When Pablo dashes off, he's so excited that he doesn't notice himself stepping through the blue and purple portal in the doorway-- or that he's now in a bustling, strangely colored city.
He slams face-first into a mahogany door, having not expected to find another door so soon after passing through the first one. It only takes him a moment to recover, despite the strangeness of it all. He has an invitation, and he'd rather deep fry his feather pen then waste an opportunity like this.
After checking to make sure that this was, indeed, the right house, he strolls in through the front door. He forgets to close it behind him.
"HELLO?", Pablo calls out.
Something wooden clatters further in the house.
"HELLOOOO~! IS ANYBODY HOME?!?"
Pablo waits for a moment. Then, an older-looking skeleton peeks out from another room. He's well dressed, presentable. But his bugged-out eyes show the same level of stress as someone watching their phone teeter over a sewer drain.
Jabot blinks.
---
Shockingly, they find a lot to talk about.
Everything from witnessing someone flush a cake down a toilet to mundane workplace grievances seems to be fair game, and Jabot keeps the taller skeleton's cup full. Pablo freely spouts off about anything that comes to mind, Jabot follows along, and before they know it, three full hours have passed. Neither hear the front door shut.
Jabot eventually has to bring their meeting to an end. His armada of medication awaited him, and he found it in bad taste to worry decent company with his regiment, so he walked Pablo to the door.
"I thank you again for the company, Mr. Pab-- Papyrus." Jabot began, leaning on his cane. "It's been too long since I've had someone visit for company's sake, and not just for their taxes. It gets lonesome when the people you see view you as nothing but a cog in the machine--"
Jabot chuckled slightly, waving off his statement.
"Heavens, look at me prattle on. It's late. You need to get home."
He pulls out a blue and purple "fountain pen" and hands it to Pablo.
"This is not a pen." He explained. "It is a… well, I don't know what it is, but if you ever need to speak with me again, click the button three times--"
Pablo immediately clicked it four times out of curiosity. A blue and white portal spiderwebbed out next to Pablo before immediately retracting itself on the fourth click.
Jabot's smile froze.
"...and it will bring you back here. And yes, to close it, you press the button again (as you have just found)."
After they shook hands and said their goodbyes, Pablo reopened the portal and it brought him back to his office, where nobody had noticed his absence.
also That Door is not their way home. jaune has been wholly or partially mistaken about literally everything else; jaune goes “maybe the cat was right,” correcting his earlier misperception of the tree (<- also hysterical to lead with that. One Episode after the cat’s shenanigans)—and then promptly makes the same assumption that the cat does about the glowing golden doorway in the heart of the tree. that’s our way home.
the cat concludes that neo’s lack of attachments are why they keep getting bounced back. wbyj do not test this theory, because they’re not about to leave ruby behind. the blacksmith tells ruby that the tree is not what she thinks it is and doesn’t work the way she believes.
here’s a huge golden portal bracketed by images of our gods. we can’t see what’s on the other side. but it’s got to be remnant, right? where else could it lead?
does the ever after work that way?
you say ‘this is the pits’ and the ever after drops you into a pit. you cry, and the ever after cries with you. you walk through a doorway clearly marked with the images of brother dark and brother light… where do you think it takes you? how do you find your way home?
the cat is right, though. to get to remnant you need to follow the ties that bind you there. they’ve just become so desperate, so narrowly focused on this is it, this HAS to be it, that it hasn’t occurred to them to ask more questions. (they’ve made assumptions about how remnant works before, left questions unasked because it didn’t occur to them to wonder.)
and they’re getting bounced out because the tree cannot give them what they don’t actually want. that door is not where their answer lies.
if i try to hang out in the yard with the dogs, inevitably at some point, dizzy will go back inside and i will hear distant crying bc she is sad she is alone in the house
It is so easy to slip back into the harmful old self destructive habits when things go hard. When you feel this draw begin to happen, just remember to look first for the beautiful places, give yourself permission to be imperfect, but first look for the beautiful places, before you turn and impale yourself again upon the thorny veil of your suffering, of your illusion that covers the open door.
When the wind blows, and the door is open, do not close the door, even if it is cold, for the air is life. Throw yourself wide open and open every window too, and be grateful if it freezes you and be grateful if it is gentle too, but do not confuse the fan or the heater for the breath of the Earth, do not trade the precious intensity of life for the safe and settling of a movie that you'll never be.
When the bugs come in, because your screen is broken, remember that they are living too, gently guide them back into the true light of life outside, remember that they did not mean to follow false hope to disturb you, they are only searching too.
When the vampires suck your blood, remember that your blood is not your own in the personal sense, but it is the gift given through you to the hungry, and you are the one feeding as well as the one being fed upon.
When you wish to run away, you may say it, but wait before the threshold a moment, and as you say goodbye, remember that it is the same as your hello, as you worry for the future and struggle with your past, remember that all you seek and flee from will follow you wherever you go, yet always slip from your grasp. As you strive to find yourself, and as you strive to escape your soul, know that these are only the clockwise and counterclockwise turning of the handle of the well. You are not only the stone, you are not only the water, you are not only the underground rivers that feed the hold, yet somewhere in between, you are the nourishing and the nourished, their union, and the space between.
Do you have a discord server or are you thinking to get one? 👉👈/gen
While I didn't actually think of this before... It might just (read: will) happen. The gremlin wishes to inflict the brainrot on other gremlins in close proximity, so it shall be!
(I am taking name recommendations because right now it's just THE CULT and it's not...doing it. So throw them at me.)