Etraya Inbox

[hexcope]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 | 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄 | 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 | 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

Comments

[rudelanguage]

[nice!!

...wait.

inside. Antigone's ears flatten, apprehensive. she hasn't been in this building before, only scoped it out from the outside while stalking making sure Jayce meant this building and not some other one.

her fingers flex and relax, fiddly, antsy little motions while looking between the warm glow of the interior to the tall dude lit by it.]

Is it the same? As the other places? No money?

[hexcope]

[He doesn't judge for her apprehension. He's seen this before in others- usually those who are more accustomed to scrounging for their meals. He thinks of Max, briefly.]

It's free to eat here, and everywhere else that serves food.

[rudelanguage]

...'Kay.

[But are the staff gonna yell me out of the joint anyway? Knife wonders, recalling their stint as Pending at the deli. despite this, Antigone warily wanders in, lingering to wait for Jayce to take point and pick seating and scrambling up; she'll just stand on the seat so her head's over the table, don't you dare suggest a booster seat.]

What'd you hear? Er, did you hear anything? Or nah?

[hexcope]

[Since he just ate, he's in no rush to order more (even if dessert is tempting... but he already had a cake yesterday), but he takes out a menu regardless and places it in front of Antigone.]

If you want me to order for you.

[That way, if there is a supposed "bill" like she might fear, then Jayce is the one "stuck" with it.]

Bad news is there's no swapping. "Everyone here was chosen for a reason."

[rudelanguage]

[Oh thank FUCK this thing has pictures. but Knife can't even enjoy the swell of relief before the bad news is dropped with that little nugget; they cannot stop themselves from snorting derisively.

Chosen for a REASON...what a crock of shit!]

Yeah, we're just some overlord's special little toys, huh... [bah!!]

Uh...this... [she just starts pointing at pictures at random.] And this. And this.

[hexcope]

Pancakes, steak, and onion rings?

[Like, okay, but are you sure.]

Second thing is she said we helped individuals within those worlds, and failure is subjective. If we failed to save a world, we would have been told.

[rudelanguage]

I hope it goes without saying that that sounds really dumb. [she's fiddling with the menu, surprised to find more on the back. damn, shoulda asked for more...fill the table beyond her size with food!!

but maybe that's too greedy.]

But hey, maybe I was [finger wiggle.] chosen to be skeptical about this.

[hexcope]

Maybe you were. After all, I wouldn't have thought to ask this if you didn't harass me about it. If we're going to believe in fate having a hand in any of this, then your place in it might be to ask the questions no one else is. Doubt is a key part of finding the truth.

[rudelanguage]

[she squints at him.] Harassing you? I was asking questions. Hell, I even apologized for breathing the same air in the process and you said no big deal, right?

[and being salty the whole time, but let's not get sidetracked here.]

[hexcope]

[He can't take her seriously even when she's angry because she's still only like 2 feet tall and has tiny paw hands.]

I'm joking. Relax. What do you want for a drink?

[rudelanguage]

[three feet you bastard!!! but yes she is goddamn adorable, and currently kicking her leggies in annoyance under the table.]

Water. [they don't know the other breeds of drink beyond mead and they're too antsy to learn right now.

aforementioned tiny paw hands press flat on the tabletop and press down.]

Was there anything else? Like, did she confirm you and whoever else's been stuck here for so long fixed something?

[hexcope]

[Jayce waves over a companion bot waiter to place Antigone's order for her, with a black coffee for himself, and waits until it leaves before continuing.]

No. Only that we'd be told if we failed. We "helped" people. But no confirmation we fixed anything.

[rudelanguage]

[throughout the order, Antigone pointedly makes no attempt to regard the machine, instead looking down and askance, only swinging back to focus on Jayce when it's tromped on its way to prep food.]

That sucks. [it's said point-blank, a neutral, obvious statement without vitriol.] This Aurora lady might suck.

[hexcope]

[Twice now Antigone has shied around the companion bots. Noted.]

She's not malicious, she just can't do much. If I'm honest, I don't think Echo speaks with her much at all. She's on her own in handling the upkeep of this place. So if her answers are unsatisfactory, it's because she doesn't know it either.

[rudelanguage]

[one hand slaps the table. pap.] That sucks, too! What gives! Did we even get a deadline for all of this?!

[hexcope]

No. And the longest someone's been here so far has been over a year, if I'm doing the math right.

[rudelanguage]

[the hand lifts and drags under her eye - said eye is averted when drinks are set on the table. drinks and...whatever these funny little sticks are. she picks it up and idly fiddles with the bendy part.] I can't be the first person to ask about this. I can't. Who else is asking about this? Do you know?

[hexcope]

There's at least a hundred other people here, I'm sure someone's been digging into this deeper than I have. My sister Caitlyn is here and she's been investigating things but...

[He hasn't been totally following. She's a brilliant investigator and detective, even if they aren't seeing eye-to-eye right now.]

If you really want to get deeper into this, you should ask the network. Now, I'm going to ask you a question.

[His brow furrows just a little bit as he leans in.]

Why are you afraid of the companion bots?

[rudelanguage]

[her brow knits. that...network-thing...all the people talking through the earpiece...

sounds horrid. how does it keep from everyone talking all at once!? it--HUH??

Antigone's head whips back to Jayce, eyes big, incredulous. Scared?! Me!] I'm not-! Y-! [well! y'know!

she ducks her head a little, sitting back down so her nose is almost level with the table.]

I've seen 'em get rough. I don't wanna mess with...with weird, metal slaves.

[hexcope]

Get rough with you? And they aren't slaves- they aren't even sentient. It's a mimicry of our behavior.

[rudelanguage]

[mimicry. hff.

her fingers grip the edge of the table, nails digging in a big.]

Slave-seeming enough for me to not like it. And I don't want them touching me. I don't like it.

[hexcope]

Okay. You don't have to. But avoiding eye contact with them doesn't do anything for you, or for them. Just makes it obvious you're afraid.

[This one's a bigger swing, but he thinks he has enough evidence to prove it, so...]

Kind of like how you're afraid of the network?

[rudelanguage]

[she scowls.

defensively:] Being apprehensive of stuff you don't know is normal. [i'm normal!!!] It's safer to keep a distance.

[hexcope]

And learning how to use it so you don't stay afraid of it is also normal. It's been proven to be safe, we all use it, and it's been beneficial to organization and rallying the community.

[Sorry Antigone, you've found the one guy who's never going to be on the side of "we should be afraid of things we don't understand."]

[rudelanguage]

[she huffs, ears flattening.]

I don't know if anything can be safely proven here, guy... I really don't know about that.

And anyway, I-- [beat.

engh...]

N-never mind. You can be right, if you want. [One more fucking thing I get to be stupid about. Yay.]