Sunny stared at the Saint for a few seconds longer than necessary.
Then he spoke.
"You must've lived a pretty interesting life."
The words came out flat, almost offhand. Just an observation, the same way one might comment on the weather after watching a storm roll through.
The Saint laughed.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't sharp. Just an easy, almost dismissive sound, like he'd heard the sentiment countless times before.
"Interesting? I suppose."
He waved a hand lightly, as if brushing the idea aside.
He waved a hand lightly, as if brushing the idea aside.
"I've heard far more insane stories than my own. And truthfully, what I described isn't particularly unusual. Not for those who climb high enough."
Sunny raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Tragedy has a way of clustering around power. People change — or break — under the weight of what they become."
He paused, then added casually:
"There's a maniac out there in the cosmos right now turning people into monkeys."
Sunny tilted his head.
"What's a monkey?"
The Saint blinked for a moment, before humming in understanding.
"Ah, yes… the Outskirts of The City, was it? No need to glare. My Diviner shouldn't have witnessed too much. It's a security measure for emergencies such as this one. Having to handle an Ascended threat wouldn't be too difficult, but not while minimizing collateral damage. And most certainly not with the threat of the Stellaron… ah, I'm getting ahead of myself."
Sunny scowled at the Saint, feeling like his privacy had been violated. Still, his question was unanswered.
"Forget that, what's a monkey?!"
The stranger chuckled.
"It's an animal that vaguely resembles a human, but very hairy. Imagine you were covered in fur from head to toe, excluding your face. Add a tail and you're practically a shoddy monkey."
Sunny's mouth hung open as he tried to imagine the creature the Saint was referring to. His mind immediately looked towards an image familiar to what was described:
"…Isn't that just a gorilla?"
Although Sunny wasn't sure how the tail came into play, he was quite convinced that the Saint was talking about gorillas.
The man shook his head.
"Close, but not quite. The main difference is muscle mass. Monkeys are much smaller than gorillas, you see."
Sunny places a hand on his chin, nodding in partial understanding. He should probably look them up later.
"And some guy is turning people into… extra hairy people?"
"Essentially."
"Weird."
"There's some ideology behind it, I'm sure."
The Saint shifted, uncrossing his legs, and rose smoothly to his feet. The motion was unhurried, graceful in a way that spoke of centuries of habit rather than deliberate elegance.
He glanced down at Sunny.
"It's time for me to go."
Sunny nodded slowly, still processing the monkey comment.
Before leaving, the Saint hesitated.
"I'll say this. Our conversation has… enlightened me."
Sunny blinked.
"…About?"
"Your character."
And then he stepped away.
No dramatic farewell. No burst of light or bending of space. He simply walked forward — and after a few steps, his presence thinned, stretched, and vanished, as if the world had quietly decided he was no longer there.
The ledge felt emptier for it.
Sunny remained seated, legs dangling over the edge, staring at the space where the Saint had been.
"…Enlightened."
He frowned faintly.
In his head, a thought surfaced, uninvited.
How?
Their interaction couldn't have been deep enough to gain that much of an understanding of eachother…
What character was there to understand?
Sunny leaned back on his hands and let out a quiet sigh.
The starskiffs continued to pass below, uncaring. The false moon hung motionless above the artificial sky, serene and indifferent.
After a while, another thought slipped in.
Completely unrelated.
"What's getting laid like?"