[ It's been a long few months, without somebody who could look at him and just. See. And know. A long few months in which he's been trying, just a little bit, sometimes, to do what Steve'd be doing. Keeping the hope up for people. But the black hole inside, the one that only seems less hungry when that unstoppable blond kid that a harder punch might break happens to be around? Yeah, that's been eating him on the inside, especially when he had no real expectation to see Steve again. ]
[ And, yet, here he is. Bucky takes a deep breath, and gives a twisted smile over to his friend. ]
It's weird. The turtle... he's alive. And he's the last one, the thing we're pitted up against - did I mention that mentioning its name is likely to summon and/or strengthen it? One of the people brought here, I think hes name was Khan, mocked that - a few hours later, the thing actually gave a message on the consoles, kinda thinking him. And maybe a few others, I dunno.
Anyway. That thing killed all the others. The mainlands - those were turtle all clustered together. Now they're wastes. In - uh, on one of them, there was a mausoleum, with all the dead people in it. And no... no living people. Just ruins of cities. They weren't shot, or cut down, or anything like that. Just... dead. And their places getting worn down by heat and sand and desert.
[ He turns his hands out, then winces. ]
Oh, yeah, and about that. If you go too far away from this turtle, you... probably'll get feelin' all the sickness again. Asthma, high blood pressure, the whole slew. That's... what happens if the turtle's sick, too. The thing managed to get some sort of ritual going that was killing it. Water and plants and animals suffered, first. Then, anything that wasn't basically bein' alive, plain human weakened, and was gone.
So the... the thing is, the turtle, who's the target of this all? It has power to uphold life. And it's basically as close to a defense as we get, with the Emperor... the previous Emperor's magic. Helping. So, people being happy or content or not badly off? It helps the turtle. I know it all sounds pretty mystic and strange, but. [ He spreads his arms. ] That's what I know. That I've seen signs of, or heard about.
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[ And, yet, here he is. Bucky takes a deep breath, and gives a twisted smile over to his friend. ]
It's weird. The turtle... he's alive. And he's the last one, the thing we're pitted up against - did I mention that mentioning its name is likely to summon and/or strengthen it? One of the people brought here, I think hes name was Khan, mocked that - a few hours later, the thing actually gave a message on the consoles, kinda thinking him. And maybe a few others, I dunno.
Anyway. That thing killed all the others. The mainlands - those were turtle all clustered together. Now they're wastes. In - uh, on one of them, there was a mausoleum, with all the dead people in it. And no... no living people. Just ruins of cities. They weren't shot, or cut down, or anything like that. Just... dead. And their places getting worn down by heat and sand and desert.
[ He turns his hands out, then winces. ]
Oh, yeah, and about that. If you go too far away from this turtle, you... probably'll get feelin' all the sickness again. Asthma, high blood pressure, the whole slew. That's... what happens if the turtle's sick, too. The thing managed to get some sort of ritual going that was killing it. Water and plants and animals suffered, first. Then, anything that wasn't basically bein' alive, plain human weakened, and was gone.
So the... the thing is, the turtle, who's the target of this all? It has power to uphold life. And it's basically as close to a defense as we get, with the Emperor... the previous Emperor's magic. Helping. So, people being happy or content or not badly off? It helps the turtle. I know it all sounds pretty mystic and strange, but. [ He spreads his arms. ] That's what I know. That I've seen signs of, or heard about.