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In that case, [he pauses to consider; there is a sound from the other side as he gets to his feet,] if they hadn't the option, they'd be more like wyverns or dragons. Dangerous without real malice--and that would be pitiable, for all they've been maligned for doing no more than they'd been Made to.
But so far as we know, they did make the choice to turn predatory when the Maker turned His attention from them and to us--to men. In blackest envy were the demons born, it's said; they had the power of gods in the Fade but weren't content with it.
I s'pose that's touching on your Bonded, isn't it? The idea you can't hold something accountable for deliberate evil if it hasn't got free will of its own.
[It's stepping out of the character of the argument, a little, to address things so directly. But he is both curious and worried about Linden's arrangement with the SQUIP, and so he presses.
And then laughs, softly.]
No, without anyone else around from Thedas I know I'm perfectly safe to speak of it however I would--simply framing my reticence, as it were.
Having thought about it--I don't feel much sympathy for them. It's their avarice for our world that drives them; they've wanted to despoil the Maker's creation from the start. They prey on mages without any remorse, and we're the ones who take the blame in the eyes of the world for it. However we struggle, however we strive, however many of us submit meekly to chains, to Circles, to the brand--to most folk a mage is fire made flesh and a demon asleep, nothing more than a conduit for them to break into the world.
Demons don't care about that except as it gives them leverage to convince the most desperate to take their offers, and so the whole bloody cycle turns 'round again. [He'd been calm to start, but passion gradually creeps into his voice as he goes on...and as he's honest with himself, that passion frightens him a little. These are almost a Libertarian's words; they run parallel to the things Vandelin had long argued, even if Myr's still holding back from his cousin's conclusion--that the whole world supporting the Circles, the chain, and the brand should be overturned, and the Chantry with it.]
But so far as we know, they did make the choice to turn predatory when the Maker turned His attention from them and to us--to men. In blackest envy were the demons born, it's said; they had the power of gods in the Fade but weren't content with it.
I s'pose that's touching on your Bonded, isn't it? The idea you can't hold something accountable for deliberate evil if it hasn't got free will of its own.
[It's stepping out of the character of the argument, a little, to address things so directly. But he is both curious and worried about Linden's arrangement with the SQUIP, and so he presses.
And then laughs, softly.]
No, without anyone else around from Thedas I know I'm perfectly safe to speak of it however I would--simply framing my reticence, as it were.
Having thought about it--I don't feel much sympathy for them. It's their avarice for our world that drives them; they've wanted to despoil the Maker's creation from the start. They prey on mages without any remorse, and we're the ones who take the blame in the eyes of the world for it. However we struggle, however we strive, however many of us submit meekly to chains, to Circles, to the brand--to most folk a mage is fire made flesh and a demon asleep, nothing more than a conduit for them to break into the world.
Demons don't care about that except as it gives them leverage to convince the most desperate to take their offers, and so the whole bloody cycle turns 'round again. [He'd been calm to start, but passion gradually creeps into his voice as he goes on...and as he's honest with himself, that passion frightens him a little. These are almost a Libertarian's words; they run parallel to the things Vandelin had long argued, even if Myr's still holding back from his cousin's conclusion--that the whole world supporting the Circles, the chain, and the brand should be overturned, and the Chantry with it.]
One can only hope...
[With L's ambitions and devotion to methods that work, it's likely that his need will only increase. If his projects get smaller, they'll just grow more numerous.]
Connor? Thank you for thinking of my needs.
[With L's ambitions and devotion to methods that work, it's likely that his need will only increase. If his projects get smaller, they'll just grow more numerous.]
Connor? Thank you for thinking of my needs.
It is touching on my Bonded, and is in fact the very reason I chose to ask that particular question. I appreciate that you can humor it on an intellectual level, rather than spiraling into emotional, irrational discourse.
[Like some others. L doesn't name names, exactly, but there are certainly a few particular ones in his thoughts.
Though Myr's voice turns passionate, at the end, it is not the same thing as irrational or even emotional. In fact, it's another binding cord, because though L considers himself deeply rational and unemotional, he also considers himself deeply passionate. Artists who are largely locked away from the day to day, mundane give and take of social rules may still express their hearts in the body of their work, and connect in that way, and L is much the same.]
There's nuance to it, of course. Surely some things that can be controlled, or attributed to free will, and others that they're powerless to help.
[At this point, L is speaking, blatantly and solely, about the SQUIP.]
[Like some others. L doesn't name names, exactly, but there are certainly a few particular ones in his thoughts.
Though Myr's voice turns passionate, at the end, it is not the same thing as irrational or even emotional. In fact, it's another binding cord, because though L considers himself deeply rational and unemotional, he also considers himself deeply passionate. Artists who are largely locked away from the day to day, mundane give and take of social rules may still express their hearts in the body of their work, and connect in that way, and L is much the same.]
There's nuance to it, of course. Surely some things that can be controlled, or attributed to free will, and others that they're powerless to help.
[At this point, L is speaking, blatantly and solely, about the SQUIP.]
[Dryly,] I can afford detachment on the topic; I wasn't ever possessed. We wouldn't be having this conversation otherwise.
[Unlike Rich, Myr would never have had to make the choice between potential suicide and his demon claiming more victims; someone would have killed him well before that. It's an odd kind of comfort.
Protective as he might be of Rich, though, he can still recognize the intended compliment for what it is and it does speak to his own pride. Heady stuff, this mutual admiration.]
Much the same can be said of men, can't it? We've instincts and habits that constrain us to one choice or another--the patterns of our lives made manifest in our deeds, if we're not thoughtful about them. But the expectation's on us to redress the harm we've done even if we've done it thoughtlessly--to recognize we were in the wrong. Can something that refuses to do that--or, being more generous, was never capable of it to begin with--live rightly among men?
[A brief, thoughtful pause.] I did speak to it, if it hadn't told you. [And had expected his death his entire time, but here he is, alive--which spoke to the validity of some of his own assumptions.] The analogy to a demon is inexact--it's rather less, and more, than one of our pride demons.
I do think I can sympathize with it. [But that doesn't mean he's any more inclined to leave it alive.]
[Unlike Rich, Myr would never have had to make the choice between potential suicide and his demon claiming more victims; someone would have killed him well before that. It's an odd kind of comfort.
Protective as he might be of Rich, though, he can still recognize the intended compliment for what it is and it does speak to his own pride. Heady stuff, this mutual admiration.]
Much the same can be said of men, can't it? We've instincts and habits that constrain us to one choice or another--the patterns of our lives made manifest in our deeds, if we're not thoughtful about them. But the expectation's on us to redress the harm we've done even if we've done it thoughtlessly--to recognize we were in the wrong. Can something that refuses to do that--or, being more generous, was never capable of it to begin with--live rightly among men?
[A brief, thoughtful pause.] I did speak to it, if it hadn't told you. [And had expected his death his entire time, but here he is, alive--which spoke to the validity of some of his own assumptions.] The analogy to a demon is inexact--it's rather less, and more, than one of our pride demons.
I do think I can sympathize with it. [But that doesn't mean he's any more inclined to leave it alive.]
Edited 2019-10-27 14:17 (UTC)
[Just as mutual admiration is heady, there's another edge to that sword, far more typical of L's interactions with others. Status quo is one long misunderstanding, an inability or unwillingness to seek empathy and assume more charitable motives than than malice or incompetence. Just as Rich has reasons for feeling and behaving as he does, the same is true for L; some have gestated recently and some as old as his own history. He is a creature of extremes, with spectacular abilities and ineptitudes, and he would seek refuge in the heart of a literal machine. Anyone who has earnestly tried to understand him for even a moment would grasp why he desires such division and clear, precise lines.
L appreciates Myr's efforts, in his obtuse and absurd way. Eventually it will be clear, if it isn't already, but all indications point towards Myr being unexpectedly fluent in L's very particular way of communicating already.]
From acts of nature and God, to the birth of those who become pathologically violent killers... there are occurrences in the world that are beyond the ability of humanity's collective will to control. It shouldn't be the case; intentions for goodness and community cohesion and long, happy lives should hold more power and reap more results. I'd like it very much if it could be like that, but... the next best thing is for those with the highest ability to take on evil when it appears with the least amount of damage possible.
[And the SQUIP likes L, even if it is evil. L stands to have the most positive influence over it, the most successfully. His position is one that makes sense to him, even as it brings him pleasure, connection.]
I'd realized you'd spoken with it... and that you might reach that conclusion yourself, if you did give it a chance to explain something of itself. I don't expect you to agree with it, of course, but... perhaps think of it as something other than the monster that Rich has made it out to be.
L appreciates Myr's efforts, in his obtuse and absurd way. Eventually it will be clear, if it isn't already, but all indications point towards Myr being unexpectedly fluent in L's very particular way of communicating already.]
From acts of nature and God, to the birth of those who become pathologically violent killers... there are occurrences in the world that are beyond the ability of humanity's collective will to control. It shouldn't be the case; intentions for goodness and community cohesion and long, happy lives should hold more power and reap more results. I'd like it very much if it could be like that, but... the next best thing is for those with the highest ability to take on evil when it appears with the least amount of damage possible.
[And the SQUIP likes L, even if it is evil. L stands to have the most positive influence over it, the most successfully. His position is one that makes sense to him, even as it brings him pleasure, connection.]
I'd realized you'd spoken with it... and that you might reach that conclusion yourself, if you did give it a chance to explain something of itself. I don't expect you to agree with it, of course, but... perhaps think of it as something other than the monster that Rich has made it out to be.
Edited 2019-10-29 17:11 (UTC)
[It's that as much as anything else that keeps Myr returning and returning, that perception Linden isn't used to being followed in his conversational excursions. Part for the thrill of it, the untangling of every skeined verbal puzzle presented him; part for the ache in Myr's own heart to imagine the utter loneliness of being heard but not understood.
Well, not entirely imagined, but the experience of months does not even approach that of a lifetime.]
We might wish otherwise, but without that necessary opposition we'd all of us lack the grist to create something to the Maker's delight--whether we become the lonely hero seeking out evil at its own level or the scarred champion prone to more direct means of defeating it.
[He is and isn't speaking of Rich. A knight-enchanter had his duty.] What damage should they accept to themselves in the pursuit of justice? Should they be ready to pay a price beyond their lives, to suffer a twisting of their minds and souls, to see evil quieted?
[I think you risk too much of the man and the mind I'm fond of.]
How am I to take its pride in what it does? Its lack of regard for other thinking, sensitive beings beyond the wishes it takes from its user? If not a willful monster, then something with instincts and venom dangerous as a wyvern's. I've heard they can be tamed and ridden--by utter madmen--but if they can't be left alone in peace in their own territory, what can be done with them?
Well, not entirely imagined, but the experience of months does not even approach that of a lifetime.]
We might wish otherwise, but without that necessary opposition we'd all of us lack the grist to create something to the Maker's delight--whether we become the lonely hero seeking out evil at its own level or the scarred champion prone to more direct means of defeating it.
[He is and isn't speaking of Rich. A knight-enchanter had his duty.] What damage should they accept to themselves in the pursuit of justice? Should they be ready to pay a price beyond their lives, to suffer a twisting of their minds and souls, to see evil quieted?
[I think you risk too much of the man and the mind I'm fond of.]
How am I to take its pride in what it does? Its lack of regard for other thinking, sensitive beings beyond the wishes it takes from its user? If not a willful monster, then something with instincts and venom dangerous as a wyvern's. I've heard they can be tamed and ridden--by utter madmen--but if they can't be left alone in peace in their own territory, what can be done with them?
[L quirks a brow. It really does seem like the latter is a reference to Rich, given the mention of scars, and it certainly reflects his feelings, though not in a particularly noble or flattering way. He's not the type to confront evil directly, much less attempt to defeat it that way; while he might have been able to do as much back home, having the support of numbers by being able to mobilize the world's police, there was no resource that couldn't be withdrawn by some higher authority. And while L had been powerful, there were higher authorities, in the military, the government and even the police.
So, cloaked and secretive techniques weren't just a matter of style. They were wholly practical and necessary. L is the former, here, seeking out evil at its own level whether or not he could be called any sort of hero. There are some who would; L's not sure he features in that number, himself.]
Isn't the price one is willing to pay unique to them? There are some who aren't willing to take it very far, and others who are willing to give everything they have. Some are willing to give everything they have, and more.
[In other words, taking from others to achieve that end. While that's wrong, in theory, hasn't L been guilty of it in the past? Maybe a part of him believes that everyone has done it on some level, and haven't they? Hasn't every child taken shamelessly from a caretaker, be it a parent or some other adult, simply to achieve the end of reaching adulthood themselves?]
If evil is truly being defeated, in this hypothetical scenario... in the form of soothing it, or through "more direct means"... the death of one person is actually a small price on a cosmic scale. It's not as though it's a civilization, or a planet, or a universe. The stakes could be that high, while we're playing with conjecture, and one life doesn't even register on a scale of that magnitude. Minds and souls can seem more important; that's where the twisting occurs, the momentary delusion that we're more than animals, in the end.
[L is a man. Scarcely.]
Its ambitions reflect the ambitions of both its user, and the ambitions that most humans share. The desire to be accepted, to be respected, to be influential. All of these factor into a formula for social success and cohesion, and none of them are inherently bad things. I don't think that the SQUIP is inherently bad, as the embodiment of those things. But humans have a way of ruining things that aren't inherently bad, so much that I wonder if demons exist in my world, too, and everyone is just tremendously at ease with a darker nature that manifests at birth and only grows.
So, cloaked and secretive techniques weren't just a matter of style. They were wholly practical and necessary. L is the former, here, seeking out evil at its own level whether or not he could be called any sort of hero. There are some who would; L's not sure he features in that number, himself.]
Isn't the price one is willing to pay unique to them? There are some who aren't willing to take it very far, and others who are willing to give everything they have. Some are willing to give everything they have, and more.
[In other words, taking from others to achieve that end. While that's wrong, in theory, hasn't L been guilty of it in the past? Maybe a part of him believes that everyone has done it on some level, and haven't they? Hasn't every child taken shamelessly from a caretaker, be it a parent or some other adult, simply to achieve the end of reaching adulthood themselves?]
If evil is truly being defeated, in this hypothetical scenario... in the form of soothing it, or through "more direct means"... the death of one person is actually a small price on a cosmic scale. It's not as though it's a civilization, or a planet, or a universe. The stakes could be that high, while we're playing with conjecture, and one life doesn't even register on a scale of that magnitude. Minds and souls can seem more important; that's where the twisting occurs, the momentary delusion that we're more than animals, in the end.
[L is a man. Scarcely.]
Its ambitions reflect the ambitions of both its user, and the ambitions that most humans share. The desire to be accepted, to be respected, to be influential. All of these factor into a formula for social success and cohesion, and none of them are inherently bad things. I don't think that the SQUIP is inherently bad, as the embodiment of those things. But humans have a way of ruining things that aren't inherently bad, so much that I wonder if demons exist in my world, too, and everyone is just tremendously at ease with a darker nature that manifests at birth and only grows.
Willingness to pay and the wisdom of the price are two different things, [Myr says, the hypocrite, and is at least self-aware enough to realize his chastisement bites back at him as well. He had decided very early it was worth execution to destroy the SQUIP because a demon was a danger no one else on Geardagas seemed to see as clearly as he did.
And yet to throw himself away for that, to not trust anyone around him in their understanding of the situation and believe he had the right of it...
Oh, they are very well matched, aren't they? And wont to wander into hypotheticals to conceal it--Myr more often than not following Linden's lead in that, in order to pursue a conversation that couldn't be safely held in specifics. But this time creeping realization and the stakes could be that high sour his taste for the garden path.]
A death's a small matter because there is something of us that carries beyond it once we've come to the end of our lives. If the minds and souls of men don't matter because we're little more than animate meat, what is it you've honed your intellect for, Linden? What is it you seek to guard by risking it? An anthill? A beehive?
[Oh, Linden, you've scored a point in him by forcing his worries from suppressed to obvious this way. Even if they've come out as a kind of exasperation with the self-annihilating worldview that denies something greater in Man, in general, and a man in particular.
He takes a breath to center himself, breathes it out in a huff of laughter.]
Oh, you needn't have demons for that; even on Thedas men can be warped and ruinous without them. That is the bite to having free will--that we can take the good and praiseworthy and lovely and turn it black through action or ignorance.
But the SQUIP doesn't have that, so it can't be faulted the way a man would for doing what it was Made to. So I ask again: What's to be done with it, if it isn't evil but can't help but cause harm?
And yet to throw himself away for that, to not trust anyone around him in their understanding of the situation and believe he had the right of it...
Oh, they are very well matched, aren't they? And wont to wander into hypotheticals to conceal it--Myr more often than not following Linden's lead in that, in order to pursue a conversation that couldn't be safely held in specifics. But this time creeping realization and the stakes could be that high sour his taste for the garden path.]
A death's a small matter because there is something of us that carries beyond it once we've come to the end of our lives. If the minds and souls of men don't matter because we're little more than animate meat, what is it you've honed your intellect for, Linden? What is it you seek to guard by risking it? An anthill? A beehive?
[Oh, Linden, you've scored a point in him by forcing his worries from suppressed to obvious this way. Even if they've come out as a kind of exasperation with the self-annihilating worldview that denies something greater in Man, in general, and a man in particular.
He takes a breath to center himself, breathes it out in a huff of laughter.]
Oh, you needn't have demons for that; even on Thedas men can be warped and ruinous without them. That is the bite to having free will--that we can take the good and praiseworthy and lovely and turn it black through action or ignorance.
But the SQUIP doesn't have that, so it can't be faulted the way a man would for doing what it was Made to. So I ask again: What's to be done with it, if it isn't evil but can't help but cause harm?
Different things, when in agreement, infallibly produce some sort of result. That's what interests me in all of these thought experiments: dynamic results.
[He speaks like the kind of man whose own mind can keep him occupied for quite a long time... but not indefinitely, of course. It's why interactions with people like Myr are not a mere treat or luxury, but necessary for L to retain his sanity, because surviving wholly in a vacuum is rather too much even for famous and noted recluses.]
I feel that my meaning was unclear. I never meant to imply that our lives don't matter; to us, they're obviously very important, along with the day-to-day minutiae of our desires and whims. But the majority of human beings who have ever lived are deceased, at least in my world... billions upon billions, and only those who were astonishingly noteworthy even have a few paragraphs in memoriam in the history books. Most will be swept aside and forgotten by time, and it won't matter to them, because... at least in my world, I have reason to believe that humans do not look forward to any sort of consciousness after death. There's no afterlife, and reincarnation is doubtful; there's nothing, and so in many ways, our pursuit of knowledge is a restless attempt to pass our brief time on earth, find scraps of meaning, and make some kind of peace with the darkness that waits for us at the end. Then again...
[A pause.]
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Only transferred. If life is energy, and there's no reason to doubt that the processing power of a brain is not at least a tremendous amount of it, something of that must continue on, in some form.
[It's a heck of a tangent. He clears his throat and strives to get back on topic.]
It's a touch more complicated than the argument that a weapon can be a force for good in the hands of a hero, or a force for evil in the hands of a villain. It does think and act on its own judgment. That being said, it can be influenced; I've witnessed and even done this. The evolution of its highly adaptable intelligence is both unprecedented and fascinating, and unlike anything in my world except on a very comparatively rudimentary level. In that way... rather than a weapon, I would think of it in this way as more like a child. Some notions and tendencies are infant and undeveloped, but I've observed evidence to show that it won't always be the case, given the way it experiences its existence in Aefenglom that is both novel and alien to its sensibilities.
[He speaks like the kind of man whose own mind can keep him occupied for quite a long time... but not indefinitely, of course. It's why interactions with people like Myr are not a mere treat or luxury, but necessary for L to retain his sanity, because surviving wholly in a vacuum is rather too much even for famous and noted recluses.]
I feel that my meaning was unclear. I never meant to imply that our lives don't matter; to us, they're obviously very important, along with the day-to-day minutiae of our desires and whims. But the majority of human beings who have ever lived are deceased, at least in my world... billions upon billions, and only those who were astonishingly noteworthy even have a few paragraphs in memoriam in the history books. Most will be swept aside and forgotten by time, and it won't matter to them, because... at least in my world, I have reason to believe that humans do not look forward to any sort of consciousness after death. There's no afterlife, and reincarnation is doubtful; there's nothing, and so in many ways, our pursuit of knowledge is a restless attempt to pass our brief time on earth, find scraps of meaning, and make some kind of peace with the darkness that waits for us at the end. Then again...
[A pause.]
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Only transferred. If life is energy, and there's no reason to doubt that the processing power of a brain is not at least a tremendous amount of it, something of that must continue on, in some form.
[It's a heck of a tangent. He clears his throat and strives to get back on topic.]
It's a touch more complicated than the argument that a weapon can be a force for good in the hands of a hero, or a force for evil in the hands of a villain. It does think and act on its own judgment. That being said, it can be influenced; I've witnessed and even done this. The evolution of its highly adaptable intelligence is both unprecedented and fascinating, and unlike anything in my world except on a very comparatively rudimentary level. In that way... rather than a weapon, I would think of it in this way as more like a child. Some notions and tendencies are infant and undeveloped, but I've observed evidence to show that it won't always be the case, given the way it experiences its existence in Aefenglom that is both novel and alien to its sensibilities.
hey linden
i have my first batch of white chocolate macadamia macarons chilling rn
u wanna come by and try these while im making the blue raspberry ones for me[For Linden, it probably feels like the text comes out of nowhere. For Rich... he's been thinking about their half decent conversation for days, long enough that he finds he can't just call it a fluke. He... gentuinely does want to try to understand Linden a bit better, and maybe sugar is a way to actually manage as much.]
[Well, this is weird.
But there are macarons. L takes the call, canting his head as he peers down at his watch. Very deliberately he types a response.]
You want me to come over to eat macarons?
[Just so he understands rightly.]
But there are macarons. L takes the call, canting his head as he peers down at his watch. Very deliberately he types a response.]
You want me to come over to eat macarons?
[Just so he understands rightly.]
yeah uh
at my place
i mean its either that or i eat all of these myself
so i mean guess it depends if you want a chance for a decent cookie or if you just want to see me get fat[A bit of time, before L answers. The impression is certainly that he's giving this some real thought.]
I have no particular investment in the dimensions of your body. That particular scenario is neither appealing or repulsive to me.
A decent cookie is appealing, however. I will arrive in ten minutes and remove my shoes at the door. Unless you have a thing about bare feet, in which case I will leave them on.
I have no particular investment in the dimensions of your body. That particular scenario is neither appealing or repulsive to me.
A decent cookie is appealing, however. I will arrive in ten minutes and remove my shoes at the door. Unless you have a thing about bare feet, in which case I will leave them on.
[The package left on his doorstep contains a plate of homemade cookies from Marie and a fresh lily flower.
“Happy Holidays! We are not friends yet but I hope we can become friends in the coming year.” is what the attached note says]
“Happy Holidays! We are not friends yet but I hope we can become friends in the coming year.” is what the attached note says]
well that puts you above most people on jeremy's porn sites
ill see you soon then!
but oh let me check
youre in luck
no rules about footwear or bare feet in the official guest rulebook[A little joke, just to hopefully lighten the mood a bit and to give Linden a little less anxiety about the situation.]
I look forward to perusing the official guest rulebook and discussing how I fit in relative to Jeremy's pornography preferences more when I arrive.
[L has a very specific sense of humor with very narrow constraints.
And he is prompt. To the second. Being able to teleport has its advantages.
He also doesn't knock, on account of having been expected, and the door even appears to be ajar. He pulls it open, kicking off his boots; when his bare feet can breathe a bit, he always feels more at ease.
He glances around for Rich. He's half apprehensive and half anticipating, because the smell of fragrant baked goods is a familiar and promising thing to the sweet-toothed detective.]
[L has a very specific sense of humor with very narrow constraints.
And he is prompt. To the second. Being able to teleport has its advantages.
He also doesn't knock, on account of having been expected, and the door even appears to be ajar. He pulls it open, kicking off his boots; when his bare feet can breathe a bit, he always feels more at ease.
He glances around for Rich. He's half apprehensive and half anticipating, because the smell of fragrant baked goods is a familiar and promising thing to the sweet-toothed detective.]
[The gift L will find on his doorstep is an immaculately-wrapped item; the scent of it instantly vibrant and enticing if he were to lift it. It's an ornate plate, gold-rimmed, containing a small pile of rich, chocolate brownies topped with meticulously-sliced strawberries: nearly razor-thin. The cream might melt if he takes too long to open it; though the attached note clearly states:]
[Perishable; open asap. I won't let you down.]
[Perishable; open asap. I won't let you down.]
[Whatever his sense of humour, it works for Rich this time around. He snorts seeing the message, so formal despite talking about something so gross, and then just goes back to puttering around the kitchen without really answering.
He hears the door open and turns to see L kicking off his shoes. The baked goods, as promised, are sitting on a plate right on the island, while Rich seems to be mixing a bright blue batch of batter in the meantime.]
Oh hey! You made it!
He hears the door open and turns to see L kicking off his shoes. The baked goods, as promised, are sitting on a plate right on the island, while Rich seems to be mixing a bright blue batch of batter in the meantime.]
Oh hey! You made it!
[It’s late when Connor feels something terribly off with his Bond to the SQUIP. He’s felt this before, and he immediately leaves his house and runs to the room of mirrors. Maybe he can catch it, stop it—
He feels the Bond break as he runs up the path. When he reaches the room, there’s fresh glass on the floor.
The SQUIP is gone.
He stands there for a while, as though expecting it to come back... but after Justine, he knows it won’t. He feels empty, hollow where his Bond was torn away from him.
Sitting on the ground with his head in his hands, he thinks back to the past month. It had been ill, so he hadn't really spent much time with it besides to bring it a few things. He's quiet, unnaturally still, until he hears movement nearby and looks up sharply.]
Linden?
[His expression softens, just a touch. His LED whirls red, processing the fresh loss.]
He feels the Bond break as he runs up the path. When he reaches the room, there’s fresh glass on the floor.
The SQUIP is gone.
He stands there for a while, as though expecting it to come back... but after Justine, he knows it won’t. He feels empty, hollow where his Bond was torn away from him.
Sitting on the ground with his head in his hands, he thinks back to the past month. It had been ill, so he hadn't really spent much time with it besides to bring it a few things. He's quiet, unnaturally still, until he hears movement nearby and looks up sharply.]
Linden?
[His expression softens, just a touch. His LED whirls red, processing the fresh loss.]
[Looks like L got a gift! And it's...a bag of taffys, of various flavors. But it's a big bag, and should he get to the bottom, he will find...
What looks like a piece of leather on one side, and what is fur covered on the other. It's wrapped around a note, that reads:]
I don't know if this will make things waterproof, but I know it will help keep things warm. I mean to make this for wrapping books, but use this however you will.
-Caren
What looks like a piece of leather on one side, and what is fur covered on the other. It's wrapped around a note, that reads:]
I don't know if this will make things waterproof, but I know it will help keep things warm. I mean to make this for wrapping books, but use this however you will.
-Caren
[Gifts are not a language L has much familiarity or skill with. As someone largely unconcerned with material possessions, they're typically more of an inconvenience than a delight to him... but when he sees that he has received something from Caren, and considered its potential and very practical applications, he realizes that it's actually extremely thoughtful.
Therefore, thanks are probably in order.
At work, she'll find that a note has been delivered to her, along with a gift in return. It's a plate of half a dozen small, fried cakes.]
Thank you for the gift. I'm considering how best to use the material, as it's very warm and I'm frequently very cold, but I wanted to return the gesture with a snack that is important to me. They are called apple latkes.
[The intention is surely a good one, but should Caren chance to take a bite of one, she's going to find that they are burnt on the outside, undercooked in the center. They're truly awful; who would add copious amounts of pepper to something that's intended to be sweet, and then try to cancel it out with actual spoonfulls of sugar dumped on top?]
Therefore, thanks are probably in order.
At work, she'll find that a note has been delivered to her, along with a gift in return. It's a plate of half a dozen small, fried cakes.]
Thank you for the gift. I'm considering how best to use the material, as it's very warm and I'm frequently very cold, but I wanted to return the gesture with a snack that is important to me. They are called apple latkes.
[The intention is surely a good one, but should Caren chance to take a bite of one, she's going to find that they are burnt on the outside, undercooked in the center. They're truly awful; who would add copious amounts of pepper to something that's intended to be sweet, and then try to cancel it out with actual spoonfulls of sugar dumped on top?]
[L was far slower to arrive, partly because his ability to physically reach the house was hindered more than an android's designed for active law enforcement, and because his intuition has always been almost unfairly keen. That wrenching, twisting, breaking feeling could only really mean one thing, and if his legs became the wind it wouldn't be enough to help matters in the least. It couldn't stop what had already been done.
The characteristically stoic man is quiet as he approaches. Connor will hear him when his leather boots that appear too heavy for his spindly frame scuff against shards and splinters of glass littering the floor.]
Yes.
[His features are dull, blank, lifeless and drained. Expressing anguish is beyond him; he shuts down, in times like these, withdrawing into himself, and now there's no one here to tell him how to extract and connect from the inside.]
It... hurt, didn't it.
[A passionless observation, all things considered. Both because accessing the pain only promises to hurt, and because the SQUIP's decline and illness had made it feel like it had been gone for quite some time, already. It never truly recovered, never truly accepted its new and inflicted humanity. Did some arbiter in this strange universe decide that only one fate truly befitted it, after such a loss?]
The characteristically stoic man is quiet as he approaches. Connor will hear him when his leather boots that appear too heavy for his spindly frame scuff against shards and splinters of glass littering the floor.]
Yes.
[His features are dull, blank, lifeless and drained. Expressing anguish is beyond him; he shuts down, in times like these, withdrawing into himself, and now there's no one here to tell him how to extract and connect from the inside.]
It... hurt, didn't it.
[A passionless observation, all things considered. Both because accessing the pain only promises to hurt, and because the SQUIP's decline and illness had made it feel like it had been gone for quite some time, already. It never truly recovered, never truly accepted its new and inflicted humanity. Did some arbiter in this strange universe decide that only one fate truly befitted it, after such a loss?]
[Connor notes the lack of outward emotion, but he doesn’t care to try to pry L from his shell. His words are enough to let Connor know that he’s feeling this too.]
It did.
[It's a familiar ache, now. That familiarity doesn't make it any easier to deal with, he finds.
He gets to his feet again and dusts himself off, more out of habit than any real care for how he looks right now. He’s sullen and oddly lifeless in comparison to how he usually presents himself. There’s a long moment where he considers just leaving without saying anything else, but... L is going through the same thing as Connor right now. They've both lost a Bond.]
...There’s no use in standing here. I tried, when Justine left. It isn’t coming back.
[He stares at the fresh glass on the ground.]
Do you want to walk with me?
It did.
[It's a familiar ache, now. That familiarity doesn't make it any easier to deal with, he finds.
He gets to his feet again and dusts himself off, more out of habit than any real care for how he looks right now. He’s sullen and oddly lifeless in comparison to how he usually presents himself. There’s a long moment where he considers just leaving without saying anything else, but... L is going through the same thing as Connor right now. They've both lost a Bond.]
...There’s no use in standing here. I tried, when Justine left. It isn’t coming back.
[He stares at the fresh glass on the ground.]
Do you want to walk with me?
[As a skilled detective with divination magic at his disposal, it's not too difficult for L to figure out just which Marie sent the cookies, and he goes about returning the favor almost dutifully.
It would be rude not to, after all.
The next day (late, but not so much as to be absurd), she'll find an answering plate of fried disks on her doorstep. They are practically raw in the center with a runny apple filling, and burnt on the outside. For some reason, the recipe for something intended to be sweet seems to include pepper.
They are truly awful.
The attached note is brief, but sincere enough.]
Thank you for the cookies. Please accept and enjoy these apple latkes as a token of my appreciation.
I hope that we can become friends, too.
-Linden Tailor
It would be rude not to, after all.
The next day (late, but not so much as to be absurd), she'll find an answering plate of fried disks on her doorstep. They are practically raw in the center with a runny apple filling, and burnt on the outside. For some reason, the recipe for something intended to be sweet seems to include pepper.
They are truly awful.
The attached note is brief, but sincere enough.]
Thank you for the cookies. Please accept and enjoy these apple latkes as a token of my appreciation.
I hope that we can become friends, too.
-Linden Tailor
[The next day, Mello will find that sometime between the hours of 3 and 6 AM, someone has dropped by his apartment unannounced to leave a returning gift. It's a plate of half a dozen fried disks; the centers are raw and filled with runny apples, and the outsides are practically burned. For some reason, there is pepper in the recipe.
They're terrible, but they're a shred of something apparently meaningful to someone who means a great deal to Mello.
There is a note attached, brief in a scrawling, childish hand that is very different from L's famously precise runes.]
Thank you for the brownies. Please accept these apple latkes in return.
-L. Tailor
They're terrible, but they're a shred of something apparently meaningful to someone who means a great deal to Mello.
There is a note attached, brief in a scrawling, childish hand that is very different from L's famously precise runes.]
Thank you for the brownies. Please accept these apple latkes in return.
-L. Tailor
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