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

[divinedescendant]

[The rest of her team has settled elsewhere in the Center, but Duma follows along behind them, a little more energy in his steps; the gravity of the situation may not have settled on him yet but he knows that his bestie follows Emmeryn's (everyone is Emmeryn's bestie, Duma's pretty sure).

Company in tow, Emmeryn makes her way on over to whatever part of the Center where i have just been brazenly assuming a stove exists for her to use—the kettle's still hot so it only takes a moment for her to brew up a cup in one of the mismatched mugs she's gathered here. She makes conversation as she does, lightly, the same way she would any evening where the world remained intact.]

I do always like to bring tea when we travel, but I'll have to resupply soon... It's a small thing, but anything that helps is worth having. Here—There is sugar, too, if you would like.

[redbellion]

[ unfortunately red is still in his pokeball for the time being, but once keith settles in, he'll let red out so he can chill with duma. it'll probably much needed playtime for him, after everything that's happened.

he follows emmeryn to the stove that is definitely there and takes the cup of tea. he doesn't drink it immediately, though. there's anxiety brewing up in his stomach, keeping him from drinking his tea. but he can play it off like he's waiting for it to cool off, if she asks. it's fine. ]

Thanks. [ he doesn't take any sugar, either. ]

[divinedescendant]

Of course.

[She takes an extra moment to pour tea for herself, too (and she takes almost too much sugar), while Duma paces slowly this way and that. He gets a few little pats for his efforts before Emmeryn leans back some against a counter. She doesn't mention the untouched tea, and wouldn't that just be nitpicking? But she wanted to give Keith the chance to settle, just a little, before she made any attempt to pry.

So now her voice comes soft, only speaking once she's done stirring her tea, but she hasn't touched it otherwise.]

How are you feeling, after everything?

[redbellion]

As fine as I can be, all things considered.

[ it's...not entirely a lie, but keith is definitely not okay. he's anxious. he's worried about what's yet to come. he doesn't know what's yet to come--how much of their work has been reverted. and he hates that. he hates not knowing.

he sits down on a chair nearby, staring into his cup of tea. ]

Regaining what we've lost is going to be difficult. It'll take a while. [ and it frustrates him. it shows in the way he sighs heavily and shuts his eyes. ]

[divinedescendant]

It will.

[She maneuvers carefully around Duma, who doesn't make anything easy for anyone, so she can sit down near Keith. Since Duma keeps nudging at her with his face, she sets down her tea at the counter and mollifies him with gentle pets along his shell.]

But it can be regained. All of us are still here together to pick up the pieces and try again. Nothing we have lost is permanent.

[Of course this hurts, and of course the fear and anxiety and exhaustion just at the thought of moving on from next to nothing weight heavy—but still her loudest thought remains but we are still here, but thank everything we are still here.]

[redbellion]

[ nothing we have lost is permanent. the words ring true, and keith lets them settle for a bit before he finally nods.

it sounds like something allura would say. he finds some sort of comfort in thinking that. more importantly, what emmeryn says is right. he's frustrated at everything they've lost, but they can get it back again. ]

You're right. We'll just have to work even harder to make things right again.

[ he looks straight at her when he says it, too. his eyes are tired, but there's a fire behind how he looks at her. one that says he's not giving up anytime soon. ]

Do we have a plan on how we're moving forward?

[divinedescendant]

[Her heart swells to see that fire in his face, pride that isn't rightfully hers and the love she's declared for all of them again and again; here the end has looked them all in the eye and Keith still so quickly insists that they take what comes next with their all. How can she allow herself despair against that?]

We should decide if we still wish to proceed to Canalave together, but that discussion can wait a day. Rest a while. [She smiles, warm and gentle.] Of course we will have to work hard, but that does not mean we have to work always.