week 7

[airlockedmods]

[For the first time in several weeks there is no new memorial in the garden. No new body in the morgue, no bloody mess for the roombas to clean. Choromatsu is still in need of time to heal and constant vigilance but he's alive. They're all alive for once on a Sunday and, even with the terrible realizations their returning memories may bring, there's a sense of hope for the first time in a long time.

There is no new floor this week.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 6, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[motherfucking_ghost]

Just give me the word and we'll find out.

[YUURI DO]

[motherfucking_ghost]

I, uh, I get that. And especially since you did one for everyone. Easier to write...

It was just, uh, it was, it was really sweet. Is all. If only it was better circumstances, huh.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Well, nobody died. So nobody to put on trial. It's...actually it's really fucking weird, but we're all just kind of trying to take it in stride right now.

[misanthropicprinciple]

And if they can do it, we can do it. We can do it better. ...Not the programming personalities into us, that's creepy as hell. But the part where we take control of our lives back, Church, and go where we want to go.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Mmmmnnnnggghhh...

[He rubs at his face and drops his voice to an inaudible mumble.]

...kinda got locked in the kitchen after hours...

[motherfucking_ghost]

It's funny you think any of us had control of our lives in the first place.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[That kind of strikes a nerve. Junpei frowns, then shakes his head.]

Then--then fine, we take control of our lives for the first time. After we get to the showrunners, after we put this fucking show out of commission! I don't--I don't understand why you're trying to tell me I can't before we've even tried.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Because flinging everyone across timelines until we get it right sounds like a really bullshit idea. You're so sure--you're so sure you can fix this and help everyone, and I figure maybe for once I should be the one to ground you just a little in case your idea goes horribly the fuck wrong and you make promises you can't keep.

[misanthropicprinciple]

So--what, I don't even get to try?

[misanthropicprinciple]

[That look on her face makes Junpei nervous, and when he takes both her hands, it's not just to ground her.]

Are you... You're sure that other memory is later on. Positive?

[Because if it is--the thought sticks in his throat, too skittish to rise to his brain where he can analyze it, feel feelings about it more specific than that brief graze of surprise and alarm.

Is Yuuri like me?]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Do you know what happens if you try and fail? Not in a philosophical way, I mean you fuck things up somehow.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei pauses and looks off at the distant stars as he thinks about it.]

...

..........................

..........................................................

[misanthropicprinciple]

.........

Yeah.

[motherfucking_ghost]

And that's a risk you wanna take? That's a risk you wanna take with all of us? Do you really want to be the big god damn hero that badly?

[misanthropicprinciple]

...You should keep it, I think. Green isn't really my color.

[And it's a piece of home that Choromatsu probably needs. Junpei hesitates, then finally enters the room properly, though he stays leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.]

If I ask you how you're doing, is it gonna be annoying?

[misanthropicprinciple]

...Glad to see that kind of fire in your eyes, Sketch. Think you'll want a hand?

[Waggles his robot fingers because he thinks he's funny.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

It's not--

[It's not about being the hero, and a year--ten years of baggage gets stuck in the space of his mouth all at once, so that he can't even express it. He clamps his jaws together, hands balled, shoulders tense again, and then blurts out--]

For once in my life, Church, I want to make my own choice about it without someone deciding my future for me!

[motherfucking_ghost]

FINE!

[Does it matter if Junpei wants to be the hero if clearly he's got the power to be one? Junpei might not be able to change a god damn thing, but maybe he can. That's more power than Church has ever had.

Just keep being the funnyman. Be the comedy relief. Nothing else he does matters, nothing has an impact, not here, not back home. He still dies from the tank, Omega still runs off in Doc, the bomb still goes off, Heart still loses his entire people, Nari still gets ostracized by everyone, Angel still kills herself, he still tries to give his all to save a lost cause, and he still has this argument with Junpei.

It's kinda not about you this time.

One of these days he'll learn to listen to himself.]

Just...fine.

[everylittlesecret]

Skills can be overrated. Just do what you want to do, and that's good enough.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Fine.

[So there, nyeh, et cetera. Junpei stares at Church a moment longer, as if somehow he could read what he's thinking off his stupid face, but he's not that kind of esper. When he speaks up again, he still sounds grumpy, but it's a thin veneer over the kind of emotion guys don't talk about.]

So do you want to actually talk, because... because I doubt my Back to the Future horseshit's the only thing that's eating you.

[What the hell was that thing with Ardyn about? He lets the question float unsaid. They've both already said too much, probably. Aired out too many telling words.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[...

Uh-oh.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Of course I don't want to talk. [He slumps, because this is it, this is the anger mostly out of him, because maybe Junpei doesn't deserve it even if he still thinks making Yuuri that promise was a terrible waste that's going to get them both hurt if not killed.]

...I just don't--maybe I should stop coming to these meetings. Or opening my damn mouth when I do.

[everylittlesecret]

[She very carefully moves to another spot, trying her best not to rustle along with the leaves. There might be a few that still do. She's not a born predator, just a made one.

She should... be a little easier to track through the bushes then the trees?]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn showed up to the dining hall a little later than the others; from the way he was pulling his coat into place and pushing his hair out of his eyes, one might be forgiven for assuming he'd overslept.]

[But that was just silly.]

...

[Change one person's fate. Just one...maybe just one would be enough. But--no.]

We can't let ourselves falter. Not after all of this--it can't possibly truly be worth it.

[Could it?]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Come on, Church. You make 'killed' sound so final.]

That would kind of defeat the entire point of having meetings for everyone to come to and talk at.

[He crosses his arms and leans back, settling in. Maybe nothing was resolved, not really, but it's like a death count's finally turned off. Nothing's changed. They're still friends.]

Come on. You're the Shield, I'm the royal advisor. Let me advise, or something.