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

[motherfucking_ghost]

You're the one talking about your life savings, man. Maybe you want that back.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Only if we all end up coming back to my earth and I have to deal with my student loans and water bills again.

...Which you're all welcome to do, by the way. I promise you don't have to help me fight genocidal cultist maniacs all the time.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Man, I don't know, that just doesn't seem like a good deal to me.

So what are you gonna do with it? Keepsake? Reminder?

[misanthropicprinciple]

[He dips his head to the side, fiddles with the ring some more as he thinks about it.]

Something like that, yeah. That's what it was for a year, a reminder of what I was struggling so hard for. But now it's more... like a note to myself. 'None of it was meaningless.'

[motherfucking_ghost]

...I like that idea. As a concept. That everything that's happened...meant something. Even if we don't know what.

[scourgingstars]

I assure you that I was not entertaining the thought whatsoever.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[He smiles, then elbows Church in the arm.]

You really don't want to come to Earth with me, if we can? It'll be an English-speaking country, I promise. I'll show you Akira.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Depends on a lot of things, I guess. Wherever the fuck we go, I just...kinda wanna us all go together, you know? Big fucked up family.

[airlockedmods]

[The blue light stays on for a long time, staring her down.

Then, as if he was waiting for a coast to clear:]

This will all be over soon.

[And then the blue light goes back to recording red.]

[goteachother]

[She flounders for a moment... unsure what to do now that she doesn't have her coffee in her hands as even a small distraction from what's going on here. He's so distant somehow, not the anger from Sunday but further away from her than he's ever been, even when she couldn't understand half of what he was talking about.]

If... if you think it's best. [Whatever he wants, whatever he needs as long as he comes back to her. Somehow... eventually... Morgana's Grace but she needs him.]

[myocordial]

She was. Without her, we never would have lasted as long as we did...

[It's fitting, almost, that losing her is what finally doomed them.]

It was... more literal, for her. You see, we... most Roidmudes... they had negative human emotions programmed into them, early on. ["They", not "we". Because he's somewhat of an exception.] When Medic healed them, she felt those emotions as well. Took them into her. And it changed her so much. Corrupted her...

I did love her. Perhaps that's what made me so blind to the fact that she... didn't really care about anyone except me.

[It hadn't seemed serious. She bickered with Brain, sure, but he didn't think it was... quite so bad.]

Behind my back, she even sacrificed other Roidmudes. When there were already so few of us.

kitchen

[scourgingstars]

Whatever you're making, it smells utterly spectacular. That's not catoblepas, is it?

[gesundheit]

[motherfucking_ghost]

See? You weren't thinking of me staying in it, so at the very least you're totally thinking of me out of it, so I win either way.

[scourgingstars]

[deadpan:] You've cornered me with your utterly ironclad logic. Clearly, I have suffered a decisive and complete loss.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I...think so.

...I'm sorry I snapped at you. That I was--I was really angry. And upset you. But I was upset. I'm still...kind of upset. About things. I don't mean to worry you.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Honestly, it's probably one of the birds that directs Church to him. It's an oddly tense thing to walk in on, and he almost doesn't want to disturb the moment, to let Ardyn work out or think out whatever's in his head.

But then again, letting Ardyn work whatever's in his head isn't always the best plan, or ever, in case he's getting lost in the darkness of memories. So Church is slow to approach but approaches all the same, puts a hand on Ardyn's shoulder.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

I can slip into something more comfortable if you want...

[scourgingstars]

You know, for a loudmouthed idiot you have a startling habit of being right.

[He didn't look up as he slipped the ring back into place.]

It's quite impressive.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I know. [Listen, he knows, it's not even him being a shit about it.] What about?

[scourgingstars]

...I'm alright, for now. I talked over the worst of it with Junpei.

[His right hand curled into a fist and uncurled again, dropping to his side.]

You were right about what Bahamut truly aimed for, I think. When you suggested I wasn't meant to be a savior in the first place.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Oh. Yeah. Sorry. It just seemed...the likely thing, at the time, when you brought it up. It's not...ideal. But it sounds like a very god-like thing to do.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Fuck, yeah, obviously. If I can't bring all of you, I'm not going. Crash Keys managed without me once, it's fine.

[scourgingstars]

[He shrugged with a vague sound of agreement, turning to look at Church properly.]

I think perhaps I realized it weeks ago, once I remembered a few things. I just didn't truly want to acknowledge the idea.

[desperateprayer]

[ Clarith leaves her and Arianna's shared room late this morning. She grabs something simple for breakfast, then heads to the garden where she tends the memorials like usual. She stays there awhile, saying prayers and even just talking to some of them about the events of the past week. She seems... At peace, for once. There's not as much of the turmoil there that there usually is.

Later on she can be found just hanging out in the dance studio. She barely knows how to dance, but honestly, she doesn't mind trying on her own. An after that, she can be found in the bowling alley. She's not playing, but she is reliving memories. Eventually, she'll settle there to read one of her books, remaining just as calm as before. ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

I'm sorry. Are you... [He already said he was all right, but--] What were you doing?