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

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.

[ One can almost see the "pssh, mortals" in Saten's expression at that. ]

Then at least we agree on one thing.

[A long time ago, she'd have agreed...but things change.]

Yes, I suppose so.

[ And now that that's resolved. ]

Are you going to keep doing this?

[ She gives a half-brush, half-swat at one of the dark clouds. ]

Oh, you mind that?

[In some ways, having spent all this time with mortals has given her weird ideas about modesty.]

I thought the color suited you.

Better than white. [ She half-mutters it. Eternally impressed with the Malnosso's color palette, this one. Then, in her normal voice once more, ]

It's ridiculous.

[ Clouds aren't for clothes. ]

[Ridiculous...all of Saori's clothes are made of clouds...]

Would you prefer this?

[The clouds change into hundreds of little black cloud bats, complete with a faint chittering.]

[ And all of Saten's clothes (well, at least back home, here she has to be choosy because making permanent objects in Luceti is damn hard) are made of darkness. Doesn't stop the clouds from being weird to her.

That, though, actually gets Saten stopping in her tracks and staring down at them, expression mostly disgust and slight horror. Her world doesn't have anything like these and she can't say she's enjoying the first experience. ]

[Saori's expression is one of simple perplexed curiosity]

Don't you like bats?

Is that whatever the hell these things are? No.

[Well they'll change back to clouds then.]

They're nighttime animals. [Shrug] Fond of darkness.

[ She could do just fine without the "clothing", but you know what? Given the options, she'll stick with the clouds. ]

That doesn't mean I appreciate them swarming me.