it's 2006 and songfics are all the rage

[servileness]

WHO: Clover, people who signed up, and possibly you (there will be a couple open prompts)
WHERE: Around Recolle, but mostly in the outskirts... hopefully
WHEN: August 24th and after
WHAT: A daemon! Destruction! Death! Clover makes bad decisions, and people have to do damage control. Clover can't survive, but she'll be revived for a new branch. She tries to be nice(?) before she's not.
WARNINGS: Violence, death, Four's entire existence. Drakengard 3 and Yoko Taro content. Suicide ideation.

introduction (open)

[ It's bright and early when Clover walks out and about Recolle. For once, she's wandering around aimless. In her mind, she remembers a message:

take a day
don't care about anything
and do whatever you want.

She doesn't know how to do that. She's pushed it off, but today, she'll try something.

Perhaps you're out getting your morning coffee or getting lunch or running a quick errand and Clover is in front of you in line. She'll tell the cashier as she hands over her card: ]

I'll pay for whomever is behind me. Whatever it is.

[ She doesn't even look behind her, at who may there be or how much they may be purchasing. Money is no issue apparently. ]

verse (open)

[ Everyone’s powers can go both ways. It’s just a matter of how we use them. You can use them better.

She needs to practice her powers, but she won't practice with anyone she knows first. If there are any side effects, she needs to be the only one who suffers. It's time to test out her practice. She's sure she managed to control most of it.

It's in the afternoon when she walks through town. Anyone can overhear her soft humming that peters out before it can become a full-fledged song. Anyone who hears her singing may or may not feel like they're stronger, more physically capable of doing anything. ]

chorus (closed to those fighting Armaros/Clover)

[ Clover isn't stronger, no matter what she tries to tell herself. The sun dips into the horizon, and her throat hurts. Her body hurts. She hasn't slept a full night in weeks, months—she should've kept a sleep journal. She's overused her power, and she needs to be alone. She makes it to the outskirts of the city before she sinks to her knees on the ground.

Her head throbs, and she can no longer stop herself from thinking about all the worries that plague her mind. The timer glows bright even under the gloves she wears to hide her brittle, imperfect nails. Paranoia seeps into her like a plant's roots spread under earth. ]

No!

[ A Song rips from her throat: loud, desperate, and dangerous.

Armaros, uphold.

Neon green light illuminates the vicinity and it grows and grows in magnitude until it's bright enough to blind. It swells and flashes, and a fortress appears. It's airborne, held aloft by chained wyverns. Cannons line the fortress, and green squares or light surround the entire structure in multiple lines, criss crossing wherever they please. Magic thrums.

Clover's mind fractures. Four wanted to end the world. How much of Clover is Four?

Armaros moves towards Recolle, a garish and dangerous spectacle. Destruction is imminent.

For the heroes who will try to stop her, how will they approach? From above, from below? From the front, from the rear? Some other way?

The wyverns can spit fire. The cannons are loaded and ready. There are buzzsaws waiting for anyone to be trapped. ]

bridge (open)

[ You may not be able to fight Clover or Armaros, but you want to yell at her for being stupid.

This is the prompt for you. Somehow, magically, she can hear you from where she is before she dies. It's Intoner magic because somehow Four can hear Zero when she's inside Armaros and Zero is outside on a dragon? Video game logic applies.

Clover is a millennial who craves attention, so she'll answer texts/DMs, too, for a little bit. Look. She has her phone on her. ]

da capo al fiore (August 27th and after) (open)

[ Clover is alive and in the hospital. She doesn't want any visitors. She doesn't want to see anyone, but that doesn't mean she can stop anyone from trying.

She greets anyone with a sullen look.

Even after she's released from the hospital, she keeps to herself, but she's too responsible to stay secluded. She may not know or remember everything that happened, but she understands enough. She's dumb, but she's not stupid.

She's raw, and niceties are harder to come by. Death makes her less fake for a while. ]

Comments

introduction

[yakan]

[ It's way too early for summer holidays, but Kiyoshi had an extra shift at work for a party last night and it just ended, so here he is, outside and yawning so large it feels his jaw might pop out of place, and he needs coffee and something sweet and a cigarette or two to make it all the way home.

He is very surprised when he hears the statement, and he scratches a fuzzy ear in confusion. ]

Oh, um, that's alright, you don't have to do that.

[servileness]

I don't mind. I want to pay it forward.

[ She isn't paying anything forward because no one paid for her purchases, but she wants to be... brighter, more hopeful, as silly as it sounds in her own head.

Or maybe she's trying pay it forward from how people have been good to her. ]

chorus

[compendiem]

[ The horizon reclaims the sunlight, as does cool sheets for Minato when he gets home that day, chest hurting and head throbbing and wanting nothing more to do with the world- the world, however, insists. It insists with flashes of neon green that seep through drawn curtain, with sweltering summer heat despite the night, with the way the air itself seems to scream and call for help, Minato sitting up in bed in the middle of the night to run a hand through tousled hair, to throw a pillow at the window to make the night stop. It's through the parting of the curtains that he sees it, something large in the sky that he takes for a plane before realizing that it does not fall- it hangs, like the thought of calamity he once wished upon the world and is stabbed with guilt even now.

He forgoes socks in slipping on his shoes, tears open a bag of dry cat food and leaves it on the counter in lieu of a promise that he'll be home before breakfast, and exits out into the world, fumbling for his Evoker with stiff fingers and staring up at the sky. He would charge in like a fool from the sky if he doesn't recognize that's exactly what he would be, shot down by the flaming light spat out from all sides like embers caught in the breeze, so he heads towards it from below, his back against the Reaper's chest and borrowing its steed.

Whatever that thing is, he's coming, the horse's hooves thundering against the ground, Minato staring hard as they approach, trying to get a feel of how the fortress is set up, from its size to its defense system to anybody he can spot on top of it.

John. James. Elliot. Clover. Where is his coalition? ]

[servileness]

[ Never let it be said that Clover wouldn't try to grant one of Minato's wishes. It's an unexpected side effect of her love. Isn't it terrible? Here's a flying fortress to shake things up.

Where is his coalition? Where is Clover?

Clover sees him coming. She can only control Armaros so much, her power and mind splintering, but there are people she is drawn to. There are people she wants to see but doesn't want to see her like this. Minato is all of those.

She comes out to get a better look at him. She laughs, sad and wistful, but can it even be heard over her daemon? She remembers wanting to ask him to be the one to kill her.

The cannons aim at the ground and fire. The aim is terrible. It's a warning.

Stay away. Go away.

It's her last shot at her goodness winning out. ]

symphony regalia da capo,,,,, wait,,,,

[selfloving]

[One had loved her sisters.

Whatever Jasmine doesn't know or doesn't remember or doesn't know, whatever relationships should or shouldn't exist, she knows that much about One's feelings. The letter that said as much is with her when she stops by the hospital during visiting hours, though she keeps it in her purse and tries to ignore its pressing weight in the bag.

Though she's scuffed up from the collateral damage that hit last week, Jasmine can't imagine it's anything compared to what Clover's felt, physically and mentally.

The surliness is hard to miss. It's the first thing Jasmine sees when she steps into the room, dressed in her business best attire.]

You know, you can always tell them to turn visitors away entirely.

there isn't any purity here,,,,

[servileness]

[ Clover has no memories of Four, of Midgard, of One. Death has taken all that from her.

In this time, in this month, who is Jasmine to her? For what reason is she being visited? She turns to look out the window. ]

I don't want to see anybody, but they can sling all the stones they want.

[ She had to die for something, for some reason. She knows herself enough to know she's terrible enough to do something that warranted it. She probably felt she was justified at the time. ]

bridge

[breakingvoice]

hhhhey clover
uh
it's lina
did you hear about what's coming for the city

[she's in her apartment, dealing with a lot of concurrent Stuff, and just happened to read the network post about some big thing on its way into the city limits. and when she thinks gigantic mysterious buildings appearing out of nowhere, she thinks the Cathedral—she thinks Clover.]

do you think we should like do something about it

[servileness]

What do you propose be done? Is it your responsibility?

Chorus

[flametheif40]

[Al innocently looking toward the distance, letting his mind wander, what does family mean to him now? Can he still have it? Should he?

Suddenly a primal savage wind rips making him cover his ears. The lights make him close his eyes, everything shaking him to his core. When he sees the massive building, his mind turned blank, and soaked it trying to figure weather or not it was even real.

Regardless, he glares at it and sighs, leaving his spot. Noticing all the chains tied to wyverns, and panics]

Great, a flying castle...and FREAKING DRAGONS!

[He clenches his jaw, family and memories can wait, if movies were anything to go by, this thing was probably going to attack the city...his new home he doesn't want to abandon.

Being on foot though, only allows him the one option, simply trying to walk to the thing]

Team Blonde: assemble! (Kara to follow~)

[burndownforwhat]

[ most people would have the sense to run away from danger! even the pedestrians that Jen has to assume are not on the app are finding ways to casually get themselves into cover indoors or find other places to be than the outskirts nearest to the floating death castle... thing, whatever it was. or whoever was responsible.

Lina was freaked out enough, and she seemed to have a handle on things, but Jen left her some distance back while she flew ahead to investigate. she would assume Lina would be there when she got back - she'd be wrong, though.

right now her sights were set on a younger figure down below on the streets very pointedly going the same direction she was. the wrong way, at that. Jen dropped down out of the sky on the ground in his way and held up her right, robotic hand. it glimmered bright yellow and glossy black, against the backdrop of her otherwise plain blue tank top and jeans. ]

Whoa, there! Where do you think you're going? [ she sounds firm but looks more concerned than anything. ] Don't you see what's ahead this way?

Chorus (Elliot, Natalia, Akiren)

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot had been minding his own business, practicing magic in the woods. He wanted to make sure there was no oddities from his body switch with Souji. Maybe he was already with his group, or they just happened upon them.

Either way, they probably won't expecting a demonic version of Howl's moving castle appearing. Elliot for one, reacts with a yell]

Hooolly crap! What is that?!

[nachetanya]

[ > With

Or at least for Natalia. Mostly because she did want to try out those Combat Links with her own blades? That said, she looks up at the giant flying... fortress thing and she looks at it with some surprise. A soft gasp on her lips, and her red eyes going wide. She's got the rapier in hand, and... ]

Oh wow that's-

[ . . . Amazing? Terrifying? She sort of lets it sit there. ]

bridge

[blacksong]

[Rose recognizes Armaros the second she sees it, even from far away. How could she not, after all, when she remembers Four summoning it right in front of her, remembers flying straight into the heart of it? The fortress is just as ghastly and green from her memories, and it makes the pit of her stomach drop.

This is literally one of her worst nightmares.

So of course she doesn't waste any time in heading towards it, phone pressed to her ear all the while as she tries to call Clover.]

Come on, pick up, pick up...!

[servileness]

[ When Clover picks up, Rose will hear giggling. ]

Which long long sister is this? Is it Rose? Is it Zero?

da capo bc i gotta be extra

[blacksong]

[Rose stands outside the door to Clover's room for an embarrassingly long time. None of her sisters have been the way she remembers them, and she doesn't know how to approach them anymore. Will Clover even see her sister if she steps in? Or will she only see Zero?

She'll get her answer soon enough, she supposes, and takes a deep breath before coming in.]

Hey. [a beat, and then:] How're you feeling?

it's the yoko taro way

[servileness]

[ Clover has forgotten all about Zero, so that may or may not be a boon for Rose. Even now, seeing someone she knows, someone who knew her at her lowest when she was young without all her extra baggage, it doesn't sit well with her.

How is she supposed to face people? ]

I died and came back to life. How do you think I feel? How am I supposed to feel?

[ She doesn't even try to keep the bitterness from seeping into her voice. Is there any use in pretending right now? ]

PRE CHORUS because

[usurpers]

[ there’s no text— eren is calling her. he’s calling his sister, and prays that she answers him. he’ll call as many times as necessary before he can’t rely on phone anymore. ]

[servileness]

[ When Clover picks up, Eren will hear cannon fire and then something that's a cross between a laugh and a sob from her. ]

Eren, oh, Eren, I'm so sorry. This world is—

Terrible.

introduction

[royaldifficulties]

... I beg your pardon?

[ Bart. Is not exactly a morning person. So the statement from the woman in front of him startles him absolutely. ]

Is everything all right?

[ Automatic reaction when someone does something unexpected, apparently. Check on them. ]

[servileness]

I'm fine. Why would anything be wrong?

[ She waves at him to make his order or set whatever he wants to buy on the counter. ]

Will you allow me this?

da capo

[angealwings]

[ Andrew. Has a habit of checking on people. And he has checked on Eren, and found out what the trouble is. Well. At least part of it. Which - he can't do much about, honestly, and he's not sure how much his presence in his sister's hospital room would be welcome but...

Well. Nobody ever likes hospital food.

So here he is, knowing that Eren probably visits, but he's someone who needs care right now, rather than easily able to provide it. He knocks on the door-frame, peering in. ]

Hey. Ah... I'm not sure if you keep track of your brother's friends and all, so I'm starting with 'hi, my name is Andrew.' And I'm continuing with 'and I'm offering homecooked food while you're stuck here.'

[ Recovery is never easy, and niceties might be hard to come to her, but he can offer some to her, no strings attached. He just... knows that the sooner she recovers, the sooner Eren will ease off from some of his upset. ]

[servileness]

[ Clover probably knows Andrew's name in passing, at least. She tries to keep up with Eren's life when and where she can without being obtrusive or invasive.

Still, stranger or not, Clover doesn't make anyone feel welcome visiting her. ]

Why? You hardly know me.

[ Where she should be grateful, she's not. ]

Chorus (Amelia, Eren, Lina)

[smothershadow]

[The flying building was impossible to miss now, even from the ground. Amelia was no longer bound to it, however.

The dragon hadn't made any attempt to hide her approach; there wasn't much camouflage beneath the clouds for something so garishly pointy and black-scaled, anyway. But while she circled the colossal edifice, she kept her distance. There was someone she was supposed to meet first.

And those...chains, she supposed, looked distinctly unpleasant. Most of the building did, though she thought it at least looked appropriately gloomy.]

[usurpers]

[ it isn’t difficult to pinpoint the large, black mass weaving through the clouds and gliding into sight. eren jolts the minute he catches the extra movement and sprints outward, holding his arm up to wave for her attention.

he didn’t have a plan, he didn’t have any collected approach— but eren’s heart was rattling in his chest and his entirety tremble with it. he just needed, and wanted, to reach his sister. ]

da capo subito staccato

[breakingvoice]

[Lina isn't. proud. of the kind of person she's been, of the way she's treated Clover. she's wished death on her so many times in all of her darkest moments. she's begged for memories of Two murdering Four like she did to One. but when the moment actually came... none of it felt like she'd imagined. none of it felt right.]

[even if Clover had come back, somehow. even if Retrospec would not let her die, that wasn't an excuse to continue being that kind of person. she'd worked and worked and worked so hard to eradicate that hatred, to let love shine through like it used to, and in the end nothing Lina felt, nothing Lina had worked for changed what had happened. no delusions of vindication or bitter, twisted joy cushioned the blow, and no amount of love had protected Clover.]

[one small thing that brings her solace about Clover's death is that she won't remember the way Lina ran away as soon as the opportunity arose. she won't know how quickly everything brave about herself that Lina had cultivated crumbled at the mere idea of seeing her sister's body. she lets her hi-tops squeak against the tile floor of the hospital as she enters Clover's room and tries not to think about that. the paper bag crinkles in her hand under her tightening grip.]

Hey, sis. Is it okay if I come in?

[if the way she feels doesn't matter, she may as well feel the way she wants.]

[servileness]

[ Clover should be happy that her sisters have come to visit her, one by one. It's a sign they care. Or it's a sign they want to seem like they care.

She isn't, though. She's far from happy and far from wanting to see Lina. Her eyes skim over the paper bag, and she looks pointedly away. ]

What does it matter if it's okay or not?

[ What can she do about it? ]

da capo al fiore

[usurpers]

[ if there’s anyone that immediately realizes clover’s at the hospital, it’s eren (and their mother, somewhere, they had to make something up but all was well). he works the night shifts as a patient technician, and asked to take her specifically. reality might’ve not allowed familiar ties to get in the way of professionalism but fuck that, i do what i want, and so does eren. after seeing the others and taking clover’s prepared tray to her room, he stops in front of the door and feels himself rattling inside.

he knocks on the door, as any tech would. it wasn’t visitor hour, he had to be here (whether she liked it or not).

eren opens the door with an awkward squeak (squeaky doors will be the death of all quiet entries), stepping inside with aqua blue scrubs, a name tag, and— freezing wide eyed when he sees her. he’s even held his breath as he collects his bearings, as he walks closer to place her things on the table to administer. he could feel his eyes stinging already, and his throat stinging into a subtle strangle.

the last image he saw of her, not including cell phone photos, was one caked with gaping wounds and a small sea of blood imprinted on his clothes. he sits on the edge of the bed, and doesn’t take his eyes off her for a second, as if gauging out how real this was. he takes her hand first, warmth to warmth, and his lips part to speak.

but nothing comes out. only the fact that he’s still a massive crybaby, and even if retrospec did bring most people back— he couldn’t believe the defied laws before his eyes (big, teary blue eyes). ]

[servileness]

[ Even straight out of death, Clover is a light sleeper. Her first instinct when she hears the knock is to run, IVs be damned, but instead, she pretends to still be asleep. She doesn't want to deal with any nurses or doctors who won't tell her shit all.

It's far from her mind that it would be Eren. It's only when he takes her hand that she has any idea who it might be, and she feels like she wants her heart to stop there, but it thuds loudly in between her ears, stuttering as she tries to get ahold of her emotions.

Tears prick behind her closed eyelids, and after she lets out a shuddery breath, she opens dry eyes to see the last person she saw before she died. ]

You have other patients to see.

[ She isn't ready to see him. She can't deal with his love, his relief at seeing her alive. She doesn't know to to be the good sister he deserves. ]