ESCAPE

[shardmods]

So. That happened.

Now that everyone's calmed down and your colorful friends have looked you over and determined that you're alright, you can take some time to yourselves to process that... and make preparations for leaving the Void.

"No sense sticking around here any longer! We've been working on getting a new base up and running for you guys, so we'll be heading back soon!"

"Do not expect too much of it. It was the most we could do on such short notice."

"But that's where you all come in; together, we can make a place that we can call 'home', at least for the time being!"

Looks like your time here is nearly up.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[thehedgehog]

[Of course, there's one big question mark in all of this, and that's Shadow. You haven't really had the chance to talk to him since he first introduced himself, but here he is now. He remains nearby, arms folded as he watches all of you with an unreadable expression. Thankfully, Infinite is not trying to throw down with him so you're welcome to talk to him if you have any lingering questions, complaints, or "what the hell was that"s.]

[ungratefuloz]

[...

So Dorothy has been nothing but a pile of rage at this hedgehog since the start of this for making her consider thing she either thought she was over or things that she thought that she'd be able to deal with later. She had been willing to leave well enough alone after Shadow clarified that this much wasn't his doing, but...

Well. Dorothy's curiosity compels her, as much as she can feel a boiling undercurrent for all she had to face. May as well ask a burning question on her mind.]

Do you still find us lacking?

[akademise]

[ You.

More does not look super pleased with Shadow, but there are things that need to be said. ]

Did you get what you wanted out of this?

[holeful]

[Now that we've all gotten our bearings post that whole mind melting lab nonsense, Fukuda steps forward, clearing his throat.]

Ah, before we all head off, I was wondering if I could take a moment of everyone's time while we're all together... We've learned a lot about each other over the past few weeks. I'm really grateful to call you all my teammates, some of you even friends! But somethings been bothering me... some of you already know, but the rest, I feel like you deserve to know since you've been kind enough to trust me. I want to show I trust you too.

[He pauses, clearly building up his courage, before continuing.]

Before I came here, I drilled holes in people's heads the same as mine. Six of them died. That makes me a serial killer. In fact, I was in police custody before I came here! I just wanted to give people the same clarity my hole gave me, but I understand if you can't forgive it regardless.

[morningstud]

[Fukuda, what in the actual fuck.]

Have you considered turning yourself in to the authorities?

[That's the question that comes out of his mouth, but his expression clearly says this is not the time.]

[hexalding]

...okay?

[Like. Are we really doing this now?]

Yes, maybe do not do that anymore, but...I do not think that is the worst thing any of our number can claim to have done, Fukuda.

[is2g]

[ you know........

one hand? he's happy* that fukuda came out and said this—it's nice to get some level of confirmation about certain assumptions that he had been holding. on the other hand... given their last(est) interaction, there's kind of a lot to unpack here?

yet also nothing at the same time. (wolfwood, man who has done considerably worse than drilling holes into heads and killing six people.) overall, guess this means it doesn't matter too much to wolfwood. sure, it could be seen as a bit self-serving but, hey, in the end of the day, it sounds like the man made friends and that was something that wolfwood want for fukuda. ]

Thanks.

[weepingclown]

[??????]

Um. Okay.

[What are you even supposed to say to that?? Good for you??? Congratulations??? Please don't give me aftermarket holes???]

[saltofthesea]

[ Lark, slowly blinking in the way of someone who is internally going, "This may as well just happen I guess." ]

[guffawsungraciously]

...

I am hardly surprised about this.

[tworo]

[........so is he the only person here who's sort of upset and offput by the serial killing, or...? Turo can see the way the wind is blowing, though, so he stays quiet.]

[akademise]

[ .................................... yeah uh. ]

Were those people willing to take that risk?

[divinevoid]

[ Flashbacks to the attempted murder?? They aren't going to cheer about it; they aren't the type to moralize, but because they haven't been fond of that earlier incident, their reception is on the colder side rather than fiery/nonjudgmental/or whathaveyou. ]

...The killing aspect feels hardly all that surprising to me, considering everything I have seen of you up to this point.

[reallyfishy]

[Oh, so there's the confirmation.]

So that's ya were in jail fer.

[Sigh.]

Well, not like I can talk.

[plushes]

[crosswired]

[hoo boy, even context of "why" does not make this revelation any easier to digest

Plenty of people are already protesting, and Vakama's not in the best of moods as it is, so he won't add. But he's noticeably frowning in Fukuda's direction.]

[undoingdaughter]

[...A sudden, barking chuckle.]

Man, those kids brought in a lot of murderers.

blanket cw for hallucinations in option1, please check opt-in if you would like any descriptive text

[crosswired]

[Anyway, someone sure stumbled off in a hurry as soon as they woke up.

He moves across shards with a stumbling gait, the grip against his head turning into the slam of his wrist against his skull, a half-voiced exclamation of frustration. But there's not much room to hide, and his forward progress is rapidly slowing.

One could catch up to him. Or they could watch him immediately freeze on the spot, attention darting off to the side into the void at absolutely nothing with eyes that have gone completely pinpoint.

--

If one instead leaves him be (which they probably should), they'll find him back with the others given enough time. Quiet, but at least trying to gather his things and get his focus back on track.]

[divinevoid]

[ They probably have noticed something is up with Vakama at some point.

But, they have their own struggles with the situation and decide to indeed leave him be until he returns. ]

Ah, Vakama, there you are.

Quite a situation we've experienced, hm?

[hexalding]

[After whatever the fuck all that with Fukuda was, Viktor quietly retreated to float idly through the void with an ironwrought toolbox floating next to him, making adjustments to his own hoverboard with a screwdriver and the Hexclaw as a welding torch.]

[You know. Working instead of addressing our feelings. Normal stuff.]

[akademise]

[ It takes a while for More to reach out to Viktor because he has other people he wants to talk to first, but he does eventually arrive where he is. ]

If you don't mind... could you tell me more about that 'evolution' you tried to cause?

[tworo]

[The memory error suddenly resolves, and Turo is left vaguely disgusted with himself. After the little discussion about who all's a mass murderer in the group, he gets up and leaves for a different shard. He'll sit quietly, staring out at the void.

What right does he really have to moralize anyway? He's not a person. He'd rather started to forget, but when you break him back down to the core of himself - that's what's there. Nothing.]

[akademise]

[ At this point, it should hardly be a surprise that More comes to find Turo sooner, rather than later. It's become a routine, a familiar song and dance, and following it is calming. ]

Have you remembered yourself yet?

[guffawsungraciously]

[Well, you know, Jasper went ahead and admitted it to everyone instead of just a few people privately... but, well. He's tired. This is all so tiring. It felt like it had been so easy to fall back into things he thought he'd... at least tried to be more reasonable about, with nothing but his memories being foggy and hearing something that reminded him of his Problems.

So, whatever. Things are getting back to normal. They probably won't be tormented by being shoved between each others' mental realms. Maybe they'll get to sleep for a whole night in a real bed!

...

So anyway he's going to go off and read on his own instead of being social....]

[divinevoid]

[ They knew close details about Jasper - hard not to, given the state of everything; unfortunately, they have had no limit to their own frustrations about the invasion of one's mind and the like. Of course, they did more fighting physical enemies rather than fighting specters of the mind this time around.

But, seeing Jasper go off on his own, Void Archives decides to approach. As they basically flounced but overheard the confessions, the blond had to wonder if he was exactly glad to get it off of his chest. Or, instead...there was something else. ]

...Quite a difficult time it's been, hm?

[ They're not good at asking such normal questions people ask when they check up on others, but they are giving it their best effort here... ]