[OPEN] Well. That Didn't Go Quite As Planned

[moneytwin]

Who: EVERYONE
Where: The Temple of Beginnings
When: Immediately After The End.
Rating: PG-13, may vary by thread
What: You fall, you pick yourself back up and you move on. Or at least, you try.


Fished Out Of Water
One minute, you are witnessing the fabric of an entire world implode as it is literally ripped apart by powers unknown. The next, that tell-tale twist somewhere beneath your sternum, before you are bodily YANKED away from Akvos, away from the ocean and the Queen and the King and the Princess.

And land back on (mostly) solid, dry ground.

Welcome back to the Temple of Beginnings. Don't worry, there's no hurry for you to get back up just yet.


Hey, Howya Doin'?
Once you do get back up, now is the time to be taking stock of the situation - yours, your friends, and even those new merfolk neighbours (who may need a hand getting their fins back into the water). There is also the missing members of the Circle to consider: people who disappeared on the journey to Akvos, and those who never made it back..

(There's also that small matter with a certain 'witchess-san' that may be a cause for concern to some more than others.)

Whatever the case, it's a lot to process right now. Take the time you have, because you don't know if it'll be enough for what you need.

---

[[ OOC: Here's an open post for threads reacting to the end of the Akvos world hop. Feel free to use the above prompts, and/or make your own! ]]

Comments

it's cool, it happens

[fuck1ngusernam3]

[The mumbling, halfhearted way she says it almost makes it easier for Hank to cool down. If she'd been totally genuine, completely polite, perfectly put together, even today - well, she's not, that's more obvious now, and Hank knows a little bit about how that feels. His shoulders start to slump out of their high, defensive posture as he watches her, his face starting to pull tight with regret.]

I'm sorry too. For- for the last time we talked too, in- fuck, uh- Fuck. You know. [In Akvos. The city that might not even be a city, anymore, full of people who might or might not be alive.] I didn't mean anything by it. Either time. I wasn't even mad, I just-

[He sighs, crossing his arms over himself.]

I used to be better at talking to people without pissing em off. Sometimes I was even good at it, believe it or not. But I keep- I don't know. Sorry. For what it's worth.

[rightfully]

[ He uses quite a few words to say what could be gotten across in comparatively little, and Lucina - short of patience as she is, too tired, like a person who hasn't had a full night's sleep in their whole life - endures it with an uncharacteristic urge to fidget. It isn't satisfied, of course.

The apology isn't expected. She isn't sure what to make of it. ]

You didn't - piss me off.

[ Trying to emulate his phrasing. She sounds about as awkward and unused to it as one might imagine, the words oddly conflicted with her regal tone, her typical crisp eloquence. The result is unimpressive. ]

I put you in a dangerous situation, and - [ Well. He remembers, likely, even if her willingness to take the blame skews a much more coincidental event. ] ... You keep what?

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Keep what?

[It takes him a second to follow her back to that sentence fragment he hadn't thought twice about abandoning. The end of it just feels so obvious to him.]

Right, uh- take that 'dangerous situation'. The danger was fine. We were out, we were talking, everything was fine. Then I opened my big fuckin mouth and you thought I was ticked at you and you left. It's just, stuff like that. I think I- I forgot how to talk to...

[God, how the fuck to say this. He knows how the difference between him and her feels in his head, but putting a word to it - one that won't make him sound like more of an ass - is something else.]

...uh, more... classy people? Nice people, I guess. I used to. On the job, anyway. But now- I don't know, I just don't want to make shit harder for you today. Look, is there anything I can uh, do? To apologize, or help out or, you know, whatever.

[Hank's grimacing while he says it but the awkwardness on his face doesn't really make it to the rest of him. Or if it does, it's hard to tell. There's too much today, too much in his head to pick out one little emotion in the middle of all the rest of them.]

[rightfully]

[ It's nice of him to ask. By now, Lucina is willing to let the friction between them die. The next world will only be more difficult if she cannot get along with the people around her. ]

Thank you, truly, but - there is nothing I need.

[ It isn't disingenous.

There are things she wants right now, yes, but need is something else altogether, and she has no desire to burden him. ]

You're kind to offer. [ Well, actually - ] I cannot reach the tea. [ That last bit is sheepishly said. What sort of king's soldier is she, to need help getting something off a high shelf! ]

[fuck1ngusernam3]

[It's a second before he processes that. He huffs, eyebrows raised, but he doesn't bother to tell her that's not exactly what he meant. It's something. It's not the worst reaction he's ever gotten to an apology.

So he turns, looks over the top shelf, and grabs the first jar he sees with leaves in it.]

Gonna be real with you, I have no idea what tea without teabags actually looks like. You'd better make sure I didn't just give you oregano, or something. Any other tall guy things you need before I go, uh...

[He grimaces, gives up on the end of that sentence, and shrugs. Having emotions around her hasn't been a great strategy so far; his plans to go have emotions somewhere else probably don't need to be said.]

[rightfully]

[ Taking the small container, she sort of hugs it to her chest awkwardly. At his little remark, her eyes go wide - absent her usual severity adding years to her, she looks remarkably young. ]

I never considered it, but - [ Now she surely will. Thanks, Hank.

Anyway, she'll step to the side so he can exit. ]

[fuck1ngusernam3]

[He watches her a second, tries a smile, then gives it up as too awkward to deal with, ducking his head and sliding past her. He leaves the room - and the mess - behind him. Sticking around to clean up, even if he had it in him to do it, seems like tempting fate.]