∞ 87: Rooftops [action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Around mid-morning, Albert can be seen picking up small things in the plaza -- nails, pens, groceries. He doesn't often do this, but it's been a week since he gave Caesar the task of repairing the stable, so he finds himself inspecting and repairing the amateurish work. That requires a few extra building supplies. Might as well take advantage of how calm everything is with the New Feathers coming in, right?

Albert spends the afternoon pulling out half-bent nails and readjusting crooked wooden slats. He can't say that he's disappointed, since Caesar actually tried to rebuild the stable's roof, but he can have the opinion that did a really shabby job. Silverbergs were apparently not very good roof-builders.

In the evening, after dinner, he'll be found up on house 42's roof, having climbed up through the skylight. It's something he's never really taken advantage of, and yet there's something familiar about it. He remains out there for a good while, almost meditating.]

Comments

[action]

[wise_maiden]

... No. Not always. But when you do, it's... well. You truly do.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[He will look at Raine for a longer moment.]

As I said earlier, I'm fine. You are acting as if I am the one who was troubled by last week's storm.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

You can't expect me to believe there isn't some lingering issue from the past few weeks that you've had to struggle with.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

Besides noting that I could be much more of a pessimist in some reality shift? No.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

That couldn't have been all there was to it.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

No? Then please, tell me what I should have experienced during that week.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

You know I can't tell you that.

It was a reality shift. It may have manifested itself in pessimism, but there was a reason for it. A... larger reason.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

The larger reason is not important. I can assure you that nothing that happened to me will debilitate me in the same way your change did.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

The more you throw my ... change back at me, the more it makes me wonder. What is it that makes it 'unimportant'?

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

Because not everyone was as affected as traumatically as you. I know my shift was nowhere as extensive as yours, if you adopted Sheena's role.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

Only her role as... a summoner. [... Derailment detected.]

-- But that isn't the point. You're deliberately avoiding acknowledging what the situation was, as opposed to letting it speak for itself. Letting me decide that for myself.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

I have no interest in detailing things for your analysis when there is no need.

But seeing as I am cornered on a rooftop and you will not leave me alone otherwise, I suppose I have no choice, do I?

[action]

[wise_maiden]

You make it sound like it's a chore.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

Did I not already say that there was nothing that occurred that would debilitate me? Thus it is a chore.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

You were... relieved about something.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

I was relieved to know that I was affected. Because my other self was similar enough to me to know that he should not be as pessimistic as he was. He was a much more easily frustrated individual.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

He also looked younger, and recovered far more easily from an attack than you might have under normal circumstances.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

He was cursed, and had been taken from his home world before he had the time to seek out a cure.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

... Cursed? [That wasn't something she was expecting to hear. Though something seems odd about that.]

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

Yes. Cursed with the inability to die, or so he believed. The specifics were not clear.

[action] 1/2

[wise_maiden]

[Quietly, almost too softly to be heard:] ... That power ...

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

[And then, much clearer, after a moment-]

Did it have something to do with a Rune?

[Action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[He raises a brow at the question.] A rune?

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

Considering the relevance that they have to your world... and you have also mentioned that some of them could have side effects, though not quite in detail.

[Action]

[chikaidestroyer]

They are not "side effects"; if it occurs because of a rune, it is because that is how the rune functions.

But yes, what occurred was because of a rune. Rune curses are not unheard of, but they are not easily cured. Being taken at such a time apparently frustrated him.