[this explains nothing, but harrow should know by now that greed has set up an office in the library. he's practically obscured by a mountain of books and papers and charts, a teacup balanced precariously on the edge of the desk. maus is nowhere to be found, and the icy chill seems to drift at least five feet away before she ever sits down. it quickly disappears though.
he also doesn't speak first, because he's aware of how harrow is. so he will wait.]
[Yes, she'll go. And then she'll sit down. It takes her a moment or so to think of what to say.
This one is hard because he intentionally makes himself hard to get a read on. She has notions of what's important to him, what he cares about. But she can't really know whether those notions are correct or some silly romanticized version of their relationship. If he sat down and told her he'd been approaching things from the start wanting them all dead and had no regrets, she wouldn't be able to point to a single thing he said to her over the past eight weeks that was misleading, exactly. If she'd thought something else about him, that would be her fault, and that would be. . . a little harder to deal with, with no one to be angry at except herself.
But having had some time to think about it, it still feels worth risking that sort of let down to try to talk to him again, because she still doesn't actually believe she read him so wrong as that.]
. . . May I ask you what the wish you came here for is? [Ugh.] It still feels like such an invasive question to ask someone. [But apparently he told Mineo of all people, the blabbermouth, so maybe it's just her own weirdness and he really doesn't care.]
[it's not really a surprise when she asks that question. he had actually sort of expected it, eventually, after the way the conversations went the day before. it doesn't make it any easier to answer just because greed isn't a very emotionally open person. he had only told mineo in a moment of frustration, agitated about several events of saturday, in some...vain attempt to make things make sense.
now though. there's another pause.]
...the legal system has become corrupted where I'm from. High-profile officials such as the police, detectives, and attorneys have begun to resort to illegal means to get their desired outcome and hide the truth. Because of this, the public has lost its faith in the system. Because the public has lost faith, more corruption occurs in order to assure the desired outcome is reached by any means necessary.
[a beat. he would stop there, normally. surely harrow would understand from that alone...but he's taken into account that he may not get what he came for anyway, so what does it hurt to fully explain?]
Prior to my arrival here, there were two major incidents that helped solidify this dark period. Recently, a young prosecutor was tried and pled guilty for the murder of his mentor. He has been sentenced to death. His execution date will be several years from now, but until then he has been jailed.
And before that...[...he's already said it this way to someone else, so.] I suppose you could say someone I consider a partner was disbarred due to presenting forged evidence to the court. With his badge revoked, he can no longer practice law.
I don't believe either of them are guilty of their crimes. And I intend to find a way to prove it.
[sometimes...you are in your late 20s and panic because the world's turned upside down and you're determined to fix it yourself solely so it makes sense again.]
. . . I think where I'm from is very different from where you're from. [It is a dystopian theocracy, so lol.] We don't have courts of law or a legal system in the sense that you do. The Houses dispense justice as they each see fit.
[So that makes aspects of this wish a little alien to her, even if she can understand their importance.]
As the leader of my House, it has fallen upon me to protect our way of life from decay. I don't think I was ever particularly good at the dispensing justice portion. [Because she was basically a petty tyrant, but at least she knows that by now.] But I recognize the value of preserving the institutions that people depend on.
[At the least, it seems like a worthy thing to want; personal, but not selfish. And also that you have a friend you care about, you tsun weirdo.]
If I understand the order of events correctly, you came here initially for this purpose. And then the participants in the group you were in began killing one another, eventually at the behest of that thing.
All of you died besides the eight of you, and you came here. And we came here.
[greed has never been what anyone would consider a gentle person, but the way they reply is calm, almost easily agreeing.]
That would be correct. For all the similarities you and I have, there have always been those differences.
[it doesn't bother him. also stop no one else needs to know greed is here because he cares about someone else. gross. but he nods. ]
Correct again. That would be the general order of things, though that ninth man was with us for a while. He was only consumed around the time of your arrival.
Oh, of course. [The nice person who would have been way more pleasant to have around than Gluttony, him.]
So, we were not invited here, we appeared. But there was an understanding that if we started killing one another, events would repeat themselves and we would likely all become food for it.
And if that came to pass, it was possible it would create conditions that would allow you to earn your wishes and leave.
I believe you were invited, but not by us. But that's generally the idea. The idea was to generate indulgence, but given the nature of what's happened here the deceased would provide enough indulgence, food if you will, to create the power necessary for those left.
Initially, that was likely to be us. In theory. In practice I believe we were split from the beginning on how to approach the situation.
I'd like to hear how you were split, but I also - hmm. I'd like to make sure I understand the specifics, here. It only became active again because the killing started?
It ate one of the nine of you, and supposedly that satisfied it for a time. If HK-47 hadn't killed someone, if none of us killed, what would have happened?
It's always been active, I think, but it became more present the more it's been fed. I suppose that was bound to happen.
If HK-47 hadn't killed Suoh, this likely would've gone the way our time did. Waiting until it got bored enough to begin contacting some of you and begin making deals to start the cycle. You simply started it early yourselves.
Naturally there are some of us who would have been perfectly comfortable sacrificing you all. Still are. And some of us are more soft-hearted and would be willing to sacrifice themselves instead.
[and then there's greed who isn't either of those options and assumes that's very clear in what he says.]
Then you can see the dilemma we currently face. [the sides are not balanced, and uh, there is no actual proof there is a third option and it's pissing him off.]
The lack of an actual way to accomplish that? That is a problem.
[. . .]
It would have been nice to have been working on the actual problem at hand prior to the eighth week, mind. [That's really the only sass about this she intends, though.] The contact with the dead, and the items we're receiving? That's what's new?
Some of us have been working on it, Harrowhark. [excuse.] But that's correct. We never received contact from our deceased after they were gone. Items such as your magnifying glasses and your books and what-have-you would have been a dream back then.
...I'm not sure how much I'm permitted to say, considering the circumstances. Though I do think it's a decision that should be made as a group. Have you already considered your options?
. . . There are still restrictions on what you're able to say, then. Because it will become angry?
[Anyway.]
We've been discussing. Obviously, we need to learn more about it. And I would say the method through which indulgence is converted into a source of fuel.
You have three books, correct? Might I advise you to narrow down your broad topics and decide what about each specifically you wish to learn? From there, you may have an easier time forming the correct question.
That would be Lust. You know I believe in checking all avenues for answers, but I'm afraid I don't know how many you'll find from there that are accurate. Our dreams aren't always completely accurate to reality, are they?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w7 tuesday
Come on then.
[this explains nothing, but harrow should know by now that greed has set up an office in the library. he's practically obscured by a mountain of books and papers and charts, a teacup balanced precariously on the edge of the desk. maus is nowhere to be found, and the icy chill seems to drift at least five feet away before she ever sits down. it quickly disappears though.
he also doesn't speak first, because he's aware of how harrow is. so he will wait.]
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This one is hard because he intentionally makes himself hard to get a read on. She has notions of what's important to him, what he cares about. But she can't really know whether those notions are correct or some silly romanticized version of their relationship. If he sat down and told her he'd been approaching things from the start wanting them all dead and had no regrets, she wouldn't be able to point to a single thing he said to her over the past eight weeks that was misleading, exactly. If she'd thought something else about him, that would be her fault, and that would be. . . a little harder to deal with, with no one to be angry at except herself.
But having had some time to think about it, it still feels worth risking that sort of let down to try to talk to him again, because she still doesn't actually believe she read him so wrong as that.]
. . . May I ask you what the wish you came here for is? [Ugh.] It still feels like such an invasive question to ask someone. [But apparently he told Mineo of all people, the blabbermouth, so maybe it's just her own weirdness and he really doesn't care.]
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now though. there's another pause.]
...the legal system has become corrupted where I'm from. High-profile officials such as the police, detectives, and attorneys have begun to resort to illegal means to get their desired outcome and hide the truth. Because of this, the public has lost its faith in the system. Because the public has lost faith, more corruption occurs in order to assure the desired outcome is reached by any means necessary.
[a beat. he would stop there, normally. surely harrow would understand from that alone...but he's taken into account that he may not get what he came for anyway, so what does it hurt to fully explain?]
Prior to my arrival here, there were two major incidents that helped solidify this dark period. Recently, a young prosecutor was tried and pled guilty for the murder of his mentor. He has been sentenced to death. His execution date will be several years from now, but until then he has been jailed.
And before that...[...he's already said it this way to someone else, so.] I suppose you could say someone I consider a partner was disbarred due to presenting forged evidence to the court. With his badge revoked, he can no longer practice law.
I don't believe either of them are guilty of their crimes. And I intend to find a way to prove it.
[sometimes...you are in your late 20s and panic because the world's turned upside down and you're determined to fix it yourself solely so it makes sense again.]
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Anyway, she listens to all of this.]
. . . I think where I'm from is very different from where you're from. [It is a dystopian theocracy, so lol.] We don't have courts of law or a legal system in the sense that you do. The Houses dispense justice as they each see fit.
[So that makes aspects of this wish a little alien to her, even if she can understand their importance.]
As the leader of my House, it has fallen upon me to protect our way of life from decay. I don't think I was ever particularly good at the dispensing justice portion. [Because she was basically a petty tyrant, but at least she knows that by now.] But I recognize the value of preserving the institutions that people depend on.
[At the least, it seems like a worthy thing to want; personal, but not selfish. And also that you have a friend you care about, you tsun weirdo.]
If I understand the order of events correctly, you came here initially for this purpose. And then the participants in the group you were in began killing one another, eventually at the behest of that thing.
All of you died besides the eight of you, and you came here. And we came here.
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That would be correct. For all the similarities you and I have, there have always been those differences.
[it doesn't bother him. also stop no one else needs to know greed is here because he cares about someone else. gross. but he nods. ]
Correct again. That would be the general order of things, though that ninth man was with us for a while. He was only consumed around the time of your arrival.
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So, we were not invited here, we appeared. But there was an understanding that if we started killing one another, events would repeat themselves and we would likely all become food for it.
And if that came to pass, it was possible it would create conditions that would allow you to earn your wishes and leave.
Is that essentially accurate?
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Initially, that was likely to be us. In theory. In practice I believe we were split from the beginning on how to approach the situation.
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It ate one of the nine of you, and supposedly that satisfied it for a time. If HK-47 hadn't killed someone, if none of us killed, what would have happened?
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If HK-47 hadn't killed Suoh, this likely would've gone the way our time did. Waiting until it got bored enough to begin contacting some of you and begin making deals to start the cycle. You simply started it early yourselves.
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[Elaborate. . . ?]
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[and then there's greed who isn't either of those options and assumes that's very clear in what he says.]
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[Because it's not clear, Greed.]
What do you want to see happen.
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A third option. Both sides working in tandem to finding a route straight to the best solution.
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Good. I agree entirely.
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[. . .]
It would have been nice to have been working on the actual problem at hand prior to the eighth week, mind. [That's really the only sass about this she intends, though.] The contact with the dead, and the items we're receiving? That's what's new?
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[Anyway. Hmm.]
Is there anything you think we ought to ask the books about, or look at in more depth?
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[Anyway.]
We've been discussing. Obviously, we need to learn more about it. And I would say the method through which indulgence is converted into a source of fuel.
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You have three books, correct? Might I advise you to narrow down your broad topics and decide what about each specifically you wish to learn? From there, you may have an easier time forming the correct question.
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[. . .]
Can you tell me anything about the machine on the eighth floor?
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. . . For the most part, I just want to know if we should be continuing to try to mess with it, or if that's a bad idea.
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