08 - epilogue

[afflictionmods]

EPILOGUE

So.

Juniper is dead. Lorelei and Florence are alive. And the rest of you, thankfully, are also alive and kicking.

The building is kind of a mess right now, and a lot of the citizens are in kind of disarray, confused and uncertain of what exactly is going on in the Camellia tower. Things are a bit of a mess right now, but what matters is that you’ve stopped things. The cycle of these experiments, suppression – it’s over.

Your markings are still here, however. You are free to try and figure that out, too (though the answer is, indeed, quite simple with the "B" toggle, and may be hand waved). Other than that, though, everything seems to be...stabilized. As good as they can be, anyway. Lorelei and Florence are around, for any last conversations. When you emerge, the sun is out, perhaps brighter than usual – though whether that’s because of joy from the citizens or confusion is anyone’s guess – and some of you are covered in blood, but you are here.

And you are ready to finally, finally return home.

---

(OOC: For anyone who's willing, Lorelei will be able to configure tablets to synch up with the portal here at Estelline. From there, they will be able to world hop to someone else's world; so the Estelline portal is now a hub, of sorts. It's not a direct world hop and it's a bit inconvenient, but it is a way for you guys to see each other again.

She will also ensure that those who are currently sleeping will be sent home in one piece.

All of this can be handwaved, or threaded out in the Lorelei thread.

Happy Good Ending, everyone!)

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[vivens]

[ sabo says nothing for a moment and just watches the way that ace's flame comes in contact with him and the way his body reacts to the flame by simply allowing it to exist within it. sabo doesn't go as far as to think about how easily they could just mingle just like this and instead glances back over at ace from their hands. ]

You make it sounds like it's going to be so easy.

[ his voice is soft but not in the exasperated way, but more of the soft concern that he had when they were much younger. back when ace would put on the front of how he wasn't lonely when he was. if ace was going to return with him then a lot was going to change. ]

The Revolutionary Army isn't exactly safe. We don't have the same protection that you had when you were part of the Whitebeard Pirates.

[ territories that were protected and belonged to the whitebeard pirates existed right out in the open because it was part of the show of power. a sign and warning of who would be angered if anything were to happen to them. the opposite was not true for sabo's alliance. ]

[iubar]

[ it's honestly a strange feeling, being able to do this with sabo and not have any concern about the flames. in fact, it feels very intimate in a way that no one else could understand. but he sets that thought aside to focus on the rest. ]

You think I didn't think about that? If I was worried about that, I'd go somewhere else.

[ there were others that were going places that weren't their own. if he really was concerned about staying alive that bad, over wanting to be with sabo, he'd head to someone's world like riku's. it'd be easy to survive in a place like that. ]

But you're worth the risk.

[vivens]

Sometimes I wonder what you think about when you're like this, and I wonder who taught you how to say something like that.

[ sabo laughs helplessly as a blush crawls up his neck. hearing ace saying that makes him feel something that he doesn't know how to properly place. well, outside of the obvious. it's not exactly something he'd accept from someone else. actually, he doesn't see himself accepting it from anyone else. ]

But you're not going to try to find what ever is left of your other brothers? [ obviously ace's brothers were just luffy and himself but he's referring to the scattered members of the whitebeard pirates. though, sabo doesn't think he could describe ace as just his "brother" anymore. ] If you want to look for them I could try to see what I could do.

[ sabo can't promise that he could offer any resources exactly but he could offer some aid. ]

[iubar]

That almost sounds like a complaint.

[ he jokes back about that. it's not like he's always going to be laying down the lines like this. he's already shared some of his feelings, though it's still not quite easy to be fully honest or upfront about all his feelings, too. this is just an important, rare time while trying to figure out their future. ]

I do. And I will.

[ and he is very tempted to rush into it right away, but he also knows they need to settle things first. at least see how things change with ace existing in the world once again. after all, he has to try to think about staying alive now and not just immediately jumping the gun as he usually does. ]

[vivens]

Does it? What do you think I could be complaining about?

[ he's fine to keep playing this game if it's one that ace wants to play. sabo will tilt his head to one side as he gauges to see where things might move from here. all the while acknowledging the other answer that ace gives him. ]

...but okay.

[ sabo doesn't repeat how he'd offer his help, where he can, with ace. he doesn't need to. it'll always be there. ]