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

[bolderfell]

[The nudge gets a soft, ticklish sound out of him, a faintly disbelieving laugh. She's solid flesh and bone, and her belief--that's something tangible, too.]

I... don't know how you did. [He says that quiet as a confession, then breathes out.] But I suppose an investigator has to have an eye for those things.

[Therion looks at her a moment, glances away, sighs, and drops his arms.]

If you want a... hug, or something. [-///-] I won't tell anyone if you don't.

[snackooed]

[ If the statement surprises her, it doesn't show on her face through shock. Her eyes may go a touch wider, and the play-pout she's giving might find its way back to that wide smile, like she's pulled a perfect print...

But she doesn't even have the words to crack wise, or poke fun. Like a barrier's just come crumbling down, the only thing keeping some level of distance between them crushed with those words, Ema's arms are moving before her lips can start.

She pulls him in and holds him tight. ]

My lips are sealed.

[bolderfell]

[For the first time in recorded history, Therion hugs back just as fiercely.]

...I'm glad you're back.

[It's probably not enough, not compared to everything he owes her. But he hopes, at the very least, she can hear some of what he wants her to know in there. How very, very much her acceptance, her teaching, her presence has meant to him all this time.]