soul_logs | [ EVENT: So long and thank you for all the fish ]

[This was it. The very last day.

Keroro had gone through most of the day on auto-pilot, going through his daily routine of morning training, breakfast with Eve, open the store, buy lunch for all the employees (today's had been fresh croissants stuffed with ham and cheese, fruit salad and a cake with strawberries as a farewell) and now...this was really it.

He couldn't leave the closing up of the shop for the day to anyone else, so he'd asked for them all to leave early. He and Eve would close up. Amidst wet eyes and tears, he'd told them cheerfully, one last time, that he left the shop to them. Take care of it. (OR ELSE)

Looking over the shop, at all the memories he had associated with it, he props the mop gentle against the cash register.]

Eve-dono. Do you remember...when we first opened the shop, de arimasu?

[Genesis was absolutely certain he wasn't going in through that portal, but he was certain that people he knew were going to make the choice to go back home. So he waits to see them off. It's the least he can do, after all.

His two dogs, Apple and Mei, are with him, too.]

[Not being the friendliest pirate hunter, Morgan doesn’t have much reason to linger. After all, she’s been wanting to go back since the first day here so she can work on capturing Guybrush and claim her 30,000 pieces of silver from the Marquis de Singe. (If she knew what fate awaited her afterwards though, she might not have been in much of a hurry to go back.)]

[So, she’s moving purposefully through the city towards the Shibusen stairs. But if you’re quick, you might be able to catch her.]

[While Count D is looking forward to returning to the petshop and seeing all the animals again, he can’t resist visiting all his favorite bakeries in Death City one more time and purchasing enough sweets for quite a tea party. And of course, he’ll say goodbye to Miss Rosalia before he goes and leave his tea set with her—he believes she intended to stay.]

[Perhaps, you might find him walking through the streets with a stack of pastry boxes or in the park with everything spread out on a blanket and inviting whoever he knows that passes by to join him.]

Edited 2014-08-31 22:16 (UTC)

[After all the battles and being bounced back and forth so many times between San Francisco and Death City, Lily almost never thought this day would come. Being told that she could finally return home for good. She and Lezard had been to Mongolia to help defeat the snake witch but the idea almost seemed strange now.]

[The thought that it was time to leave this city. Leave Yesterday’s Magic and return to Aunt Cora’s Closet. Leave the friends she had made. And most of all, leave him… Her partner. Her heart ached at the thought. She’d miss the others who were still here too but the thought of returning to her world without him, possibly not even remembering him…]

[She tried to tell herself she didn’t have to leave just yet. She should say goodbye to the folks who were still here. She also had to find someone local who’d want to take over the shop. That would take some time, possibly weeks. Maybe, she could stay until his birthday at least. But realistically, she knew she had to go back. Miriam still needed to be saved back home.]

[She walked through the city, trying to gather her thoughts, but the place seemed teeming with memories now. Days at the shop with Kanji, Josuke, Karina and Yuugi. Walking upstairs to visit Eve at the cafe. Passing by the Agency where Raidou and Alucard and Edgeworth worked.]

[The park held even more. The training field where she’d chatted with Rosalia, Naoto, plus many others who were no longer here. That flowerbed where Amaterasu always liked to nap. The place where Giroro and Keroro had left paint splotches on the grass. The spot where those folks had thrown rice at her and Lezard one night thanks to a rumor. Star-crossed lovers. She’d scoffed at the time but it was almost as if it had come true now, hadn’t it?]

[If you ran into her whether at the park, the shop, or just out in the streets, she would likely seem a bit distant, as if lost in a reverie.]

Edited 2014-09-01 14:41 (UTC)

[ the truth of it was hard to believe. they had finally tracked down the witch, the source of all of this chaos, and the initial wish that had brought them all here had finally been granted. it was a year ago, now, he thinks. Sasuke can't be sure— the number of times he has woken anew in Death City have skewed his concept of time.

when he first arrived, he'd been a little boy, seeking vengeance against a man who— at the time— hadn't even been present. now he was edging into the role of tutor himself, and the changes he had gone through were deep and unyielding.

Sasuke hasn't entered the building, though he's heard the rumors. it was typical, that they would agree to send them all back in the end. their plan to steal the machine and secure their future in the city had not been necessary— but could anyone truly blame them? fear was an enormous driving force.

he should have known better.

but what it meant was an entirely different story. Sasuke was staying— he'd decided this a long time ago. but he knew the same wasn't true for everyone else. there were some he knew would go home, given the chance.

just as, with this final happenstance, Sasuke knows others will not return.
Rei. Sohki. Edward. Mustang. China. Saralegui.
countless others that had walked in and out of his life within Death City (Seimei) and changed it irrevocably.

but it's here he lingers, the length of his spine pressed against one of the now familiar trees lining the street. from here, he can see almost the full length of the steps, can see the glistening shine of the building the houses the Kishin Chamber and BREW. his expression is impossible to discern, save for it's silence. ]

[Shinji had never really imagined the day finally coming where the guests would be given the option of returning home. Some part of him never imagined an end to the war, so the announcement coming through the network and the following trip toward Shibusen felt wholly surreal.

He doesn't feel that there are any goodbyes that need to be said (aside from the animals under his care - he'd only asked around long enough on the streets to find someone staying who was willing to take care of them in his stead), so his trip toward the academy is pretty straight forward. Even then, however, he takes his time, unable to fully detach himself from feelings of sadness at leaving the city he'd been living in for so long. He knows he has no place here anymore, if he ever did in the first place is questionable, but the thought of leaving everything that happened behind is painful. It always is.

Catching up to him should be fairly simple, for any interested parties.]

[Being given the option of sticking around the place that had dragged him in from the brink of death, or going back to his 'home world' where he quite literally has no place in anymore? The choice is easy enough to make - returning to his own death sounded like possibly the stupidest idea Mondo could make. Still, he couldn't help but be curious about the people who had some place to return to.

After having found himself suddenly in charge of a young dog (plus a couple of cats I mean how could he say no?), courtesy of some young kid who needed a home for the pets, he can be found loitering around Shibusen with Firecracker, said dog, bonding with his new companion and maybe keeping an eye out for any familiar faces who look like they'll be on their way out of Death City. Can't have people leaving without some kind of closure, after all.]

[Goodbyes are always hard, though Sakura's been telling herself that it's less of a 'goodbye' to this world, and more of a 'righting where everyone belongs' sort of situation.After all, there were people who had been here for far, far longer than her who were probably itching to get back to the places they belonged! The idea that she may never see any of these people again is certainly a sad one,but there's always some possibility that it may happen, right? And, either way, she's sure that her heart will keep those memories safe, even if her mind lets them slip away upon returning.

But, there's no need to rush the return! If the moment she left is frozen in time, waiting for her to step back into it, she wants to put her focus on the place that's still bustling. People she's met before, and even strangers, may find themselves approached by the young girl through the day. She wants to say her goodbyes, and give out thanks to those who helped keep this city safe.]

Are you going to be returning home? [Will be asked of anyone she goes up to.]

[So, the time has come, hasn't it? After all this time, she fiddled with the ring around her neck. Fighting this war for so long, hearing people leave, knowing people died, she wondered if she would actually remember it. Perhaps her scars would remind her of this story and her promise to Kanji. Her hand clenched it harder; she really didn't want to forget.]

[Raising her head, she looked out at Death City again. Just outside the Kishin Chamber, there wasn't much of a view, but she shouldn't linger in this city for long. The job was done. She had already visited the graves and shrine, cleaned up her desk at the Agency... All that was really left were the pets. They couldn't go back, could they? Watson's pretty big; would anyone take him if they couldn't? And Poe, he could fly off if he wanted to.]

[While she stood in the shadows, thinking of what to do, someone approaching made her look up.]

[She took her time going to the portal, saying good by to pretty much everyone in every quarter of the city. Giving people goodbye hugs and kisses, receiving a few pets on her head and back, getting even a few tears in her fur. Death by Pastry, Deathbucks, Horrorspital, the General Hospital, so many places to go, and there's still one more place to go.]

[The park was where morning training had been held this whole time, where she took her naps in the flowerbeds, and fed the animals. In this goodbye, it was feeding the birds and the rabbits one last time, even stopping to snuggle with them again. So, someone might find her there in the park with birds on her back and bunnies burrowed in her belly and chest fur, her tail wagging the whole time as she licked on clean. If someone does approach, the animals don't run and Amaterasu grinned. Come to say goodbye as well?]

[Rosalia was not going to cry. Ever since she had been brought here, eventually, the war was going to end and BREW would be satisfied. Still, she knows lots of people who are going to leave and she's not going with them. Being dead in her world, going back meant being dead again. Here, she could still do something. And this time, she could become a doctor like her dad and brother properly. She was going to miss them too, but her brother had friends who would take care of him.]

[With some goodbye gifts tight in her hand, she rolls on her feet near the Kishin Chamber, holding her parasol over her head as usual. It's a nice day today; nice day to say goodbye and wish everyone farewell and take care of themselves and be happy.]

[Mello knows, intellectually, that there's nothing waiting for him back in the world he came from, which he hasn't thought of as 'home' in months.

Knowing doesn't prepare him for seeing it.

It's not even like looking at a television tuned to a dead channel; that would have something to be sensed about it, even if it were only the empty hum of dead air. This is looking into absolute nothingness, and the sight makes Mello take a step back, instincts screaming at him to put as much distance between him and the portal as possible.

But he doesn't turn and run. He stays and looks a long moment more, as if to prove to himself and, more importantly, to that featureless, dead possibility, that it holds no power over him. Not anymore.]

[The portal holds nothing for him; Neji knows that even as he approaches the chamber to say goodbye. Nothing but darkness, and it's as unnerving as it is disappointing. He can't go back home anymore, but he'd still hoped for a final glimpse of his village- or even the forest surrounding it. That yearning for his childhood home that has yet to fade. But there's nothing, and he steps away from it with a final glance and moves to stand at the entrance of the room.

He feels strangely removed from the event. The heavy atmosphere touches him, feeling the same relief and distant sadness that goodbyes bring, but many of his close friends and family have already gone. Lee's pledged to stay with him, and he squashes down the edge of unease that worries his teammate might be lured by responsibility or the siren call of the trees. He spends a moment wondering if he should be here at all, watching these emotional moments like an outsider looking in, but he's worked with so many that he owes it to those that are leaving to at least offer parting words]

Edited 2014-09-03 20:22 (UTC)

[When she had first arrived in Death City, the idea had seemed so simple.

Arrive, fight the witches, go home. After all, this was just a base of operations, simply someplace to stay and lay her head in between missions. Simple. Easy. Uncomplicated.

No one told her how quickly or how thoroughly that could be changed, and she had not thought that it could.

Friends were the first step in that change- Feferi, Jade, Gamzee, Reborn, Natsu, Naruto- people here who she came to care for as much as she cared for any friend she'd ever had back home, if not more so. There were the people she started to look up to- Aqua, Takasugi, Commander Mustang, Commander Rhapsodos- far better role models than she'd ever had as well, each in their own ways. These people, all of them, had given her more purpose, more reason to try even harder to do what she could to help the city-- the world.

Then, of course, there had been Bee.

There really was no way to describe what Bee had meant to her. He had made this place Home, and were he still here, she would not hesitate to stay. But he was gone now, and she knew he wouldn't want her to linger for his sake, so she would go. Before she does though, she spends one last night watching the stars from their roof, and when she shows up to Shibusen, it's with her head held high and her shoulders straight.

No regrets.

She hesitates at the portal though, and instead decides to wait until she can see the rest of her friends off. She can at least allow herself that.]

[One year and two months after his arrival to Death City, the demon tool is finally allowing its guests to stay or go out of their own volition, rather than being the victims of a fully unpredictable Russian roulette. And contrary to what Near had been completely certain of upon his arrival, he's not going back.

It wasn't a decision he made consciously-- hell, it wasn't even a decision at all. When Sollux was sent back to his world for good, Near was haunted by very vivid and realistic dreams of being back in their world, and the fear and disorientation he felt upon waking up, as if he'd experienced one of the most terrifying nightmares of his life, could only mean one thing: he no longer wanted to go back.

He has long since accepted his choice, even after assessing it and dissecting it thoroughly in his mind. Of course, staying behind doesn't mean that he doesn't want to take a peek at his world one last time, and that is exactly what he's just finished doing: saying goodbye to his headquarters, and to the role he was groomed for his whole life. With nothing else left to see at the kishin chamber, Near makes his way down the Shibusen stairs, headed for the Agency HQ so he can try to locate the (very few) people he wants to say goodbye to.

Near is far from being a sentimental person, but it's inevitable to think of everyone he met in this world now that they have been allowed the opportunity to return. Most of the people who were brought in by BREW were fully incompetent, but there were a few others-- Matt, Sollux, Genesis, Amateratsu and Edgeworth are the ones that come to mind the fastest, and the most important, too-- who were well worth his time. With BREW fulfilling the promise, some of his friends (as much as he hates using the word, it is the one that fits them the most, isn't it?) are going away and some will never return; this means that Matt and Sollux will never be brought back again, but it also means that the demon tool won't sent him and Mello back to their world like they both feared. As selfish as the thought is, he is all right with that trade; he never claimed to be a nice person, after all.]

[Raidou had meant to be swift with his goodbyes -- set off before the more painful feelings could properly surface -- yet he found himself lingering before the Agency for some time. Kuzunoha Detective Agency... It would still be here after they were all gone. What would the previous Raidou, who started it all, think about how far they'd come?

He still couldn't quite believe it was really over.

He should be happy. It would be nice to see his friends at the Capital again, especially now that he more or less knew where he stood with who he was. But this place had become his home just as much as the Capital had. The knowledge that he would never see this world again was hard enough; knowing the friends he'd made would be lost to him forever was worse.

But so it went. They had their lives to return to, as Raidou had his. He touched the brim of his hat and, with one last glance at the Agency, turned to leave for the Kishin Chamber.]

[Edgeworth doesn't go home right away; while he believes this is not where he belongs, he at least knows it is prudent to clean up after himself, after a fashion. That means taking account of all the items he has accumulated during his stay - for example, his collection of Nevadan law books, history books, and Meister ability books, for one, would be donated to worthy causes. The Shibusen library, the Agency, even the local prosecutor's office. His novels would all be left to Genesis, as well as anything the Weapon might find useful. He gathers up whatever he wants to take away from Death City - all his notes and records of his experiences, his photographs with his father, the letter from him the day he left, the two non-human weapons he ever possessed.

And of course, he would be returning home a different man. Perhaps not radically different, but...well, he would return with scars and callused hands, a newfound combat instinct, and all the knowledge he gathered about supernatural powers and beings, and of course, the art of battle. Edgeworth is not sure if he would be able to retain all his memories of the dear friends, acquaintances, allies and colleagues he has made in Death City, considering that BREW sometimes liked to mess with memories and timelines, but...that's what the satchel he is carrying is for.

Edgeworth is not one to take so much time in the realm of nostalgia, but this world has been a part of him for over a year. These people have been a part of his life. He has accomplished things he never thought he could, had he not been dragged here by BREW. In fact, he was now a three-star Meister, with a Death Scythe partner he was about to leave.

Despite all that, see, he had much more to go back to. Again, this was not his world. This was not his life. He fulfilled his purpose here, and now that he got what he came for, it was time.

So, you might find him quietly cleaning out his office at the Agency, just organizing it for everyone staying behind to use as a small library, or probably taking one last walk around the city, absorbed in his thoughts, or already at Shibusen, giving the school one last look before leaving it all behind.]

[closed to Eve]

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