Endgame: Gathered on This Beach of the Tumid River

[animusmods]

Characters: open
Setting: all around the Tower from the 25th of May to the 1st of June
Format: any
Summary: A general mingle for all characters throughout the Tower.
Warnings: Standard Animus warnings; please note anything specific in the subject headers of your threads

[The Tower is stagnant, the only signs of activity confined to the second block. There isn't much time left; it might be a good idea to rest and do whatever strikes your fancy before the timer hits zero.]

Comments

[savedbyasong]

Shion looked up, paling himself when he saw Reno's face. "What..."

[midgarhorizon]

"...Ah, you're never goin' to be alone, kiddo." Smiling, he reached up to ruffle his hair affectionately. "It was somethin' my dad was trying to tell me a long time ago... I guess that means all the people I ever loved didn't really leave, either, huh?"

[savedbyasong]

Shion blinked and looked up at Reno with a small smile. "You only just realised?" It was a very Reno thing to do, teach Shion something and only later realise it counted for him as well.

[midgarhorizon]

"Hey I'm really bad at applyin' this stuff to my own life..." He grumbled, swatting at Shion's hair this time. "I'm not that old, you know. I'm still figuring this stuff out... go easy on me."

Sobering up a little, he glanced out at the dark outside. "I guess I just kinda focused on how alone I felt. Good friends helped, but they started feeling like family, then they left. What about you, kiddo?"

[savedbyasong]

Shion grinned, blowing the hair back out of his face. "But you're supposed to be the all knowing wise one."

He followed Reno's gaze to the blackness outside. "I don't know... I never really had friends growing up except Safu and then Rat... I guess I never really realised how important things like that were to me until I came here."

[midgarhorizon]

Reno raised an eyebrow. "Never thought I'd hear anyone say that about me. You sure you got the right guy?"

But the other part, that's understandable. Shion hadn't really grown up with the right kind of... what's the word? Reno tried to turn his brain over for it, but failed. It didn't really matter though. "It's all right. There's a lot of things ya grow up thinking or feeling, and then something happens later that turns the whole world upside down. Kinda weird how the world didn't really change though, it's just your perspective. I think there's some kinda proverb about that."

The cigarette, almost forgotten, dropped some ash on Reno's hand, which made him wince and shake it off. "Sometimes you have to test yourself, or make a change. I know I learned a lot more 'bout myself and the world one year in Wall Market and in the Turks than I did. You've done a lot of that here, Shion. You'll do a whole lot more of it, whatever ya decide to do. Xion's the same. Even Elena..."

He grows sort of quiet then.

[savedbyasong]

Shion just grinned at him and then thought about what Reno said. He had changed a lot in the time he had been in the tower. Looking back he scarcely recognised the boy who had arrived here. And part of him disliked him. He had been weak and unable to do anything.

At Elena's words he looked up, "Are you two going to try and stay together?"