There's always a lighthouse

[thekeyofsea]

[ Blinking, bruised, but not defeated, you all stumble forward into the light. It's a quicker and easier trek downhill to the beach than it was up to the lighthouse by far - especially, perhaps, for those of you eager to see your previously fallen fellow passengers.

LeChuck comes with you, of course - not that he has much other choice, struck low by the Ultimate Insult as he is - and already on the beach or upon the ship they sailed from hell itself are the dead, ghostly but present. You can touch them, there's just a weird glow and you can kind of see their skeletons?

Jones, for his part, stands on the deck of the Dutchman, a plank lowered by his crew to the sand below for anyone who wants to speak with him. There will come a time to decide what to do next, but for now... focus on reuniting and figuring out what happens to that mean ol' LeChuck now.

Welcome to your Golden End. ]

(ooc: Congratulations, everyone! Feel free to mingle here to your hearts' content - tomorrow afternoon or evening, your ride home will be resolved, and that'll lead to an optional mingle with any Round 1 characters who wish to join and commiserate about the experience!)

Comments

1/2

[wheremst]

[ So, here's something interesting in all of this. Carmen Sandiego has sort of... been off to the side, not really saying or doing much of anything? Which is probably strange, all told. And actually... if you've been paying real close attention to her, the mist never quite reached her.

That might have something to do with the fact that at some point, when nobody is looking because of something else that very suddenly happens, this Carmen Sandiego's body breaks apart into white crabs that scurry away.

As for that other thing that's happening... ]

2/2

[wheremst]

[ Carmen Sandiego materializes on the middle of the beach, a little ways away from all of you. She looks... a little older? And certainly more excited to be here. ]

Yes! Player, we got it to work! Take that, Lutece!

[ A beat. ]

Allllso hey guys, long time no see!

[oceangirlfriend]

Got...what to work, exactly? [She can deal with the weird crab thing later, okay.]

[wheremst]

Oh, uh... the Lutece Machine that Maelstrom... it's a whole thing. I've been back home for almost a year, it's... you know. Time stuff.

[oceangirlfriend]

[Oh. Well, that's good to know, she supposes.] And it was supposed to transport you back here to this time? [You didn't just delete your younger self and create a paradox, right?]

[wheremst]

That was the idea! Calypso handled most of the specifics, but as long as I came to get you when the machine worked again, she sent me back early to go and... you know. Deal with getting the machine and making it work again.

[jibunwo]

Wait-...do you mean this?

[Lelouch rummaged through his bag briefly, producing the blueprints for the interdimensional machine.]

It's signed R.L.

[wheremst]

Yeah, that's the plans.

[ She produces a set of identical blueprints. ]

Apparently, the designs for this machine got around. Weird. Where'd you get yours?

[cethflayn]

Carmen-!

[Wh

What happened]

You are...older now? But it has only been two months, has it not?

[wheremst]

Not for me. I... okay, how do I explain this... because of how the Locker works, I left here earlier today, and now I'm here and it's been almost a year.

[cethflayn]

...Wh...

[But normal people can't time travel what is this]

Then, what have you been doing for an entire year? I - I do not understand. I do not understand this at all.

[hellahighwater]

...I knew it. Fucking time travel.

[ you knew absolutely NOTHING chloe shut up ]

[ltcommandroid]

[Data turns from the Crab Experience over there to the new Carmen.]

What were those?

[amightypirate]

Crabs?

[Said in a very matter-of-factly way.]

[ltcommandroid]

To my knowledge, crabs cannot typically combine into a humanoid form.

[wheremst]

Oh, uh... Calypso promised you guys passage, and I'm her delivering on it.

[ltcommandroid]

Oh, excellent.

[We did sort of dematerialize the boat that probably had the portal machine on it!]

Forgive me, but you do not appear to be the Carmen Sandiego whom we have known recently.

[onlyyoucan]

What the -- what just happened?

[wheremst]

We're all just playing an average normal game of "Where In Time is Carmen Sandiego," I guess. Point is, I'm your ride home.

[onlyyoucan]

This... is pretty confusing. But if you can use whatever that was now, that means we all can too, then, right?

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ Yo, she's pretty thrilled with having her powers back and all, but the mention of that catches her attention. ]

... hang on, how does that work, exactly? [ beat ] Like, timeline-wise. Two months have to have passed, right?

[silentscout]

...who are you?

[I am so sorry he's like this.]

[cethflayn]

[Whispers,] That is Carmen, she was on the boat with us but died.

[silentscout]

Oh.

[A pause. And then he whispers back.]

I didn't see her where all the dead went.

[sharddrive]

...How long have you been able to do that?