Origin Star Finale: Session 2

[fairwind]

Who: explorers
When: Day 54, noon
Where: The Final Island

[At nearly noon, Thyme's airship returns from the island with the first session's explorers. Everyone receives a chain message:

Time for round two. If you want to go, gather up.

Those who wish to go looking for the second totem can now board the airship. It waits around 20 minutes -- long enough for a quick break for those who are going twice in a row -- but then heads off again with its new crew. Along the way, everyone gets a lecture:]

Okay, for everyone who missed it the last time, here are the rules:

You're not looking for a monster to beat up. You're looking for a totem, that you'll have to deactivate by showing positive emotions. Any creatures you meet on the way can also be beaten with good feelings. Some can be killed, but that's not purifying the soul, so try to avoid it.

[When you arrive, it's at a damp sea cave. The airship hovers over the water, leaving you access to the only viable ground -- a narrow, salt-crusted stairway leading up into a tower.]

Comments

[notafruit]

[ Gently, she shakes her head. ]

I won't be pulled in.

[ She's heartened... feeling somehow more confident and positive than before. She doesn't understand how or why this happened, but she absolutely knows that they are more than able to escape these walls. ]

Kyou-san... I know you're scared and upset and angry right now. I can barely believe my eyes-- that something like this is possible.

[ Falling through walls? It's as though she's stepped into an impossible movie. Nothing makes sense, but here they are. ]

But... you don't belong there. Do you remember what we were told when we set out? We... we're fighting against the 'malice'. And our best defense... our only defense, is to strengthen our bonds and fight against it knowing that we are stronger than whatever it has to throw at us.

[ A faint smile, gentle as she reaches a hand out to gently rest it upon the wall. ]

I believe in you. You're warm and kind, and whenever I think back to my memory with you, my heart fills up with so much joy. I know that you can get out of there. So let's do it, together.

[yearofthecat]

[ He trusts her. With everything he's seen about her--she's someone he trusts completely. Together. The word alone brought a feeling of warmth to him that flowed throughout his body. Butterflies fluttering within his stomach. ]

I don't want to hurt you.

[ But his hand reaches out to meet hers and press against the rock, their hands touching as they met together. ]

[notafruit]

You won't. I promise.

[ And she believes it. Kyou wouldn't hurt her. She understands that much. When his hands finally find her own, her fingers curl about his and she pulls him toward her with a tug, determined to free him from that place. ]

[yearofthecat]

[ And just as she was determined, out he came stumbling out of the stones and into her with a burst of smoke. ]

What just...

[ He looks up and the face he'd been looking into just moments before is much MUCH larger than it was just a moment before. ]

1/2

[notafruit]

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

Kyou....san?

[ He just.... he...? ]

[notafruit]

[ KYOU-SAN!? ]

O-OH MY GOSH! T-T-The wall, just... it...!

It turned you into a cat!?

[yearofthecat]

I don't know what is happening! Did this happen to anyone else?

[He's a cat. WHY IS HE A CAT? What is happening? This isn't normal!]

WHY A CAT?

[ Why does he blame her just a little for it being a cat he's turned into?]

[notafruit]

T-There was a pony that turned into a girl, but--

[ None of this is normal is it?? ]

No one else did anything like that outside of you two!