chroma | catchall for vin

[countermeasures]

i haven't had coffee yet so this won't be pretty yet

Comments

[allomantic]

[she nods, concerned.]

It's... frightening. It must have been more frightening to live it.

[countermeasures]

In the moment, it wasn't so bad. I didn't know any different.

[but snapping out of it, realizing that she'd been caught in its thrall the whole time... she sighs.]

...anyway. While we were there, we believed it was our duty to complete a ritual. It was in three parts... the first was very easy, and we were asked to come back again after sixty years.

The second... was more difficult. I don't remember all of it, I don't remember who I faced, but the other three... they were fighting people I recognized. [she looks up to meet her gaze briefly.] ...one of them was you.

[allomantic]

Sixty years...

[she can't imagine how disorienting it must be to be under the impression you had lived that long in a specific place, only to come back and find out it was an illusion. for the next part, though... she doesn't look terribly surprised, especially after jiuqing mentions forgetting someone. after a beat:]

...I was fighting with Clarte, I'm guessing? [more importantly, though:] Is that how you became injured?

[countermeasures]

Yes, you were.

[she can imagine clarte's missing memories - on top of their usual amnesia - must have been fairly obvious.]

...some of our injuries were from that. But once we completed that part of the ritual, we were told to come back another sixty years after that...

[120 years..........]

Our fresher wounds were from... our conflict during that third attempt. What happened to the others is for them to tell, but I... changed... into some kind of a monster. And I tried very hard to kill them.

[...]

I'm only glad I didn't succeed.

[allomantic]

[wow! a literal nightmare! she looks pretty horrified upon hearing that - for someone like jiuqing especially, whose tendency is to heal rather than hurt unless she's been wronged, it seems like it would be horrible to go through. after a moment:]

...I cannot imagine what that might have been like for you.

[countermeasures]

It was bad for us all. None of us wanted to hurt each other.

[but...

they did anyway. isn't that just the way things are, here? hasn't it been that way for the last month?]

[allomantic]

[with a tiny frown, worried rather than displeased:]

It may have been bad for all of you, but... You are the one I am speaking to, now.

[countermeasures]

...

[honestly. that's fair.]

I'll be honest... I hated it.

[allomantic]

You seem like the kind of person who would hate it.

[that's definitely a compliment.]

So I am... sorry you had to go through it.

[countermeasures]

Thank you.

...at least it's over now.

[allomantic]

...I would be very glad if it only happened to each of us once.

[countermeasures]

I would hope that would be the case.

[...

but with their numbers dwindling... if they end up with several groups each week...]

[allomantic]

I suppose that this is another case where we will have to wait and see.

[incredibly! frustrating!]

[countermeasures]

...this may sound strange, but -

[...]

If it does happen again, I hope it happens to us both at the same time. I trust you, Vin.

[and she would much rather face that kind of danger alongside someone she trusts.]

[allomantic]

[she looks a little bit touched, actually.]

...I don't think it is strange. If you have to go into battle, you would want allies you knew you could count on by your side. [...] So - thank you.

[for trusting her, since she knows how difficult that can be.]

[countermeasures]

You're welcome.

[me just continuously checking which day these pcs are set on so i know if i can use smiling icons or not]