mayfield_mods: (the end)
Mayfield Mods ([personal profile] mayfield_mods) wrote in [community profile] mayfield_rpg2012-12-02 11:36 pm
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THE END

You've walked for what feels like ages down the highway as a group- all those who chose uncertain freedom over certain death. Within an hour, Mayfield became a distant speck on the horizon before ultimately fading into the hills and trees. The only sign of the place you've escaped is the sky, which remains an eerie brown even after night falls and you've put Mayfield hours behind you.

Try as you might, it's impossible not to imagine that you've been led into a trap. What if this is all part of some new sick game of Johnson's- or even Zemekis'? It certainly wouldn't be the first time. What if the events of the past few months- saving Annie, Gray's "ghost", Zemekis' apparent death -what if it's all been nothing but the latest in a long tradition of Mayfield's-

These thoughts fade when you see the first sunbeam.

This road isn't like the ones before: the roads that looped endlessly into themselves, inevitably leading back to where they began. This road has an end.

Keep walking forward and you'll find yourself in a new town, both similar to Mayfield and utterly unlike it. The buildings here are crude and unfinished- the streets little better than paved paths of dirt. There are no drones here, no hazmats, no one in sight other than you and your companions. But all of these things are nothing more than trivial details, when compared to what you feel the moment you enter its boundaries.

There's power here- you can feel it in your fingertips. Each and every one of you can, from the most godlike seraph to the most ordinary human: power, faint but unmistakable. The power to build a world, and to destroy it. The same power that's been lorded over you for four years... but now, it's yours to command.

You can create a new life here. It isn't the home you remember- the home you remember, after all, was never yours to begin with. For some of you, that's a blessing. For others, it's a hard truth you'll have to live with. But even though you can't go home, with the power you've been given, it might just be possible to bring home to you. Bits and pieces of it- locations you remember, small creatures from your world- no people, though. That's one power Annie decided not to give you.

The place you've found isn't perfect- there will be work, hard work, and pain. The place you've found is your own: there are no overseers here, no Zemekis, no Johnson. The place you've found may not be paradise- but it's the nearest thing you're going to get.

You've found, at last, a better place to live.

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
[He turns to see Ciel.

Oh hai Ciel.
]

Yes. I'd actually like to have more to be frank. Working as a Counter Guardian is a very burdensome occupation.

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
Did you even took the trouble to find somewhere with a good amount of sun? It's hard to look for tans with skin like yours...

[LEANS OVER AND SCRUTINIZES YOU]

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
As if you wouldn't be able to find me on my prana levels alone. You sound very fussy...did something good happen?

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
You're not stripped, so they're harder to tell. [hand going for her temple...

...before she realizes she's not wearing her glasses right now


oops

calmly puts hand back down...]


What do you think? Read the mana of the air for yourself. I know you're no Caster, but you should be able to tell that much on your own.

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
[LIGHT SNORT at that gesture. Ciel you loser.]

Something is certainly different. This area...this isn't Mayfield. Or at the least, not exactly Mayfield. It is very different. But that much alone cannot clue me in. It would be best to not be so vague. Don't you like long-winded explanations? I could use one.

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Loser yourself, Mr. Oops-I-An-Hero'd]

Mayfield is finished, the original model and all its admins went down. The last sane one was a good person, so she left us in charge with the system to continue building a world of our own. The system dragged you back in the process, I see.

[a beat, and she finally looks back up with her usual soft smile.]

Was that short and concise enough, to cover all that you may have needed to know?

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 07:31 am (UTC)(link)
...Hm, I think that is good enough. I'm surprised you didn't go on a longer spiel, giving every last detail. This was nicely concise for you.

[He looks around the area afterward. So. This is their town now?]

You said we have the system to build a world. Does that mean we cannot return to our old one?

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 07:32 am (UTC)(link)
It was in honor of your return, so please, don't mention it.

[...]

About that. You don't have a very strong sense of self-identity, do you Archer?

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
[...]

I think it's frightening that I can't tell if you're trying to make a joke or not. What happened?

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
A lot, but it's probably nothing to you. [a beat.] It's close to being a year and a half since you left. But more importantly, you're used to being summoned across different timelines at Alaya's whim, right?

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
A year and half. I see. That really was a long vacation.

[He sighs.]

You're being purposefully coy now. Just spit out what you want to say.

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 07:52 am (UTC)(link)
[you left her to dry man... :(]

Think of it as another paradox. You're being summoned through alternate universes, so there's more than one copy of you. The current 'you' is one such copy that's stuck here as long as the system will hold, but the other 'you's are still performing their duties diligently elsewhere. So in a sense, your vacation actually just began. Does that make sense?

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
[He quietly takes in what she says before giving a small hum in return to it. ...The concept is hardly a foreign one to him. Being summoned through multiple universes isn't hard to grasp with the knowledge of the multiple grail wars. To his understanding there were three of them.

The one where Gilgamesh was defeated by Saber and he was killed by Berserker.
The one where Matou Sakura and Emiya Shirou fell in love and changed his course in life, making him a hero for one instead of six billion.
The one where Tohsaka Rin won the Grail War and he parted ways with her, finally at peace in a way.

The last was the one he remembered. But there were still two other versions of "Archer" in the other Grail War occurrences. He wonders what will happen to those Archers, who didn't get trapped here like he did. But he's not really trapped, is he? Well...maybe in a way he is.
]

I see. Then this is a permanent settlement for me is what you're trying to say. I didn't think I would get an unmeasurable span of time off. To think that, rather than going home, we are staying here for good.

[Not that he cares, despite his tone. It was better than working like a slave for Alaya. He tied up his loose ends back with the Grail War and now he had a place to call "home". ...But it was strange. To be in one place without movement across timelines again.]

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, that goes for all of us still stuck here. We're all still living our actual lives elsewhere, but here isn't a problem, all things considered. There are definitely worse fates out there than this, won't you agree?

["This" being the town they now stood in, of course.]

...

So. Are you ready to take on another vacation, Archer?

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 08:14 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sure some people will find problem with it. But, it doesn't really matter to me.

[It was like she said. He had no true self-identity. Any normal person might outraged or the least saddened to know that they can never return home. That there is no true home for them. Archer can only look upon it with indifference.

And yet...a chance at a perfectly normal life...
]

I don't know really. ...If I can display a moment of honesty, I feel almost lost. I wonder if you could understand my sentiments.

[It was something he wouldn't display to many, but he had come to understand Ciel in the time he knew her. She had seen his life and seen his memories and in return he had seen hers. So, perhaps if only a little, he hopes she understands this feeling of displacement.

It wasn't that he was sad to be a data copy. He just didn't know what to do if not be a janitor.
]
Edited 2012-12-03 08:14 (UTC)

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 08:20 am (UTC)(link)
Not as much as I used to, to be quite honest. I've been here for over two straight years, Archer. I've looked after a few troublesome kids, and then some. Frankly, the role of a good housewife is growing on me. I would probably get myself killed very quickly, if the 'me' of now is to return home somehow. [She chuckles quietly.] I'm sorry, but I would relate much more if you caught me a few years earlier. Would that be close enough, though?

[And yes, yes she does. ...But those are totally legit excuses, right?]

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[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
[. . .]

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
You changed too much. How am I supposed to have such a light-hearted Master who talks about becoming a housewife and adopting children?

[A SIGH. And he was so ready to have one of those so called ~feelings jams~ everyone keeps talking about, but now the moment has passed as fleeting as it was.]

Either way, I don't have much choice now do I? I'll have to learn to adapt.

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, don't get me wrong. I could still kill someone if I wanted to. [CIEL.............] The process has been tedious, so I'll try to help you along the way. You could always poke another sword in me too, if you really think I've grown too soft. How does a deal like that sound to you?

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
[A snort.]

Good to hear. I'll pass on that. Killing you once was a necessary action because you were being bothersome about me doing my duties. [ARCHER.............] I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Water under the bridge. What sort of people are we to forgive death and the ones who killed us?

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
I know, and I don't take back what I did to this very day. [Crossing her arms, and giving him an amused glance.] You're still the only one who managed to kill me in this town, by the way. Even after two whole years, so take that as you will!

[And a light laugh.] You already know what you know, so I won't even bother addressing that.

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 08:43 am (UTC)(link)
Really now? I wonder if I should feel accomplished for that. Maybe I'll project myself a medal...

Hm but that would be a bit much. Just the knowledge might be enough, as morbid as it might be to say. Who exactly congratulates someone for being able to kill them? I don't know how we can properly live like this without anything going on. Even if you say you've adjusted to being domestic I can't believe it at all.

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 08:48 am (UTC)(link)
You could hang it in the living room of your new house. Where would you like to build it, by the way? On a lonely and isolated area on top of some distant hill?

[oh please keep saying that and you'll make her blush... u///u] I wasn't exactly congratulating you though, I just thought it was interesting and you might like to hear about it. I won't try to convince you if that's what you really think, but now that we're stuck, why don't you just stay around and see for yourself?

[personal profile] aachaa 2012-12-03 08:50 am (UTC)(link)
[What house. He doesn't live in a house. He lives on an isolated field with his swords scattered across the field thank you very much.]

I really do think you wanted to congratulate me. But, I'll let it pass. I have no choice but to stay around. Maybe I should take up a position that will let me keep my normal ways however. If everyone has returned then that means even the troublemakers are back. ...Perhaps I should become a vigilante. What do you think?

[Because screw being a cop, that means he would have to abide the law.]

[personal profile] expiatrice 2012-12-03 08:53 am (UTC)(link)
[Hey she included the 'lonely' and 'hill' part, don't you dare accuse her of being inconsiderate.]

No, veto'd. You're going to become a cook. I'm thinking of opening a bakery, but we can turn it into a restaurant if you're willing to cooperate.

[A beat.]

You can be a vigilante as a side job, though, but you're only allowed to put hours into it after midnight. Do you understand me, Archer?

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