Masa con Papas: Proxy's Memory

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

 

THE EMPEROR PART I
CW: None

You’re back in your castle.

Your beloved proxy keeps you company.

It’s nervous. You offer it a hand.

You comfort it to the best of your ability.

This entire experience fills you with dread and a bittersweet nostalgia but…

It makes you happy to have someone close by right now.

Styx: Personally I think the new proxy suits you.

Styx: Though I have a soft spot for the old one. Perhaps it’ll find its way back.

Charon: Mm… I see you’ve disrupted my dreams again.

Styx: A necessity, one you’ll grow to appreciate.

Charon: If you say so.

Styx: Are you irritated?

Charon: More… hmm. I don’t know how to put it.

Charon: I know what happens next from here.

Charon: I’m not looking forward to reliving it.

Styx: I’m on the same boat myself, for my own reasons.

Charon: I feel like things are a little different going back.

Styx: Retrospective does that.

Charon: Not just that either. My memory is not 1:1 with the emotions I’ve felt in those moments. It feels like people are missing…

Styx: Side effect of exposure to angelic types. They rewrite your past and your future without you really realizing why.

Styx: But you’re a little too self aware, I think. You’ve seen further more than anyone should.

Styx: It hurts me to see that child making friends, because I know he doesn’t get to grow up.

Styx: What lingers in his shell is delusional, a devil clinging onto fragments of the original. 

Styx: Or perhaps in denial? Either way, it’s sweet that you hold so dear a self that no longer exists.

Charon: If you don’t have anything more to do than taunt me, piss off.

Styx: I promise I have some business with you, urgent to address.

Charon: Is that so?

Styx: Looking further in, it’s hard to gauge if we truly have an intruder.

Styx: May be more akin to a curse really.

Charon: Elaborate.

Styx: I can’t find a connection to anyone, even if it’s clearly originating from our earlier encounter with… Esperanto was it?

Charon: Mm. So we’re not being invaded?

Styx: As of now? I can’t immediately confirm that.

Charon: But we’re very much not safe either.

Styx: No.

Charon: What should we do then?

Styx: Personally? Confront them in the morning. Whatever sorcery they inflicted earlier needs to be addressed directly. It’s certainly had a massive effect on your psyche already.

Charon: Mm…

You give the proxy a concerned look. It presses its muzzle against your face.

Charon: It’s… never really behaved like this before.

Styx: Certainly affectionate. Tell me Judgment boy, are you hiding something?

Charon: Does it matter? You can see everything.

Styx: You’d think, but despite being of my own contract your proxy certainly is.

Styx: Or perhaps wearing it right on its sleeve after all..

Styx: Whatever influence I once had on it seems to be gone.

Charon: Does it no longer carry your power?

Styx: No, because that’s been yours for the last decade.

Styx: Struck me down and took my soul for yourself. Frustrating.

Styx: Would be funny if in 100 years you were the one dealing contracts instead.

Charon: I have my doubts.

Styx: You are a fiend, you’ll live to see those days so long as you make no missteps.

Charon: Hmm….

Styx: Up to you really. Maybe in that time I’ll have been reborn. Maybe I’ll strike you down and it can become a cycle of its own.

Charon: I really doubt you’d want to be reborn into this world of all things.

Styx: Mm… I’ve considered it more than you’d think.

Charon: Really? That’s something new.

Styx: I’m very capable of sentiments and attachments. Perhaps that’s why I’ve managed to survive as a fragment in your mind rather than fizzling out altogether.

Charon: I doubt you care about me that much.

Styx: Certainly more than you or I want to admit.

Styx: I know you wouldn’t be talking to me like this if you truly hated me.

Charon: You’re making a massive assumption.

Styx: I don’t think I’m entirely wrong though.

Styx: Tell me, could you forgive me in another life?

Charon: I’d have to think about it, but on principle I’d at least make an attempt.

Charon: Are you planning to die on me?

Styx: Not quite yet, but I do have to move on sooner or later.

Styx: I think I want to be a rabbit next time...

Charon: I can tell. I’ve seen your true form plenty of times and yet you cling to that corpse.

Styx: One I had a complicated relationship with for certain.

Charon: Your old friend.

Styx: My greatest servant.

Charon: You refuse to let his image die.

Styx: Mm… can’t be helped really. I did really care for him but…

Styx: I don’t think I’m capable of being kind or loving in the way most prefer.

Styx: If I’m not getting a strong reaction from someone I genuinely feel unnoticed.

Charon: You must be furious right now then.

Styx: Heartbroken! You’ve become so cold mannered. I’m really disappointed.

Charon: I’m just tired, I’ve had enough of this for a lifetime.

Styx: Mm…

Charon: I am curious about things however.

Styx: Oh?

Charon: I’d like to hear you talk about your feelings, if you wouldn’t mind sharing.

Styx: A tempting proposition..

Styx: As reluctant as I am to say, you’re certainly my second favorite. The bookworm nephew I never had.

Styx: Is nephew the right term actually? I know things can be complicated.

Charon: I’d rather not be seen as any sort of relative but… masculine terminology is acceptable.

Styx: Mm.

Styx: I became very attached to him, my old friend. Did everything within my power to keep him alive, to fulfill my promises so that he could perhaps one day become king.

Styx: Anytime he was on the verge of death I put him back together.

Styx: He never went a day empty handed.

Styx: But… I know he resented me in the end.

Charon: Understandable.

Styx: You’re so cruel…

Charon: I prefer honesty. I am curious though… what was your connection to him?

Styx: Initially? A client in need.. But I think I grew to envy him.

Styx: Grew to envy his capacity to make allies and tough through anything.

Styx: He loved and was loved back… not necessarily always the romantic kind, though there was certainly that too.

Styx: Admittedly you and your friends remind me of him...

Styx: I’d like to show you something, if you’re willing.

Charon: It’s against my better judgment to take an offer from you at this point…

Charon: But with such a rare moment of sincerity I feel I should offer you this moment.

Styx: Thank you..

You look him directly in the eye.

Charon: If you give me any reason to doubt you however, make peace with your preferred god immediately.

Charon: I’ll gut you where you stand.

Styx: Harsh, but merited. Very well then.

Charon: Lead the way.