[If he thought she looked elated earlier, it's a whole other story now. There's no fear as the rock nyooms past her and into the distance. She probably wouldn't have cared if she was hit by it, honestly, from the excitable way she throws her arms into the air.]
You hit it! You hit it very far!
[But there's a memory-one of you're not supposed to let it get hit! We lose! Lose! as she watches Alpha zoom after the rock.]
I can't let you hit it this time.
[Consider the coconut. The one she has in her grubby little hands right now.
[Yeah, this is oddly entertaining. Alpha soon zips back towards the pair and drops the rock at Ren's feet - don't ask how a circle of pure energy can hold things - before making its way back to where it used to be behind the Batter. Evidently it can think for itself.
And if Ren ever learned the Batter had control of most of Alpha's actions, he won't say anything about it.
Also hell no, he sees that coconut.]
It'll break.
[The Batter is inept when it came to emotions, not when it came to what could and could not break with a swing of a metal bat.]
[Ren looks between the coconut and the bat, as if gauging the accuracy of what he's saying with her own two eyes. Things do break and this coconut is, she knocks against it with her fingers to confirm, hard.
Fine.
Alpha, the real mvp in all of this, brought her the rock so she switches her items out. No coconut today. Maybe he can smash it for a post-game drink later.
There's a look of fierce!! determination!! in her eyes!! And she throws with all her little might.
But she still sucks, so it's probably easy to hit.]
[You're talking to the guy who somehow managed to cut off a giant's head with a baseball bat. The Batter knows his stuff.
And yeah, she does suck. But this easy pace is probably for the best. They're not losing all of their balls in one go, after all.
Swing and a hit once again and off it goes. The Batter is still trying to gauge his hits so it's still pretty hard and goes fairly far, but Alpha's here to go after the 'ball' if Ren doesn't.]
[Knowing that Alpha is a good circle that'll chase the 'ball', she doesn't go after it. There's a moment where it looks like she's going to cheer for him again, despite her own failure, but stops in her tracks when he asks that question.]
[Luckily for everyone involved, the Batter has been making small steps in controlling his knee-jerk reaction to the word 'ghost'. Different worlds. However, the hesitation in asking more is clear.]
...why would they do that?
[All the ghosts the Batter met always tried to spread seeds of chaos and kill him and others. What made this one different?]
[It's hard to say what happened. The other catalyst had moved on with Shin, which is far too much to explain now. Nor does she really want to talk about him. He still scares her to this day.
But it's not about Shin. It's about the kindly ghost who accompanied Seto.]
She was nice. She visited our dream and helped us play.
[And after that, poof, she was gone. It's clear Ren's not 100% on how that even worked.]
[A friendly ghost is...not something that the Batter can imagine. And yeah, it's pretty clear that Ren doesn't understand how the whole dream thing works. But it's enough.]
Okay.
[Alpha returns and drops the rock by Ren's feet again and the Batter raises his bat again. Batter up.]
[The easy acceptance is fine by her because she's got one thing on her mind and that's victory.
Good job, Alpha. She might love them a little bit and turns to look at her cat, his eyes on the 'ball' this whole time, as though there's a telepathic connection between them. Give her some of that good old kitty judgement.
She wants the Batter to hit it? But also wants to win. Life is hard.]
Okay! You won't hit it this time.
[She looks determined. And also, she doesn't know the rules so-she tosses the rock into the air, straight into the sky, and towards all those pretty clouds. Good luck.
[Real nice Ren. The Batter can't fly so he's not getting that. Instead he merely looks up and shields his eyes from the sun's glare. If it looks like he's trying to cover more on the right side of his face then one actually has to....well, it doesn't really matter.
If the rock lands too close for comfort and one of the Batter's hidden eyes snaps open purely out of reflex, that's probably another story.
[She's about to celebrate her victory, her eyes darting to Batter to see if he feels the sting of defeat when-
That's new.
That's an...eye? What she thought was dirt he refused to clean off his face this whole time is open and there and-
That's an eye. Her mind goes at mach speed trying to catch up with the image in front of her. Humans only have two eyes, she's pretty sure. She didn't see many of them growing up, but that seemed to be the norm. Two eyes. Two.
One. Two. Three.
Three eyes. Right.
It startles her and she stays frozen in place, dead silent. As if the eye can hear her and could attack at any second. She wants to hide, but there's nowhere to go and all she can do is keep her own eyes plastered on his face. Maybe he doesn't know? He might not. It could be something the island is doing to him-some weird bug attacking his face when they weren't looking.
[The Batter lowers his hand that had been shielding his eyes from the sun's glare and opens up the last remaining one. That's a total of four. Each of them look the exact same and are about a finger width's apart. That was one out of two reasons the Batter didn't bother using the second set: it was irritating to keep them open for long and impractical in general. If someone kicked sand in his face? Yes. Everyday activities? Not so much.
But since the cat's out of the bag, the Batter isn't going to bother hiding it. There's no point.]
Books and fear coated childhood memories are the only background knowledge she has on people. Most looked like her, with two eyes. That she's absolutely sure of. And it calls into question the nature of this man she had thought as entirely human until now. But unsettling revelation aside, she's had the luxury of working her way through most of Enso's current population-there are plenty of people among them who aren't quite human in the way she expects.
It's not a reaction from the environment around them. No weird monster or ghost latched to his face and caused that. The wary look on her face vanishes and is quickly replaced by a far more curious expression. OH BOY.]
[Annnnd there's the second reason why he didn't bother keeping them open. Sure, all things considered, a guy with four eyes probably isn't all that weird compared to some people on the island. But the Batter didn't want to stand around playing twenty questions about them either.
Still, things have changed somewhat so many it'll be different. Maybe.]
Somewhat. [To answer her first question.] And yes.
[For all intents and purposes, they were normal eyes. The Batter just so happened to have four of them when he looked human to someone.]
[It's only been 2/20 questions so far. Prepare yourself, Batter. Especially since he decided to respond to her to begin with. That's pretty much all the permission she needs to keep going.]
Do you use them to play baseball?
[It's an important question okay? Is this how he manages to hit the ball? Is this why she has to cheat use creative ball throwing techniques to get the rock past him?]
[Ren might need to squint but each set of eyes are dangerously close to each other. It's not comfortable-looking at any rate. And it's probably because the Batter keeps the second set closed so much, they're starting to water a little bit. Fun.]
But otherwise, they are normal eyes.
[Just...going to cut off most of Ren's questions, hopefully.]
[It's rengret you punk. Spell it right. He's gonna have a lot of it in the coming weeks.
Cut off her questions or cause more to form because guess which of the two just happened? She takes a step forward, looking up at his face to check out what's going on for herself. They are normal in a sense. Abnormal because they exist, period.]
Can you shut the top ones and use the bottom?
[DOES IT WORK LIKE THAT? Can he use his second pair instead of the first? What's happening.]
Regardless of how Ren thinks of it, they are normal eyes. Red yes and, of course, there's four of them but that's it. Nothing magical aside from the fact that all four are looking down at Ren.
[The intense way she's staring at them might lead him to believe she's trying to have an impromptu staring contest. She can't help it. They must have something to do with baseball-why else did they open now? She's known him awhile and this is what prompted their appearance?
Hm. Suspicious.
Cheater.]
They all shut when you sleep.
[Said the creepy child who has, in fact, watched him sleep. Incredible.]
Do the bottom ones open if you hear something scary? Do they 'keep watch'? Is it like that?
[Yeah he remembers that. Kind of hard to forget the first conversation you had with someone basically being a weird request to watch him sleep.
Seriously, the Batter's life was weird but that was a first. Then again he didn't sleep as often as he should.
But to answer her comment, the Batter closes all four of his eyes and everything looks exactly like she would remember he did when he was asleep. As for the rest...]
[They're all closed now? And something about reflexes?
While his eyes are shut, she hurries and moves to stand behind him. Did your four eyes see that??? She still thinks they can sense movement. They are baseball seeing eyes.]
[It would be hard to believe him even now, if he hadn't already proven himself to be the truthful type. She doesn't think he's lying-it's just strange and maybe he doesn't know the full extent of his eyeball powers.]
What happens if you pitch?
[Nothing??? They have nothing to do with baseball???]
Do they open when you do that? Because you have to look for the ball?
No. I do not need to use them for anything if I do not wish to.
[Not to say that he could the second he was created, but that's a whole other story and not one the Batter is willing to share with Ren.
It was....personal. Yes, personal. People were more willing to talk about learning to walk rather then learning to breathe. More comforting, he thinks.]
[On the upside, the time spent indulging her has made her a veritable expert on four eye reflexology. Further upsides of this-she seems to be out of questions about? Incredible. That's the way to beat her. Wait until she tires herself out apparently.
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You hit it! You hit it very far!
[But there's a memory-one of you're not supposed to let it get hit! We lose! Lose! as she watches Alpha zoom after the rock.]
I can't let you hit it this time.
[Consider the coconut. The one she has in her grubby little hands right now.
R U READY BATTER?]
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And if Ren ever learned the Batter had control of most of Alpha's actions, he won't say anything about it.
Also hell no, he sees that coconut.]
It'll break.
[The Batter is inept when it came to emotions, not when it came to what could and could not break with a swing of a metal bat.]
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Fine.
Alpha, the real mvp in all of this, brought her the rock so she switches her items out. No coconut today. Maybe he can smash it for a post-game drink later.
There's a look of fierce!! determination!! in her eyes!! And she throws with all her little might.
But she still sucks, so it's probably easy to hit.]
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And yeah, she does suck. But this easy pace is probably for the best. They're not losing all of their balls in one go, after all.
Swing and a hit once again and off it goes. The Batter is still trying to gauge his hits so it's still pretty hard and goes fairly far, but Alpha's here to go after the 'ball' if Ren doesn't.]
Where did you learn to play?
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In a dream. A ghost taught us how to play.
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...why would they do that?
[All the ghosts the Batter met always tried to spread seeds of chaos and kill him and others. What made this one different?]
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[It's hard to say what happened. The other catalyst had moved on with Shin, which is far too much to explain now. Nor does she really want to talk about him. He still scares her to this day.
But it's not about Shin. It's about the kindly ghost who accompanied Seto.]
She was nice. She visited our dream and helped us play.
[And after that, poof, she was gone. It's clear Ren's not 100% on how that even worked.]
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Okay.
[Alpha returns and drops the rock by Ren's feet again and the Batter raises his bat again. Batter up.]
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Good job, Alpha. She might love them a little bit and turns to look at her cat, his eyes on the 'ball' this whole time, as though there's a telepathic connection between them. Give her some of that good old kitty judgement.
She wants the Batter to hit it? But also wants to win. Life is hard.]
Okay! You won't hit it this time.
[She looks determined. And also, she doesn't know the rules so-she tosses the rock into the air, straight into the sky, and towards all those pretty clouds. Good luck.
Yeah. Nice.]
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If the rock lands too close for comfort and one of the Batter's hidden eyes snaps open purely out of reflex, that's probably another story.
Whoops. And he doesn't hit the rock either.]
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That's new.
That's an...eye? What she thought was dirt he refused to clean off his face this whole time is open and there and-
That's an eye. Her mind goes at mach speed trying to catch up with the image in front of her. Humans only have two eyes, she's pretty sure. She didn't see many of them growing up, but that seemed to be the norm. Two eyes. Two.
One. Two. Three.
Three eyes. Right.
It startles her and she stays frozen in place, dead silent. As if the eye can hear her and could attack at any second. She wants to hide, but there's nowhere to go and all she can do is keep her own eyes plastered on his face. Maybe he doesn't know? He might not. It could be something the island is doing to him-some weird bug attacking his face when they weren't looking.
So in a soft whisper, she says-]
Something's there.
[ON YOUR FACE FRIEND!!!!]
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I know.
[The Batter lowers his hand that had been shielding his eyes from the sun's glare and opens up the last remaining one. That's a total of four. Each of them look the exact same and are about a finger width's apart. That was one out of two reasons the Batter didn't bother using the second set: it was irritating to keep them open for long and impractical in general. If someone kicked sand in his face? Yes. Everyday activities? Not so much.
But since the cat's out of the bag, the Batter isn't going to bother hiding it. There's no point.]
It's normal for me.
[....yes. "Normal".]
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Books and fear coated childhood memories are the only background knowledge she has on people. Most looked like her, with two eyes. That she's absolutely sure of. And it calls into question the nature of this man she had thought as entirely human until now. But unsettling revelation aside, she's had the luxury of working her way through most of Enso's current population-there are plenty of people among them who aren't quite human in the way she expects.
It's not a reaction from the environment around them. No weird monster or ghost latched to his face and caused that. The wary look on her face vanishes and is quickly replaced by a far more curious expression. OH BOY.]
Does it hurt? [Pause] Do they blink?
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Still, things have changed somewhat so many it'll be different. Maybe.]
Somewhat. [To answer her first question.] And yes.
[For all intents and purposes, they were normal eyes. The Batter just so happened to have four of them when he looked human to someone.]
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Do you use them to play baseball?
[It's an important question okay? Is this how he manages to hit the ball? Is this why she has to
cheatuse creative ball throwing techniques to get the rock past him?]Do they help you see the ball?
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No. They are difficult to use normally.
[Ren might need to squint but each set of eyes are dangerously close to each other. It's not comfortable-looking at any rate. And it's probably because the Batter keeps the second set closed so much, they're starting to water a little bit. Fun.]
But otherwise, they are normal eyes.
[Just...going to cut off most of Ren's questions, hopefully.]
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Cut off her questions or cause more to form because guess which of the two just happened? She takes a step forward, looking up at his face to check out what's going on for herself. They are normal in a sense. Abnormal because they exist, period.]
Can you shut the top ones and use the bottom?
[DOES IT WORK LIKE THAT? Can he use his second pair instead of the first? What's happening.]
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"Thanks Lexy."Regardless of how Ren thinks of it, they are normal eyes. Red yes and, of course, there's four of them but that's it. Nothing magical aside from the fact that all four are looking down at Ren.
Yeah. This is his life now.]
Yes. I don't want to.
[Okay? Okay.]
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Hm. Suspicious.
Cheater.]They all shut when you sleep.
[Said the creepy child who has, in fact, watched him sleep. Incredible.]
Do the bottom ones open if you hear something scary? Do they 'keep watch'? Is it like that?
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Seriously, the Batter's life was weird but that was a first. Then again he didn't sleep as often as he should.
But to answer her comment, the Batter closes all four of his eyes and everything looks exactly like she would remember he did when he was asleep. As for the rest...]
Reflexes. It landed too close.
[Kind of, basically.]
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While his eyes are shut, she hurries and moves to stand behind him. Did your four eyes see that??? She still thinks they can sense movement. They are baseball seeing eyes.]
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I can hear you.
[Opening only his normal set of eyes again, the Batter turns to face Ren.]
There's nothing special about them. I just have four.
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What happens if you pitch?
[Nothing??? They have nothing to do with baseball???]
Do they open when you do that? Because you have to look for the ball?
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[Not to say that he could the second he was created, but that's a whole other story and not one the Batter is willing to share with Ren.
It was....personal. Yes, personal. People were more willing to talk about learning to walk rather then learning to breathe. More comforting, he thinks.]
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But now she has other questions.]
Do you like to pitch?
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