[CERBERUS]

[guillotineroom]

[when you open your eyes, you find yourself in a pleasant greenhouse. the sweet scent of flowers surrounds you, and the sun shining through the glass ceiling invigorates you from within. there are stone benches on which you can sit, and if you're hungry, there's a garden table with some refreshing tea and scones available to you]

[the voice– the good voice– echoes in your head again]

YOUR DESIRES. . . CREATED THIS REALM. IT IS YOURS. . . IT IS NOT TYPHON'S! I CAN USE THOSE DESIRES TO GIVE YOU A SAFE PLACE. . . FROM WHICH TO FIGHT.

BUT I CANNOT DEFEAT HIM. . . ONLY YOU CAN. ONLY YOU– WITH YOUR OWN DESIRES!! YOU CAN. . . RESHAPE THIS WORLD. . . HOWEVER YOU'D LIKE!

Comments

[EMOTION]

[guillotineroom]

[despite the safety of your greenhouse, you can feel the thrums of Typhon's emotions raging just outside your safety bubble. his voice is distant, but audible. . .]

In the throes of my grief, I only wish to build something new to be proud of. . . to care for. You could not understand!

[DISCUSSION]

[guillotineroom]

[DO BONDS AND THINGS HERE]

[messianic]

[ looking thoughtful here, though he has already stolen a scone to eat. Of course he has. ]

"Reshape", huh...?

[menphina]

Then we have to use our emotions to counter his, aye? Sounds like something we can do!


[ Clapping her hands! ]

[messianic]

I guess so...

[ huh! ]

Well, I can't deny that the power of our bonds has probably been culminating to this point... how do you think we should counter his grief?

[eggstinction]

[yelling at the greenhouse wall FIGHT ME YOU WIGGLY CORPSE]

I cannot understand? I cannot understand!? Where are my children, Typhon! Where is the kingdom I built them!

[fujimaru]

...that's the thing about grief, isn't it? It's a selfish feeling. He's so caught up in that he can't see far enough to realize he's not the only one who's felt it.

[messianic]

[ aw Moon... honestly valid. ]

Hopefully soon, you'll get to actually discuss this with him.

I think we just have to get through to him first.

[moonlit_knight]

[oh moon. Reaching for his hand, it's still designated for me to hold]

Think we'll still get to beat him up after we're done saving him with the power of love or whatever?

Re: [DISCUSSION]

[moonlit_knight]

Is it helping if I share my death memory again out of spite.

[messianic]

[ omg Selena.... ]

I mean... only if it makes you feel better, I think...?

Re: [DISCUSSION]

[fujimaru]

...spite is a pretty powerful motivator, but I think it'll depend on how high on himself he is right now.

[menphina]

Spite's not a bad motivator, actually.

[peacetalks]

... we have all felt such loss before, have we not? Yet we are not bound by our grief. We have all found the strength to carry ourselves forward.

[messianic]

Yes, that's right.

[ a considering pause. ]

I suppose... if I had to really consider grief to have an "opposing" emotion, it would be something like acceptance, wouldn't it?

[moonlit_knight]

Typhon probably thinks this is having the strength to carry forward, but he's a fucking idiot if he thinks it's going to carry him anywhere close to the family he wants.

[eggstinction]

He will not find peace this way.

[DESIRES]

[guillotineroom]

[all characters are allowed to respond, you do not have to formulate a response as a team! just type up what your character desires for the village/Typhon here!]

[menphina]

I send Typhon my hope- that his pain was never one he carried alone. To blind himself to the pain of others brings no healing, and no child will want to be forced back to a parent they have outgrown.

'tis not easy, to lose a part of you— every person we meet, every memory we make, is dear to us. We find happiness in sorrow, and relief in rage. But in the end we heal. So mourn, Typhon. Feel the sorrow you feel. Grieve until you're empty, and let the flowers of hope grow anew. Do not forget the pain, but use it to heal what you've wronged without causing more harm.

I want this place to be freed from the designation of a prison. I want it to become a home across time and universe- a place to take us to and from each other. For the bonds here must never be forgotten. Not when they brought us so much love and happiness.


I do not wish to forget. And may our hope carry on so no one else will. That is my desire. Carry it in a song, cradled within our hearts, and let the chorus of hope ring for all!

[messianic]

Minato does not want to see Typhon killed or harmed for what he did, though he understands that everyone is right to feel the way they do about him. Even despite how he feels about Gods, Typhon is just so pitiful... he would like to see Typhon have to face what happened and what he's done, but more importantly, face the fact that it was all of their bonds that defeated him.

To him, the opposite of grief is acceptance--ultimately, he'd like to see Typhon accept what happened to him and his children so he can begin to move on with a fresh start.

As for the realm, most of all he ran nuts everyone to be able to make their own choices as to what happens from here! He wants them to be able to do and go where they want.

Oh, and all of the people who had been saving for wishes still deserve that miracle they were striving for, he thinks.

Re: [DESIRES]

[moonlit_knight]

I've hardly the eloquence of some of our number here, but sure, I'll speak up all the fucking same.

Grief fucking sucks. You're not the only one who's experienced it, and maybe we can't understand your specific situation, but you won't find a person here that hasn't felt the crushing weight of loss. You're not special so get off your god damn high horse and let the people here that would help you do it.

You can build something to be proud of and love without all of this. Look at what you've made here. Look at us. Cerberus, the people I love with all my heart, the people you so desperately wanted to join your family, you're the reason we're here aren't you? You took us all and put us together, which was still real shitty of you, but from day one you could have gotten what you want if you'd bothered to stop looking to the past and instead seen what you had. I seriously wanna kill you for all the bullshit you've put us through, and it's only because of Minato and Ritsuka and everyone's mercy that I'm holding back. Imagine what they could've built with you if you'd asked for help from the start. That's my hope for the future, that you fucking listen to them. That we all get the happy ending we deserve, even when we go home we should still remember each other and be able to see each other, any time we want. We should be able to come back our ball pit and lounge in our spa and continue loving one another. We won't let any grief or despair or misery take us from each other, so you might as well accept that people won't disappear forever and want to help you.

You're in your own way. Do as the others said and cry for the ones you lost, but you've got to stop letting it shackle you to the past. Look at what you still have and can still do, idiot.

Re: [DESIRES]

[eggstinction]

[Moon wants to kill and devour Typhon because HE'S MAD and he doesn't want to risk Typhon hurting MOON'S own children ...and because eldritch tentacles are a natural food source of giant apocalyptic space dragons. Though, ultimately, he would still be satisfied if only Cerb's kinder murder-free wishes are fulfilled because he LOVES and SUPPORTS THEM.]

He's being blunt about that with his teammates, but he also stands up and addresses the good voice.]

...Typhon said he wanted to build something new, something to be proud of and that he could care for. I have not seen any evidence of that intent. Rather, I have seen a desperate man trying to return to the past he had. He has kidnapped and tortured, and he has forced his children to struggle with us. When we die, he goads them into further violence instead of soothing them. He has given them no words of recognition.

But despite himself and despite the turmoil of the last few months, he has built something worthwhile. I have my own grief, no less awful than Typhon's, but in this place I could find peace. I spent a thousand years maintaining what my mate and my child left behind... but I have new mates now. I hope to become a father again. Though they will never return to me, I think my loved ones would be happy that I am embracing new experiences again.

I want this place maintained. I want Typhon's ghosts, the dead lives he has revived, and the living he has kidnapped to be able to come and go from this place as they please. Let this be a crossroads and a place of rest.

[peacetalks]

My gift for Typhon is clarity. Clarity for the joy and happiness that brought upon the grief, and the strength to carry forward with the memory of those we have lost. Clarity that one might remember the good times as well as the difficult times. Clarity of one's own desires, and the strength to look ahead towards the future, instead of dwelling forever in the past.

In the name of those who have come before us, must we carry on their legacy towards a better tomorrow.

[fujimaru]

I still think you're a spoiled brat, Typhon.

But I don't think you deserve to grieve the way you have, for so long. The more you cling to that, the more it eats at you... it changes you into something that the people you loved and lost won't even recognize anymore. I think it would be good if you could learn to accept--that's the last stage of grief, right? Accepting, and learning that hope still exists. Not the kind of twisted hope that you've built up in your head, because you think you're the only one who's felt that way, but the kind that grows. I told Selena that I think hoping is one of the scariest things you can do, and I mean it. You can hope for something better and good for you and the ones you love without ruining others in the process.

I want you to wake up. I want you to see that your trajectory isn't actually going to lead to anything but ruin, for yourself and for others. For the children you miss. And I want you to take that and learn from it, because you can make something better. Everyone's got that potential in them. You've just got to be able to find it, and when you do... I think you can build what you want for real, and make it a safe place for everyone who needs the sanctuary.

I want you to take the bones you've built with this place and make it something better. It can be a place people choose, instead of a place where they're forced to come.

[THE END]

[directrice]

[you offer up your desires, the counterbalances to Typhon's emotions that swirl outside the greenhouse, distant but raw]

[and then. . . the glass begins to crack]

[this may seem worrying, but the bunny box's voice echoes in your head to soothe your concerns]

IT IS OKAY! DO NOT WORRY. YOUR POWER. . . IT IS ENOUGH. CLOSE YOUR EYES AND HOLD ON VERY VERY TIGHTLY!!

[and then, all around you, the greenhouse glass shatters, and your vision is engulfed in a warm, bright light]