Well, as Kirk noted, it's a very meta-textual kind of tale, but when your characters are at least semi-aware of the nature of their universe it's hard for these kinds of stories not to be.




I'm not sure I *want* to write the last of it, even though I know exactly what happens. The main point of the story is to put off that point as long as possible, while also acknowledging that perhaps some closure has been earned by these characters.

For me, the most important line is Visionary's preference to believe that everyone is exactly where he left them, and that he will go back to them... or rather, that we the readers will go back to them, at least. As Lisa noted, this isn't the story where Visionary dies. He did that long before this story. This is a jump to some far flung future.

Of course, if the Hooded Hood should bring about the end of everything in a story tomorrow, well... I think of it like the argument from "Inherit the Wind". How much time passed between the destruction of everything we use to measure time and the onset of Nothing taking over? What's it even matter if there's nobody left to mark time?





I have a bunch of "starts" on my computer, many of which haven't been posted. We'll see if they make it in. In the meantime, I'm giving myself an opening to clear out some unfinished business and bring some closure on more than a decade with characters I care about.