ritual 25 end

[thelastfirstborn]

WHO: friends :)
WHERE: the beach
WHEN: Day 74, long into the night

[ the cavern walls begin to recede—it seems they were, all this time, the spindly roots of that deep-sea creature—and you can see the starlit sky. ... though, perhaps some of you are busy remembering both sessions and reconciling the strange feeling of the timelines merging. ]


[ the uh . . . creatures . . . they're still around . . . but the baby jellyfish return to their kin as the tide rises to reclaim them. ]

Thank you.
[ with the ritual over, no longer do the words of We Many hurt to listen to—this language is certainly the common language in Sheep—but it's still perhaps a little bit unsettling to hear, for the words of We Many do not come in just one voice. instead, they echo from all the . . . the creatures, some of which seem to have shapeshifted right in front of your very eyes to manifest.

mouths?

. . . some look like human mouths. some look like fish mouths.

and their voices . . . sound like the voices of those who participated in this ritual. just . . . dozens of Angie and Azdaja and Odin and etc voices whispering their thanks . . . ]

Take this, Our gratitude.
[ they leave behind gifts for every flock and participating weed, , ,,, , . . . yayyyy. . .

the creatures of We Many recede back into the waters, leaving the jellyfish behind to glow in the shallows like stars.

Agonies will disappear upon eating the Special Questionable Fish Meat. However, even if you don't eat those, any injuries accrued will heal like normal, and status effects/things that don't just heal on their own will go away anywhere from half an IC day to 3 IC days later. ]

MAIN GAME POST | SCORING | REWARDS?

Comments

[abandon_hope]

[ Thanks Ceph. He braces a moment before righting himself. ]

Fine. I guess.

... I'm glad you're okay.

[audacity]

...Yeah. Guess I got lucky.

[abandon_hope]

Do you feel lucky?

[audacity]

...No. But I know that's stupid.

[abandon_hope]

It's not stupid. Watching is worse.

[audacity]

[ breathes out ]

Grover said something like that too. The day before I got here.

[abandon_hope]

Before coming here?

[audacity]

Yeah. There was a — doesn't really matter. He and Annabeth were helping me with the recommendation letter quests.

[abandon_hope]

What did you have to do?

[audacity]

[ ruminatively, ]

What don't I ever have to do.

Anyway, Ganymede's chalice was stolen. I got it back. It took a lot of trouble — you know quests. Weird river yoga, bad karaoke, Monday morning brunches. And I wrestled Old Age till he agreed to give the chalice back.

[abandon_hope]

...

Why is it always ridiculous for you?

[audacity]

Man, I wish I knew.

[abandon_hope]

[ He shakes his head. ]

Even I don't have to do that kind of thing.

[ he'll get his solo book eventually, ]

[audacity]

[ the future: looms ]

Yeah, Hades didn't break the pact. My dad did, and I get all the trouble for it.

[abandon_hope]

Yeah, but not even Jason gets the same kind of stuff that you do.

[audacity]

Dude, that's because his dad is Zeu — Jupiter, whatever. And Hera likes them. Meanwhile, those are two of my biggest problems.

[abandon_hope]

...

Okay, yeah. Zeus is a massive asshole.

[audacity]

See!

— wait, I mean. Gods, you know what I mean.

[abandon_hope]

Yeah, I know. It's just -

[ Ugh, he flails a hand helplessly and almost whacks him. ]

Charon asked me a question during the game.

[audacity]

Yeah, he does that.

[abandon_hope]

He asked if it was impossible for us to accept the idea of safety any more.

[audacity]

Oh. Yikes.

[abandon_hope]

Yeah. And then he followed it up by asking what safety would look like if we weren't demigods.

... I really didn't have a good answer for him. For either question. This is just what life is for us.

[audacity]

[ goes so still and quiet and kevin couldn't be blamed for wondering if cepheus hasn't left, if not for the pressure at kevin's hands.

softly, ]

I'd sort of started to think...maybe New Rome could kind of be like that? But I don't know anymore. And I definitely can't imagine being a regular kid.

[abandon_hope]

[ yeah uh. when Cepheus doesn't speak for a moment there, Kevin clings a little harder just to make sure he's still there. ]

Yeah. New Rome is the closest we have ... and it's still not safe. Not the way he meant it.