IRC bonus scenes

[Anastasia]

These scenes are canon, but are purely fluff that serves a particular purpose. Namely, the point is to get into the head of the characters and simply let them flow. It's practice and clarification, a little time given to them to let their personalities stretch out.

> Restlessness. Sleep parts with the groggy, sweaty sensation of warmth. Too much warmth, your blanket tossed aside on instinct as Moore sits up on his bed. A dream? No, just....sleep eludes him it seems, defying his efforts to find it.
<Nephrite> Moore sits up. Ugh, it's not like him to not be able to sleep.
<Nephrite> He yawns and pats his mouth as he looks over out his window. Maybe... there's something there?
> The light of Chronias continues to shine, bright as always - and then, a knock at the door.
<Nephrite> "Come in!" Moore calls from his bed.
> Xandra enters, carrying but one thing in her hand. A glass cool with condensation, ice water seen within. She silently presents it to you and once taken, goes to get one of the chairs in the room and sit by your bed. "I saw you couldn't sleep," she says, as if that explains it all.
<Nephrite> Moore takes the water and takes a sip. "Sorry to bother you. I'm not sure what happened." He admits.
> "There's no apology needed. Often we are called to grand deeds, but how often is simple kindness as important as that, at least to a single soul?" Xandra asks as you feel better, the water icy cold.
<Nephrite> Moore laughs a little bit at that. "You're right. How are you doing, then?"
> "Lost in thought," Xandra admits, "We forever have so much on our shoulders."
<Nephrite> "Anything particular?" He asks.
> "Everything." Xandra's looks out the window, "I find my own nature is sometimes too focused. What we are on is important, but I so often deny myself the rest I should take. The truth is known to me, but knowing the truth and living the truth: Well, that is the difficulty for so much of Creation."
<Nephrite> "When I rescue Sylvie, I think you two will have a lot to talk about." Moore says with a smile. "It's a heavy burden."
> A pause at that, "She means a lot to you, your thoughts seem to always return to her," Xandra remarks. She turns away from the window and to you, "As aperson or as a goal, though?"
<Nephrite> "She and I share... a lot." Moore says. "I'm afraid I don't understand your question."
> Here Xandra is silent a few moments, face calm - calm as a pond of still water. "Do you wish to save Sylvie for her sake or for the sake of saving her? I have seen heroes who do great good, yet care nothing for those they aid, in favor of their own distractions and aims."
<Nephrite> "I made a promise to her." Moore says. "If, ultimately, I find her... and she doesn't want to be saved? ..."
<Nephrite> He looks down at the floor. "...I don't think she'd say that."
<Nephrite> He takes in a breath. "If she does, well... I'll pass that bridge when we get there."
> Softly now, "Not everyone wishes to be saved." Xandra reaches out, her large hand on your back, enough to reach across the entire span of it, even pressing your wings down, surely getting pixie dust all over her hand. "Or it is too easy to find a noble goal to have become a graven, golden idol divorced from what made it noble. I would loathe to see you reach this goal and find it has twisted against you."
<Nephrite> Moore smiles up at Xandra. "Do you think Eblis would've said he wanted to be saved?"
> "Only if forced to speak the truth," Xandra replies, "How many speak or realize the truth?"
<Nephrite> Moore laughs at that. "Well, I'm pretty sure that won't be a problem for her. But... even if she's decided that she wants to not be saved... I want to show her she isn't alone and hasn't been forgotten. If that means I have to drag her back to Creation, kicking and screaming, I will." He takes a deep breath. "She never deserved the fate of wielding 21, and I... want her to be able to have a life
<Nephrite> that she chooses."
> "May she not choose a life against us, then," Xandra murmurs.
<Nephrite> Moore nods. "I agree. If nothing else.. I'll give her hope."
> "You've done well at that already," Xandra rises at this, "Sleep well, Moore."
<Nephrite> "I'll try." Moore says. "Thanks for stopping in."

[Anastasia]

> Hope's Landing. A rather quiet day as Moore take-WHAM! SLAM! The sound of a door slamming hard once and then again is heard, loud enough to penetrate the solitude of Moore's room.
<Moore> Well, that certainly gets him to jolt up from his casual reading! He will go and open his door to see if there's something going on!
> You do - just in time to see Jetina run by, fast as she can and in full armor, fleeing.
<Moore> "He-- hey! What's going on?!" Moore shouts as he flies after her!
> Jetina calls, "RUN!" at the top of her lungs, down the hallway an throwing another door open and through.
<Moore> Moore blinks, but decides to follow her for now. Whatever it is, it can't really be that dangerous...
> Jetina sprints along, around the halls of Hope's Landing. A few hallways down Grias is going along, only to yelp and bob ou tof the way, "What's going on?! Why are you running?!"
> "Can't talk!" Jetina fires back, keeping up her pace.
> A moment later Jetina cries out as force pulls at her, enough to momentarly arrest her run. "Stop running," Grias huffs, "Explain!"
<Moore> Moore uses the opportunity to catch up himself! "I'm quite curious to hear what's gone so terribly wrong!"
<Moore> He does momentarily look over at Grias but doesn't say anything. When did he learn to do that??
> "Aah..." A long few breaths from Jetina, "Nothing at all. I'm exercising and I thought Moore might like to come along, but I didn't want to stop."
> "Exercising? Inside? Why?" Grias asks slowly, "Are you a hero or a child?"
> To this Jetina shakes her head, "It's fun. Is it really Heaven if we can't run around like a child once in awhile and enjoy it?"
<Moore> Moore just... stares for a moment.
<Moore> "...So, there are two possible scenarios here -- one, which is that you do believe what you just said, and this was all an elaborate ruse... and two, that there's something horrible that's gone wrong." He says as he rubs his chin.
> Grias stays where he is in the air, "What if you'd hurt someone?" he finally says, then with a sigh, "You'd just heal them."
> Jetina rather sheepishly shakes her head, "It wasn't a ruse. Just some training," JEtina says, "There wasn't any falsehoods, I just told you to run and that I couldn't talk."
<Moore> "I suppose if Xandra isn't alerting all of us to something, there's never any real need to be worried. Honestly, next time, just knock on my door and let's go." A long sigh at that. "But maybe this is a good excuse to think about a few days of enjoyment for everyone sometime soon."
> "We could use a break once we're done with Sylvie," Jetina agrees, "We went from the war to this."
> Grias just bobs in the air, heaving a heavy sigh.
> "What?" Jetina declares, "Don't new souls here all begin as lantern archons and live an innocent childhood anew? I didn't get that."
<Moore> "No, neither one of us did, did we?" Moore says. "But... I don't think it's something we expected, either, is it? I..." A breath there. "You know, after the battle for Lifasa, Lord Erathaol told me I could have my memory back from before I went to the Lost Realm if I wanted to. I never took him up on that offer, because... whoever I was before I ended up there isn't who I am now. I... do you
<Moore> remember the last thing we did there, Jetina?"
> "I do," Jetina says, quieting at that. "Why do you ask?"
<Moore> "I... don't, at least, not all of it." Moore admits. "But I never really dwelled a lot on it. I just knew that we all agreed that doing something was better than doing nothing, even if we had to sacrifice something to fix it."
> Jetina glances at Grias, who pointedly does not flee. After a moment, "Could you excuse us, Grias?"
> Grias bobs away at this, "Waking half of Hope's Landing," he murmurs, off and gone.
<Moore> Moore lets out a breath as he goes.
> Once gone, "Did you have questions, Moore?" Jetina asks.
<Moore> "I don't know." He admits. "I know that sounds ridiculous."
<Moore> He takes in a breath. "No... with everything else going on, with us being so close to 21, I think it's best that I do know what I don't know now. I may have to face that ultimately sometime anyway. If you remember what we did to escape, or what it was that led to us being here, then please tell me."
> "You really don't remember? In the end, we all had to go into the light," Jetina says, "Does that ring any bells?"
<Moore> "I do have a penchant for just doing that sometimes, don't I?" He says. "No, I don't. I remember... I once heard myself say something along the lines of 'It has to be better than this fate,' but that's all I remember. Of course, I've never really sat and thought about it and tried to remember."
> "We had a choice - stay and forget or go on and risk," Jetina explains, "Not in so many words, but we understood it without being spoken."
<Moore> "Risk what, exactly? Whatever was 'outside,' in whatever form it took? Or was there something that might've happened to us after that?" He asks.
> Jetina gestures wordlessly, all around her. "This world, I believe. One that stands in such peril."
<Moore> Moore nods. "That makes sense. I suppose it explains why I'm so stubborn, heh."
<Moore> "Do you know how you ended up in that tomb?" Moore asks. "I wonder if I did too, and someone just... woke me up sometime."
> "It's where I woke up," Jetina says, "I don't know who put me there, but I can guess."
<Moore> Moore nods. "I think we all must come out of there and... end up somewhere specific, and then we're taken to some place after that. I suppose I could always just ask someday." He says with a chuckle. "It doesn't really matter ultimately."
> "WE have to move forward, not back." Jetina says, "You ready to save her?"
<Moore> Moore nods. "Yes. Absolutely."
> OOC: Good there?
<Moore> OOC: Yar