souls have been lost and the panic grows

[phototraces]

[That... that was hell, actually. Wendy didn't like that at all. After the trial she... has to head to the kitchen and hopefully not find clay shit everywhere. She needs to do something to keep things under control. To keep things going.

She's not a great cook but she knows the basics. Meat. Bread. Cheese. Something warm for the belly to drink. She's nervous when she works but she's relentless. There's no asking for help from her as she makes a spread for everyone. Then... she's moving all of it not to the eatery but the bonfire.

Making makeshift tables around it and placing trays of food and drink. Even setting up a chair for Alex a good distance away from the fire but close enough that he can be part of things if he wants to.

Wendy, with her careful writing, writes up some notes and hands them out to everyone if she can find them or if not under their door.

Food at the bonfire and the area around it. Attendance not mandatory but it's probably better for all of us if we stick together. Bring more food and drink if you want.

Wendy

...She can't control other people but she can try to suggest.]

Comments

[rockymountaindie]

[ A chill runs through him. But, that's normal. ]

Yeah. The design that Death has...for every person, no exceptions. The time you're supposed to die.

At least...that's how it works where I'm from.

[taintedfayth]

[It is... not entirely unlike the spiral, then. Sin's return is inevitable. No matter how many times it is destroyed, it will simply gather its strength and rise again.

Eternal, unchanging. No exceptions.]

... how terrifying. To know that your life is destined to end at a predetermined moment, and that nothing you do will change the inevitable...

[rockymountaindie]

[ Yes. Yes. He gets it.

...However, bolstered by the unquestioning belief in his words, Alex admits: ] Not...exactly nothing.

It's- it's possible. To...cheat it. To see what's gonna happen, before it does. It's not easy. And...I don't even know how- how it happened, the first time, but I...

...I saw somethin'. My place in the Design. What was supposed to happen. I didn't even realize, I just freaked out, but...in doing that, I changed things.

[taintedfayth]

And you were able to survive.

[Fascinating. But why, knowing what he does about Death, would he want to?]

The Design was changed, as was your place in it.

[But, oh, Seymour understands how things like this work. You can't just remove a piece from the tower without replacing it with something else. You destroy Sin, and the Final Aeon becomes the new Sin.

So if you remove YOUR death from the Design...]

And what then? Surely Death does not just allow such a thing to pass.

[rockymountaindie]

[ The fire casts shadows across Alex's face. Seymour is only a few inches taller than him, but he slouches, making him look oh-so-much smaller. ]

It makes a new Design. One to...correct anything that shouldn't be.

[ Like himself. ]

That's why I was...freakin' out, when Athena first... I thought it could still follow me.

[taintedfayth]

I see.

[Over and over and over again. An endless cycle with no escape.]

You are always running, then. Always being pursued.

[...]

Does it not exhaust you? To have Death always searching for you, no matter where you try to hide?

[rockymountaindie]

[ In a low, haunted voice, his eyes not...quite meeting Seymour's, not quite looking anywhere. ]

Always.

But I can't just give up.

[taintedfayth]

You would live on, even with that specter hovering over you?

[He sounds genuinely curious. What kind of a life must that be, living in constant, very real fear of death around every corner?]

[rockymountaindie]

I'm not just gonna lay down and let it get me.

[ He sounds insulted by the very idea.

...Also... ]

And...I-I'm not the only one. It wasn't just...my fate I altered.

me just crying as I type each and every one of these tags tbh

[taintedfayth]

So you are trying to protect them as well.

[That makes it more understandable, at least.]

Your courage is truly admirable. There are many who would not have the fortitude to continue on in the face of that.

[The threat of Sin is not quite so ever-present in Spira, and there is the hope of the Calm. But this? From the sound of things, this is incessant, relentless.]

You should hold fast to that determination, even here.

✨ the pain of loving my son ✨

[rockymountaindie]

[ The...it feels like praise, it feels weird. Like something scraping against his skin. Like sweat running down his back. He doesn't feel like he's done anything admirable. He saved six lives. And yet, only one...

Is she okay? Every day, he hopes against all odds that she's okay. ]

...I am. [ No matter what bears down on him. ] Even if I...can never really beat it. I'm not giving in.

[ Not without a fight. ]