Epilogue

[lesmodsalouette]

EPILOGUE

Your stopped time has restarted. Whether you were in the grassy field or fighting for your life on the castle grounds, you'll suddenly find yourself in an untouched area of the gardens. Ish is back, and so are the items, and the dead.

You return to Chateau Ambregris with the certain knowledge that come Monday, you will greet a new week, in a home of your own choosing. No longer will the chime of the clocks hunt you down, no longer will the oppressive scent of roses haunt your senses, no longer will you be forced to watch the death of those you've come to love and hate.

Parting is such a bittersweet sorrow, isn't it?

Make merry one last time, in this castle of illusions. Ironically, your memories of this stolen time that never existed are the one thing that will truly remain to you.

END NOTES

🔮 All dead are revived as tsukumogami! Congrats on your immortality(?)
🔮 Any other contracts made with Ish will be honored
🔮 Characters may choose to leave for any world they desire.
🔮 Time has not passed while you were stuck in this loop!
🔮 There will be no cross-dimensional world travel, except for on Samhain (Witches New Year October 31st/November 1st). On these dates, Ish will enable everyone to visit each other's world freely.
🔮 Universal Communication will be possible, courtesy of Manba and Ish. Everyone who wants one will be given a small fox that can communicate with other foxes through voice and video; the foxes can talk and are fairly simple creatures, enjoy them and give them fried tofu once in a while.
🔮 Powers are on for the finale, but Ish will step in and yeet anyone who gets too out of hand back to their homeworld, so play nice! (or relatively nice. )

[OOC: Welcome to your epilogue! The timeloop is ended, the evil has been defeated, and you have some time to catch your breath in the castle before the rest of your life begins! ]

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the catboy torture continues.......

[allrounder]

[ Of course they're going to grab him by the tail. Where else would they grab him?

He practically jumps, however, tail going straight up with him. ]

Siffrin!

1/2 yeah.......

[siffriend]

Oh, good. There you are.

[ Which means... by their memory... Hand comes off the tail and to his arm instead, as Siffrin draws closer. Slides up to his face and holds it there.

(...

You're terrified. Truly, wonderfully, terrified.

You breathe in, and out.)

And they open their eye, which quickly widens and they step back in such an odd amount of shock. ]

2/2

[siffriend]

[ (Oh.

He's so--) ]

Red. You're really red.

[allrounder]

...

[ Huh? Red? What is he talking about? ]

Red?

[ Oh. Oh. He understands now. For some reason, G'raha had never thought— ]

You can see color?

[siffriend]

Yeah. I traded some of my time for it. You know, since I'm still stuck in looping and all.

[ Got a whooooooole bunch just... sitting there. Frankly.

Siffrin... will step back again, looking over G'raha. All of the colors he'd ever mentioned, then at themselves too. Then back to G'raha again, reaching out to touch his hair. Oooh. Red's soft, too. ]

Thought it was a fair trade. Since he works with memories, and... it's a memory thing.

[allrounder]

[ Well. It probably doesn't matter anymore anyway, given everything, so he won't be upset about it. Siffrin touches his hair and he allows it with no issue... so long as he doesn't mess up the barrettes in his hair.

Besides, that was Siffrin's own choice. There are some things that G'raha knows not even he can meddle in. ]

Well? Was it a fair trade?

[siffriend]

[ No... he won't... Really tempted to, though. Who did these. Was it Blade? That backstabbing Raha-granted-user. ]

Yeah. 'Cause now I get to keep my word.

[ Of just staring at him... ]

[allrounder]

[ HELP ]

That...

[ Please, that's so embarrassing he wants to crawl away into the hedges. ]

You should take time to ponder over the rest of your surroundings as well. There are many colors to behold than what is on my person.

[siffriend]

I will. But... I just want to look at you, for now.

[ Even if he'll get to for a long, long time. ]

[allrounder]

[ Even more embarrassing... His ears flatten a little, but he will just... allow it.

Though he does, unfortunately, immediately switch into nerd mode. ]

I have no idea how this never came up between us, but I wonder if I would be able to work on repairing your memory.

[ ... ]

If you would like to have it back, that is.

[siffriend]

We kinda had a lot more going on, my Raha. Memories are pretty much the least of our worries.

[ Sort of. In a way. Not as if they give Siffrin a whole bunch of grief and single-handedly caused all his issues. Nope.

Still, what an offer. It makes their smile warm, and their arms fall to rest on G'raha's shoulders instead, stepping closer to hug him like that. ]

... I could've asked for that instead. To remember my home, to be able to say its name and see it across the sea.

[ But they hadn't. ]

[allrounder]

[ THEY SURE FUCKIN ARE ]

You could have.

[ Yet they did not, and seem to carry no regrets for what they did ask for. His hands settle on their waist, easily.

At least Siffrin has color back, and that's a sure thing. What G'raha has in mind is only a potential. ]

Even so... knowing that it may not work, would you be willing to attempt some method of recovery?

[siffriend]

Hmmmm.

[ ... ]

I dunno. It'd be kind of lonely, being the only one in the world outside of the island who knows. They can't hear the words we say, or read the books we do.

[ (Oh.

Oh!!!!! Right!!!! You should be able to read those now, shouldn't you? Wow. Awesome. You're so glad you remembered that now! It must be because you have the memory equipped.) ]

Well... Um. Okay. So, you're... gonna have to bear with me a little, but... I do kind of remember already. Things. From home, sort of. Ish. Some stuff. I can probably read books and writing. It's hard to explain why. But it's not complete.

[ Sorry. It's. It's weird, they get that. Also: Not... exactly an answer! ]

[allrounder]

[ Yeah, that's not an answer at all. That thought is pretty plain on G'raha's face when he pulls back from the hug. ]

Do you plan to read historical records, then? Build a base of memory for others to work off of so that you can recover them at large?

[ why is he always like this ]

[siffriend]

What? No. [ implied: nerd ] They don't have stuff like that in Vaugarde. It'll be useful for when I'm going through the House though, since there was a bunch of stuff I couldn't read before.

[ (It's a lead! One step closer to figuring out how to close this loop!






Well. You and Raha have... sort of, worked that out, but... there's still things that you want to learn, too. This opens up new paths. If you can understand why, how, then you can fix things.) ]

[allrounder]

[ Oh. Well. He's from Nerd City after all... Siffrin's going to have to get used to living there someday.

He supposes that could help, if nothing else will. While he thinks he knows the key for Siffrin getting out of that loop, he can't blame him for trying to look into other avenues either. Maybe there's a way to unlock it or those texts might provide Siffrin an avenue for moving on (self-help books). ]

Do you have an inkling for what those texts might state as you know them now?

[siffriend]

[ ... ]

Not really. There was a room that had a starry door, so I'm pretty interested in that... and there was a book in one of the storage rooms that hurt my head to look at. So I think that one, too. It was just a plain book with a title I didn't know how to read. And...

[ And... ]

One with a sparkly tree on it, that gave me a headache too. So I'll probably check them out and see what they are. The last one might be about Favor Trees, though. They're the center of every town in Vaugarde, but their story is pretty universal.

[ (That's why you know how to wish on them.) ]

[allrounder]

So you will begin there.

[ He sounds placated by that. ]

I do hope that they can assist you in breaking the loop itself. [ But there's a heaviness to his words, a reminder of their conversation not even a week ago. ] Perhaps provide a means for you to find the specific moment that will unwind time and allow it to march forward again.

[ ... ]

You know the reason, at least partially. The rest should be somewhat easier for you to solve.

[siffriend]

... Well, reason aside... I don't know how it happened, so I can't undo it. That's how magic works.

[ Curses, blessings, whatever... this is. It's formulaic across universes.

(You remember too, now. That Loop was trying to help you figure it out. And...

... You already had the idea, from that, that... maybe, something else was afoot, too. You just don't want to think about it until it's important. But you, and The King, can both at least manipulate Time Craft.

You just don't know why! But it's connected, after all, to--

you.) ]

Time Craft is... impossible, after all. There's theories, but that's all they are -- theories. Because it takes too much energy out of someone to use, if they managed it somehow. They'd probably die even going back a few minutes.

[ And yet, somehow, Siffrin survives literal days. Finding out the how and why are important; they don't think that telling their family members will solve everything. But... they can try, anyway. A little. One of these loops.

... A beat, squeezing G'raha slightly. ]

I... think you'd like Loop, you know. They're more closed off than me, but... they've been helpful, and they aren't so bad to talk to. You'd have fun figuring them out. They'd hate it.

[allrounder]

[ So Siffrin can manipulate something that just about no one else can, huh? It's clear that he is the one doing it, after all, though he doesn't state it outright.

Now isn't the time to say something about how they're unique and special in their own way, otherwise he very much would. ]

I've half a mind to believe you want me to figure them out for you.

[ A jest, but he sees where Siffrin is coming from. G'raha does like a good puzzle and it's not really a large leap for them to make. ]

They must be similar to you in that way, at least. I imagine that is the point on which you two relate.

[ Because he knows Siffrin hates every time he tries to figure them out. ]

1/3

[siffriend]

[ Funnily enough,

Siffrin would not count G'raha as particularly dodgy, though G'raha and Loop certainly share that trait. He's always been quite open, in their opinion. ]

... Maybe. They're pretty dodgy most of the time, and always remind me there's no point in getting to know them when I've got my hands full with my looping problem.

[ (Actually.

Would Loop still be around, after you break the cycle? Or... would they disappear?

...

Huh.) ]

But I...

[ ... ]

2/3

[siffriend]

[ (Oh.

You can do that now, can't you!

You didn't think of it sooner, and everything was-- everythinging before, but--!) ]

3/3

[siffriend]

Raha, let me go a second. I just remembered something I wanna do.

[ Wiggle wiggle. Release the beast.






What conversation. ]

[allrounder]

[ G'raha pulls away, but gives Siffrin an unsure look. What the hell is he going to do...? Much to G'raha's chagrin, he's entirely unpredictable.

But... that's kind of why he likes them anyway, even if he's loathe to admit that, even to himself. ]

What is it that you want to do?

[siffriend]

Stay here and close your eyes. I'll be right back.

[ A beat. ]

I promise.