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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:54 am
"Nembus."
Her smile was grim.
"I'll decide what new name my fake self would like to be called once I know how I'm feeling."
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:54 am
"Oh." Okay. "I can do that." He chewed on his lower lip. "So there is a chance you will completely forget most of me and most of everyone else and have nowhere to go after you purify."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:55 am
"Yes."
There wasn't really any avoiding the total truth of that.
It was part of what had kept her complacent.
It was part of what kept her willing to draw energy.
It was part of what kept her willing to kill, willing to abide by the concept of what the Negaverse stood for, part of what kept her loyal if not unshakably so.
"But I would rather live ten minutes in my own air than an infinity more in Metallia's false embrace."
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:55 am
His memory flashed briefly back to the park. "...And if they find out, they'll kill you."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:56 am
Would Albite kill her?
... No. It seemed unreasonable. The concept of him turning his binding abilities against her didn't seem to resonate, even if she was arguably abandoning him. He depended on her. Saw her as the den mother. And yet --
Would Lilith kill her? Would Alkmene? Would Celadonite? Would Haymitch?
-- Oh, how terribly unlikely was that last one.
Would Faustite?
She wanted to believe he wouldn't, not the unwilling general she had found an alarming amount in common with. She wanted to believe she could at least see eye-to-eye with him, to at least find understanding in trying to find meaning in a mutually lost humanity. And yet--
"Likely. I know there are other force corrupted who have purified who are marked for death. I would likely be much the same." Something about Nembus' smile seemed too wide. "Cybele's former general wrote in our databases that she should be killed."
And she would probably be written of in such a way, too.
"I hope my former team will not. I have told myself to watch out for them. I hope that they'll understand. But I will still be branded a traitor." Her gaze seemed extraordinarily harsh. "And I know what happens to traitors."
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:56 am
To his credit, he was able to meet it. "If they find you, you'll die."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:57 am
"Depends on who finds me." Perhaps she would be lucky, and those that would find her would be like how she was to Sedna. "But it is likely."
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:57 am
He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I see. And chances are I wouldn't know."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:57 am
"Correct."
There wasn't any mincing words about this, either.
She knew the risks she was taking.
"It's why I'm trying to leave while the Negaverse is distracted with their ill-gotten gains. You'll just have to trust me."
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:58 am
"Well, considering we've been meeting for over a year and you haven't led me into an ambush yet, I think I can manage it." His smile was humorless. Anxious. Worried for her.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:59 am
Her mind flashed back to what had happened a week ago so easily, the way his uniform had been tainted blood red as Soyala slipped around their legs and attempted to coax him into Metallia's embrace--
"Not intentionally, at least."
Nembus stood up, then, stretching out, realizing just how tall this guise had her standing as she felt the impact of towering over the table. It wasn't enough to be daunting, but it did remind her of just what she was under the surface. A myth in human skin in an actual abomination's skin.
Only one of those felt fully false.
"I don't want to linger too long. The longer we speak these things into existence, more likely they'll happen, and I'm not in the mood to tempt fate." She quickly clocked all parts of the alleyway, checking for anything that may have come their way, before turning back toward him. "I should get going. Promise me you'll be there, Phaethon?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:59 am
He swallowed past the cold grip on his heart. "I promise it."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:59 am
"Thank you."
Nembus turned her gaze away from him, looking out to the alley.
"'Til we meet again, Phaethon."
She didn't leave any space for him to speak, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:59 am
He watched her go, then looked down to the box on the table cradled between his arms. Phaethon drew himself back, pulling it to him, lifting it as he got to his own feet. Like so much precious cargo, Phaethon pressed it against his chest, grateful for the thicker fabric of the binder under his bodice and how it kept the corner of the box from digging into him too badly.
He should get home, lest someone find him. Suddenly anxious that they'd been seen, that she'd been followed, Phaethon kept the box tucked close as he darted away.
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