thebastion | [Backdate: 147 | CLOSED] Do you listen to yourself?

[Nathaniel had been hiding throughout the entire festival. Back before the Calamity, he would have willingly joined in. Hell, a few weeks ago he might have joined in, just because he would have wanted to help everyone feel better. But after everything that had happened at the Mancer Observatory, Nathaniel was in a foul mood, and he didn't want his mood to ruin the fun.

He ended up staying in his room, excluding the few times he ducked out to grab some food.

Everyone had left him alone, so he is a little surprised when he hears a knock at his door. Curious, he goes over and answers it.]

Rin? Did you need something?

[And Rin was right, it's good that she came. While Nathaniel gets along with pretty much everyone, Rin has been there since almost the start, and she's someone he has grown to actually trust.]

[That had been another reason for Rin being so reluctant to even come to him. Having his presence in the Bastion was just... odd and unsettling and she didn't like it. She didn't like where it might be leading to, either.

Her nerves showed far more than she wanted them to, fingers fidgeting awkwardly in front of her.]

Uhm. Y... yeah. Actually. ... d... d'you still have Venn's journal?

[Unfortunately, Nathaniel was not one to talk about his problems, and his bad mood was likely to grow until it exploded at some point. Hopefully later than sooner, and hopefully nobody would get hurt as a result.

As for the question, it is an odd one. Yes, Nathaniel has it, and he has no problem sharing, but...]

I do, but what do you need it for? It's not like anyone here can read it.

[He knows Stewart and Anna are Ura by blood, but given that they have Caelondian names he is assuming that they have lived in Caelondia their whole life, and thus can't read Ura either.]

[Hopefully.]

Someone can. Two... some ones. They uhm... showed up a little after--

[After everyone got back from the observatory.]

Colin already told Zulf about the journal, and he thinks it might have belonged to Zia's father. He... asked me to ask you about it. To see if he could give it to her. It... it would rightfully be hers, wouldn't it? If it was her father's?

Yeah, I suppose it would be hers then. And having someone to translate it would be handy too.

[Nathaniel is about ready to hand over the journal. Zia he at least knows about indirectly, kind of. He remember Venn having a daughter, that's what caused all the drama right before the Calamity. So if Zia is claiming to be Venn's daughter, that might be true.

But it's the name 'Zulf' that he is stuck on. It sounds familiar, but he can't remember why. He frowns thoughtfully as he tries to remember why that name is familiar.]

Zulf...who is he?

[Maybe hearing a bit more about him will jog his memory.]

[Rin's hand was out to take the journal as he started to hand it to her, but the stop and question made her pause as well. Recalling what Zulf had said, how he had acted...

she's suddenly got a very sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.]

An... Ura. He told me he was raised by a priest-- ... missionary. A Caelondian one. He seems to know a lot about the Calamity, too...

[Nathaniel is still frowning, and he's quite obviously mulling over this in his mind, but he hasn't quite put 2 and 2 together. But while he thinks, he'll move over to the desk where he put the journal and go grab it.]

Zulf...hmm...that name sounds really-

[Wait.

Zulf and Zia arrived together.

Zia is apparently Venn's daughter.

The day of the Calamity, a waring had gone out about Venn's daughter and another man, and how all Mancers were to immediately report it if either of them showed up at the observatory.]

-no, it can't be-

[Sorry Rin, Nathaniel is shoving that journal into his shirt pocket before turning around.]

Where is he?

[Crap.

No, no no this was bad this was really bad. This wasn't supposed to happen even if she had felt like it might happen anyway and now something really was wrong just like when she had been talking to Zulf before this and--]

At his tent-- [God why had she even said that] What are you gonna do?! Nathaniel! What's going on?!

[And that would be a now very worried, very guilty feeling half demon trailing after you, Nathaniel.]

[The Bastion is so much larger than he had known it, capable of potentially so much more. There's room to spare- room enough for a dragon to dwell comfortably amongst them.]

[Yet here he is, still with a tent that he had set up. Considering the thinly veiled 'suggestions' to Kid that he should move into one of the buildings, Zulf is quite aware of his own hypocrisy. Still, it doesn't feel right for a number of reasons. So he prefers his tent, the same kind he had set up another lifetime ago, sitting and watching the empty void pass by when he has little to do. It's not an enjoyable past time. Being on his own and the void just brings about so many thoughts. He'd rather be helping others, or even out on the Skyway. Still, he's gone out for the day and there's still some time before he goes to meet Rin in the kitchens.]

[There's half a mind to take out his pipe and smoke the few remaining hours away. In fact he's eying his tent where it's kept when he years someone calling. The exact words are lost on him but he recognizes the voice. He starts to push himself up to his feet, glancing over his shoulder with a polite smile.]

Rin-

[And then he sees who she's shouting towards, and Zulf's entire demeanor changes.]

[It's something he does without even knowing. His posture straightens up, back ramrod straight and shoulders going tense while his hands fold in front of himself. Every bit of height that he has, he uses. The most notable change, however, is his expression. His lips thin out, just a flicker of distaste apparent before he covers it up. His eyes are dark as stone, hard and unpleasant and trying to hold back a flood. At least, however, Zulf's expression overall does its best to be neutral. Easier said than done- he can't hold back the sheer amount of hatred he has for the Mancers. To be quite honest, he doesn't truly want to. The only one remotely worth anything was... dead, now, he was positive of it.]

[This isn't the first time he's had a Cael come towards him with less than pleasant intent.]

[He forces his voice out, sharp and cold.]

Good day. You must be Nathaniel.

Edited 2014-01-22 03:06 (UTC)

[The problem here is not so much that Zulf is an Ura (though Nathaniel does have some lingering issues about them, mostly remnants from a childhood spent listening to stories about how Ura were horrible people and that he should never trust them. He's long-since learned that those stories are not true, but it isn't easy to get rid of a prejudice like that) but rather that he is a particular Ura who happened to be mucking around with Mancer things just prior to the Calamity. Given how Nathaniel already doesn't want to believe that his fellow Mancers may have something to do with the Calamity, either accidentally or otherwise, it is really easy for him to force his suspicions on a convenient scapegoat.

Nathaniel's voice is icy as well, but he is holding back on any physical aggression. He wants to make sure this is the right Ura before doing anything drastic.]

I am. And you're Zulf, then?

[At least there's no need to pretend they like one another. That much can be gauged by the tone he's getting in return. Good.]

I am. I see Rin has spoken to you.

[Poor Rin, and that thought flickers briefly through his head. He had wanted her to get the journal in his place to avoid this exact sort of situation. Ah well. It can't be helped now.]

She has. And you know, she said some interesting things. I knew Venn had a daughter, but I didn't know she had arrived until now. Or that someone else had arrived with her.

[He's getting to the point, really.]

You know, just before the Calamity, there was a bit of drama at the Observatory. Something about Venn's daughter getting in trouble, and some man being involved too. Would you happen to know anything about that?

Your own ignorance is to blame for that. Neither she or I have made any attempt at concealing our presence here.

[A part of him is starting to think maybe they should have. Already, his mind is rushing through every worst case scenario that could happen and the answers he can make up for them. If only he had something to confuse and distract, like when the Marshals had cornered him... His mind flickers to Kid, or Zayna and her father, before focusing back on the conversation at hand.]

[There's no point in trying to skirt about the bush.]

I imagine I know more than you do- about the circumstances surrounding Venn, about what the Mancers were planning, and what Caels tell themselves is trouble.

[He's sneering. He shouldn't, Rin isn't on anybody's side just yet, he thinks, and this isn't a pleasant side of him to show. But he won't stand for some fledgling Mancer try and interrogate him.]

What about you, Nathaniel? What do you know and, more importantly, what did you expect you could find out by imposing on me like this?

Well obviously I don't know those things, or else I wouldn't be asking you.

What I want to know is what you were doing there, and why.

[No point in going about it indirectly, since Zulf already confirmed it. He'll give him one chance to explain.]

And furthermore, why you want the journal in the first place.

[That actually makes him laugh- it's sudden and jagged like shattered glass, and just as unpleasant.]

Two Ura, going into one of the most restricted places in all of Caelondia! You really don't know anything, you ignorant fool. If either her or I had gone in even that direction, the Marshals would have taken us away merely for looking suspicious. You can rest assured that the only reason either of us would go there ourselves would be to help retrieve two men who wouldn't want to be there- and Micia knows I thought about trying, but by then everything was falling from between our feet because of what your kind did.

[He nearly spits the words out, fist clenching in his hand and his own nails digging into the back of hand.]

In the hands of someone who doesn't know anything, that journal is only going to ruin what little we have left. If you had any sense in you, you'd just give it to me or Zia.

Edited 2014-01-22 03:55 (UTC)

[Ohgod this was like a horror movie playing out in slow motion with no way to stop what was happening. She had trailed after Nathaniel, practically shrieking at him to listen to her, to answer her god fucking damn it, getting nothing but stern silence all the while. It isn't until he practically freezes in front of Zulf at the other man's approach that she even thinks to stop screaming, but that even after she damn near plowed in to his back.

She stumbled a few steps to the side, watching the two of them and listening intently, but with her mouth open all the while. Whoa that was some serious hostility right off the bat.

Which was exactly what she had been afraid of. Nathaniel's reaction, Zulf's words during the festival--

Pieces were starting to come together, especially as the bitter, harsh words continued to flow out of the two men.

Nathaniel had known more than he had originally let on, and Zulf knew even more than that. About the Calamity. About what had happened to this world, to their worlds--]

What the fuck are you two talking about?!

[Oops you two probably forgot she was there until that, didn't you]

[Nathaniel is glaring now. If he wasn't already on edge, he definitely would be now. The cold talk is starting to get more shouty, too.]

All I know is that suddenly we were getting notices about two Ura, and then the next thing I know the world ended. And since you're pretty much admitting to being involved, it's kinda hard not to be suspicious of you.

[He's crossing one of his arms in front of himself, too, and it just happens to be covering up the journal in his shirt pocket.]

And if you think I'm going to just hand this over to someone who might've had a hand in the Calamity, then you're sorely mistaken.

[Sorry Rin, at this point he really has forgotten you are there. He is more focused on being angry and having an easy outlet for that anger right in front of him.]

My hand-

[For a brief moment, all he see is red. His hands fly apart from one another, losing all semblance of the fake civility he had and it really does seem as though for a moment he may very well make a go at Nathaniel. There's a look of such intense and bitter loathing on his face that he could choke on it. That's certainly what it feels like, bubbling in his chest and filling his throat.]

[Every bit of him is trembling, nails biting into his palms. When he speaks, it's next directed to Rin although his gaze is still focused right on Nathaniel.]

Has your friend told you about the Point Lemaign War, Rin?

Has he told you about the kind of atrocities the Mancers, the group he so proudly places himself in, were capable of?

[Okay so Nathaniel was ignoring her, but Zulf wasn't, and it was his words that stung more than anything Nathaniel could have said anyway.

Mainly because she had come to trust Nathaniel. A lot. And she saw him as a leader, which was something she needed in her life. She played the hero, she didn't give directions and guide people. That just wasn't her thing, and she had put a lot of faith in some one that she frankly... didn't know that well, because she had felt at the start there was no one else to turn to after the other Mancer had died.

All she has to hear is 'war', and 'atrocities' for her to feel her heart sink. Her gaze turned to Nathaniel, hand pulling back from any attempt she had started to touch him and get his attention.]

... what is he talking about, Nathaniel? What did the Mancers do?

[Now that Zulf has addressed Rin, Nathaniel finally remembers her. But before he addresses her question (by the way, Zulf, you're a dick for bringing that up), he sighs and pinches at the bridge of his nose in frustration. Remembering that Rin is there has taken the edge off of his anger, but this has still got him riled up.]

Point Lemaign was disputed territory between the Ura and the Caels. An agreement couldn't be reached, so the two people went to war over it. And since Mancers design the weapons, some people-

[Hint Zulf Hint Hint]

blame them for how the war turned out. It's not even comparable in this situation here, he's getting mad about something that happened before I was even born, whereas I'm asking him about something he most likely actually did himself.

[hint go fuck yourself Nate hint]

[Zulf listens in taut silence as Nathaniel explains. The answer... isn't surprising. After he had stopped being so damn optimistic, Zulf had quickly become aware of just how much Caelondia wanted to hide the dirty parts of its history. The parts that would make them come off as cruel, or pathetic. No, no, Caelondia simply had to be that all powerful city so many knew it as.]

Before you were born, certainly. But not myself. It's so easy for the winner of a war to say that it meant nothing, isn't it? Caelondia wasn't forced to make its military smaller. Caelondia didn't have to give up so much. Caelondia didn't have to deal with a plague given by the other side while having fewer resources!

[His voice rises towards the end. The plague had come out of nowhere, right on the heels of the war. Some had blamed it on simple bad luck, nature being its capricious self. Others blamed it on Caelondia. Before, even as a child living barefoot and starving in the Terminals, Zulf had always figured it was the former.]

[It's so much harder to be optimistic after the Calamity.]

[He takes in a deep breath, tries to still the violent shaking in his hands.]

But I wouldn't travel all the way to Caelondia over that. Yet the facts remain that the war has everything to do with the Calamity.

Because the Tazal Terminals nearly won it.

[It really is a good thing Rin is there. Seeing her brings some semblance of calm back into Zulf and he folds his hands back to their previous place- one still curled into a fist and covered. Hostility still fills the air about him like smoke, but he keeps his voice level. Bitter and full of hate, but level.]

That's something Caelondia can't stand to admit. They would never want to admit that some un-advanced cavepeople could ever stand up to them in a proper battle. It scared them to think they had wasted so much material and lives fighting against us. That it had been that dangerous.

[Another horrible laugh.]

It's very nearly ironic that a Mancer would try and place the blame of the Calamity on the shoulders of an Ura. Not after what your kind tried to do, Nathaniel.

For the Mancers, the idea of the solution was quite simple.

[And his voice gets colder than anything- colder than ice, colder than steel, colder than Acobi's chains binding about the wrists of oathbreakers and dragging them down.]

A war requires two. If you get rid of the other side completely... then war can't be had again, can it?

Edited 2014-01-22 05:13 (UTC)

[So that was it then. The Mancers weren't just inventors. They were war makers, weapon builders, the ones that tried to put another side down just because they didn't want to have to compete for power and control. And their weapons... may have destroyed more lives than any one of them could even calculate in their heads.

She watched Zulf as he explained. The air was practically charged with the tense anger coming off of both of them, and she slowly turned to stare at Nathaniel, lips parted in shock and, honestly, a certain level of disgust.

She shook her head slowly, stepping back from both men.]

... all this time-- ... you had to know they had somethin' to do with it! My home-- everyone I knew... my sister--!

Edited 2014-01-22 05:27 (UTC)

No!

[Nathaniel is very firm in his answer.]

You want to know the truth about what happened? I'll tell you the truth. What happened was someone was messing around the observatory. That someone was this guy right here, who clearly is not happy with Caelondia or the Mancers.

When the Calamity happened, it was right after everyone was warned about two Ura who were sticking their noses into places where they didn't belong. And that is the extent of what I know. Doesn't it look suspicious to you? The very moment someone starts poking around at something dangerous, the Calamity happens.

[Now he's pointing an accusatory finger at Zulf, though his eyes are still on Rin.]

And he's not even denying it! He's using double-speak to avoid even addressing the issue!

[Sort of like how Nathaniel is doing exactly the same thing, to avoid talking about the war at all.]

You're avoidin' the issue, too! You're not answerin' my question at all, you just keep pointin' a finger at a guy who actually is tellin' us things! Who am I supposed to believe, Nathaniel?! Some one who's been lying for months or some one who was honest from the start?!

[God she didn't want to be mad at him. She didn't want to hate him. They were friends, this wasn't supposed to happen!

But it was... and for all her wanting to preserve that friendship, she could only feel the pain in her heart at knowing that Nathaniel had been more aware of what had happened to her world and so many others than he'd let on.]

[She's agreeing with him. She's agreeing with him and that helps to push back at the pure anger that he always feels when he thinks about the Mancers. He tries to swallow it down and feels his throat ache with the effort. Like swallowing a rock.]

And this is why I want Venn's journal. He wrote down everything about the Calamity- he was the one who knew how to make it work, something none of the other Mancers had been able to figure out. The 'why', the 'how', it's all in that journal.

If the other Ura here find out... Stuart or Zanya- I know they'd do something they'd regret.

[Because he regrets his own actions, even now.]

[He starts to move forward towards her, hands coming apart but loose now as he reaches towards her. This means shoving past Nathaniel, but he's not thinking of that right now.]

I came to Caelondia to do what my father had done in the Terminals. I don't want this to dissolve into another war, Rin!

Edited 2014-01-22 06:03 (UTC)

[How about Nathaniel just punches Zulf in the face? How about that?

It's totally not his fault that there is a ledge right near Zulf's house. Or that Nathaniel is so angry that his punch is more of a tackle anyway.

But yeah, time to learn about some Bastion physics!]

[Oh yes it's a perfect time to learn Bastion physics that no one ever bothered to figure out before!

Because the sudden punch flying by her just as Zulf got to her side was startling enough, but watching them both go tumbling over the edge--

That actually gets Rin to scream like some one just got murdered.]

[Fuck-!]

[He's not expecting that at all, focused on Rin as he is, and he goes tumbling back easily enough. Not once has he ever been a proper fighter, not a soldier. That was his parents, the three of them, but not him. He goes tumbling back from both the force of it and Nathaniel's weight. It's only at the last second do old street habits kick in, earning a punch to Nathaniel's ear-]

[And then they tumble right over the edge before he has a moment to realize what's even happening.]

[Three seconds later, and the two of them go propelling right up again by an enormous push of air, somehow untangling in the panic. This, unfortunately, does not leave much room for grace or landing skills and has Zulf at least landing face first. He pushes himself up on one arm with a curse in his own tongue, blood dribbling down now to go well with the black eye he's no doubt gotten from Nathaniel.]

[Nathaniel lands on his back with a sickening thud, and he doesn't get up right away. His head hurts, his back hurts, and at first he thinks he lost his glasses because everything is blurry and spinning. But no, his glasses are there, it's just the combination of Zulf's punch and weird Bastion physics that have left him dizzy and winded.

Rin, if you're going to intervene, now is the time. These two idiots are momentarily stunned.]

JESUS FUCK--!

[They had gone over, and Rin had thought, had been so certain that they had just fallen to their deaths... she had even fallen to her knees with a sob after her scream and crawled to the edge expecting to see nothing but the abyss that stretched beneath the Bastion.

But all at once they were back, practically popping up like demented, flailing jack-in-the-boxes that launched over her just far enough to clear her head. She went jumping back with that vulgar shriek, wincing when they both landed behind her.

God--... at least they were alive but... No. No more of this. It needed to end before it got any worse.

She scrambled to her feet, grabbing Nathaniel by the arm and hauling him up before he could get a chance to break away from her strong grip.]

Zulf, don't follow! Nathaniel, we're leavin'!

[Whoops, he forgot how strong Rin is. And at this point, he hurts too much to argue. He'll just let himself get dragged along, holding his head with his free hand and trying not to vomit from the dizziness.]

[Just a very dazed wave. No worries, Rin, he's a bit too out of it because ow he landed on his face. ]

[Backdate: 147 | CLOSED] Do you listen to yourself?

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