don't wait for a knight in shinin' armor, your savior's reflected in the mirror

[perpend]

[That sure was a fucking thing. That execution was a fucking thing. Those secrets are a fucking thing.

Cabanela retreats to his room, but not for all that long. Everyone will get a note eventually, written in very neat handwriting

I do not plan on bowing down to threats and intimidation. If you did not act, it means you were, like me, aware of the risk, but decided against it. Your reasons are entirely your own.

Join me in the dining room if you agree enough is enough, and that you won't acquiesce to threats. I don't plan to let this stop me, and neither should you.

-C

In the dining room itself, Cabanela has set up coffee and tea for those who want it-- there's no food, because to be honest, he doesn't know how to cook. Two more candles have been lit-- he wasn't really sure what to do about the whole... parasite thing... so Fern's candle will have to make due.]

Comments

[zomgboom]

[Tabby is sitting at a table. She's not eating or anything, just. Sitting there. If someone passes, she'll stop them real quick.]

Hey. Explain it to me. [She gestures to the secrets.] Your way, not his way.

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . Eeesh, bomb girl. ]

The church came after my people when I was young. Things were chaotic then, and... well, like everyone else, I was forced to potentially leave people behind.

[ There's something perverse, explaining that to a human girl. But then, a bomb isn't quite human, especially if it's genetic or whatever she said. ]

[zomgboom]

[She is . . . technically a Homo Superior, so. Not quite a human! She doesn't consider herself one anyway.]

How'd you become a vampire? I, like, assume you weren't always one. Most people aren't, like, born that way or whatever.

[firstaid]

[Estelle bitterly smiles when Tabby asks.]

There's no other way to explain mine. My existence, my powers, is poisoning the world.

[zomgboom]

Yeah, that's the short version. What's the long version, Princess Pink?

[perpend]

[He motions to the secrets, eyeing his.]

I see a list of statements, some of which are very serious, meant to further split this group apart. We can't let it.

[There are a lot of murderers and would-be murderers in this group, but Cabanela can't exactly make some sort of stupid vow to arrest all of them, not with his own sin on full display.]

[zomgboom]

Sure. I was asking about yours, though. I mean, you don't have to tell me. I won't know, the whole thing is wildly teal deer and I'm not gonna read it, but.

[She shrugs. She might actually ask Alena later, but she'd rather hear from the people themselves.]

[explosivecombat]

[...Oh. Tabby, hi. He'll consider that for a moment, but- ]

Unfortunately, there isn't anything else to explain.

[zomgboom]

You're gonna make me read that? [C'mon.] I mean, you can tell me to off, but I'm only asking because I'd rather hear it from you than Laney later.

[destage]

[...She's not exactly expecting that, but.]

What's done is done, honestly. The industry I come from is a very competitive place; it's as simple as that.

[zomgboom]

You don't have to tell me the rest of the story if you don't want to. [She's pretty sure that's not the full story.] I can explain, you can just tell me to off . . . But you, know. I'd rather hear it from you than Laney.

[ninehundredlives]

Do you know what it says?

[Like, just as a baseline here]

[zomgboom]

I read yours. [It was short. She's been sitting here for a while, having not left.] There's a lot of ways to, like, interpret it imho*? So I'm asking you.

[* Pronounced "em-hoe."]

[hesperos]

[ There's a moment where he considers saying nothing or just brushing her off, because they're everyone's secrets. What else is there to discuss about them? But nah, Yuri knows by now that not everything's black or white. So, he speaks. ]

Cumore and Ragou had been getting away with what they've done for a very long time. What they did resulted in people being killed or injured—and no one was able to do anything about it. Even if they had been caught, they escaped taking responsibility for what they did. So I took matters into my own hands.

[ As for the other part... ]

Then, I thought I was the only one who could stop a friend's suffering with my own hands.

[ Yuri's not exactly comfortable with saying who, so he's going to be leaving out names here. ]

[zomgboom]

You're a Magneto. [That's said more to herself than anything.] Sometimes, like, it's more important to fix what's wrong or whatever than it is to do what . . . seems like the right thing.

[She pauses, trying to think of how to explain her situation.]

Beyond is, like, a terrorist organization. I work for this anti-terrorism group that got bought out by them so, like. We stole something from them and were trying to, like. Fix the mess we were in.

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...God, Tabby, all she wanted was to sneak off with some cereal, why do you have to— ]

I'm saving myself for like, the guy I know's gonna be my special someone. [ not... really the reason, but it's the easier, more understandable one. ] What's yours about?

[zomgboom]

The company I was working for got bought out by, like, Beyond? Which is full of, like, terrorists? So Monica was all like "well that we're the good guys" or whatever so she had me, like, steal the list of stuff Beyond was making and we've been, like. Getting rid of them.

[HUGE SHRUG. She sure is a terrorist and they sure paid her money for a while before the Nextwave Squad found out, but.]

Sometimes the civilians get caught in the crossfire, it's whatever.

[sleepytimegal]

Uhh... I made a bad choice. I wanted to save myself, and...it screwed over a girl I knew.

[zomgboom]

You can't save everyone, you know. [Tabby actually adopts a more serious tone for this.] Sometimes you have to, like. Cut yourself some slack for not always, like, making the perfect choices or whatever.

[notaccurate]

[He. He really doesn't want to talk about it. And interestingly enough, it's more the second half that bothers him than the first. He wouldn't be saying the same three weeks ago.

But she's asking, and she doesn't seem to be judgemental about it, so...maybe he could explain it. A little. At least to give some context to it.]

Where I am from there is magic, but it is actually one of the sciences, much like chemistry or geology would be. It's very long and complicated to explain in full detail, but basically it is very dangerous and a lot of people are wary of those who can do it. So, to settle everyone's nerves about it, all people who use magic have to be licensed. If you use magic without a license, you go right to prison.

I...well. I cannot obtain a license. No school that studies it would dare admit me as a student, and the government wouldn't license me even if I managed to get into a school. So the only way I can do magic is illegally.

[zomgboom]

Nice. [She means that sincerely.] I mean, like, sucks to be you for whatever reason they won't let you do magic but also: sticking it to the man is, like, the number 1 way to live your life. Letting people tell you what you can and can't do is, like, so stifling.

. . . Also usually the people trying to tell you what to do are, like, bad people that are trying to do bad in my experience so, like. 'em.

[captainobnoxious]

Honestly, I have no idea what it's talking about. Tuuri's a girl that's in my company right now and she's perfectly alive? Seriously healthy. I don't see why she'd just... die.

[... And how it's Sigrun's fault, though she rubs her left arm idly as she looks over the others.]

What about yours?

[zomgboom]

Is your arm okay? You didn't get hurt earlier, did you?

[She wasn't keeping track of that whole fight, but there was some shit going down.]

Anyway, uh. I may or may not have been part of an anti-terrorist group that was being funded by terrorists and we, like, may or may not have had a disagreement about that soooooooo. I definitely blew up some cities where, like, the terrorists were located to get rid of them.

[heritrix]

Would you do the same for yours after? I figure if you're asking, you have some story to tell.

[Because wow, that one sure needs some explaining. As promised, Rin's working on that cheat sheet for Tabby, but she sounds a little reserved saying this.]

[didntgetdadslooks]

... It was an accident. When my powers... woke up. The first part, anyway.