(Untitled)

[exanimatus]

Comments

[payback]

[Tit for tat, Zelman. She's venturing in at least a little... just to see. What's what, in here.]

[exanimatus]

[good luck with that. the place is a bit of a mess, even though there's a lot less to explore here than there was in Rin's space.

Zelman stops scratching at the floor, but doesn't move.]

You're wasting your time.

[payback]

[She steps over to one of the walls to observe the collage sticking there anyway.]

Are you trying to dig to China?

[exanimatus]

[all sorts of things. places he's been. how the castle works. likes and dislikes about Wednesdays. a few faces here and there, with notes.]

That's stupid. I'm thinking.

[payback]

[She just... looks at it. Takes it in. Reads what's there, moves along towards the next crowded patch of wall.]

About what?

[exanimatus]

[Earth dates. where he was supposed to be four years ago. more faces, more places, more things. lists. these things, and the connections between them, become more and more trivial and unimportant the longer she looks. whether that's because of the content or because of Zelman's perception of it, however, is unclear.]

Everything.

[payback]

[She raises her hand as if to touch the wall and then thinks better of it, her fingers hovering above the surface.]

Seems like you're carrying around a lot.

[exanimatus]

It piles up after a while.

[he finally rolls over and sits up, still not really looking at her. he's looking at his own walls, thinking about what needs to be changed.]

[payback]

How many years has it been?

[Rin has no qualms about studying him. So sorry, Zelman.]

[exanimatus]

[he looks up at that flickering ceiling of his.]

Three hundred. More.

[payback]

What still matters?

[exanimatus]

Not much. [just the box.]

[payback]

[She moves to study another spot on the wall without comment. Surprising he wouldn't burn it all out...

Though, maybe if he could do that to his own mind, life would be easier.]

[exanimatus]

[it's just more of the same all around.]

Are you looking for something?

[payback]

[A shrug, glancing back at him once more.] I'm just curious. You've got a labyrinthine mind, Zelman.

[exanimatus]

It's easiest to find things if they're all laid out.

[he lays back down. apparently the ceiling is more interesting.]