TEXT ✦ un: scion

[shtola]

[Hey, City network! What are you up to today? Having fun exploring the liminal spaces, reliving past memories, getting locked into vaults — or maybe just fucking around? Because apparently someone's in the mood for the latter.]

what's a girl got to do to get a little attention around here? ;)

[A short time after that initial post, a follow-up appears.]

because i certainly wouldn't mind being asked out for a meal and an evening in good company, myself. by someone worthy of the honor, of course; naturally, i'm a lady of discerning tastes.

[And then, a little bit later still: ]

takers must feel the unquenchable thirst of the pursuit of knowledge and be willing to participate in intellectual debate for bells on end. oh, and graciously accept defeat when i inevitably hand it to them. or don't — i'll best you at it whether you accept it or not. i'm ever so brilliant that way. how's that for sharing?

[OOC: If the content of this post sounds suspiciously unlike Y'shtola, that's because it isn't — Thancred (onlythans) and his sticky fingers have "borrowed" her network device for a short time. Responses will come from both Thancred and Y'shtola or possibly just Y'shtola after she murders Thancred in cold blood for this!]

Comments

[nomoresharks]

I'd prefer not to if it's all the same.

And I should hope these implications you've put before me without proof are naught more than a misunderstanding, either on my part or yours.

[onlythans]

[It's a conspicuously long time — or at least, long relative to typical texting cadence — before a reply finally comes. Mayhap it's just taking him a while to think of an answer. Mayhap he's been chewing on his own hands like he thinks that's a solution to them betraying him any further than they already have.

(Like he betrayed his friends.)

(All those bodies littering the Waking Sands.) ]

what do you think has been misunderstood precisely

[nomoresharks]

[Thancred isn't the only one who needs some time to answer]

I will concede my wording may not have been the best.

But if I have the right of it, it sounded almost as if you were accusing Lahabrea of taking another man's body to use as his own. I cannot claim to know everything about the man, but from what interactions I have had with him as well as from the testimonies of others that I trust, such an act would be unthinkable.

What reason could he possibly have to do such a thing?

[onlythans]

why, for its face, of course
a face that none would suspect was an enemy in their midst until it was too late

you said i've failed to offer proof
what proof would you believe of such a claim?

[nomoresharks]

[He starts and stops a reply several times. And by the time he finally manages to send something out, it's with a measure of defeat.]

I do not know. Nor do I think it possible to find such proof in a world that is not our own. But I do know that what you say does not line up with mine own experience.

That you were hurt is undeniable. But I simply cannot fathom how such a thing could be possible.

[onlythans]

and i frankly care little and less whether you believe me or not
your belief has nothing to do with the realities of what i've lived

but if you're determined to hold fast to your insistence on putting that bastard on a high and lofty pedestal, then i'll merely offer this in exchange:

what could i possibly stand to gain by lying about something like this?

[nomoresharks]

[He struggles to find an answer. Those that come to mind seem ridiculous. Power? Status? The seat of Lahabrea--any Convocation seat for that matter--is both responsibility and honor in equal measure, but the very idea of anyone lying and slandering another to reach that position themselves is just...

It's unthinkable.]

It seems we're at an impasse.

I don't think you would have reason to lie, but neither do I know you. Nor, I think, do you know me beyond my name. And I think it safe to say that *neither* of us know the man in question to have had such wildly different experiences.

So 'tis best we leave it be for now, I think.

[So that he can try to rid himself of this new and deep unease]

[onlythans]

now that i would agree with
far be it from me to taint your understanding of your perfect star

it certainly must have been worth it
given the lengths lahabrea was willing to go for its sake

i'll leave you to it then
should you need reach out to me again, i've told you what name you can use