Masa con Papas: Proxy's Memory

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

You take the proxy upstairs.

The sharp harsh metal tiles of its armored dress don’t seem capable of hurting you, and despite the many points pressing against your skin it feels about as soft as flowers during the evening.

And though it towers over you, you manage to carry it princess style without even a moment of strain. Whether you can attribute this to its nature or your current form is unclear, but perhaps as one who’s dedicated so much of itself to protect you, it truly could never harm you.

It’s a very somber, sobering thought..

You shake your head.

You aren’t up to letting tears happen this early, and you know the moment you think too hard about it they will fall.

Though you can feel your friend is just about ready to at any moment…

You make it up stairs, the rooms now much more familiar.

The eternal melancholy of the castle around you the same as always.

Time does not pass In this world as it would back home.

You could spend an eternity here learning all the devil’s secrets, and it’d only be a day in your time.

It’s scary in its own way.

Waiting for you is the proxy you’ve spent the past couple of days with.

Though it’s a new addition to your life, you know in some way you’ve known it for years.

But there’s something different, it’s more still and less timid.

You can see yourself in its eyes in a way you couldn’t before.

The gentle mirror is a little more full in its existence, solidifying in a form you aren’t sure what to make of at first.

Whoever’s behind that gaze isn’t that same timid nature.

Charon: Hello?

It acknowledges you, though not a single word seems to be able to leave its mouth when it opens.

You can’t seem to understand it just yet.

The skeletal dog facing you seems genuinely disappointed, perhaps a tad frustrated in a way it didn’t display previously.

The proxy in your arms nudges its face into your shoulder.

???: Seems like you still haven’t gotten far enough to hear its words…

Charon: It’s unfortunate but.. It has me rather confused.

Charon: I can talk to you fine?

???: You certainly can..

???: Perhaps it has to do with our relationship.

???: I’ve been here for quite a long time after all.

Charon: You really do need a name.

???: Death as I said doesn’t really feel quite fitting these days. Such a title deserves a little more dignity..

Charon: You’ve plenty, don’t say that…

???: Mm… I really shouldn’t.

???: That said, what stands in front of you is just as much an embodiment of your aspect death, if not more so now..

???: My form is simply the hollowed out remains of the old proxy body, like a chrysalis left over you could say.

???: What stands before you is our form that exists when you call on us, albeit one that’s malleable toward our individual selves.

???: It’s convenient…

Charon: Is that how you’re both able to be here at once then? Is this truly the castle?

???: Yes actually..

Charon: But we’re asleep, no?

???: You are for certain. Your body is illusionary the same way ours usually is in the physical world.

Charon: Which means..

???: As of now you’re effectively our proxy. Strange to think of…

Charon: Ah..

???: I think I have a name I’d like.

Charon: Oh?

???: Mar…

???: It was a name that was considered a few times I think, back in the day..

Charon: It was something my Grandmother pushed for I think… didn’t seem to go through for some reason. She’s mentioned.

Charon: It’s got a good sound.

Mar: Then can I take it? It’s yours really to claim, there’s many worlds where it seems to be the outcome.

Mar: Like the one you take the form of right now.

Charon: It’s yours.

Mar: Thank you…

You look back at the skeleton in front of you.

Charon: And what of you? Who’s truly in front of me?

There’s a flash, spirals of colors and forms in front of you.

Your past, your present, the many paths you can take.

One eye seeing everything that’s ever happened, and the other seeing everything that could.

Charon: You’re… the rest of the deck then. So to speak?

It nods.

Charon: And… right now we need to take care of each other, find all the pieces and arrange them until we’re at an understanding.

Charon: You are all just as much the original Charon as I am… and you’re everything we could become.

Mar: That’s an interesting interpretation.

Charon: So… what am I in all of this?

Mar: Defiance. The will that remained when the mind and soul couldn’t remain.

Mar: The body kept walking because a single instinct refused to die. That’s you.

Mar: We saved every other aspect. The mind of the child who became a hero, the soul that was torn in the face of alien entities nobody would ever have to witness.

Mar: Styx certainly made for a good glue to keep it all together but..

Mar: I personally don’t like his interpretation, nor that presented by Zinnia really.

Charon: Is there merit to any of that?

Mar: I think so. Whatever you truly are now, you’re no different than anyone else in the face of time.

Mar: Geezer, Opera… neither of them are entirely the same person they were back then. The person you become as an adult is the product of everything you’ve been and everything you push to be.

Mar: And though you are formed of something primal, you’re just as complete on your own as anyone else.

Mar: The facade and ambition behind it merge to become its own soul. You are Charon, no matter how anyone looks at it.

Charon: Mm…

Mar: But for now that’s enough, I don’t want to overwhelm you, overdid it on the prose.

Mar: Styx really rubbed off on both of us in a way nobody anticipated..

Charon: Truly.

Mar: You can put me down I think.. I should be fine for now.

You nod, carefully letting Marback on the ground. It approaches the other proxy.

The two embrace for a moment.

Mar: Whatever happens, we’ll make it work out.

Mar: Everytime you show up here through a dream, you may find yourself in the shape of another you I think.

Mar: Perhaps a bird? There’s a few of those from what we can tell. Good number of dogs, surprisingly high number of cats, birds seem to be a thing too. Some of them are fiendish, some of them not.

Mar: A raven perhaps is coming your way down the line, he feels close..

Charon: Feels like there’s a theme.

Mar: Perhaps, the library here has a number of speculations.

Mar: They say that people who are important tend to reflect on you even in other lives. A passing of flame between common souls.

Charon: I mean I don’t really know too many cats…

Mar: They’re common in the family, are they not?

Charon: Mm.. only met Vergil and his folks though. Been a good while since we’ve had a formal gathering…

Mar: That’s something perhaps. And birds well…

Charon: I know the answer there.

Mar: Mmhmm…

Mar: Until then I’d like to just rest here for the remaining duration we’re all here..

Mar: This form is quite sore..

Charon: Of course…

Charon: One last thing I have to ask.

Mar: Mm..

Charon: Rook over there for a lack of a better name, is the body you all use in the physical world.

Mar: Mmhmm..

Charon: And I stand here through what is effectively a proxy of a proxy, because I;m asleep out there.

Mar: Correct.

Charon: Then you are…?

Mar: You’ll see as time comes. I’ll be there for you when you wake but..

Mar: Well, I’ll be blunt.

Mar: I’m not a fan of Bucket’s methods.

Mar: I think it’ll work you to death before it achieves what it promised you.

Mar: So I’ve a plan of my own, one with due time you’ll see.

Charon: Why not tell me now?

Mar: I rather not make a promise that I’m not sure I can make good on but..

Mar: If all goes well, we’ll be our grandest selves by the end of the next two weeks.

Mar: Until then, you’ll just have to see the world for yourself…