Day 287

[fuckthemancers]

Who: Zulf and you
Open: Open
When: Day 287
Where: The edge of the Bastion
What: Zulf is available for heckling. At least his pipe still loves him.
Format: Any
Warnings: Zulf's various issues

There aren't many places in the Bastion where one can be properly alone, save barring their own chosen place of residence. So what happens, then, when one properly botches up the relations with their own housemates?

Zulf takes the bare minimum of his things and takes up one of the apartment rooms, just for a short while so that Zia can have her space. Staying and letting himself stare at a ceiling does him no good, however, and, come evening, anyone looking can see his figure seated on the edge of the Bastion with smoke filling up the air and his gaze focused solely on the abyss beneath them all.

Comments

[freedom_engineer]

"You up to talk for a minute, Zulf?" Colin asks.

His approach was as stealthy as ever.

And yes, he's prepared to grab Zulf if it looks like he scared him over the edge.

[fuckthemancers]

Colin is very fortunate that Zulf is as high as he is, because instead of nearly falling off, there's just a small jump before his shoulders ease back. The glance he sends back to Colin is a bit wary but mostly just exhausted.

It's not been a good past few days.

"I rarely am," he answers bluntly, glancing back down. "But I do it anyway. What is it?"

[freedom_engineer]

"I owe you an apology," Colin says, settling next to Zulf and sitting down. "I am mad about many things, but I should not have yelled at you."

[fuckthemancers]

Now that seems to catch him off-guard, a wide eyed and confused look passing over his face before he reaches up to rub beneath his eyes.

"I... knew I wouldn't be particularly popular coming out with that information. I don't blame anyone being upset with me, or yelling. Not even you."

[notachickenhawk]

Tobias swoops down through the air and flares his wings, cutting his speed so he can land near the edge that Zulf is sitting on.

<What's going on?>

He knows that the whole Monument discussion didn't go super well...

[fuckthemancers]

Will he ever get used to the sound of a voice in his head not his own? Zulf suspects not, even as he rubs at his temples like that will help anything.

"Nothing... I'm just thinking."

On what, well, it should be obvious.

[notachickenhawk]

Yeah, he understands that. Tobias looks up at him and - well, he doesn't sigh because he can't, but he lets out a sad little noise.

<It didn't go so well, yeah. I... probably wasn't much help. Sorry.>

[fuckthemancers]

"It's fine. It was trouble I brought on myself. I don't expect anyone else to take responsibility for it." Raile, of course, constantly tries... But Zulf is certain that the blame is for him alone.

Sighing, he takes in another deep breath from the pipe.

[fireburn]

Azula isn't big on self pity. Well, she isn't big on a lot of things aside from world domination, really. But self pity was pretty high on her list of things she didn't like and it was more than obvious that was what was going on with this random guy just sitting at the edge. She is busy scouting the area and he interrupts her focus so it's only right she interrupt his. Right?

"What are you doing there?" Tactful and graceful as always, Azula.

[fuckthemancers]

Now that is a new voice. Unfortunately, he can't bring himself to put on the role of ambassador just now. So Azula actually gets to wait as he takes in another deep breath from his pipe and puffing out a long trail of smoke.

"Smoking. I thought I would keep it away from other people who don't care for it."

[fireburn]

Waiting is almost as bad as pity, really. But she will continue on bringing her ray of sunshine to this cloudy place.

"Here. On the edge of this stupid rock? You aren't afraid of falling?"

[fuckthemancers]

"The Skyway won't let that happen." He makes a gesture towards the air.

"If you fall off, then the winds force you back up. Not gently, mind you... But there are failsafes."

[findsrisks]

Oh hey this looks familiar.

Nanaki had seen Zulf from a distance, and after that mess from before, she figures he could use some cheering up. So she decides to go sit next to him, and maybe talk to him and see if she can help.

Though she's not coming up with just what to say, so she stammers out a few words, but whatever it is she was trying to say dies out on her tongue.

After a few seconds, she clears her throat and tries again. "staring off into the distance from the end of the world isn't really a great way to improve someone's mood."

[fuckthemancers]

Fortunately, Zulf has patience to spare, at least for Nanaki. He waits for her, smoke from the pipe drifting lazily through the air, and only shakes her head when she finally gets a whole sentence out.

"I'm not looking to improve it, so it's not a problem."

[findsrisks]

"Well, you should be, because being sad isn't a good look on you."

Unfortunately, motivating speeches aren't quite her area. That's Banjou's area, and she would have left the whole 'make someone feel better' thing up to him. But he's gone now, so she has to at least try, even if she's not so good at it.

"...I don't blame you, you know. And I think a lot of people here share that sentiment."

[fuckthemancers]

She's a bit late to the party on that front. It seems like, inevitably, he always swings right back around to miserable. The Calamity took away a lot of things, right from its first incarnation. Apparently, his own ability to stay happy was one of them.

Her statement makes him wince. "Well, they should. How the Bastion works is one of the first things I should have talked about when I first got here."

[bastionpc]

Oh hey look who's sitting nearby. He clearly is here for a reason, but he's going to wait for Zulf to acknowledge his presence first, because that's what you do with skittish animals, right? Let them come to you?

[fuckthemancers]

It was almost an enjoyable smoke, too. Pity.

Still, Zulf goes for a good long while blatantly ignoring Nathaniel's presence, the only sounds being those of smoke being taken in and exhaled out to fade away. Eventually, however, he gives in although he hardly seems happy about it.

"If you're going to do anything, then please do it because I'm not particularly in the mood for false niceties."

[bastionpc]

"Good, neither am I."

Sorry Zulf, he still doesn't like you. But stewing on things for a while has at least made him realize that they need to cooperate, even if they don't like each other.

"You seem to be the one who remembers the most, or is at least willing to talk about it. So I wanted to know: are restoring and evacuating the only two options, once the Bastion is fully repaired?"

[hellpyre]

Rin almost decided not to bother Zulf, but as quiet as things had been in her apartment with Yukio's absence and neither her nor Bon's mood particularly great the past several days... she could actually use some company.

Not that Zulf wants that himself, but he'll just have to deal.

By some blessing or another, though, she doesn't start in to conversation right off. Instead she simply drops in to a spot next to him, curling her tail around her waist and holding Kintaro in her lap. The Tepig remains equally quiet, making for a rather silent stare-off with the immeasurable distance beyond them.

[fuckthemancers]

People never care about what he wants. It's truly horrible.

Still, he lets her sit wherever she likes, lost with his thoughts in the smoke and the abyss. Eventually, however, he pays her some mind. "I can put the smoke out, if it bothers you."

[hellpyre]

Sorry, Zulf. This is the lot you're stuck with here at the end of the world.

Rin shakes her head, shifting her arms a bit in her lap so Kintaro can rest his chin on her hand.

"Nah, 'sokay."

[blackblooded]

"If you fall off, I don't know if I'll be able to catch you." Crona doesn't sound overly concerned, because Zulf has been pretty good at not falling off the edge of the Bastion so far.

[fuckthemancers]

"Well, it wouldn't be the first near death experience I've had." Ha. Ha. It's a joke? Oh well. Zulf sighs as he turns to look back at Crona.

"Are you doing well? Or at least a little better?" The meister had seemed like one of the people who had taken the information worse, after all.

[blackblooded]

"I'll be fine." Crona had not taken the news well at all. But there are a lot of things in Crona's life that the meister hasn't taken well, and Crona's still alive when no one else is.

"Are you doing well?"