[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

[brodakota]

I figured that out, yeah. But god forbid we're ever left to our own devices.

I think a few us can cook, but I don't know if it's fair to make them do all the work.

[He shifts a few more things aside before pulling out a bottle.]

Hopefully it's not vinegar by now.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

You found something?

[Hank pushes himself off the wall just far enough to look.]

Shit, my hero. I hope you're not one of those people who freaks out about germs cause I got no idea where they keep the cups.

[brodakota]

Somehow.

[He'll do a cursory glance for something that looks like a place for cups, but shrugs it off shortly after.]

Nope, I'll be fine.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Cool, give it here. [He reaches out, then pauses.] Uh- did you say you wanted to share, or was findin that thing a selfless act?

[brodakota]

You can have first go. If there's any left, I'll take it.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

[Hank thinks about being nice.

Today's not a nice day. Hank doesn't have much nice to spare. He tilts his chin up at the guy in thanks, then takes a long drink, making a face afterward.]

[brodakota]

It okay? Or did you just drink some vinegar?

[fuck1ngusernam3]

No, wine's just gross. Too sweet. Or, you know, whatever you call it.

[Whatever words you use for wine tasting shit. Shockingly, Hank has never been into that kind of thing. He holds the bottle out to the guy, raising his eyebrows.]

[brodakota]

[Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained as the saying goes.]

I've probably had worse.

[He takes the bottle and follows that up with a drink. At least before pulling a face.]

You weren't kidding.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

What, you don't like wine either or is this just weird? Come on.

[He heads for a table, kicking the shit he threw out of his way as he goes.]

I never used to drink it back home. But uh, you know. [He smiles thinly.] Special occasions.

[brodakota]

It wasn't something we got often either. Same deal with the special occasions. Usually it was just cheap beer if we got the chance.

[He follows.]

Guess I need to reacquire the taste.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Well, now you got a chance.

[He sits, leaning forward and rubbing his hands over his face with a long sigh.]

Thanks for this. Drinking alone right now, it's kind of, uh...

[It's still what a part of him would rather be doing, yeah, but that doesn't mean he can't be glad he's not.]

[brodakota]

Yeah, I get it. Not exactly the best.

[He sighs.]

It's the same feeling I got when we came back from a failed mission. But I guess on a larger scale. One failure didn't mean the end of an entire world.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Yeah.

[Hank's not sure he actually wanted to hear what they did out loud. But hey, he's heard it now. He looks at the bottle for a second, then takes a drink, stares down at the table.]

I don't even know what that means. Does that mean- does that mean their whole culture's dead? Their whole planet? A whole dimension? Fuck, maybe it doesn't matter. It's not like I could understand that many people anyway, jesus...

[brodakota]

I wouldn't even begin to know. Like...can we even go back to Akvos? Or any of the other places they've been? Or is it just a one time thing?

[And what would they find if they go back?]

Would it be worth asking, do you think? Astoria, I mean...

[fuck1ngusernam3]

[Hank covers his mouth, eyes a little wide. The thought of going back to Akvos is - it's a lot, it hit him all at once when the guy said it, and Hank takes a couple seconds and he takes a couple deep breaths and he reminds himself it's air he's breathing, and he reminds himself he doesn't have to go back.

Because they're all dead. Probably.

Fuck it, he takes another drink, then shoves the bottle closer to the other guy. If he wants some, he'd better get at the bottle before Hank does.]

God, don't even talk about that. She might actually do it. What do you even wanna do there? Just... count the fuckin bodies?

[He ducks his head, pulling a hand through his hair. That's probably not what the guy'd meant but Hank's not thinking real well right now. So sue him.]

[brodakota]

The optimist in me was thinking relief effort, if any can be offered. But I guess that's an option to.

[And a grim one at that. He'll take another slug of the bottle before offering it back to Hank.]

Really makes you wonder what we were signed up for.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Come on, you've worked under people like her. She just signed us up to get results.

[He pauses a second. A couple seconds. He has to work himself up to asking this.]

You think there was anyone left? For relief stuff to, you know, even be worth it? I keep... I keep wondering if I'm the only one who doesn't have a single fucking clue what happened back there, people are talking about it like the whole place is just... gone.

[brodakota]

[Signed us up to get results. It hits a little harder, now that he thinks about it. Knowing what he knows about the Director and the Project. Has he really just found himself in another Freelancer? He doesn't want to think about that right now.]

I kind of missed it to. I followed a friend into the rift, but after that...it's all kind of fuzzy until I woke up. I don't know what we missed.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

[He shakes his head, taking a long drink, making a face, then slumping over on an elbow, face propped on a fist.]

I don’t know. Something to do with the rift, but hell if I know what. Once she tells us what the fuck happened, maybe that’ll be... I don’t know. Not better. But it’d just, it’d make more sense, you know? And we’d know, maybe. What happened to all those, uh. Those people.

[brodakota]

Closure, might be what you're looking for.

Something like that could help put it to rest, yeah. And maybe know how we can prevent another Akvos going forward.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

You know, sometimes I wonder if that's a real thing. Closure. Or if someone just made it up one day to make themselves feel better.

[He stares at the table, letting that sit for a second. Then he lets go of the bottle, pushing it back toward the other guy.]

You think she's going to? Go over all that shit with us, tell us what went down? Cause that last thing, that video - I don't know if the people on Akvos are our great leader's first priority right now.

[brodakota]

Maybe. I didn't really get a lot of opportunities for closure, so I take it where I can.

But I'm willing to give her some time since we just got back...but I have my doubts. I'm just trying to stay optimistic regardless.

Someone has to.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Huh.

[Hank considers the guy, looking very faintly amused, his brow furrowed. Then he snorts, sitting back and looking away.]

Well that's uh, probably the healthy response, or some shit. What else is your optimism telling you?

[brodakota]

I'm still not sure how I came out the well-adjusted one, but here we are.

[He was the nurturer, if nothing else.]

I guess just to keep my head above water, hope we find an answer somewhere. If we manage to work together.