{2/9} - Two of Nine: A Nine Lives Forum adventure

[Lilium Mortem]

firstly, thank her for the juice-box. it never hurts to be polite.
to begin with, just ask her about what reincarnating and regaining memories is like, without mentioning your own experiences. you can bring those up if she says something that seems relevant to what you're going through.

 

^ Ditto to that.
If she asks why you think you could be reincarnated though, describe the weird dreams. Be sure to bring up some of the stuff that you've been remembering in the dream and throughout the day that just doesn't make sense, like the Shrimp.

Things fell into place. I had a game plan now. First thank her for the juice-box, then ask about her experiences with Reincarnating. Once that breaks the ice I can mention my own stuff. I need to remember to mention stuff that doesn’t seem right.

Ser Silversong opened a mini-fridge and tossed a juice-box my way. I caught it out of the air and set it down on the table so I could open it. Ser Silversong poured herself a cup of rust brown tea and walked over to the table before taking a seat.

“Thanks” I said, taking a sip from the juice box. “It’s been a bit of a weird morning for me. I talked to Stratus, and he told me about his awakening this life. It… It got me thinking. I’ve never really thought about it, you know? Reincarnation. Everyone in town knows you’ve been through a lot in all of your lives. What’s it like, reincarnating?”

“You’re not the first kid to think they’re reincarnated” She replied with a wry smile.

“What? No! I mea-” She raised a hand to interrupt me.

“I’m old, Scud, I’ve received lifetimes of training on many things, and I’ve had this conversation before. It’s ok. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

“Oh, ok. Sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” She said, sitting back and closing her eyes for a second. “My first life was during the tail end of the Ashen Era. I was a farmer by trade, but back then the kingdom was still divided. Raiders were becoming a real problem, but there wasn’t enough law enforcement to go around. Reconstruction was taking all we had.

“I couldn’t just do nothing. So I joined the militia. Every day I’d wake up and train with a spear before working. Every night I’d practice with a bow and arrow after dinner. Then we were raided. I froze. I watched as they rained flaming arrows on the village. Then I saw one draw a blade. A villager was blocking the door to one of the storehouses with their body. Before I knew it I was moving.

“I killed the first raider, then the next, until they were all dead. Every movement trained, every beat of my heart I felt the other villagers, the others in the militia, they needed me. I stopped farming after that, and became a guard.

“I trained hard, and became the best fighter in the village. We were raided a few times later, but we could drive them off now. Until a raiding party of a hundred souls appeared at our doorstep. This time I didn’t hesitate. The first arrow from my bow killed their commander before he could give the order to attack.

“The battle was brutal. Every chance I got I’d distract an enemy so a civilian could get to safety, or a guard could get a chance to breathe. It was a losing battle. But I kept going. One by one the other guards fell, or ran. I was the last. I killed about fifty men total. At the end I was missing an arm and half my face. I kept going. I wouldn’t die, I couldn’t die. I still had to live to protect my Village, My family. A raider ran me through with a sword. I pushed my way further into it until I got close enough to strangle him to death before I finally died myself.

“I was born into my next life In the city of Crossroads in Alloy. I grew up with a poor family. Have you ever done something so much that it becomes second nature? Not just muscle memory, something more. Instincts burned into your soul. I went through my spear drills with a mop without knowing what I was doing. I took walks through the neighborhood until I found someone up to no good and beat them senseless. It became obvious I wasn’t in my first life.

“When I Awoke… everything made sense. I knew why I acted strange, why I needed to help people, why I fought. I knew all along, really. It just took some time for my body to grow up enough for me to accept it. I joined the police, but after just a year a Knight from the Kingdom of rose came to me, to tell me I was nominated to be a Knight myself.”

I raised my hand. “Wait, a knight came all that way before airships and high speed rail? Wouldn’t training a knight back home be easier?”

“No, Knights aren’t just really good warriors.” Ser Silversong said, shaking her head. “We are the kind of people who don’t accept death, the kind of people who can’t help but help when we see someone in trouble, the kind of people that do good for the sake of doing good. That’s a hard person to find. Even harder to make them agree to be a knight.

“A Knight’s Training lasts around seventy years, due to the rose knight’s Soul Art.”

“Wait.” I said, “I’m super curious about everything that goes into being a knight, but I think we went off topic.”

“I’m sorry, You’re right. Let me summarize then, let me know if you want to know more. A Soul Art is a technique where you manipulate your soul into affecting the world around you. The Rose Knights Soul art is called Blood Iron Thorn. It lets us control Iron extracted from our blood. That’s what my sword is made of, as well as those crossbow bolts.

“Back on topic, Every life since then, I act to protect others, even as a kid. I Fight, I struggle, even before I Awaken. When you are a Reincarnate, your nature is already determined. Who you are emerges as your body grows to accommodate your soul. People like to think we’re somewhat new people when we reincarnate. That isn’t true. Our core is the same. We might change growing up in different circumstances, but no more than how we all change and grow over the same period of time.

“So let’s entertain the idea you are reincarnated. What habits stem from your soul? What things are burned into the core of who you are? What things make you more than your body?”

We sat in silence after that. If I was a reincarnate, then that means I’m already who I was? Then who am I? I’m a Kid. I like to make art, it feels good to create. I don’t feel like talking to people, but I do it anyway. I want to do more, be more, than I am.

“I make things. Pieces of art that come from a place deep inside. I never felt like having friends, but I try hard to have them anyway. I always want to help out, to do more, to be more. I feel like… Like I have to make up for something.” I said.

“That’s not enough. Those could all be things that could be you just being a kid. What else?” She asked.

“Well...” I closed my eyes. “I have dreams. I don’t remember them much, but it feels like I’ve lost something every time I wake up, like there’s something important I’ve forgotten. I’ve been having weird thoughts lately. Stuff that almost doesn’t seem like my own. I wouldn’t have thanked you for the juice-box normally, I wouldn’t have Called Stratus after I couldn’t get electronic mail to work, I wouldn’t have come here. I would have tried going to The Witch for advice. And I wouldn’t tell you this: I told my brother the acronym for the soul detector, the SRIMP, sounds like Shrimp.”

“Mmmm… They may just be intrusive thoughts. You’re growing up, after all, your brain is still developing.” Silversong said, swirling the remains of her tea. “Wait… SRIMP doesn’t sound like Shrimp. They don’t sound anything alike. ‘Sra’-’im’-’P’ doesn’t sound anything like ‘Al’-’u’-’ta’”

“Aluta? But I said Aluta.” I said. What? “Aluta. Aluta. ALUTA!”

Silversong gets up and puts a hand on my shoulder. I realize I’m shaking. I know SRIMP sounds like aluta. But it doesn’t. But it does.

“Calm down, try to explain it to me, one thought at a time.” Sileversong said, holding my hand.

“Ok. Stratus said it was called the Something Radiation Information Manual Purser. Then he said SRIMP. I remember eating Aluta and imagining a big pink Geiger counter.”

“Ok, it’s ok.” Silversong said, “how are you doing, Scud?”

“I’m confused, and scared, but I feel like there’s something I’ve forgotten, something on the tip of my tongue”

“Do you trust me?”

I did. She was a paragon, someone who went out of her way to do good. She was forced to take a post here because she was overworking herself saving people. No matter how much she scolded me she was always fair. She had my favorite juice in her mini-fridge.

“Yes” I said.

“Aluta are toxic to Kaz, Scud. they don’t even live in this hemisphere. You’ve never eaten one.” She said.

But… I had. I remembered it clearly. A seafood restaurant. It wasn’t very good, but it smelled like saltwater and crab. The place was decorated with nautical knickknacks and you could see the ocean out the window. I ordered popcorn shrimp, thinking there would be actual popcorn. I threw a tantrum.

“<Popcorn shrimp>” I whispered.“... Aluta.”

Two images in my head clashed. A brown shelled crustacean that was the bane of northern fishermen. The other was red and pink, but looked the same. You had to pay more to get them without their tails. They were served grilled or fried. They came with gross sauce. Shrimp. Aluta. They were different, but the same. How could I know both?