[COMPLETE] Home Base

[saedusk]

ABSTAIN

Vision red and ears buzzing, Jamie returned to a hazy consciousness after a short stint of... well, honestly, he wasn't sure he'd actually been unconscious at all. It just felt that way.

Across the room he could see fire (not surprising) and he could see Lily. It was almost automatic the way he lifted his hand and sprouted aloe to quell her burn even as Shiloh did the same for him. At first glance it would probably look like Shiloh had helped Lily too, but it was just Jamie taking another page from his book.

"I'm so tired of feeling guilty," Jamie croaked, unsure whether he was even loud enough for anyone to hear. "I'm so tired of being blamed." All he wanted was to live a normal life, too. That stopped being a possibility a long time ago, though. Even if he'd tried to avoid all this, he was pretty sure he would've been dragged into it at one point or another.

Somehow he was able to make it up to a sit. Looking between Shiloh and Kaleb, he put his chin on his knees. Jamie was too tired to make a decision on the Burning Man's fate. Maybe that was a cop out, but he was too tired to care about that, either.

"I-Is he gonna be okay, Shiloh...? K-Kaleb?" Jamie mumbled.


HP: 3/30

AMItoticccc

putting out Lily's last burning!!

Melancholiessss

Grey Dragonnnn

 

[saedusk]

KILL

"From what I understand," Eli said, coming in behind Horace and Oliver. There was a calm to his voice, but it was only his practiced persona. Beneath it he was anything but. In fact, for once his hands may have been shaking and his nails may have been digging into his own skin.

"The Burning Man tried to wipe all of us out. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I hardly understand why. I sure don't know what went on with all this past life business. Did any of you here do anything to warrant a death sentence in your life?" Maybe a few, but Eli didn't know that.

Truth be told, he was more angry the Burning Man had hurt people he cared about than anything. People he had this funny feeling about suddenly, a weird sensation like they were standing right next to him when they weren't.

"I'm pretty sure someone who attempts to murder," he pointed around the room like he was counting, but quickly stopped, "a lot of people isn't going to stop."


HP: 50/50

The Semblance of Unityyyy

Melancholiessss

 

[cibarium]

If Eve had anything more to say, she'd swallowed it. The Burning Man was talking in circles and she was sick of it and didn't want to engage anymore. As far as she was concerned trying to do so was pointless. She'd learned that lesson long ago with the blood family she'd had in the life she knew -- her mother and her brother, and he'd sounded far too similar at times. A broken record of manipulation.

Instead she turned her attention back to the Ezra there was still some hope for, wiping away blood and applying bandages and quietly following whatever instruction Temperance had for her.

---

"We wanted to help you," Leila said sullenly. She'd put out the fire that'd been eating away at her shoes a moment ago. "We really did. The new sigil was a chance for you to be human again. Your daughters too..." He'd never even mentioned them to her or Eve, and that omission told her so, so much. In the context given by their exchange at the clinic, where he doubted his own future, it was clear he was still clinging to the past that had traumatized him so.

"I can't believe I let you convince me to think about the cycles the way you do," she said. "It's... it's poison, Ezra. The people you wanted revenge against... your parents... they all died a long time ago."

What if the reborn versions of the Charter signatories were still children when he'd hatched his plan? Would he have still done everything he had; branded them as guilty? The thought turned her stomach and she decided she didn't want to know. Instead, Leila backed away to sit with Eve.  

[iloveyouDIE]

ABSTAIN

Wil's bear arm sheild didn't do much for any of them. His bare back was burnt and blistering but the blonde was running on adrenaline and the need to help Alexis. Even as Nasir cried out his arguments he remained quiet.

Wil closed his eyes a moment and reached out his mind to Bud, and in the momentary connection established that their familiars had found somewhere sheltered and safe to hide. It was a huge relief.

He said nothing in relation to the Burning Man's fate. Even if his magic had been stolen, it was clear that everyone thought they were right and he couldn't judge someone for selfishness. Instead, as always, inaction was his most default course of action.

He hurt. He was tired. Alexis was near dying. He and Nasir were battered. He just wanted them all to go home... so he helped their friend as they clutched Nasir's hand and tried his best to heal wounds.

azuredreams

daekie

alexis heal/stabilizing

 

[shibrogane]

Quote:

9 votes to spare
4 votes to kill

"Pride deserved it," said the Burning Man. "And I'm hardly surprised you tried to stop me. Why else would I build in so many failsafes?..." The more time separated him from that explosion, the more he seemed to return to his usual pattern of speaking. He seemed to be catching his breath.

He looked over to Shiloh. "I used the library, you stupid ********," he said. "It's a living archive of everything that's ever happened. You think I went straight to torture? I saw the moment every one of them signed, knowing what they were doing. Knowing what the effect on Melany would be--"

He broke off. "My God, you're holding scrying against me?" The idea seemed ludicrous to him. "And you think I'm unjustified in retaliation for things which happened?--"

The only ones who would notice Ezra's stirring were Mila, Temperance, and Biscuit. He didn't open his eyes, but he made a valiant attempt to roll away from Mila's patting hands, the fingers on one burning hand twitching.

[the next GM post will come later today at 2pm PDT]

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a-disgruntled-dragon

erin

azuredreams

jeremiah and nasir

The Semblance of Unity

preacher, horace, and temperance

demon_pachabel

cassandra

Melancholies

Oliver and Shiloh and Mila

iloveyouDIE

algernon and wil

Daekie

alexis

saedusk

Jamie and Elliot

Smerdle

Rabbit, Theo, Chester

cibarium

eve and leila

Grey Dragon

kaleb

Blade Kuroda

Shun

lizbot

America

AMItotic

Lily

Ephebe

Nazriya

GhouIs

Ro

iStoleYurVamps

Marcus

 

[cibarium]

Biscuit stirred too, creaking and croaking inquisitively.

That was Leila's cue to turn pale and scoot away, pulling Eve with her. Train of thought on the Burning Man: derailed.  

[Melancholies]

Sheer reflex let Shiloh catch Kaleb as he crumbled, though it was far from graceful. At least Jamie seemed coherent enough, but Shiloh's attention was occupied between him and his now incapacitated friend. You okay, babe? he scooted closer to Jamie as he looked over Kaleb's damage.

"This really doesn't feel like a victory..." he admitted to Jamie quietly. He wanted nothing more than to slump over with his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, but he abstained. To the contrary, he left his shoulder open for Jamie. Mostly he was tired, he just wanted to rest... "C'mon bud," he was shaking Kaleb a little to see if he'd stir, but he was fairly confident he was okay and just... overwhelmed.

"Is stupid ******** the best insult you got? My ********' dad's called me worse." He rolled his eyes, "I'll remember that the next time I wanna manipulate an entire group of people like a crazy goddamn sociopath. Abuse doesn't ******** solve abuse, but whatever..." He sighed quietly, tiredly, "I'm ******** tired of everything resulting in murder, muder, muder, more suffering, suffering. When the ******** is enough enough..." He looked over at Jamie with a fair amount of concern, already feeling his guilt.

saedusk

Grey Dragon

 

[Blade Kuroda]

It sounded like a good chunk of people here had no opinion on what should be done about the Burning Man. But inaction was always still an action.

When he heard the Burning Man sound like he was recovering from the large blast, his eyes slowly opened. Shun had managed to heal some of his wounds but he was still in pretty bad shape over all.

"If we are not killing him right here and now, can someone at least restrain him before he tries to pull anything else on us?" he hissed. The guy was regaining his strength, it seemed. And even that, it didn't really stop him from doing something like... geasing all the nobles in the room to turn on everyone or whatever. Or simply scorching everyone while guards were lowered. Or something else.

He didn't trust him.

HP: 8  

[saedusk]

Moving made his skin feel tight and uncomfortable, but Jamie wanted to be closer to Shiloh. It was a weight off his everything when he finally set his head on his shoulder. Gently, he touched Kaleb's arm, trying to rouse him, as well.

"It doesn't," he agreed. "I dunno if it ever does." The guilt was definitely there, creeping into his mind and bleeding through their link. It was no wonder Shiloh could feel it.

"I kn-" he caught himself, "he knew?" It was a mumble, nothing more. "When is enough enough..."

Melancholies

Grey Dragon

 

[azuredreams]

Nasir did not say anything to Ezra's response, simply continued trying to work with Alexis (holding onto their hand) and leaning towards Wil. Not that he wasn't really wanting to get Wil healed as well, he could smell the burnt flesh and-

"Come on, Alexis, you need to wake up ..." He was practically pouring magic into them, trying to heal what he could. Their injuries from the attack looked to have opened back up and-

He was getting tired. This was more than he could handle, even with Wil there trying to help. Nasir wanted to be done with this.

Daekie

iloveyouDIE

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb understood fainting well enough. The proposed basis for such a psychological response, the sudden drop in blood pressure, how lying down led to a quicker recovery... But it never felt good even after the hazy blackness receded and consciousness returned. It never took long for the shame to remind him of his inadequacies.

He could hear Jamie and Shiloh talking, and feel the touch on his arm. He had let them down in the end, not being able to show the same strength as everyone else. Without opening his eyes, Kaleb lifted his arms to cover his face and the tears threatening to spill out. His arms and hands had suffered the worst of the blast, but he felt the pain was only deserved.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice cracking as the tears overflowed and dripped down the side of his face. "I'm so sorry..."

Melancholies

saedusk

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's lips twitched as Algie clothed him. Mostly because he, in all honesty, did not trust the magic to not do something to him if he tried to do so. It would not be the first time it had acted out against him.

His focus was on healing now that he had taken some of the fire and used it to energize himself. Jeremiah put a hand on Algie, another one on Cass, and there was an immediate sensation of coolness and the pain ebbing. "Better than nothing but at least I can take advantage of all the fire left around ..."

Algie got another hand squeeze, his voice soft in his mind. Thank you, precious. For the clothing, of course. Then he was looking to Cass and sighing, no longer interested at all what Ezra had to say. "When this is all said and done, we can talk about most of this but - at this point - there's still work to be done after the Burning Man is dealt with."

A glance went towards Shun, a nod given. "Can someone contact those below? Silk perhaps? We need to have him contained and tend to the injured if there's to be a hope of doing what we originally came here to do."

Simply put, there was no convincing the Burning Man of their side and there was no convincing them of his.

iloveyouDIE

demon_pachabel

Blade Kuroda

 

[lizbot]

Swallowing a bite of donut, and giving Mr B a reassuring thumbs up, America looked from Shun to Horace to Chester and Elliot. "It's not that we think he's going to change and he's not off the hook. But we're creating laws today. Do you think those laws should give us each the okay to kill whenever we feel like someone's bad enough to deserve it, just on the spot with no due process? Kill based on a vision?"

She paused and Mr. Bitterberry took this chance to show everyone his new ring.

"It's not about him. It's about us, and the people who come after."

the semblance of unity

blade kuroda

smerdle

saedusk

 

[cibarium]

"I could send a message down," Leila volunteered. Now that the worst of it was said of done, and both Ezras were accounted for, part of her was itching to leave the room or at least direct her focus elsewhere. She was afraid to be around when the younger Ezra came to.

Biscuit, on the other hand, seemed content to stay put -- though a curious eye was given to the snacks being had by America and Mr. Bitterberry.

Eve looked up from examining her and her wife's injuries, at the smoking wreck that was once her mobility aid... it was hard to distinguish from the other chair remnants piled around it. "While we're at it, maybe Felt or someone could help me fix my chair," she scowled. She really liked that chair, and it had been quite expensive.

azuredreams

lizbot

snack-o-vision