sixthiterationlogs | [MINGLE] Endgame

To say that things have been intense lately is probably a huge understatement. Having a quiet month after so many crises feels a little jarring to Aqua. In all honesty, she doesn't quite know what to make of it. She just does her best to keep her routine as normal as possible, patrolling the south village perimeter and keeping an eye on the general population as best she can. So many people have suddenly disappeared that it's hard for her to get her bearings.

Everything is so different and yet exactly the same.

The message that played telling them about the end of the "Iteration" was more of a surprise than Aqua wanted to admit to. They had a month to decide what to do next and where to go. For some people, it would most likely be a difficult decision. Aqua's first thought was to Ashley, but she knew there were likely others in that same situation. For Aqua... the choice was easy. Even with the friends she'd made here, she knew she had to return home. Terra and Ven were there and she still had her duty as a Keyblade Master. She couldn't give that up.

But that didn't mean she would enjoy leaving the friends she'd made here.

For anyone she might chance to run into leading up to the big day, she is as pleasant as always, wishing them the best in whatever next step they choose.

As the end of the month draws nearer, she reaches out through the wristbands to everyone she has spoken to here on this world. "Can I see you before you go?" she asks quietly, like this is some huge favor she's asking of them.

If she gets a chance, she wants to say goodbye to everyone she knows, either on the day or before.

Edited 2019-07-01 01:37 (UTC)

Considering these two live together, they've actually been putting this off, and putting it off. They'd had a short enough conversation about it at the start, right after the message came through, but then instead busied themselves with the rest of their ongoing duties as the clock ticked down. It would've been silly to have a big, grand statement when they'd see each other at breakfast the next morning anyway. And because they were both pragmatic, and knew there was still the day-to-day to take care of, even as anticipation and dread and hope and joy and dread warred in equal measure and rose higher and higher, the closer the day became.

Because then, too, the closer they got to actually having to have this conversation. Acknowledge that it was the last one. That it was time. They'd been doing their own separate farewells to everyone they knew (Brig with everyone but Wash and Maine, the two she knew she was taking home with her), and on this final morning, they were puttering around the house. Putting it in order. Washing all the dishes and stacking them neatly in the cupboards. Folding away their linen. Shutting the fireplace fluke. Leaving everything ready for the seventh iteration, she supposes, if there ever is one.

They're both pragmatic and they're crossing off all the items on their to-do list and dotting the i's and crossing the t's, but in the end, all that's left is looking at each other over one last cup of morning coffee and offer a faint, strained smile.

"So," Brigitte says.

Aqua knew in her heart what would happen with them when the time finally came, when the clock finished ticking and the bridge fell out from under them. She knew without a doubt where she would be going and what her choice had to be; so, she assumed, would Brigitte. And she had a feeling that their choices would be the same. Both of them had a lot to do in their home worlds. Aqua had a home to finally go back to and a duty that only she could perform. The Land of Departure was a special place and she was tasked with protecting it from the darkness, something she had failed to do once before.

More than that, though, Terra and Ven are waiting for her there. She can't keep them waiting any longer, if she has a choice. They've been separated for too long as it is.

Still, knowing what her choice is doesn't make it any easier to talk about. Leaving this world means leaving so many people behind, friends like Seifer and Brigitte and Cissie and others. Selfishly, perhaps the most selfish thing she has ever allowed herself, she has put off talking to some of them for as long as she could. Now, as she lowers her cup to the table again, her fingers gripping the cup so tightly that her knuckles turn white, she finally glances up at someone who has become one of the best friends she has ever known.

"I guess it's time," she sighs, letting her gaze fall back down to the liquid in her cup. She honestly doesn't even know how to begin with this. Goodbyes aren't things she is good at. There's no guarantee that Brigitte's world is even close enough to travel to and Aqua knows that this might really be the last time they see each other.

Several thoughts flash through her mind. I'm not good at this. Thanks for being my friend. I'm really going to miss you. I hope we'll see each other again. None of them really seem to fit the moment. So, in a gesture that means so much coming from someone who doesn't offer physical contact often, Aqua lets go of the cup in front of her and reaches across with both hands to reach for Brigitte's.

"I'm really glad we had the chance to become friends here," she says finally. "I have to go home, but... I will always treasure our friendship."

They'd glossed over enough of the subject to know exactly what each others' choices were going to be. Terra and Ven, the duties of a Keyblade Master, and protecting the world. Brigitte with her parents, all her siblings. Reinhardt. Overwatch.

They're both so similar where it counts. They can't let a job go unfinished.

She blinks in surprise when Aqua initiates the touch, but then her expression warms, practically lights up, though there's a tug at the corner of her mouth that shows how bittersweet it is. "When I first got here, I was--" A pause. "Depressed," Brigitte finally admits, for the first and last time here. "Literally, depressed. I could not get out of bed. I'd been pulled away from my family on Christmas eve. I wanted nothing more than to go back home. This wasn't home, I didn't know anyone here. But you--"

Her voice catches. All the people she's met and befriended and who have become so important to her, and who she's going to have to leave. And then the forge that had become hers, a home-away-from-home. And her roommate most of all, the only person she'd felt comfortable living with--

"I'm going to really fucking miss you, Aqua."

Everything about this morning feels bittersweet, with a tinge in the air that makes it hard to breathe. Aqua knows where her heart is leading her. Home is where she has to go.

But that doesn't mean this is goodbye forever. The edges of her mouth curl upwards for a moment as she contemplates even offering it. She technically shouldn't. Being tasked with defending the worlds from darkness also means keeping the secret of every other world. But this world here is different. Everyone already knows that there are other worlds besides their own. Maybe breaking this one really isn't so bad.

"I'll miss you, too," she admits softly. "Do you remember what I told you about being a Keyblade Master? How I was tasked with protecting the worlds from darkness? I may not have found your world yet, but it's out there somewhere."

Letting go for just a moment, she clasps her hands together over her heart. "May your heart be your guiding key. One day, I'm sure mine will lead me to you."

This is all she can offer and it might not be enough, but it's all she has. A little slice of hope in a barren world.

So much of the things Aqua has described about her past and her home has been metaphorical, magical, hard to picture in cold hard reality, that it takes Brigitte a moment to parse it. To follow that statement through its implications, and what it might mean for them. Her head cocks and her fingers tighten around her coffee. (Her last cup of coffee, in this house. It's been hard walking through the house-that-had-become-a-home and realising that with every little thing she does: last time waking up in this village, last time brushing her teeth, last time eating breakfast, last time locking up the forge.)

"Wait, do you mean literally?" she asks, her voice soft, almost not even daring to hope but it's worth hoping anyway. "Do you... think they are actually connected enough that you could fly a gummi ship over?"

Aqua nods, watching the thoughts run through Brigitte's mind. She knows what kind of hope this is offering, the deep almost painful kind. It's almost too much to hope for Aqua to see anyone again and Brigitte is at the top of the list of people she would try to find.

"They are," she confirms with a nod. "Once I get my keyblade back, I'll be able to access my armor and my keyblade glider, too. That's how I travel. But there's no reason a gummi ship couldn't make it, too. Master Eraqus-" She swallows hard past the lump in her throat. Speaking about him at all is still hard, but at least Brigitte knows why. "Master Eraqus unlocked the lanes between to allow Terra and me to travel between worlds. I should be able to do the same."

And if she can't, her heart will be her guiding key.

"We can see each other again, okay?"

This whole time, Brigitte had been steeling herself for all of these departures, going through the village and doing the rounds and making all her goodbyes. All of them painfully permanent, to the best of her knowledge.

But then this. If there's precedent for Aqua and her friends jumping universes already, then why not? Why the hell not? Fledgling hope sparks in her chest -- and maybe it's worse, and it'll be all the more painful if it doesn't happen, Brigitte walking out into her backyard, glancing up at the stars, and waiting -- but Brig isn't the type to just waste away while waiting, either. She'll keep working, keep fighting, and that hope will sit there for as long as it takes.

She reaches out and catches Aqua's hand again, and squeezes it. And then starts recapping the information that Aqua already knows, but she lays it out just in case: "It's a futuristic world. Lots of technology, lots of people, lots of sentient robots. The year is 2078. We live in a small red house outside Göteborg, a seaport on the west coast of Sweden."

Because she's a woman who thinks in facts and practicalities. But then Brigitte relents, and adds with a wry smile: "That, or just follow your heart and mine."

Aqua can't offer a whole lot of comfort or hope for any of Brigitte's other friendships here, but she can at least offer this one. Since they've grown so close, Brigitte is one of the people Aqua wants to try to find after they leave this world. She listens to the details of Brigitte's world, committing them to memory so she can find them later. Honestly, there's a chance that traveling between worlds will be harder now, but there's always a way.

"'May your heart be your guiding key,'" she says softly, her smile both happy and sorrowful. For however long they are apart, however long it takes Aqua to find Brigitte's world, she will miss her friend. But at least they had this time at all.

"And maybe when I do find you, if you want, I can take you to my home. You could see where I grew up. You could meet Terra and Ven. Maybe some of the others, if they come to visit. And I'll finally get to show you my keyblade."

Of all of the options available to them, Aqua has to admit that showing Brigitte her keyblade is one of the highest things on her list. They've talked about it at length, but never has Aqua been able to summon either her keyblade or Master Eraqus' here. When they're off this world, and she's found hers again, she'll finally have that again and she can't wait for it.

"Oh, god, I would love that. Plus, then I could study how they're made, how they work." Brigitte had considered forging a kind of replacement for her friend, to fill that void in Aqua's life a little — but she was an armourer, not a weaponsmith. Her father was the one with that experience. She knew how to layer metal to protect and defend; not the delicate balance of steel to make it as deadly as possible. It probably would've just been... a really big blunt key, and a poor imitation.

And then she realises it might've sounded like she's far more excited about a weapon than Terra or Ven, and so, mildly embarrassed, she quickly adds, "And I'd love to meet your friends too, obviously! I've heard so much about them."

Aqua would be happy to let Brigitte take a look at her keyblade, though they would have to be careful. The Rite of Inheritance wouldn't be a nice thing to pass on if Brigitte isn't aware of everything it entails.

In any case, Aqua tries to hide a laugh behind her hand as Brigitte stumbles, knowing her friend would like to meet Ven and Terra even before she said anything. "And I know they would like to meet you, too. One day, I'll make it true. Just don't give up hope. With your heart reaching out to mine, I'm sure to find you."

Brigitte hates this — she hates this — but this little kernel of hope is making it, all of these goodbyes, bearable. So she finally detaches from her friend and leans back in her seat, exhaling a ragged breath. Hands drumming against the table.

Time is ticking mercilessly onwards, and both of them might have more last-minute things to settle before the time limit, and she's pretty sure she's going to envelop Aqua in another bone-crushing hug in those last few minutes as the entire village gathers for the countdown anyway. She can already picture it. One last hug, and then Brig's two hands catching at Maine and Wash, as if that'll help drag them back home with her.

"I guess we'd better go... take care of things," she says, though her voice catches, trips. Reluctant to let go, both literally and figuratively.

"I'll catch you on the other side. På återseende," she adds. "When we see each other again."

The whole scene is bittersweet, almost more so than Aqua can bear, but at least they've had the time at all. Brigitte alone is the only person here who knows Aqua's life story and Aqua will miss having that connection. All the more reason for her to try to find her friend's world sooner rather than later.

So, with tears barely pricking the edges of her eyes, she nods firmly one last time before she finally lets go and moves to stand. Time to get ready to go.

"See you soon," she says, letting that rest between them as they finish their last day on this world.

Ashley has been so reclusive since her return, and she knows that isn't right or fair to those that have been so good to her for so long, but it's hard. She doesn't feel like the woman she was, and she fears others will notice it as well. More than the physical changes, but the ones within where she is not nearly the same as so many others. As who she had been.

Now though hiding won't do anything. It won't save anyone, and it won't fix things.

So she makes a stop to visit with the woman who has been her mom in this place, who has accepted who she is and all she has become. And she has made plans. She isn't going to be passive in this, and she will go into this new life like she had approached this one. As the fearless adventures she had been raised to be.

And as the deadly woman she has come to be.

Ashley seeks out Aqua nearly as soon as she spoke to Beverly, knowing she needs to see Druitt as well, but she needs friends right now, comfort, and with him she is still working on finding that between them. For now though, she seeks out Aqua, needing to know she's going to be okay and what she is going to do now that Ashley knows what she's doing. She has no idea what's to come, but she knows at least she'll live.

As Aqua and Ashley cross paths again before the end, Aqua finds herself grateful for the last chance offered. A lot of people don't have the ability to cross worlds and the people may or may not have been aware of other worlds before being dragged here. Aqua knows that, normally, she has the ability to cross to other worlds. There's nothing saying that any of her farewells here are goodbyes forever.

Even with that knowledge, this last month is hard on her and she treasures every chance she has to see her friends one last time. So when she finds Ashley again, a fond but sorrowful smile crosses her face as she makes her way over.

"I was hoping I'd get to see you again," she says honestly. "Do you know what you'll be doing?"

Aqua could always offer her world if Ashley doesn't have anywhere else to go, but she also doesn't want to force her.

Much as Ashley misses her mom and her family at the Sanctuary, it is in this place that she feels she truly made friends. People she's shared with and helped and who don't see her as a monster hunter, or as Helen Magnus' daughter, but just as Ashley. Ashley their friend, the woman who tries to help them. She's so glad for the chances she's had here, and hates losing them. Even if she doesn't have to go back to die, so there's that at least.

Hesitating a moment, those new thoughts and needs banked by the emotions she's feeling about all she's going to lose here. Nodding tightly even as she steps forward.

"Okay, I'm going to hug you and I can't promise I'm not letting go."

She knows there's more she needs to tell Aqua but she's just feeling utterly worn down and near tears and hateful that she keeps losing her life and her worlds. How long before everything with space ends as well and she loses that too?

Aqua isn't a tactile person by nature and rarely initiates hugs herself. Mostly it's out of habit and the product of a childhood and adolescence and even adulthood that has taught her strength of will and character. This manifests now in a desire to help others but rarely accept help herself or be seen as weak.

She appreciates Ashley's warning and it's enough to prevent her from being startled. So when Ashley does initiate the hug, Aqua wraps her arms around Ashley and returns the hug tightly.

"I think that's how a lot of us feel right now." It's all bittersweet and wears on Aqua a bit. But she has to be strong for everyone else, so she stands firmly for Ashley as support now.

To no one's surprise, as the end of the "Iteration" draws nearer, Vanille starts really shoving herself into her friends' lives here. She is her usual cheerful, optimistic self, encouraging everyone to go where they really feel they need to be or want to be. For all appearances, she is completely untroubled by the recent developments, ready to just be everyone's support and encouragement as needed.

In reality, she is facing an impossible choice.

With Fang here, it would have been so much easier to choose. She would have gone wherever Fang went. But now... Vanille is on her own with a herd of animals and another branch of family. The last thing she wants to do is abandon them. But at the same time, she doesn't think she can abandon Fang to being the crystal pillar holding up Cocoon by herself.

Vanille doesn't know what to choose for herself and eventually that starts to wear on her. By the last week, she isn't as upbeat as usual and barely even stops by the Inn. She spends most of her time with her herd and even the cute little dogs are having a hard time getting her to go anywhere.

For anyone unlucky enough to catch her towards the end of that last week, she's more likely to be in tears than not, trying hard to find an easy answer to her impossible choice. For once, the endlessly cheerful girl just needs a little extra support and encouragement. The end of all things has finally broken through her cheer.

Edited 2019-07-01 01:52 (UTC)

Settling her plans actually makes things easier for Ashley to try and be herself for those last few weeks. Not for her sake but for the sake of others.

So she's there to help take care of the animals, and be there for everyone as they start preparing. She knows Vanille's home story though, and what she's been through and worse, what she's facing. She is going to lose so much if she goes back, and abandon others if she doesn't, and Ashley knows this can't be easy on her.

At first she doesn't ask though, knowing that if Vanille had it all worked out, she would tell Ashley.

As time wears on though, she knows that she has to know what Vanille is going to do, and the second to last week, she stops by a friends and gathers up the peacock cat she had started using to try and control her new side, and heads to find Vanille. It's getting to be time where they're going to need to talk about this. No matter how hard it might be.

Too much has been weighing on Vanille for too long. She wishes it were an easy choice, that she could just choose and be done with it. But she can't and that is what weighs so heavily on her. She turns it over for a minute and then pushes it away, too afraid that she'll drown in her worry and fear.

So today, she's in the animal pen, with her face buried in the wool of one of the purple zalpacas. The sight of Ashley walking closer has one of the kirin nickering to her in greeting, so Vanille glances around the herd to see who it is. Ashley is a welcome sight, someone she doesn't have to be strong for, even though she tries anyway. It's in her nature.

"Hi," she says, forcing a smile as she makes her way closer. "Who's your friend here?"

Despite all of her changes, nothing that they did to Ashley could change how she feels about the people in her life. Not the people here in this place that had become so important to her. Even as terrifying as those lingering emotions can feel as if she might never keep control.

Shifting the peacat to one side, Ashley doesn't hesitate as she often has since her return, moving in to pull Vanille to her and hug her tight.

"Her name's Magdelena. A friend raised her and I thought you might want to spend time with her and talk? He said she helps to calm people down and maybe we need it."

Vanille wants more than anything in the world to keep putting on her happy face, but the second Ashley pulls her into a hug, she deflates like a balloon. Sagging against her friend, Vanille holds back her tears as best she can, which turns out to only be enough that she isn't sobbing against Ashley's shoulder.

Of course, in true Vanille fashion, she ignores her own pain and focuses on Ashley.

"What are your plans? Are you going somewhere after all this?"

If she's going to lose her friend, at least she needs to know it before it happens.

Beverly hates goodbyes.

In all honesty, a part of her has been worried that this would be the end result at some point. She isn't yet cynical enough about everything to have a healthy wariness about the message. The choice isn't hard for her. She's going back to the Enterprise with Jean-Luc. There's no other place she could go.

But that doesn't mean she will have an easy time saying goodbye to everyone she has met in the two years that she has been here for.

Of course, knowing that some people will have a harder time figuring out where to go than she will, she decides to make an offer over the wristband network via video:

"So, I know this will likely be a hard choice for a lot of people," she begins slowly. "I'll be going to my home universe after this. But given the unique situation we're in and with the knowledge that 'homeworld' might not be an available choice for some people, I'm opening up my own universe. We'll have to teach you the customs and laws of Starfleet and the Federation, just so you understand what to expect and how to lead a good life there, but the possibilities are literally as numerous as the stars. If you're interested, please let me know. I'll take the heat for bringing anyone back with us."

She's already likely facing a court martial when they get back. What's a little extra added onto that?

Later on, she will start seeking out her closest friends, either in the Inn or by finding them at their homes, if she knows where they live. Everyone who will let her is getting a hug goodbye at some point as the end draws near.

The announcement is, for Ashley, the most terrifying thing she could have imagined hearing. Certainly she's gained some control over the need within, the one that was made to destroy, mindless before and murderous. Now merely murderous, her own mind in control, but the signs of what she had become, what she could be again, are still there and each day is harder, but they were getting better.

Until that announcement.

Going home meant death. There was no getting around that. She would return, still have control of her mind for enough time to make a decision to be the woman her mother made her to be, and kill herself before she could hurt more people.

Going home was not an option.

So when Beverly makes that broadcast, there's no hesitation. Heading out of the house where she's been hiding out for long period, moping as she faces what she is, what life is, and then for the time since announcement... that beautiful house where she had moved into with Ty and taken those first baby steps to falling in love with someone who was gone nearly as soon as she had realized what those emotions were.

She could stay and mope and likely be forced back to her world, or she could be proactive and be the woman that her mother would have expected her to be. So she seeks out Beverly.

There's no preamble, no hesitation.

"I want to go with you," she says soon as she sees her. "And... and if he'll go with us, I want to take him with us. My dad," she manages, not knowing if he'll go with her, but he's the family she can, and he is the one that can help her with what she's become. She had been raised her mother's child, and now she needed help to become her father's spawn as well.

Beverly remembers what Ashley told her about her dad, how things are complicated between them. She can imagine that this request will bring its own complications with it and Beverly herself will need to take every precaution not to let Druitt loose on any unsuspecting civilian population. But at the same time, she did offer and she does mean it to be an open offer.

"Of course," she says instantly, feeling no small amount of relief to hear that Helen's daughter wants to go with her. At least, even if they never see each other again, Beverly can make sure her friend's daughter is safe and happy. Taking a step closer, she reaches to wrap her arms around Ashley, knowing what this decision means for her. A moment later, she pulls back just to see how Ashley is handling everything.

"I'll have to teach you both a lot about world history and the state of the universe, but if you both want to come, the offer is open." She hopes she doesn't need to say that Druitt needs to keep his more violent tendencies to himself. Starfleet won't respond well to it if he doesn't. "I suspect Jean-Luc and I will be honest when we get debriefed by Starfleet, but... whatever you decide you want to talk about regarding your time here should be all right. Unless you decide to join Starfleet, you won't be expected to uphold the same rules that Jean-Luc and I have to."

Maybe it's stupid, and there's a chance he won't agree to come with them. His life is different than what Ashley has known, and it's not like she's made it easy to love her and want to forge a bond when she's been so nervous to get close to him, worried she is him, and realizing she is. And that she can handle being him, if she's careful. If they're both careful.

Leaning into that hug instantly, needing that comfort, to know this is the right choice. It feels right to her, and she hadn't even considered anything else.

Almost not letting go as she leans back, looking close to tears, but there's a tightness that has been in her jaw and her shoulders that has lessened.

"I need to talk to him, see what he wants to do but I don't think he wants to go back either. From things we've talked about thinking we could stay here..." It's what she's thought at least.

"I'm willing to start studying now. I always was quick in learning about new cultures, and not like I haven't already studied astronomy and all," she points out, nearly smile even if it's tight still, nervous. "Can I ask what kind of rules?"

"Just let me know," is all Beverly says about Druitt at first. Whether or not she'll need to prepare to bring Druitt along with them is something she'd rather know sooner than later.

Beverly keeps her hold on Ashley as long as the girl seems to need it. She isn't going anywhere.

"Well, for one thing, if I were really upholding the Prime Directive, I wouldn't be telling you any of this," she points out wryly. "Why don't I start with explaining some of what you'll need to remember and get used to first?"

It will likely be better for Ashley if she starts small. They can get into the meat of the Prime Directive, and how thoroughly Beverly has shattered it in the two years she's been here, later.

"The Earth year is 2373 and the stardate is 50893.5. You'll have to get used to using stardates, since not every culture and planet uses Earth years. Earth is the headquarters of the United Federation of Planets, as it was one of the founding planets. Starfleet is... the Federation's military organization, I guess you could say, though our mission is to explore and learn, rather than conquer. Jean-Luc is the captain of the Federation starship Enterprise and I am the Enterprise's CMO, the Chief Medical Officer. We live on the Enterprise and you'll be welcome to stay with us. I doubt Jean-Luc would say no."

Peggy knows that she's going to be going back to the 1940's, that while she could choose to go elsewhere and start anew, there's something to be said about pursuing the life that she knows she wants to lead. Even if it might be terribly difficult, it's still also the one she wants to chase.

Still, she goes to the Inn when she gets the message to find Beverly. She's not really one for goodbyes and doesn't want this to get overly emotional, but she knows that she would never forgive herself if she didn't take the moment for it.

"I thought about it, you know," she calls to Beverly as she approaches. "For a moment," is the disclaimer, "but I did think about it. Going with someone, to their future."

Of the two of them, Beverly is the one most likely to get emotional. She's never been good at saying goodbye, especially given that Peggy's version of Earth history is a far cry from Beverly's. They don't even have that guarantee between them. Maybe in some alternate reality, they'll meet again, but for now... this is the end.

She manages a smile as Peggy approaches, glad that she will at least get this last chance to see her friend. "Honestly... I thought about it, too. But in the end, you know you have to go home. No matter how hard it is, for some of us, home is home and that's where we have to be."

So, she gets it. She understands the choice that Peggy is making because it's the choice Beverly is making, too. They will both return to their home worlds and that will be the end of it. With any luck, they will at least have their memories.

Peggy is rather proud of the both of them, though she won't say it out loud. It would seem a bit self-congratulatory, which she would like to avoid. "What's waiting for you?" she asks, coming to a stop a few feet from Beverly.

She's hardly an affectionate woman and not prone to hugging at all, though she already anticipates that she's going to be making an exception today. "Back home? What's there waiting as soon as you depart this?"

They've finally cracked the code. They're finally leaving, whether they did or not. Three years, and she's finally succeeded. It's almost exhausting, knowing that she won't have to fight for escape, though she knows that doesn't mean her fighting days are done.

At the question, Beverly's gaze shifts slightly to the side, at a point somewhere over Peggy's shoulder. If she were keeping the Prime Directive intact, she wouldn't answer that question and she knows she shouldn't. She also knows that it's pretty much a moot point by now. So many people already know about her life and she'll have to tell the ones who are coming with her even more.

So she finally gazes back at her friend, her lips twisting into a wry smile. "Most likely? Intense and lengthy debriefing and a court martial at the end." It was bound to happen before she got here but this world's situation just made that much worse. "Before that, though... we have to get back home from a little bit of time travel. Watching First Contact on Earth truly was amazing, even if we hadn't intended to be there. But after that, well... I'm not sure. The Enterprise will need repairs, after what the Borg did to her. So, I guess we'll see what happens."

Peggy's still very interested in hearing about these other worlds. In Beverly's case, it's a future she'll surely never live to see, so it feels harmless to both ask and to learn more about it, even if it's absolutely fascinating.

"It sounds like there'll be quite a lot of excitement for you," she notes. "I'm sure that there'll be plenty of people who need patching up, and in rougher shape than I ever was for you." It's said ruefully, but it does lead her to what she wants to say.

"Thank you," Peggy says. "Thank you for taking care of me, every time I needed it and every time I tried to refuse it."

For Peggy, hearing more about Beverly's life probably is harmless. For Beverly, it will depend entirely on how Starfleet and Temporal Investigations handles things. She wasn't looking forward to meeting with them even before coming here. Now she's pretty sure it's going to be a debriefing for the ages.

As Peggy continues, Beverly's mouth softens again and she watches her friend with gratitude, fondness, and a touch of sadness. While Beverly will be glad to put a lot of her worries regarding the Observers behind her, she knows she will greatly miss her friends here.

"Thank goodness you're not a Klingon or things would have been a lot harder," she jokes lightly. And because there's no easy way to do this, she just does what comes more naturally for her, reaching to give Peggy a brief but tight hug, if her friend will let her. "I would've been a poor doctor and friend if I hadn't. I'm grateful for our friendship and all the time we've had here. Maybe someday, the Enterprise will stumble upon another tear in the fabric of space-time and we'll get a chance to meet again."

Stranger things have happened.

"Or maybe Q will decide to toy with Jean-Luc again and throw us into your timeline."

Sadly, the Q theory seems much more plausible, for all that it's definitely the least-desirable option.

"If you ever do arrive in my timeline, I'd be happy to show you around, though I do suspect that if you were to arrive in my world, I would be quite hard-pressed to stop you punching your way through my office, though I have done that and it's a lovely hobby," she says, trying to keep things light so she doesn't think about how her friends are going to vanish.

It's an odd thing to know that you're going home, but home won't be the same.

"Do you think we'll actually remember, once we step through there? I'm not entirely sure anymore, given how we've been toyed with, in this place."

Imagining Peggy punching her way through an office is an entertaining, if slightly alarming one. Beverly hopes that this is just an exaggeration and not something she actually does a lot of. Her staff might need a good straightening up if so.

Beverly chuckles lightly. "Well, they'd better hope Worf won't be coming with me. He's about seven feet tall and comes from a culture that sees drawing blood as a sign of love and dislike." If Peggy thinks Beverly would be punching her way through the office, Worf would be the worst thing to come walking through the doors.

The question about the future doesn't dampen her smile, though it turns just a touch sad. "I think so. They're offering for people to choose any world, even one not their own. It would be pretty cruel of them to allow people to go to other worlds and not remember where they are or why."

Not that any of them would really put it past these "Observers" at this point, but Beverly chooses to hope. If she doesn't, she knows she will likely fall apart even more than she already is.

"In that case, I'd love to meet him," Peggy says, the glint in her eye one of determination and a resolute determination to somehow make it happen. She doubts that she ever will be able to, but it is nice to pretend, now isn't it?

It's far better to think about that than to think about saying goodbye, after all.

"In that case, I look forward to whatever odd and strange happenstance occurs," Peggy says, inhaling deeply to try and keep her emotions somewhat at bay. "I'm going to miss you terribly, you know."

Given Starfleet's penchant for stumbling head-first into temporal anomalies and alternate universe timelines, Beverly has a feeling that it'll happen sooner or later. She can hope it'll be the Enterprise that finds Peggy's version of Earth. "I'll make sure to introduce you," she promises with amusement.

Her smile turns a little sorrowful as Peggy continues. She has a feeling she'll be the one oozing emotions in a few minutes. She never was good at holding those in.

"I'll miss you, too," she says. "You've been a wonderful friend, Peggy. I'm glad we had this chance."

She steps forward, not entirely sure that this is how you do this sort of thing, but Peggy knows that if she doesn't try for a hug, she'll regret it. This is the sort of thing that friends do, she simply isn't very good at it.

Her look is apologetic, as it must be clear that she's not comfortable. "I'm not much of a hugger," she confesses. "Though, I think this is the appropriate time for an exception, if ever there was," she admits, holding an arm open to allow space for Beverly to step forward into the embrace.

"I'll take that as a high honor," she teases gently, stepping forward and wrapping her arms tightly around her friend. Beverly has always been the more tactile of the two and she can easily fill the gap in comfort for the both of them. Besides, she knows what it means for someone to offer a hug when they don't usually do so.

"I'm glad to have met you, Peggy, and I hope one day we'll meet again under better circumstances."

Peggy hugs her back tightly, and while this is certainly not where she feels she has any strength, it's also the right thing. It's perfectly lovely, and it's how she'd want to see Beverly off. "The same goes for you. Don't do anything that I wouldn't get up to," she quips as she eases back, her eyes teary even though she's been trying to insist upon herself not to.

And yet, can one truly control their emotions?

"Goodbye Beverly. It was an honour that I got to be your friend."

"I promise," Beverly teases warmly. The edges of her eyes are watery by this point, but she's doing her best not to completely fall apart until after the goodbyes are over. Knowing her tendencies, she probably won't stay completely tear-free.

"Goodbye for now, Peggy. Take care of yourself," she returns easily, before turning to find the next farewell for the day.

The announcement should be a surprise, but with all that's been going on, he's not even surprised. Shit had been going to hell for a while, and with the way things are starting to twist up, finding out whatever the hell this place has been is falling apart.

Falling apart and scattering them to the four winds. Bobo knew one thing for sure. There was no way in fucking hell that he is going back to Purgatory. Nope, that shit isn't happening. He's lost a lot because of Willa, but he's gained so much more in this place and he's sure as fuck isn't going back to die and be dragged back into Hell.

He's got thoughts on it, on where he might go, but he doesn't ask early on. Mostly because he's afraid with a chance to return home, it will change things between them and he'll be facing no place to go but home.

So he spends days going about his business. Seeing to the animals, though preparing to release them near the end. He has no idea what will become of this place, but what else is he supposed to do? Leave them there to starve?

He takes time to have a talk with his roommate's boyfriend, cornering Faraday and telling him that he had better find them a place to go that wasn't home, find somewhere they can go and live where he won't end up blowing his dumbass up again.

He takes a couple of weeks, just pretending like everything is perfectly fine, that this is no big deal, or that leading with his heart has always ended so horribly in the past. How bad could it get this time?

Heading into the third week, having been avoiding having this talk with Bull - and knowing a few ways to distract him - eventually he seeks him out, figuring he needs to suck up this pathetic fear shit and find out just what is going on now that this world that brought them together is apparently ending.

(Open for pretty much any scenario during those weeks, he'll be pretty much around everywhere.)

Bull has been thinking about this for weeks. Thinking about the fact that Bobo might want to go back home. He doesn' think this was just a fling but he isn't sure it was enough to make Bobo want to come back with him. And he isn't sure he can leave behind his duties willingly to go with Bobo. But on the other hand, he knows they need to talk. This isn't a decision one of them should make on their own.

So he decides to make sure they get to have some peace and packs what is basically a picnic for them. He sends a quick message to Bobo to come meet him in the woods where they first met and then heads out to set up a little fire and get the bird he had brought started roasting. Because if this is how they split up he wants to be damn sure it is a nice evening to share together at least.

Whatever it is that Bobo was expecting, this isn't it. Bull has gone through a lot of work for this moment, and set this up for him and Bobo isn't sure what to think if he's honest. No one has ever done things for him, not like this, especially not when what he's expecting is to be told goodbye, to wish him luck though they both know the luck coming to him when he returns to Purgatory is death.

"No one has ever sent me on a picnic,' he admits, knowing he looks about as nervous as he's trying not to sound. He fails though, and there's a hint of emotion in his voice, so used to channeling emotions into anger and fighting not to do that. Not now. Not with Bull.

Bull looks up, just as nervous as Bobo felt. He smiles when he sees who it is and stands to come over and pull Bobo into an embrace. "Well, I wanted some time where it would be just the two of us to figure out what we're going to do." He leas down to kiss Bobo properly.

"Guess I should ask what you want to do first of all?"

Ever since that announcement there's been so much tension running through Bobo that he didn't realize until he lets his shoulders drop at that smile. It's the same sensation he had after a few weeks in this place, when he'd realized what this placed offered. Now he's starting to come to the same realization again.

Wrapping his arms around Bull, holding him tight as if that will be enough to make it okay.

What we're going to do. Arching into that kiss, pouring his relief and desires into that kiss.

"If I go back, if we go back to that same moment we left? I am facing being tortured by Black Badge, or returned to Hell. So beyond anything else, I don't want to go back to Purgatory," he says, though there's a hesitancy then, a fear to truly say what he wants, worrying that if he did, he'll be turned down. Even if this moment seems to say that it won't happen like that. Or so he hopes.

Edited 2019-07-18 17:30 (UTC)

"I won't let them have you." Bull looks at Bobo, reaching out and stroking his cheek. "You want to come back with me? I wanted to ask you that anyway. I... I'd feel bad leaving my boys. Krem can take care of them but they are still my boys you know."

He swallows. "We'd find you a place in the chargers if you wanted that, or something else if that is what you wanted." Anything to convince Bobo to come with him and save him from torture and death. He pulls Bobo in for another hard kiss, needy and desperate and trying to tell him just how much he needs him.

The words feel like hope, like something he should be afraid of. He shouldn't feel hope. There is no hope for revenants, is there? Except this place offered it to Bobo once, and now Bull is offering him it once more.

Smiling tightly when Bull says he wanted to ask that, wasn't just saying it now because Bobo speaks so poorly of his choices. "I want nothing else," he admits. "No, wait, that isn't true. I want back what they took from me, but I'm guessing that comes with leaving here."

Of course, that brings up another question.

Leaning into Bull's touch, sighing softly as he arches into that kiss. Giving back the emotions he feels, not able to hold them back. Not in the least.

"And what happens if they ever learn that I'm a demon? Well, a revenant." He's not sure anyone in Bull's world would think differently given what he knows of how he became what he is.

Admin Post: [MINGLE] Endgame

aqua | voice; + action; | OPEN

a farewell.

gonna put a general kh3 spoilers warning on this thread

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vanille | action; | OPEN

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beverly | action; + video; | OPEN

Doing these in timeline order >.>

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Bobo del Rey | Open

Re: Bobo del Rey | Open

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