[Of all of Raqio's 'check-in's, this one takes the longest to work out. Even with the moment at the lake, they're still keenly embarrassed by their behavior, and maybe a little desperate to not seem like a wackjob to the only advisor they've even halfway respected.]
To start with the most pertinent information:
I did not, nor do I plan on, tell(ing) anyone about the source or nature of what I stole from you. It seems as if the chaos really was more broad than what we experienced, and I'm prepared to take full advantage of that. I also wanted to make sure that you delivered everything to Yuri, not just their Leaf.
For obvious reasons, in light of the recent network posts, I feel it's best to limit discussing such experiences on channels that these fey own, but I trust you feel similarly.
I already told Setsu so I suspect your friends already know, but I'd prefer if no one else found out. It's more useful when people don't know I have it.
...they may not 'know', even if they're now aware. They're considerate like that.
[And absolutely too soft, but this would be the pot complaining to the kettle more than calling it out-]
I've recovered in full, though moreso because it feels distinctly unsafe to be unwell here. That is a great motivator to work tirelessly to recovery.
...
I wanted to ask questions of you, but their personal nature and the increasing awareness has me almost at a loss. I am no stranger to these kinds of surveillance states, but usually they aren't so...mystical-tech. Where do you have covert conversations if the trees can gossip or whatever?? Do we need to worry about the fish at the lake tattling on us????
If you have any ideas, do illuminate me before I go stir-crazy and paranoid.
As far as I can tell most things aren't sapient. I can try monitoring for eavesdroppers... but I think they may be relying on easier methods than putting spies or bugs everywhere: we already carry around the perfect spies in our pockets. (The leafs, they mean. Really, why bother with all that when they can just provide a useful monitoring device and let people do the work for them?)
That may well be true...but their reliance on these devices with souls means that said devices with souls have a choice to make themselves. I think they've taken a great risk, assuming that every single Leaf will kowtow to unseen lords, after extended exposure from sources of nourishment.
[After all, Raqio's little Leaf had been dilligently sticking to their side through their depressive period, with paltry attempts to cheer then up. That could mean something to the overall idea of control. Maybe not so quickly, but...]
...we can meet up where we did training before. I think I can manage to get up there without shuddering like a branch, this time.
Yeah. I think they make their own choices too. I also think betraying their people is a lot to ask, especially since the court rulers can get creative with their punishments.
[Amazingly, Raqio does show up on the roof- but it takes them a while, and they look...no better than they'd been at the lake, when they do arrive. They have a headband on? Or, it looks like one at first, but on drawing closer, it's more obviously revealed to be bandages. No blotchy brown-red spots have seeped through, but given how they keep itching and fidgeting with it, there's clear insecurity about it.
Their head's still in the...well, very bad and stupid conversations they'd just disengaged from. It's probably why they almost look surprised when they snap out of it and look over at Chris, trying to gesture ineffectively to distract from the fidgeting.] I am finally, completely out of eyeliner. I've given up on looking presentable, but I assume you don't give a damn.
(Chris is standing about five feet from the edge, looking out, when Raqio finally arrives. They turn to look at them before they speak, and then they snort after listening.) I'm more worried about how you might have injured your head.
(Not that they'll press if Raqio doesn't want to tell them.)
I scabbed my scalp clipping my feathers...in rather badly, as happens from time to time. [They'd had that excuse all shiny and prepared, because...well, it's usually actually true. The headdress their feathers were adhered to had taken them time to adjust to wearing.] I'm better off not risking further ruin to my outfit anyway. Some of them are coming loose, and I'm not naturally gifted with a sewing kit the way I'd like to be.
(A mildly suspicious look. It's believable enough but something stinks of dishonesty. Still, they don't pry.)
There's probably someone who can help with that. I know how to sew but I mostly just do patches.
(They have several such patches on the pair of pants they brought with them from their world, which is what they're wearing today.
They might have willingly come to meet Raqio but they are not at all eager for anything described as questions of a personal nature, so they zero in on the distraction.)
[They scoff, plopping down to sit on the roof with much less priss than their first month. Already, they're going native.] I'd never be able to handle sloppy stitch-work...there's no handstitchers here, so I'll just have to keep it safe.
[...given their own currently-burning social life, it's not like they're eager to get in to things exactly. Their Leaf is still snuggled up in their pocket, the chain looped around their wrist like a little hug.]
...who deserves apologies more: the living, or the dead?
(They'll move away from the edge and sit down nearby.
...The question gets them to freeze up and blink. Wait what? What's got them asking that? They can't know... no. They kept those parts of their mind shielded. Did something happen?)
Living people can still be helped. (Fixed. Saved.)
You can't make things up to the dead. All you can do is apologize. (Sidestep is gone. Broken without hope of repair, regardless of what Ortega likes to think. They presume it's the same for any dead person Raqio is thinking about.)
[Their poor Leaf chirps as another message comes through, but Raqio almost pointedly ignores it. Their free hand, the one not being clung to by the Leaf itself, reaches back to their pack to turn one of the dials, heaving out a sigh at the same time.]
...that changes, if you can unwind time.
[They look up to Chris blankly, eventually creasing their mouth in to a grimace.] Or, I could have, but I'm stuck here instead. Playing around at...
[They trail off, shrugging their shoulders.] ...I wanted to ask if the...that smothering person from your thoughts, if they're dead. Because it doesn't take a genius to hope that they are, but to know that it's wishful thinking.
I also knew you two have been training on the roof even though you wanted to keep it private because raqio made the private thread on my post so I could still see it
It takes awhile for the next message to show up, though it is less than an hour; after Raqio had tired themself out to sleep at... too early o'clock, Yuri is once again squinting at their phone.]
They're okay now. Don't know how long it'll last, but we did our best for now.
Feel like you deserve a full explanation? You guys were arguing about their stupid plan, right?
Right. You remember the Silver Key you were watching for awhile? I don't know if they ever explained it to you, but it's sort of... a time travel device. Not one you can control, though. It forces you to relive a set period of time across different universes, so that you can gather the information that it's seeking. That's what it feeds on.
[It helps to keep it vague, given the suspicions around the network, but it also helps that Yuri doesn't actually know how to explain the specifics-]
I never knew how they got it. But they were planning on using it to take revenge on someone that had killed someone important to them. If you don't get the information the Key wants, it's possible to just keep looping through world-lines for eternity. And I guess that's what they wanted. To just keep killing them over and over again without escaping.
...Even if you did kill someone in one world-line, they wouldn't remember it in the next. The Key moves you to a new world-line if you die in one, so I don't even know if you'd ever be able to die.
I don't think they do. I do. It's terrifying. Sometimes you're stuck with no way out, even when you do want to escape.
[Had Raqio told them about either them or Setsu having the Key? Yuri didn't really mind if they did, but it suddenly felt like such an insignificant problem.]
But that's not the kind of argument that works on them, you know?
Whatever happened to them is enough they don't care how bad it is.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
UN: minmem (text)
Date: 2026-04-07 03:11 pm (UTC)To start with the most pertinent information:
I did not, nor do I plan on, tell(ing) anyone about the source or nature of what I stole from you. It seems as if the chaos really was more broad than what we experienced, and I'm prepared to take full advantage of that. I also wanted to make sure that you delivered everything to Yuri, not just their Leaf.
For obvious reasons, in light of the recent network posts, I feel it's best to limit discussing such experiences on channels that these fey own, but I trust you feel similarly.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-08 02:40 am (UTC)I made sure they got everything.
You recovering well? Nothing lingering?
no subject
Date: 2026-04-08 03:32 am (UTC)[And absolutely too soft, but this would be the pot complaining to the kettle more than calling it out-]
I've recovered in full, though moreso because it feels distinctly unsafe to be unwell here. That is a great motivator to work tirelessly to recovery.
...
I wanted to ask questions of you, but their personal nature and the increasing awareness has me almost at a loss. I am no stranger to these kinds of surveillance states, but usually they aren't so...mystical-tech. Where do you have covert conversations if the trees can gossip or whatever?? Do we need to worry about the fish at the lake tattling on us????
If you have any ideas, do illuminate me before I go stir-crazy and paranoid.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-08 11:00 am (UTC)As far as I can tell most things aren't sapient. I can try monitoring for eavesdroppers... but I think they may be relying on easier methods than putting spies or bugs everywhere: we already carry around the perfect spies in our pockets. (The leafs, they mean. Really, why bother with all that when they can just provide a useful monitoring device and let people do the work for them?)
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 02:02 am (UTC)[After all, Raqio's little Leaf had been dilligently sticking to their side through their depressive period, with paltry attempts to cheer then up. That could mean something to the overall idea of control. Maybe not so quickly, but...]
...we can meet up where we did training before. I think I can manage to get up there without shuddering like a branch, this time.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 02:40 am (UTC)Alright. I'll head up.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 03:47 am (UTC)Their head's still in the...well, very bad and stupid conversations they'd just disengaged from. It's probably why they almost look surprised when they snap out of it and look over at Chris, trying to gesture ineffectively to distract from the fidgeting.] I am finally, completely out of eyeliner. I've given up on looking presentable, but I assume you don't give a damn.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 03:52 am (UTC)(Not that they'll press if Raqio doesn't want to tell them.)
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 04:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 04:43 am (UTC)There's probably someone who can help with that. I know how to sew but I mostly just do patches.
(They have several such patches on the pair of pants they brought with them from their world, which is what they're wearing today.
They might have willingly come to meet Raqio but they are not at all eager for anything described as questions of a personal nature, so they zero in on the distraction.)
`i peeked in here cos i didnt get a notif, and sure enough`
Date: 2026-04-09 05:21 am (UTC)[...given their own currently-burning social life, it's not like they're eager to get in to things exactly. Their Leaf is still snuggled up in their pocket, the chain looped around their wrist like a little hug.]
...who deserves apologies more: the living, or the dead?
Yep
Date: 2026-04-09 05:56 am (UTC)(They'll move away from the edge and sit down nearby.
...The question gets them to freeze up and blink. Wait what? What's got them asking that? They can't know... no. They kept those parts of their mind shielded. Did something happen?)
Living people can still be helped. (Fixed. Saved.)
You can't make things up to the dead. All you can do is apologize. (Sidestep is gone. Broken without hope of repair, regardless of what Ortega likes to think. They presume it's the same for any dead person Raqio is thinking about.)
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 06:17 am (UTC)...that changes, if you can unwind time.
[They look up to Chris blankly, eventually creasing their mouth in to a grimace.] Or, I could have, but I'm stuck here instead. Playing around at...
[They trail off, shrugging their shoulders.] ...I wanted to ask if the...that smothering person from your thoughts, if they're dead. Because it doesn't take a genius to hope that they are, but to know that it's wishful thinking.
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Date: 2026-04-10 02:51 am (UTC)Sorry for them
We'll talk to them
Or punch them for you
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Date: 2026-04-10 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-10 03:24 am (UTC)[So mostly just the stupid stuff.]
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Date: 2026-04-10 04:57 am (UTC)(Not as bad as it could be but they're still mortified.)
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Date: 2026-04-10 06:47 am (UTC)[For embarrassing them?? They guess??]
I'll make it up to you later
[...]
I also knew you two have been training on the roof even though you wanted to keep it private because raqio made the private thread on my post so I could still see it
Sorry again
no subject
Date: 2026-04-10 07:14 am (UTC)...You should tell them.
(Are they laughing? Yeah, definitely. There's not much else to do at this point.)
no subject
Date: 2026-04-12 07:45 am (UTC)So I might
[H M P H
It takes awhile for the next message to show up, though it is less than an hour; after Raqio had tired themself out to sleep at... too early o'clock, Yuri is once again squinting at their phone.]
They're okay now.
Don't know how long it'll last, but we did our best for now.
Feel like you deserve a full explanation?
You guys were arguing about their stupid plan, right?
no subject
Date: 2026-04-12 08:04 am (UTC)(They also wanted to get involved in Chris' equally stupid plans but they're not admitting to those.)
no subject
Date: 2026-04-12 09:35 am (UTC)oh just you wait, if Yuri hears about that.]Right.
You remember the Silver Key you were watching for awhile?
I don't know if they ever explained it to you, but it's sort of... a time travel device. Not one you can control, though.
It forces you to relive a set period of time across different universes, so that you can gather the information that it's seeking. That's what it feeds on.
[It helps to keep it vague, given the suspicions around the network, but it also helps that Yuri doesn't actually know how to explain the specifics-]
I never knew how they got it. But they were planning on using it to take revenge on someone that had killed someone important to them.
If you don't get the information the Key wants, it's possible to just keep looping through world-lines for eternity. And I guess that's what they wanted.
To just keep killing them over and over again without escaping.
...Even if you did kill someone in one world-line, they wouldn't remember it in the next.
The Key moves you to a new world-line if you die in one, so I don't even know if you'd ever be able to die.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-12 09:56 am (UTC)I don't think they understand how much of a nightmare that is.
(That's a Hell worse than anything they've imagined, what the fuck.)
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Date: 2026-04-12 10:29 am (UTC)I do. It's terrifying.
Sometimes you're stuck with no way out, even when you do want to escape.
[Had Raqio told them about either them or Setsu having the Key? Yuri didn't really mind if they did, but it suddenly felt like such an insignificant problem.]
But that's not the kind of argument that works on them, you know?
Whatever happened to them is enough they don't care how bad it is.
Or, maybe it's preferable to how they feel now.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-12 10:40 am (UTC)Think you could take their key from them?
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