Week 14.

[azumods]

WEEK 14 Sunday is a rough day all around; it's for the best that you remain where you are for the day, for the sake of regrouping and recovering, and perhaps getting some sleep - assuming that any will come. However, as difficult though it may be (and as futile though it may seem) Monday is likely best seen as a day to depart - a day to start to take whatever actions can still be taken, and to assess where to go from here. A good place to start is Canalave City; it's where you were going to meet with Cynthia, and where you were planning on looking into the legends of Sinnoh. The city itself is beautiful, a massive port town split down the center by a large canal system filled with boats and clear water leading out to sea; however, the recent changes to the world have affected this place as well, perhaps making it a bit difficult to enjoy the city in its entirety. However, the library is here, as are several other points of interest; as difficult though it may be to see the world like this, the trip here will hopefully be worth your while in the end... CURRENT LOCATION: CANALAVE CITY POKEMON AVAILABLE: WITHIN CITIES SURROUNDING ROUTES: PLAINS/FOREST / NEAR WATER MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY [OOC: Welcome to week fourteen of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget that a write-up is due this weekend!]

Comments

[niceoppai]

Sure has so far. Speaking of which, why would Cyrus "end the world" and then just put everything back the way it was, only without any feelings? I mean, and without us, too, he definitely did try to murder us.

[azumods]

[You know, it's fortunate that you're doing this so late in the day, because that way we're not rendering anything else you do today a hilarious time paradox.

In other words, you are going to walk through that door and remember absolutely nothing else you may or may not have done in that room.

It's immediate, the speed with which you pass out, though you won't remember hitting the floor; you won't remain on the floor, either, though whether that's welcome or creepy is a little difficult to say. When you wake up the next morning, you'll be lying on the bed like you just...decided to go to sleep there, though you certainly won't remember actually deciding to do that; the sleep wasn't particularly restful, either - in fact, it was sort of the exact opposite of that, given that you were plagued with nightmares all night. The nightmares are largely about encroaching darkness and isolation, as well as the inexplicable sense that something highly malevolent is aware of you and there's no shielding yourself from it.

Good night, Ignis.]

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, look, some obviously abandoned money owned by no one...

[Yoink. It's ethical now!

Okay, now let's check out one of the rooms.]

[discutio]

[So notably, Ignis just sort of seemed to completely disappear last night.]

[Weird, right? Weirder still is that when he resurfaces in the morning(or whatever passes for it) it's outside the inn, Hemera snarling at the building as her trainer swiftly struggles to pull himself together--white as a sheet, hair a little more disheveled than it already was, glasses quickly being put back into place. Kind of looks like he had a minor heart attack and got the FUCK out of dodge in a hurry.]

[...He's going to stick to the Pokemon Center for the rest of the day.]

[azumods]

[I mean, it is obviously unclaimed, so...

That said, the rooms actually seem nice, albeit incredibly dusty and unused, if this one is any indication; it looks like this place may have been relatively upscale before it suddenly wasn't. All the furniture is intact, though, and the room isn't stocked but it's in decent repair, outside of the lights and water not working. The ceilings aren't cracked and the floors aren't going to give way under you, is what I'm saying; the wallpaper has seen better days but it's a little less permanent than the rest of the building just by merit of being wallpaper.]

[gekkaju]

[Atsushi lifts his head a bit, surprised when he hears Jake speak. It gets him to glance over and then up at him with his Wimpod peering up at him from between his arms.]

Jake-san...sure, go ahead.

Er, I mean...Jake.

[He's pretty sure Jake didn't care about honorofics, like Rey. It just sortof comes out regardless.]

[gekkaju]

[Yeah no, he feels you friend. He really does.]

...that's okay, I think.

[Atsushi reaches out, then, and shuts the book he'd been reading. It looks like it's something more educational than fiction, simply about Pokemon of the area.]

Even if there was something here, finding it and being able to make use of it are two different things. I'm not sure I'm going to be super great at either, right now.

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael pokes around a little, but ultimately nothing in here is of particular interest to him. An unoccupied room won't have anything worth stealing, he's not gonna spend the night in a place with no water, and the signs of disaster he was kinda hoping for are not presenting themselves.

Remembering the mansion, though, let's have a quick look under the bed for ghosts!]

[bloodspent]

You can call me whatever you want, I don't really care either way.

[He'll sit down, though, just kind of looking out at the water.]

You holding up okay?

[nightcure]

[ It sure is weird!!!

Noctis has been spending the last couple hours searching for Ignis. Truthfully, he hadn't slept well without Ignis next to him, and when he'd woken up...

Ignis had still not been there.

Luckily, he finds him, and immediately, he pulls Ignis close. His heart's racing, and he lets out a breath against Ignis's shoulder when he drops his forehead to touch against it. ]

Did anything hurt you?

[azumods]

[(Un)fortunately, there aren't any signs of ghosts under the bed!

...Definitely unfortunately, it sounds like someone may be approaching the room? There are footsteps sounding off incredibly close down the hallway - the sort of incredibly close where it's sort of odd that you didn't hear them before now, actually.]

[discutio]

N-

[He'd known the footsteps as soon as he was aware enough to hear them,but the sudden hug was startling enough to nearly knock him off his feet. Hemera circled around them bristling head to toe, still with the occasional low growl at the inn itself, her trainer tense as a violin string about to snap.]

Noct. I--I'm alright. I'm not hurt. How long was I gone, I still can't...tell what time it is anymore.

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael straightens, looks at the door quizzically, and then goes to open it in an attempt to intercept this person because we have NO SURVIVAL INSTINCTS HERE.

Also, hey, maybe someone else wanted to explore here too. Like Ignis!]

[gekkaju]

[Atsushi joins him in looking at the water again, glad that for the most part the Pokemon he was watching seem to have floated further down the canal for now. It was hard, watching them.

He tries to find a response for a long moment, but eventually he ends up shrugging before he can think to speak.]

I'm...I could be better, I guess. I'm glad we're alive.

[azumods]

[It's probably fortunate that you were initially planning on spending the night here; nobody's putting a damper on your plans this way.

You won't see anyone in the hallway beyond the door when you open it; you'll get a brief glimpse of a large, shapeless black shadow that seems to be moving independently of anything else in the hallway before you are quite suddenly not seeing anything. Another fun human experience you're getting to have here: passing out so suddenly you don't even register that you're hitting the floor.

Not like you're going to wake up on the floor; you'll awaken on the bed in the room the next morning, like you just decided to go to sleep there, though you certainly won't remember deciding to do that. The sleep wasn't restful at all, either - it was likely the opposite of restful, really, given that you were plagued with nightmares all night. The nightmares are largely about extreme isolation; you find yourself in a city you don't know, surrounded by buildings made of white stone and locked doors and no visible people to speak of. You know you're supposed to be here with people you know, maybe even with people you like, but it's like your memory has slowed down in a way that it never does, to a point of being almost useless with regards to who they are - their names, their faces, everything keeps slipping away, and the more you try to remember them, the further from your mind they are. You have the sense that they're being taken from you somehow, as well as the knowledge that once they're gone, there's no getting them back; you can try to find them, but with your memory being faulty and unreliable in a way that it never is, that task seems nearly impossible.

The perceived effect regarding memories will wear off as soon as you wake up; it'll be fine in the morning. Until then, however -

Good night, Michael.]

[bloodspent]

Better than the alternative, I'll give it that.

[Cyrus could have actually succeeded in killing everyone.]

It's kinda hard to see everything like this, yeah? It was like this when we first woke up in Veilstone City.

[nightcure]

Neither can I. But you were gone long enough.

[ Reminder: He's going to keep an eye on Ignis. No matter what. ]

I fell asleep, and when you weren't beside me... I didn't know what to think.

[takestheblame]

The one good thing that came from what he did is that he won't expect us to still exist.

[And therefore any grunts who do see them won't have any reason to report or anything, yeah?]

I'm somewhat worried a few Drifblim floating around will be noticeable, though.

[gekkaju]

It's very hard.

[A weak chuckle escapes him, then, a sound that sort of just...barks out of him while being completely humorless.]

I had a feeling it was bad, but...seeing it this bad is a lot to stomach.

[It feels completely hopeless, especially now knowing that Cyrus can just snap his fingers and Judgement everything back to square one this way.]

[takestheblame]

...I guess it's fitting enough...

[Never change, Michael]

If those lake deities were able to save us, maybe...Big Blinky...[Kiryu visibly cringes. He doesn't remember that Pokemon's real name right now] could have saved Candice or other people too?

[discutio]

I didn't...mean to worry you. I'm sorry. I was only planning a brief investigation out of curiosity, but-...

[Ignis' words seemed to catch in his throat, the advisor making a conscious effort not to start shaking as he held Noctis tightly.]

...Something's taken up residence there, and I don't think it anything good.

[eudaimonikos]

It's possible.

[Michael definitely remembers its real name and is definitely not going to tell you.]

But he was too big to really take care of her. Don't think he could do the Uxie possession thing.

[takestheblame]

Would Team Galactic have any reason to inform about us? We're supposedly inexistent, after all. They may not even remember how we look like.

[That'd be the one advantage of what Cyrus did, if it works like Kiryu thinks it does.

Unfortunately, it's a big risk and he's very aware of that. He's not deterred by risks or reasonable people, though. Boy would his life have taken a different direction if he had listened to people who knew more than him]

[nightcure]

You don't have to apologize. I know you'd never mean to.

[ God, he must've run into something bad. Noctis takes him into the Pokemon Center and gets him sitting, and he keeps his body turned toward Ignis. It's protective, and Noctis brushes the hair out of his face. ]

What happened?

[discutio]

We don't know that they don't, Kiryu. And given this is a world where Cyrus effectively writes the laws of physics, logic, and all things in between, I hold very little reason to believe the commanders would hesitate in trying to deal with us when next we meet.