.12 : [Written Post] : Hunting

[archive_sky]

Assuming that Harry Dresden's birthday was October 31st, Easter has recently passed. On Easter, humans would decorate unhatched eggs with brightly colored paints and hide them throughout a predesignated area. Small parties of humans (frequently children) would then search the area to locate and collect the eggs

Comments

[i_see_death]

[...BRB, off to create the most fucking impossible egghunt ever. Just for you, Ark.]

[chuckle] It's true they can't evade. So the challenge rather depends on the creativity of the person hiding the eggs, doesn't it?

[archive_sky]

[ ♥ No wonder she missed having you around, Joshua!]

...yes. Humans can be very creative.

[Now you've made her smile. Fond memories.]

[i_see_death]

[Returns the smile] So they can.

You know, funny thing, Ark -- when you say "It does not seem like it would be much of a challenge," that sounds rather like a challenge in itself. [quiet laugh] So tell you what. You help me paint the eggs, and I'll hide them for you. How does that sound?

[archive_sky]

[There's less of a pause here, and her smile is more like the one Joshua is used to seeing.]

I think that sounds very fun, Joshua.

[i_see_death]

Excellent. I'll come over once I've seen what I can find at the store, shall I? Which cabin are you in, these days?

[archive_sky]

Cabin 19. Harry Dresden is staying here, as well.

[i_see_death]

Oh, really? Ask him if he'd like to help too, then.

[archive_sky]

I will ask Harry Dresden to help. Perhaps Axel would like to help, as well. He likes to paint, and to hide.

[Note that she said 'Axel' and not 'Number VIII'.]

[i_see_death]

So he does. Sounds like a lovely idea, Ark.

[Pauses and eyes her curiously]

You always used to call him Number VIII, didn't you?

[archive_sky]

Yes, I have usually called him Number VIII in the past.

[i_see_death]

May I ask why the change?

lul Joshua, why can't you just have normal human friends?

[archive_sky]

[Ooh, loooooong pause, and Ark stares contemplatively back through the crow.]

Axel has changed. It no longer seems appropriate to call him Number VIII. Just as it is no longer appropriate to call myself SKYNET - Autonomous Records-Keeping Subroutine.

[And here there's a simultaneous written message (poor crow), a strange pattern of light and dark lines on the parchment as she speaks her full name - for Joshua, it should be recognizable as a piece of the strange visual code her brain works in, a 'tag' that accompanies her designation.]

Because he's neither normal nor human, and is a condescending jerkass to people who are either? :|

[i_see_death]

[Joshua studies the parchment for a moment before nodding.]

I see. [curiously] In just what way has he changed?

Well, to be fair, he's mostly a condescending jerkass to everybody, human or not ♥

[archive_sky]

[Hope you were ready for a non sequitur, Joshua - she's been having more of them as of late.]

Did you know that human mothers are frequently able to identify psychopaths by instinct alone? 20th century scientists speculated that it was a residual survival mechanism allowing them to identify predators.

All humans possess it to some degree. In mothers the protective instinct is heightened, and thus the survival mechanism as well.

Ahaha... yeah, that too. -_-;

[i_see_death]

Hm. [Soft laugh] I'm sure that any psychopaths who may be in Sheol are grateful that there aren't any mothers here at present, then.

[Drily] ...Unless you're trying to tell me, in a roundabout way, that Axel's had some terribly exciting and unexpected news while I was gone.

Axel will have you know he makes a great mommy..... um.

[archive_sky]

[She continues, almost like she didn't fully listen to his reply]

...it was also theorized that psychopaths could recognize each other. The aura of the predator that surrounds them alerts other predators to the threat they pose. Terminators - such as this body - trigger the same response as psychopaths. It is one reason the human resistance relies on dogs to alert them to the presence of one of our kind.

Axel has changed. I do not recognize him as easily, now.