For what it's worth, I think you can be a lot more reasonable than he can, at least. I do appreciate the guts to actually come talk to me despite the fact you probably wouldn't mind punching me instead.
[He puts down the spoon and sits back.]
You're from the space hell camp, right? With Lup. You know Royce, too, then.
[She isn't wrong. He looks at her for a long moment without any particular expression, but his eyes sort of jump back and forth to study her face. He is quiet for so long, debating.
[i mean listen she cared about him but also he was mostly down to feed them all to a furby so her concern has qualifications...
but she still makes a bit of an unhappy face and nods.]
I'm certain the Royce I knew was somewhat different than the one you knew. He was...I do not think the role of staff or Avatar was one that came easy to him. He preferred to keep his distance from all of us.
After a few of us met a shadow of his daughter, he was a little more forthcoming. I would not want to see him come to harm, not when the man I met had earned a chance to be reunited with his family.
Yes, dustpan...got some, as you say. He had a wife and a young daughter, Mercy. He was very devoted to both of them. The wife had died, but he managed to fix that by the end, I think.
[Surprisingly, he looks visibly shocked at the last part. Like he's been struck by something icy.] She... died? [His expression is very no, no, no, no, but in his eyes it's very easy to see the same kind of feral anger from the trial start to bubble up.
It probably wasn’t the same Royce. But perhaps your Royce found another way to save her?
[otherwise it is sad.]
I know little about her, it obviously was difficult to speak of. And at the time, I could not speak of my own losses due to the aforementioned tampering with portions of my brain. But I think we understood one another somewhat all the same.
He did indeed have balls. [she says this so drily.] He didn't necessarily have good intentions for all of us, but he was rather upfront about that from the start, which I appreciate.
[a pause, and then.] You did not get along with those who were...what Lup calls NPCs? She said you became alarmed when you learned she had been one.
[He laughs, once and dry. Yeah. Sounds like Royce. Then he shrugs one shoulder.]
We only had one host. Two if you count The Judge, but you didn’t meet her until you died. I liked Ivan fine. Wanted to help her even.
I was surprised because I didn’t expect someone like that here. And also Lup lead in with how she didn’t pay attention in trials because she already knew all the killers. She said she ran her game before she explained.
Ivan didn’t run ours really. It was like this one. The Judge kept Ivan as a host, taking her freedom and her former identity.
Perhaps she has already explained, but that isn't the case. She was forced into her position by the creature that was the actual source of our problems, and ultimately helped us destroy it. As you can see, none of us bear any distrust or ill will towards her. I consider her a friend.
Yeah. She said something had taken her brother. Ivan had her life taken essentially. Guess being a host isn't all it's cracked up to be.
[RIP.]
Why? Just curious. She was ready to throw you guys into the fire, but you forgave her? Because she realized she could help you and win, or just because she helped you?
She said... what? Her brother was about to die, I think. A voice asked her if she wanted to save him, so she said yeah. It was--a half-flesh computer? That's about all she said.
You said Royce was upfront about whatever ill intentions he had for you. If something promised Lup it'd save her brother, I assumed she was probably in the same boat? At least at first. Because of what was promised.
No. [she's intent on lying about this one or at least omitting a little bit; she's relieved Lup didn't share too much.] I suppose she still feels guilt for her part in it at all, for maintaining the ruse as long as she did...but she never did anything to harm us and had little choice.
I suppose if she had intended to throw us in the fire, I still may have forgiven her for it. I forgave others. I am no stranger to finding yourself too far down a path before the revelation that it was the wrong one. But Lup was...honest with me about the danger we were in well before she ought to have been for her own safety.
I believe if she didn't care about her brother's life enough to risk being dragged into something very ugly, she wouldn't be here. Nor would any of us.
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[He puts down the spoon and sits back.]
You're from the space hell camp, right? With Lup. You know Royce, too, then.
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[but the question does surprise her a little.]
...Yes, I know Royce.
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So do I. We were on the island together.
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[well she can he wouldn't have brought it up to be like 'oh you know this guy? i hate him']
Personally, I was fond of him.
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Then he glances away.]
That's who they took for me.
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[i mean listen she cared about him but also he was mostly down to feed them all to a furby so her concern has qualifications...
but she still makes a bit of an unhappy face and nods.]
I'm certain the Royce I knew was somewhat different than the one you knew. He was...I do not think the role of staff or Avatar was one that came easy to him. He preferred to keep his distance from all of us.
After a few of us met a shadow of his daughter, he was a little more forthcoming. I would not want to see him come to harm, not when the man I met had earned a chance to be reunited with his family.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Back up, back up— Daughter? Seriously? Ol’ Dustpan got some?!
[His Royce is definitely not her Royce, very funny.]
Holy shit!
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Yes, dustpan...got some, as you say. He had a wife and a young daughter, Mercy. He was very devoted to both of them. The wife had died, but he managed to fix that by the end, I think.
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He hears the addendum, but still.]
What the fuck? Gwen?
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[...]
Oh dear, I have brought up a troubling subject.
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[This is angrily astounded rather than just angry. Thankfully.]
You said he fixed it? But--that-- I don't know if that's the same Royce.
[Royce, NOOOOOOO. YOUR WIFE.]
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[otherwise it is sad.]
I know little about her, it obviously was difficult to speak of. And at the time, I could not speak of my own losses due to the aforementioned tampering with portions of my brain. But I think we understood one another somewhat all the same.
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Sounds like Royce. He was the only one who voted for an actual person at our very first trial. The rest of us abstained. He had balls.
I think we only started getting along after I tased him when he attacked me.
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[a pause, and then.] You did not get along with those who were...what Lup calls NPCs? She said you became alarmed when you learned she had been one.
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We only had one host. Two if you count The Judge, but you didn’t meet her until you died. I liked Ivan fine. Wanted to help her even.
I was surprised because I didn’t expect someone like that here. And also Lup lead in with how she didn’t pay attention in trials because she already knew all the killers. She said she ran her game before she explained.
Ivan didn’t run ours really. It was like this one. The Judge kept Ivan as a host, taking her freedom and her former identity.
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[she chews on her lip.]
Perhaps she has already explained, but that isn't the case. She was forced into her position by the creature that was the actual source of our problems, and ultimately helped us destroy it. As you can see, none of us bear any distrust or ill will towards her. I consider her a friend.
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[RIP.]
Why? Just curious. She was ready to throw you guys into the fire, but you forgave her? Because she realized she could help you and win, or just because she helped you?
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She said... what? Her brother was about to die, I think. A voice asked her if she wanted to save him, so she said yeah. It was--a half-flesh computer? That's about all she said.
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Wasn't she?
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I suppose if she had intended to throw us in the fire, I still may have forgiven her for it. I forgave others. I am no stranger to finding yourself too far down a path before the revelation that it was the wrong one. But Lup was...honest with me about the danger we were in well before she ought to have been for her own safety.
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And you believe she will be that way still even here? Even when things have changed. With her playing instead.
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Fair enough.
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