Oh, I certainly won't fight you on it. But really, I will be fine. You needn't do this every night. I wouldn't want to overwork my loyal and attentive assistant.
Spoken as though I don't routinely do just that. You don't need to worry about me, Dist. Really, having something else to focus on is something of a blessing right now.
[He has been slowly going insane over the past several weeks and he already reached his breaking point so it's!! fine!!!! Just let him aggressively fuss over you focus on work, that always solves all of his problems.]
[He doesn't care at all about any of the dead besides Pizza, but now he actually has to try to figure out what to do about them. Ugh... This is what he deserves for letting himself get attached to someone stupid enough to die.]
I've learned quite a few interesting things from both the Lady and Rembrandt; I hadn't anticipated either of those conversations going quite the way they did, but I'm certainly not complaining about more information. Which would you care to hear about first?
[They will work to save Pizza together!! Dist may have had a rocky start with the food soul, but...he appreciates how much he has been looking out for Iago.
He leans back against the work station's counter, eager to hear just about any of this, really. So Iago talked to the Lady too?]
Let's start with Rembrandt, since we were talking about him yesterday. Did he actually have something to offer you this time?
He did. He didn't bother asking a question for a question this time, although he made it clear that he was fully aware of it. He said we could continue to talk like "normal people" for awhile. And then he spontaneously made a table and chairs appear out of thin air, which I suppose is yet another power of his. They didn't seem to be made of either wood or metal either, though I don't know how important that is.
I did learn that "Rembrandt Meijer" is not his original name. "Rembrandt" is the name of a famous painter, apparently. This isn't a name he gave himself and it isn't an alias, but it is his current name.
He also said "I am whatever the Lady needs me to be", which is something he's told me before. It's partially because he wants to be, and partially because she's forcing him to be, from the sound of it. [He said they're both true and false, whatever the hell that means.] And he confirmed that his powers have always existed with him, that they are a part of him and weren't something he was taught.
But most importantly, I have all but confirmed that he is a demon in some sort of pact with the Lady.
[His expression shifts here into something darkly pleased.]
I asked him for a favor - a rather brutal, dreadful one I'd rather not repeat - to see what he would want of me in return. After so long of talking to him, I was certain that I could get away with asking without any negative repercussions, and I was right. In this purely hypothetical situation I offered him, he would have asked for my soul as payment. I think we can agree that those are likely the same terms of the contract he has with the Lady, don't you?
[He does the Lady's dirty work and in return, he gets her soul once she's dead.]
[Dist's eyes widen further and further as Iago explains what he has since come to learn. They went from having practically nothing on Rembrandt to...this.]
It does... It certainly does. He must be expecting her soul at the end of all of this.
[And he's sure the Lady is aware... So what does she intend to do to get around that little caveat? He'd certainly like to see how that goes down.]
But you had better not be thinking of asking him for favors of your own, Iago. The goal is to keep our souls intact!
Oh, don't worry, I backed down as soon as he confirmed what I wanted to know. There isn't anything he could offer that would be worth my soul. I simply had to get a little more creative with my tactics than usual, but I promise he did nothing to me.
[...]
It's sweet that you're worried about me, but I promise I won't leave you so soon.
[How is he supposed to resist teasing, huh!!!! Anyway.]
As for the Lady... She's current worried that one of us is going to sneak through the sewers to try to attack her and Rembrandt, which is a terribly stupid idea. It does confirm that such a thing would be possible, but if I let anyone else know that then we really would have to worry about someone doing something that stupid. It's for the best to remain in the Lady's good graces for now.
After all, she's said that she won't kill us all next week - she'll simply allow us to return to our homes, and those that want to stay with her may do so.
[He waves a hand at that.]
Obviously there's no telling if she's actually being honest or if things will go that way. But for whatever it's worth, she did say she had fun here and seemed sincere about the whole thing.
She did also say that traveling between worlds is an option, she isn't forced to return us to wherever we came from. It doesn't seem to be an easy process, but she said she could potentially make it that easy, she just doesn't see the point in it.
[You know exactly why he asked about it. And if the Lady could figure it out, then so can Dist.]
I also learned more about her family, if you want to hear that.
[A trace of pink graces his cheeks as he looks away for a brief moment.]
I would certainly hope so.
[But at least he doesn't have to worry about Iago losing his soul in some crazy deal. They can figure this all out without Rembrandt's assistance.
With that matter settled, he listens to what Iago has to say about the Lady.]
Oh, well that is good to know. [This comment comes when Iago speaks about traveling between worlds. He can read between the lines, yes.] She told me about her own world, actually. Apparently, those with genius like ours are the ones in power there. That is why she took a liking to me- apparently I would fit in rather nicely among the scientists of her world. And you could make quite an empire for yourself if we were to join her there.
[But that's mostly an idle thought along the lines of "haha, just kidding...unless?"]
But yes, I would like to hear what she told you about her family. I gleaned a little about it myself when I spoke to her earlier. We can compare notes.
[Can't believe we're going to take over the lady's world... But anyway, he is going to file that thought away for later, since he never would have assumed Dist would be interested in going anywhere else after all this is over. Something to ask about later!]
That lines up well with what she told me. She told me quite a bit about her father, she seemed very fond of him. Apparently his name was "Lucifer, like the demon". [which means nothing to him...] He apparently worked on animal augmenting and biology. It was through him that the Lady learned how to increase an animal's intelligence, strength, and abilities, which explains that disgusting bug in the lab. She said she usually prefers insects because of the horrid things that can be done with them and spread through them, but her experiments haven't been successful in this world.
[WE'D ALL BE DEAD OTHERWISE.]
She mentioned "heroes" and that her father "turned onto the good side" when she got married, but I'm not entirely sure what that means. Oh, and she's married, and absolutely furious with her husband. I've never seen her get so angry about anything before and she clearly wants him dead. I changed the topic of conversation quickly after that.
The rest of her family apparently laughs about her father's death in a "freak airship explosion" so it sounds like her entire family is a bit... strange.
Somehow, I am not at all surprised to hear any of this.
[It's a little more than what he's been made aware of, but it helps slot some puzzle pieces into place.]
Those born with a spark of genius in her world tend to be strange like that, from what I understand. There are long-running families of ambitious scientists in her world, and she is part of one. She told me about her father and siblings as well, and how they used to aid him in his projects until she went out on her own to make a name for herself.
Her current specialty is preserving memories and consciousness in a backup device, to be copied and transplanted to other brains.
Really. So that explains how she's able to take over other bodies as she sees fit...
[On the one hand, terrifying! On the other, that's so fascinating...]
She really is quite an interesting person. Technology like that certainly would make it nearly impossible for her to die through normal means as long as she has another brain she can use, correct?
That seems likely; they did say this arrangement is only a temporary one. If I'm not mistaken, she wants this body to die as well. If so, it would be easy enough to offer that body's soul instead of her own, which would fulfill Rembrandt's contract and allow her to continue taking over others' bodies without worry about her own life ending.
[How devious!! His reaction to this probably shouldn't be "well played, Lady" but we have already established that Iago enjoys villainy.]
I'm curious if this process kills the host of the body she's in. It seems unlikely that they have any sort of control over their body, but...
[Actually, wait.]
Pizza mentioned that there is another there with them in the Twilight, "Ruby". She was from this world and supposed to save it. Perhaps she is the body the Lady has taken over. Her soul still exists... Could that explain why the Lady wants the Twilight destroyed? Though admittedly I'm not entirely sure how that would impact her contract with Rembrandt...
[Really, the longer this has gone on, the more Dist has come to respect the Lady's work. That definitely shouldn't be his takeaway, and yet here we are...]
Here is the only issue that I have with that hypothesis: from multiple interactions, I can only assume that in actuality, the Lady does not know about the Twilight. Whatever the dead are doing with the electricity there has thoroughly baffled her.
Originally, she considered that the power coming on in various buildings was a residual effect of her project, but further testing—which I actually observed with her in person—has disproved that. She has no idea where the power is coming from.
Rembrandt, then? I've been careful with how much I've said about the deceased, but he did say something strange. He mentioned that souls don't linger after their vessel dies. I assumed that meant he was unaware of the presence of the dead, but what if that was simply attempting to bait me into saying something about them, or otherwise hint that he knows they're still around?
I'm not sure what the benefit for him would be. Perhaps if the contract isn't fulfilled, he gets her soul. It's certainly possible that there's much more at stake here, though.
[Hmm...]
I had initially theorized that turning one against the other would be the best way to proceed, but I was unable to find any means to do just that. Now, though... Perhaps we can find a way to make that a reality. We do need to be careful, and I'm not entirely certain how things will go should we attempt to break up their partnership. It's an idea, at least.
[Dist pauses to mull that over, squinting and rubbing his chin. Something about this is odd...]
By "vessels", I assume he meant our bodies. Didn't Hyoubu mention something about vessels tonight? If we die here, our souls go into Zero-State- whatever that means. But they don't leave. Perhaps there is something strange going on with the Twilight that isn't severing our souls like Rembrandt is used to observing.
[But they still don't even know what the hell the Lady actually needs from them. Is it their souls?! But then where are they actually being kept, if she doesn't know about the Twilight? So many questions, still...]
But yes, that is certainly not a bad plan to keep on the backburner should we need it. We can also continue to encourage those in the Twilight to keep powering things on this side, as apparently it can end up causing a lot of problems for the Lady if it gets bad enough.
That's a good point. I'm honestly not entirely sure what he meant by... most of what he wrote.
[hyoubu please, not all of us understand chatspeak.]
There's much we don't have answers for just yet. For the time being, we should focus on doing what we can to learn more; keeping these sorts of things in mind is important, but if we do too much, we risk upsetting the Lady or Rembrandt and possibly dying.
[So like everything else here, it's a balancing act. Yet another challenge to overcome.]
For now, we need to worry about the incentive and whatever death comes next. [sigh!!] Ah, speaking of that, I was wondering if you would be fine with Cumore staying with us tomorrow night. While an alibi from the three of us may not hold much weight with the others, it would be better than leaving him on his own.
[not that he's still mad about almost everyone not believing him!!! nope!!!!!]
Of course. For right now, I believe we have made significant progress. Thank you for working with Rembrandt and the Lady as much as you have. Compiling our information has worked out splendidly, and I can feel us getting ever-closer to the truth.
[He's so proud.
As for that last bit...]
Oh, but of course! That would be just fine with me. Have you asked him about it yet, or was he the one to bring it up?
Ah, yes! [He turns Iago's attention to the table.] First, I want to craft a mechanism for the robot to absorb the force of one of those pulses so it doesn't shatter on impact. Then, I will want a device to read various aspects of the pulse...
[Legit, he can go on for ages about this thing. He goes over the blueprint draft that he sketched out earlier, talks about what pieces of scrap will go to which parts of the robot, what tools he's going to need to fish out of drawers, and so on.
All of the awkward stuff is forgotten about. For now.]
[After a very enjoyable evening in which Dist proved once again that he is the smartest person here and did the very dangerous thing of teaching Iago more about robots, Iago slipped out to go speak with Cumore. It doesn't take long.
When he returns he looks like he's somewhere between trying to fight off a headache and about two seconds from just flinging his circlet into the wall again.]
Why did I think that would work.
[He at least has the decency to get the door closed and lean back against it before that but ughhhhhhh.]
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Oh, I certainly won't fight you on it. But really, I will be fine. You needn't do this every night. I wouldn't want to overwork my loyal and attentive assistant.
[Still...he does find it sweet. Because it is.]
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[He has been slowly going insane over the past several weeks and he already reached his breaking point so it's!! fine!!!! Just let him aggressively
fuss over youfocus on work, that always solves all of his problems.]no subject
[He sets the scrap down on the work station that he has claimed for himself, and offers Iago a spot next to him.]
This was quite a night, wasn't it? Have you broken new ground as of yesterday?
[Because he sure has, and not just regarding the Twilight crew.]
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We certainly do have a lot to think about.
[He doesn't care at all about any of the dead besides Pizza, but now he actually has to try to figure out what to do about them. Ugh... This is what he deserves for letting himself get attached to someone stupid enough to die.]
I've learned quite a few interesting things from both the Lady and Rembrandt; I hadn't anticipated either of those conversations going quite the way they did, but I'm certainly not complaining about more information. Which would you care to hear about first?
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He leans back against the work station's counter, eager to hear just about any of this, really. So Iago talked to the Lady too?]
Let's start with Rembrandt, since we were talking about him yesterday. Did he actually have something to offer you this time?
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I did learn that "Rembrandt Meijer" is not his original name. "Rembrandt" is the name of a famous painter, apparently. This isn't a name he gave himself and it isn't an alias, but it is his current name.
He also said "I am whatever the Lady needs me to be", which is something he's told me before. It's partially because he wants to be, and partially because she's forcing him to be, from the sound of it. [He said they're both true and false, whatever the hell that means.] And he confirmed that his powers have always existed with him, that they are a part of him and weren't something he was taught.
But most importantly, I have all but confirmed that he is a demon in some sort of pact with the Lady.
[His expression shifts here into something darkly pleased.]
I asked him for a favor - a rather brutal, dreadful one I'd rather not repeat - to see what he would want of me in return. After so long of talking to him, I was certain that I could get away with asking without any negative repercussions, and I was right. In this purely hypothetical situation I offered him, he would have asked for my soul as payment. I think we can agree that those are likely the same terms of the contract he has with the Lady, don't you?
[He does the Lady's dirty work and in return, he gets her soul once she's dead.]
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It does... It certainly does. He must be expecting her soul at the end of all of this.
[And he's sure the Lady is aware... So what does she intend to do to get around that little caveat? He'd certainly like to see how that goes down.]
But you had better not be thinking of asking him for favors of your own, Iago. The goal is to keep our souls intact!
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[...]
It's sweet that you're worried about me, but I promise I won't leave you so soon.
[How is he supposed to resist teasing, huh!!!! Anyway.]
As for the Lady... She's current worried that one of us is going to sneak through the sewers to try to attack her and Rembrandt, which is a terribly stupid idea. It does confirm that such a thing would be possible, but if I let anyone else know that then we really would have to worry about someone doing something that stupid. It's for the best to remain in the Lady's good graces for now.
After all, she's said that she won't kill us all next week - she'll simply allow us to return to our homes, and those that want to stay with her may do so.
[He waves a hand at that.]
Obviously there's no telling if she's actually being honest or if things will go that way. But for whatever it's worth, she did say she had fun here and seemed sincere about the whole thing.
She did also say that traveling between worlds is an option, she isn't forced to return us to wherever we came from. It doesn't seem to be an easy process, but she said she could potentially make it that easy, she just doesn't see the point in it.
[You know exactly why he asked about it. And if the Lady could figure it out, then so can Dist.]
I also learned more about her family, if you want to hear that.
[He got so much dirt from that conversation.]
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I would certainly hope so.
[But at least he doesn't have to worry about Iago losing his soul in some crazy deal. They can figure this all out without Rembrandt's assistance.
With that matter settled, he listens to what Iago has to say about the Lady.]
Oh, well that is good to know. [This comment comes when Iago speaks about traveling between worlds. He can read between the lines, yes.] She told me about her own world, actually. Apparently, those with genius like ours are the ones in power there. That is why she took a liking to me- apparently I would fit in rather nicely among the scientists of her world. And you could make quite an empire for yourself if we were to join her there.
[But that's mostly an idle thought along the lines of "haha, just kidding...unless?"]
But yes, I would like to hear what she told you about her family. I gleaned a little about it myself when I spoke to her earlier. We can compare notes.
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That lines up well with what she told me. She told me quite a bit about her father, she seemed very fond of him. Apparently his name was "Lucifer, like the demon". [which means nothing to him...] He apparently worked on animal augmenting and biology. It was through him that the Lady learned how to increase an animal's intelligence, strength, and abilities, which explains that disgusting bug in the lab. She said she usually prefers insects because of the horrid things that can be done with them and spread through them, but her experiments haven't been successful in this world.
[WE'D ALL BE DEAD OTHERWISE.]
She mentioned "heroes" and that her father "turned onto the good side" when she got married, but I'm not entirely sure what that means. Oh, and she's married, and absolutely furious with her husband. I've never seen her get so angry about anything before and she clearly wants him dead. I changed the topic of conversation quickly after that.
The rest of her family apparently laughs about her father's death in a "freak airship explosion" so it sounds like her entire family is a bit... strange.
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[It's a little more than what he's been made aware of, but it helps slot some puzzle pieces into place.]
Those born with a spark of genius in her world tend to be strange like that, from what I understand. There are long-running families of ambitious scientists in her world, and she is part of one. She told me about her father and siblings as well, and how they used to aid him in his projects until she went out on her own to make a name for herself.
Her current specialty is preserving memories and consciousness in a backup device, to be copied and transplanted to other brains.
[Sound familiar?]
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[On the one hand, terrifying! On the other, that's so fascinating...]
She really is quite an interesting person. Technology like that certainly would make it nearly impossible for her to die through normal means as long as she has another brain she can use, correct?
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That is my understanding, yes. That is probably why she intends to abandon her current body once this is all over.
[...wait.]
You don't suppose she's going to use the soul of that body for Rembrandt's payment?
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[How devious!! His reaction to this probably shouldn't be "well played, Lady" but we have already established that Iago enjoys villainy.]
I'm curious if this process kills the host of the body she's in. It seems unlikely that they have any sort of control over their body, but...
[Actually, wait.]
Pizza mentioned that there is another there with them in the Twilight, "Ruby". She was from this world and supposed to save it. Perhaps she is the body the Lady has taken over. Her soul still exists... Could that explain why the Lady wants the Twilight destroyed? Though admittedly I'm not entirely sure how that would impact her contract with Rembrandt...
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Here is the only issue that I have with that hypothesis: from multiple interactions, I can only assume that in actuality, the Lady does not know about the Twilight. Whatever the dead are doing with the electricity there has thoroughly baffled her.
Originally, she considered that the power coming on in various buildings was a residual effect of her project, but further testing—which I actually observed with her in person—has disproved that. She has no idea where the power is coming from.
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Rembrandt, then? I've been careful with how much I've said about the deceased, but he did say something strange. He mentioned that souls don't linger after their vessel dies. I assumed that meant he was unaware of the presence of the dead, but what if that was simply attempting to bait me into saying something about them, or otherwise hint that he knows they're still around?
I'm not sure what the benefit for him would be. Perhaps if the contract isn't fulfilled, he gets her soul. It's certainly possible that there's much more at stake here, though.
[Hmm...]
I had initially theorized that turning one against the other would be the best way to proceed, but I was unable to find any means to do just that. Now, though... Perhaps we can find a way to make that a reality. We do need to be careful, and I'm not entirely certain how things will go should we attempt to break up their partnership. It's an idea, at least.
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By "vessels", I assume he meant our bodies. Didn't Hyoubu mention something about vessels tonight? If we die here, our souls go into Zero-State- whatever that means. But they don't leave. Perhaps there is something strange going on with the Twilight that isn't severing our souls like Rembrandt is used to observing.
[But they still don't even know what the hell the Lady actually needs from them. Is it their souls?! But then where are they actually being kept, if she doesn't know about the Twilight? So many questions, still...]
But yes, that is certainly not a bad plan to keep on the backburner should we need it. We can also continue to encourage those in the Twilight to keep powering things on this side, as apparently it can end up causing a lot of problems for the Lady if it gets bad enough.
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[hyoubu please, not all of us understand chatspeak.]
There's much we don't have answers for just yet. For the time being, we should focus on doing what we can to learn more; keeping these sorts of things in mind is important, but if we do too much, we risk upsetting the Lady or Rembrandt and possibly dying.
[So like everything else here, it's a balancing act. Yet another challenge to overcome.]
For now, we need to worry about the incentive and whatever death comes next. [sigh!!] Ah, speaking of that, I was wondering if you would be fine with Cumore staying with us tomorrow night. While an alibi from the three of us may not hold much weight with the others, it would be better than leaving him on his own.
[not that he's still mad about almost everyone not believing him!!! nope!!!!!]
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Of course. For right now, I believe we have made significant progress. Thank you for working with Rembrandt and the Lady as much as you have. Compiling our information has worked out splendidly, and I can feel us getting ever-closer to the truth.
[He's so proud.
As for that last bit...]
Oh, but of course! That would be just fine with me. Have you asked him about it yet, or was he the one to bring it up?
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[praise!!!]
No, I haven't asked him just yet. I'll do that tonight before I go to bed; he's been acting a bit odd, so I want to check on him.
[and it goes poorly, but that's fine.]
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That sounds like a wise idea. I've been rather concerned about him, myself... Will you let me know how it goes?
[Oof is how it goes.
But don't worry, Dist will comfort Iago afterwords.]
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[hahahahaha that's gonna be fun.]
Anyway, tell me about what you're working on. I am still very interested in learning, after all.
[let's be nerds and never ever talk about what pizza said or what cumore says in a little while it's fine.]
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[Legit, he can go on for ages about this thing. He goes over the blueprint draft that he sketched out earlier, talks about what pieces of scrap will go to which parts of the robot, what tools he's going to need to fish out of drawers, and so on.
All of the awkward stuff is forgotten about. For now.]
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When he returns he looks like he's somewhere between trying to fight off a headache and about two seconds from just flinging his circlet into the wall again.]
Why did I think that would work.
[He at least has the decency to get the door closed and lean back against it before that but ughhhhhhh.]
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What happened...?
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