Almost Like Somebody Else is There
Blue’s lucky the ludonarrative dissonance isn’t strong, or else he’d be having more problems.
Moon Blossom week - Change Moon Blossom au belongs to @somebodyalreadytookthis2
It was subtle enough that Blue hadn’t noticed it at first, but as his time as part of this adventure went on it became harder to miss and ignore. The first time he’d experienced it was long before he’d first actually noticed it. It was the first time he met Cross actually. Cross had been against him joining and was trying to talk him out of it, so when he eventually agreed to let Blue join, the pastel pink that tinted his right eye and the way his speech changed just slightly were completely missed in Blue’s small celebration.
He probably wouldn’t have noticed the strange moments where Cross just didn’t seem to be fully himself for even longer than it had already taken him to notice if it weren’t for Ink. The first few times they’d met Ink, Cross would say he didn’t want something from the merchant, but seemed to get talked into buying it in the end anyway. So it all seemed relatively normal. He’d caught glimpses of a pink colour in Cross’s right eye, but always thought it was some trick of the light.
“Look, this is a key item. Not like item management is a problem, but this is one you need and thus won’t have to dig as much for,” Ink had stated, his eyes looking somewhere beyond both Blue and Cross. Blue had begun to turn to look to see if somebody else was there, but he only turned far enough to see Cross’s face and his right eye had been something between a faded red and a dusty pink while he paid without any more complaints.
When asking Cross about the strange encounter, Cross had been confused. He didn’t remember buying it, and was sure Blue had given in to pay for the thing himself. That made Blue concerned about his new friend and travelling companion. If it had just been for random seemingly mundane decisions, he probably would have let it go, but now that he was aware of it he easily began to notice that it didn’t stop there.
Cross would act and speak differently whenever his eye light left its white colour behind for anything from pink to a vibrant red. Normally he’d find it just as easy to get lost and confused in the castle as the rest of the group, but when his eye light changed colour he had a higher chance of going the right way or picking out the solution to a puzzle. Some encounters with demons kept the white light, but when facing one of the demon lords, Cross’s eye light had gone the most vivid red Blue had seen from him. That fight had Cross doing things Blue wasn’t sure he’d be able to replicate once the colour left. Sure enough, when asked about the fight, Cross couldn’t recall the specifics of it.
It was by accident that he’d realized that the same thing happened to Dream some times as well. The whole thing was harder to notice for Dream physically as his eye lights would both change to a lighter yellow that had a bit of a peachy colour in it as well. Strangely enough, the behaviour he picked up when acting strangely matched Cross’s strange behaviour. The same mannerisms in speaking with some of their actions even lining up to match.
As he kept notes on the similarities between the two, he began to wonder if somehow Nightmare’s supposed ailment was similar to this. The only problem with that theory was that Nightmare would vanish during the time his memory failed him, whereas the other two would stick around. There was also the fact that the two would remember the gist of what had happened even if specifics didn’t line up, whereas Nightmare had holes.
Eventually, Blue got fed up with knowing nothing. He knew barely anything, Nightmare knew less than him, and Cross and Dream somehow knew even less. It was frustrating and he wanted answers. So, he went to the only person he figured might have them.
Ink was lounging in his shop that was luckily still in the same spot Blue could remember last seeing him. The magic merchant was playing his flute along to the strange noise that seemed to be a song somehow played with multiple grass whistles that was somehow always present. The other noticed him quickly, perking up as he put his flute down. “Here to buy something? It’s an odd time for you to be doing so.”
Blue shook his head. “I have questions that I think only you will be able to answer.”
“Ooo!~” Ink was leaning against the front of his shop. “What kind of questions?~”
“Questions about the strange things going on with Cross and Dream. They seem to happen when we’re around you a lot, and almost like you trigger them sometimes, so I want to know what’s happening.” Blue pushed himself to try and find some line between polite and demanding. The temptation to slip into the more casual speak he would hear more often while growing up was also there, but if he wanted to get accepted as a knight he knew he had to work on his more formal speech.
One of Ink’s ever-changing eye lights turned into an exclamation point while the other turned into a squiggly line. “Oh! You mean when-” a strange layered noise that had Blue cringing left Ink’s mouth “-is doing things!”
“Wh-what was that noise?” Blue couldn’t help but hunch into himself and reach to fiddle with his scarf.
Ink rolled his eyes with a huff. “I think the fourth wall is censoring me. I’ll have to break it for you sometime.”
“You… probably shouldn’t be breaking walls?” Blue wasn’t really sure what was going on right now.
“Aw c’mon, they’ll love it,” Ink said with a wink Blue had sometimes seen him throw towards empty space.
Blue’s face pitched into confusion. “Why are you giving me that look?”
“Because you’re sharing eyes,” Ink responded as if this was somehow something obvious Blue should already be knowing.
“You know what? I think I’m going to look for answers elsewhere. Thank you for your time.” Blue ducked out of the shop quickly, hoping he really wouldn’t have to go back to Ink for the answers. Trying to understand him was more difficult than trying to understand even the insane demons chattering. There had to be an explanation for what was going on that made more sense than trying to decipher Ink’s cryptic words.
