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]

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]

[ 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.

[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.

[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...?

[scourgingstars]

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

Ready?

[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 ]

[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.]

[serrata]

[ She's not really sure what she expects -- something more like a blink from one place to another maybe. So the rush of motion startles her enough that her legs are jelly once they're back on solid ground. She doesn't stagger but she does wobble badly enough that Ardyn is pretty clearly the only thing keeping her upright.

It takes her a second to regain her bearings -- but then once she does, a shaky little laugh leaks from her mouth. Followed by another and another until her shoulders are shaking with it. ]

That-- that was amazing! A--and that's just how people get around where you're from?!

[scourgingstars]

[Once he was sure she wouldn't fall over, Ardyn let go--a smile breaking out across his face at her reaction.]

Oh, hardly everyone. Just the king and the army. [And himself, since Ardyn was neither of those.]

[serrata]

[ She bends over a little, hands on her knees, to try and steady herself. She's still laughing with exhilaration and when she looks up at Ardyn again her eyes are bright in a way they haven't been in a few weeks now. ]

Then-- I suppose that makes me one of the privileged few, doesn't it? Well, me and Junpei, at least.

[ She straightens herself up and beams at him. ]

Thank you, Dad.

[





well. ]

[scourgingstars]

Well, there's you, Junpei, an-

[RECORD SCRATCH]





[oh Infernian's broken damned horn, he adopted three kids]

...Did. Did you-...er...

[serrata]

... Hm? Did I what?

[ she hasn't fucking noticed ]

[scourgingstars]

You didn't notice either, what is wrong with you and Junpei.

[if he wasn't out of MP he'd have warped clear out of the room by now]

1/???? i don't fucking know just enjoy the ride my guy

[serrata]

Didn't notice what? What did I--?

[ ... no wait. wait.

it's the mention of Junpei that makes her mentally rewind the conversation. ]

[serrata]

[ "Then-- I suppose that makes me one of the privileged few, doesn't it? Well, me and Junpei, at least. Thank you--" ]

[serrata]

[ "Thank you, Dad." ]

[serrata]

[ "Thank you, Dad." ]

[serrata]

[ "Dad." ]

D...ONE....

[serrata]

[ Yuuri Wakasa lets out a muffled scream and yanks her cardigan up to cover her scarlet face so she doesn't have to look at Ardyn and hopefully anyone else on the Fantasy Sweet ever again at all in her life. ]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn could probably have been embarrassed by the fact that this had happened twice. Or he could be concerned that Yuuri was now living in Sweatertown.]

[Or he could do what came naturally to him at moments like this.]

My, this is an awful dilemma. My parents would have been stunned to know that I finally ended up with children, even if it took such very literal ages. But that puts us right back at 'Tenmyouji Yuuri', and I think we've quite covered that issue.

[Lucis Caelum, Izunia, Tenmyouji--he was still going to be a smartass.]

[serrata]

[ Yuuri just wheezes into her cardigan. She can't even look at him. ]

I-- that's-- J--Junpei was the one who-- he started it!

[ She doesn't lift her face up but instead gestures wildly with one of her hands, pointing accusingly in the direction she thinks his voice is coming from. ]

I didn't-- I wasn't thinking-- and-- it wasn't on purpose! It wasn't!

[ THAT JUST MAKES IT WORSE ]