061 [Action, dated to October 1st]

[vulcanblazer]

[Action, Solo]

[The experiment was still raging, but for the moment, Adell was currently free of its grip.  His mind his own for once, a lot of things have weighed on it... and not just recently, either. 

The past several months have proven to be a very difficult and stressful time for him.  Consistently for many months, like many other people here, Adell suffered a lot of losses of friends, loved ones, and more from the universe seeing fit to return them where they belonged.  In a way, he always tried to acknowledge this was a good thing, and ideally, they were back to living a life they liked.  But... Adell himself still had some trouble dealing with the losses.  He rarely brought it up much after the individuals disappeared.  But honestly, every day Adell's mind turned back to someone he cared about in the past... simply vanishing. 

...For Mom and Flonne and Etna, it was different.  Whenever he went home, he could easily see them again.  That wasn't hard.  He might not be able to continue where he left off, but it wasn't a truly final thing.  But for other people... his old housemates, Patchouli, Koakuma, Vivi, Remilia, Flandre, Meiling, Sakuya, even Krizalid... and Sylvia and especially Luka and Charlotte?  Thoughts of them run through his mind every day.  And adding onto that, other friends who had disappeared recently... Baiken, Lina, Saber, and more than that.   ...And with Terra losing all of her memories of him, and of their friendship.   ...He's found himself more and more at a loss about what to do about any of it.  And he's loathe to really speak of this to anyone else.  He knows people already know, but he doesn't want to reinforce it.

...So as it stands, he walks out into the woods, dressed in a lightweight coat.  Fall was now in full swing, the weather was getting cooler, and the leaves were turning and beginning to drift from the trees.  After a particularly restless night of sleep, he figured a walk through the woods would allow him to clear his head.  So off he went, without a word, without warning.   Eventually though, in a secluded area of the woods, he comes to a stop.

...It wasn't working.  If anything, all of this walking and being alone was just making things worse.  Memories of both Charlotte and Luka especially kept coming back to him.  By now, Adell had separated Luka Megurine the android from the human Luka Megurine he lived with.  But memories of the old one continually cropped up... how he could've done things differently or how he might've better been able to help her come into her own.  ...The moment Luka showed fear and turned away from him when he offered a hug to her in affection was a memory that was burned into his mind rather painfully.  And it was coming back to haunt him again.

But he shook his head, dispelling that memory.  He had to get it together.  Had to calm down.  Had to...

And then he pauses, blinks.  Something had fallen into his hair.  He slowly reached up and plucked the offender from his mane of red hair... a bright red leaf.  He stood looking at it for a moment when another memory hit him.

It was the first of October.  ...And it was two years ago to the day that he had actually met Charlotte in person for the first time.  The first time they spoke was during a bodyswap event, when Adell was stuck in the body of an orcish warchief, but this marked the occasion where they actually, truly met.  ...And this leaf, it reminded him... one of the first things they ever did together was simply... jump into a pile of leaves.  Something so simple.  So innocent.  Something he was really surprised he agreed to now.  But the leaf stirred that memory in him, and... admittedly, it brought a smile to his face.

...He missed her.  More than he'd admit.  But for some reason, his heart didn't sink like it normally did when he thought about this.  Instead, it turned to other memories.  Memories of them simply spending time together, talking, having fun... and to the more romantic moments they shared.  In turn... it brought him back to one thing she said to him.

Because after all, if the hero meets the princess, even if they part ways... they meet again, right?

...Fairy tales.

Still staring at this red leaf, Adell's smile broadens a little.  He had been living his own, really, even before this experiment.  A hero surrounded by friends and loved ones.  Though most of them were no longer here.  They just lived on in his memories.  ...But they had been haunting him, rather than living, because he simply... couldn't let go.   Adell blinked again, looking up into the canopy of trees above him, into the fall colors.  Despite all of that... he wasn't alone still.  Still had friends.  Friends and people he cared about.  And it's not like he ever stopped caring at all for the people who left either. 

A light gust of wind kicked up, ruffling Adell's hair and kicking up fallen leaves from the ground.  ...He found himself letting his fingers relax, allowing the single red leaf to blow away, mixing with the small sea of fallen foliage.  As he watched it disappear amongst the masses, a single sentence from the final letter Charlotte left for him came back to him...

Be strong, okay? Even though I might have upset you with going, please be the strong, kind, noble man that I know...

If there was one thing that this experiment had taught him, with his experiences as a knight, both black and in shining armor, in battling evil dragons and redeeming a single frozen-hearted witch?

It was that his tale... was far from over.  And there's still a happily-ever-after out there waiting for him.]

[Action, Open]

[Later that night, Adell can be found at the bar.  He actually looks far more lucid than he has the past few months.  Like some kind of heavy burden has finally been lifted from his shoulders.  He's just sitting around relaxing and can be easily approached. 

...And of course, even though he might not be the literal knight in shining armor right now, but if there's a call for help by a princess, he might just come to answer it anyway.]

(OoC: Given the circumstances of this post, now's a good a time as any to start a full revamp of Adell's CR post.  If you have a character you believe should be on the chart, go drop a comment here with the muse you want a CR entry for.  I'll get around to making a new CR post as soon as I can!)

Comments

[makeitquick]

[AND THEN SHE STEPPED INTO THE BAR HOLDING A BATTLE AX.

...

Actually no I'm just going to let that entrance stand for itself. Battle ax in hand, a few silver armlets on her arms, a bandanna over her multi-color-haired head and a nose stud in her nose, she's walking into the bar like there might be some dangers to be found]

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[Adell looks over his shoulder at the woman who just barged into the bar. And he can tell that stance, she's on the hunt. Considering the bar is virtually empty...]

Evenin'. Don't worry, no trouble around here.

[makeitquick]

[Glance around...


... Huh, looks like. Well, whatever, she shrugs the ax and walks on over to Adell]

Seems like.

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[He takes a sip from his drink, and looks back to her.]

Haven't seen you around before, actually. Name's Adell. And you are?

[makeitquick]

Melaka. [Drag the ax on the floor a bit and... okay, seat next to him]

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

Nice to meet you. ...You get brought in on the most recent wave of newcomers?

[makeitquick]

Ye-up. Pretty new in these parts.

[markofthewise]

[Sokka apparently is getting off early from the experiment and decides he needs a drink. Collapsing into on of the stools at the bar, he orders a drink (a mango smoothie non-alcoholic) and does his best to look awesome. He feels that it comes naturally to him. He glances at Adell and then nods.]

Hey Adell. Are you currently... [Vague hand gestures to indicate being experiment crazy] right now?

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[He glances over to Sokka and chuckles a bit at the hand gesture.]

Nope. Brain's doing what I tell it to.

[markofthewise]

Well good. No offense, but I don't want to see you as a princess. The look isn't you.

[Matter of fact, the look isn't fit for half of the male population in Luceti. Hasn't stopped the Malnosso.]

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[He laughs pretty heartily at that.]

No, it isn't! I think the same could be said for a lot of people! Nah, I've mostly been going around as either a heroic knight or an evil one. Not sure why they picked "black knight" as a thing, but whatever!

[markofthewise]

I'm not sure what I have been. None of the stuff I did had anything did together. It's just my name was always Jack.

[A shrug and he turns to grab his slushie.]

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

Didn't get any strong urges to climb any beanstalks, did you?

[Action]

[imxperfectlife.livejournal.com]

[Enjoy your time at the bar, Adell. Whenever you get out you'll find a pinkhaired girl sitting on the steps and currently fast asleep. She's holding close to her chest the kitty plush that she hasn't let go ever since you gave it to her and she has a big thick book open in her lap, just because she has been the whole day stalking you doesn't mean she would be negligent with her studies.]

[Action]

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[When Adell comes out of the bar, it's fairly late. But his mood's relaxed, so he starts heading for home... but only takes a step or two before he sees Luka, sitting on the steps in front of Good Spirits.

...Huh? Was she waiting for him here? He moves over to her and sits down on the step next to her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.]

Luka?

[Action]

[imxperfectlife.livejournal.com]

[Zzzzzzz... Mumble, mumble...]

... The centers of the incircles... triangles inside a cyclic quadrilateral are vertices of a rectangle... arbitrary concyclic quadrilateral... be M1,M2,M3,M4 the incenters of the triangles...

[Apparently she dreams with mathematics. Adell may want to shake her a bit or raise his voice.]

[Action]

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[Adell chuckles lightly, and shakes his head. Oh, Luka. He gives her a gentle jostle with his hand.]

Luka. Wake up.

[Action]

[imxperfectlife.livejournal.com]

[The girl opens her eyes, reflexively, blinking at the night scene of the plaza with a pout as her mind returns from the dream realm and she catches up with where she is. As she does she turns to look at Adell before she covers her mouth to yawn and rubs her eyes a bit.]

... Are we going back to the apartment already?

[Not home, not even half-asleep she slips at that.]

[Action]

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

I don't even know how long you've been out here. ...But did you want to do something else?

[He's surprised by the already. Usually she likes to stay cooped up in there, and best as he knows, she's been in there all day.]

...And speaking of, you know, if you wanted to come inside the bar, you could've. Why were you sitting out here waiting, I wouldn't have minded you being with me in there.

[upontheplains.livejournal.com]

[Lyn groans with frustration and tiredness as she trudges up to the bar, looking like she just got done headbutting her way through a wall.

She grabs a small drink before speaking to Adell, turning to him with a patently false smile.]

Hi there, Adell. How was your week?

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[He looks over to her. Lyn's nothing if not blunt, so even Adell can probably see that smile is at least a little fake.]

Been a mess of things. Part of it was spent as a black knight, kidnapping princesses and working for an evil overlord.

[He takes a drink, but not as though this fact really bothers him.]

...The rest of it was spent playing Knight in Shining Armor. So that part was pretty good.

...Is there some hope that your week was any good at all?

[upontheplains.livejournal.com]

[She rolls her eyes at the mention of the black knight part. She'd be more annoyed if he was, but it's pretty clear he didn't actually hurt anyone.

The other mention gets a slight snort of amusement out of her.]

That's actually a bit funny. Florina got turned into a knight too.

[She gives him a wry look.] I'll let you guess who her princess was.

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

[He winces as he sets down his drink.]

...Ouch. I'm sorry. That had to have sucked. The whole damsel in distress thing is so not you.

[upontheplains.livejournal.com]

To say the least. [She laughs though.] Though, seeing her rushing around in a panic trying to "save" me almost made it worth it.

... Almost. [She takes another drink.] At least it wasn't you that kidnapped me.

[vulcanblazer.livejournal.com]

That would've just been... awkward. And I'd feel bad for making Florina fight me when I was like that. They really went all the way with the black knight thing too.

Like, they made my eyes red with the whites turned black. Really, I might as well have had an evil laugh to go with it.

[He takes another drink himself.]

...Who did kidnap you, anyway?