[Voice, locked to residents] --EMERGENCY--EMERGENCY--EMERGENCY--EMERGENCY--

[malnosso]

[At 2:15AM, the journals suddenly blare out an alarm, followed by this message.]

EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. This is an emergency.

The following occupants of the Luceti enclosure must report to the teleporters in twenty minutes. You are required as reinforcements in Region 13. Bring all necessary armaments with you. You will be teleported directly into combat.

Anyone who fails to comply will be forcibly escorted to the teleporters by droids.

This is not a drill. I repeat: this is not a drill. You have twenty minutes.

[The message repeats twice more, the alarm continuing until the twenty minutes has elapsed. No questions will be answered.]

Comments

[complicatedliar]

Loki smiled, and lightly brushed his fingers over her cheek. "I count on it."

Re: Teleporters

[complicatedliar]

Cockiness can wait until we've seen the battlefield.

[fashionably_strong]

I'm ready to punch some Third Party cultists in the face. I wish we'd gotten more notice, though. I wasn't drafted last time one of these happened...but everyone got two days notice. Way more time to prepare.

[She shakes her head. Things must be bad if the Malnosso couldn't give them more notice. While the Malnosso are jerks, it's in their best interest to make sure all of the people in Luceti are well rested and prepared to fight.]

I haven't been drafted ever, but I have fought the Third Party before when Zompano messed with everyone's minds and made everyone think we'd all lived here our whole lives as totally normal humans. The Third Party attacked when people's memories and powers started coming back.

[mischiefbreeder]

Chill, dude. [He doesn't even flinch at the change in Red's tone.] I'm just gettin' your thoughts. You're new to all this crap. If your world's anything like mine, this kinda stuff doesn't happen there.

...I get the sentiment, though.

[Action ]

[mischiefbreeder]

Just all the self-confidence you can muster! [He gives Ash a proud, wide grin.]

[frost_jewel]

It's not an experience I would wish on my friends. [She counts Remy among them. A shadowy friend.]

[pokeboy]

...Sorry. [ Really, he hadn't meant the question to come off as it did. ] My world isn't like this. There's people who do bad things, but this is different.

I just don't like doing nothing.

[frost_jewel]

I am worried. This is so unusual and sudden that I can't help it.

[They both know she worries anyway. Even if things are routine.]

You'll be careful, won't you?

[Action, Graces House to the teleporters]

[ledbythewind]

It's another draft announcement.

[There's no humor to Richard's voice this time, none of his usual teasing. He's very quiet and very calm and that's probably more than a little unnerving coming from him, because that's a tone he rarely employs unless the situation is serious.]

[mischiefbreeder]

You think you're the only one? [He grits his teeth, displaying a level of anger that belies his unusually calm behavior.] I feel so powerless right now. I'm just stuck here, and they're out there fightin' for their lives.

[Teleporters!]

[ledbythewind]

[Due to his inability to read the list for himself, Richard has no idea whether Grune has been drafted or not. Her presence here at the teleporters makes him a little nervous that she will in fact be going-- after Vaskoth, he really doesn't want someone as sweet and innocent as Grune being sent into the midst of that.]

Thank you, Grune. Are you going as well?

[He keeps his tone light to hide his concern.]

[pokeboy]

[ Maybe it's unusual, but conversations like this weren't the norm. It just makes Red's own edge come back in response. ]

D'you think I don't know that? I don't think anyone wants this - us stuck back here or anyone out there.

[mischiefbreeder]

[Gold sneers, and slumps down into his seat.]

Tch... Somethin' ain't right here. I've got a bad feeling about all this.

[pokeboy]

[ He still wants to bicker, but he'll hold his tongue on the childish comments. Small breath. ]

Has a draft call ever come like that before?

[mischiefbreeder]

[He'd love to get into a petty argument right now, but he knows now isn't the time for it. So says Professor Oak.] Never. That's why it doesn't sit right with me.

[pokeboy]

[ Gosh dangit Professor Oak. He frowns at that. He doesn't know what drafts are like beyond guesses, nor the wait or the intensity of the battlefield, but that certainly makes it worse. But what can they do? What will sitting there do?

He looks over to Gold, putting his hands against Pikachu's body. ]

You don't like it and I don't like it, and you don't need me saying it, but we can't do anything, can we? If it's really that bad, then maybe we'll hear more, or something'll happen.

And I don't want to think what'll happen if something does, but you're doing nothing, and I'm not stupid and think I can do anything better. We just have to wait, even if we don't want to.

[frost_jewel]

They are. Still...this stretch of calm was too good to be true, wasn't it?

[wildbluevagner]

I guess it was. [Reality starts to drag him down, but he holds a soft look on his face.] At least we'll have something calm to think back to, whenever things get crazy.

[pokeboy]

[ He takes it, looking at it once before depositing it away into his pocket. ]

Okay...

[ And then he's looking back at her, that desire to be going as well still there, as well as it not even happening in the first place. He's never stood here before, never seen anyone go off to war. He doesn't want to wish her luck right now, he doesn't want to say good bye. Seeing Ash, Ginia, Silver, and all the others answer that call--

It hurts. Being able to do nothing hurts. ]

... I want to go too, you know? I know you don't want me to, but I do. I said I'd be there with you. [ It's whining, childish--

but that won't stop him. ] No one wants to be there, but who wants to stay and wait either? [ He looks away, his voice hardening as his hands turn into fists. ] I already hate this. I don't want to stay.

[windandrain]

[She shakes her head, listening to him with a sad, knowing smile. She's seen this before in others, and it's a feeling she knows all too well when a friend goes on a mission or a gets kidnapped. Helplessness is never a pleasant feeling.]

I know you do, Red. I know you want to be there, and I know you want to help. And you're right...I don't want you there.

[She inhales slowly, expression a carefully constructed mask of neutrality. She doesn't want to give away how frightened she is, how she's certain something bad is going to happen, and how glad she is that he's been spared.]

But none of that changes the reality of the situation. We'll be back in a few days, and you'll be here. I know it's hard waiting, and feeling helpless is probably the worst feeling in the world, but that's the way things are this time.

[Another deep, steadying breath.]

But you'll have your chance. And you can help me with your prayers. They'll give me strength to fight on so I can come back safe. That is something you can do, small though it might seem.

[pokeboy]

[ He doesn't want to accept it - and maybe long ago, the boy who started off on his journey so impulsive and hasty wouldn't. That boy isn't all gone, not that far away in his history to be gone, and still wanting to ignore the impossibilities and realities for the chances that things could be different, that he could squeeze his way into a place he doesn't belong and get his own way.

Because when he sees Saori face, when he remembers how much of a brave face Ash before tried to keep up in front of him, Silver's own way of seeming the same as always, he doesn't want to care about the impossible. And does he even care about that now, where he does and doesn't belong? But it's for them, or for Saori, right then, that he pushes back that kid with a deep breath of his own, and nods his head with his mouth shut tight of any more complaints.

And then he fidgets a step forward, hesitant, but then quickly casts aside that uncertainty and hugs his arms around her and brings his body against hers. Pikachu, keeping silent through his trainer's words, takes the chance to do the same, now giving a sorrowful piiii as he clutches against her neck. ]

Fight. Don't let anyone stop you.

[Action]

[voidseeing]

Elizabeth!

[He hears her before he sees her through the darkness and the crowd of people milling around the teleporters. Once he does, he's shoving his way through the crowd to find her, not really caring how many people he elbows in the process.

His heart had dropped when he'd seen her name on that list-- not because he didn't think she was capable of handling herself if the situation called for it (he was more than certain that she was), but rather because he'd been on enough battlefields to know just how brutal they could be, and that was something he didn't want her to have to experience.

But things were what they were, and if she was going to be sent, then he would be at her side for every moment of it.]

[Action]

[tearmeanewone]

Gai!! [The sound of Gai calling for her immediately calms Elizabeth's nerves. She runs a few steps to him before hugging him around his middle. After taking a deep breath she forces a laugh out.]

What a night for you to not be sleeping over. I don't even know if I managed to put on two of the same shoes.

[Action]

[voidseeing]

[As she'll no doubt notice once she gets close enough to hug him, he's clad in his Funeral Parlor uniform, Luger holstered at his side (and several knives concealed on his person as well). The hug he gives her in return is tight, reassuring, and he's in no hurry to let go if she doesn't want him to.]

Given the situation, it was probably for the best. All of my equipment was at my apartment anyway, and I'm not sure even I would've been able to sprint there and back in twenty minutes.

[Action]

[tearmeanewone]

[She laughs again, still clinging to him, feeling solid and reassured in the flow of draftees.] We can't have the droids pulling you to the teleporters in your underwear.

[She swallows and thinks for a moment.] This is my first draft. But we had more time than this to prepare for the mission, it's not always like this is it?