[Open] The end of one story is simply the start of another

[meanmonkey]

Who| Sariatu and anyone who wants to say hi!
What| Finding her way around, meeting some people, all that new person jazz
Where| Legion World, various common places - the mess hall, near the crew quarters, and on the observation deck
When| ...Now? Obviously after Kubo's whole autobiographical storytime dealio.
Warnings/Notes| This is a moon lady who turns into a monkey. Also spoilers for Kubo and the Two Strings I guess, if Kubo himself somehow didn't spoil you.

Sariatu is not sure about this whole "super hero" thing.

That's not to say she doesn't approve, at least theoretically, of what they're doing here. It's a noble quest, and an important one if what the Legion says is true, about all worlds being in danger. Still, these... code names and tight costumes and all that? Silliness that she's not intending to partake in.

She can simply be Monkey, apparently, if she has to fight. She can just use her name. All the rest of it-- well, Hanzo probably would've enjoyed it. Kubo, too. She, however, couldn't give a damn. So for now, she is wearing her own robes, when human, and has promised she'll attempt to work with the costume makers over the next few days.

In the meantime, she has a lot to get used to: technology, reminding herself how to fly (and with this entirely new way of doing so, thanks, ring), find her way around. Today, she's spending time in some of the more heavily-trafficked areas. Anyone near the crew quarters might run into an unnaturally large macaque, walking slowly through the area, looking critically and rather intelligently at its surroundings.

In the mess, one might notice the tall, regal-looking woman in the red and gold robes, frowning at the chef who's handing her a bowl of rice with vegetables and some sort of tofu. "I don't understand how a civilized society can not have fish," she mutters, none too quietly, as she glides away, her expression shifting to "slightly uncertain" as she surveys the large room and the many filled tables.

The same woman can be found, a bit later, on the observation deck, staring out at the shattered moon and the planet below. Her expression is relatively peaceful, and strangely smug and satisfied as she looks at the moon. She's feeling almost friendly, and will smile in acknowledgement at anyone she notices come near her.

Comments

[meanmonkey]

"I agree," she says. "Sending people who know nothing about battle into one is a recipe for disaster."

She says, with the world-weary tone of someone who has worried about that immensely before. Who knows what a moon princess like herself could've worried abo- Kubo, it was worry about Kubo.

She does hone in on the fact that this young man has seen battle enough to feel he knows what he's doing, though. "You're a warrior?" she asks. There's no dubiousness there, only a sharp, focused curiosity.

[turntex]

"Yep. My Bro made sure of that."

Something about that curt response and his closed-off body language, posture stiff and shoulders just slightly hunched, suggests he doesn't really wanna talk about that.

The lift doors opening, he indicates for her to join his with a little nod towards the lift and steps inside himself.

"So we're looking for a bamboo forest?"

The smoothest of subject changes possible.

[meanmonkey]

She leaves it, for now. At least, directly - she might talk around it a bit, to try to ease more out of him, but if he wants to avoid it, she'll let him without much fuss.

It's not like she's his mother, after all.

"Yes," she confirms as she steps in. "On a large hill or mountainside."

A brief pause.

"Do you know if I can get a sword here?" she asks. "I don't want to fall out of practice."

...Well. Not any worse than she already has the past few years, that is.

[turntex]

Dave nods in acknowledgement of that little detail, and then again at the sword thing. Neato, Asian shapeshifter ninja lady. That's rad.

"Could probably ask the locals, see if there's an armory or somethin' you can raid," he says, and pauses for a moment because now that he thinks of it... "Hell, I should probably find one for myself before I actually get sent out to deal with baddies. Maybe sword technology is advanced enough now that they've got something that won't break on me."

[meanmonkey]

Sariatu smiles wryly to herself.

"A sword unbreakable?" she asks, probably more amused by that than she should be. It just seems... ironic, that he's wanting for a thing that she had until her sister cut her down. "I used to have something like that. It was very useful."

[turntex]

"So did my bro." He grins saying it now, and the word sounds different somehow in this context. "I think he gave it to my mom, though? Or she borrowed it or something. I dunno, I just heard she killed an evil alien fishlady with it and it was awesome."

[meanmonkey]

"That sounds like quite the story," she says. 'Evil alien fishlady'? Ancestors only knew. "And quite the heroes. You'll have to tell me their stories."

She says the words without thinking, as if she were talking to Kubo, but once they slip out... her smile fades and she falls silent, distracted by her own thoughts.

She misses him already, her little storyteller. Stories told without him telling or listening just aren't the same, after so many years and so much love.

[turntex]

That's a familiar way of phrasing things. It tugs at something in the back of Dave's mind for a moment, but then he's off talking as he does and it's gone.

"Yeeeaaah. Things got hella crazy for a few years there. The fishlady wasn't even the weirdest part of everything that went down. That's the kinda story you gotta save for a rainy day, when you have a truckload of time to kill and you're looking to brutally murder it via an extremely long and complicated tale of nonsense."

That he managed that without a single curse is a miracle. You should be proud of him.

[meanmonkey]

Despite the tightness in her chest, Sariatu can't help but laugh at Dave's train of speech as it careens down the tracks and off the rails.

"You have quite the way with words," she says. "My son would like you."

But then, much like his initial mention of his brother, she strikes ahead in the conversation. She's not ready to talk about Kubo yet, she thinks. Soon. He'd been the best son a mother could wish for, strong and brave and kind and sincere, but for now that memory was hers alone.

It felt too much like she was accepting the possibility of the moon king finding him and stealing his eye and his compassion if she told stories about him as a person she once knew.

"For a rainy day, then. I'll hold you to that, you know."

[turntex]

Dave isn't necessarily the most tactful person, so it's a good thing she pushes on ahead. He might have asked, otherwise.

"Don't actually wait for a rainy day," he advises as the lift doors finally open again on the Hab Deck, suddenly unsure if she actually got it or not. She looks like she's from, what, like feudal Japan or something? "This is space. It doesn't actually rain, unless this universe has some horrific spacefuture rain that is probably made of acid or something."

And as an added distraction from the subject of her son, the Hab Deck now stretches out before them: an expanse of various environments, cityscape, and more.

[meanmonkey]

Sariatu smiles a bit to herself, holding her secret - while she doesn't know things like physics or astronomy, she does know space. She was once the cold north star of the Moon King, his eldest daughter and fiercest warrior. Not great memories, sometimes, but it makes his explanation a little amusing, from her perspective.

"A metaphorical rainy day, then," is all she says, however. And then the Hab Deck comes into view and it's... really quite impressive.

It doesn't take her breath away - she's seen things far more beautiful, and her son (who is the most amazing thing in all of creation, in her opinion) blew her mind on the regular - but it's enough to make her stop to drink it in.

"They just make this," she murmurs, impressed despite herself. "It's amazing what people can do."

[turntex]

Dave wouldn't really call it beautiful either. It's kind of a clusterfuck. But it is impressive from a "look what sentient creatures are capable of" point of view so he nods.

"Some of it is cooler than others. Other parts were definitely not well thought-out. For instance, someone thought it'd be a good idea to have them recreate a section of city from their home but it's spooky as all getout with no actual people in it. Ghost City, Space." Unceremoniously, he begins strolling on into the thick of it, because if they're gonna be searching blindly then might as well just pick a direction and go.

[meanmonkey]

True, it has no elegance, but the sheer scope and riotous creativity of it is enough to give it some beauty, in Sariatu's mind, at least.

"Mmm," she agrees, falling into step next to him. "That would be entirely too unsettling. I'm glad I had enough foresight to choose someplace isolated, instead of a village or fortress."

Not that she would've chosen Hanzo's fortress anyway. Without Hanzo, it would've just broken her heart every time, with people occupying it or without.

"What is yours?" she asks after a moment.

[turntex]

"Mine's the meteor over that way," he says, pointing to where the tops of some grey metal buildings are just visible over the top of someone's forest. "'Course, when it's not actively flying through paradox space it's more of a lump of spacerock with a bunch of ugly buildings built into it."

It was always pretty quiet there anyway, so it doesn't feel weird that it's mostly missing the other residents he shared the place with the last few years. Hell, there were stretches of time early on in the trip, before he and Karkat started hanging out, where he didn't see any of the others for more than a week at a time. And of course, Karkat's here now to chill with, so it's almost like nothing's changed.

[meanmonkey]

"I'm not sure I understood all of that," Sariatu comments with a small huff of laughter. "What is a paradox space? And why would a sweet boy like you have anything to do with space? It's cold and heartless and no place for mortals."

[turntex]

Dave can't help the scoffing laugh that escapes his as he ducks under a low-hanging branch. Hell, he couldn't even decide what was the funniest part of all that. Calling him a sweet boy? The implication that home was less cold and heartless than the meteor? Trying to figure out how to explain game mechanic bullshit? Hoo boy.

"It's like...space, but it exists in multiple universes at once? Fu--udge," he hastily corrects himself, because wow it is actually difficult as all hell to watch his language, he barely even pays attention to what comes out of his mouth most of the time, "I don't know, my sis would have been able to explain it better."

Ack. He needs to stop doing that. It's a little embarrassing how much he's starting to miss Rose.

"And the mortality train has long since left the station, it's on its way to Kansas or some shit now. Ugh, whoops." Waving off his slipup with a lazy gesture, Dave just shrugs. "Earth got thoroughly wrecked and then I blew myself up in the birth of a sun and now I'm a god. Or was, maybe, I dunno. Haven't really experimented to test the limits of my mortality here. Sounds like a dumb way to die, yup Dave was trying to figure out if he was still immortal and it turns out he isn't, so that's one mystery solved."

[meanmonkey]

"That sounds like a story for a rainy day as well," Sariatu comments, and she almost sounds impressed - if he's telling the truth, that's a sort of story she's never heard tell of being true.

"I've never run into a human who'd become immortal," she comments. "Though in my experience, even an immortal can be killed if the circumstances are right."

A pause, then, "So it's probably for the best you don't test it for now. If you're going to die, you should at least have some dignity." She suppresses most of a smile, but catches his eye and winks. She can understand the strange morbid humor of that sort of talk very well, having both been immortal at one point and dead twice over.

[turntex]

"'S not that complicated a story," Dave says with a shrug, and wow doesn't that sound familiar? He feels like he's said almost that exact same thing to someone else recently. Weird. "Suicide mission ended in deafh, shockingly enough. We were just lucky enough to die in the right way so we could roll back onto the scene like guess who's back and godtier?"

He certainly doesn't look very godly, even with that knowledge out their to alter one's perception. He's still a lanky, pale teenager with shitty posture and some very comfy-looking but definitely undignified-looking pajamas. And the shades, of course, those don't really do much for the godly image.

"But nah, you're right," he says, nodding absently. "Rules like that are probably a universal constant. For us it pretty much boiled down to immortal unless the death is heroic or just but for the fishwitch it was more immortal unless you use a certain kind of weapon and hell if I know how some of our friends dealt with the immortal green skullmonster. Now that I think about it, there was a whole lotta immortality going around back home. More common than the cold after a while, I think I knew less mortal people than immortal ones by the end there. Granted, most of the mortal ones died so I guess we should have seen an outcome like that coming..."