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What did he think about Ros?
Mortals are silly.
Anyway, about Foolish…
Sorry… What?
Yes. Bad promises he’s paying attention.
What was the question again?
What did he think about Ros?
It’s funny you should ask that, because he recently got in a bit of hot water with Foolish for killing her right in front of him. He’s gotten himself onto Foolish’s bad side before, but this was something different. Bad actually felt a little guilty about what had happened. Just a little though.
Killing Ros had been a long time coming, but that didn’t mean it went smoothly. It had been a huge mess. Foolish didn’t have a good time. Ros was definitely not having a good time. And HE didn’t even have a good time. And Bad usually had a great time when he got to murder someone, so this was not only notable, but it probably meant that there was something seriously wrong happening with Ros.
Not that it was really impacting his day to day, but not a lot of things did. And in the end Ros would soon be a distant memory, like all the other silly little mortals who came in and out of his notice. Foolish seemed to be fine now that he was a bit short on his memories, but that was another issue entirely. And honestly, what was happening with Foolish was a way bigger deal in his estimation.
Still not a good enough answer? Ugh fine, so needy.
Fine… Ros… Ros… Ros… What did he think about Ros?
Listen, in all his time dealing with mortals he had never really met one like Ros. Don’t get him wrong, that wasn’t exactly a compliment. It wasn't an insult either; she was just … odd. For a mortal at least. She sort of stood out from the other mortals in the realm. Even in her own faction she was separate from the others.
Ros was a fascinating contradiction of mortal emotions, and it was anyone's guess at which mood she would be in at a given time. His first real interaction with her that he could clearly recall was her challenging him to a castle off. It didn't seem to matter to her that he was building a Cathedral and not a castle. He wasn’t even given an option in the matter, she had declared it and so it was. She also never acknowledged that in the time it took her to neglect and then blow up hers, he had a completed Cathedral, and something that was close enough to a castle for him to brag about. She had stopped bringing up the competition a long time ago now that he thought about it, but he still remembered. Maybe she had forgotten it when she forgot him. Food for thought.
And even thought she had issued him that challenge, it wasn't like she had ever been mean spirited about it. In fact, she had been rather kind, even helping him at points or offering him supplies if he needed them. She had even assisted in carving away the mountain next to Green Castle. Odd behavior for someone who had come off so competitive, but he was used to mortals being inconsistent. But Ros seemed to be a very specific case in her inconsistency.
Ros had this big idea of who she wanted to be that was just not at all accurate to who she was as a person. Bad didn’t even think she was a bad person, she just wasn’t her own ideal. Ros wanted to be a warrior. She wanted to get stronger to be able to hold her own in a fight. She wanted to be able to defend herself and her Kingdom, which was full of a bunch of people way stronger and a lot more skilled at fighting than she was for the record. Ros was competitive, but she lacked the conviction to see it to the end. Her kindness undermined her own progress. It wasn’t determination that she was missing. It wasn’t drive. It was that she started to doubt herself, and prioritize others that threw her off her progress. Ironically, that was probably the only thing keeping her from accomplishing her goals.
Bad had also observed that Ros wanted friends, but she wasn't willing to be friendly to everyone. She could be cold and cruel when she wanted to. He had been subject to that cruelty before, and at the time he had wondered if she had been replaced by an imposter because of it. The Ros he had always been familiar with had been warm, sweet, generous, and carefree. But in those moments she had been harsh, implying things about him and Foolish when he had been particularly sensitive about it. He had never known her to be like that before, and he had been taken aback at the time.
He didn’t want to say it was his fault for making her change, but he had noticed the changes really became noticeable after he killed her. These days her contradictions were a little less noticeable. Since she had died she had achieved Nirvana, and even lashed out at him in a griefing war. Totally un-Roslike behavior. This new Ros was different, hardened, and maybe even a little salty. But in the beginning she had been pure hearted, and if he was being honest, totally helpless.
And well… he had a bad habit of helping the helpless. Watching someone continue to struggle to their final breath was exhausting and depressing. In the end they tended to go out begging for the release of death. Every time it made him cringe, this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. But watching them make something of themselves, and find value in their lives, meant when it finally came time for them to die, they resisted. They were begging or outright demanding more time, pleading, and struggling for mercy.
That’s what he liked to see. A precious life that someone had worked at and enjoyed finally being snatched away from them. Those were lives worth taking. Those souls were worth their weight.
But, at the end of the day, they were all going to die. Ros would also, ultimately die. No matter how much she struggled or didn’t struggle. No matter how happy or sad, bitter or angry, or joyful and whimsical she was. And there was nothing that he, or Foolish, or even the Keepers could do to stop it. For her, she already had a one way ticket. She just had to pick it up at the booth on the way to the gate.
Bad had tried, in his way, to help her on her journey. He had given her tools, and armor. And he had shown her farms that he allowed her to use to get stronger. He had given her advice, and materials when he had them. But mostly he gave her company when she was lonely. For a while there it had seemed like she counted him as a friend even. A begrudging one, but a friend nonetheless.
The problem with Ros was… well now that he thought about it she had a lot of problems.
To start with… Foolish. He was probably one of her biggest problems.
See Foolish wasn’t really used to keeping pet mortals the way he was. Bad had long ago integrated himself with groups of mortals, learned their ways, and how to befriend them. In the end he collected all their souls, but up until that point they had a lot of fun. Mortals had even taught him what practical jokes were! And those were his favorite mortal pastime.
Foolish had also lived among mortals, but he had mostly kept to himself a lot of the time, or had been more of a passive presence. Which meant he had way less experience managing mortals, their emotions, and silly social rules than Bad did. Not to say he wasn’t doing a good job, he just wasn’t doing enough. Mortals needed constant babysitting. But he seemed to be taking a far more hands off approach, and Bad had learned early on if you didn’t keep an eye on some of them they tended to get into all sorts of problems.
Ros was Foolish’s problem mortal. He seemed vaguely aware of it, but it was obvious that he had no idea how to help her. Boat rides might have been well and good early on, but Ros needed someone to be proactive and guide her, even now. She needed someone to keep a watchful eye, and to help when she got overwhelmed. Because let's face it, she got overwhelmed a lot. Most mortals did in his experience. Life could be crazy for them even under the best of circumstances, and let's face it. The realm wasn’t exactly the normal mortal experience.
So he could understand why Foolish was struggling to provide the correct amount of support to his faction subjects. In Foolish’s defense, Bad hadn’t fathomed the amount of hand holding he would be doing in this world, either. The way it had all unfolded had made it necessary, but Foolish was slacking. The King had assumed if he scooped up all the powerful mortals he wouldn’t have to do as much, and maybe somewhere else that would have worked out for them. But not here. Leaders had to actually do their part. He couldn’t just set them up, and point them in a general direction.
Which brought Bad to the second problem Foolish had.
Resource management.
He had all these powerful subjects, many of whom had reached Nirvana at this point, but they weren’t being given directions. There was no main project for them to work on. They weren’t being used to train up the others. There were no public works projects. Nothing to help the realm improve. In the beginning many of the members had been given official titles, but those positions never really went anywhere. No one had a task, or specific job they were expected to actually contribute to continuously, except Ros.
Foolish couldn’t even make sure there was someone guarding Ros and the castle from pranks and griefing. And that was, in Bad’s opinion, a major failing of the Yellow faction. When it had mattered, Yellow had shown they couldn’t show up for Ros. The jury was out on if a little sand on a castle was a ‘it matters’ situation, but apparently that had been the straw that broke Ros’s back. Not even Foolish had been willing to dust himself off for her. They just endured. And maybe it was poetic that they acted that way. Totems helped you sit and endure through hit after hit. Foolish had collected a group of people who were willing to endure, albeit loudly, hit after hit. And it was honestly, boring.
Bad was used to going round after round with Foolish, but yellow faction didn’t have the tenacity for it. They lacked the fortitude to actually commit to a full scale retaliation. Or even a small scale one. The only one who had really tried was Ros, and she ended up going crazy and destroying her own castle in the aftermath. Bad had to admit that it was a valiant attempt, and maybe a little disproportionate. But she couldn’t stick the landing. And that was Foolish’s problem. Bad blamed Foolish for not being there to guide her in her revenge, and back her up after. He doubted highly that she would have blown up the castle if Foolish had been there with her to get revenge on Green.
That being said, Ros should have never been the one to have to take revenge in the first place. Foolish wasn’t allocating those in his faction who would be able to retaliate without guilt, or issues to doing the dirty wok. Foolish himself wasn’t even retaliating. It was baffling. It was like he didn’t even know who Foolish was anymore.
Which led him to the third problem of Foolish’s. Lack of direction.
He recalled very clearly that in the past Foolish had a purpose. He used to be a builder, then he was in law enforcement while being a single dad. Even then he was still building part time. He had also been a horse breeder. Now he was trying to be a King, but had no prior experience with it.
And no. Bad didn’t count the Capybaras who declared him their King. Giant magical flying rodents had no business anointing royalty. That was more of a symbolic title rather than a legitimate one anyway. So Bad didn’t even count it as real experience.
But when you think about it, all royal titles are largely symbolic. Ultimately it is up to those that they reign over to follow them. And of course, if the people become disenchanted with their ruler, they have the choice to revolt. Bad had been trying to lead a glorious revolt against Foolish since he had been declared King. It was a shame that the rest of the realm couldn’t see that they deserved better. Maybe more people would be around if there wasn’t an inept, tyrant of a King lording over all of them from his bedrock throne. That was the real issue here. How was everyone supposed to work together like the Keepers wanted when there was a rigid system of inequality that served as the basis of their society?
Sorry what?
Oh! Yes, that was a little bit of a tangent, sorry. Back to Foolish.
Ros? What about Ros?
Oh!
Right… Ros.
The point is, Foolish lacks an overall direction for his faction. A bunch of them got really strong, but for what? What are they doing with that power? They didn’t start a war. They haven’t tried to address the corruption. They’re not building. They’re not expanding. What was the point of having that much man power if you didn’t have a goal in mind?
It was actually pretty frustrating to see yellow claim that they were this cohesive group that were always on the same page. Ok… what are they doing with all that? Green was known to be a collective of individuals, without any cohesive direction or clear leadership, but they had been doing a way better job at accomplishing objectives than yellow. In fact, he couldn’t remember them really doing something together since the faction quests. The recent efforts to do anything in the name of yellow had all been done by Ros, and only Ros.
Bad couldn’t understand what Foolish was thinking. Groups like yellow craved a purpose. But if Foolish didn’t have one, then what hope did the rest of them have? Yellow was just all floating off, subject to whatever chaos came their way. They needed stability, and something to sink their teeth into. Bad was even willing for it to be Green. At least it would give them something to do together. It would have been a goal. But Bad had tried to get a war going. Everyone had done their best to make sure nothing happened. Yellow refused, even with all their powerful members, to actually declare war.
It was just sad at this point.
Hmm? Yes this is still about Ros.
Ok fine. We’ll talk about Ros.
One thing he had thought was odd about her was how little the yellow faction had done for her about her time sickness. It was obvious she had been struggling. You would think that if any faction could help her it would have been her own. Where was the pooling of resources? Where was the threatening or kidnapping of the Keepers? Where were the investigations or frankly, any effort at all?
Sorry, he’s being unfair. They DID hold a ball for her. And they made a maze for everyone to go through in groups. Right. Yellow did do something. But then Pili, a yellow member for the record, had to taunt Green and start a conflict. So forgive him if he didn’t put too much stock into that whole thing. Once again Green was the bad guy. Not that they would actually retaliate.
Bad would have been furious if he was in her place. One of her own members couldn’t even leave things alone for the night, and then her big powerful faction member who was supposed to protect them killed her while trying to fight an enemy?
He would also be embarrassed to be in a faction with such a terrible track record when it came to holding balls. Ros gets kidnapped the first time, and killed by Sneeg the next? Yikes.
And what was Foolish’s reaction to all of this? To do nothing for her.
It was one of the reasons why he had insisted on killing Ros in front of Foolish. If he was going to have to clean up the mess Foolish refused to address, then he was going to make him watch.
When she initially came to him requesting to die, he had thought she was joking. Bad hadn’t been fully aware that her situation had deteriorated that far, and he was alarmed that her faction had let her slip through the cracks that way. Now maybe she had tried to hide it from them. Or maybe she had reassured them everything was fine until she felt like she couldn’t take it back. But you’re telling him that no one noticed? No one? He didn’t know if it was worse that they didn’t notice, or worse that they had noticed and they did nothing.
Yet he was the one who had been asked to help her, and he was treated like a monster for it. Killing her had reset her, and cured her. She wasn’t the same, but she wasn’t suffering anymore. She was just… less happy. And Bad thought that would be expected. There would always be sad times. But everyone seemed largely unsatisfied with how it had all shaken out. Everyone wants results, but no one wants to get their hands dirty. Typical.
And that was one of their larger issues that wasn’t directly the fault of Foolish. Yellow had this obsession with joy and whimsy. What did that even mean? Why was that even a goal they set for themselves? He had never seen them try to do anything to directly achieve it. They just… obsessed over it as an idea. It was like a cult. A cult that worshiped joy and whimsy, yet did nothing to be joyful or whimsical.
Bad knew that when he wanted to feel joy he would play pranks, or hang out with his favorite mortals. Or Foolish! Hanging out and pranking Foolish were his favorite. It could always cheer him up. Aimsey seemed to be Ros’s Foolish. But Aimsey had his own struggles, and friends other than Ros. Bad was lucky that Foolish was lazy, so there was always time for them to hang out. But Aimsey was actually trying to lead his faction, help Lukey with the cure, and now he had to deal with whatever Water was getting up to. Ros’s Foolish was busier than his Foolish was.
Normally when Foolish had been working on something he tried to help out so they could spend time together while still being productive. He would suggest that Ros help Aimsey with Lukey and Water. But Ros didn’t get along with them.
Which was a problem entirely of Ros’s making. Well… maybe not entirely. Two sides to every story and all that. But he had watched her kill Lukey, pushing him into joining Green faction, and starting the bad blood between them.
It had amused him at first, that despite her insistence that she didn’t like Lukey, something he could entirely sympathize with, mind you, she didn’t really do anything beyond killing him that first time. She might have had others try. Ros even banned Lukey from the ball until she eventually folded. But now… now she just seemed quietly resentful. That little hamster was still giving her grief, but she was just enduring it for the most part. He had assumed Pangi and Aimsey would try to include her in making the cure, but with Lukey taking the lead she had been left behind as far as he could tell.
He wondered if that bothered her.
Maybe that was why she blew her castle up. Maybe Ros had let all of her emotions pile up bit by bit until she just couldn’t shoulder it any more. He knew that if he had been in her position he would have been incredibly frustrated. He might have even left the faction over it.
Ros wouldn’t leave yellow though. He knew enough about her to know that unless yellow was dissolved, or Foolish kicked her out she would stay and suffer there. Wasted under poor management.
Each day he wondered if Foolish would wake up and remember him, but he was also waiting to see if the totem would come to his senses and save his faction.
What was the point of the yellow faction at all at this point? What was the point of any of their factions anymore? Bad couldn’t make sense of their purpose now. He had made the argument months ago that everyone should have just been in one faction, and this was a large part of the reason.
Every so often he wished he could have been in yellow with Ros. Even if he had to be under Foolish’s rule, he could have worked with Ros directly to help her when she was struggling. She had struggled a lot in her time in the realm, and it would have been nice to have a reason to still be helping her out directly.
His last prank with the sand had seemed to be her breaking point with him. She was avoiding him now. They hadn’t spoken since, and he doubted that she would talk to him again for a while.
Her and Foolish…. Slipped through his fingers.
There was nothing he could do for Ros at this point. She had made her own path, he only hoped that when it came time to collect her soul that she would find peace in what she had accomplished. Until that time he would let her decide what she wanted to do with what she had left.
He had other problems, like Foolish and his missing memories.
He missed Foolish.