The Mods Grimm (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
themodsgrimm) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
grimmoired2018-07-29 09:23 am
themodsgrimm) wrote in grimmoired2018-07-29 09:23 am
EPILOGUE ;
EPILOGUE - WEEK 7 Wake up, Narrators. You've done well this past weekend. As you awaken on this beautiful morning, the doors to the castle are wide open and a festive mood fills the air. Music can be heard from the garden and the ballroom, the dining room's overflowing with tasty treats and beverages, and everything is awash in a soft glow of purples, reds, and golds. Yet as you exit from your dormitories for the last time, several things will be noticeable to you... Lining the hallways, several new ornate mirrors flank either wall. Each mirror is engraved with the name of a Narrator and allows each participant of this war to view their world back home. They will be able to see who they wish to see and the current state of affairs in their world. They will also, thanks to their adventures in the Other Space, be able to view the future of their home worlds and what's at stake for them. No matter where they are in the castle, each Narrator will also find themselves presented with a leatherbound book, a jar of ink and a fresh quill. As they open the book they will see a write-up of their story up until now with several blank pages at the end of the book. As promised, the ink won by the Dragon's ending is enough to allow Narrators to write their own happy endings... even those that directly clash with what they've been able to witness for themselves in the mirrors. Go ahead, write yourself into the universe of another Narrator. The story is yours to tell. Alternatively - if you seek to write a new story for yourself entirely, additional pages will be provided for you to draft up that fresh start. Meanwhile, the longer you linger around the castle it will become clear that it's much noisier than it should be for only forty people. Venturing further downstairs you will find several guests waiting for you. Some of these may be people you know from your own worlds, brought here to take you home thanks to the extra magic obtained from the Other Space. Others are past participants from previous rounds of this war, battle stories and triumphs to share. Apparently they'd received an invitation to a celebration to mark the end of it all. Even those who had died from previous rounds and not revived are present. While it had been thought that they'd been lost in the Other Side when there was not enough ink to revive them - it appears that they'd been given new life via your efforts. The clock in the foyer seems to have stopped. Take all the time you need to say your goodbyes... you are in charge of your own destiny from here on out.  Welcome to your farewell log, everyone! A couple of fun notes for your perusal. Due to the efforts of characters yesterday in the mini-adventures, characters have unlocked the ability to preview their futures and decide their own destinies. Additionally, they have unlocked the ability for castmates to visit them in the castle, along with characters who have participated in previous rounds of the war! Please feel free to tag in with your gamemates' castmates or other characters from previous rounds that you can make your own Grimm AU for. If you want to share where your character is going, comment here. Your final CR chart is here, your TL;CR meme is here and your friending/love meme is here. Thank you guys so much for a wonderful eight weeks! We hope you had a magical experience here with us. ♥
|
no subject
There's probably more story to go.
But for now, Tenka is already turn his wheelchair as if with the intention of sending himself right back out the door - ]
Who told you all to do this?
no subject
...It's over, Tenka. Do you think you have anything to say to them that those they've put through this haven't already?
This wasn't the first time this has happened, but-- it was the last.
[the dontens sure know about broken cycles, don't they?]
no subject
[No, he doesn't.]
There better be a really good reason for all that... did you see how many kids were out there, Shirasu? Women, too! Probably a bunch of civilians! What the hell is up with that?!
It better be the last - or else it'll be me coming back next time and that sure as hell won't work out to be a good thing for them!
no subject
[a pause, and--]
Perhaps if someone like you had been here, it could have gone differently. I couldn't say. But going against this game of theirs is what got Sousei killed, you know.
[not that shirasu was sad to see him go, but what he's getting at here is: sousei couldn't break it.]
I lasted longer than he did, but their chosen killers made me their target last week.
no subject
It's one gut punch after the other - because despite knowing what happened here, and what people were meant to do, it didn't seem to quite register that there was ever a universe in which Sousei could die. Sousei was hiding some things from him still, he knew that, but instead he's being told here and now. Even if Tenka wasn't here when it happened - there was a world in which Sousei was killed and his life ended.
... and the same for Shirasu.
Even after Shirasu left them at the cliffside, Tenka knew that he had to be alive. 'He's very durable' is what he told Kiiko. There would always be some way in which Shirasu could live... because Tenka couldn't believe that there would be a world where he'd outlive him either.
He's too selfish to think that they'd ever leave him so permanently.]
So you -
Both...?
no subject
[and that's where that calm is finally disrupted, where the frustration at it creeps back into his tone and shows in the way he can no longer just stand there, moving back to his spot on the bed just for something to do with himself.]
I'm sure it won't give you any solace to know that I fought them, but I did. I took one of them with me. I thought that if nothing I've faced before could kill me, two people on their own surely couldn't either, but-
[one hand rests just below his ribcage, an unconscious gesture he doesn't quite notice.
he'd been so close. he'd thought that he could kill them both easily enough. but then there was a sword through his body and he'd felt his life bleed from him, even as he stabbed cardia, even as he struggled against it on the floor. shirasu is alive now, but...
he never wants to feel it again. that failure, that weakness.]
no subject
What would have happened, if they didn't figure out their numbers? What would have happened, if there was a world out there with Shirasu? Would he not have been able to come back? Would he have gone forever? Would Tenka never have seen him again?
A voice nags in the back of his mind - at least he fought back.
Tenka resigned to death so easily in comparison, and threw everything away, and died in front of everyone he loved most.
He left Sousei and Shirasu with this feeling, huh?
With his hand, he turns the wheelchair back around and goes to follow Shirasu - even if he doesn't immediately know what to say.]
... I told Kiiko - you're surprisingly tough. I guess she didn't think that you made it, after you jumped off that cliff. I mean... I was right, you know? You're still here.
[ . . . ]
I'm really glad - that you're still here.
[What would I do if you weren't?]
no subject
[it's the other thing that weighs on him. if he'd died, but succeeded in his plan... would anyone have brought him back after what he did? would tiger? or would he have been left behind after that failure?
he kept going at home because he needed to, but it feels like knowing what it's like to die has made him want to live more, now.]
I don't... I know I eventually must die, but I don't want to die like that again. I want to reach the natural end of my life more than I ever have.
[he doesn't want to die fighting it again, to have his life cut violently short.]
It still feels-- selfish, to want to live for myself and not because I'm needed. But I suppose I'm that sort of person, aren't I?
no subject
Tenka's expression crumples faintly at that - because it's what he'd wanted to hear. For so long, he'd wanted Shirasu to be more selfish. In their home, there would always be a place for him. He was their brother, and his help was imperative to making sure that they didn't crumble... but for too long he called himself the Kumou shinobi.]
... I can't believe you had to figure that out this way.
[Why did he have to die to do it?
Why did he have to go through something so painful?]
Every time you asked me to use you... like you were some kind of tool - I hated that. I don't even know how much of it was true anymore... but it really pissed me off when you would say things like we were going to throw you away one day. Like you had a purpose to fulfill that I decided.
Being selfish doesn't mean having to stab us all in the back, you know... so don't think that I'll forgive you so easily if you do it again but -
[He shakes his head and laughs - it lacks the pure unfiltered sunlight normally found in the sound, but his lips form a smile nonetheless.]
You can't go ahead anymore, okay?
So you better live a long life with me.
no subject
[he knew he'd have to leave them, one day. that his plans would come before their family. if he'd been something for them to use, rather than someone they saw as part of their lives... he didn't want to start believing it himself.]
My brother told me something, before he died: that he had feared I would turn my back on the Fuuma because of you three. That being with you changed me, bit by bit, every time he saw me.
[it was at least real enough to concern his own twin, the one person who should have seen through it if those smiles were faked.]
I tried to turn my back on 'Shirasu'. I'd burned this. [a gesture at the hairband, there.] ...then I was brought here and given it back, called by that name again.
[it's hard to put the feeling into words. maybe it was supposed to be some strange sort of fate, or maybe it was just a reminder of what he'd left behind, meant to toy with him. he doesn't know.]
I don't know whether to think it means that this is the life I'm meant to live-
But I mean to try living it regardless.
no subject
[Tenka has maybe had to wrestle with that question more than most - as someone who grew up thinking that he would be the Captain of the Yamainu, part of the squad that would kill the vessel of the Orochi, even if the vessel was a friend. And even after that, when he chose instead to be the 14th Head of the Kumou Shrine, to protect his brothers and his town before anything else in the world, and he'd live out as many days as he could clutching onto that happiness.
... these are the thoughts of a man confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed halfway, and his hand rises to trace against his own mouth. The right side, quirking up, and the left... slower, aching, and he's reminded of mornings where he hasn't yet stretched or flexed those muscles.
What happened to that larger than life figure that he was supposed to be?]
... I can't give you an answer on whether or not I think that this is who you're supposed to be... that's not really something that I get to decide.
But I think at the end of the day - all of us are only living to the best that we know how. With the burdens that we carry, and the happiness that we try to pursue...
If you want to try - that's enough for me.
That's always been enough for me.
no subject
he supposes that sounds right. it's what he's been doing all along-- restoring the clan was the only thing he knew to do. his methods were the best way he could think to do it, regardless of everything else.
the best that he could do was never enough, and the thought that even now he'll have to use this ink to forge an entirely new plan and write himself right out of it... it does still sting, even though he's been convinced it's most likely a better step to take. it's still a failure of what he could do on his own.
in that case, though, it's also for the best that he won't be on his own now.
shirasu is silent for a few long moments, before-]
You have my word that I'll try, then. With you.