Just a young gun with a quick fuse;

[sirnyxalot]

Who: Nyx Ulric
Where: Town, the gym, at home, etc
When: July Catch-all
What: In a single day the world changed. Let's talk about that.
Warnings: Probably too many emotions to count.
[Open]


[In a single day the world changed, and with it Nyx felt at home. What does it say about him that without an active war he'd felt stagnant? Like he was treading water;
trying to keep his head up. Now there's a target, a goal, and a not-insignificant part of him was happy.

As happy as a man can be when people have died, anyway.

After the attack all he could do was try to recover. Three days of being unable to just stop and shut down left him vulnerable, and the moment everything was over he crashed. An inoculation, two days of rest, and a return to the hospital later to have his wounds actually looked at by a professional and he was about as good as he was going to get.

The moment they announced the option to go beyond the wall, Nyx signed up for their tests. He was no use to anyone sitting safely behind the wall (a sentiment that he was more than familiar with).

Until they got their shit together, however, he had little to do but help repair what was damaged, and finally, finally, being able to talk about what he'd been holding back for months. There were a few people that deserved the truth, after all.]





(Focused starters below for closed threads)

Comments

Crowe | Closed

[sirnyxalot]

[For awhile after the attack there hadn't been much of a chance to talk. Sure, they were given "permission" to openly discuss their actual lives (he was just about ready to do it anyway, regardless of what they wanted), but the aftermath was a quiet several days of mourning and trying to digest all over again that he was not only somewhere new, but that they'd be frozen for a thousand years.

It's beyond all of his experiences. Not even Niflheim had that kind of technology. And to bring back the dead?

The evidence is right in front of him, has been all along, but it didn't stop him from losing Aranea during the attack. It didn't stop the peaceful life these townsfolk lived from being torn up and thrown into hell. They didn't deserve this.

Crowe was first on his list to talk to. She'd been asking questions he couldn't answer from day one and now that he could they were burning the tip of his tongue. He needed to tell someone who will understand, who hadn't been there but was still involved in the betrayal on a very personal level. She and Raven were almost inseparable, but finally Nyx is able to catch her on her own at home.]

Got a minute?

[He gestures toward the roof; a spot of privacy in case Raven or Luna return soon.]

[allfornothing]

[ Crowe wasn't avoiding Nyx. It's just that she and Raven also had thing to discuss, and the... the thing between them was still kind of new and ... well. Crowe knows very well that she hasn't exactly allowed herself to be excited about good things in a while.

If ever.

But her concern for Nyx hasn't actually abated, and his trying to catch her attention did not go unnoticed. So she's absolutely ready when he asks. Mouth twitching at his direction, but it's more in approval than mockery. It's not the kind of rooftop they're used to, in Insomnia, but it's definitely better than nothing. Or than the nooks and crannies she slipped into when Nyx first found here here, in Wayward Pines. Or whatever the place's actual name is.

Anyway. ]

Absolutely. Grabbing a couple of water bottles and meeting you there.

[ In case he opts for a shortcut. ]

[sirnyxalot]

[She knows him well, and normally he would indulge in the thrill of the magic carrying him through the air, but today he's far more interested in what's about to come. He doesn't know what to expect, or even how much they'll even get through before it becomes too much. For either of them.

Nyx nods and leaves her to get the water. He climbs right up the side of the house, swinging up onto the roof. Settling down to wait, he tries to get his thoughts in check; tries to figure out where to even start. He can't just come out with 'everything we fought for was a lie', after all. Besides being ironically untrue it was a touch dramatic for him.]

Iris | Closed

[sirnyxalot]

[It took awhile, though not nearly as long as he was expecting, but now with the law lifted Nyx has a promise to fulfill. As much as he doesn't necessarily want to tell a young girl how her father died he also promised to never lie to her. If she wants to know, he'll tell her.

So he approaches their home, quietly wondering at how a place he'd never really been to before can seem so intimately familiar, and rings the bell. He doesn't know if she's home, but he's not sure where else she would be right now.]

[alizes]

[Iris takes a while to open the door, since she’s home alone and she’s still not an expert when it comes to crutches. She’s adapting quickly because that’s what an Amicitia does, and she knows she’s incredibly lucky because this is all only temporary. But it’s still not the ideal situation. Eventually though she does reach the door and her face lights up when she sees who’s in the other side.]

Nyx! Come in!

You here to see dad?

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx starts to think that no one is home and is about to leave when he hears the unmistakable sound of a crutch in the entryway. He smiles when she answers the door, pleased to see her up and about. It seems to be a universal trait for them to just bounce back from tragedy.]

Not this time, though I might stick around for a bit to say hi. You busy? figured now that everything's out in the open we could talk.

[alizes]

[She shakes her head. She does have some homework she needs to finish, but if Nyx is here to talk to her and her specifically then he’s probably here to make good on his promise. The ban has been lifted, they are allowed to talk about… before. So this is definitely more important than learn whatever part of American history she’s supposed to write for in her next paper.]

I’m all free. Do you want anything to drink? [She may take a while to get it, but she’s not going to be a bad host.]

[sirnyxalot]

No, thanks. I'm good for now. [Doesn't want to impose more than necessary, although if she insists how would he be able to deny it?]

You look like you've been healing up well. Be running around again in no time.

[alizes]

I hope so! [Iris giggles, glancing down at her leg. The wound is healing nicely and now there’s no risk of infection. It still hurts to place her weight on it, hence the crutches but she’s pretty confident Nyx is right. She can’t wait to be running again, to be able to walk on her own and not need her family’s help.]

Do you mind if we take a sit though? [She’s already walking towards the nearest one, motioning for Nyx to take another sit.]

[sirnyxalot]

Not at all. [He'll take the seat, watching to see if she needs help.]

It might be a long conversation.

[alizes]

[Iris didn’t think Nyx was going to say no to such a simple request so she was already getting a chair to sit on. It’s very frustrating to her to not be able to do something as simple as stand up for a long amount of time, and she’s being doing her best to pretend everything is fine. But she knows she doesn’t need to do that with Nyx- he saved her life after all. He knows how bad it got.

The affirmation worries her a little, though and she frowns as she tilts her head. She can guess what Nyx wants to talk about but it’s better not to make assumptions, not yet.]

What do you want to talk about?

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx wouldn't admit it, but not standing has been a preferable state of affairs for him, too. The healing stitches in his side were relentlessly itchy even when they didn't ache.

He clasps his hands together on the table, studying them for a moment. It's not any easier stepping over this hurdle having been given time to think about what he wanted to say. Any carefully made scripts were long since tossed out on the walk over here.]

I have a promise to keep and I won't shy away from that. There aren't many here who can talk about Insomnia.

[realists]

[ very early in july, jyn rolls up to the gym and shoves herself through the door, hands tangled in her hair as she sweeps it into a low bun, messier than usual like she can't find it in her to give a fuck. being recently dead broke her give a fuck button about a lot of things.

like pda. that was weird. ]

Hey Nyx! Are you going to tell me about your magic now? [ ah, jyn erso. as subtle as a shovel to the stomach. rip melshi. ]

god, I'm so sorry. My drive died there for a couple weeks :(

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx is taking stock. He'd finally gotten everything cleaned up and the back lock repaired, so it was good to be open again. Gave him something to do while waiting for Ortech's verdict on whether or not he can venture beyond the fence.

People haven't quite gotten back into their routines, so there are only two others there on the mats when Jyn bursts through the door like a particularly determined hurricane. He takes a step back, surprised by the abrupt question, although in hindsight he should have expected this.

Nyx cocks his head to the side and closes his folder with a snap, a quiet laugh in his voice.]

All right. What do you want to know?

shhhhhhh

[realists]

[ a particularly determined hurricane is the exact way to describe her. once she frees her hands from her bun, her bangs immediately fall forward because her hair isn't long enough yet to sweep it all into the tangle of her elastic. ]

How's it work?

[ like HELLO LIGHTNING. she's heard stories of force lightning from jedis so she's trying to see if whatever nyx is is like a jedi. she has very little to go on re: outside sources of magic. it's pretty much nyx and the force and ...narnia.

shut up. ]

[sirnyxalot]

[He's had his own things to learn about it since he got here. Jack can cast healing spells. Since when did those exist?

He opens his mouth and pauses, perplexed. She probably couldn't have summed up everything in a harder question to answer if she had tried. He looks down, thinking.]

It's...life, of a sort. It draws on the caster's life to power the magic. I just reach inside myself and think about what I want it to do. Mold it into a set of spells we can use.

[He holds out his hands, palms up, and focuses. He can feel one arm turn cold as ice frosts over his skin, and the other trembles with energy; lightning sparking up along his fingers. She's seen this before, but he's more confident with it now. Perhaps in part because he was able to use it as intended for the first time since he woke up here.]

Ice, Thunder, Fire, Protect... [A shift of focus and the ice melts in a wash of fire that settles like a campfire over his palm. He moves his other arm like he's holding a shield to the side; clear hexagons coalesce into a solid dome.] For those of us who can stomach it we can warp across a battlefield in a matter of seconds. Your potential is only limited by how strong you are. Run out of magic or push yourself too hard?

[He closes his fist, snuffing the fire out, and lets the barrier fade to nothing.]

[realists]

Thunder? [ she'll get to the rest but her eyebrows arch at thunder because, well, it's lightning not thunder, that's a completely different thing. YES SHE IS GOING TO BE PICKY ABOUT HIS MAGIC. ]

[sirnyxalot]

[Yeah, well, "Lightning" doesn't sound as cool probably.]

It makes an impressive crack when you're hitting something with it?

[realists]

[ alright, she shrugs, that's reasonable. ]

Can I see your shield again? [ she's gonna touch it. get ready to have to explain every single facet of your magic, son. ]

[sirnyxalot]

[Should he close up early? She might be listening for awhile. It's a long story.

He obliges, summoning the barrier between them. It's bigger this time, enough to cover the front of his body in a curving arc meant to deflect hits rather than take blows head on. The hexagons catch the light, reflecting blue as their edges solidify.]

Have at it. I can hold this as long as you want me to.

[realists]

[ at first jyn just touches it, pressing her palm flat against it and feeling the energy thrum through it. she's never been force sensitive, not like chirrut or baze, regardless of how instinctive and intuitive she can be, but she could have the force sensitivity of a rock (or, say, k2) and still be able to feel this. ]

There's the Force, in our galaxy. [ ours being hers and cassian's, obviously. ] It's... complicated, half Religion, half fairy tale, but it's a life force. My mother said it surrounds every living thing, holding us together. The Jedi could use the Force, bend it to their will.

[ she backs up as she explains a concept she can't begin to understand. ] They were all murdered when I was a little girl, executed during the war I was born in. The Sith, the evil ones -- [ she rolls her eyes, every fairy tale has a bad guy ] -- could do that lightning thing.

[ and with a short run, she leaps at the shield, landing in an awkward crouch when the curve of the shield doesn't allow her foot any purchase. her eyebrows lift again, but this time she seems mildly impressed. ]

[sirnyxalot]

[There's a snort at the attempt, but says nothing about it; just carries on the conversation as if he wasn't amused. That shield's held back far bigger things than her. Though if she hit it enough times it would, inevitably, break.]

Our magic isn't like that, although I guess you could say it's pretty similar in the 'religion' aspect. It was given to our royal family a long time ago by the Astrals. Some kind of massive crystal. In truth I don't know if the Astrals are even real, I've never seen one, but the crystal is. It's what protected Insomnia until the day it fell.

Problem being that only the royal family it was given to was supposed to be able to wield its magic. Us glaives were just weird, I guess. It was found out certain people could use it who weren't royalty. So the late King Regis founded the Kingsglaive to help protect the city during the war. We borrowed his magic. Learned how to do this. [Gestures toward the shield.]

Was never supposed to be able to keep it.

[realists]

Maybe you didn't borrow it, [ she reasons, bracing her hands on her thighs to push herself to standing again. ] Maybe tapping into it through him was just the catalyst it took to jumpstart what you already had.

[ massive crystals holding power at least makes loads of sense to her. ]

You can't make something from nothing.

[sirnyxalot]

If only that were true. It was gone entirely when he died. This? I got this from the old kings themselves. Arrogant spirits supposedly safeguarding the future. [He shakes his head, disgust curling his lips.] They couldn't even keep track of what was going on in the present long enough to realize their future was in danger.

Suffice to say I was found "worthy" of their power for the night. It should have killed me, but whatever happened to bring me here must have stalled it somehow. Woke up in that hospital so certain I was dead. I think that's one of the reason Cassian and I related so well at first.

[He can talk about it now without feeling the weight of what happened pulling him down. However it happened, he is still here and now there's another future to consider.]

[realists]

[ jyn shrugs a little, not bothering to counter because men with power are arrogant as a rule, it is there Thing. that was kind of a staple of her life. ]

Oh, because we're dead. [ she literally just woke up from being dead a second time and still sounds too dismissive about dying for the galaxy. no big deal, just dying. ]

As far as things to bond over, maybe too macabre.

[sirnyxalot]

[It makes him laugh. He steps out from behind the barrier, keeping the magic intact with a touch of will.]

We never really got to talk about it. [For obvious reasons.] I'm glad he has friends from home. It makes this easier somehow; not being alone.

[realists]

[ all those signs telling people not to talk about their pasts didn't exactly stop jyn. which was their own fault, not giving her any memories to latch on to. ]

We died on a beach, vaporized by a weapon meant to kill planets, [ jyn offers lightly, drumming her nails against the shield as he moves it. ] He's stuck with me now.