week 7, friday

[vigilantics]

[ a little bit after investigation, steph is going to hunt ion down after allowing him to have some time to himself. ]

... hey.

Comments

[fonlines]

[ he looks somewhat more cleaned up now, though still vaguely glimmery in parts in either the strands of his hair or when the light catches him just right. a soft dusting of subtle shimmer across his skin- it makes him seem almost doll-like when he turns, stiffly at first, to face her. ]

Stephanie.

[vigilantics]

[ she figures asking him how he feels might be... a little pointless at the moment. ]

Was that... what Fitzgerald wished for?

[ it got brought up before, weeks ago. she didn't really think much of it until now, but the gold kind of stood out. ]

[fonlines]

[ a soft laugh, not quite bitter. ]

You ask that like you expect me... He never told me. I never knew.

[ never in as many words, in any case. it's why he had to ask at the trial, isn't it? ]

... I distrusted him for so long, you know.

[vigilantics]

[ ... she can't say she's too surprised by that. this ion has always been... well, more paranoid. the other ion was probably honestly too easy to trust.

... ah, well. ]

People can be full of surprises.

[fonlines]

[ to that, he only huffs out a breath. not quite a sigh, not quite anything, really, other than what it is. it's late enough in the game that he doesn't care to bother fronting any more acceptable facade, even if he knew what that was.

they know each other... to some sort of extent by now, anyway. ]

... We're bringing them back.

That's all that matters.

[ what do you say to a dead man who'd saved your life? ]

[vigilantics]

Yeah. Tomorrow's the last one.

[ normally, she might add in a "for better or for worse," but she decides not to. because their only option right now is for the better. they have absolutely no room to screw up this time. ]

... I have some information, about the Crafters, if you want to know.

[fonlines]

[ he nods, but the motion is more buried in rote memory than it is something he's consciously doing. ]

If you will, then.

[ one last return to 'normalcy' of sorts, between the two of them. why not. ]

[vigilantics]

[ she smiles, albeit a small one. ]

This war started because Tiger stole the ink from-- wherever they're from, I guess. It sounds like her son had died, although I'm not sure if it was before or after the war started, but she wanted the ink to change things. It was Dragon's father who was fighting it in the beginning, but after he died, the current Dragon inherited this war. They're the only two remaining members of their respective families.

Tiger wants to rewrite everything completely. She says that she is actually willing to give us ink to revive people, but it would only be after she used the ink for what she wants first. So, if she does that, then there probably wouldn't be enough ink left over to both revive the dead and then send us all back home. If Dragon wins, she wants to just... let both her and Tiger die, so their specific cycle ends.

[ ... ]

I think the decision we're going to go with is to write them a new story, because apparently that doesn't take up as much ink. Both of them won't be completely satisfied, but... it's something.

[fonlines]

[ ... it fits, from what he's seen of the dragon, so tired and resigned. prior to this they'd all agreed that the dragon's ending was more favorable, but her demeanour has never sat well with ion.

and he knows himself too well to ever trust the tiger, who claims them to be so alike. ]

Do we know how to do that, then?

[vigilantics]

I'm going to go talk to Dragon after this to see if I can come up with something with her.

[ which is where the reincarnation idea pops up. ]