video | morning after the audience | unseelie & open non-locket comms

[boutant]

[ It's safe to say that Ariadne has never been this upset about anything in her entire life. She tends to smile, with large, gentle eyes. She does not tend to look murderous.

She does today.

Her trust has been broken, betrayed. Her people have been caught in the storm that Reynard started. Her mind has been violated, her companion dead.

When she speaks, her voice starts out calm. Cold. ]

So. When were we all going to start sharing what we know about the Cult of the Fox?

[ A breath and then she snarls. ]

Because it turns out they're wearing shard masks that let them look like anyone and they can get into your memories and mind control you to the point that you'll hang yourself.

[ It takes a tremendous amount of effort not to throw something. ]

That lying little fuck and those like him know how to use shards even when they're masks. If we don't stop sitting on our information then they're going to tear us apart from the inside. Do not trust anyone without- somehow verifying it's them, though I don't know how when they can do that much.

If you're staying at Diasbaile -- get to work or get out. I don't know how many people might still be under his spell but he's destroyed wards and rooms on the top two floors, read what was in my office if he didn't just steal it.

Everyone- be on your guard. And share your information, because otherwise we're all fighting this blind and then everyone is dead.

[ locked to steve rogers & sam wilson; ]
You need to get out of the Station. Just in case. Bucky's with me, he- we're not okay, he was with me when it happened, neither of us remember anything after a point. But we'll look after each other; he at least knows I'm me.

[ locked to grell, jason todd, loki, & waver velvet; ]
Gaff died in the Battle of Falling Fire. It was a cultist all along. Grell, can you watch Diasbaile? I can only assume that he'll know what I would do, but he didn't get in your head.

Comments

locked.

[erythristic]

Do you have anything in place to weaken him once you get close? Cutting off his magic, stripping wards, anything?

[he wouldn't be undefended, and so that had to be accounted for.]

locked.

[boutant]

Loki gave me a sword. It makes people tell the truth.

[ But. ]

... I need to go back. But I'm useless there, but I can't kill him, I don't-

Grell, I don't know what to do.

-> action

[erythristic]

Give me five minutes.

[and the feed ends, but it doesn't mean Grell slows down. she's even more grateful that the fairy rings have come back, that she can move from Caer Scima to the spire faster than otherwise, and practically flying by anyone else, looking for her friend.

when she gets there, her hair's windblown, but she's made it in the time that she said she would. without asking, she steps forward to wrap Ariadne in a hug. some things couldn't be said over the devices.]

action

[boutant]

[ Bucky is there with her, keeping her close, but they know Grell. It could be the cultist, of course, but Ariadne- right now, she's not sure how much more she can care.

She wraps her arms around her friend and buries her face into her shoulder, her tremble transforming into full-body shakes. ]

[erythristic]

[her embrace tightens just slightly. you're safe, she wants to say, but the truth of that isn't something she can guarantee. instead, she's silent for that long moment, something steady for Ariadne to cling to. strength is what she needs. not the rage, not the chill. strength.]

...If you ever doubt that I am me, ask me what happened in the last season, and if it is truly me, I will know exactly what is meant by that.

[it only made sense to her, and that was why it was a security. even if someone was in her head, there was no guarantee they'd know precisely what was meant, what she intended to reveal if that was asked. so many things had happened in the last season, but only one was intended.]

[boutant]

[ Ariadne has absolutely no idea what that means, and she's fairly certain a Cultist could maybe work around it -- but they hadn't exactly tried to keep up the illusion once Bucky had a grip on them. She glances at him then nods into Grell's hair, taking a deep breath. ]

I. Yeah, okay.

[erythristic]

If the time ever comes, I'll explain.

[but not now. she can't, right now, that ruins the point of the exercise.]

Do you think you're good to stand, or should we find you a chair?

[boutant]

I can stand.

[ She's traumatized, yes, but she can stand. ]

[erythristic]

Okay.

[she'll let go then, pulling back just far enough that their eyes can meet.]

Tell me why you supposedly can't kill him.

[boutant]

He anticipated- everything. Even before he got in my head. He was too fast, too strong, he used similar shadow magic...

[ She shudders. ]

This isn't my first time having someone else in my head, but I couldn't do anything.

[erythristic]

Ariadne. If he anticipates what you would do, then it leaves him with one very vital flaw that you can then use. It means you know what he'll expect you to do. From there, you can determine how much you need to play along to the role he thinks you inhabit before striking from a place that Ariadne wouldn't.

[subversion was the only way to win. if he expected her to punch him in the stomach, feint there before stabbing him in the back. use a mace instead of a sword. that was the way to survive.]

You must become unpredictable, while playing that you are predictable still. Seeing a person's memories has a drawback - you only can see things up to that point in time. What they do after they leave you is still as much a mystery as it ever was. This I know personally, as I possess this capability.

[boutant]

The problem is that I'm not sure where I wouldn't strike from, because I'm still me.

[ They know that she knows that they know what she knows...

... though, uh. One moment. ]

You do?

[erythristic]

...I do. It's something I choose not to broadcast to everyone, but it is an ability of my kind, something I can access under...let's say specific circumstances.

[she pauses, and exhales slowly as something comes to mind.]

If things were to get too risky, I was going to use it on "Gaff" so we could save his shard and information if not his body. If we had...

[then they would have known he was a cultist. it's clearly implied in her tone.]

[boutant]

You look human.

[ It's blurted out and Ariadne flushes a little, because that's possibly the stupidest thing she's ever seen. A lot of people in the Drabwurld look human. It doesn't mean they are. ]

If. There's- we start thinking of those, we'll never move.

[ Beat. ]

That said, if there's a way to do it that doesn't involve lethal blows, I might have you try it on the next person I rescue.

[erythristic]

Keep your own healing magic sharp, and they might only lose some blood as a result.

[the inevitable scarring, she won't mention.]

But no, I'm not. However, it is some relief that given the passage of time only half the Court knows what I am, which is one of the race of grim reapers.

[hence the speed, the strength, the endurance, the strange eyes.]

[boutant]

I can do that.

[ The race of grim reapers. Well. She had no idea that was a race, but she supposes it explains some things. ]

I'm sure plenty of them missed it anyway.

[erythristic]

Not enough to suit me. It is both blessing and curse to have what I am a matter of public knowledge even in that capacity. But what I wish hardly matters in that regard, doesn't it? Isn't it silly that it's such a concern?

[boutant]

No. We like to have our secrets. We like to reveal them when and to who we want them revealed.

[ Her head was just tampered with, memories played with. No, it's not silly at all. ]

[erythristic]

...Quite so.

[for a moment, Grell's eyes look distant, focusing on a memory rather than the present.]

The young man who exposed me, I think it is safe to say he will not violate my privacy like that again.

[boutant]

[ ... she doesn't want to know. ]

That's good, at least.

[ Ariadne wishes she could say the same. ]

[erythristic]

[she only threatened him, gosh.]

Do you find me deceitful, to have taken advantage of your hospitality and yet not to have told you what I was?

[boutant]

No more deceitful than I've been.

[ She shifts to take Grell's hands in hers, squeezing them. ]

I'm an architect. But back home, I don't design buildings. Not anymore. I design dreams.

[erythristic]

You design dreams?

[the look on her face shifts to curiosity. she isn't mad, but she's intrigued.]

You never even hinted you were that sort of mage...

[boutant]

It's not magic. There isn't magic back home.

But- yes. It's technology the military developed for training, since it's safer to do that sort of things in dreams. It can do more than that, though, depending on the people; you can steal secrets right out of someone's head, or participate in extreme sports, or see different places...

[ It's clear she's passionate about it, that this secret has been burning in her chest for two years; Ariadne speaks about dreamshare with animated gestures of her hands, swooping and gesticulating. ]

You can break and bend the laws of physics, create mazes with paradoxes inside. It's amazing.

[erythristic]

...Even with the advent of technologies I've heard of, this is beyond what I might have imagined. Please, go on.

[she's hanging onto every word, thinking of what might be. in a dream, one could be and do anything. and Ariadne could create these things.]