Day 75 - A Stranger Enters

[dissectionislove]

Who: Stein and YOU
When: Day 75, evening-ish
Where: The entrance of the Bastion, just off the Skyway
What: After an untold time searching, Stein arrives (intro post, pretty much)
Style: Action, but will adopt other styles
Warnings: None that I can see; will change if needed
Status: OPEN.

The place I’m supposed to be…

[He’s been searching for it for hours, at least; days, more likely. It wasn’t exactly clear to him how long. Funny how the Madness could distort everything beyond recollection. His vision is foggy, clouded by the shattered left lens of his glasses, and the sweat dripping into his eyes. All he’s got to go on is this sensation driving him onward, even with thousand pound legs, a spinning head, and a heart that feels like it’s ready to burst.

Yes, he knows he’s in bad shape. Stein is at least that self-aware still. But the rest is a blur; where he’s been, who he’s been with, what he’s done…
…he especially doesn’t want to think about that last bit.

He staggers forward, a shaky hand out before him, sweat dripping off his chin. He’s so close to it now…so close to the answer. So close to the end.]

The place I’m supposed to be…

[He pants, breathless and spent, and trudges onward into Bastion.
This was it – where he was supposed to be. At once, the Madness dissipates, releasing its brutal, tormenting hold on his mind. Stein takes a final step forward…and collapses.

At last, he can sleep.]

Comments

[hellpyre]

[Mentioning Marie gets a darker frown from Rin, but she hides it mostly by turning back to her task. The potatoes will take a while, but she still has a few things to do to get ready to actually make the croquettes.]

We've lost people before... she's not the first to not come back.

[Meaning Rin really didn't have high hopes at all.]

[yinyangfox]

If she does not, then we will mourn her. Those who knew her and those who did not, for various reasons. However, we do her, and ourselves, a disservice by assuming her lost. We will search and with luck, we will find her.

Take heart, Lady Rin. What if this world is not the end? What if we are merely lost and trapped, and those who vanish have somehow found their way home? There are endless possibilities, are there not? If we must be entirely honest, we all know very little for certain. It is even possible that those we care about may yet join us. Do not write off those things which could be, simply because they are unlikely. I imagine you an I are unlikely friends, and yet here we are.

[hellpyre]

Now that's somethin' I wish I could be positive about...

[Sorry, Seimei. That's the one thing she has trouble accepting.]

[yinyangfox]

Aha, you might as well be. We do not really know anything for certain in this place. Being as we cannot confirm anything, we are also restricted by the fact that we cannot deny anything, either. It is perfectly plausible that this is a limbo, of sorts, that people can fall in and out of.

Consider that I am from one place and time in the history of Japan. Kaoru is from another, and so on. People are here from every thread of existence. The worlds have gone upside down and inside out. Nothing is impossible. Unless you find proof that something terrible has happened, then nothing terrible has happened.

[ Seimei accepts Schrodinger's Cat. ]

[hellpyre]

[Rin is too dumb for Schrodinger's Cat.]

Aren't the statues proof enough... ?

[yinyangfox]

Not really. [ He remarks, leaning over and washing out a bowl idly for lack of else to do. why not, his sleeves are already tied back. ] I do not sense anything from the statues. And as energy, and therefore spirits, are impossible to destroy, they must have gone somewhere. If that somewhere is not here, then where else? And if there is somewhere else, then it stands to reason that this is not all there is.
I cannot readily access the spirit realm I am familiar with, but there are many possible reasons for this. We may simply be out of reach. Something else has to contain the energy, then. Until we find answers written in stone, is it not better to assume more pleasant outcomes?

[hellpyre]

[Rin's frown remained. As much as she wanted to believe something like that, all she could recall was how hopeless she had felt when she saw those statues wearing exorcist jackets, and the ruined steps of the academy when she woke.]

I don't really understand any of that...

[yinyangfox]

Well, even if you do not understand that, the principle is simple - do not lose hope. Mourn if you must, teach yourself to let things go, but do not simply accept that the future is grim.

[ The onmyoji sighs softly, leaning close and leveling himself eye to eye with Rin. ]

Yin and yang, dark and light, "good" and "bad", are complementary forces, not forces in opposition. There is always a need for balance and the universe naturally seeks to maintain this. It is not possible that everything ceased to be. Not without there being a means to recover it. As people wash up on the metaphorical shores of Bastion, that is the universe trying to right a wrong. Trying to put itself back to rights.

[ Another sigh, and Seimei turns to wash his hands, dry them and begin untying his sleeves. ]

The universe responds to the hope and goodness in others. If you cling to the memories of the world before...sooner or later the wish will become a reality. Either you will be blessed with fragments of your world, or you will find the peace inside of you to let go and move on.

Whatever the end result, you cannot achieve it if you allow yourself to succumb to grief or anger. Tears are honest...mourning is natural, but you must not let bitterness consume you.

Even I must accept this, though it pains me. In this, you and the others have my gratitude. Without your company I would no doubt falter. I believe that it is only because of the people in the Bastion that I will be able to grieve, and move on. It has very little to do with being human, Lady Rin. It has everything to do with being you. A feeling being. A beautiful, feeling being that stands as a testimony to the power of will, and must act as a memorial to those missing and lost.

Be strong for those you miss, Lady Rin. If we truly are all that is left, it is our responsibility to thrive in honor of others.

[hellpyre]

[Rin just listens while he talks, not willing to admit that to her it's just a lot of words. She works, checking the potatoes, draining them, mashing them up with the other chopped up foods, and getting a pan out to start frying up what looks like little flat cakes made out of the mix.

There's no verbal answer from her at the end of that. The last part she can agree with, though, and there's a quiet nod from her while the little cakes sizzle in the pan.]