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

[universal_charm]

_{[ He heard it, but he was stubborn enough, and cared enough, that he wasn't going to just up and leave her either. So he took a seat, a bit off, but not close, making himself comfortable and picking up a leaf that had drifted some from the tree. It was a rather pretty color, but it wasn't worth commenting on at the moment. ]}

Didn't see you at breakfast. Did you get something with someone?

[aryaunderfoot]

No. I wasn't hungry.

[And she still isn't. She just feels sick. She knows she can take something down if she does get hungry later, and if she's having any trouble, Nymeria can help. Finding food here is nowhere near as hard as it was finding food in the Riverlands.

It's funny how that memory, of all things, was one of the earliest to come back to her.]

Besides, I wouldn't have known where to go for it anyway.

[For all she knew when she left the farmlands, everyone else could still be living under the delusion of Luceti Valley.]

[universal_charm]

Well, there's always our place. I try and keep it mostly stocked, but maybe I need to make a grocery run again.

_{[ He rubbed a hand behind his neck, rolling it, cracking his spine and shuddering as the tension was partially released. ]}

[aryaunderfoot]

[Arya gives a hard frown. The way he's talking, it's like nothing ever happened... like he didn't just get caught up in the last couple of weeks as well. As much as she wants to act like nothing happened, she can't entirely ignore the hurt. And somehow, seeing him managing it better than she is just annoys her.]

How do you even know if it's stocked or not? Unless those stupid Malnosso just put everything back.

[Everything except her sense of who she really is. Stark enough for Nymeria to come back, Skywalker enough to sorely want to go back to the farm, and no one enough to just wish all of this would disappear and let her go back to the House of Black and White.]

[universal_charm]

_{[ He sighed, wishing he knew how to handle this better, but he honestly didn't. It wasn't good at this sort of thing, and truth be told he wasn't even dealing with his own issues well. How do you deal with almost being married and having a kid to going back to... nothing? And the bond with Spock... ugh, more issues.}

He sighed, looking at her, trying to keep his face passive, but his own eyes were rimmed in red, looking tired as everyone else. ]

Maybe they did put everything back. Maybe they didn't. So I should go check, but I'd like to think they're not rude enough to just not put it back. No offense, but shopping for four is tough - especially you, missy.

_{[ He pointed a finger at Nymeria. ]}

[aryaunderfoot]

[Nymeria pinned her ears and bared her fangs at the pointed finger, but didn't growl at all. Arya, still scowling, picked up a small rock from beside a nearby root and lobbed it at a pine tree across the clearing. The crack of the rock against the bark wasn't half as satisfying as she'd hoped.]

She can hunt. So can I. [She lobbed another small rock at the tree, much harder this time. Nymeria jumped a bit.] We'll just stay here and then your stupid shopping won't be half so hard.

[She knew she could survive in the wild. Without dumb old Gendry or Hot Pie stumping around and making a ton of noise, she would have been just fine in the Riverlands. And with Nymeria beside her? Nothing could stop them. They could live right here next to the weirwood and she could be some kind of skinchanger woods witch. It would be far less confusing or painful than living in the village.]

[universal_charm]

Don't be stupid, Arya. I'm not going to leave you out here to fend for yourself. I mean, what am I going to do without constant wolf hair to pick off the couch? It'll mess with the mojo of the place.

_{[ It was his way of saying he didn't want her gone. Arya, against all odds, had become a fixture in his life and he cared for her like an uncle or a big brother. He knew she could care for herself, and he let her walk her own road, live her own life, but he liked to think he was there, in the background, to help her when she was in trouble or tell her when she was wrong.}

She had been through a lot of crap, he knew that, but she had a lot of growing to do still and he hoped eventually that anger she held would be channeled into something better (like him and Star Fleet). Heck, they all did, after this. ]

[aryaunderfoot]

[Arya just ignored the jape about the wolf hair. It was too much like the kind of thing Jon would have said and she couldn't let herself think about Jon right now. He used to ruffle my hair and call me "little sister." That kind of sentiment was only going to get her in trouble here.]

Why not? We've both done it before. We don't need the village. Not if we're going to find a way to get back at the Malnosso.

[Nobody can hide forever. Valar morghulis.]

[universal_charm]

We're stronger together than apart. Going at it alone - it's an insect trying to bite an elephant. But if the whole mound attacks... well, then you have something. Besides, what will you do when it rains? Your clothes will get soaked and moldy and you don't want to be moldy.

_{[ It was one of the silliest things he had thought he had ever said, but he was grasping at straws here, trying to find comfort for himself and for Arya and thinking he was doing a piss poor job of it. ]}

[aryaunderfoot]

I've heard that before. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives. [Just saying that out loud made tears sting at her eyes worse than before. She blinked them away angrily.] But that isn't true. The lone wolf survives just fine.

[Her father had lied about that. All of her packs had always left her or been taken from her and there she was, the lone wolf, the only one left alive. Maybe he had really thought it true, but it never worked out that way in real life.

Arya's eyes burned. But she refused to let herself cry. She wasn't some stupid mouse hiding in Harrenhal anymore, she was a she-wolf. She-wolves don't cry.]

And my clothes won't get moldy. I can find shelter.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He considered what to say next. Arya did love those wolf analogies didn't she? He found them kind of funny at times, but then he recalled something about wolves, something he had seen on some nature documentary when he was awake to late at night. ]}

Want to hear something cool about wolves? They're pack animals, but I think you knew that. See, when a wolf gets sick, the pack doesn't abandon it. They try and help it. They'll lick its wounds and bring it food. They'll do all the can to help it. So, yeah, sometimes wolves die. It's nature. But, that doesn't mean it's pack didn't do all they could to help it, or that they'll abandon it.

_{[ Jeeze, did that make any sense? He hoped it did, because he felt like he was careening down a slope and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to work himself back up with Arya in this state. ]}