lucetilogs | Post-Event Blues

Entry tags:

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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"Relatively speaking? Yes I think so. We don't see one another often, but we always meet on the equinoxes and share a meal. But she's a bit more...frosty...than I am though, you understand, so our relationship can be a little tepid at times." She made a pun, on purpose.

Chouji is an entirely willing audience to her puns, chuckling again. "I always approve of sharing a meal. That sounds like a good way to spend the equinox."

Speaking of sharing meals, he takes some food for himself, joining Saori in eating.

"It's a peaceful way to connect. And that's why spring and fall are the way they are. Cool, with rain but rarely snow or thunder."

She tucks in with him, chewing thoughtfully for a moment.

"Do you have a favorite season?"

He smiles softly at that. "With my surname, there's only one possible answer. I'm part of the Akimichi clan. 'Autumn road' means I'll have to go with fall. I like the cool weather, too, and watching clouds from a clearing with all the leaves turning colors." Chouji even usually wears autumn colors, a red jacket under armor his typical mission gear.

She takes a big bite and swallows, giving him a cheeky grin. "Well then," she says with feigned offense, "My sister and you would get along well. She's overly fond of cool weather, but then...the leaves were my idea."

The grin keeps any pretense of offense from being taken seriously, so Chouji grins back.

He eyes Saori skeptically at that claim. She is a god, after all, though, so maybe... "Did trees not change color at all before you decided they should?" There must have been trees before Saori, right? She said she was in her four hundreds.

"No, why should they?" What a strange question to ask...

But then something clicks. He didn't really know about Tesshin, did he?

"Sorry, perhaps I should explain. My divinity decided it. The spirit in me, the spark of godhood. And that's a good deal older than I am. Tesshin existed from the dawn of creation until he passed that spark to me. So I say I decided it, but really, it was him. But...we're the same entity now...and it's somewhat complicated."

The confusion on Chouji's face evaporates as understanding dawns. "Ah, that makes more sense." Complicated, yes, but it's easier to accept than the notion that trees didn't change color at all until relatively recently.

"Are you doing alright aside from the legs? I know it was... rough... for some people." Chouji thinks he got off relatively easily, even with the feelings left over.

"Aside from that? I think I'm doing alright. Yuuna and I remained together in the other life. So aside from lingering thoughts about Hinata, Neji, and Barnaby...I think everything is alright."

And really, it is. She got off very light.

"Ah." He frowns, not wanting to worry her when she can't do anything about it. Chouji starts with something more neutral. "It's hard to know what to do with those thoughts."

Then he shakes his head and tells her anyway. Saori will manage, and Chouji knows he'd want to be told if any of his loved ones from that other life were hurting. "I saw Hinata earlier, and it's been harder on her. She probably won't be easy to find for a little while." He's worried, but Hinata is strong and resilient. Chouji has faith she'll be fine.

"Is it? I think embracing them is the proper thing to do. I've always wanted to have a family. Even if it's an illusion, why not hold onto it?"

Saori frowns at the thought of Hinata out in the woods with her arm as bad as it was. When she speaks up, it's in a hushed tone. "I've got my servants out looking. She won't be hard to find, not really. At least, not for me."

He can understand that, but as for himself, he shrugs. "I didn't feel like I could ask them to stay my family, but I can at least have Luke as a friend even if he's not my brother."

Nodding, Chouji waits a moment in thoughtful silence before answering softly, "Her clan is a hard place to grow up. I think Hinata's had more to cope with than a lot of us have. Neji too." Neji made certain everyone knew that back at the chuunin exams. Chouji has been especially grateful for his own clan ever since.

"She'll be alright, it was probably just a lot to deal with." Not to mention that having Neji as a brother, without all of the clan baggage between them, must make suddenly remembering his death even harder. Chouji wishes he hadn't compared her to Neji earlier, realizing just how painful that must have been.

"Well, then you are embracing it. Friends are family, in my eyes. They're the family that you choose." She shrugs, but she does understand. Barnaby had approached her about it first, or she'd have just tried to stay friendly.

Talking about the clans though, that draws out a bit of a frown. She's befriended Kushina and Minato, of course. But she doesn't really know much about the other clans. Could it have been like in the false life? An overbearing father?

"I'll try and find her soon. It'll be difficult for my crows not to find her. Maybe I can get her to come back. She'll need to have her arm looked at."

Ino and Shikamaru come to mind first when she says it, and Chouji can't help smiling. "I can agree with that."

Overbearing father is just a part of it. Chouji is glad that Neji at least grew up much less bitter than he was when they first became genin.

"You have crows that you work with?" That reminds him of Itachi first and foremost. "It would be probably good to bring her back, but I'm not sure who would be easiest for her to be around right now." He knows that his own careless words hurt her, and he's also willing to bet that there are people whose presence alone would make things more difficult.

Speaking of what Saori said before about family, though, he smiles again. "I think you'd be a good big sister."

She nods. "Crows and hounds are shinshi to me. Servants and messengers. I can ask them to do things and they'll do them, though I admit I have a harder time with hounds here in Luceti. But generally, a few dozen crows will do better than a dozen hounds when it comes to finding someone."

"And..." she pauses, "I hope so."

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