theairlock | 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

We might? I... dunno. I'd hafta ask Newt. He's seen all sorts of things I'd never heard of.

But 's lamb in the oven. Nothin magical about it.

Right, of course. I keep forgetting we seem to have different wildlife than the rest of-...

Sorry, did you say you were doing that for me for some reason?

[he tries.]

[She giggles a little, grinning at him and stepping away from the vegetables that continue chopping themselves so she can squeeze his hand and kiss his cheek.]

I'd forgotten... and you didn't really eat for a long time but...

I owe you a roast.

...We did talk about that, didn't we? You didn't need to go to any such trouble on my account.

We've gone over this, sweetie. It's no trouble at all.

Besides, I been doin all this cookin fer weeks and you haven't been able to have anything. So. 's only fair that now that you can I make something special fer ya.

Should've done it last week... I jus- [She just shakes her head. Nope not thinking about that.]

... [The others had been doing an admirable job of keeping Ardyn mostly out of his own head for too long. It was only right he try to do the same; since she seemed to default to affection so easily, he lightly took Queenie's hand in his own and pressed a light kiss to the back of it as though she were as royal as her name suggested.]

I'm flattered that you remembered for this long. Oh, dear--I hope you won't start competing with Yuuri as to who may have the better talents with cooking. I'd be a terrible judge of that.

[The kiss was surprising, grounding and comforting and she squeezed his hand in response, tangling their fingers together and refusing to return his hand now that he'd offered it.]

Oh gosh no. We have very different styles of cooking, anyway. 's something we both enjoy... one of these days we're going to figure a recipe that suits both our styles and we'll knock your socks off.

[Ardyn swept into a dramatic bow with just a little flourish to it, not letting go of her hand. When he straightened up again, there was a smirk on his face that might almost have been mistaken for a smile.]

It will be my most distinct honor to be subjected to such expert attentions.

[The bow and flourish and their entwined fingers and it's so dramatic and a little romantic, whether he means it to be or not. He smiles. Barely there but more than she's seen from him and before she realizes what she's doing she's beaming back at him, her free hand coming up to cradle his face as she steps into him.]

The honor's all mine. [Purred playfully in a tone that she'd never have dreamed of using with Ardyn even two weeks ago.

And then she stops, very nearly leaning into his chest, head tilted up to him and her teeth find her lip, biting down hard as she realizes exactly what she's doing.]

Oh, Leonard would have my head... [Soft and breathless and damn if she doesn't adore how playful and gentlemanly he is now.]

It may shock you to find that Leonard does not, in fact, own me. I'm terribly rebellious like that.

[There's another moment's hesitation. Ardyn... are you... goading her!?

She releases her lip, pushes herself up on her toes, scowls for a moment because what are you, and then pushes her hand from cheek to the back of his neck to pull him down. He can certainly deny her if he wants to but she's rather hoping, with all of the dramatics and the fanfare and teasing like that that he won't.

Because, bizarre as it may seem given everything for weeks now, she really wants to kiss him just now.]

[Usually Ardyn did things knowing exactly the outcome he wanted and the right nonliteral buttons to press to get himself there. A little bit of supplying Niflheim with intelligence and weaponry, a little railroading of three glaives and a prince, and all of it fitting perfectly into a grand plan for vengeance spanning millennia.]

[This was very not that. This was 'gently teasing for an unknown result', in which case the result was something that Chancellor Chessmaster had not actually expected to happen. He let it happen, certainly, but didn't think she would actually do it. He almost got pulled off-balance, and though shame and embarrassment were well beyond him now it was possible Ardyn's face had turned very faintly red once they broke apart.]

[What exactly made him think Queenie would resist kissing someone once she'd had the thought? Especially when he'd all but dared her to.

She leaned into him, hummed a soft pleased sound against his lips, and when she finally lowered herself back to her heels she pressed her smile to the hint of skin visible below his jaw, above his scarves.]

I think I like you rebellious.

[For all his eloquence, Ardyn actually faltered and internally scrambled to come up with a response. How had they gotten here from her being terrified of him, exactly?]

I-...you would likely find yourself in quite a minority there. Usually people find me insufferably annoying.

[In case you hadn't noticed, Ardyn, flustering handsome men is kind of her favorite past time.]

I'll admit you have moments of being insufferable. But you can make up for them.

[With a wicked smile and a cocked brow and a hand sliding down his chest.

But oh she should go check on that roast, huh? Off she goes, grinning over her shoulder.]

Could, if I wanted to. What if that's just another facet of my winning personality?

[you two are ridiculous]

Oh yes, of course. Only if you wanted to.

[Leaning against the counter and giving him the most obvious once over in the history of bedroom eyes as she bites her lip.]

But would you want to?

[queenie honey the million layers do a good job of hiding that he's a very tall stringbean.]

That all depends on if one finds it obnoxious enough to need making up for.

[Sure do... but she can still imagine what's under all those layers. Gosh Ardyn might you actually be paler than her? That's an achievement.

Mmmm that means Leonard with his pretty golden tan must make a lovely contrast.

Oh- right... flirting.]

Oh I can think of a few things you can make up for. Repayment for this lovely rack of lamb I have in the oven, not withstanding.

[a whole goddamn lot of scars, mostly]

Oh, dear, I've gotten myself in terrible trouble now.

the final week

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