theairlock | the final week

Entry tags:

!round 2,
!week 8

the final week

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She grins and steps back so she's just in front of the back wall.]

Can you do the full length of the room? Here to the door?

Hm...like this, I think that may be pushing the limits of what I'm capable of. But that's hardly any reason not to try.

[Excited squeal and- she readies her wand.]

Tha's the spirit! C'mon.

Very well. [He took out the pen again and tossed it to himself a couple of times.]

Would you care to give us a countdown?

Mmm... [She's practically bouncing in her stylish heels with excitement.]

One...

Twooooo~

GO!

CRACK!!

[Ardyn threw the pen clear across the room, disappearing in the same outline and red trail. If the difference in time was anything a human could measure, he reappeared barely a fraction of an instant behind her, bracing his hand on the wall just slightly out of breath.]

[Dammit, out of MP again.]

...I couldn't tell which of us got here first. [With a slight laugh, he called to the bird still perched near his coat.] I don't suppose you saw otherwise, Luscinia?

[To which she simply ruffled her feathers and refused to call it either way. On account of being a pigeon.]

Traitor. And here I thought she'd side with me.

[She grins at him, glances around for the camera and cocks a brow. She certainly knew someone who could tell them but she was also pretty sure PAL would side with her.]

It was a good effort either way. And look how far you came!

[She leans against the wall beside him, puts her hand on his arm again, smiling encouragingly.]

If you do shorter distances is it easier?

[everyone is against him, geez it's like he's an awful person or something]

Usually, yes. It's generally taking more energy than it should to travel farther than a mere several feet--I came here to practice and see if I could get a better idea of what level I was dealing with. [Ardyn glanced back the trail and afterimage already having vanished.]

That's nowhere near what I should be capable of, but it wasn't a complete disappointment.

I suppose that means playing tag is out of the question, hmm?

[Because she wants to, gosh she wants to. Anything to use her magic again. She's been cut off from so many of her abilities for so long.

She's afraid to do too much at once, just slowly easing up to bigger and bigger spells.]

Pity.

Another time, perhaps. Once I've a better handle on this.

Mmm... probably fer the best. I have dresses to make and you have a wedding to do

[Ardyn laughed to himself, dropping to sit down with his back to the wall.]

We'll see about that once we get out of here. I'd have to remember how to even officiate one in the first place, it's been a very long time. The last wedding I attended was...

[Trailing off like he'd forgotten where that sentence was going to end, Ardyn brought a hand to his head. He could focus enough to try and keep himself out of his own memories, for now. They were both here, Queenie was alive, they were getting through this somehow.]

...n-never mind that, right now.

[He drifts and she simply reaches out, touches his cheek, light but hopefully grounding. If he didn't wear so much damn clothing she'd do something a little less intimate than touching his face but she wants the skin to skin contact. Warm and gentle.

Her smile never falters, she doesn't say anything, doesn't call him out on it or ask questions. She just waits for him to come back and gently steers the conversation away from what was apparently a bad memory.]

It's awful romantic, though. Arianna and Clarith they deserve it. I can't understand why Yuuri and Junpei are so opposed to it though.

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.

[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.

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.

I hadn' really thought of it that way...

Soon as ya find a good fella, not even the best fella but a good one, runnin off ta get married and have babies is sorta what happens. 's just that... I mean the war's over but so many people died and a lotta girls lost their men. 's hard to think of not wanting to hold on fer all yer worth when ya find somethin good.

[Ardyn shrugged, brushing his hair out of his face.]

I rather actively tried not to concern myself with marriage, back when it actually mattered. I had enough expected of me at the time.

But, discounting that, I do believe I see your point in holding on to what counts.

With your position I can only imagine how much pressure was on you to "marry right"... [Yeah no, that's awful. Bleh. Arranged marriage is bullshit.

But then... there's a wicked glint in those lovely blue eyes.]

Mmm, sometimes... you don't know what ya got till it's too late. Best to hold onto what you have.

[Intense. Stare.]

Isn't it?

The one thing my brother was good for, really. I was lucky enough to see him get married just as I was running out of excuses to avoid it.

[That time, the offhand mention came with a slight laugh; hesitant, but not the clear misstep it had been before.]

I've actually meant to talk to you about that--or, at the very least something approaching that subject. But I worry it may be a slight amount too much to bear, after all of this.

...You won't remember why, but I wanted to thank you.

[Not where she expected that to turn. A brief, reassuring touch to his hand at the mention of his brother and then... she tilts her head, unsure.]

Thank me? Whatever for?

I don't know if you're aware or if anyone's simply told you, but--there were messages you left behind. Memories, for each of us. I can't speak for any of the others, but mine was-

[He trailed off, letting out a breath and trying to find where to even start.]

You did quite a lot of apologizing. And I think you wanted me to look after Ch-...Leonard. Asked me to tell him I- [Damnable uncaring gods, had emotions really always been this much to balance?] -cared about him.

That's not...quite what I'm trying to express gratitude for, but it's part of it.

[Deep breath. Lip nibble.]

The box?

[She nods to herself. He doesn't need to confirm it. Of course there were potions in it, that's precisely what it looked like she just hadn't wanted to admit it.]

I... have a lot to apologize for. I do... want you to look after him. He needs someone to ground him and you two love each other, whether you want to admit it or not.

...We did admit it. And you're right--we both need the other to keep us in check, more or less.

[Briefly, there was a look resembling embarrassment flickering across his face. Before she could get carried away with that, Ardyn quickly continued.]

But there was more to it than that. There was something more than the memory that you left me in that box--vials of that sleeping potion of yours. What you gave me was a choice; if I wanted to end things, you handed me the method to do it easily and painlessly.

[He wasn't looking at her now, unruly violet hair falling in his face.]

And I wanted to thank you, because-... [His voice broke off, Ardyn briefly unsure how exactly to finish that sentence.]

[Ardyn swallowed hard past the unease that settled in his throat, and when he spoke again his voice was hardened and determined.]

Because all that you left me made me realize how utterly stupid I was.

I have--and I mean this literally--several million reasons that I should die, accumulated over a life longer than any of you can imagine. And I'd damn well deserve an end to it, painless or otherwise.

...But I have ten reasons to live; each and every one of you. And right now, ten reasons are more than enough.

I'm sorry I broke those vials of yours. But I'm not running from this, no matter what I have to carry from here on.

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1/2 cw: suicide discussion

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