Post-Event Blues

[lucetimods]

Who: Everybody, everybody!
What: The battle is won. Now what?
When: The eleventh, twelfth, and onward
Where: Luceti
Summary: With Zompano dead and the cultists routed, Luceti is restored. Kind of.
Rating: F for Feels

On the eleventh, things were slowly breaking down. Memories of their true lives were breaking through. The village, scarred by the battle with the cultists, began to rebuild itself. Community buildings that had vanished were returned to their rightful places. The battle dome was uncovered from the earth that had covered it. Hundreds and hundreds of fake homes slowly faded away. Paved roads gave way to trees and grass. It was an incredible sight for anyone who was willing to sit aroun and watch it happen.

Things wouldn't be easy for the villagers, though. The memories perpetuated by the last ten days would not be easily removed. The feelings and hatreds it had created would take time to conquer and remove. Perhaps, in a way, that was Zompano's nastiest trick of all. The village itself may heal from his invasion, but it would take far more than a few Shifts to fix the people left behind.

Towards the end of the day, their wings returned. Much like some of the buildings, they seemed to just reappear, as if they had never been gone. Their barcodes became visible again as a singular reminder that they were, ultimately, just the property of another entity who as a whole were not much better than Count Zompano.

By the twelfth, the village looked as though nothing had ever happened. Sure, the contents of buildings might have been messed up or destroyed during the battles, but things were otherwise as they were supposed to be. The night before, people would have had to find their old beds to go sleep in, as they no longer possessed the old ones granted to them in another life.

The village was peaceful.

Modly Note: That wraps up the event. As noted in the prose above, you have the option to play up the after effects of the event more than in other ones. While it won't have the same impact universally, the Shift was constructed in such a way that people may have difficulty shaking off the emotions they developed during the event. In effect, it was a cruel send off to Luceti so they would have to deal with the loathing and hatred that came with the less desirable parts of it. Of course, that means the feelings of familial bonds will also persist for awhile as well. It's up to you, as players, to decide how much or little to play with it!

Comments

[therewerefifty]

[She never did manage to put the fire out, in the end.

Memory has returned, and Makie is a mess. Soot through her hair and blackening her face and clothes, a bloody towel held loosely in her hand. There's still traces of blood on her chin, and she knows she shouldn't be here. The air is too full of residual smoke and ash to be any good for her. The fire is out, now-- one of the passing freak storms put an end to that - but too little, too late, and her previous home is a charred wreck.

It's not even her home.

She doesn't have a son. Or a cousin.

She's not dying, either. She would be, in another place. Another time, but here... life continues on. Medicine and modern technology work wonders. How hurtful that they'd let her believe that, take away her livelihood in this strange world, how...

...how wonderful. To be so loved. And terrible, to cause that burden on so many.

She'd still trade one for the other, she thinks. And then she realises why she wouldn't, and the conflict between those two needs and desires is enough to choke on, and instead Makie prefers not to think at all, instead staring at the ruins of a house as it slowly crumbles into non-existence.

When it's gone, or when the smoke in the air becomes too much... then she heads for the castle tower, reminded that there are others she needs to check on. And then sleep. A long, long time.

She'll track down what happened to haru-no-okina some other time.

Forgot how to drive, indeed.]

[goldenglasses]

[There's someone else who was curious to see what had become of Makie's old house. He had seen the fire and had even tried to stop it, even if it had all been in vain in the end.

Vash still dressed much like he did the past couple days; long hair down around his face, old blue jeans, a light tanned long sleeved shirt, and a pair of brown work boots eventually comes wandering along. He waves at Makie as he spots her standing near her old house.]

I was kind of hoping you'd be here. I'm glad you're alright.

[teenwonder]

[When he was Dick, he'd fought hard to stay that way. Even when the memories stopped making sense, when people were exhibiting impossible superpowers, he tried to block out the growing truth because things were better when they were innocent and provintial. He sat by and watch the populace destroy itself.

And now that he's become himself again, Robin can't forgive his own display of selfishness. Push came to shove, and he chose to let everything burn.

It was a different him with different priorities and goals, but it still happened. He'd been presented with the opportunity to be a hero and he'd failed. No wonder he couldn't get everyone out of Luceti.


He'll spend the better part of the day up on the roof of CH5 settled perilously at the edge. He's not wearing his costume today, nor is he even bothering with a mask or sunglasses. He's just a guy today, brooding up where nobody should be able to see.]

tagging you anyways cuz I'M A REBEL fight me

[thisismylife]

[In the aftermath of the fading illusions and memories, Artemis is stuck trying to sort out far too many emotions she doesn't want to deal with. So in an effort of pushing off sorting through them, she goes to touch base with her team instead. Most of them are relatively easy to find with the exception of Rob, but she's not surprised by that.

Knowing his fondness for lurking in high places, she's not surprised to find him on the roof, brooding in a familiar position. But that's about the only thing that's familiar in the sight, what with him sitting there without his uniform or his mask or anything.

She hesitates, debating on whether or not she should leave him be, memories of a false life scraping harshly against the ones she'd made here for herself. But she can't just walk away, especially not from Robin. So she moves over to the edge of the roof on silent feet and drops down beside him, legs swung over the edge, because a fear of heights isn't something she's ever had to worry about.]

Hey.

[tearmeanewone]

[Her mind was still spinning, even hours after the battle had ended.]

[As pieces came back, she becomes less and less afraid of what she is and what she can do. There's more acceptance, more realization that she had been able to do it since she was a little girl. What hurts her most is remembering that Robert isn't her uncle, and Booker isn't her father... Elizabeth remembers she had no family at all, and that only prompts her to wonder, again, where she came from and why.]

[And she has plenty of time for thinking in a quiet place. The constant nosebleeds she experienced when opening the tears and fighting to reconcile her memories has left her weak and sluggish as her body struggles to repair the damage. Elizabeth has been relegated to bed by Booker and Robert, but she's having trouble getting any sleep at all as parts of her life come back to her in dreams and nightmares. No screaming or thrashing, just a quiet start awake and a realization that that was her real life.]

[She has a strong urge, more than once, to call for Booker. But she keeps quiet. What was he going to say, anyway? He wasn't going to hold her until she calmed down, not this time.]

[ablankpage]

[It was late. He shouldn't even be awake, let alone on his feet. But his own sleep was disturbed. Flashes of white, the feel of restraints, the jolts of electricity... which merged with other memories. Memories that had been placidly under the surface for some time.

Memories of another electric current, of a world shaking around him, of a gripping pain in his chest and throat. Of death.

So, he's up, making his shaky way down the hall. He opens Elizabeth's door, just enough to let the light fall on what he thinks is her sleeping back. He sees movement and glances at his side.]

Don't wake her. [He keeps his voice very low.

"I wasn't going to, brother. But you wanted to check on her, didn't you?"]

I am.

["She's here. She's safe. Go back to sleep."]

I will in a few moments.

["You're just going to stand there and watch her?"]

Just a little longer.

["You really are sentimental."]

...Hm.

[musubi]

[Isamu hadn't been there for most of the actual fighting. He'd been more interested in making sure he and Richard stayed out of it, helping the blond come to grips with his own resurfacing memories.

So when buildings start appearing in their proper places, he's sure to show the other back to their normal residence. (Though at this point Richard likely recalls its location anyway.) Everything seems to be in place, just like it would be if Luceti hadn't been dumped into the 1950s for over a week.

He knows the change back will be hard on a lot of people, but honestly he's just happy for things to be back to normal. If that's a little selfish of him, then well he's kind of a selfish guy.

He'll immediately go back to doing normal things such as working at Seventh Heaven and running errands to the grocers if anyone wants to run into him.]

[ledbythewind]

[On the outside, Richard seems to be handling things well enough. There's been no outbursts of emotion, no visible distress, nothing beyond him being more subdued and reclusive than normal, which isn't that unusual for the aftermath of an experiment. It's also exactly what he wants people to think-- that this is just another experiment and not a big deal in any way.

If people think he's fine, maybe he really can be fine... or at least try to convince himself of that. Maybe it will help erase the fear that the reason it has always been so easy to affect his sense of self is that "Richard" doesn't really exist, or more specifically, that he's nothing more than what other people want and expect him to be.

So he tells Isamu to go on back to work and not to worry about him and settles himself into a chair by the window with Tiger Festival in his lap, just stroking the purring cat in an attempt to soothe his troubled mind.]

[shenevermisses]

[Perhaps it's sheer willpower. Perhaps it's reconciling the true and false memories. Perhaps it's simple stubbornness.

But the first place Clove goes when one world begins to collapse and another is knit back together in front of her eyes, when the memories of District Two and the Hunger Games begin to weave amongst the high school is the lake.

Her little camp has reappeared. Tiny and effortless. So she sits there, knees tucked to her chest and her right hand clutched over her left, holding it against her chest, feeling her mother's ring that had been used as an engagement ring in the lie. She watches as the grand mansions begin to disappear, as the full ring of trees repopulates the lake.

And, while she's alone at least, she manages not to cry.]

[ablankpage]

[After the battle, Robert makes it to the factory that is slowly changing its shape, steadily becoming the barracks again. He has a half-concious Elizabeth on his back, having assured DeWitt he could share in getting her back to the apartment. She needed to rest.

He needed to rest.

When he felt his leg shake, he stopped and, without much explanation, handed her off. Then, as soon as he was relieved of his burden, his knees buckled and he went down. Sitting on the ground he breathed hard. Between the numerous electrocutions throughout the week, a growing paranoia bout the food, the fading adrenaline of the battle, and the injuries he'd received, he knew going further would be a chore.]

Go on. [Did DeWitt actually look little concerned? Robert told himself it was lingering effects of this... whatever it was. At least it was over.] I'll catch up.

[Or, as the case might be, just sit there. For quite awhile. Because his body simply refused to move any further. It is astounding, though -- watching the buildings deconstruct themselves and reconstruct what ought to be there. What were the physics behind it? Maybe he'd get to find out one of these days.

Once he gets to the apartment, he won't be leaving any time soon.]

[mothergoose]

They can control an entire world....why do they need us?

[Tenenbaum is weary as her mind continues to strain under the memories assaulting her. So she sits down next to the not so mad after all man, she helped break out and watches the world be rebuilt.]

August 11th

[charitylovehopefaith]

[After spending the majority of the battle playing war-nurse -- a role Faith Long would never have thought to take, not as quickly as her alternate self had, but a place she found she'd actually been able to do some good -- Faith's clothes are covered in blood. Her real memories are surfacing, yes, which cause... well.

They cause a whole lot of problems in her.

So, Faith does the only thing she can: tries not think about it.

She goes around as best she can to find her patients from the day before, wanting to check in on them. She also borrows the kitchen of her former house to make a bit of food. Mostly the things from cans and other quick meals and then... as she did as her... other self?... after the tax hike, takes them to the town square and sets the pots and such on the edge of the fountain along with a sign.

Please Help Yourself

She's tried to bring bowls and spoons, but she's not sure if those will last or if they'll vanish like everything else...

Still, she'd rather, for right now, try and help anyone who needs or wants it than worry about the problems she's going to have to deal with in a few days. Or even a few hours.]

[yourhatred]

[Itachi tries to return to his apartment until it's not there to return to. Then, calmly, he leaves that illusion behind and goes back to the home he shares with Law as if it had never happened.

It's hit him hard, and this is obvious despite his best efforts to hide it. Even with the troubles they'd been having as far as his illness and the tax hike went, he'd been happy with just his brother and his lover. He and Sasuke had a positive relationship, and he hadn't been responsible for the death of his clan. Being assaulted with his true memories had been downright mindnumbing.

Vestiges of his illness remain on the 11th but quickly heal throughout the day. The occasional cough or shiver are all he has to show for it. It makes him wonder what sort of method they'd used to give it back to him, but in the end it's hardly worth thinking about.

Both days find him in a distracted daze, trying his best to go about things as normal and not being entirely successful.]

[deathsdoctor]

[The first thing Law does when he gets home is feed the cats. They're starving and desperate for attention.

The second thing he does is take a shower. He's covered in blood. Once Kikoku got back in his hands... he earned his epithet. He had been a soldier... no, never a soldier. A killer. A pirate.

The third thing is he begins to throw up. Law barely makes it to the toilet. Again. Again. Violated again. There's the small balm of murder, but he wonders how many times it will be like this until it stops.

But he refuses to be a victim any longer. Even if the only way he can fight back is by holding himself together by force.

So when Itachi returns home, he's there. Pale, shaky, dressed in a simple yukata and barefoot. He's not drunk - not yet, anyway - but he has a bottle of Romulan Ale on the coffee table waiting. In fact, the bottle hasn't been touched.

It's serving as an object of meditation.

Law looks up. His mouth works, trying to form words.]

Hey.

11th & 12th

[silversnowfall]

[Nephry went around the village for most of the eleventh in a complete daze. If pressed, she could remember trying to help anyone who might have needed a hand, particularly after the battle was over and everything started rippling back to the Luceti they all knew best. Several times she stopped at a tree where a shop should be, or a hard patch of dirt that once lived as an intersection, and stood there, looking around.

It was like standing, momentarily, in two very different real worlds. Real enough to breathe in the smell of them. On the twelfth she's doing it again, after a night of almost no sleep and troubling half-dreams. Standing outside the entrance to one of the community buildings, she reaches out to touch it. It's real. The other things were touchable, too. Were they also real? Were they hiding, out there in the forest, disguised as trees instead?

On top of all of it she wants, in a slanted way, to be the sort of person who can sit down and be upset about all of it. How did they manage to convince us all so well? But she isn't, and has not been for years, in any reality.

If there are stragglers about on the twelfth she will offer to help them, too, almost untouched by the battle herself and regaining some solid footing in rational thinking. It's much harder to go home and face Ion, Peony, and the others, but she will do that too.]

[[ooc: The 11th is also open, if you prefer your governors in a dazed and confused state for conversation or a helping hand.]]

11th

[distressedude]

[It was a lie. Everything -- that night at the dance, those afternoons spent with his parents, his whole life -- it had all been a lie. But unlike the last time an experiment like this came around, the memories were coming back too slowly for him to truly accept them. Or rather, they came back in such a way that he didn't want to accept them. He was Ion Malkuth, son of Peony and Nephry Malkuth. They lived together on the lake with his two brothers. He attended to homecoming dance with the love of his life, Kohan. And just a few days ago, the biggest concern her had was which university program he wanted to apply for.]

[He wanted to believe it so strongly that it nearly drove him to tears. It wasn't until he saw the walls of his room slowly deconstructing themselves that he finally began to see the truth. But even so, he can't bring himself to accept it. He was happy. What if his real life wasn't?]

[Soon enough he found himself wandering the streets of the Luceti he once knew to be home, now barren and empty as though nature itself was coming back to claim it. Like so many others, he was silent as he walked, lost in the thoughts he was still struggling to suppress -- just what was it he was trying so hard not to think about? By some stroke of luck, he happens upon a familiar face wandering about: his mother. He quickly move sto run towards her, but stops short. What if she didn't know him anymore?]

Mo... [He hesitates when he calls out to her. He should never hesitate to call out to her. When he tries again, his voice sounds more desperate, hoping -- praying -- for the reply he wants to hear.] Mother?

[godbent]

[Haruhi Suzumiya... Haruhi Lhant.

Hah.

The 11th- You know what she wants to do? Haruhi Suzumiya wants to go the Hot Springs. So she tries to remember which place you're supposed to go to to get there. She's aimless for a while until she gets to the Rec Center, goes through, and soaks most of the day. Then she goes to House 10 and sulks hangs out there.

On the 12th her spot for hang-out is the Brigade HQ, but there's another place she goes to. Well, two. She wants to go and see what her closest friends were - are? - really like. So she goes to find Trisha, Raine, and Yuuna. She should go see Asbel, and a significant part of her desperately wants to - but she's not sure she can handle that any more than she could handle seeing Diamond. So her family isn't sought out, but won't be rebuffed]

12th

[bided]

[ Trisha is easy to find. Whether Haruhi runs her to ground at her house - located across the street from her son's place - or at the grocery store, where she's looking around curiously, Trisha isn't hiding.

Actually, it's easy to find her at the store - she can't shake the urge to get up and go there, although she technically doesn't own or run it any longer, and it's not as though anyone else is looking after it, so... ]

[generalflirt]

[The only chance to see Masaomi Kida is on the 11th. Wherein he's more or less just in the Convenience Store all day. Not working, no, but letting Linda explain the whole affair of what went down from her perspective. He listens, yes, but he also gets increasingly introspective as time goes on.

Who really was Masaomi Kida?

So when the journal rings to tell him there's an option for a mission, even though it's another round of boot camp - he takes it. So he and Linda are both gone on the morning of the 12th probably without really telling anyone unless they talk to him on the 11th]

[endgames]

[It's the last place he checks, when it's all said and done. Like anyone would think about snacks at a time like this, but he goes with the feeling in his gut. It pays off. Shikamaru steps in quietly, but the bell attached to the door will signify his presence all the same.]

[sixwayheart]

[On both the 11th and the 12th Heart is in the exact same spot: Just sitting somewhere on a bench in the plaza. She is very, very confused - memories are now hard-coded into her database, but the memories are impossible. They aren't applied to any profile. And she wants to learn more about them, maybe talk to some people in them, but--

For the first time since being turned on, the robot feels trapped by her own programming. Which is probably why she's doing what she's doing: just sitting and frowning]

[eversohungry]

[Directly after the battle, Vastra was bought back to her mansion by her sons-- ...she was brought back to a mansion by her collection of strange little chicks.]

[Given she had been so grievously injured, it had been hard for Vastra to even attempt reconciling her memories with how she felt for her children--her officially adopted and unofficially adopted children. But she was too tired to even consider fighting something that was stronger than any logic. Even if they weren't really her children, it felt like they were. Did anything else matter?]

[She spends the night after the battle in bed, unable to move due to the injury. And in the morning her mansion starts disappearing. Well, that's a problem, isn't it?]

[250mhzwabl]

[She's not his mother. She's not any kind of mother to him, adoptive or surrogate or anything else.

That's one of the memories, somehow, that hurts the most.

It's a silly thing, Jack thinks, as he sits in the chair at her bedside and slouches, half-sprawled and half-asleep, across the edge of the mattress. He's bruised and scuffed himself, but as memories of learned skills slot themselves back in he's been doing what he can to knit the wound with magic, working until he's tired and interspersing the attempts with restless naps. He never sleeps long - he dreams of home, of Abel, and wakes remembering his real mother who never had a second child, who would not be so earnestly joyful to hear her son had fallen in determined love with a man.

He blinks awake from one such dream to the sun on his face, and blinks up, squinting in the morning brightness into the unforgivingly blue sky where the roof should be. Carefully, he reaches up, moving her shoulder gently, still half-asleep and bewildered himself.]

Vastra? Madame Vastra . . .?

[rashness]

[As the fighting stops, and his real memories come back - Rin is in the middle of Lowtown through most of the 11th - or well, the trees which were Lowtown. He watches the buildings unbuild down to trees, walking around through is surprised and more than a little aimless as she works to make sense of everything.

Family, friends. Another world. He should be more mad, more offended than he is. But really, as much as he is furious to have forgotten Father Fujimoto, the other half of him just wants to hug his mother--- Pascal, rather.

This is the trend that day, but on the 12th Rin (possibly accompanied by Skarmy or George the fox) is looking around for Kurikara. He didn't get the sword when weapons were liberated but. Yeah, he'll be doing that, and possibly talking with some people he now has new relations to. Maybe]

11th + 12th

[mothergoose]

[She watches the world fall and rebuild in a way that defies anything she's ever seen, even at Rapture. Her memories break and replace as well. Fragments here and there. Reminding her that her crimes are far worse then simply working at a sadistic mental institute.

It's funny, when you think of it though. They made her a mother. And even in that world, she'd been a terrible one. She does have a little one though...somewhat. So she goes to look for Eleanor....and possibly Flora, because the memories are hard to shake.]

[On the twelfth day she returns to the apartment she shares with Eleanor and starts writing up some notes.]

[towered]

[ Flora is easy enough to spot, if someone's out looking for her. She's sitting just outside town, back to a tree and her forehead resting against her knees. ]

[notyourutopian]

11th:

[As the world around them melts, Eleanor can be found sitting on the front steps of the little house she shared with Pascal and Sophie and Rin, her gaze distant, watching the town around them fade back into one she hardly remembered. The memories were going too, not disappearing but they had stopped feeling like they should, it was more like seeing black and white pictures flashing before her eyes.]

[And yet the feelings remained. Even if they were insane, Pascal couldn't be her mother, she looked barely five years older than her and...and she had a mother. An insane mother, a mother she tried to despise. And she didn't have siblings, not really, no matter how nice it had felt to have Sophie coming to her to talk, or joking with Rin and being a family. She had the little sisters, her little sisters but they...it wasn't the same.]

[And it wasn't fair. She'd liked that city, for all its problems, and the longer she sat the more things came back to her. The plasmids, the splicers, Father, the thing inside her stomach. That she wasn't normal, that she was never going to smile and dance with a cute boy (oh god Luke...none of that had been real) or gossip with her friends. She was a freak and the universe was making a huge, painful point of reminding her of it.]

[When the house is finally gone, she leaves, leaves the town, heads into the woods, intent on...well, she isn't sure. Staying out there. Hiding out there. But her last stint proved that she wasn't exactly very good at surviving on her own in a forest, no matter what she wanted to believe.]

[So by nightfall she's curled up in her bedroom in the apartment she shares with Doctor Tenenbaum, trying desperately not to cry anymore and mostly failing.]

[By the twelfth she's back in control, as much as she ever is, but she'll be keeping to herself unless people seek her out.]

11th

[mothergoose]

[Tenenbaum returns to the apartment, weary. She hadn't been able to locate Eleanor on her walk and she was hoping the girl might have returned to the apartment. But she isn't sure.

However when she enters the apartment she hears the tears. She's unsure at first but then goes over to knock on the door.]

...Eleanor? Is that you?

[twodragons]

[Zuko wakes the morning of the 11th and immediately checks for his dog. Only to realize that he never actually owned a dog.

He never owned a dog.

This throws him for a loop, as the memories of the past few days clash with those from the rest of his life. He'd been having that issue the days leading up to this, but his mind hadn't been nearly as clear then as they were now.

He stays in the woods a while, seeing if Ammy would still be nearby, before slowly making his way back to the Avatar household.]

[tokennonbender]

Day 11:

[As the memories return, Asami can't find her way around her mansion anymore. She keeps going to places things would have been at home, her real home, Republic City, and the more she tried, the harder it was. Eventually she gives up, walking back outside, nursing an arm twisted in the fighting the day before. She looks at the mansion a long time, not really sure what she's expecting, before she turns and heads back out into Luceti proper.]

[She has no idea how to really process what happened, how to sort her way through suddenly having siblings (she was an old child) and evil parents (well that was hardly a change) and a life that she...well, she had fit into it well. And she had been a little bit awful, she is realizing. Especially to-]

[Korra. Bolin. Oh how was she going to explain any of this to him? She'd been such a bitch to Korra, and Bolin...she was supposed to be dating his brother!]

[She'll just be walking around for the day, sorting through things and helping anyone who needs it.]

Day 12:

[By the 12th, someone has fixed up her arm for her, and she's doing her best to help out with anyone who needs it, but she spends little time back at the Avatar house. Not yet. It's Sokka all over again (if not quite as terrible) and she's not prepared to face anyone just yet.]

[complicatedliar]

[It's a relief to wake up and no longer feel sick and despairing. It's even more of a relief to remember who he is and what his magic is.

It's less of a relief to wake up entirely alone. He remembers having something family shaped, and he misses it, then hates himself for missing a family that is yet again a lie. He hates those who did this to him, though they can't really become any more dead.

Then he recalls Rogue, and what happened.

Hel.]

[August 11] Loki, with an inkling of what happened with Tony and Rogue, will be finding his girlfriend and disappearing with her for the entire day. He'll be at his house, but it's highly unlikely he'll answer the door.

[August 12] With things a bit more settled, he can no longer quite ignore the lingering effects of the shift, most importantly the near-familial relationship is gave him with Tony and Pepper. Despite multiple attempts to talk himself out of doing so, he visits Tony and Pepper in the clinic. He's around town a bit after that, just trying to catch up on mundane things like groceries. He's not going to be seeking anyone out, not as embarassing as this whole experience was for him, but who knows who he might run in to...

[Locked to Pepper and Tony] August 12

[complicatedliar]

This was a stupid idea. An incredibly stupid idea, particularly now that he remembered how much he and Stark loathed each other. And while he didn't have any animosity toward Pepper--he liked her in his own strange way, considering she was a mortal, and a somewhat annoying one at that--he knew she very much disliked him.

And yet. He hadn't had much success letting go of such emotional things after the amnesia shift that had occurred soon after his arrival. He'd never been good at letting go of feelings; he felt everything too deeply, perhaps, every pain sharp enough to cut, ever happiness a pleasant ache. But this was a thousand times worse, something he couldn't quite shake. It was disorienting, upsetting, and he couldn't quite sort it out. How could he despise Tony Stark and simultaneously feel the strong echoes of a false life in which he'd thought of the man as a brother? A false life where Tony had apparently felt the same toward him, had even gone to great lengths to take care of him?

It hurt. In a thousand ways it hurt, and made him angry, and filled him with ageless sorrow.

Loki told himself that he went to the clinic so he could put those feelings to rest. Perhaps he could even convince himself to be angry enough about it all that he could smother them both with a pillow. (All right, logic told him he couldn't do that, but he could at least contemplate the act, couldn't he? But as he arrived, both Stark and Pepper seemed to be asleep, sharing a room--of course the would, of course--and he... couldn't.

It ached. Part of him desperately wanted to hear Pepper harangue him about not eating enough, have her give him one of those sisterly hugs. He longed for it and hated it at the same time. It was a lie, that idea of family, just as his other family had been. But he missed it all the same.

Such delicately crafted cruelty as a mental attack by their enemies. He could almost respect that.

Loki rubbed his forehead with his hand, trying to sort all of this out as he silently paced back and forth across the room. Well, it didn't really matter at all, did it? The two of them would soon wake, and if the past were any sort of prolog, they would help the world get sorted back into its proper compartments. Stark would be only too happy to be loathed again, he thought.

So in a way, this was a chance to say goodbye. To let it go. He remembered how to let things go, didn't he? He'd let Asgard go with a simple motion of the hand, only he still couldn't escape that place. In a way, this felt equally self destructive and impossible to escape.

Quietly, Loki pulled up a chair and sat, stretching his legs out in front of him. He ought to say something, perhaps, wake them up and have it out. He found he had nothing he really wished to say, when he could barely sort out his own thoughts. Instead, he summoned a book forth from thin air. It was one he'd gotten for Jane, only she'd never need it again. More wasted time, he supposed, only here there was nothing but time to waste.

He turned to the first page and began to read out loud: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort..."

11/12/13th (or later if needed)

[windandrain]

Waking up on the morning of the 11th of August was among the single most unpleasant experiences of Saori's life. Memory assaulted her already battered mind, bypassing every mental block she had like the wind itself and cutting deep into the goddess's heart.

She had no family. Her wife, her brothers and sister, all of that was fiction. There was no overbearing father, no mansion, no plans to move into a little house with her beloved. That was another life, crafted by a madman and ripped away by a truth one could only find in battle. Knowing that Count Zompano was dead by her hand was one small consolation, at least.

But no matter what had happened in the square, Saori couldn't help but feel that he'd won, in the end.

Silver streamed down her cheeks as she lay in the clinic, her shattered legs all but useless. Her breathing was ragged, pained by the fractures in her ribcage, and her left side had been covered with bandages. But she found her arms worked, at least, as trembling fingers reached up to brush away the stinging wetness in her eyes. How strange it was, to fall asleep a woman and awake a god.

And stranger still, wishing she could go back to not knowing...

For the next two days, Saori barely moved, letting her body recuperate and whoever was around treat her injuries. She needed time. Time for her body to heal, time for her mind to settle, and time for her heart to mend. If she had visitors, she stirred herself to pleasantness, but it was hard not to feel lost after such an ordeal.

By the third day, she was feeling healthy enough to at least return to the castle that was House 44, presumably wheelchaired there by a housemate or floating along on a cloud of her own conjuring. Sitting on the porch or the roof of the tower, Saori spent her time idly, mulling it all over and attempting to find some sort of solace in the late summer breeze...

13th

[tsunderebunny]

[Barnaby couldn't approach her for the first few days.

He couldn't approach anyone for the first few days, not when the gravity of everything that happened crashed over him with all the grace of the flood that nearly destroyed Sternbild a generation ago. A torrent of images, details, and feelings hit him at once, sent his mind reeling into a place that he thought he had left behind just a few short months ago.

At least, it was a place that he thought he had left behind like Christmas of 1978.

He hid himself away while he processed the world as it rebuilt itself around the lies, meshing reality with the feelings that he wanted to believe in. There were a few people that he needed to see out of courtesy, if nothing more. The top of the list was not the man he had called lover.

No, it was the woman who was both a part of his reality and an integral part of his fantasy.

...but, she was nowhere to be found.

Only upon nightfall did he dare to use his trump card. The tiny town was quieter, and the songs of the crickets accompanied by a drowsy chrous of fireflies were easily ignored.

He stood on top of Comminity House 1, closed his eyes, and listened.

Even at half strength, the Hundred Power was a very versatile ability. It affected more than just his speed, strength, and endurance, contrary to what the announcers of HeroTV explained during the Live episodes. His senses were sharpened as well.

If he focused, he could hear her.

For a few moments he stood in utter stillness, the blue luminence that clung to him announcing his presence for all who paid attention or cared to notice. Then he leapt from the roof in the space of a heartbeat, bounding across the rooftops and trees until he lighted on the roof of House Castle 44.

The differences-- and damage-- was noticeable immediately. A part of his mind tensed and knotted, screaming at him for his own neglect and selfishness, while he stood there in numb shock. It took him a moment to remember to breathe.]

...Miss Saori?

[His polite, city boy manners were played up to the hilt, but his wavering uncertainty was clear.]

11th-onward

[folklorist]

The throbbing in his left arm was a sure reminder of what happened yesterday. The swimming memories in his head were another reminder of past hurts and torment he had come to accept while being here. Just remembering Elise made his heart ache painfully, it was almost too hard to admit to himself. Living a life where she had still been alive, if not with him but still happy, made it all the more painful to think on.

He's silent and mostly keeping to himself when he finally leaves the clinic after staying there for a day or two. He wants to visit Max, so he'll do that on one of the days after he's well enough to move. He'll be taking care of everyone at Castle 44 as well. Making breakfast for the newer occupants when he's managed to get a hold on how to cook with one arm. The more busy work he does the more easier it is to return to his former disposition. But anyone who knows Helios can see something wrong if not for his absentmindedness but for the perpetually sad expression on his features.

[faithfulflame]

[Twice now, Rei had found herself believing that this strange, quirky man had been her real father. The first time, it'd been nice. This time, it was a stab in the heart. She genuinely did care about Helios, and honestly felt like he'd make an excellent father. The memories that came back to her, of Takashi Hino, were a fair bit less pleasant than the false life granted to her by the mad Count. She spent the first day cleaning the shrine, one of the few exercises she could do to keep calm, and the rest of it brooding in front of the fire.

And finally made up her mind to pay him a visit. Things needed saying, and she knew it wouldn't get better without words being shared.

So, into the clinic she goes...]

Helios. I...think we need to talk, if you're feeling well enough to.

all week

[alloys]

[ In a sense, it's almost merciful that Tony is hardly aware of anything the first couple of days after the village returns to normal. He comes out of his coma on Sunday night, and fleeting moments of consciousness persist for the next thirty-six hours or so. In those brief instances, he's barely more than awake, unresponsive to audio or visual cues as his faculties return to him. He doesn't process, and he doesn't dream. His mind is still working on being a mind again.

It's not until Tuesday that he starts to respond, following the sound of voices and lights. The gears in his head still aren't turning quite like they should, and what he can process is confusing and vague. He knows there's so much more to remember, so much more to be thought, but he just can't yet and sleep is a much more appealing option. After all, it's some of the best sleep he's had in months.

It's not until Wednesday that he starts to speak again. He can hold simple conversations, even if some things might need to be said to him twice. He still attempts to understand the situation around him, and slowly but surely, more of what happened in the last week starts to come back to him. Bits and pieces are disjointed and out of order, like his mind won't put things together properly and in some instances, he can't distinguish between what is real and what is false. It's just so confusing - and frustrating - and as his awareness continues to collect, he'll becoming increasingly restless.

By the end of Saturday, Tony is fully aware again and able to leave the clinic, though it will still be a few days more before his mind straightens everything out like it should. And as that happens, the implications of everything that happened to him will take their toll. One broken relationship and imagined life at a time. ]

[frost_jewel]

[There's a lot of work to do around the village now.

Visiting Tony while he recovers is not work. She isn't there when he wakes (though she is sure that someone is) or speaks for the first time but late on Wednesday evening - quietly, in case that someone is asleep nearby - she comes in to check on him again.]

Tony? [It's a whisper, and it may very well mark the end of 'Mr. Stark'.]

[aryaunderfoot]

[The 11th finds Arya sticking stubbornly to the farmlands, even as they slowly begin to fade away before her eyes. The barns, the house, the fields... even Mycah is gone. Mycah, a hound named for a boy cut down by a Hound. And she didn't even know. There were so many things that seemed to slip through even before her memories linked up - an aversion to lions, Mycah's name, a hatred for needlework - and she still fell for a lie. A lie that she really, really wishes were true.

By the end of the day, the farm is gone. The only thing remaining is the memory of yet another family she's lost. A family that wasn't even real. It's stupid to feel hurt about it disappearing, but it hurts all the same.

On the 12th, Arya's post by what was her home a week ago is abandoned. Nymeria's massive pawprints in the dirt into the woods are the only thing remaining as a hint to where they may have gone. Eventually, the girl and her direwolf will make their way to the weirwood tree they discovered not too long ago when Luceti was itself. It's there, as if Luceti Valley never happened.

Arya sinks down amongst the bone-white roots, wraps her arms around Nymeria's neck, and breathes in the smells of the North. She won't cry. There is nothing to cry about. It's all gone and none of it matters anyway and she's never going to have a real family ever again. Valar morghulis.]

[universal_charm]

<sub>[ It was a hard thing, waking up, feeling... bruised in ways he shouldn't. In ways he never thought he would. He had found himself sometimes reaching for a body beside him, going to a room to check on someone who wouldn't be there. Well, wanting to anyways. Instincts he shouldn't have because they weren't real.

But one instinct that was real? Looking for Arya. He couldn't find her, and while he knew she could handle herself, he didn't much like leaving her alone after all this, not for a long time. She was still just a child, after all.

So he makes his way out to the woods, picking out the marks of Nymeria along the way (he had learned them well enough by now). He found them by the tree, pausing several feet away, crunching a stick beneath his boot to call attention to himself. ]</sub>

Pretty much any day

[goldenglasses]

[Eventually the memories start coming back to Vash, the biggest and most painful one hitting him rather hard. Noah. He had forgotten all about the kid. He's lived in Luceti long enough now that he knew that the Malnosso would probably do that to him one day, but actually going through it doesn't take the sting out of it at all.

He spends some time locked quietly away in his old community housing room. Wolfwood's Punisher right where he had left it and actually spends time looking over his scarred body. Forcing himself to remember each and every one of them. Reminding himself who he was, had been, and should be.

Eventually he does make his way around Luceti once again. Taking in what should be familiar sites, yet there's a mix there. The should be old sites. Historic sties.

He wants to track down everyone. Wants to be sure they're alright. Fluttershy. How was she taking all of this? Was she alright? Was she missing him as badly as he-

No. Don't think like that. They weren't dating. Never had been dating. Still he wants to find her, but at the same time terrified to see that face and realize that all the love was nothing but a lie.

Maybe it would be best to avoid everyone for a little while. Yet he doesn't go home. Vash can be found all around town as he tries to feel settled once more in the village he has called home for the past three years.

He's dressed much like he did for the event. Long hair down around his face, a pair of "work" jeans, a light tan long sleeved shirt, and a pair of brown work boots.]

[teachingpeace]

[He didn't actually have a family. That was what filtered through the hardest the morning after everything was said and done, as he'd watched his house, a home he'd thought he'd made over years and years, crumble away into nothing and become just more trees in the scenery. It had all been a piece of imagination, a maybe.

And even during that maybe, the first chance he'd had he'd rallied people, took up a leadership position, and thought himself invincible, of course. He no longer called himself Pein, he no longer called himself the god of Ame, he no longer did any of those things, had resolved, on his first death, to leave it all behind him and move on. But, even if his first week here had been oddly tranquil, in spite of the mess at Naruto's house that is, it had still been... a time of waiting.

Temporary.

He'd become a leader somewhere along the way and he couldn't bring himself to let it go. His mind drifted to Konan, to the... the everything that had been their life in the dream. His wife, his dearest one, the mother of his daughter. He'd had a daughter. Would the girl even want to speak to him outside that fiction? Would he be anything to her?

He didn't think he could let go that easily. He knew, in his heart, that he'd be unable to unclench his fingers and ignore Kushina, family he still had, if more distant than the dream wrote her out to be. Minato, Naruto, Kakashi...

Relationships that weren't real but the idea of letting them go...

He didn't want to.

He'd finally had family again, more than just Konan silent and cold at his side and he'd been so happy...

He... wouldn't let go. He'd start at the easiest, hardest?, ones. Barnaby, Ikki, Elie. He hadn't known them before. He'd talk to them. Naruto would be easy as well, at least, compared to Minato, or Kakashi.

But... Kushina? Kushina... no. She would be the hardest, and he would need to start with the hardest. If...

If he could just bring himself to move, and leave behind the place where his dream had been.]

[origami_ninja]

[In the end, it was all a lie, like some elaborate genjutsu that made them feel as though they'd lived a lifetime in just over a week. It left memories and attachments that Konan couldn't easily disconnect herself from, in part because one side of her had genuinely wanted to believe this was her reality. She and Nagato married, with an adopted daughter and another child well on the way. Then there was their extended family. It wasn't easy to go back to the true reality, and be faced with the consequences of her past mistakes when some of the people impacted by those past mistakes were people she had familial bonds (even if they were artificially forged) with.

As much as all of this troubled her, she knew Nagato would be worse off. His emotions were more intense than hers, and his transgressions against Konoha were worse as a result. Nagato didn't do things half-heartedly. His way of making amends was a perfect example, sacrificing his own life to restore those lost the day they invaded Konoha.

She didn't approach right away, leaving him some privacy and time to process everything. Eventually she appears, the first sign of her arrival a paper butterfly that flutters over and sits on his shoulder. It's her way of letting him know she's nearby if he wants to talk, and if he doesn't, she's still around when he needs her.]