it's been so long between the words we spoke {OPEN}

[shiro2hero]

Who: Shiro or Shadowmaru & YOU
Where: Various
When: During the Basculegion Swarm
Summary: Open log for Shiro and Shadowmaru's encounters with the Ghost Generating Fish
Rating: PG13 - will update if necessary


Log:

> SHIRO'S THREAD

> SHADOWMARU'S THREAD

If you'd like a custom starter, let me know! PM or redfirelight

Comments

[singlespacedad]

[Ah. Mando catches the subtext here. It's someone Shadowmaru might not want to see go.]

Do you want some company? I could bring you a drink. We could toast your friend's memory.

[sassymaru]

[Now who's asking the hard questions, Mando?]

I

Feel I should not ask you to make such a trip simply for my lack of actions.

[singlespacedad]

[What goes around comes around, pal.]

It's fine. I'm in the neighbourhood anyway.

[Which means he's just going to invite himself!]

Where exactly are you? I can be there in an hour.

[sassymaru]

Very well.

[Beep boop, there's his address. It's definitely a cottage. On the seashore.]

[singlespacedad]

[And with that address, Mando is on his way!]

[As he approaches the beach, it becomes pretty damn obvious who the ghost is. Mando has seen pictures of Shadowmaru in his true form, but he had thought he'd be roughly human-sized. He wasn't expecting something as huge as this ghost, and he has to push down some bile that rises in the back of his throat. It's just a ghost, it can't attack or hurt anyone, and besides, it's a friend of Shadowmaru's, who has been nothing but kind and pleasant since Mando got here.]

[Still though, it's hard being around such an enormous, looming presence. Mando glances over his shoulder, and two of his own ghosts, the humans who are faded and tattered at the edges, are shrinking to the back of the pack.]

Just a ghost. Just a Pokemon fish, pretending to be a droid.

[So he tells himself as he makes his way across the beach to Shadowmaru.]

[Once he's arrived, Mando plops down in the sand next to him, and offers a bottle of soda he picked up along the way.]

Hello, Shadowmaru.

[sassymaru]

[Shadowmaru has not budged. Not since he discovered the ghost standing in the tide. He's sitting in the sand, cross-legged and staring upward. He hasn't known what to say. Countless times before, he'd wanted Kagerou's counsel. Wanted to speak to him, to see him again. Now he's faced with an opportunity, and fallen silent, words failing him. If the silent figure can even speak back. Does he want communication? Shadowmaru had always been the more social, the more talkative of the two of them... ]

[Go, live]

[Their last requests to each other. And only one of them was able to carry it out. Is he wrong to keep silent? Is he wrong to have created a new life here, without the other Brave Police? Should he have tried harder to return?]

[It's his Null that notices Mando first. Oberon shivers glitter, trotting up to greet the man, followed by Growlithe and Rockruff. They follow back to their trainer, and flop down around him, with Growlithe right in Shadowmaru's lap.]

Greetings. I... apologize that I am not in... my usual state.

[Meaning he looks like he's been sitting on the beach for way too long, hair undone. Is he - he's wearing a robe. Not even proper clothing.]

[singlespacedad]

[Oberon gets a pat on the head when he comes over, as do the two other dogs. Mando is glad to see Shadowmaru's Pokemon are keeping him company during this.]

Good dogs.

[Yeah, Shadowmaru isn't looking his best, but Mando isn't one to judge.]

You're fine.

[He gently presses the soda into Shadowmaru's hand. If he's been here as long as Mando thinks he has, he's probably thirsty.]

Are you usually this size too? [He gestures at the ghost.] It must have felt strange to turn so much smaller.

[sassymaru]

You're too kind.

[He trails off at the last word, keeping his eyes on the ghost. If he looks away, it might vanish. And he's still not sure about how he feels on that.]

[His fingers close automatically around the bottle. Holding it. But it doesn't go further than that. Despite his Growlithe nosing it closer toward him.]

Yes. I am. [He falls silent for several long moments, as if he's going to leave it at that.] Kagerou - was my shadow. We were alike in build.

[singlespacedad]

[Mando isn't going to push the drink any further. It looks like the Pokemon puppy has things under control. This is also the first time he's seen how many dogs Shadowmaru has, and if the situation weren't so serious, he'd find it cute.]

Was he your brother?

[Whoever he was, he was clearly important, based on how Shadowmaru refuses to look away from him.]

[sassymaru]

My prototype.

[It's the most he's spoken of Kagerou since... the incident. Even then, there hadn't been much he'd wanted to share with the Brave Police. It wasn't theirs to know. But now... he feels as if he should speak.]

He and I were created in secret. For a long time, he was all I knew. And I was all he knew. There were engineers, certainly, but we were the only AI we knew.

[Their first friends. Their dearest friends. Only each other.]

[singlespacedad]

Ah.

[So definitely family, but more than brothers, then. Two sides of the same coin. And then Shadowmaru lost him, somehow, or he wouldn't be here as a ghost.]

[Mando nods his head to the ghost.]

It's nice to meet you, Kagerou. You're... impressive. I didn't realise you and Shadowmaru were so big.

[He feels a little silly talking to a ghost--an AI ghost at that--but it has made other people feel better in these very strange days, so Mando keeps it up.]

You're a lot taller than the dro--AIs where I come from.

[sassymaru]

[Kagerou's visible eye narrows, in reaction to Mando's words. His glance flicks over the human, then back to Shadowmaru, before relaxing. Shadowmaru hums, apologetically.]

He is... was - never terribly fond of human beings. Even those who created us, earned his suspicion more than his friendship. He was very much aware of his status as a prototype.

[As someone expendable, in Kagerou's mind. Then, eventually, in Shadowmaru's. Once he'd understood...]

The other Brave Police units aren't so tall as we - barely by a meter or so, but still.

[singlespacedad]

That's fair. Humans... don't usually treat AIs very well.

[He includes himself among that list!]

That's a mistake, though. It shouldn't be that way.

[sassymaru]

No. No, they do not. Even those who made us.

[He would argue, despite Kagerou's feelings, that Toudou had never done anything consciously malicious towards them. The entire situation was one born of ignorance. Of neither party voicing their thoughts to one another.]

[Until it was too late.]

The situation improved, eventually. Though... Kagerou did not get to witness it for himself.

[singlespacedad]

I'm sorry.

[And that's all Mando will say. If Shadowmaru wants to talk more, he's here to listen, but he won't force the issue. Mandalorians aren't exactly known for talking it out, but he's willing to try.]

I'm glad it got better for you, though.

[sassymaru]

I suppose... that's something to be grateful for.

[But he wishes, deeply, that it had come sooner.]

... Have you heard how long these visitors will remain with us?

[singlespacedad]

I don't know.

[Mando glances over his shoulder at his own ghosts, who are lingering on the edges of the beach.]

If you like, I'll stay with you until he's gone.

[sassymaru]

You've nowhere better to be?

[It's not a denial. Not a 'go away'. But if Mando wants an out, Shadowmaru is giving him one.]

[He can't imagine he'll be good company in any way.]

[singlespacedad]

No. This beach is fine.

[His own ghosts aren't leaving, so he might as well hang out here with Shadowmaru.]

Why don't you tell me more about him?

[sassymaru]

[Shadowmaru merely nods. He's not sure what else to say here. If Mando is comfortable, then that's fine.]

[What is there to say? How do you even start? This is more than he's ever spoken about Kagerou since he arrived here. No - since the day it happened.]

He... and I. Were all one another knew. For a long while. I believe... he was happy, that way.

[singlespacedad]

What happened when you found out about the other... Brave Police?

[See, he remembers the name of the group!]

Seems like you enjoy being around other people.

[sassymaru]

Mm. We always knew they existed, but were kept apart. I was... to be introduced to them when my training was complete. [Which sort of happened. Kind of. Just not in the way anyone intended.] Kagerou... broke out of our facility on that night.

Because. He was to have his memories erased. His AI and frame repurposed. And he objected.

[Understandably! Though, at the time Shadowmaru couldn't fathom it. None of them could.]

I am adaptable by design. Socializing is part of that.

[singlespacedad]

They'd just erase him like that?

[Mando glances back at the ghost. No wonder he doesn't like humans!]

[sassymaru]

Yes.

[Another pause, before he goes on.]

It was seen as the best course of action. Reassigning him without deactivating him. At the time, no one - not even the rest of the Brave Police - understood the implications. That erasing one's memories was death all the same.

[Kagerou had shown them as much.]

[singlespacedad]

That...

[Mando pauses, then glances over his shoulder. His own droid ghost is still there, and he's drifted closer to them.]

I knew a droid--an AI--where something like that happened. He'd been programmed as an assassin droid, and was with me when we found the kid.

He wanted to kill him. The bounty never said we had to bring the kid back alive. I... I shot him, before he could.

[Mando is looking at Kagerou again, but he just knows his own droid ghost is right behind them.]

I never thought I'd see him again, but then someone, a friend of mine, found him and reprogrammed him. He was a protector now. He saved me. He saved all of us.

[Why is he even telling this story?]