Masa con Papas: Proxy's Memory

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

The three of you quickly make your way over toward a cozy old timey shack half burrowed into a hill. On entering there's a immediate sense of home, a very lived in place that smelled like the old Judgment House during winter.

You had to wonder.

Anura: Get yourself situated, plenty to catch up on.

You give him a little nod and prep the couch while he gets the fireplace going.

Your proxy scoots up and rests its head on your shoulder. It was clearly exhausted...

Anura wraps up and sits himself down on a big chair across the coffee table.

You place your weapon down to the side carefully.

Charon: So, lets get to the point.

Anura: Go head.

Charon: Relationship to my grandmother?

Anura: Friend, occasional partner, sometimes the pivot of a affair..

Charon: And Bucket Judgment if you're familiar with the name?

Anura: Tied by blood and not much else, Erica didn't really want to have the complications of a entity parent around. Respected her wishes to wed mortal but.. it didn't go well I don't think. Did my best to provide financially but never had much chance to meet.

You point directly at the rat.

Charon: Grandpa.

Anura: Mm... Very much didn't anticipate to meet you today that's for sure..

Charon: I think that was the intent.

Anura: I'm sure it was but at this point you're old enough to know I think. Erica can't stop you from being your own person...

Charon:  Has Bucket-

Anura: No, and if you hadn't come across me I doubt you'd know about me either. Like I said, Erica wanted to avoid complications and especially around things of a otherworldly nature. She... had a bit of a hard past with those-

Charon: The angel pocket.

Anura:...Then you are aware.

Charon: Mm..

Anura: How much-
 

[image description: A sky with a crack across it, ripping into a celestial body with a trumpet erected from the bottom and trailing all the way toward the ground. It passes through buildings leaving a empty space. Ashes all, a flag is settled on a rooftop nearby.]

Charon: I was there, I saw all of it....

Anura's eyes shift toward the bladed tuner settled next to you.

Then back to you.

Anura: I'm glad I found you when I did, people do not take kindly to folks with one of those around here. Though thinking about it..

He tilts his head.

Anura: It's you who created the crack in the sky.

Charon:...Aye. Bit of a childhood accident

Anura: Its incredible, terrifying, but... not going to win you friends around these parts.

Charon: Bit too late for a warning there, hostile encounters one after the other.

Anura: In their eyes and their church you are the devil. You struck down their god, their path to ascending mortality, their entire kingdom.

Charon: They were killing my kind for resources.

Anura: That's the part they refuse to pass down, the idea that this was karmic. The result of hubris and organized cruelty.

Charon: It's only been a decade-

Anura In your time maybe. For the people on this side of the crack, those ejected from their own reality? Its been generations. Plenty of time for them to frame you as a monster of legend.

You feel a pain in your gut.

Charon: Then the people who attacked me-

Anura: Descendants of the church you dethroned long ago.

Charon: They don't know anything else...

Anura: Nor will they likely ever I think.

You press a hand to your forehead.

Anura: Something wrong?

Charon: I.... assumed they were just remnants but-

Anura: But..?

Charon: I've injured a good number, possibly killed at least one at this point. Whatever vitriol they have will only worsen-

Anura: You are well within your right to defend yourself-

 

[image description: A album cover inspired image of the proxy Mar facing down against another mystery humanoid figure on a pair of old rooftops. The latter figure has a long neck, round globe-like head, hoodie, shorts, and a feminine figure. There's trees and a tower in the background, the rendering styles split between two halves of the image separated by a large crack.]

 

Charon: They're attacking me because they're afraid. They are products of their upbringings. Any actions I've taken are likely speculation, raising panic, justifying further hostility in the future.

Anura: It is not your responsibility to ease the fears of those who's violence and bigotry would lead you toward a sudden coffin.

Charon: It is my responsibility to prevent further spread and I have fundamentally failed on that department.

Anura: And you understand that part of that responsibility is recognizing when you can't change someone's mind, yes? That sometimes you have to protect yourself and others before you can even start to undo the failed lectures of the parent?

Charon: ... Mm.

Your proxy starts to tremble.

You give it a gentle pat on its shoulder.

Charon: I'm sorry..

Anura: I'm not going to yell at you for voicing sincerity..  but I am going to ask you to hold back from any heroic gestures.

Charon: If I'm to go further along this land more encounters are inevitable.

Anura: Do you need to be here in the first place?

Charon: I don't really know, something here's calling me.

Anura: And do you hear it at the moment.

A pause, silence.

Charon: No.

Anura: Then for now, you're where you need to be. Now I ask that you take some time to rest before you venture back out..

You give him a little nod.

Anura: I can tell a lot is going on and you're juggling far too much at the moment so.. at least for now allow me to be you ally. From one entity to another if family is too strong a word-

Charon: You know then.

Anura: I can see every contract, and I can see your poisoning blooming into something.... almost unprecedented.

Charon: So I've been told..

Anura: Still your grounding in your own world is unique, very few of our kind can consider ourselves still bound to the physical like yourself. There's people you're attached to by the promises made..  

Anura holds out a pinky.

Anura: Promises to take care of others, to be better to yourself, vows to protect people and ambitions of creating a kinder world. In a way those are mortal pacts. And right now with me not feeling very comfortable letting you wander on your own, perhaps I can offer you contact with a comrade?

Charon: Can you? I mean... I'd like that.

Anura: Mmhmm. Just name someone, anyone.

Bucket is a powerhouse but.. you've had enough of them for now.

Geezer is incredibly reliable and level headed... which means he can't afford to have his time and energy split like that.

Plat and Manzana are capable but... they're already stressed

Which means-

Charon: Can I get a call in with Opera Reyes?

Anura: Absolutely but...

Anura gets up from his seat.

Anura: Hot chocolate and sweets first, I've been dying to show off my technique.

Charon: Wouldn't it make more sense now-

Anura: You are going to rest first. Then we can discuss gameplan. Deal?

Charon: ...Deal.