doing something

[unbr8kable]

Who: some kids
Where: the dead zone
When: Day 335, after graduation

[After many a tiny finger food and many more tiny glasses of wine and one overblown and completely not sad at all!!! graduation ceremony, what better place to go than the dead zone? What better thing to do than climb up the giant, golden chain up to the crack in the sky? Sure it burns to the touch, but what's a little more pain on the pile--that's the point of all those tiny glasses of wine, right?

So never mind the slight sizzling sound, nor the uncomfortably familiar odor of burning flesh all the way up. There's a goal at the end; one that--in theory--will make this all worthwhile]

Comments

[crossmyheartandhope]

[In theory, yes]

[Somehow this seemed more important a couple of weeks ago, though; and today of all days, it's hard to find much of anything worthwhile]

[He keeps pace beside her anyway, though, uncharacteristically clumsy from the wine, the effects of the alcohol more pronounced thanks to the fact that those tiny finger foods got pushed around his plate rather than eaten. By the time they reach the top, his palms are blistered, and he's listing into her a little as he walks]

...you think they got in here?

[unbr8kable]

Who got in where?

[The pace stays pretty steady, considering; her shoulders stiff and back straight and gaze unyielding. There's someplace to go and something to do, and therefore no time to stare back down at the long, long length of the chain, or to contemplate the blinding emptiness it disappears into.

There's barely even time to pick at her blistered palm, what with him bumping into her every few steps; only just enough to keep on target. The gates are wide open, the seal still broken, both things that last time she let herself think about it were anxiety inducing, but now just makes things that much easier]

I mean. We're getting in here...

[crossmyheartandhope]

[The gates are still open, and that comes with a reminder of the last time they were here - of all the things he didn't do, and all the things he did but did wrong]

[He passes over the seal without a hitch this time, trying to tamp down on that little voice inside him that says he should have known better - should have done better - should have gotten something right for once. It won't shut up, but it's easier to drown it out if he talks over it, so he does, the words sloppy and indistinct from the alcohol]

Not us.

S'just, like - you know. Whoever. Cause they wanted in.

[unbr8kable]

Sounds like us. Just...breakin' shit and bustin' in, so just about anybody could get in after...

[Which. Was more or less the part she'd been attempting not to think about, and she picks at the larger blister on her palm, though the metal finger has no nail to properly catch on it. All she can do is press hard against the bubble, and again, as they leave the gatehouse behind.]

...C'mon.

[The courtyard seems the same as the previous few times they've run into them, and she pauses--sets out a different way than last time (she thinks)]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Ah - yeah.

That's - yeah.

[It's not like he needs the reminder - not like he needs the rebuke. Maybe it's not meant as one, even, but it's enough to shut him up all the same]

[He follows after her, footsteps unsteady - catches himself on a table when he stumbles, and doesn't notice the smear of blood he leaves behind when one of the blisters breaks open against the rasp of the stone]

[unbr8kable]

[She looks up from picking her way around the sort of debris left behind by people leaving in a hurry (and she doesn't quite remember, but it feels uncomfortably familiar all the same)--glances back at the noise, his uneven gait against the stone path loud in the abandoned space now that they've both gone silent]

...You good?

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah - sorry. M'good.

Shoulda - shoulda maybe had less wine.

[He jogs a couple of steps to catch up, weaving a little unsteadily]

[unbr8kable]

Yeah, prolly.

[She waits for him, frowning faintly, shoulders not quite as straight]

...Sorry for forcing you out here. Guess I wasn't thinking.

You wanna sit, or eat something...?

[crossmyheartandhope]

You didn't force nothing, dude.

[He catches up - nudges against her, a little clumsy]

Better to get it done, yeah?

[unbr8kable]

Better not to pass out in a place we know security likes literally tossing people out of...

[She leans back against him as well, however, clasping at his hand, hers a little clammy]

[crossmyheartandhope]

I dunno... 'pparently Sativa slept up in that one tree for like a day and a half and they missed him.

[His hand is a little clammy, too, though,]

[unbr8kable]

For real? Guess he got lucky...

[She trails off, gripping a little more securely]

...A-anyways. Could look around for some Heaven pub mix or something...

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah... least he got to sit out the exit party.

[Squeezing right back]

They got, like... fruit here and stuff? But for real, I'm good.

[unbr8kable]

[Leans in a little more]

You sure? I mean. Not just everybody gets to chow down on forbidden fruits.

[crossmyheartandhope]

I took some, last time.

[He's leaning on her quite a bit,]

M'gonna - gonna plant em.

[unbr8kable]

Mm... Whatserface was talking about that, too.

Anyways-- Even if you're ending up laying around in a tree for a day or two, you better eat at least one thing what ain't fermented grape.

[Picks him a pomegranate, since it is conveniently in reach]

[crossmyheartandhope]

I ain't hungry.

[He waves a hand, vague]

...who's whatserface?

[unbr8kable]

You don't gotta be hungry. You gotta make it back down the chain without gravity's help.

[Plops the fruit into that hand, sorry friend]

Cardinal's woman. Amaranth. ...Dunno if she got a chance before she got transferred again.

[crossmyheartandhope]

She ain't on your team no more?

[He takes the pomegranate, though he rolls it between his palms instead of making any move to eat it]

[unbr8kable]

[Checks the tables for anything that looks edible too, since she's not actually sure how pomegranates work tbh]

Who knows? Maybe she needs more magical cat tears to stick around, whatever.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[There's a whole lot of kinds, some real and some not]

...cat tears?

[unbr8kable]

[Just touching the fruit feels--comfortable, somehow, moreso than the conversation or most things she could think about--so she wanders a bit, past apples and bananas and something that looks like faintly colored strawberries, even though she's pretty sure those aren't meant to grow on trees?]

...Amaranth jumped outta Heaven, apparently. But the power of hopes and dreams or whatever called her to us, not Lilis.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Hopes and dreams, huh?

[He's still turning the pomegrate over in his hands - looks down at the place where his fingertips are glowing slightly, dusted by lgiht]

[unbr8kable]

[She looks over at him as well, from his face to the glow playing around his fingertips]

The pull of Avante's wish to see her not pancake into bad-Hell was apparently stronger'n Lilis's was. Guess it's something about how you gotta be connected to identity or something...

[crossmyheartandhope]

What, like... like you gotta know who you are?

What's that got to do with pancaking?