(no subject)

[facedthetruth]

Characters: Margulis and OPEN
Setting: The graveyard floor during the day and various floors at night.
Format: Either or.
Summary: Jin Uzuki has disappeared from the tower, leaving his sword behind on top of Margulis' trunk. Margulis is not as okay with this as their fight on Christmas might lead people to expect...
Warnings: Angst, violence, death imagery, things being set on fire.

[Graveyard floor]

Margulis wasn't usually one to give in to sentimental feelings, but Jin's disappearance, and especially leaving his katana behind as a memento, got to him in ways he didn't want to even try to put into words. His feelings for the man he'd always called his best friend had been complicated since their clash fifteen years ago, and coming here to find a version who had died as a result of that fight hadn't simplified matters. But finding his fellow swordsman's weapon on top of his trunk had cleared some things up.

Now he could be found in the tower's graveyard, standing in front of the headstone marked 'Jin Uzuki,' holding his newly obtained blade in one hand with a downcast expression.

"You always did know how to get under my skin, Jin Uzuki...even in a gesture of peace, you find a way to get on my nerves."

[Nighttime]

It had taken a not insignificant amount of self control, not to mention avoidance, for Margulis to remain mostly civil throughout the day. But now, as the tower darkened and the dangerous creatures that called it home began to emerge, he had an acceptable target for all the rage that had built up since he woke and saw evidence of Jin's disappearance. With the katana sheathed at his right side, he used his own blade to carve through the more common of the tower's monsters, his every movement wreathed in an aura of flame. Occasionally he would, instead, send a ball of flame hurdling straight toward a foe, or conjure a web of lightning to electrocute a group. But no matter what the method, the attack was still harsh and forceful, fuelled by a severe and dangerous temper.

Comments

graveyard~

[uzuki]

Surely Margulis knew she was there, entering the floor, and approaching Jin's grave behind him. But she did so quietly, anyway. In front of her, she gripped tightly the book Jin had left her. Her eyes were red and swollen, but she wasn't crying anymore, she was just... Silent.

She stopped a couple feet away from Margulis and stared down at the grave.

[facedthetruth]

He didn't notice her as quickly as he should have, caught up in his own thoughts. But he was aware of her by the time she stood next to him and, noticing the object in her hands and the clear evidence that she had been crying, it wasn't hard to figure out where she had come across it.

His expression changed as he glanced at her, turning more controlled as he tried to make his emotions less obvious. But it was impossible to completely hide what had been there before, and the fact that he neither spoke nor left might have been telling.

[uzuki]

She stood silently for few minutes, before Jin's sword caught her eye. She had known Margulis had been friends with Jin, or they had some sort of relationship in the past, but it had never been something she had really dwelled on, but if Margulis had her brother's sword...

"You... Cared about him too, didn't you?"

[facedthetruth]

His grip tightened on the sword in question, though after the brief glance to confirm who was next to him, his gaze remained fixed on the grave.

"He had been my closest friend for several years prior to our parting at Miltia. My years since have been spent in the hopes that he...and Pellegri would come to their senses with regards to U-TIC. Though from what I've been able to gather so far, mine is the only universe where our opinions on that organization weren't reversed."

[uzuki]

"So then, why?"

She wasn't looking at Margulis anymore. Her eyes were fixed on the grave again. Angry tears began to slide down her face as she cleched his book in one hand, shaking.

"You had everyone that you lost... They were all here, so why?! Why couldn't you just..."

Be happy? Stay? Anything but leave?

[facedthetruth]

"At least attempt to rebuild those relationships rather than making efforts to avoid those from your former life?"

That was easily what bothered Margulis the most. He refused to believe that their worlds had been destroyed, that he wouldn't be able to return to his mission on Michtam and confront his own version of Jin. But the fact that the version here had pushed him away, with no reason other than the situation in his own universe-and a reason that had only been given after Margulis had figured out the situation for himself, at that-had hurt enough, and the sword, proof that Jin did still care, delivered in a way that rendered the point moot for all but peace of mind, only managed to twist the emotional knife.

[uzuki]

She dropped down to her knees next to the grave, and nodded, rubbing her eyes. At least Margulis's token was more than a joke. Of course, that was Jin, though. She knew his book was important to him, but of all the things to give her... A book. Of course Jin would want to leave the impression that his departure was nothing important. Just a normal, every day occurrence like changing careers or a fight to the death.

[facedthetruth]

He was silent and still for a moment, unsure how to handle this, before he slowly knelt down and put a hand lightly on her shoulder. To say their last meeting had left them on bad terms would be an understatement, true, but it was clear that Jin's disappearance had hurt her at least as much as it had him, if not more. It was difficult not to sympathize with her in a situation like this.

Graveyard

[lightofhumanity]

chaos had been feeling the urge to go to the Graveyard and pay his respects to his old friends. They didn't have proper graves, but he had put fifteen sticks into a small corner of the room last month. It was their marker, and chaos's reminded of the friends he had lost. However, while walking, he sensed Margulis nearby and teleported a few feet away from him before walking towards him.

As a consequence, he saw the grave that held Jin Uzuki's name. At the sight of the grave, chaos sighed and, looking more melancholy than usual, tried to put a hand on Margulis's shoulder. He wouldn't say anything right now..but if Margulis wanted to talk, he was there.

[facedthetruth]

He glanced down at chaos when he felt the hand on his shoulder, making a hasty attempt to hide his bothered expression behind a scowl. But the hurt, loss and anger still showed clearly in his eyes, and he was quick to look back at the gravestone.

"He always was lacking in manners."

[lightofhumanity]

chaos caught the emotions hidden in Margulis's eyes and sighed again, looking back towards the gravestone.

"..I do not remember him having such a fault. However..leaving with only this to show that he was here is rather cruel. But that may not be his fault."

[facedthetruth]

"If it were just his disappearance with only scant indications of his presence before, I wouldn't be nearly as irritated."

He shifted the blade so that he was holding it with both hands, one near the tsuba and the other further down the sheath.

"Were you aware that on my arrival here, he was actively attempting to avoid my presence?"

[lightofhumanity]

chaos sighed again. Oh dear..it was a bit too late to keep this bit of information in his mouth and head. chaos nodded.

"Yes..I was. He did not want to draw up old memories of the past, for they were painful to him. He was also trying to avoid Shion at first."

[facedthetruth]

"The story he gave me was a belief that he lost his right to interact with those of us from his past when he died fifteen years ago...and that he had difficulty separating me from the version of myself responsible for his death."

His hands clenched around the sword in them as his remaining feelings of anger and betrayal from that conversation briefly overtook the ones of pain and loss.

[lightofhumanity]

As Margulis clenched the sword, chaos lightly squeezed his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"However..it seems that belief either died or changed altogether. It is a tragedy that he was taken away soon after his beliefs were changed."

[facedthetruth]

"But that's the sort of behavior I would expect out of someone as stubborn as him."

Not that it made it hurt any less.

Nighttime

[seconddaughter]

Oh, now she'd done it. MOMO had accidentally spent too long concentrating on the terminal in front of her, and between one glance up from her work and another, night had fallen.

That, naturally, was a very bad thing. She missed the last call to get home safely without having to plow through monsters, and now she'd just have to deal with it.

As she comes up between floors, a vivid flash catches her eye, and her thermal sensors fly off the charts. Although she can see perfectly fine in the dim light, and can see quite well that it's Margulis doing the frying of monsters (she'd remember those techniques even if it hadn't been ten years), MOMO can't quite tell his intentions. Assuming in good faith that perhaps he's been ambushed, she readies her ether bow and starts shooting off energy projectiles, piercing various heads and eyes with startling accuracy.

"Are you okay? Do you need help?"

[facedthetruth]

He turns to look in the direction the arrows had come from, intending for only a quick glance before turning his attention back to his opponents. But when he sees the aged Realian, he's startled enough that he barely returns his gaze to his enemies in time to block an attack caught out of the corner of his eye.

"Compared to the Gnosis, this is child's play. The real question is what's happened to your appearance."

Let's say... 47 at night?

[pellegri]

From the opposite side of the room came a bright flash that rivaled his own. If he cared to inspect the source, he would find his other old friend, charging through a small group of Miniblin. She was swinging her glaive, with one arm, in a burst of flames. Her other arm was hanging uselessly at her side.

Coming from the direction of the lower floors, it seemed obvious she had been taking the long way up. Her uniform was ripped at the shoulder, and across one of her legs, the side of her face was smeared with blood, and her arm was obviously injured. But she smirked as she cut through the monsters as if nothing at all as wrong.

Floor 47 it is! This can ony end well.

[facedthetruth]

The burst of flame caught his eye and he made his way across the room, slicing through a small group of Imps that was in his way. It didn't take long for him to notice Pellegri's condition and there was a disappointed hint to his motions as he flicked what passed for blood with those creatures off of his blade.

"I see the brat must have been rubbing off on you."

RUDE

[pellegri]

She scoffed at that as she twirled her weapon to where it was upright once more, and rested the end on the floor. She rested her weight on it just a little.

"Is that any way to greet someone who has gone out of their way to see you? I simply ran into an unexpected situation along the way."

He is, yes.

[facedthetruth]

He pretended he didn't notice her using her glaive as a crutch, at least sparing her dignity that much.

"It seems an appropriate way to address someone so blatantly ignoring their wounds, particularly given your tendency to chide me for the same in our youths."

[pellegri]

"In this case, healing is not readily available, so it is not the same."

Nice try though, Margulis. She wouldn't refuse a medkit if they had them. She almost opened her mouth to tell him so when she noticed his other weapon. Her brow furrowed immediately, since there was only one way he would have obtained it.

"That sword is..."

[facedthetruth]

All signs of taunting or arrogance faded from Margulis' face as Pellegri brought up the sheathed blade.

"It's his, yes. There's a stone bearing his name in the graveyard now as well."

[pellegri]

"How is that possible? I thought that death was not permanent in this place?"