Epilogue: A New Day

[letsplayamod]

In the end, hope triumphed over hate. A new pantheon of gods, gathered from all corners of the universe, came together to unlock the ultimate power and it it flow over the land once more. They proved one goddess that her wisdom was correct, and another that her wisdom was keeping her trapped in a vision of the world that would never be.

You exit the temple of Olympus, battered and bruised, but more together than ever before. Athena raises her hand and drags it before her. In the distance, the keen-eyed will see the barrier that's long protected you finally fading away.

The sun shines down. Two months and you're finally, finally free.

Athena takes care to thank each of you personally. This was exactly what her and Fenyx had theorized was possible - not exactly, but the outcome is greatly acceptable. And now, Athena is bound by her oath to return you home... or wherever it is you'd like to go. You're gods now, you have the privilege.

Speaking of! Once everyone's rested and healed, Fenyx prepared a little get-together for everyone on the cliffs, with a special bonus: they can bring in any person you desire. Family and friends are preferable, but who are they to question if you want to smack your rival across the face for the first time in weeks?

They may react in confusion, however, if you tell them about the bits of Hope buzzing in the air like glowing fireflies. They're not gods, after all. They can't see them.

Dipping lower around half-day, you may peer over the side of the area and see far, far down into the valleys of ocean and cities. And beyond all of that, sailing in from the horizon, ships. Old ships of man-made nature. Sails billowing in a wind that no longer tears them asunder. Now that the storm has passed, life can resume picking up the pieces.

It will be messy, probably a disaster at times, but there's always hope. And if that carried you here, then maybe it will bring those people to the top of the mountain.

[This is the final post of Let's Play A Murder! Players are welcome to invite cast members to this log for the purpose of tagging out reunions (Fenyx and Athena will have personally greeted and asked to bring them here). You may tag this at your leisure, whatever last-minute endeavors you'd like your characters to get into will go here.

Thank you for playing.]

Comments

[markofnobility]

[ Oh there is so much to handle before they leave. When Fenyx asks if there's anyone he wants to see before they all go their separate ways, there is only one person he can think of- both for himself and for the sake of poor Liora and Derrick. In fact you might catch him in the stables getting them ready to go with their hopeful new owner. It would not be fair to make them live on the station, after all.

Otherwise though he is lingering around the gathering, looking so very bright and hopeful. Even peering out over the cliffs when the ships show up on the horizon]

There! Look, people! So this world was not dead after all!!

[silky_bearing]

[No, he doesn't know the woman that approached him with an offer into another realm. Which, certainly, means it was a terrible idea to accept that offer. Especially in the wake of Shamballa.

Then she says Ferdinand's name and he immediately marches through the portal.

It's a beautiful day, the view of the seaside cities below enough to make him think for a moment that he's been transported far above Derdriu. He's in his best attire, of course. Athena caught him at his office in Derdriu, after all. Though there may be a slight smudge of ink on his fingers. He'd been in far too much a tizzy rushing here to remember his gloves. (Terrible manners, truly.)

But all recollection of manners and propriety goes out the window when he sees that flash of brilliant copper in the crowd. He doesn't yell, that would be unbecoming, but he's a man accustomed to giving orders on the battlefield and speaking to large gatherings of people. He knows how to make his voice carry.]

Ferdinand Von Aegir!

[It's the only warning he gets before Ferdinand is accosted. One bare hand landing hard enough to make a sharp crack! on his cheek. Lorenz hardly gives him a moment to process that before the redhead is yanked in against Lorenz' chest, long elegant fingers buried in his hair, shoving his face into a cravat that smells of roses and salt air and he can feel the way Lorenz trembles, attempting -and failing- to suppress the rising tide of emotion. Before long he's sobbing quietly into that rich scarlet mane.]

[stringup]

[ So once things have settled down some, but probably before Fenyx calls them over for the gathering, Velvet is going to approach Ferdinand. ]

Do you have a moment, dear?

[tailoredfate]

[As the victorious gods finally find their way out of the temple, into the warm, shining rays of the sun, Aglaea manages to slip away. She hears Fenyx speaking of bringing some of their companions here, but she doesn't even bother asking any further questions on that. After all - two and a half months. Barely the blink of an eye to a demigod that's lived a thousand years, but she knows that things were... dire, back home. They needed to move fast, between the encroaching black tide and Caenis's machinations, she knew Phainon would be taking up his mantle and offering Kephale's coreflame soon. It's probably happened already, the Era Nova coming to be...

... Hm. What would the new Amphoreus look like, without a Titan of Romance? Her friends and companions, even that conceited scholar who she still couldn't stand... they must have all taken on their new forms by now. Taken up new roles. There's likely nothing left for her in Amphoreus, nothing left of them... if she's even able to return at all.

... She's not sure if she feels anything, as that knowledge sinks in. She's been feeling so much more than she's had in centuries since she awoke in this world, but now it's just... empty.

The cycle of Amphoreus she came from, long dead and gone. All her companions, gone.

But at least this world survived. At least these people survived. That, at least, she can feel content with. There are still regrets, still uncertainties and things unsaid lingering in the air... but at least here, she can see the fruits of their labor laid out before them.

She breathes in deep of the fresh air, leaning against one of the marble columns of the arena as the ships drift into view.]

I can't remember the last time I've truly been able to feel peace such as this.

[stringup]

[ Now that things have settled down, Velvet's looking for Aglaea, considering she owes the woman at least some thanks. Velvet praying to the dragons her local child will not have wandered off—who is she kidding, she's probably asked Ferdinand to help entertain said child while she handles other matters. ]

I get the feeling a lot of us have led, uhm. Exciting lives even before all this.

[literarybehemoth]

[The offer is nice, but Manulov isn't really interested in dragging anyone here. Maybe it's something he should do someday, just to blow somebody's mind. But for now... he'll just hang out and watch the ships coming in.]

Well, now, I wonder if we should go down and mingle amongst the mortals. What would they think to meet all of us...? Would they even know?

[it sounds like fun to him, really.]

[sweetsynergy]

[She looks down at the ships slowly arriving, pulling in towards ports from who knows where.]

[She looks back over the mountaintop, at the ragtag little pantheon that's formed.]

I think they might have some suspicions.

[silky_bearing]

[After his dramatic entrance, once Lorenz has composed himself, he is far more interested in seeing who else is here and learning what he can of the people Ferdinand has been spending his time with. Anyone that has the misfortune of mentioning Ferdinand around him will be treated to a line that seems so repetitive it could be a joke.]

Ah! You know Ferdinand? Then you've certainly heard of me for I am none other than Lorenz Hellman Gloucester!

[But he's so serious when he says it it surely cannot be a joke. Oh no. There's two of them.]

[stringup]

[ In Velvet's case, it may not be so much that she mentioned Ferdinand as it is that she's been very obviously been hanging around him, only separating when either of them need to be spoken to privately or handle matters by themselves.

Hearing Lorenz vaguely reminds her of her first meeting with Ferdinand, and it dawns on her that there's two of them, holy shit. She is suddenly very self-conscious (for no particular reason, she'd swear) of how she looks—deathly pale, mismatched eye with dark sclera, and if Lorenz is paying attention he can probably see that the metal on her legs aren't from greaves but because they are made of metal.

Okay Velvet don't fuck this up— ]

I can certainly see why you two are friends.

[ #nailedit ]

[stringup]

[ Velvet's preparations mostly consists of deciding what things she wants to take with her from here. She spends some time back in her room picking a few items she's collected during her time here, along with personal belongings she's regained, gathering them all into a cloth tied up in a bundle.

As for the offer to invite someone from home, Velvet has one person in mind, if only because it's the only person she can think of whom she could break the news to without there being too much fussing. Granted, she also thinks it'd be good for Sunrise to see these new, foreign sights.

You can find her at the gathering, either alone (or sticking close to Ferdinand)... ]

Huh, so there really are still people here.

[ ...Or in the company of a short teenaged girl wearing a teal shawl, and carrying what appears to be a large instrument case on her back. She has an incredibly stoic, even blank expression, but despite that, there's a distinct sense of awe as she looks around at both the other people present and their surroundings. ]

...You have a lot of explaining to do, Ms. Velvet.

Yyyyyeaaaaah, I suppose I do...

[ And you know, chances are, despite Velvet's best efforts to keep an eye on her, said girl will have inevitably wandered off at some point to look around. People can probably approach to speak to her on her own. ]

((OOC: You'll be getting tags from cleansewithfire if you wish to interact with the castmate!))

[eeeonetwothree]

[ Omega approaches Velvet when things have quieted down, and in the rare moment she is alone. ]

HELLO, VELVET. I BELIEVE WE SHOULD SPEAK.

[pariunt]

[Astarion keeps his distance from the group. After all, he didn't want to spare this other Athena to begin with. He's gazing at the portrait of a particular woman that Typhon threatened him with all those weeks ago..

He only looks up when Tav appears in front of him.]

...Astarion?

[He looks up at her with wide eyes. The woman is ever-so-slightly taller than him. For a moment, he looks like he's not certain what he's going to do, but he doesn't get much chance to decide, because she pulls him into an embrace, near sobbing.]

I thought you were dead!

[And then she looks at the people milling around and switches to a different language. Whatever she's saying, Astarion quickly responds in the same language. Whatever they're talking about, "Withers" keeps popping up.

Later, after things have settled, Astarion can be found with Tav overlooking the cliffs. It's quite clear that the two of them are sickeningly in love, though they also trust each other deeply. If someone wants to speak to Astarion privately, neither of them have a problem with Astarion being pulled away.]

cliffs

[necromants]

[It's only later, when Seymour leaves to go change that Zvei finally makes his way toward the cliffs alone. He isn't expecting company, much less in the form of Astarion and his girlfriend. Then again, he did want to speak with Astarion, so this works out well enough.]

Greetings, Astarion! And miss...?

[C'mon stop being grossly in love and introduce him!!]

[tripartites]

[ "I'll be back before you know it. I have some loose ends that need tying up."

with that, sayo yasuda had traveled back to the moment she'd left. to rokkenjima's shore at dusk, with a cart full of bottled manuscripts.

and she burned all of them. she approached genji, kumasawa, dr. nanjo—"the plan is off. reach out to begin liquidating the gold."

setting the process in motion to defuse the powderkeg of the ushiromiya inheritance took some exhausting hours, but more than that... there's someone coming the day afterwards who she needs to see. and if he won't steal her away... then maybe she can steal him away.

if the endless witch is responsible for countless sins in countless fragments, then... she can do something different here, in this fragment, can't she? the sea of fragments holds infinite possibilities.

she hasn't rested when she returns to the gathering on olympus, still buzzing with manic energy as if she can't believe what she's done. ]

This world isn't empty after all...? [ she lets out a breathy, giddy laugh as she looks over the cliffs, seeing the ships on the water. the ocean that stretches past the horizon... it's a beautiful shade of blue, she thinks.

she can be found anywhere from the library to the bar or eatery, able to smile easily for the first time in weeks. here and there, she writes in a notebook with intense focus. a new mystery, of course. ]

Gathering

[tailoredfate]

[And here's Aglaea. She hadn't left her behind - of course she wouldn't. She never says anything that might be even half empty words of reassurance. She always says what she means. And these were her companions; even if she wasn't a leader anymore, she still had to look out for them. At least until they were all standing on their own feet.]

So you stepped through the door after all.

[She sounds... proud.]

[sweetsynergy]

[Some of you might get to see the purpler haired girl arrive, looking thoroughly confused, more than a little wary, and shouldering a utilitarian-looking canvas backpack. The eventual angry shouting from the gardens is- much more obvious, and not much of a mystery. After the fight with Agreena everyone's heard what Vanity sounds like when she's really pissed, right?]

[But once that's over and done with, Vanity can eventually be found -back in her chiton, with a new, blood-free capelet- sitting at a quiet table in the bar sipping a steaming cup of coffee, wearing an unfamiliar pair of silver-rimmed glasses, and sporting one fresh black eye. A thick metal case with an embossed medical caution symbol sits on table nearby.]

[The other eye doesn't seem quite focused on anything in the room, scanning over something unseen; unless you're particularly sharp-eyed, in which case you can catch faint reflections of light scrolling across the lenses.]

[Pinkerton the Eye-pod trundles cheerfully around the floor nearby, and her stubbornly persistent Zubat hangs off a wall decoration without apparent objection from Vanity, for once.]

[If she notices anyone approach, she'll blink, tapping the side of her glasses to dismiss whatever she's reading, and look up.]

Think all this crap will make it into whatever myths those guys on the boats end up telling?

[Later still- time for one last run around the island on the EggCycle, capelet flapping in the wind as she rides laps all over. As good as it will be to get back into space on a proper station, the chance of there being enough room for this seems slim.]

[eeeonetwothree]

[ Once Vanity completes her run with the EggCycle, Omega is there to greet her, along with Gamma. ]

I SEE YOU GOT THAT OLD BADNIK SHELL WORKING. AND IMPROVED ON ITS DESIGN, AS WELL.

[taintedfayth]

[There's no one for Seymour to ask to have brought here, of course. The one person he could even consider definitely doesn't want to see him again, and... well, it's better this way. Now there's nothing left to tie him to Spira. It's as freeing as it is terrifying, the first time he's ever lived for himself and what he wants. But through it all, whatever lies ahead... he knows that he isn't going to be alone, and it's that thought that gives him strength.

He's going to keep his distance from the others - they're furious with him, and rightfully so - so as not to ruin their joyous reunions or bring back any unpleasant memories they would rather forget. He only shows up at the gathering (hanging back around the edges) so that people can have Words with him if they wish to do so-- he's not going to run away from that much. He made his mistakes, and he's going to own them in whatever form that takes.

Later on, he can be found at the bonfire with a familiar-looking pile of blue and red fabric in his arms. He's dressed in something different now, a much more practical off-the-shoulder green robe that's shorter and far more suited to moving around than his summoner's robes ever were, and so it doesn't take much to figure out just what it is that he's carrying. And then? He's tossing it all into the fire. He watches it burn with a mixture of satisfaction and trepidation... the closing of one chapter, and the beginning of another. He may never be able to summon again; he doesn't know. But if he can't... he doesn't think he'll miss it.]

... those always did get in the way.

bonfire

[pariunt]

[It takes some time for Astarion to approach, mostly because he's been spending his time catching up with someone else, but approach Seymour he does. Tav is nearby, of course, but it looks like whatever Astarion is going to say has her blessing, because she doesn't look the least bit uncomfortable.]

Seymour. I have a proposal.

[It's probably obvious what his proposal is going to be, but he keeps talking.]

And lest you worry, Ivilezlei is getting the same one.

[It's obvious he's serious, because this is the first time he's ever uttered that name.]

[atu709]

[ There is nothing left of the Neverafter to go home to. No one to see. So she assumes.

So Snow White, thrice reborn, sits down somewhere, out of the way, and watches.

No one has ever told the part of her story that comes after this before. She is the only one who ever will.

Every story here has crossed over with the others, overlapping threads of destiny woven tight into a new story. She has no plans, no fated next step. It's terrifying. It's exhilarating. ]

I wonder what will happen if this world goes without gods. Perhaps it will be better. Perhaps it will be worse.

[eeeonetwothree]

[ Omega comes and sits beside Snow White. ]

MAYBE IT WILL BE WORSE. BUT THEY WILL BE FREE OF THE SHACKLES OF DESTINY AND CONTROL. THEIR CHOICES WILL BE THEIR OWN. THEIR OWN STORY. NO LONGER...PROGRAMMED.

[raisethemoon]

[ Well! Luna's mood has certainly taken a turn quickly! Most of her time is spent either preparing for the gathering, helping to carry everything out to the bonfire area with her magic, or mingling at the gathering itself. She's far more cheerful than she has been for weeks - but of course she is! Everyone has returned! It all ended well, so...so everything is okay now!

Right? ]

Well! Where are you bound after this?

[ At some point, she steps away briefly with a second alicorn. The two of them fly off towards the forest to speak privately, and are gone for a little while. They return together, though. Celestia goes to meet Luna's new friends, while Luna herself sits with a snack for a while. ]

mingling

[tripartites]

I'm not quite sure. Deep Space 9 sounds appealing... but it's not entirely up to me. [ she casts a glance towards a certain tall, red-haired young man in a white suit, who she's been largely sticking to since her late arrival at the gathering. ]

And you? Back home?

[re_verbed]

[A few of you have seen this nervous, awkward girl before. Some in the shared hallucinations that plagued the living two weeks ago, at least one of you in a needlessly high-tech wanted poster. But really, the resemblance to Vanity is pretty striking.]

He-e-e-ey... hi. I'm looking for Vanity?

[also there's that]

[When she arrives she's carrying a heavy canvas backpack over one shoulder.]

[After- well, the shouting match in the garden, she's very awkwardly moving around the edges of the mingle, no longer carrying the pack but sporting a budding black eye.]

So.

[...]

Nice place. Here?

[Yeah, she's. Mostly found in the Elysian fields, looking over the plant life with barely restrained wonder until it's time to leave.]

[eeeonetwothree]

[ Omega comes up and looms over Echo. ]

YOU ARE VANITY'S SISTER? YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF HER. SHE HAS GROWN A GREAT DEAL IN HER TIME HERE.

1/2

[withmytools]

[ A loud roar rings out as a powerful machine comes tearing out into view: an Eggmobile with a monster truck attachment. At the helm is Dr. Eggman, a mustachioed, egg-shaped man with a mustache, looking quite irate. ]

Alright, where is he?! He asked me to come here, and I came! I don’t normally show up for that ungrateful creation Omega of mine, but I’m here anyway! He’s Eggman Empire property, after all!

2/2

[morethandata]

[ Floating beside the Eggmobile are Sage, Eggman’s AI daughter, and Metal Sonic, a sleek blue robot. ]

Father, I do not believe that referring to E-123 Omega as “property” will endear you to this gathering.

[ Metal Sonic is, as ever, silent. ]

[catsgothistongue]

[Ranma doesn't bother with asking Fenyx to bring in any of the folks he knows. Chances are, it'd just leave fresh potholes all over this beautiful swathe of land. And it's fine, he'll get to see them all again sooner or later. He's gotta rub it in his new godhood status in a couple faces after all.

... Maybe.

He'll take up the grill one final time, before they say goodbye to this place for good. One final meal, prepped in a short time, and served up to the pantheon at the gathering, both those who know and whoever they've brought from home.

Once he's got filled up on food (and nabbd up some to go from the pantry. He's a growing shounen boy with a high metabolism, he needs his nutrients), he'll get packing from his room. All the knick-knacks from the horn, the trident, that lethargic gopher that. Still needs a name but is his nonetheless, even that fish marked with Coral Blue #3 lipstick sealed in a baggie.

From there on, he'll visit some places for old times sake. Training grounds, naturally, doing some katas and practicing against dummies that've seen their fair share of blows in the two months here. And the cliffside, where Ranma rests... dangling upside down with the tip of his feet being the only thing keeping him from plummeting. He lounges his arms behind his head, staring off to the clear view no longer obfuscated by Athena's barrier.]

It's all really over, huh. Y'know, death game aside... I think I'm really gonna miss this place.

[eeeonetwothree]

[ Omega comes by and sits down beside Ranma as he lays by the cliff's edge. ]

I TOSSED SO MUCH AMMUNITION OFF OF THIS CLIFF. IT SEEMS SO LONG AGO, TOO. I SHALL ALSO MISS OUR PATROLS, RANMA.

[latinumsbetter]

[Quark busies himself with sorting through his things. Most of it he doesn't intend to keep anyway, but it's something to do, at first, while Fenyx goes to extend the invitation that he sent along with them. He has a nice little reuinion with Fritz and Critwo, and they'll worry about where these two are going later. For now, until Alex's guests arrive, Fritz will hang out with him.

Once he's done that and fussed as much as he can, Quark's stepping out of his room for the last time and closing the door. He walks over to the cliff to watch the ships come in for a moment, before retreating downstairs to the bar. He fusses over the place, righting pillows and taking quick inventory behind the counter...before he turns and looks out at the rest of it. It's stunning, now, what with the plants that Leb's added. The corner of his mouth curls fondly, and he focuses his attention on making a Bajoran Sun Salute, just as he had done for all those weeks, and sets it on the counter for Athena, for whenever she stops by.]

[murchada]

...We didn't mess with stuff too much. But Lebchen really wanted the grapes gone, so.

[Sup, boss.]

[fillets]

[ Well, the end to their tale is here, and what does Riful have to show for it? Not much, really... at least, not compared to her hopes at the beginning of their stay. She has an enhanced ability to read energy, a skeleton bird, and a handful of people she's fond of, none of whom would respond favorably to her usual recruitment efforts. She spent five weeks on the precipice of starvation, three more after that playing to the grt. In the end, she didn't even get to rend Typhon limb from limb and feast on his insides!

And, despite all of that, she can't write it off as a total waste. All the lessons she's learned are completely inapplicable to the world she's returning to, all the interesting people she's met would never join her side in its full context. But they were interesting, weren't they? Anyway, Dauf is absolutely not allowed here, and she'll cross that bridge when she comes to it! After getting a cursed replicator meal in her Awakened form and noodling her way back to her room for a fresh dress, she rejoins the group and all the fascinating new friends who've started popping up.

She sits back and observes, mostly, not involving herself unless she's sought out or there's someone incredibly powerful right in front of her salad. It's all a bit of an exercise in fine-tuning her god ability around a lot of new "noise"—after two months of the same 25ish presences, she embraces the challenge. She scans the group and their new friends and then casts her net out even wider, onto the innumerable and less interesting beads of energy approaching them from the sea, without so much as turning her head. If you notice her staring, at you or (if you're kind of a normie) someone else, she smiles with a sunny innocence and doesn't look away.

Eventually, without a word, she vanishes from the group at large, and you'd be forgiven for thinking she's already run along home! But you can, in fact, find her around—past the barrier, where she's just kind of standing around at the very edge of the mountaintop in perilous places, and, later still, at the same spot of the cliff arena's ledge she explored her very first day here. Somehow, even after the last few weeks' ultraviolence, this particular spot is still intact. She's posted up on her old perch, knees drawn to her chest, her entire small body oriented towards the sight of the sunset. The hand she shields her eyes with, improbably, still has black-painted fingernails. ]

Lovely, isn't it?

ledge

[sweetsynergy]

That feels surprisingly sentimental.

[She sits at the cliff edge, legs dangling.]

I guess it is, though.

[chaoscontrol]

[Oh look who it is!! Small, dark, and broody. Man. He's even shorter in real life. He doesn't bother talking to anyone else until he's spoken to Omega]

So, this is where you've been. You had Rouge worried sick. It was annoying. [hmph. Only Rouge. Definitely not him.] If you wanted so badly to visit the ruins of ancient Apotos, you should have just asked. [ .... JOKE???? WAS THAT A JOKE???]

[after talking to Omega, Shadow... well, he doesn't exactly actively socialize, but he's not hiding, at least. Omega invited him here, he should be (ugh) polite.]

1/2

[fatednottobetamed]

[ Oh look, Rouge is here too! ]

Come now, Shadow. There's no need to make fun of poor Omega, it seems he felt he had something soooo important to do here, after all.

[ It's unclear whether she's annoyed or supportive of Omega; classic Rouge, to be honest. ]

[rockymountaindie]

[ Alex cannot set foot in his home world, metaphorically or otherwise. That's the conclusion they've come to, after everything. The most he can do is send a little of his power with Athena and Fenyx and a picture in his mind of just who he's looking for.

And wouldn't you know it, that's enough.

He has to spend time explaining some things to a little group of people, no more than six. Some of them are confused, some of them are angry, some of them can't stop crying.

They cannot go home, none of them. But they are alive.

That's enough.

If not now, then it will be, eventually.

Alex doesn't stay with them all the time—especially considering not all of them actually like him. It's perhaps a bit of a miracle that he's not hovering, regardless, but his energy is...different, since tearing open the threshold between life and death. Maybe he's come to understand something. Maybe he just has confidence that he can undo it. Or maybe he's just given himself permission to breathe. Whatever it is, he mingles a little. Still a good distance from the bonfire, you cannot make him change that habit, but still!

Most of the time he is at least in the vicinity of a somewhat haggard blonde. Or, she's in his vicinity, keeping an eye on him as if he may disappear. With what you know about Alex, this is probably not surprising.

As it starts to get dark, when it's all winding down, he watches the stars that come out, leaning on the outside of the pavilion. Quiet, thoughtful. Somehow, despite everything, calm. ]

[ooc: Only Clear will be here for threading, but if you want any of the other FDs for some reason let me know, I can NPC easy. ]

mingle

[sweetsynergy]

[During one of the moments when Alex is miraculously not hovering over the freshly-alive doomed, she'll approach, nodding at the group.]

Your people, huh?

[mygoodbye]

[As others fall into their own patterns, catching up with friends, distressing, Athena chooses to find a seat somewhere. That somewhere this time is the firepit. Even though the flame's been extinguished, she still finds comfort in sitting down and just... breathing. For the moment, things are okay.

The Blade of Olympus rests across her lap. Her eyes drift down to its frightening design every so often.]

[sweetsynergy]

So.

[sup]

[She sits a short distance away.]

Gonna bring in more people, get this place some gods that'll stay?

[routedout]

[ If you were alive during the hallucination motives and close to Aoi Mukou at all then this girl may look a little familiar. Her dark hair is cut much shorter (despite what the icons might imply, shhhh) and her style of dress and sword at her hip make her look more like she came out of a fantasy game than a romantic visual novel set in the modern day, but there's no mistaking those sharp eyes.

...Though some of their intensity is a little compromised by distress right now, as she frantically looks through the crowds. ]

Aoi?! Where's Aoi...?!

[ Once she's found Aoi and the two have had their reunion and enough time to talk things out, she takes a step back from it all and can be found away from everyone else while fiddling with some kind of device (it might be a phone? Hard to say exactly what it is but she's typing away on it) and generally keeping to herself. While she carries herself with a lot of confidence, she definitely doesn't seem 100% comfortable with the current gathering - she's clearly on guard and ready to leave once she's sure things really are fine. It's a mix of always being more of an introvert (despite once upon a time forcing herself to be otherwise to her own detriment) and this being the first time she's been truly on her own in a long, long time (at least for this sort of thing). Honestly it's not often she goes anywhere alone these days, and that is definitely making her feel antsy - especially around so many people who might not have the highest opinion of her.

She won't stay long. Just long enough to know this Aoi will be okay. And then it's time to go their separate ways once more.

Maybe the second time saying goodbye will be easier. ]

(ooc: with mod blessing, this is the WCB verison of Miyuki! (now known as just Miyu) Because of the whole "being from another murder game" thing I won't be doing any tagging around so interacting with her is fully opt-in but please feel free to tag her if you'd like!)

[yourheroine]

[Oh shit. That's...ohhh my god. Yeah, it's her.

Aoi knows she sent that photo, but it resulting in actually seeing her in the flesh is a whole other thing.]

Miyuki...?

[There's hesitation in her voice, as if wondering whether she's just seeing another hallucination or not. Then again, this Miyuki is different. Her hair and her clothes never appeared like that in the game.

This Aoi is different too, though. Her phone case is slightly different, and she carries herself a little taller.]

It is you.

[Maybe not our Miyuki, but it's still Miyuki.]

[yourheroine]

[It all ends with a chance for everybody to be happy after all, huh? Congratulations, Aoi. You did it.

She fiddles with her new, gold-encased phone that Hope and Velvet have upgraded with containing the other Athena in mind. She'll converse with the goddess inside a bit when she's by herself, trying to understand the type of route that might help this Athena. But she also has something else to make sure of, so now that her signal is that of a god's with no interference, she opens a photo she's kept on her phone and sends it to two specific emails.]

Maybe it'll work out this time...?

[It will. Don't worry.

Once the gathering is more settled, Aoi can be found behind the bar. She's gotta get the practice in for serving people outside of this world, so go ahead and ask her for something. Her face will light up when you do.]

bar

[sweetsynergy]

[At some point after- a few discussions. Or possibly "discussions," given the blooming black eye Vanity is now sporting under the equally new glasses she's wearing- look, the important thing is not who got into a screaming fight with whose sister, or whose feelings are freshly complicated by the very tense conversation that followed.]

[The POINT is the cat-eared head she's presenting and setting carefully down on the bar.]

As promised.

[raiseyoulikea]

[Between bringing others here upon the party's request and tending to most of the party, Fenyx is hard at work. She barely takes a moment to breathe before dashing off at surprising speed to see to the next matter with gusto.

The oft moment she stops to catch her breath is usually also being used to come upon one of the others here with a point blank question.]

So... What will you do now? [...] Also, do you need anything? I'm good to help.

[alwaysbeamonster]

[You know how your actions broke through Athena's influence on a certain corrupted wraith? Well, he never really... left.

This musclebound man of very few words is pointedly avoiding the rest of the celebration. Off on his own, he sulks. His massive blades hanging from mounts on his back. Hope nobody minds him keeping an eye on things. If that's what he's doing.]