voicetest the voiceless

[focusedvoid]

They're not dead.

Less dead than they'd felt, at least. Their shell doesn't normally take so long to reform.

Then again. Their shell doesn't usually break of their own violation as they ascended in a boiling rage, ate at least one realm, a god, and all the Godseekers.

(That last point is debatable, actually. There's some odd sense, deep under their...shell? Void? Wherever they once stored things like Isma's Tear, much deeper now...that the sea-mind is still there, sluggish and held in a stasis. They're already adjusting enough, and they don't seem to be dying or trying to kill them, so that problem is neatly sorted as 'for later'.)

They push their body to stand. Their horn clangs uncomfortably loudly against the grate they've apparently woken up beneath. They're somewhere in the Royal Waterways. A quick check of the map--or, not so quick, as it takes time to locate where it had been--shows they've risen about halfway through, closer to the City of Tears than the White Palace. They'll go to the Stag Station in the City Storerooms next.

So they think. Complications arise on the way.

The Infection is gone, leaving dead Flukes, Pilflips, and Hwurmps in piles enough it takes time to force their way past. Their body seems too small. No, their body is fine--there's something wrong with perception itself. That will take time to adjust to.

Then, they discover the Monarch Wings now stretch and warp when used, twisting around the nearest pipes after landing before the Knight forcibly calls them back. Shade Wings, they decide to call these.

Once they're high enough to hear the rain above, they realize a noise they'd ascribed to water running in the distance is, in fact, something swirling behind their mask. Many somethings. All the fragments of Siblings with enough self left, staring out from their eyes. It's disconcerting.

By the time they actually get out of the Waterways, they're using their Shade Wings to grip ledges and drag themselves up, with those holding onto things better than their own arms are with the Mantis Claw. 

The Knight faceplants awkwardly onto the floor of the building Lemm's shop is in. If the City is the same as below, there's little left to try killing them in the area.

They'll just take a moment here, thanks.

Comments

[focusedvoid]

They nearly snap the quill's tip off then and there.

After a moment, the Knight delicately places Lemm's aside and take out their own for the rest.

No. He needed an empty prison, not a living heir.

An uncountable number of attempts at his Pure Vessel hatched and died in the Abyss.

Some did not have strength enough to break the shell. Many were crushed by the bodies of failed ones previous. He called the final clutch up a terr an extremely steep climb to find one with "no mind to think/will to break/voice to cry suffering"

A moment's pause. They hate how those words are seared into their memory anew. The air is heavier, suddenly, though they reel in their rage and Siblings' growing distress at the recall.

Those that tried and failed to qualify fell to death or severe injury before making it to his Light at the top. The only first who reached the exit was named The Hollow Knight and taken.

The rest of us were the regrets locked away behind them.

They stop.

[capitalcurator]

Some selfish, rotten little part of Relic Seeker Lemm wishes he'd been drawn to a different vocation. There is a rising horror in him, and it builds the more he tries to interpret this any other way. There must be a different way to read it, some grammatical issue, misunderstood synonym. This can't really mean...

Lemm takes up the paper and returns to the window to re-read it a few times. His eyes flick down to the statue in the square. His hands are shaking a little. Easy, now, he thinks, though it doesn't help at all. A historian is supposed to be cold to history, remain objective, keep everything below his scorn. But a living piece of it is resting on his counter. Lemm reads the Knight's words again. And again.

"In the Black Vault far above," he murmurs. "Through its sacrifice-"

The hand holding the paper drops to his side; the other puts itself to his forehead.

Distantly: "Little wanderer... Who else knows?"

[focusedvoid]

That's a good question. Genuinely. It draws them out of the cold churning that's started inside them.

(They've known all this for...a while, now. There was plenty of time to think it over between practices in Godhome. Why is it suddenly getting to them now?)

They pull the paper back. A little sharper than needed. It doesn't quite tear, but the noise is another indicator they need to calm.

Calm. They need to recount the facts.

-Lurien the Watcher, Herrah the Beast, Monomon the Teacher were involved after. I do not know what they were made aware of. They were intended to dream forever as a way to Seal the Hollow Knight from outside interference.
-Hornet, daughter of Pale King and Herrah the Beast. Queen Herrah of Deepnest. Her birth was a bargain for Herrah to become a Dreamer. She appears to have been tasked to kill any Vessel that could try supplanting the Hollow Knight. (This may have been self-imposed?)
-The White Lady. She bound/locked herself away after. I do not know how much She was waiting for another a truly "Pure Vessel" to take their place since the Infection's reemergence.
-A single Retainer is in the Abyssal Lighthouse. They are long dead. I do not know whether that occurred before or after.
-The Great Knights did not seem to be aware there were multiple Vessels.
-I did not remember any of this until well after returning.

[capitalcurator]

Lemm stares out of the window a little longer. He needs the... the time, or the space, to give himself a pep talk. This is your job, Relic Seeker. This is the kind of information you've been hunting for, isn't it?

He returns to the counter after a few moments and slides back into his seat. He doesn't feel well; his legs are feeling a little weak to keep standing around. Lemm's elbows come to rest on the counter and his hands cup his face, tunnel-visioning the paper as he watches them write.

The White Lady, he notes. Bound. That's very specific. The mother may still live. Information for later. All of it is information for later. The Great Knights didn't know. Even they didn't know.

Lemm takes a noticeably shaky breath and keeps his hands where they are so he doesn't have to see the Knight's face just yet. He'll talk to the ink instead.

"I want you to know I feel the weight of this, Knight." It's so hard to say the right thing, and harder still to keep his voice steady. Lemm will not go to pieces here, now, over his job. But. "As I suspect you do. You can... finish, for now."

[focusedvoid]

They look to him, pulled from their recounting. Finish--?

...Lemm is bothered.

No, Lemm is rattled. The correct response, in truth, but one that still catches them off guard. The evidence was so that none who knew did care. No cost too great. But so few knew. The few who may have were never able to tell the truth of the Hollow Knight alone. The rest...the rest. How did they get out? How did any of them? They have no memory, no evidence.

They're torn. They want to continue, and do not know how to, and do not want to push with Lemm looking away from them like that and Siblings seething their grief and fury.

Thank you. I d
If you
I can try more questions in a little while that are not about this if desired. I should first take a walk.

The pushing of paper into his vision is far gentler this time.

[capitalcurator]

Still tunnel-visioning the paper, Lemm just nods slightly, only even noticeable because his horns dip. Hard to do much else without giving himself away. He's still riding the unpleasant lurch of realising exactly what was done, though he's fighting hard to keep all of that to himself. Wouldn't do to make this about him.

His hands drop and he jerks his head up just in time to see the back of them vanishing out of the door. Something tightens worse in his stomach.

"I'll hear you!" he answers just in time. "Go, but don't disappear on me. I'll hear everything yet."

Lemm rests his head miserably on one hand, toying with the edges of the notes they've written as he rereads them ad nauseam. He's involved, whether he likes it or not. History is so much more frightening this way.

[focusedvoid]

They do take the map (still shut on the counter) with this time. They're not planning on going for long, but it's best they have no chance of getting lost right now.

They go. Up. Out of the City, which isn't as soothing with its endless rain as it normally is. To the edge of the Lake. (It lacks tragic association, but it's still something fascinating to see.)

If they were alone, they would be able to pack all these emotions away in a little box 'for later' and then possibly look at them later, or, more likely, try to forget them. They are not alone. They will never be alone again, with a thousand eyes and tragedies watching the world through them.

So they don't. They can't.

The Knight uses the Crystal Heart to make it halfway across before they scream.

The Abyss Shriek is much more powerful now, in volume and scope. The cavern rains with little stalactites falling into the water. Below--not now, not yet, but in a little while, the City of Tears will briefly be struck with a downpour even stronger then before, if only for a few minutes.

They hate knowing these things, in the end. They know they must. They can't regret it. They need...they need to make sure someone knows. They have to...they must...this needs to be told. They are not only regrets. They were alive. Their will is enough to keep them something like it, still.

But not yet. It's...Lemm. Lemm deserves a break. Their Siblings do as well.

It's a while before they're back at the shop, externally as composed as ever.

[capitalcurator]

Relic Seeker Lemm has always been full of questions, but he's always been steadfast in the belief that directing those questions inward is a quick path to decay. He's been wrestling lately with a particularly difficult one, though, because he's come to realise he's got to examine himself before a certain... family does it for him.

So. Coward that he is, he has to ask the question: Does he make his exit however he can, and disentangle himself from the Knight and their siblings? He has to ask. Relic Seeker Lemm is not the family-and-friends type. He'll mess it up. He will mess it up. He's as convinced of this as he is that silk parchment and water should never be introduced to each other.

The answer comes... easily. It's a relief that it does.

The shop is a little different when the Knight enters next. It's been tidied, for one, though it seems unlikely to stay that way. A lot of the less relevant relics (and... curiously, any with sharp edges) have been sorted through and moved who-knows-where to make space, and that space is already beginning to clutter anew as more specific things are brought out for reference.

Lemm stands in front of the window, staring out with his arms folded.

"Don't step on anything," he sternly warns without turning around. "And don't get comfortable. I've an errand that needs running."

[focusedvoid]

That's...curious. Which is in itself an excellent deflection away from the earlier raw topic.

Anything remotely in their way is hopped over easily, so they aren't stepping on anything. Technically.

The Knight halts at Lemm's side, staring out to match. They're not expecting to see anything. (Nothing but the statue of the Hollow Knight and Dreamers, of course, if they look down. They choose not to.)

An errand... A job for them. Interesting, no matter what it might be. No doubt it'll be less frustrating and fatal than the Grey Mourner's last wish.

you don't know that. maybe these supplies detonate like plastic explosives if you get hit

[capitalcurator]

If they did, or if they passed through it, they'd see the square empty of the Soul Sanctum's broken glass and other things. Nasty business, sweeping rubbish into the Waterways, but it didn't take long. Nothing a void full of children should bother themselves with.

Relic Seeker Lemm seems acerbic as ever. The break apparently let him pull himself together as well.

"I'm down to my last quill, and I'm running out of things to write on. If I'm to tackle this properly I'll need more of both. I won't be finding anything usable down here." He glances down at the Knight, not that he expects to be able to read their mask any better than usual. "Last I was there, that dingy little town up above had little to speak of but a map shop. Lucky for me cartography uses the same tools."

It would take him no time at all to make the trip himself. It does not look like Lemm's packing a bag, though. He seems a little tense.

exploding tools would at least be easier to remember they're holding

[focusedvoid]

They noticed, but only vaguely. If they stopped to give it thought, they would've suspected that strange repair-bug before Lemm.

The Knight dips their head to acknowledge his words. Yes, there's paper and quills there. They pull out their map and hold it against the window, tapping the vendor pin for Iselda's shop. (Sly might have something. They don't feel like trying to find out if he has more unless they must. His attitude to them may have been frustrating before. His role in whatever Mato and the other brothers' problems are...now bothers them more.)

They're being sent on a supply run, then?

[capitalcurator]

A nod. And he's seen the other pins the last time he looked. It likely means there are more bugs in Dirtmouth these days. Lemm looks away and begins arranging his notes back and forth.

"That's the place. Although as long as I can keep writing I don't care where or how you get it. I'll give you back the Geo." And, just because: "I'd like one of those maps, too. I know the City well enough, but there are... expeditions I've been considering lately a bit further afield."

[focusedvoid]

Nod, again. A perfectly doable task.

The Knight clinks their Nail against the window to get Lemm to look back over and pats vaguely around Hallownest's areas whenever he might. It'd helpful to know which maps to get in particular, where they might end up finding him suddenly--which he likely should be warned away from going--which places might he want? Or did he mean all of it?

[capitalcurator]

Lemm strokes his beard and thinks for a second.

"All of it," he decides. "There are a few places I won't be going, of course, but that's the point. And if you- never mind."

A very minor pause. Lemm returns to his desk, stepping around and over the mess on the floor.

"Be useful know who's up there as well," he gruffly tacks on just when it seems he's done.

[focusedvoid]

Hm.

They pull the map down and stare into it, considering.

That might be a little more difficult. As much as Cornifer made the base of their map, the Knight still had to fill plenty of it in.

...It takes some intense internal drumming up to finally turn around and return to the counter's top, tugging out their own quill and some paper scrap. (One of Cornifer's discarded prototypes they plucked up after he'd left the Fungal Wastes, in fact. The paper is intact and functional, if a bit odd in smell.)

I can pick up several maps. Each area is sold parts. I had to finish them in areas he couldn't get to. I can copy out this one with time over his Cornifer's.

They hardly blame him for asking who's there, either. The population has boomed compared to just Elderbug in a small amount of time.

Want information on vendor pins, or everyone?

[capitalcurator]

Lemm considers that first bit. It's not that he wants to give them more work to do than necessary, not when his instinct is to pay them for it. Then again it's their knowledge of Hallownest he'll be relying on most heavily.

He settles on a maybe: "I was going to borrow yours again and do it myself, but you'd be more familiar... I don't want you cluttering it with notes about things I won't find relevant, though. If you want that job, wait until you get back."

The next question gives him a lot more pause. He actually looks away for a second, fingers tapping on the counter while he struggles with admitting this is personal curiosity and not just taking stock of a possible supply run.

"...Whoever," he says unhelpfully, like he regrets asking in the first place. "And buy extra paper for yourself, while you're at it. Can't have you running out when you have something to say."

[focusedvoid]

They're unbothered. So long as he's aware of the time sink it'll be.

...Yes, that is unhelpful. Lemm is given another of their lengthy looks before they oblige.

-Iselda, Cornifer: couple who own the map shop. Iselda sells in shop, Cornifer maps through Hallownest. Cornifer is settled in for now.
-Sly: Shopkeeper. No stock last checked. Rips off worse than you.
-Elderbug: Dirtmouth village elder, afraid of Hallownest. Knows odd facts from visiting travellers.
-The La Old Stag: Only Stag of the Stagways available for transport. Can be summoned in Dirtmouth and many other areas. (Nearby: City Storerooms, King's Station)
-Bretta: Younger beetle, shy and easily charmed. She's rarely one to converse directly. May or may not be around currently.

The Knight pauses for a moment. The next bug they should mention, in the case Lemm goes up for a proper encounter.

It doesn't mean they want to.

It's been some time since they wished they could mimic what other bugs could do. However, if they could sigh...

-Zote: Self-proclaimed Knight, of no renown. Wields a nail he carved from shellwood, named 'Life Ender.' Superficially resembles a Vessel. Slings insults and boasts of false achievements nonstop.

[capitalcurator]

He's really got a habit of reading-while-they-write, in the same way someone does if they've never been told not to hover. (Maybe he has, and just paid no notice. Equally likely.)

"I know about him," he says, pointing at 'Elderbug'. "No adventurous spirit, that one-" backtracks one line, hands fly to his hips "- what do you mean rips off worse than me! You ungrateful little grub, Geo doesn't grow on trees! You've a fine mouth on you indeed, now that you're talkative!"

Urgh. And he's enabling them with the paper thing. Might as well have painted 'open season' on his own shell.

"...I'll have you back for that one, mark my words," he mutters poisonously, but he's already moving on. "Ah, now, that is a surprise. I'd not bothered with the Stagways on account of thinking they'd be empty by now. Even walked one or two myself! That does change things. I won't be walking on the roads if there's still a Stag hurtling about." Doesn't change things enough to go and run his own errands, though. He follows the rest of the writing and sits back a little.

"Sounds like it's gotten busy up there. This Zote fellow sounds unpleasant." He tries to make it sound innocuous: "No one else?"

[focusedvoid]

They haven't forgotten about the Arcane Egg's rather light bonus. It's barely a problem, but the jab was just too easy.

They underline the word 'nonstop' several times. Yes. Unpleasant. They don't quite regret saving Zote from his thoughtless stumbling into Hallownest's horrors, but do wish he decided to go somewhere else. His blathering can reach them from the bench.

They begin to write 'Jiji' before pausing. Does she count as a Dirtmouth resident? Nobody has spoken about her. Mentioning her could also shift the conversation somewhere unpleasant again.

Not as though she's far.

-Confessor Jiji: to the East at the bottom of Crystal Peak. Works in the business of darkness and regrets. Could summon my own Shade when it got lost. I do not know how. (To discuss later.)

And finally...

-The Grimm Troupe: visiting circus troupe to the West. Unsettles the other residents. Appears at dead kingdoms.
-Grimm: Troupe Master/Ringleader. Here for a Ritual of reincarnation to assist his Higher Being, a business only with myself.
-Divine: Shopkeeper? She took stole at Has her own tent. Obnoxious. Likely dangerous. Avoid.
-Brumm: Troupe musician. Of few words. Last I knew he was travelling elsewhere, but may return.

There are others, but not the sort to wander, they believe.

[capitalcurator]

He even takes a breath like he's about to tackle the Shade thing, but he stops himself in time. They just keep catching him in the act of asking too much, and for whatever reason Lemm doesn't seem to be pushing. He just gives a resigned sideways tip of his horns in acknowledgement and moves on.

Everything about the Grimm Troupe gives him pause. He has to re-read the information a solid couple of times before he feels like he's parsing the sentence correctly, and then he sits back and frowns while he tries to make proper sense of it.

"A circus that visits dead kingdoms... Seems against the point, if not for the Ritual part. I'm sure there's a reason there I'm not seeing." He shakes his head, managing this revelation remarkably well. "But I won't be going. I'm not a fan of theatre." Or crowds - or Higher Beings, especially lately. "If the leader has business with you, just mind it's not running off to join up. You and I have work to do."

He's fiddling with a spent quill. When did that happen.

"You've a lot of contacts, it seems," he remarks offhandedly.

[focusedvoid]

A nod. They aren't planning on leaving, and wouldn't want to be a member of the Troupe itself. If what Brumm had told them about endless cycles of servitude is not false--and they have no reason to doubt--that's something they have no desire to be further entangled with.

That they can send the Troupe along in either it banishment or Ritual completion goes unmentioned. Lemm doesn't need to know everything.

Was that meant as question? They'll treat it as one.

I visit Dirtmouth many areas of Hallownest often. Bugs trust^(?)someone they believe can't pass on, or understand, their thoughts.

[capitalcurator]

Lemm scoffs.

"Well! Kept your literacy a neat little secret from me, didn't you! I thought the same until recently, Knight, you aren't forthcoming." Oh, he's not ashamed to admit it, even if he should be. It was a comforting thought that his conversation was one-sided! To pretend he's more tactful than that would be to pave the way for a letdown.

"But now you've exposed yourself as a rude little chatterbox. Don't expect any reprieve from me. 'Rip-off'. My shell."

They've as good as said other bugs don't know them as well. That selfish little voice in his head is a tiny bit prideful about that.

[focusedvoid]

They take a moment to fully turn towards him and bow. It's far more deliberate and overdone than they'd usually go to the effort of expressing, with a dramatic hand pressing against their chest and everything.

Lucky Lemm, the first to learn such pri obscure information.

Anything else to retrieve?

[capitalcurator]

The horrid warm feeling is back like he's spent too much time taking in the air at the Fungal Wastes, and Lemm physically leans away a bit from their gesture.

"It's hardly luck if I'm to be subjected to your petty insults from now on. No, I've got no further tasks for you. Don't forget your own writing materials. And a receipt."

They won't be getting any rise out of him! Or validation, if that's what they're looking for. Maybe not, and maybe the bow was sarcastic.

...Still...

"You know what kinds of questions you'll be answering when you come back here, but I won't be going anywhere. Take your time up there."

[focusedvoid]

...Yes. A nod. They're well aware.

They neatly fold their map away and head off. (Without properly collecting the Geo they were told they'd be getting for their initial writing and the like. They realize this halfway through the wealthier side of the City and decide it isn't worth immediately turning around for.)

The Knight still ends up in Dirtmouth for a time lengthier than they were planning. Elderbug catches their attention, mentioning the general healthier air in Hallownest and how they were one of the rare travellers to go down and return more than thrice. This culminates in his offering them a dwelling. He appears too preoccupied with the Delicate Flower to see their instinctive headshake.

It's behind the Stag Station a ways. Absolutely filthy, dust blowing in through a window with a crack at the edge of its frame. Barren but for a threadbare couch and flimsy table missing a leg. Faint shapes against the wall where someone once had a shelf that was long removed.

A house.

Their house.

The Knight grapples with more roiling emotion after dropping onto that couch. It's a consuming wave of it, but still easier to hold onto than earlier bellowing grief. A few Siblings drift out and float around for novelty's sake, leaving strange wobbling patterns on the floor and the table's fine layer of dirt.

They take rest. They do not sleep.

Lemm's requested items are picked up, along with a few pins he probably won't need. Iselda is glad to see them, though it shows primarily in her thoughts. Cornifer's wandered off again, apparently relatively close for the moment.

Supplies retrieved, the Knight has one more look around Crystal Peak. Myla is still unfound.

They walk rather than ride most of the way back to the City, taking time for steadying their melancholy.