HOOKERY POST THE FOURTH

[was_no_monster]

by which I mean Court continuations! Curse you, captcha.

Comments

DAY 153

[was_no_monster]

((from here))

The former. Either what I provided is used, or they've already unsheathed theirs, so to speak. I tend to inspire that type of reaction.

Re: DAY 153

[writhingmassof]

[ THANK YOU I WAS TOO LAZY ]

Really? Perhaps because of your size, they think to know what to expect of you!

[ seems... amused... ]

Re: DAY 153

[was_no_monster]

Of course. Nothing at all to do with my everything else.

Re: DAY 153

[writhingmassof]

[ hir face doesn't falter but there's a definite pause to reorient hirself in the conversation ]

What, are the deserving of pity elsewhere in the universe a selective group of only the pure and untainted, after all?

[was_no_monster]

[ ... echoing that pause, but when he speaks again his tone is incredibly dry ]

In my experience, that's nearly always the way of it, regardless of one's point of origin.

[writhingmassof]

[ laughs ]

Generalize too broadly and you'll always be just short, dear. Though toss in a few more foreigners and even my dear old hometown might just lean that way of things.

[was_no_monster]

[ makes a hell of a face at that "dear," but does not actually comment on it this time ]

I did say "nearly," and I generalize with reason. I've lived in two crossroads such as this, and yet you're still the... hmm. I suppose the second person to indicate feeling otherwise.

[writhingmassof]

I have long felt that more tourists than not would possess amongst the most dreadful taste.

A close acquaintance, this second?

[was_no_monster]

[ can't not snort at the tourist comment ]

No. Someone I met briefly around the same time we first spoke; I believe he's since either left or fallen victim to the labyrinth.

[writhingmassof]

A shame to have missed them then, I suppose, though all the same it isn't as though that's grounds enough to guarantee enjoyable conversation.

What, were they never called such at your own first gathering place?

[was_no_monster]

Very occasionally, I believe, but since we all started out as such it was usually meant as a joke.

[writhingmassof]

It is a bit for us as well, though speaking in all truthfulness, I was unaware for years of using it that it was meant originally to imply a short stay. No one ever left, after all.

[ a. beat ]

It seems save for myself.

[was_no_monster]

...Ah. My home was slightly less restrictive, or rather less selective in who was allowed to leave and when. I was one of the residents who had been there longest, and I had only been there for... mmm. A little over four years when we left.

[writhingmassof]

More akin, it sounds, to an interdimensional pit stop than a city. Was there not a figure in power over it?

[was_no_monster]

No one that was visible. I was part of the police force that kept order there, but someone or something else was responsible for the challenge-like events that occasionally occurred.

...That isn't a bad comparison, though. It was perhaps a little more like a very rural city, in that the population was low and only people fitting a certain template were welcomed to stay.

[writhingmassof]

[ eyebrows go up ]

Oh? Taken with a fair bit of difference, but to think we might have that point in common.

[was_no_monster]

... You were a part of the police?

[writhingmassof]

The equivalent. But our enforcers were called "government officials."

[was_no_monster]

[ JUST. THIS FACE. ]

[writhingmassof]

[ LAUGHS ]

My, have I called bad experiences to mind? But that is what made it such a surprise, the application of authority, that you would hold such a role willingly.

[was_no_monster]

I don't have a problem with authority unless it holds itself above the people it's supposed to serve. Our force wasn't an authority so much as we were damage control for the few who came in with intentions to bring harm to others.

[writhingmassof]

[ shrugs one shoulder, kind of an expression of absolutely not understanding but not quite admitting it ]

We served our superiors, no one which could be called "people" by any stretch.

[was_no_monster]

...That sounds like it would be a problem in and of itself.

[writhingmassof]

Oh, we all loved our benevolent and magnanimous overseers,

[ and here there is a noise that cannot possibly be made by a human tongue, sickening and drawing up a bone deep dread, sharp and wet all at once even as it shifts in tone and pitch and nature like indistinguishable syllables ]

[was_no_monster]

[ makes the sort of face one might expect from someone who had just gotten a drink thrown in their face, but didn't want to give any satisfaction by reacting overly much. gross. ]

That isn't precisely what I meant, but fair enough.