Ad Astra Per Aspera

[Ohm]

Trust was the talk of the hour and people trying to get his name underneath that mask. They'd have to try very hard if they wanted it, and he'd make damn sure that effort wasn't worth it.

Even so, he could not help but frown as Matthew moved onwards to the new girl, getting a name and everything from her. Harun shook his head at this display; these people did not know what the deal was. Trust as a commodity is rare as is. He did not expect anyone to share it, and yet, here they were.

Maybe, under different circumstances, he could see, but right now?

All he could see were people willingly stepping on their toes.

All that this is going to be is a short moment that lets them ignore everything. But Harun could see the truth; everything that went down on that campsite was the real deal.

He could still see the events in his mind: the shove and the blood oozing out of his neck. Life draining out of those eyes as a hand reaches up before falling flat.

And the smile, why was he smiling?

Suddenly, parts of the edge that Artie was standing near went loose, and she tumbled over and went down the slope, leaving one of her crutches behind. Harun could hear the rumbling of rocks and dirt go down with her into the water with a splash. People were moving over to see; Matthew for sure was moving to help her, the new girl maybe too...

He moved close too, only to gingerly pick up the crutch that was now up for grabs.

[Pippi]

The girl, unlike Nutboy, seemed certainly willing to share her name. Katherine. The name was not one which he had encountered among his classmates before, but one he was aware of nonetheless. It was a Christian name, just like his was, only hers was named after a saint of Alexandria. There was something comforting about knowing this fact; it was a very small thing, he was aware, the fact that he recognised her name. But it was that sense of familiarity that just made him feel a small bit more safe, and a small bit more calm.

Just as with his brother and the tale of Samson, however, he would not tell Katherine about the martyrdom of the saint she was named after.

She also said that she was an… ‘Ozzie’, if he had heard her correctly. Now, this, unlike her name, was not something which he understood. He frowned somewhat, attempting not to let his confusion show on his face. Was this some sort of role which she had within this bloodsport? Had he, in fact, missed something which Jack had told them? He hoped that was not the case. This entire situation was difficult enough to comprehend without any other factors added on to complicate things further.

He had no more time to consider Katherine’s words, as the sound of crumbling earth stole all of his attention away. His eyes widened as he watched the ground start to slip away from underneath Artie’s foot, and he was only able to take a single step forwards before she followed after it, tumbling down the side of the riverbank.

“Artie!”

Matthew ran over to the edge of what was left of the river, peering down into it, his trident clutched tightly in his hands and one strap of his bag slipping off of his right shoulder. It was certainly a drop down to the bed of the river, but one that you could most probably jump down without fear of breaking any bones. Indeed, Artie was visibly breathing and sitting up, even after her slide down the riverbank.

It did not appear to be the fall that had hit Artie the most, however. His breath became stuck in his throat, as he, and Katherine, realised what their friend was looking at.

“I am sorry. It is… exactly what you fear it may be.”

His voice had been low and quiet then, informing Katherine of what she was seeing, but now he raised it once more, loud and clear, although he was unable to hide the note of concern within it.

“Artie! Are you all right?”

He realised his words were a mirror of Katherine as he spoke them. Surely, however, Artie would be happy that there were two people who were concerned for her wellbeing.

“Are you injured at all?”

He quickly looked over the area in which she had fallen. His eyebrows formed into a frown. There was something that was missing from the scene in front of him. Perhaps it had simply fallen into the river, but…

“Do you have both of your crutches down there?”

[CondorTalon]

"Ngh."

Artie shuffled backward with a grunt... before realizing that she needed to at least get at her crutch. There were voices from above but Artie wasn't really processing them at the moment. She reached over to grab at her crutch, to pull it back into her clutches before standing up painfully.

She managed to catch the last two of Matthew's questions.

"Well, in terms of injuries I'm pretty sure I broke my ankle, but you already knew that," Artie replied. "As for the crutch..."

She looked around, not finding it anywhere down here with her.

"It must be back up there, no?"

Her eyes moved over to the banks that now acted as walls. It would be a challenge to climb up there even with a full pair of working legs. Now, though?

"I don't think I'll be able to climb up... I think I'm going to have to... just... follow the river," she said, trying to ignore the body.

She could still move... well, fine enough with one crutch, and standing around here waiting for her other crutch to be thrown down would just be time wasted on... well, not getting out of the river.

So, without waiting for much at all, really, she picked a direction and walked.

((Artie Qiu continued elsewhere...))

[Ohm]

Questions asked with an answer too inconvenient to be allowed answered. Harun had half a mind to turn around and let loose this crutch; however, numbers were too uneven, and it'd be easy to turn that creed of theirs around when someone around them does things they deem 'evil'.

He turned heel and walked away from this group before they noticed his new friend. When steps behind were heard, he quickened his pace and went across the bridge.

He had what he needed. There was nothing else here except one note: an injured girl wandering alone down the riverbank, just something to think about.

[KamiKaze]

Girl was injured? Girl had crutches. Girl… was just walking away. How casual. How casual indeed. Especially since not only was she injured, but, uh…

Look. Katherine was sure that was a dead body.

She’d… never seen one before. At least, before this. The yank got shot, of course, and Deirbhle… yeah. Katherine didn’t have much experience with death before all this. She wanted to know who the person was, what happened to them. Where they came from, why they were taken.

And it all seemed casual. Surreal, even.

Like a dream she’d wake up from soon.

And she turned her head, and…was that bloke stealing her crutch? And he walked off before she thought to say anything. She fumed a little internally.

But eyes back on the body.

That’s when Katherine turned around and went the way she came.

((Katherine Thomas continued elsewhere))

[Pippi]

“Ah-Wait. Wait just a second, Artie! Artie!”

His words did not seem to have reached the ears of his friend. Either that, or she was very determined to find a place to get out of the riverbed, so much so that she was not prepared to wait for anybody else. But Matthew simply could not understand it. Her other crutch was apparently not down there with her, yet she was content to try and leave this area without it? Her movement was slow, and her actions were not helped by the uneven ground she was attempting to move along.

For a very short moment, Matthew considered following Artie down into the river to walk with her. He even got so far as to crouch down in preparation for sliding down the riverbank. But he stopped himself, watching for a moment as Artie slowly walked further away from the bridge. She had not desired his assistance back in the caves, in regards to his offers with helping her to walk. Perhaps it would be rude of him to attempt to do so again. And, although he could not confirm that for certain, even if he did make the treacherous descent into the riverbed, what would he do when he caught up with her? What if the banks of this river were this steep all the way along? He thought that he could, perhaps, with the right amount of footholds, be able to clamber back up. But Artie, while she might have been willing to try and walk, certainly would not be able to climb. And then they would be back where they had started.

There was, of course, a much simpler way to attempt to assist. If the crutch was not down in the river, it must still be up here. That was the only explanation that made sense. He would pick it up, walk after Artie along the banks of this river, and throw it down to her when he caught up. It was the least that he could do to help.

The voice of his father appeared in his head, sudden and quiet. He had a habit of appearing in rooms without a sound, as if he had always been there, invisible to everybody around him. He always moved silently. His voice, no matter the volume, demanded attention and respect.

‘Do not give those who have been punished by the Lord any sympathy,’ it said. ‘They must atone for whatever crimes they have committed to receive such a punishment.’

He had said these words, or similar, before. They had made Matthew feel a deep sense of discomfort in his stomach the first time he had heard them, and hearing them again within his head did not make him feel any better. He stood himself up, and he took a deep breath, in and out, steadying himself.

His actions here were correct. They were just. He was certain that his father would understand his reason for doing so.

Well. He truly hoped so, at least.

Matthew turned, opening his mouth to ask Katherine if she wished to come with him. But she had started to make her way elsewhere as well. So too, finally, was Nutboy. But there was something strange about him, something that, for a moment, Matthew could not identify, until, in the blink of an eye-

“Hey!”

He wrapped his hand around the shoulder strap of his bag, his other clutching tightly to the trident. His legs had already begun their movement, a jog that was quickly becoming a sprint. He berated himself inside of his head. He had been foolish. He knew that he had needed to keep an eye on this boy, and yet in this most vital of moments, his attention had slipped away.

“Hey! Get back here!”

He was sprinting as fast as he could now, even with the anchor of his bag and his trident attempting to slow him down. The other boy was running as well, now, across the bridge, attempting to get to safety.

But Matthew would catch him. He knew he would. He simply had to. It was the only way that he would be able to make amends for his mistake.

((Matthew Omeruo continued in Gazing at Sirius))