One Last Post

[goldenglasses]

[It's nearly time to leave. Vash is all packed and ready to leave in the next couple days. So he takes a couple hours out of each day before the departure to do some walking down memory lane. Over five years. Never before had he ever stayed in one location for so long since The Fall.

There's the house where he lived with his family. The bakery that gave him so many donuts and he once broke into with an old man and a pirate. Good Spirits where he spent many nights. Seventh Heaven where had some of the best food of his life. He sits at his favorite spot next to the fountain for people watching. So many hours spent here just watching people.

Walking through the forest to remember what the world looks like in green. A quick teleport to the beach to see the ocean on last time. It was still so breathtaking. The smells, sounds, and the magnitude he'll never forget.

He lingers at the flower shop where he got to spend every day surrounded by flowers. He hopes whoever decides to stay will take care of the place. He takes a few of the flowers and presses them into his journal. He tries to use older entries in the hopes he won't pester everyone else with sudden flowers, but today he just really doesn't care too much. He wants to take some of this color back with him to the desert.

Perhaps it will even catch a moment where Vash talks out loud to himself for your character her hear.]

I... I don't want to go.

(OOC: Literally catch Vash ANYWHERE. He will be visiting all locations of Luceti as he tries to remember it all before he has to make a choice to stay or go.)

Comments

[yourhatred]

Would you be happy here if you stayed?

[Itachi, ninja that he is, appears from basically out of nowhere as Vash walks through the center of town. (Spoilers: he'd been there the whole time.)

It's true that this place holds a lot of memories, but it will soon be a lot emptier, and the unending life that it offered might get tiring sooner rather than later. He had made the decision not to allow himself and Law stay there - without his husband's input - and if certain plans didn't work out, then he'd be going back to nothingness. But he'd still chosen that over remaining here.]

[goldenglasses]

[If Vash is surprised by Itachi showing up he doesn't act it. Truth is he was startled, but there's no wild flailing and screaming. Just a soft, somber smile instead.]

You know, I think I really could be. Even with the experiments I've actually really enjoyed a lot of my time here. The world I came from, er, let's just say it's not exactly picturesque. [He sighs. Wondering how much truth he really wanted to let out and how much it really mattered anymore. It was a very real fact he would probably never see Itachi again.] And there's not exactly that many people on that world who are going to be happy to have me back.

[yourhatred]

I don't know what your world is like, so I couldn't even start to guess how you feel about returning to it.

[And it's not right for him to shove his own views onto others.]

Do you know anyone who's definitely staying?

[goldenglasses]

Yes. Wolfwood and Noah will be staying. He... doesn't actually have a lot of choice about staying or going.

[yourhatred]

[Some might say they don't have a choice. Itachi would say otherwise, but not everyone is as willing to go off to their own death.

In any case, his options seem to have grown.]

Do you consider them family?

[goldenglasses]

Yeah. I really, really do. [He smiles brightly. It felt so good to say he had family again.] I'm Noah's godfather after all! [And he's really proud to be able to say that.]

[Beach]

[vulcanblazer]

[It seemed unlikely that of all places, he'd run into anyone all the way out here, but knowing the end was coming himself? He had taken a similar idea to Vash, to walk back around Luceti and let his memories flood back.

Only this time, they weren't painful. At worst, mostly bittersweet. But for the most part, he wanted to take it all in one last time before the likelihood that he'd forget everything he ever learned here.

Though stumbling across the sight of a familiar gunslinger standing on the beach, he felt it was best to go speak to him, only catching a his statement briefly.]

...Given that this place has gone from a hellhole to someplace actually liveable, I can understand that. This place is probably much better than a lot of worlds.

[Beach]

[goldenglasses]

Yeah, my world is nothing but desert. I'm going to miss the winters. Snow was a lot more fun than I thought it could be.

What about yours? I hope it's better than Luceti.

[vulcanblazer]

All desert? How would anyone ever manage to live there, anyway? Wouldn't you run out of water really fast?

[Those questions asked, he was quick to answer Vash's.]

It's a lot like Luceti, when I stop to think about it. Woods, plains, plenty of farmland. It's warmer, though. Hotter summers, milder winters. We still get snow though, just... not as much as we seem to get here. At least in Holt Village. Up in Snow Melody, the winters are long and harsh and blizzards happen a lot, from what my friend told me.

...Of course it's also a Netherworld, so there's monsters and demons everywhere too. It's not as bad as it sounds... just a different culture.

[goldenglasses]

Well, there are some underground waterways and a few-- other ways we can get water too, but it has to managed very carefully or it can easily run out. It's not an easy life, but it's the only one we have.

Heh, if there's one thing Luceti taught me is not to judge a person by their title of God or demon. But that Snow Melody sounds like it takes winter TOO far. Not sure I'd want to live in a place like that either.

[Beach]

[knightofratatosk]

[It's hard, thinking of leaving this place where he's spent more time than he'd even spent existing in his own world. By now, Luceti is his home, and even though he knows he needs to go back, he isn't even going to try to pretend that there's a large part of him that doesn't want to.

The people he'd met here, the things he'd accomplished... though the memories would supposedly remain, the idea of never being able to see his friends or Luceti again cuts like a knife. All these years he'd spent trying to find a way to get back home, and now that they have one, he's hesitating in the doorway. Just like his old self, really...

It's almost a relief to discover that he's not the only one who decided to take one final tour of Luceti. Somehow that adds just that much more legitimacy to his own feelings of hesitation, knowing that other people will miss this place as much as he will.]

... it's beautiful, isn't it?

[He doesn't just mean the ocean-- he means Luceti as a whole, and all of the people who inhabit it.]

[Beach]

[goldenglasses]

Breath taking. There's so many different places that are so beautiful in this land, but I think the ocean will always be a favorite of mine.

[He smiles at Emil and breaths in deeply. Taking in the full scent of the ocean.] What has been your favorite spot?

[Beach]

[knightofratatosk]

[Emil turns his own head just enough to give Vash a little smile back in return, and while there's an unmistakable sadness in it, there's also a deep sense of happiness and contentment.]

I'm not sure I could pick just one. There are so many places here that are special to me for different reasons. But if I had to choose... I think it'd probably be House 20.

Re: [Beach]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash returns the smile with that answer.] Good point. I think I may need to change my answer to house five then.

[Beach]

[knightofratatosk]

You had a lot of good memories in your house too?

[There had been sad ones as well, yes, but House 20 had felt more like home than anywhere else Emil had ever been, either in Luceti or in his world.]

[Flower Shop]

[theideaguy]

[OOC: Can I catch Vash in my arms? That seems the most reasonable place to catch him.]

[It's not the season for cut flowers, sadly. Sokka has wanted to pick some up, but there aren't that many to be had. Still, there's still quite a few flowers to be had, and Sokka is... tarrying. He's not wanting to face the music, but he knows the sweet siren's call of the end coming soon.

[And he sees Vash there... with more or less the same expression. And if there was doubt, the words certainly confirm it.]

Well, I'd say to not go... but I imagine things will be really different here once two-thirds of everyone leaves...

[Flower Shop]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash closes his journal tight after placing a violet into the pages.] Well, that is true, but some of my closest friends are planning to stay.

[Flower Shop]

[theideaguy]

Then by all means, stay!

[Seems as simple as that to him, but of course he knows it won't be.]

Though somehow I'm guessing you're a little more conflicted about the decision than just that.

Re: [Flower Shop]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash smiles; wishing it was that easy.] Yeah, there's actually something pretty important I've left undone back home and I really shouldn't avoid it any longer.

[Flower Shop]

[theideaguy]

Technically, I'd think most of us have left things undone back home. Namely our lives.

[Probably a little more technical than that, but he's going to mention it anyway.]

So you're debating over what you need to do versus what you want to do?

[Action] At the flowershop

[lostinmyway]

[Even if soon she'll be going back to the Legacy, Grune make certain to stop by to see the flowers. They still need someone to love them and look after them, even if that won't be able to be her when she leaves.

When she spots Vash amidst the flowers, her face lights up. She's about to greet him cheerfully when she hears him speak.

...Her smile fades, and she approaches quietly.]

Hello, Vash.

[Action] At the flowershop

[goldenglasses]

[Vash presses his journal tightly. Having just put a yellow rose into his journal. Even if she heard him, Vash still turns to Grune with a bright smile on his face.]

Hello there, Grune! How have you been?

[Action]

[lostinmyway]

Oh, I'm very good.

[Then she puts her head to one side.] How are you feeling?

[Action]

[goldenglasses]

Honestly? I'm just a little sad today. I've been thinking about how much I'm going to miss this place when I go home. Like you Grune.

[Action]

[lostinmyway]

[She sighs a little, the sound very soft.

She steps forward and puts her arms around him.]

Luceti is a wonderful place, isn't it? I hope we can come visit again someday.