Audience: Vira Lillie

[probe]

Comments

[chevaleros]

[ she carefully tucks the gift away with a grateful bow. ]

Thank you—I'll be curious to see if a situation arises where it'll be a good alternative to the pods. Hopefully if we're ever stuck in another 'adventure,' it could help.

[ seems like a good way to get rid of minor murder injuries too. ]

Would it help some against lethal injuries as well?

[probe]

[the mouth in the shadows of the hood smiles toothily.]

No, I am afraid not.

[chevaleros]

[ what a thing to smile about. she nods. ]

I'll keep that in mind then.

[ on the bright side, the animals seem to be getting along swimmingly. ]

I do have another question for you, specifically. If you don't mind.

[probe]

[stop, sometimes you just smile ominously!!]

Very well. Go ahead.

[chevaleros]

Those portals that you can open—do they have any sort of limitation?

Is there any possibility that you take us back to where we were?

[ she's healed, and she knows what to expect. if she could just do it all over again... maybe things could be different. ]

[probe]

Unfortunately, they do not traverse planes or dimensions here. They open only in parts of the base.

[they peer at her from in the hood thoughtfully. the spade tail sways behind them.]

Apologies for being blunt, my lord, but I do not believe any of you will ever go to that place again. It is best if you give up on your efforts for the girl. I am aware you believe it was very real because of the physical things you experienced, and the things you returned with.

However, I can only surmise it was an illusion to test your mettle.

[chevaleros]

[ her expression hardens. ]

...A test I failed and would take again.

[ they're right—it's almost certainly not real. so much of their experiences here are illusion, but something about this is difficult to let go all the same. a sort of grief that muddles her clearer thoughts. ]

[probe]

Ah, but what would you have truly learned if you had "passed"?

[they are all so funny, wanting to go back to this place for a girl they didn't want to eat.]

[chevaleros]

[ it's not funny! let them have their child back, wherever she is. ]

I would've learned I was capable of more evil than I thought possible.

[ not that she isn't like, a tiny bit evil already. but she learned a limit. ]

Would you have considered it a test of Gluttony?

[probe]

That is what it sounds like it was, would you not say?

[chevaleros]

It seemed that way.

I wonder if we're due for more tests, then.

[probe]

With a little time, we will find out.