[center][h1]Interlude -Collab Between Pezz570 and HokumPocus- [color=#ffff66]Lynx[/color] [color=a2d39c]Sil[/color][/h1][/center] [@HokumPocus] [hr] [hider=View Post]Year 4256 3nd day of the month of Olfaccium Morning [color=a2d39c]“Why hello Mr. Spider! You look like you could use a new home!”[/color] Sil said, prodding one of the many spiders she found making its home in the caves. The spider coiled back from her touch. Obviously it found the prospects of a new home quite exciting! [color=a2d39c]“Well aren’t you lucky,”[/color] Sil continued, [color=a2d39c]“because I’ve got just the pair of pants for you!”[/color] She poked the spider again, causing it to quickly scuttle to the top of its web. [color=a2d39c]“Don’t worry!”[/color] Sil said. [color=a2d39c]“No need to rush! You’ve got plenty of time to pack!”[/color] Sil leaned in close to the spider. [color=a2d39c]“You see,”[/color] She whispered. [color=a2d39c]“I can’t move you yet. Not without my little sister, Akai. There’s too many of you spiders for me to move by myself after all. I’m going to need her help so that I move all of you into Octavapoo’s pan-”[/color] [color=#ffff66]“What?”[/color] Lynx interjected. By all means, he should’ve heard what was being said even from twice as far, but his brain had automatically blocked her words. Sil’s voice had that effect on him. Analyzing her tone could have helped, but the venn diagram of her inside voice, her outside voice, and her secretive voice was a circle. [color=#ffff66]“What are you doing here, Sil?”[/color] Sil yelped, jumping visibly in mid-air. She spun on her heels. Her hands hidden behind her back [color=a2d39c]“Me?!”[/color] She said defensively. [color=a2d39c]“What about you? Just what are [i]you[/i] doing here?”[/color] The desperate attempt to change the subject would have been noted immediately by the average person. Lynx was not the average person. [color=#ffff66]“The underground chambers were unbearable,”[/color] he said, too busy defending himself to connect the dots. [color=#ffff66]“You are also a familiar. There is no point in surrounding ourselves with luxuries that we cannot enjoy.”[/color] Being in enclosed spaces for too long had also reminded him of his days in captivity, not that he would admit that to anyone. The realization hit him too late. [color=#ffff66]“You are plotting something.” [/color] [color=a2d39c]“Silly Lynx.”[/color] Sil said. [color=a2d39c]“Always using fake words.”[/color] She giggled as she fluttered down to Lynx’s level. [color=a2d39c]“Hey!”[/color] She spouted excitedly. [color=a2d39c]“Did you hear we’re getting a little sister?!”[/color] He puffed out his chest slightly, staring her down out of habit. [color=#ffff66]“Little sister? What is that supposed to mean?”[/color] He connected the dots late. Again. [color=#ffff66]“Wait a minute! Do not imply that we are related!”[/color] [color=a2d39c]“Not related? Pshh.”[/color] She gave Lynx a dismissive wave. [color=a2d39c]”I'm a familiar with you. You're a familiar with me... See? Related.”[/color] Had he been a human man, he would’ve grit his teeth. Instead, he only narrowed his feline eyes.[color=#ffff66] “And I thought you were unable to spout little quips like that. You really are a fairy.”[/color] He paced around, looking for any sign of this so-called little sister. [color=#ffff66]“Well, where is she?”[/color] [color=a2d39c]”Hm?”[/color] Sil hummed. She put her hand on her forehead as if shading her eyes from the sun. She looked left. She looked back at Lynx and shrugged while humming the words ‘I don’t know’. [color=a2d39c]”Icesarina, just said I was going to be her biiiiiiiiiig sister. She said she was going to pick her up today too. So that must mean our new sister must be really, really small.”[/color] It was odd to hear things like that, to remember that they were products, made and picked up by humans. [color=#ffff66]“Another familiar, small.”[/color] He paused, muttering to himself. [color=#ffff66]“Karina. Why would she want a familiar?”[/color] She really didn’t seem like the type. It was more likely she wanted something that would assist her in combat or mobility than entertainment, from what he knew of her. Those kinds of familiars were a lot less aggravating, at least. [color=a2d39c]”It's probably because she just wanted us to have a little sister.”[/color] Sil replied in very matter-of-factly fashion. [color=#ffff66]“In the middle of a war?”[/color] he asked. [color=a2d39c]”Does it matter?”[/color] Sil asked. [color=a2d39c]”We’re getting a little sister! Aren’t you just a little excited?”[/color] [color=#ffff66]“No.”[/color] The response came automatically. [color=#ffff66]“Unless… this familiar can fight. Neither of us were created with that purpose in mind.”[/color] [color=a2d39c]”Fight?”[/color] Sil repeated. [color=a2d39c]”You fight though… I-”[/color] Sil hesitated, her cheer slowly becoming concerning. Almost as if something had just occurred to her. [color=a2d39c]”I’ve seen you fight… Haven’t I?”[/color] [color=#ffff66]”You have. But that was not why I was created. Why [i]we[/i] were created. In my case specifically, I was meant to be an ornament for a wealthy family.[/color] Ornament. It was the word Octavio used to describe him when they’d first met, and it had stuck with him. He’d always found it more insulting than any attacks made on his animal characteristics or attempts to fit in with human society, because at least the people who had said those things were acknowledging him. “Ornament” was a complete and total dismissal, one that established him as something that wasn’t disrespected because it didn’t have the capacity to be seen or heard in the first place. [color=#ffff66]”You, as a fairy, were created to serve as entertainment. I cannot imagine you in a castle surrounded by fragile objects, however.”[/color] The mental image made his head cock in amusement. [color=a2d39c]”But I’m not a fairy. I’m Sil”[/color] Sil said. [color=a2d39c]”And you aren’t a very good ornament, you know? Afterall, you won’t break if I kick you… I think...”[/color] Sil looked to Lynx, curiously. A single finger placed on her lip. Slowly, she fluttered up to Lynx’s snout and, without warning, slammed the sole of her foot in-between the poor familiar’s nostrils. Sil gave a satisfied nod. [color=a2d39c]”Nope!”[/color] She exclaimed. [color=a2d39c]”Definitely not a good ornament.”[/color] Lynx shook his head, irritated more than anything else. [color=#ffff66]“I thought you had improved at least a little bit.”[/color] His front claw twitched. [color=#ffff66]“Unfortunate.”[/color] The claw etched parallel streaks across the dirt ground. [color=#ffff66]“Dirty tricks like that work, but only once. We are going to have to acquire some sort of combat familiar to improve our odds. [i]Take it[/i] from someone who has survived with them.”[/color] His mouth twitched oddly, not used to the colloquial phrase. He could test out language like this around someone like her without having to worry, he realized. Sil sighed [color=a2d39c]”What we really need is a silly little sister to soften you up.”[/color] She said. [color=a2d39c]”All this talk about fighting...”[/color] Sil gave Lynx a serious look. [color=a2d39c]”Back then… you changed when you started fighting… You became… scary...”[/color] She hesitated a bit before continuing. [color=a2d39c]”Or maybe you didn’t change… Maybe fighting Lynx is the real Lynx, and boring Lynx is just you covering it up...”[/color] She said it with a bluntness that reminded him of the way children spoke, before society had taught them that pointing things out was bad. Lynx knew exactly what she was referring to, and as his free claw struggled to find ground, the memories stirred in his “mind” in an unpleasant miasma that served to remind him how unnatural his existence was. Pain was good, he had come to realize. It was the body signalling what was wrong to its host, what needed mending or rest. When it came to sensations like this as a familiar, defined by a tangle of strange emotions that threatened to unravel his ability to think clearly, the pain of an animal was what he yearned for the most. [color=#ffff66]“I…”[/color] he began, [color=#ffff66]“I was overcome by instinct. Or to be clearer, the instinct that my creators imbued me with. Who- no, [i]what[/i] I was destined to be and what, [i]who[/i] I have become are both me. It is a contradiction...”[/color] His mind returned to normal, and he began to think of the others, the outbursts of emotion that cracked past their fronts. [color=#ffff66]“...but that is what most makes me human.”[/color] Sil frowned. Trying her best to understand. Why was understanding so hard? [color=a2d39c]”I… I don’t understand...”[/color] She said deflatedly. [color=a2d39c]”Chres told me it’s okay not to know… Not to... understand…”[/color] She lowered her head, arms hugging herself. [color=a2d39c]”But back then… now... it doesn’t feel okay...”[/color] She looked up to Lynx, a troubled look on her face. It was very unlike Sil. Yet, just as quickly as it had come, her expression began to fade. [color=a2d39c]”You know, I’m glad you’re okay.”[/color] She said, a soft smile appearing on her face. [color=a2d39c]”Even if you do always act like you’ve got a puddle up your butt.”[/color] She giggled to herself softly and fluttered high enough to perch herself atop Lynx’s head. Lynx fell to the ground in a janky movement that had more in common with an animal than a person. He rolled once and stared at her with even more disappointment than before, yet didn’t get back up. [color=#ffff66]“Not understanding things is a fundamental- an important part of being human, I think. Before I rescued Octavio I lived in a castle alongside scholars, and all of them were obsessed with knowing more about the world. At first, I could not understand their conversations, but through my errors came knowledge. I can be [i]okay[/i] because I can always extract something of value from a failure.”[/color] Then, with a haughty touch he added, [color=#ffff66]“That is something many humans are unable to understand.”[/color] Having fallen off of Lynx’s head after he rolled, she picked herself up off the ground and brushed herself off. [color=a2d39c]”I see... I have to fail in order to learn…”[/color] Sil said nodding at Lynx’s statement. [color=a2d39c]”So then the reason I understand so little is because I must be really bad at making mistakes!”[/color] He stifled a laugh.[color=#ffff66] “That way of thinking is itself a mistake.”[/color] [color=a2d39c]”It is?”[/color] Sil said with a tilt of the head. [color=a2d39c]”Well, good! I must be getting better at learning then!”[/color] As tempting as it was to supplement his thoughts with ramblings about humility and maturity, he didn’t think Sil was the appropriate student, nor him the proper teacher for that sort of thing. [color=#ffff66]“What of all the broken vases you have left in your wake? Surely that must be a mistake to you, in some fashion.”[/color] Parties weren’t parties until someone’s fairy familiar broke something, after all. [color=a2d39c]”Silly Lynx.”[/color] Sil replied with a dismissal wave. Her wings began to flutter, lifting her back off the ground. [color=a2d39c]”One day, I’m going to have to teach you about a little something called ‘art’.”[/color] He chuffed. Art was one of those concepts in life he never understood, no matter how many books he read on theory nor how many rants from Octavio he listened to about the prestige of theater. To humans, even familiars [i]themselves[/i] were art. He looked at Sil. He didn’t get it. Sil giggled softly to herself, and circled once around Lynx before coming to a halt a hand’s length from his snout. She gave the familiar a curious look as she raise a finger to her lip. [color=a2d39c]”Say, Lynx...”[/color] She started. [color=a2d39c]”What is your first memory?”[/color] His thoughts shifted, but the difficulty remained. [color=#ffff66]“That is a question I am unable to answer. My infancy, if you could call it that, was spent trapped in a castle. All of my days there were indistinguishable from one another.”[/color] Trying to single out any one memory prior to his escape felt like trying to decipher a single image from a kaleidoscope. Or understand art in general, for that matter. [color=#ffff66]“What about you? What was your early life like?”[/color] [color=a2d39c]”Mine?”[/color] Sil tilted her head to the side as if surprised to have the question pushed back on to herself. [color=a2d39c]”My first memory?”[/color] She looked towards the ceiling, humming in thought. [color=a2d39c]”Puddles...”[/color] She said. [color=a2d39c]”Puddles everywhere… They fell from the sky… they flowed across the ground… they rolled down Chres’ cheeks… It… It was beautiful.”[/color] She said as if romanticizing the experience. [color=#ffff66]”I…”[/color] began Lynx. It dawned on him what she meant, and the words caught in his throat. [color=a2d39c]”I remember gasping in awe, and dancing between puddles as they fell. ‘No...’, It was the first word Chres said to me. Such an odd way to greet a new friend. I nearly took it as my name. ‘No...’ He said again. ‘I killed you… why… why did you give me this gift?’ Such a weird one that Chres is… Said I looked just like her.”[/color] Intelligence had always been a prickly subject for him, especially the topic of social cues. But much to his horror, the pieces were falling into place in front of him. Killing was an unfortunate part of their new lives, but the last person he’d have expected to partake in it before this had started was Chres. [color=#ffff66]“Chres… had killed someone?”[/color] was all he could say. [color=a2d39c]”Hmm?”[/color] She hummed, head tilted to the side. [color=a2d39c]”Killed someone? … Yeah, I guess so... Weird, huh?”[/color] She gave Lynx a smile and a shrug, as if nothing was wrong. She gasped shortly after, pointing to something behind Lynx. [color=a2d39c]”Look! Another spider!”[/color] Sil zipped past Lynx excitedly, towards the aforementioned spider. Lynx let out a brief yowl and dove to avoid the fairy. It had been startling enough to make him even more uneasy. [color=#ffff66]“During our first encounters, he had displayed a desire to sacrifice himself for the sake of others. Is that the reason why?”[/color] Conversation wasn’t his strong suit, and he was feeling increasingly out of his comfort zone. This was a job for Octavio, not him. [color=#ffff66]“Wait, what are you planning on doing with that spider?!”[/color] [color=a2d39c]”Art.”[/color] Sil answered while poking at the spider. [color=a2d39c]”Oh my! You’re a lively one, aren’t you?”[/color] Brief memories of Octavio explaining the convoluted and nonsensical plots to his favorite plays flashed in his mind. [color=#ffff66]“That makes sense, I suppose. As long as you do not begin to claim that crushing a spider is a metaphor for poverty or romantic tension or something to that degree.”[/color] [color=a2d39c]”Whatever that means.”[/color] Sil said, mostly ignoring him.Then to herself she said, [color=a2d39c]”Crush it? Must be the beastly side of Lynx showing its head again.”[/color] [color=#ffff66]”Huh!?”[/color] he chuffed, [color=#ffff66]“I am showing my studies, actually! My understanding of art is limited, but even I can notice that violence is [i]always[/i] the answer when it comes to appeasing critics of the arts. If you are serious about this, that is.”[/color] Despite his attempts to present himself as mature at all times, Lynx was getting carried away by once more. [color=a2d39c]”Oooooooh Lynx, I haven’t been more serious about a thing in my life!”[/color] Sil said with a smile. [color=a2d39c]”Now shoo, shoo. This soon to be big sister has work to do!”[/color] The thought of Sil’s art being appraised puzzled him. What would humans, with their unfathomable standards say? Would they claim it strummed their heartstrings as they did when consuming every other piece of media that had copious amounts of violence and heartbreak? [color=#ffff66]“I do not trust you Sil, although I must admit I am eager to see if you have the artistic capability required to impress a human.”[/color] He turned to leave, but stopped briefly. [color=#ffff66]“Do not forget my advice. It is very important.”[/color] And so Lynx walked across the horizon, his thoughts complex and critical of the humanities, unaware that this had all been a ploy to put spiders in someone’s pants. [/hider]