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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pick a room, any room, or even the gardens tbh

[distain]

What a shame that all of this will go to waste. It really wouldn't be missed.

[Andrew is pretty sure she's talking to herself. At least, hopefully, that's what she's doing!

She's got the stuffed capybara under one arm and the fox...thing...under the other. With one last baleful look at all of this wealth that will go wasted, thinking about the inheritance she's about to forfeit, she just kind of...shrugs and turns on her heel.

Though she's trying to jet out of here unnoticed, this top-level wouldn't exist if she couldn't be caught. If she is caught, however, she will say, as if she expects this to be the beginning and the end of the conversation:]

I wish you a long and happy life.

[The same as if it was the Monday after she walked in here. Any conversation beyond that pleasantry might surprise her.]

observatory to close us out

[siffriend]

[ It seems ages ago, when Siffrin had first found her at the top and sat beside her. Quiet, watching the stars, with minimal words and comfortable with that.

Until they'd begun to spy on Dan Heng and Blade, anyway.

He trots in now, staring at the warmth (warm, that's a good way to describe things) of the wood and the brightness of the astrolabes, unchanged with their wish, then at Andrew herself.

(She doesn't seem much different than before. You're relieved, just like with Yoru.

... There is one difference, though--) ]

You have pretty eyes.

[distain]

Hmm, why's that?

[She tilts her head a little, surprised by what to her is a bit of an out-of-left-field compliment.

Her eyes...are probably why she's alive. They've always carried the baggage of being unmistakably Grace.]

I'm sorry I can't return the praise. [Beat.] You've only got one. [It's not a very good joke...]

[siffriend]

[ It isn't, but Siffrin snickers anyways. ]

It's... a pretty color, that's all. Like trees and flower stems. Full of life. Um, they remind me of "summer".

[distain]

[...Ah. She's been spending her weeks with a lot of people who can't see, hasn't she?

It's such a nice description that Andrew doesn't know what to do with it at first. The words aren't anything she would think to associate with herself. Summer... she's realizing now that she'll see the seasons change into that warmth again.

She finally supplies, super usefully:] They're green.

[siffriend]

[ That is super useful, actually. ]

So that's how it's pronounced.

[ Wow. So much to tell Bonnie.

(...

You'll have to remember to check the book on Color Theory again if you want to spark that conversation, though. Or maybe... you'll just never say a word, and be careful about descriptions from now on.

You realize you have no idea how you're going to tell them about any of this.

.............................

Well. What's one more secret.)

For now, Siffrin'll stand on his tippy toes. ]

Can I see? Closer.

[distain]

[Siffrin is much shorter than she is, but she's never really been able to leverage the differences in their height over him. She thinks about that now - about making them work for it a little bit.]

I don't see why not. [She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, bending forward like this is some magnanimous gesture, not particularly good with the personal space of it all.]

I inherited my looks from the Grace bloodline, too.

[siffriend]

[ Siffrin looks closer at her, her eyes and beauty. It's not something they've ever said outloud before, but-- ]

You're very striking. [ Sincerely said, setting back on their heels again. ] But... I did want to ask about that. Your bloodline.

[simulacres]

Coming from you, it sounds like a curse.

[ ayaka says with just the slightest hint of sarcasm. you might even call it teasing.

but immediately, she follows it up with a genuine question, a hint of concern on her face. ]

How are you feeling?

[distain]

Why's that? [She's just being polite, isn't she? There's a curve to Andrew's smile that's a little sharp, however. What she says could be a well-wish or a knife. For herself, it's both, coming to terms with this thing that didn't seem real or possible for her.

Andrew's smile falls into something more serious.] It's strange. I scarcely even know what it is to live, and now I'm expected to do so much of it. I feel out of sorts with my own body... but I'll just have to get used to it.

[simulacres]

Just a hunch.

[ maybe the sharpness of your smile, andrew? have you checked that? but ayaka shrugs nonchalantly, as she focuses on the rest of the things that the other girl says. ]

Ah... does this mean that you're not sick anymore?

[ no, she doesn't know that andrew and the rest of the dead are now functionally immortal. ]

[distain]

No, and I doubt I'll ever get sick again.

[It's... strange to say that. Objectively, being free of the Blue Star Curse frees her from the ugly inheritance of her father's genetic disease. The strangeness of it, though, leaves Andrew feeling a little unmoored, and it comes through in her voice.]

As long as this toy endures, so will I.

[She pulls the capybara a little more beneath her arm, holding it almost too tightly.]

[simulacres]

What…?

[ ayaka’s gaze goes from the capybara in her arm to andrew, her eyes wide. for a second she’s not sure what she’s talking about, but once the realization dawns on her, she can’t help but find it equally hard to believe. ]

So you’re… alive as long as the thing you were linked to is safe? Is that the same for everyone?!

[distain]

I'll only speak for myself. [For...various reasons. It makes her sound aloof and icy - and, sure, there's some element of that to it, too. After all that's transpired, she's hesitant to nestle herself adjacent to most other people. Better to play a bit careful, even to her second friend ever.] Others may have found a way to alter their arrangement.

Isn't it a bit foolish? I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself. [She has no idea how she might explain it in the future, either.]

[simulacres]

I... see.

[ ayaka's not sure what to think about it exactly. she's happy to know that andrew isn't sick anymore, but at the same time it makes her feel somewhat unsettled. concerned? ]

Are you happy with it then? If you didn't make any extra arrangements, that is.

[ocenon]

You're taking the capybara with you?

[ If Andrew's ominous well wishes register in Richard's golden retriever brain, he makes no mention of it. There's some things (plushies) here that take priority. ]

[distain]

Yes. I have to.

[In case he gets the wrong idea about her attachment to said capybara. Andrew will artfully eliminate mentioning the part where these objects only form attachments when those attachments already exist.]

This is the cost for our return: to be bound to these objects. [She works carefully around directly mentioning the immortality right away.]

[ocenon]

A shame it's not something a little heartier - Ayaka had to try and patch Sabo's hat when it had garnered some mysterious damage from whatever was going on with your side of things.

[distain]

It's all right. [She seems earnest in that reassurance.] The durability of this one suits me just fine. [There might even be something comforting in it, knowing that a stuffed animal can fade and change with age and love.] Besides, I've heard a child's toy can be surprisingly durable.

...I guess most things can be mended. [She didn't take any damage during the fighting, though the capybara did end up covered in no shortage of rain and blood. But she won't brag about outperforming Sabo just now.]

[ocenon]

[ yes i know this is the point but i cant stop thinking about the garfield plushie and i cant stop laughing at it. ]

What of your illness? I hope the Witch did not continue to burden you with your affliction after all the trouble of bringing you back.

[distain]

[Okay, but doesn't Andrew deserve to be loved and changed like the Garfield plushie? Doesn't she deserve that, Richard?]

This is a consequence of Manba's efforts. Anything other than this would have called for further negotiation with the Witch. [It's her first and possibly only time slipping out the more familiar version of the sword's name, a slip that Andrew hopes will go blissfully overlooked.]

As much as I'd like to shove the mark of the Blue Star curse in Father's face, it seems to be gone. It's a human disease, after all. [So she supposes it makes sense...]

[ocenon]

[ Yes she does, without a doubt. and also some lasagna haha I'm sorry ill go home

If he notices the familiarity of Yamanbagiri's name, he doesn't seem to make any reaction to it. ]

Is transcending its limitations not comeuppance in its own way?

[vivens]

[ wouldn't it be hilarious if the two of the crossed paths in the chapel? i think that's where they should given literally everything that went down that week (trial). however, if they're not in the chapel then they can literally be anywhere else at this point.

especially considering that they're both the type to leave without saying much of a goodbye to others. places to be; people to get back to... nevertheless sabo will chuckle softly. ]

Isn't that what I should be saying to you?

[ not just because of her disease that she no longer has to worry about, of course. ]

[distain]

[Actually, yes, they should absolutely meet in the chapel.

Andrew stands before the repaired altar, lighting a candle She has no idea if the God here is the God she's used to reaching towards with her prayers... by now, she's not sure how much she believes in a God at all.

She blows the long lighter out and shakes it to disperse the smoke.] I guess you should. We both have time and much to do with it at our fingertips.

... Living is more frightening than dying, but I won't let that restrain me for long. [It's something she's danced around with more with others, either because of the nature of their personalities or because of their shared experience in death. To Sabo, she doesn't mind saying it directly. Knowing she would die made accepting it when it happened less daunting than the unknown of being alive like this.]

[the_obedient_servant]

What a thing to say to the dead kid.

[The hater arrives.

They look at the stuffed animals with their head cocked to the side.]

What are you planning, Miss Andrew?