ℬ𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓁𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒 ℳ𝑜𝒹𝓈 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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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! ]
no subject
Indeed it is.
[ But the mention of being back... it gives him some pause, a little hitch in his demeanor. ]
I must admit that even though I was gone for a comparatively short amount of time... 'tis strange to be back on the side of the living. Though that may be due to my new... condition, as it were.
no subject
Blade can't help but notice it...and, immediately, a surge of possible thoughts for it spring forth before he can contain them.
His mind first suggests it may be because of that wretched dragon's act - and it still stirs anger within him, whenever he thinks about it. Or, is it that there has something been botched in the return? ...He doesn't really think it impossible. ]
...Your new condition?
What do you mean? What changed - besides you returning to your body?
no subject
[ That's... the very gist of it, but he thinks Blade can piece all of the things G'raha has told him together to create a cohesive story there. ]
My necklace now... 'tis not unlike that selfsame tower. I am bound to it, and as such, will live for as long as this necklace persists.
[ There's a distance in his tone as he speaks of it, like he's trying to remove himself from the reality of the situation, at least for time being. ]
'Twas the condition for returning.
no subject
[ Perhaps a feat, given Blade's shoddy memory, or maybe because in the background he may have been hurrying to take notes desperately whenever someone told him of things. Not that it's something he advertised, especially with the changes rendering such efforts at times rather moot, but Blade liked not to leave anything to chance...to let it fade with wisps of memory.
Regardless, he detects the distance in that tone. It makes him quiet all the same. G'raha is alive, but at consequence. Not a simple one - it seems rather than being only a long-lived species, he has grasped permanence. ]
...It binds you. Though you accepted it.
But, you are still coming to terms with it? Aren't you?
[ If it is like that for the dead, then all of them will be grappling with it, perhaps. ]
no subject
Admittedly, yes. I am. The contract had been signed by the time I arrived in that other garden.
[ He had no say in it and... that makes it easier to grapple with, in all honesty. He didn't choose this for himself like he did back on the First. ]
I likely will be weighing my feelings for a long time to come, and that is without taking in the looks on the faces of my allies when I must eventually share this news with them.
[ Urianger's reaction hurt deeply, twisting his heart and settling so deep in his stomach that it ached.
How will the Warrior of Light take it, having made all that effort to bring his soul back from the First? Thancred? Y'Shtola? Krile? Estinien? The twins? ]
no subject
But, it makes sense when G'raha tells it like that - and really, Blade isn't going to hold it against the rest of the dead for having already settled things by the time G'raha arrived with Sariel. It just is what it is.
Though, as he ponders this, he considers G'raha's comment on his friends. Or allies, as it is. ]
...I don't know them. So I can't say I know how they'd react.
[ Beat. ]
If they have supported you before, they should here too. And even if they don't, you have others who will.
[ Old friends, new friends, and... ]
And...I know, a certain someone.
no subject
You are correct. They will do their utmost to support me.
[ Which is why it hurts, somewhat. They'll do anything they can to ensure his happiness and support him... but that comes at the cost of seeing them pass before him too.
But that other comment makes his smile soften. ]
There is that individual, yes. 'Tis good to know I will not be on my own.
[ He's being coy, but the relief he feels at knowing that he'll have someone to stay by his side during the long path that's now appeared before him is immense. ]
no subject
Good. I expected you would realize.
[ But, reminders never hinder. ]
...Being immortal will take getting used to. But, it is what it is.
[ Is all he can say. Blade knows a part of him does struggle with it still, even if it's gotten easier. Four weeks isn't going to erase that in entirety. And seeing people he knows going to have that fate as well...he knows what to expect.
Though, as long as G'raha turns towards people in his time of need, that will be enough, from his perspective. He's a different mind, even if he can struggle, just like anyone else. ]
no subject
[ "It is what it is..." truly the most apt way to put it. There's not a whole lot he can do about it right now, and if he were to reverse it somehow in some way, that would open a whole other can of worms (a divorce arc).
But it's nothing new to him, nothing he hasn't experienced before, and this time he isn't alone in it like he was back then.
That, at least, counts for something. Or so he hopes. ]
My fear is that I will face high levels of exhaustion again. 'Tis what occurred last time. I felt the tiredness settle deep in my bones and into my very soul. It wasn't until I was brought back into this younger body of mine and in tandem with my younger soul that I was able to allow some of that weariness to fade away.
no subject
[ Blade finds it understandable - living comes with its perils, and sometimes some of those reside in one's own mind, even in consideration with the circumstances. Weariness is bound to be expected; perhaps inevitable enough that Blade doesn't bother to say things other people might.
"Don't worry, it won't ever happen again!"
"Just keep moving forward!"
Rather, to be conscious of those who will still be with him. ]
Each day that passes will drain on the soul. Even longer, for those who don't change with the seasons.
If it happens, I won't blame you. I'll have my own reminders. I know what it's like having unconditional immortality.
[ Or whatever happens as he walks down the path of Finality. Technically since it's based on the others holding / keeping up their items, it isn't exactly unconditional for them, but...Blade considers it the same. ]
...Maybe take the time to pick up new hobbies. [ Said plainly, as a matter of fact: ] I was forced into it.
[ Silver Wolf roped him into playing video games. Not that he does it unless he's being dragged into it, but maybe it counts. ]
no subject
And my own is conditional.
[ He at least has that, something with which Blade does not.
The thought of Blade getting forced into hobbies is amusing, though, and he smiles. ]
Siffrin promised I wouldn't be bored. I fully expect that he will force me into a hobby or two as well.
no subject
...Really, though, the Stellaron Hunters ended up being good for him in certain ways even if the beginning he hadn't foreseen getting along in some ways with them.
Much like the same as to how he met the people here, and all. ]
...Since he's creative, it'd be within expectations.
[ A double meaning that ultimately means he agrees on both accounts - that he doubts Siffrin would allow G'raha to be bored, and seems the type to rope him into stuff... ]
no subject
It certainly would be. Do you think I should try my hand at carving?
[ At least thoughts of what he can do with his time make him feel less daunted by it all, and it's evident in the ease of his smile that that's the case. ]
no subject
Don't think it will hurt.
Are there some things you're thinking of making?
[ Blade also imagines even if there isn't, the learning process can probably facilitate ideas, and all that. It's something he has kind of learned himself, actually (or re-learned because he was a craftsman in his past life, so...it probably was a skill he forgot he had.) ]
no subject
[ And he kind of misses it too, so he would like to have a little keepsake of that. ]
no subject
[ Very inelegant description, but Blade remembers seeing the strange creature briefly hanging around G'raha at some point in that week since they probably crossed paths, and all that. Much like how his wolf was hanging around him, but definitely not of original magical revelance. ]
A supernatural companion creature from your world, unless it does other things, normally. [ ... ] Could be good to have as a reminder.
[ As a good memory? ]
no subject
'Tis used as a conduit for summoning through arcane magicks.
[ But he's not going to explain the mechanisms of the Summoner job or how it relates to the Allagans (his favorite subject) because they'll be here forever. ]
That is my thought as well, however. A reminder of my time here... of some of the less irksome moments.
no subject
But he does nod at the simple explanation - that gets to the point. ]
It'd also be simpler to carve than some other animals...or items.
[ Blade thinks the learning curve would be far less harsher to deal with, as a bonus. He had the great idea of aiming for a flower first, originally, when he began his lessons. ]
no subject
[ What have you been carving, Blade? He'd very much like to know (and would assume it was for Dan Heng). ]
no subject
This is the second time. But, I wanted it to be permanent.
[ He says with a sense of triumph in that tone, somewheres. Also, G'raha's assumptions are correct! ]
It's a dragon. For Dan Heng. No matter how far apart we are, he'll always have it. A gift and a reminder.
[ Sure, there's whatever murkey history there is with the bracer, but this one is different; and he remembers how impressed he looked before... ]
no subject
You are rather sentimental when it comes down to it. [ But this is a good thing. ] I am certain he will gaze upon it and think of you often.
no subject
[ Blade knows he's soft by now but can't admit it completely, while hoping Dan Heng will cherish it a second time - even if the secondary rendition isn't the same as the first. There will be details changed. ]
...I'm thinking that's the case. I've gotten better.
I remember...when I presented it the first time, and his reaction - it was memorable.
[ ...before he gets too mushy here, he adds swiftly: ]
I recommend making or gifting something to your partner at some point. It's always worth it.
no subject
Memorable, you say.
[ Again, there's amusement underlying his words. ]
I would indeed like to craft something for him, 'tis only a matter of what. Admittedly, I am tempted by those model sailboats within glass bottles. A touch trite, perhaps, but I do know sailing holds meaning.
no subject
...Yes.
[ He recalls Dan Heng's reaction at the time, and it's been seared into his shoddy memory. Blade wonders if it's revenge for when he gave congratulations and his own amusement was evident... ]
If it holds meaning, to the both of you - or even one - it tends to be enough. Even if you might have to explain it. Or, maybe words won't be necessary. All he needs to do is look upon what you've done.
no subject
Dan Heng's reaction must have been sweet. ]
It does hold meaning for them, of that I am certain, and you know well that I would have no trouble explaining it should I need to.
[ He'll gladly explain every little detail and reasoning behind all of his choices for that gift's design. ]
I should have time to perfect the technique between bouts of research.
[ It's something G'raha will toil away at for long hours, but that's simply how he is. ]
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