She hadn't wanted to scare Kubo by clinging to him when the monitors screamed. It was the only reason she hadn't had him in her arms when the cold began to overtake her, even as he held her arm. She'd tried, when she felt it, she'd tried to grab him, to hold on to him, but unconsciousness had taken her even as she'd grasped for him, and when she woke, her arms were empty.
When she woke, it was to the deceptively peaceful halls of her father's palace. The Moon King's palace.
Beautifully painted murals, technically perfect but with no soul to them, adorn the walls. The floors are clean. Bluish light - like moonlight, but brighter - filters in through a window. Everything seems washed out, devoid of vivid colors, and it's hard to tell if it's the quality of the light or an intrinsic part of the setting.
The murals depict a masked warrior slaying powerful men, her robes and hair streaming behind her in the light of an overlarge moon. Sometimes two smaller, black-cloaked figures follow in her wake. Sometimes she is alone. It seems to tell a chronological story, as she moves from the right side of the room to the left, cleaving through enemies until one, with a beetle on his banner, pulls her sword away from her. Until she is removed from the moon's light. It shows her languishing in darkness and decay with only her son beside her until she dies, and the Moon King himself comes down and takes the boy, putting the mask she wore over the child's face before lifting him up to the moon, leaving the earth (and the boy's shamisen) behind.
And, on a stand, as if a memorial, the white robes worn by the warrior in the murals, and her sword and mask, on display in the center of the room. The whole room is pristine and perfect in every way, save for a solitary worn black eyepatch on the floor in front of the warrior's robes.
Sariatu can only stand and stare for a long time, her face schooled into a mask of impassivity. Her flashing eyes and her white-knuckled grip on the hilt of her sword are the only indications (aside from the fact that she's standing perfectly still and not attempting to go anywhere) that she is upset. But oh, she is. It's her nightmare made real - her precious, kind, compassionate, loving Kubo taken from the earth, blinded, and made into one of her father's subjects. Made into something like she used to be, behind the mask she wore to earth to keep her from seeing its beauty.
If one watches carefully, one might see that she's trembling.
b)
She broke away from the calm, perfect, horrifying nightmare she'd woken into eventually, folding herself down into Monkey's form and finding her way down the halls, the Sword Unbreakable strapped to her back and ready to be wielded at a second's notice.
She will find her son. Everything else can wait until she's done that. But of course, if she happens to find anyone in trouble before then, she can't really leave them behind, can she?
And if anything attacks her, well... if it's recognizably someone she came with, she'll do her best to disengage. If it's not, she won't hesitate to bring her considerable swordsmanship to bear on them.
Sariatu
She hadn't wanted to scare Kubo by clinging to him when the monitors screamed. It was the only reason she hadn't had him in her arms when the cold began to overtake her, even as he held her arm. She'd tried, when she felt it, she'd tried to grab him, to hold on to him, but unconsciousness had taken her even as she'd grasped for him, and when she woke, her arms were empty.
When she woke, it was to the deceptively peaceful halls of her father's palace. The Moon King's palace.
Beautifully painted murals, technically perfect but with no soul to them, adorn the walls. The floors are clean. Bluish light - like moonlight, but brighter - filters in through a window. Everything seems washed out, devoid of vivid colors, and it's hard to tell if it's the quality of the light or an intrinsic part of the setting.
The murals depict a masked warrior slaying powerful men, her robes and hair streaming behind her in the light of an overlarge moon. Sometimes two smaller, black-cloaked figures follow in her wake. Sometimes she is alone. It seems to tell a chronological story, as she moves from the right side of the room to the left, cleaving through enemies until one, with a beetle on his banner, pulls her sword away from her. Until she is removed from the moon's light. It shows her languishing in darkness and decay with only her son beside her until she dies, and the Moon King himself comes down and takes the boy, putting the mask she wore over the child's face before lifting him up to the moon, leaving the earth (and the boy's shamisen) behind.
And, on a stand, as if a memorial, the white robes worn by the warrior in the murals, and her sword and mask, on display in the center of the room. The whole room is pristine and perfect in every way, save for a solitary worn black eyepatch on the floor in front of the warrior's robes.
Sariatu can only stand and stare for a long time, her face schooled into a mask of impassivity. Her flashing eyes and her white-knuckled grip on the hilt of her sword are the only indications (aside from the fact that she's standing perfectly still and not attempting to go anywhere) that she is upset. But oh, she is. It's her nightmare made real - her precious, kind, compassionate, loving Kubo taken from the earth, blinded, and made into one of her father's subjects. Made into something like she used to be, behind the mask she wore to earth to keep her from seeing its beauty.
If one watches carefully, one might see that she's trembling.
b)
She broke away from the calm, perfect, horrifying nightmare she'd woken into eventually, folding herself down into Monkey's form and finding her way down the halls, the Sword Unbreakable strapped to her back and ready to be wielded at a second's notice.
She will find her son. Everything else can wait until she's done that. But of course, if she happens to find anyone in trouble before then, she can't really leave them behind, can she?
And if anything attacks her, well... if it's recognizably someone she came with, she'll do her best to disengage. If it's not, she won't hesitate to bring her considerable swordsmanship to bear on them.