A Whole New World

[tidesnpc]

Characters: Anyone and everyone from all three ships.
Content: The clouds are gone, revealing the long-sought world below.
Setting: The edge of the continent, near the blast site.
Time: After all the monsters have been fought and the ships head southeast.
Warnings: What you bring with you.

Comments

[la_rouge_madame]

...Well.

That had...certainly been something, though what exactly it was, Ann didn't know. All she knew was that those old stories about a land beneath the clouds were, apparently, true. She wondered what would happen next.

After she got a hold of Bu-ling, that was. The silly girl was...well, being Bu-ling and trying to get money from the gathered crowd. It wasn't easy keeping up with her when Ann had to use a cane, but she was trying.

"Bu-ling, darling, come back here!"

[barrelobuling]

Bu-ling rolled circles around Ann and the crowd, running on a barrel on its side and holding out a hat for money to be tossed into. "What is it, Red-oneechan? Bu-ling is performing right now."

[la_rouge_madame]

"Yes, I noticed, which is precisely why I want to to come back here," Ann said, laughing a little. "Now is not the time for the hijinks of a monkey girl."

[barrelobuling]

"But this is the biggest crowd Bu-ling has ever seen, and all the bad stuff is over and everybody is happy and they're all in one spot and they have money." Bu-ling hopped off the barrel, letting it roll into a fence post. "Now is the best time."

[flailingbento]

Watanuki had come to out view the new continent with all the rest, of course. He was still moving gingerly; the healers had done their work well on his wounds, but the blood loss had left him weak, especially after the frantic escape through the Badlands. But, well, how could he not have come out now to see history in the making?

Anyway, it was hard to sleep after the events of the past few days. Why not come out here and watch the world below instead? There was comfort in the presence of other people, after all. So Watanuki wandered the streets, contemplating buying a drink and wondering if drinking alone would be stupid, but all in all more than content just to walk.

[tiny_tinker_toy]

"Kimihiro! Why are you not lying down!?"

Rikku hurried over to her best friend, holding on tightly to her hat. "You lost a lotta blood, you could get sick if you don't rest!"

[flailingbento]

"Rikku!" Watanuki turned to give her a smile. "I'm fine - no need to worry. I rested all day, and I've been taking it easy." He was still a little pale, it was true, but he already felt better than he had this morning.

"Isn't it a little windy up here to be wearing a hat?" he asked, indicating her grip on it. "With the clouds all gone, I mean."

[tiny_tinker_toy]

Rikku grinned when he mentioned her hat. Oh, she was hoping he'd say something.

"Sorta, but that's why I was heading to the edge. Since you're up, wanna come with me? I got something to show you."

[unsoundmind]

So, it looked like everything had turned out just fine.

Well, good. That meant he would have ample time to study the samples he'd collected. He had also made a mental note to capture and cage his insufferable no doubt ex-coworker -- powers like that required detailed experimentation and research. Simply witnessing what he was capable of would not be enough.

It was of no immediate importance, however. There was plenty of time to deal with that. For now, he was tired and still jangling slightly in the wake of what had felt like an extremely short war.

[killallsparks]

The world had been saved yet again, thanks to the tireless efforts of Othar Tryggvassen! The hero was rather happily strolling through the makeshift town, pleased to regale his epic story to and all who would listen (and even those who wouldn't listen. But then othar was never the type to give up easily.

At the moment, he was having a lovely chat with some poor fool or other, when his eyes fell upon a certain ne'er-do-well he had a certain amount of unfinished business with. Bristling, he excused himself from his conversation 9to the delight of the poor fool) and bellowed loudly at the Spark in question. "You! The day for your final judgement has come, villain!"

Oh, the keywords are so, so relevant.

[unsoundmind]

Hojo winced at that loud and painfully, disappointingly familiar voice. Would it have been so much to ask for him to have died (heroically) in the battle that had just passed? Apparently so. Hojo, in his ragged labcoat and still clutching his bag of samples, turned slowly in the direction that the noise was coming from.

"Is that right?" He sneered, pushing up his glasses in a decidedly irritated fashion. "I rather thought we had just averted the end of the world. Judgement is rather late in the grand scheme of things, is it not?"

[killallsparks]

Despite having been killing things left and right for quite a few days now, Othar's turtleneck was no worse for wear, and remained spotless and hole-free. He pulled his trusty gun from its holster, leveling it at the doctor in what should have been a very familiar gesture for him. "It is never too late for Justice, fiend!"

[killallsparks]

Sitting around the bonfire at night surrounded by his eager listening fans, a certain turtleneck-ed hero was joyously regaling his audience with the epic tale of how he had defeated the hordes of children (very obviously possessed by the work of some mad Spark or other) and saved the continent!

"--And so that is when I, Othar Tryggvassen, (GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!) cunningly deduced that the thing that was needed to stop the whole mess was a very large hammer! The continent was saved!"

Othar beamed. People actually seemed to be interested. Well, they cheered, anyway.

[princelyspirit]

Yeah yeah, whatever. If Utena heard another word out of this blowhard's mouth, she was going to get sick. So, while everyone else cheered, the skeptical young woman rolled her eyes, stood up, and began to walk away from the campfire.

[killallsparks]

How touching! Apparently that oddly dressed young woman was so moved by the tales of his heroic exploits that she felt she must immediately go off and do some Heroic!work herself. Such initiative should be encouraged! Othar left the rest of his cheering fans, begging off offers of buying him drinks (he'd had enough, and one's head must always be clear in case any nefarious Sparks appeared who were tired of living) and began following the pink-haired woman as surreptitiously as possible.

Meaning not at all.

[princelyspirit]

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up almost immediately and she stopped right in her tracks. Were those footsteps? Was someone following her? Well, if they were, they weren't doing a very good job of it. She spun around to face her would-be stalker, but when she saw who it was, her jaw dropped.

"You!"

[penny_dancer]

This was amazing. Simply amazing. Penelo was near the edge, carefully looking over. She'd seen the blue thing before, on the 4423, but she hadn't realized there was so much of it, or that there was all that land below.

Satisfied (for now), she turned back to go find Beat and the kids, and probably pull Kytes and Filo away from the edge.

[curry_ramen]

beat was just where she expected, leaning over the edge with the kids and looking awestruck. Like Penelo he had seen the giant lake before, but now all this LAND too... it was something he knew he'd be telling his kids and grandkids about for the rest of his life. He didn't think of it in those terms of course, but he did want to take in as much of it now as he could.

When he saw Penelo approaching he grinned, waving, but still keeping half an eye on the younger folks under his care.

[penny_dancer]

"Kytes, stop trying to push Filo off. Fussbudget, get down from that rock."

The reprimands came easily and without any venom, but the kids still listened. Penelo went up to Beat, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "I told Migelo there was water below the cloud level," she said, laughing. The old Bangaa was in town, doing his own thing. "He called me crazy."

[curry_ramen]

"Do ya blame 'em? If we hadn't seen it before I wouldn't believe it either..." he turned, returning the kiss, aiming for lips instead of cheek and ignoring the hoots around him. He didn't care, for once, who saw or talked. Today he was full of fire and promise... even with all the death around them recently.