![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
don't wait for a knight in shinin' armor, your savior's reflected in the mirror
[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.]
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.]
no subject
[...It's blunt, but she's. Trying? She's trying.
Admittedly, that last bit...it does get her to look at him. Study him a bit, and the way he reacts. It's then that Sayaka speaks up.]
The place you come from...was it very competitive?
no subject
Sayaka's question though...gets a very bitter laugh.]
Absolutely so. In many ways.
no subject
...Never the less, Sayaka pauses for a little bit before seeming to nod her head. This is bad, isn't it? For him, at least. Hers is bad for her, certainly, but...]
Even worlds away, the world still runs like that. It's awful, isn't it?
[She's not sure he wants to talk about all of the aspects out here, but she shakes her head a bit.]
This never really struck me as your first choice in career, either. [She thinks back to when she asked him why he didn't become a fashion designer or the like, that pause.] I didn't know clinic work would involve anything like that.
no subject
[After seeing Sayaka's secret though, he knows that she understands competition. And not your everyday friendly competition. Competition with genuine stakes.
He idly makes a reaching motion toward his torso, but ends up just letting it hover like that.]
My work as a doctor is unrelated to my Dimensional Affairs position. Though, as I said back then, neither were my first choice. They chose me. [...he'll go into a little more detail this time, since the secret's out there anyway.] In the case of Dimensional Affairs, it has to do with an ability that I have. I was recruited into the department because very few people in my world are able to actually travel to other dimensions.
no subject
[She'll take an idle sip of tea, though. Somehow, it's not bad to be around someone who actually understands this shit and how shitty the world is. Even if it's not a descriptor she'd use.
Sayaka peers back when he starts talking, eyes going toward his torso for a moment before looking up at him.]
...So you didn't even have a choice in the matter. [She actually sounds kind of disgusted.] What a mess that sounds like. Why would they even need someone to go in and do that? They can't just leave anything well enough alone?
no subject
Does your contract even matter right now? Just say what you want.
[Holding up that appearance despite everything so far...that's definitely some restraint, though.
He has to think of the best way to phrase his response to the topic of his position at Spirius. He seems to settle on something after a moment.]
I had a choice, but I was in a position that made it incredibly difficult to refuse. [That seems to be all he wants to say on that matter. It's an even touchier subject than the one at hand, oddly enough.] As for why, well. We cannot leave it alone. Not without compromising our own dimension, anyway.
no subject
[She's not vulgar, Rideaux, just let her leave the colorful phrasing to the likes of you or any of the other colorful people here. She can think it all she wants, but saying it out loud? That's out of the question.
Never the less...well, she gets that, and she'll sidestep the subject after taking another sip of tea.]
So it's basically a 'destroy or be destroyed' situation, then. [Man, this is common.] If it's just for that reason, then...it's not all that bad, I think. If it's just dimensions other than your own...don't they still exist anyway, basically? Just not in their current state. It's not the best, obviously, but it's better than the alternative.
[...she's probably not even close to getting it, she admits, but she shrugs. This kind of stuff is way outside her paygrade.]
no subject
Yes and no. Make no mistake, when we destroy these dimensions, they are effectively erased from existence. [He's not gonna sugarcoat things anymore.] You see, they are fractured dimensions created from deviations in the original dimension that I hail from. If we allow too many to be created, then the prime dimension would be compromised. There is more to it than that, but that is it in the simplest of terms.
no subject
That...gives Sayaka a bit of a pause. She'd been so debonair about it, but even if the prime one is saved...well, it must be a messy as hell business. To be forced into that kind of a position, to keep killing these things...it must be hell.]
...I think I understand it. You don't have to explain it further, if you don't want to. [Her tone's still very calm when she says this. Very even, despite it.] It's what you have to do, in order to keep it safe...even if it sounds like a garbage position to be in.
[She takes another sip of tea.]
That's plays a part into why you're so used to all of this, I'm guessing?
no subject
[Destroy or be destroyed. Kill or be killed.]
It is something that those of us in Dimensional Affairs have had to come to accept. Otherwise, stopping to deeply consider what we have had to do would surely break the spirits of many.
[There's a pause here, and his voice is a little more somber but still with that matter of fact tone he's so prone to having.]
I've been doing it for over fifteen years, so you could say I've had plenty of time to get used to it.
no subject
...Yeah. Real familiar. [She's gonna run out of tea at this point, from all of the sipping she's been doing. Her gaze goes back to the secrets] It explains a lot, though. Not having time to consider whether your actions are right, and just...having to do them.
I...won't say that I know the sort of situation as well as you've known it, or that I know the severity of it. Fifteen years is a long time to be used to being a person who destroys and having to take orders you don't like. [...] I'll just...offer a non-judgmental ear, if you ever want it.
no subject
Rideaux doesn't say anything for a few moments, just finishing his own drink to fill that silence.
Finally, he just sighs. It's an amused sort of sigh.]
"Non-judgmental"? Really? [...he chuckles again.] That's certainly a surprise.
[Should he really be, though? Sayaka hasn't said much about it, but he hasn't forgotten what she claimed she dreamed about. A killing game, similar to this. Leaving those other girls in the dust to further herself, fighting for survival in two killing games... Not to mention how on-point she just was, talking to him. She's startlingly right, and she doesn't even know the entire story.]
I'll keep your offer in mind. [...] And for what it's worth, I don't judge you for your secret either. The competitive nature of the world really is awful, isn't it?
no subject
[And honestly? He...probably gets the world a lot more than she'd like to admit. It's nice to be able to be a bit bitter without judgement. And...maybe she's seeing way too much of her situation in what she hears.
That last bit, though...it's probably a sharp contrast with the sweet appearance she gives, but something he probably won't be too surprised about; the giggling she does is very, very pointed and not necessarily happy sounding.]
Oh, very. We already have to sacrifice so much to even get noticed at all...we can't keep our eyes off of the end goal for even a moment, or else we can be replaced instantly and tossed aside. We can't let ourselves become liabilities either, so we do everything we're told without question...
[Sayaka polishes off her tea, and her glare at the wall is...pretty goddamn severe.]
It's an awful way to treat people, you know? But they'll still keep doing it because they know it works.
no subject
He knows that Sayaka is talking about her fellow idols there but honestly, it resonates very closely with him as well, for reasons he has not yet shared. He quietly watches her speak, revealing some of her true feelings, his own expression showing a good deal of confliction because damn this is hitting close to home.]
Of course they will. [He finally says, the bitterness that is always so welled up within him spilling out just a little bit.] We may have our status now thanks to our efforts and the opportunity they gave to us, but they know they can take it away in an instant. And so we must persist, even if we have to step over others in the process.
[...Mm. Maybe that was a bit too much, in hindsight. But something just came over him there. Ah, well.]
no subject
[...It's a bit more idly said, than anything--her tone kind of going blank, there, before she turns back to look at Rideaux.]
As long as they have us under their thumb, there's nothing we can do. They decide everything short of how we live and die. [...] They should be the ones here. Not us.
no subject
...
His smile is a bitter one as he looks back at her. What he says next is probably the most cryptic thing he's said yet.]
And sometimes even that.
[But he seems to be quick to move on from it.]
Ah, if only it was that simple. Unfortunately, I can only imagine the mass chaos that would ensue for us back home if it was them and not us. Maybe that would be worth it, though.