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

[handing]

In that he was at least honest, though it was a poor consolation as Loki admitted the same thing he had so many times before. But the silence hung heavy as he turned, and Pepper held back her reply, a final request for him to go because she thought this time, there might be more.

And so there was. Surprise flared in her eyes as he apologized for Pepper’s suffering, and almost for Tony’s as well. Of course she couldn’t be certain how much of this came from Loki of Asgard, who had no father, and Loki Odinson, Attorney and friend. But the doubt was eased by a simple desire to believe what he said was true, to take it as it was without breaking down the particulars. She didn’t want to have to pick apart anything more than she already would.

“Thank you for that.” Not for regretting, which she had long thought he should feel—but for admitting it to her. Pepper knew it couldn’t have been easy, and her gaze lowered to Tony once more as she considered it. He wouldn’t be absolved by that admission. What had to happen still would. But it helped ease something within her that had ached for a very long time.

[complicatedliar]

Loki wondered if she truly understood what he had meant: that the only reason he cared in the slightest was that Pepper and Tony were now people with whom he was well acquainted. But there was no benefit at all to pointing that out. Just like there was no point at all to noting yet again that mortals were very strange in the way they viewed combat. They took it so personally.

He could regret his previous actions because they now stood in the way of something he'd wanted. If he'd had any idea this waited in his future, he would have chosen a different course, perhaps. But this was not something he could have ever conceived of.

"Both of you cared whether I lived or died," he said after another long moment. "It was nice while it lasted."

[handing]

She did understand, at least in part. Pepper hadn't taken his words to mean he now regretted all of it, or that he was ready to apology to humanity at large. She thought it meant he had seen their personal pain, and in coming to care for them, he in turn felt guilt over his role in causing it. That was enough for her, because it was so much more than the easy lack of remorse he'd shown until now.

But even so, it only took them so far. Pepper also understood that guilt was limited; even if it hadn't been, those actions weren't easily forgiven. So while part of her could agree that it had been nice, the part that had only known someone caring if still flawed, the reality of what had actually happened, what he'd actually done still stood untoppled in her mind.

"Yeah." She opened her mouth as if to say more, then closed it again when she realized that there was nothing more she had to say.

[complicatedliar]

That seemed clear enough.

Rogue always spoke of things in terms of doors, open or closed. This one felt as if it had been rather firmly shut, but what else had he expected? That was how it always was.

Family. He'd once written down, "Such things are not for Loki." And he had been right.

He turned to go again. "When you've finished with the book, it can go back to the library."

[handing]

"Alright. I'll make sure it does." She glanced toward the book again, thankful to have it. Though she couldn't say she would read it with the same talent Loki had shown, it might not hurt to do so; to give Tony something to listen to while he still came back to her.

He had his back to her, and Pepper almost said goodbye--but in the end, she let him leave in silence. Even without speaking the actual words, that was what this whole conversation had truly been: a farewell to the false life that had brought them together.

Except unlike the poetic saying, Pepper wouldn't define the sorrow as sweet.