[closed] we shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us

[ignoreher]

WHO: Malkuth & Others
WHAT: Various threads for April (hmu for starters if needed!!!)
WHERE: Pretty much anywhere
WHEN: Anytime during April
WARNINGS: probable violence, drinking, cannibalism, sex, spoilers for Lobotomy Corporation & Library of Ruina will be marked as needed

Comments

[ignoreher]

You're really doing the bare minimum, huh?

[ but she's more amused than annoyed, and malkuth's eyes return to their natural brown as she moves towards a tree with little hesitation to work at the snare's mechanism. no, she wouldn't leave him hanging there. enjoy your somewhat jerky descent down. ]

... I had a timer going the moment I saw you hanging, so I was prepared to let you go when it dinged anyway. I don't want to cause others pain like I did before.

[frostfist]

[ He doesn't answer immediately, waiting until after she's lowered him to the ground and he's back on his feet, working to dislodge the rope off his ankle. ]

What can I say? I like to remain mysterious. But thanks.

[ How else is he supposed to keep people on their toes?? or lure them in with his boundless charm? Not that they're here to talk about him now that he's done his duty, and he will in fact be immediately pivoting the conversation towards her. At least he gave her due credit for lowering him down. ]

'Before'? You mean at that library of yours?

[ignoreher]

No, before even that. I stood behind a bunch of screens and watched people walk right into their death again, again, and again, all because it was more efficient to tell them to suffer than to change anything.

[ malkuth lingers by the tree, then ducks behind it. don't worry, she's still there. it's just

she doesn't really want to look at him, no more than she would anyone else. no more than she has anyone else. but her tone is frank and even, stating the facts of another workplace ten years old. ]

The ones that were weak, that hesitated or gave up, who's mental strength wasn't as good as others... ended up dying. Some might call them lucky. The ones who didn't, who were stronger and resilient, ended up going a long, long way in the Wing, and I watched as my employees became mockeries of themselves. Of humanity. All with a smile... or as much of one as my form allowed me. Because that was the sort of job I was set to do, and one I took pride in.

[frostfist]

[ It's a few more seconds before he wrangles the rope off, and then he's free to direct his gaze over to Malkuth. Or more accurately, the tree blocking Malkuth from view. But he can take a hint and stays standing right where he is, rolling his shoulders and tipping his head from side to side to redirect bloodflow to his extremities rather than just his head.

That's all the noise there is as he listens to her speak, the frown on his face deepening the more she speaks. It all prompts a lot of questions but unlike a certain someone he's content to simply mull over the tidbits given to him. He's gotten a sense of the disparity between personalities and experiences of all the Outsiders LILITH has brought here, and the variance between places and nations and worlds, but after listening to Malkuth and Ishmael and Rodya, man....this City of theirs sure is one fucked up place. ]

What changed?

[ignoreher]

I wonder.

[ what had changed? she didn't die like they'd planned? even after she'd recalled her first life, she'd stepped back and teased him that, silly as it was, he treated them almost as if they were humans rather than the AI they thought they were. what had changed? ]

I guess I did. Especially after I started working at the Library... I was forcefully given another chance and I hadn't liked how I treated everyone who worked under me back then, so I stopped. I knew what it was like to be thrown aside.

[ just like she had them. but unlike that man, she'd always instructed the manager to look into the eyes of the dying. to acknowledge them, their suffering, the circumstances he had put them into. to understand... and experience it himself. ]

Unfortunately, I'm still a little more ruthless than a normal person should be. Sorry for going to such extremes, Wriothesley. I'm opportunistic.

[frostfist]

[ Given another chance, huh? Interesting that she should phrase it like that, when he's spent the latter half of his life believing in - and granting others - second chances. When he himself had been given a second chance. ]

Can't blame you for it, given the environment you were in.

[ No one comes out of something like that with a flawless personality. He certainly hadn't. ]

All things considered, you're a lot kinder than I would have expected. Certainly not someone that deserves to be thrown aside—even if you did coerce that last answer out of me. But thanks, by the way. [ For lowering him down. ]

[ignoreher]

[ that's sweet of him to say, and her appreciative smile pops out from behind the tree. malkuth follows soon after. ]

Of course! You're my friend -- or I'd like to be friends, anyway, so I wasn't just gonna leave you hanging. Can I make it up to you somehow? Answer a few questions of my own, buy you a round of drinks?

[frostfist]

Still on your friend-making journey, I see.

[ But her persistence is kind of cute, even if he is definitely going to be doing his best to turn her attention onto literally any person other than him. Malkuth and March, truly the terror twins. ]

I'll take a raincheck on the questions though. I can't think of any worthwhile ones off the top of my head.

[ Maybe after he does some digging on this Kaito of hers.... ]