mayfield_rpg | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, well 'common sense' and 'Rin Tohsaka' ain't on great terms, y'know?

Someone should intervene then.

Hey, hey, don't look at me! She never listens to me anyway.

You could spend less time chatting and more time building my castle. I want a moat too. Full of crocodiles.

...Crocodiles, Tohsaka? Those might be too dangerous to unleash here. Please reconsider.

I don't want anyone uninvited to my castle. Besides, all the people who I'd like to come visit me know how to fly or can slip into spirit form.

... Well, besides Arisato-kun and Hakuno. They'll figure something out between them.

......

I can fly.

See, there we go.

[ Completely justified, she's allowed to have a moat full of snapping somethings or the others. ]

[And knowing how Bazett acts, she would go crocodile hopping if she really did want to visit Tohsaka for whatever reason.]

If that is the case, then perhaps crocodile familiars would be better suited for the purpose. They have better defensive capabilities than normal crocodiles and can be controlled easier.

... I'm not going to take over a creature. [ Hmph. ] That's inhumane.

[But siccing crocodiles on unwary travelers is humane?]

I understand. Then...can I at least suggest making the crocodiles seem...less out of place? Something more in line with the princess image that the castle would give you?