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]

[A woman in red stood around looking...actually, nowhere near as confused as the situation might warrant. Her tail flicked around in much the same way as that of a large cat that just had a pumpkin full of meat rolled into the enclosure, ears twitching like she was listening for something.]

Hey, 'scuse me- [She'll wave the nearest person down, speaking in an accent like every fantasy pirate you've ever seen anywhere ever:] I'm lookin' for somebody. Dark hair, taller'n a bleedin' dhalmel...three eyes, s'probably a bit distinctive.

[The vending machine has made an understandable but crucial error.]

[Later, once all (or at least most) matters of parallel worlds and the pitfalls therein are settled, she...can be found wherever there is food.]

So. Underwater city, aye? [munch munch] If I had a gil for every one of those...actually, it'd be more'n twice, come to think of it. Seven hells, what an oddly specific trend.

[(endwalker spoilers possible, i'll avoid them unless told otherwise)]

[jibunwo]

[where the hell is that music coming from--okay just kidding.]

[There was, however, a colossal robot landing a safe distance away from the gathering, lowering itself to one knee with a hand raised to chest height. Its pilot--a young man in an ostentatious purple suit and black cape--emerged from the cockpit and jumped down to the Gawain's extended hand to look around with eyes that were both violet.]

It would seem we missed anything requiring direct intervention.

[is. is he disappointed.]

Well, it's a waste of energy filler to leave as soon as we know the threat's passed. We may as well see who was caught up this time around. [Jumping down the rest of the way to the ground, the young man pushed his cape behind him with a flourish and walked along the beach like he owned the place.]

[mansbrain]

[For the second time this week, Mina has found herself somewhere completely new, surrounded by strangers.

Of course—- the most recent round of players will recognize her. She’s the young woman who had spurred such desperation in Jonathan Harker, when he spotted her in the room full of hostages.]

… At least this time, it’s a better view.

[pairtner]

[There's Aiba. There's a bunch of people here, so she's once again hiding who knows where. Whenever somebody comes close to where she is, she does her usual projecting in their field of vision, and comments:]

...it feels like something is missing. For some reason, I feel like at a time like this, a dance number with everybody somehow knowing the same choreography is the norm, but that's probably not going to happen.

[Probably, haha.]

[onlyyoucan]

[Following behind is Sara in her armoured pilot suit, and... not just her. A little girl holding a familiar child-sized doll also hops out.]

You're right about that. It feels almost too easy, even if that's because we weren't the ones on the front lines for this long.

[buriedstar]

[ Aside from a snide comment or two, Seo Dawon wasn't really present at the reunion. He's far from antisocial but his priorities are the same as ever, and for him personally, it's not like he's really alive again. It might have been in everyone's best interest that he kept to himself and by way of that, ignored Cipher since you really can't take the vengeful out a vengeful ghost.

But once they arrive at the beach, away from New Rapture, the second he can see the interfaces he's used to even if they're not functioning properly, that all changes as he speaks a single word. ]

[Gravity]. [ Anyone who's from a world where magic or the supernatural exist will see an absolutely enormous gold magic circle appear beneath the group's feet. There also might be a pressure, like the very sky and stars will fall down upon them. It lasts less than a second, Dawon waving his hand with a smirk as he cancels the spell. ]

The fireworks really don't even come close.

[ Aside from his initial display, he probably won't grandstand much unless you ask? Magic shows aside, he really doesn't have much to do here but he does have a very long list of things to get back to at home. There's a few people he will seek out around the bonfire before he leaves, but those who lived will get an "Did you miss me? ♥" while those who were dead will get a chipper "How's it feel?" if their eyes meet.

Alternatively if you have something else in mind, feel free to wildcard! ]

[roserules]

( at some point, one might notice a rather regal young man, a scepter topped with a red jewel in hand. truthfully, the... ah, peaceful evening actually surprises him. he'd expected... well, violence and mayhem and a rescue mission, and the expected violence is why he took the ramshackle prefect's place in this because what the fuck, headmage. not that he said this outloud.

but at the end of the day he and jade are here for one purpose- )

Floyd! There you are. You're unharmed, yes? I don't think I could stop Jade from acting if you aren't. ... Or Azul from manifesting to do the same, truthfully.

( but after that, he will at least stay a while to chat. hello, unknown seas. it's floyd's goldfishie.

er.

riddle rosehearts. )

A man-made city at the bottom of the sea... ridiculous.

[jibunwo]

It's a little irritating, but on the other hand it might be best if we don't have to fly in guns blazing.

[can't trigger a landslide underwater, he's out of ideas.]

[sivard]

[Considering yet another group of people has been through absolute hell, one would think that Zaveid would be a little sober about it, and to be fair he is. Of course, the problem with being an immortal nature spirit is that he can have... quite the skewed perspective on the flow of time.

Which is why anyone from round 2 will be approached by Zaveid, with a blond man in tow who looks like he's expecting people to not notice him at all, with the oddest greeting possible.]

I didn't expect a reunion so soon!

It hasn't been long at all. I'm surprised someone else found time to run another one of these damned things.

[reallyhatesharks]

Really wish we could, like, all stop meeting like this.

[Nova is here. It even looks like she dressed for the occasion in her bikini top and daisy dukes! Except that's... how she dresses all the time so like. Don't worry about it, actually.

To anyone from round 3 she'll introduce herself:]

Hi, I'm Nova from the first—second? Go around of these things. It depends on how you count, I think.

[fivestagegod]

God. Good to see that some things never change - always some new whackjob or another out to make life suck for the rest of us, right? Someone please tell me this is the last one - absolutely love all the new friends I've been making at these little things, don't get me wrong, but I'd like it if we could party on a beach just once because we want to and not because we're here to comfort a whole new bunch of traumatized people.

[...So, much to everyone's presumed dismay, it seems Birkin's been able to get enough time off to say hi to the rest of you. Spend some time hanging out on a beach, despite looking exactly like the sort of pasty white guy who doesn't do this? Hell yeah.

Mostly he's here to judge all of you and probably take notes down on this set of people, so he's curled up with his knees drawn up in the sand, just...scrawling some things down here and there and mostly looking like he's got something to say and is trying to decide if he should say it or not.]

At least there aren't any surprises this time, like the goddamn muppet off the cruise ship.

[...He hasn't seen Aiba yet, presumably.]

[emberserker]

Another beach. Good, I would've been vexed if they actually had set up shop in the Arctic.

[Who's this absolute joy of a person? Well, whoever she is, she's sipping on a frozen drink and looking around judgmentally at everyone. Or maybe that's just her face.]

There isn't nearly enough magic in this world compared to the last one, but I suppose we ought to make do. At least it's clean.

[manufactured]

[Birkin's +1 is...interesting.

He's not completely standoffish; he's the sort that will be distantly polite to you if you approach him, and he's otherwise perfectly fine here if a bit overdressed for the weather; generally he's just watching everyone, dark glasses making it hard to tell exactly where his gaze is landing.

Is it a good idea for him to be here after everything that ensued this time around? Possibly not, but it's not as though anyone here really knows who he is. He's generally keeping Birkin well enough in his line of sight, but he's making the expected social rounds and not just clinging to him like some sort of maladjusted weirdo. Of course, if you happen to be alone with him on this stretch of beach for whatever reason - ]

So is this your first time attending one of these, or have you had both the misfortune and the good luck to attend many?

[onemillion]

[It's been a very long time since Rossiu last set foot on a beach, and even then he didn't actually have fun, so who would expect this time to be different! He's thankfully alone and not getting a castmate to come visit right now, because that would be a mess and a half. You can find him either looking out to sea somewhat wistfully or perhaps having climbed up that lighthouse to watch everyone and get a moment of peace and quiet... Or maybe he's found a place to sit somewhere nearby and is watching everyone as well. Either way, he's not going out of his way to engage with everyone, but he'll certainly say his goodbyes before he goes right back to the stress of leading the entire damn world. Don't worry about it, he'll be fine!]

[emberserker]

Or at all, for some of you. I don't know how this lot made out, but I'd be surprised if it was any better than we did.

[scythegun]

[A year really isn't all that long a time, so surely Yeager can't have changed all that much. It doesn't look like he has, given he's still wearing the same ridiculous suit and carrying a briefcase that turns into a scythe.

Except there's one small change that's definitely a bit important: he has fairy wings now. So uh. That's new!

If you're one of the people from r2, Yeager will approach with a bright smile and a cheerful wave:]

Well, it's been quite some time, ja? How have you been doing?

[Or if you're anyone else... well, he's approaching you as well, likewise with a smile.]

Quite the celebration, isn't it? Are you one of the ones that recently escaped, or did you manage to avoid that horrid fate?

You may also find Yeager chatting with these two young ladies, also sporting fairy wings of their own! They're calling him by name still, but they seem to be family. Let me know if you'd like me to NPC them, otherwise assume that they're just hanging around and feel free to handwave CR with Droite and Gauche!]

[inaclearing]

[This is sort of nice, actually? Brett spends a while just sitting on the sand, closer to the ocean than the bonfire, but not near enough to get his feet wet. He's staring out at the sea, but doesn't mind being approached; to anyone from R3, who he expects to see, he just comments idly:]

It's been years since I last saw the ocean. From the top, at least. I always forget how big it is.

[Any canonmates will probably receive a bit more alarm! Carmen did mention it and all, but he probably made some kind of vague noises about how they shouldn't go to the trouble earlier and now he's not really expecting anyone. Mostly he just didn't want them to get sucked through dimensions for no reason. Like, his world doesn't have that, that's freaky.

Later on, he gets up and starts walking down the shore. This time, he leaves his shoes and socks behind to get his feet wet a little. If you catch him before he gets too far away, he'll probably invite you along - and anyway, he'll be back before too long.]

magic

[emberserker]

Showoff.

[Anna rolls her eyes and glares at him.]

How were you able to get that much magic out of a world like this? The aether count is pathetic in here.

[howveryglib]

[Truth be told, Gaius's armor is designed to be reasonably comfortable in any temperature due to good ol' Garlean engineering, but he... did feel kind of like changing out of it, for a variety of reasons. So he's wearing... he's wearing a shirt that feels appropriate and shorts. He's not really a party person anyway so it's not really surprising that he's kind of wallflowering, but he's attempting to make an appearance. He's the kind of awkward person who you'll have to approach instead of him approaching you outside of specific people, but he'll be like. eating bonfire food. he's kind of happy to have a burger...

...

There might be some time he takes away to kind of Stare Meaningfully at his helmet but like. He's at least trying to keep it together!!]

[hotpaprika]

[The moment Carmen mentioned friends coming, he kept a close eye on every single person coming in. There was one person he desperately wanted to see after so long. The woman who has been on his mind every day since he left England.

And then he catches a glimpse of her and he is frozenby her beauty. He could never forget how Mina looks, but seeing her in person again after so long was simply stunning.]

Mina?

[And then he breaks into a run, going straight at her, crying tears of pure joy.]

Mina, my beloved!

[picks up phone] yes this is floyd

[capreelcious]

[ Wait, what?! He knew Jade was here, but not- ]

GOLDFISHIE~!

[ Oh, he's scooping Riddle up in a big hug squeeze! ]

Yeah, yeah, I'm alright~! No scratches or dings on me.

[reallyhatesharks]

Vending machine told me they were nicer than us but that's a really low bar because we all hate each other.

[buriedstar]

[ He laughs. ]

I had to make sure I didn't get rusty~. And it's not like that was one of my legendary spells? [ As if magic isn't ingrained in every molecule in his body spirit. ] My magic doesn't rely on the environment, unlike yours I'm guessing? It's all from me ★.

[composalvation]

[So uh... this is a lot. This is something completely over Kanade's head, even with her own experience jumping into an alternate world. To say that Kanade is feeling lost is a bit of an understatement; there are so many people here, so many strangers. After all the time she spent in front of her computer losing herself in work, or in the Empty SEKAI, fruitlessly roaming its neverending void trying to find Mafuyu, the sights and sounds of this many people almost hurt. But she can't let that affect her - she'll push past people if she has to, as she searches desperately for her missing friend. Her stomach is in knots as she looks this way and that, and she's still not sure if this is a dream or not but she has to hope-]

Mafuyu???

[Kanade, usually so soft-spoken, who barely raises her voice even when she's startled, practically yells that name. It doesn't seem like she's going to stop until she finds her.



Later, when all is said and done and the reunion the two so desperately needed is had, Kanade will just... flop to the ground, a bit futher away from all the other people, knees pulled up and her head in her hands. She doesn't really try to mingle just yet - mingling isn't really her thing, at least not with so many new faces like this. And god, she's exhausted. The weeks of uncertainty seemed to have eaten away at this poor kid hard, and she looks about two seconds away from passing out where she sits. It would be so easy to just... lay back and sleep... but she can't. She has to make sure this is all real. That it's not a dream or hallucination brought on by weeks of barely any sleep (and boy does she have some serious raccoon eyes to prove it).

So she just... sits and watches. More often than not she keeps her gaze on Mafuyu, like she's afraid she'll disappear as soon as she blinks.]

[ahelpingpaw]

I mean, at least the danger being gone means nobody's getting their ribs broken today. Right?

[Filbo gives a sheepish grin. Why does that have to be the first thing you bring up, Filbo, what happened to Lelouch in endgame was a year ago]