Cognizance

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The Ruined Chamber.

The royal pain in the ass that was the climb to this room was finally over. Getting out of the house would probably be just as difficult, but that was in the future. For now, all that mattered was that they had made it to their destination, and the hour of enlightenment was finally upon them. They would see what manner of god lived among the ghosts, and they would convince it to fight for Giratina, the idol of impurity. With the might of this recruit, perhaps the dark prince would somehow reign victorious over the other two legends he'd challenged. Whether it was a good thing or not, Krikka was going to see to it that Giratina got his new buddy. She didn't really care much if it was a good or bad idea, nor was she particularly worried about the immediate risks associated with summoning a supposed god.

Actually, she didn't care about any of this. Giratina's apparent goals actually mirrored her own, but that didn't mean she had any allegiance to the giant space worm. She was here mostly for fun and to oppose her special snowflake of a sister, and of course, to do something big and prove to the two behind her that she could back up her words. She wasn't here out of any allegiance in this "holy war," nor did she care in particular about the outcome or how she may influence it. Still, she knew an awful lot about the religious concepts surrounding her circumstances. Thanks to her insufferable father, her childhood had been filled with teachings of the legends and their stories. Unlike Ivirar, she was far from interested in these concepts, and she had always adamantly refused to worship any being, but the information she'd picked up was admittedly a bit useful for context here.

She wondered if Solus and Goro knew anything at all about what Giratina supposedly was, or even about this war. They had yet to say anything, so she assumed they had no idea why they were actually here; they probably didn't even think she was serious about summoning a god... Well, a certain froslass had probably made it clear enough that her promise was true, but she still wondered if the others grasped the concepts at play. As she approached the center of the room, she began to speak, her voice soft and entranced in her own words.

"He was a powerful being and one of the original children of Arceus, equal to the governors of time and space... but he was violent... spiteful. He was not a kind god, but a reaper. For that, he was banished to a reality opposite to ours, cursed to watch the world go on in his absence." Amid her monologue, she lifted her head toward the ceiling to take in the beautiful chandelier of glimmering candles. She spun with an elegance that betrayed her battered state and looked upon the floatzel following her, then flicked her head toward the center of the room, directing him to dump the... sacrificial elements. The "items of combat."

The stabby things.

Continuing in the circular motion as she surveyed the rest of the large room, Krikka continued in her seemingly pointless speech. "That's a quote from a scripture I read when I was younger, more or less. You two ever read the good book of Arceus or any of that mythos junk?" she paused but picked up again before allowing a response, "If you haven't, keep it that way. Would not recommend." Perhaps she was a bit biased, but Krikka truly hated the books she had been made to read, the religious schooling she'd been put through by her zealous father... It felt good to be doing something that went against his philosophies.

"Except the parts about Giratina. I always liked that he didn't blindly follow "God's will." That's why he was punished, or so the story goes... You know, I haven't thought about it until now, but I wouldn't say he's evil for wanting freedom... and revenge. I would too." Her movements finally stopped with the door forward in the center of her gaze. Would they go on? For now, that didn't matter. The moment would be spent performing the ritual to summon the enigmatic creature they'd come so far to see. It all felt so weird to her, getting involved in such a theological affair. It wasn't something she would ever have imagined doing in her younger days. Now that she was finally here, moments away from truly stepping into this tangled mess of the "divine," she was growing conscious of her situation, of what she was doing. It was mere moments ago that her mind had been pinned under the weight of the day's stress, but now she felt... fine. Now things were going her way, after all, and she was starting to really think about things.

"I wouldn't worship him, but I do like the story of the one who defied God."

”Yeah my mom named me, thanks.” The other Solus—or rather, the not Solus—said with indignation.

Solus suddenly felt confused and a bit insulted. ”... Wait… What’s wrong with my name?” He glanced at Krikka—his Krikka. He had never really considered that the name might have any kind of meaning. In retrospect, he realised that of course it did, this was Krikka he was dealing with.

”Means ‘alone.’ So, yeah, kind of terrible.” Solus's double oh so helpfully provided with just a hint of smugness.

From confused right back to angry. Every single word this mockery of himself said irritated him to no end. He thought for a moment about what his counterpart had said—that his mom had named him. Solus had never met his mom. He wondered if they were the same person. ”And what, exactly, did dear ol’ mother name you?”

The other floatzel crossed his arms. ”She named me after my dad, so Chester.”

”OH FUCK OFF!” Solus’s sudden outburst had not Solus—Chester—taken aback.

”What?” It was Chester’s turn to be confused about his name.

”What? Are you kidding me?! Have you met the guy?! Has she met the guy?! Solus was practically shaking. He fidgeted wildly with the golden thorns, his apparent rage needing some secondary means of escaping him beyond simply yelling.

”No, and… Yes? What’s your problem?”

”What’s my problem? What’s your problem?! What’s your mom’s problem?!” Solus seemed to forget that there was anyone else in the room besides him and his opposite. ”Fucking look at you. You’re pristine. You look like you’ve never had a hard day in your life. Your mother did a terrible job naming you, because you’re nothing like dad’s kid.”

The other floatzel’s expression looked as though he had been attacked. ”Man, you’ve got some issues, don’t y—”

Solus didn’t realise he had thrown the golden thorn until it was already embedded into the other floatzel’s shoulder. ”AGH! DUDE WHAT THE HELL!?!”

”FUCK YOU!”

"You goin' next?" the other croagunk asked, side-eyeing the floatzel in his group as if he deserved it for engaging his counterpart in the first place. His gaze focused on Goro a moment later, though, directing the question toward him.

Goro, meanwhile, was similarly looking at the floatzel in his own group like something was wrong with him. He knew Krikka and Solus had a weird thing going on between them, but she'd gone as far as renaming him? Goro hoped she knew that wasn't going to fly with him. "Huh?" he smartly replied.

"You know, get pissy and throw somethin' at me like your buddy with the daddy issues. Or your other friend with the... issues in general. I guess she's just an evil bitch and that's the difference between 'em." Other Goro elaborated, sounding almost thoughtful for a second. "Come to think of it, since we're all just content to sit around and share stories, what's your deal?"

Goro stared for a second. "... What." he said, once again very smartly.

"The difference between us, you ugly shit. You seem like a mad, sad little boy, but there's gotta be a reason why," The stupid smile on his face was back, only this time it was very mocking, and it made Goro feel small. "Why don't you share with the class?"

"Why don't you shut—" Goro started to yell, only to trail off as if he thought better of it, his face furious and impatient. "Oh, fuck it." he grumbled.

Then he took off at a full-fledged sprint toward the other croagunk, having decided that the time for talking was over.