WEEK 6.

[trustwellness]

WEEK 6 With the deaths of Viktor Nikiforov, Varric Tethras, and Killia, you're down to half of your original number. There's only fifteen of you left. How much longer before your number drops again? Saturday is given to regrouping and rest; on Sunday morning the clock chimes as it always has, but at least there are no bodies to find today. It seems you're safe for now. The night before wasn't necessarily a peaceful one, however; you'll probably feel a bit groggy when you wake up, and it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... Of course, that doesn't mean that you've gained nothing else among the many, many losses you've faced; it seems that another floor has been made available to you for surviving another week. Congratulations and well done, even if you might not necessarily appreciate the reward. APPRENTICES REMAINING: 15

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[OOC: Welcome to week six of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Wordsmith, you can do so through letters or the switchboard!]

Comments

[matchbreaker]

Like I said, a decade. Same as it would take Gold many more years to grow into half the womanizer he thought he was.

[ Time changes all things. Or at least most. She reflects on that for a long moment, humming as she finishes up the second nail. ... Yes, one touch up coat is probably sufficient. ]

Is that what Gangrel is to you though, Lusamine?

[elepe]

If you believe that will be enough...for both of them, really.

[Gold's almost as bad as Guzma, if you ask her. He gets away with it to a certain extent because he's a kid, but...

...That causes Lusamine to pause, thinking.]

Yes. We're enemies, but he's amusing enough to keep around. He's a constant, in this place...an unbearably snide, completely annoying, and utterly disgusting one.

[She doesn't sound all that angry when she says it, at least.]

[matchbreaker]

I'm certain of it. Respect the minds of your elders!

[ She jokes that, laughing a little. However, at that... Gangrel? Lusamine? Enemies? Constant? ]

You aren't enemies.

[ She says, simply. ]

[elepe]

Yes, yes. [Lusamine promptly rolls her eyes.] If you start getting me to try to call you grandmother, or something similar, I'm going to draw the line.

[...that next bit gets an utterly exasperated look.]

What makes you say that? We hate each other. I'm quite certain that makes us enemies.

[matchbreaker]

[ That... actually makes her blink, genuinely surprised. She- Is Lusamine kidding? Elda actually has to pause in her work on the nails, she's laughing so hard ]

Lusamine, do you even know what hatred is?

[elepe]

[Lusamine looks utterly irritated when she laughs. What on earth is this woman implying?]

Of course I do. Believe it or not, I have the capability to do so. Just what are you implying?

[matchbreaker]

No you don't, not if you say you hate Gangrel, of all people. I would believe it for Kira, but-

[ Elda's eyes shift - they take on a cat-like predatory state, and her fangs flash. She does that enough that it might seem a little bit silly, something Lusamine is long used to, but Elda's words are heavy and dark now. ]

For the first several weeks for me here, it was a struggle not to rend all of you humans apart. To snuff the life out of you and spill your blood. I struggled day in and day to stay my hand, terror and malice all entwined together once I realized I had revealed what I was but remained trapped, unable to erase your memories. I'd love to see every human life on the planet snuffed out if I knew I could survive once all that was done.

I will never forgive those monsters for what they did to me.

And while I am friends with you now, while I've been on fair terms with the others, please don't assume I don't still wrestle with that hatred even now. Because that is hatred. A weight that rests upon you very soul, something you are never, and can never be free from.

[elepe]

[...things she was not expecting a tirade on: that.

It honestly looks like Lusamine...genuinely doesn't get it. Or at least, what elicited such a reaction--she understands what Elda is feeling. It helps to find her akin to something precious...just with a little more human quality to her.]

...I did not realize that I would cause such great irritation. I apologize, Elda. I had not known that this was such a subject for you.

[...]

Perhaps it is wrong to say hate, then. But why do you say that we are not enemies?

[matchbreaker]

... Your apology is accepted. It's not as if you know my past.

[ I mean, she could talk about it??? But nah, she's going back to the nails for now at last. ]

Perhaps it's different, in your dimension. But I would not have acted in that trial as you did for an enemy.

[elepe]

I acted the way I did because those idiots were making a terrible decision. What, do you think I actually like that man simply because I defended him? If we had not shifted gears, we would have died while Killia escaped unscathed.

The man is irritating. Utterly irritating, condescending, vulgar, infuriating--

[It's all stated very coldly--professional and business-like, until the last word. She stops herself there.]

But he would not have reacted the way he did if he were truly guilty.

[matchbreaker]

He's not been guilty yet. You can't know that for certain.

[ She shoots this back, calmly, as she's working on the second hand's worth of nails now ]

[elepe]

If he knows what's good for him, he won't. He already--

[...]

Forget it. I suppose you have a point.

[matchbreaker]

Of course I do.

[ Lalala, on the next nail ]

That said, I don't entirely disagree, I wouldn't want to have agreed with that Bruce Wayne man. But all the same, especially as an enemy, you cannot know that for fact.

[elepe]

[...well, she trusts Elda more than other people.]

He won't. He promised me that he wouldn't die here. And I told him the same. If he does, I'll...

[...]

You're not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Living, dead, anyone. Do I make myself clear?

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . ]

I won't, worry not.

[elepe]

...I'll kill him myself if it comes down to that.

[It's said with conviction. Not the nicest conviction, but...]

I...would do that for anyone constant to me. I'm done with losing people I consider a part of my life--be it in this miserable game, or any other.

[matchbreaker]

[ Constant, again. She still... smirks a little bit. ]

You couldn't kill me, for the record.

[ She shakes her head ]

But no, I... that makes sense to me, really. [ It does, doesn't it? ]

[elepe]

I would still try. You probably could guess as much.

[Lusamine's not looking at Elda when she speaks.]

...And here I was worried even you would find me insane.

[matchbreaker]

... Why ever would I do such a thing?

[elepe]

Tell me something. How do you think the rest of them would react, if I had told them what I've told you now?

[matchbreaker]

[ She ponders this... falling silent as she goes to paint the nail more. She looks at Lusamine's hands, and then runs through it in her head ]

Silver would be in no position to look down on you for it. [ So she'll begin there ] And to her own detriment, Hanyuu accepts everything. Sportacus would disapprove, but his disapproval is never so pronounced as to be judgemental. I imagine that Kimihiro would try to understand, and knowing the rest... well, I can't speak for them all, but there would be some shock, to be sure.

[ She hums. ]

... Though, I suppose I should be clear. Even in the event I accept your pledge with Gangrel - I would still drop you into that abyss. I... I must return to my family.

[elepe]

...You know them quite well.

[She's pretty solemn, all things considered, but at the very least she's not angry. She knows what the consequences are now, at least.]

Assuming no one would attempt to drag me back...I understand, and accept that. You deserve to survive, and see your family again. I'm certain they must miss you something terrible.

[matchbreaker]

[ In her heart of hearts, Elda knows what she just said, what she just promised cannot the whole truth. But in spite of - no, because of the fact that Lusamine is her friend, she cannot and will not be totally honest there.

And so she's left licking her lips a she trails around the next nail. ]

That's... very kind of you to say, Lusamine. [ . . . ] Survival isn't about deserving though, I don't think. Really, it can't be, at this point.

[ Or Gold would be alive. Or Chiyuki. ]

[elepe]

[Lusamine still doesn't look at Elda, but she nods her head.]

I suppose you have a point. We would have weeded all of the hideous people out within the first few weeks, if that were the case.

[...it's strange to think about. And really, she almost doesn't want to. This is more than she thought she would ever have to deal with in her life.]

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . Hmmmm. ]

Lusamine.

Are you glad to have met me?

[ This probably seems out of nowhere at this point. In a way, it is. But she can't... can't focus on that. Because that would mean Kimbley would die sooner, and Kira at least, but most likely also Gangrel. And... by most human standards, her. ]