I don't own digimon.
Chapter 26
Compromise in my own head
As waking up goes, finding your head in a bowl of soup isn't the worst way in the world. You could be like that Ingo guy and sleep on a bed of constantly burning papers for some reason. That just sound awful of a way to wake up. Especially since you would be covered in burns that would need healing. Even then, how exactly would you go about sleeping? If I had that for a bed, I probably wouldn't. Oh right. I'm back here in Aldia. Sorry. I'm trying to do these back-to-back to make up for lost time. Not that I'm doing that well for the moment.
For Madame, that was how they found themselves at the moment. Though, there was a bit of surprise of the contents not being a whole bunch of goop. Quite a win.
"Good. You didn't accidentally drown yourself in your soup." a voice announced, forcing our thief to shift their focus to the left and get out of the bowl. Marigold currently stood over them, concerned. How long exactly was anyone's guess. Personally, I'm fairly certain it's just a couple of minutes. Maybe. Any more than that would look very stalkery. With that the amount of information that Marigold has, it would surprise me if that was the case here. "Though, you haven't even touched any of this. Oh well."
Grabbing the spoon, she slipped it into the bowl's contents and brought it to her customer's lips. Said customer refused to take a spoonful. Especially after explicitly asking for something that wasn't some variety of mystery goop. Absolutely disrespectful.
"It's not goop. I made sure that it wasn't." Marigold continued and forced the spoon in. Reluctantly, our thief gulped it all down. Tasted pretty good. Probably even better if it was actually fresh soup and maybe even hot. "What do you think?"
Madame looked away, gaze fixated on the floor for the moment. Recently cleaned, you can easily see your reflection within. Well, just Madame's for the moment.
"It's good, I guess." they muttered, frustration and fatigue echoing out as their attention returned to Marigold. "Do you ever have trouble with your identity?"
The words ring out, a chuckle servicing as the only answer for the moment. A deep breath followed, our host scooping into the soup once more.
"Some days." Marigold answered, taking a deep breath as she brought the spoon back to Madame once more. "I sometimes wonder myself if this is my first life, second or perhaps even more."
Huh… Was not expecting that. I guess it's entirely possible to have lived an entire life with bonds, adventures and then have to take on the strain of those memories. I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. Probably just go mad, maybe even lose my head.
Yet, Madame looks away. A million different thoughts seem to rage within, refusing to let go of this mess. Try as they might to move onward, the negativity held on even tighter than before.
'You're nothing more than a fraud.'
'The real madame wouldn't have fallen for such a simple, crude trap.'
'What made you think that was a good fucking idea? She was clearly an idiot.'
On and on these thoughts went, a boulder rolling down an endless hill with little sign of stopping. Run from it and the boulder just catches up. Hide from it and the boulder just finds you. Stand still? The boulder crushes you on it's merry way.
"Madame?"
The thief's gaze returned to Marigold, tears rolling down her face. Mumbles of garbled words drop to the ground. Yet, a hand finds its way to their back and pulled them closer. A hug would do some good, but it's slight pat that is gifted here. Then more soup. Crud. Now I want soup now. Sure, it's never quite meets the homemade stuff, but it's something. Sorry. I just got off topic there.
Yet, the thief swallowed this gift and focused back on the waitress. Always seeming to have some knowledge that they didn't, could the answer to this one nagging question be known to them. If not, could they at least give a general direction of where to go from here? Taking a deep breath and pushing the negative thoughts to the back corner, they let their focus return to the
"Do I look like a boy or girl to you?" Madame croaked out, silence creeping in from all angles. Marigold mumbled something to herself, gaze more on her outfit than her guest for the moment. A deep breath followed.
"That's not a question I can answer." Marigold announced and stood up, ignoring the death glare coming from Madame at the moment. "You're the only one who can really decide the answer to th-"
The bowl of soup was now airborne, shattering unceremoniously on the floor a few feet away. What a waste of a perfectly good meal.
"Why is it you're always so full of answers when I never need, but the one time I do you tell me off?" Madame screeched, whip already coming out. Why did people seem so insistent on never giving her a straight answer? Couldn't they see the mess she had inadvertently gotten herself into? Or did they all see a person having a tantrum for a world that felt the need to change the rules on her every time that it would like she would get on top?
Pulling her arm back, the thief let her weapon fly on out. First glance would suggest she was on her mark. Reality is sadly a harsh beast, with Marigold choosing instead to step out of the way and pick our thief up. Guess it was bound to happen eventually here with her. Goodwill gets you so far. It's bound to run out eventually. Then you have to face the consequences of your actions.
"I'm going to need you leave." Marigold barked, Madame kicking her with each step. "I get that you're angry, but this is something that only you can get to the bottom of right now. What 'she' did was of her own accord. We may have laid the foundation of this me-"
Madame's fist collided with Marigold's face, resulting in the waitress dropping her captive. Not wanting to take chances, Madame took this particular chance to exit the cafe. But where would they go from here? News could easily travel fast in this town. If hiding was best, Madame was going to need to find a place - and fast. Or would it be better to face this storm head-on. Throwing everything she had, no matter the consequences of such an act. Even within all of that, the adrenaline began to fade from within their body. Fatigue seemed ready to kick in once more, the world threatening to swirl about.
"Crud." they thought, gaze focusing in on the graveyard. Just one more fuck-up to add to the massive pile that seemed to be accruing at the moment. Had to be some way to turn this around for the foreseeable future.
"You could always let me take back control."
Took 'her' long enough to return. Yet, Madame ignored the other voice for the moment. Instead, they let their feet take them to the one place that might have some kind of answers - home. In retrospect, that probably what they should've done in the first place. After talking to that Dave dude (they could easily swing either way), the lack of sleep over the past couple days finally did them in. A problem that seemed ready to threaten them right now of all times.
"Just a little further…"
The mansion came into view. From the looks of things, someone had forgotten to lock things up for the night. While no one really stole from her (that would be absolutely silly), it was still a good safety measure. What if another thief were to somehow pop up and challenge them? Would their abilities be up to the task of keeping their turf.
"My offer still stands. " she thought, getting a mental groan in return. Of course they would refuse her offer. They currently had complete control of this body and could take Madame wherever they wanted too. Even passing through the gate, she was ready to launch a full-on attack. "Or are you just afraid of me?"
Madame came to a stop. Gazing for the ground, muttering of more garbled words following. This couldn't keep going this way. They were done arguing and now, it was time to reach an agreement of sorts.
"No." they thought and opened the door. Inside, everything looked the same. Bubbles hung at the top of the stairs, blissfully sleeping. Guess the little guy was waiting for his favorite princess to return and fell asleep. Quite a friend for our thief to have. "If anything, you should be afraid of me."
'She' ignored this mental threat, Madame choosing to make their way up the stairs. No real fancy movement here, just taking each step one at a time. Doubt her legs could really do that cool 'skip-every-other-step' thing I've seen some people do. But at the top, they took a seat.
"Just push him down. He most definitely deserves it." she thought, getting a head shake from the other part. "What? You think he has some sort of use? It's a dragon! A beast capable of death and destruction when the time comes! Open your eyes. Unless you have a plan of sorts."
Madame nodded, trying their best to not disturb Bubbles for the moment. He definitely needed the sleep, especially after putting in all that work. Which is discounting the fact the whole drugging thing from a couple days ago.
"It's our job to raise him till that point, princess dresses or not." Madame thought, taking a deep breath as they focused on the little dragon. He was so cute, in between the princess dress he was currently wearing and his slumped over body. "If nothing else, can you at least agree to work with me?"
Silence fell over Madame's head, her debating the offer. Sure, that sounded great and all. But why should she care. It was just a little drag-
"Mommy? Here?" Bubbles mumbled, catching the thief by surprise. The possibility he was an orphan hadn't come to her, could that really be the case? They couldn't think of the last time they had seen a dragon. Was Bubbles really only dragon he- "Princess?"
Eyes fluttering open, the little dragon turned his attention to Madame. A smile followed, culminating in a hug. Madame let him go through with it. Felt quite nice. Especially in the face of all that had occurred today. A bright spot in a sky full of gray clouds. Even if that did get them a mental groan from their other half.
"Yes, it's me." they greeted, getting a look from Bubbles. "Something wrong?"
Bubbles reached out for Madame's face, giving it a slight tap. The thief stood still for the moment. Didn't want to hurt her friend. Okay. That was pushing it to an extent. But if this worked, maybe then both parts could come together at least on this front. If not, more drastic measures would need to be taken. Measures that they doubted either of them would like.
"Princess, not better?"
If there was anything that both parts could agree in that one moment, was that Bubbles was far sharper than he looked. Fluke or not, he was right on the money. No use in beating around the bush in this moment. Only make things worse. So the thief took a deep breath and shifted her sitting position. That way, her gaze couldn't fixate as much on her currently ruined dress.
"Part of me wants to hurt you, Bubbles." Madame explained, finding the little dragon's gaze on her once more. Even fiercer than one would think such a creature could really manage. "Try as I might to keep 'her' under control, she still takes hold."
Bubbles's look softened, taking the time to give his friend a slight pat to the back. While he couldn't quite imagine what Madame was going through at the moment, the little dragon was willing to give his all to help her out here.
"Compromise?" he parroted, Madame getting a mental glare from 'her'. Of course there would be a tantrum in response to the idea.
"Cheater." she thought, mental deep breath following that. She was not going to let them win this battle. Or this war for that matter. It would be her who would keep control of this body. But try as she might to take hold once more, "Let me in!"
"You didn't ask nicely." they thought, splitting their focus between Bubbles and her for the moment. "If you really want me to share, you need to at least act like a team player."
The word echo about the thief's head, refusing to let go. Everyone kept telling her that like it was an answer to some arcane mystery. Sure as fuck wasn't. She clearly knew that, but chose to ignore the sentiment. What use was their in helping others when they were rarely if ever willing to help her back in return? Well, that was her philosophy at least. In practice, she was adamant about not changing on that policy. The world isn't some static place though, things constantly changing for reasons beyond our control. Standing tight against it, her policy was beginning to crumble in the face of this newest job on her list - chosen. No real description, just a strange bracelet and mole with the strangest speech pattern around. One would think it would be the simplest job ever. In practice, that was far different story. So many different variables at work, all of which could react to one another at random with unpredictable results.
"What's in it for me?" she thought, realizing right after how obvious the answer in this situation was. "You brought with you quite a strange strat-"
Without any prompting or real warning, Bubbles decided to wrap his arms around the thief for a massive hug.
"Fine." she thought, feeling the little dragon let go mere moments later. "I'm willing to help you. That might change later down the road."
Inside, Madame chuckled. As weird of a victory this had become, they were going to take it. Would be quite rude of them to just pass this up.
"Deal." they thought, a big rush of relief coming over them in that moment. As feelings went, there was nothing else like it in her life so far. So she let her attention focus on her companion at the moment. Hopefully, they would be able to complete the mission she had in mind for them.
"Bubbles, I need you to take Phusitmon and attempt to get through some of the boarded up sections in the mansion." she explained, Bubbles giving a nod as he stood up. "Knowing Marigold, she probably already snitched that I headed back here."
Watching the little dragon head off, Madame let a smile form on her face. Standing back up, they made the short journey towards their dressing room. The last time they had actually changed eluded them, switching between dress and jumpsuit not really counting in that regard. That was more changing the form of the outfit itself in the hopes of minimizing suspicion she could bring on themselves. More of a fool's errand in this town with this sort of reputation. But that was discounting her former hidden hideout. A place that was far less secure than it was supposed to be. Maybe that was the result of time passing by without a second thought for that sort of thing. Who can really say here.
"No." she thought, shaking her head as they entered the dressing room. Inside, the room looked unchanged from the previous visit. If you don't count Bubbles taking one of the dresses to wear as a change (I personally don't).
Closing the door behind them, Madame shifted her focus to the dresses. Whatever they picked would need to be good enough for the Artisan. While his personal style was nowhere near their level (got first-hand proof of that fact), they needed to look their best for this meeting. Especially with this being the perfect chance to nip him in the bud. Or at least, drop him down a couple notches. Created a lot of work wouldn't have been necessary had he chosen to not destroy the alleyways. But hindsight is 20/20 on these things. What's done is done and now we need to head forward with one's life. Continued pondering won't get much done.
"How about this one?" they thought, holding out a pink dress. The groan coming from within said it all. Definitely not that one. Next was a cream-colored one lacking in the way of frills or 'fluff' you would normally associate with such garments. "This?"
A sigh came this time. Step in the right direction? Yeah, let's go with that for the moment. Especially as Madame pulled out a pale white dress. While nothing audible seemed to come with it, she slipped out of her ruined dress and into the unenchanted garment.
"Much better." she thought, smile returning to her face for the briefest of moments. Things might just work out here. Who would've thought that?
Notes:
Sorry about this taking a bit longer than usual. Holidays and working on out the sneak preview kind of dragged things on.
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Next Time: Catching up with Ella. Because I totally didn't forget she existed. Not one bit.