LOCAL TRAUMATIZED AI SUPPORT GROUP

[zerovirus]

[ Zero has done his ample best to make this look...somewhat comfortable. Since he doesn't have a lot of experience with interior decorating, this basically involved making things different colours and also providing actual facsimiles of furniture to sit in (more for pretty much everyone else's benefit than his own), as well as other decor.

After that, there's nothing left to do but wait for everyone else to arrive. ]

Comments

[tricksandstones]

[URK.

That mispronunciation irks her, but... it's not like she has the right to say anything after what she did. Still, all she can do is try to keep things light.... She thinks.]

Haha, right? I don't know what some of these people are doing.

[duskuntildawn]

[ Her eyebrows shoot up. ]

Oh? Is that really what you think? These people have been brave enough to gather here and share their stories and you're speaking so ill of them? You always manage to surprise me, Green.

[tricksandstones]

[That's not exactly fair, is it? She wants to protest, to defend herself, but.... She can't.]

... Yeah, well, what about you? I didn't think you were the type to be sharing stories like this.

[duskuntildawn]

[ VERY firmly: ] I'm not.

... But, Dawn wanted to come.

[ And anywhere Dawn goes, Dusk goes. ]

[tricksandstones]

[You would think knowing that would make Kanin readier to hear that Dawn is there.

It doesn't. She suddenly looks like she wants to crawl into a hole and die.]

... Dawn's here too? Right. Right, of course she is. Okay.

Hey look at that I've got a popup saying I should probably defrag myself I guess I'll have to miss out on this what a shame!

[duskuntildawn]

Aah, so La Pine's running away?

[ She doesn't quite smile, but something about the crease of her eyes suggests it. ]

That's... entirely predictable.

[tricksandstones]

[That... That hurts. Of course she runs away. It's all she can do. But the way Dusk says it... It's like a needle under her skin.]

So, what? You don't want me here, but when I try to leave, that's a bad thing?

[duskuntildawn]

I don't really care what you do, so long as it doesn't upset Dawn. [ this is maybe a stretching of the truth, but we are firmly in Pretending I Don't Have Feelings territory with her right now. ] It just doesn't surprise me that you'd decide to run away as soon as you were a little uncomfortable.

[tricksandstones]

[It's amazing how someone without blood can feel the blood rush to her head. She can't snap back. She can't argue. This is Dusk. Kanin- Green, deserves it, deserves all of this for what she's done. But even still, when someone picks at her sorest spots... She can't help but lash back out.]

Well, I did learn from the best, after all. Watching you decide to run away from humans, from our purpose, just abandoning the rest of the world- Running away from us. You can talk big all you want, Dusk, but you were the one who abandoned us first!

[duskuntildawn]

[ The only immediate visible change to her expression is the way her eyelids flutter for a moment. Then she sighs and closes them, looking for all the world like a woman counting to ten to keep her temper. When she opens them again, though, her eyes are sharp. ]

If that's what you've decided to believe, I don't think I'll have much luck convincing you otherwise. Not that I have the patience for it, of course. If you think I'm a coward for wanting to write my own ending, then I will choose to be a coward every single time.

[tricksandstones]

I'm not saying you're a coward, I'm saying you're a jerk! Do you think Merry, or Susie, or any of us would have let you have that kind of an ending?! Did you never think to even talk to us about it?!

[She's getting mad, of course. For a trickster, when her emotions get the better of her, it's obvious.]

[duskuntildawn]

What good would it have done?

None of you had done much of anything to subvert your own endings. Why would I have any confidence you could do so for me?

[ Her words are harsh, but her tone is oddly cool and matter-of-fact. ]

[tricksandstones]

Why do you think we couldn't?! Of course we haven't changed our endings, we're still barely alive, we've still barely sorted out our beginnings! But- Even if you didn't trust the rest of us, even if you've always hated me, what about Susie?!

[Dusk's feelings for Susie may be hitting below the belt now, but Kanin doesn't even mean it in that sense. She's too hopped up on her own anger, on her own indignation... On her own hurt.]

Do you really believe Susie, of all people, would have ever let you have an unhappy ending?! Do you think she would have ever done less than move heaven and earth for you?! Whatever it took?!

[duskuntildawn]

[ In one smooth movement, Dusk steps forward, pushing right into Kanin's personal bubble and, put bluntly, getting into her face. Her expression is a tight mask of attempted control, but it's clear by the tight line of her lips and the angry flash of her eyes that her temper is starting to fray. ]

What do you want me to say, Kanin?! [ She isn't quite yelling, but her voice is definitely rising in volume. ] All of you knew what I was from the start and none of you offered a hand to help. It was only when I took steps for me, myself, to change my own fate that suddenly you all became so concerned!

Are you angry because you felt I abandoned you, or are you angry that I did what you were too scared to do?!