Warning: [Contains blood and violence.] Dream Effects: [Sensory based effects; now YOU TOO can enjoy the sensation of getting your face sliced open, sewn up, and a variety of other battle incurred injuries! Effect is strictly optional.]
[Frank is no stranger to an operating table. With brief but vivid recollections of his many times restrained to the metal surface, seeing this fair-haired woman on one raises no concerns in his mind. A slow burn creeps beneath his eye, silently causing him to grit his teeth as he feels the sensation of the wound spreading down his cheek and along his brow -- along with the sensation of a steady hand guiding a suture to close the area.
Although he feels this bizarre sensation as he watches, he makes no move to analyze whether or not the feeling is real. He breathes slowly, watching as the woman interacts with those around her; the blue-haired and the red-haired men are ones Frank recognizes, the cannibals that caused a fair amount of discourse across Somarium some months ago. As that silver-haired commander of hers comes into view, he finds himsef clenching his fists a bit. Their commander has since been removed from this world.]Soldiers grow accustomed to wounds inflicted in battle. We adapt and persevere; accepting that though our
( ... )
[That voice isn't one that she recognizes...Although the words do sound familiar. Almost something that Lupa, or Gale in one of his rarer more philosophical moments might say.]
"...We have to." [She says that after a moment.] "We'd be rolled up or killed, if we weren't able to endure things and keep going. That's..."
[She rolls that word around in her head for a moment, before saying it.] "What 'resolve' is, isn't it?"
It is. To endure the hardships we face, to give us the power to defend what is important; your home, your comrades, even your own beliefs... The strength of your resolve is what will determine whether you live, or whether you die.
"It's...A bit strange to hear that from someone else."
[Because she's had thoughts like that before; but that's usually all they are. Disjointed, oddly formed thoughts that get rolled around in her mind, but only occasionally make it out in any form of words.]
"I don't disagree with it." [She quickly adds.] "Just...That sort of 'resolve' wasn't normal, before."
My own tale, it's similar. For many years, I lived without this kind of resolve; without hope. The idea of fighting for something I believed in, to hold loyalty towards myself and that which I am willing to give my life to protect... These concepts were foreign.
...It was only when these things were realized did I find myself truly feeling human.
"...You didn't come from the Junkyard as well, did you?"
[She can't help but ask that; there's even a bit of a similarity with Serph she blames the hair color and bangs even without bringing what he's saying into account.]
"What you experienced sounds similar to what happened to us."
I am not from your world... Though there are similarities between us. I can not say for certain how far these similarities may go; while we both have awoken to a new understanding of life and the value of camaraderie, it is likely that is where the sameness ends.
...To my knowledge, you are not always capable of controlling that. Though you manage to present yourself as passive, I have seen with my own eyes what your tribe is capable of doing.
There's nothing passive about it! I don't want to kill anyone, now that I don't have too!"
[It's only after she says that, that the rest of those words click into place.]
"...What do you mean, 'you've seen?' You're telling me that Gale and Cielo have hurt people here?" [Her voice makes it very clear what she thinks of that possibility, and her eyes are narrowed, out of both disbelief and suspicion.]
It was many months ago, your tribe was considerably larger than it is now. Your commander was among the group. The five of you tracked down the bodyguard of someone important to me -- you ate him. I was not the only one to bear witness to this.
It was determined that your people had no control, that what hungers inside of you broke out and began to hunt. Although it would appear you have a form of sustenance now, I remain wary. I feel my hesitation to be justified.
[What he says makes her hesitate, but only for a moment.]
"You act like I was part of that, but I don't remember anything like it happening here."
[...There is the fact that Gale, Cielo, and Jinana as well have all told her that she was here before. But she can't recall anything of that nature...Or much of anything else that has to do with this place.
Although the more she thinks back on it, Argilla can't help but wonder if there isn't some hazy, vague images trying to surface in the back of her mind. But if they consist of anything like what he's talking about, then she wants nothing to do with them.]
"Our control...It shouldn't slip that much as long as we don't go hungry. And like I said, we don't have to kill anyone to feed now."
Although he feels this bizarre sensation as he watches, he makes no move to analyze whether or not the feeling is real. He breathes slowly, watching as the woman interacts with those around her; the blue-haired and the red-haired men are ones Frank recognizes, the cannibals that caused a fair amount of discourse across Somarium some months ago. As that silver-haired commander of hers comes into view, he finds himsef clenching his fists a bit. Their commander has since been removed from this world.]Soldiers grow accustomed to wounds inflicted in battle. We adapt and persevere; accepting that though our ( ... )
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"...We have to." [She says that after a moment.] "We'd be rolled up or killed, if we weren't able to endure things and keep going. That's..."
[She rolls that word around in her head for a moment, before saying it.] "What 'resolve' is, isn't it?"
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It is. To endure the hardships we face, to give us the power to defend what is important; your home, your comrades, even your own beliefs... The strength of your resolve is what will determine whether you live, or whether you die.
Reply
[Because she's had thoughts like that before; but that's usually all they are. Disjointed, oddly formed thoughts that get rolled around in her mind, but only occasionally make it out in any form of words.]
"I don't disagree with it." [She quickly adds.] "Just...That sort of 'resolve' wasn't normal, before."
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...It was only when these things were realized did I find myself truly feeling human.
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[She can't help but ask that; there's even a bit of a similarity with Serph she blames the hair color and bangs even without bringing what he's saying into account.]
"What you experienced sounds similar to what happened to us."
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I do not eat humans.
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"I don't-" [She stops before that turns into a lie.]
"...My Tribe doesn't need to eat anyone now. We have a different way to keep the demons fed."
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I trust you understand my hesitation.
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There's nothing passive about it! I don't want to kill anyone, now that I don't have too!"
[It's only after she says that, that the rest of those words click into place.]
"...What do you mean, 'you've seen?' You're telling me that Gale and Cielo have hurt people here?" [Her voice makes it very clear what she thinks of that possibility, and her eyes are narrowed, out of both disbelief and suspicion.]
Reply
It was determined that your people had no control, that what hungers inside of you broke out and began to hunt. Although it would appear you have a form of sustenance now, I remain wary. I feel my hesitation to be justified.
Reply
[What he says makes her hesitate, but only for a moment.]
"You act like I was part of that, but I don't remember anything like it happening here."
[...There is the fact that Gale, Cielo, and Jinana as well have all told her that she was here before. But she can't recall anything of that nature...Or much of anything else that has to do with this place.
Although the more she thinks back on it, Argilla can't help but wonder if there isn't some hazy, vague images trying to surface in the back of her mind. But if they consist of anything like what he's talking about, then she wants nothing to do with them.]
"Our control...It shouldn't slip that much as long as we don't go hungry. And like I said, we don't have to kill anyone to feed now."
Reply
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