; otherwise you got people getting on each other's nerves in a pocket of air with no way to get away from them, usually for months on end.

[ He pauses for maybe a little too long. ]

There're people who can tell when there's something wrong with someone. They got some kind of sense for it. Hell, I got it sometimes. But, you know, with everything that happened to me when I was a kid... I made it to space when I was fifteen. Literally the day after I killed Oestra and Burton; you saw that. Didn't even have time to sleep, it happened pretty quick. So there were people who caught on to the fact that I was broken. And I didn't exactly have the greatest reactions to them. You see a threat and you kill it, right? So I can be a good mechanic, get a good job on a good ship, but if someone tries to start shit with me I'm going to kill them. Or at least knock them out... People don't really like that kind of thing, turns out.

[ But it's instinctual for him. He'd still do it. Amos sighs; lets his arm fall over the side of the bed, like that's one way of physically reaching out to her even though it's not really an option right now. ]

So then you develop a reputation, get jobs on crap ships with crap people, and then they try to start shit and you gotta keep moving around... I mean, I did. It was fine. Just a part of life until I met someone willing to take a real chance on me. Naomi. And then it stopped, because I had someone in my corner for the first time since I'd been on Earth.

[ A beat. He loves Misa so much; she isn't someone who will guide him, and she isn't someone he needs to guide, but just this feeling of equality is more than enough for him. ]

But fighting's kinda baked into me. You don't fight, you die. I don't know any other way to live and I'm probably never gonna. Especially when I got so much to fight for here.

[ Their mission from the Regent, primarily. It's so unfathomably important, and Amos knows he has to help see it through.

But while it's not like this is the first time he's had people to fight for and protect... they remain a hell of a motivator, too. ]

[lifespanned]

[ She'd wanted to know to get a gist of the gap between them when it comes confronting and dealing with situations like the one they were in - and, perhaps a little selfishly and immaturely, she still finds herself in abject awe of the world of space. Maybe it's a little bit of wanting to hear about something far away from Godsblood, too, where there's been nothing but hardship over the last 48 hours. Along with all that, too... there's a foreign desire in her to understand the life he came from. It sounds callous: she's not someone who gets deeply invested into the lives of others, save for a select few, and even then, she's content to know them as they are in the present only, or better yet, never look into their past save for a glance. That's the nature that comes with her forceful, unconditional love - a willingness to disregard all but what she sees in front of her.

But here, it's almost as if hearing this from him changes the person in front of her - puts him in a different light. It paints a different picture. ]

Sounds kinda lawless.... jeez. [ Her shoulders slump, readjusting herself to lean against the wall more comfortably. ] People in my time, we never think of people being in space acting like that, starting problems all the time.

[ It was always clean, neat ships, with only the smartest people in the world aboard. But it sounds as if the world in space was just as, if not more complicated and corrupt as the one on Earth. She doesn't doubt for a second that any and all altercations he might have started would have been warranted; still, it doesn't change the fact that the description sounds like.... a tumultuous, dangerous world to live in. At least someone finally took a chance on him, and he wasn't always stuck in such a loop of getting brought to different ships— that, she's grateful for. ]

Like, I guess I thought... I don't know, that in the future, the world would be a better place. People wouldn't have to fight so much. I told you about Kira. Wars were stopping, less and less people committed crimes...

[ But things like what happened to Amos still happened, didn't they? And his life still came down to having to fight to survive? Of course the original Kira could have never survived all the way to Amos's time, but had the Death Notes on Earth just fallen into wicked hands? They failed to build a peaceful, just world, for generations of humans then, right? Her eyes close, contemplative, finally feeling a shred of regret for what she feels like is a failure. ]

But I guess you had to struggle all the time, anyway. I wish things were different.

[ Even if it made him stronger in the end, and able to deal with more and more violent and stressful scenarios, she can't imagine that was any fun way to live life. And now, they're at a war of the end of the world. Much as she knows personally how having a purpose can make it much easier to endure the stressors in their life, she can't help but wish life had been kinder to him, somehow. ]

[baltimores]

[ He shifts to his side, looks up at her from that position, eyes meeting hers. There's fondness in his expression. Appreciation. A part of him trying to reach out, tamp down that feeling of regret; it's not your fault. How could any of it be? ]

Yeah. I wish they were different, too. Maybe that we had a Kira of our own. [ It's... it's nice to think about. Even if he probably would have been someone that would have caught Kira's attention in a bad way... well, he can't say it wouldn't have been deserved. ] We had what, a couple hundred years between us? And other than the part where people lived in space where I'm from, it doesn't sound like things were all that different.

[ He'd tell her all about it, if she ever asked. Stories about his apprenticeship on Luna, the different ships he'd worked on. Stories of fending off pirates and navigating one's way through the wild west, a place that technically had laws but the vast distance that is space making them borderline unenforceable. All of it; stories to pass the time whenever they need it. That part of his life is effectively over, but that doesn't mean he can't reminisce with someone who might like hearing about it.

But it is what it is. Or, hopefully, it was what it was. ]

That's why we gotta see things through here, right? [ An attempt at a soft smile. At something trying to be comforting. Encouraging. ] If things aren't gonna change on their own then we just gotta get it done here. Help the Regent. And then we don't gotta worry about anyone struggling ever again.

[ It's been too late for him for a long time. Maybe too late for her, too. But it's a really good thing that they're trying to do — make sure it doesn't have to be too late for everyone who comes after them. ]