Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[unrepentantAuthor]

The glow surged briefly as their paws touched, and Brisa's feelings flowed out, unaccompanied by the usual searing, paralysing energy.

Rather more of her feelings than she'd expected.

You have a zeraora form, like me. You could be like me. You could understand what it's like. But you don't act like me. Don't seem like me. Are you an actual aspirant? A wannabe? Or somethin' else? Even if you were . . . are you anythin' like I am? D'you have the least bit similar life? Fer all I know, you could have a lifetime of heroics etched beneath yer fur, or y'could be some lowlife who lucked out with yer Blacklight. I haven't got the faintest fuckin' idea and that fuckin' scares me 'cause I don't have the first idea how I oughta be treatin' you.

She held her paw steady, and waited for his reaction. Whatever it was, it'd be easier to navigate than the goddamn uncertainty.

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan grimaced at the energy, but then quirked a brow as he listened. He met Brisa’s gaze. ‘Well, for starters, I’m not aspiring to be a Zeraora. I was one, flesh and blood since birth.’ His heart lurched. ‘An outcast from the get go.’ He carried on. ‘You’re the only Zeraora I’ve seen besides myself, but I’m not a legend or some guardian.’ He clenched Brisa’s hand a smidge harder, trying to make his paw comfortable. ‘I’m not a hero and I’m not scum anymore … I was a soldier back … well I wouldn’t call it home.’

The back of Danithan’s mind rumbled. ‘A worthless pawn.’ He let out a sigh. ‘Home shouldn’t have a war raging on longer than you’ve been alive.’ It followed with another bellow. ‘Can’t exactly live a life if it’s about to be snuffed out.’ He grit his teeth. ‘No one should be afraid of home.’ Another roar. ‘Shifting sands or a technological hellscape, take your pick! Hell, let’s throw in a mad tyrant that brands insubordination as treason as well for good measure!’ His other paw clenched. ‘I still don’t know how I’m even alive right now anyways.’ grumbling and rumbling. ‘How I ended up as a damnable flying rat and not ash is something I’ll never wrap my head around.’

He shook his head. ‘But it could’ve gone worse and things are now starting to look up. Working in a guild after a few messups isn’t too shabby. You don’t have to compare yourself to me, treat me however the hell you want.’ A cheap shot followed. ‘Minus the rampant alcoholism from trying to drown out the past, I’m the king at that.’

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa stared at the zeraora sat across from her for what seemed twice as long as she ought to take, even for something as heavy as that. There was so much in what he'd transmitted. His feelings might've been sent her way as if they were mere conversation, coloured by word choice and rhetoric, but those words were still accompanied by anguish, remorse, self-loathing, and a sinner's gallery of other wounds of the heart. His feelings spoke of a world and a history she lacked the context to understand, but the results were unexpectedly close to home. After all, she knew plenty of suffering souls by now.

This fella was hardly a thing like her after all... Besides their shared shape and their common vice, did they even have anything in common?

At first she felt a mix of confusion, pity, even disgust. He'd feel that. She could feel his paw tensing from it already. But still, still, even so, she felt compassion. Gods help her.

"Cool yer heels. Put yer Shadows aside an' order somethin' light," she instructed, gently. "I can spare a second t'listen."

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan rubbed the back of his head with his free paw as he felt Brisa’s feedback. Honestly, it felt about right to get those three emotions thrown at him. He shook his head. ‘If I told Axel that stuff, he would have thought I swallowed a totter, while R’s the type to either hug me or try to find the bastards in the first place. ’ He raised his brow at the feeling of compassion. ‘Hey, no reason to get bogged down on me. I’m getting my life cleared up … or at least starting to, back where I’m from.’ A small chuckle came out of his mouth before he broke his gaze with her.

He followed Brisa’s advice and waved over a waiter to take his order. “I’ll take a ...”

He paused for a moment, before shrugging. His thoughts had a slight longing to them, ‘It’s been forever and a half since I’ve ordered this. Why not indulge a smidge?’

“I’ll take a rum and cola to drink, and some cooked Relicanth.” A content purr could be felt in his heart. ’The first taste of that fish as a kitten, it was like butter on the tongue.’

He looked back at Brisa. “I can take a bit to listen to you as well, be a bit of a bastard if I didn’t. ”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa withdrew her paw – Whiplash wasn't meant for sustained contact or detailed conversation – and indicated to the waitstaff that she'd have what Danithan was having. Weird though he was, the fella had taste not far off her own.

Briisa shrugged. "Daughter of my world's Omen Heroes, never had a people of my own, obsessed with holdin' myself to the highest standards of selfless service fer years on end, don't much wanna leave Cibus now I've got folks I love an' a career I enjoy beatin' the shit outta people professionally. An' becomin' a zeraora is jus' the Blacklight diggin' into my kit self's hopes an' dreams. There ya go, that's the whole scoop on Brisa fuckin' Escarpa."

She pawed her cheek and looked aside at the civilians sitting round the premises, so metropolitan compared to the townies back home. Was it really so hard to exist in the presence of sneering bastards? She didn't care about their approval any more. When she returned, would she feel the same way? March up to the town square and tear down the gallows, like in her dreams?

"I'm all ears when yer ready," she said, blinking the thought away.

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan sat back and blinked a bit at Brisa’s tale. “Fookin hell, several years? How haven’t you been drivin mad from seekin perfection or mons running up your family’s name? Sounds like it’d be a pain in the ass.”

Fer all I know, you could have a lifetime of heroics etched beneath yer fur, or y'could be some lowlife who lucked out with yer Blacklight.

He narrowed his eyes for a second at Brisa. "for all your hard work, you should be treated as a hero, or at least be treated decently."

He paused for a moment before he snickered. “Zheheheha, Cibus is a hell of a treat. This place is a paradise all and all. It is a place of hope and dreams afterall.”

He gave a toothy smile. “Well, I guess I’ll explain myself then. My name is Danithan Pisică. I was a footsoldier of a cat for a desert kingdom, and then a thief turned guilder as a rat. The accent is fake as it's a degree of separation from the past. I work for my guilds penal section with two others. One of em is a klepto of an umbreon and the other is a Riolu who's getting therapy and was human." He paused for a moment. "oh an the kingdom I was from is invading and there is a cult that messed up the human that's making things shit."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa replied to Danithan's commentary on her years of isolation with just a dry, tired smile. Their past sufferings were of very different kinds, evidently. She nodded along as she listened to his account, and made note of his having a human associate. Such a common peculiarity among Diyem's warriors, to be connected to humans...

"So, bein' embroiled in all this Blacklight shit... Dredge up much of that fer ya?"

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan gave a strained smile. “Well, having your own shadow screaming in your head about how you are nothin but a fraud and living a lie … it isn’t exactly fun.” Danithan peered his head over to his shadow, which had two golden glinting eyes and an equally sharp smile, before it returned to normal. “Even more so when it can actually come out of the ground and start saying it to your face before slapping it.” He shook his head, “I had enough sense to call mergo to confront the bastard the first time, therapy along with the rest of the team took care of the rest, even if it wasn’t easy.” He gave a short sigh. "My shadow’s have calmed down a lot since then. Less murderous and more of the occasional jab."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa eyed the Shadow with reserve.

"Didn't have an awful lotta trouble with it myself. I was first to have a Blinding Meltdown and among the first to undergo Shadowing, but fer the most part I've kept my head well. My own Shadow mostly just harangued me t'go easier on myself."

A sigh in the air. A dry heat. Static charge.

"There's no good t'be found in lashin' yerself with remorse," growled Sombra, gently, chain-fragments of light orbiting her mane.

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan nodded at Sombra. "Wounds take time to heal, if you keep opening them up, you'll only get sick." The Zeraora scratched his chin, before looking back to Brisa. "Meltdown and first to lose it, that was probably a bit of a mess for everyone present back then, right?" He then gave a small smile. "good on ya for not going completely off the deepend and keeping some semblance of sanity."

Danithan's shadow simply shrugged, but said nothing. It seemed tired if nothing else.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa chuckled. "Nah, I got through it all nice'n clean. Meltdown only hurt me an' one other, an' the Shadowin' was down to one of Giovanni's gizmos. Nobody blamed me fer that one. Since then I've kept my head real nice. Don't seem like it in a vacuum, but compared t'most of us, I've got my head screwed on real tight."

She eyed the other Shadow, and wondered if Sombra remaining in luxray form . . . meant anything.

"We can bear lookin' at hard truths," said Sombra, simply enough.

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan frowned but then smiled. "Fook Giovanni, guy's a fookin bastard for just making those fookin spheres and attempted world domination, and that's just here! Glad your able to keep your sanity."

Danithan's shadow gave a tired chuckle. "There is a difference between looking and understanding, but I think you've got both covered."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa agreed with the expressed sentiments with a quiet, dry smile. Any further response was cut off by the arrival of their food. The sandwich she'd had earlier had gone a ways to filling her up, but Sombra's presence always seemed to improve her appetite, oddly.

I'm just tryin' t'look after ya.

Brisa dipped her head to the zeraora pair across from her. "Pleasure shootin' the breeze with ya. Can't say gettin' t'know ya will last fer long, given our oncomin' departure, but it's . . . oddly helpful. To meet a zeraora who's been as beaten about as I have, y'know?"

She took her drink and quaffed the better part of it. "Enjoy yer food, fella."

Danithan made that electric chuckle of his again, and did as she'd suggested. She'd not meant to take food with a stranger that day, but it had turned out better than expected. Perhaps she'd try giving the time of day to more of the guy's teammates. Before the end.

<><><><><>​

 

[Dragonfree]

This time at the Cauldron, Dave just ordered a burger and a soda. He barely even knew what Cibusian soda tasted like. Would this be any good? Probably fucking not, but whatever.

He turned restlessly to look for a place to sit and eyed Starr alone in a booth. Did he want company? He glanced at the soda. With that as his drink, yeah, probably.

He walked up to her table. "Hey. This seat free?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr glanced up from the video she'd been watching on her badge in between munching on her usual order of hot wings. Huh, it was Dave. Not the person she'd expected (not that she was expecting anyone), but sure, why not.

"Go for it," Starr replied, gesturing to the opposite side of the booth. She kicked her legs up on her own side of the booth and chewed on another wing. "How're things?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave slid into the seat with a sigh, giving the soda a critical look. “Okay. Done with that bullshit show fight. One more grand finale and then we all get to go home. Going to be great having some fucking hands again at least.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr cracked a bit of a grin. "I got pretty lucky with my evolution in that regard," she said, flexing her sauce-covered fingers before grabbing another wing. "Still miss my old body sometimes, though I'm not gonna pretend like I don't enjoy how strong this one is." She chewed for a bit, savoring the spices. "So you're looking forward to going home, then?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"Well, hands'll certainly help. Been missing those." Dave took a critical sip of the soda. It was... fine. Drinkable. "But like I mentioned back when..." He waved a paw. "...whenever we last talked, my world's pretty shit. Hard to look forward to continuing to have to fight tooth and nail to let my kids live a normal fucking life."

He picked up the burger. "Not that it matters anyway. We won't remember any of this. Might as well not have happened."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Mm," Starr replied noncommittally. "Yeah, I guess it's different if you've got something worth doing back home, even if it sucks. Versus someone like Brisa who's got nothing back home worth going back to."

She ran a claw along the wood grain of the table, pensive. "But I guess... after the memory bullshit Owen's gone through, I dunno if I buy the idea of just going home and not retaining anything from all this."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave sipped the soda for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "What, as some kind of subconscious thing? 'I swear I was a dog in a past life' shit? Or just magically getting it back one day, becoming convinced you were abducted to another planet by a shadow being and probably getting written off as a lunatic? Hell, I'd write myself off as a fucking lunatic."