• Ϯѻɼϯʉɼɛɗ • →ʂlคvɛ ɼp← f u l l

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

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[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence went as rigid as a board when Passion touched him; it didn't seem possible that he could get even more tense, but he did. The eyes that watched her were full of a dull resignation, and it was clear that he was expecting even worse news. Well, get it over with, his carefully blank features said.

When she blurted out her answer, he didn't react for a moment or two, apparently processing what she'd said. Slowly, he lifted a brow.

"...Is that so."

He didn't believe her, that much was obvious. Not even for a second. Perhaps he thought, at best, that she had some crazy idea of her own; maybe he thought that she was trying to get him to go along with it by saying it was their master's idea.

"And how do you--excuse me, does he intend to do that?"  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Passion went on to explain softly about how the master new he had taught Reticence how to fly the ships, and he would be away for ...what had he said? three?days.
She recalled their conversation as word for word as she could.
She could see he wasn't believing her but what else could she do? she removed her hand from his knee and stood, pacing the room. "What else could he have said to hint he wants to save you?!? If he is so smart, wouldn't he be the type to carefully choose his words?"

one last turn, "You just have to act on it."  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

poof  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: I'm sorry. Health has me so fogged lately that I actually entirely forgot this RP was a thing. OTL))

Reticence looked unconvinced, despite Passion's increasingly--well, passionate attempts to prove it to him. When she had finally finished talking and looked like she would hold still for a moment, he dropped the question that would probably prove hard to answer.

"Why?" he asked, his voice too cool and too calm. "Why would he want to save me, Passion? Tell me that." There was a hint of a crack on the last word. "I'm his slave, not his son. I'm an embarrassment, a sin. If anyone found out, I wouldn't be the only one to die."

He spoke as though he knew Keshval culture, and after all those years, he probably did. "Why wouldn't he just let me go, knowing that? What am I worth that he would sacrifice a ship, and all of his slaves--because you know he knows I'd take Curiosity and Naïveté with me. And you, too, now."

Standing up, he opened his eyes again. Fixed her with the full power of them. "So tell me why."  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

((S'alright. lol but this is the last thing keeping me on gaia, I'm so caught up in where this story is going, I really don't want to give up on it XD So, don't mind my persistence))

She was taken aback by the grand gesture of being included in the group, but didn't act on the sense of glee it brought her, given her and Retisence's past arguments.

"You know him much much better than I do. I haven't been here very long, compared to the rest of you...especially not you. You know him the best."
Passion straightened and met his gaze,

"Are you telling me that in the entirety of you're knowing him, he never had one weak spot for you...never showed ONE bit of emotion? Are you telling me you never noticed that old folded up note he was ever so careful trying not to let me see? Honestly?"

She was growing in stature, still the petite build that she was, her voice and aura even seemed to grow as she was putting things together.

"You never noticed how much he unconditionally TRUSTS you? Or ...you say slaves come and go, but YOU'RE still here. He's spared YOU."

She was practically in his face now, chest to chest, but without trying to be threatening.
She stepped back finally, and added more quietly. Almost a whisper.
"Are you telling me you're that thick?"  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: That's...actually super flattering. I will try to be better in future. As soon as Calculus is over and I can think again. OTL))

Reticence looked as though he were about to snap at her--which was at least more lively than he'd been acting earlier. Then he seemed to think better of it. Taking a long, slow breath, he turned away from her. "No. He hasn't. I'm useful, Passion, and as long as I'm useful he wants to keep me around. That's it, that's all."

There was something under the blankness in his voice. It might have been pain. "He's never...I've never...you know." For such an articulate young man, these stumbling, confused words were anything but usual. "Never."

And it was even true--to Reticence, who had never known what it was to love or to be loved. He knew what it was to be depended on (by other slaves), to be friend and guide and protector, interesting (to his master) and to be alone. He'd lived here so long that the rest of the human condition was unknown to him.

If Passion asked Curiosity or Naïveté, they who knew how to recognize love, she might get a different answer.

"Now," he said, trying to sound as brisk as usual and not quite managing it, "did he have any instructions for while he'd be away?"  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

((lol, fair enough))

"Don't make me hug you, Reticence! I'll do it!"
This was the worst threat she had.

How could he not see?
She was starting to lose it. The control she'd been working so hard to keep together... Passion turned quickly, punching the wall in her anger, and bloodying her knuckles.

"For someone so smart, you're awful dumb! His instructions? Can I make this any clearer? LEAVE!" to this she was done, she opened the door, slamming it into the wall, and ran through the mazes of doors, somehow just knowing where to go.

If she couldn't make him realize, she would have to convince the master to break the barrier.
If there was ever a chance to ear a new name, it was going to be Persuasion.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

As Passion ran through the hallways, she nearly hit an open door. Curiosity, who'd been coming out, staggered backwards. "Cripes, M--Passion, what is it?"

He rubbed his mildly bruised knuckles as he frowned at her. She looked mad. If she'd been talking to Reticence, then maybe she'd gotten that anger from him...but Reticence hadn't seemed to be in any mood to pick a fight when they'd seen him last.

Shock overwhelmed him again. They were losing him. Reticence was going to leave them, after all this time, just like Solicitude and all the ones before. How could it happen? How could the master decide to do that after so many years?

"Passion," he repeated, more tentatively now. "What's going on?"

If she'd been snapping at Reticence in his current state, he might have more than one person to worry about.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Passion pursed her lips,
"It's become rather clear...that Reticence does not want to be rescued from this made-up fate."

And with that she spun around him and started running again. If she told Curiosity what she wanted to do, he wouldn't let her go through with it.
Around the corner....another corner....down the hall...
So close...  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

And a hand grabbed her arm before she could go on.

"Passion," snapped Curiosity, his voice very close to her ear. "What are you talking about? Where are you going?"

He had longer legs than her. It hadn't been difficult to catch up.

"What do you mean, rescued?"

That was the most important question.

~

Reticence had made his way back through an alternate hallway, skilfully avoiding the others. He didn't want to see them. Didn't want to talk to them. There was only one person he wanted to see.

He knocked, and after a moment, the warm silence let him know that it was all right for him to enter.

Quietly, he opened the door and stepped inside, closing it firmly behind him.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Passion instinctively pulled away, knocking her other shoulder into the wall on the other side of her.
"Did you know he knows how to fly the ships? The master taught him..."

She grabbed at her hair with her free hand, she looked around. Her expression was that of a caged animal. After all of the progress she had made in calming down and getting used to the ship...it was all lost.

Like a mad woman, her eyes were trying to look everywhere at once. She'd lost track....where would she turn next? Was it a left?

"The Master is leaving for 3 days and Reticence knows how to fly the ships... and the Master pointed this OUT to me! That MEANS something. That means he wants him to be saved, right? I know I'm right."

"Yes, yes, yes, I'm right." She was muttering now. The walls were closing in....had his grip on her tightened?...what was happening?

"He has to leave, he has to leave, he has to leave, he has to leave, he has to leave, he has to leave, he has to leave-"  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

bump  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: I'm so sorry for the wait. My thesis semester is happening as we speak and I have begun to curl up in a ball and prepare for death.))

Curiosity held on to her arm firmly. He had the feeling that if he let go, she would be off like a crazed meadowbat again. “Yes,” he said, keeping his voice gentle and trying to calm her with only words. “Yes, I knew. We all knew. He taught Reticence how to use the ships a couple of season cycles ago.”

When Passion continued, he blinked. Frowned. Opened his mouth. Closed it again. “…The master told you about the ships and how long he planned to be gone?” The master never felt the need to tell them how long he would be away.

For the first time since Reticence had told them about his impending departure, Curiosity began to feel hope.

“Passion. Passion. Maxy.”

Once he’d gotten at least a bit of her attention back, he turned her around to face him but didn’t dare risk letting go of her yet. “Okay, yes, he needs to go. The master told you that for a reason. I agree. So if you know that and I know that, what’s the matter?”

Realization hit him like a lightning strike. “…Reticence doesn’t believe it, does he.” It was a statement, not a question. “He doesn’t believe that the master would try to save him.”  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

((S'all good. I'm just glad we're still going with this. So coooool. And I feel you, being a double major, myself.))

Calming down was an impossible task once she started hyperventilating. She met Curiosity's eyes once he said her real name, and nodded quickly, giving her a headache.
"He-he doesn't...he didn't...he won't...He won't..."

And suddenly she was crying. Not just tears, but full out hysterical balling. She didn't know WHY she was so upset.

Reticence had never really been anything but mean to her, but she couldn't let him go to whatever fate there was waiting with these weird and harmful creatures.
She slumped against Curiosity and just cried.

Why did the Master tell HER? Maybe if someone ELSE had told him, he would have believed, but now it was too late and he was doomed. They were all doomed.