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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[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.

[distain]

I don't know.

[Andrew crosses her arms. She might as well be honest about it. Being sick had been an essential catalyst in her newfound bravery, and it had been the crux of her plan back home. One of these things has dissolved, but the other remains.]

I felt I didn't have to cards to negotiate anything else for myself. [All her previous attempts had not yielded as Andrew had hoped.] And...this, too, could prove useful. And yet... this is beyond anything I ever could have imagined for myself.

[Though she knows others in the same circumstances, the future feels particularly lonely.]

[simulacres]

Well, I'm sure you'll figure something to do with it. Maybe whoever it is that you would sacrifice any of us for would be happy to see you not keel over in a week.

[ though ayaka understands the confusion to some degree. it's as if someone had turned all your life plans upside down. she can't imagine that it isn't anything but beyond andrew's wildest dreams. ]

[distain]

[Andrew smirks, easy and playful.] You sound jealous.

[Note to chat: Do NOT read that and take it the wrong way.]

In a way, my illness was my means for making her happy, as well as my act of rebellion against my father. [There's...a lot to unpack there, and maybe it's too late for them to ever talk about these things. Or maybe it will come out gradually, the longer they find they actually have. Maybe they'll never meet again; maybe it will surprise them.]

Now that I have this life ahead of me, I have to get creative. I guess I have to live.

[simulacres]

Of her? Hardly. Send her my condolences.

[ said dryly, though without any bite behind it. ]

Like I said: you'll figure it out. You were creative before, I'm sure you'll figure it out again. Though it really is weird, having to figure out how to live.

[ she's still not sure how to do it or what for...all she has in her hands is the mere desire to live. ayaka figures that she'll take it step by step. ]

[distain]

[That gets another chuckle. Ayaka like this really is her favorite.] She'd probably thank you for them. I'm sure she's tired of my childish antics, too.

[Herta surely finds her a troublesome burden now and then, though at least now it's because of her machinations and secrecy and not merely because she is a pernicious and demanding mistress to care for.

She hasn't thought about the aftermath enough. What she'll think of all this... it's hard enough for Andrew to believe, and she's here.

She crosses her arms.] That goes for both of us now, hm? I doubt you're as ready to roll over as you were.