unknownseas | there's always a lighthouse. there's always a beach party.

[ Welcome to... a very nice beach, actually! It's very pleasant here. Carmen has set up a couple bonfires, there's some barbecues with meat to cook... and a lot of beach to hang out on! ]

Welcome to California's Pigeon Point Light Station State Park! Between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, just south of Pescadero, this lighthouse gets it's name from the Carrier Pigeon, a ship that wrecked here in 1853! ... Sorry, old habit. Go party. We have the whole place to ourselves. Most everyone here's been through something like this, or knows someone who has. And... the vending machine's bringing in some friends of yours, too.

[ It's a warm late summer night - not too hot for bonfires, but not too chilly that you need to stick by them to survive.

You've made it to the end. There are fellow survivors to meet and commiserate with, friends to meet or catch up with, and... it's over. For those of you returning, it's been about a year since the end of Round 2, and Carmen's gotten the word out to as many people as she can between trying to help this round and tracking down Round 0. If you'd like to play a hostage from the first motive, just know that they will remember it, but it's up to the player in the main round if time has passed since then or not so... it may have been a day or two ago or it may have been months! And hell with it, if you want to play a Round 0 character you suggested back in r1, come talk to us. Why not?

EDIT: Asher has gone to the trouble of making a toplevel directory for anyone intimidated by the number of pages!

Enjoy the last log of Unknown Seas! You've earned it. Love meme will come later tonight in the ooc comm. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...hi, who are you?

[Well, he's not immediately turning down the offer to talk, which is something significant for Brett anyway.]

Ah, my name is Seteth. I am assistant to the Archbishop of the Church of Fodlan, but... I suppose that does not mean much, outside of general religious associations.

Oh...

[From his general expression - probably not the most welcome association! But...well, options are limited. Brett looks around for a second, then shrugs.]

Well, I wouldn't mind getting a second opinion on something. I don't really want to ask anyone I know...I don't think they'd be objective.

--Ah, for reference, I do not intend to convert you or anything of the sort. I am aware that there can be... concerns about that sort of thing, so you may speak freely. I will keep everything in confidence, as well.

Okay...

[Brett still looks like he feels this might be a bad idea. But...eh. After two months, talking to literally anyone outside the group feels nice. He sighs and takes a moment to gather his thoughts.]

Cipher's offered to bring people from our worlds who died back to life. She's doing it, for some of us. The people that I'm thinking of, in mine...they've been gone for years. Everyone's...not moved on, but they've processed it. They've gone on living with it. Ours isn't a world with magic or resurrection - there'd be a lot of uproar and legal issues. I honestly don't know what might happen, if three people suddenly just returned from the dead. It could be something that gets explained away, but it could also go...very badly.

...so I don't...really think I should.

[That's the first time he's just admitted that out loud, without hiding behind his own feelings of inadequacy among the group. It's true enough that he feels like he hasn't earned any kind of boon...but more than that, he wishes the choice weren't available at all. It just feels wrong, that you could simply try to undo everything that's happened. Except, that's already happened once today, hasn't it?]

But that's terrible, isn't it? Letting people stay dead just because it would be inconvenient? What kind of a person even takes this long to think about it?

[aw hell he can’t believe this is something he has something resembling personal experience with…]

…I do not blame you for struggling with this. Truthfully, my family has been subject to a similar conflict, though the cost would be far greater than it seems would be involved in this instance and it would go explicitly against the deceased’s wishes.

I do not know your situation, so I cannot entirely say what your loved ones would wish. You would know that better than I. It does seem like the issues surrounding your situation would make your loved ones’ lives difficult if they were to return home; however, that is not the only option available in this situation.

…in any case, I do not think less of you for struggling with the idea. It is… not exactly something that is available to the vast majority of people.

No. I wish it weren't available to me. I don't think Forrest is wrong to take advantage of it, and I definitely don't think anyone here should have stayed dead! It's just...it's different. It feels wrong, to think of playing with life and death that way.

[And even outside the philosophical stuff, there's matters of practicality. Forrest's father and wife only died recently. They can pick back up and carry on living as they were, with only a bit of interruption. Brett's situation, though...

He sighs. He should explain. There's no understanding it without an explanation.]

My parents both died when I was thirteen. At that age, I don't know if anyone really knows their parents as people. Certainly not what they would want in a situation like this. That was twenty years ago now...we'd be the same age, if I were to see them again. That sounds so destabilizing - coming back to a world where you'd been gone so long. Everything's changed so much. My gut instinct is that it's almost cruel, but who am I to decide they're better off dead?

Then there's Jacob. I never knew him at all - he was my friend's brother, he died before we met. Four or five years ago now. That's just...I'm not going to save my family and not do anything for hers. [.....] I'm not sure how I can face them again knowing I could have saved him, even if I don't save anyone else.

...honestly, this seems like the best argument for why such things should not be... approached. I do not blame those who take advantage of them, but it really should not be up to us do determine who lives and who dies in... that particular sense.

...

I understand it is a difficult situation. But it is because of that I do not believe you should be held responsible for whatever choice you make. It truly is an absolute ethical nightmare...

Yeah, it is. And it's like - where does it end? We've all lost people. We're all going to lose people.

[Does he revive folks for his other friends? For their friends? In the future, when people die again, does he just bring them back again? Of course not, but how do you decide that cutoff?

Frankly, it probably ends wherever Cipher's patience does. But he's thinking about it more philosophically than practically, at least in this moment.]

It's probably better I don't. I really don't want to start playing God. Just...you know, it feels bad. [And here we are, back where he started. But with more certainty than he had before, at least?] Thanks for letting me talk through it, I guess. I didn't want to make anyone in my group feel bad for what they are doing, or...well, they'd probably get sidetracked by the whole "am I a bad person" thing.

[He's been down on himself a lot lately! He knows that! But, genuinely, this isn't about that.]

I am glad that it is at least... weighing on you less now. I do not blame you for seeking a more neutral party on this matter, though I imagine it to be... difficult to discuss regardless.

I cannot imagine feeling good about such a thing, either, but I do think you are handling it responsibly. I hope you manage to make your peace with it. I imagine it will come in time.

Yeah. Time helps. I'm sure once I go back to a regular world, it'll feel...different.

[He sighs, resting his chin on his folded hands for a moment.]

So, how long has it been for you since all this?

It has been a year and a few months for me. I will say that I have been feeling considerably better after being out of the situation, so things will likely improve for you.

Yeah, I hope so. Was it...I don't know, a big adjustment? It's only been two months or so, but I feel like it might be.

[flashforward to Brett getting super clingy on Thursdays sorry Luca]

It was something of one, yes. Admittedly, leaving and being inducted into some multi-dimensional support group is overwhelming in a different way, although the support is, at the very least, very welcome.

[Brett snorts.]

Yeah, I guess that's a whole other thing. But I'm glad there's something like that. Before - once it started to seem like we might actually get out - I was a little worried about how we wouldn't have anyone to talk to. My world's very mundane, compared to most of what I've seen and heard about. I couldn't tell anyone there without getting committed.

[It's somewhat hyperbolic, but you know, he doesn't think it'd be a great idea.]

there's always a lighthouse. there's always a beach party.

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