[limbo] // do you walk in the valley of kings

[discutio]

[To cast out the Usurper and usher in dawn's light will cost the life of the Chosen. The voice that had shaken him down to the very core of his existence still echoed in Phoenix's head, words utter nonsense to him now and yet...something about them hurt more than he could measure. Hurt like the gravest news about a dearest friend, hurt like something tearing at his heart and soul. Though the details were lost in a haze of a previous life's memories, he understood the bottom line. One life, the one dearest to the man Phoenix once was, would have to be sacrificed to protect all else-]

[Don't try to justify this! She didn't need to die!]

[Hurt like the agonized rage in that snarl, thundering fury to match the torrential rain around them. The fury of someone who had lost everything, someone--someone whose name he should have known, whose loss he understood and yet couldn't remember the source of. That woman--no, his sister, something terrible had become of her and nearly become of someone just as close to Phoenix's own heart. Everything came in flashes; a man in white and a sword flashing with lightning, faces he failed to recognize and one he knew already. The man in black that had posed briefly as another was a danger above all others, and somehow in the chaos of memory Phoenix understood his past self had known that. 'Oh, what good is a world that only ever lets you down', said the mocking tone, a knife toyed with idly above the unconscious form of...of someone. Someone that meant everything, someone that Phoenix would gladly die to protect.]

[...Maybe he would, the relic of untold power in his hand before he had fully consider what he was doing. It didn't matter. it didn't matter at all what happened to him, because he had sworn-]

[Whatever it takes...I will protect him-!]

[In a memory of rain-soaked stone, the world erupted in flames and agony before going dark forever.]

[In a kitchen in Limbo, there was a clattering of whatever Phoenix had been holding falling to the floor before he very swiftly followed it.]

Comments

[emberserker]

[Wolfsbane was just back to gather supplies somewhere that things didn't cost money. She hadn't even expected to see anyone. But when Phoenix collapses, she runs into the kitchen.]

What? Don't tell me you've gotten sick, or Medic's poison got into your food...

[discutio]

[Phoenix had dropped to his knees on the kitchen floor, left hand pressed to his face as if he was in pain--was he? For a disoriented moment lost in memory, he couldn't tell.]

Chir-...where are we? Who-...no, Wolfsbane?

[Deep breath. The floor beneath him was solid instead of crumbling stone, the air still rather than rain-soaked and cracking with flame. Purgatory, Limbo, still in the kitchen where he'd been for however long by now.]

[emberserker]

You think I sound like Chiron? You've definitely hit your head. [She sighs and looks down at him.] We're in the kitchen back in Limbo. I was going to gather supplies we didn't have to pay for.

[discutio]

[Sound like him? No, of course not. But in a brief and utterly mad instant, he'd almost thought she could have been him regardless.]

No...no, I don't think I did. [Slowly, he focused on seeking out the utensils he'd dropped, hands trembling faintly as he ran them along the floor. Thankfully, he hadn't started cooking yet--burning down the place would have been frowned upon.]

...Do you know where he is? Right now. Is he here?

[emberserker]

I haven't seen him since this morning. The last I saw, he was making bets with the Spectres down in Avaritia. I suppose you need him for something?

slightly later

[crypddyd]

[Thank god Wolfsbane was there because one of the other few people 'home' right now was Lion, who was asleep on the couch. He woke up at the clatter with a bellow, tangled in his nest of blankets and pillows. He thrashed around for a while, actually tearing a comforter apart before he realized where he is and that they are not under attack.

He was looking quite concerned and not like he just committed bedding murder when he rushed to wherever Phoneix is settled now]

What- what happened, are you alright?

[discutio]

[Phoenix looked to be bristling himself, like a startled coeurl unable to fully settle back down. He was moving around the kitchen more quickly than usual, snapping a knife down on a cutting board perhaps a little more rapidly than called for--the telltale overwork of one who cooked to deal with stress.]

Lion--? Forgive me, I didn't mean to wake you. Everything is...fine, I only dropped a few things.

[crypddyd]

[Sadly Phoenix can't see how clear it is that Lion just rolled out of bed- no eyepatch or shirt, sweatpants and mismatched socks]

Ah... forgive me, but you don't seem fine.

[discutio]

[Sadly, or luckily for Lion's pride. (ha)]

[Phoenix didn't answer at first, instead continuing to slice vegetables in some approximation of curry as best as he could manage given current supplies.]

What would you-... [He stopped himself and trailed off, movements hesitating for just a second before speaking up again..]

...No, forget it. You should rest while we've the opportunity.

[crypddyd]

[He winces at that but keeps his tone calm and steady]

You usually have very fluid, controlled movements. As a soldier I can't help but notice such things- right now you are jerky and overly aggressive. Am I wrong? You're upset.

LATER STILL

[curiositydies]

[ Frost likes the rain in Avaritia quite well, but the sheer amount of people streaming past, eager to be in everyone else's business, is headache-inducing. When he makes his way up to Limbo, in what is apparently supposed to be their base of operations, he's missed pretty much everything about the inciting incident.

Despite this, he eyes Phoenix for a moment before saying, simply: ]

You look terrible. Are you certain you want to be handling sharp objects right now? [ Even if Executors aren't exactly frail, they can still feel pain. He has no familiarity with kitchens, or kitchen duties (or at least his subconscious shows no sign of stirring), but he's not unfamiliar with knifework...he thinks. ]

[discutio]

I'm fine. Tired, perhaps, nothing more.

[Shaken as he was, Phoenix did at least seem to know what he was doing; frustrated movements were still incredibly accurate, all things considered.]

That voice...I don't know that we've met, have we?

[Thank the Astrals for a change of subject.]

[curiositydies]

[ Well, as long as he knows what he's doing, he won't interrupt. He's not the man's nursemaid, and he seems capable enough. ]

We haven't yet been formally introduced, no. [ The amount of Executors he's met face to face and not spotted at a distance can be counted on one hand.

He does know this man, however; he was in the underside, fighting. And bickering. But he supposes he'll just keep that to himself? ] I am known as Frost, for lack of any other name to call myself. And you?

[discutio]

Phoenix, if you would. A pleasure.

[Obviously he didn't exactly look up, but he did tilt his head in Frost's direction to better hear what he was saying.]

[curiositydies]

[ A bird of legend, and fiery renewal. A more symbolic descriptor than some of the names he's heard.

Fascinating. ] Phoenix it is, then.

[ He keeps a polite distance from him (more for his own sake than Phoenix's, who for all he knows wouldn't mind people peering over his shoulder) but endeavors to figure out what on earth is being made regardless.

...No, he doesn't have enough knowledge of food to figure out what this is. Craving food at all is a distant sensation, like it's something he stopped caring about at some point. ]

...What are you making?

[schardynfreude]

[By the fountain. The stairs were right there in case of--in case of what, a speedy exit? Perhaps. In the open and yet away from where most of their fellows would be.

What a strange soup of emotions mixed inside of him. Trepidation, sure, but also something grinning and leering, and something burning (ha) and angry, and something--melancholy, he felt was the word for it. Though Phoenix could not see it, Chiron kept his hands at his sides, wishing, willing himself to be non-threatening.

He finds he doesn't know what to say. To Phoenix, whose name he knew, once. To the man who burned so brilliantly. And then burnt out.

So he just clears his throat, awkwardly, instead.]

[discutio]

[He'd calmed down by the time he'd messaged Chiron, and spent the time between then and now focusing on memorizing everything he'd seen; not only in memory, but in Purgatory itself.]

Chiron.

[So his voice was even and steady, when he greeted someone who had once held a knife over his reason for living.]

[schardynfreude]

Phoenix. [He dare not close any gap, in his typical amicable fashion. Distance is...fine.] You wanted...to talk.

[discutio]

I did.

[A slow, controlled breath. Astrals, where to start.]

...The prince in black. Did you know his name?

[schardynfreude]

...I must have, before. In the living world. But not now.

later-ish?

[mementomoritz]

Phoenix, are you- oh, there you are! [Medic bounces up cheerfully as ever, apparently oblivious to her teammate's general displeasure at the moment.]

[There's a rustling noise as she holds something out in front of her, offering it to him. It sounds kind of like... a paper bag?]

I brought you something!

[discutio]

Medic? [A fair bit calmer but perhaps still a little...off, he reached out and took the bag.]

What is it? [please don't be organs]

[mementomoritz]

[It's not organs.]

[It appears to be a muffin, actually. Cherry flavor.]

Don't worry, it's not poisoned- I checked! [She's beaming audibly.]

[discutio]

Oh...well, thank you. Is there some occasion I'm unaware of?

[mementomoritz]

It's from the new layer! [Okay, that's... still not really an explanation, honestly.]

I was there taking samples for my research... so I thought I get something for your specialty, too. Culinary science is still science, right?

[Just because she doesn't understand other fields of study doesn't mean she can't respect them, okay.]