[Written | Action]

[dissonates]

[The message, tossed on the journal some time in the early afternoon, is short, carefully scripted, and with the camera concealed to keep it anonymous. He has no intention of dealing with the aftermath unless he absolutely has to.]

Luke fon Fabre and Xion have returned to their respective worlds.

[A short while later, another message is sent privately, though not so anonymously:]

[Private to Buffy and Jack (Horner)]

I won't be at the bar tonight. Close it if you want, work the shift yourselves, I don't care.


[After that, he's in the wind. First he goes out into the woods to where Luke was when they last spoke, to check for any signs of what might have been left, then to Luke's apartment to scour the place; he returns with a necklace, a ring, the Jewel of Lorelei, and a lot of hollow feelings.

After that, it's off to the Battle Dome, where he'll spend the next several hours destroying every simulation he can come up with, working his way through several of them one after another. He'll only stop once in a while when, in the midst of his fury and frustration, his body decides it's had enough; his heart seizes up, protesting the way it's being overworked. It's yet feeling the relief of that fact that for the first time in years, the weight of Luke's presence, their connection, no longer exists. His dissonance has been halted but he honestly wasn't prepared for how it would make him feel.

He won't be home for a long time.]

Comments

[Voice]

[originaljackass]

Fuck! I was planning to score tonight!

[Audible and not really meant for Asch. Just him complaining out loud.]

[Voice]

[herotypical]

Don't listen to him. [ huff. you are such an ass, horner. ] I got you covered, Asch. Take as long as you need. Hell -- take more. Take as long as you want, too.

[ and that's all that's said, really. it's not like she could ease the tragedy with words. and asch has never been an open individual. although she's been no recent stranger to loss, she knows they all handle it differently. so if asch needs to bolt and assume his own personal version of a crash position? so be it. ]

[Voice]

[dissonates]

...Thank you.

[He wishes he knew what else to say, honest. But there aren't really words to describe how he's feeling right now. Still, it's good to have someone halfway understanding about it.]

[Voice]

[herotypical]

Understand that I make this offer with the full knowledge that you probably want nothing to do with it but -- just in case you do wanna talk with a person who might be me? My ears are here. We've all been around this block a few times.

[Voice]

[dissonates]

[w o w he knew this guy was shallow, but seriously?]

If you're expecting sympathy, you'll be sorely disappointed.

[Voice]

[originaljackass]

Hey, if you had a hot date, you'd feel the same way.

[Voice]

[yourfononsarewhack]

That's quite the heavy claim. Yet I wouldn't put much stock in anonymous messages. They're extraordinarily unreliable, after all.

[Written]

[dissonates]

[you

goddamn

troll]

Believe it, or don't. I don't care.

[Written]

[yourfononsarewhack]

[He has his suspicions at least. As distant as Luke and Asch were, their fonic link would be the quickest way to tell that Luke had left when as far as Jade was aware, either from talking to Luke and/or through his own individual creepering, Luke and Xion had lived together. Their still was the possibility that it could be one of the people from Xion's world that he was unfamiliar with, but it doesn't quite help that Jade could oh so easily imagine that last message being said in Asch's voice.]

That's quite apathetic for someone who went through the trouble of informing us of this rumor. It would be more efficient to consult someone who may be able to tell more definitively that Luke is truly gone from this world - such as his brother, Asch.

[He'll leave out his trolling bait. It's his childish retaliation for facing the idea of Luke being gone so soon, to face such an uncertain fate.]

[Video]

[gonnawreckit]

[It's only video because that's the first button Ralph pressed. He sure as heck wasn't going to write out his first response. Instead, the video feed collects the image of a giant fist punching into the journal, as well as the resulting sound.]

What do you mean, Xion went home!

[Written]

[dissonates]

[Asch isn't giving up his identity, so he just carries on writing as if it never switched.]

It means exactly how it sounds. She returned to her world.

[Video]

[gonnawreckit]

[And Ralph just keeps on jamming at the video button]

Who is this? Did you send her back? She better be okay back there!

action;

[degleamed]

[ Even if she can't be sure who left the message, Asch is the first person Rapunzel worries about after the shock of what's written wears off. Her heart was aching. Luke had been one of her best friends, and someone she loved very much. Xion she didn't know as well, but she remembered how they had dragged Asch to the masquerade together and what a sweet memory that evening was. Now, the memory made her feel like crying, but she didn't. Not now. She could cry later. Now, she would be strong, like Asch had been for her.

She goes to his home first, but doesn't find him there. Chest tightening, she headed for Luke's apartment next, and lo and behold, she spots Asch leaving the building on her way there.

She doesn't say anything. Just stops in her tracks, watching him carefully. ]

action;

[dissonates]

[He's still lost in thought and reeling somewhat from the empty apartment he'd found, even though he'd known it would be- Luke's presence in the back of his mind was gone, completely erased, leaving an empty hole. He's already wondering if a fonic seal would be a decent way to deal with that particular gap, and that's how Rapunzel finds him outside the apartment building: a little puzzled, a little desperate, a little bit like he's in pain. And when he spots her watching him, he stops as well, but doesn't speak.

Honestly, he doesn't know what to say.]

action;

[degleamed]

[ She can feel the heartache all over again at the sight of him. She still didn't understand the bond between Asch and Luke, but she knew whatever it was, it was important. And she knows a pained heart when she sees one.

She takes a few steps closer to him. ]

...Asch?

[FEELINGS]

[distressedude]

[It's a good thing this entry is written, because it would have taken far more than hearing it just once for the news to really sink in. As it as, Ion's already been sitting there in shock, reading the words and just... not believing them. The worst part is knowing he has no way of proving it, save for one method: and after a few minutes of choked silence, he attempts a filter -- and it breaks the moment he sets his pen to the pages of the journal.]

[He doesn't respond -- what was there to say? After another long silence, he eventually just closes his journal and lets it fall to the ground from the side of his bed.]

[Voice]

[generalflirt]

The both of them... huh? That's almost poetic.

[Even if they aren't going to the same place. And he's got no idea of Luke's fate, but from what he knows of Xion's, her's isn't all that happy. Really, the timing is more of a farce than anything, which is probably why a twisted smile is on his face even as he says this. It's easier to smile]

[Written]

[dissonates]

It wasn't at the same time, but if nothing else it was convenient.

[For them, anyway. Or maybe just for Luke- he didn't have to deal with living here without her, after all. This is much better.

For Xion... not so much.]

[voice]

[generalflirt]

[Hah] Way to ruin the romance of it.

[written]

[silversnowfall]

[Unlike some, she knows what Luke is going home to face. There are few who might feel moved to make the joint announcement like this...but she won't try to guess at the face behind the words.]

Thank you. We will miss them.

[written]

[dissonates]

Don't mention it.

[Seriously. Don't mention it. Don't talk about it. DON'T BRING IT UP EVER AGAIN HE DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR IT]

[written]

[silversnowfall]

[As it is anonymous, it feels much more like some kind of pleasantry.]

Did they leave anything?

[Action]

[knightofratatosk]

[When Emil hears this, he doesn't respond with words. Instead, he heads right into the kitchen and gets to work on making a batch of extra-chocolatey chocolate chip cookies, because those are the best comfort food ever, at least to his mind. He doesn't even wait for them to finish cooling before he packs them up and sets out in search of Asch-- cookies are best when they're warm, after all.

It might take him a bit of looking around to find the redhead, though, since his first instinct is to check Asch's house rather than Luke's apartment.]

[Action]

[dissonates]

[If he's still searching by the time Asch finishes at the Battle Dome, he's free to catch him on his way home. Of course, Asch isn't really keen on talking to anyone, so he's content to just pass Emil by and ignore him unless he's stopped.]

[Action]

[knightofratatosk]

[Good thing Emil isn't about to let that happen, then. When he spots his friend, he calls out to him, though he's careful to keep a bit of a distance at first, just in case Asch really doesn't want any company right now.]

Asch! Wait up!