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finalflight2025-01-02 03:40 pm
nailfiler) wrote in finalflight2025-01-02 03:40 pmEntry tags:
nailfiler) wrote in finalflight2025-01-02 03:40 pm
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[He smiles at her, tired around the edges, but sincere. She's a nice woman, and he can't imagine how she managed to deal with Weir โ or maybe because she's so cool-headed that she managed it at all.]
I'm glad to be alive, too. Though, I'm guessing by your questions, he never mentioned us in detail to you. Do you think he even knows we're still around?
[If he never leaves the Vale, which might be the case, then... that's a logical conclusion.]
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[She answers breezily and with a glint of mischief in her eyes.]
I bet he just thinks your existences were erased and replaced like the Vale residents. He won't be pleased at all when he finds out.
[does she look gleeful at the thought of weir squirming, maybe
Flora and Feather are definitely gleeful, the formal cackling immensely.]
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Good, good. That means we have the element of surprise on our side. You can keep a secret, I bet!
[Hm, he can't quite decide how familiar she got with the Dredger, but it's clear thus far that she finds some satisfaction in upending the man with this revelation. For now, he'll trust that'll hold.]
And... well, with all these revelations now out in the open, can you guess what I'll ask of you next?
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[She's hardly been straightforward about herself or her time in the Vale with Weir.]
You might ask about ghosts, I'd imagine. Or how I managed to fare against Weir despite his... Everything. Maybe you'll even ask why we have some diners and employees listening in on our conversation.
[There's only a few people in the restaurant, but they have squirrled away in seats that aren't that far from listening distance.]
Or you may even ask something totally mundane.
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[An eye's being kept on him, and he isn't surprised. A man from a strange world isn't something that others let wander around with no curiosity or caution; she's already hinted at a greater authority that deals with this manner of thing more regularly.]
But no, if you assort them all by personal priority, one rises to the top of the pile.
[He leans in.]
When youโor whoever else gets to deal with meโsend me back home, can you get me into the Vale? Crack open a door that doesn't require an invite and spare me the forest's insanity? If you managed it once, maybe you can do it twice.
[If it's possible, then he's made things a lot easier for his companions.]
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[She leans back in her seat.]
I'm not the best person to answer that. The circumstances of my appearance in your world has been obscured from my memory and to the disturbance of the people I know, their own. That is to say, recreating the conditions would be impossible.
[Because no one knows the how.]
... But when it comes to the impossible... [Lucinda trails off for effect and her lips quirk.]
There are witches.
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And you'd be willing to nudge one of these witches to help me? I'd be in your debt if you did, Miss Lucinda. In which case, I'll have to be very blunt with you about something potentially unpleasant.
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[There aren't many witches around, but for better or for worse, there's one that is readily available whether she likes it or not.
Her head tilts in curiosity at Taka but she nods.]
I'm no stranger to bluntness. Go on.
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If and when we finally make our way to the Vale, we're going to kill Weir Dredger. There's simply no getting around it.
You'd still be fine with aiding us, knowing that?
1/2
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Sometimes... When I think back on it, I tell myself that I should have killed him. Because it would be the most rational thing.
[She looks back at Taka.]
And when I think about it some more, think about all the people who used to be there that are now gone without a trace, I also believe it would have been worthless vengenance had it been at my hands. I was a stranger from another world after all.
[Many would probably agree that Weir Dredger deserved a worthless death.]
I also think that's a rational thought. And now, knowing you, and the others have survived that ritual, I can logically say, "Ah. I can clean my hands of it all."
[She held her own against him and that was that. Lucinda is just one person, however, and there are four other people who's rage was more worthy than her own (she hardly has any left).]
Selfish, isn't it?
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I don't know if I'd call it selfish, Miss Lucinda. You were thrown into a situation you didn't ask for, just like me and mine.
[And having to make do with what she could to survive. Even if that did mean striking up a reliance on a man like Weir. Striking up a... what, a friendship with him?]
But if you don't mind me saying so, it sounds like you're trying to convince yourself of it. Of "I can clean my hands of it all." Your heart's fighting with your head, right?
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[Mother scolds her sometimes, for being too erratic and emotional. It was rich coming from the firey temperamental esper who adopted her, but her point stands. Lucinda, despite everything, despite being careful and calculated, despite cultivating a calm demeanor, is held back by her weary, worn down heart.]
To answer your question, I don't think it's about being fine with it. It's a matter of it having to be done.
[Inevitability. Much easier.]
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[Citation needed. It has, indeed, gotten him into trouble. It's what landed him in the biggest trouble of all, getting booted from Lunti for unearthing a baleful conspiracy he still didn't completely understand. But...
He'd rather be sharp than dull, going through life like a monotony, sailing through it with nothing to whet the wit.]
Ahnn... I don't know. [He rubs at his scruff.] That's all a matter of opinion, too. We want to kill him not out of some misled sense of vengeance- [okay but there is that, too, but it stems less from Taka and more from the others] -but to return the world to what it was. But we, too, are making the same decision as the Dredger.
Erasing one world to revert it back to what's already long gone. Is that any better? It's worth questioning.
[It won't change the path they've decided upon, but... He's thought about it, too. He thinks about things too much, you see.]
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I think you're right, thinking that far ahead. On the one hand, your world, as it stands, is better for some people than how it was before.
[Weir being the lone example, doesn't have to risk life and limb in the Ceaseless Pit to scrape out a living, doesn't have to be expendable and wretched.]
On the other, for those of you who remember, it doesn't mean that the previous world was worthless.
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[Huffs, rolling his neck as though to banish a crick from it. His brows pinch together; this isn't a simple matter of "we're right, he's wrong", though they wouldn't be in this mess were it not for Weir in the first place.]
For the Dredger, he'd say something like, "the strongest are the only ones who survive, the ones who look out for themselves" and so if we end up succeeding, well, we're just adhering to his own worldview, right?
[Waves a hand.]
Except I hate thinking that way. The world doesn't revolve around one person and their wishes โ it's a bunch of moving parts, each affecting the other. How can anyone make a decision like that so easily... It baffles even me.
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But for some reason, she keeps that to herself. Instead, she replies to Taka's musing.]
He doesn't know of any other life. If a worldview shaped by harrowing experiences has kept him alive that long, it's no wonder he sticks to it adamantly. Nothing and no one has proven him wrong yet.
[Even working as a team with his ritualmates was a means to his own ends.
Lucinda pushes back her seat, ready to stand up.]
Technically... I'm weaker than him. But regardless, I stood my ground. There is a distinct difference between you and Weir.
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[The betrayal, and all that came after. Their entire lives, just... gone. Taka doesn't even know the state of Lunti anymore, nor of his own family โ as much disregard and ill-will they might have for each other now, he wouldn't wish them erased. There were still those within that circle he hoped the best for.]
What difference? That I'm not as strong?
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[She stands up and pushes her chair in.]
The difference is that you care for so much more than yourself. And I should hope that others care for you. When the time comes, that is what you'll need most against what you're facing.
I wouldn't have made it out of Turner's Vale if I had no one looking out for me.
[Pausing, her hands grip the back of her chair before she continues.]
There were many places I would have not escaped had it not been for others.
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Hope you don't find yourself in more of those situations, for what it's worth. ...You're not referring to Weir Dredger himself, are you? Whoever looked out for you back in Turner's Vale.
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[She laughs lightly and shakes her head.]
He did his part.
[Lucinda releases the chair and puts her hand behind her back.]
By the way. You haven't answered whether you believe in ghosts or not.
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Ahh, well. I hear about spirits that can lose their way to the afterlife and make the world harder on the living to make up for it. Never ran into one myself, so I couldn't say either way...
[But it's not the weirdest he's heard of, nor seen.]
Stranger things exist, though. Are you going to tell me about your own experiences...? I imagine someone who can sense the dead would have a lot to say on the matter.
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[For better or for worse, it's so much more than that.]
I can see and talk to them. And in special cases...? Well.
[Instead of giving any lengthy story or explanation she moves so that she's close enough to lean down and playfully whisper in Taka's ear.]
The ghost in my chest really enjoys the crinkle of your eyes.
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Instead, he just views this as new information being freely doled out.
...A bit bafflingly, though.]
Eh?? You have a ghost... in your chest?
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[Lucinda doesn't do so, of course. She draws back, smiling.]
Don't get her too excited now. The other two are much more quiet, but she's quite the chatterbox.
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