Heyyyyyyyy, if it isn't my favorite hero! Don't tell the kid I said that.
Uaanta had been hard at work in her garden when she heard the familiar voice. Pushing the brim of her sunhat back, she took a good look and was unsurprised to see none other than Notha Ly'ehr swaggering through the gate like she owned the place.
Well, if nothing else, she had to admire the woman's confidence and... "By the Makers," Force of habit, but at her age, who could begrudge it, "How'd you get so much younger? Did yeh die again?"
"I'm an idiot. Sea elves dont sleep. Abyssal elves don't sleep. The clones develop souls and personalities by being awake. I've wronged you. I've wronged you. I've wronged you--"
She keeps saying this but you're going to need context. Hello spiral my old friend.
Remthalas understood maybe half of what Notha was saying at the moment. The first half to be clear, but once she got to saying something about clones-
His eyes went wide and worried. Souls. How had he never considered that?
"Notha," Gently, carefully; he held her hands, twining his fingers between hers. Her hands shook, almost as cold as his own.
"Breathe, slowly. Come on, in and out like we practiced. Listen to me. How many are there? We'll focus on that first."
_
[It's okay. it's okay. You don't have to do this.]
[Not this time.]
[It'll be okay. I'm okay.]
Mini-Key's friendly little notification chime actually snapped him out of his panic for a moment. The real Lock and Key were, presumably, doing something else, but in that moment he could've sang their praises for coming up with the idea in the first place.
And he could tell it was Notha, well and truly Notha, speaking through the fog.
He had a choice now. He could turn around.
[We're almost there. Can you see me? I think I see you up ahead.]
[Make a noise if you can.]
"Lock and Key managed to make a connection. She's still in there, we-we still have time."
This had happened before. This would happen again. And again, and again, and again,a̸͕̻̱̺̍̊̈́͛̅̕n̵̘͇̞̰̫̟̽d̸̲̯̀͜ ̵̩͖̪̘͔̺̥̎̍̋̿͒͝a̴̭̹̖̖̅g̷͓͈̳͈̰̀͗̀̆̀͋̚͜ả̸̼͒̈͘i̷̭̝̒̀͛̋͋͜͝ͅn̶̲͎͖̥̉̌̀̃͠
Why do you continue to r̵̨̧̢̛̺̝̯̲͇̲͖̱̈́̄̓̌̃̈̒́́̿̽̒͒̈́̐ę̸̭̺̺̱̬̙̳̣̬͓͉͚͌̎̇̃̀̄̈̄̈́̐̅͗́͆S'į̶̮̫͖͍͚̗̳̪̳̗͔̦̣̺̋̾̈́́́̃̄̕̕ͅͅs̴̢̨̻̜̯̦̙͓̖̒̏̋̈́̊͂̎̈́́̌̈́͘͠ţ̷̢̛̫̹̤͕̖̑͊?̶̢͈̪͓̝̼̌̆
That's not a bad thing. In my captivity, the thought of you was what kept me going.
"Your captivity?"
Remthalas tilt his head in confusion. He still didn't quite trust his memory fully right now, but he remembered as far back as when they were trapped in the mask together.
But then, Notha had her own life to live; there was still the possibility...
"I get the feeling you don't mean the time we were trapped in the mask."
Dave squeaks at you excitedly. He's got something in his hands to show you. He opens his hands. That's a fucking Mantis shrimp. WHO GAVE THE BOY A SHRIMP THAT CAN PUNCH GOD?! You know who. Very beautiful, very powerful.
Remthalas's immediate gut response was to scream. It was by some miracle that he managed to get by with a worried squeak instead.
"Dave," He said, still internally panicking. The shrimp seemed calm but Remthalas didn't trust that one bit, even as he crouched down dangerously close to the shrimp with a large, heavy bowl. "That's not for eating. Or for playing. Could you put it in here? That's a bad shrimp. Very bad shrimp. You don't want bad shrimp, right?"
That shrimp definitely seemed to know what was up. Come to think of it, had Remthalas ever tried putting a shrimp to sleep before? Putting it to sleep might be the safest thing to do. Especially if it was one of those elementally charged mantis shrimp. Especially because it was giving him the stink-eye.
