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

[coyotealpha]

Pip Bernadette had seen many things in life, but this view before him now was perhaps one of the best and most beautiful things that he had ever seen up until now. He had always heard stories about this of course - rumours and gossip about how there was a whole new world right below their feet. He had always taken them with a pinch of salt, but to see it right before his eyes now...

Looks like things are going to change, oui, the man thought to himself ruefully as he chewed on his burnt-out cigarette, wondering idly what would happened if he dropped it down over the edge he was standing on. Possibly in the months to come there would be explorers starting to go down, and then maybe diplomats if there were other people... only time would tell what would happen next, really.

Sighing softly, Pip glanced back up to the sky, seeing the sun having long broken through the clouds and bringing a new day for everyone. A new day, a new beginning... time would heal all scars they say, and he certainly hope it would work for him.

You sacrificed

[armorgal]

Erza was scratched, beaten, and covered in bandages, but despite that she was smiling. The view was fantastic - more land than she'd ever seen, and what was the huge expanse of blue in the distance? That couldn't possibly be water, could it?

She came up behind Pip, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

[coyotealpha]

Pip glanced behind him when he felt that hand on his shoulder, smiling back in turn when he saw who it was. Erza Scarlet - even when in bandages, she still looked as beautiful as always like out in the battlefield and everywhere else.

"Yeah, it is," the mercenary returned, looking back to the view. "One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, if not the most." Because this had come from all the tears and blood and hardship of so long, of a final battle and the sacrifice of many. It was a sight to be cherished, indeed.

[armorgal]

"It's hard to believe that so much land could ever exist," she said. "And here we were, fighting over such paltry scraps. What a bunch of fools we are."

She peered down at the world below, taking in its vistas again through her good eye. Her artificial one had been damaged during the battle, and was now hidden beneath a patch until she could have it replaced.

[sunset_summers]

He didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Eventually, Roxas just settled on relieved. At first, he sort of wandered aimlessly through the makeshift settlement, not sure what to do with himself. He was glad to be alive, but that didn't change the fact that not everyone made it. It was sort of like that fateful Lunasa, only on a much larger, deadlier scale.

The map he had in the Amestris' navigation room still had the now destroyed region on it. It hurt to look at.

And then he heard the radio announcement. He rushed over to the edge and peered down, eyes widening at the new, uncharted territory below.

He'd like to see what was down there, and this newfound goal gave him something to look forward to in the future. Moving back inland a bit, he found an unoccupied, smooth rock and took a seat, eventually spacing out.

[hushthenoise]

It... hurt. Witnessing the captain, hearing him with his final words and seeing as he... died... it had hurt. Neku didn't know or remember how or when he started to care, as it were, but he had - and it hurt, it really hurt. He had tried his best to help out in the end, but there was only so much he could manage. Fortunately he wasn't too injured; there were bandages on his arms and a few on his legs, but they were all stuff that could be healed with a little rest

[sunset_summers]

Half a minute after Neku arrived at the edge, Roxas stopped daydreaming and noticed him there. His eyes were drawn to the bandages, and right away, he was concerned and wanted to know what happened. But after the initial surprise wore off, Roxas realized that they didn't look bad, and it wasn't like Roxas himself got away without cuts, scrapes, and bruises of his own.

Standing up, Roxas approached Neku, and said, as if it were just a normal, regular day, "Hey."

[hushthenoise]

The voice brought Neku out from his own thoughts, and the orange-headed teenager blinked as he turned towards where the voice came from - blinking again when he saw who it was.

"Hey," he returned, once the momentary surprise had worn off. He had thought about Roxas was doing, and it seemed that the answer decided to come to him instead.

...it was good to see that he was alright.

[causink_trouble]

This was amazing. There was not much that Jenka, after her nearly four centuries of life, could be honestly amazed by, but this... A whole new world under their feet... Red fire, she was glad she'd lived this long. And she hoped, damn, she hoped this might finally be a real use for her, for all of them - if the Mistress didn't want war, maybe she'd want exploration. Who could not want this?

It was possible that she'd be just a bit less elated about the idea once the battle-high had worn off and once she was sober, but she wasn't planning on letting that happen for a good few weeks, if the makeshift town's supply of booze held out. For now, for once, she was walking around the never-ceasing parties wearing an expression mirroring that of the general population, if a little more predatory: she was grinning with them, not at them. It was strange, but she found herself not minding much.

[son_of_the_lake]

Hisoka greeted her, "Hey, Jenka! Want some Lakeside booze? I've got a couple of flasks."

[causink_trouble]

"Sure!" More booze was never a bad thing. Sure, she'd already had more than any three humans at this party combined, but more wasn't going o kill her. Jägerkin were very difficult to kill, after all.

"Zo, how hyu enjoyink de end ov de vorld so far?" She grinned.

[son_of_the_lake]

Hisoka removed a flask from his deep jacket pocket and handed it to her.

"I thought it was a pretty good end of the world, actually!" he said. He was still a little stupid with the aftermath of a massive adrenaline pump. But it was undeniable that he had enjoyed himself, in his own way. "And you?"

[flight_15]

Ichigo was sitting on the edge of the world. He figured his weight wouldn't cause any rockslides -- the cliff's edge had been well and truly trampled already. He was a little ways away from the town -- still in sight of it, but removed from the main action.

He stared down at the expanse of land so far below. Ichigo had always liked high places, but he'd never been quite this high before. It was impressive, he couldn't deny.

But his eyes kept shifting from the world below to something much closer: the ring on his hand.

I've killed two people, he thought, watching the sun glimmer off the plain band. And this is the only thing keeping me from killing anyone else. Not that Bradley hadn't...well, hadn't brought it on himself. If he hadn't gotten Bradley, Bradley would have gotten the crew of the Convoy. But the other one...

Lost in his thoughts, Ichigo was blind and deaf to anyone who might approach.

[son_of_the_lake]

Hisoka approached, spotting a familiar bright orange head of hair. "Hello, Ichigo," he said, quietly.

[flight_15]

Startled, Ichigo's head whipped around to look at the newcomer.

"Ah, Hisoka!" he said, surprise turning to recognition, and a little bit of sheepish embarrassment. His face was still mostly serious, though. "Sorry, I didn't hear you."

[son_of_the_lake]

"It's all right. How are you?" asked Hisoka.

[isntthatwright]

Phoenix had a dilemma.

On the one hand, he definitely wanted a look at the world below. The ramifications were mind-blowing, and it wouldn't feel right if he didn't see it. He didn't want to shut his eyes to this. He had to see it for himself.

On the other, Phoenix Wright hated heights.

So here he was, standing a good fifteen feet from the edge, inching towards it as fast as he dared. He was tense, sweating, ready to leap back towards solid land the second he felt anything give beneath his feet. He couldn't shake the fear that, somehow, his added weight would cause the land to slip away, just like so much of the continent already had, and plunge down, down--

I--I can't do it! Phoenix thought, flinching away.

But he had to have a look. He couldn't see a thing from this angle.

[mayovice]

Phoenix wasn't going to have much of a choice in the matter of looking, though - moments after he had stopped, a rough hand was grabbing the reporter by the back of his spiky head and forcing it to look over the edge, past the clouds and the land below.

"Just look at it and remember it, reporter," came a familiar impassive voice drawling beside him. "You're going to have to go down there sooner or later, you realize."

[isntthatwright]

"A-aa-aaaaaagh!" Phoenix yelled, reflexively struggling -- then freezing dead still as soon as he got a good look at the vast expanse in front of him.

Too high, too high--!!

He'd think about how beautiful it was later. He'd think about the vast expanses of land and water, the mountains, the shining rivers, all that would come later. For now, all Phoenix could think about was how high up it was, and pray that if he held still, no freak landslide or gust of wind would send him over the edge.

"It's not g-going there that's the problem," Phoenix sputtered. "It's how far away it is. Comparatively. To me, right now."

[mayovice]

Hijikata snorted at that, but yanked Phoenix back anyway so that he wasn't staring over the edge and thus would stop spluttering like a kid.

"We've been living here for years and you only think of that now?" the boatswain went with an entirely unimpressed tone, resisting the urge to outright lineface (although he was linefacing now, anyway, just a milder version). "News at eleven, Wright. News at eleven."