21st step: Seeing the sky [video]

[favorthebold]

[The feed clicks on to a view blurred by heavy rain. In the not-so-far background towers the wall of the Inner City. The figure that peers down at the PCD, shaking the device, is at first shadowed and difficult to make out. A few hard taps later, however, the view clears.

Saul grins at the camera. It's a bit of a shaky grin - he looks exhausted, underfed and somewhat battered, generally the worse for wear. But there's a scary sort of light in those eyes. He looks very pleased with himself.]

Ah - still working. Good, good.

[He chuckles very softly, glancing back at the wall, then again at the device.]

Well, then - doma Bao. I'll be seeing you, I believe.

[That said, Saul's hand drops to his side, affording a brief view of him standing, braced against a building wall, head tilted back and eyes and mouth open to the rain, before he starts moving - slow and stiff but purposeful - and the feed switches off.]



As my fortune holds... be here.

Comments

[offline]

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

[She knew the way. She'd been by there before, both when he was present and when he'd vanished. Or not vanished, as the case may be. Carmen caught sight of him leaning there. Now was not a moment for self-searching, he looked like he did not have the strength to stand much longer. But she'd lost every member of her team whom she'd valued, she'd lost Obito, and she'd lost Saul. One of the last things she'd expected was to see him again, let alone remember her. Later. She could not make him just stand there.

Carmen came up behind him, not bothering with her normal stealth.]

Saul.

[She placed a gloved hand on one of his shoulders.]

It is cold. Shall I help you inside?

[offline]

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

[Hearing her voice, Saul turned to face her, breaking into a smile, weary but joyful. Perhaps he wasn't thinking straight, but he had the sudden urge to do something ridiculous; to sweep her up and laugh, maybe, something like that. He didn't, though, just moved a little closer, returned her gesture, placing his hand on hers.]

Carmen.

[Finally he opened the door. The air inside was musty with neglect, yet dry. It had been summer when he'd last been there, but he had some firewood stacked up for cooking. Maybe it could still be used. He shuffled aroundn the small kitchen, half relearning its geography.]

Thank you. Please, sit, the fireplace should still work... [He would have liked to lean on her, perhaps, but no - no, it was too soon.]

[offline]

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

[The smile on his face and his hand on hers answered the question she had not yet asked. Her smile was one of relief. It really was him; he did fully remember.

She followed him inside, raising an eyebrow at his actions.]

While you are normally more than capable of attending to things, you look injured. It would not aid either of us if you were to make your condition worse. May I help you in some way?

[offline]

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

[Only when he saw Carmen's smile did it really occur to Saul what she might have - no, must have been thinking. Stopping where he stood, he caught her gaze and held it, an unclear, but soft emotion in his eyes.]

I wasn't gone from this world. [He spoke rather casually. He never planned to hide anything from her.] I'll tell you - in a moment.

[It was odd, but somehow it was harder, now, to accept her offered help that it had been when they were only marginal partners. Crouching by the wood pile, he lingered another long moment before replying.] There is a tinderbox in the other room.

[offline]

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

[An expression that soft was a rarity on Saul's face. Carmen nodded to him, her own eyes closed for a moment.]

I understand. I will wait. [Even just having that confirmed was huge. Her mind returned to the post he'd made, mentioning Bao, and a dark suspicion began to form. How else would the PCD vanish off the network if the person was not gone? But he would tell her. She believed that.]

Of course. [She moved into the other room and looked around, locating it after a moment and returning. Carmen offered it to him, taking care to not seem like she was encroaching. She was aware of how proud he was, and did not blame him for it. It was only to be expected. Then again, it was obvious how weak he was. It was difficult to not step in; she was not used to being in the background, or waiting on someone. She could offer to help more in a sideways fashion, perhaps.] Your supplies may be old, it has been some few months.

[offline]

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

[By the time Carmen had reentered the room, the wood was neatly stacked and ready, and Saul was slumped back in one of the chairs, looking slightly dazed. The smallest effort was leaving him winded - he had expanded a stunning amount of power in his escape, more than he'd truly needed, giving the Inner City a good and proper taste of what he could do in his rage. But it was nothing that a rest wouldn't set right.] ... this is nothing to the battle on the Essienne, [he muttered under his breath. His mind was wandering.

He gave a slight start when she returned and spoke, glancing up.] Wood and tinder don't spoil, [he said, reaching up to take the tinderbox, then stopped, hand dropping. He gave a small nod toward the fireplace.] Would you, perhaps...? [Enough, enough - she was here and willing. He would take the help in the spirit in which it was offered. A fire, a place to sit... and then he could talk to her, at last.]

[offline]

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

[He was talking to himself of... a battle? That was not a good sign. She would simply have to be prepared in case he passed out. So long as he did not wind up with a concussion, he should be fine.

Carmen inclined her head in acknowledgment of what he'd said. They didn't spoil, but food did, and he did not look well. But for the time being it was not an urgent matter.]

Of course. I've had some small amount of practice. [She hadn't known how to use a tinderbox before coming here. It had been an interesting time of learning. Making the fire was short work, and then Carmen was moving away from the fireplace, setting down the tinderbox, and taking a seat next to him.] Do you need anything else at this time?

[offline]

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

[There was a moment of stillness and silence, as though Saul really had lost consciousness; then he tilted his head and smiled at her slightly from under the shadow of his hair, which had grown longer and was wet and matted. His eyes were dim, but aware.]

I'm not so bad as I look. I should have been more cautious. [With a muffled sound, he straightened in the chair, putting both hands on the table as though to brace himself.] One, two weeks of captivity, it seemed a small thing. They deserved some reward for their ingenuity, and who knows what I might have learned? But confinement, darkness, hunger, they'd take their toll of any man in time, and I didn't realize how soon... [He paused, shaking his head ruefully.]

I might be getting old.

[offline] LJ just deigned to give me this notice an hour ago...

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

[She watched him carefully. She did not know how to treat severe injuries, or what signs to watch for if he had a concussion. Saul seemed coherent, at least. Carmen nodded. He would know if he was badly injured.]

I do not understand how it occurred. Your PCD signal cut off as it does with any who have disappeared, but then again, it is their network.

[There was no surprise at the thought of him trying to manipulate captors back. It was the intelligent thing to do. She smiled, very amused.]

Age does happen. It is attached to time. [Then the amusement faded into something more gentle.] But being captive also eats at the spirit. It is likely that it was simply all of those things, as well as prior slight malnutrition, combined poorly. Few here eat as they should all of the time.

[offline] ffffff I dislike you LJ >.<

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

So you thought I was gone...

[He was too exhausted to really consider the implications of that in depth, though he acknowledged them. The first half-thought was to wonder if people had been happy, relieved of fear; the second, to wonder how Carmen had -

- felt. That was right. How she must have felt.

He let his head drop again. It was difficult to think, in this state, and so exceedingly easy to feel.]

As imprisonment goes, I've tasted longer and crueler... and I wager I hurt them far deeper than they hurt me. What more can a man ask for? Except perhaps... [Ah, rambling. That was new, wasn't it? And yet.]

... I missed you. Carmen.

[offline] Ditto

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

[She did not meet his gaze at that statement.]

All the evidence pointed to such a conclusion.

[Quantifying the emotions she'd gone through was too difficult a task right now. Even now it was still a tangle. It had been very hard to see him on the network and consider not being remembered. It had almost been like losing again. Her fingers interlaced on her lap.]

I missed you as well. And I did not think that you would return.

[Had she been able to eliminate the feeling of loss? No. But she had tried. And Carmen was not entirely sure if she should feel guilt for this or not. At least the feelings remained.]

But I am glad that you are here once more.

[offline]

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

[Somehow hearing it said in such frankness - as open as he thought either of them could be, considering - made things easier. She couldn't know, she had been dead at the time after all, but he remembered what it had been like not to know if she would know him when she woke or not. He remembered it - that unexplained, clenching anxiety that was simply not an emotion he had ever learned to live with. And he remembered, also, what it had been like to emerge back into the city and realize that his first thought had been that if she was not there... then his fortune must have broken.

All of it seemed floating and unimportant, now. He was here. She was here. They remembered. They - had changed, no doubt, but there would be time enough for that later. Slowly, he smiled.

Then, without a word, he shifted in the chair and leaned over to rest his head against her shoulder, the dirty gold of his hair falling over his face and his eyes closed. He had never needed anyone's comfort before and he did not need it now, no, but he enjoyed feeling that she was real and solid and present, and he took his joy where he could find it.]

[offline]

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

[She waited for a reply, somewhat patiently. It was hard to know what he would think of her almost giving up like that. There had been no logical reason to hope, and at times it had seemed like the Animus were driving the point home. Saul left, then Zexion, then Obito, and then Billy. The only person left she'd worked with was the one she now despised, Kurotsuchi.

But Saul's reaction erased the wondering. Carmen reached around him to hold him with one arm. It wasn't simply that she'd missed him. He was now secure if he did fall asleep, though. And he looked weary enough to. She pulled off her hat, setting it to the side, and let her own headrest against his.]

OOC

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

*Squeeing like a maniac*

I cannot for the life of me bring myself to break this amazing mental image. Um. Shall we do a morning after log or something? ^^

OOC

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes, lets! :D

OOC

[favorthebold.livejournal.com]

<3 Here or shall I set up something proper?

OOC

[vile-queen.livejournal.com]

<3 :) Something proper would be neat.