#nemesio

Something seemed... off... about the darkness today. They appeared as usually did to Ramon, in the clothes the man wore during the time spent as the 'Shopkeeper of the World', but there was something different about them. It took a few minutes for Ramon to realize, but where Salamander's irises always appeared as a darker shade of blue, the sockets were instead left with nothing but a black abyss. Ramon blinked.

"Well?" Salamander growled. "What do I owe the displeasure of this visit?"

"You do recall that this space technically belongs to me, right?" Ramon said. "I... had a question for you."

"So then ask it."

"...Why me?"

There was a pause. Salamander seemed confused.

"What do you mean?" they asked.

"Well, you've been stuck with me for as long as I can recall. Why me specifically? How are you able to do to me what you have?"

Salamander paused. There was a lot about their circumstances they did not know the cause of. They would be lying if they said they knew everything. If they tried to recall the before of being stuck with Ramon, and the after of being Eztli, the only thing that came to pass was the feeling of anger, like they needed revenge on the world for something. But for what?

"I don't know."

"Salamander, don't lie to me," Ramon sighed. "Please. I just want a straight answer."

"I'm not lying, cheesecake. I... don't recall anything between Eztli and you other than anger. Maybe jealousy, but that's about it."

Ramon sighed, defeated.

~*~

Ramon sat up, back from the sleep that had brought him to the mindspace. He was never going to get any answers was he? It was only around an hour later, thinking of any possible way to figure things out, that the idea came to him: that half-Time Lord he'd ran into some years back, the one who still thought he could turn back to Salamander's ways at any moment.