castaside | [Heart Game] From the ashes we can build

It is Epsilon, but he is being tormented again. Controlled and manipulated again. She is using him. You can hear her laughter. Come get her.

No offense, Wash, but Wukong sees very little difference usually. He has enough tact not to say so out loud though.

This place makes him sober up immediately, his fur bristling as his guard goes up. There are few people besides her> that can set him on edge, the chill reminding him of being possessed by her. "Dammit..."

Wow, the rudeness. He's beaten a god, thank you very much.

There is a new tension in Wash. A deep breath in, slow breath out.

"This might be deep enough for her actual presence. And Epsilon," Wash said.

"Then it's good that no one else came here with us."

Wukong's tail flicks as he looks at each of their options. Might as well try to take a right first.

You head right, down corridor B. There is a long stretch of mirrors. You see your reflection tingled with blue, and it's disturbing. More disturbing is that you can hear your reflections whispering to you, inside your head (you think).

Wukong's reflection says: You can't face her alone. If you try, you'll be hers again.

Wash's says: You can't protect him. You're only a mortal. You have no idea what you're walking into.

"Probably for the best, yeah," Wash said. No reason to infect more people with Epsilon.

He is paying attention to their surroundings. He's always been good with spatial tracking. Epsilon has made it a lot better.

He snorts at the whispers. Maybe its in his head, maybe it isn't, but one thing he does know? "I hope you weren't trying to make those seem like self doubts. Fun fact, most mortals don't go 'you're only mortal' in their own head. Kiiiind of a sad attempt. Especially this mortal. I haven't known what I've been walking into for like a decade and a half now."

Edited 2024-03-14 20:01 (UTC)

Wash's reflection briefly looks surprised... or so you think. It's the corner of your eye.

Strong words from someone who couldn't protect his dear sister. You should have seen her, bleeding on the ground, this close to losing her eye.

Wukong doesn't dignify his reflection with a response. Even if her influence is still strong, clinging to Macaque's negativity or however there's so much of her here...it's not real. And even if he can't destroy her, even if he can't seal Epsilon for some incredibly ridiculous reason, he's not giving her the chance to get one over on him again. He cracks his knuckles, his neck, and even his tail.

One his left, he can see that path goes quite a stretch, so he turns up that way.

There is more or less a fork in the corridor, you can go left or right.

Wukong's reflection flickers, and there's a gold fillet on his head for a brief second. You can swear you feel it squeezing around your head.

"Oh nooooo, not like I've been spending literal years watching my little sister get put through a meat grinder, sometimes where I had no hope of even trying to get to her, and having only a cast limited necklace to try and help," Wash said, voice flat and sarcastic. "Definitely didn't have several times we died together with varying levels of terrible. Oh, the horror of helplessness. Not like I had to learn how to deal with that after all my friends died the first time. Want to go for the childhood trauma? I could tell you about my planet getting glassed. Bet you'd get a kick out of that," he said.

He can see Wukong is agitated.

So he's upping the sarcasm and mocking. Maybe it'll get the woman to focus on him. Maybe Wukong will be amused with gallow's humor. We're testing out things.

He's tracking the path still.

Of course he's agitated. Wash would be too if he had any of their experiences with her. He tenses when he starts to feel the tightness, but lets out a slow breath to center him. There's a right and immediate left ahead, so he turns that way next.

"She has no power here. Not really. The real Lady Bone Demon is dead, along with her spite and her aspirations. Anything she says here is just words to get under your skin. Probably to make you do something you'll regret."

Wukong's reflection snickers. She must have some power here, or there'd be no ice. Are you going to leave her in here, eating away at your so-called best friend, or risk destroying a part of him when you came in here to do the opposite?

You come to an area where you can go right down corridor D or continue on straight.

Edited 2024-03-24 00:35 (UTC)

"Yeah, sounds about right. Kaito had this whole THING with The Director in mine. Manipulating assholes just don't know how to take the L," he said. "Love getting their grubby little hands everywhere because they have to have the last word."

"That's about right."

Wukong still wasn't dignifying the reflection with a response, outside of a clenching of his fist. He turned down D. The answer was neither, because Macaque was much more than a so-called friend, and he would not risk damaging him more. He'd sooner die in here. Dealing with her was a later problem.

At the end of Corridor D you find a dead end. On the floor is a red headband that looks like MK's.

"Just means we need to think twice," he said. "Looks like a MK based memory," he added, moving to go pick up the headband, braced for what follows.

Good news is, it's not a memory.

Bad news is, that doesn't much matter. Touching the headband is like wading intoa thick swamp of MK-based fears, so strong that they're nearly overwhelming. Fear of failing MK, of losing him, of betraying him (again). Fears that he'll never be what MK wants or needs.

There's some positivity there if you squint, because no one is so afraid of messing up something unless they love it. Might be hard to pinpoint that beneath the sensations though, they're overpowering.

He breathes in sharply.

He breathes out slowly and into the bag it goes and he's summoning Kitty for a few more pets as they walk. "Fear of his relationship with MK going wrong. Probably better I carry that."

Edited 2024-03-24 02:24 (UTC)

Macat purrs at the pets as you walk back out to the main corridor. Wash's reflection snickers at him. That little thing was enough to get you to reach for the kitty? What happened to the big game you were talking?

The next corridor you come to if you proceed down the main hall is corridor C, on the left. Or you could go straight, or you could go back the other way to corridor B1.

"Better for who exactly?"

It's worth asking because Wash reacted like someone just winded him by punching him in the gut emotionally. The mockery from Wash's reflection doesn't really help. Wukong makes no move to proceed yet, staring Wash down.

"Oh no, I got hit with the pure emotion so it's a little more crystalized and got sad. Surprise, I'm not heartless," he said to the mirror with an uni,pressed drawl.

Then he looks to Wukong. "They're emotions tied to someone you know personally and I'd be surprised if they didn't effect you too. I get hit with sympathetic sad. You might get hit with some of your own actual feelings," he said.

Edited 2024-03-24 14:47 (UTC)

[Heart Game] From the ashes we can build

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