improvise. adapt. overcome →

[earthshine]

Who: Takashi Shirogane +
What: Surviving
When: Permanent Log for all (mis)adventures
Where: Town + Nearby Areas

Content Warnings:

‘ghost’ horror; hauntings; death of npcs; (wild) animal attacks; character injury; themes of suicide; themes of depression; feelings of isolation; potential attempted suicide; PTSD triggers; mention of imprisonment; physical violence; body dysmorphia

Comments

boys pls...

[marmoron]

[ the disorientation doesn't lift at all. in fact, it only heightens when that same piercing scream rattles keith's head. someone else? is the first thought that comes to mind, but nothing about that explanation makes sense. despite the rolling nausea in his stomach, keith peeks towards the house and stares in open confusion for the two beats before shiro turns them around to walk away. the man is gone, and the front door of the house is shut.

he stumbles on the first step, but doesn't on the next and keeps his head bowed as shiro leads them down the path to their cabin. he doesn't understand a damn thing of what's happening, but shiro is right that place is falling apart. glitching out perhaps, with their surroundings playing out some macabre loop. and right at this critical junction when keith tought to be keeping his wits aboout him, he's doing ... what, exactly? ]

Sorry.

[ the apology is offered in a defeated tone of voice as keith starts moving faster to match shiro's stride. ]

I know you need me to be focused right now.

[ patience and all. but exercising patience with himself has never been keith's strongest suit. ]

I'm fine. I just ... at the hospital. They wouldn't let me look at my dad and I... [ keith swallows. ] ... I guess that was why.

they can't help being reckless fools

[earthshine]

[ if they keep this pace, they can be back to the cabin in two, three minutes. their cabin is closer to the edge of town, so there isn’t much further to go. all they need to do in the meantime is keep their wits and stay vigilant until they’re both inside, the door locked behind them and –

sorry.

shiro’s breakneck pace wavers. he doesn’t pause, but there’s a distinct shift that has his next stride slowing as he gives up surveillance of their surroundings, looking to keith instead. so shiro had been on the right track there at the end, afterall. it does have something to do with keith’s father. shiro makes sure to keep his shoulders squared and level, despite the leaden weight that suddenly crashes down on them. so they remain a solid mass, but a comforting one when he allows his next step to slow and his arm to release the lead he has on keith’s forearm, instead sidestepping to put them side by side as he reaches for a wrap around. he nabs keith by the shoulders, squeezing them shoulder to shoulder for a surprisingly tight side hug. ]

I’m sorry, Keith. [ an inadequate comment, he knows, because – ] I know there’s not much to say to soften the blow of losing someone like that.

[ he’s been there. he doesn’t talk about it any more than keith does, but they do share that in common: dead parents. two body bags at the scene of a car accident… heh, he’s not about to start comparing the traumatic effects. his grandpa showed up pretty quick to pick him up from child’s services and then promptly shielded him from everything going on. that’s where he and keith differ. shiro still had family to help him through it. keith did not.

yes, well, shiro is here now. he’ll be keith’s rock. ]

We can spare a few moments for you to collect yourself. I’ve got you in the meantime.

[ … except, is shiro actually put together enough himself to be that supportive figure? he wants to be, but as he said before, this place is falling apart. there are no bars or fences or guards to keep them in here, but shiro is under no illusion: this is a prison. they’re captive in a hellish landscape, plagued by monsters and strange happenings. it might be too presumptuous to assume that fire was targeted at keith specifically, but shiro is familiar with tactics to break spirit. he endured jeers, withheld meals and actual torture by the galra, all of it meant to accomplish one or the other at opposite ends of the spectrum: make him weaker or make him stronger.

considering he earned himself the name the champion, he managed the latter.

still, he hesitates in breaking this to keith. keith is, supposedly, this legendary warrior now, but shiro still sees him in a bright orange uniform, face softer with youth and vulnerability. he wants to protect him, not ask him to be a hardened warrior like he himself has become. so he sighs as his grip loosens, reluctance evident. ]

… But you’re right. [ and again: ] I’m sorry. [ he lets go, looking back at keith as he eases into a faster stride again, already outpacing keith through the next step. ] I need you to settle it as best you can and focus, at least until we’re back at the cabin. Can you do that for me?

YES THEY CAN.

[marmoron]

[ shiro squeezes him in close, and keith draws in a deep breath and holds it for the duration, face scrunched and jaw clenched tight. whatever's going on, the situation is dire, potentially world-ending and whatever time they have left is not time keith should be spending on tormenting himself over a loss that happened nearly a decade ago. there's a word for what keith is feeling right now and it's pathetic. staying sharp through whatever the fuck is happening if not for himself, then a least to keep the last, living, breathing family keith has safe is the only thing that matters now.

compartmentalizing comes shockingly easily, in a way that it never did during his early years as a garrison cadet. back then, every insult and dirty look thrown his way would have soured his mood for hours upon hours. evidently a short stint in a space war where a slip up in focus could mean life or death really has done something to his head. but even that isn't worth dwelling on. shiro's grip relaxes and keith finally lets that suspended breath go, expression hardening as he lifts his face. ]

Yes, sir. You got it.

[ sir. a weird slip up, considering shiro hadn't ordered keith to pull himself together. come to think of it, this shiro's never really done any leading or commanding, huh? it's a weird thought, but keith pushes that aside, too. his own stride picks up, eyes alert as and surveying their surroundings for threats as they hurriedly march back towards base.

but perhaps keith hasn't fully compartmentalized everything going on. if the world is unraveling around them, then there's one thing that needs to be said. to keith's credit, he says it in a tone that's surprisingly stoic and stripped of emotion. ]

Whatever this is, Shiro? I'm with you to the end.

are you sure about that

[earthshine]

[ it’s not as though that’s the first time he’s heard keith call him that. sir. he quickly became shiro to keith at galaxy garrison, but there were appearances to keep up. so when they weren’t sneaking to the roof, drag racing in the desert or holing up somewhere to review concepts for upcoming tests, sir and salutes got tossed around far more often. still, the word catches him off guard, making him feel – odd. it’s a callback to a lifetime ago or at least, a time that feels like a past life. altogether, it hasn’t been that long. it’s just… so much has changed that none of it feels as though it belongs to him anymore. not even the memories in his head. the driving force behind all of this, he supposes, is that it comes back to that feeling he can’t shake: he feels like an imposter.

even this continued friendship with keith. neither of them are the versions that they last knew and yet, they pretend that they are still best friends. shiro wonders if or when that will come to a head. at some point, it has to, doesn’t it?

whatever this is, shiro? i’m with you to the end.

this isn’t the time to laugh; shiro almost does, though. he almost does because for every time he tells himself he isn’t enough and that keith isn’t the keith he left behind and that there is something irrevocably mismatched between them… there’s a moment, a comment, or a feeling that reinforces the fact that they are still as in sync with each other as they’ve always been. either way, just as this isn’t the time to laugh, it isn’t the time for deep reflection on the state of their friendship, and so, shiro takes that cue to offer a final: ]

You and me… let’s see this through. Come on.

[ and so they do. together, they survey and avoid the strange happenings through town and make their way to their – thankfully still standing – cabin. there is, however, a very obvious difference. ]

The lights are on.

[ perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised. electricity hasn’t been accessible to them since arrival, but as of now, various homes have been lit up, often with lights flicking on and off. their lights are, amazingly, stable – for now – and so, when shiro gets the door open and walks inside, every bit of the cabin is bathed in light.

it’s eerie.

he pauses just past the threshold, frowning and on edge as he glances around, as though anticipating the catch to this otherwise fortunate turn of events. ]

If the lights work… [ for all his hesitance, he does start walking though. ] I wonder if that means the radio works, too.

[ there are two, actually. whoever lived here was a low-grade hoarder. there are two radios stacked on top of each other in the far corner and unfortunately for them, neither of them bring in anything but static as shiro fiddles with the nobs. well, except for one station that comes in relatively clear. ]

Not what I was going for.

[ he was hoping for news and chatter; anything related to the world outside this snowy wilderness. ]