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onceuponacomm2021-07-17 09:08 pm
faentasy) wrote in onceuponacomm2021-07-17 09:08 pm
EPILOGUE
Epilogue
After all is said and done, in the wake of the void and sprinting through one final door.
You come out into light. Sunlight actually, a backyard in what appears to be a typical suburban town, if you're familiar with those. The sun shines cheerfully overheard, blissfully unaware of what everyone has went through. And this is everyone, as faces you haven't seen in weeks tumble out in one pile from a basement door.
Happy Saturday, everyone.
There's plenty of reunions and catching up to do, but you've utterly left Aira Niluc behind you after seven long weeks. And through the window of the house which looks like it has seen a better seen better days is one wall mural that reads "And they all lived Happily Ever After".
[[ Happy Golden End everyone, you've earned it! There's still the matter of sorting out where to next, but everyone is whole and alive and without button eyes. Using the knowledge from the object Phil had and the beldam's magic, they can also now world hop only one side effect...the portal that opens to everyone else's worlds here? Is made entirely of pixie dust. Everyone's powers will also restore fully over the course of the next few hours. ]]
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There's a hum as he works to direct the scythe over to the tree so it can lean out of the way and out of skewering range of either of them, if they're going to be sitting under it (and the tree, mostly the tree).
With that he just sprawls out on the grass and grins, a little more lively even if he looks like he's about to nap on the lawn.]
Oh, don't be so harsh. One cannot be completely right when one has just come back to life... or something like that. This is life, right?
[A bit mischievously -- but really, they can't all be dead after all of that.]
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Anyway, against his better judgment he will sit down nearby. Maybe he's gotten too used to chatting to the blond to just walk away. ]
...You know, if you joke like that with some of the others, they might not know any better with realizing that you're making such a terrible joke?
[ At least he knows better though. Enough to sigh. ]
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Things are oddly comfortable in this completely unfamiliar location with entirely familiar people -- maybe it's the sunlight, or just the total adrenaline crash, or the fact that none of them have to squash an incidental ant or spider for the first time in weeks? Whatever it is, it's a feeling that's persisted since the rift, like some bizarre web(!) linking the living and the dead and whatever else.
His grin gets a little cheekier; one of his eyes is closed because it's hard to keep them open but the other watches Huaisang with that same mischief.]
Oh, it is only half a joke. Did you know, we had to deal with the Beldam's strange button dolls to get out here? One truly cannot tell anymore, but... [button doll abomination life, he seems fine with it when he shouldn't be, though he also potentially has been one for his literal entire time here] In the end, it all just feels like the same absurd fairy tale, doesn't it?
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Anyway, if Jack keeps allowing his grins to become even more cheekier, he might have to try to pinch his nose saying he thought he saw a bug on it and wanted to get rid of it for him. Which is a terrible lie, but the fact his lie would be terrible is enough of an indication on its own. ]
You did? Was it hard to fight them?
[ He's dealt with enough creepy things so he's glad they didn't have to. ]
...In a way, yes. If it weren't for the fact my feet were aching, I think I'd question whether or not any of this was real seriously.
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Sometimes you gotta think with time shenanigans.
He's not bothering to think too hard right now, though! There are totally probably bugs out here... it's a lawn... with normal lawn fauna. Bet there's an ant crawling on both of them right now? Something something swallowing spiders in your sleep. Jack looks amused, though about something entirely different:]
Oh, we weren't fighting button dolls of any sort. That honor went to our lovely shopkeeper, who turned out to be not-so-lovely.
[He is probably the only person who can speak so lightly of Ferry at this point. Other than Hamelin, maybe.]
I've had stranger dreams, but the physical sensations are a little helpful? I'm impressed both sides are in one piece, come to think of it.
1/3
... ]
2/3
His response to the other's words are forgotten because his mind just goes blank. ]
3/3
R-right...uh, me too?
cw: spiders for spider hell
Aha-ha... I didn't even notice the little one there. It seems as though you've all had many trials with insects...
[Choice of wording! He's busy brushing salt out of his hair, though, so you'll just have to deal with it. Going to check the rest of himself for ants; but he doesn't seem quite as jumpy as Huaisang at least.]
Maybe it's better for us that we just had the one big one! And... all the spiders.
[The spiders were a pain in the derrière but Jack is still probably one of the ones with the least complaints... go figure.]
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It's fiiiiine. ]
Ugh. I never want to see a stupid bug again...
[ He knows that's impossible, tho. ]
Did you know that...whatever she's called brought out moths too? It was awful. I thought that was literally going to be the end.
[ No he didn't, he's just being dramatic again. ]
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(But actually I'm just making myself hungry at this point.)
Jack at least doesn't outright laugh again -- he manages to get it down to just a chuckle. Though he does look around a little for additional creepy crawlies while continuing to desalinate himself....]
I feel rather the same way about jello, to tell the truth! The Beldam and her cohort really had too much fondness for certain things...
[... He makes an appropriate Oohh noise of horror at the mention of moths, though his entire expression fails to convey the proper gravitas.]
I -- wonder if she's particularly fond of moths? Ferry turned out to be a terribly tyrannical moth, too...?
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When he spots the blond looking around for those crawlies, he feels even more justified in his freaking out. See, even Jack is looking out for those little bastards! ]
I really wonder what that was all about, anyway. But I guess even creatures like that can hyperfixate on food and ... other things.
[ It doesn't make the Beldam and Airy any more human to him, though. Also maybe he appreciates the noise for effect, though he doesn't say. ]
Is that why they were working together, you think?
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Jack doesn't seem to be giving it too much further thought; much too busy absentmindedly still fishing leaves and a little grass out of his hair now that the salt has reminded him to put himself a little more together.]
Well, I don't know what it was about at all! But I can tell you that those who died on the other side were greeted with bizarre jellos containing every possible food, including those hideous pies, every time they woke up again...
I'd say it's almost worse than simply looping time.
[He says all of these ridiculous things but doesn't particularly change his cheerful expression, so it's truly debatable who the human is here..... maybe it's just NHS at this point.]
In the end, we were much too busy running away and fighting by turns to verify anything about her or her plots. Why, I'm still not even sure Ferry was her real name?
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Huaisang just plops himself back down with the grace befitting a Sect Leader (not really) once he's determined there's no more of those insects hanging around. ]
...Hideous pies?
[ He still really doesn't know what a stargazer pie is. But if Jack considers them hideous they must sure be...a thing. ]
You guys never even asked her anything??