[ CLOSED ] i made my peace, i'm one with the war

[succored]

WHO: Ty, Jake, Kira, Bobo
WHERE: Bunker, Various Places
WHEN: Middle of October
OPEN TO: Jake + Kira + Bobo
WARNINGS: TBA


[ For Kira: I’ll Be in My Bunk(er) ]

Call it having a healthy dose of caution for once, but Ty had kept most of his exploring to the villages and the surrounding areas, as if he drew back to the bunker he’d somehow end up regretting it. While it was the most likely place to have answers, the place creeped him out more than he cared to admit. Still, there didn’t seem to be many clues anywhere else, so he took one of the knives from the communal storeroom with him, wishing he had something more substantial, before heading over.

He was still dripping from when he had to swim to the column from the dock, but it was admittedly better than a seven hour hike, drawing the blanket he had kept in his backpack for just this, he dried off his face and hands before entering the bunker, knife within easy reach.

He poked around the storage and break areas, but anything useful had long since been picked clean. Avoiding the room where he’d come out of a tube, he paused when he heard footsteps nearby. His hand went to where the knife was tucked at his side, his voice collected and careful when he called out.

“Hello?”




[ For Jake: There are no Obstacles in Friendship ]

Call it professional curiosity or Ty looking for a distraction and perhaps a way to get his adrenaline fix in this place, but the zoom seeds had been calling his name for a while. He was just glad that he had someone who was willing to test it out with him, and everything was more fun if there was a bit of friendly competition thrown in the mix.

“So,” Ty said, crouching down so he could draw a crude of the area with a stick into the dirt, “we’ll do a loop around both villages, and whoever gets back here first wins. Once we got a handle on it, I think we can expand the arena into the forest. What do you think?” He tipped his gaze up to look at Jake, grinning slightly.








[ For Bobo: Are You Feeling Froggy?]

"Hey, we meet again!" Ty waved jovially as he spotted a familiar hulking figure. Ty was pretty sure he had only seen him out and about in the forest, and he was a bit concerned that perhaps the guy was living out here somewhere, or in a cave, instead of the warm Inn or one of the available houses. And even though he had somehow managed to keep getting distracted from asking the guy's name, he still viewed him rather fondly. The guy was a little strange, to be sure, but perhaps that was more on Ty than anything on him. He just wasn't used to the man's delivery and mannerisms, not yet anyway.

He hefted his pack that he had been filling with tubers a bit higher up onto his shoulder, heading towards the mountain man curiously. It always seemed like he was doing something new and practical.

"What's on your agenda today? You need help?" Ty might as well have a string on his back that when pulled, spouted off that phrase.

Comments

[killorder]

What is logic? What is safety? What is your friends are likely to beat your ass for this, but come on. It's fun? In the end, Jake knew better. That didn't mean he was going to be better.

What's the point of possibly being a clone if you don't take the chances that you wouldn't have normally? And having the friends to even plan things like this is new to him and exciting when they weren't his unit and rushing in where angels fear to tread.

Watching as Ty sketches out the path, nodding along at the idea as he rolled the seed around in the palm of his hand, considering how something could do what they've been told.

"I think that works," Jake says, nodding. Even if the forest makes him nervous, because hitting a tree at that speed could be bad. If they get up to that speed. "We never did figure out a prize," he says, smirking.

[succored]

Though normally easy going and laid back, Ty had a fierce competitive side. Mostly it had been beaten out of him after having to compete with someone like Delilah, for who most things came effortlessly, or with the people he had trained with who had for the most part, been hardened from the military or law enforcement. But with the zoom seeds and the fact that Jake was more a tech guy, it might level the playing field.

Normally, Ty would just bet money or bragging rights, but since the first was nonexistent and useless and the second didn't seem good enough, he paused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"We could do something like chores," He paused, grinning, "or the loser has to do something completely humiliating. What do you think?"

[killorder]

Jake is a tech guy, but he's also special forces. He may not be the athlete many in his unit are, but he figures he can handle this and prove himself. Though his words might not prove that.

"I humiliate myself on a regular basis, so let's go with the chores. Less likely to end up serenading some girl and probably passing out," he says, grinning though and not seeming the least bit bothered by the possibility. We both have a new house. You got a fireplace? I was thinking I wanted to clean mine out before it got cold. Who knows if they work."

[succored]

"Seriously?" Ty asked with a small laugh, but he wasn't going to press it. He was probably the wrong person to talk about serenades, usually finding them romantic instead of humiliating, though he was sure Kira and a few people he had dated would disagree with him.

"Though sure, if I lose, I'll clean out your fireplace. If I win, the roof needs some repairing." Which Ty had been putting off until last, honestly, because it seemed like the biggest pain.

And since their wagers had been set, he set the stick down and dusted off his hands before he took out the zoom seed he'd been safekeeping in his pocket.

"Ready?"

[killorder]

"Don't look at me like that. I am so bad about these things, and I'll end up rambling and it'll be ugly."

At least he knows that about himself, and he's willing to take the chance.

"Oh. I think I can actually do that. Fixed my sister's gutters and all for her," he says, which likely will mean that no matter what, he'll do it for Ty.

Pulling out the seed, Jake nods. This is dumb of them, and he kind of loves it. Even if he isn't entirely clear on the after effects of these things.

"Set," he says with a grin.

[succored]

"Just know we're coming back to this, because that sounds suspiciously like stories I should be hearing." Ty teased, but he'd let it go for now. There were bigger things afoot, and he raised his zoom seed to clunk against Jake's as if they were expensive wine glasses and not seeds he had to spend a good chunk of time wrestling out of their shell.

"Go!" He popped his into his mouth, crunched a few times, and then took off sprinting. He had been hoping it was instantaneous, but it seemed like he was running a normal speed and then -woah.

[killorder]

"Later. When we're sitting in front of a roaring fire in the snow," he teases, grinning at that. Though he does have some stories. Touching his to Ty's, nodding as he pops it in his mouth, chewing. The flavor isn't bad, and he's enjoying it before he starts to run.

And then the world is a blur. It's like being in a car and it's madness, and it's amazing.

He let's out a holler, loving how crazy it is, and forgetting how deadly it could be.

[succored]

The long winding path that Ty had outlined in the dirt would have taken hours, easy, regularly. He found himself having to stop just to make sure he hadn't passed landmarks, or just to catch his breath from whooping so much. It was crazy, exhilarating, and a little terrifying. Just the right mix to get him hooked, and he didn't know why people weren't using this more often.

By the time he made it back to the marked area, he was breathless, not from exertion really, still keyed up. "Best two of three?" He asked, catching his breath, grin a bit wild and reckless.

[killorder]

It should feel wrong, and weird, and yet it feels amazing. Effortless speed, moving as fast as a car as he raved through the lands of the village. Excitement coursing through him as he ran, trying to push himself as hard and as fast as he can. Sometimes overtaking Ty, other times falling behind, before racing into the clearing where they'd began.

Laughing, feeling as if he should be winded and yet finding it's mostly that he practically swallowed air as he ran.

"Yes! God, yes," he says, voice high and excited, and utterly ready to do this again. New path or the same?

[3ofswords]

He'd gotten back into the habit of having better habits; of picking up work instead of a jar of moonshine--most of which will do better with some age. With the weather turning, he can't really afford to let Ty's appearance fuck it up, even if there isn't a task available distracting enough to save him from it.

Bunker duty hardly applies. He isn't some supernatural insomniac or expert hacker, but on slow shifts he stares at lists and code until the display blurs. Copies things into his journal, tries to count the different colored flames on the walls. If he gets sleepy staring at the usually empty tubes, he picks himself up and picks at the rubble clogging the stairs. Not in any true eagerness to see what's below, if it isn't entirely collapsed--just to stretch his legs and wear out his shift.

The cigarettes help. Nondescript, not his brand and a little dry--but who would he even complain to?

Seriously: who? He's got a list built up and put to paper. One of the entries is calling down the long hall, a strange enough sound in the concrete underground that he wonders if he's missed the load and launch of a new arrival in the time it took to walk down to the slightly caved in area with the bathroom.

"Please tell me this isn't where you wound up living," he greets, like he doesn't already know.

[succored]

It was telling how quickly the tension eased out of him at the sound of that familiar drawl, even if it sounded too judgmental for Ty's tastes. He turned to face Kira properly, one eyebrow raised as he patted the wall next to him.

"What's wrong with it? It's lakeside property, has a lot of open space, and I really like the minimalist decor." He shot back, lips quirked up as he walked forward to close the physical distance between them. "And if you're here, I'm guessing there's a rave room hidden away somewhere."

[3ofswords]

Kira rolls his eyes, leaving them in the upward position to maintain contact as Ty closes in. Less a courteous smoker than a pointed one, he pointedly doesn't aim the smoke away as he exhales, making him weather the smoke if he intends to stand so close.

Which isn't the same as asking him to back up, or walking away.

"There is the rainbow room with all the lists," he offers, eventually skirting around Ty on the memory that he does have a reason to be here, even if Ty might not. "Closer to that first hall." Lists that Ty is curiously absent from, but maybe--

No. He's not going to pretend to understand the redacted entries. They could just as easily be there to keep them on their toes, to fill in for unknowns. Make the Observers look more all-knowing and in control than they actually are. Then again: if they can manipulate and replicate his powers, there's no discounting their being able to predict the future.

He wonders what they see for this. "You didn't come down here to find me," he asks, giving Ty a second look as they move down the hall. "Why are you soaked?"

[succored]

Leave it to Kira to still have cigarettes in a place like this, and Ty was torn between wanting to roll his eyes or being endeared. Instead, he kept his distance, canting his head to the side curiously at the mention of 'lists'.

"Yeah?" He was already turning to head toward them, curious. He doubted he would find anything when he was sure everyone else had combed through them, but it was worth a look, at least. "Any ideas as to what the lists are for?" Because while Kira may have spent most of his time abstaining from school, it didn't mean he wasn't intelligent and that Ty wouldn't take his opinion seriously. Even without his powers, Ty was sure he was still as instinctive as he always had been.

"Disappointed?" He teased as he fell into step with him, before wringing out his clothes, a bit self-conscious. "I had to swim to get to the pods. Is there a better way?"

[3ofswords]

He has plenty of ideas about what the lists are for, tempered by the voice in the back of his head that constantly points out probably bullshit. He'd write off all of the bunker as bullshit, if entire people didn't appear in the tubes, joining the world upstairs in a matter of hours.

Glancing at Ty, well. The people can be kind of bullshit too.

"It's probably a lot of misdirection. Ask me when you're older." Or at least versed enough in what's going on to have boat-access. "We keep some little canvas boats in a house along the way, I'll show you on the way back." Turning into the room with the main tubes, his little trashcan fire is almost like home. "If you're here anyway, warm up and fill me in on where you're at, local theories of our existence-wise."

[succored]

"Just because you're a year older than me doesn't mean I'm going to start treating you like an elder." Ty said lightly, but it was still an odd thing to dwell on. That even more time had passed to create a gulf between them, one that Ty had thought they had been in the process of bridging. Still, the fire was definitely welcome, and Ty stood close to it, happily basking in its warmth like a dog curling up before a fireplace right before taking a nap.

"Hm?" His theories? "I'm not really sure what to think. One guy was talking about witches and demons, someone else mentioned that the Observers sometimes drop off medicine, and even if this place is kind of gloomy, it has everything we need to survive." Which was more laying out facts than actual theories, so he shrugged, holding his arms closer to the fire.

"I think they have us here to test the boundaries of humanity. And maybe the human soul." He glanced up at Kira, raising an eyebrow. "But you've been here longer. What do you think?"

[3ofswords]

"Almost two years," he corrects, utterly unhelpful. Utterly unhelpful is a way to cope, when Ty is here, warming his hands over a fire like they're back in a section of subway instead of a bunker under the mountains.

When he's saying shit like the boundaries of the human soul in a room where people's clones come out of incubation.

Kira draws deep on the cigarette and settles his gaze on the tubes, empty for now, bubbles of air traveling up toward the ceiling. At any moment they could increase, a flurry of displaced water, and they could be staring at a new face through the glass. Or an old one.

"You make it sound almost noble," which is the kind of optimistic shrug Kira expects from him. "Most of the time I just think we're rats in a maze, and the people who put us here are starved for other entertainment."

[succored]

"Now I feel like you're just messing with me. Next time I see you, you're going to say it's been a hundred." Ty said unimpressed, before falling quiet at Kira's theory. It would difficult to dispute it, and Ty felt like it would be pointless to try, but what was there to do here but talk? And apparently collect scars and continue bad habits.

"I'm not saying I agree with anything they're doing, but it's always been an age old question. What defines a soul and how can you prove it's existence? What makes you 'you'? Your memories? Your body? Maybe the Observers have advanced so much only the philosophical mysteries remain."

As for the entertainment aspect, he conceded that with a nod of his head. "Maybe that's part of it, but I don't think that's right. They could have given us more weapons or picked subjects that would give better reactions. Most of the people I've met so far seem very capable and adaptable, if they haven't already made a living in unorthodox situations."

[fooloftheking]

Coming back down from the woodlands, Bobo isn't used to always seeing others up this way towards the north village. It's part of why he chose a house there, even if it's near the inn on that side of town. If only that he prefers keeping his distance, even with winter coming. For his own sake, as well as others. Not that he cares a lot about that.

He holds a bag, not counting the pack on his back practically blending into the fur of his coat, and strolling along, whistling as he swings it at his side.

Glancing up at Ty's approach, giving a nod and a smile. The kid's eager, and Bobo's not entirely used to that but the way this world is, there's a lot to be said about forming the bonds that he can.

"Well, probably you could," he admits with a nod. "Since I've never done this. You have any experience with poison dart frogs?"

Even as he asks, he gives a jerk of his head. "This way. My house is over by the Inn in the North."

[succored]

It's mostly because every time Ty ran into him, he was doing something new. Quietly and persistently, he seemed to be building a way to sustain himself here, and he had to admit, he was very curious to learn more about his story. A lot of it barely made any sense, but something so convoluted, that spanned several lifetimes, probably wasn't easy to dilute.

"Mostly just the hypothetical uses for them." Ty admitted, falling into step with Bobo as they headed towards his house. "I know there are some places where they use the poison to coat the tips of their spears or arrows. Is that what you're trying to do?"

[fooloftheking]

Sometimes when you have experience with surviving one way or another, you sometimes find yourself dragging yourself back into the life you've known. Such as he is trying to do here. Finding a way to ensure that he doesn't freeze to death this winter. That's the first start.

This though, this is to avoid starving.

"It's what I'm hoping to do. To try and see if I can harvest it and use it to try and take down bigger game," he admits. "We can't just live on rabbits and a few geese."

[succored]

"Fair enough." He had seen some of the mountain elk roaming, out of reach among the mountainside, which seemed like a far better haul than fish at any rate.

But the more difficult aspect was catching the frogs without having to touch them, and frowning, Ty crossed his arms over his chest, thoughtfully.

"A handheld net might be the best thing to use, or something like a basket." He suggested, thinking about if this was worth it, to use one of his shirts to make some netting or if the poison could be washed out of it.

[fooloftheking]

"That's what the bags are for," he admits. "Going to set up a basket snare trap. If I remember how," he says with a laugh. "It works, then we can lure them in and snap it closed and have a handle not to risk they excrete it when they're panicked and I have to laugh when you pass out."

He says it though with a smile, his tongue sharp but at least he's joking around with the kid.

[succored]

"Hey, who says they're catching me? I'm young and spry here while you're what? Thousands of years old." Ty complained good naturedly, eyeing Bobo with a grin.

"Besides, how do I know that you didn't experience this personally and that's how you got the idea?"

[fooloftheking]

"Also inhuman, but keep it up," he says, though he looks more amused than annoyed, though with Bobo a person can never be sure.

"Because I've lived long enough to watch idiot men poison themselves all the time. Only thing I've endured here is those damn moths." And their bugs and can sneak up on him. Not his fault.

[succored]

"It's hard to keep track of your personal history, give me a break." Ty joked, but he'd let it lie for now. Instead, he was more concerned about not becoming another idiot who poisoned himself, or fell prey to the dust moths.

"How bad was that? They make you lose your memory right?" Ty asked, a bit worried about that prospect really. If he forgot his training, he'd be next to useless here. Or if he forgot about why he was here and had to go through his freak out all over again...