azume | Restart.

APOCALYPSE.

It's difficult to say how long you're unconscious.

Whenever you do wake up, it's warm; your limbs will probably feel a bit heavy, and it might take a while for you to come back into yourself fully - whatever just happened, it's disorienting, weighing heavily on your body and leaving a heavy fog over your senses, and for a long moment it may be tempting to go back to sleep.

Slowly, though, everything will start to seep back in. The confrontation with Cyrus. Countless beams of light smashing down to earth, tearing everything in their path away. Judgement.

The end of the world.

The ruins still seem, miraculously, to be intact; pushing yourself up to sit up and look around will make it clear that whatever protected you from the attack on the world is still present, a swirling field of white light encapsulating the area and forming a protective shield around your group. The Lake Guardians are present for a brief moment, hovering overhead in a manner that's easily read as concerned, but as soon as enough of you are awake they'll take their leave - it's difficult to say where they're going and why, given that they don't offer an explanation, but all three of them are together still, having seemed to have found each other eventually over the past little while.

Their protection vanishes with them, and their departure may leave you feeling empty; on the other hand, it may not affect you at all, seeing as you have other things to worry about. Leaving the ruins themselves and returning to the center of Celestic Town, it will be immediately obvious that something is very, very wrong.

The first noticeable difference is in the people of the town; it seems that Cyrus adhered to his word in that everyone is alive, having been reborn after the world was destroyed. But there's something unwelcome and familiar about them now - the inability to process very much, the staring with nothing behind it, the lack of drive or desire to do anything for themselves, it seems that everything about them that made them a person has once again been torn away from them, leaving them dead-eyed and spiritless.

The other differences are less noticeable, but as the day goes on, something seems...off. Not just with the people, but with the world as a whole.

The passage of time and the expansion of space are things that everyone takes for granted; as long as the day passes by, the sun moving across the sky to fade into night, it can be assumed that everything is working as it should be. But the longer you spend here, the more it becomes obvious that something feels wrong; the sun continues to pass overhead, night will eventually fall, but there's an undeniable sense that nothing is really happening. The perceived passage of time seems more and more irrelevant to you, giving way to a notion that you're just...stuck, somehow. That nothing is changing, despite evidence that it should be; that everything is strange and stagnant and still despite the fact that you're still moving forward.

It's this, maybe, that makes you realize why Lucas is twelve at the oldest, despite the passage of at least five years; the flow of time, the expansion of space... Both have been disrupted and brought to a standstill.

Take the day to get used to your new reality; it might take some time to get accustomed to.

[OOC: Welcome to the start of Week 14, the end of the world, and the beginning of the second half of the game!

No NPC response will be given to this post, though you can thread here amongst yourselves if you wish; we'll see you tomorrow at noon with a new log for your further adventures!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How you holding up?

[I mean it's not like he expects anybody to be okay, but there's various levels of holding up or not.]

Still alive, so I think we can count that a victory. What about yourself?

...same, pretty much.

[That sounds like bullshit, but also Ignis can't see the look Michael's giving him.]

Our Pokemon are all alright, too.

Mm--that's good to know. I pulled Hemera back because i think she could use a break, along with the rest of them.

[you know, apocalypse and all.]

...You know, one would think that eventually I'd learn not to hope that things might not get worse.

[....yeah you know he has no argument for that.]

Well, we're all still here. That was only three month's work, and we're all better now than we were at the start. We can do it again.

I think so, too. Even so, the situation's changed quite a bit and I suspect we'll have a fair amount more trouble going forward.

Oh, what else is new? At least we probably don't have to go back to the lakes. [...] Oh, the lake gods were here earlier, when we woke up.

[not sure if anyone told you that]

They looked alright, all things considered. Obviously strong enough to shield against that Judgement in some small part. [some very, very small part]

Chelsea mentioned it, yes. Hopefully that means they're still active enough to help do something about the people's spirits once they're able.

With any luck. We should probably just keep to the plans we had - going to find those gods in Canalave.

[Though he's not sure getting straight to logistics is gonna help? The world ended like, an hour ago.]

For now, though, better rest up. I'd rather we were all recovered before we start moving, at least a little.

[don't be silly of course strategic thinking helps, ignis scientia is a healthy human being]

Right. We won't accomplish much of anything if we're exhausted from the outset.

Have you had anything other than coffee?

[going from this and his thread with Jake, Michael seems to be moving into the role of making everybody eat tonight]

Do you want me to start cooking? I suppose we could all do with something after that.

[Ignis set the cup of coffee aside, fully intending to find the nearest kitchen and just take it the fuck over. When in doubt, worry about everyone else.]

Edited 2018-09-02 20:13 (UTC)

I wasn't making an order, Ignis. If I wanted you to cook, I'd just say that.

[Michael is simultaneously definitely the kind of person who would think to directly tell a traumatized friend to go cook him a meal, but also the guy who thought about it and elected not to do it.]

'Request' is the word I'd have used. I don't take orders from people who aren't Noctis.

[...weirdly honest, but it's just that sort of day.]

Well - no. I was thinking more like an order in a restaurant, not like an employee...either way, it wasn't a request either. You always make all the meals, you can let some other poor idiot do it for once.

...I'm sorry, is that an offer?

[Because he can't picture you in a kitchen, Michael honey.]

It's...it's fine. This is what I'm suited to, so it's no problem to look after those who are a little worse off right now.

Do I look like a poor idiot to you?

[trick question, you can't see him and yes it was an offer]

You look terrible right now. Just go sit down with Noctis, since you're apparently so - wait, are you two dating? [GUESS WHO IS SUPER LATE TO THE PARTY ON THIS ONE]

. . .

[have you ever seen a blind guy give you a stare of genuine disbelief? now you have.]

It was my impression that everyone had already assumed as much once we met up with him.

Edited 2018-09-02 20:34 (UTC)

Well, I've never seen you two kiss or anything! Which, actually, I appreciate, keep it up.

[Does this seem like a guy who knows fucking anything about romance]

Duly noted. I'll be sure to pass the message on to His Majesty.

[...you know what, actually he appreciates the chance to be a sarcastic fuck.]

Good, see that you do. Human mouths are gross enough to begin with, I have no idea why you all just smush them together...but I do know that having a mate helps you. So that's good. You two should stick together.

[And, having successfully changed the topic from cooking, he's gonna start to try to sneak off to the kitchen.]

We've done so since I was six, I don't imagine we'll be apart anytime soon.

[Hopefully.]

[...Also if you think he's not following to help in the kitchen you're incorrect, Michael. He can hear you, you're not sneaking anywhere.]

Really? Pretty sure he's in the lobby, still.

[Well he doesn't have to sneak if he can get there first, because he's not above shutting the damn door behind him.]

You knew what I meant. Are you seriously going to act this childish over something as minor as cooking?

I am trying to be helpful! If it were anybody else doing the cooking every single time, you'd say that somebody should help them, wouldn't you?

[as for why he picked this exact moment to act on that observation...actually it's probably kind of obvious]

(no subject)

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