( DUPLICITY OVERFLOW )

[vrituom]

Comments

[vrituom]

( cont. )

Quill.

( soldier. physics teacher. two lives that matter little in the face of all of this )

Who were you talking to?

[justaneye]

[ Juno reaches up and taps by his right eye. ]

The THEIA Spectrum.

Turns out that sometimes technology's okay.

[vrituom]

The what?

( cue confusion. she's never heard of that in her life )

[justaneye]

My cybernetic eye. Don't ask me how it works, I only know that it does.

[vrituom]

( oh, is that all it is. there's a sort of shrug about it, quill slightly less interested )

Won't take them long to get here.

( which is obvious but there isn't much else she has to offer him. or feels inclined to at the minute )

[justaneye]

You think they'll come after me for that?

[ Juno doesn't really care. Let them. He's in the mood for a fight anyway. ]

[vrituom]

( cont. )

God, you deserve this.

( she doesn't mean that but she's angry. she's seen slavery from more than one side, was a slave even before this place kidnapped her up. sure she could eat however she wanted then, could do much on her own choice but she didn't really have any free will. she was bound and how bound could change so easily with a few words. commands.

now, where she'd been keeping her tone level, some of that anger, that spite spits out in her words. there's more to freedom than eating well )

Deserve losing whatever freedoms you thought you had.

[cowared]

[ For a creature like him? Eating is so much a core of his being that everything relates back to him, because eating is (in its most basic form) survival. His freedom before finding himself suck in a human body involved being able to move around as he wanted, eating as he wanted, caring about no one but himself.

Then he was attacked, brought to the verge of death, and had to give up some of that nearly unlimited freedom and agree to the rules of human society in order to survive. But survival was still more important than the loss of some of those freedoms for him, even if he wasn't happy about it.

Even now if he goes long enough without eating he'll likely cave and debase himself by kneeling for a meal. While he's still far from starvation, however, he'll stay prideful.

That pride stings a little at the comment, but he doesn't seem outright angry even as his brow knits together. There seems to be something he's realizing though, judging from the expression on his face. ]

Ah... You're an asshole.

[vrituom]

Yeah, you're not the first person to tell me that.

( and it doesn't faze her. pushing people away, making sure people don't like her is as much a defence mechanism as it is a protection. if quill knew him better or cared to she'd find some notes of similarity between them. but she's too hurt and angry to want to, a pain that goes deeper than this place )

But at least I see what this situation is.

[cowared]

A prison?

[ His tone is flat out dismissive, but said it himself earlier too. He doesn't feel like he's really missing anything here, even if he sees imprisonment as having levels.

He also hadn't lived her experiences though, and before Duplicity he never had to actually worry about being under someone else's control. He still hasn't come to fully appreciate what that means, and how this will continue to have a negative impact on him. ]

[vrituom]

A prison would be better than this.

( at least with a prison there was an outcome, a reason. she might have said this was a prison or like it at some point but slavery was far worse. slavery was unjust no matter how justified and civilised the society thought that it was.

quill, at the very least, has no qualms about what this place is or means. there may be differences to what she's used to and what she expects but it makes her feel like she has an advantage. she's already expecting the worst )

[cowared]

[ He doesn't get what she's getting at with this one. He knows there's some hidden meaning there, but he's always found talk that isn't straightforward to be exhausting.

So he shrugs off the statement. A literal shrug, in fact, as if her comment doesn't mean much at all. ]

If you attack a guard they might put you in prison.

[ Not much of a helpful suggestion, but he says it with a weird amount of sincerity. ]

[vrituom]

( cont. )

You're wasting your time.

( though quill says that as if she hasn't had the same idea. she steps aside from him, giving him some space to yell, hands in yer pockets as she surveys the room. quill's looking for signs of anything, locating the cameras that she already expects are watching.

it's as she's scanning that her eyes fall on the video )

What the--

( she's far from unfamiliar with sex but the way these people were going about it was-- was that what humans really did? )

[vrituom]

( cont. )

( her eyes narrow at him, head moving to tip in his direction. there'd been small, subtle movements, though quill was incredibly good at keeping still, at observing. it's how she'd survived the lorr god -- pretend to be a statue.

still, his comment comes across a little strange. surely he's seen people just standing before )

Are you?

[milano]

I'm actually moving my arms and legs like a regular person.

[ you were standing as still as a tree. there was a difference. ]

Just thought I'd check before I stood near you to block out the sun.

[vrituom]

Pretty stupid idea.

( with her slight stature and far shorter height she'd make a terrible sun-blocker. unless he meant in reverse and then she just didn't get it )

What's the point?

[milano]

Gives me something new to do.

[ logic, what's logic? ]

What, you don't wanna? You weren't doing anything else.

[vrituom]

If that's what you think.

( though it's said with such distaste that he'd really have to be an idiot not to know that she thought he was an idiot )

[milano]

Wow, you're no fun. An actual statue would be more fun.

[ and have more personality, he thinks. ]

But hey, you can go back to your solitude if that's what you want. Just seemed boring.

[vrituom]

( cont. )

With this.

( she pulls out the device, expecting him to know what it's used for. even if it was strange compared to technology she was more familiar with she had been able to figure it out )

I put myself as Quill.

( for ease )

[amoment]

Hmm.

[Alright, he pulls out his device as well, but it looks no less foreign to him than it did when he was assigned it. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's holding it upside down, it wouldn't make any more sense either way.]

Could you show me?

[He holds the object awkwardly, as if afraid of breaking it or perhaps just... completely unsure.]

[vrituom]

( she doesn't say anything about the request, though she does gently turn it the right way up.

and her steps are slow to let him follow. even though quill can use this device she doesn't find it the most intuitive, leading her to go a little slower with opening up whatever apps she needs.

there's a quiet instruction as she shows him, for now just leaving it with how to send a message )

[amoment]

[There is nothing intuitive about the device for him, the symbols mean absolutely nothing, but at least the language is the same. Mostly.

He's quiet while she explains, and grateful, though he still only feels marginally more comfortable with it then before, and manages to send her a message with a few tiny colorful pictures he can't imagine the value of having on hand, but it's no more perplexing than anything else about it.]

Thank you. I'll admit, I hadn't expected to learn so much.

[Why yes, he is referencing the terrible, uncomfortable instructional video still happening elsewhere in the room. Instead, he found an ally. He'd much rather have that.]

[vrituom]

Yeah, well--

( there's a small hint of a smile, a sort of fondness about this situation and an agreeable sense to this ally )

It's nothing on what I learned my first day.

( she had actually learned things relating to the video, having allowed dorian to attempt to show her why foreplay can be an enjoyable thing instead of just going to the main act )

[vrituom]

( cont. )

I think wherever the city sends us isn't for anything good.

( more sex or some other kind of rule. and this felt a little more heavy handed with how much they were trying to get you to have sex )

The city could be providing them with everything.