Born again

[not_snake_bite]

We can only suppose it is the fact that he was, er, utterly destroyed that would explain how slow his return might be.

Steerpike is back, half amnesiac - he only remembers the Mansion in patches. Specifically, he remembers faces.  A woman, good to him, beautiful and sullen.  Something about a watch. And he might place a few faces, without

Comments

[permanent_blur]

Impossibly cheerful, "Oh, it's you -- !"

[not_snake_bite]

The reaction startles Steerpike, and he looks at Rosencrantz with curiosity.

“Forgive me, I don’t recall…” embarrassedly. The face is familiar but… gods. How does he know this guy?

T: Oh, yay, Ros is here ! We like Ros a lot !

[permanent_blur]

"No? That's all right -- I forget things, too. It helps to write them down, but I can never remember which things I've already written ..."

[not_snake_bite]

A beffuddled look. "And your name?" Because he's had this conversation before. Maybe. Or something.

[permanent_blur]

he stops in the middle of his cheerful-confused rambling, and frowns rather. "well -- that is a bit troublesome, isn't i? i think i've got that one stitched in my gloves -- but isn't cold, you know, so i didn't think to put them on. where do you keep your name?"

[not_snake_bite]

He lifts eyebrows.

"I usually would suppose people keep them in their minds, but I seem to have lost mine, this moment..."

[permanent_blur]

"oh, i've done that, sometimes. it found its way back again, of course -- but i suppose if it starts to get worrisome, you could always put up posters."

[not_snake_bite]

"Posters?" Curiously.

[permanent_blur]

"something like missing, one mind, pink-colored, answers to 'dash' -- though that's not what it answers to. if we knew what it answered to, we wouldn't have to put up posters!"

[not_snake_bite]

"Well, I did meet someone, she said my name was Steerpike and gave me this."

He hands a shard of his broken mask.

[permanent_blur]

he leans close to squint it.

"you might make a speech about it, you know. something about waking up in a dawn of uncertainty, given only a name and the fragment of a face -- guildenstern would make a speech. but guildenstern's very clever, and we got two names." then, silly, "was it a nice someone?"

[not_snake_bite]

"Yes, she was, a very nice someone. She said we were friends, before."

And he is still confused by this, as he is by the fact that he is speaking openly to this friendly stranger.

[permanent_blur]

"oh, good -- ! you'll be all right, then -- even when i can't remember things, important things, i can always manage it knowing it i have a friend who won't forget me. especially if it's a nice one."

[not_snake_bite]

Maybe that's why... "Were you and I friends, then?"

[permanent_blur]

"we were -- weren't we?" he worries. "i was your friend, i think; i'd have liked it if you were mine. we made a poem together."

[not_snake_bite]

"We did?" He smiles. "I didn't know I was a poet."

He extends a hand. "I suppose we were, then. Are."

It's a wonder, what amnesia can do, isn't it?