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

I'm often blamed when things go wrong. [A darkly truthful statement, but edged with a slight laugh.]

[Moments where they were both lucid and grounded in the present were, Ardyn suspected, going to be a little less common from here on out. But that would be fine. When one of them fell, the other would pick them up. And if both of them fell apart together, they would have Junpei and Yuuri and Queenie and all the others.]

[...It had been so long since Ardyn had trusted anyone that he'd nearly forgotten how it felt. It came with the most distant edge of worry that things might backfire, but that fear was vastly overshadowed by the genuine belief that it would never happen again. That he could trust these people to protect the fractured spirit he held, and know that they would trust him in return.]

[Without another word Ardyn tugged on that hand, his other moving to the back of Church's head and pulling him into a sudden kiss.]

[So that was 'faith', was it?]

[In the end, they just have to have faith.

The touching helps, and the intensity helps, and yeah, the romance and the sex helps, the distraction. But this is more than distraction. It's reaffirmation. They are here, and they are alive, and they are in love, and if that's not the sappiest fucking shit he's ever heard...but it's real, for better or worse.

As they have both discovered in some ways, their physicality can do a lot to keep them from drowning in their own heads.

A breath of fresh air.]

Mmmmm I'll only blame you for the things you're definitely responsible for, like how you're definitely responsible for forcing me to make all kinds of comments. Totally your fault. Or driving me wild, yep, your fault.

I'm 'definitely responsible' for quite a lot of things. [Another truthful statement, this one coming out as just a bit less of a joke and said with barely a couple inches of space between them.]

[Having faith in the others was getting easier; doubts were few and far between, surfacing in the cracks that came from dislodged memories crashing into the present moment.]

What was it that you said...'you should know what you've gotten yourself into'?

[Ardyn laughed softly, dropping his hands to his sides.]

...Eventually, I think you'll hear a lot of things that might make some of you want to hate me. But I want-...I want to trust you with that, when I'm able to string memory after memory together without losing myself.

I think the important part is that you're definitely responsible for keeping me the fuck together.

[And maybe that's not quite enough, because there's...there's apparently stuff Ardyn hasn't shared, things he's still afraid of, but that's fine. That's fine, because if he can put a fucking genocide aside so he can save a good man, then, fuck, sure. It'll be fine.

Time for him to get handsy, even if just to reach up and brush some of Ardyn's hair aside, which never does any good, which he doesn't mind because it means he can keep playing with it.]

I'm glad you trust me. And the rest of us. Glad you and Q made up, too. Is this--are we having one of these talks right now, cuz--I could try my hand at sharing, if we're doing that?

We can, if that should be your choice. Or I can stop talking for a rare change of pace and instead you can complain about how embarrassing it would have been if anyone were around to have seen me mistakenly tackle you.

[Defying most if not all logic, Ardyn's hair kept falling right back into that specific perpetually messy state no matter what.]

I don't have magical warp speed technology on me, I think my pride could've taken that blow.

Just--y'know, that was...real honest of you all of a sudden, is all. Was it cuz I was talking about responsibility or... [He has a Concern.]

Perhaps a little. I'm just...trying to sort a few things out. That's all.

[If Ardyn was being entirely honest, having all his memories back almost made them more of a disorganized mess.]

Don't worry about it right now. I'm keeping myself together.

Well, I'm here. And everyone else is, too. And your dumb adopted kids. For when you can't.

I know. And I will be here when you can't, either. I did promise, so it seems you and I are stuck together.

Doesn't seem so bad, all things considered. Despite all the big flashing neon warning signs I sailed right past.

You're all terribly stupid for that, by the way. Have I mentioned?

...Because I'm very, very grateful that you are.

[Hey Ardyn, do you know what time it is? It's time for another kiss, yes sir. Wait, no, two kisses--hold up, just let him squeeze one more in--there we go.]

Your royal ass is stuck with us, motherfucker. We're all getting out of this kicking and screaming and stupidly traumatized but alive and together.

You're inaccurate on two counts. The first mistake is that I'm far from anything resembling royalty anymore.

The second is that if we leave here in anything but a trail of fire and rampant destruction, I'll be very disappointed.

For the record, there are probably going to be bottles of very highly concentrated booze on the desk with strips of blankets in 'em.

Just in case.

Oh, you know just what to say. [With a smirk that was just a little malicious, Ardyn dramatically pressed a hand to his heart.]

Always good to have an emergency plan. And a couple people who can make flames happen. I know, I'm a regular romantic.

If I get my magic back, we can make a competition of setting things on fire.

[And then Ardyn paused, falling silent like a brilliant idea had just occurred to him and he was considering the possibilities before bringing it up.]

...Church. [There was a an intent look in yellow eyes which clearly belonged to someone who was every bit the irresponsible and slightly childish brother once upon a time, when the moment presented itself. His hands were brought to Church's shoulders, like he was intent upon letting him in on a genius plan or a dangerous secret.]

Edited 2017-07-04 02:11 (UTC)

If we're fortunate enough that I can access the Armiger, we can steal nearly everything in this facility.

[Why? Fuck this place, that's why.]

Edited 2017-07-04 02:12 (UTC)

[He can see the idea happening and honestly, whatever it is, he's already for it. So when the idea gets dropped, he feels like he can't even react because he just has to let it sink in. Give it the proper reverence. He might be a little awed that Ardyn Lucifer Shitpost just suggested they steal everything before they burn it to the ground.]

Holy...shit. We'll live like kings, and we'll be rich once we sell the other shit off, and we'll be drunk as hell. Holy shiiit, we need to get your magic all back like pronto, like, now, like yesterday.

[If there was one thing Ardyn was good at? It was spite.]

[Except this time it was on a slightly more reasonable scale than destroying a planet.]

Exactly. We'll likely need whatever passes for currency in this universe sooner or later. I can carry the entire damned kitchen as well as everything in the bar, so we can survive with that and sell off whatever else is worth something.

[He was also excellent at using a brilliant mind for possibly nefarious means.]

[SOMETIMES HE CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE HAMMERSPACE MIGHT POTENTIALLY BE REAL] You can seriously fit the interior of a mansion in your fucking magical armory pocket dimension, I can't even this shit.

I could just reach in your pocket and pull out a sandwich. Need some cash, here, let me just fish a beautiful expensive vase from my boyfriend's hair. The possibilities.

The entire interior may be slightly ambitious. 'A kitchen's worth of food, several shelves of alcoholic drinks, and anything of value' sounds very reasonable.

...And I don't keep it in my hair. Sorry to disappoint.

You can keep anything wherever you want, it's a fucking pocket dimension of indeterminate and potentially limitless size. I'm just imagining Junpei shoving an inflatable pool of underwear at you. Why not? It'll fit. Maybe we can sell some show merchandise and be rich as hell.

As brilliant as the merchandise idea is, I've never tested if it had limits, and I am not putting an entire pool--

[Pause. Rewind.]

...Did you actually just call me your boyfriend?

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