first_darkness | 13 Black Feathers [Action]

[ Early in the morning of the 22nd, a figure can be found lying on the ground in the area between House 16 and the bridge. Said figure is slightly unconscious and wearing a new feather dress, but otherwise isn't too remarkable.

It takes about half an hour before she stirs. At first, Saten just pulls herself up to a sitting position, but after a moment she startles. ]

Wait! Where did you--?!

[ But before she can complete the thought, she gives a shout and grips her head in pain. Memories, so many memories come flooding back all at once, leaving her dazed and reeling. But as she regains her awareness of the world around her, one very important realization strikes her:

She was put in a white dress again.

Several seconds later, she's naked and making her way towards the clothing shop, a determined and frustrated expression on her face. Once she gets some new clothes to tide her over (not white, never white) she makes her way back to CH7 where she's going to hole herself up with her dead plants for a while.

The only consolation is that it didn't take another few millenia to come back to life this time. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There are things worse than death. Much worse.

Such as?

[ Considering Saten had her own very unpleasant death... ]

Eternal torment, for one. Breaking someone's mind another. Any number of cruel things can be done, particularly to mortals.

[Gosh, shouldn't you know this, Saten? Saori's learned some nasty lessons on curses and such from family, but aren't you darkness incarnate or something?]

[ Darkness incarnate is still a creation entity at its core. It's why there's nothing she values more than her own influence, and nothing she currently wants more than to see Yuhel's influence gone. To her, that's what matters. The closest she naturally gets to destruction is overriding influences with her own. ]

Those both sound like more trouble than they're worth.

Not really. You just have to know the right curse. [Shrug?]

And you do?

[ She sounds skeptical, even if she's expecting Saori to reply in the affirmative. ]

Oh, I know a few. Not all of them. Just...things I picked up at home. But the barrier keeps me from using most, if not all of the curses I know.

[Just things like making eyes grow teeth to bite, or lightning to always strike the same person, or how to make a heart stop. No big deal.]

[ Scoff ]

In that case it's pointless. You can't trust in what you can't still do under these circumstances.

Well, we have to escape the barrier to get at them don't we?

[Outside, it's no problem...]

They've come in here before. And they might manage the same restrictions on us were we to get near them.

[ Though really she's mixing up who's who in the Malnosso, given that Bil and Molly are... special cases. ]

I'm aware. I did say we'd have to wait, didn't I? Till we've found a way to end the cycles of Newcomers.

[She was one of the lucky ones who had to deal with the General on the last special mission, and got a new viewpoint out of it.]

What good does waiting for that give us?

It means once we leave, there's no chance of returning. Or of other people being trapped here again.

I don't care as long as I am not made a mockery of any longer.

And if you escape and the world pulls you back later?

I don't mind this place as a momentary reprieve. It's the disrespect I won't stand for.

That will continue should we return after departing.

[Really, she doesn't quite get the "apathy" thing. There's shit going down, gotta fix it!]

Not if they're dead.

[ Everything is other people's problems until it affects her, clearly. Saten doesn't care to deal with things until they make her unhappy. ]

...You still believe they bring us here?

No. I believe they're the ones who foolishly inflict this [ She tosses her head. It's a vague indicator for a vague set of ideas: the imprisonment, the kidnappings, the experiments; anything and everything forced upon her by those who have more power than her here. ] on me.

I'd be just as wary, outside the barrier. [She shakes her head, grimacing.] But I cede the point.

I've only had three experiences out there I do not wish to repeat. And even those I would take five times over rather than some of the indignities I've faced in here.

[Saori just shakes her head. Yes, what's happened is humiliating. And what's happening is wrong, but she knows Saten well enough by now to know that she's not going to sway her one way or another.]

As you say. Different experiences, I suppose.

Do you prefer it in here?

I'd rather be at home with my companion than in here or out there. Out there, things are simpler. Kill or be killed.

In here, things are more complex. A chance to rest, and no Dream Shifters. But the experiments and the barrier. Neither is tolerable. But I think...the choice is not a matter of preference. I'd rather be where I can do the most good for the mortals who've helped me, and the most harm to the Malnosso.

[Action]

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