123 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
123 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
|
---
|
||
|
title: 00063
|
||
|
created: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 07:01:53 -0700
|
||
|
updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 07:01:54 -0700
|
||
|
public: yes
|
||
|
syndicated: yes
|
||
|
---
|
||
|
### 00063 {#00063}
|
||
|
|
||
|
> "Greetings, Great One." Inky bows, back parallel to the ground while
|
||
|
> they stand on the branch, now a humanoid child in a black uniform and
|
||
|
> matching bookbag hanging under one arm. The banana boat is nowhere in
|
||
|
> sight. Fuko follows her errant charge and the cloaked figure from a
|
||
|
> nearby branch.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> "This lowly one wonders if they may be permitted to seek the Great
|
||
|
> Spirit's insight, whose wisdom endures before and beyond." Inky
|
||
|
> begins, staring down the blurry reflection of silver boughs overhead
|
||
|
> on the polished toes of their black shoes. They notice idly they do
|
||
|
> not see themselves in the reflection.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> Straightening from the bow, they look up at the figure and hold out a
|
||
|
> plate of taiyaki. After a moment, the child asks haltingly, "There
|
||
|
> may come a day when this one will be asked to choose between the
|
||
|
> chance to protect many and that which they desire to protect most.
|
||
|
> Should this one choose equally? Will the choice matter if both paths
|
||
|
> eventually lead to destruction? Could destruction and salvation be
|
||
|
> two sides of the same coin?"
|
||
|
|
||
|
You and the Dude are sitting in small upholstered chairs, across a
|
||
|
small half table from each other. There is a large sticky bun on a
|
||
|
white lacy doily on the table. Next to you is a small portal-sized
|
||
|
window, and outside you can see green rolling hills and small copses
|
||
|
of trees fly by. The other seats on the small train car are all
|
||
|
empty. The two of you are alone.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"I cannot give you advice," the Dude says. "But I can offer you
|
||
|
experience."
|
||
|
|
||
|
They raise a hand and hold a loosely closed fist out over the table.
|
||
|
The walls of the train become fuzzy and blurry, then translucent, and
|
||
|
finally transparent. They disappear and you have the sensation of
|
||
|
rocketing through space at dizzying speeds.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The track splits ahead you. To one side, bound to one track is that
|
||
|
which you desire to protect most. Bound to the other are the many.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"You can choose safely here. It's just a dream, after all." The Dude
|
||
|
opens their fist. The Twenty-one Fiver coin rests in their palm.
|
||
|
"Heads, you steer the train into the many, sparing that which you
|
||
|
love most. Tails, the opposite. You spare the many, and sacrifice
|
||
|
that which you hold dear." They hold the coin out to you.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The train barrels toward the fork. "But choose quickly, lest the
|
||
|
choice be made for you."
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
> Alex scrambles from the wreckage of his mech, or what remained from
|
||
|
> the gore portal he'd just experienced. The thought of what had
|
||
|
> occurred made him grimace, which was an unusual state of affairs for
|
||
|
> an octopus, that is until Alex realized he seemed to be back in his
|
||
|
> own body.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> "Sunset, or perhaps rise? It's hard to tell. Pretty though.. could be
|
||
|
> prettier without the creepy knife dude." Alex mutters to himself
|
||
|
> while he rummages through the destroyed cockpit of the mech. He makes
|
||
|
> quick work, detaches a side panel, pulls a couple of wires, and a
|
||
|
> compartment in the back opens revealing the smooth dark blue metal
|
||
|
> and wood grain of an ak74u sub machine gun. Amused Alex pulls the
|
||
|
> weapon from the compartment and notices a distinct lack of additional
|
||
|
> magazines, just the one large drum attached to the weapon with large
|
||
|
> red letters emblazoned on it [INFINITE AMMO]. "Neat."
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> Alex pulls himself from the wreck, and jumps down behind one of the
|
||
|
> fallen tentacles taking a firing position behind cover, ak74u aimed
|
||
|
> down range at the faceless figure.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> "I don't know who you are, but I don't trust anyone who approaches
|
||
|
> with a weapon. Let's both stand down and talk this through! I'm not
|
||
|
> supposed to be here, and I reckon you don't want me here either. I'd
|
||
|
> be happy to oblige and skidaddle if you'd be so kind as to point the
|
||
|
> way out!" Alex pauses waiting for a reply.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The tall figure halts a short distance away. It raises a hand and
|
||
|
waves. In greeting? Surrender? In a fluid motion it continues to lift
|
||
|
the same hand and grabs a hold of its trunk, a little less than a
|
||
|
foot from the tip. It squeezes its fist tightly and the tip begins to
|
||
|
swell. It raises its other hand, and the knife, and starts to saw
|
||
|
into the flesh of the trunk behind its fist. The blade cuts cleanly
|
||
|
as though through a loaf of bread. There is no blood or gore.
|
||
|
|
||
|
When the creature lowers its hand, you can see that the center of the
|
||
|
trunk is a solid, bright pink fleshy material like a grapefruit, in
|
||
|
the center of which are two pin-prick eyes and a wide thin gash of a
|
||
|
mouth.
|
||
|
|
||
|
It still holds the tip of its severed trunk in its hand, a thin stalk
|
||
|
and a bulging cap looking for all the world like a large white button
|
||
|
mushroom. Peering up from the stem of the mushroom, an identical pink
|
||
|
face regards you stoically.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Both faces speak at the exact same time, one high pitched and one a
|
||
|
deep baritone. "Welcome, Dreamer, to Ousia, the Sea of Dreams. We are
|
||
|
Kasutva."
|
||
|
|
||
|
Big Kasutva stoops down to set the small mushroom Kasutva down on the
|
||
|
ground. If they're both Kasutva, that is. If that's the way their
|
||
|
biology and sense of self actually works. Mushroom Kasutva wobbles
|
||
|
side to side a little bit and waggles its stalk as it looks around.
|
||
|
Big Kasutva places its knife back in its satchel and takes a few
|
||
|
small steps closer to you.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"We did not mean to offend you," the two say, still perfectly in
|
||
|
sync. "As for the way out, that depends only somewhat on your
|
||
|
destination. Whatever the answer, we can assure you that it lies
|
||
|
across the sea." Large Kasutva gestures broadly toward the expanse of
|
||
|
ocean. Small Kasutva lacks any limbs and cannot gesture, but smiles
|
||
|
softly at you.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"But tell us what it is you seek. Perhaps we can be of help."
|
||
|
|
||
|
WHAT DO YOU DO
|