[open] waste time with a masterpiece, don't waste time with a masterpiece

[activatingcombatmode]

Who: Zack Fair & You
Status: Open
Where: Where these threads happen.
What: A catch-all log for closed threads for February! Includes a few Manta Board prompts as well. If you would like something specific please let me know.
Warnings: Tba.


[🐺 a. the edge of sleep: closed to crewmates & planned cr]

[Ever wonder what it's like to drown? It's a story of opposites. There’s peace in the water. Like it’s holding you. Whispering low tones to let it in. And every problem in the world will fade away... But then there's this thing. In your head. And it's raging. Lighting every nerve with madness. You have to fight. To survive. And all the while the question is before you. Have you had enough?

Zack can't breathe. He can't concentrate. All he can feel is the water cradling him like a vice and the strange invisable fingers around his throat that are both there and not there. He's drowning... He has to fight to breathe and swim. He has to fight to wake up.

This time he does manage to wake up. It's with a painful jolt, his body screaming in pain as he winces awake. His lungs gasping and his muscles screaming. The black mark on his hand pulsates with dirty murkiness, threatening to slide up his arm.

There can be a few places to find Zack when he wakes up. Either in his cabin aboard his crew's ship or on deck where he's failed to keep himself awake and has fallen asleep in a chair or even leaning against the wooden railing. Or at the worst passed out in some random storage room on the ship.]

[🐺 b. part of their world]

[When he's not suffering sleep deprivation Zack does manage to get some work done. Life goes on and he’s well enough during the day to go about his daily life. That means that Zack is getting back to work. And that means taking pictures of...]

Mermaids? Great, the last time I dealt with mermaids they wanted to drag me under the water.

[He sighs. But he clicks through his shellphone for the camera function and then nods.]

Let's just hope the mermaids we find today are a little less touchy-feely.

[🐺 c. wildcard]

[got something else? feel free to put that down here or find me at michrure for some extra plotting.]

Comments

[activatingcombatmode]

[And there is a scream- A loud curdling unknown one that sounds entirely inhuman. The sleeping demon curls and yanks in her grasp and tries to sink its jagged claws back into whatever it can of Zack's body and soul. Yet, the following snap is gone as fast as it comes. The demon snaps in half like a piece of shredded cloth.

Zack instantly gasps like a fish out of water and cannot get air in his lungs for a fraction of a second. He slides back on the ground until his back slams against the wall of the cabin and he grabs his chest at his heart like he's just been stabbed.]

What the hell did you-

[He's not angry. He is just confused and unsure what just happened to him. He can barely tell where he is right now, it's like standing between a cloud and nothingness and something real. Was he just ... Was he dead? Again? And revived again?]

Rem? You did something, what did you do?

[vermilloci]

[ There it is, his gasp for air, signifying that it worked, that he's alive, and Rem doesn't know whether to laugh or cry that it worked, that she timed it right--

That he's not dead, that he can be remembered, that today will not be the day that his friends and loved one will say goodbye. ]

I-- you-- [ Ignore the mist in her eyes, she's actually really relieved! There had been a part of her that worried about how that particular power of hers might be limited in this one. ] Zack, you...were gone. I brought you back. [ She fumbles over her words, looking over him worriedly.] Are you okay? Are you tired? The demon-- I think half of it's gone.

[activatingcombatmode]

How...?!

[That's the word that spills from his mouth first. It's confusing because this isn't like being knocked out and brought back by the burn of a phoenix down. This is something else. It's like he was gone for a second only to be pulled back.

It takes him a moment to cool down, his breathing evening out before he shakes his head gently.]

You seriously brought me back. Whatever you did, Rem... It must have worked somehow.

[Or partially. He can still feel something sick and heavy inside of him. But this is already an improvement. Death aside-]

Thanks... I think I'm okay. Or at least, this has bought me some time.

[vermilloci]

It's an ability I have. [ She answers helplessly, because she doesn't have any other better explanation other than "I have this power". And, Crystals, is she grateful that she still has it, even in this world. That's a good thing. She can... she can use this. She can help people. She must help people.

Rem brings a hand up to wipe at the corner of her eye, giving him one last, clinical look. Is he fine? Really? Dying can't be easy-- even for a short amount of time. Brushing against oblivion is a terrifying concept to experience. ]

Don't move too quickly, okay? When I found you, you were already collapsed. We should find someone to stay with you.

[activatingcombatmode]

[Zack shakes his head weakly.]

Whatever that ability is... I'm glad you were in the right place at the right time with it. I owe you.

[There's a sad gratitude in Zack's tone because he's been here once already. Walking a thin line with death isn't fun and doing it again leaves him feeling strange. All the things he could leave behind, all the people he could hurt if he died again... No, can't let that happen again. He really owes Rem for this.

He sits straight, trying to ease the weak feeling form his shoulders.]

I feel like I just got hit by a truck but I think I'll be okay. I'll grab Cloud.

[And tell absolutely no one what happened.]

[vermilloci]

[ She's helped someone.

She's actually helped someone live. It seems she has power that is worth something in this world. ]

Wh-- hey, hey. [ He's just come back to life and he wants to stand up and go get someone?! NO SIR, NOT NOW. Rem reaches out to his shoulder. While she's wary of telling him to rest given the nature of the curse, she wishes to at least keep him sitting. ]

He's on this ship? We've met. I'll get him.

🎀

[activatingcombatmode]

[At least Zack knows when he shouldn't argue with a small girl that's telling him to sit the heck down. So, he does.]

Alright, alright. Okay. Thanks.

[And with that Rem will head out to grab Cloud. Zack will be able to rest peacefully for the first time in a while tonight. The nightmares will be fewer and far between. But that's a blessing to him right now.]