47th metal and awakening

[godsays]

[ spam for emperor ]

[ He dreams vivid and angry. He dreams like a thunderstorm, restless like rain and broken with sharp spasms of a mind trying, trying to wake up. He dreams of Ruin.

When he starts to wake up, pulling himself up, he, for a moment between awake and asleep, doesn't know if this is real. ]

[ spam in general ]

[ Zane has energy.

Perhaps it's being asleep for so long; perhaps it's some other sort of restlessness. But he doesn't want to stop moving.

Watch out in the hallway; instead of walking past you like a normal person, he may step off the wall, push off from the ceiling, flip, and land on the far side of you. He could also be jumping around on top of the greenhouse like a crazy person. Or balancing on the rail like a crazy bird. He may also be in CES, in a place blasted with dry, hot winds. ]

[ video, open ]

Does anyone have a spare lamp?

And table. And chair. And large bowl.

[ hi he's awake ]

Comments

[spam idwiw]

[godsays]

[ When he sees her, he isn't sure how to communicate his emotions. There are still roiling depths in him, some ghost-echo of the Zane-that-wasn't. But there is distance, now. It is better.

And so he's going to drag her into a hug, wherever she found him. Literally drag. There might be a little of ironpull involved. ]

[spam idwiw]

[routemistress]

[You're too much, he said to her last time they spoke, and she bowed her head and accepted it. So many people have found her too much, over the centuries: too loud, too drunk, too passionate, too reckless, too Iris. She's tried, many times, to diminish herself, to toe the lines other people set for her, and she's always, inevitably failed.

The Barge is the first place she's ever found where she hasn't felt like too much for everyone around her on a daily basis. The first place where she hasn't felt she was being forced to choose between a tiny, formal dance in shoes that hurt or running away barefoot and never looking back.

And even here it still chases her; it's ironic, she feels, coming from Zane, whose power and spirit shines colossally around him. Her phoenix boy.

The ironpull makes her squeal and giggle like a child on a fairground ride, and she hurls herself gratefully into his arms.]

I missed you so much, love.

[spam idwiw] I THOUGHT I TAGGED THIS

[godsays]

[ Holds her tight. He hasn't totally forgiven her. He's trying. Maybe too hard - but he should try this hard, because he needs her. ]

How long was I gone?

[ Gone, unconscious, asleep. Whatever. She knows what he means. ]

[spam idwiw] WELL YOU DID NOW

[routemistress]

Too long. I lost Vic.

[She's not sorry for taking the stance she did in the breach. She can't be. But that doesn't mean she doesn't regret it horribly.]

I am so sorry, my love. I don't know 'ow to fix it, any more. I don't feel sure of anything.

[But he's vital, alive and brilliant, and she's so proud of him.]

...except you. You're like the sun rising.

[spam idwiw]

[godsays]

And I lost Charles.

[ Maybe he didn't need Charles anymore. But having that steady presence nearby was important to him. It made him feel that if he failed to keep himself in line, there was someone who could. ]

[spam]

[routemistress]

[Iris doesn't say anything for a long moment. Charles left of his own accord, he's back in his life, he's fine - he's somewhere, not sucked against his will back into death or worse, and it spikes her with irritation to hear his departure compared to Victor's.

But she decides she's only thinking that because she and Charles never got on, and she bumps her head gently against Zane's chest like a cat.]

I know. 'E weren't 'appy about going while you were out, but no one knew 'ow long you'd be like that.

Take you to see 'im any time, you know that.

[spam]

[godsays]

[ He didn't know, actually. A startled blink, and then he nods. Of course. Iris can go anywhere. ]