[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.]
Cumore is - as always - entirely too abrasive for his own good.
[Ugh, just let him move over to sit on his mattress. As he continues, he gets the mask and circlet off and starts working a brush through his hair.]
He's having something of a crisis about what it is he really wants. He specifically stated that his friendships here don't matter, and that the things he hoped for back home don't matter either. He's on-edge to the point where it's very likely he'll kill someone. He doesn't need the incentive - but he has been interested in killing someone for weeks now.
[His gaze darts at that.]
I attempted to reassure him that we could find a way to proceed from here, that we aren't all going to die here, but he wasn't in the mood to listen. He pointed out that even if he did stay with us, that alibi wouldn't mean anything.
[Which is true, but also extremely agitating. He's also not going to mention the other part about the two of them fawning over each other, that's not important and also it's dumb!!]
I can't pretend I'm entirely blameless; I did say something that... was a bit too harsh, I believe. I saw no reason to be kind about it, but it wasn't exactly what I meant.
[That's what he said, not what he meant, basically. He usually isn't one to mess up like that, but gods it's complicated when someone tells you that nothing matters anymore.]
[...Oookay, it's time to put down his drafting for the night. He pushes himself up from his desk and joins Iago on the floor.
He's very bothered by what he hears, but isn't even sure what to say to all of that at first.]
Not terribly long ago, I spoke with him at the bar. He was clearly struggling with this very thing even back then- convinced that he was going to die here. But I felt I was able to reassure him that we would make sure he didn't die. [He frowns, looking down at the floor.] I...didn't realize he has spiraled even further since then.
[Ugh.]
While it's true that staying with us wouldn't provide a solid alibi, at least it would keep him safe...
I told him weeks ago that if he wants to kill, that's his decision to make. I can't protect him, but I have no intention of throwing him to the wolves unless it becomes necessary.
[It's frustrating because he does like Cumore, and if Cumore dies here then that's just one more person he has to worry about trying to save. Once again he finds himself wishing he never got attached to anyone here.]
I hadn't realized things were getting this bad for him. I should have sought him out earlier, but even then I doubt I could have said anything that would help.
[And just like that, the irritation flickers out like one of the many candles they've all been using since the start here.]
I'm worried about him, but there isn't anything more I can do. It's possible that he's just angry and lashing out at everyone around him and that he'll calm down soon.
[But it's also possible that "lashing out at everyone" means he will kill. There really isn't any way to know for sure.]
Mm... And I sincerely doubt that anything I say would help matters either, if even you couldn't get through to him.
[He doesn't want to stir the pot even more. It's clear that Cumore has something against staying with both of them, so maybe he should keep his distance until things blow over. It's such a shame...
He shakes his head.]
As much as it bothers me, I believe waiting and seeing is all we can do for now. I...truly don't believe he would actually kill- not after everything he has been going on about with regard to keeping ourselves useful. It could have been a facade, but...
[Maybe he's being way too optimistic about it. Maybe it's worse than he thinks. He doesn't really know.]
Well. It is as you say. If the worst case scenario should occur, perhaps we can do what we can to avoid a vote forming around him.
[Iago nods, but after a moment he speaks up, still not looking at Dist.]
If it comes down to it, we have to let him die. We can't risk having them turn against either of us. I don't want to sacrifice him, but...
[But if Cumore kills, he's on his own. They established that weeks ago and Cumore confirmed it tonight. Somehow, it was easier to think about it this way back then.]
That's only if he does kill, and only if they do get close to working it out. It's possible we won't have to worry about it at all.
[Possible, but he's not sure if it's likely at this point.]
[That is said after Iago initially trails off. He knew it might come to this as soon as he started feeling connected to some of the people here- that one day, he might have to prioritize his life over one of theirs.
The fact that death isn't the end only helps by a margin. Rescuing them isn't guaranteed, after all. They don't even know what to do to save those in Twilight.
...
He shakes his head again, and reaches up to gently guide Iago to look at him.]
We can keep all of this in mind, but let us not dwell on it. Tomorrow, we will get back to work. That is the best thing to do.
[He allows the touch and looks at Dist; the shyness from the first time he stayed in here and removed his mask has abated quite a bit since then, but he still finds it sort of difficult to make direct eye contact so easily.]
I know. [One of his hands comes up to rest over Dist's; tentatively, like he's worried the touch will get Dist to draw back. He leans into Dist's hand without thinking about it.] We keep moving forward, regardless of what happens. We don't have much of a choice anymore. I'm not going to die here, and neither are you.
[Dist has been nothing but patient- if anything, seeing Iago shy about anything is very endearing. His hand doesn't budge when Iago touches it, but it does make Dist smile ever so slightly.
And if Iago happens to fight his way into some eye contact, he might catch the smallest flash of surprise on Dist's face when he leans into his hand- like his heart might have just fluttered and it caught him off guard.]
Of course. We are on the cusp of blowing this case wide open. The others will be absolutely amazed by how much we have come to learn and deduce. They will regret ever doubting us.
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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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[Ugh, just let him move over to sit on his mattress. As he continues, he gets the mask and circlet off and starts working a brush through his hair.]
He's having something of a crisis about what it is he really wants. He specifically stated that his friendships here don't matter, and that the things he hoped for back home don't matter either. He's on-edge to the point where it's very likely he'll kill someone. He doesn't need the incentive - but he has been interested in killing someone for weeks now.
[His gaze darts at that.]
I attempted to reassure him that we could find a way to proceed from here, that we aren't all going to die here, but he wasn't in the mood to listen. He pointed out that even if he did stay with us, that alibi wouldn't mean anything.
[Which is true, but also extremely agitating. He's also not going to mention the other part about the two of them fawning over each other, that's not important and also it's dumb!!]
I can't pretend I'm entirely blameless; I did say something that... was a bit too harsh, I believe. I saw no reason to be kind about it, but it wasn't exactly what I meant.
[That's what he said, not what he meant, basically. He usually isn't one to mess up like that, but gods it's complicated when someone tells you that nothing matters anymore.]
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He's very bothered by what he hears, but isn't even sure what to say to all of that at first.]
Not terribly long ago, I spoke with him at the bar. He was clearly struggling with this very thing even back then- convinced that he was going to die here. But I felt I was able to reassure him that we would make sure he didn't die. [He frowns, looking down at the floor.] I...didn't realize he has spiraled even further since then.
[Ugh.]
While it's true that staying with us wouldn't provide a solid alibi, at least it would keep him safe...
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[It's frustrating because he does like Cumore, and if Cumore dies here then that's just one more person he has to worry about trying to save. Once again he finds himself wishing he never got attached to anyone here.]
I hadn't realized things were getting this bad for him. I should have sought him out earlier, but even then I doubt I could have said anything that would help.
[And just like that, the irritation flickers out like one of the many candles they've all been using since the start here.]
I'm worried about him, but there isn't anything more I can do. It's possible that he's just angry and lashing out at everyone around him and that he'll calm down soon.
[But it's also possible that "lashing out at everyone" means he will kill. There really isn't any way to know for sure.]
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[He doesn't want to stir the pot even more. It's clear that Cumore has something against staying with both of them, so maybe he should keep his distance until things blow over. It's such a shame...
He shakes his head.]
As much as it bothers me, I believe waiting and seeing is all we can do for now. I...truly don't believe he would actually kill- not after everything he has been going on about with regard to keeping ourselves useful. It could have been a facade, but...
[Maybe he's being way too optimistic about it. Maybe it's worse than he thinks. He doesn't really know.]
Well. It is as you say. If the worst case scenario should occur, perhaps we can do what we can to avoid a vote forming around him.
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If it comes down to it, we have to let him die. We can't risk having them turn against either of us. I don't want to sacrifice him, but...
[But if Cumore kills, he's on his own. They established that weeks ago and Cumore confirmed it tonight. Somehow, it was easier to think about it this way back then.]
That's only if he does kill, and only if they do get close to working it out. It's possible we won't have to worry about it at all.
[Possible, but he's not sure if it's likely at this point.]
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[That is said after Iago initially trails off. He knew it might come to this as soon as he started feeling connected to some of the people here- that one day, he might have to prioritize his life over one of theirs.
The fact that death isn't the end only helps by a margin. Rescuing them isn't guaranteed, after all. They don't even know what to do to save those in Twilight.
...
He shakes his head again, and reaches up to gently guide Iago to look at him.]
We can keep all of this in mind, but let us not dwell on it. Tomorrow, we will get back to work. That is the best thing to do.
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I know. [One of his hands comes up to rest over Dist's; tentatively, like he's worried the touch will get Dist to draw back. He leans into Dist's hand without thinking about it.] We keep moving forward, regardless of what happens. We don't have much of a choice anymore. I'm not going to die here, and neither are you.
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And if Iago happens to fight his way into some eye contact, he might catch the smallest flash of surprise on Dist's face when he leans into his hand- like his heart might have just fluttered and it caught him off guard.]
Of course. We are on the cusp of blowing this case wide open. The others will be absolutely amazed by how much we have come to learn and deduce. They will regret ever doubting us.
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It's about time they finally realize how useful we are.
[Not that they've really had any reason to doubt Dist, but still!! Validation.]
Perhaps I'll even get a chance to get Rideaux killed.
[It's obviously a joke, but also oh my god. This does not seem to have impacted the mood at all on his end. Dist, you can do so much better.]
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