Friday Meme Light: Cause It's A Bittersweet Victory (Ten Years Later Thread)

[thewunderkind]

The clock continues to turn on the ship.

The last years have been of turbulence, surprises and great fights, but eventually, five years ago, the Ohm were defeated and slowly, peace was restored to the entire multiverse. The crisis was averted! Congratulations!

...However rebuilding universes takes time. Energy. Power. It still might be years off before you'll get to go home, and Stacy is truly saddened about that. Call it catch 22 if you will, but at least the life on the ship is a lot more peaceful now. The farms have grown, and now there's enough in-house grown food to feed everyone who doesn't feel like eating slop or eating slop in the sensoriums every day. That's a small comfort, right? Oh sure, there's still the surprise or two on it, but now there's slowly more places to stop, and Stacy has been a lot more lenient about people getting their shots...

As they sometimes say, life will find a way to flourish, anywhere it can. My, there's a lot more bellies around the ship than before...

And maybe. One day. Far off future. You'll get to go home. But that's not now.

Ten years is a lot of time for people to grow, personalities to change and emotions to emerge. How have your characters turned out of it?

Comments

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"That would be appreciated. Professor's not too good at cooking and most of my meals were always on the run."

He followed, looking at Aqua with a sigh. "Ten years... it's been a long time for both of us hasn't it?"

[rainfell-aqua.livejournal.com]

"It has," she admitted. "But I'm glad you're back."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"I always wondered when I'd come back. Ten years and countless worlds... makes one almost forget about everything sometimes. Maybe this was a good time now to return."

"How's everyone since I was repodded?" inquired Matt.

[rainfell-aqua.livejournal.com]

"For the most part, everyone's pretty good," Aqua said, trying to think of the various crewmates she knew that Matt had known. "Negi and Sasami are doing well, Devlin's a lot more powerful and still feels embarrassed by Ben who's pretty much the same as always. Ren found a way to wake his girlfriend, and they've been married for a few years now. They've got a kid, and Ren makes Negi and Devlin babysit, so you can imagine how well that goes."

After a pause, she added, "And you might want to check in on Kaya for yourself. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Glad to hear it. I'll have to find Kaya as well."

A pause. "She hasn't been waiting for me, all this time, has she?" Guilt yes.

[stormfall-aqua.livejournal.com]

"That's something you'll have to ask her about," Aqua insisted. "Whatever happened, remember that it's not your fault."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"That's true. All right, I'll check in on her. Too bad I lost my Omnicom on a planet."

[stormfall-aqua.livejournal.com]

"You can borrow mine," she said, handing it over.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." Typing out a message, he sent it over. "All right, let's get something to eat."

[magicgunworks.livejournal.com]

"Mmm, it is..." For Mami, at least, the nightmares that had haunted her for over a decade had decided not to invade her sleep. It's a rare occurrence, so the feeling of waking up refreshed, if a bit early, is a wonderful thing.

"If I didn't know any better, I think I might be getting used to these peaceful times..." Well. As peaceful as things can be with the duty they still have.

[clockworkrepeat.livejournal.com]

Rolling her soul gem between her fingers, Homura smiles. She nods, and reaches over to brush Mami's bangs behind her ears. It's a gentle movement, something loving. "Yeah. Me too." It doesn't feel all good, but it feels settled; it feels kind, and not alone. "... I didn't think things would turn out this way."

[magicgunworks.livejournal.com]

"I didn't either." Mami said as she laughs, leaning into that brief contact. "I don't think anyone could have forseen what was coming..."

It's unclear what she's talking about. Actually winning the war? Building a true home on the ship? This unhealthy yet ultimately loving relationship? Maybe she was talking about it all. Who knows.

[ghost-bait.livejournal.com]

Miku smiled, "Of course, sensei, as you wish." She followed behind him dutifully, though questioned exactly what she could do if he fell. Cargn, as tall as he was even stooped, would crush her like a brick falling on origami.

As they entered the Shrine, Miku felt her psychic guards drop ever so slightly. It had always been a safe place for her - even if she was not one of Cargn's own - despite its loath "Where have you gone today, sensei? Steve and I spent time at the Meiji Shrine." She moved through to find his tea kettle and water, locating his large, blue teacup with familiarity. "I prayed for our continuing good luck."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

The five years of peace had done Cassie some good, more good then all the years of war at least. Now twenty-six, she'd found a place for herself aboard Stacy, although she still very much looked forward to returning to her home when the time came, but she'd accepted that she'd have to wait for that. Her life would never be what it was, but she had known that would be true even before Stacy. War had that effect on a person. Still, she was determined to make the most of what she had left and rebuild from there.

She'd stayed close to her friends from home, or as close as was possible under the circumstances, but she also opened herself up to new friendships. And little by little, the old paranoia had begun to fade some. She suspected that it would never truly be gone, but at least she no longer saw potential enemies everywhere. She still struggled with some of the things that she'd done in both wars and the nightmares persisted, but that was to be expected. The old scars remained and, to an extent, probably always would. Perhaps they'd fade some more with time. Cassie only hoped that the peace would last for them all and that the pain of war was a thing of the past.

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

Eventually Stacy had released Ash's entire roster of Pokemon to him, even ones he had formally released, such as Butterfree. With that came female Pokemon, with female Pokemon came breeding pairs, and with breeding pairs came eggs. The first of which Ash was helping to care for now.

"Cassie! Charizard and Charla's egg! It's getting ready to hatch!"

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie smiled at Ash's cry, quickly rushing towards the area where the Pokemon egg was being kept.

"Really?" Her eyes sparkled excitedly as she skidded to a stop in front of Ash. She'd never seen a Pokemon hatch before and she'd been looking forward to the experience. Cassie couldn't wait to meet the baby Charizard. "Do you, Charizard, and Charla have a name picked out for the baby?"

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

It was a enclosure of rock on the land of Professor Oak's lab, While a wild pair of Charizard would probably be firing flamethrowers in order to drive the two humans off, the two tamed ones graciously allowed them inside.

"Nah. I've never really given any of my team names, and Pokemon don't really have names like we do. Every Pokemon I've been able to understand," Which was quite a few now thanks to his aura ability letting him communicate with Pokemon, "kinda just calls themselves by what kind of Pokemon they are. Charla got hers from her trainer."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie nodded as she followed Ash inside slowly, not wanting to risk startling the two Charizards. "That makes sense." She paused a moment and glanced at Ash. "And they're okay with us being here?" During the years, she'd grown more comfortable around the pokemon, but her ability to understand them was still often quite shaky, relying mostly on body language and the tone in their vocalizations. Right now, she couldn't get a reading off the two Charizards, but anyone who worked with animals knew how sensitive breeding pairs could be when their young were close to being born. She didn't want to risk having anything go wrong.

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

"If they weren't, it'd be too late to ask that question." Ash answered truthfully.

"Relax. it's fine. They asked me to be here, and I told them you'd probably wanna see it."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie smiled happily. "Thank you. I've been looking forward to this."

She walked over to the two Charizards, still moving cautiously so as not to startle the two large pokemon, so that she could thank them as well. "Thank you, Charizard and Charla. I'm honored to be here for such a big moment."

Looking back at Ash, she asked, "Is there anything that we need to do or do we just wait now?"

(OOC: I'm so sorry for the wait. If you don't want to take this further, we can let it drop, but I don't mind playing this out further if you want to do so.)