doublesmall | [PCs] team trust no bitch aka team hat aka chuuya & caren

You were not wrong. In fact, that Reaper was even willing to use the partner system to further her own agenda. There is nothing, really, from stopping any of use from doing the same. You could easily use what you're saying here as a cover, couldn't you? Still...

[Caren leans back until her back is braced against the wall, head sliding to one side to support itself. She's on a tangent now, and talking more than she probably usually does around him, even in their room (r.i.p. hotel).]

We are in agreement here: It would not matter to me if my partner were a Reaper. If not for the sake of living, then so I might help them carry that weight.

That's just gonna have to be good enough for both of us, then.

[he's silent for a few moments there, considering, but in the end the 'ah, fuck it' response wins out. if they're going to try to establish trust here, and he's already told her about the mafia-]

You're right, I could be using this as a cover, but... I know what it's like to have someone turn on you when your life is in their hands. I won't do it to you. I'd be no fucking better than him if I did.

[he says, as he eats another nugget. i hate this thread?]

So you'll take the suffering from your past and, while you could easily turn it against others to deal with the pain, you'll try to rise above it.

[She about got you pegged down, Chuuya? it seems Caren has at least a little experience with one of those types of people, anyway.

She stretches her legs, which feel too heavy to really be attach to her body, out in front of her, flexing the muscle.]

You can play the game however you like even then, but I'm glad we could come to an agreement on this issue.

I don't know how I feel about you psychoanalyzing me like that...

[he wrinkles his nose, there. she's not wrong and that's maybe the worst part-- he's used to being read, but that doesn't mean he likes having it happen.]

At least we won't have to worry about each other, then, just- other players. You think anyone would want you gone?

Does it make you feel like doing something terrible in retaliation?

[Somehow, those normal suggestions of hers are even worse when made with the decreased awareness of being high, the inability to control the smugness in her tone.

Who could want her gone? Caren folds an arm over her eyes, lying prone against the wall for a minute.]

Assassin might take action. Mages and the Church are historically opposed. However, he knows I am not currently his enemy, insomuch as any of us are not "currently enemies."

Mm, and, that sensitive boy may have gotten embarrassed, but I doubt he'd try to take my life for it.

Not to you.

[he might want to hit a wall or something, just... later. not now. getting up seems like a much harder task than it really should, and that annoyance is a little muted.

the mention of assassin gets more of a reaction, though, and he rolls his eyes as he makes a face.]

Tch, that fucking guy... who does he think he is, anyway? I got closer to kicking his ass last time, one of these days he's not going to come out on top.

[sure, chuuya. sure.]

Can't even put a damn shirt on, what kind of lazyass...

[whatever the rest of that sentence is, it's mumbled.]

[Caren drops her arm.]

It's so uncouth! Walking around exposed like that. [Caren you don't wear pants.] What are those markings all over his body supposed to be but a distraction? They aren't even all that alluring.

[Well, not that tattoos themselves are particularly alluring to her... of course... but...]

He's a complete brute. Yet you keep picking fights with him, expecting the results to change.

I don't know, they're not that bad. Looks like they're done well, at least...

[wait. no they're talking about assassin being a dick not assassin looking good. redirect.]

--but the results are going to change at some point, alright? I just-- I just have to figure out how to get the upper hand.

Do you think he'd be worse at fighting if we put a shirt on him...

... I don't believe that's where his power comes from, no.

[Slowly, long-limbed like a cat, Caren stretches out onto her side on the floor, where she continues to eat nuggets.

Looking very smug again, she looks up sideways at her partner.]

Any difference in ability would surely come from less distraction on your part.

What are you talking about, distraction? I'm not distracted by anything.

[chuuya huffs as he takes another nugget, biting it in half just because he can, honestly.]

Then you don't believe his shirtlessness provides him with some innate power over you?

[That would be...a distraction, Chuuya Nakahara.]

Not over me specifically-! I'm just saying, we can't count anything out.

[it has nothing to do with being distracted. it's Fine.]

It'll all right if you find yourself arguing with people you find attractive.

[She lies there for a while, wishing she'd gotten some honey mustard or something.]

What a shame Assassin isn't as much of a brute as his namesake would suggest... [Sigh.]

I never said I thought he was attractive!

[STUPID SEXY ASSASSIN

he raises a brow at that last comment, though.]

How's it a shame though, huh--? Don't tell me you're accusing me of being attracted to him to cover it up for yourself!

Of course it isn't anything like that.

[Folding her hands over her stomach, Caren makes a (slightly blushy) face at him.]

But if he demanded free access, I would be troubled to turn him away.

... what do you mean, 'free access'.

[he's saying that with his mouth a little full, honestly. it's nugget time again.]

[Blandly.]

To my body, of course.

Caren, for fuck's sake--

[he drags a hand over his face. it's less coordinated a movement than he probably wanted it to be.]

Don't do that just because someone demands it.

Hmmm? [She rolls over onto her back and places one hand protectively over the nuggies box.]

Are you concerned about that? I would consent, of course.

Then you are into him.

I don't know what that's like.

[She's possibly shitting him, but it's also possible that she's never sat down and thought about it, even before, when she had someone to think about like that.]

You're at least, like... teenaged at minimum, right? You really have no idea?

[guess they're having this talk now!! he watches her curiously.]

It's less that I have no idea and more that my life has been placed in the service of others. It should not matter what I feel about others for that reason. [That might interfere with performing good works, she thinks, in retrospect.

She rarely thought to remove herself from those rails before, in life. It had made him so angry, hadn't it? That her rage against the machine had only ever been subtle tapping.]

Besides, who would want to admit an infatuation with Assassin?

-yeah, that's fair. I think I must have stayed pretty busy, I didn't have all that much time for it either. We probably don't have time now.

[but he was a teenage boy once so like. gestures.]

You didn't have any feelings about who you served, though?

Obviously, I was willing to apologize for their transgressions and for my own. I'm sure that came from a love of humanity, of other people.

[It's so hard to explain why her life unfolded a certain way, now that she can't rationalize using beliefs that feel sour and false to her. But she knows she had, without a doubt, desired to serve others.]

But in the end, I believe there was only one other who understood me beyond that. Of course, he was a monster.

[PCs] team trust no bitch aka team hat aka chuuya & caren

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