The end...?

[all_onis_are_true]

Who: Hiroshi, Supernova, Dave Strider. Also open to anybody, especially if they participated in either of the two action logs.
When: Shortly after the conclusion of both logs.
What: The Rod of Calem-Sur is assembled. Surely this is the end of the Ao Oni invasion...?
Where: The highest hill in Sirocco

Hiroshi waits, the shaft of the Rod of Calem-Sur in his hands. The only indication of his mental state is the whiteness of his knuckles as he grips onto the precious artifact. The other party should, barring mishap, be arriving at the meeting point soon, or so he can only hope.

He supposes he should be thinking more about the attack back at the temple. The man in the costume had seemed pretty desperate to get him to let go of the piece. But all he can think of at this point is how soon they will be able to flush the Onis out. Once the Rod is complete and the spell -- as much as he hates to admit it as a spell -- chanted, they can put this whole thing behind them, and he can ditch the magic and go back to science where he belongs.

The Rod needs to be completed. The Onis need to leave. That's all he cares about at this point.

Comments

[theheirofbreath]

John had been intending to quietly observe, but this extra Dave thing is getting ridiculous.

"Dave? What the heck is your problem?"

[canhandleacape]

Dave is soon followed by the appearance of Supernova in his trademark flash of light.

"You're all in such a rush to die."

[alittleblackmagic]

"And it will be your fault for being too busy whining about it to explain anything! Geez. Even I know that and I'm five!"

Palom will assume that the kid who threw the ninja star is the same kid Joachim was talking about earlier. A light mist begins to billow out from the end of his staff. Sleep.

[shineslightintodarkness]

Rudolph Van Richten can feel his eyebrow twitch. Quickly, he rushes to scoop up the 'club' throwing starts, and feel their weight - they'd make for some awkward but usable improvised daggers. Quietly he moves to slip out of sight, waiting for a good chance to ambush the attackers.

[all_onis_are_true]

Hiroshi yelps. He dives for the orb again, just barely managing to catch it before it crashes to the ground. "What the hell is you guys' problem?!" he yells angrily, trying to refix the rod. "Stop getting in our way! We need to do this!"

[stinglikeabat]

White-blue-red color scheme, funny glowing headpiece, neato layered cape... This rings a bell.

"Hey, I've heard about you! Aren't you some kind of vigilante hero?"

He looks pretty tough. Joachim flutters between him and the guy with a prayer of fixing this ogre business.

[has_a_blog]

Dave hopped back before Palom's spell could get him. He seemed to realize that he still had his sword out and put it away, holding his hands up.

"Wait! We're here to talk this time. This doesn't have to get stupid again."

[theheirofbreath]

Relieved that they may not have to fight this out, John nods and steps forward.

"Great. Talking is good. Let's do that."

He's mostly addressing Dave, he'll worry about cape guy later.

"So tell us why you want the magic staff thingy so badly. I thought it was the only way to get rid of the blue monsters running all over the place...."

[canhandleacape]

Supernova bites back a comment about how things have already gotten stupid, go figure. That sort of dig is Booster Gold's territory, not his.

"That's the exact opposite of what it'll do. Once that thing is used, it'll call them all here, like a beacon. That's why we can't let you do this."

[alittleblackmagic]

Pause.

Long pause.

"Why didn't you say that the first time instead of going on about how we wouldn't understand?! It only took you a sentence!

...But you're gonna have to give some proof, you know."

[shineslightintodarkness]

Rudolph steps out from where he hidden himself, looking at the two rather angrily.

"The young man is right, we could have avoided all of this if you simply took ten seconds to explain yourselves." He chided the two. "So if you're right, that would only bring more of those thing -" The man shuddered, remembering that corpse in the library transforming.

"Then what do you propose we do?"

[all_onis_are_true]

The others may be listening. But Hiroshi himself seems to be in a state of shock, still holding the Rod parts. His mouth moves for a moment, as if trying to understand what he heard. "Wait a minute! Why are we even listening to these guys?! They attacked us! How the hell can we trust a damn thing they say?" he shouts finally. The pitch of his voice is tense, however, almost hysterical. "They're lying! They have to be! This has to be the way to do it! The book said..."

[stinglikeabat]

Oh. Oh. It's one of those classic silly misunderstandings. He's been on the wrong end of a few of those in his time. Joachim chills out immediately.

"Heroes never bother to explain this kind of thing before punching it out! It's practically in the job description! But now that we've got that part out of the way, they seem like an all right pair. You can't trust everything that's written down, you know."

[has_a_blog]

"It's that stupid scepter thingie. The two bits of it mess with your head. Even after everything went wrong, we couldn't get Hiroshi to put the damn thing down."

After a moment's thought, he realized they had skipped over something important, "We're from the future, by the way. In case you hadn't figured that out."

[theheirofbreath]

"Yeah, you told me that you were probably from the future. Past you did, I mean."

This time travel stuff is confusing, but John thinks he might be getting the hang of it.

"Umm, it seems like you guys know a whole lot about what we shouldn't do. Any ideas about what we should do?"

In which the thread isn't the only thing that breaks.

[all_onis_are_true]

Something snaps in Hiroshi's head. "Would you all just SHUT UP ALREADY?!"

He breathes heavily. "Talking all casually like this! Acting like the one goddamn hope in Hell we have of getting rid of those things is bad! What's wrong with you all?! Don't you understand?! These things aren't supposed to exist!"

It's like a floodgate has broken as he speaks. "They're supposed to be fake! Stupid scare tactics you use to freak out other teenagers, or maybe cop a feel with a girlfriend or something! They're not supposed to be real! We weren't supposed to actually SEE them! They're not supposed to run around killing people!"

He gestures wildly at the town. "But look! Now they're running all over, and making a mess of things, and turning them INTO them! How could this method be wrong?! This has to be it! It HAS to! It's only because they exist that everybody had to DIE! Everybody! Mika, Takeshi, Takuro, everybody! They all died because of them, and then they BECAME them! Those... THINGS need to STOP BEING HERE! I just want..."

He begins to slump. "I just... I just want them out of my fucking LIFE..."

He uses the shaft of the Rod as a prop, his energy spent, his body convulsing as he begins to emit huge, heaving sobs. It was a lie. It had to be...

[alittleblackmagic]

Hiroshi had lost it.

Palom considers briefly whether or not he should be putting Hiroshi to sleep before deciding he'd probably be annoyed about it later. The guy obviously came from a super lame world without magic and monsters and adventures, but he'd always thought Hiroshi had been pretty OK with being the hero of this particular story.

"...No one's gonna die anymore. Either this is the right way or it's not, and if it's not, we'll find the right way. Everyone wants these things gone. That's why we've all been working together.

It's gonna be OK, Hiroshi. Even if this doesn't work, there's gonna be something that does."

[shineslightintodarkness]

Rudolph drops the clubs, rushing to catch Hiroshi before he falls completely. "Hiroshi, I can't begin to image what you have been through before now." He speaks with almost a fatherly gentleness.

"Palom is right, we can and we will make them go away... just please let us help." He shifts so he can look at the young man in the eyes. "After all, who said this is the only way? Long as you don't give up, we will find the right way, all right?"

[stinglikeabat]

Joachim flutters around their heads. Oh geez he does not know how to deal with crying. Good thing the old guy's around.

"Like they said, we'll get them out one way or another! Whatever happened last time, this time you've got all of us, all right?"

[has_a_blog]

Dave watched this awkward drama unfold from the sidelines while inching over towards Supernova.

He whispered "I don't think he's gonna put it down by now. What should we do now? I MIGHT be able to get a time travel clone to yank it out of his hands before anyone can stop me, but it'd be a risk."

[canhandleacape]

Supernova stands apart from the group, arms crossed, watching silently. He can't say he feels any great urge to comfort the guy responsible for so many deaths, alternate timelines or not. He lifts a hand in a "hold on" gesture in response to Dave's question.

"I think they've got it under control. Even if they don't, it's an incantation. I can get rid of him before he finishes it."

[theheirofbreath]

Considering the others seem to have Hiroshi's breakdown well in hand, John is keeping his attention on their resident time travelers. Especially since they still haven't answered his question.

"Ummm, so do you guys know a way to get rid of the blue things? And how far in the future are you from, anyway?"