Conversation Space: The Ultimate

[powersthatbe]

You feel as if you've stepped through a door.

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[breakaleginhalf]

"Nope."

Gil is immediately backing away from the chairs, and he is gone towards the wings. His hooves echo on the hard wood as he storms away; his tail is stiff and straight up, his bat-like ears flat against his head.

"Fuck this."

But if the stage is empty, maybe he still has time, maybe he can escape before the Faerie that has clearly kidnapped him again shows itself.

[rosewater_path]

"Easy there, cowboy!" a voice calls out from behind him. A woman in a white vinyl bodysuit with blue LEDs - not to mention the blue hair and silver glitter - is perched on the edge of one of the seats, looking after him with a slightly baffled smile on her face.

"You're just here to talk. Well, here here."

[breakaleginhalf]

The voice makes him flinch, and he turns sharply to glare back at her. But the snarl building in his throat dies in confusion at the woman's... everything.

Fair Folk didn't do LEDs. Or electronics in general. Bioluminescense was more their thing. And vinyl?

At least Gil's stopped. "...no thanks." He lifts a hand to hold well over his meagre height, and his voice projects very nicely as he adds, "I've had it about up to here with your lot. I'm out."

[rosewater_path]

"I think you've got me confused for someone else, furball," she returns, sounding amused. "And I know it sucks, but my lot doesn't really have an opt-out system."

[breakaleginhalf]

No he's pretty sure he's right now thanks, there was only one other kind of being Gil knew of that could see through his Mask--

Okay, calm down, look at this logically. If she's not the Gentry...

"The fuck is your lot, then?" His fur is still on end, but he's also taking a step back in the woman's direction. "And do you have, like-- a T'n'C I could be looking at here?"

[rosewater_path]

"We're called the Arcana. And I'm afraid we're not quite that user-friendly. You get an orientation meeting - this - and then you get tossed in the deep end."

[breakaleginhalf]

"You gonna give me anything to swim with, or are you just throwing me out to drown?" His muzzle wrinkles slightly. "You're real fucking blase about all this."

[rosewater_path]

"That's because for me, this is just... another Tuesday." She shrugs, then flashes another grin.

"All right. Let me give you the basics. My 'siblings' and I are playing for keepsies with all the universe as our chessboard. Whoever wins gets to redecorate in their colors. And if I win, I'll give you a one-way ticket to anywhere in space and time your little heart desires. All I need from you... is to be you. Thoughtful. Creative. Independent. Determined. Because those things are mine, and everyone who embodies them is doing my work. You get me?"

[breakaleginhalf]

"Seems like kind of a dick move to call copyright on abstract concepts, but hey. You do you." He's close enough now that he can shift his weight and lean against the empty chair. "You're the one playing fucking- universal Capture the Flag or some shit."

But if she gets to be full of shit, so does he - and it takes almost no concentration to feel the hot rush of Glamour burning in his veins (because of course she already knows his name, no freebie for him) to activate his contract of Witches' Intuition. See if she's scared of anything like he is well and truly scared of her.

[rosewater_path]

Her greatest fear is to lose control of her own mind. Insanity, hallucination, dementia, brainwashing, schizophrenia - any and all form of identity confusion and executive dysfunction fill her with terror and loathing.

"Hey," she says, as he divines this, "I was made that way. I am the principle of thought in action, and a whole cloud of - what was that?"

She frowns, and her teeth click shut, looking around the stage as if hunting for some exterior force of danger.

[breakaleginhalf]

The heat of his Glamour is gone as soon as it comes, and left behind is that knowledge - useful, surely, but he's not quite sure how just yet.

But when she looks away, his ears go flat against his head, and the fur down his spine stands on end as he looks around too. Shit, did she sense that? "W-what?"

[powersthatare]

"I've been hacked, Jack. Was that you?" She stares at him as if she can stare into him, intent frown on her face, but after just a moment her expression grows softer. "Pretty slick, if it was. Just be careful - somebody with a mortal brain can get a whole lot more than they bargain for, poking around backstage."

[breakaleginhalf]

Shit she did. So much for being subtle.

"I'll make a note," he comments, trying to put a dry bravado back up. "Sure as shit can't say I expected you to notice that."

[powersthatare]

"I notice everything," she says, lightly. "Noticing is who I am."

[breakaleginhalf]

"Well, I'll make sure to try and notice you and your fucking 'siblings' in future. Can't imagine it's too hard, if it's all just one big free-for-all."

[rosewater_path]

"We make it as easy as we can. Most of us prefer being understood to being confusing. I think you'll do nicely."

[breakaleginhalf]

"I live to please," he drawls in return; if sarcasm was bitter, he was spewing horseradish. "Any you think are particularly worth trying to understand, or should I just gung-ho it and go befriend everyone?"

[rosewater_path]

"Anyone smart. Anyone quick. Anyone who actually tries to make the other mortals happy. If I tell you straight you'll find a reason to distrust it. I want you to see it for yourself. Make the conclusions your own."