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

[precognit]

[Alice has been keeping an eye out for Zerinda, keeping an ear out for that voice, and the minute she hears it she turns, a little taken aback at the sight of the woman running toward her so eagerly. She pauses, and so does Alice, just staring a little awed at the vision coming her way. She almost wants to stay suspended in this moment a little longer, so she can properly savor it, but time doesn't work that way. And maybe it's best for everyone involved if she can't. So she surges forward, closes the gap between them, and wraps her arms around Zaza. Her head buries in her shoulder and she squeezes tight for a moment before pulling away, burningly aware of their proximity.

She's still got that beautiful red-orange shawl around her shoulders, Zaza might notice. Alice pulls it a little straighter around herself as she looks up into the other woman's face, and though she's relinquished her hug she still keeps both her hands in her small, cold ones.]

Zaza...

[There are a thousand things she wants to say, a thousand "I'm sorry"s and "I wish I'd been there"s, but she just shakes her head. None of it feels right.]

I can't believe this is real.