[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

1

[rightfully]

—Sheryl.

[ Lucina's voice cracks like a whip. Her fingers scrabbling with her watch as she sends off a message, it takes her a moment to give the physical situation her undivided attention. When she does, her expression is quarrelsome. The sharp severity typically, but not always, reserved for battle. ]

Enough.

[ She'll soften in a second. Her sympathy isn't absent.

But, first, Sheryl needs to stop yelling. ]

[fairysong]

[She whirls around, turning on Lucina, and her cheeks are flushed and her eyes shining. There's a moment where she inhales like she's about to shout something at Lucina too.

Her voice cracks when she speaks, and it's not a shout, but a trembling, desperate breath.] What... what was the point of anything we did there, Lucina?

Tell me!

[rightfully]

[ Slowly -- ] I cannot.

[ There's nothing she can say, no magic words she can use to make this tragedy better. In Lucina, it settles too quickly, because she's had too much practice doing so - because when there's someone who needs her to be the adult, that's exactly what she does. Another failure, laying deeper in the shadows beneath her eyes, making the battle scars laid across her skin itch just that much more.

Empathy does settle in, softness replacing the whip-crack of Lucina's voice. Akvos is lost, but Sheryl is right here, and that's what needs her attention right now. ]

It is no clearer to me than it is to you, Sheryl. [ Her hands find her swordbelt at its diagonal slash across her chest, fingers flexing into the worn leather. ] We're not given to know why.

[fairysong]

So you're saying she just sends us to places like that-- and we've just got to accept it?

[Her hand balls into a fist and she approaches the other girl, almost as though she's going to strike her, before she drops it.] Like hell I'll accept this! If she could've saved us, she could've saved everybody!

[rightfully]

[ Lucina sees that aborted hit. Her eyes flick down for a moment. She couldn't have missed it if she tried. ]

Would striking me make you feel better?

[fairysong]

...maybe!

I don't know! [Her heart hurts. She's clearly on the verge of some sort of panic here.]

[rightfully]

[ Sheryl's resilience isn't exactly shining here. Lucina tells herself, patience, and does her best to soften. It isn't like she's not upset, too. That frustration of Sheryl's, as aimless and ill-defined as it is, would be a disadvantage on the battlefield. Framing it in such coldly tactical terms, it helps Lucina know what to do next. ]

... come.

You'll catch cold if you linger in wet clothing.

[fairysong]

Don't pity me, Lucina! [Sheryl snaps, the pain in her heart mixed with a flush of embarrassment at what she interprets at Lucina talking down to her.] You're-- you're in wet clothes too!

[rightfully]

[ Immediately, Lucina is distracted by Sheryl's claim, looking down at herself. Having lost her cloak in Akvos, Ephraim's since given her his, which is equally damp and also a bit too large and heavy.

When your boy tries his best.

You know what, forget that. ]

It... isn't pity. Now, more than ever, it's important to not neglect your own health and well-being. Who knows how long we will be granted respite in this place?

We all need to rest, and rebuild.