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Riley stiffened imperceptibly, for the briefest moment. Mentoring under Red? I wasn't aware she was offering mentorships for students considering.. Perhaps discussion of Red's current state wasn't the kind of lighthearted topic meant for a New Years dance. So she brushed it aside, and shook her head. Have you been learning well from her? I take it then, you are going to follow on that dream of yours to become a bogeyman. No, I dare say, to become the best bogeyman. Her eyes crinkled with pride. I expect nothing less from you.

She spent a moment in silence, as she considered the consequences of Mot becoming a boogeyman. I wonder. Truly, just curiosity. But, you will be the hand of the law, one day. What will you do if you must come up against someone you once cared for? Someone you once respected? If Hel were brought in for some discrepancy, for example. Or, She did not pause a beat, despite the way her inflection changed. If you were ordered to say, bring me down. That is the correct terminology, I believe?

Mot's answer pleased her more than she could have ever hoped to express to him. Her facial structure looked as if she would have been grinning, if she could have. Oh yes, Mot. Yes. You can truly be anything you want to be, even as a boogey, or a reaper. You control every move in your game, and every step down a path of your choosing. It pleases me to hear you say that. She took control of their movements with a subtle shift in lead. I look forward to seeing what choices you make, as time goes by. I will endeavor not to lose touch with you, either.

Her expression faltered. Ah, but that is presumptuous. Of course I will not coerce you into keeping contact with me. Even if your life leads you away, I will instead try my best to keep an ear turned in your direction.

Her hand lifted off his shoulder, and brushed back his hair quietly. I have no idea what the future holds, for any of us. It's a strange new feeling, for me.

He could only smile as he guided Yin over towards the tree, eager to write down his own wish, even if he hadn't quite managed to think of what exactly he wanted to wish for. It seemed like, at this moment in time, everything he could possibly want was already his, and no matter where the twists and turns in his unlife's path might take him, he was not quite so nervous as he had been only a couple of months before.

Yin was making a very obvious attempt to hide what he was writing, and Alex did not try to force a peek at the words on his paper, merely glancing over at him once while snatching up his own paper and pencil, to see that the other boil had his hands cupped around whatever it was he was writing. The zomboil himself shrugged it off mentally, though there was definitely amusement plain in his eyes and in his smile as he bent over his paper, stopping with his pencil on top of it while he thought over what to put.

Eventually, something came to him, and he began to write.

Dear Wishing Tree:
I wish... for all those who I've come to know, love, and cherish in various ways, to find as much happiness in their lives as they can possibly hold.
From: Alexander

It was corny as hell, but that was pretty much par for the course when Alexander was involved. He didn't feel he needed anything for himself, and though it had been tempting to wish for the cafeteria to serve brain casserole every day for a week as their special, this just seemed a little more fitting.

"All done?" He asked, turning towards Yin. A dumb question, really, as the weremantis was standing their with no paper in front of him or pencil in hand, his wish already adhered to the tree.

"Well in that case, how about a dance?" He had to have expected this from his bonded by now. "And then we can go, if you want. I don't think I'm really needed for anything else, tonight."

The reaper smiled. "I love letters. I look forward to writing you many of them." As much as he loved his phone, letter felt more intimate, and gave him time to ponder carefully what he wished to say. Writing was an art form to him.

She mentioned the Red Kingdom, and his heart jumped. The reason they'd fallen away from one another happened to be that heated moment of rage. Mot's lips tightened, afraid to put her off in some way. However, she was the one who'd brought it up. "Curious?" He asked cautiously. "I mean... it wasn't us, after all. Simply entities that resembled our form."

"B...because... I wasn't the one in charge." Mot said, trying to sort his opinion on the philosophical matter. "The other Mot spoke to me in a dream. He is why I know of it at all. Therefore, that other Mot wasn't me."

Riley thought Mot's explanation was concise, and made perfect sense. The only problem was that it played at a direct intersection with what she'd hoped for. She wasn't as worried about the woman she'd been in Red Kingdom, despite that being the main topic of conversation. It was who she was now, that mattered.

And who she was now, was in charge.

In charge. She repeated thoughtfully. In charge of your.. what? Body? Mind? Soul? And where were you, when it all happened? You certainly weren't destroyed, since you're here again, with me now. But if you were no longer in charge of.. some part of yourself, then where did you go?

Riley had all but stopped dancing. If she moved, it was the gentle sway of someone who remembered she was supposed to be moving. But for the most part, she was deeply lost in trying to riddle out the mystery of existence. Then, let me come at the question a different way. You told me you spoke to the person that controlled you, during our stint in the Kingdoms. Did he have any idea where he came from? Her hands clutched, just slightly, against Mot's shoulders. More importantly, how did you resolve the fact that he would no longer exist, now that you have returned to your proper senses?

She sucked in a deep breath through her tentacles, and two of her claws pressed up gently against Mot's temples. Or is he still there, somewhere?

He merged with you. Until Mot said those simple words, Riley had not even entertained the idea that merging was possible. Little did she know, she wouldn't be given much of a choice. Strange, I did not merge with mine. I think that was for the best, in all honesty. She was never meant to survive past that world. She bore weaknesses and insecurities that I could never harbor. But she's dead now. Her eyes crinkled slightly at the edges. For the best on several levels. You know, I would not have admitted it then, but now there are bigger issues at hand, than those of a world long past. So it does not pain me to admit that I think she was falling in love with your counterpart, in that world. If she had merged with me, who knows what would have happened. Riley brushed the back of a claw against his cheek. So. Among other things, I surely saved you from a very different fate.

But as she spoke of it, it was clear that she had no question what would have happened if she'd actually wanted Mot for her own. She was simply letting him know that he'd been saved from that particular acquisition; not allowing for the idea that it wouldn't have occurred.

So with great amusement, she teased, What a terrible fate, indeed.