[IT IS THE DEFAULT ROUTE. HE SAW MURDER AS AN OPTION AND HE RAN FOR IT, NO ONE HAD TO TELL HIM SHIT.
He pauses a little, too, but eventually:]
I don't... want to. [Even if he's still grappling with twenty other realizations that he can't fully grasp yet, this one is easy enough.] I don't want to kill anyone else...
they let out a sigh, before removing their mask. hi. in the end pesto really was doing the shoving a shit ton of hair into a cosplay wig move this whole time. ]
[SOMETIMES YOU NEED THE SILENCE to process the insanity...
ALSO HELP. ALL THAT HAIR JUST FUCKIN UP UNDER A MASK AND HOOD that's impressive. i think about how their cr with dahut would have been so cute.
Lucas, meanwhile, is a little surprised by the sudden face reveal which is much more gentle than the other face reveal he's getting today where he kicks Scien into a tree.]
Ah... Well... She is healed, after all.
[So he really hopes he won't ever have to kill anyone again too and especially not one of his favorite churchies Aerith! SCIEN'S WORDS ABOUT HOW THERE ARE OTHER DANGERS SHE COULD FACE ARE ONES HE IS POINTEDLY IGNORING.]
It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, face to face.
[STOP DENYING ME DEATH if i don't die with this extremely religious case im going to evolve into house md myself]
No one can help that, either. [Even though he's also been apologizing to people for intruding on their memories so HE GETS IT.] Really, it's a terrible situation for everyone involved... Much, much worse than that awful ink from before. People are getting rather creative with their speculations as to why these things are happening, as well.
Yeah, it's all rather invasive. Although I'd like to know the theor--
[ anyway memshare yeet
You are in a vivarium.
Your vivarium, to be exact. It has been built entirely to your liking. No, not to our liking-- to the plants'. The temperature, the position of each fauna, the tiles of the floor. Everything has been crafted to be the perfect new home for the thousands of different species that grow in this otherwise sterile lab. It is the home of these specimen. It is your home.
The Doctor is standing before you, glancing over at a figure a short distance away-- a young girl with cat ears, who is sleeping peacefully on the floor. Rosmontis. You are aware that despite her youth, she is one of the most powerful Operators that the Doctor's company, Rhodes Island, employs. Her power could potentially wipe out this entire floor, if she went berserk, and here she was. Snoring.
But she is not your real focus here. It is the Doctor, with their mostly hidden face, who really has your full attention. They look away from Rosmontis and towards you.
"Your brow's furrowed," you say.
"Should I cooperate with the army's investigation?"
You are pleased that they're interested in your opinion. "I arranged for you to go to Rhine. I have proof that you had legitimate reasons to enter the HQ building, and that you have nothing to do with the attack on the Vice President. The army can't actually do anything about you. Don't worry about them."
They don't respond, so you hastily add, "Still, I'm responsible for your situation here. Our partnership's still good. You helped me, and I'll do my best to help you. If it comes to it, I can arrange to get you, Rosmontis, and Iffy out of Trimounts right now."
"That's not what I'm concerned about, Muelsyse. Your position has been vague from the beginning. We're partners, but I don't know what you really think."
Ah. You smile, and offer a hand out to them. "A dance, Doctor? It's no fun being interrogated like this."
They don't reply, but you expected that. You put your hands behind your back, turn around, and take a couple of steps. You look back at them with a rare, serious expression on your face. Music fills the air. It is a relaxed, soothing tune. Moisture seep from the leaf veins, converging into a drop of dew. More drops appear, leaving the leaves and catching up to you and Muelsyse, moving with the flow of the melody. You see the rhythm of each droplet, light as breath. They are the melody itself.
The two of you begin to dance together, hand in hand, to the music of the water that pulses against the plants. You know this sound as well as you know your own heartbeat. It is your heartbeat. And the Doctor matches your steps perfectly, never missing a beat, and it feels like one of the closest times you have ever felt to being known.
"Feel it, Doctor," you say. "It will guide our steps."
"Your droplets seem 'free' in this vivarium."
Oh, there they go again. They always seem to notice what others don't. "Very astute, Doctor. From lightning to irrigation to atmosphere control, none of the systems in this vivarium employ Originium technology. It is the cleanest place in Trimounts. This is the one place in Trimounts where I feel at ease. Oftentimes, I choose to operate through a clone not because I want to. But because I have to."
And that clone of yourself evaporates, leaving nothing but a train of water droplets that tug at the Doctor's hand. Your water pulls them forward as a voice recording of yourself sounds off.
The Pale Fir is extremely sensitive to its environment. Pollution from Originium industries have reduced its habitat to a small number of hilly areas in Columbia.
A hologram of a hillside appears, changing the interior of the room. You are sitting by a tombstone, waiting for the Doctor to make their way to you. You start to speak as they approach.
"I grew up in an orphanage in Trenton, near Trimounts. The headmaster said I was found on the doorsteps of the orphanage. No one knows who my parents are. I realized at an early age that I was different. My powers are unique, but they are not Originium Arts. I'm much more sensitive to Originium than most people; even a slight increase in Originium concentration is enough to affect my health. What am I? No one knows."
The Doctor reaches you. You look at them, and you aren't sure of what the expression on your face is, but it is probably not one they are used to seeing on you. "That's why I've searched for the answer since I was little. Ironically, it's also the reason why my grades have always been good. Finally, I found that word hidden away in some ancient books."
"Elves," the Doctor supplies.
"The word is not unknown to you... you do have many secrets, don't you, Doctor?" you say. Amused. Impressed. You continue, "Well, it's not important. Anyway, I tracked down my biological parents' old Trimounts home, but the house had long since changed hands. I followed the trail they left behind, and eventually found where they went. It's this village right here... so remote I thought I made a mistake. Most of the buildings have fallen into ruin, they look to be centuries-old."
You glance over at the hologram. In the distance, a village can be seen past the graveyard you're sitting in. "I didn't see anyone. I had a feeling as I went into the hills behind the village... I saw a simple cemetery surrounded by pale firs, where dozens of tombstones lay. This village was not an Elven settlement. It was their graveyard."
You stand up, and look at them, and then this clone, too, fades away into mist. A new you returns to their side, and you resume your dance.
The Doctor says, "Elven nature forced you to distance yourselves from modern civilization."
"Distancing oneself from modern civilization is easier said than done," you reply. "To spend your life in remote mountains, when you know that a more convenient, more advanced, more interesting life is right there, waiting for you to reach out. How are we, with our long lifespans, supposed to accept it? Some of my people faded away in sorrow, some chose to end their own lives. More Elves chose to go into society, including my parents. They lived cautiously but bravely, looking for ways to survive in civilization without coming into contact with Originium. They knew Originium would kill them, someday. They accepted it."
"Do you find it regrettable? Or absurd?"
You ignore the question. "Next dance, Doctor."
You believe they know you very well, but you decide that is enough knowing.
[!!!!! HE LEARNED ABOUT ELVES AND THEIR FREAKISHLY LONG LIFESPANS FROM ASTARION!!!!
That's just a tiny little thought in the back of his mind as the memory plays out; just a little "oh" of partial familiarity - he's come to know by now that even things going by the same name in different places aren't always the same thing. Hilariously, his eyes do dart very briefly to her ears after the memory plays out.
The terms that had seemed second nature when living them through someone else's eyes and ears are foreign to him once again, though, but he can piece a few things together. Maybe it's a bit like the energy contained within certain people here, some substance or power that the world runs on which happens to be deadly to an entire race.
Isolation at large isn't unknown to him, given his nation's isolation from the rest of the world, working in a mirror image of the elves and their isolation from a bigger and more damaging society. He has trouble wrapping his brain around the problems that come with longevity, too, but... it's still a lonely thing to think about.
Glancing over in time to see her shrug.]
...My apologies. [For the INTRUSION first and FOREMOST even though they literally just established it's not anyone's fault. SHE'S RIGHT! IT DOES FEEL CREEPY.] It seems that words don't always come easily to me in situations like this, either... If you'd rather not speak of anything, we don't have to.
[ please understand the wildness of being from somewhere where elves are so close to being extinct barely anyone knows they exist, then coming here where people might just mention them casually ]
Wow, we're awkward. [ DON'T JOKE ] It's okay. I went into it a little before, right? Getting sick easily. Oripathy is an illness that is basically impossible to avoid back home. Even that young girl who was asleep has it.
[ she points at herself. ]
It can kill me in just a few weeks. Any time I get in potential contact, it dwindles my lifespan. Gotta be careful!
[Someone needs to hop a train to the next DND world.
ALSO HELP. He just huffs a lil dry laugh. Our awkward response to memshares, comrade... But his expression grows more serious after that. Not the fckin Oripathy. Why are so many people from places that are trying to kill them?]
And Oripathy comes from this "Originium"? A substance that I assume is used to power things in developed society...?
[Like coal! But worse!! Everyone has the black lung, pa!!!!]
Mm. In general, it's everywhere. It is also what gives many people abilities-- Originium Arts, we call it. Something that makes people so sick is also what gives them power.
[ sometimes you can level out a city because you are DISEASED ]
We call them the Infected, who has Oripathy. They're considered second class citizens by most countries.
[ DAHUT WITH FUCKING TELEKINESIS HE WOULD HAVE SOUPED THEM FASTER
but she nods her head. ]
It's all over the world. And it can become fatal to anyone, if they don't receive treatment at all for it. It's just that it typically takes years to kill most people if it gets to that point, not weeks.
[ it is still a bad time regardless. ]
The person I was speaking to in that. They work for an organization that treats people with Oripathy.
[BEING A NOODLE IS HIS ONLY NERF WE CAN'T GIVE HIM TELEKINESIS
This sounds so hateful though. But also imagine this substance being everywhere which means sick people are probably everywhere and everyone could become sick at any moment, and yet the non-sickies are out there going "man FUCK these sick people". What sort of wild society would that happen in...........]
Ah - I'm glad that it's something that can be treated, at least... But-- can it be cured?
They're looking for a cure, but I don't think anyone is even close to it. So many leading researchers, and here we are.
[ can you imagine that?? a bunch of really smart people who fail to figure out how to stop something from killing people??? isn't that wild lucas???? ]
[IMAGINE THAT..... IMAGINE LIVING IN THAT WORLD....... WILD.]
Ah... [Grim! Good to know that there are just unbeatable illnesses all the fuck over the place.] I see. ...I'm glad that they at least give you a bit more safety, but surely it must be stressful to live in such a precarious situation.
[Like at least they're all just doomed from birth so there's no anxiety about catching the big sick.]
I think... if there is just one thing I'm grateful to be here, it's that I can sit in a room as myself, talking to people. Reaching out and grabbing their hand.
[ well unless it turns out actually this place does have originium. and then she drops dead at endgame. ]
It's a lot more than I thought I'd get to experience.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ like why he fucking IMMEDIATELY leaped to the murder route. that is the normal route, i see. okay.
they pause. ]
Are you going to keep doing that?
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He pauses a little, too, but eventually:]
I don't... want to. [Even if he's still grappling with twenty other realizations that he can't fully grasp yet, this one is easy enough.] I don't want to kill anyone else...
[Bad news, Lucas!]
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they nod, because it is not difficult to see that there is something... very wrong... going on here... ]
Was that... for her, too?
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There's a bit of a stretch of silence even though the answer is one that's been the same for years and still holds true now.]
It was... what had to be done, so that God could grant her more miracles.
[THAT'S NOT HOW MIRACLES WORK. At least he's starting to realize that.]
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they let out a sigh, before removing their mask. hi. in the end pesto really was doing the shoving a shit ton of hair into a cosplay wig move this whole time. ]
You don't have to anymore.
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ALSO HELP. ALL THAT HAIR JUST FUCKIN UP UNDER A MASK AND HOOD that's impressive. i think about how their cr with dahut would have been so cute.
Lucas, meanwhile, is a little surprised by the sudden face reveal which is much more gentle than the other face reveal he's getting today where he kicks Scien into a tree.]
Ah... Well... She is healed, after all.
[So he really hopes he won't ever have to kill anyone again too and especially not one of his favorite churchies Aerith! SCIEN'S WORDS ABOUT HOW THERE ARE OTHER DANGERS SHE COULD FACE ARE ONES HE IS POINTEDLY IGNORING.]
It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, face to face.
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[ it's fine. she'll just move onto the more important topic. ]
... sorry, I'm not super great at saying like, super encouraging or soothing things. I'm not sure what's the right way to respond.
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No need to apologize, dear. There's nothing to apologize for in the first place.
[Because either everything is fine in ba sing se or he's a serial killer who doesn't deserve cheese SO IT WORKS OUT EITHER WAY.]
It's dreadful that you keep having to see these things, so if anything, please accept my apologies instead.
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[ she'll kill you (metaphorically) (refuses to give you death) ]
It's nowhere near as dreadful for me as it is for you! You lived it. I feel like a creep for intruding on your privacy.
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No one can help that, either. [Even though he's also been apologizing to people for intruding on their memories so HE GETS IT.] Really, it's a terrible situation for everyone involved... Much, much worse than that awful ink from before. People are getting rather creative with their speculations as to why these things are happening, as well.
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[ anyway memshare yeet
she blinks, then frowns, before shrugging ]
Ah, well.
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That's just a tiny little thought in the back of his mind as the memory plays out; just a little "oh" of partial familiarity - he's come to know by now that even things going by the same name in different places aren't always the same thing. Hilariously, his eyes do dart very briefly to her ears after the memory plays out.
The terms that had seemed second nature when living them through someone else's eyes and ears are foreign to him once again, though, but he can piece a few things together. Maybe it's a bit like the energy contained within certain people here, some substance or power that the world runs on which happens to be deadly to an entire race.
Isolation at large isn't unknown to him, given his nation's isolation from the rest of the world, working in a mirror image of the elves and their isolation from a bigger and more damaging society. He has trouble wrapping his brain around the problems that come with longevity, too, but... it's still a lonely thing to think about.
Glancing over in time to see her shrug.]
...My apologies. [For the INTRUSION first and FOREMOST even though they literally just established it's not anyone's fault. SHE'S RIGHT! IT DOES FEEL CREEPY.] It seems that words don't always come easily to me in situations like this, either... If you'd rather not speak of anything, we don't have to.
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Wow, we're awkward. [ DON'T JOKE ] It's okay. I went into it a little before, right? Getting sick easily. Oripathy is an illness that is basically impossible to avoid back home. Even that young girl who was asleep has it.
[ she points at herself. ]
It can kill me in just a few weeks. Any time I get in potential contact, it dwindles my lifespan. Gotta be careful!
no subject
ALSO HELP. He just huffs a lil dry laugh. Our awkward response to memshares, comrade... But his expression grows more serious after that. Not the fckin Oripathy. Why are so many people from places that are trying to kill them?]
And Oripathy comes from this "Originium"? A substance that I assume is used to power things in developed society...?
[Like coal! But worse!! Everyone has the black lung, pa!!!!]
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[ sometimes you can level out a city because you are DISEASED ]
We call them the Infected, who has Oripathy. They're considered second class citizens by most countries.
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Is it an affliction contained to your nation, or is it like that across your world? [How everywhere is "everywhere"... HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE SICK.]
...It's extremely deadly for you, but surely it can't be good for others either, correct?
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but she nods her head. ]
It's all over the world. And it can become fatal to anyone, if they don't receive treatment at all for it. It's just that it typically takes years to kill most people if it gets to that point, not weeks.
[ it is still a bad time regardless. ]
The person I was speaking to in that. They work for an organization that treats people with Oripathy.
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This sounds so hateful though. But also imagine this substance being everywhere which means sick people are probably everywhere and everyone could become sick at any moment, and yet the non-sickies are out there going "man FUCK these sick people". What sort of wild society would that happen in...........]
Ah - I'm glad that it's something that can be treated, at least... But-- can it be cured?
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[ can you imagine that?? a bunch of really smart people who fail to figure out how to stop something from killing people??? isn't that wild lucas???? ]
... well, I have my clones, at least.
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Ah... [Grim! Good to know that there are just unbeatable illnesses all the fuck over the place.] I see. ...I'm glad that they at least give you a bit more safety, but surely it must be stressful to live in such a precarious situation.
[Like at least they're all just doomed from birth so there's no anxiety about catching the big sick.]
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[ well unless it turns out actually this place does have originium. and then she drops dead at endgame. ]
It's a lot more than I thought I'd get to experience.
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...Well. Being able to take good out of an otherwise unfortunate situation is a very admirable skill. [It reminds him of his sister!!! NADIA!!!!!!!]
I hope that you're able to continue experiencing such wonderful things, without the backdrop of misfortune this place brings with it.
[Go travel the stars girl... be free of originium forever......]
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... we'll see. I wouldn't count on it too much, but we have to take our wins when we can.
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...I suppose that's true enough.
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... thanks for sharing things with me.
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