theairlock | Week 5

Entry tags:

!round 2,
!week 5

Week 5

[As with the weeks before, life in the Fantasy Sweet returns to something resembling normalcy with shocking efficiency. The second floor rest area and ~~Adventure Zone~~ Death Orb Room are spotless again, the demon glitter has been vacuumed, the deflated orbs have been replaced. It's like none of it ever happened, like three more friends aren't dead and stored away in the guest house morgue.

There's a new floor to explore, their "reward" for a job well done.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 4, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

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[Ardyn was, despite appearances, miles away from 'calm' at the moment. But what he was currently feeling was hardly going to help the situation, and he was fairly sure he must have become surprisingly good at hiding it over the past two thousand years.]

[(This was, in reality, highly debatable.)]

He's too stubborn to give up now.

... that's one word for it.

[ He'd promised her, hadn't he? It feels like forever ago, both of them stood in the garden. Yuuri, trusting none of them enough to let them in any further than arm's length. He'd said: I don't know. I can't stop throwing myself at this until I do.

Is this what he gets for all that effort? Throwing himself against this impossibility until he finds an answer or breaks first?

She huffs and scrubs at her face, trying to shake away those kinds of thoughts. ]

Then... how are you holding up?

Just as well as I have been. You can spare your concern for those in need of it and not bother worrying about me.

[he said, definitely not worried about junpei at all whatsoever nope]

You say that like it's something I can just turn off. Of course I'm going to worry about you.

[ she gives him a weary little smile that has the air of an "so, there." about it. ]

Are you taking notes for something?

[well stop it, yuuri, jeez]

Not yet--at the moment I'm more closely examining the rules as they've been laid out.

... Has he added or changed anything, since...?

[ Since. You know. Maybe if we don't say the terribly traumatic thing out loud then it'll be just like it never happened. ]

No--there's still only the listed nine, for now.

... then why are you...?

[ He wouldn't be reading them so closely if they were just the same as they've always been. Not unless he had some sort of idea. ]

Niflheim wouldn't make an idiot their imperial chancellor, Yuuri. He's getting careless, and I fully intend to beat him on this chessboard he's so thoughtfully laid out.

[ ... it feels risky to talk about this where she knows PAL can hear and talk to them. But he's got her interest piqued. ]

You think we can use the rules against him. Or at least, to our advantage, then?

Potentially.

[it is and that's why he's being a cagey bastard about it.]

... good.

[ She cracks the tiniest smile. ]

It's something at least. Which is always better than nothing.

[ a pause. ]

... speaking of which... do you... need anything? You've been in here all night...

I don't need to eat or sleep, Yuuri. That's why I was here overnight in the first place.

[daemons stacked in a trenchcoat, honey]

[ There's a beat of quiet as Yuuri stares at him -- and then, so abruptly she startles herself, she hiccups out a laugh that she tries to muffle. ]

Oh-- yes, oh god, of course-- I'm sorry, I just-- is it ridiculous that I just completely forgot?

[ yes. yes it is. ]

N--never mind, then. No breakfast.

A little ridiculous, yes.

[But he did manage a half-smile half-smirk in response all the same.]

...Shame, really. Your cooking wasn't that bad.

[ Her expressions softens, just a bit. Coming from anyone else, it'd be a nice enough passing compliment. Coming from Ardyn now, though... it feels like it means something important. ]

... good. I'm glad.

But... even if you don't have to eat, can you still... taste?

Nishitani's unfortunately flavored vodka some time ago highly suggests I can't--or at least, not very much.

I see... that's a shame, really. Even if you didn't need to eat, is there really anything stopping you if you want to? But if you can't taste anything there isn't really much point.

Nothing's stopping me, apart from how unnecessary it is.

[ Under all the exhaustion and anxiety she feels a sudden wave of sympathy. She'd expressed a dull horror to Junpei at the thought of two thousand years without even the pleasure of a good night's sleep. And now on top of that -- two thousand years without being able to enjoy a good meal, a good drink.

No wonder he's so... Ardyn. ]

Is there anything else you can't... or well, don't need to do like this...?

[die, experience positive emotion not through a filter of hate, did i mention die]

...Nothing that's immediately relevant. Why?

... Nothing, really. I just...

[ She's trying to work out how to word this. She doesn't want to sound like she's patronizing him. ]

Sometimes... when it's a long hard day, the only thing that kept me going was knowing there'd be a hot meal and a bed at the end of it. And they didn't even let you have that.

Outside of that little incident, it has been a very long time since any of that mattered to me. [He said that like it was obvious, clearly resisting the urge to roll his eyes.] I am reasonably certain two thousand years is long enough to get accustomed to the idea.

Edited 2017-06-15 22:51 (UTC)

The fact that you had to get used to it is the worst part, though.

[ She huffs and scrapes her bangs back from her face. ]

... I'm sorry. The last thing you need is to hear me going on and on about how tragic it all is.

Go on about it all you like. It hardly makes a difference to me.

[Which...sounded sincere, but with the state Ardyn was in who could know for sure.]

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serrata - 2017-06-17 21:21 (UTC) - Expand

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scourgingstars - 2017-06-17 21:27 (UTC) - Expand

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