tushanshu | 13D11 [VIDEO]

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13D11 [VIDEO]

[When Costigan clicks on the video, he's looking a little bit sickly. It's not terrible, just as if he hasn't been sleeping well or caught a spot of food poisoning. He takes a sip of what seems to be alcohol before he speaks.]

I bought a couple things I could use help deciphering, if anyone's able.

There are some maps.. [He lifts a couple pages to display some metatemporal maps.] I don't understand them. They aren't like any maps I've ever seen.

[He shuffles some pages, setting the maps down and displaying an ancient scroll next.]

Then there's this scroll. If anyone speaks whatever this is. I want to- it needs to be translated. It's important.

[He pauses and sets the scroll down.]

Thanks.

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[She doesn't even skip a beat. There's no flustered denial, only the set expression of a person who is willing to do what she has to in order to keep people safe]

The last time we talked about my life at home, it didn't go well. I was hoping to save you from things you didn't want to hear. [She sighs] I'm guessing you spoke to Vanessa?

Edited 2013-12-22 07:16 (UTC)

Doesn't matter. [He figures it's pretty obvious where else the information could have come from, but he's not about to throw the girl under the bus nonetheless.]

[Costigan sighs and opens the door wider, stepping back and giving Catty room to enter. She's right about his not taking her stories about her life too well and he can't entirely blame her for wanting to avoid that. But, if what Vanessa said is true, there's more to it than that.]

Come in and then tell me what it is and why you want it.

[She eyes him for a moment]

Only if you promise to listen. I want to tell you, and I want you to understand. That's important to me. But making sure it doesn't hurt anyone else - including you - is more important. The Scroll is my responsibility, above anything else.

I'll listen. [He agrees. It doesn't mean that he'll like it, but he'll at least give her that. She's earned as much.]

Then I'll come in. [And she does just that, stepping inside. She can feel the Scroll nearby, and the thought of it being so close makes her feel a little ill.

Does it mean that Chris is alive again? Could it be that he's on the turtle as well? She can't dwell on that now, not with Costigan bearing the tell-tale signs of the Scroll's curse.

She invites herself to sit down. She seems calm, but utterly focussed. Serious, in a way she's never had to be on the turtle before] The thing you have, it's called the Secret Scroll. You know how here, we're supposed to be fighting Mally? Well back home, we had something like that too. A being of pure evil, called the Atrox. The Scroll you found is the key to destroying it.

[Costigan closes the door behind her and then follows her over to the center of the room, taking a seat on the couch opposite the chair she's chosen. He sits with his legs apart, forearms resting on his thighs and hands clasped between them. The undercover watches her. He listens, as promised.]

Why is it so dangerous?

Because it's cursed. The longer you're around it, the harder you try to read it, the sicker you'll get. Until you die. It doesn't want to be touched, let alone used, by anyone except the Heir.

And you're her, is that it? [He can't help the skepticism. It seems awfully convenient that she should happen to be the only one who can keep the scroll. Costigan narrows his gaze at her, looking for signs of deceit.] Nice try, kid, but I've been sick longer than since I bought this thing.

[Okay, so maybe it was noticeably worse now, but that was just his excess drinking and less sleep. It had nothing to do with the piece of paper resting against his skin. Vanessa's warning filters to the front of his mind and he hesitates.] I want to know what it says.

Yes. [There's a force of undeniable truth behind her words. Whether he believes her or not, it's clear that she believes her] The daughter of a demon and a fallen goddess, but with a pure heart. I'm not the only one that ever existed, but I'm the only one that succeeded.

[She tilts her head at him] Why? It wouldn't mean anything to you. You don't believe any of this, and even if you did, it wouldn't mean anything. The Atrox has been destroyed, and even if it hadn't been, you wouldn't be able to carry out the steps anyway.

[Costigan presses his lips together, forcing himself to listen and consider her words before immediately rejecting them. Although it seems impossible to believe, the conviction she puts behind her words has him questioning whether maybe she may be telling the truth. He accepts her at her words, trying to focus on the matter at hand.]

Good. Then it shouldn't make any difference to you to tell me. [He wants to know. The undercover can't explain it exactly, but there's an insatiable curiosity present that demands he learn what it says. He wants to read it and to understand it, even though it's magic. Maybe it will mean something for him.]

It does, though. Even if it wouldn't mean anything to you, it still has power. Someone like my father could pluck that information from your head as easy as breathing, and you don't want to know what he'd do with it. [She swallows, and an old pain enters her voice]

Costigan, you don't know what I've done to keep that information from falling into the wrong hands, and I don't want to have to prove it to you. That compulsion you're feeling? That's the Scroll. It doesn't want you to read it, it wants to kill you. The same thing happened to my mom, and to my friend. They both looked exactly like you do now. They nearly died.

[He opens his mouth to argue immediately and then closes it. A promise to listen. Costigan thinks on her words. All of it is so far beyond his realm of understanding or true comprehension that it's difficult to imagine. Someone pulling thoughts from his head. The paper compelling him to want to read it. How can he believe any of it when it's all ridiculous.

And yet, he is sick. He doesn't understand why he cares so much to know what it says. There are too many things amiss to entirely dismiss what she's saying.

He frowns and looks at her again, his solemnity matching her own.] If I give this to you and you're lying to me, you realize I'll have to take care of it, right? If this hurts the Emperor's people, or summons Him, I'll hunt you down and I'll fucking kill you.

[It's not exactly his proudest moment. He doesn't want to give it up and it demands a very extreme level of rationality to even consider it. That means lowering the risk and trying to keep her in check. When he comes to his senses, he'll apologize. For now, it makes sense.]

[She smiles, although it's more understanding than anything else. She doesn't appear to have any problem with being told he'll try to kill her] It's good that you care about protecting people. That's all I've ever wanted to do. If you give me the Scroll, I'm going to destroy it. Then it won't be able to hurt anyone.

Edited 2013-12-22 08:43 (UTC)

[Costigan looks at her for another moment before he gives a nod, accepting that she's telling him the truth. He straightens, his movements stiff with his anger, and reaches back to slide the scroll from his back. Holding it in his hands, he turns it over a few times to look at it and, just as he considers offering it to her, he stops and looks up to meet her gaze again.]

Is it going to hurt you, now or destroying it?

[Her control of her emotions isn't as good as it was under the Atrox, where survival meant lying constantly. He pulls out the Scroll, and an old pain flickers across her face. She blows out a sigh]

Not physically. I'm immune to its effects. It just has - a lot of memories.

[He holds the scroll in one hand and brandishes the other at her in stern gesturing. Part of him knows he's stalling for more time, but the truth is that he really does care about the girl too. Somehow, obnoxiously, she and Vanessa have wormed their way into his circle of people to look out for.] Don't lie to me. Swear to me this won't hurt anyone, including you.

[Chris, she thinks. But Chris is already dead, from the last time she destroyed this. And if he's not, if he's somehow found his way to the turtle the same as she has...

He'd asked her to do it. He'd said he was tired. And she knows he'd do the same now. Knowing she'd killed him against would hurt her, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. She has to put the world before everything else.

Catty meets his gaze head on, and there's no trace of a lie in her demeanour when she replies. If she can lie to the most evil creature in existence, she can fudge the truth to Costigan] I swear to you on my Goddess that it won't hurt anyone, including me. You might not believe in her, but I do. That's the most powerful promise I can make.

[She's already done damage to Selene's name. A little more won't hurt]

[He knows that such elaboration is a sign of lying, knows that leaping to extremes means there's likely an omission present, if not an outright lie. He meets her gaze head on and, at the end of it, he believes her. The undercover hesitates only a moment more before finally leaning forward and holding out the scroll towards her. He doesn't let go at first, not without a few more words of warning.]

Next time, don't lie to me. [He releases it. Because his request is not meant to be a bribe or condition to its surrender.] I know I don't do too well with magic, but you can talk to me, alright? I'll listen.

Edited (tweaking) 2013-12-22 09:04 (UTC)

[Her lips twitch up a little] I really, really hope there's not going to be a next time. [She sags visibly as he releases the Scroll into her hands, glad that it won't be able to hurt him anymore, and glad that she didn't have to take it.

She ducks her head, hair falling forward. There's a moment of silence, before she decides to take him up on that.] I told you that I died, right? This is how. I followed the steps on the Scroll, I - well, you wouldn't like the details of what happened, I'm pretty sure. But it consumed the Atrox, and it consumed me. [She sighs] If only things were that easy here, right?

[Costigan feels a short-lived sense of loss upon releasing it. Then comes the relief of having it gone and a subtle sense of vitality previously lost to him. He ignores the sudden change, still not entirely convinced he has made the right decision, and watches her. Listens.]

Easy? You would rather the foreigners all die to kill Him and let the kedan live, than to find another way?

[Catty blinks] What? Not, not all of them. [She laughs] Just me, I mean. You know, sacrifice the one to save the many? It's a pretty good plan, when it works out that way.

[Just...casually talking about dying oops]

Bullshit. We shouldn't be sacrificing anybody.

[Even if they're all clones anyway.]

Besides, you're young.

[Her expression turns pensive] It's not a bad thing, you know. When you do it for the right thing, the right reasons, when you know it's necessary and there's no other option...if you can accept that? It's easy, in the end.

I don't think that really means anything to me, anymore. Some things age you faster than time.

I believe it's easy, sure. You get the easy way out. Death.. Death is easy. Living is what's hard.

[Costigan straightens, his muscles stiffening with his downturn in mood. He shifts a little and then moves to stand, subtly suggesting that it might be about time for Catty to leave.]

I didn't say you aren't experienced. But, like it or not, you should have more years ahead of you than I do if things weren't fucked and I'm not even old.

Tell me about it. [Wait] Um. I'm not suicidal or anything, in case that's how it seems. It's just that, in the past few months before I died, everything became about making that sacrifice. Everything I did, every thought I had, every thought I hid - I had one goal. I guess it's hard getting out of that mindset.

[She makes a face] Yeah, trust me. I have more than enough years stretching out ahead of me, now that I'm back. At least, I'm pretty sure I do. [wanna help her test immortality]

13D11 [VIDEO]

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