(no subject)

[expellerhead]

[he wakes in a wasteland.

his breaths are gasping, his heart thunders. every inch of his body trembles; adrenaline, his mind supplies distantly, from a fight, from a near-fatal wound-

but there are no wounds. no blood, no bruises; nothing hurts when he pats himself down. something moves at the corner of his eye and when he glances up to catch it, he sees miles and miles of ruined, twisted vehicles, the shells of buildings and tunnels. a decimated civilization.]

(( God damn, about time! Shit! I thought I didn't even do it right, you look half-dead. ))

[aizawa glances up. there's a spiny...thing floating overhead, robotic protrusions clicking and rotating along its single eyeball axis.]

A Ghost, [aizawa murmurs. he was just there- he was just in the fleet, how can he be here, how can he be here-! there must have been a mistake, something, atroma must have shoved him into jayden's world. is she still back there? is uraraka?]

(( Are you alive or what? ))

[aizawa pushes himself to his feet begrudgingly. there's- armor on him, and it feels weird, too weighty. even if the hood covering his head and the cloak on his shoulders feels a little more right, everything else feels wrong. does he even have his quirk here? would it even work?]

I'm alive, [he grouses. the ghost- his ghost rattles off something about light and his duty and whatever, he's still trying to find his bearings. he needs to get to the city.]

Comments

[stormfist]

[ It's been a while since Jayden got dragged off by Atroma, tossed around, and then dumped right back here as though nothing happened. The way everyone around her acted like she hadn't just been straight-up gone for almost two years might have been enough to convince her it had all been just one hell of a dream - except Anil remembered it, too. Which... ended up being a mixed blessing, to be honest.

It's probably just coincidence that she's out here - patrol missions brought her out to this rusty scrap-metal wasteland on the way to some high value target or another. She almost doesn't even notice him, she's too used to seeing other Guardians in the field taking care of unrelated tasks. But he looks out of sorts - looks new. And she remembers that feeling. ... ... Fuck it. ]

Hey.

[ She keeps her approach obvious, not wanting to scare him. She can't tell it's him - not from the armor and the cloak - she thinks he's probably just another hunter suddenly out here. but... Anil's sure acting like something's up. ]

Is that...? [ Jayden's not really listening to him, though. Alas. ] Wait, hold on--

[expellerhead]

[so he sees her first.

the masks cover everything, but that armor- the armor looks familiar, and just that one word, brusque and all that's necessary for an introduction to a stranger-

aizawa reaches up for his mask, ignores his ghost when it says,]

(( Active warzone- not the best time, hey-! ))

[and slips it up into his hair.

the odds of it being her are astronomical and he's basing almost all of his decision on the assumption that it is her. maybe not all guardians are friendly. maybe some are out to shoot the newly revived and take their gear; aizawa doesn't know.

maybe sometimes he needs to operate on faith, same as anyone else.]

[stormfist]

[ She raises a hand, about to try and stop him from taking his mask off -- since, yeah, not always the best idea in the middle of Fallen territory -- but when she sees his face, she just... freezes. Completely.

How the hell...? Is this even real?!

She doesn't even trust herself to say anything at first. She reaches up, removes her helmet, holds it in front of her like she's not really sure what the hell to do now. Well, other than stare in complete disbelief. ]

... Aizawa?

[ Fuck. She's seriously almost expecting to be wrong! Just kidding, some stupid cosmic joke, because seriously, how could this even be possible! ]

[expellerhead]

(( The fuck, you know each other? ))

[the ghost -his ghost- flits between them, little spines whirring in agitation. aizawa can't help but feel the same when the helmet comes off; he'd already half-convinced himself that he was wrong, that he'd somehow misheard. he'd already started to prepare to apologize and move on, to make his way through this foreign world on his own.

but there she is.

broad shoulders despite her small size, made larger by the full body armor. her hair is pulled back tight but there are still flyaways and loose strands sticking to the barely there sheen of sweat on her forehead. her eyes, wide and dark, locked on his face, are the same as ever. the strong set of her jaw. the way her weight shifts.]

Price, [aizawa answers. his ghost drifts over to hers, doing some complicated-looking geometric rearranging that could be anything from a shrug to some honeybee-inspired communicative dance.] ...this isn't another bizarre Atroma dreamspace thing, is it?

[stormfist]

[ Jayden's Ghost responds with some spinning of his own, though far less dramatic - more like he's squinting and trying to get a better look. Or being shy. Probably both. ]

They do, actually. It's... complicated.

[ But Jayden isn't exactly paying the Ghosts any attention right this second. At Aizawa's question, she shakes her head, exhales something that might be a laugh if she actually had the presence of mind to do so right now -- but she's still just floored. ]

To be honest, if you're here, then I'm not sure anymore. I-- we've been back a few weeks now. No indication of anything Atroma related.

[expellerhead]

I left the Fleet...I returned home. I was there for years. [and he hadn't remembered a thing. they knew this; it was common knowledge, people who were returned home didn't recall their time in the fleet, but to experience it all at once upon waking here-

it's jarring. startling. if this is the work of atroma, they dumped him smack dab in a world that isn't his, in a time that isn't even hers, not really. he should be furious and he is, the loathing he has for atroma simmering somewhere distant, but all he can feel is a desperate ache of missing someone for years and years, but never knowing you were.]

-Uraraka graduated.

[stormfist]

[ "Uraraka graduated." ... She smiles. ] I'm glad. Knew she would. On her way to becoming a full-time hero?

[ All of these time discrepancies... if she hadn't been so used to talking around and about them from her time in the Fleet, this would be more than a little bit frustrating. As it stands, it's just frustrating for entirely different reasons, most of which relate to Atroma... Could this be a trick of theirs after all? ]

I remember you leaving. [ It... was a mixed bag of emotions, to put it lightly. ] I left about a month later. Now I'm here, no one knows I was gone. Which... figures.

[expellerhead]

Price, [aizawa says softly, taking a half-step closer. an aborted movement of his arm, like he was about to reach for her, before he realizes there's a dagger in his hand and he abruptly sheathes it. he runs his fingers through his hair before pulling his mask on, abruptly.] Let's get to the City before we get jumped.

(( Finally, )) [aizawa's ghost sighs in relief, zipping around anil and back over to aizawa's side.] (( You two can lovebird to your hearts' content once we get this newbie over to safety. ))

Don't call me that, [aizawa grouses at his ghost, which just spins its little spines and floats on ahead.]