when you hear me calling out to you, saying, "i'll always believe in you"

[ratherdoweddings]

[It occurs to Yurika that she has no idea what either of the men they'd lost just now had with regards to religious beliefs. She doesn't know who they wanted to leave their things to. She doesn't miss the detailed funeral requests, and at least neither wanted their ashes scattered over a lake on a planet that might not even exist here while the mall radio blasted "Stairway to Heaven," but having nothing...

It's actually kind of fitting. They don't have much to begin with.

Arianna strongly insisted on handling the food, so don't worry, your afterparty food today does not consist of disgusting burnt lumps and will not send you all back into the courtroom should somebody eat one. Candles are lit on another table and Yurika's standing at the front with a hand on her shoulder.]

In my last group... our last group, for some of us, the only cases we've remembered so far had culprits who were either cruel or just that determined to escape. Here, it seems different. We're all survivors, so it seems, and we're all friends who are doing our best -- even when the motives make it seem like we should give up. Even when people die anyway.

Maybe Togami-san was right that it'll just keep going from now, but he was also right that it can't keep going forever. I'm going to make sure to keep trying for all of you, and I know you will, too.

Comments

spaceglasses

[tokencanadian]

[Knock knock Ardyn, it's your doom- I mean, Pyrrha with a small dish of purple soup.]

Ardyn? Are you... awake?

[alive?]

[burninglight]

Hm-?

[A stifled yawn.]

Yes--it's open, Pyrrha.

[tokencanadian]

[Good. Good. Tired is alright, it's the general mood now.]

I thought I'd bring you something to eat. [She holds out the small dish to him. Spoon and all.] I didn't know what you like, but there was soup at the afterparty, so...

[burninglight]

Oh--thank you. I'm hardly all that picky, as far as I know.

[Which was an odd thing to say, but if Ardyn realized that it didn't show. Instead he just accepted it with his uninjured arm.]

[...Damn, he was never going to get tired of actual food. He'd been missing out.]

[tokencanadian]

Well, that's good.

[Enjoy some soup that tastes like cinnamon, vanilla and other alien things. Whatever that means. It's pretty good.]

...How's your arm doing?

[burninglight]

I've seen far, far worse. Really, this is nothing even if human pain tolerance is less than I remembered.

[tokencanadian]

Still, I'm worried. A stab like that without an Aura is dangerous. You should really take it easy for the next few days, alright?

[burninglight]

A...what, sorry?

[tokencanadian]

Ah...

[Okay. She'll just.

Take a seat. Where? Maybe on the bed, beside him? That cool?]

I'm sorry. It's... basically it's a manifestation of your soul. People on Remnant use it as a kind of force field to protect from attacks.

[It's almost like a video game thing.]

[burninglight]

That's interesting. No, we've nothing of the sort; we just kind of get stabbed and recover like normal people.

[Beat.]

...Although usually I recover much more quickly than this.

[tokencanadian]

It's pretty simple, and anyone with a strong soul can unlock it for someone.

[...hmm]

I... wonder if it's possible.

[burninglight]

You think you can do something like that here? I'd guess it feasible were our powers not in this state, but as it is...

[tokencanadian]

...You're right. Right now, it feels like my Aura could barely take an attack or two before it breaks. I'm not sure if it would resist an attack like a stab wound.

[She breaths out, hand rubbing her other hand.]

It's strange, feeling like your... soul is being repressed.

[burninglight]

...this will surely sound odd to you, but I suspect I understand the feeling. Not just the power repression, but...more than that.

[tokencanadian]

You... really? But I thought you didn't have Aura.

[burninglight]

No, it's...a similar feeling for a different reason. I feel...smaller, in a way. What I was before this was so much less constrained to a simple human frame; my body was only a construct, a false masquerade of a human shape made of Starscourge and animated by the shreds of will a betrayed healer left behind. Injuries repaired themselves in seconds, and if I was killed, my form would dissipate like smoke and reform only minutes later.

Now- [Ardyn looked to his hand, curling it into a loose fist.] I have to eat and drink, I'm able to sleep, I can be injured or killed--my blood's even red again, after so long.

Mortals are so...small, constrained to this one single body with too many thoughts and memories and sentiments to hold.

[tokencanadian]

[There's a whole lot to process in that statement, Ardyn. How about we dissemble it, bit by bit.

Starting with the, uh... not so obvious.]

....You were connected to the Starscourge?

[burninglight]

...I was the Starscourge. [Ardyn looked away, trying to hide that he was surprised Noctis or Fukawa hadn't told her.]

[tokencanadian]

You... R-really?

[Too bad he's looking away, because he's not going to see Pyrrha working out the arithmetic floating in front of her eyes. She's worked past the first bit, and it seems like the rest of the revelations are coming to her.

she starts sluggishly, reaching out to place a hand on his arm, trying to get him to look back.]

You're the combined form of a centuries old virus that plagued your world.... to be honest, I never would have guessed.

[burninglight]

It's...hard to explain. I honestly assumed Noctis would tell you if Touko hadn't.

[Ardyn didn't so much flinch under the hand on his arm as he went slightly tense--but he also didn't pull away.]

When I was human--I was a healer, using divine magic to hold back the night as the only person who could cure the plague. But my power was...transferrence. I took everything onto myself, and eventually I was more scourge than human. Long story short, I lost my sanity and became the plague personified.

[tokencanadian]

...You tried to get rid of the plague yourself, only to become it.

[...] But, you were still a Human once.

[burninglight]

Once, yes--I was hardly born a monster, after all. And I suppose I'm back to that mortality now.

[tokencanadian]

It must be a little nice, doesn't it? Feeling like a Human again.

[burninglight]

It's a complicated situation. Sometimes it has its positives, but...it's terribly painful as well.

[tokencanadian]

...That's an unfortunate effect of being Human. But, if we didn't have all these feelings, or be able to feel pain... I guess we wouldn't be able to appreciate the better parts of it.