thebastion | DAY 163 [OPEN]

Who: Gohan, and YOU!
Open: OPEN
When: Forward-dated to day 163
Where: The Skyway, although replies can take place in the Bastion proper, if you'd rather.
What: Gohan wants to know where he is, and takes to the skies to find some answers.
Format: I can follow any format.
Warnings: None? But it'll depend on the situation.

Gohan wasn't sure what had happened, exactly. Thinking back on it now, it all seemed like a big blur. One second, he was on his way to the Lookout, practically beaming with the knowledge that everything was going to be alright. And the next, it was like his senses all gave out on him, and everything went dark. He wasn't even sure if he'd actually fallen from the sky, or if he'd managed to land somewhere...

All he knew was that wherever this place was, it wasn't home.

"... Piccolo?" He called out, hoping for some kind of response. Although really, he knew he wouldn't get one. He couldn't sense any of his friends nearby-- or much of anyone, for that matter. It was actually starting to unsettle him. "Goten? Trunks?"

Again, nothing.

At that point, it didn't take much to figure out that something was wrong. So he took to the skies, hoping to get a better view of his surroundings. It was... disorienting, seeing nothing but floating landmasses in a messy void. But he didn't let that stop him, his senses stretching out until he could sense anything.

Soon enough, he picked up what felt like a group of people. Around a village's worth, a good distance away. It was enough for him to take off in that general direction, trying hard to not pay too much attention to the disorienting landscape.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ She'd been rather preoccupied as of late; she'd been involved in the trip to the observatory, someone died recently, she'd been worrying about Raile being ... well, Raile, and Frederic being Frederic, and then someone died ... and then, of course, she had realized that she hadn't seen Gohan in a while, either. That was worrying, too.

Finally, there seemed to be some relief to her worrying, though, as she caught sight of Gohan in the Bastion! ]

Mr. Gohan!

[ A giant smile was on her face as she rushed over toward him, but it didn't take long for her to see that there was definitely something different about Gohan. She's gonna slow down her rushing to almost a stop and just stare at you strangely for a moment.

Yep. Something's different. ]

[ By the time he'd arrived at the... well, the only way he could think of describing it was as a floating village... he'd had enough close calls while flying to catch the hint that his flight technique didn't work quite as well as it used to. As such, he'd touched down on one of the floating chunks of land, walking on foot the rest of the way...

... Only to have a girl come up to him once he entered the village, and-- wait, did she just call him by name? ]

Um... hi?

[ And that just furthered the idea that something was different. He sounded like he didn't remember her at all ... Polka isn't exactly sure how to handle this. ]

Um ... Do you remember me?

[ Sure, that's totally the thing to ask. ]

... N-Not really, no...

[ It was the first response to leave Gohan's lips, and a part of him couldn't help but kick himself over the lack of tact. But at the same time, it was the complete and honest truth. He'd never seen her before in his life. ]

I-I'm sorry, have I... met you before?

[ To be fair, she would rather he was honest. The truth was clearly upsetting, but it was better to know now than to find out later. ]

Yes ... at least, I'm fairly certain we have ...

[ She was pretty sure, actually, but ... this place was weird. Maybe his memories were erased? Something clearly happened, and she wasn't sure exactly how to deal with this.

... except to smile. It would do no good to make him feel bad, right? So, even though she suddenly didn't feel like smiling, she put on a smile. ]

Anyway, welcome back?

[ Or maybe it was just "welcome" now. Polka didn't know. ]

If you need this place explained to you again, I'll be glad to help in any way I can ...

It isn't hard to recognize that look of utter disorientation. Anya has never taken it upon herself before to orient newcomers--which may have been for the best--but at the moment the existing Bastion population makes for terrible company. She has at least enough knowledge of tact to know that none of them would appreciate her pointing that out to them.

But pointing it out to a total stranger has to be fine, because he's completely uninvolved.

"You've come at an unfortunate time," she says to him without preamble. "Everyone you talk to is going to be even more depressed than usual."

Disoriented was a good word to describe Gohan. After all, if flying through that scenic void hadn't left him disoriented, then the floating village with the mix-matched architecture was certainly doing the job. He was confused, and not really sure where to go to ask questions.

So thank god someone came to him.

"H-Huh?" He blurted out. "Why's that...?"

"Someone died yesterday. I guess she must have had a lot of friends, but after billions of people dying already, I don't really know why they found it so shocking."

You could just hear the sympathy in her every word. Or maybe not.

The 'sympathy' was very obvious. So much so, that Gohan couldn't help but feel a little awkward having this conversation. Of course, he's no stranger to death, given his entire life has basically been one big revolving door on that front. But... well, he was still sympathetic to people dying.

"W-Well, it's... probably the first time some of these people have personally seen someone die," He wagered a guess, based on his own reaction to death for the first time. At least, until he caught something.

"--Wait, what do you mean by billions dying?"

Anya could be sympathetic about it, even surprisingly emotional, but it didn't happen so much for strangers.

"Oh, you're right. I skipped that part." She stoppped to look at him directly and start at the beginning. "The world ended. And not just this world, but basically all the worlds. By some twist of fate, you and me and everyone here were lucky enough to survive.

"Which is ironic, really, considering the part where I had a sword through me."

... Well, that was certainly a bomb being dropped.

A bomb Gohan wasn't exactly prepared for, if his shell-shocked expression was any indication. He should've really been able to handle that sort of thing though, given the world was actually destroyed (and brought back) during the Majin Buu fiasco. But at the same time, they beat Majin Buu, right? So why did the world end?

"... S-So..." He gulped, not really sure how to react. "W-We just-- wake up here, and... that's it?"

This is why Anya should not be welcoming new arrivals.

"I'm not sure what you mean. Waking up is usually considered a beginning, even if you're not a morning person. There are still things and people to do here."

Another day, another time out on the Skyway. Rai was starting to make a daily habit of it, even after the whole thing with the Gasbag. The teen didn't go too far from the Bastion at least. He was on a small platform connected to three other paths. Raimundo stood between two Blue Gasfella's. One was holding a rather large wrench and the other had a scythe. The teen looked back and forth as they came toward him.

The scythe one struck first. Raimundo jumped out of the way before he stepped on the scythe and ran up it to kick the gasfella in the head before he spun around and rolled out of the way of the wrench coming at him. He performed a spin-kick to the monster's cut and sent it "stumbling" back, if you could call it that since it had no legs.

"That all you guys got? Come on. Show me something interesting!"

DAY 163 [OPEN]

at the bastion

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

at the bastion

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Skyway