( like constellations a million years away )

[halforc]

who: fjord, mollymauk, jester
what: returning home from the nameless isle

>>MOLLY.

[ Birdsong drifts along a cool breeze, the warmth of sunny rays bathing his cheeks to stir him to consciousness. The scent of flowers hits him immediately before he even opens his eyes, groggily blinking up at a fluttering green canopy overhead and a sky as blue as the seas of the Menagerie Coast. He startles into a sitting position and looks around, alarmed as he gasps to full wakefulness with a deep-set panic in his chest spurring him into action, and with a stumble Fjord gets to his feet to spin around on the spot where he takes in the sight around him with widening eyes.

The graves of the Blooming Grove surround him, peaceful as various flowers gently sway in the summer breeze. He spots the Bag of Holding nearby and snatches it up, briefly summoning the Star Razor to check he can, and then he hears her and his knees hit the grass as they buckle, a flood of affection and relief that is not his own pouring down his spine as the Wildmother welcomes him home with what feels like a mother's embrace; ferns grow with rapid speed, grasses lurch up, and the flowers nearby riotously bloom in new vines to encircle him, swirling up his bent legs so that petals and leaves brush his face, damp with happy tears.

Welcome home.

He spends a moment crying into a hand, laughing out the agony and fear of having spent over a year being held prisoner. Flowers wind through his armour, joyously greeting Melora's Paladin. It takes a few minutes to regain his bearings but when he does the minor meditative state of her reassurance melts away and he can breathe again, picking a handful of purple and red flowers with the absent-minded idea that he doesn't want to leave part of Melora behind. As he walks away from the bed of flowers and heads further into the grove, he raises his raw voice to call for his friends, swallowing down apprehension as memories mingle of battling Lucien and the other fight on the Isle, both timelines somehow existing inside his aching head. ]

Mighty Nein? Hello? Vox Machina? Aphrodite? Is anyone ... Is anyone home too?

>>JESTER.

[ The morning after he finds Molly, Fjord heads outside with a cup of someone-tea (not thinking about who he might be drinking) to take a stroll in the golden expanse of the beautiful grove. In a simple shirt and pants after discarding his armour, desperate to soak up the comfort of the Clays like a dried-out sponge tossed into the ocean at last, he wanders at his leisure and is mid-sip when he notices a slice of blue low down in the tree-line, doing a double-take. Stepping around the trees to get closer, he drops his cup with a shout and darts through the tussocks toward Jester, scooping her up into his arms (partially, she's in a willow's branches, shit) to prop her close as he checks out whether she's injured.

She's home, though. He's so relieved that he can barely keep from shaking her awake. ]

Jester! Jester, open your eyes!

Comments

[leetle]

[She's having this strangest dream. An island in the middle of nothing, a place without a name...a place where she loves her friends and they love her, where things are hard and scary but she's so surrounded by people who care about her that it's not so bad sometimes.

Then she's rocking, like she's on the sea. Are they sailing? Through the warm haze of sleep, she hears her name. A familiar voice, and warm arms encircling her. Slowly, Jester blinks her eyes open, Fjord's face swimming into view as they focus, and she grins up at him.]

....Hi, Fjord. Am... [Her gaze travels all around them, her brain takes in their surroundings.] Am I in a tree?

[halforc]

You are really in a tree. Can you sit up? Is your head okay? Are you going to barf?

[ All very valid questions, he thinks, helping support her. Her bag dangles nearby, adding to the impression Jester fell into her current position. Which is ... weird. ]

[leetle]

Um—I think I’m fine! [Jester wiggles her limbs experimentally, making sure she can feel everything. Her tail swings back and forth, too.]

Definitely not going to barf. Catch me! [She lets herself go boneless, sliding out of the tree’s branches and into Fjord’s arms, regardless of whether he’s ready for her.]

Fjord, I had the weirdest dream…and then I heart Artie laughing in my ear, right before you woke me up…

[halforc]

[ He catches her purely because his attention is fully on Jester and prepared for her to hop free, scooping her into his arms as he twirls her safely to the ground. His arms remain draped around her and he brushes leaves out of her hair. ]

Artagan, really? I wonder if he had anything to do with ...

[ The island. But, surely he couldn't have. ]

Hmm. [ He hitches up a smile for her, pulling her in for a hug. ] I'm glad you're home, I was getting worried. You're the third to make it back.

[leetle]

[Jester happily presses into Fjord’s embrace, but there’s something niggling at the back of her brain. Her dream...the words make it back strike a chord in her, and Jester’s eyes open wide, urgency in her tone now.]

Fjord...the island. Do...do you remember any of that? [The Augur, the nameless isle, all of the people she met there...Could it have been more than a dream?]

[halforc]

I do, [ he nods to the temple-home a glade away, ] so does Molly.

[ His hands run up and down her arms as he looks at her, wondering how to navigate two world's worth of memories and emotions. It was all very well making plans on the island, he had no idea he was going to live his life here too and have simultaneous experiences. It's jarring and confusing, but as he slides his hands into Jesters he doesn't want to lose anyone as a result of it all. ]

... I'm remembering more each day.

[leetle]

Molly?

[Her voice gets high and wobbly and she very nearly bursts into tears, leaning in to press her face into Fjord’s chest. Molly’s here; they had been so worried about what would happen to him. If he could even come back with them. She inhales deeply and lets it out, slow and shaky.]

It’s over. We’re safe...right? Has anyone else come back?

[halforc]

It's him, no one else. He's okay.

[ He bears the scar bisecting his body but otherwise Molly is coping. Better than Kingsley did, anyway. Molly is at least half as less an asshole as whatever part of his personality formed that coping mechanism of a jackass.

Fjord holds onto Jester, giving her a squeeze. ]

So far it's me, him, and now you. No one else has arrived yet but I assume we'll trickle back home the same way we were kidnapped in the first place. Caleb should show up any day now ... it's probably best to stay in the grove until we hear from someone arriving elsewhere, it's safe here.

You'll be the tiniest person in the Clays' house, they'll love you.

[leetle]

[She doesn’t pull away for a long moment, letting Fjord’s shirt soak up the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. She’s feeling a lot of emotions right now; bittersweet relief, worry, grief for the time they’d lost, grief for the time they had on that island. Things won’t be the same here, there’s no way they can be, but that’s something to unpack for another time. For now...

She pulls back and looks up at Fjord’s handsome face, sniffling, and gives him a smile.]

Is that where we are? The Blooming Grove? It’s so beautiful...

[halforc]

[ He lets her cry out all the emotions as best she can, brushing tears away with a thumb when she looks up. ]

Mmhm. I've been Communing with Melora, she's happy we're back and suggested ... well, hinted we should stay put a while.

[ Waiting to catch her eye, he softens his voice to coax out the truth. ]

What do you need to feel okay for now?

[leetle]

That's good. Let's do that. [She smiles, swallowing thickly, grateful for Fjord's presence and his willingness to just be with her for a minute.]

Um...a really tight hug. [A pause.] Maybe a snack.

[halforc]

I can provide both of those things.

[ He wraps her up in a hug and chins her hair, right between her horns where he can nuzzle in and inhale her scent. Flowers and sugar. Fjord sighs, running a hand up and down Jester's back, keeping her close to soak up her company as much as she is his. ]

[leetle]

[Jester shudders a little in Fjord's arms, melting against him in relief and sighing. His presence is a massive comfort to her, and she needs it right now as she processes everything, all the memories flooding back to her. She's worried, still, about Beau and Caleb and Caduceus and Essek, but for right now she can at least know that she's safe. And that she remembers.]

I can't believe it was all...real. I didn't think we'd be able to remember anything, from what Caleb said...

[halforc]

Perhaps the Augur controlled which memories we were allowed. If we returned here and intended to harm them or tear their control apart, then it makes sense they would wipe our memories on re-entry.

[ Leaning back to see her better, he offers her a tender, some what chagrined smile. ]

I remember all of Eiselcross, too.

[ I remember us, he says with the apologetic looks in his eyes. ]

[leetle]

[It's making Jester's head spin to try and reason it out. Part of her doesn't even want to think about it; thinking about it only makes her worry that they'll get sent back.

Luckily, what Fjord says next, the look on his face, send the thought out of her head, and a pang of feeling to lance through her chest.]

Oh! That's great! [A small pause, the tiniest shadow of doubt crossing her face, but the apology in Fjord's face soothes it away, and she hiccups out a laugh, hugging him tighter.] That's really great.

[halforc]

I don't know ... how you stood me.

[ He sinks forward again, soaking up the closeness of her hug. His chin rests on her head. ]

I was sorry before for hurting you, Jessie. Now I feel like I barely apologised for my behaviour at all. How did you not hate me?

[leetle]

[She frowns into Fjord's collar, his words sinking in and tugging at her heart strings. Reluctantly, she pulls back, reaching up to cup his jaw and letting her thumb soothe across his cheekbone.]

I could never hate you, Fjord. ...I was going through a lot of feelings, and everything was changing all the time. It still is, but it's much easier these days. But that's...

[She licks her lips, gathering the right words for a moment.]

I love you, Fjord. That means sticking with you through the hard spots, too, not just the fun and the sex and stuff.

[halforc]

Oh, Jes.

[ He sighs, mirroring the touch to her cheek. His fingers tangle in strands of loose blue hair and he tucks them behind her ear, smiling down at her. ]

I don't know what I did to deserve you.

[leetle]

[She smiles up at him, her nose crinkling up and her fangs poking out. Fjord looking at her always feels like having the sun shining on her face. She shakes her head a little.]

I don't know about deserve. But meeting you definitely saved my ass a zillion times over, so we're probably even!

[halforc]

Oh, well, that definitely feeds into it.

[ Joking with her, he snorts softly. A moment passes his his expression softens. ]

I still want to spend some time on the sea, now all the ... Lucien stuff is over. How do you feel about Ki- about Molly coming with us? What with everything being ... you know.

[leetle]

[Her hands drop, arms curling around Fjord's broad shoulders, swaying slightly in place. Jester blinks up at him, her head tilting to the side.]

Well, of course, I mean...I thought that was the plan, you know, me tagging along with you and Molly. But I want to see my Mama before we do anything else. Make sure she's okay. [She grins to herself.] See if her and my dad are madly in love again.

[halforc]

I think checking in with your mum is a good idea. Your mum and dad, if they're spending time alone, less so.

[ His lips twitch but he can't fully joke, looking down as he wonders how to go about expressing his feelings. ]

Jes, I need your help ... with Molly. I kept him together on the Isle whenever he broke down but it wasn't fun, it was intense. It made us closer, but now it feels like we already are again and I ... don't want to be the only person he can rely on. He's already shown his distress, before you arrived back today.

[leetle]

[Jester giggles at Fjord's joke, but sobers up quickly as he starts to tell her about Molly. Her arms hug around him tighter, corralling him in closer.]

Of course I'll help you. Molly's important to me, too, so whatever I can do for him, I will. After all, I am the cleric.

[halforc]

Thank you.

[ He finally draws back, sliding a hand into hers with a swing. ]

Come on, we have to get you something to eat for breakfast, the Clays make a mean mushroom toastie. You must be starving, landing in a tree like that. The fuck was Artagan thinking?

[leetle]

Ooh, yes please!

[She nods gratefully, turning a little so she can hop upward and nab the strap of her Haversack off the tree limb and shouldering it. As they start walking toward the house, she bumps her hip against his, grinning.]

...I think it was his way of welcoming me home.