Tea+books=♥

[1artificialgirl]

Characters: Vanilla (1artificialgirl) and Justice (extantlaw)
Date/Time: October 20th around lunch time
Location: Bookstore
Rating: PG
Summary: Justice drops by the bookstore for some books and tea.

Comments

[1artificialgirl]

Vanilla took a sip of tea as well. She then brought the cup down, close to her lap. Those were questions that she had asked herself so many times. The answers were only partially there, in the fragments she had gained, and there was something there in her heart too. The rush she had felt to get everything back had dulled. It was the hurt of not knowing that haunted her. The girl's gaze dropped to the tea, the thoughtful look still there.

"I remember... I had said this in the memory I have gained..." Her voice was quiet but still steady and unwavering. The girl could admit these things in such a calm manner, she even wondered herself if it was normal. In the back of her mind she knew it wasn't. "She was created artificially… Just like me and now she has no place to go." Her expression was rather neutral now. "I know in my past I wanted to protect as well but there was also a time that was different."

Vanilla gazed at Justice now. She still did not waver. "There was a time when I was a killer too. The voice had said that I was the demon and that demons hunted humans. I suppose that there was a time when I was merely a weapon and nothing more." There was the slightest amount of sadness in her voice and she frowned. "For some time now I have questioned what came first, the demon, or the one who wanted to protect, and most of all why. Of course, I can't change what I have done." She blinked in surprise; this was the most that she had talked in a long time.

[extantlaw]

He noticed her face set into that expression that he recognised, somehow, as a reciting of facts. Nothing more, nothing less. But he did not speculate on it, his attention caught wholly by her words.

A demon, a weapon. A killer. It resonated with him, and the void in his mind loomed again, his hand shaking slightly as he brought the cup to his lips. It was a curious sensation - as if she were reciting to him a story that he already knew the ending to, even though he was quite sure that he was entirely human, and nothing more. It was a few moments before he looked up from the cup and found his voice.

"But you can make amends for it. Or at least try."

And it was as if he was talking to himself, a sudden firmness of tone that he wondered at, and would wonder at later. He knew it was the truth, that it was just - but as with so many other things here, he simply did not understand why.

A few moments awkward silence as his brain replayed the rest of her words, fixing on the parts he couldn't follow, and he looked up at her with a frown.

"She?"

There was more he could have asked, but he had no intention of interrogating her. He was a guest, and she was barely a teenager, human or not, stranded in this dammed place with no memories, just like him.

[1artificialgirl]

Vanilla had noticed the slight shake of his hand. She worried that she had said too much. Soon, she was assured by his words that she hadn't. The girl took another sip of tea. "Yes, I suppose I can..." Her voice trailed off for a moment. "It will never be enough though."

She knew that whoever she had killed, she would never be able to bring them back. Some of them probably had children and a wife. Of course, she couldn't dwell on that. "I do want my powers and myself to do good things though. I do not want to fall back into being ignorant of the things I have now." The things she really didn't deserve but had anyways.

"She was a dinosaur. A woman named Madam Fresea had funded the recreation of a dinosaur. So, in a way she was just like me I suppose." She took another sip of tea.

[extantlaw]

"It will never be enough."

Something nagged at him - voices - if not angry then certainly heated. His own, and someone else's... Truth? But they had never had that conversation - at least, not here. He frowned a little at the effort to remember, the feeling like having a word at the tip of your tongue that you can't quite bring to mind.

He regarded Vanilla gravely, and when he answered, it was as if he was answering himself.

"Then you should never give up trying."

And then he tilted his head in surprise at the last.

"A dinosaur?"

There was the slightest twitch of his eyebrow at that, the peculiarities of this place beginning to almost sound normal.

"And that was the memory you regained?"

[1artificialgirl]

"I never will." She smiled slightly; it was a bit sad but a smile none the less. "You speak as if you've gone through that yourself." That was one thing Vanilla planned on, never giving up. The girl may not be able to see into the future. Although she knew that she would always stand by the rules she lived by and the promises that she made.

"Yes, it was." Vanilla then blinked in surprise, suddenly coming upon a realization. "It's been almost six months since I arrived here... Time does fly I suppose."

[extantlaw]

"I do not know."

He furrowed his brow a little as he thought it over, staring down into his tea and trying again to pin the memories that avoided his grasp. Was he a killer too? He was revolted by the notion, and yet there was the dream, and that quiet voice at the back of his mind, insidious and unarguable, whispering to him that anyone could be a murderer, given the right circumstances. And when he looked back at Vanilla, his expression was more open than he generally allowed.

"I do not remember, but your words seem familiar... as if I might have said them myself, once - perhaps even to Truth, in some other life."

In a strange way it was almost a relief to admit even that much, and a relief to speak of the other man, too. If he had, indeed, disappeared, then he had no intention of allowing his memory to slip into the void along with so much else.

He glanced up at Vanilla's next words, his tone dry.

"Indeed it does. As do some of the residents, it seems."

The slightest smile twitched his lips as he remembered Hybrid, her wings covered in ooze from the cocoons as she harangued Iris and Truth. It was gone in a moment, but somehow the memory cheered him, although he could not say why.

"Six months is a long time."

He hesitated then, not wishing to press the subject, but still, after what he had seen in the files that morning...

"I imagine that there are not many people who have been here longer?"

[1artificialgirl]

Vanilla nodded and gazed at the man. He didn't seem like the type to be a killer but then again... Many people never 'seemed' to be the type to kill but were. Still, she was already becoming a bit fond of Justice. She appreciated his company.

"Yes, sometimes people do just disappear... Like one of my employees." She frowned a bit. "You have to wonder where they go after this place." The girl took another sip of tea before setting it on the coffee table.

"I believe some people have been here a very long time..." Vanilla wondered how long Fugue and Cuttlefish had been here. She imagined it must have been years to have collected that many journals in that library.

[extantlaw]

"Yes, Lezard told me that people... disappear."

He frowned, considering that.

"I should hope that they return to... wherever they were before."

He nodded to her, hoping that his tone sounded more confident than he felt about that fact. Lezard had been singularly unforthcoming, and he had noted that, unsure if it was simply the man's personality, or if it was something he genuinely did not wish to discuss.

He looked down at Vanilla's cup, at the remains of the tea in it as he weighed his next question and chose the tone of it carefully - neutral and yet interested.

"I would be interested in knowing who, and what led you to that conclusion - if you don't mind sharing your reasoning, that is."

And then he smiled, meeting her eyes again.

"I do believe that perhaps in my old life, I may have been fond of puzzles."

[1artificialgirl]

Vanilla nodded. "Yes, I hope they do." At the question she frowned. She really did not want to answer this fully. It could end up quite badly if not worded correctly.

"I'll tell you vaguely but please don't dig to deep... If you do, you may end up dead." She smiled sadly. The girl didn't want Justice to die or to have the tree attack him.

[extantlaw]

What if Truth had "just disappeared"? The thought ran through his head for the thousandth time that day and he cursed himself for not remarking on the man's absence earlier. But - Truth was an adult, and he hadn't felt the need to raise the alarm on Saturday - or even Sunday, simply assuming that he had found a party, or some company, and would return when it suited him.

But if Truth couldn't - through injury or through having been disappeared by something in this damned place, then by not saying anything, he had lost vital time for the searchers.

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"If Truth has vanished - then I will make it my business to discover where - and why. I have to start digging somewhere."

The reluctance of her answer was obvious, and he raised an eyebrow at both the tone and words.

"I have no intention of ending up dead, Vanilla.

[1artificialgirl]

Vanilla nodded and sighed softly. "I understand that Justice." She frowned a bit and then gazed up at him.
"If he has disappeared for good then I am unsure of where people go after here. Their journals are stored in a library."

Vanilla bit her lip wondering if even that was too much. She was sure that if she didn't mention Fugue or that person's journal, then they would be fine. Of course, it was better to be safe than sorry.

[extantlaw]

He was silent for a while, returning the gaze, and her expression of absolute seriousness.

Finally, he nodded, making no direct comment on the information.

"Thank you."

And he watched her for a few moments longer, the chewing on the lip ample indication to him that she was keeping something back, but he felt disinclined to press her for information that she was uncomfortable about sharing at this stage. Right now, finding Truth was the important thing - "the truth" could wait.

The pun made him smile a little, and he nodded to Vanilla as he finished his tea and placed the cup back on the table.

"I promise that I will make every effort to ensure my own safety. and that of Truth, once he is found."

[1artificialgirl]

"You are more than aware that those simple things are not all that I know." The girl sighed softly as she gazed at him. "At the same time it feels as if I know nothing at all." Vanilla ran a hand through her hair. There were no knots and she noted that the hairspray she bought worked quite well. "If you say the wrong thing or if you stumble across information that I am sure the man doesn't want you to know... Someone ends up dead."

She nodded and smiled slightly. "Good, I wouldn't want either one of you in that position."

[extantlaw]

He nodded.

"I know."

He looked at her then, remembering something he'd read in the journals, something that he had seen alluded to several times in passing - as if it were an illusion that people did not want to give away the secret to.

"But they don't really die."

His expression was direct as he asked the question, and in fact it was only half-phrased as a question. He wasn't sure exactly what did happen to people when they died, but there were enough vague clues in the journals to indicate that something did, and if that were the case, then logically they could not be dead.

[1artificialgirl]

"They come back." She frowned. It was common knowledge if you had been here for a while; she saw no harm in sharing it. "I suppose there could be a time when one does not."

The Sphere seemed to be like a puzzle that self-destructed every so often. Then, you had to start finding the pieces again, while treading the waters ever so carefully.

[extantlaw]

He nodded. It was almost too much information to take in at once - there were a thousand questions more that he could ask, but he knew he had been away from the office for longer than he should already.

His gaze drifted back to the bookshelf, and the volume of Shakespeare. At least if Truth... He pushed that train of thought away.

"I should get back to the clinic. I have a meeting with Lezard, and I have taken up too much of your time already.

"Although... I should like to call again, if my company is not too troublesome."