lucetilogs | Post-Event Blues

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Post-Event Blues

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!

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[He's exhausted in many ways. He doesn't see the need for a firm hand at the moment. They're no longer business rivals in any sense, after all.

He gives a soft glance back as he moves on. And he replies simply.]

Keterburg.

[The memories that rooted himself again.]

[Keterburg was on her mind every day. Except now, there was a week that existed without it, without dreams or thoughts of any snow at all.]

You never visit when you have the means to. Surely you can't miss it now that you don't.

[It's all the tease she can muster.]

I think at this point it should be fairly obvious that I lack the capacity for "missing", Nephry. [He says with a slight smile.]

Still, with how tiresome travel can be for an aging man, visiting one's memories of a place alone can often suffice.

It isn't obvious at all, no matter how much you want it to be. [She knows better than to think he has memories of Keterburg that he can enjoy without even a warped sense of guilt.]

And you're not aging.

It's a shame, then. I do think of the place, in a variety of contexts.

[He tries a slight smile.]

You just want to believe that now that you're catching up.

Think what you will about that, then.

[Banter like this does seem to set her straight. Nephry shakes her head, banishing another dual set of thoughts.]

Ion is having trouble. [I'm having trouble, she almost said.]

I'm not surprised. [He says calmly. Assessing in plain terms.] Especially for someone like him, it must be quite the blow to so swiftly be deprived of a real family. I imagine that it's a similar difficulty for all of those who were living the existences they dreamed of - the impossible. [He surely wasn't part of that group. He'd been the opposite - living what he hadn't wanted for himself. But Nephry? Nephry had domestic bliss with the emperor.]

To be honest, Jade, I don't know how to begin thinking about what is and is not impossible anymore.

Mm. [He gives a nod as he tries to understand.] The way that this world works certainly seems to encourage that type of thinking. Does anything seem truly impossible to you anymore?

Living a normal life ever again. That seems impossible.

Setting aside that 'normal' is a very subjective concept... I would be disappointed if you gave up on such an idea so easily.

Far be it for me to start hearing about the ways in which I disappoint you.

[When in fact she knows that there really aren't many of those, at least not for the "real" Jade - that he finds more fault in her soft heart than in anything else. But this one, a blend of colonel and shrewd businessman?

Regardless, that was a strike meant to sting. Nephry might regret it.]

Either we go home changed, or we go home with no memory or mark of this life at all. I'm not sure I can accept either of those.

[He just quietly adjusts his glasses with a gleam at her comment.]

I see. Of course, the latter choicer would technically be a return to our normalcy. But it can only truly be so if we find a way to keep people from getting pulled here. I suppose that I'm living proof of that.

Now that I have lived through this 'normalcy', I'm not as willing to call what I knew before 'good enough'.

So the gambler is left unsatisfied with her choices that can be bet upon. I suppose that it's a natural reaction. The only solution one could think of would be trying to think of a third option, but I understand that is particularly cliche.

Edited 2013-09-26 03:33 (UTC)

What makes you call me a gambler, all of a sudden?

Oh? Have I confused you with a different Nephry who is the namesake of the Keterburg Casino's infamous Nephry Ball? [He says slyly.]

You seem to be under the impression that I chose such a name.

I'm under the impression that it wouldn't be named after someone who would never use it. [He shrugs.] Of course, that's setting aside the casino that your other self had a hand in, but at the same time, I know that your brother did not bother enough to look into whether or not you actually played at it.

I believe His Majesty came up with that name. Far be it for me to put aside an Imperial order.

[That last phrase. Your brother did not bother enough.]

...Are you claiming you aren't my brother anymore?

[He shakes off the gambling topic for a moment to focus on that comment.]

Nephry. Not even I would go so far as to make that claim. You always have been and always will be my sister. It's as simple as biological fact.

[He takes a moment to close his eyes as he rubs at the bridge of his nose, before he lifts his head back up and continue.]

Rather, I'm intending to not associate myself at all with the man whom I have been this past week. It's my every intention to do away with any trace of Jade Curtiss the aristocrat that may be lingering within my consciousness.

[She liked herself - the false self she was. Happy, content, in love, with everything she could and did want in the world. The only thing missing, her beautiful city, she didn't know she'd lost until it was over.

It was a devil's trade, giving her back the ache of her real life in the interest of exposing the impossibility of the other one.]

He wasn't interested in being a good person.

Certainly not. If he ever at any point truly care for his sister's wellbeing... He certainly gave that up as he grew let the ambition of the social ladder overtake him. [Even that Jade found pathetic in comparison to his own true ambition.] He never thought there was anything wrong with the ways he viewed life and death.

In short... I suppose one could say that he never had a good teacher.

Then I will be glad that we once did.

Mm. It's a way of reminding one of what to be grateful for. As unnecessary as such a reminder may have been, that is.

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