#madness' bad methods [Hivemind] | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ryouverua · 6 years ago

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One last time

HE’S BACK -

Fair warning - lots of text below. Like. Lots.

... But first, just before he came to meet with us again -

So all of his classmates in turn talk about how relieve they are that they can work together without suspecting each other, but something about the way she says it rings............ false. But then again, that might be my own bias colouring things. She outright states it in a way that the others don’t, idk. 8′D

Shuichi, though... he’s realized. Maybe not with an exact name, but he knows that isn’t true. He literally can’t bring himself to pretend that it’s true at all.

Oh Himiko...

5 survivors.... or maybe 4, depending on how the mastermind goes out. That’s definitely a new, sad record. :(

I CAN NAME A REASON -

Look who’s back with a brand new ahoge! It’s got that new-hair smell and everything -

H-He was never going to outright attack any of us though, right??? Even if he was willing to let us become collateral damage (which admittedly is super Not Great either, but -). That’s a really morbid thought Shuichi - where did it come from?

And of course, now that his hairpiece is back, he’s gone back to his more deferential, timid self.

“I’m telling you, that ahoge was 95% of my impulse control! Literally!”

But the fact that he’s apologizing now, when he was completely unapologetic before... that has to be that inner voice directing him now, right? But I wonder if it influences his ‘emotions’ (or whatever the equivalent would be for him) as well. Is the voice literally telling him to apologize or does he just ‘feel the urge’ to apologize?

So it is back.

Has it always been that tall???

Maybe if Miu and Kokichi had let him talk before Korekiyo’s trial, we could have followed up on this!!

Honestly though, I’m curious about this too. Is it a literal voice that tells him what to do? Does it appear as a suggestion to him? It sounds like it isn’t ordering him around but more ‘offering suggestions’... something that wouldn’t come across as obtrusive, but welcoming. Something that wouldn’t raise any alarm bells in him. Or maybe he was programmed to accept that just the way things were supposed to be.

.......... Actually the fact that it came up around Korekiyo’s trial, someone else who was revealed to be doing things based on a voice of sorts in his head, is a very strange coincidence? That... may or may not bode well for K1-b0. Is he going to be a foil to Korekiyo, or a parallel?

The inner voice may be good after all if it helped him realize this. 8′D

Wait, they said there was an accident when he was first created, right? And he reset? This had to have been a fail-safe because something similar to this happened...

As much as I want to comment on the fact that he’s said he can’t cry and he literally is sweating and his ‘eyes’ are ready to overflow, but fffff every single time I see this sprite my heart clenches and I kind of want to hug him. >3>

We’ve officially got everyone on the same side now! ......... well okay there’s technically one specific exception but on the surface we’re all good!

Look at Maki getting better at shedding her tsundere side! She’s getting better at being outright kind and welcoming to people, yay ~

oh my god

This is so..... blatant.... especially with Maki literally saying K1-b0 created this opportunity and Monokuma throwing her under the bus to have another trial. She.... she’s mad at him, isn’t she? And Monokuma too?

Oh man anyone who doesn’t realize at this point probably thinks it’s one of her anime-reference non-sequiters! But it’s not! It’s definitely a distraction! And she’s totally established herself as someone whose head is in the clouds so she she says random things like this, no one blinks an eye! What other comments has she covered like this?

ARE YOU THOUGH.............

Anyway, it’s time for the trial now so -

Yeah that’s true - we haven’t actually resolved this clue yet, have we?

I thought your eyesight wasn’t good? But okay, why not! Have a go at it, K1-b0!

Okay before plot progression though, fluff text time -

................................

WHELP THIS IS A HELL OF A FLUFF TEXT

I have so many things to say about this despite the fact that I’ve definitely talked about it before, because I actually relate to the idea of feeling like a different person in cosplay - of, well, letting yourself become the role. And I’ve definitely said that the theme of ‘becoming the role’ is a huge secondary theme of the game, just under ‘truth vs lies’, which is actually why I originally had Tsumugi as my potential mastermind back in Chapter 3. It’s telling that she’s comparing K1-b0 and his ‘personality enhancement’ with her own cosplay though - she’s often said that she only finds herself interesting when she isn’t being herself, so maybe it applies here too. Is this her way of enhancing her own self? Of becoming what she thinks is a ‘better’ self, a more interesting and charismatic person?

With that reveal of ‘Junko’ at the end of the last trial and Tsumugi often comparing cosplay to ‘bringing someone to life’, ‘channeling’ and ‘and being a vessel for the gods’, that means she’s basically resurrecting Junko in a sense... or acting as her vessel? Is that what will happen here? I think it’s possible for her to bring the ‘larger than life’ Junko from history (like the way long-dead historical figures can often become their own entities that walk the line between fiction and reality) as a way to get around the cospox issue unless I’ve really been accusing the wrong person this whole time lmao. It also lines up with all the times resurrection has been brought up in the game which is A LOT - the funeral scene/reviving the Ultimates, Ryoma describing himself as an empty shell walking around (and trying to ‘revive’ himself via a reason to live, killing off the initial protagonist then reviving the role for Shuichi, the Necronomicon, the seance, Korekiyo and his sister, and lastly, Kokichi via Kaito in the exisal. Combine that with my theory of the students just being normal kids who were reborn with the memories of actual Ultimate students who already died... and them even being forced to dress for those roles... this line of hers becomes really important!

Is this going to become a showdown between personalities who died ages ago? But for what purpose? Even though it looks like there’s a decent amount of things that were made up/embellished in those lights, the clip of the funeral, Kaede wearing the helmet and the meteors were shown outside of the flashback light scene - so are we still facing a doomsday scenario?

And back to Tsumugi herself - does she not have enough conviction to follow through with these plans and Monokuma unless she’s in Junko-wear? That would explain why she and Monokuma don’t seem to be on the same page... So which one of them is pulling the strings, exactly?? They’re definitely independent entities!

Meanwhile Himiko is having a grand old time because she’s finally got a friend in Maki. Aaaaaaw ~

We’re, uh, going to have problems if that’s true.

SHUICHI REMEMBERS TOO LMAO

Strength of an old man, average or below-average agility, eyesight and intelligence... what else was there?

And it wasn’t stripped from you???

But... maybe they didn’t realize you had it. Or don’t care? It’s not a dangerous upgrade, so maybe they didn’t realize it could be used in a way that could possibly hinder them...

He says he’s accepted it, but I think it was more out of necessity. It’ll take him some time to adjust to this new state of mind... but I’m happy to hear it, tbh. Just like Shuichi, he’s really struggled with his Ultimate identity up until now, you know? And even though it’s on more of an extreme level, these talents created differences in everyone and how they related to the world, not just him. It’s just a bit more... well, obvious in his case.

It’s all about accepting the good with the bad, K1-b0! And despite some, uh, questionable actions on your part, you really did do so much for us - we never would have gotten to Kokichi’s and Rantaro’s lab, the mastermind’s room, or discovered the flashback light machine without you!

Oh???

.... Uh.

Uh. What. What are those. What.... What are those?!?!

GONTA WAS RIGHT - !

w h a t they’re so stupid and cute

Tiny.... cameras....??? They look like little camera men?

..... I.... I don’t know... if this rules out VR or not. Because if they need little these little guys with cameras, doesn’t that mean they don’t have the omniscient power of a computer program behind them....????

Again, why did they not strip you of these new functions along with the weapons???

First of all, damn, K1-b0! Getting your ahoge back didn’t kill all of that fire in you after all!

Second of all.............. your skin???? Shell??? It’s definitely changed colour? Since when has it been so human-like -

Looks like K1-b0 can still be tough with his ahoge. :D

Oh god, there’s a whole swarm of hivemind Camera-kubs all over the campus? And they’re literally everywhere?!?! wtf -

I guess that’s a similar concept to the regular Monokumas??? Sure there’s usually only one operational at a time, but they always seem to pick up where the last left off. kind of like Kyuubey

First of all, ew.

Second of all, TRAUMATIC BUZZING NOISE FLASHBACKS

THE ONES THAT I STUPIDLY THOUGHT WERE PART OF THE MONITOR SETUP AROUND THE SCHOOL

but that wouldn’t have made sense because there’s nothing like that outside -

So there’s nanotechnology that exists on such a scale............

MONOKAMERA, THE SIXTH MONOKUB, HIDING ALL OVER THE ACADEMY. THE ONE THEY CALL THE ULTIMATE CAMERA GUY. WATCH OUT FOR HER THEM....

Can we note that once again it is Maki declaring that Kokichi was correct? She is doing her damnedest to check her own prejudices against him this chapter as penance and it’s great.

It’s not ideal, but I also wonder if some of the things he uncovered were only possible using his methods. not that you probably actually are happy about that

actually I bet you were pissed about the whole chapter 5 thing too

..... I want to go back and see that tbh

TALK OF REINCARNATION AGAIN.... also lol Himiko that’s kind of mean

Monokuma thinks he’s going to win... and if I’m reading this correctly, he can still win at the expense of Tsumugi losing....? Is that why? Even if Tsumugi’s plan fails and we see past her trap of ‘Kaede is the mastermind’, identifying Tsumugi will still end up being a victory for him....?

And your sudden hope!extremism, yeah? Because that really was something. 8′D

OH GOD WE’RE GOING IN I MEAN... I’M READY BUT I’M ALSO NOT TBH, I’M NOT 100% SOLID ABOUT THE BIG MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE GAME

I feel like I ~get~ some stuff but there’s still something just beyond...........

“M-Maki I know you’re trying to put my mind at ease but can we not bring up dying before we’ve even tried to win -”

Real talk - I love Himiko’s spell names.

Y.... Yeah........ but why are you excited about this....?

Then again, I feel like you were actually really attached to Gonta? I mean, you were always defending him, right? Is this your way of giving him some postmortem love? ...... AAAAH I DON’T KNOW -

aslkdjf I know this was the same amount as last time but this is such a small cast left -

Man, we’re just... swinging right back to despair and hope again. Look, I know we’re appeasing K1-b0 but -

Why.... why is it back again. Why is Monokuma back again. Why did the killing game come back at all - what is the point of trying to be Junko? What’s to gain from all of this?

I remember thinking and really liking the idea that this game was completely separate from the last two, so it’s strange to have arrived at this point at the very end, but.... well. Here we go, I suppose.

Well said, Sweetcheeks.

So.... normally I’d have a drawn out map of the crime scene, but this is a pretty different situation so I made this at the trial save point:

It’s a bit small, so I’ll recap and expand on that and a few other things:

“TSUMUGI IS THE FUCKING MASTERMIND AND SHE IS TOTALLY TRYING TO SET KAEDE UP AS THE ‘FAKE’ MASTERMIND TO SCREW WITH SHUICHI’S (ET AL)’S HEADS

She set up the document saying Kaede has a twin and is trying to draw parallels to Junko (to trick Shuichi)

She planted the shot-put ball in the mastermind’s lair

She didn’t talk about ‘birthing a Monokuma’ (when everyone else did)

SHE IS THE ‘MOTHER’ THAT WAS REFERRED TO BY MONOTARO IN TRIAL 4, NOT MOTHERKUMA

So I went into some detail earlier about Tsumugi herself, and over the last few investigation posts I ended up decided on what I outlined above. On top of everything else, I think we’re going to nail her on the idea that while Kaede’s murder occurred, she went to the library via the mastermind’s lab and stole Rantaro’s Survivor’s Perk. The problem is... then what? What exactly will we do after that? Also I swear Kaede thought of the same thing, with no idea what to do once we confronted the mastermind -

As for the general situation, I’m sticking to my guns about the class not actually being the Ultimates they think they are - I saw the ‘talents’ part of the flashback light setup menu. Actually, the flashback lights themselves.... jeez. Okay. Ironically enough, my thoughts on them are that their execution in the game is similar to Kokichi’s lying style.

First the game has a cutscene that’s completely truthful. Kaede and Shuichi remember being kidnapped at the beginning of the game. The entire prologue scene. The funeral at the beginning of chapter 2. The meteors in chapter 3. Hell, the kid at the beginning of this chapter, who seems to be watching them and getting inspired by them...??? Then... that’s when the flashback light comes in and embellishes that truth with fantasy. That funeral? It was for the entire class, and they all see themselves as being part of it (picturing ‘themselves’ in those photos rather than the students whose memories they all have). The meteors? It gave rise to an entire death cult - the Ultimate Despair, in fact - and they, themselves, were hunted (which plays off of the players’ knowledge of knowing they remember being kidnapped off the streets). Or something like that....

I’m just trying to place a few things, like that picture of Kaito with his grandparents in the motive video and the flashbacks of Shuichi and Kaede in the helmets. Where do they get placed in all of this? Was Shuichi able to project the image of ‘Kaito’ he knew when watching the video, or is that part of the technomagic of the video itself? We did have a whole segment of the VR chapter talking about the mind being able to be fooled into overcoming the reality of the situation (dying via simulation murder) so is it safe to extrapolate from there? And did Shuichi and Kaede remember themselves with those helmets separately from those flashback lights, as a delayed reaction (which as of this chapter is proven to be possible) or is that real?

As for whether this is a simulation, there’s evidence for and against that. The flashbacks with the helmets - pro. The physical presence of cameras - false. Though with that said, I’ve done a bit of work in computer programs where you actually have to set up cameras in-program and when testing the animation, it’ll only capture what’s set up in the frame - so then again, maybe not??? Those computerized cameras can be programmed to move along a certain path and the lens/frame/etc itself can also be altered.... and they did counteract having blind spots by swarming the campus with them so. Hm. Honestly, it could go both ways. I don’t want to dwell too much on this only because I don’t think that’s going to be the ‘big’ reveal anyhow tbh...

Still though; roles, escapism, resurrection. That’s what I picked up on the most through this entire thing. So how does that work together...? The students were told they were replaceable, and the game will never end. Rantaro lived through one but died in the next. Did he live through a game with this same group of classmates or other people? Or, hell, were they ‘other people’ but with the same names/personalities/memories, but different physical people? And if he was willing to repeat the game again, then why? Was it for a chance to break the loop? Or is there a goal to be accomplished if he wins it properly?

Okay, I think I’m starting to go in circles here. What I know: Tsumugi is the mastermind, and she’s not in complete sync with Monokuma. She’s trying to get Kaede(’s twin) framed; Monokuma is perfectly fine with Tsumugi being identified. Tsumugi falls back on the Junko persona when she’s in mastermind mode - when she was alone, she couldn’t help but be that way with Motherkuma. It’s a role she’s able to take - maybe passed down. Anyway, the point is, she uses it to ‘enhance herself’ or maybe to ‘escape her plain self’. Almost like an emotional support thing....? I wonder...

A lot of the truth as we know it is embellished. Only things we can trust from the flashback lights are things we saw independently of them as well, I think? At the bare minimum, pre-Chapter 4. After that point we didn’t have any corresponding prologue clips to match with the lights. With that said, the students were given talents and memories to match them - I think the Ultimate students they belonged to were actually killed... by the Ultimate Hunt, perhaps. Either way, these kids were brought in as ‘replacements’, the same way the Monokids were replaced. Rantaro, at the very least, was not a replacement though - he had a chance to do this again and took it, for whatever reason... Is this a simulation for the Gopher Project? Or something else entirely? Why ‘resurrect’ the Ultimate students at all? And why is there potentially a scenario where Tsumugi loses, but Monokuma still wins? WHY DON’T I HAVE A FULLY CONFIDENT ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING FFS -

Oh, and of course, Kokichi Ouma was 25 steps ahead of everyone and had Rantaro’s figure in his room too, so that’s cool.

#Ryou plays drv3 #Tsumugi Shirogane #spoilers #Shuichi Saihara #long post #drv3 spoilers #Himiko Yumeno #Maki Harukawa #K1-b0 #Keebo #Kiibo

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silenciawrites · 7 years ago

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Day 2: Ayra and Lyssa

I’m not even a little bit ashamed. Have a gross romantic anecdote about my beloved demon children.

Home

“I’m tired of being alone, Father, and I know you are, too… Purifying the world is a hard thing to do by yourself. Let me help you. I know I won’t live long enough as a mortal, but there are other ways—you’ve made demons before, right? Can we make one out of me?”

The ache still lies heavy in her bones and she knows she’d made a mistake getting up so soon. Logically, it had made sense at the time. There was no reason to hide in the hostel any longer, not when she had her own home, her own space, in Novus Aevum—a place where she and the girls would be able to speak freely, a place where she wouldn’t have to playact at humanity any longer.

And besides, the hostel wasn’t hers; she didn’t like it. She was tired and still in pain and if she couldn’t go properly home, she’d wanted to at least be in her own space. She’d wanted to be home. She’d wanted…all right, damn it, she’d wanted Lyssa.

Of course, now she’s regretting it.

“Are your humans asleep?” Lyssa asks, standing in the doorway and studying her. Her blonde curls are coming loose from the attempt at a braid just like they always are; she’s buttoned her cardigan wrong just like she always does. Her socks don’t match. The only thing that’s not like usual is the snap of cold in her voice.

Ayra brushes back her hair with an impatient hand, looking anywhere but at Lyssa. It’s rare for her to feel like she’s made a mistake these days, not when they know each other so well, and she hates it. Especially since she doesn’t even know what it was. “As far as I know. I piled them all into the…into my room. Ebony assures me they’re used to all sharing a bed—apparently it was all they could manage for a while. I suggested the living space, but they preferred that.” She’s talking too much and she knows it. But if she keeps talking, maybe the fight isn’t going to happen. “Besides, they weren’t sleeping much while I was…resting.” And now she’s walked right into it.

Lyssa’s eyes narrow and her mouth goes tight. It probably says something that even that’s cute. “Good,” is all she says, but her tense posture says otherwise. “Strip.”

Taken aback, Ayra blinks. Lyssa isn’t usually that aggressive. “Excuse me?”

“Your father told me three days ago that you were in town,” snarls Lyssa, “he told me three days ago that you were hurt. Strip.”

Finally, Ayra understands. “Lyss, I’m fine,” she says, holding out her hands like a peace offering. “I’m sorry I didn’t come home, I didn’t mean to leave you to worry, but the girls didn’t know I lived here. I was too out of it to tell them at the time. And I didn’t know Father was going to tell you.” One would think, after all, that after five thousand years, her father would know how to avoid scaring Lyssa like that.

Lyssa’s eyes soften. But her voice stays firm, even as a hint of a smile plays around her mouth. “I know. Don’t blame him; I asked what was going on when I felt that power blast outside of town. But I also know that you’ve been healing at least since I knew you were back in Novus Aevum, and you’re still moving like you’re in pain. Strip and lie down. I want to see if I can help.”

Ayra’s hands raise, palms out, like a shield. She can’t let Lyssa do that, she can’t let Lyssa get into trouble on her account. Her father has always been relatively lenient when it comes to Lyssa and her quirks, but one day it’s going to be too much. She can’t lose Lyssa over a fight with a worthless soldier. “Lyss, no, I’m fine, really,” she says. The hurried words tumble out over each other. Part of her knows she’s panicking over nothing, that her father knows what Lyssa is to her and wouldn’t do that to her (but suffering is learning and what would make her suffer more than losing Lyss?) The idea of even possibly losing Lyssa over something so ridiculous…“You know Father doesn’t like it when you use thaumaturgy to heal—that’s not what it’s for—”

Lyssa takes a step forward, then another, and reaches out, lacing her fingers gently with Ayra’s. They’re long fingers, a deep golden colour typical for a Calan, startling against Ayra’s smaller, paler hands. “And you and I both know,” she says, “that your father would turn a blind eye to me using the power he gave me to purify water and heal small orphan children in the name of the Traitor herself, as long as I was doing it to help you. Ayra, he loves you. He won’t mind if I do this for you. And I hate seeing you hurting. Please let me try.”

Ayra stares at their joined hands. She’ll heal eventually. She’s taken worse than this and made it through. But Lyssa will hurt, seeing her suffer. And she does have a point; when Lyssa uses thaumaturgy to heal, Father is angry. When she uses it to heal Ayra, anger downgrades to minor annoyance. And if Ayra can play it off as Lyssa helping her get back to her full potential as quickly as possible, that should offset even that. Her father will know it’s not entirely true, but he knows about her and Lyssa—it isn’t as though she’s ever lied to him about it. He’ll understand.

“If he gets mad at you,” she says, reluctant, “tell him to talk to me.”

There’s something like a laugh in Lyssa’s voice when she says, “I will. Now. Can you get your clothes off yourself or am I going to have to help you?”

Since Lyssa’s version of “helping” usually involves ripping, and Ayra’s fond of this shirt in spite of the damage it took from the fight, she says, “I can do it.”

Lyssa’s eyes stay trained on her as she takes it off, and when she can see again, the tension is back in Lyssa’s face. Uncertain, she sits on the side of the bed and begins undoing the button on her jeans. When she’s fought them off (between the rips and the bloodstains, she thinks these are done for), she leans back and frowns at Lyssa. “What’s wrong?”

“Lie down,” Lyssa snaps, crossing the room in a few long strides. Her voice shakes with anger, but there’s a frozen sort of horror just under it. “Who was he?”

Ayra looks down at herself, and has to admit that she does look rather a mess. “Dead now.”

“Your father has him?”

She’d confirmed that as soon as she woke up. “Yes.”

“Good.” There’s such brutal condemnation in the word that Ayra loses her breath for a second. Lyssa has always been the softer of the two of them, the kinder. She’s only heard Lyss like this a few times. “Oh, honey, look at you.”

“It’s not that bad,” Ayra grumbles as she lies back to let Lyssa have a more thorough look.

“You aren’t the one looking at it,” says Lyssa drily, sitting on the edge of the bed and resting her hand against Ayra’s stomach. “And I know for a fact you aren’t feeling all of it, or you wouldn’t be standing. Here now.”

Ayra grits her teeth and prepares for pain. Perhaps other methods of healing, the ones in the distant past where mortals could wield magick, were kinder, but thaumaturgy damages—and healing with it hurts as much as the wounds themselves. But she’s promised Lyss she’ll let her try to fix this, and suffering is learning. She’ll manage. She always does.

Lyssa’s other hand comes up and cups her face, thumb brushing over her cheekbone. “Come here,” she says, and leans in. As the agony explodes into her system, as fresh and new as when she’d been hurt the first time, Ayra focuses hard on the kiss, on the shape and texture and feeling of Lyssa’s mouth, on the warmth of the body over hers, anything to avoid thinking about how much everything hurts. She deserves this. These are the consequences. Pain is necessary. Suffering is learning. Pain is learning. Oh oh it hurts it hurts no, no, pain is necessary, pain is learning—Lyssa—Lyssa, please—

“I know,” Lyssa whispers back to her through the Hivemind. Blood Diabolists, being technically alive, aren’t as intimately connected to the demonic hivemind as eye demons like Lyssa, but the two of them have used this connection so often that it’s practically second nature. “I know it hurts, Ayra, darling, I’m sorry. Almost done, I promise. Just try to breathe through it.”

As though that reminds her body of its basic needs, Ayra breaks the kiss to breathe—and in spite of her best efforts, a muffled whimper escapes as a fresh onslaught of pain starts. Lyssa strokes her cheek and pulls her back in. “There, there we are now. Try to relax. There. I think that’s the worst of it.” And indeed, the pain seems to fade with the words.

There’s a moment of quiet while Ayra catches her breath, at last becoming aware of Lyssa’s hand rubbing absent circles on her skin. Lyssa’s watching her again, but there’s no coldness about it this time. When Lyssa speaks at last, it’s aloud, and in a softer, lower voice. “You’re so beautiful it hurts to look at you sometimes.”

Even after all these years, it feels strange to hear that, still feels strange to have someone look at her and see only her and not her mother. She’d never seen the woman, not even a portrait or drawing, but all through her childhood she was told she has her mother’s eyes, her mother’s smile, her mother’s everything—and sometimes she wonders if that’s why there are days her father can’t even look her in the face. Ayra’s immediate instinct is still to brush it off, brush off anything about her looks, anything that makes her think of the past, and so she laughs—if it sounds a little breathless, she can attribute that to the healing. “If you spent time with other people, you wouldn’t—”

“Shush,” says Lyssa, amused. “I know what I’m talking about. Now turn over, I want to see if your back is any better than the rest of you.”

From the way she feels now that the first round of healing is over, Ayra knows it isn’t. She turns over anyway, propping her chin on her hands and waiting for the inevitable rebuke.

Lyssa doesn’t disappoint. A low hiss escapes—just from the sound, Ayra’s pretty sure Lyssa’s clenched her teeth. (They know each other much too well.) “Did you even shield?”

Well, no. She’d had to cover the girls; she can defend herself, they couldn’t. Can’t. Yet. Once they’ve served their purpose, perhaps she can talk her father into making them demons, too—she rather likes Ebony, and should she be able to keep them, Azaliura’s little time tricks are certainly worth more study. “The girls—”

Lyssa cuts her off. “Were not and are not more important than you,” she snaps. “Ayra, you need to stop taking chances like this! Do you ever stop to think about what happens if you die?”

She tries very hard not to, actually, since it would get in the way of doing her work. But Lyssa wouldn’t like to hear that. “I know what Father says,” she says instead, her voice gentling automatically—Lyssa doesn’t like to talk about losing Ayra any more than Ayra likes thinking about losing Lyssa. “But you would be there. You could talk him down. He listens to you.” Sometimes.

“Absolutely not,” says Lyssa, her voice just as quiet. “If you die, I will not talk your father down. If you die, I will encourage and damn well expect him to ensure that everything happens just as he says it will.”

Really, she should have expected this. If the idea of going on without Lyssa is so hard for her, when she’s at least got love elsewhere in her life, what would it do to Lyss if she dies? “Lyssa…”

Lyssa bends forward and presses a kiss to the back of her neck. Gently, carefully, as though she’s afraid to hurt her. “I love you, Ayra.” They don’t say the words much, rarely need to, because they both know already. But that doesn’t make the impact any less when she does hear them. “We both do. We love you, and you’re the only thing worth going on for. You’re his rock. You’re my everything. Please be more careful.”

Ayra stays quiet, lets the words sit until she has the breath to answer. “…All right. Fine. I’ll try.” She turns over again, tugs the elastic out of Lyssa’s braid so that her hair spills loose. “As long as you promise the same.”

Lyssa laughs, lowering her head until her curls fall like a curtain, shielding them both from the outside world. “All right.” She rests their foreheads together for a minute, and Ayra closes her eyes. “All right.”

“You’ve served me well, Ayra, but you’re still learning, and it cannot be easy for you to be surrounded by these…lost souls. I promised you that you wouldn’t be alone, even there, and I will never lie to you. Come to the desert, to the Black Dunes. I’ll send my newest creation to you there. She’s agreed to travel Vretoaz with you as a demon in exchange for freedom from Nekhril. Her name is Lyssa. I think the two of you will work well together.”

#Silencia writes #originalficfest #drabble #character: Ayra #character: Lyssa #story: Hearrtesverse

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