When Gold Foot returned to the room he shared with Gold Arm at the end of the night, he found Gold Mask wedged into the corner where the bed met the walls on his side, a ball of thorns that shook like an agitated hedgehog.
Mask had very deliberately been avoiding Foot since their last conversation, too full of fear for his brother and what had been done to him to even begin to know what to do or how, but after the events of the hunt he'd just returned from, Mask couldn't bear it anymore. He didn't want to avoid him anymore, he wanted his brother.
Mask curled up tighter for a second when the door opened, then released enough to pull his head up and look at Foot. "Sorry," he muttered, then, even quieter, "...I know you don't know me anymore and it's probably stupid to ask, but- can you sit with me anyway? Just for a minute? I'll move after, I promise."
Foot had noticed Mask's distance. He couldn't be upset by it, really. Not when he didn't remember his little brother (was he really his brother?) and the consequences from their last interaction. So he wasn't upset, but it did ring alarm bells when he saw Mask curled up by his bed instead of Mask's own.
A plethora of scenarios raced through his processor. Someone hurt him? Someone threatened him? Who did Foot need to take apart limb from limb?
He didn't express those immediate thoughts though. Instead, he took a deep vent and let it out slowly. Just like Rung taught him. He kept silent and joined Mask, sitting on the floor and looking at him. He twitched one finial and blinked at him through violet-tinted optics.
"You don't have to leave. Just because my memory circuits are... not what they should be... It doesn't mean you have to stay away from me. I am recovering my memories slowly, but the process is sped up when you are near." He wasn't going to talk about how it hurt to remember. That was just between him and Rung. His brothers didn't need to know it harmed him.
Mask make a startled hiccupy noise at being told he was helping Foot recover his memories and gave a single shaky nod. "It- I- I left the ship to do a- a game. A hunt. It was supposed to be fun, competing at hunting and capturing monsters, though you could catch them, too. I caught some, even threw the capture thing in a pitch like aniki does, but-"
His face crumpled in shame and misery, shoulders shaking as he hunched in on himself. "But they weren't monsters. Never were. They were people, people who didn't have any choice in being stolen and having to fight and maybe die for the entertainment of strangers, and-" He hugged his knees, thorns scraping the walls. "It made me think of- of all of us, but mostly you, of what aniki said about how they-"
His voice cracked. "I didn't want to hurt them anyway b-because Arm doesn't like it anymore. I don't get it but I wanted to try, but- but they took my hero and they h-hurt you, and everyone around us were killing people who could've been you-"
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timeasmymeasure
Action -> takes place the night mask returns from the hunt event
Date: 2024-10-11 04:57 pm (UTC)Mask had very deliberately been avoiding Foot since their last conversation, too full of fear for his brother and what had been done to him to even begin to know what to do or how, but after the events of the hunt he'd just returned from, Mask couldn't bear it anymore. He didn't want to avoid him anymore, he wanted his brother.
Mask curled up tighter for a second when the door opened, then released enough to pull his head up and look at Foot. "Sorry," he muttered, then, even quieter, "...I know you don't know me anymore and it's probably stupid to ask, but- can you sit with me anyway? Just for a minute? I'll move after, I promise."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-10 10:24 pm (UTC)Foot had noticed Mask's distance. He couldn't be upset by it, really. Not when he didn't remember his little brother (was he really his brother?) and the consequences from their last interaction. So he wasn't upset, but it did ring alarm bells when he saw Mask curled up by his bed instead of Mask's own.
A plethora of scenarios raced through his processor. Someone hurt him? Someone threatened him? Who did Foot need to take apart limb from limb?
He didn't express those immediate thoughts though. Instead, he took a deep vent and let it out slowly. Just like Rung taught him. He kept silent and joined Mask, sitting on the floor and looking at him. He twitched one finial and blinked at him through violet-tinted optics.
"You don't have to leave. Just because my memory circuits are... not what they should be... It doesn't mean you have to stay away from me. I am recovering my memories slowly, but the process is sped up when you are near." He wasn't going to talk about how it hurt to remember. That was just between him and Rung. His brothers didn't need to know it harmed him.
"May I ask what happened? You are clearly upset."
no subject
Date: 2025-02-02 09:58 pm (UTC)His face crumpled in shame and misery, shoulders shaking as he hunched in on himself. "But they weren't monsters. Never were. They were people, people who didn't have any choice in being stolen and having to fight and maybe die for the entertainment of strangers, and-" He hugged his knees, thorns scraping the walls. "It made me think of- of all of us, but mostly you, of what aniki said about how they-"
His voice cracked. "I didn't want to hurt them anyway b-because Arm doesn't like it anymore. I don't get it but I wanted to try, but- but they took my hero and they h-hurt you, and everyone around us were killing people who could've been you-"