Masa con Papas: Proxy's Memory

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

THE MAGICIAN PART II
(CW: Mention of Cults)
 

Erica: So, things to catch you up on.

Erica: This isn’t the world you started off in, some kind of weird mish mash pocket world made of pieces of others.

Charon: So sort of a chimera of parts from different places?

Erica: Kinda, yeah. You know what an angel is, kid?

Charon: Bit of a contested thing, supposedly they’re big entities that jump between time and space right? They abduct and replace things quietly without people noticing a lot of the time.

Erica: Mm. This place has one and is widely agreed to be the origin of it. One with a bit of weird behavior frankly.

Charon: What makes it so weird?

Erica: It’s a hoarder. Hoarding angels aren’t exactly a thing that’s been documented before but this one is just stockpiling things in a pocket world and playing ant farm. It just pops in and out to drop stuff up, stir around, and goes back out.

Charon: Is that how you got here?

Erica: Yep, me and my grandpa were out in the woods when something started making our radio go screwy. Grandpa had a bad vibe right away so we tried to duck in the basement but before we could it just.. warped us here.

Erica: Now we’ve been stuck here for a couple of weeks trying to make the most of what we can.

Erica: Place is hell cursed though, ain’t a fan of the folks who’ve taken charge.

Charon: What’s up with them.

Erica: A lot honest. They claim to be a church for the sake of giving others hope but it’s really just a scheme to line pockets and get free labor in hopes of “ascending”.

Charon: Ascending?

Erica: That’s what they call it. It’s honestly kind of some body horror though. You’ll see what I mean when we get to town.

Charon: Noted.

Erica: Anyway we found a few groups who are free of their control but it’s getting harder for them. Cult actively punishes anyone who wants to live outside of their law or wants out of the pocket.

Charon: How exactly do you power grab in a place like this?

Erica: Control multiple vital resources and own plenty of muscle really, same way it usually works with these folks.

Erica: Tell you what though, whoever goes in all the way comes out super different.

Erica: Can’t blame a lot of folks for taking their offers, when you’re desperate enough you do what it takes to survive but…

Erica: I dunno, it all rubs me wrong.

Charon: I get you. We got a bit of a cult problem back in my home… I’m guessing since we’re related though it’s the same bunch.

Erica: Spit?

Charon: Spit.

Erica: Yeah… can’t say I’m a fan of her either but at least I can avoid her fine and if one of them shows up on my lawn a shotgun will fix things pretty fast you know?

Charon: Mm.

Erica: Course I get the feeling you’ve never had to do that yourself.

Charon: No, not really.

Erica: For the best….

After a long walk down the seemingly endless train station, you find a tall insect-like man standing at it’s end.

You recognize him, it couldn’t be…he reminds you of a monster from a family fairy tale you read..

He has a very gentle look to him.

Erica: Grandpa!

The spidery figure turns toward the two of you, a little smile at Erica and a look of confusion at you. You approach.

???: Who’s this? Did you find another lost one?

Erica: Sure did, he spawned directly in front of me!

???: Did he come through an angel hole?

Erica: Nope! Just kind of showed up?

He focuses his attention directly on you.

???: The resemblance… are you a child of Judgment?

You give him a nod.

Charon: I am. And I guess you’re…

???: Arabis.

Charon: The original Judgment… just like the fairy tales. You’re here?

Arabis: I never left! I’m surprised you’ve never seen me before… and I feel reluctant claiming that title, there’s others who could’ve taken it up just as well..

Charon:  No… never mentioned once that you were alive so long.

Arabis: Mm, well here I am! Tell me your name child?

Charon: Charon, Charon Judgment.

Arabis: Charon. Do you have anyone with you/

Charon: No, but I’m looking for my cousin…

Erica: The rabbit who we left back in town, the two of them seem to have been both sucked here together but landed at different points.

Arabis: Ahh… I can take you there, I’m already on the way to town.

Erica: We left him a communicator actually. We’re a little out of radius but once we’re on the train we’ll be close enough to tell him to meet up with us.

Charon: You left him alone?

Arabis: It was in a safe area, he’ll be fine so long as he doesn’t stray out.

Erica: A nerd like him? You know he wouldn’t

Arabis: That’s uncalled for…

Charon: He always read more jock to me.

Arabis: He’s quite bookish from what I’ve seen. Anyway, we can cover your fare and take you back to him.

Charon: Really? That’s not too much?

Erica: You’re family right? Gotta stick together.

Arabis: It should be arriving soon, the train. What do you say?

You give a nod.

Charon: I’m down.