061 [Action, dated to October 1st]
[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!)
[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!)