discordia/avaritia | monarch is typing...

[ourtomorrow]

I haven't met many of you. My name is Monarch. I struck the final blow against Esme.

[ He can say that, right? It's a fact. Lion and Ruin did so much - but the one with no choice but to do it had been Monarch. ]

By that point, she had turned into a monster. But when I hit her for the last time, I gained memories. Not mine, but hers.

Esme had a sibling. Lapis. It's Lapis we saw on screens in the Underside. Esme and Lapis were chasing a dream of stardom together, but in the end, only Lapis was chosen. Esme couldn't accept that. She'd hated Lapis since Lapis was born. Esme died full of those feelings.

One instance isn't enough to build a theory upon, but as we search for the Authority of this Layer, people should be aware this occurred. It's possible other Authorities will become monstrous when confronted and we'll regain their memories. It's also possible Esme chose to show me specifically for other reasons, but if so, that's something that might happen to others, as well.

Thanks for your time.

[ And - sent.

Those patrolling Avaritia on their quest for information may find one (1) small boy hiding in an alley spying on the business district. He keeps moving like he wants to check his phone and then stopping his hand. ]

Comments

[twibeast]

Remembered more? You mean of your own memories or...?

[ He could be referring to what he saw of Esme's memories, but Beast's intuition is telling him that's not it. That there's more to this whole conversation than just Esme's whole deal. ]

[ourtomorrow]

[ WHOOPS guess he's admitting to this. probably for the best though. ]

Yes. My memories...resemble hers. So I worried.

But I don't have enough information, do I? People are complex.

[ Family especially so.

The boy, he try. ]

[twibeast]

Ah. I see.
I can understand why it would make you worry. But yes, just as you said you don't have quite enough information yet. Your relationship could have been entirely different than what you saw with hers.

Would you like to talk about it? It doesn't have to be here.

[ourtomorrow]

I don't know.

[ He's sorry that's so little. He's trying to figure out what he DOES want, what he can ask without being an imposition. He doesn't know a thing about Beast-san's past either, after all! What if this whole time, he's been shoving himself on people who are dealing with worse? ]

[twibeast]

[ Oh Monarch hun... ]

That's all right. You don't have to.
But please know that if you do decide you want to I will always be here and willing to listen. About anything in fact. It doesn't matter what it is.

[ourtomorrow]

[ Monarch has, at least, reached the level of his concerns about this where it's people offering to help with them, and not the concerns themselves, that completely choke him up. He swallows, even though nobody can see him, it's texting. ]

Thanks.

[ And then, to reassure both of them: ]

I don't regret stopping her.

[twibeast]

Good. You shouldn't.
Even though it was hard, I feel like it was right not just for us but for her as well. Staying as she was in this place I don't think would be a good thing in the long run. If she was so willing to hurt others to get what she wanted then she would likely hurt herself eventually too.
Maybe now she'll have a chance to start over and work through her issues this time.

[ourtomorrow]

[ People who hurt others also hurt themselves. Monarch will remember that. It won't change his desire to stop those people, though - in fact, it does make their task more urgent. This is a place where people are supposed to learn from their pasts.

Plus.... ]

Could that be why we don't have memories? So we can start over?

[ Unburdened by who they were, they get to choose who they end up being. That's - hm. No proof, but it's sure a thought! ]

[twibeast]

[ Oh huh... he'd never thought about it like that before. ]

Perhaps! It is rather rare for a spectre to become like us so maybe there could be some truth to the idea.

[ a pause ]

Or maybe it's to protect us.

[ Oh now HE'S the one typing things and sending them before he's even realized what he just said. oops. ]

local boy with tragic past slowly realizing EVERYONE HERE has a tragic past

[ourtomorrow]

From ourselves, you mean?

[ Monarch also has very little difficulty believing that.

Then he starts wondering about the implications of that for all parties concerned. ]

8)))

[twibeast]

[ It occurs to him now that maybe he shouldn't have said that but... to late now. ]

Sort of, yes.

Not all memories are happy ones after all.

[ourtomorrow]

[ In retrospect, really, the whole "we're all in Purgatory" thing makes this make a lot more sense. Though... ]

So we're given a chance to see who we could be without them.

[ He still has a core self, doesn't he? As does everyone here. No one here is identified by a vacuum. Monarch has been feeling like he doesn't understand himself because he doesn't know why he reacts to things the way he does, but....but there's something down there no amnesia could take away, isn't there?

What kind of person is "Monarch", not just was "Monarch"? What kind of person is, not just was, "Beast"? ]