[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

[billionaires]

The first time I had one I thought I was dying. Literally.

[ so yeah, it is. way different. he quirks an empathetic, lopsided smile. and then that instantly spirals into a laugh, dry at first as it catches in his throat and has him coughing for a minute before he gets it back under control. he pats sumo down when the dog gives him the side-eye without thinking about it. ]

If we don't laugh we'll cry, right? [ self-deprecating humor is the best kind, in tony's book. ]

[fuck1ngusernam3]

I don't know, if we do laugh I guess we might choke. You okay? You need a uh, drink or, whatever?

[A drink. There's an idea. He tries to remember how much he had left back in his room before all this... before all the mermaid shit started.]

[billionaires]

[ he hums to concede that point. who knew he could get used to having gills of all things? ]

No, I'm... well, what do you got? [ it's worth an ask, right? ]

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Uh...

[Hank reaches for the bottle in that pouch around his waist, grimacing.]

It's uh, probably kind of weird, drinking it now but there's this... stuff. From, you know, back there.

[The top of the bottle looks stupider, he thinks, in the open air; underwater the whole sippy cup, sports bottle look had kind of made sense. He holds it out anyway.]

There's probably somethin else back in my room, if you don't like the taste of liquid anchovies. Don't remember how much of that I had left, though.

[billionaires]

[ he accepts the bottle with a wan sort of smile, tipping it in his hands, as yet undecided if he actually wants to drink it. he's thinking about two young mermaids in particular, he had helped them to safety. did they make it...? ]

I'm thinking I'm gonna sit the next world out. You in?

[ tony asks like they have any choice in the matter before tipping the bottle back for a measured sip. it does help, a little. ]

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Shit. Right. [Hank leans forward, elbows on his knees, to rub his hands over his face.] Don't even talk to me about another one, I don't-

[He takes a breath, lets it out. He shakes his head.]

Yeah. God, yeah, I'm in. We can just stay here and work on that whiskey. The - what the fuck do we call ourselves? The circle of dumbasses? [Yeah, that's not great. Shockingly, Hank's not on his game today. Not that he's really been on his game for months, at least, but. fuck it. That gets the point across.] The rest of the dumbasses need us here. I'm sure Astoria'll understand.

Fuck, if we're gonna start talking about doing this shit again I'm gonna need more to drink than that. You think we could actually talk her into letting us stay behind, cause...

[Hank sighs, shakes his head again.]

[billionaires]

[ he nods, taking another swig before handing the bottle back. it's not a pleasant taste, but it cleared out his throat at least. there's deep sympathy in his eyes and he turns them on sumo instead - not wanting hank to think it's pity. it isn't, but rather a deep understanding of how the other man feels. ]

Talking her into anything doesn't fly, in my experience. Occasionally, you can convince her something was her idea... [ but that's about it. ] But, um, if you... If you want, we could stick together on the next one?

[ he quests gently, hand back in the dog's fur as he catches hank's eyes with a more guarded expression. ]

[fuck1ngusernam3]

[Hank looks up from his hands, surprised, but that guarded look's not that hard to read, and not that hard to read into. He's not the only one who needs... something, even if they can't change anything around them or even talk the one person who maybe can into doing anything about it.

A corner of Hank's lips quirks up, something warm sneaking up onto his face. The look in the guy's eyes, the tentative way he asks, it helps. It actually helps. Someone needs something that he can do, even if it's just being around.]

You make a habit of asking just any old asshole to face down weird, terrible shit with you? Or is it the dog you're really after? I might be convinced to loan out Sumo, you know, if you make a good case and you ask real nice.

[billionaires]

[ he laughs at that, and this time it holds. hank's dog is great, but that isn't why he asked okay. ]

In that case... [ tony cradles either side of sumo's massive face and looks into his eyes. ] Do you want to be BFF?

[ then blithely to hank: ] He can make his own decisions, you know.

[ he's just being goofy for the sake of it now, and maybe because he's exhausted, too. he visibly sobers as worst case scenarios of the next world run through his head. ]

Here's hoping we don't get separated again.

[fuck1ngusernam3]

Yeah.

[Hank watches him. He’s not concerned about Sumo - you can squash his face in about ten different directions at once and all he’ll do is give you that soulful, endlessly patient look - but he is a little concerned that Tony took his answer there as a no.]

Well, if your new best friend can’t find you just text me, okay? I’ll keep an eye out for you. If we can’t... [Save anybody, Hank can’t bring himself to say. If they can’t actually help anyone, not really, if all the shit they do is just going to end for no reason anyway.] If we can’t figure out what out glorious leader wants us to do, maybe we can just... get through it.

[He tries a smile.]

We’ll get together and bitch, or something.

[billionaires]

[ he gets where hank is going with that, unfortunately and he leaves sumo alone in favor of leaning forward over his knees. hank's follow-up gets a low laugh out of him before he scrubs a hand over his face. ]

That might be the best offer I've gotten here. If I forget to, you can text me, too.

[ he finds he likes the idea of them checking in with each other. ]