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mechazushi · 10 days ago

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Nope. {A Lies of P Short Story.}

It was a cloudy day in Krat, much like it was almost everyday honestly. Even with his stunted and fractured memories, Romeo had a hard time remembering if there ever was a sunny day here in this perverted but mending hellscape. There wasn't much for him to do around the hotel until later when he helped Polendina with the cooking. There might be more puppets than humans in the hotel nowadays, but that didn't mean that the few that were still here shouldn't get to eat. And with as busy and hyper-focused as some of them could get, it didn't go under quietly as an unappreciated task. Not only that, but it seemed that with each new area his friend was clearing out, the more survivors he seemed to be discovering and sending them their way.

Just like he was now, off gallivanting throughout the ruined streets of Krat, picking off what few frenzied puppets were left and scouting out for a select group of individuals that had started roosting here with dreams of reviving Krat. Romeo didn't mind it, it was an important task his friend had taken upon himself. He just wished he was stable enough to follow. It hadn't been long since Venigni had rebuilt him as best he could from Geppetto's notes, which meant that some of his awakened memories from when he was the King kept their clamps on his artificial mind. Combat had this horrible effect on him, making him react to echoes of mistakes past and forcing Romeo to keep himself under house arrest until he could remember how to be a better person.

Still, something had to be more exciting than watching the clouds waft by his assigned room window. Romeo ambled out of the room in a daze, an emotion that was now irritatingly familiar. He wandered about the hotel's halls, observing the art for the hundredth time, debating on taking on another attempt to read a book. He didn't know if he was like this before or if it was due to the sensation of an infinitely ticking organ that was inside of him, but he could never be restful long enough to enjoy books. He began to hope it was just due to a lack of literature he would find interesting, but that would imply he knew what he liked to begin with.

"All the better to go looking." He guessed. He was halfway down the main hotel stairs when he was stopped by Eugenie who was coming up the stairs on the other side.

"Oh, Romeo! Just the man I wanted to see." She called out cheerfully as she shuffled quickly to his side, "I hope I'm not intruding on any plans, but I wanted to ask if you could join me for a little bit. I could use your help."

Romeo nodded politely with a matching smile and followed her back up the stairs to the study. Venigni had removed all evidence of Geppetto's presence from the study, making the space significantly more pleasant to be in. With all the chalk boards and that monstrous augmentation chair inside, it felt more like a medical, mechanical stain in what was once a cozy area. All the equipment and paperwork had an unseen effect, drawing out all the warmth in the room like how snow absorbs sound. The desk remained, but it was paired with more desks that openly framed a large and busy table. It was overflowing with different types of documents, as well as a crude reconstruction of the city in its current state. It certainly put Romeo's mind at ease to see that there were some people who were still resilient enough to look at such a tragedy that was Krat and still see potential for a new start.

"So what did you want my help with?" Romeo signed slowly after he waited for her to face him, recalling that Eugenie wasn't as fully versed in Krat Sign Language as some of the other guests. His early memories of the Monad Charity House weren't the brightest, but it seemed the muscle memory the lessons had instilled in him weren't so easily lost, even after losing everything considered to be organic muscle.

"That. That right there is what I want help with.' Eugenie revealed sheepishly, "I know enough to get the general idea of what the both of you try to say most of the time, but any other time I'm left waiting for someone else to paraphrase what you want. Otherwise, you're both forced to write it out when you're around me. I know both of you can understand us just fine, but I'd like to be able to understand the both of you back, you know what I mean?" She asked obscurely with a small, unsure shrug.

"I'm sorry if this comes across as intruding, but I've noticed you've been practicing speech when you cook with Polendina." Eugenie mentioned as she grabbed a book off of a nearby shelf and moved over to the velvet green couch close to the fireplace, "So I was kinda thinking that maybe we could do a little trade-off session! You know, you teach me a word, I teach you a word, and so on and so forth." She squirmed a little on the couch, the lack of response from Romeo making her nervous, "If... this sounds okay with you?"

Romeo made his way over to the couch and sat beside her with an eager expression, showing her two thumbs up and a wide, bright smile.

"O-Oh! Okay then! Thank you so much for this then." Eugenie's vice shook a little from the sudden positive reception to her request.

The two of them spent quite a few hours on the couch, talking and learning and laughing at their new little discoveries. Venigni made sure to give Romeo a voice box when he was rebuilding him from the ground up, but that didn't mean that he instinctively knew how to use it. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out how to make himself stop sounding like the garbled mess he used to sound as the King, but with Eugenie's help he could finally sound out words and phrases more legibly. The whole process made him feel like a recovering stroke victim, but at least he was able to learn quickly. Getting to help his new friend with her problem alongside his progress also helped make this feel less demeaning. Spending an afternoon connecting with someone seemed to inadvertently help him remember more about who he used to be as well.

He remembered that he really could never focus on books or reading much. Could never sit still for long either, always wanting to run around, touch and feel and move, or just do anything active in general. He remembered that those parts of his are what drew his to being a stalker in the first place, wanting to explore his city and talk to others about their problems just to swoop in and fix them with a swing of his weapon. He remembered how it was his friend Carlo that wanted to take things slow. Sure, he could keep up with Romeo and would happily do so, but the brightest memories he had of them were the moments where Carlo made him stop and smell the roses. Hell, he started to think there was even a memory of the two of them doing that exact thing.

"Hey, are you doing okay? It seems like you got lost in thought all of a sudden." Eugenie asked quietly while trying out some of her newly learned hand signs.

"I'm... fine. Just... remembered something about a... rose garden I think." Romeo answered slowly, rolling the words around in his throat to get used to them.

"Aw, well that's good! I have to ask however, was that last sign how you show "Garden"?" Eugenie inquired, still hungry for more words to learn.

As the two of them continued to exchange words, the other side of the study began to fill up with people who were all crowding around the table. As quiet, polite discussion was being made, Romeo and Eugenie's attention was slowly diverted to what was going on.

"Oh, is there going to be a meeting soon? Would you like us to leave?" Eugenie asked.

"No, I don't think we will be interfering with each other." Sophia assured as she stood off to the side with other residents.

It wasn't long before more people filtered in and began to hover around the already busy table. The room began to fill with idle chatter, but thankfully the room was big enough to accompany the different conversations without causing confusing overlap. With their attention diverted to everyone else's conference, Eugenie and Romeo's educational discussion dissolved into causal banter to match the energy in the room. Soon after everyone gathered did the energy in the room gain a sudden disruption as the residents heard the double doors to the study slam open. Hunched over with an aura of debilitation, P had announced his physical discontent effectively as he stood in the doorway, covered in oil, grime, and foul organic matter. This stained not only his last, clean, white shirt but the loud Persian rug at the entrance. Several gasps and murmurs of P's audacity began to ebb out into the room.

P's agitation was felt in his footsteps as he marched over to Sophia, who was holding back an amused giggle. Anticipating what he was wanting, she waived her hand and the grime on him and the trail he made was whisked away in small puffs of her signature blue light. With the mess gone, the tension in his shoulders dropped and took a moment to breath in the calmer atmosphere. Afterwards he withdrew a long and wide looking scroll wrapped up with leather cord, the sight of which was met with cheers of victory and appreciation. Eugenie and Romeo abandoned their conversation once their mutual friend made his appearance and stuck to watching and listening to the meeting going on beside them.

"Question. What's his name?" Romeo inquired quietly as he pointed to P, leaning forward to add to the secretive need of the Question.

"Do you mean your friend?" Eugenie returned the question with one of her own, "I thought we already told you?"

"I know his name is P, but that has to be a nickname, right? I understand not wanting to go by Carlo, but I haven't had a chance to ask what his new name is." Romeo answered as he switched to signing it out, wanting their conversation to stay on the quiet end out of risk of being heard.

Eugenie watched his hands intently as she slowly pieced together his question, "As far as I know, he's really named P. I think even Geppetto called him that. You know, when he wasn't calling him his 'son'." She signed back as best she could.

"P?" Romeo accidentally cried out from disgusted disbelief.

This quickly gained the puppet's attention, causing him to jarringly turn away from the discussion and scan the room to see who called out his name. Both Romeo and Eugenie immediately averted their eyes to not catch the perceptive puppet's attention. Romeo couldn't shake the feeling of disgust of now knowing that his friend, a friend he was sure he could be more creative than this, was just going by such a simple title. He waited until his friend returned his attention to the meeting before Romeo returned his attention to his friend.

"P!" Romeo called out again, this time on purpose.

Wanting to make sure that this wasn't a new nightmare, that his friend was just mishearing them and his name was something much more befitting such an accomplished being as he was. This time when P turned around, it was with an added layer of exasperation, almost bordering on testiness. Romeo ducked down further into the couch, appalled at how receptive his friend was to the ungodly simple name. He almost fell off the couch the longer he thought about P's dull naming. All he knew at that moment was how he wasn't going to stand for it for any longer. Romeo got up and vaulted himself over the back of the couch and marched himself closer to P.

"P!" Romeo called out one last time, hands reaching out.

P swung around abruptly, now fully done with being called out for no reason. As P turned to face him, arms swinging out wide in vexation, Romeo took his chance and teasingly gripped the Krat's Savior's cheeks. He pinched and pulled on them a little, making P's face doughy and squished. Romeo pursed his lips lightly as he moved P's head from side to side, evaluating his looks as he tried to come up with something more suitable to call him. Watching his face slowly turn pink from the prolonged eye contact, Romeo's mind turned to an old memory.

Growing up in the Charity House, Romeo used to listen in on a lot of conversations, and the ones that always stuck out to him were the ones that ended with terms of endearment like "Doll" and "Sugar". He never understood why people did that when he was younger, wasn't calling people by their name supposed to be enough? It wasn't until Carlo came to the Charity House and Romeo listened to all the other kids use his friend's name against him, emphasizing who Carlos's father was and how no matter how important the man was there wouldn't enough room in his heart for his kid, did Romeo understood the power that could come from such an act. Still, he couldn't come up with anything that felt like it would stick. Not until someone generously donated barrels of various types of stone fruit and he saw the way Carlos's eyes lit up as he tore through a bushel of them did Romeo finally find one that felt appropriate.

P wasn't Carlo, and he respected that. But Carlo wasn't around for Romeo to tease anymore. He wasn't around to chase after, calling him names and telling him things that only had meaning between the two of them. P may have brought him back just to let him have a second chance, to have one last go at having a proper life, but Romeo knew in his heart of hearts that he would spend each and every chance at living by Carlos's side. Even if his friend's presence came in a different wrapping. And last Romeo checked, there was nothing wrong with repurposing something old for someone new.

"No... Peach." Romeo finally landed with a smile, drawing closer just to watch the realization spread hotly across P's cheeks.

Face now glowing from embarrassment, P flailed his arms around before pushing Romeo away. His hands came up to hide his face as he sprinted out the double doors, Romeo close on his heels as he chased after P while continuing to call him by his new name. Cries of joy at his friend's expense echoed down the hall and faded away as the rest of the people in the meeting just stood in quiet shock and awe.

"Were they always this bad?" Hugo whispered as he directed his question to Sophia while watching the event happen.

"Oh, it's about to get so much worse." She admitted as she giggled behind her hand.

.・゜゜・ 🦋・゜゜・．

Okay, Hi.... Just thought I'd explain a few things.

One, I know he's the one technically speaking when he talks to npcs, but I'm kinda a fan of silent protagonists staying silent. So, yeah... P speaks in sign language and Krat has its own version. I like to think there's a difference between KSL and Sweeper Sign (Bastards don't get their own version, If they need it they just use KSL) SSL is the same as KSL but they just has specific and dedicated signs for insults. Literally they have a short-hand insult for anything.

I kinda figured that maybe Geppetto didn't give P a voice box as another way of exerting control over him, like taking away any chance for his "son" to talk back to him. (Jokes on him, violence counts as Body Language.)

The whole "P uses Sign" idea came from a Legend of Zelda comic I saw on Youtube where Link signs to Zelda the name of his horse and it kinda threw me down a rabbit hole of finding out that a lot of people default to headcanoning Canonically Silent Protags as Sign users and I just kept running with it here.

I'm also aware that, canonically speaking, P's name isn't his name in the game and that he technically doesn't have a name, but since in this story it's implied he's working with a lot of people and he doesn't want to have to sign out his name out to others, especially if some people don't know how to read sign, he decided made it easier and just have people refer to him as P.

Also just gonna throw in an obligatory "I respect that this is a tragedy, but I would also like to see these people having a fucking break for once". That being said, I've got this whole idea for this...AU? I guess? Where Vengini rebuilds Romeo and its this reverse dementia storyline that's supposed to somewhat mirror P's story, but instead of it ending with Romeo becoming a new identity, it's him becoming more and more unhinged in realizing that he doesn't care what he calls himself, if it looks like Carlo and reacts like Carlo, Romeo is going to attach himself to that man's hip and make it everyone's problem.

I also have this really cool idea for a scene where Romeo has to talk with Arlecchino (don't worry, he hasn't been resurrected again, this is a dream sequence situation) and without revealing too much (mainly because 1) I have no idea when I'm going to get around to this and 2) I haven't fully fleshed out anything about this particular idea) The whole thing basically boils down to "Arlecchino gives Romeo a WHERE IS YOUR RAGE speech and Romeo uses it to save P and the stress of the situation turns Romeo into a redhead."

#I don't know why but I am so nervous posting this story right now.#its not like I haven't written for other fandoms #but I think the problem here is that as I was making this I was reading everyone's nuanced takes for LoP and it started to affect me #I was like “Noooo Everyone's takes is so nuanced and I'm just now getting properly obsessed with this story”#“So my writing isn't going to be nearly as detailed or as character accurate as I usually make these 😭”#Eventually I slapped myself out of it Added an extra paragraph to make this feel a little more logical and spat a “C'est La Vie” at it #If ya'll hate it Ya hate it #much ado about nothing #lies of p #lies of p dlc #LoP #lies of p overture #lies of p romeo #lies of p pinocchio #lies of p spoilers #lies of p fanfic #may or may not port over to Ao3. Will think about this.#Idk I just feel like Romeo was the type of guy that never called people by their name and just grew up calling people “Doll” and “Sugar”#Peach is clearly reserved for Carlo tho.#I can just see him looking at Carlo and saying “Aww You're such a Peach Arn't ya?” And Carlo actively trying not to melt like a tsundere

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