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wildestlogs2021-10-31 08:54 pm
wildestmods) wrote in wildestlogs2021-10-31 08:54 pm
INTO THE WOODS ※ GAME EVENT
INTO THE WOODS
The faerie faire goes on into the evening, the faire filled with the sounds of revelry. For those who've spent the day there, the cool evening air is welcome respite from the bright sun that's shined all day. Those who still have some faerie gold might even want to invest in a cloak if they haven't gotten one yet, because it may get chillier as night falls.
As evening descends and various floating flowers start to glow to provide light, the spring faeries start to bring out night-time merchandise and amusements, like brightly-colored phosphorescent flower jewelry. Fireflies are charmed to blink in different colors and magical fireworks paint the sky in vibrant light. They're quieter than normal fireworks, but there are still satisfying snaps and hisses.
It seems like it'll be a pleasant night at the fair and those only just arriving in the evening will find a charming scene opening up before them.
But one thing that isn't noticed as evening begins to fall is the way the winter faeries suddenly slink away into the rising dark. Or at least it isn't noticed until it's too late. Some of the summer faeries start to react to it with alarm.
"Where did they go? The winter faeries are supposed to provide security, they signed an agreement. Go tell Ponto and get some faeries with warding magic to shore up the wards." Faeries start flying with purpose to speak to others that need to be put on security. "We can handle it ourselves but we need to get enough people out to the borders."
"Should we disperse the faire?"
"No, there's no sign of any threats and if we re-ward it, they'll be safer here than people scattering in the woods at night. Even if we had the bad luck to be attacked before the wards are re-done we can defend them with our magic - and we're contracted to."
Unfortunately that bad luck hits too soon. While the faeries scramble to re-do the defense wards, an unearthly fog rolls in. Terrible screeches start to rend the air, sounding similar to the screams of foxes. Warning bells ring from warning wards placed in certain areas of the woods.
"Nightrenders!" someone calls out and people in the crowd start screaming, gathering their loved ones closer. Horrifying beings start to pour into the faire and the hand stamps of all the people who bought tickets ahead of time start to glow. Faeries rally around those people, casting powerful defensive spells. Due to the panic, several stalls start to go up in flames due to knocked over cooking fires. Fortunately the stalls are small enough for people to escape them easily and spread far enough apart that they can be avoided, but smoke joins the fog in the air.
If a faerie sees one of the squad of otherworlders, and their lack of glowing hand stamp they're quick to offer a warning. "You have to run! The people who bought tickets ahead of time entered into a magical agreement of protection. The warding takes time to charge. We can do nothing for you, without slow-charge wards we're not powerful enough to protect you. The Nightrenders will devour your brain, or your soul."
Apparently that little disclaimer about not being fully protected that some of them read while coming in (for those that had arrived earlier in the day) was more important than it seemed.
The faeries always point the same way, still trying to help the people without tickets. "To the north! There's a place in a canyon with a large, glowing crystal. It looks like an abandoned market and dwellings. You'll be safe there, the magic of the Heartstone will protect you."
USEFUL LINKS
NIGHTRENDERS
The beings known as Nightrenders start amassing on the faire. Their movements are quick but clumsy, as if every one of their movements is made up of a hundred janky, smaller fits and starts, like they're made of clockwork. The faerie magic summer faeries use seems to do no more than stagger them back or temporarily knock them over, but at least makes it clear to the squad that they at least can be knocked over and slowed down. At the very least it seems to take them some time to get off the ground and back to their feet.
Attacks
They attack anyone they see in different ways. Some they wound with massive claws. Or they squeeze someone's torso and nearly suffocate them to give them a chance at possibly chomping into the heads of their victims to get at the brains. Most dangerously of all, they breathe in with a loud sucking noise, clawed hands guiding the magic that lets them drawn out someone's soul to devour it. It looks like a small delicate thing, sometimes in the form of a glittering star or a flower, as its drawn out of the victim's mouth.
This process can fortunately be interrupted if the Nightrender is attacked. As long as the soul hasn't been sucked into their mouths, it goes back into the victim.
Cursed Aura
But the whole thing is complicated by the magical aura caused by the Nightrenders. When they draw close, everyone around them is choked with fear, grief, and dread. Some succumb to visions of their worse memories playing out in their heads over and over. Some might be able to still stagger away in this state, trying to see through the visions, especially if someone helps them along, but others will find it nearly impossible to do anything other than curl on the ground. It is unknown why some don't have the flashbacks or can power through them more than others, though it's thought that those that repress their bad memories or negative emotions struggle more.
Anyone that helps someone who's having visions may get a glimpse of their memories - and empathically feel a flash of the pain, fear, rage, or grief they felt during the memory. If two people try to help each other move forward when both are having visions, they may transmit glimpses back and forth.
Weaknesses
The Nightrenders cannot be destroyed, only knocked down, or slowed down. However, those with "holy" weapons, spells, or powers, or those who have weapons, spells, or powers that can hurt "ethereal" beings or evil spirits will find they can cause them enough pain that sometimes they run away. Spells and abilities that create magical manifestations of good will and happiness, as well as spells of light, or purification can also harm them and drive them away.
THE SISTERS
The Nightrenders don't speak, but some have the misfortune of hearing two voices echo out of the fog. The come in stereo, only just slightly out of sync.
"Chosen Ones, you must be so confused. You've become lost in the forest, and the Dark Lord's nightmares already pursue you. Fortunately for you, our mistress desires your company. You'll adore obeying her will. Don't run, embrace a better destiny."
Two woman in white masks and straw hats, with cloaks made from the feathers of ravens, come out of the fog, body language almost identical. No eyes can be seen through the eyeholes of their masks, just darkness.
They start attacking, and when they beset their victims they stop speaking, refusing to talk or answer questions, instead filling the air with wild, mocking laughter. One wields twin katanas, the other a kusarigama with a painful claw at the end of the chain that closes down when it hits something.
Nets
While they're extremely willing to injure the squad they seem to be trying to capture them instead of killing (albeit capturing them after they're maimed), occasionally tossing out nets of glowing silver of moonlight. Being caught in the nets renders someone paralyzed and weak, a deep cold settling into the marrow of their bones. Some may even hear the shrieks of dying loved ones, whether they've actually died in reality or not. The Sisters apparently have the strength to carry even the largest of the squad in the air and will attempt to fly away when someone is ensnared.
The nets are difficult to destroy, but can be with great force of some kind. It has to be aimed at the part closest to the Sisters' hands, because the force required to break the nets would also injure those trapped inside them. The cold and paralysis fades when the victims are free, but some of the rescued may feel weak and need help staying on their feet. Unfortunately, even when they're broken, the nets of moonlight seem to be something they can recreate within several minutes.
Smoke Monsters
For some, they don't attack directly. Instead, one of the sisters pulls out a pipe and smoke monsters pour out of it. They try to drag their victims closer to the sisters so they can be caught in their nets. Fortunately, they can be destroyed with enough force.
While the Sisters seem impossible to injure, they can at least be caused pain with extreme enough attacks, something that makes them teleport away before risking any further injury.
PROMPTS
a) RENT
Uh oh, a Nightrender has you. Either it's squeezing you so hard you're suffocating and about to chomp into some juicy brains, or it's in the process of sucking your soul out through your mouth. In either case, you're likely broadcasting visions of your worst memories in small flashes to whoever is near. You're in desperate need of rescue and the summer faeries can't help - their magic is all but useless on the Nightrenders if it didn't have time to build by a covenant. Only others that fell into the Wilderlands like you did can save you.
(Feel free to provide multiple memory options ala a memshare, but keep in mind they'd only be flashes instead of a full memory!)
Uh oh, a Nightrender has you. Either it's squeezing you so hard you're suffocating and about to chomp into some juicy brains, or it's in the process of sucking your soul out through your mouth. In either case, you're likely broadcasting visions of your worst memories in small flashes to whoever is near. You're in desperate need of rescue and the summer faeries can't help - their magic is all but useless on the Nightrenders if it didn't have time to build by a covenant. Only others that fell into the Wilderlands like you did can save you.
(Feel free to provide multiple memory options ala a memshare, but keep in mind they'd only be flashes instead of a full memory!)
b) NABBED
The Sisters have got you, their smoke monsters are trying to drag you away, or you're still trying to fight them to avoid being caught. It'll be a lot easier if you have help - otherwise you're outnumbered and possibly outclassed. The only way to stop them is fight back hard enough that they feel you're not worth the effort and teleport off.
The Sisters have got you, their smoke monsters are trying to drag you away, or you're still trying to fight them to avoid being caught. It'll be a lot easier if you have help - otherwise you're outnumbered and possibly outclassed. The only way to stop them is fight back hard enough that they feel you're not worth the effort and teleport off.
c) RESCUE
Perhaps you're not affected by the Nightrenders or are just good at powering through the haze of painful magic they're inflicting on the area. Either way, you're out to help the people around you. Perhaps you run into another member of the otherworlder squad that needs saving - or maybe they join you to protect a third otherworlder, or a denizen of the Wilderlands that also forewent a ticket and is therefore at risk. Unlike many of the people from other universes, many of the denizens of the Wilderlands are powerless and thought they were in for a day and night of safe fun.
There are also other hazards to rescue people from. Maybe a small child has been separated from their parents and is disoriented by smoke, in need of rescued from some flaming tents. Or maybe an elderly person has fallen and is at risk of being trampled. There are lots of reasons people might need help, due to fires, panicked horses, collapsing tents, and panicking crowds.
Perhaps you're not affected by the Nightrenders or are just good at powering through the haze of painful magic they're inflicting on the area. Either way, you're out to help the people around you. Perhaps you run into another member of the otherworlder squad that needs saving - or maybe they join you to protect a third otherworlder, or a denizen of the Wilderlands that also forewent a ticket and is therefore at risk. Unlike many of the people from other universes, many of the denizens of the Wilderlands are powerless and thought they were in for a day and night of safe fun.
There are also other hazards to rescue people from. Maybe a small child has been separated from their parents and is disoriented by smoke, in need of rescued from some flaming tents. Or maybe an elderly person has fallen and is at risk of being trampled. There are lots of reasons people might need help, due to fires, panicked horses, collapsing tents, and panicking crowds.
d) RUN
It's time to run! Perhaps, after some screaming and confusion - and teleportation - you finally grab a buddy and bolt through the woods. You better run fast because the Nightrenders and the Sisters may give up chase at some point but it may take time and moving through difficult terrain in the fog to lose them. Perhaps you and a partner have to help a third, injured otherworlder because they're having trouble walking.
Better head north like the faeries said. The faeries were right that this Heartstone to the north may be your only hope - and you'll have to reach it despite the fading evening light, skies overcast with dark clouds, and fog.
It may be easier navigating in the dark with a partner or two.
It's time to run! Perhaps, after some screaming and confusion - and teleportation - you finally grab a buddy and bolt through the woods. You better run fast because the Nightrenders and the Sisters may give up chase at some point but it may take time and moving through difficult terrain in the fog to lose them. Perhaps you and a partner have to help a third, injured otherworlder because they're having trouble walking.
Better head north like the faeries said. The faeries were right that this Heartstone to the north may be your only hope - and you'll have to reach it despite the fading evening light, skies overcast with dark clouds, and fog.
It may be easier navigating in the dark with a partner or two.
e) WILDCARD
Maybe you decide to do none of the above. Go nuts!
Maybe you decide to do none of the above. Go nuts!
❧ Quest magic: Players can handwave that the quest bond magic is tugging the group northward to the safe place, with the mysterious Heartstone. They can also use the quest magic as an excuse for many different threads. As the group tries to run, their scattering movements will affect the magic and cause people to teleport at random, allowing for many different encounters with many other characters. This can explain why two characters that might otherwise stay together through the whole thing might get separated.
❧ Network: The network can now be used. Mirrors can and do float if someone is trying to talk through one and running, and can follow someone as they move, allowing people to communicate on the go or during action. Feel free to start using the network in parallel with the log events.
❧ NPCing: The mods won't be npcing but players are free to npc the actions of bystanders, the Nightrenders, and the Sisters. The Sisters won't speak, just continue laughing, and players can npc their specific attacks, capture attempts, and teleportation. Please just don't have them talk or godmode them dying - they're currently a little too sturdy for that. If you have a question about whether/how something will affect them feel free to ask the mods in the first comment below.
❧ Environment: Feel free to manipulate the environment. There are things left over from the faire people can work with like bow and arrow sets from the competition, horses (which can be temporarily stolen, though we'd like to limit any that are permanently stolen to the (1) horse another player already requested), and even explosive faerie fireworks (they're quieter than the normal thing but still create a big bang). Abandoned stalls also have weapons and supplies to grab as people run for it. If they didn't think to steal or buy useful things during the day, please limit this to only grabbing one or two items as they run, like a cloak or sword. They won't have time to loot for more.
❧ Experimentation: We'd like to encourage people to experiment! Obviously ask other players if they're down first, but it could be fun to do something other than 2 person threads, like maybe 2 PCs banding to rescuing a 3rd. Players are also encouraged to set limitations if they think it'd be more interesting, like locking their final escape prompt from the faire grounds to a single thread partner and playing out the drama of a full escape.
[OOC: Plot is visible so people can see and start plotting together but not open until Nov. 1. The mods will enable comments then.]
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"Do you believe there could be a reason why we are here?" before she can answer, he specifies "I do not mean us from Project Freelancer, rather everyone in this dimension."
He never really understood why he was brought on the Rig. His agents, yes, he could understand: they were fighters. Maybe Jorgmund was interested in his intelligence and thought it could be a valuable asset for their endeavours, it would make sense, but there is still a possibility that it wasn't just their doing, that there might be something else. If so, it could be an explanation for why they are here, in this seemingly unrelated place.
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"The whispers... said something about the Green."
She gets to her feet, finally. Pushes herself up. It's harder than it should be, the despair is still settled deep in her bones, but staying down won't help. Not moving won't help.
"Saving the Green. Giving us what we need to do it. This is something with a purpose."
Not like Svelte. She's sure the developers there would claim there was a purpose, she's sure they believed there was; they never did work out what the idea behind the simulation was, her and Coda. They had their theories, but how could they know for sure?
The memories flash to a darkened building, in what looks like an IKEA-like furniture store. No lights are on. CT is on the floor, ankle bruising and throat scratched, and that dark-skinned man is leaning against a display nearby with his face bleeding. There's a tiny, tiny child, no more than a foot and a half tall, standing at her knee. A person not just dressed in all white, but with totally white-toned skin and hair, hair that looks at the ends like fiber optic cables, runs around the corner to find them all. CT flashes with both panic and relief.
She buries those feelings now, in the present, and curses that the flash has happened at all. She needs to move, get far enough away from the creatures that Price won't keep seeing these things.
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Price points out calmly, gently grabbing an arm and wrapping it around his shoulder, holding onto CT's hip with one hand.
"Let us get you to safety. I promise I will not touch you again afterwards."
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She grits her teeth and tries to jerk herself away from him, she doesn't want him to touch her now, doesn't trust him as far as she could throw him to keep any promise.
"I'm. Fine. I've walked— I've walked with real pain, real injuries, I don't need help."
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"I will never believe that you don't intend to cause harm." Just because he can't physically hurt her without her laying him flat on the ground for even trying doesn't mean he can't hurt her. She knows that all to well.
She pushes him off, but she stays on her feet. She's not going to fall again. She's not. If only so that Price doesn't keep trying to help her.
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"Why would I do that?"
He really wants to hear her perspective on this. None of his agents - not even the Director - ever bothered to notice him. The only one who got close to understanding him was Felix, who seemed to be in denial of how similar they were.
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"Why wouldn't you? It's all you've ever done. It's all you ever did. You poke and prod at us to see how you can make us react, you made people into experiments, what you do is hurt people."
She looks around, orients herself. North. They're meant to be moving north. She picks what she hopes is right direction, and starts walking, forcing herself to stay up and move.
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The tone with which he says it is almost put out, disappointed, but although the strain is audible he is slowly moving towards the direction of accepting that Project Freelancer doesn't exist anymore. He knows he has to, one day or another. Who knows, maybe putting him in these dimensions with agents is a test of some sort.
Carolina herself said that he died on the Tartarus, that the ship crashed. Maybe he wasn't pulled away from his timeline before dying, maybe he did die and simply didn't notice. He's never believed in heaven or hell, but he can see all of this being a punishment. Especially since the Director abandoned him and didn't come back.
"You don't have to believe me, but it's not beneficial to reject help in this moment. If we meet someone else that can help you, I will hand you over to them, if that reassures you."
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"If we meet someone else that can help me, I will choose if I go with them," she says, sharp and firm. "I'm fine on my own. I've managed just fine on my own."
No, she didn't. She didn't and she knows it. She needed help during the Project but no one would take the risk, no one could hear her, so she figure it out. She got by. But she wasn't fine.
"I don't think it's just a job to you. I think this is just how you are, but you're right, the Project is gone, I don't have to put up with your bullshit anymore."
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It takes all his strength to muster the assertive tone he needs. No matter how many times he gets the upper hand, he never manages to become the dominant type. Besides, it's true: CT doesn't actually know what he is, she just guessed it.
What he doesn't expect is to have a flash of memories himself. It such a mundane memory, too, he's been through so much worse, through unspeakable things. This is nothing compared to the rest, and maybe it's exactly why it's coming up, because with the excuse of comparison he doesn't want to admit that it hurts:
Price is thirty-something, the project has started just a couple of years ago. He and the Director are leaving a crowded meeting room, but he forgot his jacket, so he comes back in. As he does so, Price recognizes someone in the cleaning staff, someone who has been staring at him for a while.
"Oh...Hello."
"Take your shit and get out of here." growls the other through his teeth, it's an older man with long coily hair which has mostly become white. He's in his late fifties, by now.
"What are you doing here? I thought you worked for a magazine."
"Well, I had to start doing multiple jobs ever since someone burned my house down."
"Uh. Yes, I...I apologize for that." he doesn't know what to say, and it shows because this is perhaps the dumbest response he could give.
"Oh, really?! You apologize?!"
"I know I can't fix the damage I've done, but...I am working on getting better. I have this new job, now, where I can use my talents and my energies for good. I am in a military organization, and I'm helping with training soldiers to use newer technologies to save the galaxy. I work with the Director, he is a pioneer in this field, and he is very dedicated to the cause. Whenever there is something that I don't understand, whenever I don't know if something is right or wrong, I just ask him, and he teaches me. He's giving me the guidance that no one ever gave me, and it is going to be a long process, but...I'm learning, I promise. Please, just...Give me some time."
"I'm not falling for that one."
"I'm not lying--"
"You lied to me for thirteen years."
"Because I was afraid you would leave me--"
"That's why you burned my house down?!"
"I tried to explain, but you wouldn't listen." he pouts and starts speaking like a scared child "You were yelling at me, and you hit me, you promised you would never hit me...!"
"I GAVE YOU. ONE SLAP. AFTER YOU RUINED MY LIFE ON PURPOSE."
"You shouldn't have hit me..." he mumbles, shaking slightly, in a mixture of fear and rage.
"I am going to hit you right now if you don't get the hell out of here."
"And throw away thirteen years of marriage like this?!"
"You did it first."
Price stays still, mouth open without saying anything. He hears the Director yell something like 'Counselor, hurry up or I'm leaving you here!' from afar.
"I have to go. The Director is calling me."
"I hope for his own sake that he never fucks you." he says with such gratuitous venom, with such cruelty, that it spites Price.
"Too late. Well, see you around." and with that, he leaves the room, only to pretend everything is alright once he reaches the Director. Of course, what he said was a lie: the Director never bothered to look at him for more than two seconds in a row or remember his name. Which, in fact, always made him feel bad, but now this memory hurts for two reason: the explanation he had given about getting better? He really used to believe it, and the Director betrayed his trust with that.
The worst thing is that he feels an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time, shame. He's ashamed that CT has to witness this, to see him as something other than the cold professional he was in Project Freelancer. This wasn't a calculated risk like when he showed South that he was a troubled child, it's a flash that came up without his consent and that shows how truly alone he is. Especially now that he still likes to cling to the idea of the Director but knows for a fact that the man never cared about him.
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CT... stares at him. Just stalls for a second and stares.
She has no idea what to make of what she's just seen. It's hard to ignore the emotions it comes with, she's always been an emotional sponge even without honest to god magical empathy in the mix, but this is Price. Even in that flash he talks of burning a man's house down for reasons she can't begin to wrap her head around.
In a way it makes Price less abstract, but he's still— it doesn't change anything, not really. Just makes things more confusing. Keeps him in the 'I don't have enough justification to just kill you' box.
"...maybe I don't. But I know how you act. I know what you did. You built that precedent, Counselor, but you do not get to tear it down so easily."
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"Sorry about that flash." he holds on to his composure "I didn't mean to trigger that."
He sounds casual, as if he doesn't find it heartbreaking at all. Well, he does, but he can't afford to lose control in front of the only person who still thinks he has some. He patiently listens to CT's harsh reminder, then replies:
"And that is why I was serving my time in prison before being pulled away from our home universe. I was paying for the crimes of Project Freelancer, and I was not allowed to have a life outside of that. It is not my fault that I ended up on the Rig and then here, but I don't believe that me acting like I am still in a prison cell and not interacting with anyone would be beneficial."
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"I never said you should. You can do what you like. People will respond however they respond. But if you insist on trying to talk to me, or Tex, then you take the damn consequences when they come—she's a much less patient woman than I and you know it."
From what he said before, it doesn't seem that he succeeded in getting his claws into anyone in that last place he was in, so she won't worry about others for now. She needs to worry about herself, and Tex.
She turns her eyes to the sky, trying to get her bearings, but it's all unfamiliar. Not like any star system she's seen, and she's seen a lot over her time in the Project alone.
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There, he said it out loud. It's what he's always thought, and it's not like the agents necessarily disagreed. Hell, in some cases it was literally true, like for the Dakota twins looking out for each other or Agent Carolina following the rules set by her father.
Of course, the Director absolutely refused to address the project as such, and Price had to pretend that the family dynamics that inevitably formed were just part of a plan designed to make the environment toxic, but it was a family to him. Staying on the MOI whenever the agents were on shore leave and looking forward to them coming back wasn't just prompted by boredom.
"It's perfectly normal that I show interest about your well-being."
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"...what?"
Her expression flashes through a few different things, everything from confused to stunned to something akin to disgust, before settling on disbelief. That's what he— he thinks— what?
"You are not, have never been, and will never be family to me. To any of us. Even if we were, you think that'd makes any of this better instead of worse? What the fuck do you think family is?"
The other agents had been her team, her friends, maybe she would have extended the moniker of family to them as a group during the good times, especially when she'd lost her family back home, but Price?
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He recites as if he's being asked a question in a class. Then flashes, for a brief yet hilarious moment, a doubtful and slightly panicked expression, as if to ask if he got it right.
"I do not have much firsthand experience with the subject, but during the course of my career I have interviewed a large number of patients and they do, in fact, still consider the family members who they have a dysfunctional relationship with as family. Although of course in some cases they wanted to disassociate from them, and it was perfectly understandable, the relationship still existed on a strictly technical aspect."
If CT was baffled before, she is not going to change her mind now, that's for sure.
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That is... that is literally the definition of family you'd get if you googled it, isn't it? Is this really happening? What the hell is this conversation? Why the hell are they having it now?
"You think... a group of military personnel... with nowhere else to go except prison... is equivalent to adoption? I don't..."
She can't even begin to wrap her head around this. This sort of explains some things and yet raises a thousand more questions because what?
"We are not family. Dysfunctional or otherwise. You are one of the command structure of a dead program and I have no tie to you that I haven't already cut."
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This conversation has taken...Quite the turn, alright.
"So...That would be my argument, here."
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"This isn't an argument. This is— I don't even know what this is. I have had family, by blood and otherwise, and you are not it. You do not get to simply tell me otherwise!"
She misses the Freelancers, the good times in the before and the chances she'd had to reunite with them since. She misses her last little family—Coda, Gil, Bugsy, Mono, they were something to each other. A weird little family, even after only a few months.
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He emphasizes the word love in order to sound like he's taunting her. Actually he just wants to understand, he thought his dictionary definition was spot on but apparently it's not? He's not getting which part is incorrect, and is kind of disappointed. Well, if he can't have a family, he wants to at least understand what it is. He hopes CT's explanation will not be too sarcastic, he doesn't always do well with sarcasm.
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"Sometimes it's blood, or adoption, sometimes it's what you choose. What everyone involved chooses." She adds that to make it damn clear that him, alone, declaring them a family doesn't count. "And family you choose is about who you love, who makes your life better, who's there for you. You do not hurt or manipulate them. You do not force it."
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"Well...I am afraid that textbooks would not agree with that definition. It is interesting to hear you have your own, though."
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CT shakes her head. "Very little in life can be accurately defined purely by textbooks, Counselor. Very little that actually matters."
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He mumbles it as a snarky remark, actually throws it so dismissively that only after it's come out of his mouth he realizes that it's true. He loves textbooks, and they make his life better, and they are always there for him, mainly because they are not sentient or the would find a way to flee, but still. It counts, right? Because she said that there has to be no manipulation or hurt involved, so whatever he has with Dan - which is mutual, by the way - doesn't count.
You know what? To hell her definitions. Project Freelancer is his family, whether CT likes it or not. He urges her to keep walking.
"Come on, we are almost there."
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