Wanna know what impacts me? My sister going full-blown villain, using someone who cared about me to do something ridiculously stupid and get me to step up against them so she can give me an aneurysm when no one was looking. Or, you know, the time she didn't get all power-hungry and weird and did something noble for a change, only to fuck me over and kill me all over again twice the next time we breathed air.
(Did he ask for it? Not exactly, but she's trying to paint a picture.)
All of this because I am the most powerful of the Five, so you know. Dying? Easy, all of us can do it at any time. That shit? Not okay.
[Jayce looks at her hard, his eyebrows pinched upward and lips a thin line.
She's been asking him time and time again if he's okay because she can sense it. But it's pretty clear from all this she's not okay either. But what would he do if he was asked like this if he was okay? Deny it. Which is essentially what she's doing as well. She's "fine" with dying over and over again, because at least it's not as bad as betrayal.]
I'm sorry that happened. I know she's your sister, but do you really have to be so close to her if she keeps doing these kinds of things to you?
(... Oh. She's being... Seen? She half likes it, half loathes it. It's... Strange. Jayce doesn't know the Cuckoos, how they operate, how they move. It'd be easier to explain if he had seen them with his own two eyes.
She's taken aback for a second, because how does she even reply to it?)
... Kinda. We're a hivemind. An... Entity, individuality is not a thing we cared for or anything. Move as one, talk together, just... One. No one can even tell us apart aside from the pink gremlin you've met, and a friend of mine.
... But a few weeks before I got here, I... Left. They got on my nerves. So, for the foreseeable future, I'm not... Dealing with Esme anymore. I have no plans of coming back, anyway. I'm... Trying something different.
[That felt surprisingly honest, coming from her. Not that she's really been telling him lies, but there's a difference between the lying and masking. He knows that well enough.]
Good. Maybe you were born as part of a crowd, but it doesn't seem like your real style to stay that way.
(Just to lighten the mood a little bit. Also, not a lie. She's just uncomfortable with talking about feelings and what things mean and how they are and how she feels about it and if she thinks about it, she'll gag and want to throw up.
Allergic. This is the best she can do.)
Pffft. My real style. Let me know when I actually make one. All I'm really trying to do is not to replicate the usual girlboss, gatekeep, gaslight, manipulate, mock shit we tend to do. That's project enough.
[Don't make him make a Marvel Character Quippiness Counter.]
You don't seem worse than the high school bullies I had, so you're doing something right.
[But also high school bullies had more fodder to make fun of him for, and he was also much, much more sensitive. So maybe that's just a matter of time and distance.]
(She has to look at her life choices a little bit after that.)
I will level with you, it does, and uh, my mum is this femme fatale, super mean, reformed villain type, so we learned a lot from her. We get to blame half on telepathy, and half on DNA.
Very well. Let's see. I mostly don't listen to you because it is a huge bummer, so here is what I did pick up. From my understanding of your thoughts, you truly think of others and how you can improve lives with knowledge and innovation, and from your point of view, it is an altruistic choice. You're really, really anxious, I'm pretty sure from what I picked up once or twice that you think there are a lot of forces bringing you down from all sides, and there are things you wish the others understood but they can't, because some things seem to be cemented and you just represent them.
Also, you really care about that thin dude. Keep asking yourself where he is at. For some goddamn reason. I wasn't listening.
[Okay, so not the worst things about him. Or she's being nice and holding those back.
He's nodding along a little like he's getting his fortune told, nothing he would really argue against. It's a fair assessment, although maybe even a little too flattering. She must be holding some things back...
And then when she mentions Viktor as he's picking up one of the last fries, he uses it to point at her when he speaks.]
Okay, keep minding your business on that last part.
(She's holding off, yes, including her opinion that magic sucks and altruism needs to be closely checked because it can fuck everyone over. But this isn't a 'mutantkind goes through so much shit' conversation, so he gets spared.
Instead, she snorts at the fry pointing.)
It's not that juicy, really doesn't get my 'not minding my business' brain going. Nothing to worry about.
No, dummy. You're noisy. Etraya itself has like, what, a hundred people. I'm used to millions. Environment, quiet, you? Need to drink more chamomile tea.
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There's no way that's not impacting you somehow.
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(Did he ask for it? Not exactly, but she's trying to paint a picture.)
All of this because I am the most powerful of the Five, so you know. Dying? Easy, all of us can do it at any time. That shit? Not okay.
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She's been asking him time and time again if he's okay because she can sense it. But it's pretty clear from all this she's not okay either. But what would he do if he was asked like this if he was okay? Deny it. Which is essentially what she's doing as well. She's "fine" with dying over and over again, because at least it's not as bad as betrayal.]
I'm sorry that happened. I know she's your sister, but do you really have to be so close to her if she keeps doing these kinds of things to you?
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She's taken aback for a second, because how does she even reply to it?)
... Kinda. We're a hivemind. An... Entity, individuality is not a thing we cared for or anything. Move as one, talk together, just... One. No one can even tell us apart aside from the pink gremlin you've met, and a friend of mine.
... But a few weeks before I got here, I... Left. They got on my nerves. So, for the foreseeable future, I'm not... Dealing with Esme anymore. I have no plans of coming back, anyway. I'm... Trying something different.
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Good. Maybe you were born as part of a crowd, but it doesn't seem like your real style to stay that way.
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(Just to lighten the mood a little bit. Also, not a lie. She's just uncomfortable with talking about feelings and what things mean and how they are and how she feels about it and if she thinks about it, she'll gag and want to throw up.
Allergic. This is the best she can do.)
Pffft. My real style. Let me know when I actually make one. All I'm really trying to do is not to replicate the usual girlboss, gatekeep, gaslight, manipulate, mock shit we tend to do. That's project enough.
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[Don't make him make a Marvel Character Quippiness Counter.]
You don't seem worse than the high school bullies I had, so you're doing something right.
[But also high school bullies had more fodder to make fun of him for, and he was also much, much more sensitive. So maybe that's just a matter of time and distance.]
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(Her hands move across her face, albeit carefully not to smudge anything.)
And let it be known, we were great high school bullies. Bet I could bully your bullies into character improvement in less than 5 seconds.
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[He knows she's trying, he didn't want to seem discouraging!!]
It helps having telepathy so you can know your target's weaknesses.
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(She has to look at her life choices a little bit after that.)
I will level with you, it does, and uh, my mum is this femme fatale, super mean, reformed villain type, so we learned a lot from her. We get to blame half on telepathy, and half on DNA.
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[He's still trying to talk his way out of that earlier foot-in-mouth moment.]
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(This peptalk SUCKS, Talis. IT SUCKS!!!)
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[Small strides on not taking what she's saying so personally it deflates his mood immediately.]
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(But him trying to cheer her up is not great, please, she just needs a milkshake and some patience, okay?)
... Any questions, anyway? I know too much about you, you know... Just whatever I told you now about me. I'll answer 2, for data-gathering.
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[Probably not how she intended him to use his questions.]
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Very well. Let's see. I mostly don't listen to you because it is a huge bummer, so here is what I did pick up. From my understanding of your thoughts, you truly think of others and how you can improve lives with knowledge and innovation, and from your point of view, it is an altruistic choice. You're really, really anxious, I'm pretty sure from what I picked up once or twice that you think there are a lot of forces bringing you down from all sides, and there are things you wish the others understood but they can't, because some things seem to be cemented and you just represent them.
Also, you really care about that thin dude. Keep asking yourself where he is at. For some goddamn reason. I wasn't listening.
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He's nodding along a little like he's getting his fortune told, nothing he would really argue against. It's a fair assessment, although maybe even a little too flattering. She must be holding some things back...
And then when she mentions Viktor as he's picking up one of the last fries, he uses it to point at her when he speaks.]
Okay, keep minding your business on that last part.
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Instead, she snorts at the fry pointing.)
It's not that juicy, really doesn't get my 'not minding my business' brain going. Nothing to worry about.
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[He eats the fry.]
I guess you're right about the rest.
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(A joke? Maybe? Doesn't matter, she shrugs.)
This place sucks for me, by the way. It's quiet.
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And you miss the noise. Can't say I get that.
[But if she misses it, she misses it.]
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(But she knows that she isn't the most relatable person in the planet, even to the telepaths. Go figure.)
Do you want your 2 questions or not?
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