video; un: riftdancer

[thavnairian]

WHO: Amal and whoever!
WHERE: The network
WHEN: The last week of May
WHAT: Amal's long nap is finally over.
WARNINGS: Endwalker spoilers in some threads, if you care about that sort of thing. Mind the CWs on Zelos' thread too (abuse, indentured servitude).

[video]

[Amal is dressed a little differently today. Repping Thavnairian weave and a ribbon in his hair, he's seemingly conquered the incredible bedhead he's nursed for several weeks.]

Hey everyone! Did you think you were rid of me? Sorry to disappoint! Being exceptionally difficult to get rid of is one of my many talents, as it turns out.

My birds are acting like I was dead instead of asleep, when I don't even remember going to bed. But I remember a lot of other things—it was like I was home. Like I never left. Maybe... my body was here while my soul was there? I have no idea, but I'm awake now, and I have every reason to believe what I saw happen... uh, happened.

So. What'd I miss?

[A pause.]

Oh, and what's a BBL? I woke up to a bunch of texts from work asking if I'd 'recovered' yet.

Comments

voice;

[thavnairian]

You realize that telling people not to worry about something has the opposite effect, right?

[thaumewturge]

Yes, but it has also been a hell of a month.

[A sigh.]

There was, as others are saying, "death soccer".

[Does she really need to go on?]

[thavnairian]

I don't know what soccer is, but the first part worries me more.

Why the hell were people playing to the death? That's never a good idea!

[thaumewturge]

There was a ghost or...something akin to one that was drowning people. As I understand it, the ruler of the Spirit Realm open to us suggested this sport if we wanted to get her to stop.

[You can see where this is going.]

[thavnairian]

Gods damn it... What if someone cheated during the game? What if this 'ruler' never intended for there to be a winner?

[thaumewturge]

They were, at least, honorable in that there was a winning team and La Llorona did leave once the game was over.

[A pause.]

That didn't stop them from allowing children to sign up, of course.

[thavnairian]

Son of a bitch.

[thaumewturge]

Quite. There has been another...interesting development, but nothing so drastic as all this death. Someone on this app now has a carbuncle, however.

[Please read between the lines.]

[thavnairian]

Someone?

[For the past several weeks there has only been a sage in his party, not a scholar. And even then, there have been THREE arcanists in the Scions at least, and none of them kept it.]

Someone...

[...]

All right. Who should I be congratulating on the math?

--> private to just Amal

[thaumewturge]

A young man at the university. Rather polite, and incredibly interested in learning more of Eorzea, as a heads up.

[How can she give Amal this hint without saying "Alphinaud"...oh fuck it. It takes Rhel a moment to figure out how to make this private to Amal but she does. And she sighs.]

It's Alphinaud, and he's in a similar situation as Raha.

locked;

[thavnairian]

Alphy.

[That one hurts. He almost lost them, not long ago. He thought he'd lost them for good. But to have only one of them, and kind of, is...]

What about Alisaie? Or is she still unaware of the app and everything around it?

locked;

[thaumewturge]

I've not seen her. [A shaky breath.] But the tarot reader, he spoke to Alphinaud in another language and I think I caught him mentioning an "Ali", so it is quite possible that she, too, is here and simply unaware.

locked;

[thavnairian]

For now.

[He sighs.]

I don't think we'll be able to keep a lid on this for much longer. G'raha isn't easy to lie to, even for a bastard like me. He knows I'm not telling him everything. He's just too nice to say as much.

locked;

[thaumewturge]

The realm, this time...there were the ruins of the Crystarium and the Rising Stones in there, and he proposed a theory that indicates he may already know, or at least suspect some of what we're not telling him.

locked;

[thavnairian]

He went toe-to-toe with an unsundered Ascian and held his own. Of course he's going to wonder why it is that these two strangers have a keen interest in his goings-on... I'm such a godsdamned moron. Even when I want to be honest, I open my mouth and just—muck it all up.

[There's a sound distinctly like someone shoving their face into a pillow. Or punching it. Or both? He has like 20 pillows and all of them are getting abused today.]

I'll tell him it was my idea to lie, that I made you play along. That way he'll still trust you, at least...

locked;

[thaumewturge]

Wha--no. No. Amal, it is Raha. It is G'raha Tia, the man who attempted to hide himself from us for what he believed to be our own good. He will understand why we chose not to tell him everything up front. Especially since doing so would have only distressed him when we first found him here! You haven't done anything wrong.

locked;

[thavnairian]

[He's quiet for a while, long enough maybe to make Rhel wonder if something had happened. But there he is, sounding far away and resigned.]

He deserves better than to be lied to, over and over.

At least... I have to apologize...

locked;

[thaumewturge]

Then we shall both apologize. We both agreed to hide it from him, so if you are to blame for it then so am I.

locked;

[thavnairian]

Yes... you're right. We should both apologize.

[He is so tired, suddenly. New him, old problems.]

Sorry for putting all of that on you.

locked;

[thaumewturge]

I'm not mad or anything, don't worry. Am I right to assume that you, perhaps, have been to Ultima Thule?

locked;

[thavnairian]

[He makes a soft, ugly noise. That would be a yes.]

... Unfortunately. And I'd just as soon never return, for a few reasons.

But... wait, did you... go through all of that before you arrived? Am I the one lagging behind?

locked;

[thaumewturge]

Yes, I did. The last thing I did before arriving here was send the letter off to my mother to let her know I would be coming to visit soon and that yes, I would need my sister's healing.

locked;

[thavnairian]

[He sighs.]

I'll be honest... I could sleep another month. Getting hit by a big truck felt better.

I should have died. We should have died.

locked;

[thaumewturge]

We should have.

[Truck???]

But we didn't, somehow. I'm still not sure how, especially after fucking Zenos.

[Rhel does not swear often but. Like. It's Zenos.]

locked;

[thavnairian]

[Guess how he found out his endurance was back.]

Fucking Zenos.

[At least they agree on that.]

I'd been wanting to settle things for a long time, but did he really have to stab me?