There's always a lighthouse

[wheremst]

And just like that, you wake up in the basement of a lighthouse in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There's a circle of 25 pods in the middle of the room, and two more in a room off to the side, and you can imagine who is in which.

An elevator to the side of the room leads up to the ground floor (or to the first sub-basement, if you want to check out the machine that brought you here), where you can for the first time in weeks look out a window and see the sky. Its a beautiful sunny day, with a strong breeze on the grassy ground of the island where the lighthouse stands. Have you ever been this happy to hear seagulls?

You're free. Whatever comes next, you're free and you won. Take some time to relish your victory, won't you? Reunite with friends you thought you had lost, go forth and just... well, enjoy this.

Comments

[fivestagegod]

[...Oh, hey. Holy shit, um.

He's effectively not too sure what to do with Lif; he wouldn't say the bridges have been burned unless Lif decided they are, but...hm.

He seems to relax easily enough, at least.]

Hey. It's been a while, hasn't it.

[onefuture]

[...He isn't the only one who doesn't quite know what to do here, let's put it at that. Lif turns away a bit, rubbing the back of his neck.]

It has been. Though perhaps not quite as long as you think; we have been able to see the trials that have taken place.

[...Fuck it, let's clear the air a bit--]

I don't hate you, you know. For any of that.

[fivestagegod]

Not mad, just disappointed, yeah?

[It's light, though. He gets it.]

That's good to know, though. For what it's worth, I meant what I said to you. I don't hate you for what you did.

[onefuture]

[That pulls a bit of sharp laughter from Lif--you know what.]

Perhaps, yes.

[That's likewise light, though. Though Lif pauses at the next words, he finds his eyes sliding closed.]

...I appreciate it; that does mean much to me. Though I wouldn't have blamed you if you did; I did attempt to make quite the mess. [Even so--] At any rate, I am glad that you made it to the end, despite everything. I wouldn't have been very pleased with you if you ended up on our side after all you said.

[fivestagegod]

[...what does he do with this.]

I would have been pissed off right along with you. I tried not to be careless.

[So there's that.]

...I kept the drawing, you know. Showed it to a few people, I hope you don't mind.

[onefuture]

[...Oh. Lif's eyes briefly widen, surprised. He doesn't know what to do with this??]

You kept it?

[He sounds openly shocked for a moment before schooling his expression back into something more subdued.]

...I don't mind at all. I'm thankful that you kept it, really. I didn't think that you would, if you did anything with it at all.

[fivestagegod]

Yeah, I...

[Feelings are hard. They've always been hard, but it's somewhat worse now that he's more aware of it. Mnngh.]

That locket I got from the machine had a compartment under it, where you can put small objects. I folded it up and kept it there.

[So it was on his person pretty much 24/7.]

[onefuture]

[...Oh.

It's clear Lif doesn't know how to respond to that; his gaze goes over out the window, because the weather's just real nice, you see, and totally not because feelings are also really hard for him? It's fine. Everything is fine.]

...I'm...honored, to hear that much. I'm certain that if any of them were around, they would likewise be so.

...Thank you. I truly don't know what to say.

[fivestagegod]

[Feelings are hard. We're apparently just going to stand here and suck at them together.]

It's fine. I spent the last couple weeks really pissed off at you for leaving me anything like that. Not like it's a bad thing that you did - I appreciated it, kind of - it was just really agitating. I prefer having you guys around than having weird reminders, you know?

[He's. Trying.]

[onefuture]

[This is just our lives now. A weird fucking trapeze through fucking feelings. Fuck feelings? Fuck feelings. What good have they done for anyone. Lif's just kind of going to keep his gaze elsewhere, but...]

...I think I can understand. All it was, simply, was...a poor reminder. And it is usually good to have the actual person around, rather than a reminder of what they were.

[...]

For what it's worth, I...do apologize for leaving you behind. Were it not for the secret...

[Well. Lif thinks William will get it, at least. He was able to find out pretty quickly what'd happened, after all.]

[fivestagegod]

I nearly went off and joined you a couple of times because the motives started getting to me. So don't worry about it too much, I get it.

[Cases three and five were. Bad.]

I'm not mad at you. It's okay, I mean it.

[onefuture]

I appreciate it.

[...Yeah, Lif could kind of tell they were bad in general. All of the cases were but. Wow, y'all kind of went apeshit.]

...At any rate, I do hope that all goes well for you. In dealing with our useless Professor, primarily, but...hopefully you and yours will not have to deal with anything horrific in the coming future.

[fivestagegod]

...Honestly, a lot of the reason I can't hate the Professor is because he prevented something horrific from happening by bringing me here when he did, if unintentionally so. I kind of owe him for that one.

[...]

Of course, he proceeded to be a fucking idiot and do all of this to me, so trust me, he's not going to be having a great time with me.

[onefuture]

[...]

I don't intend to begrudge you for that. If he prevented that much from coming to pass, then you're well within your right to feel as you wish.

But I am glad to hear that much. Should you have the time, come by to Skyrim and regale us with a few stories about what is going on with him; I'm sure Aela and I will get a kick out of it.

[oh my god lif, can you not say it while looking so spiteful and happy]

[fivestagegod]

[that's so valid, though]

Oh, trust me. Assuming that's a possibility - and I intend to ask if it is - you'll get to hear all about this guy's misfortune. I'm not going to hold out on you.

It's probably for the best that most of you don't come to where I'm from, though. World isn't quite ready for it in some ways; world is going straight to hell in others.

[onefuture]

I figured as much. Believe me, I doubt any of us would intend to put ourselves in harms way like that.

[That sounds like a bad time??? Lif's already undead, he doesn't want to end up more undead.]

I'm looking forward to all of the stories you have to share. And believe me, you're not the only one who's going to ask--I do have some prior business to eradicate before I go off, and I have to make sure that trip isn't a permanent one.

[fivestagegod]

[...ngl he's kind of curious about what would happen if someone infected lif with a virus or NE-A or something but

he won't be that much of an asshole]

Going to go settle things finally?

[onefuture]

[oh my god. thanks william, you're a pal (?)

(tho lbr, it would probably be some delightfully hideous shit)]

I certainly am. I may not be able to save those lost by killing Hel...but I fully intend to avenge them all with her blood.

And I will enjoy every second of it.

[jesus christ lif]

[fivestagegod]

As well you should. Good for you.

[NICE PEOPLE SAYING WONDERFUL THINGS.]