Masa con Papas: - A Punch Clock Animal Story

[A_Mi_Manera]

Charon: Well first thing's first, can you reason with them?

Geezer: Uh...

Arabis: Not in a way that'd end in your favor. I assure you, they prefer to get the better bargain from anything and leave no loose ends once they're done with their side of the deal. 

Geezer: Yeah uh... what he said probably. They really like to screw you over one way or another. They sometimes got uh... vessels. Like, they kill someone and leave a replacement version that kind of just pretends it was there the whole time. And you remember things like that version was always there.

Charon: Spooky, hate that.

Geezer: Yeah. They need to make a pretty big rift to warp anywhere directly and that can take a bit of time and energy. Not super accurate either maybe?

Arabis: They can ballpark guess where they need to warp but can't jump to the exact spot and moment without he vessel in place.

Geezer: Yep. The puppet is also a checkpoint they can jump to but there's no way to detect that.

Charon: Huh... so is the original person just.. outright gone?

Geezer: Yeah? Maybe? Vessel takes a bit to fully replace them in your head though.

Arabis: Mm, there's a grace period initially. 

Geezer: Angel kills someone directly, creates vessel. Vessel fills in the role of the original. Vessel messes with memories to convince you it's the real thing and is unaware of what its doing most of the time. Those memories fall apart though if you distance yourself.

Arabis nods.

Geezer:  If the Vessel is directly inhabited long enough without detection though, the angel overwrites the original person's existence in the universe. Anything that original person did is replaced with the vessel and your entire world remembers it that way forever.

Charon: Any way to kill the Angels or....

Geezer: Nope, not outright as far as I know. You wanna get rid of the vessels though so it can't just chill out in the area until the Angel is able to warp into you. 

Arabis: Mm. You're better off preventing the full angel attack. Destroying all vessels will make it retreat. Once it appears things get quite difficult however.

Charon: You fought one right?

Arabis: Several times yes.

Charon: What did you do to piss it off?

Arabis: Your predecessor.... my first partner...

He lingered on the thought for a moment.



Arabis: ...Was a wonderful knight and part of a rather well liked guild, The Judges of Solitaire. At the time I had owed them a debt and agreed to join them on a quest, one I admittedly did not anticipate to be more than a simple beast hunt.

Charon: What did it? Like, what made them go after it?

Arabis: The loss of a family member, really. My old partner and the guild had discovered a vessel among their ranks and did not take things well at all. Many signed on to purge this creature by hunting down every vessel in the area to assure it would never bring such suffering to another. Of course I wasn't exactly welcomed due to my status as a fiend but... that dog would vouch for me time and time again. Assured them I deserved to share the same campfires and tents... 

He sighed.



Arabis: It was hard, really genuinely agonizingly hard. We were starved, we bore caskets, we struggled, we fought, and we squabbled at every opportunity. I did not understand what I had signed up for at the time. I started praying again. Praying that we'd be safe.... then praying that I'd go out in my sleep.. and then by the end something clicked.

He leaned back.



Arabis: Through common suffering we found comfort in each other's company... comfort in the knowledge that we were still here. Finding food together, massive haggles to get bargains at the inn, tricking merchants, discovering the occasional pretty thing that made for a interesting conversation piece. That dog especially anchored me through all of it. I adored them... that odd bastard. Could you believe that they invited me to be part of their family? We were far from home in the literal sense, far from the woods I started but... with that it became something I accepted with ease. 



He smiled, nice and small but absolutely sincere.

Arabis: And of course, I was knighted. I was surprised really.. I kept you too long however. 


Charon: Shoot, I'm sorry. 

Arabis: Don't be, you deserve to know why you're here. Besides, I talked your ear off. I should be the one apologizing.

Charon: I liked hearing you talk, don't you be sorry either. 

Arabis: Is that so?

Charon: Yeah, you're my great something something grandpa so you have rambling rights. I honestly don't mind.

Arabis: You're just too polite to tell me to stop but... I appreciate a listener. The whole ensemble of you kids.

Erica: What was that? Zoned out.

She smirked.

Arabis: Most of you, ah well. You're familiar with that story so I forgive you. Geezer, apologies for derailing the conversation.

Geezer: Nah, what Charon said.... speaking of, you should name whatever came out of that card you got. The big one specifically. You did say you had one?

Charon: Yeah. 



Geezer: Cool. Name it something good, something nice and strong. Nothing rude just... something you wouldn't mind being called. These things get stronger if you treat them well, if you treat yourself well. Do it soon. Like now.

Charon: Yeah. Right. You got names for yours?

Geezer: Sixth Ranger. Easy

Erica: Single Action. Strong phrases tend to work pretty good, think of something that sticks like that.

Arabis: Don't have one as far as I know. I can't provide much advice besides perhaps showing some confidence.

You should probably name your weird flowery ghost friends.