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 Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:50 am
(backdated to May 31th, 2021)
He stepped through the mirror, something he must have done dozens and dozens of times by now. But Narcissus had never tried to stop himself in Mirrorspace. He’d been into the strange pocket dimension before, with Kibriev and Chip, and the Eternal girl had even told him he wouldn’t be able to do so on his own until he was stronger, so- No reason to try if nothing was going to happen? He didn’t want to be the one who tested and exerted the limitations of what he should be doing with these powers.
But he thought about it this time. He thought about stopping there, in Mirrorspace. On his own. The Guardian Gremlin had done whatever magic cats had access to and unlocked additional potential in Narcissus’ starseed. Or so he said.
Nothing had felt immediately different, and he hadn’t looked immediately different.
But as the familiar coolness of passing through a mirror swept over him, there was an added something there. A little spark, a little tingle that traveled like a ripple from his chest and down his arms, out his fingers. Before they could pass out the other side, Narcissus thought, ’this was the moment.’ Now he could stop himself in Mirrorspace.
And they did. When they exited the mirror, it was in Mirrorspace’s common room, a place Narcissus had seen only twice. But even seeing it once would be enough to know that he was successful this time. It was unmistakable. As was the swish of longer fabric at his thighs. The drapes that had fallen from his shoulders hung on him like a sort of long toga, now. Narcissus shot Gremlin a nervous little smile, grateful, fingers curling in the added length as he tried to turn his head to look at the Guardian on his shoulder.
“You really did it. R-really upgraded me… And…” And Narcissus had really done it- Really got them to Mirrorspace, where he could actually build something reminiscent of his own world… And maybe Mirrorspace would help him stabilize his magic, if it was so necessary to his well-being.
He just had to… figure out how.
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:51 am
He’d never been inside of Mirrorspace before. Never wanted to be in Mirrorspace, and frankly, Gremlin still felt pretty strongly about that. A low, snarling rumble reverberated out of Gremlin’s throat, and it didn’t quite stop as Narcissus stepped through the mirror. He knew the Dark Mirror Court used mirrors as teleportation devices, knew they could trap unsuspecting victims inside of them to drain energy, knew they could “pause” inside of one like it was a world of its own. But he didn’t know hardly anything else about them beyond that. They had no Metallia or planetary power fueling them. They only had the Mirror.
What did it want? Did anyone know? Gremlin doubted it. This worthless senshi was probably just as clueless as he was, and the unsuspecting boy seemed careless and stupid. The Mirror didn’t even protect its own senshi from the backlash of their magic! How could Gremlin even begin to be comfortable here? It almost wasn’t even worth the bribe Rakovanite promised.
Almost.
Gremlin didn’t know what to expect of inside of the mirror. A topsy-turvy domain with no up or down. Probably floaty. It didn’t seem like it should be a place anyone could exist in, but here they were, in a room lined with mirrors and hallways, a set of large white doors at one end, and a huge golden mirror at the other.
Gremlin’s whiskers twitched. He kneaded his claws into the fabric of Narcissus’ hood to try and settle himself where he sat perched along the other boy’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I know I did it. You think I’m a liar or something?” He snapped. But even Gremlin had to curb the worst of his insults. It was definitely him who was the trespasser here. “This place even look familiar?” He demanded in a hushed hiss. They had to pass through a mirror to let Mirrorspace actually grant the powers Gremlin had unlocked for the senshi, but he didn’t know what they were expecting out of the process- there was a lot he didn’t know. “Do you feel any better, yet? Whatever you have to do, just hurry up with it so we can get out of here.”
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:57 am
“I-I’ve been here before,” Narcissus whispered, ringing his hands in front of him as his magenta gaze flickered toward the white doors- beyond which was where he’d first been introduced to his powers- and then the golden mirror- through which he’d never been, but knew that Mirrorscape lie beyond. “I’ve just never been able to go, myself- b-but now I can! I did!” He should be proud of that, shouldn’t he? He was allegedly stronger, more capable now..
His head still rang with a tension migraine. His heart still hurt, no matter what the Guardian had done for him. So there was probably more, yet, he needed to do. And it was rude to keep Gremlin waiting.
He inhaled, straightened his shoulders, and looked to the golden mirror. “We’ll go to Mirrorscape,” he whispered to Gremlin. If that was where “his domain” was, the place he’d be able to craft for himself into whatever he wanted, that was surely where he’d be the safest. It would be a place that resonated with him- Maybe not like his senshi world, but Narcissus trusted Mirrorspace to do what was right for him.
It was the source of his abilities. He had to trust it, else he shouldn’t be risking using this magic, at all.
“Okay, okay. That’s what we should do- that’s what we h-have to do.”
What else could he expect to help him with this poisoning…? If the Mauvian was so sure it was his own powers, and Mirrorspace had given him these powers. The solution was here. It was all Narcissus could think of. He stepped toward the golden mirror and slipped through it, emerging on a plot of grass-filled earth with a dark citadel towering overhead.
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 10:09 am
Nothing made him want to go deeper into Mirrorspace! Gremlin didn’t know what he’d expected by agreeing to come on this little excursion (though probably that Narcissus would photosynthesize energy from Mirrorspace by just being there), but it was supposed to be an in-and-out situation! From the goodness of his heart, he’d agreed to go with this ******** disgusting Mirror rat so that he’d feel better, and now Gremlin was being dragged all around this parasitic pocket dimension?
He snarled softly, shooting the boy a grimace with all his snaggly teeth exposed.
“I’m not being paid to hang around here forever, and I’m not following you around through all the mirrors you’ve never been through! This isn’t exploration central. So you’re gonna take me right back. Right-” The Mirror boy didn’t even pretend to be interested in what Gremlin wanted, and didn’t bother to ask if the Mauvian was comfortable with all these shenanigans before he stepped through the golden mirror, and Gremlin’s demands trailed off in an agitated hiss. “...now...”
Now what? Now what? Gremlin was practically shaking with rage as he glared at the dark citadel before them. He couldn’t leave without this <******** stupid, inconsiderate brat, and if he tried to go alone, the world would probably swallow him up and drain his energy or trap him forever. ********- <******** area was nice enough, but Gremlin knew better than to think it was all like this!
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 10:53 am
Even though he’d never been, Narcissus had an inkling of where he needed to go and what he needed to do to make it to “his” realm. Maybe Kibirev had spoken of it. Maybe he’d seen it fluttering along the outskirts of his vision through the mirrors. Maybe it was just instinctive, something that came with accessing his magic like this. Maybe it was just that there was already a path across the grass before him, and why would it be there if not to follow?
As he strode over stone, he couldn’t help but think that this was a remarkably nice set-up. Had the mirror built it for them? Or maybe the Royals had willed it into existence so that everyone else could feel comfortable…
The grass, the trees, the benches… they seemed so normal.
But Gremlin didn’t think so. Gremlin was clawing his nails through Narcissus’ shoulder and hissing out impatient demands, and clearly feeling like the agreed-upon compensation was quickly losing its value. “N-no, it’s okay?” Narcissus tried hesitantly. “I’ll get you something too, on top of the meal Rakovanite promised you. Maybe like- a cute sweater? Or something shiny?” He didn’t know what grouchy Mauvians liked. “Or more food? A-anything you want, of course… Because I really appreciate that you were willing to come with me… To help me, uhm, “stabilize” from being- uh- like this…”
Even begrudgingly. Narcissus suspected that everything Gremlin did was begrudgingly. “Nothing w-will get you, I promi- rrrrm.” He hoped it was a promise he was capable of keeping, but there was an undefined and large chance that Narcissus had no idea what was going on here and could protect someone from none of it, so… Better not say what he couldn’t be sure of.
He swallowed, scratched his neck, tried to make it like he was going to give the cat a reassuring pet, but thought better of it. Focused ahead.
When they entered the Citadel, there was just one round mirror on the floor. One more portal for them to pass through, and then it would just… be a matter of figuring out what to do from there- and then they could leave! Or maybe they should leave before that, if Gremlin was uncomfortable. Narcissus probably didn’t need the cat with him now that he could feel that his Super magic was just there, under the surface.
But he didn’t feel better, yet, and he couldn’t continue to go stumbling around the city, around his job without trying to resolve things. The Mauvian had said earlier, while they were back in the city, that he could “feel” the magic poisoning him. He’d been too old when he was awakened, and then he hadn’t been all that great at being a senshi, and now the magic was festering for an outlet.
He stepped up onto the circular mirror, and willed it to take him where it bid.
This time they appeared, for a terrifyingly heart-wrenching second, somewhere that may as well have been nowhere. There was no grass, no towers, no trees, no castle- he’d almost expected to see a plane that had looked like Narcissus of the past, but this was just- nothing. A plod of land made of white, silty dirt, and they were alone-
But the mirror was still beneath him, and in the distance, across his tiny patch of land and over a vast crevice, he could see the Dark Citadel. They were still in Mirrorscape.
And this was just… his “world.” His realm, unbuilt.
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:53 pm
He wasn’t happy, but he didn’t have any options, either. Part of him thought that if he tried to attack Mirror rat for his ******** bullshit insubordination- dragging Gremlin along when he didn’t want to go any farther- would just anger the Mirror, and then all those terrible things he was afraid of would happen on the spot.
“I’m expecting substantial compensation for all this emotional damage you- and Rakovanite- are putting me through. Three-course, hot meals for a month. Maybe I’ll demand to sleep in a real, whole bed, all to myself. You can sleep on the floor, and when I ask for a midnight snack, you’ll get up and get it. That sounds fair, I think.” If he made it out unscathed. That implied that he intended to spend another second with Narcissus once this was over, and he absolutely didn’t, but Rakovanite would probably be less receptive to this new deal…
He puffed out an irritable spit and turned on Narcissus’ shoulder, sticking his head into the back of the senshi’s hood and coiling up where he sat. None of this was anything he needed to be a part of, anyway.
“Just get it done, whatever it is, and don’t expect any help from me, either.”
Especially given where they’d landed. A wasteland of nothing. Gremlin was going to hope that if he checked out for a while, everything would be fine when he came to. A quick nap to center himself, and then they’d be back in Destiny City, and he’d get all the snacks he was promised. Hot food, and a bed, and that sweater too…
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 3:08 pm
Indigo_Plateau Surprise, it was a Narci solo all along.
He had no idea what now.
Walk the perimeter, stumbling along through the dirt while his head pounded and he felt nauseous? What would that accomplish? There was nothing to see here. His realm wasn’t anything because he hadn’t made it into anything. He’d hoped it would just- be a place that could help him, but… What a foolish thought!
With a resigned sort of pout, Narcissus slipped to the ground. Just for a moment. Just one second to shut his eyes against his headache and try and decide what he was supposed to do now.
He hated feeling like this! If he’d known there was such a risk to him because he was old, maybe he wouldn’t have agreed to go through the Mirror in the first place! This senshi magic- it didn’t mean to him what it meant to other people. His powers weren’t a part of his identity and life satisfaction like they were for someone like Rakovanite. Narcissus could be happy to not be a senshi. He could be happy to just do what he’d always planned and be a doctor and help people that way!
But the senshi of Narcissus… It didn’t even sound like a pleasant person, did it? Narcissus was someone selfish and inconsiderate. No empathy and no compassion. Basyl didn’t want that. He wanted less what he’d seen in his memories: memories of a past a millennia ago, where the person who’d had his starseed- his same starseed! Had used his magic to manipulate and hurt and draw people to die for him. How could Basyl want to be part of that? How could he want to use this awful magic? The few times he had, he’d seen how it made people feel valueless and unwanted…
Narcissus pulled his knees up to his chest and lay his forehead on top of them, gritting his teeth as the pounding in his head suddenly felt very present. Impossible to ignore.
He didn’t want this. It would ruin everything! How was he supposed to work when he could barely freaking stand sometimes?
All because of stupid magic…
And now he was getting worked up and stressed about it when there was still no solution. Gremlin had told Narcissus not to ask for help, but a Mauvian’s advice would surely be the most useful thing he could hope to have right now. He gave his shoulder the tiniest little waggle- but he was being selfish trying to rouse Gremlin. The Guardian clearly didn’t want to be here and was frightened, even.
They should leave. Narcissus would forget about powering up for now, go home, and go to bed.
He uncurled himself, touched his hands to the powdery, silty earth, and angled to push himself to his feet when he felt it, something sturdy and stony- No, glassy. His fingers hovered over the soft, white soil, and then dug down, hardly more than an inch. Narcissus recognized the item he pulled from the ground: a shimmery glass vial, filled with golden liquid.
It was what he’d used last time, to see a memory of his old self…
And here it was again. Mirrorscape had provided a source to answer his inquiries, just as he’d hoped… Even though Narcissus didn’t really like his past self, that boy knew much more than Basyl did. Past Narcissus had already showed him once how to unlock magic inexplicably innate that Basyl didn’t know what to call it…
Narcissus brushed pale dirt from the glass. He uncorked the lid and touched the jar to his lips, briefly, hesitantly, and then downed the liquid in one swallow.
”Do you think anyone wants this?”
The words were almost visceral as they ran through Narcissus’ mind, accompanied by the vision of a girl, a woman- One from the memory he’d had last time, maybe. An attendant? She was glaring at him, and her tone was anything but kind.
”You think this is how we want to live? No one asked for this! But what else is there to do? What are we supposed to do when the world doesn’t produce what we need to survive?” Maybe, just maybe, Narcissus could detect a tiny bit of accusation in her voice. That… would be reasonable, wouldn’t it? He was the senshi of this world, its protector. If something was wrong with it, who’s fault could it be but his own?
He sank deeper into the water: a small pool lined in marble and bordered by towering columns, as he scrunched himself down so that his nose only barely poked free enough for him to breathe.
At the lack of encouraging response, the woman stormed over, sloshing through the clear water before flouncing down next to him on the underwater step. “If you’ve got some other suggestion to offer, I’m sure the council would be open to hearing you out.” There was a short hesitation, as if waiting, or maybe thinking, and then, “But we’ve tried everything we can think of… Crops won’t grow, all the vegetation is dying. There’s nothing to hunt. There’s nothing to slaughter… When it only affected distant islands and far-off natives, it was one thing, but it’s here now.” She gave a little twist of her fingers through the water, lifting brown sediment and the husks of seaweeds long expired.
The senshi drew his arms close to his chest, curling his fingers together before sliding his palms up and over his chin and across his face. He sat up the tiniest, marginal amount. “I don’t have any other solution. What if there just isn’t one? ‘Time, time, time,’ is what everyone keeps saying. ‘Just survive until the bad cycle is through. Everything will come back.’”
“But what if it doesn’t?” Narcissus demanded quietly. “If it never ends, then we’ve just been… killing our own people for nothing. If it never ends, and we’re all doomed, anyway, wouldn’t it be better to just… end in peace?”
The woman, Aeri, gave him a skeptical look. “And you could convince people of that?”
“...No.” Obviously not. This had all been born of starvation, and even Narcissus couldn’t tell people to simply accept death and cause no more problems. His people were obligate carnivores. They couldn’t survive off of grains and vegetation. But there were no herds, no fish, no flocks. Insects, even, were becoming scarce. When all of that was gone, all that was left was… low class Astoci. A starving man would eat anything, even his own brethren.
Narcissus hadn’t known what to do for them. There’d been riots, massacres, blatant slaughtering. Anything, anything to not be starving.
What they’d decided upon was only ‘controlled murder.’ Astóci volunteers, for whatever the word meant (villages picking their least wanted to send away to appease violent and aggressive nobles), came to Narcissus, because as the protector of the world, it should only be his burden. His hands that were stained. And he used his magic, made them feel appreciated and wanted and willing to die for him.
He could say, ‘Wouldn’t it be better to just kill indiscriminately? Why does class have to matter?’ He probably wouldn’t survive the night- the hour. But he didn’t have a solution because there wasn’t another solution. The world was dying. They didn’t have anything to stop it.
Aeri slipped an arm around his shoulders, drawing Narcissus to her as they sat on the bench in the water, beneath a dark sky.
“If it never comes back, it won’t matter in short order, anyway. Once the rest of the vegetation goes, the Astóci will be in as bad a position as anyone else. Between their own starvation and being picked off… they’ll be gone in a matter of a year or two. And then we will follow. If time doesn’t heal us, we’ll die. That’s all there is to it. So if you can carry these burdens for just a little longer…”
Narcissus shimmied enough away from her to eye the woman. “Was that supposed to be reassuring?”
“Did it sound very reassuring?”
“Not really,” Narcissus lamented.
Aeri scoffed and shrugged her shoulders. “Well, it’s not a very reassuring thought, is it? It’s just where we are. Until something changes, that’s what the future is for us.”
That was what the future was for them. In a way, maybe it was reassuring. There was a definitive end on the horizon. Even if the topic was somber, the struggle wouldn’t be indefinite. It wouldn’t last forever…
Narcissus had felt sick the last time he’d seen a memory. He’d felt violently ill at the thought of his past life using magic- his magic! The magic Basyl had now!- to entice people to death. It was unjustifiable. Basyl couldn’t reconcile the thought of trying to use magic to hurt like that.
He still couldn’t. It was still unacceptable, no matter how pitiable a state the planet was in.
The sickness came, a roiling in his stomach to accompany the pounding in his head, so he slopped to the side, laying on the dirt in his realm in Mirrorscape and screwing his eyes shut and teeth worried at his lip.
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:09 am
Gremlin tumbled from his perch as Narcissus dropped to the earth.
Claws skidding in the dirt, and the Mauvian let out a startled gasp of breath, fearful suction as he hop, hop, hopped like the ground was made of lava. It might’ve been, for all he knew! He’d been afraid of disattaching from Narcissus while they were here, but now he was being toppled onto the ground! “Hey, you stupid brat, watch it!” He spat sharply, scrambling to try and claw himself back to the senshi.
The mirror would consume him, if he didn’t stay close!
He hauled himself up on top of the fallen senshi, taking up a perch on the man’s hip and hooking his claws into fabric for added security and balance. His tail coiled around him, his ears pinned back. He wasn’t going to get eaten by this stupid world?
It was only when the Mauvian looked to the boy’s face, saw his pained expression, that a spike of dread coursed through him. Not for Narcissus, never for Narcissus, but something had gone wrong here, or at least unexpectedly.
“What? What’s the matter with you?” Gremlin demanded curtly. “Stop making that face! If something is up, we should just leave!”
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 6:25 am
Oh, oh, right, Gremlin was still here. Narcissus had almost forgotten where he was and what he was doing with how hard the memory hit him. The guardian tumbled away, and Narcissus immediately reached for him, drawing to scoop Gremlin closer until he perched up on his hip.
His breath trembled when it left his lips. His heart thrummed and ached, and he wanted… Well, he wanted comfort, but he knew better than to ask for that here.
They should leave. That would be the most important priority.
But as he shuffled back to an upright sit, something else fell: a stream of tears down his cheeks. He’d come here to fix himself! He’d come to Mirrorspace to… to reconcile with his magic! To do something to feel better! But he felt worse, even more committed to just giving up on what he was supposed to be. He could surrender his past and whatever role thai starseed had played in it almost without a pause to think of what it could mean to him.
“I-it- It’s… n-nothing,” Narcissus tried to tell Gremlin, the words sputtered and tripped and jerked on his tongue worse than usual. He could barely speak. He just exhaled a stuttered breath and scrapped his sleeve against his eyes.
Except it wasn’t nothing! Gremlin was supposed to help him! He’d agreed.
So more tumbled out, “I c-can’t,” Narcissus said adamantly. “I can’t use this magic. I don’t want to be this senshi. All it is is-is… t-terrible. Everything about this magic- a-and this war, it’s awful. What is it g-good for? And as far as I can tell, it wasn’t ever, ever good. People hurting and hurting and hurting, trying to kill each other just- because? And it d-doesn’t e-end…”
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 1:00 pm
Gremlin’s jowls pulled down as the boy crowded him, and he growled out a discontentment, but he was fine to settle after Narcissus stopped trying to drag on him. He stared, he glowered, he tried to reason with the bullshit nonsense coming out of this senshi’s mouth because for one, he didn’t care about this mirror rat’s problems, and for another-
“Are you a <******** idiot?” Gremlin spat, icy gaze fierce. “First of all, all humans ever do is hurt others. It’s all they’ve ever done, all they’re gonna do. You’re not special in that, so get over it.”
“And secondly, it’s your magic!” He insisted, finding himself lurching to all four paws to prowl up the boy’s hips and glare at his face. “Your body and your planet and your powers. What do you care what anyone else did with it before you? Why are you trying to act like something from a thousand years ago is what you have to do now? Nobody can force you to use them how you don’t want to. Quit being such a conceited little s**t, blaming other people and crying- waaah, everyone is mean! Get over it, you disgusting, worthless rat, and decide for yourself what to make of your powers. You can’t give them back, and you can’t ignore them, so you better figure out how to live with them.”
A huff of a sigh escaped his lips, tickling his whiskers as it went, and he tried to calm the immediate rile that came with being around humans. He stood on the boy, still leery of losing contact with him, but Gremlin glared down at him, now. “You are all whiny and pitiful,” he hissed. “Ungrateful. Ungrateful for powers most could never have. Ignoring a calling that few are even able to answer. That makes you sick? You make me sick.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 1:47 pm
“I-I make…?”
This cat was practically screaming at him. It was all Narcissus could do to stare through owlishly wide magenta eyes as the Mauvian paced up the length of him and snarled in his face.
All he’d ever wanted to do was provide a service. For his entire life, Basyl had only imagined that if he put all of himself into his medical studies, that would be the greatest goal he could achieve. That would be the most he could do to help anyone: have the knowledge to try and save people when they were hurt or sick.
This senshi thing? It had thrown a little bit of a wrench in that. A doctor probably should not be out fighting monsters. No amount of knowledge would help him cure someone who’s curse was magical in nature.
But he didn’t know how to contend with the unique type of hurt brought on by a war like this. Not just to one side, but they were all… everyone involved was a victim to some degree, though he hated to think of it like that. And he knew most people he met wouldn’t like to hear it from him, either. But it was just true. They were all hurting at the hands of cosmic forces well beyond anyone’s control.
He’d wanted to ignore it. It was easier to ignore it, save for the scattering of forays he took to energy drain. Because that was supposed to… help his court, somehow- help maintain the world, this world, for their use…
But he wanted to ground himself in the ‘real’ and ‘normal,’ even though he lived through a terrifying world where a monster preyed on them, and a green-haired young man clung to him and was hurting. How could he decide that wasn’t something that needed his help? Even if it wasn’t ‘normal…’
“It feels in-nately evil, mean,” he whispered to Gremlin. That magic that was ‘his,’ that couldn’t be taken from him, the only objective it could possibly have was to ruin someone. Ruin someone so much that they wanted to die for him.
Narcissus didn’t want that…
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 2:21 pm
This guy was freaking unbearable. Whiny and pitiful and a complete mess just flopped all over the dirt like a useless child. But Gremlin did want out of here at some point in the very near future, so they had to get over this s**t.
“Look, I’m sorry it’s not what you want,” Gremlin scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “I’m sorry it’s not a rain of flower petals or some s**t that makes people feel good, but you. Are in. A war. If you’re out here thinking that there won’t be reasons to hurt someone to help a lot of someones, than you’re stupid and useless.” He hadn’t seen Narcissus’ magic, and hadn’t seen Narcissus’ memory, but Gremlin didn’t think it took a rocket scientist to infer that a senshi with a sphere like ‘Rejection’ probably wasn’t winning awards for friendliest and most helpful.
He stalked close again, settled himself on the boy’s chest, directly in front of his face. “For what it’s worth, you seem like one of the least awful humans I’ve come into contact with. Your whole race is uniquely bad, but a blubbering mess is better than a serial abuser, I guess.”
“You just have to figure out how to use your magic in a way that benefits your goals. If you don’t, if you keep ignoring it, you’ll feel worse and worse. Maybe it’ll kill you. Maybe it’ll get rid of you so that it can pass on to someone more receptive. Why don’t you think about that? If you’re not using it to help your end, it’ll find someone who will, and I figure not everyone will be so noble.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 2:28 pm
It wasn’t what he wanted. Narcissus pinched his tongue between his teeth, scraped his fingers into the dirt beneath him, tried to hold onto that sound threatening to tear its way out of his throat because none of this was what he wanted.
But it was what he had. It was what he was stuck with.
Basyl could like at his powered life and think of it only as a curse, but if he took a second to think about it, if he looked back on the memories he had, he had to assume that that Narcissus, the one from a thousand years ago- he’d been hurting too. He was just a young boy who didn’t know how to do what was best, but he was trying what he thought would be helpful. Not an evil person, just trapped. Trapped on a dying world where its inhabitants were scrounging for survival through any means necessary.
Well, Basyl definitely didn’t want that, either.
His gaze trailed from his fingers in the dirt, across his barren realm and out to the citadel in the distance. He couldn’t see the grass and the trees and the benches that surrounded the tower, but he knew they were there.
What was there to do, except follow the path he thought was right? Ignore the magic, let it ruin not just his powered life, but his civilian life. Let it take everything he’d worked so hard for because he wouldn’t be able to focus through the pain. Do nothing. Become nothing. Serve no one. Or just… figure out something else. Figure out how to exist with this, how to make use of his magic. Gremlin was a mean and crotchety thing, but he wasn’t wrong.
Basyl had to figure this out. Be useful, because that was all he’d ever wanted to do.
“S-sorry, Gremlin,” he whispered as the Mauvian continued to glare at him. “Y’you’re right… Of course you’re right. You w-would know best. You would know what to do.” He started to push into a sit, using one arm to prop himself up while the other moved to cradle Gremlin to keep him from falling. “We’ll go back,” he promised softly. There was nothing else to do in Mirrorscape right at this second. “And I’ll-” He didn’t know what he’d do.
“Well, I’ll work on it. I’ll try to do what you s-said…”
And because there had been a brief lull in immediate hostilities, Narcissus spared a quick and daring second to snap the Guardian close to his chest, smearing his face against Gremlin’s gratefully as he began to make his way back toward the mirror and toward home.
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