FINAL EVENT: FAREWELL

[spoofer]

Characters: Ensemble cast!
Summary: The final event in Xistentia is necessarily one of farewells. Characters will be given a forum to decide where they go and with whom, or if they want to be part of the skeleton crew that stays. There is also a lantern festival, mingling Tanabata and the Chinese lantern festival.
Date(s): Month of July
Warnings/Notes: Feels, possibly sexual content, please warn in subject headers!

Farewell

a million billion trillion stars

The Battle Won

Late Sunday evening, a notice goes out across all the daemons. With critical blows struck against D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. during the prison world missions, F.A.T.E.S. is prepared to go into maintenance mode. That means only a skeleton crew of one hundred citizens needs to reside in Xistentia at any given time. The rest of the populace is free to return home. Or...

Destination Forum

Perhaps it's not your own home that you want to go back to.

Hence: the forums.

Public meetings take place at the Citadel, where larger groups and individuals can offer safe harbor for those looking for a fresh start and a new change. F.A.T.E.S. will offer each individual a change of powerset if they so wish to blend better into their new world. Though most of these decisions will be voluntary, a vote of all travelers following majority rules will determine significant changes likely to affect others, such as the nerfing of god-like individuals or weapons, or whether compulsively malicious individuals may be allowed into other worlds at all.

To enforce transparency in a discussion, a truth zone encompasses the gleaming tower, preventing anyone from telling a lie.

However, characters also have the option for private meetings— in which groups of travelers smaller than 5 individuals may be able to negotiate the terms of going to worlds outside the Citadel. This, you may do in whatever informal circumstances you like— from the privacy of a home to the local knockoff British pub. And if you aren't taking your friends home with you, perhaps too, it's time for your own personal good-byes.

D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. Lurks

As for D.E.S.T.I.N.Y., they seem to be gone. There's been radio silence ever since F.A.T.E.S. made their announcement. Any attempt by their Agents to contact them results in static - but not, strangely, in disconnection. It seems they aren't so much defeated as licking their wounds. Make no mistake, D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. will be back. Agents, be ready; this isn't the last you'll hear from them.

Festival of Lights

Such occasion asks for more than logistics; we also have reason to celebrate.

In true Xistentia spirit, the festival that ensues is a mix of traditions from around the multiverse. It all kicks off with a spectacular fireworks show over the city, amid raucous sharing of alcoholic beverages and food aplenty.



From Japan, we have Tanabata, where characters are encouraged to write down their dearest wishes for the future on tags of colorful paper and then tie them to the forest trees. With a little luck, your character will get their heart's desire.

From Thailand, we have Yi Peng, where your characters will send ill feelings, grudges, regrets, and old mistakes up into the air in the form of paper lanterns. It is the tradition of letting go and welcoming in the new. Don't worry about the fire hazard— F.A.T.E.S. has you covered.

And Diwali from India signifies the coming of a new time, a transition. Candles lit and traditions such as decor and sweets represent the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair.

The Marriage of Vanyel Greyborn & Hanako "Rosie" Nurumi

It's probably a little more slapdash than most weddings people are used to. When the bride had never anticipated getting married and the groom is from a place and time before most wedding customs people are familiar with, maybe it's to be expected. But, just like them, it all seems to come together despite everything. It makes for a beautifully unique ceremony.

The flowers are a mix of Rosa rugosas and Dragon's Tongue. A pink and gold motif that's warm but elegant. It's set at night so that everyone they both care to be there can attend. While not a full moon, Rose's ears are out anyway beneath a veil of matching white lace. It was important to both of them that they marry each other true; that they loved every part of each other and symbolized it in some way on this day.

The vows they exchange are simple but heartfelt. They agree to be bound together, in love, now and forever. Rings are exchanged. It all goes according to plan, which is probably the multiverse giving this particular couple a break after everything else. And while the ceremony is all well and good, it's the reception that most people are likely looking forward to. Everyone is invited to attend this part of the two's union.

By Vanyel and Rose's standards, it's probably pretty tame. They host a giant feast in which most food was provided by the groom himself. The meat of choice is mutton, which just so happens to be the bride's favorite. It was also a show of being able to provide for their future life together. Meanwhile, the alcohol was supplied by the bride so everyone knows its quality. If it's enough to get a demon drunk, it's likely enough to get just about anyone drunk. Non-alcoholic and vampire friendly drinks are provided as well since they want to make sure everyone is accommodated and having a good time.

The reception lasts well into the night and rays of early morning light are creeping up on the horizon by the time its time to wrap things up. All in all, they'd call it a successful event and a high note to end hopefully many people's time in Xistentia on.

Footnotes

1. Please ensure that threads are marked with appropriate content warnings!
2. The original announcement with some other details is here.
3. You are loved. Farewell!

Comments

barclay odell ⛵ ota + closed;

[disbands]

closed to kenzi;

[After she went back to being herself, Barclay had been incredibly grateful. Any outstanding notions he might have had left about the benefits of a traditional woman with conservative sensibilities had been soundly blasted out of his mind by the sheer frustration of seeing his dear beloved pack her trunk and refuse to so much as squeeze his hand. A year ago, the end of the world had indeed been terrifying, back in eudio. But the fear that gripped his heart as she turned her corseted back on him and her heels clicked as she walked away— that had been something different entirely.

And now the world is healed. In fact, all three of the prospective worlds are healed— Eudio, but also her home peopled with faeries, and his with anachronistic toilets and antibiotics not yet invented.

The two of them are currently at their wide, glossy dining table. Above them, beach sunlight shines in through tall lighthouse windows. They're making this decision together-- this very serious, very important decision. And thus naturally: there is a huge plate of cheese and meat on the table, quite a few bottles of wine, and currently, his head is planted on her lap.] We can rule my homeworld out, [he proposes.] Nothing for me there. Not unless you particularly want to experiment with very old-fashioned latrines.

wedding, open;

[It's a beautiful event. Maybe it even gives Barclay ideas of his own, for some remote and far-off someday, with Kenzi. Maybe someday.

But today, he is here in the now. Clutching a cup of vodka, laden with ice, and leaning on a tree that has already begun to shed bits of slightly bioluminescent bark on his frock coat. He's pleasantly buzzed, and happily watching Kenzi flit from cluster to cluster of warm-spirited conversationalists from afar.

At some point, though, he does recognize that he's being a touch asocial, and pulls himslf off the tree with a shrug of shoulders and a tiny shimmer of falling vegetable dust. He's by you in a moment, his cup tipped expectantly over yours.] Another sip and I'll be laid out on the lawn, [he says.] Do you care for it?

[moshennik]

[ Kenzi was not a fan of the person she'd become during that weird curse, herself. And if she knew just how rattled Barclay had been by it, she would have done even more to reassure him that she wasn't that person, that she'd never willingly walk away from him forever, she'd have to be dragged away, in fact.

She was his to love and he was hers and man oh man, she never knew she could have something like this, that she could ever feel this complete, this loved, this happy.

However, right now, she's stroking his head as he lays it in her lap, both of them filled with cheese and soaked with wine. They have a very big decision to make: which world to end up in.]

I'm pretty sure they'd burn me at the stake for being a witch. [ Which would be a problem if she tried to use any of her knowledge of the future to benefit them.] And I'm not sure I want to drag you back to my world either... [ She glances down at him, drawing a finger along the bridge of his nose, thinking about how much she misses Bo and Dyson.]

I think we should go home. Our home. [ Eudio. Where it all started. Where the others might still be or be brought eventually. Where Barclay had a business he loved and she didn't have to look over her shoulder all the time.] What's your vote?

[disbands]

[It's a good question, but Barclay is stuck back on an earlier point actually. Just a few sentences earlier. He hadn't known for sure what she'd vote for-- he knows she misses her friends from the faerie world, that she even has some residual family there, and none of that would be easy to say good-bye to. And he also knows the same goes for Eudio, the relationships she had built there too. It wouldn't be an easy decision to make.

But it's her reasoning that gives him pause. His eyes slip a little drunkenly up to her face, searching for the minute subtleties of expression that might be hiding under her stylish forelocks or the dramatic lines of her eye makeup.]

You wouldn't want to drag me? [he asks.] It's on my account now, is it? What's your reasoning, madame?

[moshennik]

[ She wrinkles her nose at the name he addresses her by, moving her finger along the line of his jaw lazily.] Because my home is full of crazy danger that's constantly coming after me and the people I love. That means you, bucko. [ She sighs softly, tucking her hair over her shoulder with her free hand.] And I die back home according to Dyson. I don't really think that's something either of us want to go back to, right?

[disbands]

[Barclay lowers his head into her touch. There's the beginnings of a beard growing back onto his jaw, a faint scruff of friction smoothing along her fingers. The little touch, it's a miniature version of what their relationship has always been like— even when they rub each other against the grain, there's a certain pleasure in it.

He looks at her with a smile.]

Did you not ask for your incentive from Eudio to be that they save your life? [he asks.] Do you not think you can have it all? Perhaps it's my duty then, to believe that that's what you deserve.

[moshennik]

I didn't know I was gonna die until I got there and I asked to become fae. [ She closes her eyes for a moment.] I have to die so Bo can live but Dyson's incentive was to save my life. [ She looks back down at him.] But how do we know if they gave him that incentive... he's not here.

[disbands]

We'll know if we stop back there. [Barclay's arm slips around her waist, reflexively protective over even the vague possibility that the threat of death remains true. Despite that life in Eudio and Xistentia were far, far easier than his homeworld, he didn't lose much muscle; if anything, he gained it, well fed by her cooking misadventures as well as her taste in restaurants, and honed on exercise. Not the least of which, manning the lovely boat she'd bought him.] We could stop back there, with the intention of returning back to your world after, if the incentives are clear. Only if.

[A beat.]

I just don't want you to give up on final happiness. Not unless you have to. Sometimes I think, whether it's our old religions or hardships, we come to believe we must make the hard choice. Like we don't trust the comfort or ease. Or the possibility of bliss.

[moshennik]

Barclay, [ she looks at him earnestly, imploringly, one hand at his cheek.] You make me happy. You are my final happiness. Bo Bo is my best friend in the whole world and I love her but she'd understand, just like I would if she did the same thing. I think. You are the easiest and best choice.

[disbands]

[He's quiet for a moment, moved beyond what his not inconsiderable vocabulary would give him. As she speaks, he thinks about it too; his own world, that Eudio would be more of a crossroads than hers could ever be again. Cassidy. He never got the proper chance to say good-bye.

Maybe he's the one who doesn't trust easy decisions.]

I'd go with you to your old world. And I'd return to Eudio with you, [he says, finally. He leans near, sets his lips against her cheek, so she can feel the syllables as he shapes them against the porcelain curve of her cheeks.] As long as it is you.