Day 151

[bastionmods]

Who: Zia, Zulf + the NPCs Nathaniel, Zanya, Zahi + YOU
Open: Open
When: Day 151
Where: Throughout the Bastion
What: Tension has fallen over the Bastion, and it's time to sort out truth and anger.
Format: Any
Warnings: Drama

A few days ago, some residents of the Bastion might have become aware of a confrontation happening at a certain Ura's humble abode. There was some yelling- although not clear- and the result was a very harried looking Rin Okumura forcibly dragging away resident Mancer Nathaniel. The next couple of days have been quiet, but today... Well, if anyone wants to ask about and see what the deal was, it seems like today is the day.

It seems like Nathaniel has finally quit his own self imposed isolation, if only so that he doesn't starve to death. Apparently anger can only sustain a man for so long. He can be seen storming through the Bastion, a thundercloud practically gathered about him, or at the eating area looking very much like he wants to be left alone.

Zulf has been less of a hermit. Anyone who has seen him since the argument has probably noticed his black eye and sore nose. He seems angry as well, although it's quieter and colder underneath all his civility. More noticeably, he's been hard at work building a few fences near the edges of the Bastion- mostly near his tent but also in other areas as well. They're not the best fences, but they're good enough, hopefully. You can approach him at the shrine, his tent, or anywhere, really... He's as available as he's always been. He might even approach you, just to warn about falling off the edge of the Bastion.

Seriously, this place has needed safety railings for ages now. Who's bright idea was it not to include safety railings? RUCKS...

Anyone wandering by the Kitchens today will notice... Damn, that's a lot of yelling. And slamming of things. Should knives be used to chop that hard...? That's right, Rin is in a bad mood and anyone who comes near will immediately know it. The excess swearing is probably a good clue. Unlike the other two, she's unleashing her temper with wild abandon in the sanctity of her kitchen where no one will bug her. Well. Unless YOU bug her...

Of course, these three aren't the only ones noticeable about the Bastion today! It looks like the Ura residents are just coming out of the woodwork.

Anyone who's talked to either of the latest Ura additions knows that Zulf came in with Zia. While not involved with the row from a few days ago, she seems just as worried as Zulf seems angry. It's possible to see her wandering about with her pet Pecker chick. Might see her coming away after a discussion with Zulf, too... Maybe she knows what's going on?

There's also Zanya and her father Zahi who have been apparently a bit more sociable these last few days. There's apparently a subject they're both interested in which they'll approach people about, although they'll do so differently. Zahi will strike up friendly conversation, but Zanya will simply get right to the point: do you have any idea what happened?

Feel free to strike up conversation with any of them, or even try and talk to everyone if you wish.

[ooc: This is your characters chance to investigate just what the drama is all about! In such a small place as the Bastion, it's a bit hard to miss... Feel free to have your characters speculate or gossip with the Ura NPCs about what may have happened or if they caught onto a sliver of what happened (like Zulf and Nathaniel falling off the edge of the Bastion), or for them to go the more direct route by talking to either Nathaniel, Zulf, Rin, or Zia.]

[Long story short is that Rin went to get Venn's journal from Nathaniel. Upon realizing who exactly wanted it, Nathaniel went to confront Zulf. There was an argument on just who and what caused the Calamity... and then Nat punched Zulf in the face, they rolled off the edge of the Bastion, and Rin separated them after they got blown back up.]

[As a reminder! Mod Mandy plays NPC!Nathaniel and NPC!Zahi. Mod Jeni plays NPC!Zanya and Rin. Birdmod James plays Zulf. Helpful player Courtney plays Zia. We'll all get to you on our own individual time, and as soon as possible! Just make sure it's clear in your post who your character is approaching.]

Comments

[coolerthansora]

[A year ago, Roxas might have responded that he didn't have feelings either, not really. But he's way past believing that one.]

It is still- damageable, though.

it's because we care (debatable)

[amphibian]

Are you sure? That black eye looks nasty. You've been putting ice on that, right?

[That first bit doesn't even register until she's gotten some of that anxious energy out.]

Oh, yeah. Everyone's talking about it. But no one has their stories straight, so I just heard you fell off the edge of the Bastion and got real worried!

[evacuate]

Yes. [For the first time since she's spoken here, Zia's voice is steady. There's not a hint of hesitation to her answer.

She knows, of course, every terrible secret in that book. And she doesn't regret learning it. If anything, she thinks better of the man her father was for it.]

Yes, absolutely.

[evacuate]

[It takes her a moment but Zia nods, slowly. She'd glanced up at Zulf so he could see her eyebrows knit together with worry at his bruise, but she isn't looking at either of them now.]

He's right. No one's gonna let us just drop it.

[blackblooded]

There was a lot of noise.

Are... um... are you all right?

[bastionpc]

That would probably be helpful, yes.

[The real problem is that Nathaniel wants to be right, but in this particular argument neither Nathaniel nor Zulf are 100% right. They both have good points, but falter at others.]

[bastionpc]

[Fine fine, make him feel bad about it and all.]

I am being honest. The reason I punched him is because he was upsetting Rin.

[Upsetting her by telling the truth, which happened to be a truth that made Nathaniel look bad.

But Colin is seeing right through his half-truths, so he sighs and runs a hand through his hair before continuing.]

It...might have been somewhat right. But he was saying it in a blatantly upsetting way, and it got her upset and me mad, and...I guess I just reacted.

[bastionpc]

Yeah, well, it's not my fault if the people who came before me were dicks. I wasn't the one trying to set off a super-weapon.

[He still thinks Zulf is at least somewhat responsible for that. Mostly because he doesn't know what Zulf's motives are, and his prejudice against Ura are clouding his judgement.]

[bastionpc]

I'm not skulking.

[Viola, being one of the ones who had been at the observatory, as well as one of the ones who had helped save his life, has definitely earned Nathaniel's respect. So his words a touch of frustration to them, rather than a touch of anger.]

[bastionpc]

[The Kid is another person Nathaniel hadn't seen before. After the mess at the Mancer Observatory, Nathaniel had been burying himself in work, and not really paying attention to the new arrivals.

So he is a bit surprised when he sees the Kid. Mostly because he didn't expect to see any other Caels, beyond the ones that were already there.]

I...sure, okay.

[At least someone from Caelondia can understand where he is coming from, or so Nathaniel thinks.]

A few weeks ago- probably before you arrived, I don't remember seeing you before then- me and a group of the survivors here went to the Mancer Observatory. A few of them had brought something suspicious back from one of their treks out to the Skyway, and that something had the mark of Mancer work all over it. With enough people here to at least defend a search party, I figured we might find some answers there.

But instead of finding answers, all we found was a crater, and a journal.

[And a giant plant that had almost eaten Nathaniel and Ryu but DETAILS.]

[freedom_engineer]

[He tilts his head slightly as Nathan talks, and finally he nods.]

You can be honest and still draw people to the wrong conclusions, Nathan. I wouldn't have lasted five minutes as chief if I couldn't tell when some self-promoting rookie wasn't telling me the whole story.

You don't like Ura, I get it. But that ends now. 'Cause the Ura don't particularly like you Mancers, either. And if all of you keep perpetuating that hatred, we're all gonna suffer for it. Most of us don't know Ura from our own grandmothers, most of us don't know Mancers from any other person on the street. You wanna hate someone? Fine, hate them for who they are, not WHAT they are.

The world, all of these worlds, are gone. WHEN we find the cause of it, I will be more than happy to cave in the skull of the parties responsible. But until then? We've got to keep everyone on the same page, working towards the same goal, even if we don't have the same allegiances.

[There, the rough part's over. Unless Nathan draws it out.]

You reacted, I get that too. It happens to almost all of us. You can't take it back, but you can do a lot of stuff in the future to patch it up. You can be better than that.

You wanna take Zulf to task? I can mediate. Yeah, he isn't some pure, innocent kid in all this. But I doubt he's a world-murdering criminal mastermind. He doesn't fit.

[amnesiadragon]

... No one with animal heads or fur?

[YOUR HUMANS ARE WEIRD.]

[gianthobo]

[This sounds way too familiar. Even the tone and the posture Zulf has is reminiscent of vague memories.]

... I'm sorry.

[That's really all he can say to something like that.]

[bastionpc]

I don't hate Ura, it's just Zulf in particular I have a problem with!

[The prejudice runs deep here, he doesn't even realize he is lying to himself about it.]

And I am totally fine with cooperating, I just want answers. You were there that day, you saw exactly what I saw when we got to the Observatory. Even if he's not the one responsible for it, he knows something about it. The way he reacted was too sketchy for him to be completely ignorant of what happened.

[That much is true too. He's fine with other people running interference, and in fact it probably would be better if he and Zulf didn't directly confront each other for the time being.]

[followsthevoice]

Journal, huh? Y'find anything out from it?

[The Kid lowered his hammer and attached the crest to his back once more; he'd never seen this person around Caelondia before, but considering he seemed to be a Mancer himself and The Kid spent most of his time in or around the Wilds on Marshal business...it wasn't surprising.]

[bastionpc]

Nah, none of us here could read Ura. I just held onto it in case it proved to be important later.

But anyway, I was busy working after we got back, so I didn't know anyone new had shown up. Then Rin comes to me asking about the journal, which was how I found out about Zulf.

[By now he's already talked to some other people, so he's not as angry as he was before.]

I...probably did go a little overboard. But when I asked Zulf about what had happened at the Mancer Observatory, he got really sketchy and wouldn't give a direct answer. Then we just started arguing about it, and I guess I got a little out of control.

[fuckthemancers]

You missed the fact that you now share your life with an enormous dragon? [Zulf gives a slight shake of his head.]

Well... The Bastion seems to draw in the misfits at the very least with the outright strange at the most. You don't have to worry about anything here.

...Well besides the basic needs of survival, at least.

[fuckthemancers]

...No. I suppose I'm not really. But it's less about the punch and more about the argument. [A sigh.] For the record, if Nathaniel talks to you about anything and tries to pin the blame on me, please disregard what he's saying.

[followsthevoice]

[The Kid nodded, it was understandable to lose one's temper especially in times like this...but there needed to be a unity among them right now, unity was the only thing they had.]

Zulf ain't too good with things like that, sounds like neither o'ye took the situation well. Just remember we're all in this t'gether now; don't matter who's Ura or Cael or anywhere in between; all I can tell y'is he means well. As for that journal...well, you do me a favor and gather up all the folks who care t'listen right quick; I've stumbled 'cross that thing b'fore. I'll enlighten y'all t'best I can.

[Was this the best idea? Zia and Zulf would probably say no, but now was the time for the truth...a truth he had to shoulder alone; he couldn't let them take the fall on this one, he wouldn't let that happen. He was the one who made the choice...this was his responsibility; on The Wall, the only word of law was if you made something, you took responsibility for it and it was time to hold true to that motto.]

[fuckthemancers]

It's not as though I disagree, you know.

[Well- on some things, he does. But he's made it clear to both of them that whatever their decision, he'll go with it. Zia and the Kid had both made better decisions than he has, really. As far as he's concerned, it's probably for the best.]

I just don't think we should dump it on everyone without at least some semblance of thought. I believe the newcomers would take it... somewhat easier- I've already spoken to Rin about it and she was hurt but she understood everything, more or less. It's the rest of the Caels and Ura here that I'm really worried about...

I don't know if the Caels will believe it- Nathaniel certainly didn't- and I'm worried that the Ura most certainly will, thus.. possibly doing what I did.

[He glances away at that, clasping his hands tightly together with his nails digging into the back of his palms.]

That's not even with the subject of how we'd explain Bastion's restoration function. Time travel just sounds ridiculous. I didn't even believe it had happened until Zia and I saw each other once again.

[bastionpc]

[Nathaniel isn't sure what the Kid is going to try to do, but after the mess that he's helped make the least he can do is at least try to fix things.]

Alright, I'll get the word around to have everyone meet up at the monument. Does a half-hour from now sound good?

[Because without phones, they have to literally run to where everyone is and tell them about the meeting, which will take time.]

GOSH

[fuckthemancers]

Of course. I'm not incompetent and this isn't the first black eye I've had. I've suffered far worse.

[Like being beaten to death, but you know how isn't going to bring this up? Zulf isn't. It's far too complicated to tell anyway.]

Yes, Nathaniel and I both did. But as it turns out... the Bastion simply pushes you back up. It doesn't guarantee a graceful landing- [Which is why his nose looks so sore.] -but it does look out for you.

for Zulf

[bastionpc]

[After talking to grandpadragon, Zahi decides that talking to Zulf directly would be a good idea.

Which means going over and bugging him while he tries to build fences.]

So, word is that you got into a scuffle with one of the locals.

[followsthevoice]

Let me handle t'particulars; I'll be explainin' everythin' t'them and if need be I'll show 'em where t'find the device if they need more proof. I got my burden t'bear on this...'s time I came clean.

[His expression didn't change, but the twang of regret in his voice was audible to anyone who knew The Kid personally; all of this, as far as he was concerned, was his fault...and he'd handle that himself.]

[followsthevoice]

Sound's good. Don't bother with Zulf or Zia though...ain't no use startin' another argument; they'll hear what they wanna hear in their own time.

[With that, The Kid shouldered his Hammer once more and set off towards the Monument; mentally steeling himself for what he was about to do and hoping at some point maybe Zulf and Zia would be able to forgive him for it.]