Restart.

[azumods]

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!]

Comments

[fatalstrikes]

[Cyrus wasn't like Alexei. He'd made the mistake of thinking handling Cyrus would be like handling Alexei, and he'd thought Cyrus would snap before anything bad would actually happen, and then—

And then the world ended, and this time it didn't involve the Adephagos.

Yuri's quick to leave after he awakens, Dein Nomos floating silently after him. He looks like he's going somewhere with a purpose, but he gets to the edge of town before just... stopping. He hasn't had to stop to see how things have changed, the dead look in everyone's eyes is back and he just... doesn't want to deal with it right now.

His hands ball into fists and he just shakes for a long moment before finally he moves to sit down. Dein Nomos floats nearby, watching Yuri in silence as usual, though the sword seems a lot more attentive than usual.

Yuri will be over here for awhile, just to get his thoughts in order.

He'll eventually make his way back to the Pokémon Center. While he wants to do nothing but sit in the corner alone with his thoughts, he's decided to make an effort to check on everyone else instead. At some point during the evening he'll approach you, holding up a hand in greeting.]

Hey. Are you going to be okay? Is there anything I can do to help you?

[Usually he's pretty laid-back and calm, but he definitely seems more worked up today.]

[bloodspent]

[Yeah, Jake's going to notice when Yuri bails almost immediately, and he has some idea as to why - just from what he's told him, from what he knows about what Yuri was dealing with before he came here, he's pretty sure that literally nothing that happened is going to be hitting him right. Normally he'd just leave him to do whatever he needs to so he can calm down, and if he's going to be honest Jake is still feeling pretty fucked up by this entire thing, but he's going to follow Yuri out to the edge of town anyway because it doesn't feel right to leave him to his own devices right now.]

...Hey.

[He doesn't move to join him right away; he'll remain standing for the time being.]

You going to want to hit someone eventually?

[fatalstrikes]

[Yuri's got Roc's Pokéball in his hands by the time Jake approaches; he glances up for a moment to see who it is, but he settles easily enough. He's still obviously worked up, but he's fine with Jake's presence.]

...Yeah, probably.

[...]

Definitely.

[He starts turning the Pokéball in his hands again absently, mostly just to give himself something to do. It takes him a moment to realize that he should probably say more than that, and it takes him even longer to realize that for as bad as this is hitting him, it's got to be just as terrible for everyone else.]

...How are you holding up?

[bloodspent]

[He'll sit down eventually, while Yuri gets himself figured out; he isn't touching him, but he's close enough to, and he doesn't try to rush him any.]

You dont have to worry about me. I'm doing okay.

[He isn't, but he's more concerned about Yuri at the moment.]

It's kind of a lot, yeah?

[fatalstrikes]

[He doesn't mind Jake joining him, it makes it a little easier to talk like this, anyway.]

Yeah.

[He exhales slowly before continuing.]

...I thought he seemed kinda like Alexei. He didn't get too riled up, he seemed pretty distant... So I figured he'd snap at some point, maybe he'd start grandstanding, and then he'd leave once he'd decided we weren't a threat to his grand plans or whatever.

I didn't think he'd just... do that.

[Yuri waves a hand, presumably indicating "ending the fucking world".]

[bloodspent]

...Yeah.

[He's quiet for a moment once that's out there; no wonder Yuri's so fucked up by all this.]

We're gonna stop him, though. You know that.

[fatalstrikes]

[He nods, but it takes a moment for words to actually happen.]

Yeah. I know. We stopped Alexei, and I know they're going to fix things back home. Hell, they might've already done it.

We've just gotta pick ourselves back up and keep going.

[Slowing down or stopping simply aren't options as far as he's concerned.]

[bloodspent]

Exactly.

[...]

You okay? I don't want to hear that you're gonna be, either. Just right now.

[fatalstrikes]

[That gets a soft sound out of him that's probably trying to be a laugh? It doesn't succeed at all, but an attempt was made.]

Can't get anything past you, can I?

I will be fine, yeah, but right now... not really. I know it's gotta be just as bad for some of the others - if not everyone - but I think I'll just... hang out here for a little while.

[bloodspent]

I can stay out here with you, if you want.

[It's awkward, but. Yeah.]

[fatalstrikes]

[Oh, that's...]

You don't have to. You've probably got plenty of other people you want to check on too, yeah?

[It's not a "no", though, and Yuri once again starts fiddling with the Pokéball.]

[bloodspent]

You're the one I'm talking to now.

[He doesn't mind.]

[fatalstrikes]

I guess you can stay, if you really want to.

[He shrugs like it's not a big deal, but it... kind of is. He doesn't usually get this upset in the first place and the few times he does he usually has Repede with him. He's missed his friends and his world, sure, but he hasn't really felt this alone until now, so having Jake here is... it's really important to him, in a way he could probably never explain, even if he wanted to.]

...It's good of you to check on me, but I promise I'll be okay in a little while.

pokemon center

[discutio]

I'm alright, Yuri.

[You know, like a liar. Despite his composure, Ignis was pale and had been keeping either to himself or close to Noctis for most of the day; calm, but definitely thrown far off his game.]

What about you?

[fatalstrikes]

[You mind if he joins you for a bit? He won't bother you for too long, probably.]

I've been better. That was... a lot.

[It sounds like he was going to continue that, maybe try to make some half-hearted attempt at a joke or something to lighten the mood a bit, but in the end he doesn't. There isn't really any joking about the end of the world.]

Most people seem to be having a hard time with it.

[discutio]

[he's certainly not gonna complain at least]

'A lot' does summarize it, I think. I can't blame anyone for being rattled by things.

[fatalstrikes]

Yeah. I'm glad we survived, of course, but...

[He glances around at the others.]

This isn't the sorta thing anyone should have to go through, you know?

[discutio]

It isn't. Least of all people that already aren't prepared for situations like this.

[Aya, mostly.]

[fatalstrikes]

Yeah.

[Aya's the one he's the most worried about too.]

Even if you've experienced something awful before, this isn't exactly the same. It's a whole new set of challenges and honestly, I'm not even sure where to start.

[discutio]

I have to confess that was...'a lot', even for me. I think the best starting point we have now is to continue exactly as we were before Cyrus intervened.

[fatalstrikes]

Yeah. It's frustrating, but I don't think any of us are the sort to give up, even after something like this.

[discutio]

Even if we were, I don't think we have the choice at this point. It's carry on or wait to die, and I don't believe any of us willing to take the second option.

[fatalstrikes]

Definitely not. We can take a little time to be upset and take all this in, but I think we'll be okay. If someone's having trouble, I'm sure quite a few people here will jump in to help.

[discutio]

Of course. I think we're fortunate to have the group we do; I'd be willing to trust any of you with that much when it comes down to it.

[fatalstrikes]

Yeah, we're a pretty good group of people. It's been pretty great getting to know you guys.