Getting It Over With - Video - OTA (CW: Death mentions)

[najaran]

[Najaran sighed and with Gremlin's help figured out how to send a video message. Machines were still a little confusing to her.]

[A deep breath then she began speaking to where Gremlin's small scaly finger came into frame to point her to.]

"Leia and I already talked about it. But I figure a lot of you are gonna wanna let me know how upset you are that I didn't let the train evacuate me at the end of the last mission. That I tried to stand and fight those things. That I refused to run away again. Anyway, I'm probably going to be hungry a lot this month, so if you're going to yell at me, I'd rather just let everyone yell at me today and just get it over with, okay?"

[She hesitated, unsure, then shrugged.] "So yeah. I'll be in the Garden car if you want to come yell at me in person. Just please be careful not to hurt Woodfolk, they had nothing to do with it."

[Again that scaled hand came onto the screen to point out what she was supposed to do next.]

Comments

[najaran]

"Because keeping the Dark Lord sealed was corrupting and devouring them. They were dying because the Dark Lord's strength was too much. If they were immortal than they could have held it off, maybe even defeated it themselves..."

[crowneddragon]

"So the... Mistrals were s'pposed to defeat him?" there's a pause, a bright glance from the corner of his eyes as they narrow. "... Was it? Did you manage?"

He's not trying to be mean in his questions, it's just... if he doesn't ask, he might paint the wrong picture, or assume things that are out of order. And if he is asking too much-- he glances at the staff once more, certain that at the very least, Goligan would keep an eye out on her. Esteban is clumsy, and he knows it. But he still wants to help.

He reaches out to the vegetables that she is still working on, washing then peeling them, and between him, her, and her entire herd of cards, there's quite a lot to cut and peel and dice. It keeps the hands busy while they talk.

[najaran]

"Yeah... We were supposed to. And... um..." she sighed, somewhere between sad and sheepish, with a hint of frustration and anger. "We were fighting and trying to, but the whole thing became a mess. The Black Cepters showed up to claim the Dark Lord and DumDum's army, the ones who were still alive anyway turned to help us. We... We were still kind of loosing. Then Zenith showed up and made everything worse..."

[crowneddragon]

... Is that just him, or is that pretty recent? Or recent-ish before Najaran boarded the train?

It's hard to tell what gives him that impression. The way her sentences were structured? Oh! Because she doesn't know the end of it? Or hasn't shared it, at least.

He pauses in his work, glancing at his young friend, before adding a soft "an' then what happened?" trying to get the full picture. He checks Goligan as well, just to see how the staff is faring-- while Najaran is more open on what she will say, Goligan has his share as well, and it was him who stopped Najaran when she was about to say too much. If he's prodding too far, he might get scolded for his nosiness.

... Well, it wouldn't be the first time, anyways.

[najaran]

Goligan was staying nearby, listening. Or sleeping with his eyes open. It could be hard to tell with him, sometimes.

"Um... well he kinda blew away the last of the seals on the Dark Lord and let him out. So... I made him help us fight the Dark Lord..."

[crowneddragon]

She is really reluctant to talk about this. It shows in the stops-and-starts, the questions he constantly has to ask. Somehow, it feels like Najaran is not even sure of the ending herself. Or maybe she knows it, and-- worse-- she doesn't want to talk because worse things come, and--

If Tidus can be on the train, and be a dream--

If Romeo can be on the train, and--

His eyes widen as he takes in what her reluctance might mean. Might be for.

"Najaran-- did you die?" He asks, his voice caught in his throat. He slips languages without really meaning to, emotions tangling too close and the words out of his mouth before he can think to say them better. Dead Guardians in a ditch.

Dead Guardians in a ditch.

No-- not her!

It's-- he-- Not her? She's his friend, she's precious to him. How can he-- how can he protect her if she's already dead?

This one is harder to swallow. He's known Romeo; he's known people that have died and are on the train but it's different because Najaran is his friend, she's part of his hoard and-- and-- has he already lost her?

He always loses them. He always does, but that hits harder. That hits him hard. It's a struggle to keep it off from his face, from reacting too much, before he gets the confirmation. The denial. He hopes it'll be the latter.

[najaran]

"You mean from the World Eaters?" she asked, confused at the topic change. and... she was pretty sure he knew that, didn't he? Yeah she was just really confused now.

[crowneddragon]

It's so hard to say. Something rattling in his lungs and in his throat, and it's so hard to say the words through the lump in his throat.

He won't hesitate though. Darting around the subject-- maybe if he had more tact, he'd know how to do it. But he doesn't. Always, always so clumsy with his words; they flee from him like flocks of birds, so that only the heaviest ones can be caught. Can stumble through his lips.

"Najaran. Did you die in your world?" Please, no. He would pray to the Guardian Spirit he doesn't have-- but he truly, seriously hopes Najaran did not. Not in her world.

There is-- there is some good after all. In the train snapping them back before they can die here. Esteban doesn't like it, certainly resents it. But it could be far worse.

[najaran]

"What?!" she asked, stunned. She shook her head. "No... I mean, I don't think so... Why? Did something happen that I don't know about? I know when Mina and I went back we couldn't find anyone.... but... I didn't think I was dead..." She looked to Goligan.

"I do not think we died, Lady Najaran. I suspect even Culdra did not create an afterlife as odd as this Train."

[crowneddragon]

Oh, thank the Guardians. He doesn't have one, but he'll thank them anyways. Romeo he'd learned early enough. Najaran--

It's... He wouldn't have taken it so well. He knows-- logically, he knows he can't save everyone, he can't save anyone. But it still hurts to think that there might be nothing that Esteban can do. That the people he knows and got attached to and loves-- are already gone.

But she's not. She's not, and Esteban breathes, settles his thoughts as best he can. One more, deep breath.

"Okay." Okay. She's okay. It's okay.

The train is messing with him, for sure.

"So what happened next?" He can listen to her past. She hasn't died, she's alive, somewhere, in her own world. It's a small comfort, but it is there all the same. He can listen to the rest of her tale.

[najaran]

She hesitated there, then deflated. "I'm... not sure I'm supposed to talk about that..." she mumbled. And there he has the real reason she'd been hesitating and stumbling. She was trying to figure out how to end the story, honestly, without getting her Master angry at her or putting people in danger. "I'm sorry," she added quietly.

[crowneddragon]

There's a soft smile, a gentle relief, still lacing through Esteban's being. She can't tell him. And things sound horrible on their own, yes, and he doesn't doubt that there's grief, or pain hidden in there. But he's relieved, still, that death is not part of her story there.

"Nah." He's been pushy. "It's okay. Y've said what you could." And Esteban is glad to have this much. He's always been greedy for his friend, will always be greedy for his friends. But he won't push further than they'll allow him.

His breath is warm when he tries to steer them back, back out of this rabbit hole he's pushed them both in. A cheerier smile that lights up at the corner of his eyes.

"The bread sh'ld be ready soon. I'll go an' fetch them, an' we'll be able to serve it t' everybody. Sounds good?"

[najaran]

She was so relieved he wasn't pushing. She nodded and smiled brightly. "Okay!"

[crowneddragon]

His quick dash to-and-back from the kitchen is quick enough, returning with the freshly baked bread, the aroma of it already mouth-watering. It takes him just a moment to start cutting the buns up, hollowing them out and plating them so that Najaran can pour the stew directly into the warm bread, and make the meal as scrumptious as he already knows it will be.

"Stews are the best!" he adds, lightly, just to start a chatter that might be easier on them both than his last line of questioning. "I love how it warms you all up!" he cheerfully adds as he passes a plate out to the nearest critter, so he can start focusing on the next bread.

"I always end up eatin' a lot of it. That an' soups are the best when travellin'."

[najaran]

She nodded, giving everything another stir. "Me too!"

"Naja, you eat a lot of everything...." Goligan pointed out.

Fade-to-black as discussed~

[crowneddragon]

"A healthy appetite is a good thing!" Esteban is quick to protest, and the plates get passed. "An' eatin' with friends make everything more delicious!"

Which makes this a great occasion. Good food and good company.

It's reason enough to make Esteban happy.

Ty for the thread.

[najaran]

"EXACTLY!" she agreed happily.