... is warm and fruity smelly. It remind Siffrin of an island that no longer exists, and once all else has dispersed they find themselves among the flowers and trees to relax. Fairly literally, since they're going to find a nice place to lay down on the ground. Sorry if they look dead to the viewers they're just seeing how difficult it is to doze again.
(Just like last week. It's hard, and then you'll pass out for half a day.)
On the brightside, they do stir when they hear someone's footsteps, lifting their head to see if they can't catch who it is. Company's fine... as long as it isn't everyone and public speaking. ]
[There's the single hesitation of a footstep pausing as she walks into the solarium and comes across a body on the floor. Then Siffrin moves, and Andrew resumes her gait almost effortlessly. The brief hesitation would probably be difficult to notice for the average, unobservant person she's used to dealing with, but she's stymied a little by the comical little "!" that's popped up over her head and is only just fading.]
It'd be idiotic to kill off one of the people with the most useful information. [She sounds a little terse. Maybe that's her way of saying she might have been concerned.]
[It's fine that Siffrin returns to his supine position and doesn't look at her - at the statement that he's an easy target, Andrew's face betrays little response.}
You are?
[Andrew finds a warm spot to sit, leaning back on her hands to bask in it with the grace and guarded body language of a big cat. She'd made a point of flagging her illness at the end of last week as a temporary setback while everyone was gathered this morning.]
Apparently we've lasted this long among them all. [It doesn't answer his question directly, but maybe the indirect answer is enough.]
[ It is. They've both lasted this long, however long it has been, despite their "ease" of targetry. Despite so many of them being loud, overactive extroverts that quiet when an execution is in play. Or maybe they were just awkward. Who can say; it isn't like most got to really know one another in that time frame.
(... You wish it'd stay that way. Less pain for everyone. Your family members are so blissfully unaware.) ]
I wonder how many of them are repeating friendships they had before.
[ (You don't think you would have changed much through the "weeks", if you woke up the same way each time. Maybe gotten to know some by the end, like this time. But...
...
Not like the dragons, or enough to have shock at someone dying. But maybe you did. You don't know who was here, before. You try not to think that your family members might've been here and you couldn't protect them.) ]
I wonder at what point those friendships stop being real.
[She's all-too-familiar with the artifice of people loving a lie, unable to stomach the thought of a person's true nature. It must have happened here at least once.
How long have they been here? Does the length explain why she's so disinclined to play her old, demure, cowardly self? Or is she just releasing the person she's always wanted to be?]
[She may be playing it a little dumb, leaning into their expertise - hoping to hear a framework before she has to betray whether she's thinking of one of her own.]
Won't remembering each other just make us more emotional in response to death?
Yeah. But it also means that we'll be able to keep whatever he says, on purpose or by accident, and won't forget it again. We'll keep being able to find leads until we figure out how to break the loop. We won't be at square one again, and again, and again.
[ Which
can maybe drive someone a little up the wall. Just maybe. ]
... Unlike every other loop, [ every other week, ] we have a chance to change things.
[ And if deaths stick... what else might? Could there be anything? Siffrin thinks of the bird they'd given him for Yoonhee's cigarette and wonder if The Witch still has it, or if he lost it in the reset too. ]
mental image of all of siff's birds in storage somewhere like the end of the prestige
[Good that she listened, actually. This brings her to nod, even as a shadow, like the moon in eclipse, passes over the curious twinkling lights that make up the bulk of her emotional responses. Again and again and again... What that might have already done for them.]
And see what persists. I lost everything except for what the snake brought me. [Her knife, the bird, everything else... all gone. But no one had anything else belonging to them last week, had they? There was no indication they'd been around at all...]
I was rather cross for him for that. The bird wasn't his to take.
[She'd torn the wardrobe up a bit in searching for it.]
You had already planned to make her another one, since she'd seemed to like the first one... but you definitely will now.) ]
Maybe it's because it's from him that it stuck. Like... it kept a piece of his essence. Um, his magic. We don't know if he's given rewards before, or if parts of the palace might've been it before.
[She doesn't ask the question that should be asked. It almost seems like it's on purpose. Is that what he did? Withholding it is almost like denying some satisfaction.
Instead, Andrew is surrounded by a strange and unexpected pocket of coldness in the middle of the solarium. It isn't enough to wilt the tropical plants, but maybe it forms the finest layer of steam as it humidifies.]
... I never regretted helping my family members be the best version of themselves, even if it didn't help break the loop in the end.
[ (They loved you, after all.
In that moment, they loved you.
Even if you forced them to.) ]
But that's different than here. I already... like the company of people here, so I don't think I can do it. It's just what I think someone I know might suggest.
[ As a heated jab at Siffrin's mutual frustration, leading into a quiet moment where neither of them apologize. ]
["I already like the people here," Sifrrin says, so without the same emotion for herself, Andrew offers,] I hope you continue to remember them, then.
We should see what else carries over. Biding time is boring, but if we last another week, we'll know to look for anything that remains.
[Notes, things hidden or carved into the building around them... there's little that probably escapes Ish's powers or the ticking of the clock. Finding out that much should be easy.]
(If you think about the equipment and memories you obtained while in the House of Change as the rewards The Witch offers you here, then that lines up.
... But otherwise, during full resets...
Nothing remains. Only what knowledge you gained, and even then... you had to follow in the right order, so your family members wouldn't be suspicious. You don't have to worry about that here, though.) ]
... Wanna carve into a tree and see if it sticks?
[ Like.
It probably won't. But it'd be a small thing to see if certain changes remain, or if it's a full wash. ]
That works. And I wouldn't mind somewhere to vent my frustration.
[It would be preferable if her feelings didn't pop up as storms or sunshine or starlight when they are one of very few things that truly belong to her and her alone.
She lifts her head in realization, bangs messy around her face.]
[Oh. There's a small exclamation point of light. She takes note of the ease with which they withdraw the knife from their cloak. It might be a workshop blade, but the movement isn't really striking Andrew as that of an amateur.]
First stop you made?
[She gracefully reaches out for the offered knife.]
[Though Andrew doesn't point out the obvious: that if Chu's words are all to be believed, one can be armed, one can even fight, and one might still die.]
I wonder at what point someone becomes capable of killing.
[ For a variety of reasons, but... the base is that, in Siffrin's eye. ]
... Everyone is capable of killing someone. But it's easier for some than others, I think. The, um. Threshold. Is lower, as... Odile might say. She said that about bargaining too.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w2, monday post meet
... is warm and fruity smelly. It remind Siffrin of an island that no longer exists, and once all else has dispersed they find themselves among the flowers and trees to relax. Fairly literally, since they're going to find a nice place to lay down on the ground. Sorry if they look dead to the viewers they're just seeing how difficult it is to doze again.
(Just like last week. It's hard, and then you'll pass out for half a day.)
On the brightside, they do stir when they hear someone's footsteps, lifting their head to see if they can't catch who it is. Company's fine... as long as it isn't everyone and public speaking. ]
no subject
It'd be idiotic to kill off one of the people with the most useful information. [She sounds a little terse. Maybe that's her way of saying she might have been concerned.]
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Siffrin gives a small, sheepish smile and lays back down, closing their single eye again. ]
I'm an easy target though, information aside.
[ Not really, but no one needs to know that. They would prefer... to keep that underwraps... Habit, now. ]
... Come to get away from the crowd too?
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You are?
[Andrew finds a warm spot to sit, leaning back on her hands to bask in it with the grace and guarded body language of a big cat. She'd made a point of flagging her illness at the end of last week as a temporary setback while everyone was gathered this morning.]
Apparently we've lasted this long among them all. [It doesn't answer his question directly, but maybe the indirect answer is enough.]
no subject
(... You wish it'd stay that way. Less pain for everyone. Your family members are so blissfully unaware.) ]
I wonder how many of them are repeating friendships they had before.
[ (You don't think you would have changed much through the "weeks", if you woke up the same way each time. Maybe gotten to know some by the end, like this time. But...
...
Not like the dragons, or enough to have shock at someone dying. But maybe you did. You don't know who was here, before. You try not to think that your family members might've been here and you couldn't protect them.) ]
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I wonder at what point those friendships stop being real.
[She's all-too-familiar with the artifice of people loving a lie, unable to stomach the thought of a person's true nature. It must have happened here at least once.
How long have they been here? Does the length explain why she's so disinclined to play her old, demure, cowardly self? Or is she just releasing the person she's always wanted to be?]
What are the odds of us forgetting again?
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... Low, but... not zero. I think he'll find it "fun" that we do remember each other now instead. So we should use that to our advantage.
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[She may be playing it a little dumb, leaning into their expertise - hoping to hear a framework before she has to betray whether she's thinking of one of her own.]
Won't remembering each other just make us more emotional in response to death?
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[ Which
can maybe drive someone a little up the wall. Just maybe. ]
... Unlike every other loop, [ every other week, ] we have a chance to change things.
[ And if deaths stick... what else might? Could there be anything? Siffrin thinks of the bird they'd given him for Yoonhee's cigarette and wonder if The Witch still has it, or if he lost it in the reset too. ]
mental image of all of siff's birds in storage somewhere like the end of the prestige
And see what persists. I lost everything except for what the snake brought me. [Her knife, the bird, everything else... all gone. But no one had anything else belonging to them last week, had they? There was no indication they'd been around at all...]
I was rather cross for him for that. The bird wasn't his to take.
[She'd torn the wardrobe up a bit in searching for it.]
ahfnjsks i think limon would do it
You had already planned to make her another one, since she'd seemed to like the first one... but you definitely will now.) ]
Maybe it's because it's from him that it stuck. Like... it kept a piece of his essence. Um, his magic. We don't know if he's given rewards before, or if parts of the palace might've been it before.
i do too... i don't trust her
[She's not disagreeing with their assessment, but she does think there's a hole in the logic.]
We may be able to use this, but won't he? We care more when people we know die, don't we?
[...Don't we? The way she asks is a little distant, though, like there's something to the attachment she can't quite wrap her brain around.]
neither do i... and yet... let the birds continue
[ ... ]
We just don't get too close. That way, it doesn't hurt.
[ But that sounds pretty lonely, not to mention impossible, doesn't it. ]
no subject
Instead, Andrew is surrounded by a strange and unexpected pocket of coldness in the middle of the solarium. It isn't enough to wilt the tropical plants, but maybe it forms the finest layer of steam as it humidifies.]
I wonder if doing that makes us already dead.
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The ponderment that does get posed just earns her a shrug, on the other hand. ]
If we're dead either way, then I guess it's just a matter of picking the way you want to go. Full of regrets... or standing alone.
KIDS CAN YOU LIGHTEN UP A LITTLE
She had felt it even then; how could Andrew have even been sure she was ever living when not a single mark was left behind in her hand?]
That's the question. Can you live with those regrets? Or die with them. [As the case may be.]
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[ (They loved you, after all.
In that moment, they loved you.
Even if you forced them to.) ]
But that's different than here. I already... like the company of people here, so I don't think I can do it. It's just what I think someone I know might suggest.
[ As a heated jab at Siffrin's mutual frustration, leading into a quiet moment where neither of them apologize. ]
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We should see what else carries over. Biding time is boring, but if we last another week, we'll know to look for anything that remains.
[Notes, things hidden or carved into the building around them... there's little that probably escapes Ish's powers or the ticking of the clock. Finding out that much should be easy.]
no subject
...
(If you think about the equipment and memories you obtained while in the House of Change as the rewards The Witch offers you here, then that lines up.
... But otherwise, during full resets...
Nothing remains. Only what knowledge you gained, and even then... you had to follow in the right order, so your family members wouldn't be suspicious. You don't have to worry about that here, though.) ]
... Wanna carve into a tree and see if it sticks?
[ Like.
It probably won't. But it'd be a small thing to see if certain changes remain, or if it's a full wash. ]
no subject
[It would be preferable if her feelings didn't pop up as storms or sunshine or starlight when they are one of very few things that truly belong to her and her alone.
She lifts her head in realization, bangs messy around her face.]
Ah, but I'll need another knife.
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Siffrin produces one from their cloak. There's undoubtedly a holster beneath it, for knife related purposes. It's from the workshop. ]
You can have mine.
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First stop you made?
[She gracefully reaches out for the offered knife.]
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[ Siffrin gave it a shot!
It felt empty not having a knife of some kind resting at their hip. Never again. Also, because I will remember this time if it kills me, Peace. ]
Though... I'd be surprised if more people didn't carry something, now. Just in case.
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[Though Andrew doesn't point out the obvious: that if Chu's words are all to be believed, one can be armed, one can even fight, and one might still die.]
I wonder at what point someone becomes capable of killing.
no subject
[ For a variety of reasons, but... the base is that, in Siffrin's eye. ]
... Everyone is capable of killing someone. But it's easier for some than others, I think. The, um. Threshold. Is lower, as... Odile might say. She said that about bargaining too.