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The trailblazer was a strange person indeed, so it was never really surprising anymore when weird occurrences are drawn to them. By now, it was simply just another day exploring worlds, defeating villains, and falling into trash cans.
Honestly, no one should have expected anything remotely normal after the whole incident with ‘SparxieCon’. It happened in a world of elation, with memoria viruses, and caused by a masked fool. A true recipe for the queer and eccentric. Of course there would be bizarre side effects!
Or so, at least, that’s what the trailblazer was trying to convince themselves as they nursed a panging headache. They had been lounging around the Masked Fools’ tavern, not their best idea, playing some cosmicon with a few old pals.
It was a rather ordinary time at first. Fools getting drunk around them with the elating warm lighting and upbeat music. Sampo and Giovanni stood no chance against the Galactic Baseballer of course, destroyed with no mercy by their hands. Just as the trailblazer was about to gloat over their winnings, it struck them.
“It” being a memory. Have you ever watched past a scent before, the reminder or nostalgia being so strong from it you almost see the exact memory again? Picture that. The trailblazer, for a brief moment of time, wasn’t in the tavern anymore.
They were staring at someone, and someone was staring back at them.
The figure smiles at them, or wait, no, they were already smiling? There is something wrong with this person, something inhuman.
Despite staring right at them, seeing them with their own eyes, they couldn’t describe the look of the figure. Of course, the person had facial features; and they appeared human, yet there was no true way to say what words would be right.
Was their hair red or black? Pupils' orange or purple? Skin tanned or paled?
It was almost like a glitch of an avatar.
The only definitive thing the trailblazer could decide was that they were smiling.
Smiling right at them.
And speaking of definitive things, since when was the trailblazer sitting on the Astral Express? Checkered floors of the tavern had become the red carpet and marble flooring of the express.
It was the express, wasn’t it?
“The nameless really are a joy.” The figure laughs at them, like there’s some kind of inside joke between the two.
The trailblazer feels themselves laughing along with them, their very own body not listening any longer. Their mouth opens and does the motions of speaking, spilling out words they didn’t intend to say.
“You should really stay longer then.” The trailblazer coughs the foreign words out, but they sound flirtatious and lighthearted. Not at all a kind to the agony it felt to have their functions overridden. There is something making their heart beat hard, a fast pumping.
“Ha!” The p̶̡̤͍̼̙̀e̷̟͋̂̿̈́͆̏̌̓͐̋͘͝r̴͔̼͚̪̳͓̲̖̗͆͐̐̽͂̔̚̚s̵̝͉̳͍͍̲̿̋͝ͅo̷̡̡̢̬̻̩̪͕̻̙̦̖̰͑̄̓ͅn̴̢̢̧͇̰̗͍͉̗̈́͒̀̄͂̿̽́̅͊̒̿͗͠ cackles, the noise ringing with a joy. THEY look at the trailblazer again, through and at their eyes. “Only for you, perhaps.”
THEIR grin widens. “Akivili.”
The world explodes.
The Trailblazer can only gasp out as they're thrusted back into reality. Back into the tavern with Sampo and Gio staring at them like they’ve grown a third head.
So, they call it a headache. An odd side effect of Sparkle’s memo virus.
Afterall, memories are things that happened.
Right?