onceuponacomm | 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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[ THE BELDAM IS DEAD AND VOIDED FOREVER DON'T SAY SUCH CURSED THINGS!!!

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.

[You know, the Abyss is supposed to keep things forever too but look at all it spat out!! Jack is not naive enough to think the Beldam and Ferry might not just show up again in like 300 years or something. Which probably isn't an issue for most people but look.

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.

[ Sucks to be you, Jack.

... ]

[ Wait, there's an ant?

His response to the other's words are forgotten because his mind just goes blank. ]

[ He's swiping it off, and throwing salt at it looking like he saw a ghost... ]

R-right...uh, me too?

[Jack blinks in confusion, because now they are both covered in salt -- like, he gets the impulse, but given it's just the one ant it takes him long enough to even figure out what's being salted -- but once he does there's a burst of irrepressible laughter because. Well. That's fair, but also.]

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.]

Edited 2021-07-22 06:22 (UTC)

[ Well you know what, Jack's covered in salt and the ant is probably squished under his boot by now. He'll count it as a win even if he's somehow gotten the both of them drenched in it.

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. ]

[Well, he is somewhat lacking in salt compared to the rest of the catyard -- so maybe this is just compensating for that fact?? There's something to be said for honey BBQ or salt and vinegar and quite possibly flies (or moths) here.

(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...?

[ Jack has been fully initiated as a proper member of catyard now?? Though it's likely some people can and would object to that idea, even if they're all alive now.

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?

[Well, can't argue with re-salts?? One would argue that destroying giant insects together may be a form of bonding, but one may also argue that merely being dead together should have been a form of bonding; it's truly a mystery how bonds in such places work.

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?

[ Oh my god, Fyre, please.

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??

EPILOGUE

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cw: spiders for spider hell

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