WELCOME

[umbralant]

EPILOGUE

As the world they've been living in so long quickly dissolves around them, the oppressive air from the Gate fades away from their senses and their vision turns turns completely white. It only takes an instant for their sight to return, but when it does, they'll find themselves in the same dim, dank chamber that they were in a moment before albeit with several main differences: the Gate and the machines that were clustered near it are now gone.

However, you'll only be able to take in this sight for a few seconds before the scenery blurs and suddenly there's the scent of the cool December air brushing past your face, blinding sunlight assaulting the eyes.

It's been six weeks since you've seen anything but the night, so it may take a bit of adjustment before realizing that there's a number of very, very familiar faces before you, as well as one who might not be so recognizable. Either way, one thing is for sure: that long, long Night is over, and it's the start of another Day.

Witamy w Krakowie.

[[Everyone will find themselves in the Main Square. Furthermore, those who had body horror will find that all traces of it are gone!]]

navigation

profiles

rules

locations

shop

location changes

full navigation

Comments

[psychophant]

[Oh, don't worry. Even after all this time, Iago's moods come and go easily and it isn't often he's left genuinely angry and upset. You already saw how that went for like. a solid week straight, anyway.

So when Raven approaches, he nods in greeting, no more irritated at her than he would be at any other day; though that is primarily because things ended up working out surprisingly well anyway.]

I did warn you all not to underestimate me. Countless times.

[He pauses for a moment and then shakes his head. He's smiling, but it's a wry expression.]

In truth, I'm dreadful at reacting to sudden changes and this experience has been nothing but that. I was only able to come up with that plan thanks to Rembrandt's information and Cumore's ability. Without either of those, I wouldn't have known how to proceed.

[He was close with the Lady, but he wasn't sure exactly how to proceed without potentially making things infinitely worse, so he'd opted for the safer option. Which involved silencing the room and praying to whatever deity would listen that the rest of them would be adaptable enough to deal with whatever happened next, but hey, it worked out! The one time he actually attempted to have any faith in anyone else and it worked. Well, up until Raven stopped Rean from killing the Lady and Dazai knocked her out and things rapidly spiraled out of control again, but you know. This may as well happen.]

You have my thanks for rushing in when you did. [He inclines his head a bit.] I am sorry about your hair.

[it was a dramatic anime haircut and it was super cool, but now your hair is short.....]

[raventhaw]

You're known as a tactician for a reason. What you and Cumore did kept us alive.

[ if lucrezia had ordered rembrandt to do anything to everyone else while rean and raven were fighting her...yeah. people might've been toast. they all might've been toast. ]

Don't be sorry. It's a price worth paying. [ honestly...she's mildly miffed that her hair's now a short, ragged mess but she'd take that over her life, obviously. ]

...I didn't kill her because I knew it was what she wanted. I was concerned that it would've unleashed something far greater than whatever any of us could have handled, something more terrifying than Rembrandt himself. That, or some part of the world would've fallen apart and would have made it that much harder for us to get out alive.

[ ... ] Clearly, that wasn't the case. I'm glad for it.

[psychophant]

[He nods at the first part; silencing her was ultimately the best way to go about it. She likely would have been fine even against both Rean and Raven, but Dazai got involved and team molotov over there broke her machine. If she'd been able to speak, she would have ordered Rembrandt to kill them all.

It's sort of strange to lay it all out like that. The purpose of it was just to buy enough time for someone to kill her, after all. It really did save them all, huh...

It's the last part that really gets his attention and for a moment his gaze darts.]

I understand your concerns. There was no way for sure to know that killing her wouldn't unleash a larger threat. We were relying on what information we had gathered, which wasn't enough to make a decision that large.

...I would have pushed for her to die regardless, however. That's the only reason I was there.

[It hasn't been about putting a stop to a threat or saving themselves, and it hasn't been about keeping everyone alive. Revenge was the only thing driving him at that point; it was one of the few concrete things he had left to hold on to.]

I am pleased that things worked out in our favor, though Erik's sacrifice is hardly ideal. Still, I find it hard to complain when we're all reunited and we have the chance to return home after so long.

[Six weeks feels both like an eternity and like no time has passed at all. It's so weird.]

[raventhaw]

In all honesty, I did think about letting you get the final shot in before the realization hit me. I'm sure you would've enjoyed that.

[ because gods, gods she saw how much he despised the lady during dist's trial. raven wasn't feeling particularly greedy enough to get the final hit in, so she's glad someone else took it. (thanks, rideaux.) ]

Erik's sacrifice is a shame. I can't say I'm surprised he did it, but he really did do us all a favor.

[ she almost feels like she owes him something. maybe she does, maybe she doesn't -- mostly she's just happy to still be here. alive and under the sun once more. ]

[psychophant]

I would have. In some ways, I regret I wasn't able to.

[But given the circumstances and the weapons at his disposal, it wasn't possible. He prioritized his own safety (and Cumore's and Mikami's) over taking the fight to her himself, but that was ultimately for the best. Without his magic, he's useless in a fight like that and there were already three people dealing with her.

It's a nice thought, though.]

He made a very difficult decision, and one none of us can agree with. Still, it is because of him that we're able to move on now. At the very least he's reunited us with those who departed.

[He doesn't need to say how much that means to him. Raven should know by now that even though it wasn't the ideal outcome, what matters most to him is that it's over and that he's reunited with Dist.]