PC: Scaramouche

[sootprints]

Comments

[nascens]

[THIS CANON IS WILDING EVERY TIME I GET A GLIMPSE AT WHATEVER THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN THERE

Well. It's a lot happening and with zero context except for the vagueries that Kate's talked about her own world with, he's just like ????? JUST ??????? also there's something so spooky about being forced to live through someone else's experiences emotions and all since that is not a thing that happened in Hell and he's just like WOAH that's gnarly and hateful. It takes him a second to shake free of the lingering remnants of the memory, but all he says at first is just:]

...You're quite clever.

[sootprints]

Looking back, I realize it was all very reckless...

[ she really just put on a blanket, jumped into monster jail, sat around hiding in plain sight for days, and somehow didn't get caught or killed. ]

[nascens]

[SHE REALLY DID ALL THAT.]

You don't get anything done by being overly-cautious, and you figured things out quickly enough.

[It really is a miracle she didn't get her ass grassed about it though my god.]

The place that's like a jail, I assume?

[sootprints]

... Yes.

Most people are tricked into going there. But I went there in search of answers.

[nascens]

To find those who are like you? Or those who might have answers regarding that?

[Just based on the little snippets he picked up in the memory.]

[sootprints]

The latter. I didn't know there was anyone else like me until I was inside.

[nascens]

And then they turned out to be like that...

[INSANE.]

[sootprints]

After that, I started thinking that maybe all the other shadows were like that. That they were all going to be my enemies.

[nascens]

Was that not the case?

[sootprints]

No... just the adults are like that. The others in the children's wing are... not so different from human children, I think.

[nascens]

[A little, thoughtful hum.]

I suppose it makes sense, given the way they were.

[Mimicking creatures... Honestly relatable. That's how he learned to be like a human, too.]

[sootprints]

... Right. If anything, they just seem... innocent. By nature, shadows are curious and they're inclined to feel a bond towards the creature they mimicked.

But they're raised to prioritize the rules of the house and the will of the Great Grandfather above all else. Growing up like that, with no other options... they become twisted.

[nascens]

A natural progression. I suppose children of all manners are like that.

[They are fine until their environment makes them not.]

Who is this "great grandfather"?

[sootprints]

The lord of the Shadows House, and the shadow who rules over all other shadows. I've never met him, though.

[nascens]

Hm. [A beat as he thinks, and then:] You were wondering about returning to being human. You weren't always like this, then?

[sootprints]

... That's right.

Unlike the other shadows, I was born human. What I am now... it was a sudden change, about a year ago.

[nascens]

Have you figured out anything about why that's happened yet?

[sootprints]

... Something happened when I was still in the womb. I'm not sure exactly what, but it must be what made me this way.

Perhaps the change was a "natural" development, for one whose existence is unnatural to begin with...

[nascens]

[There's a thoughtful little hum at that. For all the issues he has with his origins, it is still preferable, on a whole, to just not knowing a damn thing.]

There are still answers waiting out there for you to find, then, I'm sure. Hard to say whether they'd be answers you would be happy to receive, even so.

[sootprints]

... Perhaps. I feel a little more prepared for the answer now, whatever it may be.

It was harder when I was alone.

[ when she didn't think anyone would see her as anything other than a monster.

... also, gimme a return mem if you got 'em! ]

[nascens]

[There's a little furrow at his brow, but as he opens his mouth to say some probably useless nonsense, she gets a memory in return.]

[sootprints]

...

It's an interesting story. Hearts, born from ashes...

[nascens]

[He's quiet for a second, but eventually just casts Kate a curious look.]

What do you think of it?

[sootprints]

I think it can happen. Don't you?

[nascens]

I don't. I've seen what the fire leaves behind, and it's nothing but ash.