[Semi-open] But you'll never see the price it costs- the scars collected all their lives

[mtsilver_conquor]

Who: Eva + YOU!
What Nightmares and breaking points.
Where 3C, Kitchen, Game Car, and Quite Car.
When Night Egret 26
Warnings PTSD mentions, mentioned past death, blatant talk of what a realistic pokemon world's like.


Cabin 3C (Closed to Cabinmates- tag as you please thread.)
"NO-!" That is very much a strangled yell as Eva sits bolt upright, eyes wide as her heart pounds in her ears. "Not real-"

Because it's not. She knows what's happened. Nightmare. But that doesn't magically make the fact she's sweety go away, nor stop the ragged breaths, or the glances at cabin mates to check that yes, it was simply a rather bloody dream. They're still alive. Misa. Nerdanel. Feanor. Princess in his pokeball. They're alive. That means Peter. Kaito. Little One. Kaiba. The rest of the train.

The friends she's made and those she thinks of as family. They are alive and not dead or dying or hurt or hostages or or or-

This isn't Lavender Tower. Not Silph Co. This isn't that hysterical, blood and tear-stained night Fluffy came into her possession-

Hands clench blankets -sleeping bag- and knuckles go white. "There's blankets under me. Not rock..."

She curls up and tries to keep the sob from escaping. She really, really does. But she does anyway because under everything? she's scared and terrified and her mum isn't a teleport away.


OPEN: Kitchen or Game Car
a/ Kitchen
Somehow she manages to abscond to the kitchen.

Tea is good. Tea is the best at soothing nightmare shaken nerves, even if it's gone cold, and she's not really drinking it so much as she is staring at it, face blank and hollow. For all of Eva's optimism and generally sunny personality, she has been through hell and back and it shows.

She hates it.

Mostly, Eva's not sure how to handle this because her support network isn't here, and there are parts - many, many, many parts- of her world she's not comfortable with talking about with people who wouldn't understand.

"Four, grant me strength..."

b/ Game's Car
At some point, she leaves the kitchen with a thermos of tea, grabs one of the cloaks she burrowed (stole) from the aborted mission, and retreats into a beanbag. Princess is curled up on her lap, and Eva looks- Lost.

Lost, unsure. Not at all like her normal self. The quiet confidence she carries herself with is shattered for now. But, that doesn't stop her from trying to put a smile on her face should anyone approach her.

"Hey. Couldn't sleep too?"


Quiet carriage (Closed to Garret)
Eventually, though, Eva retreats to one of the quiet cabins, where she curls up in on herself. She has... a lot to think about. She'd been more open this night about the brutality of her world than she'd like.

She's not sure how to deal with it.

Thankfully, there's no more tears, but it doesn't mean she can't get lost in thoughts. Enough so that she jerks when the door opens. "Uh - Oh. Garret-san?"

She tried to offer him a smile, but honestly? she just looks tired. Tired and drained.

Comments

[mtsilver_conquor]

"You're alive... That's good."

There's a hollowness there and if she didn't have a lap full of pokemon, she'd have dragged the younger boy into a hug. As it is, she makes a come here motion so he can sit right beside her. "Nightmares- Memories of home mixed in with the friends I have here, really."

Bad ones if she's commenting on how alive he is.

[stealsyourheart]

He obeys, flopping down bonelessly next to her and offering scritches to Pokemon. Close enough to reassure her of his solidity, but not crowding

"Yep." He agrees. "Alive, unhurt. Still insomniac, though!"

[mtsilver_conquor]

Once he's settled, he's pulled into a one-armed hug.

"I don't think they've a cure for that." There's a vague half-smile as her grip tightens. She knows, logically, she should not be using a teenage boy as some sort of grounding anchor. But at the same time, he's a friend, someone she's come to think of as family and-

She is shaken. "I'd take it over the nightmare, though."

[stealsyourheart]

He leans against her, since she seems to need the contact.

(And he prays to every kami that Aoko is asleep and does not come out to find them like this)

"Nightmares are the worst." He agrees. "Keeps a body from the sleep they need! Want some coffee? I promise I made it, Edogawa hasn't appeared to destroy it yet."

[mtsilver_conquor]

She makes herself at home against him and slowly, the grip loosening until it's a more friendly hug/lean and not a 'cling on for dear life.'

"That is so tempting," if only because it'd give her something else to think about, but- no. "but- allergy, remember? But, yeah. The worse when you see friends and family get ... hurt. By something you eventually caught."

[stealsyourheart]

"Oh right." He wrinkles his nose. "And that's how you know I need some, or I'd remember."

He nods. "It's always hard." He agrees quietly. "But at least you caught the responsible one, right?"

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Technically you only need the caffeine-hit," She points out wryly. "But I'd guess it's the taste, too."

Ok so she's still upset that the 'tea' from the warzone was actually coffee. But moving on, f only because there is... so much she could say, could unpack.

"... She's a myūtsū named Fluffy."

[stealsyourheart]

"Well yes." He twists to not leave the hug but be able to smile up at her.

Pause.

"You... named a weapon of mass desctruction... Fluffy!?"

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Yes...?" Eva blinks back, more baffled than anything by the reaction and brain a little to slow to catch that he knows Fluffy is a weapon of mass destruction. "She is sort of fluffy when she poofs up."

She'll panic over Kaito knowing one of her closest kept secrets in a second.

[stealsyourheart]

"Fluffy" He says again, incredulous. "REALLY?!"

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Yes-"

And now her eyes go wide and the colour drains from her face as what he said settles into her skull. "How did you know she's a weapon of destruction? I've told no-one-"

This is bad. This is very, very, very bad.

[stealsyourheart]

"Er... you just said." He blinks at her. "Not in those words, but ... I was exagerrating for humorous effect, but you've... kinda already told us pokemon are dangerous. Not exactly a big jump, even in whimsy, when you say friends and family get... hurt" He mimics her exactly, right down to inflection.

"How destructive are we actually talking here."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Yes, but no- not that. How did you know she's a weapon of mass destruction?!"

Very deer in the headlights time. Yep.

[stealsyourheart]

Very gently.

"I was joking, Iden'no-san. Y'know. Taking a small statement and exaggerating it. I mean, considering what you've said, it's not a big stretch, but I wasn't actually being serious."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"R-right..."

Give her a second to maybe catch her breath and calm down. Or at least pretend she's even remotely calm and not FEAR.

Her pokerface is not as good as she's like.

"I- she is one. She was made to be a weapon greater than the gods and she and her siblings are still babies-"

[stealsyourheart]

P A U S E

"Aaaaaaand they didn't see that this was a Bad Idea because apparently literal villains never read the Evil Overlord List, clearly. Oh dear."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Of course not. Why would they? Pokemon aren't humans, they aren't - aren't us."

Aren't sapient beings, but- it's hard to reveal something she's kept for the better part fo a decade.

Just because she promised doesn't mean she wants to tell. Not with a secret of this magnitude.

"It's -gods. You're years older than I was when I found out."

[stealsyourheart]

"And people get scared of things that aren't us, huh?"

He nods and grins encouragingly at her. "It's good it was you though. You're kind, but you're smart too."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"You have no idea..."

Just because they haven't had wars in centuries doesn't mean there's not other problems in society.

Eva's quite for a while, clearly weighing her options and thinking about how much she should say. Should reveal. But if he's already guessed, even just jokingly-

Gods let her will be of ice. She reaches for a pendant that isn't there. "Are you sure you want to know?"

[stealsyourheart]

He leans against her and waits patiently.

"Course I do - magician, remember? Curiosity is almost a requirement. But only if you wanna tell me. If it hurts you too much to talk about it, then quite frankly - I don't need to know badly enough to cause you pain."

[mtsilver_conquor]

Her gut twists, but she might as well. She's pretty sure he's smart enough to put the dots together, based on what she's said already, and anyway...

It's better coming from her.

"She's sapient. The myūtsū species was made to be sapient weapons of mass destruction. Designed to surpass even the gods. They were -are- the strongest pokemon ever."

[stealsyourheart]

".... " He blinks and then manages weakly. "Does your world not have Victor Frankenstein, then. That... they created a sentient weapon of mass destruction? There are so many things wrong with that I don't know where to start!"

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Then don't start. Don't go own the hole. It's not a pleasant place."

Eva says imply as she gives him another hug. "I've had her for a decade - known she was sapient for just as long and protected her from those who'd seek to kill her. Even I don't know everything done to make her species."

Lies. She knows exactly what as done but Eva's got little under a decade of experience in telling this lie and making it sound true. Because it's easier, it's safer. It's better if she's one of the only ones who know.

"But what I do know is she's less murderous. She's smart and graceful and curious and she very much will sit in a box if it's there."

[stealsyourheart]

"Sits in a box..." He says slowly. "So she's a cat. Your world clearly has no actual cats or they would've known better than to weaponise them, and I like cats."

At a distance. They chase his pidgeons and that's not good for anyone.

Also he's being facetious to try and help her calm kami please tell him if it's helping.

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva snickers, though the grin is weak, even if the remark is far more appt than Kaito knows.

"Weird humanoid-ish cat, yeah, and I wouldn't be shocked if what they based on is actually some sort of cat given some of the behaviours. Though I haven't gotten her to chase a laser pointer. Yet."

Yet. But one day she will.