Ashes of the Sacred Flame

[action/written]

2014-06-06T03:07:57Z

[He's so stunned and disoriented to be alive again that he doesn't notice the lost connection inside his own head for at least three minutes.

For a while Asch just lies there in the grass, staring up at the sky and trying to figure out what the problem is. More specifically, what he's missing. He's not blind this time, that's a pleasant enough surprise. All his limbs and other senses are working. He thinks back to as many significant life experiences, pleasant or otherwise, and he can't come up with any gaps or missing memories. If he'd lost any, they weren't important enough to matter, apparently.

It's only when he finally sits up and tries to contact Luke and find out what's going on that he realizes he can't. He tries five times, wrestling with his fonons, prodding at the mental wall that used to be an open passage between his mind and his replica's. With that not working, it's easy to figure out what the problem is. He tries fonic artes- each of the four spells he's mastered, a few others learned from the Daathic books he'd gotten over the years. None of them work.

So. Answers that question. He'd kind of rather have taken the gap in memories, but it's not like anyone has ever asked him what he wanted.

Arriving at an empty house - aside from a noisy cat and a frantic cheagle - is just icing on the cake of his crappy life, so Asch wastes no time on sentimentality. Best to just get it over with: he opens the journal, jotting down a quick and emotionless note.]

I'm back.

Arietta the Wild has returned to Auldrant.

If anyone is willing to give me a debriefing on how the Zompania battle ended, I'd be grateful. I'll reopen Good Spirits tonight.

[True to his word, Asch'll be at Good Spirits that evening, though the atmosphere of the bar is significantly less cheery than usual. And with him tending the place, that's saying something.]

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[voice/action]

2014-02-07T05:59:35Z

[Uuuuugh, he really doesn't want to do this. Human resources has literally never been his department. Even when he was prepping to become the eventual king of Kimlasca, he had certain social issues that should've been worked on; growing up in Daath and earning a reputation fitting for Asch the Bloody just made them worse.

But he's tired of spending an absurd amount of hours at a bar that he can't decide whether or not he even likes anymore just because no one else is available, especially with half the staff missing. When Norma doesn't even bother showing up to work for several days in a row that basically cements it.]

...Good Spirits is hiring. Come to the bar this afternoon for an interview if you're interested in joining the staff.

[And that's pretty much where he'll be. As usual. But don't expect to get the job just because you show up!! ...Actually, that's might just make him less inclined to hire you, which is the very definition of counter-productive. The standards of Asch the Bloody are high, indeed. ~~The Gordon Ramsey of bartenders~~]

[[ooc: Good Spirits info post for those interested]]

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[Written | Action]

2013-05-14T02:13:13Z

[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.]

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[Action / Voice] backdated to the 25th (alternatively, any time last week)

2013-02-27T06:21:17Z

[This week Asch had debated whether or not to deal with the ridiculousness of what happened at the hotel, but in the end went with his usual method of ignoring things until they died (or at least left him alone). Thus, he won't be speaking to anyone he tried to wed last weekend for as long as humanly possible. (Unless they bully him. Or they are Luke. Because he can't escape Luke.)

He's also slacked off a lot in his responsibilities at the bar this week, in part due to excessive sharing with a certain vampire slayer (more than he's used to, anyway) but mostly because he's had very good reason to hang around at the bakery instead. Reason being a particularly long-haired young lady.

And said young lady is the purpose of his journal usage today.]

[Locked from Rapunzel | Voice]

Hey, I've got a question for Rapunzel's friends. Her birthday is coming up, and she's had lanterns in the sky every year on that day. It's easy to tell that she's upset about it not happening here, too.

Is this something we can change? Does anyone know how to make paper lanterns? I've never done it before, but I can't just let it go like this. We'd need a lot of them.

[He just wants to make her smile, okay.

And he'll continue to be a bit of a sap when it comes to Rapunzel until the whole experiment inevitably wears off by the end of the day, which is good because by then people are probably going to be very very sick of him. |D]

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[Voice/Action] backdated to Day 1 of the event until the end!

2012-11-26T04:25:40Z

[Asch will be leaving a single message on the journal network on the evening of the first day, his voice flat:]

[Voice]

I know that the village is being its usual mad self this week, but Guy Cecil's gone back to his world. With the recent departures, Good Spirits is shorthanded.

[....oh, right.]

Also, considering the bar is in the area where alcohol is apparently prohibited, thieves have been after the stores. Most of the remaining supply's been hidden, but I could use help guarding it.

As far as I know, the journal network has always been for our eyes only, so if you want any for yourself and the staff doesn't recognize you, try to come up with something only one of us would know.

[After that, he won't be doing much exploration. Asch is having none of this silly experiment business; he woke up wearing this, and since his closet seems to be full of clothes either like it or much worse, he just rolls with it. He's been around the block before. He'll be staying in the bar pretty much 24/7 (besides food runs and emergencies) to make sure the collection doesn't get completely depleted; he may be a recently returned staff member himself, now, but the bar was important to Guy, so he can at least protect it for a while. Alcoholic drinks will be served through the back door to villagers only, so if you want some booze, better figure out a way to act convincing.]

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[Action]

2012-10-10T21:39:06Z

( October 6th Action, Locked to Luke + Housemates if they want! )

---

[Action, October 10th, open to anyone]

[Finally, finally, Asch wakes to find that hey, surprise! His eyes are as clear as the day they'd been before he died. He spends a long time staring at everything in his room, taking in the details, the changes that he'd missed or accidentally caused over the course of the last four months. There's dust in places difficult to clean, his closet is a disorganized mess, and the books on his shelf are out of order. Some of the houseplants aren't doing so well. Star's getting fat. The white in Tsuae's fur is discoloured from treks in the yard- chasing Ginji's birds, probably. He'll need to do a full sweep of the house and nitpick at it.

Tomorrow, though. Today he gets dressed, gets himself a meal and tea without dropping anything, burning his fingers, or bumping into the table. He leaves the house and he goes for a walk. Nothing special- a long, slow, utterly aimless wander through the village from late morning until after dinner, drinking in the sights and watching the people who pass him by, as if seeing it all for the first time. He swings by the shops, the restaurant, maybe even Good Spirits for a bit, a place he hadn't been since before Guy went home the first time. He might even talk to people. He seems curious and calm for once, almost smiling.

It's a nice day. He can see again. What's there to bitch about?

Evening will find him on Amaterasu's hill, leaning against one of the cherry trees, content to sit and watch the sunset. Only after it's finished does he return home at last.]

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[Action]

2012-09-23T02:06:26Z

[Since a certain someone's arrival, Asch has been kind of cranky and not particularly social, which has suited him just fine, besides having to endure appearing more pathetically lonely than usual. It's not like he really cares what other people think of him anyway (usually). Apparently there's some kind of party going on today, which makes him want to go out even less, so he's content to stay inside and keep out of the way. Parties? Not his thing.

But apparently some people have other ideas.

Eventually he will escape the party (greatly relieved to be away from it, whether he enjoyed himself at all or not), and will instead hang around outside the building trying to gather what's left of his dignity before he heads home. He just wants an uneventful walk in the dark (because it's always dark for him) and a long night's rest.

And apparently he's not allowed to do that, either.

Only when he makes it home does he finally take steps towards contacting a certain scientist who can get his body back to normal. Four months is long enough to be fumbling around in the dark without his replica nearby.]

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[Written...? / Action, May 20th and beyond]

2012-05-22T05:10:45Z

( in which rambling happens )

[It's much later - after he's found, after he's awake and aware of his new situation - that Asch finally touches the journal. He toys with the controls, flips through the pages quietly, listening to everything that's open to hear. It feels... startlingly normal. Just your average day in Luceti. Life does go on without you- but then, he knew that long ago. This is nothing new.

...Well, almost nothing. It's hard to do much of anything when you can't see the world you're used to seeing around you. Not for the first little while, anyway. By touch and trial-and-error he finds the camera eventually, and he scribbles out a bit of nonsense in what he thinks is the entry area that almost looks like words, he sends out a few misfired comments to complete strangers, and in the end he thinks the entire journal system isn't nearly user-friendly enough. Eventually he gives up and sets it aside, leaving it open. Just. Listens.

It's not much. But for the moment, it'll do.]

((ooc: okay so here's the deal- Asch is back from the dead and blind. He'll be in the clinic for a while while he gets used to it, so feel free to use this post as a catch-all in case people want to visit/stumble upon him for the entire week. His scribble entry is also sort-of posted with a slightly-obscured picture, so if you'd rather use the voice function to bug him, feel free |D Word will probably get around that he's back one way or another.

Luke may or may not be with him depending on the time of visit; more often than not, he will be ~~attached at the hip~~ keeping an eye on Asch and helping him to see. He might also be asleep or taking a break. Feel free to specify; if he is there, he probably won't speak much (to save Kukki's inbox and to simplify things), so it's just a matter of whether or not your character will be seen.))

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[Action / Backdated to the 19th]

2012-03-21T05:02:16Z

[The fonic link is a rather convenient tool, that much is for sure; with it, Asch can tell where Luke is in case he needs to avoid his replica- and, alternatively, whoever he's with. And in this case, it's Guy. Ever since Guy's arrival earlier this month, Asch has been mysteriously absent from the apartment he'd shared with Luke, and tonight, with Luke and Guy both out and about for the evening, he's come to a decision.

He's leaving- for good. Once the apartment is empty, he'll venture there himself, clear out his room, and leave it vacant for them to find later on. Or not find. Maybe they won't notice. Maybe they won't care.

Guy won't. He's fairly certain of that. And that- ...it doesn't bother him. He won't let it bother him.

Tsuae is displeased upon his return, of course, and Star has the nerve to try and set him on fire, but his mind is made up. Within a few hours he's packed up and ready to go. It's actually kind of sad, how few possessions he's managed to acquire over the last few years in Luceti. It'll probably only take a few trips to get it to his new place.

...Once he figures where that new place is.

People can run into him while he's in the process of moving if they so desire, though there are a couple people that, in particular, he needs to be speaking with. The area is mainly community building 2, by the way.]

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[Action]

2012-02-18T20:43:16Z

[Missions suck as much as, if not moreso than, the drafts. Asch has decided this. It's not just that he'd been sent on an uncomfortably-outnumbered solo mission, it's not just that his health problems had reared their ugly heads in the middle of it and nearly gotten him killed, it's not just he'd had to rely on luck and skill to keep him alive with zero ability to heal himself despite being a Seventh Fonist.

No, at this point, mostly? It's the fact that once it's all over, and the Malnosso saw fit to send him back to the village, he finds himself floundering underwater.

Bastards, is his second thought, since his first is a string of expletives that would do a sailor proud. Thankfully he's only a couple of feet or so from where his feet can touch solid ground, so within a minute he's slogging towards the shore, soaking wet and pulling seaweed from his hair. Damn. Bastards.

Not that the shore is much better. There's apparently something going on - the usual love experiment, no doubt - and he's managed to get dumped right in the middle of it. They probably did that on purpose. He can't do anything while soaked as he is, though, so his first order of business is to get changed. There isn't much selection, but within a few minutes he's got his uniform hung out to dry and is wearing a suit and a long, dark blue bathrobe. It's humiliating, but it's better than freezing to death back in the village.

Since he has to wait for his clothes and hair to dry in the sun, Asch will be hanging around the beach area, available for chatting, fruity goodness, and whatnot. Come and bother the cranky one! (He is unaffected by the normal love stuff, btw.)]

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