Palace Game 6/3

[fujimaru]

The Dreamer In The Grand Temple
Humanity Foundation Value: ????

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Comments

[fujimaru]

When he turns to look, it's this handsome fellow, eyeing him warily.

"You sure? I wouldn't recommend taking anything out of here either way, buddy. There's nothing here worth saving."

[eggstinction]

[straightens up and dusts the rubble dust off his pelt, quickly trying to look harmless and polite]

I was going to give them to Ritsuka.

[fujimaru]

The wolf's ears swivel forward at the mention of Ritsuka's name, then pin back slightly. "Heh. Don't bother. There's nothing in here that she can do anything with, or should do anything with, except destroy it."

[eggstinction]

Whether she wants to keep them, destroy them, or only set them aside for a while, that is for her to decide.

Who are you?

[fujimaru]

He shrugs. "The name's Patxi. And I'm telling you, it won't do any good. She can't do anything with 'em."

He sounds... a little regretful about it, though he's mostly gruff.

[eggstinction]

[gives him a small nod]

Hello, Patxi. I am Moon.

What do you mean? Are these not her memories?

[fujimaru]

"They are, but none of us exist anymore."

He says it very casually, like it's no big deal. SHRUG,,,?

"We're the last memories of worlds that have been pruned away. She's the last one who'll remember, when it's all over with."

[eggstinction]

She can share them. Even if she does not speak them, to know her is to know a little of you and everyone else she has met.

And I will remember this glimpse of you now. I will remember nearly to forever.

[fujimaru]

"Forever, huh? Ha." Patxi seems almost amused by this, smiling the way a wolf might, mostly teeth. "I don't need that long. It's not like I got to see any of the stuff she told me about. ...But that's not a bad way of thinking about it."

[eggstinction]

It is how I like to think of it. It reassures me to believe it is that way. I have outlasted several worlds and I will outlast my own, but I remember them and I see how their effects linger on.

[fujimaru]

Patxi is quiet for a long moment, and then he asks, almost tentative, "And the world that you're part of... how strong is it?"

[eggstinction]

I would say very strong... but it was not enough to keep me out of this prison.

[fujimaru]

Patxi's ears pin back. "Yeah, well... the one thing I learned, before the end of things, was that strength wasn't really enough to make my world a viable one. So if you ask me? That's not really saying much."

[eggstinction]

I will bear that in mind.

[fujimaru]

He doesn't say anything for a moment, though the body language is still clearly uneasy--pinned ears, tail low, shoulders slumped--but after a moment, he nods.

"Good. Good--that's what ruined us. When we split off from proper human history and all, that's where we went wrong."

[eggstinction]

My world is defined by its dragons, if that matters...

[how picky can you be about what goes under the human catchall when you're talking to a wolfman tho]

But, excuse me— "split off?"

[fujimaru]

There's another long pause, and Patxi's eyes dart from Moon to the ruined first door, his ears pinning back further.

"What, didn't you know? That's where we are. It's not the kind of thing I really get much, myself, but... I guess it's like a plant. Sometimes, stuff grows that isn't gonna go anywhere. A dead end.

"That's what we were."

[eggstinction]

No, I thought...

[Follows Patxi's gaze then glances back to him]

The worlds I have seen destroyed died in disasters. Meteors or the loss of their cores, or civilizations dead longer than their bones lasted. If yours was as part of a plant, who is pruning it?

[fujimaru]

"Who knows? Some higher power, probably." His tail is low, and vibrating; as he speaks, his lip keeps curling back from his teeth, though he is also making visible effort to calm that down.

"But we weren't supposed to be given a second chance. Our existence negates the 'proper' world... in the end, when we fought, we lost."

[eggstinction]

You deserved a second chance and more.

[folds his hands together, keeping his own body language inoffensive and meek]

But... You do not need me to tell you that. Thank you for your explanations. You have been very patient to speak to me about your loss.

[fujimaru]

"Nah," he says. He's clearly uncomfortable about this, shaking his head.

"My world was... we forgot. We forgot anything about being strong, and being the strongest. All we cared about was beating everything and anything. Shit. It wasn't a world where kids could know anything about laughing without being afraid. It wasn't a viable world at all."

[eggstinction]

But you have you learned that now, and too late.

[fujimaru]

"Too late," he says. He does not appear to be angry about it, at least. "She fought the Tsar, and she won, somehow, against that monster."

[eggstinction]

Ritsuka did?

[fujimaru]

"Fujimaru, yeah." Patxi's ears lift just a little, though that's about the only even slight shift in his body language. "Dunno how the hell she managed. He was bigger than you. But still..."

He shakes his head. "I dunno anything about mages, or other worlds, or anything like that... I just know that if she's from somewhere where people still know how to smile, it's not a bad place to win over mine."