“Can I tell the rest of it now?” Motif asked quietly.

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead.” Agony agreed passively. Motif looked over at Sequel, and for a moment it looked as if he might start to cry. Agony scratched the back of her neck and almost appeared to be regretting her behavior for a minute, then she brushed the remaining ash off herself and it passed. Thesis leaned into the fire, and Duenna closed her eyes.

“After… The End, I wandered around for a bit just trying to find… anyone.” Motif was speaking into his chest, but loud enough that everyone could hear. His speech was slow and clumsy.

“Eventually I stumbled on a dude with a book clutched under his arm and it felt like salvation. Just to find someone. Anyone.” Motif gestured weakly to Sequel. No one else said a word.

“He was… talkative back then. And active. I didn’t have to make him do shit like eat and sleep and keep going. And we talked, we would talk and talk for hours everyday. He used to have so much to say.” Motif crossed his arms and pushed them into his abdomen.

“And we kept trudging… on and on and on. He would occasionally have spells when he would shut down, but they were really short and far between… at least, they started out that way. He would always apologize after they happened.” Motif let out a long, long, sigh.

“We used to argue, kind of a lot actually.” Motif laughed sadly, “But arguing with someone is better than having no one to argue with. I think a lot of the time we were doing it for fun, really.” Motif bit down hard on his lip, “We were trudging around like that for a long time, I got less stupid and he got… worse.” He paused and then his head snapped back up, revealing watering eyes and pained smile. “And then we ran into all these assholes!” He said brightly and gestured to Duenna, Agony, and Thesis.

“There’s no need for such name calling!” Duenna said, faking hurt.

“Well I mean,” Agony said, “That’s what we are.” 

“Some of us, more than others.” Thesis said acusitarily.

“Yeah…” Agony said, threatening another smack in the head with her hand, “Some of us.”