Real & Half-Real: Chapter 1 - The Portal and the Plan

[unsheathedfromreality]

Who: The Committee to Rescue Illarion from His Very Stupid Mistake
What: Building a portal to bust into a pocket dimension and strategizing what to do once they get there. All extremely advisable science.
When: Early-mid April
Where: Throughout Trench, and in parts beyond it

It's been weeks since Illarion's disappearance in the fight against Leviathan, and scarcely fewer weeks since his Omen Iskierka began papering Trench with notes on his whereabouts. The shrike's friends and loved ones have not been idle during that time, and now their plans begin coming to fruition.

It's time to get him out of the nightmare he's trapped in--but first, they've got to break their way in, and they've got to have a plan.

[[ Part of the Real & Half-Real player plot! Navigate to other plot posts: [OOC] Interest Check | [IC] Prologue | [IC] Iskierka's Notes ]]

Comments

[peripheries]

"I know."

They're here for him. He knows that. And he's happy for it but... he's also afraid. Afraid of what might happen in there, the things they'll see, and the things that will force their hands.

He turns and gently puts his small pale hand into Midoriya's, slender fingers embraced by firm ones. Then he reaches out and takes Paul's with a familiarity that doesn't require any offering. He knows Midoriya's heart is pure. Too pure, maybe, but that impossible purity draws him ever nearer.

"But I am prepared to do whatever it takes and... a conflict between us would be a distraction to our goal of saving the old man." He raises his head and gives Midoriya a look, it's dull-eyed and pleading. "So please, let's not get in each other's way, regardless of methods."

[terriblepurpose]

Paul weaves his fingers through Kaworu into a lattice, stronger together than apart, and it eases some of the pressured tension in him. His shoulderblades slide down and back as he half-steps closer.

"I trust you both," Paul tells them, with the steady intensity they know well by now. He isn't someone who says that lightly, the circle of those he trusts a small and select one.

Once someone is close, he always wants to keep them.

"It's like we said. We protect each other. That includes the old man." Paul edges closer, despite his keen awareness of other people in the room, unable to help a frown at Kaworu's troubled expression. He wants to brush it away with gentle touches, nestle him against his chest - with Midoriya too, while he's at it.

[wannasmash]

Paul's kindness is the quality in him Midoriya admires most. It grew in inhospitable conditions like impossibly composite wild lichen or the produce Raleigh painstakingly cultivates out of this hard land. It's what turned Paul from someone who needed help into someone Midoriya could call a friend. It draws Paul's feet closer here, and Midoriya understands the pull.

It's the type thing that makes Kaworu cut through his friends' nervousness and toss it aside. It fuels Midoriya's defiance against the rules of his own world, this world, and the one waiting for them. It surfaces, just for an instant, as a flash of challenge in his eyes as Kaworu's somber ones ask him for help, but the heat isn't directed at him. His hand gives his a reassuring squeeze.

This is important. It's probably the most important thing Midoriya will do today, but there are other important things too. Midoriya might be in civvies, but he's essentially at work. They're discussing a rescue with a team of people who don't all know each other. The others may not understand the secure but gentle press of Midoriya's scarred hand against Kaworu's or the concern drawn on Paul's brows. They may, however, understand the low efficiency in Midoriya's voice.

"I won't put us in danger with infighting." Something he saw happen during his provisional licensing exam. Good thing it was only an exam. "A Hero can't be a liability. The rescue will always be my top priority. We should finish the meeting. Or do you guys want to take a break?"