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CHARACTERS: Rey, Muscovy, and Firo
LOCATION: The Tranquility cliff
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: The Prochainezo family considers their next move

Even living farther out, as they do, the death throes of the Tranquility were impossible to miss. If he weren’t staring at himself, Firo wouldn’t believe that such a massive thing could have budged from its spot on the cliff, but there it is: far, far below at the bottom of the canyon.

It’s not sad to see the thing go, at least not until he realizes with a jolt that this may mean that the only route home is gone. He knew that things would come to an end one day, but he supposes a little piece of him still hoped that he’d see Ennis or Maiza or Luck again. He rubs the back of his neck and forces a little laugh. “So that’s that.”

He surveys his little family. He’s one of the adults (as Muscovy would say) and the man (as Rey would probably give him a Look for saying), so he should have a plan, right? But he has no clue what to do next aside from make sure that they’re safe.

And, just maybe, make sure that they’re happy. Is it possible to happy here? The road is looking like a difficult one, but they do have each other.

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Muscovy walks closer to the side of the cliff, and finally gets down on hands and knees to peer over the side, down, down, to where the grossly twisted carcass of what used to be the Tranquility rests.

It doesn't look like it will do another jump, or bring anyone here or take them away - the flash took a number of people, he noticed that when they walked through the camp on their way here.

But it didn't take him, or Rey or Firo. Neither of them left him. Their family is still complete. But the flash seemingly didn't bring anyone, so that means that all the others - Kiev, Minsk, Maglor, Galadriel... He will likely never see them again. They've left him forever, were taken from him, and that scares him like nothing else. He's not alone, but the people that he cares about more - the closest friends that one can have, those that are family - they abandoned him after all, in absence, and family is supposed to never do that.

He doesn't even notice when he starts sobbing.

If only because their last hope of being able to go home just fell off that cliff, the soldier can't help but look at Firo incredulously at his comment.

"...'that's that'?" Rey parrots. "You seem pretty nonchalant about this."

Not that Rey is panicking, either. But, inside, she also can't stop feeling a sense of doubt about her predicament with her makeshift family. That Firo and Muscovy are disappointed. That they'd rather be home with their own friends and families than to be here. Could she blame them?

Did she even feel the same way about going home? She can't tell. The thought of never seeing her brother again sinks a heavy anchor in her chest. That she would never know whether or not Orion is even okay, or still alive, or...

That's when she notices Muscovy crying, and she turns her attention towards the child. She approaches him, taking him by the shoulder and pulling him away from the cliff. "Hey..." she says, more softly this time.

Firo shrugs at Rey's statement. "Gettin' upset about it isn't gonna--" ...help. He cuts himself off when he realizes that Muscovy indeed seems rather upset right now, and his eyebrows knit together in concern.

He moves in closer to the others--almost glad to leave behind the sight of the ship--and bends down to get a better look at Muscovy's face. "What? What's wrong?"

Aside from the obvious. He knows it's a stupid question, but there's only so much at play that's in their power to fix.

He grabs Rey, holding on to her tightly as soon as she is close enough. And when Firo gets within reach, he'll free one hand just to hold on to Firo with it. They probably won't leave now, probably not ever, but right now he just really needs to make sure of that.

"You should have met Minsk." He looks at Firo. "You could have shown her how to work with knives, she would have liked that." He looks at Rey. "And you should have met my lord father, yes? You are both silly in the same way and scary and nice in the same way, too." He sniffles. "And big sis, and my lady aunt could have come back..."

Rey almost jumps when Muscovy grabs onto her like that. But she isn't surprised, and honestly she should be used to this from the kid by now.

Her face softens when she hears what he has to say. "Oh," is all that comes out at first, as she places a hand over the crown of Muscovy's head. "Don't talk like you'll never see them again. There may still be a way..."

Can she hold true to that, though? She doesn't know. Perhaps it's better not to say anything and bring up false hope.

Rey just casts a glance Firo's way, with a silent expression that cries help. She doesn't know what to do in situations like these.

He closes his own hand over Muscovy's as he exchanges a look with Rey. His is no more hopeful than hers, though not despairing either. They'll do what they have to do to keep together.

To Muscovy, he sighs, "I wish we coulda' met 'em."

Firo's of the mind to err on the side of not giving hope, but he can't deny what Rey brings up--there could be a way.

"...I'm not gonna pretend I know what any of this means. She might be right--who knows if another ship's gonna crash land here or what."

A shrug. It's hardly a casual gesture, the way he does it; it's more a way to flick off the restless energy that's building up inside. This kind of thing is hard, and he suddenly wishes he knew better how to look after people in this way. "For now, we've gotta worry about ourselves, though."

"If they crash land here too, they might die, yes? Because Elves can die, they just don't need to. And I don't want my lady aunt or my lord father to die." He isn't equally sure about Kiev and Minsk - dying like that must hurt a lot, and maybe you even die a few times if nobody finds you, and he doesn't want bad things to happen to them and dying is scary and hurts and is definitely a very bad thing that should be avoided at (almost) any cost. "And I don't want my sisters to be hurt like that, either."

He shakes his head. In, the end, if he could, he would probably choose to not bring them here like that. But he can't, and it is unlikely that it will happen. He just... he sharply misses them now, now that them not being here and him not being there might have turned into a permanent, eternal thing. Can he even grow strong here, if he never goes home?

He doesn't pull away from Firo and Rey, but lets go of them to look around them and concentrate. It's been a while since he has made people - they remain simple forms, after all, and are the opposite of lively, so it isn't actually nice to be around them. But right now, he feels like he needs to see, truly see the lacking parts of his family.

Rey and Firo will notice him going very still and concentrated, and then slowly getting more intense in his concentration, with an undercurrent of anger and fear entering his eyes as time passes.

"Don't worry about that sort of stuff."

Thinking too much about what-ifs would be enough to drive anyone crazy. Rey can't imagine what all must be going through Muscovy's head right now, but she can guess the stress and strain he must be dealing with. She can't help but feel a pang of guilt and anger and remorse over the whole thing, too.

Even more so when she notices the look on the child's face. After a moment, she senses that something is off. Wrong. He doesn't seem well at all.

"Are you okay?" Rey starts to slide her hand down to his small shoulder.

Firo nods to Rey's comment. It's just too much, especially with all the other problems they have to deal with. That's part of why he's calm right now (or seems like it): simply not thinking about other things. Of course, he's not thinking about much of anything beyond the present and the immediate future.

Concerned, Firo bites his lip and squints at the kid's face. "Yeah, what's goin' on? Are you hurt?"

"They should have appeared already."

He sounds... confused, disappointed, verging on angry, all mixed in one slow burning rise of emotion that gives his expression an edge, and when he pulls a smile on his features to mask the hurt that comes with the lack of lifeless family around them the smile has the same edge, cheerful like a berserker in battle.

"I have gotten better. They should be there."

"What are you talking about? Who...?"

It takes Rey a moment to realize that, perhaps, he means the people he was just talking about.

Oh.

Despite his bizarre smile, Rey frowns. "You're trying to... manifest them?"

Rey wasn't any good at manifestation. But now it has her wondering if she could do the things she could before... Now isn't the time to be worried about that, though.

It takes Firo a moment to register what he's talking about, and his heart drops when he finally understands. "Muscovy..."

Nothing good can come out of that, he's sure. The people who are gone are simply gone, and pining or trying to recreate them can't really bring them back. Only reality can, and it's not obliging. So they have to move on.

Firo thinks that he should probably say that to Muscovy as bluntly as possible, because it's simply the truth they have to live with. But he can't bring himself to, and he's not sure why. Is he really that soft now? What good is he to them like this?

He reaches over to muss his hair. "Come on, don't worry about that right now. If it's not gonna work, there's nothin' we can do about it."

But why won't it work? Yet another question. Firo's sick of those.

He nods at Rey's words, and then tries harder to manifest the bodies - until Firo's words sink in properly.

Firo is right. If the ability is gone, he won't be able to do anything about it. Which means that he should better just accept it and not fight it. That is, if it is really gone...

He frowns and tries to manifest the two things that he has the most practice with: a rifle and sunflowers.

....Nothing. No rifle, no sunflowers, not even for a second or with side effects. There just is no response at all, and he doesn't feel any exhausted after trying, either. He looks up at Rey, though he does so carefully to not shake off Firo's hand.

"Can you still pick things up?"

"Don't know," Rey answers, not sure if now would be a good time to try or not.

To sate Muscovy's curiosity, she brings out her dogtags from her pocket and tries something small. Something easy. Usually she'd be able to lift even tiny things with her mind. Then she was able to lift something bigger. So if she could move the dogtags...

Which they don't. They remain inert in the palm of her hand, just like they normally would before all of these abilities started revealing themselves.

"Suppose not." Her shoulders sad as she sends him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Muscovy."

It's a little disappointing, really. She had worked to get to that point, and it wasn't easy. About half a year of practice and work went into being able to move things around for better combat efficiency. But now?

Useless...

Firo scratches his head, sighing. So they're down a couple weapons. "That's not too convenient..."

He doesn't even bother trying to feel for his empathy. Besides, it probably wouldn't be helpful now--he has to put on a brave face for his family, and if he transferred his feelings, well... they might find out that he's not so calm or confident right now.

But, right, brave face. He gives Muscovy's shoulder a squeeze and looks from him to Rey. "We can't think about stuff like that. We've gotta focus on what we can do."

The shock is slowly ....not dissipating, but sinking in so deep that it becomes sadness and disappointment instead. That it turns into the realization that he cannot do anything about it anyway, and so he should just accept it.

But he worked so hard on being able to create things, found so many ways to utilize it...

He remains where he is but nods.

"Maybe we can leave now." Not that he would necessarily want to, because they have a house here. But maybe it will not become too dangerous here.

At least Firo has the right idea: Try not to lament what they've lost and focus on what the implications of all of this means.

Before Rey can even say anything, Muscovy already points out the big deal.

She nods. "Maybe we can. It's worth checking out, in any case."

It would help to be able to broaden the scope of what they can explore. They could salvage and hunt and settle much easier knowing that they aren't trapped within a perimeter.

There's an idea. It'll be useful to know what else they can see, and it'll be a good distraction besides. "Yeah. It's worth a shot--who knows what we could find out there."

He turns, and it finally strikes him just how big this world is. It's so unlike New York, with the skyscrapers hemming you in on all sides. The tether, in a way, had been just as much a comfort as a snare--at least he still knew where his world began and ended. He tries not to sound to uncertain. "Which way?"

Here's where Maiza or Yaguruma or Don Molsa would direct him. He's had to get along without them for so long, but still afterthoughts like these resurface. Of course, now it's just a bit more bitter knowing for certain that he'll never see them again.

In a way, Muscovy is used to set perimeters - and then not at all. Being trapped within the confines of the Tranquility or her surroundings had always kept him from truly running, going form place to place instead of travelling distances. Being able to go other places again... but it will be the same as it was in the Drabwurld, won't it? He'll lack an anchor, and what if he never finds back to where he started?

Not a concern right now, though. Because if he travels with Rey and Firo, it will all be about travelling distances. Just that this place is so very different form home.

Back home, the answer would have been clear: To the west and south, where the lands are more fertile and it is warmer. But here?

He's been on his own, but he's never been in a position where he was the boss of himself, or even a group. A figurehead, in a way, but never the one making the decisions for them, more the one being swept along with those decisions.

And Firo looks about as uncertain as he does.

The logical conclusion - the conclusion that would have been logical anyway, because Rey is the head of the household - is to turn to Rey.

He doesn't repeat Firo's question, but the way in which his eyes turn to her are quite obvious enough. He considers her the person to decide this.

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