come_sailaway | END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

Entry tags:

END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Siffleur doesn't like that there's no sky or ground or anything around him except other people. It's making all his hair stand on end and his tail has puffed up all over. There's bodies everywhere, and he can smell Nepeta's blood, unsure if she's alive or dead. He smells Valdis, Ava, Jack, all his friends, even a few enemies in here. His paws hurt so badly - he's been ignoring the burns best he can but without the ability to heal them away, he's becoming more and more sore and tired. There's blood soaking into his muzzle and his fur, and there's meat in his belly from where he bit and tore at Malin.

And then he smells her: Friday. His head jerks up. There's no mistaking her. She might not have the human form he's used to, but he knows that scent anywhere. It's her. He heaves himself up, stepping on people to avoid putting his paw on the nothing below him. When he spots Nepeta, he grabs her by the back of her prison uniform, dragging her over to where Friday is.

It's a relief to see that Friday is intact still, alive still. He slumps beside her, his back resting against part of her muddy body. His muzzle goes to Nepeta, nuzzling her a few times before licking her bullet wound, getting his green blood mixed with the red Malin left on his fur.

What happens next is beyond him. The others will make a wish, and he hopes it's a good one. All that matters is now is the rumbling purrs he makes to let Friday know how happy he is to see her again. They didn't deserve it, but she saved them all anyways, and he loves her for it. If there's anything after this, he'll be a better Mother - the kind she deserved from the start, the kind he knows he can be. After all, he's managed to be it for Nepeta.]

[the muddy figure stirs, raising herself into a semi-seated position.]

... Where... Did we...? Are we...?

[is all she manages to get out, before Jenny all but throws herself upon her, arms wrapped around her neck and face buried in her shoulder. Friday, somehow visibly startled, pauses a moment, then returns the embrace, though one hand remains pressed against Siffleur's side.

bahamanuel is horking again.]

We did. You did. Thank you.

[Whatever misgivings he has, he lets them go when Jenny seeks Friday out. That's the embrace of someone who does truly love and care for Friday - and beyond that, he doesn't need to know. All he wants is for her to be loved the way she deserves, and it's clear that Jenny does love her, and that Friday loves her too.

He gives them both space, purring steadily-

What's the bahamanuel doing? He raises his head in interest.]

[horking. like just really aggressively. absolutely disgusting noises that should not be coming from a creature composed entirely of hawaiian shirts.

until, it eventually spits out a metal pendant, which hits the ground with a wet clunk.]

[Oh. He was doing that.

Siffleur carefully gets up and pads over to the metal pendant, his paws healing with every step. He cranes his head down and picks up the chain with his teeth, doing his best to ignore whatever's inside the bahamanuel that makes it able to make something metal wet.

It's more important to carry it over to Friday and Jenny, offering it to her with a twitch of his whiskers. He keeps his teeth on the chain and despite the fact that he doesn't even really have the proper lips for this kind of thing, he still speaks the way a human with clenched teeth might.] Here yoo go.

... Oh! That's... But, I...

[at her side, Jenny offers in a whisper:] You don't have to if you don't want to. [a grin] You're beautiful no matter how you look. You know that.

[a short pause... and then, Friday extends her hand beneath his mouth.]

[He drops the pendant in her hand, then quickly turns his head and licks his fur a few times to get the taste off his tongue. Better.]

She's right. But it is good to have choices. I became much happier once I could choose if I was a man or a cat. I hope it is the same for you. You deserve to be happy wherever you go and whatever you do.

[He turns his head to Jenny, taking a second to settle his tail under his front paws.] I also wish for Friday to be able to leave this place if she wishes and to travel with you. Do you know how to make that happen?

Well. I am a goddess again, now. [she closes her eyes, grinning.] I can feel the call of my home in my blood. If I can find a ship worth sailing, I can find my way. Our way.

[she looks over at her brothers, who are busily either cleaning their fur or. regrowing eyes? they have managed at least two eyes between them, so far. which is not the right amount of eyes, but they are getting there.]

As long as they don--

[one of them silently plucks and holds up Tiny Steve.]

... What the fuck is that.

Good. We will get you a ship.

[Siffleur considers the tiny creature, gives the air a few sniffs and after a long moment of pondering who else is here and who is not, he answers-]

I think that is Steve. He usually isn't that small. The last I saw him, he was still in the cells.

[Another person ask questions about what happened but Siffleur is the most chronically incurious man alive so after considering for a brief moment that Steve must have had a strange adventure, Siffleur dismisses him from his mind. Mostly.]

I don't know if he has any people left here, so if he is on good term with your brothers, you might have another passenger travelling on your ship.

They do love strays...

[she nods] Easy enough. Friday taught me the trick to "going home" without losing this [taps temple] ages ago. If I can find a version of my own reality where I am currently not -- and one where this boy also isn't, if he has even ever been -- it should work out.

Sensible advice, as expected of Friday. [There's a warmth in his voice - pride as how smart and clever Friday has been when so much has been against her all this time.] Mother once explained the idea of other realities to me, and as many as there are us, there are a billion's billion more without us.

I do not know if I will ever have the opportunity to meet you all again once you leave, but I hope I can eventually. For now, you all deserve to go as far away as you can, and to enjoy being free of any demands.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

(an aside)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject