Endgame: This is the Way the World Ends - MACHINE ROOM

[animusmods]

Characters: open to those staying in the machine room
Setting: machine room
Format: any
Summary: The time has come to make decisions about what will happen after everything is over.
Warnings: psychological horror (eventually)

Comments

[bowandblade]

You add to your follies by thinking my companion sees something exceptionally different.

Keep your regrets focused elsewhere, if you must have them at all.

[He continues to speak with the same levity.]

[athousandcurses]

[She had been about to turn and leave, but she pauses now.]

Doesn't he? He always struck me as very perceptive, even with his Berserker class...

[And then she does turn, standing for a moment with her back to him, and then shakes her head.]

[bowandblade]

Unless your world's version of my myth is somehow lacking in its detail, it spells our relationship well enough.

[With her back turned, Grainne may realize that Gilgamesh is approaching by the growing closeness of his voice.]

[athousandcurses]

[If she wasn't in a wireframe, she'd describe the sensation prickling along her neck as goosebumps.]

Best of friends.

[Glancing over her shoulder, it's mostly just to gauge how close he really is.]

It's hard to imagine you being friends with anyone. You would suffocate them.

[bowandblade]

[Well, if she wasn't sure how close he was before, he will announce his closeness by flicking two fingers at the back of her head.]

Are you suffocating now? We did not have to keep company constantly to be as we were.

[athousandcurses]

A little.

[A hand reaches up to smooth down her hair.]

That...

[Wait.]

...

[Wait a second.]

Did you just call me a friend?

[That would be the sound of her squeaking like a mouse in disbelief... it must be her imagination.]

[bowandblade]

[He blinks slowly at the question, his expression momentarily frozen.]

[bowandblade]

[Then he scoffs, again flicking at her head with an unimpressed frown.]

I see you have answered my question; your mind has completely suffocated.

[athousandcurses]

[Rubbing at her head again, she sighs.] I didn't think so, but it was a little vague.

[She sounds very relieved. Maybe a little bit too too relieved.]

But at least you admit you suffocate people.

[Is she... teasing there?]

[bowandblade]

No more than what you have attempted to do with that magic water of yours.

[Just thinking about what had happened at that time, he waves a hand dismissively.]

Not that it will do you any good here.

[athousandcurses]

I take very badly to people pulling my hair.

[A small smile appears on her face.]

My geis spell is only one of a number of things I can do with it.

[bowandblade]

I would think so, unless you are the most inept Caster to ever be summoned.

[Really, he wasn't controlled for that long. If he had felt particularly murderous, she would be standing in a different wireframe body right about now.]

[athousandcurses]

The how and why of my summoning and the details of my powers were beyond my control. Never the less...

[She turns slightly to better see him, a cold look on her face.]

A persistent drop of water can still kill a man.

[bowandblade]

[He smirks as she turns, a hand reaching up to grasp her chin despite the expression on her face.]

Yes, yes. And so can a bubble of air. Or a tiny pebble.

Boring deaths.

[athousandcurses]

Less so than stabbing someone with a blade.

[It's a quick counter, and she pulls her chin away.]

I have seen too much of that in life.

[bowandblade]

[And here comes that persistence, as he's right back there again, hand ready to grasp her chin.]

Yet you will fight rather than sit and wait for the end.

[athousandcurses]

[She would turn away to look into the dark room, but this time she doesn't avoid him. Her expression softens a little.]

I go in place of the children who can not.

[bowandblade]

Because you now speak for the children.

[Briefly, his eyes flit in the direction of Zo. There was one child who was going, one way or another.

He adjusts his grip to run his thumb across the edge of her lower lip, once more displeased by the sight of their wireframe bodies. Simply looking at Grainne was like looking through layers of plastic.]

[athousandcurses]

[That prompts her to break his hold, turning her head away.]

No. I wouldn't speak for them.

[For some reason, she looks distinctly uncomfortable with his closeness now.]

[bowandblade]

[He clucks his tongue once, but doesn't pursue again; he's already shifting his feet to walk away.]

So be it. Say your farewells.