Resurrected and it feels so good

[dredefulchilde]

Who: Joscelin Fitzthomas + you
What: Why am in this suitcase?
When: Two days after everyone gets back on the train (aka the day before Platform Day)

It's dark. That's the first thing Joss notices. It's dark and cramped and he can't quite figure out why. Hadn't he been with Romeo on the space station? They had followed someone and then there had been gun, and--

Joss gasps, than immediately begins to cough. He feels his chest. He'd gotten shot, hadn't he? That, he remembers clearly. It had hurt like hell for a brief second before everything went black. He figures that he must have passed out from the pain and been transported back to...this very small space where his knees are practically forced up against his chin. What is it? And why does he feel so weak? How badly had he been hurt? Has he been taken captive? Is he in a cage?

The boy struggles for a moment and manages to open whatever he's in enough to see a small crescent of light. It dazzles him. Normally he can see perfectly in both light and dark, but something is off. He feels both blind and deaf; cut off, somehow.

Another kick and his cage gives way completely, revealing itself to be...a suitcase? He falls to the floor of what is obviously the train's baggage car. Why the hell had they put him here? He knows that he's essentially indestructible, but this is ridiculous. Vampire or no, one typically does not put a gravely injured person in a bloody carry-on.

He manages to collect himself, still feeling strangely muffled. Normally he can hear every sound the train makes as it flies through the Void, but now its eerily quiet. The door seems heavier too. once he gets there. And it's really quite shocking how tired he is. He must be dreadfully short on blood indeed, if he's feeling this weak.

Still blinking away spots, the boy stumbles out the door to the baggage car and into the train beyond.

Comments

For Tony

[dredefulchilde]

He makes it all the way to the kitchen, still feeling curiously woozy. Blood. He needs blood. Blood will put him to rights. Blood will make him feel less weak and wooly, help him hear and see better. Blood will make him normal again.

He pulls the refrigerator door handle and is surprised by how heavy it suddenly is. And the blood packs seem so high. Not for the first time, he wonders what that gun had done to him. He's survived worse injuries than that, but this is different, somehow. Shivering in the cold of the fridge, he stares up at the blood and wonders why the sight repulses him.

He wheels around sharply when he hears someone approach from behind, allowing the door to swing shut.

[deductiongeek]

Conan turns at the sound of footsteps... and stumbles back as his face pales in shock. He hadn't been this surprised since he'd woken and realized that he'd lost ten years.

"Joss? How? This isn't possible."

[dredefulchilde]

He blinks. Conan looks shocked, but, strangely, Joss can't hear it in the other boy's breathing or pulse.

"...it isn't? I just woke up in a bloody suitcase. I know that I got into a bit of trouble back during the mission, but this seems extreme."

[deductiongeek]

"You died," Conan tells him bluntly. He wasn't in any state of mind to soften the news. "I solved your murder myself. A sabotager shot you through the chest with a laser."

[dredefulchilde]

Whatever Joscelin had been expecting to hear, it wasn't that. He bristles, and his face flushes with anger for the first time since 1349.

"That's not funny," he snaps. "Of course I didn't die. How would I be here if I had died? I must have just been gravely wounded."

Sometime closer to 'evening', Day 15 of Egret

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita hadn't quite slept all day, but it was close. Making her own way to the kitchen, she found Joss right before then and practically felt her brain stop.

She'd known of people coming back from inexplicable absences in the luggage carriage, as well as various 'not quite dead' states for species of all sorts back home, even of how people came back from things that would ordinarily kill them in Nautilus, but here death seemed a bit too... final.

"Joss?" Even if the two hadn't talked much, if at all, on or off Network, she knew his name.

"Er, sorry, you're heading somewhere?" She made to edge along the corridor, let him walk past, but she was still staring, and hated herself for it.

[deductiongeek]

"Are you saying you can survive being shot through the chest?" His tone was mixed incredulity and lingering pain. He'd shoved away all of his emotions about finding an acquaintance like that for as long as it took to find the case. A detective who depended on logic and a clear mind couldn't afford the distraction of emotions.

But that didn't mean he didn't feel anything. He'd still spent the time since then wondering if he could have done something if he'd just found that room earlier.

"I checked. You had no pulse, no heartbeat. You weren't breathing. And I really want to know how you can be here now. Can vampires become zombies?"

[dredefulchilde]

"I had an entire block of flats fall on me during the Blitz," Joss points out, peevishly. "Vampires are sturdy. There isn't much that can kill us." But he suddenly feels doubt. Destruction of the heart is one of those things. Whatever had hit him had hurt, and then--

He shakes his head, not wanting to entertain the thought. It was preposterous anyway. If he had died, how could he be here? Vampires don't have souls. They don't come back as ghosts. Their second deaths are always very, very final.

"I'm already dead. I have never had much of a pulse, and I'm always cold. Plus, there's no such bloody thing as zombies. Necromancy is purely a theoretical magic."

[internetsexsymbol]

Reigen hasn't slept in the past two days (he'd just gotten over the bout of insomnia from last month too, dammit), so he's mostly just been aimlessly wandering and trying not to think too much about everything. When he sees a small figure come out from the baggage car, he's almost certain his imagination is mocking him, but when he sees the boy's face, everything seems to stop.

"...Joscelin?" His voice is incredibly soft, colored with shock and relief he's not sure he can fully feel yet. Reigen hesitantly approaches, afraid to confirm whether it's really Joss or just a ghost he can see through easily.

[hashtagparkerluck]

This is the same time of day that Peter can be found lounging in one of the web hammocks generously supplied by the resident spider. The Dressing car is a Mess. Because today Peter's not in the hammock but rather laying on the floor with books and papers scattered all around him ranging from science to fantasy he seems to have just collected a bunch of things and locked him self away with with what are probably the last few cans of Monster Energy Drinks. He's got dark circles under his eyes from absolute refusal to sleep and his tapping his pencil somewhat manically as he reads some notes on things.

He looks up as he hears some commotion in the luggage car because he was pretty sure there was no one back there. He knows he's been in this spot since whenever the magical teleport back to your room thing happened and he's pretty sure no one snuck past him. Pretty Sure.

"...Hello?" He calls out, voice full of apprehension. Was this the anomaly the inspectors had detected that once time? No, based on the conversation he'd had he's pretty sure they all were but maybe they missed something? Was there something on the train they were unaware of?

[dredefulchilde]

The voice takes Joscelin quite by surprise and he finds himself jumping, and hating himself for it. No one ever sneaks up on Joscelin Fitzthomas. It's impossible. He can always hear them coming.

Except today, apparently. Fuck, he must really be low on blood.

"Christ, Parker, you almost gave me a heart attack."

Re: For Tony

[runs_on_batteries]

He hadn't eaten yesterday, finding everything turned his stomach. He'd stayed mainly in bed, needing the day of rest for several reasons but the main one, of course, was grief. For now, at least, he'd managed to pull himself out of bed for tea. He didn't want it exactly, but he knew he needed it. He was still wearing his robe and lounge pants instead of real clothes, but his hair had been tamed a bit and he was upright. What more did people want from him?

Walking into the kitchen, he noticed the movement first. His gaze landed on the familiar shape and he.. just stared. The empty, red travel mug in his hand dropped to the floor but he didn't even notice it. "Joss?" He asked, half believing he was either seeing a ghost or hallucinating.

[dredefulchilde]

"Stark!"

For a moment, the boy looks exactly his age--just a young child happily greeting a parent who has just come home from work, maybe. But then he closes off again, carefully schooling his face into its usual sarcastic mask.

"...You look like hell."

[dredefulchilde]

"Reigen!" Joscelin runs over to his roommate, wondering why he still feels so breathless. "What's going on? Why was I in the baggage car?"

[runs_on_batteries]

Either this was a really wonderful hallucination or Joss was back somehow. Whichever one it was, he wasn't questioning it. He was just going to hug the mirage and enjoy it like a crazy person if that's what it was.

He was moving before he'd realized it and dropping to his knees in front of the kid. Pulling him into a strong hug, Tony fought not to cry with relief. "Y- you're alive! I don't give a damn what I look like. You're.. how are you alive?"

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter squints at the doorway, moving slowly to a position he could easily leap up to the ceiling if needed but he stops dead (poor choice of words, sorry.) at the sight Joss. Someone he knew to be dead. And in Peter's experience the dead don't come back. As much as he really wished they would sometimes he knows better. So the fact Joss is standing mere feet away from him and looking a little healthier?? than Peter really remembers has him just staring blankly.

"Likewise." He still manages to quip, staring at Joss as though he doesn't quite believe what he's seeing. Is this another dream? I doesn't really feel like a dream but how else could he be seeing Joss right now?

[dredefulchilde]

He hadn’t expected to be tackled by a grown man. Really, why is everyone acting so strange? Of course he’s alive. Being shot can’t kill him; he’s basically immortal.

“St-Stark, you’re hurting me.”

Wait, why does this hurt? He’s supposed to be so much sturdier than this. He gingerly returns the hug, wrapping small, warm arms around Tony’s neck.

[sensitiveapple]

She'd been told that Joss had given his life, saving them from a saboteur.

It's not fair. It's not! First, she loses Jocko and Freema and all her friends at the house, then, she loses someone who doesn't want her to be a courtesan, but something more, and now... Joss. He'd been nice to her, and she just wishes he was here.

She's actually looking for Bucky when she trips over something on the floor and falls against the wall. Sighing, she picks herself up and... That's not possible. It's not. It's not possible, even with her wishing, it's not possible. He'd been dead. She'd seen his body herself, and known... there is no coming back from that injury. She'd wanted to try, but she'd known.

"Joss?" She whispers softly, seeing him standing there. "Joss!" Then she practically jumps on him and wraps him in a hug. "You were dead!" She whispers, sniffling.

[deductiongeek]

"Did you also already have rigor mortis? I know what death looks like." He'd seen enough death to be sure of that. He'd seen hundreds of murders, and in all that time he had only been in time to save a scant handful. Knowing death so well wasn't something he was proud of, but it was a knowledge he was confident in.

"Are you sure about that in this universe? Vampires didn't exist in my world, but since you're here they can obviously exist here."

[runs_on_batteries]

That remark was enough to snap Tony out of it. He pulled back quickly, worried he was touching some injury he couldn't see. However, before he asked what was wrong, Joss was pulling him back into a hug. It was weaker, sure, but it was enough to keep Tony right where he was.

"I'm sorry, Joss." He was sorry for many, many things. The first one was hugging too hard, which surprisingly was a possible thing when it used to not be. He wondered at this strange change. He was torn between wanting to get answers and not wanting to frighten the boy. He was certain whatever was behind this had to do with the train- unless Joss had powers he hadn't told Tony about. Based on what was said before the mission, he doubted Joss knew he was part phoenix. "Joss.. you- how are you feeling?"

[dredefulchilde]

"Confused," he says truthfully. "I was hurt and then--why is everyone looking at me like they've seen a ghost? Conan Edogawa is going on saying that I was murdered but that can't be true it--"

He breaks off, and stares at Tony.

"Where's Romeo? Is he all right? I shoved him out of the way but I wasn't watching my strength, and..."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony drew back so he could see Joss better. He watched the boy's face and then started to notice he didn't really look the same either.

"What was the first thing you remember being here. I'm assuming you woke up somewhere, right?" His frown deepened as Joss mentioned Romeo.

He shook his head and shifted his weight off his knees so he could sit on the floor. "Joss.. a number of people went missing during the mission. Bucky disappeared right before my eyes. I don't know what caused it or what this means about them returning but.. Romeo was one of them. I'm sorry. I've been watching the roster and so far, his name is in gold."

[dredefulchilde]

Why is Tony looking at him like that?

"I was in the baggage car, bundled up inside of a rolling suitcase. Was that some sort of joke? I know I was hurt and it seems like quite a stupid place to put someone when they're injured. I mean I was shot, and..."

He's rambling, trying to fight back the panic that's threatening to overwhelm him.

And then Tony tells him what he had begun to fear and it all falls apart.

"No. No no no no. You're lying!" He's shouting now, hot tears burning his eyes. "Romeo can't be missing! I saved him! You're lying; why would you lie?!"

He's fighting to get away from Tony but his strength seems to have gone completely out of him. All he can do is pound weakly against Tony's chest with his small fists.

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Joss-san?"

It's not so much shocked, as it is with wary eyes Eva looks at him. Really looks at him, as if she's trying to decide if he's really there, or not. Or if this was a trick of some sort, like a ghost-type's pranks. But she's the only trainer on the train and she's pretty certain none of the illusionists would pull such a thing (and if they did, they'd be in for a world of pain).

So... Maybe there? That's what she'll go with, for now and play fill in the how's and why's later. "...Welcome back...?"

[runs_on_batteries]

As if his heart wasn't broken enough, he watched helplessly as Joss fell apart over his dearest friend being gone. "Joss.. hey hey, you know I'd never lie to you. You did save him. He's just disappeared for a while. You know how people often do here for god-knows what reason."

He rose his hand and touched Joss' forehead. Warm. "Joss.." God, this wasn't the time to drop another big bomb on the poor kid's head. "We won't know till the next platform which is tomorrow." Still, he rubbed the boy's back and took the hits to his chest without complaint. Being Joss' punching bag was worth it if it meant the kid was alive again.