and when you gaze long into an abyss...

[sageprincess]

Characters: Everyone!
Setting: Everywhere!
Format: Every format!
Summary: General mingle log for the first day of the Into An Abyss event.
Warnings: General Tower warning.

[Freak out, organize, stick your hand into the tear in reality on floor 23, etc.]

Comments

[notsogrimreaper]

You’ve already been working very hard. I’m sure we’ll make it through this just fine.

[Honestly, Ryoji is worried. He knows how powerful Jason is, and he knows not everyone has full access to their powers. He’s afraid that quite a few people will die over the next few days… but he has to stay optimistic. Hope is one of the only things they have left.]

[oathshackledbird]

We will find a way. After all, we can't let him stop us here. There are too many people who we are fighting for who can't fight for themselves any longer.

[He falls quiet, suddenly not sure if he should say anything. In the end, though Diarmuid decides to continue.]

I...haven't seen Yukiko for a long time...

[notsogrimreaper]

[Ryoji was ready to continue on with the current conversation, but his reassurances die on his lips as Diarmuid speaks. He was hoping not to talk about that. It had already been over a month since he saw her gravestone. He was getting over it... or at least that's what he was telling himself.

Yet he still woke up from dreams about her, still half-expected to see her when he walked past her old room, still almost said in conversations that Yukiko would be interested in hearing that...]

...I haven't either. I checked in the graveyard a long time ago and... there was one more grave with her name on it.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid doesn't respond right away. This is what he had feared the answer was. He had been telling himself maybe she had just been temporarily sent home like Ryoji had, but as the time since he heard from her got longer, the more worried he became that he was only deluding himself.

Standing, he steps around the weapons and pulls Ryoji into a tight hug. Even though he has Waver now, Diarmuid still remembers how much it had hurt to lose Cecil all those months ago.]

Why didn't you come to me? We could have talked...

[notsogrimreaper]

[Ryoji swallows and then lets out a heavy sigh, slowly bringing his arms up to return the hug. This was exactly why he didn’t tell him. Diarmuid had been so worried, and confirming his fears would have only made him feel so much worse. Not to mention talking about it likely would have been more painful than just attempting to move on.

But he can’t tell Diarmuid all of that. He thinks carefully, deciding to share some parts and just keeping others to himself.]

I was busy when it happened. I was going to tell you, but I got killed not long after… I was just too nervous to mention it, since I was wondering if you’d noticed. By the time I was ready to say something, Lancer-san was planning my party.

[oathshackledbird]

So much happens in this place...and then we miss the things that we should never miss.

[Diarmuid rests his head against Ryoji's hair, not really sure what to say. Though, after a moment, he does whisper.]

I am so sorry. I will hope with all that is in me she will return to you soon.

[notsogrimreaper]

I’ll hope too. That’s really all we have, right?

[He does believe that there is a strong power in hope. That was the only reason SEES survived Nyx, after all.]

[oathshackledbird]

Hope and each other.

[Diarmuid gives him another squeeze and then steps back.]

Between the two we cannot fail, right?

[Too much rides on them succeeding to think of failure. And just how much grows every day...]

[notsogrimreaper]

Right. It’s impossible to lose if you have your friends with you.

[He doesn’t like to think about the possibility of failure, of letting all his friends down… it goes against what hope is about, anyways.]

[oathshackledbird]

Exactly.

[Diarmuid nods in agreement.]

So what will you be doing now? Would you like to stay and help here or do you have other things in mind?

[notsogrimreaper]

Oh! Um, if you don't mind, I'd like to help out. I don't want to impose, but I just thought if you needed any assistance, I'm not doing anything important.

Thread end?

[oathshackledbird]

Of course, you can help out. There are people bringing in more weapons that need to be sorted and more importantly, there are weapons I need help checking to make sure they are real when the glamour flickers.

[He motions for Ryoji to follow him over to the weapon piles.]

Shall we get started?

Works for me!

[notsogrimreaper]

Of course! I can do that!

[He follows behind, grateful to help and spend some extra time with someone he cares about.]