(live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The sun tiptoes through your window, forcing you cognizant, squinting your eyes as you wearily process the unfortunate fact of being awake.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You aren’t used to that. ](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You find your footing on the old, wooden floor of an attic bedroom. You realize that you can- you //should// take your time with this.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You also are not used to [[that.->Activities mundane]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Activities mundane and slow, narrated with a softness that one would note in watercolor. Mornings lacking urgency and purposes. A life most would define as “normal”.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You’ve only learned of these concepts through second hand knowledge. ](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[They are -//were//- appealing to you, at least initially.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[But now you’ve tasked yourself with living out these ideas, and it is terrifying.](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[There’s at least //some// context necessary [[here.->June]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[June 12, 1890.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The day you learned your father was killed and didn’t just pass away, you were attempting to forge your adoptive father’s signature on a failed test.](stop:)](click-replace: "attempting to forge your adoptive father’s signature on a failed test.")[trying to figure out how to get the little ship inside of a bottle out.](click-replace: "trying to figure out how to get the little ship inside of a bottle out.")[playing with the neighborhood’s stray dog.](click-replace: "playing with the neighborhood’s stray dog.")[attempting to forge your adoptive father’s signature on a failed test.]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Because of this revelation, you became an investigator in order to learn who the real culprit was and why he was framed.](stop:)](click-replace: "an investigator")[a musician](click-replace: "a musician")[a writer](click-replace: "a writer")[an investigator]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[This has been your reason worth living for the past eight years,](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[until it [[wasn't.->It's a convoluted]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[It's a convoluted story worthy of theatrical adaptation, so much so that you'd consider it archetypal. You set off on your journey with your friends as a paragon to them; straight back, strong shoulders, and all that, not to mention well-liked despite your hot-blooded approach to most things.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[But then,](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[you got your revenge.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You killed the person who got your father killed via sword through the chest and are currently very much aware of the thin ice you stand on with your friends.](stop:)](click-replace: "sword through the chest")[bullet to the head](click-replace: "bullet to the head")[arrow through the neck](click-replace: "arrow through the neck")[sword through the chest]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Such secret-keeping wasn't intentional, of course. It's not something you wished to disclose to anyone that wasn't your sister but to the surprise of many, murder —however justified it may be— usually isn't seen as [["good".->As your]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[As your reminiscence comes to an end, though, you realize that this seeming morning bleariness isn't clearing up. ](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Hell, it's actually getting //worse,// once it dawns on you —hm.— that the back of your head is throbbing like, well, Hell.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You pinch the bridge of your nose, and realize the pain is behind your eyes. ](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[O//kay.// This is also new.](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[[[Step back.->Step back]]](stop:)]
(live: 6s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[[[Stay still, and try to push through the pain.->Stay still]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You take a step back, only for the back of your knee to bump the bed, and you flop back onto the mattress with the grace of a giraffe learning how to walk. ](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The bed shakes a little with a |alarm>[(text-style: "shudder")[THUD.]](live: 2.5s)[(replace: ?alarm)[(text-style: 'bold')[THUD.]]]](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The sudden movement does the pain no favors, and it feels as if the pain has a life of its own with an annoying, thumping heartbeat.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[[[Close your eyes.->Step back2]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You close your eyes tighter to try and relax your eye muscles(?). You've heard that's a thing people do when they get headaches sometimes, and while you've gotten headaches, you don't think you've gotten //headaches// before. The kind that would keep your late mother in bed, and that your adoptive father would call a migraine.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You get sick, but sickness always felt secondary in your life's mission. Maybe it just wasn't as bad. Maybe you were just plain lucky up until the whole revenge thing was taken care of.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[So when this migraine forces you to pull your head back onto your pillow and blanket around your shoulders, it feels laughable in the scope of this [[epilogue.->For 22]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You close your eyes tighter to try and relax your eye muscles(?). You've heard that's a thing people do when they get headaches sometimes, and while you've gotten headaches, you don't think you've gotten //headaches// before. The kind that would keep your late mother in bed, and that your adoptive father would call a migraine.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You get sick, but sickness always felt secondary in your life's mission. Maybe it just wasn't as bad. Maybe you were just plain lucky up until the whole revenge thing was taken care of.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[So when your migraine forces you to sit back down in defeat, it feels laughable in the scope of this [[epilogue.->For 22]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[For twenty-two years now, your life has been narrated quite factually. Even when some things are concealed from the reader for sake of drama, or when your friend had to take up the role of narrator in your absence, you’ve only stuck to the necessary words.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Clues first. Then rest.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[But clues have no use once the truth is out and done with, and you're stuck narrating your life at a slower pace with more focus placed on how an environment affects you, rather than actively seeking out to change it.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[It's... ](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You purse your lips as your brows stitch together.](stop:)]
(live: 6s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[[[Annoying,->Through your haze]] actually.](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Through your haze, you faintly recall your first night staying with your adoptive father's partner, Edric, around only a week ago. You had set your sword atop your bed and realized he'd come upstairs, watching you with a slight frown and calculating gaze.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Why the weapon, Mister Ōsa?”](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Just,” you began, wanting to say //just in case,// before realizing you don’t know for what, exactly. There are no enemies to fight off. No chance of ambush here in upper London. “It just helps,” you answer, “to have it close.”](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[And here, you realized —remembered— that people don’t take comfort in having sheathed, sharpened steel strapped to their hip. Not [[most->You flop]] people, anyway.](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You flop your arm onto the mattress, groping blindly for your sword. It takes some effort and a few pathetic //thwomps,// but eventually, you grasp your father’s sword in your hands.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[It’s an aged kampilan depicting a bakunawa on the pommel. You pull it close to you, almost like a child would a stuffed animal, feeling a measure of comfort in its familiar shape.](stop:)](click-replace: "bakunawa")[buaya](click-replace: "buaya")[kalaw](click-replace: "kalaw")[bakunawa]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Normal’s weird,” you breathe out, head pounding. “I don’t like not knowing what to do. I’m... Not used to it.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“I used to envy my friends.” You purse your lips. “I still do, really. I envy that they have normal families. Have normal problems.](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“I envy that they know how to go back to being [[normal.->Your fingers curl]]”](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Your fingers curl around the sheathe as tight as they can with your condition.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Just, I don’t— I don’t know //why// narration has to slow down either. I wasn’t //fine// when pursuing vengeance, I don’t think so, but… I-I knew what I was doing.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“...At least," you shrug, "I think I did?”](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You [[wince->Perhaps this]] at that. It doesn't take a conversation partner to tell you how believable that statement is.](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Perhaps this is inevitable. Eight years devoted to this vague idea of vengeance doesn't leave a lot of room for things like hobbies and emotional availability; and what room should be there is misshapen, occupied by the sword you clutch in your bed.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Quite a dissonant scene, this: an actor that's missed his costume change, and now lays in bed aching and confused, wincing at the stage lights.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[And your head still hurts like [[Hell.->It's after]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[It's after a few more minutes of this existential mess do you hear chatter from below. ](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Heath? Hey— Hey, Heath, are you awake yet?”](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[It's June, Edric's daughter. She's twelve, and a week ago, in spite of your current arrangement just being you taking up their unused attic space, she essentially forcibly adopted you into the family.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[The fact that Edric adopted her also has something to do with this. Lots of orphans running around in this story.](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You don't make an effort to get up though— or, rather; you [[can't.->Noise]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Noise, you realize, only pronounces the migraine even more, and for all the love you have for this kid, you can only burrow deeper into what's a sad little blanket wrap.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Then, the dialogue fades out of earshot, before you hear footfalls ascending the stairs. The wooden stairs creak, but don't thud with reckless running— so, Edric.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“The hot breakfast June cooked up for you is starting to look like quite the sad, neglected brunch, Mister Ōsa,” he says, raising his brows. “Are you all right?”](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Mmpgh. Migraine.” You breathe out a sigh. “Sorry, I'll— I'll be down in a second, just waiting for it to… [[Cool down,->You needn't]] I suppose?”](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“You needn't move an inch, I'll bring it.”](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“No, you don't have to—” you start to get up, only to feel like your body's "controls" so to speak, have been reversed. “Okay, yes, you have to.” You let your head flop onto the pillow. “Thank you, Edric.”](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Not a problem. After all, it wouldn't do for you to overwork yourself even more than you have already.”](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Wait, [[what.->Wait what]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Wait, what?” you ask. “I wasn't overworking. I don't even have “work” right now, I work—” Wow, this sounds very stupid aloud. “I work… “Freelance”.”](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Yes, but you were cleaning everywhere and around the flat till midnight,” Edric points out, leaning against the wall.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Because you're terrible at maintaining it,” you grumble, “and your workspace is still a mess with all your,” gestures, “work. Your unfinished art and all. Besides, it's— it's fine.” A sigh. “I wanted to make sure I wasn't just leeching off of you two.”](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Is that really the [[reason->I yes]] why?”](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“I— //yes,// yeah.” Horizontal shrug.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Because you sleep, walk, and go about your daily life like a… Well, I can only describe it as how a soldier would after coming home.”](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“I'm hardly a soldier,” you mutter, adjusting your blanket. “I haven't fought in a [[war->But you've]] here, Edric.”](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“But you've been fighting,” he counters, a sharpness accompanying his gaze. “For vengeance, and for eight years at that. I'm guessing that you haven't had a plan for what happens after you achieve it.”](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Well— all right, no, I didn't. I still don't.”](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“And that is //unhealthy,// Heath.”](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[[[“What, not having a plan?”->No staying]]](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[[[“You mean staying up all the time?”->No staying]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“No, staying in this mindset.”](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You blink.](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Of course, this is through no fault of your own,” Edric frowns, “you had no control over what happened to your father. But you don't have to, well, do anything. You don't have to be doing things in service to other people in order to heal. You can just //be,// you know.”](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“But—” you blow out a sigh. “It doesn't feel right to. It doesn't feel like I [[//can//->But you]] do that, even.”](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“But you do deserve to [[try.->You purse]]”](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You purse your lips, easing yourself to sit upright.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“And to try again, even if your first attempts at healing don't work out. It's one Hell of an adjustment, given your circumstances up until now —what, with that vengeance and all— //but,// do know this:](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Your definition of mundanity is as extensive as you write it. Not a state that you achieve, but something you must work for and maintain. Even if it means just //being.”//](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You lean back, feeling your finger trace over the patterns engraved on your sword's pommel.](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[[[Huh.->You breathe in]]](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“I,” you breathe in, and let out a tired sigh, “yeah. You make a good point, Edric. I'll keep it in mind.”](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“Good!” he says, his sharp gaze replaced by the same, familiar jovial glint. “Now, while I'm quite sure your oatmeal's now firmly in the solid state of matter, I'll bring it up for you.”](stop:)]
(live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[As he turns to go back downstairs, he glances back at you.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[“I wish you a good rest, Heath. Thank you for hearing me out.”](stop:)]
(live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[So, he departs, leaving you with you alone in bed. You breathe out a sigh, and ease your [[grip->END]] on the sheathe.](stop:)](live: 1s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[Just be, huh.](stop:)]
(live: 2s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[It won't be a smooth journey. ](stop:)](live: 3s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[You know that much.](stop:)]
(live: 4s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[But there's potential to welcome such a shift in genre and narration, ](stop:)](live: 5s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[perhaps even appreciate it, you think,](stop:)](live: 6s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[ as you lay your sword next to you and reach to hold the pillow instead, ](stop:)](live: 7s)[(t8n:"dissolve")[feeling the stress slowly ease from your body.
](stop:)]