mid-week 11; un: monday

[vogelfrei]

[ With the regression of the city, working at Sunset Theater has quickly become less enjoyable than it used to be. Though the cast remembers the rapport McGillis had built with them, even if they're more standoffish now. And it's not as though McGillis had placed much stock in his interpersonal relationships to the random citizens, but... the shift in atmosphere serves as a tangible reminder. That this is temporary. That this world is susceptible to insane levels of mind manipulation. That he wants to leave.

Leave and... do what? That's the question that has haunted McGillis for weeks now, and the countdown is mercilessly continuing. Soon Braphine will release them from her hold, one way or another. Soon, he'll have to know. And so will everyone else. ]

Just a little over two weeks until we're free from this, if Braphine really keeps her word and the God of Conflict doesn't swallow up all her power. Until then we'll doubtlessly face a number of additional challenges and hassles, but while we're still in the quiet before the storm...

Are you going home to your own worlds after this? Or will you take Braphine up on her offer and come along with one of your 'bonds'? What is your world like? What is making you return? What is making you abandon it?

And if you're like me and cannot return to where you came from no matter what, maybe the answers can give you some perspective.

Comments

@yuki25jnd

[beathollow]

Truthfully, I'm not sure.

... I am from Shibuya, Japan, 2024 AD. It's a lot like this city here, with similar technological and social developments, but the political climate of my time is something of a hot mess to be honest.

( please don't make me go into 2024 politics, especially politics of another country- )

Realistically, though, it's a comfortable place. Just not for me. The biggest draws to remain are my friends, but if I could find a way to have my cake and eat it too, I would.

[finalmix]

I wonder how different your Shibuya is from mine~

[ closes my eyes in twewy time what year is it i don't even know ]

@lapetitprince

[finalmix]

Alas, I will be going home.

Work calls~ Souls to judge, Games to run, assassination attempts to foil, all those fun things.

Plus I have a partner waiting back home ♥

[beathollow]

I think Shibuya will always have a certain core to it, but styles both change and stay the same. So does the music. It's easy to catch similar patterns despite years being between songs and fashion alike.

( so, maybe he might be caught off guard by some visual changes... but it's still home. )

@harlequin

[cirquedesang]

To be entirely pragmatic, from what I've heard of the worlds of others, I have little reason to abandon my own, and if this "goddess" of ours here has the power to allow us to freely visit one another, then the decision is made. I will go home, and my home will be welcome to anyone who wishes to visit or to move to my reality entirely. We need not be close - if you wish to have somewhere relatively safe to move to, I will assist and we can go our separate ways into the night.

Currently I reside in Las Vegas, in the year 2024... yet somehow in a different earth than Mafuyu. As she's said, it's similar to this city, and comfortable, even if the politics (of both human and vampire...) are a mess. (...If you tell me your world's politics are not a mess, I will call you a liar.)

If we must choose one world to go to, never to cross again... the decision will be much more difficult, and I admit I've refused to consider it, as yet.

@darkknight

[bloodweapon]

I hail from Eorzea, a collection of city-states with varying governing bodies, geography, and issues. Though I would hardly call Eorzea ideal, it is home, and I have come to miss it greatly.

Eorzea is far from peaceful, and traversing the region requires the ability to fight - or the gil for those who can do it for you. Monsters roam the land, with many hostile ones looking to ambush those who would stray from the roads. Despite this, the city-states are closer than ever, making Eorzea a nearly unified place, for once. Should one wish to remain in the larger cities, a peaceful life can be had.

I wish to return because it is my desire to protect the people I've come to care so much about. I am lucky enough to be able to return with both Argenti and Sayaka.

[He is so relieved he didn't have to stop and think about if he'd leave Eorzea behind, because that would easily be one of the toughest decisions of his life.]

[vogelfrei]

[ Thankfully McGillis has already heard enough with 'a lot like this city' and is not going to make Mafuyu elaborate on the 2020s hellscape... ]

We'll have to quiz Braphine on the true extent of her power, after we restore it to its full amount. I would not get my hopes up about the matter, but it's too early to give up as well.

You're still torn then?

[vogelfrei]

Angels actively judge souls in your world?

[beathollow]

I am, yes.

I have people here that I love very much. But to abandon the ones who saved me would be cruel, and with being able to want again, I find I'm a little greedy. I want to keep everything precious to me, including them.

I wanted to talk to Braphine but things are strange at the temple.

@setomaoge

[speedingticket]

I have to go home. 🏡🏠🌛 Not long ago I was chosen 🌷 to be one of twenty wizards that would serve the sage in our fight against the Great Calamity 🌝🌚 Which is the moon. I think I talked a bit about it at the sleepover 🐟🦈🐡💤 but every year, the calamity gets close to the earth and us chosen few have to fight it back. But the last calamity was so destructive, it ravaged much of the world and its magic and turned half of the previous sage's wizards to stone 💎💎💎💎 I was chosen as a replacement for one of the ones that died 😞💔🙏

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️

I was in the middle of something before waking up here. 🐉 I was told we'll be sent back to the moment we were taken, so I'm holding onto that memory for when I wake up at home again 🤞

Plus, there's someone whose entire wellbeing depends entirely on me, so it's in both of our, and the world's best interests that I get home safely to him. 😴💀

Why can't you go back?

[vogelfrei]

Frankly, that scenario is what I am currently assuming will be the case. I will be glad to be proven wrong, but the goddess is fickle and world-traveling takes a lot of her energy. Even getting to move at all is a privilege.

I hate to be a downer, but I think you should begin considering it - so you're not forced to make snap decisions you might regret later.

[finalmix]

even the afterlife's politics are a mess

[ dont get him started ]

[vogelfrei]

Those are rather pressing reasons. I would do the same in your situation.

As for why I can't leave... It is common knowledge to the others, so I'll say it plainly: I'm dead. The only moment Braphine could send me back to in my world would be the very second my life ended.

I am not willing to face oblivion yet, so I will not return.

[finalmix]

[ he is not explaining the afterlife hierarchy to McGillis, so, ]

That's putting it simply, yeah.

More accurately I judge whether souls who passed on too early but have enough Imagination to make a difference deserve a second chance or a redo, and if they do, I make it happen.

[finalmix]

Your moon sounds dangerous.

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis is smiling to himself reading this, because he is very glad that Argenti is leaving behind the world his own goddess exists in. This is what he saved you for Fray! Good job!! ]

It seems fitting that the three of you should not be separated at the end of this. And I see now why Maizono has been training so hard with her sword - but with her work ethic and two experienced knights at her side, I expect even a perilous world will cause her little trouble.

You never considered Argenti's world in turn?

[cirquedesang]

You are right, of course. Being optimistic is just shy of being stupid, and I'd rather not make a decision I regret, so the reminder is welcome.

...Whether I actually make a decision I regret when the time comes remains to be seen, of course, but such is life.

[cirquedesang]

So I have heard.

[Twewy nonsense aside, the shadowlands are a mess in World of Darkness, too--]

[speedingticket]

It is!!!!! 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

We are going to destroy it for good!!!!!! 💥💥💥💥💥✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

[bloodweapon]

She has made tremendous progress so far; I imagine she will be able to hold her own shortly.

[At least in the lower level areas. Good thing Eorzea is level 50 max!]

I did not consider his world. Bluntly put, I did not want to consider leaving Eorzea behind and it was my hope that he would be willing to come with me, so I asked him about that first. Had he not agreed, I would have considered the possibility, though it would have been exceptionally difficult to consider leaving Eorzea, for a number of reasons.

[Could he even leave Eorzea, given that V'rhas exists there? His entire state of being is sort of in question, but at least he's no longer having an identity crisis in front of the Goddess and everyone.]

[speedingticket]

[ :rutilegasp: he's WHAT ]

Oh my gosh 😖😖 I had no idea. I'm so sorry McGillis 💔

I'm glad you're here with us and I'm glad you're not giving up yet. Do you have a plan?✈

[finalmix]

It's a little messy and chaotic, but it's still home, no? ♥

[finalmix]

It really is the same everywhere, huh.

I'm still kind of in trouble with upstairs so I gotta lay low for a while, maybe~

[finalmix]

[ I love rutile and his emojis ]

How do you even beat back the moon though???

[beathollow]

That's the question.