Week 3

[airlockedmods]

Week 3

[Two weeks in, and all at once four people are dead. Chitose, Miki, Lucina, and Tsurugi - whatever the circumstances, however any of you may feel, their rooms are just as empty at the end of the week. If you check your P.I.P.s, you'll find that their pictures on the profile page have gone monochrome.

C.E.C.E.'s morning announcement comes like clockwork on Sunday. This time, though, there's an addendum to her usual message:]

Congratulations, Champions! By surviving your first trial, you have unlocked the second floor of the ship. A new mini map has been added to your P.I.P.! To access the second floor please stand on the teleporter and select the floor you wish to be teleported to.

[In addition to the new floor, the Champions will find that they've gained another memory this week.]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday



(( Welcome to Week 3! Don't forget to check in and submit your memory regains! Turn in your benefactor threads for sweet loot, too! ))

Comments

[photoshooter]

[Wow okay fine THE DOOR OPENS AND--

Boy howdy, Prompto looks like shit. He's obviously still been crying, of course, red-eyed and grubby-faced, but he's so pale he looks a little green around the edges, too, and he's broken out in a cold sweat all over.

His voice has been reduced to almost nothing, just a squeaky whisper.]

D-don't...

[in4apounding]

[And she stops, mid-hammer.]

Oh no- Prompto, what in the world-?

[photoshooter]

[...

He's shaking.

Eventually, he turns away and rests his head against the wall inside the open door.]

Sorry. Don't... I don't feel great. Gonna stay in today...

[in4apounding]

You look terrible!

[Way to sugarcoat it, Penny.]

Do you need anything? Water? Um- soup? Soup is good for sick people, right? That diner thing on the new floor probably has soup, I can go get you some!

[photoshooter]

No--no, I.

[He starts to lift a hand to stop her, but as soon as he realizes he flinches and closes it into a fist, snatches it back like he's afraid to touch her.]

I, um. I. ...W-wouldn't keep it down. Don't worry about it.

[in4apounding]

[Well good news, she's probably the last person you need to worry about catching demon malaria.]

[Demon malware, maybe.]

Too late, I'm already worried. Sorry. Is there anything I CAN do?

[photoshooter]

[Star(tMenu)Scourge: the Y2K of 2K17]

...If anyone's looking for me, just... tell them I'm not feeling well. Please? ...I-I'm not up to talking.

[He could be sick, yes. Or he could have literally cried and screamed his throat raw, knowing these rooms are soundproof.]

[in4apounding]

I can do that.

[She fidgets for a second, not quite turning away.]

Do you want to be alone? I could stay, without talking. ...Without needing you to talk, anyway.

[photoshooter]

[Prompto presses his lips together into a thin line, obviously struggling with his answer. Yes, yes, he needs to be alone, he didn't even know how horribly he's been lying to them this whole time.

And no. No. The one thing Prompto never wants to be is alone.

He finally draws a shuddering breath and squeezes his eyes shut.]

Do you... want the company? I, I'm not much of it right now, b...but.

[in4apounding]

Of course I do! You're sensational company. And. I don't want you to be alone right now.

[photoshooter]

[Tears probably aren't the response Penny's looking for, but his eyes fill with them anyway. He wipes the back of his hand over his eyes and nods.]

O...okay. If you're sure.

[He moves away from the door so she can come in.]

[in4apounding]

Ah-! Oh no, I'm sorry! Did I say something wrong?

[photoshooter]

No--no, you didn't do anything wrong. I--I, I just. It's nothing.

[He totters over to his bed and sits heavily, half turned-away from her, covering his face in shame.]

[in4apounding]

If your sure.

[It didn't sound like nothing, bro. But she follows him into his room.]

...I miss Lucina.

[photoshooter]

[The shift in topic brings a hurt whine out of him. Grief on top of horror on top of pain.]

...Me--me too.

[And Miki, and Chloe. Tsurugi and Chitose, too; he wasn't close, but knowing they're gone is something terrible. But Lucina. Lucina was something special, the start of something new and totally different, something tender and soft and wondrous budding between them.

Something someone like him should never have had the opportunity to see.]

Sh-she was a good... [He has to swallow around the planet-sized lump in his throat before he can continue.] ...A good friend.

[in4apounding]

[What was that, Prompto, "please hug me?" Because that's what Penny heard.]

She was- one of the best- I'm so sorry.

[photoshooter]

Me t-t-too...

[Welp, if it wasn't time for a hug, it sure is now. Prompto holds onto Penny like they're both each other's life preservers on a stormy sea, flotsam in the wreckage of last week.]

S-sorry I wasn't at... at the wake... I couldn't...

[in4apounding]

It's not your fault, that was. That was just awful.

[Yeah this hug isn't ending any time soon.]

...I was in her room, earlier. There were some clothes? It had a patch that said 'Lucis' on it, are they yours?

[photoshooter]

Wha...?

[A patch that says 'Lucis' on it--he starts to say no, that can't be his, he's not a Lucian, he's not even--but then he remembers. His Crownsguard fatigues, he and Noct put so many patches on the jacket it was more patch than jacket--

And it can't be anyone else's. No one else here, anyway.]

...The clothes, were they black? W-with no sleeves?

[in4apounding]

[She nods quietly.]

And a lot more patches, but that one seemed important.

[photoshooter]

[He closes his eyes and swallows.]

Those are mine.

[A lifetime ago, he'd been so nervous, so excited, so proud...]

Lucie had them...?

[in4apounding]

Yeah. They- must have come up through the dumbwaiter.

[photoshooter]

Y-yeah...

[Was she even still alive by the time they came up?]

I guess... I should go get them. Sooner or later.