App for Il Promenade
PLAYER
✧ NAME: Rii
✧ LJ USERNAME: faux_brilliance
✧ CONTACT (EMAIL, AIM, MSN, PLURK, ETC.): e-mail | superiichan (at) hotmail.com // AIM | Rii Not Wii // Plurk | RiiTheAmazing
✧ CURRENT MUSE LIST: xfire_birdx, now_think_twice, removemyhead, onlymyhate
CHARACTER
✧ NAME: Nicholas Thanos Tallis, usually goes by Tallis
✧ SERIES: Original Character
✧ HISTORY: Tallis believed himself to be above following the rules and fitting in with the social norm while growing up. His parents would try to instill good manners in him as a child, and he would nod, smile, pretend to take in the information, and then turn around and put frogs in a young girl's hair. They corrected him, he'd pretend to repent, be nice for a bit... only to find something new to torment others with.
This didn't change as he grew older. He'd get in trouble, pretend to learn, and then spend a period of time trying to figure out how to repeat the task... without getting caught. He spent years continuing this pattern, trying to perfect the art of messing with someone and passing the blame onto someone else.
At fourteen years old, he received a letter in the mail, advertising a game. The letter was short, vague, only stating that he had been selected to partake in a virtual reality game taking place the next day that would span over twenty four hours. There would be no rules, an entrance fee of his own choice, and a prize that wouldn't be announced until the end of the game.
His thoughts on the letter: worst spam ever. He considered throwing it out, but it had caught his interest. If it was true, then at the very least it would keep him entertained for a day. If it wasn't, then the location given on the letter wasn't that far away, he could just get a ride back home...
At noon the following day, he found himself waiting with seven others in front of a series of sleek, black, cube-shaped buildings. The group was separated into two teams of four and led into two different buildings. Tallis and his team found themselves in a large, completely empty white room with a single door on the far wall. A voice echoed throughout the room, stating their entrance fee: They had to give up a part of their personality. An emotion, specifically. Which one was up to them.
Tallis listened as his team called out their fee: One gave up their ability to love, another gave up their ability to be surprised, the third gave up fear. Tallis considered before throwing out something he rarely felt, and thought he definitely didn't need for the game - empathy.
After stating their fee, a shock went through the entire room, knocking out the four of them. They woke up an hour later in another room that was dark enough for them to be incapable of sight. The voice echoed through the room again: "Welcome to the game. You have twenty four hours to reach the exit before your opposing team."
He worked together with his teammates - Seffora, Aulus, and Zayd - to move through a series of rooms, each containing a different puzzle. The content of the rooms varied. A few were mostly harmless, containing mazes that were made difficult due to various illusions or mirrors. The rest of the rooms? Not so safe. Racing to find a key to the door to the next room before poisonous snakes were let into the room, nearly drowning in a deep underwater puzzle, making it through a maze as a spiked ceiling slowly came down to crush them...
The part of themselves that each of them gave up made trying to get through each obstacle as a team more complicated than it needed to be. Seffora, having given up love, found it impossible to care for and give aid to any injured teammates. Aulus and Zayd, having given up surprise and fear, walked straight into traps and nearly died on several occasions due to not being capable of realizing or caring about the danger they were in. Tallis, due to his lack of empathy, had a similar problem as Seffora: He also didn't care about the fate of his teammates. He worked together with them when it suited him, but most of the time had no issues with breaking off from the group and trying to figure out things himself - a habit that nearly got them killed in a few rooms.
Twenty three hours into the game, they reached the last room, where they met the other team. The voice gave them their next directions: The team who survives, wins.
Cue epic confusion. And then eight guns appeared - four for each team. Everyone freaked out, tried to find a way to quit the game and leave the room, but the doors were locked. A countdown started - two minutes to find the winning team.
The teams continued to try to figure out a way around the mess, but with a minute left on the clock, Tallis picked up his gun and took out two of the opposing team's members. Zayd took out the other two before they could recover from the shock.
The door forward opened. They continued onwards, figuring they'd win the game, figure out what their prize is - it better be worth it...
But they found themselves in another mirror maze room with one final statement: The one who survives wins the prize. You have three hours.
... Cue more confusion and panic. And four more guns appearing in the room. Each of them took one, but all of them hesitated. Aulus and Zayd suggested trying to find another way out of that mess since they had more time than before. Tallis took this chance to turn the game in his favor. He suggested splitting up into teams of two, using the reasoning that they'd be able to cover more ground if they split up. The others agreed and Tallis left with Seffora. He spent an hour pretending to be searching for an exit until he was positive they were far enough away from the others for them not to notice right away. He shot her when her guard was down.
The shot echoed around the room. Tallis ran as fast as he could manage in the disorientation of the room to try to get to the other two before they found him.
That didn't work out as planned. Zayd caught sight of Tallis's reflection and chased him. The mirrors made it difficult to aim correctly, but the third shot hit and it was endgame for Tallis.
✧ TIMELINE: Directly after the murder of two people on the opposite team.
✧ PERSONALITY: Most of Tallis's personality stems off of his complete lack of empathy. He cannot relate to others at all, nor does he really want to. People are either tools or toys - they're either useful enough to keep around to help along whatever his own personal agenda is at the moment, or they're around to manipulate and play with. No matter which category they fall into, he keeps them around until he's bored and then drops them like a bad habit. He doesn't understand the concept of friendships, relationships, etc - having people who you depend on, and who depend on you, makes absolutely no sense to him. Those things drag you down and keep you from moving forward in his mind.
Not to say he can't fake those relationships. While he generally defaults to acting like a brat, if acting "nice" and "caring" gets him further in whatever he's trying to accomplish at the moment, he'll do just that. He has no issues putting on a front and acting a certain way one minute and then dropping that act the next. He'll do whatever is convenient to him at the time. If using someone means he can achieve a certain goal, get information, or get closer to someone else who would be potentially useful? He'll do it.
Also, consequences for those actions? What are consequences and can you eat them with ketchup. He doesn't realize that all his actions have consequences, and... he really doesn't care. So what if someone's feelings got hurt, or someone got shot, or a city got burned down, or a fight between two others started because of something he did or said? Shrug, not his problem. So what if a gun's now pointed at him, or he's in jail, or just incredibly fucked over because of something he did? Shrug, no big deal, he'll make sure not to get caught next time.
Tallis has a one-track mind. If something catches his interest, he will hang onto it like a leech and not let go. If it's a job that he has interest in? He'll do whatever it takes to get that job. If it's information he needs? You can bet he'll be harassing everyone in sight for anything relevant. If someone said something that he wants expansion on? He will push for answers, rewording his questions and reinserting them into the conversation as many different ways as possible to try to drag out what he wants to know. And if you dare try to change the subject, or give him information other than what he wants to know? He'll call it "irrelevant," and try to flip the conversation straight back to where he wants it.
Tallis talks... a lot. He has a habit of being insanely wordy and uses long, drawn out sentences to say what could have been easily said in three words. ... On the flip side, if something actually does need a long explanation? A lot of times, he'll reply with almost nothing. He also has a habit of talking people into circles just because he can. If you're not really paying attention that he's looping the conversation around, he'll start trying to see how many times he keep the circle going, just for fun.
Tallis tries to act more mature than his age, but that generally backfires on him pretty quick. He's the kid who put on airs and acts smart to try to be taken seriously while everyone else shakes their head and goes ".... ahaha okay, kid. Go back to your swing set now." One of the things he hates most is being viewed as a child, but in his attempting to act mature, all he usually accomplishes is... verifying the fact that he's still only fourteen. He's fully aware that there's a lot of people who don't take him seriously, and to say this frustrates him would be a gigantic understatement.
Following on that same note, he dislikes immaturity in general. He hates any displays of it from himself (any time he feels the need to act like a child to get what he wants makes him absolutely disgusted with himself), but he also can't take it from others. Put him in a room with a handful of people acting like sixteen year olds? He is going to rage quit.
✧ ABILITIES/POWERS: None! Normal, squishy human here.
✧ TIME OF ARRIVAL: Night
✧ MASK DESIGN:
✧ PLACE OF SOLACE: A maze made out of mirrors inside a cube-shaped building.
SAMPLES
✧ FIRST PERSON: I find it to be strange, the way people always find a way to complain about what is put in front of them. Most spend portions of their life, whether they wish to admit it or not, hoping for a way to bend their reality. To live a dream, specifically. To be able to wish for the things they want, and to have it appear in front of them on a silver platter - no strings attached.
And so here we are, thrust into a dream city that is the rough equivalent of a genie that has given you infinite wishes. We have lack of a need for a monetary system, there's unlimited options for our future, so much potential to do the things we were never able to at home... Even death is near meaningless. And yet everyone complains. Whines. Wishes themselves back into their home, back into the familiar, even if they're wishing themselves back into torment.
It truly is intriguing, in an almost disgusting way. But people will always complain without reason, I'm sure. It's probably one of those "fact of life" things, it won't change anytime in the near future - or ever, really.
But I digress. It's all horribly irrelevant. I'm going to enjoy this place.
✧ THIRD PERSON: There was a faint buzzing in the room. No one could really explain where it was coming from because it didn't seem to have an actual source. It felt like a bug buzzing in your ear - annoying, and audible enough to be heard over conversation. Aulus figured that the noise had something to do with how to exit the currently empty room, and was currently standing away from the group and keeping quiet, trying to see if he could make out any words in the buzzing.
Tallis rested in a corner far away from him. He had no intention of trying to figure out this puzzle. Instead, he was trying to decide who would crack under the noise first. And maybe help it along a bit. It's not like there was an immediate time limit to sudden death for this task...
Targeting Aulus would be a waste - they needed him to figure this out. Zayd was passed out in the middle of the floor, having decided that it was perfectly safe to rest until Aulus got them out of the room. That left Seffora. The buzzing had hit her first, and he enjoyed watching her flail and swat at the air, screaming about how she hated bugs and there was obviously one around. Even now, she was curled up next to him, hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the sound. From the pained look on her face, Tallis concluded that it wasn't working very well.
Now, how was the best way to push her over... How about unpleasant comparisons. Those were always fun.
"Hey, Sef. Do you think whoever is in charge of this entire game is attempting to torture us for their own enjoyment?"
He ran a finger lightly over one of her hands and she recoiled away from him, hands pressed even tighter against her head.
"Shut up shut up shut up!!"
"This wouldn't be the first time humanity has attempted something of the sort. Have you heard of Chinese water torture? The victim is strapped down, and cold water is sporadically dropped on their forehead. It's not physically painful, but the constant noise, after an extended period of time, is enough to drive even the most strong willed person insane. You can't stand it. But you can't turn it off." He paused, looking her over. The last few hours had finally caught up to her, and she was starting to pale and look ill from the stress.
"Sef, hey. Don't be like this. I'm attempting to give you some sort of sound to drown out the bugs crawling in your ears."
"Tallis, I cannot deal with you right now, okay?" Her fingernails were digging into her skin now, and her voice was cracking almost every other word. She looked about ready to break down in tears. She was tired of this nonsense, she just wanted to go home and go back to bed and take a nice long nap and pretend she never heard about this stupid game.
"That's a shame." His voice was somber, but he was grinning. He didn't bother to hide it, he knew she wasn't paying attention. "I thought a bit of friendly conversation might calm you down a bit."
"Doesn't it bother you?"
"No." A blatant lie. Yes, it bothered him. It bothered him a lot. The last thing he wanted was feeling like a bee had taken up permanent residence inside his brain, and the whole experience was giving him a giant headache.
"Whatever. Shouldn't you just, like... not give a shit about me or something? Isn't that how that whole fee for you worked out?" She chanced a look at him. Her eyes were red, puffy, looking about ready to fill up with tears with any moment. He almost had her. He raised his hands in mock-defeat.
"You caught me, Sef. I found myself needing a quick break from the not-silence while Aulus attempts to listen to voices in his head." He paused. How to turn this back around... "I fail to see why you would even consider complaining about this conversation, however. The benefits from this conversation are mutual. We both are distracted from this incessant noise."
She weakly nodded, having nothing to say in response. Tallis took that as a cue to continue.
"Besides, dear, last time I checked, you gave up your ability to care as well."
She dropped her hands and turned to face him, glaring through the now flowing tears.
"I didn't think that -"
"- It would be a problem. Naturally. Zayd thought by getting rid of his fear, he would be able to take the place of fearless leader. He's had several dangerous lapses of judgment since then, and I'm thoroughly convinced the only reason he's still alive is because of some weird stroke of dumb luck. Aulus thought he'd be cool, follow Zayd's lead and give up his ability to be surprised, and now, well. Nothing surprises him, sure, but he no longer anticipates things properly. And then you-"
She turned away from him, hands once again tightly over her ears.
"Tallis, stop."
"- You thought that by giving up your ability to love, you wouldn't be hurt any more. You didn't think it through enough to realize that, by extension, you'd also be giving up your ability to give a shit! It's a noble decision, really, if you learn how to use it right, but you've been too busy whining this entire game to even learn how."
Seffora choked back a sob before she weakly responded.
"It bothers me, Tallis. Not being able to care. It really, honestly bothers me. How can you say it's better to live this way?"
"You move forward."
She gave him an incredulous look for a moment before hugging her knees to her chest, weeping softly.
Tallis started humming softly. That was fun while it lasted, now all he had to do was wait for the next task.
✧ ORIGINAL CHARACTER QUESTION: Get thrown from one world into a completely new one? Tallis is perfectly fine with this, and has no intention of "finding a way home" anytime in the near future. Pretty much everything about the city is going to pique his interest - the mirrors, the laws, the royalty, Genero, the Exile, the inhabitants of the city, the concept of a Place of Solace, teneka... Really, everything. Plenty of his time after entering the city will probably be spent exploring and poking people and wondering why the snap everyone hates this place. Because seriously you guys. This entire thing is epicly convenient, why the actual fuck are you complaining.
✧ NAME: Rii
✧ LJ USERNAME: faux_brilliance
✧ CONTACT (EMAIL, AIM, MSN, PLURK, ETC.): e-mail | superiichan (at) hotmail.com // AIM | Rii Not Wii // Plurk | RiiTheAmazing
✧ CURRENT MUSE LIST: xfire_birdx, now_think_twice, removemyhead, onlymyhate
CHARACTER
✧ NAME: Nicholas Thanos Tallis, usually goes by Tallis
✧ SERIES: Original Character
✧ HISTORY: Tallis believed himself to be above following the rules and fitting in with the social norm while growing up. His parents would try to instill good manners in him as a child, and he would nod, smile, pretend to take in the information, and then turn around and put frogs in a young girl's hair. They corrected him, he'd pretend to repent, be nice for a bit... only to find something new to torment others with.
This didn't change as he grew older. He'd get in trouble, pretend to learn, and then spend a period of time trying to figure out how to repeat the task... without getting caught. He spent years continuing this pattern, trying to perfect the art of messing with someone and passing the blame onto someone else.
At fourteen years old, he received a letter in the mail, advertising a game. The letter was short, vague, only stating that he had been selected to partake in a virtual reality game taking place the next day that would span over twenty four hours. There would be no rules, an entrance fee of his own choice, and a prize that wouldn't be announced until the end of the game.
His thoughts on the letter: worst spam ever. He considered throwing it out, but it had caught his interest. If it was true, then at the very least it would keep him entertained for a day. If it wasn't, then the location given on the letter wasn't that far away, he could just get a ride back home...
At noon the following day, he found himself waiting with seven others in front of a series of sleek, black, cube-shaped buildings. The group was separated into two teams of four and led into two different buildings. Tallis and his team found themselves in a large, completely empty white room with a single door on the far wall. A voice echoed throughout the room, stating their entrance fee: They had to give up a part of their personality. An emotion, specifically. Which one was up to them.
Tallis listened as his team called out their fee: One gave up their ability to love, another gave up their ability to be surprised, the third gave up fear. Tallis considered before throwing out something he rarely felt, and thought he definitely didn't need for the game - empathy.
After stating their fee, a shock went through the entire room, knocking out the four of them. They woke up an hour later in another room that was dark enough for them to be incapable of sight. The voice echoed through the room again: "Welcome to the game. You have twenty four hours to reach the exit before your opposing team."
He worked together with his teammates - Seffora, Aulus, and Zayd - to move through a series of rooms, each containing a different puzzle. The content of the rooms varied. A few were mostly harmless, containing mazes that were made difficult due to various illusions or mirrors. The rest of the rooms? Not so safe. Racing to find a key to the door to the next room before poisonous snakes were let into the room, nearly drowning in a deep underwater puzzle, making it through a maze as a spiked ceiling slowly came down to crush them...
The part of themselves that each of them gave up made trying to get through each obstacle as a team more complicated than it needed to be. Seffora, having given up love, found it impossible to care for and give aid to any injured teammates. Aulus and Zayd, having given up surprise and fear, walked straight into traps and nearly died on several occasions due to not being capable of realizing or caring about the danger they were in. Tallis, due to his lack of empathy, had a similar problem as Seffora: He also didn't care about the fate of his teammates. He worked together with them when it suited him, but most of the time had no issues with breaking off from the group and trying to figure out things himself - a habit that nearly got them killed in a few rooms.
Twenty three hours into the game, they reached the last room, where they met the other team. The voice gave them their next directions: The team who survives, wins.
Cue epic confusion. And then eight guns appeared - four for each team. Everyone freaked out, tried to find a way to quit the game and leave the room, but the doors were locked. A countdown started - two minutes to find the winning team.
The teams continued to try to figure out a way around the mess, but with a minute left on the clock, Tallis picked up his gun and took out two of the opposing team's members. Zayd took out the other two before they could recover from the shock.
The door forward opened. They continued onwards, figuring they'd win the game, figure out what their prize is - it better be worth it...
But they found themselves in another mirror maze room with one final statement: The one who survives wins the prize. You have three hours.
... Cue more confusion and panic. And four more guns appearing in the room. Each of them took one, but all of them hesitated. Aulus and Zayd suggested trying to find another way out of that mess since they had more time than before. Tallis took this chance to turn the game in his favor. He suggested splitting up into teams of two, using the reasoning that they'd be able to cover more ground if they split up. The others agreed and Tallis left with Seffora. He spent an hour pretending to be searching for an exit until he was positive they were far enough away from the others for them not to notice right away. He shot her when her guard was down.
The shot echoed around the room. Tallis ran as fast as he could manage in the disorientation of the room to try to get to the other two before they found him.
That didn't work out as planned. Zayd caught sight of Tallis's reflection and chased him. The mirrors made it difficult to aim correctly, but the third shot hit and it was endgame for Tallis.
✧ TIMELINE: Directly after the murder of two people on the opposite team.
✧ PERSONALITY: Most of Tallis's personality stems off of his complete lack of empathy. He cannot relate to others at all, nor does he really want to. People are either tools or toys - they're either useful enough to keep around to help along whatever his own personal agenda is at the moment, or they're around to manipulate and play with. No matter which category they fall into, he keeps them around until he's bored and then drops them like a bad habit. He doesn't understand the concept of friendships, relationships, etc - having people who you depend on, and who depend on you, makes absolutely no sense to him. Those things drag you down and keep you from moving forward in his mind.
Not to say he can't fake those relationships. While he generally defaults to acting like a brat, if acting "nice" and "caring" gets him further in whatever he's trying to accomplish at the moment, he'll do just that. He has no issues putting on a front and acting a certain way one minute and then dropping that act the next. He'll do whatever is convenient to him at the time. If using someone means he can achieve a certain goal, get information, or get closer to someone else who would be potentially useful? He'll do it.
Also, consequences for those actions? What are consequences and can you eat them with ketchup. He doesn't realize that all his actions have consequences, and... he really doesn't care. So what if someone's feelings got hurt, or someone got shot, or a city got burned down, or a fight between two others started because of something he did or said? Shrug, not his problem. So what if a gun's now pointed at him, or he's in jail, or just incredibly fucked over because of something he did? Shrug, no big deal, he'll make sure not to get caught next time.
Tallis has a one-track mind. If something catches his interest, he will hang onto it like a leech and not let go. If it's a job that he has interest in? He'll do whatever it takes to get that job. If it's information he needs? You can bet he'll be harassing everyone in sight for anything relevant. If someone said something that he wants expansion on? He will push for answers, rewording his questions and reinserting them into the conversation as many different ways as possible to try to drag out what he wants to know. And if you dare try to change the subject, or give him information other than what he wants to know? He'll call it "irrelevant," and try to flip the conversation straight back to where he wants it.
Tallis talks... a lot. He has a habit of being insanely wordy and uses long, drawn out sentences to say what could have been easily said in three words. ... On the flip side, if something actually does need a long explanation? A lot of times, he'll reply with almost nothing. He also has a habit of talking people into circles just because he can. If you're not really paying attention that he's looping the conversation around, he'll start trying to see how many times he keep the circle going, just for fun.
Tallis tries to act more mature than his age, but that generally backfires on him pretty quick. He's the kid who put on airs and acts smart to try to be taken seriously while everyone else shakes their head and goes ".... ahaha okay, kid. Go back to your swing set now." One of the things he hates most is being viewed as a child, but in his attempting to act mature, all he usually accomplishes is... verifying the fact that he's still only fourteen. He's fully aware that there's a lot of people who don't take him seriously, and to say this frustrates him would be a gigantic understatement.
Following on that same note, he dislikes immaturity in general. He hates any displays of it from himself (any time he feels the need to act like a child to get what he wants makes him absolutely disgusted with himself), but he also can't take it from others. Put him in a room with a handful of people acting like sixteen year olds? He is going to rage quit.
✧ ABILITIES/POWERS: None! Normal, squishy human here.
✧ TIME OF ARRIVAL: Night
✧ MASK DESIGN:
✧ PLACE OF SOLACE: A maze made out of mirrors inside a cube-shaped building.
SAMPLES
✧ FIRST PERSON: I find it to be strange, the way people always find a way to complain about what is put in front of them. Most spend portions of their life, whether they wish to admit it or not, hoping for a way to bend their reality. To live a dream, specifically. To be able to wish for the things they want, and to have it appear in front of them on a silver platter - no strings attached.
And so here we are, thrust into a dream city that is the rough equivalent of a genie that has given you infinite wishes. We have lack of a need for a monetary system, there's unlimited options for our future, so much potential to do the things we were never able to at home... Even death is near meaningless. And yet everyone complains. Whines. Wishes themselves back into their home, back into the familiar, even if they're wishing themselves back into torment.
It truly is intriguing, in an almost disgusting way. But people will always complain without reason, I'm sure. It's probably one of those "fact of life" things, it won't change anytime in the near future - or ever, really.
But I digress. It's all horribly irrelevant. I'm going to enjoy this place.
✧ THIRD PERSON: There was a faint buzzing in the room. No one could really explain where it was coming from because it didn't seem to have an actual source. It felt like a bug buzzing in your ear - annoying, and audible enough to be heard over conversation. Aulus figured that the noise had something to do with how to exit the currently empty room, and was currently standing away from the group and keeping quiet, trying to see if he could make out any words in the buzzing.
Tallis rested in a corner far away from him. He had no intention of trying to figure out this puzzle. Instead, he was trying to decide who would crack under the noise first. And maybe help it along a bit. It's not like there was an immediate time limit to sudden death for this task...
Targeting Aulus would be a waste - they needed him to figure this out. Zayd was passed out in the middle of the floor, having decided that it was perfectly safe to rest until Aulus got them out of the room. That left Seffora. The buzzing had hit her first, and he enjoyed watching her flail and swat at the air, screaming about how she hated bugs and there was obviously one around. Even now, she was curled up next to him, hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the sound. From the pained look on her face, Tallis concluded that it wasn't working very well.
Now, how was the best way to push her over... How about unpleasant comparisons. Those were always fun.
"Hey, Sef. Do you think whoever is in charge of this entire game is attempting to torture us for their own enjoyment?"
He ran a finger lightly over one of her hands and she recoiled away from him, hands pressed even tighter against her head.
"Shut up shut up shut up!!"
"This wouldn't be the first time humanity has attempted something of the sort. Have you heard of Chinese water torture? The victim is strapped down, and cold water is sporadically dropped on their forehead. It's not physically painful, but the constant noise, after an extended period of time, is enough to drive even the most strong willed person insane. You can't stand it. But you can't turn it off." He paused, looking her over. The last few hours had finally caught up to her, and she was starting to pale and look ill from the stress.
"Sef, hey. Don't be like this. I'm attempting to give you some sort of sound to drown out the bugs crawling in your ears."
"Tallis, I cannot deal with you right now, okay?" Her fingernails were digging into her skin now, and her voice was cracking almost every other word. She looked about ready to break down in tears. She was tired of this nonsense, she just wanted to go home and go back to bed and take a nice long nap and pretend she never heard about this stupid game.
"That's a shame." His voice was somber, but he was grinning. He didn't bother to hide it, he knew she wasn't paying attention. "I thought a bit of friendly conversation might calm you down a bit."
"Doesn't it bother you?"
"No." A blatant lie. Yes, it bothered him. It bothered him a lot. The last thing he wanted was feeling like a bee had taken up permanent residence inside his brain, and the whole experience was giving him a giant headache.
"Whatever. Shouldn't you just, like... not give a shit about me or something? Isn't that how that whole fee for you worked out?" She chanced a look at him. Her eyes were red, puffy, looking about ready to fill up with tears with any moment. He almost had her. He raised his hands in mock-defeat.
"You caught me, Sef. I found myself needing a quick break from the not-silence while Aulus attempts to listen to voices in his head." He paused. How to turn this back around... "I fail to see why you would even consider complaining about this conversation, however. The benefits from this conversation are mutual. We both are distracted from this incessant noise."
She weakly nodded, having nothing to say in response. Tallis took that as a cue to continue.
"Besides, dear, last time I checked, you gave up your ability to care as well."
She dropped her hands and turned to face him, glaring through the now flowing tears.
"I didn't think that -"
"- It would be a problem. Naturally. Zayd thought by getting rid of his fear, he would be able to take the place of fearless leader. He's had several dangerous lapses of judgment since then, and I'm thoroughly convinced the only reason he's still alive is because of some weird stroke of dumb luck. Aulus thought he'd be cool, follow Zayd's lead and give up his ability to be surprised, and now, well. Nothing surprises him, sure, but he no longer anticipates things properly. And then you-"
She turned away from him, hands once again tightly over her ears.
"Tallis, stop."
"- You thought that by giving up your ability to love, you wouldn't be hurt any more. You didn't think it through enough to realize that, by extension, you'd also be giving up your ability to give a shit! It's a noble decision, really, if you learn how to use it right, but you've been too busy whining this entire game to even learn how."
Seffora choked back a sob before she weakly responded.
"It bothers me, Tallis. Not being able to care. It really, honestly bothers me. How can you say it's better to live this way?"
"You move forward."
She gave him an incredulous look for a moment before hugging her knees to her chest, weeping softly.
Tallis started humming softly. That was fun while it lasted, now all he had to do was wait for the next task.
✧ ORIGINAL CHARACTER QUESTION: Get thrown from one world into a completely new one? Tallis is perfectly fine with this, and has no intention of "finding a way home" anytime in the near future. Pretty much everything about the city is going to pique his interest - the mirrors, the laws, the royalty, Genero, the Exile, the inhabitants of the city, the concept of a Place of Solace, teneka... Really, everything. Plenty of his time after entering the city will probably be spent exploring and poking people and wondering why the snap everyone hates this place. Because seriously you guys. This entire thing is epicly convenient, why the actual fuck are you complaining.