Same as It Ever Was (Part 32)
Into the portal they go.
Darkness greets them, until suddenly there is light. Before long, the group realizes they're standing... in the air, as though there is firmament in the heavens. The clouds are far below their feet, roiling and dark like a storm none of them have ever seen. In the horizon, a purple sky resides until it gives way to the dark of space.
There, against the shadow of a moon that has swallowed the sun, is a man with a black mask. Rune recognizes him immediately, save for the red eyes that burn through the slits of his mask. Aelsec Aomirren--mirror of Caeles Miranore--is cloaked in violet, holding a familiar figure in his hands.
Pothy. The white raven is fully grown, looking at the group with big blue eyes. "Simony!" he calls out first to the servitor of Navos in training. "Simony, please, don't come any closer, he'll--"
Aelsec's eyes flare red, and suddenly, Pothy stops speaking. "I'll do exactly as she says," he states, staring down both Runelei and Leirune. "It is the only way to the new story."
Stepping into that strange firmament is like something out of one of her mother's fantastical tales. The lands beyond the physical, mortal realm that only a few ever have the fortune or misfortune to see and experience. A few careful steps has the rogue taking in the sights around her, before something seems to pull her attention towards the moon.
There, standing against the strange light, is a man both achingly familiar, and foreign in his own right. Rune's breath hitches. Once, a long time ago, she had seen that mask, or one similar to it, hidden away in her father's chambers. A sign of a man he had once been, before retiring to the life of an archivist.
Yet, this man is not her father. So Rune's eyes turn to her red-haired double. "I chose the story I wanted to write, when I stood with my friends on the precipice." She pauses, wrapping her hand around her necklace and giving the other a knowing look. "I can't tell you what to do. You have to choose the path of fate."
Aryia crushes the intense feeling of vertigo, standing on seemingly nothing. But even she can't hold back a gasp and the stutter in her step with the visceral surroundings around and below. Her attention shoots skyward, face twisted into a mix of a scowl and bewilderment.
She shakes herself off, locking in to the moment.
This part of the story belongs to Rune, and perhaps through her Harkashan. Either way it is not his story. So he leaves her to speak here, as she and the others allowed him the benefit of speaking to Macitoc. Her choice seems to be to leave it to her own double, and he abides this choice by continuing to remain silent.
"Why does he desire a new story?" Harkashan rumbles, as the man finishes speaking. His wings instinctively spread out, as he 'floats' through the region before him. The magical firmament does not override his instincts when confronted with clouds and space in equal measures.
Yet, he will let Rune and Lei speak on this matter for now, touching his hand to the young woman's shoulder. He doesn't know as much about the past of Rune's father. He doesn't know what stories her mother may have told her about that man when it comes to what stands before them…
Telamon hovers above the rolling storm clouds, unfazed by the new tableau. It's no worse than some he's seen, in both the waking world and dreams. His eyes narrow fractionally at the sight of Pothy -- perhaps not -his- Pothy, but still Pothy -- in the grip of Aelsec. For a moment, his expression grows hard, before relaxing again.
"This is foolish. You speak of a new story; who are you to decide to end this one, or any other? Do you think you will be the sole writer of this new tale?" He pauses, considering. "I do not think conversing with you, Aelsec, will be fruitful. I think I should speak with -her-."
"Curious.", the Goblin says, as she takes in their current position, far above the clouds, seemingly in the heavens above. At the gasp from Aryia, Simony pffers a pat on the woman's arm.
Her expression visibly darkens when Pothy speaks the veiled threat of Aelsec. She frowns deeply.
"The wound is festering. It needs to be lanced. You speak of a new story. Only way that happens is if you change."
Runelei looks at Leirune, and there's something in her eyes like heartbreak. "What if I choose wrong, though?" she asks. Hesitation's in her voice. "I chose wrong before and I got killed for it."
"There was no helping it." Shankahar says softly. His eyes are also trained on Aelsec, whose red eyes burn impartially through Leirune and Runelei both even still. Unmoving. Unblinking. "Dragonmother set us on the right path. We will make our way through."
Pothy makes a discontented noise, but Aelsec clicks his tongue to silence the bird. "You do not want that, Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon." He knows Telamon's name. Maybe this is surprising. Maybe it isn't. "I may be working with her blessing, but it is not something I enjoy."
"Then what the hell are you doing?" Runelei demands. "Spill it out!"
Aelsec's eyes flash and burn, and there is a sound like the cracking of glass. "It is easier to show you," he says, before the skies above the cloudline shift.
There's images of bloodshed, pain, violence. People dying in the streets of Alexandria. Ripped apart by shadows and invisible things that warp the fabric of reality. "This is inevitable," Aelsec says softly. "For this timeline. For all timelines. Including your own, otherworlders. But, if I can buy you all some time..."
He looks at Leirune and Runelei both, and then there's images of golden threads in the skies being cut one by one by one by one, this time snipped apart by two women--one red, one blue--dancing through the skies. "I have failed many times as a father in many realities and many timelines. Me--a version of me--once said the truth of my soul in every lifetime: 'I love each person who shares this time with me, however short. But no matter how I cling to them, they always slip through my fingers.'"
Aelsec then smiles a little. "There are some facts that cannot change. But if we act quickly, act soon--all Leirune and Runelei need to do is to decide on a story together. Before _she_ returns."
Runelei blinks, and then she looks at Leirune. "... Can I see that necklace?" she asks.
Zeke, at times called this, at others by another name, watches silently as the vision plays out. He can not tell if the man speaks the truth or not, does not dare to trust his own perception of that. Lies are easy for the servant of a goddess of lies. Yet he does not assume that it is false. That there is *no* truth to it at all. Instead, even if it is true it changes nothing of what need be done here. He needs to trust Runelei, and Leirune.
Aryia's visage hardens as images flash by. her resting a hand on Simony's shoulder. She's had naught but a taste of reality warping beings doing such a thing before. "Elf to elf, you cannot grasp at threads. You have to weave them into a tapestry that you can look back on while weaving what's in your hands," the shadow elf signs, huffing silently. "Threads are just frayed promises until you do something with them." <Handspeech/Tongues>
The question from her counterpart has Rune looking to her mate, however briefly. "If the choice you made is anything like mine... then you didn't choose wrong. At least for me, I've always been the sort to choose with my heart before my head, even if it means throwing myself in the way of harm for those I care about." Then, back to Runelei, she shakes her head, "You know your path, just as I did."
Her ears twitch, listening to the voices of Harkashan, Telamon, Simony. Her lips press together before looking to the man who is so eerily like her own father. She might have denied the vision that he offers, if it weren't for the words that follow. The ones that echo ones she has heard before. Ones that lance into her heart in a way that leaves a dull ache for all the distance between herself and her own father.
"Perhaps there are things that are inevitable. Maybe, what you are showing cannot be stopped." Rune has been hearing murmurings of dark tidings such as this for a while now. "But I trust in my friends. In those who would fight back against it, no matter the cost." She doesn't fully trust this man, that much is clear. She doesn't know him.
Runelei does. So, when the other girl asks for the necklace, there is only a moment of hesitation before Rune slips it over her neck. It is held there for a moment, like the touchstone that it is of her mother. Then, she releases it, letting the chain dangle, offering it out to Runelei. "This isn't my story, and it never has been. Even if it may touch our world, this one is up to you." Her eyes look beyond Runelei to Nala and the others. "All of you."
"If they are Inevitable, tell us what A Bit Of Time will do. What is it, that will turn Inevitability into Evitibility." Harkashan rumbles, trying to hold back from showing the tension within his own body. Something he does a rather bad job at, tail lashing behind him.
Harkashan will leave Rune to handle the matter of Leirune. The stories of the past echoing in these words. A past that still follows them to this day, be it nightmares, memories, or the Blood. But this man is speaking of something Inevitable...
And if he knows one thing, it is that The One Who Desires Change would loathe to hear about this.
Simony grins up at Aryia, reaching up to pat at the hand on her shoulder. Nodding in agreement to the mute's signed sentiment, she speaks again.
"There is nothing that cannot be changed if minds are put to it. And even if we cannot change..." A small hand gestures at Aelsec, and the images of bloodshed in the clouds. "This outcome, what are we if we do not try? All that matters is that we do the right thing. That's all that will ever be remembered. That we were there when it mattered and gave it our all."
"It's not about what I want. It's about what's necessary." Telamon curls his lips up faintly. "You, of all people, should grasp that."
The vision of death and chaos on Alexandria's streets causes Telamon's expression to tighten. "A friend once told me what -might- be can be as important as what -is-. But I also know the danger of false visions."
He considers, before raising one hand to forestall further argument. "If you wish us to take the measure of your words, then I require a gesture of good faith. Release Apotheosis." His starry eyes are stern. "You are not the only one who has benefitted from divine approval."
GAME: Telamon rolls talky: aliased to diplomacy+5: (7)+36+5: 48 GAME: Telamon rolls talky: aliased to diplomacy+5: (14)+36+5: 55
Runelei takes the necklace, and she smiles brightly at Leirune. "It's _our_ story," she says. "You're gonna go back to your world. And you're going to tell that woman who loves stories the story we write together. And I think she's going to love it..."
Her words trail off as she looks at Aelsec as he is demanded to let go of Apotheosis. For a moment, it seems like he won't. Aelsec might break Runelei's heart like Caeles has broken Leirune's with his indifference many times.
Instead, he opens his hand, and Apotheosis flies. The white raven soars. Not to Nala, the controller, but to Simony, and when he lands on the servitor-in-making, he whispers something into Simony's ear in his boyish little voice. "Don't let him do it! Please don't let him--"
"You know I must." Aelsec lifts a hand up to his mask, touching it gently. "I intend on doing what's best..."
He peers at Leirune. "The one common factor in my daughters' lives is me. It is my fault." He echoes words yelled at him by Caeleil, her sister, in her own timeline, in a moment she, herself, did not witness. "I will rid Taara of her champion. I will do best by all of my daughters."
Runelei is horrified as Aelsec begins to peel the mask off of his face. "Don't--"
GAME: Telamon rolls sense motive: (12)+31: 43 GAME: Aryia rolls sense motive: (12)+31: 43 GAME: Zeke rolls Sense Motive: (19)+9: 28 GAME: Harkashan rolls Sense Motive+2: (18)+34+2: 54 GAME: Simony rolls sense motive: (11)+31: 42 GAME: Rune rolls sense motive+1: (9)+26+1: 36
Ipalnemohuani does all that he knows that he can do. He does not understand what is happening. Why it would upset Runelei. He does not understand the scent of despair in the room. Nor the reason that Aelsec smells of the strength of decision. So he prays to the Dragonfather for wisdom. For the wisdom to know how to help best.
Ipalnemohuani speaks then, his gaze distant with thought, his voice warm. "Hope." He says it loud. In this dark place there is no light, but he lifts Rai and she becomes a beacon of it. Rises like a captured star in the dark. "What we need, issss hope. Thissss one will give hope to all. Dragonfather, hear thisss one, hear your ssservant, and through thisss one, give the promisssse of hope."
"Coward." The sign left Aryia hands before she even finished her revelation as the mask peels off. "You can mend a broken tapestry. It's much harder to mend one that's got a big fuck off hole in it. What makes your daughters in every life important where they are now is your massive fuck ups. Dropping all responsibility and pulling your thread out of the weave instead of fixing the stitches and working with what you got. How about you work /with/ your daughters instead? Ta'aara may be a bitch but she sure as shit didn't pick a coward."
She glances to Zeke, nodding sharply and dipping a hand into her pocket, thumbing the crystal. "You're abandoning hope when it's right the fuck in front of you." <Handspeech/Tongues>
The Goblin eyes Pothy as he speaks, concern mirrored on her expression. She reaches up to gently stroke the bird's feathers. "Be at ease, Apotheosis. You, probably more than the rest of us, know how these things work. It is a tapestry. Many threads woven together by many hands. But it is also a river, flowing how it must flow. Do you change the course of a river with a stone? No. You merely cause a few ripples after the stone is swallowed."
"Do you lose an entire tapestry due to one simple hole? Of course not. The threads can be rewoven, the tapestry made whole again."
She eyes Aelsec then. "Removing yourself will not change anything. Your daughters, across many timelines, will still be here... fixing your fuckup. The controller herself is here, and she will fix what you break. We will bend reality four ways from Tariday to see what you break mended. The only way out for you is to change your course. You do not have to do what you intended."
Indeed, this is their story. Not his, not Telamon's, none of theirs. They're supporting them, influencing this tale. But eventually, they will depart and return to their own homes. To their own reality. One that, according to this man, is also being threatened.
And this man, so sorry for himself, believes that writing himself out can somehow undo some damage he's done.
"If it were not for you in another world, Rune would not be standing at my side -- would not be standing before you. Perhaps never even become an Adventurer. I see shortsightedness from a man who believes he knows more than the Gods."
GAME: Harkashan rolls Diplomacy: (3)+23: 26 GAME: Harkashan rolls diplomacy: (4)+23: 27
As the necklace changes hands, Rune nods her head, accepting the mantle she has been given as the writer. The one who survives to bring back stories. "I will." Her words are only a whisper.
Then, she turns to watch Pothy take flight, seemingly surprised at the actions of the dark-haired man who is her counterpart's father.
A momentarily look of confusion passes her features, perhaps because the words are not ones spoken to her, or from her, but they ring true regardless. Her eyes widen slightly. Just as Rune has said before, she is someone who leads less with her mind and more with her heart sometimes, and this is one of them.
"No the fuck you don't!" She shouts. "I was too young to say anything when my father betrayed mom. I was too ashamed to say anything when he locked me in my room to prevent me from being who I needed to be in that moment. I even stepped away from my sister who needed me because I thought that maybe, just maybe he would do right by her." Butterfly wings flare from her back, showing the connection to her Fae patron, "You don't get to fuck over all of us because you can't face the reality you're in. Grow a fucking pair and be the man you should have been before!"
Without a word, Telamon steps through a door that wasn't there a second ago, that closes behind him instantly to deposit him next to Aelsec. Firmly, his hand comes down on Aelsec's shoulder, just as he 'hears' Aryia's blistering response.
"Enough. ENOUGH. Your solution is to simply run away from the problem -again-. Stop running!" Telamon's eyes flash. "We have heard what you have to say. Now you will hear what we have to say."
"So many times in my life, I have heard people talk about 'the greater good' or 'doing best for someone' even though it involves -hurting- them. Look at your daughter, Aelsec." His voice drops softer. "By Ni'essa, -look at her-. Even here, even now, she does not want you to die. She loves you. Will you repay that with self-destruction?"
"You think you are beyond saving. That by this act, you will somehow preserve your daughter. But in doing this, you will wound her. And worse, wound this world, this story. If you truly wish to spite Taara... set aside this impulse. Help hold the world together." He takes a deep breath. "Ni'essa, and Tanithariairisixchel, guide my hand in this. Let all I do be righteous in your eyes."
GAME: Telamon casts Greater Teleport. Caster Level: 20 DC: 28
In the space of an instant, Tanith appears. Not her double, but the golden dragon herself. She appears beside Telamon as if called to his side at this moment and she flashes him a draconic grin. Something that's fierce and warm and she does what she's done before for another in this place.
"Havefaith!" She says, though to whom she speaks is unclear and then a huge gush of white flame washes out from her and rolls over the man whom everyone is yelling to not leave his daughters. Not to abandon them. Not to leave them without hope.
Aelsec's eyes were already wide with the words everyone has to offer him--odd for a man who is ordinarily so cool, calm, and collected--but then Tanith appears and bathes him in white flame. The sildanyari man lets out a scream that's... oddly confused. He blinks as his mask burns away, and he looks down at his hands. "It doesn't hurt," he says.
"It doesn't," Runelei says, tears streaming down her face, and then, Leirune's necklace still in hand, she rushes over to hug her father. "It does and it doesn't. All at once. You left and you left me alone, and..."
She sobs into his chest, and Aelsec closes his eyes as he holds his daughter close. There's a rumble in the lands.
Nala blinks. "Hey... Ummm..." she says. And then there's a piercing scream in the distance. A woman's voice.
"No! No! You can't do this to me! I can't fail... No matter! I have other champions who will come forth and do the Void's work!"
Apotheosis then nuzzles against Simony's cheek. "I'll see you again, later," he says gently. "Bye for now." Then he goes over to Nala's shoulder, landing there. "Repeat after me..."
He whispers something into Nala's ear. Nala nods, and her eyes begin to glow golden again.
"Days go by, Years go by, Water flows Between the spaces, Death goes Between the faces. The world turns. Years go by, Days go by, Years go by, The world turns--"
She closes her eyes. There's a ripple in what feels like the firmament of everything.
"SAME AS IT EVER WAS."
...
...
...
The world was nothing, dark, and then suddenly, all the adventurers are in front of Nala's house. Gone is the winter. It's summertime. There's no snow, and the grass looks well-cared for. Birds are singing. The sun is shining quite brightly and quite warmly, as though Daeus is smiling, and he might well be.
All of the alternates are gone. It's just Harkashan, Zeke, Simony, Telamon, Rune, and Aryia, outside a house on a warm summer day.
GAME: Zeke rolls Perception: (3)+9: 12 GAME: Aryia rolls perception: (8)+38: 46 GAME: Telamon rolls perception: (5)+35: 40 GAME: Rune rolls perception+1: (1)+43+1: 45 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Rune rolls perception+1: (6)+43+1: 50 GAME: Simony rolls perception: (8)+30: 38 GAME: Harkashan rolls Perception: (6)+33: 39
Zeke looks at the house, hearing the sounds of the good times that are coming from inside, and looks at his friends and allies. "They found hope." He says. "We ssshould return to our world, to ready ourssselvess for the darknessss that comesss. Assss we did here, we ssshall do there, and triumph." He has no need to interrupt their joyous celebration.
Yet another lurch, as space and time hiccup. But Taara's scream of outrage makes the sorcerer grin impudently. "Told you that I'd repay you for that intrusion, you bitch," he growls under his breath. He stretches, frowning. Touching his brow. No connection to Lana -- still. Well, at least the sun is shining.
He tilts his head at the house, hearing the merriment. "Should we intrude? I hate to bother them. This is their time, not ours."
Aryia blinks in surprise as Tanith herself, not this timeline's version, appears in the flesh. And... sets him on fire? She scratches her head, sighing quietly in relief as Runelei and her father embrace. That voice that pierces through...
Very few things unnerve the pugilist, but seeing as how the color drains from her face, it's clear that was one of the few. Though there isn't much time to process it as reality warps, and darkness.
And then- reality. "... f-ck," Aryia hisses, rubbing the side of her head. The reality wobbliness of everything is really making her brain do flips. She nods along with Zeke and Telamon, getting on the balls of her feet to peer through the corner of a window.
Simony's eyes widen too, with the arrival of Tanith, and then the sudden bathing of Aelsec in flames. Then Runelei and her father seem to reconcile, and the Goblin barely has time to give Pothy one last pat before everything vanishes.
And they're back where it all started. Almost.
"Uh..." Simony eyes the others, blinking. "Did we break the loop?" A few tears begin to roll down her cheeks.
"It has been... a joy to have known you all, to have grown with you. But here, I must take my leave. I've a vow to fulfill."
It is as if the scream itself carried them across the world. Except, it wasn't. It was Nala's words. Warping reality once more. Meaning she still holds that role... will she be able to truly surrender it? Surrender the power that gave her her boyfriend?
Harkashan lashes his tail, rubbing his head. Changing one's place in reality can be rather disconcerting, and Harkashan has developed the mildest of headaches. His grasp on reality fraying a little because of the constant shifts.
He then looks to Simony, smiling, and nodding his head to her, kneeling down before her in case she desires a hug from the Sith'makar.
"You will go on to do great and important things."
The reconciliation, however brief, between Runelei and her father, leaves an empty ache in Rune's chest. Something she doesn't have time to really process before they find themselves thrust into another time and place. That emptiness seems to linger in her, enough so that she leaves a hand over her chest even as her senses take in the present moment.
Her hand shifts to her neck, where the pendant had hung for so long, but it is no longer there. Rune looks towards Simony, her expression uncertain, "I don't know... but I think they have the tools now for it." Just as she once did.
The idea of saying goodbye to the pale goblin seems to only deepen that sadness that has seized Rune's heart. She takes a quick breath and nods, reluctantly. "Wherever you go, you'll have us with you. Lead well, Simony." There is obviously more she would like to say, but at that moment, Rune's heart is heavy and those words don't come.
Telamon blinks slowly, realizing, then, what has to happen next. Some prices must be paid, no matter how one might argue. And so he turns to Simony. He kneels down before her, the archmage humbling himself.
"You've been an inspiration, Simony. A champion of the Raven. But more than anything else..." He takes her hand in his. "You have been, and always shall be, my friend." With that, he folds his arms around her in a hug. As long as she lets him, as long as she needs it.
Tel looks at her with a smile, his eyes welling with tears. "Go. Teach the Raven compassion. And someday, we'll meet again."
Aryia turns back to the others, stopping on Simony. Her lips purse briefly before letting out a shaky sigh. Much has happened in the past while, and it's difficult to read her expression past the rapidly misting eyes. She kneels down, yanking Simony into a tight embrace once the gobber has a relinquished moment.
"You are enough," she whispers faintly into a long ear. "Your piece of thread is woven into us all. Thank you, for you."
She pulls away, sliding her shades back down and biting her cheek.
She does, indeed, desire a hug from the Sith'makar, and Rune, and the others. Which she gives in turn, sniffling noisily. "I have already done great and important things, Harksashan. At your side." Simony looks to each in turn, Rune, Zeke, Aryia and Telamon. "We did great things together."
Looking to Rune, she smiles through her tears. "And where ever you go, you'll have me. While I may be retiring to help a God find his way back into the light, I will be watching. Call upon me in your greatest need, and I will be there."
It's when she gets to Telamon that the tears really start. "No, no, it is you who has been the inspiration. I would not be here without any of you, and I count all of you as my dearest friends. And Telamon, you most of all. There in my worst moments and my best."
She pauses before Zeke, unsure of whether she can hug the Sith, but moves forward to do so if not prevented. "I have not known you as well as the others, Zeke, but in our time together, I have learned from you. I know of the horrible name your mother made for you, but she is wrong. You are Unbreakable. Your spirit, and zest for life, shine like the Sun that you follow. May the Sun always light your path, and may there be peace upon your nest."
Aryia, she has saved for last. Simony giggles into the hug, returning it in kind, and more tears flow. "It's all I ever wanted to be. And it's all you wanted you to be. In this, we are joined. Thank you, for everything." She steps back. "Thank you all."
When she peeks into the house, Aryia sees a very cheering sight indeed. Inside the house, people are cheering as Telanmo and Nala are wearing beautiful clothes, dancing together. They have matching marks on their hands and rings on their left hands. Shankahar and Macitoc are clapping to help their friends keep the beat, which then rolls across everyone else in attendance. At the end of the dance, Telanmo and Nala kiss, and everyone cheers again.
"Hold on a moment, I have to go check on the door. Keep going! It's not every day that my daughter is getting married!" That voice is very familiar, and Aryia also catches sight of Nadina, who is dressed somewhat modestly (for once), not distracting from her daughter's big day. She opens the front door and smiles at the group, stepping outside for a moment.
"Hey there." Nadina is very warm in her voice. "Good job, everyone. It's... Kind of a trip, really. To know we're going to live, at least for a while. But I know Nala and her friends will be ready to deal with what's coming, because you're prepared them all for it."
A very familiar black bird with blue eyes appears on Nadina's shoulder, popping in from seemingly nowhere. "Although Nala not being the controller anymore is worrying," he says. "But... in the end, I think that's for the best. Even if I don't think my brother's ready for the responsibility in this timeline." He stares at Telamon. "At least yours has no desire for anything beyond being a glutton."
"We all have our vices, Zenny," Nadina says, petting Zenith's throat feathers. "Now, you have business with the Temperance, yes?"
"That I do." Zenith flaps down from Nadina's shoulder and lands by Simony when the coast is clear and people have finished offering their condolences. He then shapeshifts into that vision of a young boy with onyx-black skin, his eyes as blue as the summer sky above them, and his hand stretches out to Simony for her to take.
"How do you remember?" he asks Simony, an echo of that vision that had started this all to begin with, but he's smiling this time. It seems he, too, has realized that a bit of compassion is a good thing. "You need to ask him that when we get there. Take my hand, Simony, and I'll take them home--and you will come with me, to do the work that needs to be done."
"Have faith," Nadina says with a wink and a smile before she turns to the doorway to rejoin the festivities.
When Simony takes Zenith's hand, Zenith's eyes glow, and powerful magic settles onto them...
It's as though there was a blink of the eye. The group finds themselves in front of the abandoned house that was once Cor'lana's house. But it's not snowing. It's the same season as when they'd left.
Just a heartbeat later, there's a sound of a gate spell opening, and just a heartbeat later, Cor'lana steps out. She stares at Telamon for all of a moment before she launches herself at him and peppers kisses all over his face.
Pothy follows through the portal, groaning. "He's only been gone for a week! Don't snog him in front of all of your friends!" he complains before settling on the ground nearby, looking at the group. "Nice to see all of you. Can we get some snacks on the way back? Please?"
Simony's gone. But some things are the same as it ever was.
-End