scylla. now THERE’S a look. it’s been ages, and she still looks just as beautiful as ever. the kind of beauty that twisted you up because you were a monster growing up in a castle full of monsters and even then you felt like you didn’t belong. you thought maybe it was because you were half-human, but then, scylla was half-human too, so you thought why couldn’t i have been a monster like her and didn’t know what to do with that thought. it’s still fucking you up a bit, but you think you might know now, or at least start to know.

“well well,” she says, idly petting one of her dogs. “the prodigal son returns.”

you sit down on a broken pillar, take off a glove, let another dog lick your hand. “scylla, i don’t think…” you sigh. “that’s not me anymore. “

“what? after all these years, the son of the master of the castle returns to oppose him, and you say it isn’t you?”

“i don’t know. i don’t want to be his son, scylla. i don’t want to be anyone’s son. i don’t even know what that means.”

she settles her serpentine bulk back into her pool and frowns. “the one thing we can’t help in this world is who made us, child. the master sired you, and you are of him. you can’t change that.”

“it’s not that he’s my dad, it’s… why are you defending him, anyway? after all he did to me! and you, he leaves you down here to rot! you deserve so much better than a shallow pool in a musty cave, but you accept this! you all just sit here and let some asshole dictate the course of your entire lives, how can you stand that?”

one of her worms wraps itself around your waist and lifts you up to set you atop her dogs. “because it’s all we have, child. i can’t pretend it’s not dreary or downright wretched sometimes, but it’s the best we can ask for in this world of humans.”

“i think we can do better. i have to believe it. i don’t want you to live like this forever, scylla.”

she wraps you in a warm, damp hug. “i’m sorry. i don’t know where your path will take you, child, but… don’t be a stranger.”