The Fire Festival....Begin!

[promittere]

Who: Errbody
What: Fire Festival!
When: 08/02 (OOCly, 08/24)
Where: Common area + beach!
Warnings: Probably a lot of CW: past trauma will be popping up! Just be sure to mind the cw / mark your subject lines!




[ OOC: what it says on the tin!

By now, every character should have at least heard about it, given the network announcement. As was promised, there will be food set up in the common area, as well as fireworks and a dunking booth. See the designated toplevels for locations, descriptions, and more! ]

Voting/Sign-ups | Spicy Contest | Fashion Show | Games/Dunking/Roasting | Effigies | Fireworks/More Food/Closing and Clean-Up

Comments

[bloodyashes]

The person I know this from... Wasn't stupid. He just got lied to about what his power did. About what he was supposed to do.

[And Sync, ever watchful, would notice Asch's eyes flick over to the Burnhamut at the far end of the table.]

But that's his story to tell, if he ever wants to.

[fifthreplacement]

[Sync does notice it, and he'd also noticed the Bahamut effigy earlier. It's not hard to put two and two together with the people who are around, though who it is exactly Asch is talking about, he doesn't know.

Does he care to know? That's a question. Given the subject, the answer is probably no]

I doubt that doesn't make him stupid. [Someone who didn't get told the truth of their power and was manipulated into doing a dumb, take a guess which replica Sync is thinking of] Listening to prophecy and going along with it is stupid enough on its own.

[bloodyashes]

[And here, fundamentally, is where Asch and Sync disagree - ]

Trying to save people isn't stupid.

[fifthreplacement]

[Yeah, this is the point in the conversation where their opinions differ wildly. This is not an uncommon thing]

If they're so foolish as to blindly follow whoever promises them hope via some greater power [be it magic or prophecy] then they deserve what they get.

[...this also feels so familiar that it actually makes Sync calm down the tiniest amount. Because damn it if he doesn't miss familiar in this place]

[bloodyashes]

...No one deserved what happened, Sync. Even Van, I - I wouldn't wish that on him.

[And the slight hitch and hesitation - even as poor at people as he is, Sync will be able to tell that's genuine. That it's something Asch takes seriously, even if he won't say exactly what it is.]

[fifthreplacement]

...did you really just say that.

[Who are you and what have you done with Asch.

No really, that just totally threw Sync off kilter. Utterly and completely. What the hell.

...yeah no he's got nothing. He can tell it's genuine. And he's completely Unsure what to do about it because. That is not something he'd expect Asch to say. Ever. The sparks that were around Sync? Completely gone. This is not something he ever expected and he has no idea how to reply to it. Sync.exe has stopped responding, please standby for reboot]

[bloodyashes]

For a day, maybe.

[At least he's honest.]

Not - not as long as Ardyn had it.

[fifthreplacement]

[.....yeah, no, he's still. Sync still can't process this, to the point he actually takes a step backwards away from Asch as he shakes his head to try and clear it so he can think. Thinking would be good right now. One hand lifts to cover part of his face as if to hide. There are next to no times that he misses the mask, but damn if he doesn't miss it right now]

Okay. However long that is, it's clearly a long time, so. I guess.

[Remember that feeling of familiar from before? Yeah that's kinda gone, and it's flicked so far to the other side that Sync...there's a feeling here, that he doesn't want to try and name. Because it's too close to one he felt a long time ago and he doesn't like that. But he can't turn it into anger or hatred like he does everything else, and it's just. Stalling him completely]

...even then. For you of all people to say that...

[...yeah, he's just going to shake his head again, hand falling to his side]

[bloodyashes]

Gets across how miserable it is, doesn't it?

[There's a flash of dark humor, before Asch sighs.]

The Ardyn here... He's different from the one I knew, and I don't know how I feel about that. But I'm sure that that is the same.

[fifthreplacement]

[The thought of how miserable that would be isn't something on his mind at all. It's only because it's Sync and he's had three years to master masking how he's feeling that he's managing to not show what he's thinking right now.

And how much the thoughts scare him]

I've heard about the different versions of people thing. Two people who are technically the same, just small differences. Doesn't surprise me that there can be that kind of difference either. The universe seems to like hating like that.

[bloodyashes]

Yeah, I... On the islands, there was a girl, who was like I am here. She'd been to another place before.

[A horrible place, but now isn't the time. Those aren't his wounds to carry or his stories to tell, either.]

And she knew another Asch there.

[fifthreplacement]

[He can't quite hide the wince at hearing that. Sync folds his arms, trying to keep himself calm. But his posture is oddly defensive, for how calm his voice seems]

More than one of you. That's a terrifying thought.

[There's less barb than usual in his tone, but he tries. His chest hurts from his heart racing. He has to calm down...]

[bloodyashes]

What, Luke wasn't enough for you?

[Dear gods did he seriously just joke about that?]

[fifthreplacement]

[Okay that feels somewhat more normal even if it's a little weird about the lack of anger that Sync's used to from Asch whenever his replica comes up. Sync rolls his eyes]

Just because you're both idiots doesn't make you the same.

[It's weird hearing Asch joke about Luke, with no real anger in there, but it's. At least something Sync can feasibly work with better than the idea of what Sync considers one of the core points of Asch's personality being totally flipped on its head.

But it's still weird enough that it's not helping him calm down any]

[bloodyashes]

Yeah, he kind of beat that into my head the last time I saw him.

[Which, as Sync will probably know, was... very much the Last Time, pending something happening in this place.]

[fifthreplacement]

Oh good. I wondered if someone managed to do that. It was far past time for it, given how dumb you were about it.

[You know, the replica issues really aren't what he needed to be thinking on on top of everything else, but hey. Why not, that's what they're doing, it's a thing]

[bloodyashes]

...Yeah, it probably was.

[Just in case Sync wasn't done being weirded out by the less tense, slightly more mature Asch.]

He's still an idiot, though.

[fifthreplacement]

Miracle of miracles, you actually admitted something.

[He manages to not shift, as much as he would like to, at the weirdness, but...he guesses if Asch has spent some time after that point, then maybe it makes sense?]

He is. Pretty sure that's never going to change. Even on Eldrant, I saw no reason to think otherwise.

[bloodyashes]

I'm trying to have my head a little less up my ass.

[Sometimes failing, but trying!]

[fifthreplacement]

Really? That's possible?

[Snark is good. Snark is familiar. He even manages a smirk for it]

[bloodyashes]

We're standing on a completely different world, that's hardly the most impossible thing around here.

[fifthreplacement]

[There was a response he was going to make, but something stops him short and almost shatters what calm he'd managed to get back. He manages to keep it together though, and shrugs, responding after a moment]

Maybe, but it still feels unlikely to me.

[bloodyashes]

'Unlikely' is my fonon frequency.

[fifthreplacement]

That's unlikely but at least plausible, unlike the idea of you not being an idiot.

[The whole Score thing at least made it seem like it could've been...not exactly planned, but liable to have happened thanks to prophecy]

[bloodyashes]

Oh, go to hell.

[It's more relaxed than the words usually are, but it's not too different from how Asch usually gives up on a snark off.]