[Action /Voice]

[dissonates]

[So it's been almost a month. A lot has happened in that time, most of which Asch would much rather have avoided. But there's little helping that; it's common knowledge that life will kick you around even when you're already down, and he's used to it by now. Luceti has made him complacent over time, and this past month has been a very rude awakening. It's time to move on and stop pretending he's someone else.

So with the mask of dismissal very carefully reconstructed and back on his face where it belongs, as soon as the village starts to quiet down and the effects of the experiment fading, Asch returns from the mountain at last. His first trip is to the shop to leave his camping gear there, not wanting to carry it all the way back to the house. Instead he finds a crate and takes it to Good Spirits, raiding the back room (whether the bartender of the night likes it or not) and grabs a few bottles of the very strongest liquor. It probably looks like he's going on a drinking binge, and after all that's happened, who could blame him?

But no. Next stop is House 5, to come home for what he's decided will be the last time. He heads inside, calling out as he deposits the alcohol on the kitchen table-]

Hey, replica! We're leaving, let's go.

[After that it's time for packing. Then moving to a community building- the closest one, a safe distance but not too far, either. There's very little that he wants to keep, after all. Finally, a comment left in the journal this evening, to avoid a crowd-]

House 5 will be gone tonight. Don't interfere.

[And true to his word, thanks to well-placed tinder, matches, and a crate of hard liquor, House 5 will be a raging inferno around sunset this evening, with Asch, Luke, and Star the cheagle watching it burn to the ground.

Feel free to bother him at any time during all of this, if it tickles your fancy!]

Comments

[trueknight]

[Yuri glances over at Luke for a moment, raising an eyebrow slightly. ... Considering that he looks kinda exasperated ... yeah, Luke probably didn't realize this was going to happen.

... Which would make the person who did this probably Asch. ... In which case, yeah, he probably doesn't want to ask any further.

So, he shrugs.]

Kinda hard not to, but ... whatever. Not gonna break my heart either way.

[fabrecation]

[Luke glances at Yuri, then at Asch... Then, he moves to take Yuri's arm and lead him a few feet away, where he'll lean in to whisper:]

You know that... Guy went back, right?

[trueknight]

[Said leading away throws Yuri off a little (heck, if Luke didn't end up saying something right afterward, he might've gotten an earful about it), but hearing what he had to say ...]

... Yeah. I heard about it. [While he doesn't always speak up, he certainly does go through the journal network fairly often.]

[fabrecation]

[Luke glances down at the floor, his expression sobering into something that's just... sad and depressed. He's not as bad as when he first found out, at least, but still... That was his best friend.]

Guy and Asch were... [Uh. How does he...? Considering their relationship still weirded him out, despite how much he vouched for it. Luke can't help reaching to rub the back of his neck as he tries to spit it out, though quietly; he's sure Asch doesn't want Luke telling everyone about this.] Uh... really close.

[trueknight]

Huh?

["Really close"? ... Oh, did he mean they were good friends or something? Yeah, he knew that already. Geez, was Asch that sensitive about who he's friends with that Luke has to be all whispery and awkward about it? Weird, man.]

... Oh, yeah. I figured they were. They seemed like it, anyway.

[... From the little he's managed to catch over the journal from random glances, anyway-- Oh wait, he sees where this is going. He pauses for a moment.]

Wait, then that's why he ... [Yuri glances back at the fire for a moment. Was the house being burned down as a way of forgetting Guy or in memory of him or something? ... Yeesh.]