ohmyarceus | January - February Test drive

Yeah, unfortunately. But it's an honest mistake! Pokemon can eat the berries just fine, so one would assume we could too, but frankly, unless they're processed a certain way they only make us sick. My Audino, she, uh...made me eat one, when I was starting out, so...I got to experience it against my wishes.

Certainly.

[Aw, yay, she's glad she can help. Give her a few seconds and voilà, one totally handwaved list of therapists and psychiatrists, complete with specialties, locations, and phone numbers... and a LOT of names after medicinal plants and herbs.]

[It takes a great deal of discipline for Rhea to remain composed in the face of the information Claude practically flings at her. She has very specifically kept what information she does know to herself, utilising rather flimsy evasion tactics with the others who have questioned her on memories and what she's been willing to share about her experiences with the war that has ravaged Fódlan.

Edelgard continues to leave a bitter impression upon her heart. To think that she allowed someone of such a nature so close to her. So close to her family. Can it be true that Rhea was truly so unaware? She suspects that for just some moments, that bitterness crosses her expression, quickly put aside and replaced with something that is not quite blank, but serious. Attentive.

He's putting her in a very difficult position, and somehow she isn't surprised. This is not the first time Claude has directed such prying questions to her. Even in his younger years, he's been direct. Masterfully direct. She suspects there are not words that properly convey how uncomfortable he makes her. He may not stand against her in such an overt way, but she's well aware that he may be a threat.]

I have not seen Edelgard since the happenstance of the Royal Tomb.

[And that is a truth. She has heard a great deal of Edelgard's aims. The ambitions of the Empire. She knows enough to understand that she is in grave danger whenever she ought to make return for Fódlan. As a result, there's not much in Claude's plethora of information that comes as... a surprise. Edelgard has made it quite plain and simple that she means to eradicate Rhea off the face of the living earth. The reasoning...

Well. Rhea can hardly understand how deep that goes. She has never asked and she never intends to. What use is the impassioned heart of a human interested in senseless war?]

Her opposition lies with the Church of Seiros, though to what extent, I did not inquire. In the moment she declared herself a threat, I could no longer permit her to stay within the grounds of Garreg Mach.

[Although in the end, her own defence of Garreg Mach had not been successful either. And for her own safety, Rhea could only flee. Cowardice, perhaps, but she continues to live another day.]

I see.

[Then it would be possible to be pulled to and fro. Likelihood being that the only ones who would remember such a thing would be those who remain. Those who witness one being sent back to their world only to return.

She's filing away all of the information he's chosen to share with her, though a great deal of it doesn't quite make sense. Of course it doesn't. She is far too new to be comfortable or even remotely complacent about her predicament.]

Is there any other information that you feel would benefit me?

[Amusing, how something that started so lighthearted with contests has become so heavy with the weight of necessity.]

[ Truer words were never spoken, though she's been so well trained by her rather uptight mother to keep her feelings repressed. She's gotten better about it in certain company, but she still tries so hard to keep her tears out of public view.

She nods her head to him, wiping the rest of her tears away. ]

I've been told that a time or two, but I don't know how helpful crying about it all is. It's nothing so terrible I suppose. [ Being kidnapped to another world isn't terrible right? ] I just...want to go home. Like everyone else stuck here I imagine.

[ Her eyes light up when she is asked about Kirito. Then she notices that it's another woman asking her, another attractive woman. He always finds the attractive women...

he's far more eager to get information, so any jealousy is put on hold. ]

I do! He's my boyfriend. Have you spoken with him?

[ ooc: we'll pretend I didn't stupidly add an 'r' to that full dive. ]

Yes, fulldive, when you are fully living within a virtual world. And yes, in some of them you can get sick. Not all, but the ones I've been stuck in without a logout feature.

Edited 2022-02-01 04:06 (UTC)

[Probably to Asuna's great relief, the "boyfriend" remark gets barely any reaction at all, only mild satisfaction that this is someone Kirito knows.]

I have; not in person, but on the network such as right now. He arrived about a week ago.

Her own thoughts had run much the same course as far as the realism of everything around her went. She might have been willing to consider that this was truly another place, but it worked and felt much like the other virtual video games that she'd participated in. Its realism was on par with the Underworld, so it made more sense to her that she'd somehow gotten trapped in another virtual world than been swept away to another actual world.

She leans into his touch, closing her eyes for a moment as she feels the pads of his fingers wipe her cheeks. His touch could make everything better, so she holds onto him a little longer. He was right, it was going to be okay. Now that they were facing this together she could handle the situation with ease.

"You're right. It will. I'm so glad you found me." She moved to hug him again, holding him close and breathing him in. He was so familiar and so loved and relief flooded her.

When she finally satisfies the ache to cling to him, she pulls back and looks at him. "We've gotten stuck in another virtual world, somehow, haven't we? Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever finish up high school."

No matter the cost to others.

I'm glad that no one can die here. Though I don't know if that will push the players into being complacent. I just hope we won't be here for another two years, let alone...what, two hundred? I just want to go home.

[ She's almost surprised to not see any hint of jealousy over her response. Surprised but relieved. The relieved look that crosses her face though is more due to the fact that she's just been informed Kirito is here. ]

Oh thank goodness, I wasn't sure whether or not I'd find him here. He's always checking out the new worlds, but you can never be too sure.

Oh! Well...I'm sure she meant well, at least?

[She probably didn't know it would be bad...right?]

It's not, ah...every single variety of berry around here that's bad to eat, is it? The bag I was given didn't exactly have a lot of food packed...

'Again'? You mean you've been here before?

[They do not remember hearing anything about Estinien falling off the face of Etheirys before...though in all fairness, it's not like it's all that easy to keep constant track of him in the first place.]

When did this happen?

[As things were, Felix barely spared a thought for the Archbishop when he wasn't in her direct presence, back at the academy. Seteth was the one who interacted with the students, and he was the one who had cared enough to observe Felix and reach out to him when he was alone. To him, Rhea was just a distant religious figure.

He would have been a lot more interested if he'd known how good she is with a sword.]

In a way. People don't normally battle them directly. I have forged a particular understanding with one of mine, a spirit that inhabits two blades, and he allows me to wield his blades by hand as weapons. But mostly, it's only the Pokemon who battle each other. You have one that started with you, I assume?

How fascinating... you must be in the far future, even from myself. I have truly never heard of such technology for human beings.

[There's a moment there where he worries he might just burst into tears again. Claude takes his hand back and Lorenz is just so overwhelmingly grateful to have some kind of anchor, some physical reminder that he's here and okay and alive and Claude is with him again-

It makes him seem needy, he's sure, but for just a moment he can't quite make himself care. Not when Claude offers him that flimsy excuse on a silver platter. He simply threads his fingers through Claude's and holds on for all he's worth.

Which turns out to be a good thing because Claude pulling him out of the pokécenter staggers him for a moment, his feet clumsy as he adjusts to the other man's pace.]

O-oh... If it's that late it would be awfully impolite... wouldn't it?

[Yeah he's absolutely one of those people that wants to be seated at least an hour before a restaurant closes or he feels like a bother.]

I think even without the threat of death, plenty of people will want to go back to where they came from. But it's okay in the meantime to enjoy the opportunity, no matter how long it lasts.

...

Except the 200 years. I'd... really like to not go through that again either.

He didn't hesitate in returning her second hug, his arms wrapping tightly around her, one hand going to cradle her head against him in a comforting manner. There was a part of him that didn't want to let her go, an underlying fear that she would disappear into a thousand flecks of pixels the moment that he stepped back.

"I'll always find you," he said gently. No world had ever kept them apart for long and no world ever would, as far as he was concerned. He placed a kiss on the top of her head, trying not to look too put out when she pulled back again.

Which was easy to do when she said those words, his mind immediately preoccupied by one of his last talks with his family. And what's your job? ... To be a high school student... His head hung back as he let out a groan.

"My dad's gonna kill me."

Well, it's 2026 where I come from. Though my timeline still feels a little off. See the last place I was, I was there for two hundred years. I don't have any access to the memories, but sometimes the feeling of my time there is still very present.

[ sandalphon takes a moment to gather his thoughts, trying to see what else would be useful. of course, if he could, he would tell her everything, but sometimes things are better experienced than told. he figured he can let her into some smaller details about the world. ]

There is one thing: if someone approaches you asking for a battle, they usually refer to your Pokémon battling. Violence between us outsiders is considered a crime. I've also been told that if you're considered a Breeder, this won't happen as much.

Home, hm?

[ he spares a glance at the sky, as if he yearned to be up there than on the ground he was standing on. but those emotions are fleeting, especially as he finds a way to respond. ]

Helpful or not, emotion is part of being alive. You'll feel them one way or another. We may not have a way home now, but making the best out of our situation is a good way to go about it.

It is hardly a choice of mine, Lady Rhea.

[And his desires are more... complex than that. He knows he has a duty to go back to Faerghus, to Fodlan as a whole, because he cannot make up for everything he has done otherwise. He cannot fulfill his promise to Dedue if he stays here.]

[Still... If only he could bring back even a portion of the knowledge in Johto back...]

[That is besides the point, really, and he surveys her as he tries to decide how to explain the bizarre situation that everyone here is in.]

Much like how you found yourself suddenly arriving here... People will often vanish, back to their own homelands, with no rhyme or reason to it. Much like the arrival, the departure is a mystery to those of us brought here. They find themselves right back in the time and place they last recalled.

[ She lets out a sigh. ] I'm never going to graduate high school and get out of my parent's house.

If it helps any, it sounds like the accelerated time ratio is up pretty high and that people who spend years here only have a few seconds at most pass at home, so it only feels like it's gonna take forever.

Since they'd first met almost four years ago, they'd nearly lost each other more times than she even liked to think about. It sometimes made her feel clingy, especially when they'd been separated from each other for any length of time. Losing him was probably her greatest fear and she'd had that fear come far too close to reality too often and to recently.

"I did hear that you don't lose any time in the real world, and it's not like last time with the Underworld where you were in a coma. Hopefully that means that we'll just easily go back to things when we return." There was a hint of doubt in her tone because when had it ever been easy to reenter society after they'd been stuck in another world, no matter how much time passed.

"Your parents will just be glad that you are home safe, if they notice at all. And we'll just have to work extra hard to make up for it."

January - February Test drive

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wao rood (she deserves that)

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