LIII

[wilder]

[Meat-locker Filter/James Bond]

[He woke up gasping.]

[It quickly turned to coughing as a rush of freezing air filled his unused lungs. It was a startling sensation. A week of feeling (almost) nothing, hearing nothing, seeing nothing- and then suddenly there were sensory detail everywhere. The hardness of the table he laid on, the feel of fabric from the white cloth over him, the hum of the freezer's engine, the dim light that entered his eyelids, the smell of a room full of bodies, distant footsteps and movements from castle residents far away, the sound of his own heartbeat..]

[And the frigid cold. Why of all temperatures did he had to wake up cold?]

[He laid there for a moment, just trying to adjust to having senses again (much less angel senses) without feeling overloaded. When the coughing subsided, he felt like he almost had to remind himself to breath until he readjusted to its routine. It's another moment until he dares himself to sit up, feeling almost a bit awed that his muscles and arms were responding to the commands. He was out of that hell, released of that nothingness...]

[...And apparently landed in a giant freezer, he noted as his eyes finally opened and focused. Huh.]

[He takes note of the surroundings (that's a lot of bodies - where did they come from?), before he picks something up. A heartbeat that's not his. One in this room. He stills, opening his mouth a few times until he remembers how to use his vocal cords again]

...Someone there?

[Martel]

[Sometime after escaping the worlds most worst meet up in a meat-locker, Zelos decided he wanted out of the castle. He had no idea how long had past, or what's happened since then- but he knew he had to check on his friends. Lloyd, Colette, Sheena, Presea...he had to make sure they made got off that ship safely.]

[His clothes were still the ones from the Event Horizon, so he wished for a cloak to cover them up. He makes his way down the path to the city, keeping an eye out but not watching the trees because he died on a space ship he has yet to be paranoid about trees okay]

[Symphonia House]

[And finally in this post full of long brackets, he's arriving at the house. He stalls at the front gate, almost feeling that this is too surreal to be real. I mean did you see how many filters it took to get here? Damn. He wanted to see them, yet at the same time he felt fear for the worst. Man, feelings were a pain.]

[But after a minute pause of debate, he'll finally walk up to the door. His keys were still in his bedroom where he left them before the world change, so he knocks on the door lightly.]

Comments

El Meatlocker

[last_rat_standing]

[Unsurprisingly enough, James had been going through much the same range of thoughts and re acclimating himself to being among the living. He'd woken up a couple of minutes before Zelos and had been starting the process of moving his limbs to make sure there was no atrophy when he'd heard one of the other bodies in the room begin to breathe again.

It's a strange thing, really. Hearing a body he was so certain had been dead only moments before take in breath. Of course he's hardly one to judge as, though he's not certain of everything that had happened on that ship, he is sure that he died. He'd stilled when he heard that breath, content to wait until the other person had left... when he speaks.

How does he know? Or is he just being paranoid. There's always the chance that it was some residual effect from the ship. He stays quiet for now, keeping his breathing slow and level as he listens]

El Meatlocker Siempre

[wilder]

[You know, staying perfectly still and quiet is not the way to ease someone with super hearing. Especially one whose last memories of living were getting killed. He's still getting adjusted to hearing all these things again, but the longer he does it- the more certain he is there's a heartbeat here. A heartbeat that is fast enough to show consciousness, no less]

[And unfortunately for Bond, Zelos is in no mood to play dumb.]

If you're awake, you might as well speak up.

Si!

[last_rat_standing]

[Well that went well. He sighs softly, opening his eyes and rolling over on his side enough to prop himself up on his elbow. He regards the man with blue eyes almost as cold as the room they've unceremoniously been deposited in.]

Are you so certain that I'm one you'd want to be speaking with?

[He couldn't give a rat's arse but he knows that people can get pretty touchy sometimes about being shot... even if they don't die.]

[wilder]

[It's hard to say what Zelos was expecting, but the guy who he clearly remembered killing him? Really not high on his hope list. In fact it causes him to jolt back from surprise and nearly fall off his table from lack of muscle control. Whoops]

Y-You?!

[Yep, definitely a nasty way to start your new life. Did someone seriously put him in the same room as the guy who killed him?! Oh, they are so getting a complaint later. He meanwhile almost instinctively is reaching for his sword...only to find it missing. The sword, the scabbard- none of it was there. ]

[Well, crap.]

[last_rat_standing]

[Bond watches the man's reaction with borderline amusement. Really? He's had people desperately try to avoid him before but they don't usually nearly fall off a table to do it.

Of course they're not typically people he's killed so there is that.

He waits for the man to finish flailing about before replying.]

So it would seem. Although I'm not entirely certain how I came to be here.

[He looks pointedly around the room. Beyond that look he doesn't move at all, not wanting to appear as a threat of any kind]

[wilder]

[Hey man he just came back from the dead. Nothing said he had to be graceful about it. ]

[As for his remark, he can't help but give a look. At least the guy isn't moving too much...or mumbling about death like he was before. Still, not a pleasant wake up, that's ow]

You died, that's how.

[looking around, the walls seem like the some sort of storage- wait were those hotpockets up in the corner there? Dear goddess-]

We probably got put in here to keep from rotting.

BECAUSE I CAN

[wolfchild]

[ WE'LL SAY THIS IS MUCH AFTER HE'S HAD HIS DOSE(S) OF ZOLOFT COURTESY OF LLOYD AND COLETTE OKOK

It's become habit to slip inside the door at night. Colette does not stop her and if the others have their concerns, she has been spared hearing of them. Dark as it is, she can make it to the stairs without stumbling or hitting anything. The layout is imprinted in the back of her eyelids. Arya's goal is Colette's room, but she continues up to fetch Curry. Her steps fall quiet as a shadow. As she climbs, she undoes her cape's ties and drapes it over her arm. She hugs it to her chest, her pink coat mussed. ]

YOU REBEL

[wilder]

[YAY EXCELLENT DOSES OF SHONEN FRIENDSHIP ZOLOFT]

[Zelos is still awake. It's pretty unsurprising, considering how recently he woke up and all the things that happened. He had a lot to think about, and no desire to risk find out if this was only some hallucination only to go back to the nothingness. Life sucked, but death in this place was even worse after all]

[As such, he hears the sound of someone climbing up the stairs. It sounds too light to be one of his friends, too quiet. Zelos was paranoid on a good day, so he decides to go investigate, sword at his side]

[And so when Arya is nearly up the stairs, the attic door will open- light from the room spilling into the hallway. Zelos both relaxes and freezes when he sees who it is]

Arya?

YEEEEEEEEEEEAH

[wolfchild]

[ The cape slips from inert fingers. Arya's mouth opens. Not until a slow burn begins under her ribs does she remember to breathe.

The image of him swims and blurs, but the tears do not fall. She stares at him wide-eyed as if he will disappear at any moment. ]

You're alive? [ She starts at the sound of her own voice. It sounds foreign to her, someone else mimicking her. But more pressing, another question— ] If you're a dream, can I never wake?

[wilder]

[He looks at his little wolf. He's slowly getting used to the wide eyed looks, looks like people had seen a ghost. It's to be expected. Not only did he die, but he came back a week early (a fact hard to believe itself, it felt like so much longer than one week). ]

[Don't think he doesn't notice the pink. Pink on Arya is like a wolf wearing clown shoes. Strange and out of place. It's his coat too- just what has been going on since he died?]

[But at the question, he can't help but give a slight smartmouth remark. Maybe it's not his best choice, but he's tired of these questions already]

If I were a dream, I'd hope I'd be dressed better than sleepwear.

[wolfchild]

[ She twists her bracelet. The burns, healing and fresh, wink in and out of sight. It hurts; it gives her something to keep her grounded. ]

I wouldn't care. [ Not even if you were wearing that stupid thing on your head. You'd be alive. Even if it was just a dream. ]

[wilder]

[He notes those burns- where did they come from? He feels so out of the loop, out of touch with everything...]

[But he'll move down a couple steps until he's closer to Arya. Squatting down, he'll put his hands on her shoulders to show that he's corporeal, he's real]

I'm alive.

[Locked Actiony Stuff]

[heal_theworld]

[Martel was sitting up in a tree on her time off from the clinic, when she noticed a person who was walking towards the town. Now, people walk back and forth all the time, but this caught her attention because they seemed to be watching the trees and were cloaked.

But what really made her notice was the red locks that were slipping out from behind the hood. She stared, wide-eyed, because there was only one person she knew with such wild red hair as that.

But it couldn't be, it'd only been a week, she knew it'd only been a week. It took two weeks to come back from the dead. How could he have come back yet? Or maybe it was her eyes playing tricks on her.

There was only one way to know for certain. So, she called to him, knowing that he would hear her, if it was him.]

Zelos...?

[Now if it was, he would ever run because he didn't want to talk to her yet, or he would stop and she would go over to him. She knew that coming back from the dead could be overwhelming, from what Yuan told her. So, if he needed his space, she would understand that. Just knowing he was alive again, that was good enough.]

[Locked Actiony Stuff FOREVER]

[wilder]

[He hears it alright. He doesn't run, but he stops in his tracks when he hears his name. That voice sure sounded familiar and like it came from above. He tries looking up, but he quickly shields his eyes from the sunlight (it's too bright, everything is still so bright). So instead after a pause of squeezing his eye shut to help out- he'll reply]

Martel?

[heal_theworld]

[...Oh, it was him. It was him! She shakes off her shock and scrambles down the tree she's in. She drops to the ground so she can see him and he can see her more easily and approaches him slowly. Almost as if she doesn't want to scare him, and she actually doesn't, but she almost can't believe it.

Because it's only been a week and he's alive again.]

...You're back.

[wilder]

[He stands where he is, watching. It really is Martel, isn't it? He's not sure what he's supposed to say. He'd say she looks like she's seen a ghost, but well....]

Yeah...just woke up a bit ago.

[heal_theworld]

[She can't help that smile that finds it way onto her face, before she hugs him tightly. She's so glad to see him in once piece and just...alive.]

A week early as well.

[wilder]

[Zelos was never really a touchy person. Or rather, he was touchy when he initiated contact- but nothing beyond that. A week of nothingness with no feeling certainly doesn't help that front, so sorry Granny but he seems to freeze some in that hug]

[Her words seem to catch him by surprise though]

- A week early? You mean it hasn't been two?

symphonia house filter; 1/2

[gentleidealist]

[Lloyd answers the door. He looks like hell-- hair all over, rumpled and untucked shirt, and his feet are bare on the oak floor. He looks like he woke up from a hell of a nap, or maybe a hangover, and it takes him a moment to register what he's looking at exactly.

It... can't be. But he's--]

Zelos?

symphonia house filter; 2/2

[gentleidealist]

[He looks hurt and surprised and concerned and happy all in one breath, eyes widening, hands tightening at his sides-- and then he reaches out. In one awkward motion, he grabs Zelos and pulls him into a tight hug.]

1/3

[wilder]

[He had been holding his breath while waiting for the door to be answered, even if he was unaware of such. He couldn't help it really, he had been too scared to ask Martel how Colette and Lloyd were. Scared that something might jinx things, make it so not even Lloyd could fulfill that promise to make it out safe.]

[Please please please be here, please please please be alright kept chanting in his head the whole time. It was almost like a prayer, if Zelos believed prayers did anything. ]

2/3

[wilder]

[And then Lloyd answers. He looks like hell, but he's here. Zelos doesn't even have time to breath a sigh of relief or think of what to say before he's dragged into that tight hug. Like the one with Martel, he freezes a bit. Aside from a few girls in Paradisa, he's never been hugged much. Throw in still getting used to actually feeling stuff like this again, and it's enough to make anyone freeze up. ]

[wilder]

[But unlike with the other hugs? He'll try to ease up after the initial shock. He'll force himself to breath, to relax and even move an arm to hold onto Lloyd's shoulder from behind while letting his guard down and relaxing just a tad against his friend. It's still pretty awkward, but it could still be considered a hug. At least, he hopes it is.]

[Lloyd was alive. He was still functioning so that must mean Colette's okay too. They were alive and he was finally home after a week of hell that had seemed so much longer. But none the less, home at last]

[He has to swallow, thankful that tears really aren't his thing.]

...Hey.

[gentleidealist]

[The little bit of reciprocated contact is enough to assuage any weird fears Lloyd has. He feels like something was stolen from him on that day, and now it's been deposited back on his doorstep, good as new. But one can never tell with the castle.

When Lloyd finally pulls away, it's not a complete loss of contact. He clasps Zelos' shoulder, smiling with relief.]

I knew you'd come back. Colette will be so happy to see you. Everyone will.

[The grip tightens just enough to be kind of painful.]

If you do anything like that again, I'll kick your ass. [You made Colette cry, you son of a bitch.]

Oh, and... welcome home.

[wilder]

[He relaxes further when the hug is over. Okay, back to slightly more familiar turf. He still shifts a little]

Yeah well, you did make me promise. How could I refuse?

[- And okay familiar turf is becoming more familiar with it become a painful grip]

Ow - hey okay okay no more bullets for me. I get it! Don't go giving me bruises there, Bud!

[Though there is still a grin on his face even as he whines. He was home, he was really home]