thebastion | Day 163 // Every plan is a tiny prayer to father time

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Day 163 // Every plan is a tiny prayer to father time

Who: Zulf and you
Open: Open
When: Day 163
Where: Throughout the Bastion
What: Well, someone has to take up the kitchen work, and prepare Night's funeral, and write down the history and culture of two different cities...
Format: Anything
Warnings: Nothing immediately comes to mind, although it should be noted that Zulf is in a bad state mentally/emotionally so depending on the conversations, things could be described. Lemme know where you want to run into him!

As soon as he's able, Zulf leaves the hospital. It's not like he deserves to be there, after all, not with the dead, not with the injured. He's fine, isn't he? Besides... There's too much to do. So on the 163rd day of the Bastion's existence, feel free to run into him just about anywhere looking exhausted in nearly every way imaginable.

...Unless your name is Raile, Zia, Rucks, Colin, Rin, Zayna, Zahi, Nathaniel, or Rosethorn. In which case, seeing any of those individuals makes the man startle before immediately trying to find a way to leave the area before conversation can happen. Seriously, he will bolt if he has to, don't make him change from a quick walk.

Periodically throughout the day, Zulf can be found in the kitchens...

With Rin out of commission and Mireille still taking care of her baby, someone has to keep the kitchen up and running. Zulf still remembers the offer he made to her, so of course he's going to keep to what he said. Breakfast, lunch, dinner... He's not in the kitchen the entire day, but he's there often enough. His sleeves are rolled up and he's hard at work like maybe enough cooking will help things. Feel free to interrupt him at any time.

Sometime in the morning after breakfast, it's off to the the Hitachiin-Abe home.

It's something he's been meaning to get to for ages now, really. Seimei had asked about the Tazal Terminals and Caelondia. It's just proper that he finally get to writing all the large amount of answers. He's already holding some things in his arms when he gets there, a thick heavy photo album stacked with papers and crude writing tools- things he's scavenged here and there particularly from the Mancer Observatory. He's passed by the home before, but it's only now that he takes a moment to admire it. Any of the residents can find him waiting awkwardly by the front, not sure how to make his presence known.

Come night, well, that is traditionally the Lorn Mother's time. Anyone still awake... Well, there's a light on at the Shrine.

Honestly, he doesn't know the state of the Gods for all these other worlds that have fallen apart. All he knows it that the Pantheon still has its eye on the scattered fragments that once made up Caelondia, the Terminals, the Wild Unknown... So at least there's that. If she doesn't have anywhere to go or where she's going is worse than that, the Lorn Mother can keep her safe. If there is somewhere for her... Mother guide her home.

Either way, they need to have a funeral. Both to help her soul be free of its ties to the physical, and to help those still alive mourn.

So he gets hard at work, cleaning the shrine with an almost single minded dedication. There won't be any rest until it's spotless... Although he won't lie, he's doing his best to avoid any kind of rest as much as he can. So maybe someone will walk in on him doing that.

When he isn't cleaning, however, he's settled to the side. There's a small pile of salvaged clothing besides him and a sorry excuse for a sewing kit that he makes do with. Red seems to be a theme with the clothes he's picked out...

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Anna spots him easily enough, and while she starts out with her new Most Important Possession raised, the camera goes down and off after a moment. Zulf's mood - something she doesn't need to try to pick up - is not one to record.

But she still has it with her when she stops next to him on one of those sewing breaks.

"... Who are those for?" She can think of two groups - the one who she can't feel anymore, and everyone else.

Rosethorn sees the pile of clothing and sits down next to Zulf. "Do you need a hand with the sewing?" She hasn't had to do her own except when traveling in a very long time. Her lover is a stitch witch, after all. Still, Rosethorn knows how to spin and how to sew.

A hand reaches out to brush over the clothing. "Red for blood and for mourning," she says softly. The echo of Trader customs makes her think of Daja, a foster daughter who isn't here in the Bastion.

[Zia has already had the experience of walking into the kitchen—she's usually in there helping out anyway—only to have Zulf sprint away from her like a frightened deer before she can even say hello.

Chasing him down didn't work any of the times she tried it, so she'll leave things be for now. But the next time Zulf comes to the kitchen, he'll find a little bowl of stew sitting on one of the counters beside a note card reading "Zulf ♥" in cutesy curlicue cursive, and "Boil for one minute if cold" below it in print. In the bottom corner, she's signed her name in cursive again.

She'll go back to running after him later.]

[Guess who's on a sports binge! ...Okay, well, more than usual, anyway.

Aoi's jogging up and down the Bastion, passing a soccer ball between her feet and occasionally stopping to bounce it up between her knees and back to her feet. Sometimes she tries to kick it up and bump it with her head, but she's not a soccer player, and keeps missing entirely. That's when it gets away from her and rolls over in Zulf's direction as he walks by.

It takes her a moment to see where it's gone, but she beams when she sees Zulf.] Hey! Hey, over here!

Things have changed, his environment is increasingly more complicated and lately Seimei hasn't been seen wandering the Bastion either. Spending his time in his house, hermit that he is, means that he's neglected to involve himself in the recent drama. He has no desire to be part of it and judges far less than others do so unless someone went to him for advice, the onmyoji has been about as easy to see as a unicorn.

When Zulf arrives at the home, Seimei is busy napping on the deck, surrounded by the soothing rush of the river beneath it. As such, it is the onmyoji's red-headed shikigami that comes to stand in the open doorway, arms crossed over his chest and expression less than welcoming in his fiery blue eyes.

"Are you just going to stand out there all day? The door is open. Take your shoes off and come in. Tch," he muttered, jerking his head to one side over his shoulder, indicating the Ura should come in already. It was the first time since Hikaru's arrival in the Bastion that Taisan had physically shown himself, the summons going entirely intangible after the blow-up.

...Be sure to remove your shoes if you intend to go inside.

[Don't be too startled by the sudden voice behind you, Zulf. It's just Alucard coming back from his daily wanderings on the Skyway.]

... she liked red.

[That's going to be a familiar voice, Zulf. And one you can't get away from, because there really isn't where else in the shrine for you to run to, and Rin in all her tiny, still bandaged form is effectively blocking the doorway.

Not hiding this time, buddy.]

Yoru-- ... Night. Her flames were red, too.

[What do you say to a man who's seen too much? From the day he'd had his incident, Zulf hadn't been acting the same; Raile knew he'd been popping in while he'd been asleep to leave him food, but that wasn't good enough for the young Cael, he wanted to see his friend. So, against anything remotely close to better judgment, he had grabbed an IV stand and used it as an impromptu walking stick as he left the hospital and made his way out into the Bastion; he didn't have to guess where Zulf was...with someone dead, there was likely only one place he would be.

As he guessed, it only took a few paces into the shrine to see Zulf's head; not that he could creep up on him with the clinking of the metal stand on the stone floor and his breathing...his lungs were still healing after all. At any rate...he might as well call out to him, he seemed preoccupied with something or other.]

Figured I'd find you here.

[It's late, but Zia's still awake. There's too much on her mind. She's moved back into her own part of the tower so as not to bother Rin, but the emptiness is crushing.

So she's back to hunting down Zulf.

She's sneaking about the Bastion in her pajamas—a too-big sweater and striped pants—and every time she passes an open doorway, she leans her head in just enough to see if anyone's inside the building. When she inevitably finds no one, she scuttles off on silent feet to the next place.

When she pokes her head into the shrine and finally finds him, she goes still. As long as she's quiet, it should be easy to make sure he doesn't sprint away from her again. One slow step at a time, she walks into the doorway and stands in it, hoping to keep him from hustling out of it.]

Psst.

[ The first time Rucks notices something's wrong with how Zulf's acting - beyond his silence - is when he rushes out of a building nearby, after watching Zia enter a moment earlier. The same happens again a while later; and before long, he figures out he's being avoided, too.

Well, don't that beat all.

That's why he keeps tabs on Zulf's location until nightfall, when he enters the shrine; and Rucks moves, unexpectably silently, to settle in the doorway. He already sized the place up; no escape for Zulf. ]

[ He stands in the center of it, using his cane for support, and just calls out - ]

Zulf.

Edited 2014-02-28 07:33 (UTC)

[AZ is not a man of faith, and never has been. He's heard the legends of Pokemon from all different regions, and seen a few of the masters of elements himself - some closer than others. Still, he recognizes the need for people to have a ceremony for themselves more than for the dead - and he knows just how much rage can blind people.]

[The Shrine is the obvious place to look for preparations - and truth be told he hasn't been sleeping very much these past few days. He's tired, but it's more bone-deep than mere lack of sleep. He feels his age, and it's not something that lets him sleep lightly. So he goes to the shrine. The gods here are real, at least - the gifts at the festival were proof of their existence if nothing else. Unless they didn't prove anything at all. He's open to options.]

[It doesn't really surprise him that Zulf is there. He'd known the stories about the gods here. It makes sense that he'd be involved in this. The man's silence worries him, but it's not his place to draw him out. He's not Zulf's friend... though he'd like to think he's not his enemy, either. He watches for a few moments, trying to figure out what Zulf's doing, and once he realizes he's separating out the red fabric he sits.]

[It's easy enough for him to apply the necessary force to rip the seams, and he does it slowly enough so that he doesn't damage the fabric. He carefully folds the fabric in a pile in front of Zulf for easy access, not saying a word.]

[Since Rin isn't in the best shape right now, Bon has taken it upon himself to prepare things. Or rather, he would be, if he hadn't run into Zulf at the Shrine. He wasn't expecting to find Zulf cleaning everything.]

What's all this for?

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Shrine

no subject

no subject

traveling between places?

Hitachiin-Abe Estate

Hitachiin-Abe home

Shrine