[ Well, when that's all over and he's had enough of the party, Rideaux will eventually end up in the dining room next door, sitting down at the table with a glass of that expensive whiskey.
He doesn't really need a drink; it wasn't like he'd cared about either Elliot or Hyoubu, and he doesn't feel particularly down about anything that happened (although, okay, he wasn't crazy about the Lady finishing things off with that spear). In fact, all things considered, that trial had gone very well for him! He did a good job establishing himself as one of the most useful people here, he thinks, so only an idiot would put him at the top of their kill lists now.
But, just the same, it's been a long ass day, and he has this alcohol, so he's going for it. ]
[ raven isn't one for whiskey, but she is going to make herself a cup of milk tea. she, too, isn't really down about anything that happened (though she does recognize the situation as being incredibly unfortunate). it doesn't mean she's not tired, though. what a waste of time.
she walks into the dining room to make her tea when she spots rideaux with whiskey. she gives him a quick glance before she walks into the kitchen area to make her drink.
when she's finished, she takes a seat across of him. ]
Tell me exactly how your original abilities worked. I need to know where you obtained that kind of power.
You know, most people start with a greeting before going straight into demands.
[ He takes a sip from his glass -- slowly enough that she can throw in a snarky greeting if she wants, and get mildly annoyed by the wait if she doesn't. ]
You'll be disappointed, then, to know that I was born with it. It was a power the Great Spirits so generously gifted to a particular bloodline.
[ There is a lot of sarcasm in those italics, but it may not be a surprise, given he's been relatively open about his disdain for spirits.
Liquid ones aside, obviously. ]
My own family happened to be an offshoot of it, though they were far enough removed that no one recognized what it was.
[ there. happy!! anyway, back to the important stuff. she is, in fact, disappointed that it's not a power she can harness for herself. ]
I'm curious to know how the power itself works, exactly. Even though I'm aware that I'll never be able to obtain it, I'm curious to know how powerful you really were before you came here.
[ He does indeed smile at that. See, that wasn't so hard. ]
It's called the chromatus. When using it, we transform into a unique form with armor and increased strength, speed, and agility. It allows for the manipulation of space-time, to an extent -- we can briefly move an opponent into a small, contained dimension with us, where we temporarily have increased stamina and access to additional artes.
[ He's just been getting increasingly looser with Spirius's most closely held secrets each day he's been here, and honestly, he finds it strangely satisfying. It's just a good thing Raven is never going to meet Bisley.
That said, he is going to deliberately leave out the detail of how they transform and what the physical source of their power is. Should he ever manage to get access to it here, he's not about to risk anyone interfering. ]
Its main use, though, is allowing us to travel to fractured dimensions -- alternate versions of our world's reality that diverged and branched off into different timelines -- and destroy them. Specifically, we destroy the divergence catalyst in that dimension, and it erases that timeline and everything within it from existence.
[ raven listens carefully. the chromatus would, indeed, be something she'd like to obtain for herself -- though it's not too different from her maiden powers other than the added ability to take an opponent into a contained dimension. she isn't sure how much she'd like to be in another dimension with salem, but that's neither here nor there. ]
Dimensional factors aside, the chromatus doesn't sound too different than what are known as maiden powers back where I'm from.
[ she takes a sip of her tea, because the explanation is kind of a doozy. ]
They're made of magic, which is a rare feat on Remnant; it's difficult to explain exactly what they can do. The best way I can put it is that maiden powers come with great power that shouldn't be in the hands of the weak.
[ ...He's judging the term "maiden powers" pretty hard, and has to force himself to move past that. It sounds like they're talking about using feminine wiles to get a man to carry something heavy for you. ]
Oh? What happens if they end up in the wrong hands?
[ That part definitely doesn't sound too different so far, though, so he can kind of imagine. ]
Maiden powers transfer over to whoever is the last person in the current Maiden's thoughts before she dies.
[ she shakes her head. ozpin was a fool to think he could forcibly transfer over the previous fall maiden's powers over to pyrrha nikos without consequence. ]
Those powers ending up in the wrong hands could cause mass destruction; gather all four Maidens and you'd have a nearly unstoppable force.
[ considering cinder tried to steal her maiden powers? yeah, there's a possibility. ]
We're not. [ she shakes her head. ] Some Maidens want to use their powers to help others. Some want to use it for destruction. I only want to use mine to defend my tribe against the real unstoppable force on Remnant. I believe I told you about her before.
[ Her name would have been more memorable if he were from Earth, probably, but as it is he just remembers it starts with an S and ends with a consonant. ]
Have you tried? Taking someone else's for yourself, I mean, if some of them are that bad.
[ He takes a sip from his glass, remarkably casual about suggesting murder. ]
I'd rather recruit the Maiden to my side, personally. Should my successor turn out to be someone ill-willed, I wouldn't want them to have more than one Maiden power in their arsenal.
[ murder's fine. look, she's done it before. plenty of times. ]
[ That's why he likes her. As well as he likes anyone, anyway. ]
Personally I wouldn't worry that much about things that happen after I'm gone. And in your case, if the alternative is letting her destroy humanity, it sounds like you wouldn't have a successor anyway.
So if the recruiting doesn't work out, I think you'd be wise to keep that in mind as an option.
Oh, please. It's hardly about being noble, I owe it to them.
[ she catches onto that bitterness -- it's something she hasn't heard out of them yet, not while they're speaking one on one like this. sounds like she hit a nerve. she'll keep that in mind.
moving on though: he does pose an interesting question. ]
The pictures I got last Tuesday weren't indicative of any sort of progression, if we're going off of the assumption that they weren't edited. That being said, it's hard to say for sure with so many uncertainties. If I had to pick? I'd think that everything's on pause.
[ clearly she's just been lucky because resentment is like 90% of his being ]
It wasn't very clear to me either, though I suspect that if time were progressing normally, they wouldn't have had a very big window in time in which they could have taken that picture.
[ Though given that suicidal dipshit and the other person from his world, they're clearly able to pull people from different points in time, so it stands to reason that they could travel to different points as well. Who's to say that wasn't a photo from well in the past? ]
In that case, what do you think happens when we die here? "We" as in a general collective, of course -- I have no intention of dying here, and I'm sure you don't either.
[ at the mention of death, her answer is simple: ]
Of course not.
[ she doesn't have plans to die anytime soon, unlike, well, a certain suicidal dipshit. ]
I'm almost certain The Lady is gaining something from all of these deaths. She wouldn't have made the game otherwise. ... At the very least she'll have more corpses to experiment on.
What that means for ourselves and our homes, however... That's something I'd need to think on.
Oh, certainly. But yes, that's the part I'm curious about. Does anyone who dies here then disappear from their own world? Or are the versions of us here just duplicate copies that no longer have any effect on what happens in the places we came from?
[ ...Is he now a fractured version of himself, basically. ]
I think they're probably obscuring the answer to that question on purpose to give themselves more leeway on coming up with motives.
When they first introduced themselves to us and said they'd make these murders "worth our time", I asked her what she planned to do to make it worth mine. She said she'd look forward to seeing if I accepted her proposal when the time was right to offer it, or something like that.
Obviously what they offered this week wasn't it, so I wonder if they don't have something in mind specifically targeted to each of us.
[ This time, after the trial and the execution and the still somewhat inappropriate party, Rideaux will be going to knock on Raven's door, since it seems they have a few more things worth talking about.
He's left his jacket in his room (and hasn't actually been wearing the feather boa so much lately, thanks to all the rain), down to a lime green dress shirt and black vest. He's got that bottle of whiskey again, which doesn't seem to have been depleted much further since the last time she saw him drinking it, and two glasses. (If she wants to just stick to her tea again, whatever, but the option will be there.) ]
[ she's not surprised to have a visitor. of course someone would want to talk to her after all of that, whether it be about her powers or destroying the crime scene. raven's not exactly pleasant right now, and she's ready to shut the door on whoever it is knocking.
she sees it's rideaux though, and she pauses when she opens the door. considers letting him in for a second. then, she steps aside and takes in a deep breath. permission granted. ]
I thought you might be in the mood for a drink after all that.
[ To be fair, he probably made several people feel like they needed a drink tonight, but he doesn't want to waste this liquor on someone he doesn't have much interest in, so the rest of them can just deal. ]
And, given what we now know about each other, this seems like it might be a good time to catch up. Do you disagree?
"Being stopped" and "never existing in the first place" are two decidedly different things, though. This seemed like it might have been your best shot... on the off chance that our captors aren't lying, anyway.
[ He takes a sip of his drink too, leaning back in the chair. ]
I guess whether or not you decide giving it a try is worth it comes down to how desperate you are.
That's the other half of it. As far as I'm concerned, these are all red herrings. Until I see something happen for myself, I refuse to believe they'll make good on their promises when it comes to these motives.
[ the lady has made good on her word a few times with raven, but as far as motives go?
> doubt. ]
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that trial. You were quite active in pursuing the truth today, Rideaux.
[ It was right there in his profile, after all, and he thinks she probably gets it. ]
Sanguis was clearly involved and I wasn't going to risk going down for someone else's mistake. Suzaku already knew I had the same ability from when I treated his wounds on the first day, and I knew he had Lux, so I already suspected his potential involvement as early as the investigation.
If there was a chance he'd deliberately targeted a Sanguis user because he thought he could pin it on me, I was going to get ahead of it and make it clear to everyone that I had nothing to hide.
[ He takes another drink. ]
And I refuse to be one of the only players in this game at a disadvantage.
[ there's a small smirk that forms on her lips at his explanation. ]
I can't say I'm happy that I had to reveal what my powers were to everyone else, but like you, I had no choice. And I don't fault you for that, for what it's worth.
I'd take your explanation over anyone else's. I'm sure other people would have argued that they had to press me for my powers because they had to explore every option, when the answer was right in front of them.
See, I thought you'd get it. And that's why I'm glad you weren't one to try to take this offer.
[ Is that as close as he'll ever get to giving someone here a genuine compliment? Probably. ]
Though to be fair, I might have given that excuse to anyone else who asked.
[ But, again, just to minimize the chance of having a target painted on his back. He certainly hasn't tricked himself into believing he has any noble intentions. ]
[ she does understand this completely. you gotta do what you gotta do to survive here, and most of these people here can't be trusted.
most. though she'll won't mention that to rideaux. ]
Which is entirely fair. You have to be impressionable, after all -- which isn't something I've been particularly good at, I'll admit. Though I think we're far better off than some people in that regard.
Oh, absolutely. Clearly some of them never learned that sometimes you have to bite your tongue if you want to keep your head. The charmed life of the privileged, I suppose.
[ Yeah, we all know who he's talking about here. ]
[ Honestly, he hadn't had much of a problem with Dist before this, besides finding him annoying, and had at least somewhat appreciated their discussions on technology. But he's acting like such an infant about this situation that he's definitely dropping fast in Rideaux's ranking. ]
Regardless of what they say, I'm pretty sure they came out of this looking even worse than I did.
I'll look forward to seeing what holes they manage to dig themselves into in the coming weeks.
[ See if he ever tries to push you to not incriminate yourself again, Dist, you dumbass.
He takes a longer drink this time, and runs his finger over the rim of the glass when he sets it back down on the desk. ]
That aside, I was thinking we might as well use our new knowledge of one another's powers to our advantage and do a little experimentation and training together sometime. What do you think?
rideaux's proposal, however, is something raven won't turn down. there's some level of trust here, mostly because she knows the cards he's trying to play -- that and he has no reason to murder her. she's a source of information for him, if anything. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week 1
post-trial
He doesn't really need a drink; it wasn't like he'd cared about either Elliot or Hyoubu, and he doesn't feel particularly down about anything that happened (although, okay, he wasn't crazy about the Lady finishing things off with that spear). In fact, all things considered, that trial had gone very well for him! He did a good job establishing himself as one of the most useful people here, he thinks, so only an idiot would put him at the top of their kill lists now.
But, just the same, it's been a long ass day, and he has this alcohol, so he's going for it. ]
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she walks into the dining room to make her tea when she spots rideaux with whiskey. she gives him a quick glance before she walks into the kitchen area to make her drink.
when she's finished, she takes a seat across of him. ]
Tell me exactly how your original abilities worked. I need to know where you obtained that kind of power.
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[ He takes a sip from his glass -- slowly enough that she can throw in a snarky greeting if she wants, and get mildly annoyed by the wait if she doesn't. ]
You'll be disappointed, then, to know that I was born with it. It was a power the Great Spirits so generously gifted to a particular bloodline.
[ There is a lot of sarcasm in those italics, but it may not be a surprise, given he's been relatively open about his disdain for spirits.
Liquid ones aside, obviously. ]
My own family happened to be an offshoot of it, though they were far enough removed that no one recognized what it was.
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[ there. happy!! anyway, back to the important stuff. she is, in fact, disappointed that it's not a power she can harness for herself. ]
I'm curious to know how the power itself works, exactly. Even though I'm aware that I'll never be able to obtain it, I'm curious to know how powerful you really were before you came here.
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It's called the chromatus. When using it, we transform into a unique form with armor and increased strength, speed, and agility. It allows for the manipulation of space-time, to an extent -- we can briefly move an opponent into a small, contained dimension with us, where we temporarily have increased stamina and access to additional artes.
[ He's just been getting increasingly looser with Spirius's most closely held secrets each day he's been here, and honestly, he finds it strangely satisfying. It's just a good thing Raven is never going to meet Bisley.
That said, he is going to deliberately leave out the detail of how they transform and what the physical source of their power is. Should he ever manage to get access to it here, he's not about to risk anyone interfering. ]
Its main use, though, is allowing us to travel to fractured dimensions -- alternate versions of our world's reality that diverged and branched off into different timelines -- and destroy them. Specifically, we destroy the divergence catalyst in that dimension, and it erases that timeline and everything within it from existence.
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Dimensional factors aside, the chromatus doesn't sound too different than what are known as maiden powers back where I'm from.
[ she takes a sip of her tea, because the explanation is kind of a doozy. ]
They're made of magic, which is a rare feat on Remnant; it's difficult to explain exactly what they can do. The best way I can put it is that maiden powers come with great power that shouldn't be in the hands of the weak.
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Oh? What happens if they end up in the wrong hands?
[ That part definitely doesn't sound too different so far, though, so he can kind of imagine. ]
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[ she shakes her head. ozpin was a fool to think he could forcibly transfer over the previous fall maiden's powers over to pyrrha nikos without consequence. ]
Those powers ending up in the wrong hands could cause mass destruction; gather all four Maidens and you'd have a nearly unstoppable force.
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[ Since it was three up until about a month ago, and now he's been pushed down from third place to fourth. Which he's not about to admit to. ]
It isn't possible for more than one of them to transfer their powers to the same person, I take it?
Even so, "nearly unstoppable" sounds like you shouldn't have to ask for outside assistance, unless you're not all on the same side.
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[ considering cinder tried to steal her maiden powers? yeah, there's a possibility. ]
We're not. [ she shakes her head. ] Some Maidens want to use their powers to help others. Some want to use it for destruction. I only want to use mine to defend my tribe against the real unstoppable force on Remnant. I believe I told you about her before.
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[ Her name would have been more memorable if he were from Earth, probably, but as it is he just remembers it starts with an S and ends with a consonant. ]
Have you tried? Taking someone else's for yourself, I mean, if some of them are that bad.
[ He takes a sip from his glass, remarkably casual about suggesting murder. ]
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[ murder's fine. look, she's done it before. plenty of times. ]
That's not a bad suggestion otherwise.
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Personally I wouldn't worry that much about things that happen after I'm gone. And in your case, if the alternative is letting her destroy humanity, it sounds like you wouldn't have a successor anyway.
So if the recruiting doesn't work out, I think you'd be wise to keep that in mind as an option.
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[ she takes another sip of her tea, then: ]
But you do have a point. I haven't heard of anyone obtaining two Maiden powers before, but I've seen someone try with little success.
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Yes, that's very noble of you, and I'm sure there's no way that preoccupation will someday put your own odds for survival at risk.
[ There's a hint of bitterness there about something, but he takes a drink and moves on. ]
Are you worried about how things are progressing without you right now? Or do you think time is paused in our worlds while we're here?
[ It doesn't seem like they've ever gotten a very clear answer on that. ]
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[ she catches onto that bitterness -- it's something she hasn't heard out of them yet, not while they're speaking one on one like this. sounds like she hit a nerve. she'll keep that in mind.
moving on though: he does pose an interesting question. ]
The pictures I got last Tuesday weren't indicative of any sort of progression, if we're going off of the assumption that they weren't edited. That being said, it's hard to say for sure with so many uncertainties. If I had to pick? I'd think that everything's on pause.
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It wasn't very clear to me either, though I suspect that if time were progressing normally, they wouldn't have had a very big window in time in which they could have taken that picture.
[ Though given that suicidal dipshit and the other person from his world, they're clearly able to pull people from different points in time, so it stands to reason that they could travel to different points as well. Who's to say that wasn't a photo from well in the past? ]
In that case, what do you think happens when we die here? "We" as in a general collective, of course -- I have no intention of dying here, and I'm sure you don't either.
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Of course not.
[ she doesn't have plans to die anytime soon, unlike, well, a certain suicidal dipshit. ]
I'm almost certain The Lady is gaining something from all of these deaths. She wouldn't have made the game otherwise. ... At the very least she'll have more corpses to experiment on.
What that means for ourselves and our homes, however... That's something I'd need to think on.
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[ ...Is he now a fractured version of himself, basically. ]
I think they're probably obscuring the answer to that question on purpose to give themselves more leeway on coming up with motives.
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[ because that's not a question she would have asked herself. (least not until this week's motive) ]
That's most likely the case, but either way, I'll see if I can get an answer from The Lady regarding alternate selves and realities.
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[ He raises an eyebrow at that second part. ]
You know, that almost makes it sound like you're on friendly terms with her.
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[ she shrugs. ]
Civil, at best. Probably because I haven't gotten on her nerves yet.
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[ And his problem is that he finds her really fucking annoying. ]
I'm still waiting to hear that offer she said she'd make me, though.
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[ now that piques her interest. ]
What offer are you talking about?
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[ He takes a drink and sighs. ]
When they first introduced themselves to us and said they'd make these murders "worth our time", I asked her what she planned to do to make it worth mine. She said she'd look forward to seeing if I accepted her proposal when the time was right to offer it, or something like that.
Obviously what they offered this week wasn't it, so I wonder if they don't have something in mind specifically targeted to each of us.
week 2
post-trial
He's left his jacket in his room (and hasn't actually been wearing the feather boa so much lately, thanks to all the rain), down to a lime green dress shirt and black vest. He's got that bottle of whiskey again, which doesn't seem to have been depleted much further since the last time she saw him drinking it, and two glasses. (If she wants to just stick to her tea again, whatever, but the option will be there.) ]
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she sees it's rideaux though, and she pauses when she opens the door. considers letting him in for a second. then, she steps aside and takes in a deep breath. permission granted. ]
Yes, Rideaux?
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[ To be fair, he probably made several people feel like they needed a drink tonight, but he doesn't want to waste this liquor on someone he doesn't have much interest in, so the rest of them can just deal. ]
And, given what we now know about each other, this seems like it might be a good time to catch up. Do you disagree?
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[ what a generous offer. raven's not much of a drinker, in all honesty, but...she considers this, then lets out a sigh. ]
Fine. Come in.
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[ He does so, setting the glasses and bottle down on the desk once he's inside. ]
I'll be honest, with that motive, I was half expecting you to go for it all week.
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Me? Please.
[ she rolls her eyes. ]
Salem can't be stopped. I know better than to chase after something that won't happen.
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[ He takes a sip of his drink too, leaning back in the chair. ]
I guess whether or not you decide giving it a try is worth it comes down to how desperate you are.
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[ the lady has made good on her word a few times with raven, but as far as motives go?
> doubt. ]
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that trial. You were quite active in pursuing the truth today, Rideaux.
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[ It was right there in his profile, after all, and he thinks she probably gets it. ]
Sanguis was clearly involved and I wasn't going to risk going down for someone else's mistake. Suzaku already knew I had the same ability from when I treated his wounds on the first day, and I knew he had Lux, so I already suspected his potential involvement as early as the investigation.
If there was a chance he'd deliberately targeted a Sanguis user because he thought he could pin it on me, I was going to get ahead of it and make it clear to everyone that I had nothing to hide.
[ He takes another drink. ]
And I refuse to be one of the only players in this game at a disadvantage.
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[ there's a small smirk that forms on her lips at his explanation. ]
I can't say I'm happy that I had to reveal what my powers were to everyone else, but like you, I had no choice. And I don't fault you for that, for what it's worth.
I'd take your explanation over anyone else's. I'm sure other people would have argued that they had to press me for my powers because they had to explore every option, when the answer was right in front of them.
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See, I thought you'd get it. And that's why I'm glad you weren't one to try to take this offer.
[ Is that as close as he'll ever get to giving someone here a genuine compliment? Probably. ]
Though to be fair, I might have given that excuse to anyone else who asked.
[ But, again, just to minimize the chance of having a target painted on his back. He certainly hasn't tricked himself into believing he has any noble intentions. ]
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[ she does understand this completely. you gotta do what you gotta do to survive here, and most of these people here can't be trusted.
most. though she'll won't mention that to rideaux. ]
Which is entirely fair. You have to be impressionable, after all -- which isn't something I've been particularly good at, I'll admit. Though I think we're far better off than some people in that regard.
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[ Yeah, we all know who he's talking about here. ]
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[ stares at dist and cumore.... ]
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Likewise.
[ Honestly, he hadn't had much of a problem with Dist before this, besides finding him annoying, and had at least somewhat appreciated their discussions on technology. But he's acting like such an infant about this situation that he's definitely dropping fast in Rideaux's ranking. ]
Regardless of what they say, I'm pretty sure they came out of this looking even worse than I did.
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[ though she does actually like iago, but she won't say that out loud. ]
Refusing to cooperate is only going to work against them, ultimately.
whoops thought i replied to this
[ See if he ever tries to push you to not incriminate yourself again, Dist, you dumbass.
He takes a longer drink this time, and runs his finger over the rim of the glass when he sets it back down on the desk. ]
That aside, I was thinking we might as well use our new knowledge of one another's powers to our advantage and do a little experimentation and training together sometime. What do you think?
you're good friend
rideaux's proposal, however, is something raven won't turn down. there's some level of trust here, mostly because she knows the cards he's trying to play -- that and he has no reason to murder her. she's a source of information for him, if anything. ]
Alright. I don't see why not.
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[ And the walls have already proven they aren't a very good partner when it comes to blood bullets. ]
We can brainstorm on how to best make use of it against each of the other abilities, as well.