HOPE'S SCARS (1)

.
((41 - The Moon Is Gone))

May 29th, 802 AT

Kiara and Reno sat in the Quinn family apartment that had become their base of operations over the last few months, bored out of their minds. Kiara had pulled a chair up to one of the tables against the wall, and was glancing through an old journal, occasionally jotting things down in her own notebook. ((Luke Emery))

Reno was sprawled across a couch, her long black hair dangling off of it next to her. ((Hannah Rothman)) She let out a heavy sigh, and mumbled, "'S he back yet?" She spun a crystal shard idly in one hand, passing it from fingertip to fingertip.

Kiara glanced up, blinking, mind still lost in what she'd been reading. "What? Oh... Seth." She shrugged. "Only if he doesn't spend any time with her."

"Mm..." Reno tossed the crystal in the air, catching it in her other hand. "Y'know, that one time I actually met Jaz, I actually kinda liked her."

Kiara smiled a little. "Yeah, she was nice. Knew a lot, too." She looked back to the diary on the table, and started copying something again.

Reno grumbled in frustration at her friend's lack of interest, and pocketed the crystal, instead taking out a small chain. She spun it around a finger for a while, tossing it to another, flipping it. On one revolution, she missed, and it went skittering across the floor. Letting out an exasperated breath, she pulled herself upright and walked across the small room, picking it up and heading back to the couch. She sat down and looked at Kiara, still copying quietly. "'S he back yet?"

At that moment, the door opened, and Seth slowly walked in. WIth no wind for his demon-leather trenchcoat to blow in, he looked much less dramatic than normal. His red-tipped hair hung down over his eyes, which looked... empty. It wasn't as if they were normally bright and full of life, but that day they looked especially dulled. He softly shut the door and sat on the couch, at the far end from Reno.

Kiara looked at Seth, then at Reno. "Yes. He is."

"Hey," Reno said. "Welcome back."

Kiara carefully finished her drawing and laid her notebook down. "How was Jaz?"

Seth stared off into space, not responding, not making eye contact with either of them.

Reno rolled her eyes. "Well, now we know where his brain is." Despite her insensitivity, she couldn't bring herself to look at him, though.

This got his attention, and he glared at her, gaze far from pleasant. He kept his eyes locked on her steadily, waiting to see if she would return eye contact.

Kiara turned fully to face him. "...Seth? What happened?"

He eventually relinquished his gaze, taking a deep breath in, and slowly letting it out. "... She's dead. Jaz... is dead."

Kiara's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Seth stared at the ground. "Demons. Eaten by a fucking demon." Just saying it made his stomach turn again.

Reno flipped herself up into a sitting position on the couch, seeming much more interested now that demons had come up.

Kiara took in a sharp breath, then narrowed her eyes. "Did they kill it?"

"I don't know. It wouldn't have mattered."

"Wouldn't have mattered?" Reno leaned in. "What about revenge or something?"

"Fuck, it wasn't just that one." Seth didn't look up, just sat there, head hanging down. "Swarm of the fuckers headed this way. Wormlike, or something. Revenge is irrelevant against beasts like that. Doesn't mean I wouldn't kill the motherfucker if I had the chance. But still..." He trailed off, running out of words.

"Hey, I'll help you with that any day." Reno almost put a hand on his shoulder, but thought better.

Kiara nodded. "Me too."

"... thanks. I guess."

"A swarm, you say?" Kiara said, trying to change the topic.

Seth sat up, trying to shake himself off. "Yeah. One metric fuckton."

"Ooooh." Reno raise an eyebrow. "The one thing greater than a metric shitton."

"Ja-- Her crew told Ammon we had to evacuate to Sector One."

Kiara frowned. "We can't do anything about them?"

Seth shook his head. "Too many. They showed a map of shattered crystals--broken cages. Yeah, there's a lot of them."

Reno looked over at Kiara. "He did say a metric fuckton."

"We can't handle those numbers."

"... I guess not," Kiara admitted.

"Yeah." Seth clearly still couldn't quite bring himself to care. "Something like that."

After a pause, Reno rolled her shoulders back, glancing at her two friends. "Sooooo... what next?"

Seth shrugged. "Break Cyclops out of his fucking prison before the bugs arrive. We should still have a few days."

"Get Cyclops out, yeah, that comes first," Kiara said. "That comes first."

"Seconded." Reno nodded.

"Any more word on the plan for that?" Kiara asked.

"We wait for Chun to be ready," Seth replied. "With those crystals..."

Reno looked eager. "Really? It's going to work?"

Kiara shrugged. "Hopefully. It makes sense, assuming we're willing to go along with Chun's crazy scheme..."

Reno smirked gleefully. "Sweet."

"And if that plan works out... then we won't need to worry about how to evacuate, will we?" Kiara smiled. "I have to say, it appeals to me, using them to save us from their own kind."

"Iiiiiironyyyyy~" Reno said in a sing-song voice of delight.

"Chun said she'd be ready in another day or two," Kiara said. "She just has to check over some more things with her mother."

Seth nodded, then grinned, eyes lighting up again. "Shit yeah." He pulled a cig' from his jacket and lit it. "For now, then... I guess we wait."