Untitled

"Something has happened to me. When... whenever I pass by a mirror, wherever I look at my reflection, I... I dont see my face. It's MY reflection, its suppose to be. It has my clothes, my shape, it has MY head - it's not my face though.

But... I recognize it. Its not my face, but I know it. I Recognize a Face I've Never Seen."

The third of the Noviates becoming one with their avatars I've done. All that's left is Parker and his.

Weron is sitting back against a wall in his room, gazing at the moon, mindlessly tumbling the Occulus in between his fingers.

Wayda walks in.

Wayda: Wernon, dinner is about to be ready

He doesn't respond

Wayda: Wernon.

Fatigue: ... huh?? oh, thank you Wayda. I'll... I'll be out in a moment....

Wayda: ...Weron, are you alright? You seem lost in thought

Fatigue: hehe, do I now? Apologies, it's just... memories is all

Fatigue then just looks at the occulus in his hands. Wayda walks over and sits next to him

Wayda: Do you wish to talk about about it

Fatigue: No, I... maybe I should. It is just that....today was my father's birthday. That right old bastard would be 44 this day

Wayda: You have been here for near 3 years and you still keep track of such a thing.

Fatigue: I know, it's an odd thing but still. It's just that the thought if him still pass through my mind now and then, especially on days like this

Wayda: what kind of thoughts?

Fatigue: Well... listen I know he was a monster but.... I think an old memory would do better to explain.

Fatigue: I remember one time when I was, eight or so. My father and I had gone out in the morning because he had to talk to the Arancum on supernatural business and all that.

Fatigue: On the way back home we passed by a store and something caught my eye. It was some small wind-up toy but it caught by attention nonetheless. I was entranced by it and i begged my father to get me it.

Fatigue: His words were along the lines of "such meddlesome trinkets are useless and are works of the devil as temptation" and some such sayings. But I never the less stilled begged him for it, I begged to at least make it a gift for myself for Christmas, then I even promised to excel in my studies and such for it. That seemed to have convinced him, and he agreed to that arrangement.

Fatigue: And so did I. I studied my books and got excellent test scores, I ate all my meals without fuss, I even kept my own room tidy. And when Christmas came, there it was, amongst my other gifts from the family. I was overjoyed. I thanked my father and played with it for the entire day

Wayda: that sounds...nice of him

Fatigue: it was. That toy even became a sort of symbol of my behavior for a while afterward. Whenever I would get in trouble and grounded my father would take the toy away and stow it in his study. And when my punishment was over he'd simply return it to my room, a sign that I was no longer grounded.

Wayda: Quite the oddly kind behavior for him

Fatigue: He had moments like that to him. I once twisted my ankle when I was ten, cried and mewled like infant, and the first thing out of his mouth was chastising me for being reckless and that I needed to "walk it off". Cruel I know but that very same night after dinner we had some chocolate ice cream for desert, large scoops too. It was only on occasion we had any kind of dessert in the house so I knew what he was doing.

Fatigue: There was also moments where he embarrassed me quite a bit, such as when was in my church's choir. After a show where I was one of the front row voices, a leading voice, he was VERY outspoken on the praise on my performance. Yelled it out to the whole courtyard to a degree that he was certain EVERYONE heard it. He also degraded and insulted my fellow choristers for a whole host of reasons. He critiqued their singing, their appearance, "inferior breeding", all of them highly personal breakdowns to friends at the time. Two of them even ran off crying during, which he then insulted them for.

Wayda: Hahaha! Really?

Fatigue: Yes, really. I have a bunch of stories akin to those, of my father's antics and how they caused such trouble. At school graduations, dinning events, walks in the park.

Fatigue: He was well-meaning in the lot of them, which turns those memories into honestly pretty amusing stories. And that where the trouble lies.

Wayda pauses for a moment, confused: Trouble?

Fatigue: I-I have a number of good memories of my father - hell I have a number of good memories of my whole of family. My Uncle Mortim would always sneak me sweets; Uncle Alec loved being a jokester; Uncle Dorthen even gave me my first taste of whiskey on my 16th. My family had love for me.

Fatigue: And yet... and yet they were monsters

Fatigue falls silent. Merely looking up at the roof above.

Wayda is silent for a moment then answer: Terrible people aren't always terrible all the time. Even they may have moments of peace or kindness.

Wayda: Even monsters may have families Wernon. They have things they care for. Things they show what remains of their kindness. You were that to your father and uncles.

Fatigue: And that is why he wished for me to join in the family tradition. To join him the family fully.

Wayda: Perhaps. Their own crusade was based around their delusions of justice, and they thought that you would be willing and see it as a gift.

Wayda: Their view of love may have been vile, but that truly was their love of you.

Fatigue: But what does it matter in when it is that vile.

Fatigue: Back in my home country my family were seen as heroes, they ARE seen as heroes. Protectors of our homeland for generations upon generations, farther back than even our good king's empire. And yet under it all is a current of evil, that stretches back who knows how far.

Fatigue: If a force for good has a vile force beneath its skin, no matter what good it has done, it'll always be as vile as the evil it fights.

They remain silent for a moment

Wayda put a hand on his shoudler: But you may still do what is right, and hold onto what is good. Despite it all.

Wayda gets up and begins to walk out.

Wayda: You may join us when you are ready Wernon. We'll be waiting.

And she goes. Fatigue takes in the words and his memories. Looking back on it all.

He glance one last time at the occulus: Happy Birthday father.

For Prisounebound I offer: The clash of the Greatest