magicalesbian | 7TH ☄ s h o o t i n g s t a r ☄ v o i c e

My fellow Lucetizens! [She still thinks it's funny okay.] I'm sure it's been on everyone's minds since that last announcement, but just what kind of weaknesses do you think we're going to have to face? I mean, most of us have experience with some pretty terrible shifts back in that bad-end timeline, so I think we know what kind of things can be thrown at us. But how many people here can say they really understand their own weaknesses?

So I got to thinking! We all have a responsibility here to help those who want to go back home, right? So we should take this chance to work together and figure out our weaknesses together! I mean, I don't think it's very reasonable to expect all of us to just overcome our problems by ourselves in a few weeks. That's crazy, right? But if we all know what everyone else might expect, then we can work together to help support each other!

Like, say some guy is like super tormented by an evil slime monster in his past that killed his beloved pet hamster, Toodles. But on the other hand, we've got a guy who's a world-renown slime monster slayer! If those two worked together, then maybe Mr. Slimophobia can get some support in overcoming his fear of slime monsters! Or, you know, he'll at least know to stick by Mr. Slime-killer when the time comes so he'll have someone to help bail him out of trouble. [Flawless logic.]

So! Here's what we should do. We'll get everyone together and just... talk things out! Just drop your name here, and everyone who knows you will chime in with what they think your biggest weakness is! Then, other people can see that and offer help or support. Of course, I know a lot of people might not want to risk hurting their friends feelings by listing off their faults, so just go ahead and cover up the camera if you wanna stay anonymous.

[There's no way this can end badly, nope.]

And don't be scared to put yourself out there! Don't forget, this is for everyone's benefit, so it's totally a judgement-free zone!

If you don't put your name down, then... well, I guess that's probably your big weakness then, huh.

((ooc: It's an IC honesty meme, guys!! Feel free to threadjack to your heart's content. For any anonymous comments, you can put ANONYMOUS in the subject so people still know OOCly which character is saying what. If your character wouldn't post to this themselves but you still want to participate, you can handwave/ask another player for someone else to post their name for them.))

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[Asch goes still at that, surprised- both by the words and the meaning behind them. Guy doesn't bring Mary up often and never lightly; she means too much to him to be cast aside for a convincing lie. Honestly, it's one of the few ways Guy could have answered that actually makes his response believable.]

...Okay.

[He exhales, setting free a shaky breath he'd been holding out out of nervousness, paranoia, and preemptive grief for the answer he'd been expecting, and straightens up. It's not like he's agreeing to any sort of terms - to stay here, to help Guy convince Luke of anything, to live - but it's... helped. It's cleared up a few things and given him reason to reconsider. Because if Guy gives enough of a damn to wager on Mary's name then he's not doing this for Luke.]

It's not that I want to go back, Guy. Or that I want to die. Or even whether or not I want to stay here. It's that I want to stop dying over and over. Either it's some stupid fight I wanted no part of, or the world getting destroyed, or my own damn body falling apart- it's going to keep happening. And I'll lose more of myself, because the ones who can fix that are leaving.

[His fists clench, trying to rein in the anger. He's not mad at Guy, not really- but he's never been good at explaining himself, his feelings or motivations or what he's thinking, and how can he do any better now while trying to describe something Guy doesn't even understand?]

I won't go out like that- dying and coming back with less of myself until there's nothing... I won't become some empty shell. I've lost who I was once already. Never again.

[When Van took him away from Kimlasca as a child, he'd been forced to remake himself into someone else to survive, and it had been agony every step of the way. The thought of trying to patch his life back together when the pieces keep getting yanked away from him, impossible to retrieve... it's unthinkable.]

[The worst part is that Guy doesn't have a good answer for any of that. If John is leaving, there won't be anybody else to fix the problem. If it keeps happening, that's it.

Doesn't stop him from trying, though.]

I don't have anything to tell you that'll make that possibility go away Asch. All I can tell you is that I think it's worth trying. Maybe whatever they need us to do, maybe while we're there we can fix it. Maybe we can figure out how to cheat it. You could have decades ahead of you, where you could live without the pressure of the Score or hyperresonance or Van or any of it if you'd just try.

I could have decades, sure. Or months. Or days.

[He hasn't forgotten Dist's estimate- a handful of years, and that was years ago. It wasn't even a guarantee. Time away from Luke had helped, since fonons that have nowhere to go tend to cluster, and going back to Auldrant had more or less reset the timeline of it all, but he could still feel it. Hard to imagine a future when your body's determined to fall apart.

A future has never been something guaranteed to him- just promised to him by men he no longer trusted.]

I've already spent years here- six years, going by this world's calendar. I'm a dead man walking. I surpassed the Score's prediction, my own death, my coming of age. I'm not looking for death, but living here hasn't exactly given me much to fight for, either. What do you expect of me, Guy? Am I supposed to be happy in this place? Because I haven't had much reason to be so far.

Whatever's going to happen next could change all that. If it doesn't work, we're all going to die anyway, right? This world could collapse? Then there's no harm in trying.

Asch- [Guy starts to reach for Asch's hand before stopping himself, hand twitching before falling back to his side.] Just think about it. Please.

[Asch doesn't miss that.

Doesn't acknowledge it, either. He purses his lips tightly, gaze dropping to the ground between his feet.]

...Fine.

[It's a relatively small concession, anyway. No promises, no guarantees. Just a thought. A maybe.

Maybe his luck will turn around in time to get another chance at life, for good or ill.]

7TH ☄ s h o o t i n g s t a r ☄ v o i c e

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