voidtreckerexpress | I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take.

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I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take.

Who: Nita and YOU. Preferably close CR, but anyone can stop by.
Where: Quiet Car, second floor, a room near the front of the carriage.
When: Middle half of Grasshopper; post-platform, pre-event.
What: A(n ex-) wizard retreats. Some may come to reprimand, some to console, some just to find out WTF happened.
Warnings: ... Discussion of what's basically psychic assault in this log, folks. Mind your headspace!

After the platform, Nita retreated into herself. That was the best way to describe it; she could not be 'booked' in one of these rooms the same way she could have been in the Medical Car, but she spent as much time as she could in just the one room, not speaking unless spoken to, not leaving except to go to the restroom or fetch another journal.

No matter when one arrived to check on her, she would be either resting - staring off into space more than actually sleeping - or writing.

Some of the words were crossed out, as if she had had a tough time finding the right ones, but the writing looked to be formal in nature. A report. And, most notably, it was in English, not the alien curves of the Speech.

If she had to live with her actions, Nita figured, the least she could do was explain them - and explain why they were wrong.

Mostly, though, what encompassed her mind was the emptiness of it all. She couldn't even be angry now.

Fitting.

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[Nita's expression turns grim.]

... I'll remember that.

[But, uh, how should she use it? It wasn't as if having everyone power the sort of spell she used would somehow make it a better idea.]

Uta's response earned him a quirk of the lips, albeit one quickly suppressed.

"There were fewer of them this time around, though, weren't there? ... Didn't exactly get to catch them. Did make it easier not to drag them in as collateral."

"For fuck's sake, Spark, yes," Nita said, more vehemently.

"But I was glad to be rid of it, to not feel like I was living with split loyalties. We were given a powerup that made us gods, and I didn't want it. That's not the kind of person I am.

"Do you even remember getting it, when we wrapped things up and defeated Isis for good?"

Nita snorts; she can't exactly deny that.

"True. Bobo himself is the only one who could have given them a tipoff..."

Dairine's next response, however, brings her up short.

"... No. No, I haven't. Figured that was another side-effect of being taken out of the Powers' domain. You think there's something more to it?"

I'll take care of the books, then. Take care, Nita.

[ He gives her one last look...briefly gets stuck trying to get the dragon through the door...and then he's off. What a mess. ]

"I know," Lea said, setting the tray down on the table. "I hadn't seen you at meals, though, and I was getting kinda worried. So I made you some soup; the kind my mom used to make for me and Isa. It always helped me feel better when I was bummed about something. And it was also one of the only ways she could get me to eat my vegetables."

Upon inspection, Nita would notice that the soup was indeed a vegetable soup with egg noodles. It smells pretty darn good too, and when she tastes it, she'll realize that it's a bit spicy. Not especially so, but enough to wake up a person's taste buds and catch their interest.

"Besides, you look like you could use a little break from whatever it is that you're writing there." He indicated the journal with its many scratch outs.

His own expression quirked as she asked if there were fewer this time.

"I fear I wouldn't know if it was more or less than usual. The last platform day I was a lost little lamb to be shepherded aboard." Not that he needed much shepherding. It occurred to him that she was absent last platform day as well and he couldn't stop the faint evanescent smile from passing across his face.

"You speak as if what happened had the chance to harm everyone here." Again: gentle, without judgement, patient.

"I'm not trying to starve myself," Nita said wryly. "Just... trying to be alone."

The explanation earned Lea a thoughtful look. "Your mom, huh?"

That sounded like the sort of trick her own mom would have played, if it'd been needed. Moving the soup and water to the desk, she eyed it before turning back to the redhead.

"If you say so. I'd hate to let any of this go to waste, anyway."

Another comment, another snort from Nita. Uta was on a roll today, clearly.

"The train's hit me before, once. But that time, it was reacting in fear, to something else. This time it was anger."

Understandably, of course; she had assaulted it.

"...What, you think I'm just leaving?"

How did this happen?!

"I didn't figure you were trying," Lea said, "but you seemed kinda out of it last time I saw you, among other things. Just wanted to make sure little things like needing to eat and drink didn't end up getting lost in the shuffle, you know?"

He just smiled slightly and nodded when she mentioned his mom. But his smile became a bit more amused at her comment about the food. "Good. That was the plan. And there's more in the fridge and freezer if you want something to heat up for a quick meal. Or of anybody else wants some too, I guess; kinda hard to make just one serving of soup from scratch, so I made a whole pot of it."

S'reee had been putting this off, but eventually, she'd decided that Nita needed to know that, regardless of anything, they were heart-sisters. Even if S'reee felt like she should have done something before now. Well before now.

She sang a single querying note outside the car. /H'niiit? May I come in?/

"Not sure if you've noticed, but this isn't exactly your normal space," Nita replied, turning away.

"It's a lot smaller than the Garden Car, for one. And I'd, uh, hate to keep you here."

A little bit of her usual nature resurfacing? Perhaps.

Nita nodded at the reminder.

"I'm not that bad at self-care... usually."

Even without using the Speech, she's not willing to lie.

"Thanks," she said again, before sitting back down.

"... Did you want to talk over lunch or something? If you really wanted to be sure I took a break, anyway."

The use of the Speech was enough to startle Nita right out of her seat; daze broken by her landing on the floor, she got back up and shook herself.

"... Yeah. It's not locked."

She even went over to make sure the door could open wide enough.

"Yeah, you know how I was saying they didn't make you less Nita? That includes being stupid if someone leaves you alone, so I'm sticking around till you snap out of it. Otherwise you'll just sit here thinking circular depressing thoughts." The book, huffing, took up a spot right in midair.

Tidus had respected her wishes that day, knowing that likely, all she wanted to do was be numb and cry. And he knew about that, even if he wouldn't exactly say it out loud. But there were others he reasoned, other people who'd know to go and check up on her and have better words of comfort to share.

He'd hope to see her at breakfast time anyway the next day, or catch her somewhere else and find out how better she's doing. But he doesn't until he goes up to the second floor of the quiet car himself, having some plans of his own.

Until he spots her through the glass, and those plans aren't quite as important.

Her door gets a light knock-knock-knock, and he holds up a hand, makes a face that seems to ask with its small sad smile, Hey, there room for another?

Nita opened her mouth to protest that she wasn't alone, not really-

But then, that was exactly the problem, wasn't it?

"Might be more than just a day or two," Nita pointed out, but most of the bite was still gone from her words.

But she sat down at the desk, flipping to a blank page in her journal, and began to write.

He may be able to spot her, but Nita's not looking at the door.

Or at much of anything. One of the benches has been made into a makeshift bed, with her lying face-down on top of it.

"It's unlocked," she says, because she can't just ignore him; that would be going one petty too far, right now.

"I have faith you'll get your ass together before then. But it's not like this freaking train is laugh-a-minute." Annoying Nita mercilessly was an excellent defense against boredom, actually.

It would be some minutes before Nita spoke again; the only other sound was the noise of gently-scratching pen on paper.

"I'm not getting wizardry back unless the train deems it's okay."

She'd had to be told that bit, but it wasn't that hard to reason out; the wronged party deciding the punishment's length.

Perhaps the peridexis hadn't wanted to make the ultimate decision there.

Zetta huffed. "There are like a million different 'wizardries' out there. I've told you enough that you should've figured that out by now. It's all the same basic idea in the end."

"Check my status."

If he did, he'd find, instead of 'wizard' among her stats, the word 'indeterminate'

"I'm not going to cheat to get wizardry back. It's not about the power."

Titles change, man. They were really important, but they changed. "How the hell is taking a different path 'cheating'? That's like saying if the highway's closed, you're just gonna sit and wait for it to reopen instead of taking the back roads!"

This time Nita stopped writing, turning around to look the book dead in the eye.

"Because if I want to see my friend again, I have to be someone who can be a wizard of the Powers' Oath in Life's Name."

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I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take.

Wrap here, if that's alright?

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sure

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S'reee is wonderful. ;; Also, any preference on an exact date for this?

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day after the Event

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Re: day after the Event

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