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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[cleansheets]

[ Angelo watches this whole process in silent fascination. It's essentially impossible to wrap his mind around the idea that the case is the person and the body is... well, what is it? A projection? Merely an idea of Elias Cooper, given physical form?

The idea can clearly still feel pain but... Suddenly he's fixed up again like it's nothing. ]

I'll go... in a moment.

[ He may be actively bleeding and hurting, but he's not about to pass out and he's not... really ready to have magic touch his body just yet, even if it's to fix All That.

Angelo flops down on the stairs to the castle, and gives Elias an expectant look to sit down next to him. Ignore the blood. ]

[spotsalone]

[ Elias shrugs and sits down next to him. Suit yourself.

With his own injury sorted, he extracts a cigarette from the case before holding it out to Angelo. When he does, the case is already full again. Another perk of immortality: never-ending cigarettes. ]

You'd best not be planning to return to your own world now that we're done here.

[ He remembers what you said about freezing to death. Don't do that! ]

[cleansheets]

[ ... Angelo blinks at that little magic trick, before gratefully accepting the cigarette. There is no hesitation in the movement this time - in fact, if Elias had started smoking on his own, Angelo would have demanded he share. ]

And here I'd been wondering what would happen if you smoked one of those...

[ He was kind enough to not test it, appreciate his restraint.

Angelo waits until Hickey gives him fire until he actually answers the actual question. It's something better talked about with nicotine in his system, now that he's accepted that blackening of his lungs as part of his continued existence. ]

There's nothing left for me there - or anywhere else.

[spotsalone]

[ He grins when Angelo accepts without hesitation this time. Good for you, buddy.

He strikes a match to light his own cigarette, but the garden's gentle breeze snuffs the flame before Angelo gets his turn. Oops. Elias motions for the other man to lean in to light the cigarette against his. ]

You can't rule out anywhere when you haven't explored all your options, lieutenant.

[ He pauses—and not for the drama of it, this time. There's a real moment of hesitation. ]

Now that I've resolved my own situation, I'm likely to return to my world. It will be rough going even with my newfound immortality, but if you're friendly to the idea... You could come along.

[cleansheets]

[ It's the leaning in that makes Angelo briefly dwell on the fact that this cigarette is an object that came.. what? Right out of Elias' soul? What is he even meant to think about that?

He doesn't get time to think much of it either way, because then Elias comes out with that offer and all he can do is stare.

It's the third time someone has said this to him to try and protect him from his cold and dark death. The first two had been immortals with questionable ideas of affection and... probably a good dose of pity, as well. Elias, too, has reason to pity him. More than anyone, given what he saw.

But simultaneously it's hard to see Elias pitying anyone, not to the point of inconveniencing himself by having another mouth to feed in a difficult situation.

So that leaves... ]

What's in it for you?

[ Angelo had considered just inviting himself along, but now that the offer has been extended freely, he's more uncertain than ever. ]

[spotsalone]

[ Elias leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. ]

I could use the help. It's a long walk back to the ships, and my men are in poor condition. And you can help me loot this place.

[ He gestures behind them at the palace. ]

It's not as if Ish will miss any of it.

[ And then, just as casually: ]

You deserve a chance to invent an opportunity for yourself.

[ If it's manipulation, it's not obviously so—although it is difficult to turn off his instinct to play his opponent in every conversation. ]

[cleansheets]

[ Angelo draws from his cigarette and exhales very slowly. Free labor is as good a reason as any to take somebody else along - if he felt particularly uncharitable he could even accuse Elias of taking advantage of his situation to get Angelo to do his dirty work.

But he knows that's not what this is, at least... not quite.

It's something else, something human and uncertain and unwise. There's a moment of dead silence before he can compose himself to answer. ]

Just so you know... I've had better offers. I'm quite in demand with the more experienced immortals and their bleeding hearts.

[ A beat. ]

I have no intention of becoming a pet for either of them.

[ It's not a derision he'd repeat to Sariel's face, who doesn't deserve it, and not to Hwylryn's either, when their relationship is more complicated, but... Right now it suits the argument he's trying to make, a catchy oversimplification. ]

So... I believe you owe me some description of your actual goals, right? What's it all for, at the end?

[spotsalone]

[ Angelo says he's got better offers, and for just an instant, Elias' brow twitches in irritation. So go with them, then. What do I care? It'd be the sounder choice, most likely. He can't even guarantee Angelo's survival should they return together. It's better than certain death, but not by much. Elias knows this.

Still, he relishes the spark of triumph at the pivot. No intention of becoming a pet. Good. They may even share some similar opinions of their more magical companions here. ]

Living, mainly.

[ He says it through a lungful of smoke. ]

I'm through with simply surviving. I boarded the ship to escape London, and I've done that. After completing the Passage, we were meant to stop in the Sandwich Islands. Some place called Maui. I'd seen the drawings, yeah, in the weeklies. As good a place as any to start new.

[ Yes, this man's entire grand villain scheme was to get to Hawaii. Dream big, kids. ]

But... I learnt some things, out on the ice. We were not the heroes of that story—and England? England is not the only empire. We'd come into conflict with the natives' god, and I'd discovered a way to take control of the thing. Command it. Rise above in such a way my men could hardly fathom. That was to be my escape. The Tuunbaq.

[ Angelo remembers, doesn't he? Elias knows everyone watched him cut out his tongue for the god. Just because it didn't work here doesn't mean it wouldn't work back there, in its proper domain. Besides, he suspects Yoonhee did something to meddle with the situation. That wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

Luckily for everyone, Elias has since abandoned that plan. He has no use for the god anymore. ]

We'll need to contend with it once we're back. I hope that it will follow the other group south when we make north again for the ships. That's our best chance now. And from there... who knows?

[ He chews on the cigarette between his lips, shrugging as he glances at Angelo. ]

I like to keep my options open.

[cleansheets]

[ Angelo listens quietly, and he can't hide a certain skepticism once the Tuunbaq comes up - it was going to be his next question, really. If he really were to return with Elias, would that mean facing the ominous creature? Would that mean sacrifice to it, like the twisted prayer he'd been made to witness?

He relaxes when that doesn't seem to be the case. It's not as though he cannot understand devotion to something much larger than yourself, it's not as though he hadn't shared a desire to transcend what you are and fly far away... but whatever Elias had seen in that thing, all Angelo can think of is how monstrous it looked, with its apathetic eyes.

And so that's it then. Escaping a vengeful foreign god, to go to some islands, somewhere. 'Truly living' sounds abstract to Angelo - appalling at worst, as someone who has been treated as a commodity in the hedonism of others.

But he doesn't have anything to counter it with. There is no grand power to sweep him off his feet again, and he doesn't want there to be. It's just him now.

He looks down at his own bleeding leg - soon enough, that will be healed up through powers beyond his comprehension. Those powers won't follow them where Elias is proposing they go.

It's a bad deal, no matter how you look at it. There is no reason to go. So, of course, what he says is... ]

... alright. Three conditions.

[ He doesn't foresee anything he'd prefer doing cropping up anytime soon. Maybe this is just self-punishment for surviving his Captain. Maybe it's a death wish with no outlet. But... ]

First: if you pivot back to blood sacrifice, I'm out. Second: If you breathe even a word of my past to anybody we meet, I'll find a way to make you regret it. And third... Make it worth my while.

[spotsalone]

[ Ah, Angelo. He lists his conditions and Elias smirks, amused. Laying all this out like it's some negotiation, as if any of those points were up for debate in the first place. It's going to be nice, he thinks, having Angelo along for the journey. No one back at camp would dare speak to him like this, not even Solomon. ]

You'll need to call me Hickey in front of the men.

[ He couldn't care less what Angelo calls him, but perhaps that will put his mind at ease over Elias keeping his secrets. He's been stuck with his crew for three years and none of them even know his name.

He holds out his hand to shake on it. Terms accepted. ]

[cleansheets]

[ Angelo, cigarette momentarily stored between his lips, reaches out to shake that offered hand. He wonders if it's the first time he has touched anybody here voluntarily. His memories of the last few weeks already feel hazy, lost to a fog of grief and absolute panic, but he thinks it well might be.

It feels strange. ]

Hah. Of course.

[ Even if it's a stupid name. (Unlike Full Frontal which is a perfectly dignified one.) ]

You'll have to find a way to explain my presence.

[spotsalone]

[ On some level, Elias does note the significance of the handshake. He hasn't cared enough to pay too close attention to Angelo's interactions with others, but of course he remembers their scuffle during the first carnival. The man is more tightly wound than even Irving—and now look at them. What a pair they make. ]

No, I don't think I will. Honesty works just as well.

[ There's literally no explanation that won't sound insane, so lying is more trouble than it's worth. ]

Though I do mean a measured dose of it. I don't intend to tell them of my newfound immortality. Someone would surely be tempted to test it.

[ He knows well enough that he's losing loyalty by the minute with some of his men. He's not stupid. ]

Likewise, I'm happy to back any story you'd like to tell.

[cleansheets]

[ Angelo gives a thin smile when Elias confirms hiding his immortality. Of course. He doesn't expect that that's a hand the other will ever play unless he absolutely has to - which gives Angelo an advantage over him that nobody else has. It's... reassuring.

But... no lies, huh? Well then. ]

Then give them the truth. Tell them I've descended from the heavens, from far behind the moon in the starry sky.

[ It's where Side 3 is, where his home colony is. Globe... He never wishes to see it again. And now he won't. ]

Maybe I'll come off as an actual angel, wouldn't that be fun? Until I open my mouth, anyway.

[ No angel would ever speak as Angelo does, which is why people have preferred him to be quiet for a lot of his life. ]