@DONQUIXOT3, video

[icanfixer]

[ yes it has been some days. yes this is not the first time she's spoken to the network at large. this time, however, she is showing her face and standing quite proudly this morning in front of a parking lot. cars, empty of gas but otherwise whole, scatter the background. ]

Good morn, dear fellows! I have come to thee today to ask a favor, to grant thee an honor, and help this young knight with a missive most important to all!

[ a beat. she swings into frame an umbrella, popping open the apple printed "lance" with a laugh before closing it as she continues, easy-going like she isn't going to be talking about what she is.

unbeknownst to most, don quixote needs this. ]

Thou may have seen some days ago an anonymous message regarding murder. Well! I am here now, asking thee to assist me with something like it -- nay, the exact same! I would like to see for myself, and as proof of the effects for others, what happens when one dies.

I shall not fight thee, unless thou shall wish for it for I am most happy to oblige, and I shall take only one volunteer. Whomever has the daring, the will, and the capacity to kill, I ask that thee throw thy hand up and seek to claim my life! My dear friends need not apply, for I shall reject thee post-haste!

[ she is NOT letting a fellow sinner do it. not her coworkers. she's been fussed at and she's going to be fussed at again. she might let one of the other city-dwellers do it, given they're both fixers (or formerly) but not her coworkers, war vet be damned.

gregor couldn't do it the other time, after all. ]

However, allow me to lay bare the possibilities of what may happen to thee should thou take it upon thyself to do so.

There is a chance thou may forget that which is most precious to thee, that thou will forget the moment of my death itself, and face... certain difficulties in speaking about it. [ she doesn't know if kromer mentioned that, but it's something regardless. ] I may suffer the same. The goal of this is to learn if it is the victim who forgets, if it is the murderer who doth, or if both have it struck from their mind; the secondary goal, a more personal one, is to learn if both may suffer from the others I have mentioned.

... I understand it is difficult to think of killing another, but I can assure thee, such a thing comes up frequently in my work. We are ever prepared to do so, and to die just as well!

[ helps they don't stay dead but she's not. gonna. say that. it might be odd to wonder what effects who in this case, but. well. a lady keeps her secrets. ]

Any who wish to act as witness may attend as well, for we will have need of thee. I thank thee heartily for thy time and thy consideration on the matter.

[ a small bow, hand to her chest and umbrella tucked behind her, and that's that. ]

Comments

[fussiest]

[ quite personal, the girl says. kaveh thinks - the timing is too coincidental. it has to have something to do with the anonymous post earlier, and that kromer individual? doesn't it? and on the mention of memories, could there be something that this girl is trying to forget? being asked to not chase for an answer leaves kaveh chasing his own tail in a circle - but it's a reasonable ask, all things considered, and kaveh wears that weary chase on his face as he searches the screen for any sign of, well.

kaveh isn't certain what. anyone who's willing to do this for the sake of experimentation couldn't have a normal process for emotions for this sort of thing, but it also didn't mean that they didn't bruise, or bleed, or hurt. it just means they valued something different. ]

Right. I'm not going to ask. [ kaveh says, his voice firming up by the last syllable. he looks a bit helplessly at her, before he shakes his head again. the clarity the motion offers helps. ] You have your right to privacy, and whatever that's happening between- well, it seems complicated. Um, I'm Kaveh, by the way. I'm an architect. You were asking for witnesses, right? I'm used to processing information, so my eyes won't miss anything. Can I help with this?

[icanfixer]

[ the expression she wears after lifts back to a smile, especially after he says he won't ask -- she really, really cannot tell, and she means it with all sincerity when she replies: ]

I thank thee for that, Ser Kevah.

[ now. on the other bit -- that'd be useful, but she doesn't know how useful it would be in the moment. a lot of it is after the fact, though she can't say she isn't curious to know what would happen to her body.

... that fact isn't something she'd thought about, and something alarmed flickers in her eyes before casting away again. it's fine. it'll be okay. ]

However, I must decline. I do not wish for thee to bear witness to an act that thou may not be ready to see, if thy words previous speak to the lack of experience thee have in seeing death. I shall speak to thee at length after I awake once more, however, if that suits thee well?

[ she won't get people that she shouldn't involved. she knows the other guy, vaguely, as a doctor, and the knightly fellow has surely faced foes his own -- but kaveh looks as nest-born as they come, not unlike her dear friend that's most definitely going to kill her. or rekill her. ]

[fussiest]

[ the smile on the girl's face is heartbreak. kaveh thinks - there really isn't a point in asking the other question, then. is there any way to talk you out of this? kaveh knows that look, is the thing. it's the look that his mother had when she had finally stepped onto the boat for fontaine on that misty morning, just before she had looked back to see the sun careen along the long line of a fata morgana that makes up the horizon between two countries. you only smile like that if you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the decision you are making is the one that you ought to make, even if it breaks something along the way.

but -

the flicker of something else in the girl's eyes says something that kaveh, too, knows. ]

For someone who is about to put their life in the hands of the uncertain, you're caring too much about other people. [ but there's still the helpless tuck of his lips as kaveh looks. his breath is in the way of a sigh. ] I'll hold you to that; if the rules persist and you come back. There isn't any certainty, but you know that already. I can see and hear a whole slew of people who aren't happy with this decision, but it's yours, isn't it?

[ ... ] Um, is it alright if we chatted a bit more? I have a question. Or questions. They're not about what you're about to do, I promise.

[icanfixer]

[ at least he understands. it doesn't not effect don quixote that there are others clamoring for her to rethink, to stop, threats filled with worry in their tone and so on -- but it's not an easy feeling to qualify. people she didn't even know. but she is decided, and while it'll suck in the long run, it is her choice.

mm. it's her choice. it's not something she was left with, but something she's chosen to do. but she'll gladly take the move on, leaning into the camera. ]

Oh, certainly! Ask thy questions, and I shall answer!

[fussiest]

Well, first is... [ well, it's simple, isn't it? a life begins with a name, so it should also end with one. ] we haven't been introduced, and I already went off on you with judgments on the situation. What's your name?

[icanfixer]

Don Quixote! And I mind not that thee did, for that is quite a normal reaction -- even in the City, [ which seems different than the one they speak in now, ] it would turn a head or two, but others would gladly take the chance to earn a pretty penny.

[ because there's soooooooome bad shit where she's from that's totally normal, that's all. ]

They are villains for doing so, preying upon the innocent, but if it were asked for... I suppose I would have no reason to throw myself upon them.

[ but

if anyone else had volunteered for this, she would have fought just as hard against it. it's simply fine when it's her. ]

[fussiest]

Don Quixote, then. It's a pleasure. Oh, that explains your, ah, device name; the three must be an 'e', then. That's clever.

[ commerce, kaveh thinks. it trades in blood as well as goods - he's always known this. but the candid way that this young lady speaks of it formulates a basis for his hypothesis. it's not as if kaveh hasn't met those who have had a similar thought process, nor has he not felt it himself out in the deserts with nothing but mehrak and the uncertain of a return. it's not as if it doesn't make sense. there's nothing pitiable about it. but also:

is this "right"? and by whose definition. kaveh considers this. ] And I see what you mean; the element of consent is paramount, though I've never thought of it in the sense of murder. I suppose this would be an assisted suicide? Regardless, perhaps it's the same as anyone taking on a difficult burden that others wouldn't understand. It's just that you're sacrificing more than what other reasonable burdens may bear. Objectively speaking, I mean.

Aside from helping people and experimenting with yourself, is there anything else you like to do? What gives you comfort at the end of a day of sacrifice?

[icanfixer]

[ FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT...... OR AT LEAST HAS POINTED IT OUT!!! she looks so proud. the 3 is important for a different reason that doesn't matter here, but she thought herself so clever. ]

I like to draw.

[ it's very simply said, a far more normal hobby for a young lady about her age. ]

A friend and I have also spent many a night playing board games, such as chess and the like. It is most relaxing to be in the company of another, wouldn't thee agree? Once we have had our fill, sleep comes easy.

[ she likes!!! spending time with people!!! honestly they could do anything and she'd be fine with it, it's the quality time that's important. ]

And thyself? How do thee occupy the day?

[fussiest]

[ for the first time, the smile kaveh paints is one that's much like a line stricken from a book, the single sliver of something still-gleaming lifted from a waterlogged bog. ]

I like to draw.

[ he says, equally simply. ]

The glint of starlight off of an evening waterfall, an orange cat's dangling tail curled along a bakery's edge, seven studies of sconces in the Akademiya's halls. I'll draw anything that catches my fancy; once it has been translated onto the page through oils, charcoals and paints, it transforms from something that belonged to the world to something that belongs, at least for a brief moment, to me.

What's the favourite thing of yours that you've drawn? What did you do it with?

[icanfixer]

[ what descriptions... her eyes light up at them and she can't help her lean, as if drawn in to a story by the other. something that belonged to the world belonging then to him, if only for a moment...

her heart fills with warmth; it's a pretty way to put it, and one she likes. ]

I like the way thee speak, Young Kaveh. It is quite pretty.

[ just so he knows, charmed by the storyteller-like quality it holds. for his question, though-- ]

I have drawn an enemy we have faced before! I decorated it cutely as well, and from there I hung it right up front with Miss Charon, our driver! She thought it most adorable. When I am able to, allow me to recreate it.

[ it will be something he will not soon forget actually. ]

It is round and squishy, with large eyes and a grinning mouth full of sharp teeth! Very adorable.

[fussiest]

[ kaveh:
kaveh: i've made a Mistake ]

Enemy?

[ enemy, kaveh's mind echoes. well, shroomkin were considered enemies to the general populace back in sumeru city. more nuisance than true danger, but they did tend to be somewhat of a ferocious force whenever it rained a little too much, and many people did enjoy drawing them. perhaps the round and squishy thing was particularly fluffy, like a riboshland tiger.

makes sense, kaveh thinks. ]

Well, with a promise like that, how can I not hold you to it? I'd love to see a recreation of that painting of yours. There's quite a bit more art to draw and friends to spend time with when you come back, you know that right?