the final week

[airlockedmods]

[Eight weeks. Eight weeks of friendship and love, death and loss, hope and despair all muddled together in a cocktail that's too sweet on the tongue and leaves an acid-y pit in the stomach. With nine of them left (ten counting their dear but lone surviving host), things look darker than ever. Come Sunday morning the last of the Champions missing memories will be returned to them while they sleep. For some of them this will reveal answers, for others it might just be a fate worse than death. They could even be death.

But how does the song go? "It's always darkest before the dawn"?

There are no announcements from PAL this week. Not even morning and evening announcements.

Sunday Monday Tuesday



[ooc: Welcome to endgame, everyone! We're all very proud of you for making it all the way to the end. As you can see this is going to be a short IC week but we promise things will not be going down until this weekend (7/7-7/9). On Tuesday we'll be unveiling the OOC post for what to expect during the final investigation. There is no official AC this week, just a check-in and as mentioned above characters will be at their true canon points on Sunday morning.

Buckle up, kids, the ride's not over yet.]

Comments

[scourgingstars]

I suppose they just want to handle matters on their own terms. [He smiled faintly without questioning the touch. Physical affection seemed like Queenie's favored language, even if it was one Ardyn was trying to get used to.]

...Short as human lives may be, they'll have an abundance of time to determine what to do once we're out of this place.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[He won't ask about whatever Junpei remembered to make him come to that conclusion. Partly because it's sure to be frustratingly complicated, partly because he's sure Junpei will tell him whatever he needs to know when he's ready, partly because if he does? It invites questions about his own memories. He's sure they're there in the underlying current of the conversation. And he should, he should say.

Normally he might make some smartass comment about how right he naturally is, but it doesn't come.]

You do stupid shit for the people you love. At least you know what you're getting into now. You might even be more careful.

[He hesitates, trying to figure out how to broach the so many subjects.] Q took away her own memories. She offered to do the same thing for Ardyn. You've got a shitload of timelines and stupid bullshit to deal with; if she offered, would you want her to take anything away? If it was bad enough?

[motherfucking_ghost]

Yeah. Later. Go...commiserate with everyone before I hog you all to myself. [Which will require letting go, first.]

[serrata]

Because-- because it's too soon! And this is all... it's so sudden. It wouldn't be happening because we wanted it to happen, it'd be because everyone made such a big fuss about it and we felt like we had to!

[ peer pressure matrimony ]

If -- if! -- I ever do decide I want all this to happen, I'd like it to be on my own terms and-- and-- I don't know! Outside on a nice sunny day! With all of my friends there. Do you know how mad Yuki-chan and Kurumi would be if they found out I'd gotten married and they weren't there to see it?

[ naoki miki: chopped liver, apparently. ]

[serrata]

[ strangled, muffled screech with her mouth shut ]

JUNPEI!

[ HOW COULD YOU BETRAY HER LIKE THIS BY PUTTING THAT IDEA INTO ARIANNA OF CALEDONIA'S HEAD ]

[daughterofthemark]

[TOO LATE SHE'S ALREADY THOUGHT IT YOU CAN'T MAKE HER UNTHINK IT]

dance studio

[serrata]

[ Yuuri isn't going to be able to escape weddings this week. At least this one isn't hers but she still feels a little awkward about the whole thing. But lord above, her little sister is getting married today apparently and she's going to make damn well sure she looks the part of the beautiful blushing bride.

She's actually on her way to the spa when she spots the flowers sitting outside the dance studio and pauses, giving them a little frown. Those had never been moved outside, had they? So she peeks inside to see what manner of fuckery is going on today. She's half expecting to see Church lube-skating again so when she sees Ardyn it's a bit of a-- WHOA, OKAY, THERE HE GOES. ]

Wh-- so that's warp-striking?

[ YOU DIDN'T TELL HER IT LOOKED AS COOL AS IT SOUNDED ]

[scourgingstars]

Less 'striking' and more just warping. But the difference is a matter of semantics.

[He tossed the pen to himself with a worn out but confident smirk, flipping it in the air and catching it again.]

Junpei didn't show you while he could? What a wasted opportunity.

[serrata]

[ Now she's sure she's not going to be bowled over by a stray ex-antichrist, Yuuri walks in properly, her eyes bright with interest. ]

No, no, he just told me -- he said you'd been showing him but he never really got the chance to demonstrate.

[ Junpei had demons in him. Yuuri was a toku monster. It was a rough week. ]

It's a very flashy way of getting around. Did it look the same when he was doing it, though? With all the lights.

[scourgingstars]

It did--it's all residual magic energy. If one should be fighting a particularly unintelligent monster, the afterimage comes in quite useful as a diversion.

[serrata]

[ ... well damn. ]

And you-- you can just do that as many times as you want?

[serrata]

[ She's nodding along. ]

I see... it's a little bit like what we'd do back home. If we had to get to somewhere and there were zombies between us and the place we wanted to get to, the best way of luring them away was always with something bright and noisy. Usually glowsticks, if we had them. It nearly always worked.

[scourgingstars]

That does make sense. Bright light and motion are usually the best way to present a target.

[zombies, daemons, same shit]

...Would you like to try it? I should be able to manage once more before I'll need to stop for a short while.

[misanthropicprinciple]

No. No.

[He shakes his head, too; two nos aren't enough. He rakes a hand through his hair and looks at the wall.]

I already got my mind wiped enough before here, I don't--even the memories of mes from other timelines, I mean, those turned out to be so important. For me, for... for making sure as many people around me could survive. That was the whole point of putting me through those games. To make someone who could remember all of that, and use it to... to save lives.

[Six billion. Eight billion. Nine. One.]

If I just forgot... it'd be like it never happened. And those memories mean too much to me for that.

[serrata]

Oh-- could I?

[ yesssssss ]

It's not-- it won't be a strain with me along for the trip, will it?

[scourgingstars]

Not much more than it already is. My ability's almost embarrassingly limited, but one person makes little difference.

[motherfucking_ghost]

...You ever think it's possible to go through something so awful that you have to forget it or you'll just...go completely insane, or die, or something?

Jesus, Ardyn didn't even want to let her take out two thousand years of being what he was. Or the people he killed, the planet he fucked over, his brother and his shield and everyone he ever gave a fuck about betraying him. [His eyes drift to the spot on the floor where the glass vials of potion had been stomped out of existence.] And there can't be a whole hell of a lot worse than that, right?

[serrata]

Then I'll have to take you up on the offer.

[ She crosses the room to stand by his side -- she's assuming they need to be in closer proximity for this to work. ]

Hm... do I need to be holding onto you for this...?

[goteachother]

[She can't help it, she's a very tactile person. She's lost most of her personal boundaries a long time ago.]

I s'pose I just don't see the point in waiting? And they're acting like they hardly know each other. They've been swooning over each other since the first week we got here, goodness.

[scourgingstars]

That would help, yes. [He put an arm over Yuuri's shoulders, tossing the pen to himself again.]

Ready?

[scourgingstars]

I don't have the best concept of time, so perhaps my perspective is lacking. But given how chaotic the past two months have been, taking things a bit less quickly may be a welcome change of pace.

[serrata]

[ Ooooookayyyyy just let her cling onto your arm there good king dad ]

R--ready!

[ she doesn't exactly feel ready but WHATEVER, YOLO, THIS IS THE FANTASY SWEET WE RIDE HARD WE DIE HARD ]

[goteachother]

[There's more important things to worry about now. Why PAL isn't talking to them. If he's in trouble for letting her survive, if there really is a way for him to get out, for them all to get out.

Mending this strange rift between them would have to come later.

But before she can just go back to talking with the others she leans in against him, briefly glances at Ardyn as though expecting him to stop her, and kisses him softly.]

[scourgingstars]

[ardyn lucis izunia caelum tenmyouji continues to be the incarnation of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

[scourgingstars]

Hold on.

[He threw the pen across the room, and for a brief instant the world ceased to exist in a flash of magenta. With it came a rush of motion like a sudden strong gust of wind and the faint warmth that came from something bright.]

[In almost no time at all the two of them were a few feet from where they'd started, the same vanishing light marking the distance traveled and forming a quickly dissolving aura around Ardyn himself, who still held on to Yuuri just in case she lost her balance.]