Conversation Space: The Ultimate

[powersthatbe]

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

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[comebewe]

"Yes, well. What we want doesn't really factor much into any of this, does it?" Matthew says. Is he bitter? He totally isn't bitter. Not one bit, nope.

[rosewater_path]

"Yet, Cupcake," ROSE tells Matthew cheerfully. "Yet."

She swivels, turning to Gil, biting her lip in a way that looks both hesitant and flirtatious, hips swaying a little.

"Diversions are... like the little sticky-out bit on a boat," She explains. "They run parallel and keep things stable and on course. But none of us are fond of them. They're just a thing we have to do to get the Big Stuff done."

[breakaleginhalf]

You can shake those hips all you want, ROSE, it's a hundred percent barking up the wrong tree. And that answer gets Gil's ears to prick up slightly. "So what, you guys just shunt off everyone who's not necessary to your-" and he lifts his hands to give her some big ol' air quotes. "-Big Picture off that way?" He's still a little bit offended, but mostly he's curious.

[comebewe]

That's not what they want to ask about most. They want to know what she means bu that 'Yet'.

(They also want to indignantly ask why she's calling them Cupcake.)

But Gil's question is, Matthew has to admit, something he wants to know about too. So he stays quiet, and just looks at ROSE, waiting to hear the answer.

[rosewater_path]

"It's cute that you think we're that precise and deliberate," she says, huffing a showy sigh. "We will be when I'm calling the shots. Right now it's messier. Not 'everyone unnecessary' but 'nobody necessary' with a side of 'anyone misaligned,' if we can tell. Usually we can't."

[breakaleginhalf]

Gil frowns. "So you guys can tell in advance who's gonna infiltrate as someone important?"

[comebewe]

"Define 'important'," Matthew says. He can make a few guesses, sure, but that doesn't mean his guesses will match up with how the Arcana think of things. "And, for that matter, define 'necessary'. Who counts as necessary?"

[rosewater_path]

"It's not really like that," she tells them, frown flickering on her face. "It's not a matter of choice or perception. It's... a Jaunt has a shape. Not a fixed shape, or a visible shape... but it has holes in it. We have praxis that mostly filters people with complementary shapes into the holes, and hopefully people who would get squashed by the holes go elsewhere, so they don't go out of ambit as much."

[breakaleginhalf]

He folds his arms. "It must be so frustrating for the personification of choice and independence to be hemmed in like that, huh? Not getting a proper say in how any of the shit you're being thrown around by plays out."

Can you hear the sarcasm just about dripping from his words?

[comebewe]

"It must be so hard for her," Matthew says, so very dryly.

Who'd have imagined it, huh? Matthew and Gil, actually kind of working together.

[rosewater_path]

"Which is why I want it to be better, for all of us," she says, rolling her eyes. "Look. I can't just wave my wand and get my way. And if you think I'm not being watched very closely to make sure I don't cheat this time, you don't understand us at all. If I could come out and tell you what I needed to win, that would have been almost the first thing I did."

[breakaleginhalf]

Gil maintains his unimpressed expression, but one ear twitches back up to 'relaxed' position. He can understand that, at least.

"What about Hot And Cold? Is it still cheating if we make wild-ass guesses and you tell us if we're completely off the mark?"

[comebewe]

Matthew's eyes flicker to Gil for a moment, and then he asks: "Watched how closely?"

[rosewater_path]

"Tediously closely, Cupcake," she assures Matthew. "You can do whatever you want, but my replies? Those are being sifted very carefully."

[breakaleginhalf]

Now both ears are flicking back in annoyance, and he shoots Matthew a faintly frustrated look. Then his gaze goes lower, turning thoughtful; and he reaches an arm over his shoulder to scratch his own back, remembering the Mark that sits between his shoulder blades. "What about one on one answers?"

[comebewe]

Alas, right now Matthew isn't really standing in frustrated solidarity with Gil. Mainly because they're now feeling rather indignant about something else entirely.

"Cupcake?" he says. "Cupcake?!"

(It was one thing to be called 'Cupcake' once. But twice? How the hell is he someone who gets called 'Cupcake'?!)

[rosewater_path]

"You're sweet and you come in a package with several others," she says, and shrugs. "Would 'Cupcakes' be better?" Her gaze flicks sideways to consider Gil for a moment, but she doesn't answer his question, at least not directly or immediately.

[breakaleginhalf]

"If that's the logic you're going with, you could probably call him, like. 'Donut', too. Or 'Marshmallow'." But that's mostly his mouth running on autopilot while he thinks. How the hell did you activate your Mark or whatever to talk to your Arcana? How the hell is she supposed to tell him how to give her as much of an upper hand against Empress as possible when she can't even acknowledge a half decent idea?

[comebewe]

"Piss off," Matthew growls, glaring at Gil. Do you want them to set you on fire, Gil? They are definitely thinking about setting you on fire right now.

[rosewater_path]

"He doesn't look squishy enough," she says, critically. "And I don't see a hole in the middle, except the one all of you come with..."

Meanwhile, inside Gil's mind, a set of ideas is taking shape.

1. Find the Mutineer
2. Unite the Others Behind Them
3. Solve for ???
4. Defiance

[breakaleginhalf]

Okay now Gil is very distracted, because welp - that worked. And now he has to try and remember it for long enough to report back on the network when he gets half a chance.

So when he talks it is absolutely not paying attention: "I could probably make him a new hole."

[comebewe]

"We could probably burn your bones," they growl.

[rosewater_path]

"Hey now," ROSE tells the both of them. "I'm all for starting things, but try not to be a couple of donuts about it."

[breakaleginhalf]

That gets an amused snort out of Gil. "Okay, fair." He turns to Matthew slightly. "Sorry for casually threatening to disembowel you."

And then he's back to Magician. "But, I've got one more question. Not about this jaunt, an older one. You free to talk about those?"

[comebewe]

"We're not apologising to you," they say, churlish. But hey - at least no one's being set on fire?