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bellelurette2025-04-07 12:11 am
lesmodsalouette) wrote in bellelurette2025-04-07 12:11 am
Epilogue
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. )
🔮 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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Hwylryn seems to consider this question for a time. He also considers - where to begin. He considers framing it with a question. He considers - he probably doesn't have access to that interplay with Siffrin right now, and this stifles some of Hwylryn's common means of communication.
Ultimately, he comes to no good decision at all about where to start or how to tell it. Ah, he's always like this.
Finally: )
... Junior said he just needed a single shot. But, to do it, G'raha had to be still. And, if he wasn't still, then the lattice would stagger him until he was still enough.
( In brief, Hwyl just wanted to inflict a little +Bleed. It wasn't created to be used as anything but an environmental hazard so Junior could lineup a headshot.
Well, such was the plan.
...
And then, like a separate vignette: )
I've wanted to change all my life, but I haven't known how.
I admire G'raha. I think... he's suffered, and he's come to know how to move forward. When I speak to him, things feel so clear.
I think I wished I could be like him.
( In the slightly further distance, his tail fwaps lightly against the hedge - in contemplation? Agitation?
The wind carries forth another story: )
He scared me.
I felt I could change, doing what I did. But though I had chosen to betray him, he still told me I could turn back, and do better. He wouldn't kill me. He wouldn't even strike me.
I couldn't go back, because I didn't like who I was. But moving forward meant meeting his gaze.
( And that
was so hard, on his heart. )
... I made promises. I was going to have a family. ( Maybe Siffrin will see an unpleasant piece of themself there. ) And I wanted to keep them. So I had to meet his gaze. And I had to fail him.
( Grief compounding upon grief compounding upon grief, throughout the week, until G'raha looked at him, unwavering - even until they departed.
He could not imagine there being a creature with a heart who did not lose themselves to grief in so doing. )
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had been too cruel, after all. Siffrin couldn't do it. Couldn't help but listen, just as they had The King (and punished for it, so severely the nights seem longer every time you wake up in the middle of them,) and
hope
a little, that there had been something more, something to understand, something they could agree on even if the method is the issue above all else. Because Siffrin is influenced by those around him, not so different than Hwylryn himself in that way, and so-- people inherently are good, they deserve more than one chancec they deserve to be heard.
(Even dragons, you guess.
...
Only because you were friends, though. Only because you had seen his grief and felt it as your own. Two seabirds adrift in an ocean they can't claim as home anymore.)
There's many, many things he could say. About any and all of that. But, again, about the influence of others-- ]
Do you still want to change? Or... are you satisfied, with how you've changed now.
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It's always been easy to kill and cut off that which he has never cared for.
The answer he gets, though, surprises him.
His head returns to how it was (unrotated, a few degrees back up), but then drops a little lower - as if getting a better look at something he could not clearly see. There is, of course, nothing to see. His body is just as much a vehicle of expression as his face is as a human, is all. )
... Do you think I still can?
( It had take him so many thousands of years to come upon this sort of thing at all, in this pressure cooker of a castle - he might be scared of the idea of confronting his grief, but change in the abstract? Change as a whole? He had just gotten over this one hump with great effort - and he was content to resign himself to what he's gained from it. He had not even thought to think there was more places for him to go, or where. )
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... Siffrin has never felt afraid of that. The King is large, too. Overpoweringly oppressive, his despair a weight that can be felt throughout the house. Just like his tears, seen floating, and the wild sobs of a grief shared with only one other.
(But you aren't like him.
You aren't.)
They take a step forward, just one. ]
In... Vaugarde, the land that welcomed me when my island had disappeared, [ their final conversation resonates quietly in Siffrin's mind; they had been possessed by the dragon then too, like they had been Yoru, given so many gifts and treasuring every one until The Witch had taken them to the stage, ] they practice a certain belief. The Change Belief, under the Change God.
The god's a huge jerk himself, and... I don't really get the beliefs either, because I think it's a hassle and a half, but...
[ (...
Why... are you telling him this? He hurt Raha so badly...
... But you... ) ]
... You might find it useful. It dictates that people are always changing, or they should want to, and celebrates it. There's whole Crafts dedicated to that. And once someone's Change, there's no questions. You can take on a different name, a different body, a different personality... A whole new life.
[ So, naturally, someone who has nothing in the first place wouldn't like it. Siffrin doesn't lower their gaze from Hwylryn, but there's a shuffle of their feet in discomfort at the idea. ]
Um. So. Yeah, you can. As long as you want to, then you can. That's... what they believe.
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But he had not considered that there is something that could be learned from the principles of worship. Several thousand years of living, and he realizes now he had simply shrugged much of it off as a human oddity.
The idea of change as something inevitable and grand - something to find awe in, than to simply know as truth. He seems to consider this perspective. )
... That sounds fun. ( Hwylryn back at it with the simplified vocabulary. But he likes it when life is simple. ) The landscape of the earth and sea change pretty often. The same places I've known will be gone after just a few years, whether it's thanks to the elements, or because of the creatures within it.
( It's hard to gauge what "a few years" is to Hwylryn, but the point mostly stands. He makes a sound - with his vocal chords proper; it's deep and resonates like a piano played - thoughtful. )
... I wonder when I began to think of myself as static. I'm an element of nature, too.
( It is not so much a triumphant declaration so much as a statement of contemplation. It's not strange that he has - the world changes so quickly, and he's felt left behind; so slow to change that it seemed to him he's not changed at all, anchored by grief, anchored by isolation.
Hmmm. )
Do you wish for change, too?
( He knows Siffrin isn't fully happy with the way things are - or were - at least, back home. He doesn't know what he's missed of them in the graveyard, and conversations since their return. But it doesn't sound like Siffrin ascribes to this particular ideology, either. )
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[ Haha... ha. So no, in essence. At least. Maybe not like that. ]
There's someone I hate very, very much, who hurt someone I love. I thought he wanted to change, so I wanted to give him that chance, and he used it to--
[ (you see a flash of brightness in mind you see a hand reach out and grab someone small you see)
Siffrin inhales harshly. ]
... To betray our expectations, and intended to kill that someone to "teach me a lesson" about stopping him short of victory. [ (you don't know if you can face him again but you have to) ] I looped back before it happened, but it still did in that timeline no one remembers. Not even him.
[ It's a stark contast to many other conversations, pulled away from themselves and focus remained on the person before them. But therein lies the reason they mention it at all:
Because Siffrin, cautious as can be, believes Hwylryn better than the person who'd betrayed their hope.
... Another step forward, and like the apparent nonsequitors Hwylryn had given as bits of stories before, so does Siffrin branch off of this. ]
I was set to travel... well, just to... wander, after we saved the country. I'm... scared, of never seeing my family members again, of losing them like I did my home. [ (Orphaned by the world, you recall.) ] They all have something they want to do, and I don't. No plans, no thoughts, just... back to being on my own.
... But Raha offered me a future, [ pained as Siffrin sounds about it; it can't ease the grief they feel about their family members entirely, but it helps a little. to know he does. ] So... even if it's a hassle, even if... I'm scared, and it's hard... I want to step forward.
[ But Siffrin also sincerely wants to break the cycle and fails, too. Again, it cannot erase nor ease everything entirely -- but it helps, a little. And maybe that help will make it easier to try something different one of these loops, once Siffrin's certain, once they know. ]
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The one Siffrin describes... Hwylryn can't presume much about him, but he sounds a lot like a Northerner. There is a reticence to change - either out of self-satisfaction, a pleasure and indulgence and pride in how one is; or agitation; the idea that change is linked to weakness, one way or another. He considers this - and finds himself failing in both. The Northern spirits would be sure to scoff at him if he returned.
He listens with care, sad for Siffrin, and their trials - as always. Though other people's feelings on him may have grown more complex, Hwylryn, perhaps with some privilege, has not changed his opinion much on most.
Just those who shut out his heart, and Siffrin has yet to. )
I think that's something. I think that's worthwhile.
( And it is scary. More than anything, ripping out what you love and have rooted in you is hard. )
... I think... as hard as it is to not have your life entangled with the same people anymore... as long as they're still around, there's still a chance you can meet with them, can't you? And share with them the sort of person you've become with G'raha.
( ... )
... I hope you become happy. And I hope you find happiness, together. I think it's the least you both deserve.
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[ If he
really wants to change, if he thinks himself capable, if he wants to leave what ached him so in the past behind.
(You had meant it, when you asked that beast in the House. If he wouldn't leave behind and start anew.
Your mistake.) ]
... I won't ever forgive you for how badly you hurt Raha. I'm angry every time I think about it. But I don't want to bury my dagger in you, because that'd be agreeing with your stupid opinions on love. And I don't want to turn away from you, because--
[ ...
Because... ]
We're... alike. With no place to go back to that's ours, just with people to go with. So I understand. Doing everything you think you can or need for people you care about. I don't even hate The Witch for that reason. And Junior's just a kid.
[ A kid who killed, they know, but a kid who wanted something enough -- who was terrified after -- to do it, to find safety in someone's arms.
(Can you really judge that? When you've reset the loop just to help everyone again and again, to see them smile and understand you and--) ]
... Do... you get it?
[ (You've always fumbled with words.) ]
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Hwylryn's gaze remains upon Siffrin, his expression hard to read, posture existent, certainly, but meaning unclear.
He does like Siffrin. This is the first idea he settles on. (Of course, he was already aware, but it feels more pertinent to decide on, because:) —it would be much easier to pivot out of this conversation than to think through it. The idea of change appeals to him; isn't that enough? What more can you ask for when tomorrow isn't promised, when there may be a gap of some hundred years before they see each other next, and what Hwylryn says now may not hold water tomorrow?
He knows the idea of why. He knows because he has spoken with humans enough to know they want someone's word regardless, and they want to feel they can believe it, though they can barely keep an oath themselves. (Mind, if there's a mortal (of sorts?) he can expect to keep a promise, it's Siffrin.) But he wonders if he can come to understand.
He wonders if he wants to understand, to the extent he'll need.
But he does like Siffrin. And he likes G'raha, and Sariel, and Primrose, and the many whose feelings he's betrayed.
And he does like how, despite themself, perhaps, Siffrin has not fully closed their heart to him. He likes this most of all.
And, in the same way he feels moved to respond to people's cries for him to live on in that very first week, he decides on the fact that this is something that moves him, too.
So, does he get it? )
My heart does.
( This answer comes from his lips, though they do not need to part much for him to convey sound. There's something pretty about it the way a flute on the wind is pretty, smooth as a river and sweet as the dazzling sun.
Though Siffrin's attempt at speech may have been fumbling, it was genuine, and Hwylryn will answer that in kind. )
I wouldn't want to be left behind.
( He has been, in a sense, huh? Trapped with his loss as the world turned beyond him...
He'd called Siffrin orphaned, but perhaps he shouldn't be too prideful to see this in himself, too. )
I don't know where I'll end up, though, once I begin. ( Can he promise he'll be a good person, a palatable creature? But: ) ... I don't mind if you don't forgive me. I don't think you should. But...
Could I ask that you still speak to me, and you tell me how your Hwylryn has changed, bit by bit?
( The Hwylryn Siffrin has come to know - that may not be quite like any other one.
He does consider this request a little mean, in the same way he knew asking Junior to help him was certainly cruel. To ask this of Siffrin simply because their heart is not fully shut is, perhaps, taking some advantage.
But he can't help it. He wants what he wants. And he would be very sad if they didn't speak for as long as he likely won't to G'raha, if not longer. He can't apologize for being selfish, and he will do it again. )
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Siffrin shuffles forward after a long moment of thought, placing a hand gently on Hwylryn's snout. Just that, though. Like a promise.
(You know Raha won't like it. But there's already a lot Raha doesn't like that you do anyway, so you... put it on a list and shove that list away. You're selfish, too. Selfish and a little relieved, that Hwylryn says what he does.
He might not keep to that word. But you'll cross that bridge when you come to it, if you come to it, since it isn't like you can die now anyway. Wouldn't be any different than fighting The King.) ]
... Sure. I'll be living a longer life than others anyway, so I guess I can keep you on the narrow.
[ That familiar aloof attitude from weeks before, the warmth of their hand the only difference. ]
Dunno if I can contact anyone until I'm done though. With my loop stuff. [ (You wouldn't want to anyway, more privately. You know you're only worsening.) ] But that'll be a blink to you.
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Hwylryn's eyes close in lieu of a human's smile, and he presses his nose into Siffrin's hand. Though the gesture is mild, the way the breeze ruffles Siffrin's hair, carrying with it a warmer sunlight than before, seems to say what he might lack the limbs and expressions to suggest - the clouds, gradually, carried away in the wind. )
Maybe. But I'll miss you. ( Relief colors his voice, as does missing Siffrin already (again, like in the Promenade). Clingy friend who misses you when you leave the room for like, ten minutes. ) Will it really only take a few hundred years?
( "Only." He's trying to estimate what a short amount of time to him is that's long to Siffrin... and that's probably a few hundred, right? (lucille bluth voice) how long could this loop business take, )
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Way less. My family members don't deserve to be stuck there another "week", [ even if it doesn't technically pass, ] much less a century or three. And...
[ ... ]
I don't... want Raha to wait that long. Since he would, but... there's a lot he can miss, waiting. So I'd want him to... not wait, and to let himself accept those things even if it isn't me, but the thought-- makes me lonely, too. I'm glad he'd wait. But I don't want him to, that long.
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... Could he go with you? I'm sure he'd want to.
( He doesn't know if that's how it works, but...
... )
I know if Ish had to do it again, I'd want to go with him.
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[ For
so, so many reasons, heavy on their tongue. Their hand resumes the skritching it had paused on, long lines on his head. ]
... Even once was too many. And... mine is only two days long at max. Not a week, like it was here. Raha doesn't get a choice in that.
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( Hwyl says to the timelooper in question, but he's shocked. He thought a week was bad, but two days? What can you even change in two days that matters?
His tail (way back there) fwips, agitated. )
Ish needed the power of a wish to push through, right? I don't exactly have that to offer, but I'm pretty handy, you know? Would some of my power or a piece of me help?
( A [key item]... Or maybe like super premium gas in the tank... let siffrin go terminator and maybe that will fix everything (???) (he doesn't know if that's how it'd work but from the look in his eyes and his tone of voice, hwyl seems Distressed siffrin is going back into that tiny little loop alone) )
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The offer earns him a small huff of laughter, just the ridiculousness of it. Part of his power, a piece of him. Would it keep? Or would it disappear, like everything else does? ]
... Um. Call me sometime. There's no guarantee that anything I get right now'll stick through my next loop, so I don't wanna waste your gift. But... talking, would be nice. I think. Good enough.
[ Probably. ]
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Despite that, or, perhaps, because of that, the weather feels a lot nicer as they talk - he can't help Siffrin on their journey beyond here, but he can at least give them nice weather to rest in, before they eventually have to proceed. )
Sure. As much as I can. ( A promise (and a threat). He pushes forward, nosing Siffrin's hair like an affectionate animal. ) But would a call interrupt you? The way Homura described the whole thing to me made it all sound really delicate.
( All those little nuances, all those little cogs and wheels... )
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Not really. I'd take it before I went into the House, so at the start of the loop, or after if I managed to break the cycle. I don't think it's safe... to bring the fox in, though, so...
[ ... ]
Oh. I guess I can leave him with Loop. They might not mind petsitting.
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Loop is... a person named after loops?
( why! (prrt) )
What's the House...? Does Loop live there?
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Oh!!! Okay. Both hands now, hello. It sounds like a purr, kind of. ]
Loop chose their name, so since they're helping me out with the loops... They're Loop. And no, the House is where the King is, but only because he took it over. My family members and I have to beat him to save Vaugarde. Loop stays under the Favor Tree.
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His eyes are very contentedly shut, the dazzling sunlight as much for Siffrin as it is a reflection of his present contentment. )
... Is it just a matter of killing the King...?
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[ Been there, done that. A lot. With Hwylryn's eyes closed, they let a fond look settle as warmth settles across their skin. An embrace, almost.
(Maybe you should try this on Raha sometime.) ]
... I'm close, probably. I have leads, at least. And... as long as I do, then there's something to try. That's what Loop says. It shouldn't be long.
[ Just another month and a half's worth. ]
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The~n, if you're that close, you're practically there, right?
( He doesn't worry about advocating letting it get to Siffrin's head - they seem too cautious and determined for that! But Siffrin sounds certain, and he would very much like Siffrin to succeed, and didn't Hwylryn learn to use magic by believing his feelings with such certainty that they becomr true?
To some, it may seem like a jinx to speak as if it were decided fact - but, to Hwylryn, he imparts a good luck charm. )
When ( when! ) you succeed, and when you've had a million celebrations with your family and your dearest loves, ( g'raha ??? loop ?? belle besties ?? all of them!!!! ) you have to tell me, too, and you have to tell me all about it, and when I see you... we can throw you an even bigger celebration. I'll tell Ish all about it, and we can prepare... A departure from the past and a greeting for the future. You've worked hard enough.
( he just wants to throw siffrin a huge party, they deserve it, )
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Um. I'm not good with being the centerpiece. So a small departure for the future would be fine, Hwylryn.
[ Please do not throw them a big bash. ]
I... think I would like that, though. Saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. I'll tell you when I'm out.
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Not even a medium departure?
( He says in a sort of fiiiiiine tone, his eyes opening half-lidded. )
... But... okay. If it has to be something small, we can go somewhere fun to celebrate. And I'll make sure it's just as fun as a full festival.
( He has no particular idea of if this means he visits Siffrin's home or they visit Hwylryn's (new) home or this will be a celebration somewhere else entirely, but it doesn't matter all that much to him. He'd like to see where the wind guides them when the time comes.
Until then, he rolls his head, pressing a big cheek into Siffrin's little palm, his eyes squeezing shut in the process. Rubrub!! )
It's a promise.
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