This is My Island in the Sun [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

The Rift wouldn't say it's sorry for the fit it threw the other day, because the Rift never needs to apologize. It is (mostly) perfect, and all of its decisions are well reasoned and just. Obviously. But perhaps it has fallen into a bit of a post-tantrum sulk, because this dream is milder than one might expect. In fact, it's downright nice.

The dreamers will find themselves in an archipelago of small islands - most only a few acres in size - connected by narrow strips of sand or pebbles. The surrounding waters are calm. Little waves lap against the shorelines, and no rising tide will cut the islands off from one another. The islands themselves seem to have been lifted from every climate zone on Earth and several from beyond. Some are tropical, some colder and home to hardy conifers, some mossy and boulder-strewn, some covered in multicolored sand and odd, coral-like trees.

Most of the islands boast some kind of manmade or otherwise non-native structure, be it as small as a bench or as large as a pavilion, though there are no houses or shops to be seen. It's more like parkland, just civilized enough for a nice picnic. Some of the islands even have little grills, and a sufficiently motivated dreamer might be able to rustle up some hot dog or burger fixings if they poke around a bit.

And they'll have an extra pair of eyes to help with their searching, because their beloved dæmons have returned… again. Or perhaps they're being introduced for the first time. Regardless, it's the bi-annual dæmon dream party!

Comments

[lottawork]

He flaps out a dismissive hand and turns away fully, disgustedly, Arista hissing at Penza as she retreats. He quite confident that further discussion will predictably go very poorly and seizing upon preventative measures might not be the most elegant or informed decision possible but it is a solution readily at his disposal. He has been granted a rational out from this exchange and so he will take it.

The treeline is distant but rapidly approaching the quicker he nears it, and with any hope it will serve as the conversational escape route he has begun to desperately seek.

[stronglikebear]

Yuri follows for a few steps, then stops. What is he even going to do if he catches up? But what is he going to do if he doesn't find out who the hell this Dr. Rush is talking about. With the Rebels taking over what's left of ROMAC, they should know all of what happened -- and the thought that maybe the higher-ups do know and haven't told him isn't reassuring.

But this man has killed someone, Yuri's pretty sure of that. He can't just...not look into it. Huffing in frustration and fully aware he's going after someone who doesn't want him there and seems unbalanced to boot, he and Penza go jogging after Rush, the headstart the scientist gained while Yuri stood in indecision enough to have got him to the treeline.

[lottawork]

"Fuck's sake," growls Arista, and it is a tacit warning that Rush requires and so he spins on his heel and sincerely hopes that the look leveled upon the boy and his dog adequately communicates his utter disdain for the persistent pair.

"Fuck off," he says bluntly, the bite of the words flaring behind the grind of teeth.

[stronglikebear]

And he was right, he has no idea what he was planning to do when he caught up. Yuri stops short and catches himself starting to duck his head in embarrassed apology, Penza lurking behind his ankles. He's not the one being an asshole here, he reminds himself, except he's not really sure about that and he's stuck uneasily shifting his weight from foot to foot as he tries to figure out what his nonexistent plan for this renewed conversation could possibly have been.

"Can you just tell me who died?" he pleads. "I mean, do you know who it was?"

[lottawork]

"No one anyone will miss," he repeats evenly, hardening his glare with a pointed glint. Fring had not struck Rush as particularly personable or likeable, or one who would have a great deal of friends. Any who may have potentially fallen under that category likely perished with their doomed organization.

He folds his arms, a taut, locking snap of action. "I believe I'm under no obligation to tell you anything."

[stronglikebear]

"Then why did you even bring it up?" snaps Yuri in exasperation. His face sets into a rictus of anxiety. So the guy says he didn't kill Erik. Yuri really, really wants to believe that, but he also wants to know if there's someone who is missing a family member out there -- because how is this guy going to know whether someone he found in ROMAC's basement has anyone to miss him?

"Please," says Penza simply, head low and ears back in supplication.

[lottawork]

"A temporary lapse in judgement that I am now regretting, I assure you," he hisses. He does not wish to illuminate his involvement with Fring's death to any undue extent. Satisfactory as it had been and as certain as he is that Fring had no true attachments - he suspects that, like himself, Fring preferred the clarity of the objective mindset and would be loathe to jeopardize that on anyone's account - it would be wiser, and safer, and preferred for him to bury the incident with the rest of ROMAC, in the anonymous, nameless rubble.

"It wasn't a good person, if you're so upset about it," Arista breaks in with a frustrated flick of her tail, ignoring her counterpart's furious, pointed look. "It was deserved. Don't give me that," she snaps at the man beside her without lifting her gaze or her tone. "We have to tell him something, obviously, or we'll never fucking hear the end of it."

[stronglikebear]

It's a little late for that, Doctor Rush. Yuri wants to believe what the cat is telling him, less because he needs this man to not be a crazy murderer and more because there are enough people killed in the world without it being someone nice who died. "Did they attack you?" he asks, trying to find some out where he can just take what he's being told at face value.

[lottawork]

"Yes," he says in breathy exasperation.

"In a manner of speaking," says Arista in the same moment.

They look at each other.

"We disagreed," he clarifies flatly, eyes narrowing at the cat. "On several key points."

Arista continues to look at him.

With a resigned huff, he rolls one wrist and holds it up for inspection, the jagged scar running its way unevenly 'round the thin circumference. He lifts his eyebrows incrementally in unspoken challenge of that threat assessment.

[stronglikebear]

"...Oh." Even at several paces, that mark is unmistakable as a scar. Penza lets out a low whine and turns her deep, dark eyes up at her own human counterpart. Yuri swallows and nods. That's not a whole story, but it's enough of one. It's definitely enough of one. "I'm -- I'm sorry," he says, stumbling over his words. "I just...um."

Just needed to know the whole story.

[lottawork]

"I'm sure," he says icily, the arc of his hand as it falls to his side communicating a disparaging, exasperated dismissal. "Y'fucking happy?"

[stronglikebear]

Yuri's mouth sets in a perturbed line as he lets out a sigh through his nose. He's pretty sure it's not unreasonable to want to know at least a few details when someone involved in the overthrow of a massive government organization tells you they caused (witnessed?) someone's death in the process, but yeah, he kind of feels like a jerk now. "No," he mutters, then adds another awkward, "Sorry."

[lottawork]

"Good." He severs the word with a particularly satisfying click of teeth and, without even the barest perfunctory tilt of a chin, pivots neatly to make his departure. Arista lingers for only a hair longer, eyes searching and suspicious, before stepping neatly to join her counterpart as they peel swiftly away.

[stronglikebear]

What the hell even was this conversation? Boy and dog watch the pair go, and after wiping sweaty palms on his jeans Yuri turns to go off the other way. He can't imagine just sitting back down and chilling out in a beach chair, but maybe they'll find some other island with less cantankerous inhabitants to take their mind off the problem of his missing brother.