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pluviosa2025-01-31 10:10 pm
pluviosamods) wrote in pluviosa2025-01-31 10:10 pm
Entry tags:
EVENT - Ripple and Warp IC log (part 1!)
ripple and warp
Hello and welcome to the IC log for Pluviosa's Fourth Wall event, Ripple and Warp!
In addition to providing information about how characters arrive on the new deck (whether they're existing passengers or not), this post also serves as a place where Fourth Wall characters can post top-levels without joining the game community.
Further information on Fourth Walls in general and the other accompanying OOC updates to the game can be found on the OOC information post here. This post also serves in lieu of a regular between-events Test Drive.
Finally, you may now start sending in your applications to keep your AU, CRAU, and so on characters around after the Fourth Wall! Be sure to note the minor changes to the Applications page (namely, the addition of an "AU information" section).
Without further ado - How did you get here? And more importantly, where is 'here' anyway?
Whether or not characters remember falling asleep on the evening of Day 37, they wake up somewhere different on Day 38, lying on a couch in an almost-familiar room. The couch is similar to the ones in the lounge, though those with keen noses will note that the cushions don't smell the same - there's no scent of your fellow passengers, or of the faint hint of an unknown, arid place that first accompanied the clean furnishings the Ship dragged out.
The room isn't one you've been in before, either, but it's still clearly on the Ship somewhere - there's the familiar motion of the legs moving, and the overhead emergency lights (the only source of light initially in the room) are the same as the ones in the hallways on Fern that the Ship has been working so hard to restore. However, that doesn't mean that it's hard to see - indeed, considering the contents of the room, the low lighting might be a blessing in disguise.
It's full of mirrors.
Not only the sorts of mirrors that character would expect to find, the ones that have been missing from the Ship's bathrooms and other expected places, though there are certainly plenty of those in the room - but the walls, the door, and the ceiling are also all mirrors. Mirrors hang on a portion of the larger furniture in what appears to be the living room of a suite. It's not as dramatic as it could be, but aside from the couch characters wake up on, it's pretty close. The floor, at least, is not reflective mirrors, though it's not much less shiny - instead of the usual hotel-esque carpet of the suites, there's seamless stone tile in stormcloud grey, slight variations in the color indicating marble. And all of those reflective surfaces are perfectly clean - although it's possible to find dried spots of decay on the backs of the mirrors, overall, it seems as though time doesn't have claim on this part of the Ship, much less the Growth.
And of course, where there are mirrors, there are reflections.
Some of them - probably the majority - are normal, perfect mirrors of the person the character expects to see. Some of them are distorted, but in a normal, mundane way - funhouse mirrors among the panels on the walls, making you wide or skinny or warped.
And then some of them show reflections of you that are distorted, not as in bent, but as in there being something different about the you that's in them. Different clothes; different hair; different age; different species. Added scars, or missing ones; limbs missing, or replaced with something else. A completely unknown you in the mirror.
For the most part, these altered reflections act the way you would expect, imitating the movements of the rest of the reflections in the room. But sometimes they don't. Sometimes they climb out of the mirror - and whether they're friendly or not remains to be seen.
There's a note on the mirror-topped table next to the couch. In backwards writing that needs to be held up to a mirror to be read easily, it says:
For those who are new around here, the method of arrival is... a bit different. This applies equally to characters who are just here for the fourth wall (alternates of existing characters etc) or those who will be apped as permanent residents - there isn't a distinction to these categories until the end of the event.
These characters arrive with a first sensation of being pressed against a hard, glass surface - not unlike the whispers of sensation that haunted the existing passengers over the last few days. The difference is that this time, the glass you're pressed against isn't a horizontal floor or bed - it's vertical or at least mostly vertical, and you can tell which way is down.
Or, put another way: Newly arrived characters start their boatride on the wrong side of the mirrors that are packed away into the unknown deck. They are facing towards the real world side, the way they would if they were reflections made physical, but turning around and looking behind them is nearly impossible.
Indeed, there's a growing pressure forcing them against the glass barrier. It grows harder and harder to breathe, almost like drowning, or being crushed by water pressure -
Until, just when you think you can't survive any more, something gives way, and you stumble out of the mirror into the real world. It's not the glass breaking - it's more like forcing your way through a soap bubble or the membrane that sits inside an eggshell that separates the hard pieces from the white. Water, too, cascades down out of the mirror with you, splattering all over the floor, but it's just water, and it doesn't seem to have left more than a bit of surface dampness on you.
However, when characters turn around, they will find that while the glass is still in place and unbroken, the mirror will no longer reflect anything - not even the shine of light cast on the glass - rendering these mirrors completely black. This reflectivity stays on the puddle of water around your feet instead, which aggressively reflects the area around it even if taken elsewhere - even if poured into a cup. In motion, it's too transparent to be taken for mercury or silver, but when pooled undisturbed, it does not ripple in response to the motion of the ship. Only the actions of characters or other forces can cause ripples. Otherwise, it appears to be normal water.
Characters who are alternates of each other might come out of the mirrors while they're literally being reflected (a certain surprise for those who are on the normal side of the mirror doing the looking), but they might also just appear in rooms all by themselves, or in the presence of someone else they know (or think they know). Those who don't have any immediate connections among the current passengers are more likely to appear in some empty room, but ultimately this is left to player discretion.
Not all reflections are as potentially friendly as those played by those of us on the player side of the screen, however. In addition to the "deeper" reflections played by real humans, who have or at least appear to have personalities and histories of their own, there are also "shallow" reflections. Unlike the Fourth Wall arrivals, shallow reflections can't be of characters who aren't present at the time - they only appear in response to characters looking into mirrors (whether those characters are existing residents or new arrivals).
The shallow reflections come out of the mirrors just like the Fourth Wall arrivals, but there's always something a little off about them. Some of them stay reversed like a reflection; some of them don't make any noise when they move and cannot speak; some of them come out of the mirrors with the funhouse-esque warped reflections and stay that way. Like their more 'real' counterparts, the mirrors the shallow reflections come out of turn completely flat, unreflective black; unlike their counterparts, they don't really hesitate in striding out, much less stumble and potentially collapse.
What do they want? To shove whoever they're a reflection of into the black mirror they came from. What happens if they succeed?
You die. I mean, probably. There's no way of knowing unless one of them does succeed, after all. If you want your character to die in this fashion, please let the mod team know. While we cannot guarantee that interesting things will happen to all characters (and those who are only here to visit for the Fourth Wall are not eligible), this may have permanent consequences for your character, take them out of play for longer ICly than a typical death, or impact other characters in the game beyond the typical levels of emotional harm. Or some combination of all three.
Fortunately, the shallow reflections only have physical strength on their side - they do not possess any powers of those they take the shapes of, and they can be killed in largely the same way as unremarkable flesh and blood humans. A killing blow causes them to collapse into the same hyper-reflective water as described above; the mirror they came out of remains black.
The deck itself is open fully to character navigation. Like the lab specimen storage of Zinnia, this deck - whose name is not posted anywhere for characters to find easily - is clear of any signs of Growth, and manages to feel chilly even if you get up to the top deck where the sun is shining.
Or... Should be shining. Regardless of the weather on other deck dimensions, the skies above this deck are
always, at best, a cloudy, half-stormy grey. The air above hangs tense, like the clouds are waiting for something to happen. Unlike the other instances of Ship weather, you don't need Neuvillette's particular affinity with water to sense it - any character with empathic or telepathic powers will be able to feel the sense of looming, helpless frustration in the clouds.
The most notable feature of this deck, of course, is that it's full of mirrors. Indeed, it's not only the mirrors that are missing from the suite bathrooms, the public restrooms by the cafeteria, and so on - there are far more mirrors than the Ship would reasonably need to outfit the decks it has, even including the multidimensional nature of it. Mirrors hang from the walls, and then more mirrors lean against those, or against the other furnishings, or even against each other (since some of them are standing mirrors), and the groups against the walls are often five or six panels deep with the largest at the back the side of the glass panels of the Ship's sliding glass balcony doors. (Yes, those are also replaced by mirrors, reflective in both directions.) Tabletops are reflective in their own rights, and then littered with even more, antique-looking hand mirrors and makeup compacts and those little circular mirrors sold in bags by the dozen at the craft store, only an inch across.
Considering all the reflective surfaces, it might be a good thing that there is only emergency power supplied to this deck - enough to keep the guide lights on and ensure that the sliding doors (though not the elevators) are working, and that whatever system pumps water through the faucets and showers is still going. The water is all cold, however, and there isn't any food available on the deck so far as characters are able to find. In the place where characters are used to finding the cafeteria, there is instead a terrifying mirrored bar filled with empty bottles and glasses as well as - well. Take a guess.
With the exception of the sliding glass doors in the suites, the glass of windows and so forth seems to be what it should be - though it's more reflective than seems natural, too. Like Zinnia, the cleaniness of this deck means that characters have full run of it, all the way down to the lounge on the bottom of the Ship - which is the only place that isn't completely clean on this deck. The super-reflective water that pours out of the mirrors seems to have flowed down here at some point, where it sits, unaffected by the motion of the Ship, about an inch deep across the entire floor. This water is the only feature down in the bottom lounge - there is no furniture, in contrast to its Zinnia counterpart.
And on this floor, at the very bottom, and only this floor, the reflective water has the smell - only the smell, not any other qualities - of fresh blood.
The Ship will not answer characters here - although the terminals in the residential deck that can normally be used to communicate with it (in whatever limited capacity) are present, their screens are (of course!) mirrors, and unresponsive. There's also no signs of drones about, not even the basic roomba-like cleaning drones; there's no evidence that they've been here recently, either.
A follow-up log, in which the Ship manages to make contact with characters wherever they are, will be posted later (mod goal time is 2-3 weeks from now). That log will take place on Day 40 and will bring with it food (for everyone who has gotten very hungry by then) and drone assistance, but whether characters actually manage to escape at that point or later on on Day 42 is left open to the opinions of you, the players! Both current players and visitors will be able to vote in a Discord poll on the matter, to be posted in the Discord announcements channel tomorrow (after you've had the chance to sleep on this post and let it cook in your brains a little).
Happy playing! Questions can be asked on Discord or added to the usual questions header below this post.
In addition to providing information about how characters arrive on the new deck (whether they're existing passengers or not), this post also serves as a place where Fourth Wall characters can post top-levels without joining the game community.
Further information on Fourth Walls in general and the other accompanying OOC updates to the game can be found on the OOC information post here. This post also serves in lieu of a regular between-events Test Drive.
Finally, you may now start sending in your applications to keep your AU, CRAU, and so on characters around after the Fourth Wall! Be sure to note the minor changes to the Applications page (namely, the addition of an "AU information" section).
Without further ado - How did you get here? And more importantly, where is 'here' anyway?
existing characters
Whether or not characters remember falling asleep on the evening of Day 37, they wake up somewhere different on Day 38, lying on a couch in an almost-familiar room. The couch is similar to the ones in the lounge, though those with keen noses will note that the cushions don't smell the same - there's no scent of your fellow passengers, or of the faint hint of an unknown, arid place that first accompanied the clean furnishings the Ship dragged out.
The room isn't one you've been in before, either, but it's still clearly on the Ship somewhere - there's the familiar motion of the legs moving, and the overhead emergency lights (the only source of light initially in the room) are the same as the ones in the hallways on Fern that the Ship has been working so hard to restore. However, that doesn't mean that it's hard to see - indeed, considering the contents of the room, the low lighting might be a blessing in disguise.
It's full of mirrors.
Not only the sorts of mirrors that character would expect to find, the ones that have been missing from the Ship's bathrooms and other expected places, though there are certainly plenty of those in the room - but the walls, the door, and the ceiling are also all mirrors. Mirrors hang on a portion of the larger furniture in what appears to be the living room of a suite. It's not as dramatic as it could be, but aside from the couch characters wake up on, it's pretty close. The floor, at least, is not reflective mirrors, though it's not much less shiny - instead of the usual hotel-esque carpet of the suites, there's seamless stone tile in stormcloud grey, slight variations in the color indicating marble. And all of those reflective surfaces are perfectly clean - although it's possible to find dried spots of decay on the backs of the mirrors, overall, it seems as though time doesn't have claim on this part of the Ship, much less the Growth.
And of course, where there are mirrors, there are reflections.
Some of them - probably the majority - are normal, perfect mirrors of the person the character expects to see. Some of them are distorted, but in a normal, mundane way - funhouse mirrors among the panels on the walls, making you wide or skinny or warped.
And then some of them show reflections of you that are distorted, not as in bent, but as in there being something different about the you that's in them. Different clothes; different hair; different age; different species. Added scars, or missing ones; limbs missing, or replaced with something else. A completely unknown you in the mirror.
For the most part, these altered reflections act the way you would expect, imitating the movements of the rest of the reflections in the room. But sometimes they don't. Sometimes they climb out of the mirror - and whether they're friendly or not remains to be seen.
There's a note on the mirror-topped table next to the couch. In backwards writing that needs to be held up to a mirror to be read easily, it says:
Thanks for visiting! I'm sorry I couldn't be there to meet you, but there's just so many people here today!
I wonder if you'll get a chance to meet the real you?
Good luck!
new characters and visitors
For those who are new around here, the method of arrival is... a bit different. This applies equally to characters who are just here for the fourth wall (alternates of existing characters etc) or those who will be apped as permanent residents - there isn't a distinction to these categories until the end of the event.
These characters arrive with a first sensation of being pressed against a hard, glass surface - not unlike the whispers of sensation that haunted the existing passengers over the last few days. The difference is that this time, the glass you're pressed against isn't a horizontal floor or bed - it's vertical or at least mostly vertical, and you can tell which way is down.
Or, put another way: Newly arrived characters start their boatride on the wrong side of the mirrors that are packed away into the unknown deck. They are facing towards the real world side, the way they would if they were reflections made physical, but turning around and looking behind them is nearly impossible.
Indeed, there's a growing pressure forcing them against the glass barrier. It grows harder and harder to breathe, almost like drowning, or being crushed by water pressure -
Until, just when you think you can't survive any more, something gives way, and you stumble out of the mirror into the real world. It's not the glass breaking - it's more like forcing your way through a soap bubble or the membrane that sits inside an eggshell that separates the hard pieces from the white. Water, too, cascades down out of the mirror with you, splattering all over the floor, but it's just water, and it doesn't seem to have left more than a bit of surface dampness on you.
However, when characters turn around, they will find that while the glass is still in place and unbroken, the mirror will no longer reflect anything - not even the shine of light cast on the glass - rendering these mirrors completely black. This reflectivity stays on the puddle of water around your feet instead, which aggressively reflects the area around it even if taken elsewhere - even if poured into a cup. In motion, it's too transparent to be taken for mercury or silver, but when pooled undisturbed, it does not ripple in response to the motion of the ship. Only the actions of characters or other forces can cause ripples. Otherwise, it appears to be normal water.
Characters who are alternates of each other might come out of the mirrors while they're literally being reflected (a certain surprise for those who are on the normal side of the mirror doing the looking), but they might also just appear in rooms all by themselves, or in the presence of someone else they know (or think they know). Those who don't have any immediate connections among the current passengers are more likely to appear in some empty room, but ultimately this is left to player discretion.
shallower reflections
Not all reflections are as potentially friendly as those played by those of us on the player side of the screen, however. In addition to the "deeper" reflections played by real humans, who have or at least appear to have personalities and histories of their own, there are also "shallow" reflections. Unlike the Fourth Wall arrivals, shallow reflections can't be of characters who aren't present at the time - they only appear in response to characters looking into mirrors (whether those characters are existing residents or new arrivals).
The shallow reflections come out of the mirrors just like the Fourth Wall arrivals, but there's always something a little off about them. Some of them stay reversed like a reflection; some of them don't make any noise when they move and cannot speak; some of them come out of the mirrors with the funhouse-esque warped reflections and stay that way. Like their more 'real' counterparts, the mirrors the shallow reflections come out of turn completely flat, unreflective black; unlike their counterparts, they don't really hesitate in striding out, much less stumble and potentially collapse.
What do they want? To shove whoever they're a reflection of into the black mirror they came from. What happens if they succeed?
You die. I mean, probably. There's no way of knowing unless one of them does succeed, after all. If you want your character to die in this fashion, please let the mod team know. While we cannot guarantee that interesting things will happen to all characters (and those who are only here to visit for the Fourth Wall are not eligible), this may have permanent consequences for your character, take them out of play for longer ICly than a typical death, or impact other characters in the game beyond the typical levels of emotional harm. Or some combination of all three.
Fortunately, the shallow reflections only have physical strength on their side - they do not possess any powers of those they take the shapes of, and they can be killed in largely the same way as unremarkable flesh and blood humans. A killing blow causes them to collapse into the same hyper-reflective water as described above; the mirror they came out of remains black.
??? deck
The deck itself is open fully to character navigation. Like the lab specimen storage of Zinnia, this deck - whose name is not posted anywhere for characters to find easily - is clear of any signs of Growth, and manages to feel chilly even if you get up to the top deck where the sun is shining.
Or... Should be shining. Regardless of the weather on other deck dimensions, the skies above this deck are
always, at best, a cloudy, half-stormy grey. The air above hangs tense, like the clouds are waiting for something to happen. Unlike the other instances of Ship weather, you don't need Neuvillette's particular affinity with water to sense it - any character with empathic or telepathic powers will be able to feel the sense of looming, helpless frustration in the clouds.
The most notable feature of this deck, of course, is that it's full of mirrors. Indeed, it's not only the mirrors that are missing from the suite bathrooms, the public restrooms by the cafeteria, and so on - there are far more mirrors than the Ship would reasonably need to outfit the decks it has, even including the multidimensional nature of it. Mirrors hang from the walls, and then more mirrors lean against those, or against the other furnishings, or even against each other (since some of them are standing mirrors), and the groups against the walls are often five or six panels deep with the largest at the back the side of the glass panels of the Ship's sliding glass balcony doors. (Yes, those are also replaced by mirrors, reflective in both directions.) Tabletops are reflective in their own rights, and then littered with even more, antique-looking hand mirrors and makeup compacts and those little circular mirrors sold in bags by the dozen at the craft store, only an inch across.
Considering all the reflective surfaces, it might be a good thing that there is only emergency power supplied to this deck - enough to keep the guide lights on and ensure that the sliding doors (though not the elevators) are working, and that whatever system pumps water through the faucets and showers is still going. The water is all cold, however, and there isn't any food available on the deck so far as characters are able to find. In the place where characters are used to finding the cafeteria, there is instead a terrifying mirrored bar filled with empty bottles and glasses as well as - well. Take a guess.
With the exception of the sliding glass doors in the suites, the glass of windows and so forth seems to be what it should be - though it's more reflective than seems natural, too. Like Zinnia, the cleaniness of this deck means that characters have full run of it, all the way down to the lounge on the bottom of the Ship - which is the only place that isn't completely clean on this deck. The super-reflective water that pours out of the mirrors seems to have flowed down here at some point, where it sits, unaffected by the motion of the Ship, about an inch deep across the entire floor. This water is the only feature down in the bottom lounge - there is no furniture, in contrast to its Zinnia counterpart.
And on this floor, at the very bottom, and only this floor, the reflective water has the smell - only the smell, not any other qualities - of fresh blood.
The Ship will not answer characters here - although the terminals in the residential deck that can normally be used to communicate with it (in whatever limited capacity) are present, their screens are (of course!) mirrors, and unresponsive. There's also no signs of drones about, not even the basic roomba-like cleaning drones; there's no evidence that they've been here recently, either.
A follow-up log, in which the Ship manages to make contact with characters wherever they are, will be posted later (mod goal time is 2-3 weeks from now). That log will take place on Day 40 and will bring with it food (for everyone who has gotten very hungry by then) and drone assistance, but whether characters actually manage to escape at that point or later on on Day 42 is left open to the opinions of you, the players! Both current players and visitors will be able to vote in a Discord poll on the matter, to be posted in the Discord announcements channel tomorrow (after you've had the chance to sleep on this post and let it cook in your brains a little).
Happy playing! Questions can be asked on Discord or added to the usual questions header below this post.
In Circles
The blue-haired man draws a sword and rushes the reflection, slashing into it with practiced ease. "Hold on, I'm here!"
Never mind that he doesn't know where 'here' is, who this person is, or what he's fighting. Doesn't matter.
no subject
"Fou-Lu! I'm here!"
The man who turns the corner--- blue hair?
Pronouns?Whoever it was, he seemed to know how to handle that sword. Sunday watches him attack the reflection, frozen in place. Confused, but mostly afraid of ending up on the wrong side of that thing. If this wasn't Fou-Lu, then..."I'm sorry, who are you?" He has to ask-- has to know. He can only think of one reason for someone to feel similarly to Fou-Lu. "You're not a face I'm familiar with."
The reflection, on the other hand, bleeds this clear, shiny fluid. Sunday recognizes it as the water-like liquid on the ground, draining from the mirrors themselves. The wound is enough to force it to pull away from him, letting go and backing up. It seems to reassess the situation, slinking back, circling them both. Sunday chooses to move closer to the stranger.
The shallow reflection lunges again.
no subject
"Ryu." He smiles even though he's trying to push the reflection back. "I don't know who you are or where I am either!"
He sounds entirely too cheery about that.
no subject
"Well, I'm glad you've come to my aid. Thank you. I'm... Sunday." A pause, needing to ask this once thing of the other: "You're an Endless, aren't you?"
The halovian stares into the mirrors surrounding them, thinking of how his own reflections made his hair stand on end. Was Fou-Lu alright? Reaching out with his halo so close to Ryu, with all these mirrors, it was almost impossible. He was right here. But it wasn't him.
"I'll explain everything when you have a moment."
At least the other was in good spirits. Sunday stays firmly behind the blue haired man as the reflection takes a hit, bleeding the same shimmery water that drained from the mirrors, slowly flowing elsewhere. It wasn't real, it was fake, and surely that wasn't blood, right?
Right.Ryu's boot connects as it tries to reel back, knocking the reflection onto the ground. He's not sure how to feel about this twisted, warped version of himself struggling and in pain. Sunday opts to simply witness.
no subject
He starts shoving the thing back into the mirror. "Nope, nope. Back into there you go." Never mind that he himself came out of a mirror. It's Fine. As the other Sunday finally ends up getting pushed down he smashes the mirror with the pommel of his sword. ... It looks like a nice sword that he probably shouldn't do that with, but eh. That done he sheathes his sword and turns to Sunday.
"Are you okay? I uh... I can't heal super well, sorry." The few spells he does have for that are kind of overkill.
no subject
Sunday's wings do flap as he stifles a laugh, watching Ryu scold the mirror creature as he forces that shallow reflection back from whence it came, smashing it with his sword. Smart thinking. Sunday's not quite sure he's strong enough to do that, but perhaps if he were quick enough...
"I can't thank you enough. This deck is... bothersome." The halovian brushes himself off, looking over the other man, making sure he was okay. "I'm alright, don't worry about me. Are you?"
With the annoyance out of the way, Sunday figures he should provide some real answers.
"Now that both of us can think. I... know that you are an Endless, because... You feel. Similarly, to one I... I am close to him. His name is Fou-Lu, and... he has been searching for his other half."
And now they were both trapped here. Two lines would have to intersect at some point, and then... Whatever happened, Sunday would accept it. He folds his hands together, breathing deeply, trying once again to reach out, but all it does is project his anxious feelings around the room.
"I don't quite know where he is. It's difficult to sense him. The mirrors have.. They reflect my senses. But... I am close to him. Perhaps if we stick together, we'll have a better chance of finding each other. If there are more mirror creatures... I worry about him. And I'm sure he's desperate to find you."
no subject
As for that part... "I can feel him. I... it's strange. He doesn't feel as... angry... as I felt him before. I know he was furious, though I don't know why." It's not a bad thing, just a strange thing! "I... I need to find him too, it's just..."
He hesitates. He doesn't know this person, but this person knows Fou-Lu. "... I don't want to disappear when we merge." He looks over at one of the mirrors, a blond-haired Fou-Lu looking back at him. "... Like that."
no subject
Ryu had thought they were solely friends... Sunday laughs, knowing that with the two of them uniting as one... Surely Ryu would find out. The halovian looks at the blue haired man for a moment, thoughtful.
"Fou-Lu's heart is kind, but deeply wounded. In this, he and I are alike, though our wounds differ. He's had time and space away from what upset him. From those that took something very dear from him. All I can hope is that he has been happier."
The halovian wanted to make him happier again, wanted to reassure the Endless' aching heart. He knows the man before him was the key to it all.
Sunday's expression is soft, sympathetic as Ryu's attention is drawn by a mirror, Fou-Lu staring back at him from within. Sunday's heart skips for a moment, thinking he was near, before realizing it was yet another reflection. This time, the halovian doesn't dare approach to see what he might find within.
"He doesn't want to take your life from you. He doesn't want to lose himself, either. I think he fears meeting you as much as he desires it."
As much as they both need it.
"We don't need to move quickly. I'm happy to spend time with you. It's. Not an easy thing to walk towards."
no subject
The young man looks down and takes a deep breath. "No, it's not. I'm... I know I'm weaker than him. I've been trying to get stronger, but I don't want him to disappear either." Is there a way that they can both exist? He's not sure - maybe he can ask someone like the Abbess. Deis sure doesn't seem to think that they can exist separately...
He reaches out and puts a hand on Sunday's shoulder. "I'm glad you're friends with him." He smiles at the older man. "You seem kind. Even if you've been hurt too... it's scary. But we all have to keep moving, right?"
no subject
Ryu was very kind, warm. Different from Fou-Lu, but not terribly. It was easy to see how they were meant to be one being. One dragon. The violence Fou-Lu felt necessary to enact... He knows that Fou-Lu's decision would likely upset Ryu, too. Sunday opts to keep that to himself as well.
"It's frightening for you both." He remembers Fou-Lu confessing that fear to him. Of losing himself. It was all the Endless had left. "I'm happy to be there for you, for the both of you. Neither of you deserve to have to face this alone."
Ryu's hand finds his shoulder, and his words are so sweet. Sunday laughs softly, gently.
"I love him very dearly. I... like to think that I've helped him. As he's helped me." He smiles at Ryu, warm. "We do. The world doesn't stop, even if we wish it so. All we can do is cherish what time we have."
no subject
He meets Sunday's gaze and nods. "I... I might be very young, but I've seen a lot of pain. Destruction. I've caused some of it, too. But what he's been doing in the Capital is too much. ... I can only hope that his time here has made him change his mind. I don't want him to be hurting. I want to meet him when he's clear-headed... not driven mad by what's hurt him."
His other hand finds Sunday's and he gives it a gentle squeeze. "I have a lot of friends. I don't know if he does as well but... I don't think so. If you can keep helping him... I think that'd be best for everyone. And I hope he keeps helping you, too."
no subject
"I will. I will stand with him, by him. I will not leave him."
The halovian sees humanity within them both, everything he loves and hates about it. To hate, and harm, and destroy. To love, to protect, to create in equal measure. Ryu mentions the Capital, and his expression saddens. The halovian closes his eyes. He knows it won't stop there.
"Then... You know." Sunday's voice is soft, mournful, as he looks at Ryu. There's a quiet plea layered within, for both halves. "The decision brings him no joy. I've seen how it's torn into his heart. I only ask that you try to understand it. You don't have to agree. I know I don't. But... I was driven to a similar point, not long ago."
Not quite as extreme, but was there truly a difference between death and dreaming, if that dream was to be eternal?
"As much as he hardens his heart, it is still soft. He deserves to be free of his pain."
He's not sure if anything he's said might have changed Fou-Lu's mind. Still, he was willing to try. Ryu takes his hand, and Sunday lifts it, kissing the back of it. Two halves of a whole. If their souls became one... He would love the dragon that they were.
"I swore it to him, and I will swear it to you. I will love him, now and forever. No matter what happens, if he disappears or changes. I will love him."
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The kiss to his hand has him tilting his head like a confused animal, but he's not going to pull away. He just doesn't quite... understand the gesture, so he moves on to the words. "Thank you. I want him to be loved. I want him to be okay. I want him to be cared for. Not just because he's my other half, but because he's a person. Everyone deserves care. ... You, too."
He smiles at Sunday. "I try to give people a chance to... what's the word? Uh... give up what they've done. People can change. ... If you can change too, then I'm glad." His smile broadens, his expression warm and hopeful.
"He deserves to be free of pain. You do, too. Mortals... they always have the chance to change during their brief time in the world. So if you want to change... you can."
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He laughs softly at the quizzical expression, pulling away.
"But... because of him, I am willing to find a different solution. He asked that I try to achieve my dreams within reality, to not allow life to pass me by. He's part of the reason I found my footing again, after those within my world locked me away."
Sunday smiles, warm, gentle. His heart is so fond, his words adoring towards Fou-Lu.
"As do I. Everyone deserves to be cared for. To be cherished and happy. I only wish to make him happy, above all else. To show him that there is life beyond suffering. That there is good to cling to and protect, even in his world."
Ryu's words are. Kind and warm. If only everyone would just take it to heart, to choose better, to try to become a gentler person. To improve themselves. He sighs softly, wistfully.
"You're right. I feel that with enough time... perhaps anyone can change, so long as they try. I am... used to expecting the worst from others. My time spent here has given me hope. I only wonder the same for Fou-Lu. I'm glad, if anything, that you've clung tight to your hope. I know it's difficult."
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Hope... he chuckles a little bit. "I've had really good friends. They've helped me up when I've been down, pulled me back when I've gone too far... I care about them a lot. I have faith in them, and they have faith in me. Not because I'm an Endless, but because they care."
Hm. He steps forward and pulls Sunday into a hug. "... Thank you. Please believe in yourself as much as you believe in him. If he's your friend, then you can count me as a friend, too." His hug might not be as tight as Fou-Lu's, but there's warmth, literally and figuratively. "I'm happy for you two."