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

[wheremst]

[ 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. ]

Comments

[sunforging]

Oh.



[yeah. 'oh'.]


Well, shite.

[howveryglib]

...

Is this some sort of... parallel universe incident?

[AT LEAST HE KNOWS WHAT THOSE ARE NOW THANKS JOBU...]

...well, in any case, it is not my intention to cause problems for you now, obviously.

[sunforging]

Aye. Either you suddenly can't recognize me with a haircut, or more likely, somebody called in the wrong 'Warrior of Light'. This kind of parallel thing is a little new to me, but I ain't all that shocked it's possible.

[She pressed a clawed hand to her face, letting out a long sigh. time travel is a circular thing but it's not like branching timelines are a new concept either. This May As Well Happen.]

M'not your enemy, least not anymore. It's been, uh...a while since then--lemme start over. Name's Scintilla Caminus.

[howveryglib]

I suppose that makes sense, yes. The Warrior of Light I am aware of is an older Keeper man named Mikha'li Molkoh, so aside from the fact that you are both Mi'qote, the two of you are quite different.

[it's even blue hair versus red...]

...How long has it been, may I ask?

[sunforging]

Uh, well.

[gaius, yoshi-p says we're not allowed to talk about the time bubble-]

Let's see...long enough that the Dragonsong War's over, Ala Mhigo's been liberated, Garlemald's, uh...got some work to do, honestly months kinda blur together after a while.

[howveryglib]

[...]

So quite a bit has happened. I suppose I...

...

What... is happening to Garlemald? I heard some rather disturbing information from our captor, but I have no idea what to believe of it...

6.0 spoilers boy howdy

[sunforging]

...

[you know what she's talked too much while time traveling once, why not go for it again]

Maybe it's better if you...tell me what you got told and we go from there? There's an awful lot to cover.

[howveryglib]

...

I was told that the true identity of Solus zos Galvus is the Ascian Emet-Selch? Obviously the source is suspect and I do not wish to believe it, but knowing Lahabrea could commandeer the bodies of living persons and some of his... idiosyncrasies, I am...

[...]

I was planning on trying to do something about Lahabrea regardless, but I did not think it would be that... far-reaching.

[sunforging]

[That was about when the smile on her face got more than a little strained.]

Ah...well. Aye? Aye, that was true. I'd wager the real Solus Galvus was dead long before he started pushin' Garlemald to flourishin' like that. He once mentioned somethin' to me about Lahabrea jumpin' bodies so much that he kind of went...like that.

...Thancred's fine, by the way.

[Anyway.]

Emet-Selch was a genocidal Calamity-instigatin' monster, but...well, nothin's ever as simple as anyone thinks, is it?

[howveryglib]

...so it was all for... some vague, inscrutable plan, then. Not because he wanted to improve anyone's lot, or even because he was simply naturally pursuing power and just happened to make enough improvements to our nation that it felt like he cared about something.

[sunforging]

Wasn't much vague about it, truth be told.

[Sighing, she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.]

And I ain't gonna speak for Emet-Selch, but...I just don't quite get it, sometimes. I've been to Garlemald, I've heard how they talk about Solus. Like he really was good to them, more or less. Whether he really cared or not, that ain't for me to measure or determine. But they felt like he did, and ain't that worth somethin' to folks just tryin' to get by with whatever they got in a place that cold an' unforgivin'?

I'm not gonna stand here defendin' nothin he did, nobody in their right mind can ever look at the Calamity and think there was a good reason for that...but I know he wasn't heartless, right bastard or not.

The Ascians--there was somethin' they wanted, a cause they had to fight for with everythin' they had. And aye, it hurt and killed more people than anyone can count. But to them, it woulda saved as many once all was said and done. To the people he was fightin' for, he would've been a hero greater'n anything people call somebody like me. But he woulda had to kill damn near every form of life as we know it to get there. To them, that was 'right' even if to us, they had to be stopped no matter what it took.

[howveryglib]

...I believe it all may be easier to grasp if he had indeed been completely heartless. Even if he did care, it sounds like it was all intended for... something other than us.

[...]

I suppose I should not expect to work it all out in one night.

[sunforging]

It's...sure as hell gonna take a while to put together, aye.

[We're All Fine Here]

Sorry you had to find out like this.

[howveryglib]

I can imagine a number of worse ways to learn this information, I suppose. At least in this manner I can try and adapt to the knowledge instead of it blindsiding me.

[...]

Thinking about it, something else happened that I have a number of questions about...

[sunforging]

Go ahead, if I can answer I'll give it my best try. What else was there?

[howveryglib]

...

There was an instance where she brought our "worst enemies" as some sort of incentive to get us to kill everyone here, and there was this... Garlean man with a hairstyle unfitting a man our age in magenta armor? I think his name may begin with a V... do you know anything about this person?

even more endwalker spoilers

[sunforging]

...Ah.

[Hm. While the nature of time travel and the like were not something she had NEARLY the good ol' fashioned booksmarts to understand, Elidibus had led her to believe that outright changing matters was impossible. Which had turned out to be the case, in an odd roundabout way, but this was another thing entirely.]

[...On the other hand, she couldn't honestly say she gave a damn considering what was at stake.]

Was, uh...'Valens' by name, 'f I remember right. Now...ordinarily I wouldn' say this kinda thing, honestly. And ordinarily I wouldn' make crazy decisions without askin' Shtola if it was smart or not.

But, riskin' that I'll sound like the blood-crazed murderer Garlemald thinks I am right 'bout when you're at...you should probably kill him.

[howveryglib]

Ah, that was his name—I remembered someone like that working under Nero who I could not actually seem to get transferred to some other legion. I knew he was a particularly disagreeable person, but he never quite crossed a line where I truly considered him any sort of threat.

…

I do understand why you chose to take arms against us, at least, if you are anything like the Warrior of Light I faced. That is simply the way of war. I doubt you would tell me such a thing without good reason.

[sunforging]

Oh, I ain't upset about it or nothin'. Hard to be mad when people rightly hate you for things you actually did, far 's I'm concerned. Don't worry nothin' about me--uh, him, I guess? Wish I could say this was the first time there'd been more n' one of us...

[She shook her head, quickly waving a hand dismissively.]

Never mind all that for a second. Point is, that guy's gonna be causin' your kids a whole world of trouble if nobody deals with 'im. And I ain't nearly clever enough to know if changin' things will cause bigger problems, but takin' that risk is worth a shot.

[howveryglib]

…I see.

[even without knowing exactly how bad it is, he remembers enough about Valens to know that most of the problems he had with him had to do with how shitty he was to non-Garleans, so that tracks…]

I will admit, I was planning on reuniting with them and asking them to accompany me upon my return regardless of whether you warned me about Valens or not. I thought they would be safe if I had them transferred to a competently led legion like the VIth in the event that something befell me, but one of them was temporarily dragged into this mess for a week. I think they are capable and competent, but I think I would be more at ease if I have direct knowledge of how they are doing.

[sunforging]

I think that's smart, probably? Gods know I can't turn my back on Alphi or Alisaie without 'em doin' something crazy, so I know how that feels. Keepin' a closer eye on 'em yourself might avoid a whole world of trouble.

[howveryglib]

Ah... yes. They are perhaps a bit closer to adulthood on the whole, but I suppose thinking about how I was when I was their age, perhaps I ought to be considering things a bit more closely in that context...

[sunforging]

Yeah, you're tellin' me. I got up to plenty of dumb shite as a kid--...actually, apparently I still do, so maybe I ain't the best example.

[howveryglib]

...

I think the unfortunate choices just have greater consequences these days.

[this was NOT his intention.......................................]

[sunforging]

[excaliburface.gif]

You ain't kiddin'. Don't even know the half of it, my highly unlikely friend.