[superhell pcs] thancred

[voidshift]

Comments

[onlythans]

Something of yours? Above and beyond just what was given to you when we first got our rooms.

[Well. That's...unsettling.]

How do you suppose it came to find itself here?

[voidshift]

There was a note with it. Courtesy of Satan, 'for being smart enough'.

[he makes a face, but-]

It hasn't turned out to be some sort of trick yet, so it seems to be fine.

[onlythans]

Ah. Well, congratulations on your brilliance, I suppose.

[He waves a hand, not exactly dismissive, but almost self-mocking. He does not appear to have any such gift. Judgments about his own intelligence therefore follow naturally.]

It's something sentimental, I gather.

[voidshift]

[fortunately, he likes thancred enough not to say anything in response to that-- but the last remark gets a smile from him, smaller than usual. slightly bittersweet.]

...it is. I'm not sure why I didn't have it in the first place.

[onlythans]

Because this is hell, presumably. Why should any of us be afforded luxuries?

[voidshift]

Why, indeed. But better late than never.

[he lets his hand fall from the chain and takes another pull from his drink, a little more subdued.]

[onlythans]

...Ah. I've something else to tell you, following on a previous discussion of ours.

[He glances away a moment.]

It seems our personal demons are denying being the ones to give Barnes the information he dispensed a few days ago.

[voidshift]

Are they? That's not surprising, exactly, but- what did they have to say about it, besides that it wasn't them?

[onlythans]

Precious little. They suggested as an alternative that he made it up himself. Or got the idea from the fliers that have been tacked around.

[voidshift]

[hm. one ear flicks.]

It's definitely not impossible for him to have killed based on something he just thought was true, but making it up?

[onlythans]

Aye, it does seem rather uncharacteristic of him. Though his profile did mention "getting in over his head".

[He shakes his head.]

It still doesn't warrant one death. If he were so worried, he simply would've poisoned the lot of us all at once to whittle the numbers.

[voidshift]

And then he'd have been here alone, with a few weeks to wait and only our personal demons for company.

...still, going after a few that way would have been a better idea than what actually happened.

[onlythans]

Ah, yes. Left alone with one's personal demons. Not a life I'd recommend to anyone — but for the span of a few weeks, it could be done.

[He's joking. Probably.]

[voidshift]

Maybe so. I don't know, he seems like he might snap in that situation.

[onlythans]

Ah, you don't like them. What's your grudge? Color me curious.

[voidshift]

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with most of them in small doses. Blue braided my hair last week.

[but- he hums.]

They're still-- well, you know. Here to torment us. Talking to them can be just as infuriating as it is interesting.

[onlythans]

Well. We've been inconvenienced, certainly, but as torments go...

[Oh. Oh.]

The only one of us here I'd describe as tormented is — would have been, Barnes.

[voidshift]

...do you think that has something to do with why he'd be pushed so far?

[onlythans]

If it does, it certainly bodes ill for the rest of us.

It means any one of us might be targeted next. And potentially succumb.

[voidshift]

I haven't really seen any signs of it. Honestly, it's possible he was just too easy a target...

[don't be rude to the dead.]

But I do try to speak with all of them when I can. See if I can't figure them out a bit.

[onlythans]

Oh, have you? I wonder what you've figured out about me, then.

[He waits a beat, then laughs softly.]

I'm joking. Frankly, anyone in a situation like this who isn't taking the measure of those around him is a fool.

[voidshift]

I mean our demons, as well, but I am keeping an eye on the rest. Defeats the purpose if I just tell you what I think I know, though, doesn't it?

[he's also joking, judging by the lighter tone.]

[onlythans]

And to think, I've shared information with you so freely. How you wound me with your cutting recalcitrance.

[He says, gripping his chest dramatically before reaching for his beer.]

[voidshift]

To think you were that easily wounded! I wouldn't have thought so.

[he likes the dramatics-- this one, he thinks, is more entertaining than most, taking another drink from his own cup.]

[onlythans]

I've little armor to shield against an arrow straight to the heart. Or a knife to the back, whichever metaphor you prefer.

[But then he pauses a minute, as an uncertain flash of emotion flickers briefly through his gaze, before almost without meaning to he begins: ]

I m—

[And just as quickly, bites the thought off.]