DEPLOYMENT 18: The Shadow on the Sun

[walking_nuke]

[Balin once had a nightmare about this.]

[Perhaps he'll find it bitterly ironic someday that now, as far as Mayfield is concerned, he has lived out that nightmare.]

[When Balin woke on Friday, it was with memories from a future in which the absolute end of humanity at hand. It started with the AFS discovering the fate of Earth after losing contact for so many years—and HIGHCOM deciding to act upon it. After a few months of hard fighting with squads of the AFS' strongest, most battle-hardened Receptives leading the charge to retake Earth, the Bane finally had enough. They staged a massive counteroffensive on Foreas and Arieki, not unlike that which befell Earth and Erdas years ago.]

[Despite the gift of Logos bestowed by the Eloh to humanity, and despite the swelling ranks of Logos Receptive soldiers via the cloning programs in place, the resulting battles were a slaughter. The Neph, dark siblings to the Eloh and the Bane's leading race, personally saw to the destruction of the Army of Allied Free Sentients. One Neph warrior could easily best an entire unit of elite Receptives or armored vehicles—to say nothing of the veritable tidal wave of regular Bane forces that swept the two planets. One by one, every major stronghold and base on Arieki and Foreas was utterly destroyed, sealing the fate of the Brann, then the Foreans—and, finally, humanity.]

[The AFS never truly stood a chance against a galactic superpower after all.]

[And perhaps Penumbra—the AFS' covert ops division—knew it. Word about the "doomsday device" they'd prepared for this occasion had spread as the situation grew grim. One final "fuck you," designed to annihilate the Bane's invasion force along with whatever scraps of AFS resistance remained.]

[In this future, Balin fought and was mortally wounded in the futile effort to break the Bane's counteroffensive. With the fall of Fort Defiance, he was lett for dead in the Plateau region of Valverde, one of Foreas' continents. Balin doesn't have a life to return to if the town releases him—or so he believes. Humanity's last stand against the Bane has left him with little will to resist Mayfield's vile leadership. He is more sullen, more apathetic to the plight of others in the town, and will only fight to ensure the survival of himself or those he knows (and has a reason to care about).]

[ACTION - A (847 Goldberg, Morning/Late Morning, HOUSEMATES/GUESTS)]

[Usually Balin would be much more focused on his project with the homebrew perimeter defense, but today his heart doesn't seem to be in it. He does tinker with it, looking over his notes while trying to find the best way to assemble a housing for the explosive charge and the payload. Maybe it's the way his eyes look a lot more unfocused—but haven't they always been that way?]

[ACTION - B (Outside 847 Goldberg, Noon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[First order of business: cleaning up the yard. After that fight Meiling and Utsuho had the other day, the yard has been a mess, with Meiling's scales and Utsuho's feathers strewn everywhere. Balin's out trying to rake up the detritus, and he's got help—in the form of Caesar, who is also affected by his own bout of memory corruption.]

[Care to stop by?]

[Note: For this prompt, responses may come from either Balin, Caesar (commentboxtroll), or both. Specify if you want someone specific!]

[ACTION - C (Anywhere in Mayfield, Afternoon/Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's still keeping to his usual physical training regimen. It may serve no purpose to stay fit for the war back home, but between Mayfield's whims and the sadistic residents, there's no reason not to stay in shape. So you might run into him around town, jogging or doing push-ups. He's also heavily armed, of course—having heard some of the genocidal declarations over the phone lines this week, if he gets caught by one of them he won't be going down without a brutal fight.]

[ACTION - D (Makeout Point, Night, OPEN TO ALL)]

[With nothing left to do for today, Balin's going to be spending some time stargazing up at Makeout Point. He's got a case of Mayfield's consumer-brand beer with him. He'd never been a heavy drinker, but the fact that he's survived death only to be a plaything to the people who run this town has overwhelmed him tonight. He might be a little drunk if you come to see what he's up to. Just a little.]

Comments

a

[bantorain]

-Maybe a cold beer and a hug will cheer you up.-

[walking_nuke]

[That gets Balin's attention, at least.]

Yo, Virginia.

[He sets down his journal to take the beer, though doesn't drink it just yet ... After what happened the other day, Balin's a little concerned for the state of her psyche. Poor girl didn't deserve to live in a town like this ...]

You alright?

[bantorain]

I... I-I'm fine... so long as Okuu will be alright... And you, too... I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost either of you...

-They were her pillars in this town. The things that kept her standing, kept her moving forward...-

[walking_nuke]

[Balin can't clearly remember how it was Okuu came to be so protective of Virginia, come to think about it—Caesar liked to call the hell raven a "pet chicken," but in some ways the youkai was more like a surrogate mother to her. At least, that's how Balin sees it.]

I ain't plannin' on gettin' myself killed. Already did that enough as it is.

[A beat.]

Same with her, too.

[bantorain]

... Mm...

-She hugs a bit tighter before letting go.-

If you want... you can leave this alone for now...

[ACTION - D]

[pkrincess]

[In a vain effort to escape some of the AU wackiness, Kumatora takes a little walk up to Makeout Point. She sees Balin and approaches.]

Hey. Whatcha' doin' up here?

[walking_nuke]

[Oh you're going to be sorely disappointed, Kumatora. But at least Balin's only a little tipsy!]

[He turns to look back at her. It takes Balin a second to focus before he recognizes who she is.]

Yo—? Oh, hey.

[Balin shrugs and takes another swig from the beer can in his hand.]

Smashin' my sobriety on a brick wall.

[pkrincess]

[She goes to stand by him. If he's sitting, it might seem vaguely awkward.]

Does that mean you're gettin' drunk?

What's that stuff taste like, anyways?

[walking_nuke]

[Yep, he's sitting. But it's only a little weird! Not the first time he's found her standing beside him, besides. He may be compelled to joke about her tendency to do this once the beer hits him a little harder.]

Eh.

Well.

S'more like beer-flavored water'an anything. Ain't'a best stuff I've ever had, but tastin'it ... beats'a shit we had in'a AFS.

[He emphasizes that "had" a little too much. Is it the beer, or ...]

[pkrincess]

Doesn't sound too tasty.

[Pry Kumatora does not. Unless you count the next blunt question.]

So are ya sad about somethin', or what?

[ukelelenogood]

[Don't mind the crazy pink haired lady who is just driving slip-shod around Makeout Point on her Vespa.

Well. Don't mind her until she tumbles off the Vespa and next to you Balin.]

Hey.

How're you?

Got a beer for a lady?

[walking_nuke]

[He doesn't even react to the approaching Vespa—that's probably the beer's fault. Then again, he's not Naota! He has nothing to fear!]

[Balin half-turns at Haruko's question. The second one, anyway.]

Sure.

[He turns back to the beer case for a second, removing an unopened one and tossing it lightly back toward her.]

Knock yourself out.

[Not literally, though—he's not aiming for her head! That toss might be a little badly aimed, though.]

[ukelelenogood]

[Badly aimed or not Haruko snatches it from the air and opens it up before leaning against her Vespa.]

Man. Y'know.

Sometimes I wish the weather here was just horrible. Like it just sucked if just for one day.

[walking_nuke]

[Balin turns back to look at Haruko again.]

You into thunderstorms or somethin'?

[ukelelenogood]

Hell yeah I'm into thunderstorms! How can you not be into thunderstorms they're like KER-KRAAAAAASH! [With her free arm she does a zigging, downward motion in an attempt to mimic a lightning bolt.]

But yeah. That, and it'd be nice to see this place not be sunny and clear as hell for once.

B

[captain_tightpants]

[Your neighbor across the street at 848 Goldberg has stepped out onto his front porch and is surveying the mess with mild amusement.]

Howdy. Looks like quite the mighty battle commenced. At least, s'far as I can gather. I'm more accustomed to scorch marks and bleedin' corpses myself.

[Despite the gory imagery Mal seems cheery as he steps down to the sidewalk.]

[commentboxtroll]

[Caesar looks to be helping about as much as a stick in the ground, only occasionally deigning to pick up a bit of debris to inspect it and then discard it into the trash bag he has. The arrival of the peanut gallery is, at least, a more interesting distraction.]

One that wouldn't have happened if someone didn't taken it upon themselves to let their pet giant chicken sit on our roof. [Hellravens and dragons, man, hellravens and dragons.] They could have at least did us the favor of killing each other while they were at it...

[walking_nuke]

[Balin's got a little pile of dragon scales and feathers over on his end that he's about to rake up into a bag. He glances over at Caesar with an unamused look.]

She ain't any pet of ours to begin with.

[Then he looks over to Mal.]

Yeah, it was a mess. People goin' crazy again, one of 'em tried to make a snack outta Virginia's friend.

[captain_tightpants]

Giant chicken, you say?

[He seems to be playing along with it but with Mal it's hard to tell whether he's sincere or just trolling. Either way, he's still smirking.]

Ain't that a bit of a messy pet to have 'round anyway? Those'd be some droppings to clean up.

[commentboxtroll]

Considering how she's always around begging for eggs and follows Virginia around like a lost puppy, I'd say she is our pet.

[He's not amused, either, but he comes off as more bored than annoyed.]

And yes, a giant chicken. She's not bright enough to be anything else, though now that you mention it, I hope she's toilet trained... Speaking of her, if any insane girls with big bird wings took a swoop at you the other day, you can ask Virginia for an apology.

C

[spitefulvitae]

[There's someone else out at this hour of the early evening, just as it's starting to truly get dark. Someone that didn't quite realize that there was a jogger coming from behind her until he was uncomfortably close. She jolts, and spins, and jumps out of the way, and hisses at him...

...and then seems to catch herself, both hands flying over her mouth.]

1/2

[walking_nuke]

[At the hiss, in one swift motion Balin turns about to face the potential threat, backsteps, and unholsters his sidearm—]

2/2

[walking_nuke]

[—then, seeing that the woman is covering her mouth, he lowers his aim.]

What's'a trouble?

[spitefulvitae]

[Oh Goddess, the guy has a gun. Her pupils have narrowed into pinpricks and her eyes are wide as saucers now. It takes a few moments for her to actually be back in the moment and able to answer him.

She lowers her hands slowly.]

You... you startled me. C-could you... could you put that away?

[She points limply at his sidearm.]

Finally able start tagging again! Sorry about the long wait!

[walking_nuke]

[Balin stares for few moments, dispassionately, before putting the sidearm back in its thigh holster.]

Sorry about'at.