( 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

[halforc]

[ Hearing his name leads him to a patch of the grove shadier than where he woke up, moss clinging to the trees like blankets and sinking under his boots. He spies a very familiar figure and his breath catches, taking a hurried step only to catch his enthusiasm and halt; he notices the scar on that face, uncertainty clawing up his throat as he asks, begs, so very tired, ]

... Molly?

[ That doesn't look like K-? Kingsley, that was his name. But, who fucking knows. ]

[devilstongue]

[ Molly looks at him and his expression flits between relief, happiness and anguish in one. Walking forward like he's wandering to his own execution, he stops in front of the half-orc. The tiefling carefully reaches up a hand with faded arrows on the fingers, needing to touch that familiar face. He pauses, though, uncertain. ]

I'm... I'm so sorry. For him.

[ Lucien. Hell, even that asshole Kingsley. ]

I... do you remember? The island? Or was that just my mind trying to keep together?

[halforc]

[ It's so unnerving to watch the way Molly walks over, ensnared in the same emotional exhaustion but lucid in the way Fjord recognises, not using the same voice for a different man. Not Lucien. Not Kingsley.

Before that hand can drop Fjord cups it, bringing Molly's palm to his lips for a kiss. Soft and patient as he looks at him for signs of the person he remembers building a house and home with; a family, ramshackle from all over Exandria. With no small amount of tightness in his own voice, he lets out a shaky sigh to try and keep it together in front of Molly who looks (unsurprisingly, if Fjord's new memories of the flesh city are accurate) completely wrecked on the inside and out. Literally, judging by that scar. ]

I remember, love. I remember.

[devilstongue]

[ Those red eyes widen when Fjord takes his hand like that, the brush of those lips drawing a smile as the half-orc reassures him it was real. He knows. He remembers and they're home. They're finally home.

Finally allowed to start all those dreams they had talked about.

Letting go of that breath he was holding, Molly throws himself into Fjord's arms and kisses him with a mix of joy and desperation. ]

[halforc]

[ Molly is caught and kissed back with an elation born of relief, unending gratefulness to be back in the Wildmother's domain. As if sensing her Paladin's shaky nerves, the red and purple flowers blossom around their feet and lay against Molly's ankles. Fjord leans back to trace the new scar, frowning a touch as he recalls the trauma Lucien inflicted on himself and how Kingsley barked his way out from that mess, a broken mirror of what he should have been.

Molly is alright. Neither he or Fjord are crazy, either. ]

I told you we'd get home.

[ The flowers he still holds are tucked behind a horn, a sentimental anchor to pin Molly in place just as he is. ]

[devilstongue]

[ I told you we'd get home.

That draws a laugh out of Molly, on the slight side of hysterical after all the emotions and mental rollercoasters. They're here, though. In some beautiful garden with flowers that bloom at their feet.

He leans against the touch, smiling as he's given a little bouquet by his horn... and if he's crying, he doesn't even care. ]

You keep your promises, Captain Tealeaf.

[halforc]

[ Laughing with him, Fjord rests their foreheads together and slides a hand up to cup Molly's cheek purely for the joy of feeling his cheek and tears beneath a brushing thumb. Captain Tealeaf. So many memories, some new and others ... no, all of them are new. His head feels like a melon squeezed too hard but the joy overrides the migraine. ]

This is where Caduceus lives, it's his family home. We're safe here.

[ It's important to softly underline that to begin with, it affords Molly some certainty in an unfamiliar setting. Fjord bumps a nose with his own. ]

Are you okay?

[devilstongue]

I like it. It's... calm.

[ He needs that right now. Stillness, to let his mind catch up. There's so much and it's almost all trauma. Only their happiness on the Nameless Island shines through that. ]

I'm definitely not.

[ Molly then admits, before sighing and placing a kiss against the half-orc's broad nose ridge. ]

...but I will be.

[halforc]

You'll be alright.

[ He wraps an arm around Molly's side and nods back the way he came to the temple-home a glade or two down. ]

Let's get you something to eat, then you can rest. I'll stay with you.

[devilstongue]

[ He leans against Fjord at the touch, drawn to him like a flower to the sun. He breathes a sigh, trying to hold himself together, and then nods. ]

Food sounds good. I missed a decent Exandrian meal.

[ Not that he isn't going to miss things like iced coffee and bubbly drinks, but some rye bread and ale sounds amazing. ]

I can't believe we're back... and still remember.

[halforc]

I think I was fighting a giant, or ... something. Then we were talking in a group and I can't remember anything else.

[ He steers them through the wood, hand rubbing Molly's side. Fjord frowns a little, focusing more on his island memories. ]

We made a home ...

[devilstongue]

Something about a god? And zombies... or was that the floating city?

[ Molly rubs his temples with a groan. ] This is like having a hangover without the fun the day before. [ He mutters, but then his face blooms into a smile again. ]

A home... yeah. All of us, together. Like a family.

[halforc]

We can go through what we remember at the house, the Clays will let us stay for a while.

[ It feels odd to dare to kiss Molly on the temple as they walk, most of Fjord's Exandrian memories given over to being with Jester. It doesn't feel like cheating, though. Not when they spoke about these things on the island. ]

Let's see if anyone else arrives this week. I wonder if they'll all trickle back in here the way they did on the island.

[devilstongue]

Clay has a really pretty home. Suits him.

[ Graves and flowers.

He smiles at the kiss on his temple, leaning to his lover. Boyfriend. Fiancé. Shit, that's a lot. They definitely have a lot to talk about now that they're back. ]

I hope everyone remembers, just like we do.

[halforc]

If we do that's a good sign they will.

[ His hand slides down to take Molly's and guide him more easily through the graves, the birdsong and sunshine overhead making it easy to set aside concerns and just bask in the relief of having Molly back instead of someone else from his head. ]

Do you remember all the things Lucien did?

[devilstongue]

[ It's all so beautiful and calm, and Molly's feeling more at ease as they head towards the pretty and cozy-looking stone house. His hand fits so well in Fjord's.

Then the half-orc asks about that and Molly lets out a somewhat strangled sound. ]

...y-yeah. All of it.

[ People he killed. The Eyes. Fighting his friends. Killing Caleb and Nott.

He pulls his hand away to look at the snake there, but the red eye is gone. ]

I was so deep in there, locked away and struggling.

[halforc]

[ A sympathetic look has Fjord slowing his pace to match Molly's, gaze drawn to the snake with an empty space on its head. ]

He was scared of you, that was why he kept you locked up. Scared of how strong you are.

[devilstongue]

An insignificant speck of him. A forgettable part.

[ Molly sighs and buries his face in Fjord's chest. ]

Asshole.

[halforc]

[ It's strange to feel apprehensive and protective in the same breath but he pushes through it, petting the fluff of Molly's curly hair and laying a hand in the small of his back. He shushes him with a slow sway, giving him a moment's reprieve from either world. ]

You're not that forgettable, evidently. You still have me.

[ What happened to Molly's back when the Wildmother healed Lucien? Did the ... tentacles heal over? He'll have to check later. ]

[devilstongue]

[ It's still long, that hair, courtesy of Lucien. Curly, bouncy and soft under Fjord's hand - it's soothing to the frazzled tiefling, and so is the gentle sway. He feels so damn drained and he's tired of not being himself. Be it the island fucking with them or some god-wannabe locking him into his consciousness.

He just wants to be a happy, carefree and snarky bastard again.

There's a small smile as Fjord reassures him, though, and he nods softly. ]

That's all I hoped for. That we still remember us.

[halforc]

Do you need anything? Any healing?

[ It bears asking; Molly has gone through more than any of them in any scenario. Fjord checks him over with a pat to a cheek, giving him a crooked smile. ]

A strong drink?

[devilstongue]

A strong drink sounds amazing.

[ He's not physically injured, thankfully. Just scars that he has to mentally deal with later. One horror at the time... and maybe he'll just look even more interesting and sexy with the one that splits him right from the top of the sternum and up his face. ]

I want to eat good food and drink too much and just celebrate that we're home and we won. Over that place, over Lucien, over everything. Now we can see the world... sail off to the sea. Get a home we can all live in together, like the Hauses.

[halforc]

We have the Xhorhaus but I don't know how to get us there without Caleb, unless you fancy a long ride.

[ Steering them around the temple, he hums thoughtfully. ]

I don't really want to leave the grove without the others, if this is where we're returning to.

[devilstongue]

Are you still welcome there, you think?

[ Molly isn't sure how the Essek thing was going down and whatever the politics there was about. It wasn't his strength, exactly.

When they come to the front of the temple, the tiefling grins happily at the cute little family home. ]

Me neither. If the Clays will have us... I think I need some time to collect myself as well.

[halforc]

We can disguise Essek, I'm sure Caleb has a trick up his sleeve, and that guy can't go on the run forever. Well, literally he could, but ... he shouldn't have to.

[ Strolling with Molly, he picks a flower outside the temple to add to the couple behind curly horns and also offers a reassuring smile. ]

Take as much time as you need, now that we have it. You know I'm here with you, whatever happens.

[ Squeezing a lavender hand for emphasis. ]