coineater | Labyrinthum Inbox.

Wouldn't think a puppet would care about much at all.

[And yet!! A strange one, for sure.]

Well... Before. But when monsters are overrunning your city is an odd time for that. Not exactly practical in a fight, either...not that it stopped him.

[She smiles a little at that. True enough, whatever processing a puppet of his world is imbued with, it no doubt pales in comparison to real emotion.]

Mmm. Was he good in a fight?

[She pauses with that question and seems to reconsider asking it... then tilts her head a little as she reassess both him and his information. Their conflicting interests, his wariness of the other arriving here, and now this. The pieces fit together in a way that she doesn't quite care for.]

Did you fight him yourself?

According to my sister. He made it through scrapes I certainly wouldn't want to deal with.

[Of course, his survival wasn't much of a mystery, if the famous Geppetto, the infamous Venigni, and that feisty blacksmith girl the Hound had complained about were all on his side. Not to mention that...strange prisoner.

The other question is a little harder, and he thinks of two scars, one on his back and the other on his front, but that lined up near-perfectly. He doesn't want to think much about it -- he thinks too much about it when he tires out too quickly or wakes up with throbbing hands.

Besides, he doubts it was a fight so much as just pathetic splashing about from him. He hadn't been enough.]

Only a little. But I tried to get along, before. [...He almost sounds wistful. A child that's been trying to make a friend and failing.] He had gold coin fruit, you see. Even gave us one, once.

[So he was no push-over, then... Or that was Cat's impression as relayed by his sister. That's how she chooses to take this bit of hearsay, though she doubts that a "puppet" would give her much trouble. None of the Agency's ever did.]

[His answer to her second question isn't as illuminating as she would have liked it to be. Is she thinking too much about this?... Did he hurt you? she wants to ask, but she likes the framing of that even less than the idea of this match-up in the first place.]

How nice of him. [It sounds vaguely like she thinks the opposite of that.] Only one?

[It's hard to tell how to balance his feelings, with his genuine amusement at Blue's tone, his anger at it all, and the feeling of loss for what could have been.]

One is a lot! [It hadn't been enough, but he'd been in gleeful disbelief when the puppet had handed it over with only a hint of pause.] Maybe even the only one he had -- though I doubt it, heh. Even someone without a brain can't be that stupid.

[Cat sighs, closing his eyes as best he can. It's tiring, thinking of it again.]

...Just a couple more, and we would've had it. We could've been done.

Edited 2024-11-11 20:16 (UTC)

[With his eyes closed, Blue resumes brushing Cat's hair with her fingers, taking advantage of his tiredness though not dismissing it from her thoughts. He sounds worn down in places, and she doesn't doubt that he's been through a lot. But there's something in his tone that still doesn't sit right with her.]

It's not like you to sound so defeated.

[Not like this. Not in a way that sounds so final, hung in the heavy trappings of past tense. She knows that he has no interest in going back to his world, but if they were so close, then that begs the question, why not?]

Why does it give me the impression that there is something you're not saying?

Tch. There's always something I'm not saying. That's just good sense.

[His mumble is a little surly, though he's not actually annoyed or trying to wiggle out of anything. It's not like he's always a chatterbox, though -- and even when he was, it wasn't like he lost control of himself and shared every little thought he had!

...Is he hiding it? Not really. It's just more bothersome to bring up than things need to be. It wasn't like it could change anything anyway. Not opening his eyes (or eye, rather) Cat tries to cozy in a little more, giving in to the soothing touch. This odd duck business was hardly interesting enough that he couldn't put it away for a little longer before looking for an opening.]

Who cares? Besides... Once my sister gets here, it's the same as if we'd finished the job, you know? We won't have to worry all the time, or do that sort of thing... We just get to be a family, like normal.

I care.

[She shouldn't have to say as much; he knows already, doesn't he? But she states it for the record, stopping just short of saying that his evasiveness is worrying her. Could she say more? Perhaps. But so could he. And since he doesn't, she resigns herself to letting him steer his chattering to where he likes.]

[The mention of his sister is... not a welcome topic, but she continues brushing her fingers through his hair as he makes himself more cozy against her lap. So long as the girl is a distant potential, she poses no real threat to this equilibrium they've brokered. And she'd like to know more about the kind of life Cat sees himself in.]

...Is that what you want most? The opportunity to be a normal family?

[There's no reason to feel guilty at her admission -- it isn't a surprise, and he isn't going out of his way to keep her from finding things out in particular, really! The more she pressed, though... It's a lot easier to think when she seems to allow the conversation to move on. This is a happier topic, for sure. Well... It had its own drawbacks, some regrets, but it was still more achievable than him not dying.]

Of course. That's what it's all been about. If I didn't have this illness, we probably could have gotten it by now -- all the doctors and treatments gave our savings a beating.

[...What he wants most... Yes. Yes, that's the real answer, no matter what wish had been used to make a contract with Vaeros.]

[She hums, quiet and thoughtful as she files this information away. Savings... So money was still an issue. She supposes it would be for two people living in a city, even as she wonders if there are other options that he's considered--or if he's thought to consider them at all.]

What sort of home do you imagine making? A house, a cottage? In the mountains or by the sea? Would you go to another city and try your luck there, or would it be just the two of you in the countryside?

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