Inbox; Meadowlark

[plainsimple]

@torvan.garak | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

Comments

[myfavoritemurder]

Too bad. You should have.

[plainsimple]

I try not to make business too personal. That leads to any number of unnecessary complications.

[myfavoritemurder]

Do you feel like you're the same person now as you were then?

[plainsimple]

No. There were differences. But I am pragmatic in any world. I wonder how different you are from the woman my fake self thought he knew.

[myfavoritemurder]

I'm sure we're nothing alike.

[The person she really is would never have had those smiling, happy group photos on her fridge.]

[plainsimple]

Is that something you appreciate or something you find disappointing?

[myfavoritemurder]

Does it matter?

[plainsimple]

What an intriguing question. Are you human?

[myfavoritemurder]

And that's a strange one. I am. What are you?

[plainsimple]

I am Cardassian. In my experience humans have always been very focused on and influenced by how they feel about something, which is why I asked. To ask if your feelings mattered was... unexpected.

[myfavoritemurder]

Well, I'm not like most humans. I never feel much of anything.

[Which is patently untrue, as anyone who's seen her fly into a rage or a fit of upset can attest, but it's the line she often goes with.]

[plainsimple]

How interesting. Do you wish it were otherwise, or is that comforting?

[myfavoritemurder]

No. It isn't comforting. Nothing is comforting.

[plainsimple]

Do you have a need or desire for comfort?

[myfavoritemurder]

[There's a noticeable pause here as she just stares at the text, frowning slightly, genuinely unsure of how to answer. It's not something she thinks about wanting or not wanting; needing or not needing. The lack of it in both her life and, she believes, in the world at large is too much of an immutable fact.]

All of that died a long time ago.

Why?

[plainsimple]

Even in the most anti-social of races, a desire for comfort has until now seemed a universal. Even I myself want it from time to time, though I like to think myself above most petty desires.

[myfavoritemurder]

Well, you've found an exception now. There's not enough left in me to want it. It was all burned away.

[plainsimple]

Would you mind an inquiry as to what happened?

cw: fire death

[myfavoritemurder]

[Contrary to what one might think, Callisto likes getting this question. It's an excuse to slander Xena, and while that's somewhat less satisfying in a world where Xena doesn't exist, she likes the thought that she might show up someday and find out that everybody here knows the truth about her.]

A woman known as Xena, Warrior Princess, came to visit my village for a little barbecue one day. Tell me, do you know what burning flesh smells like? Do you know how long it takes a fire victim to succumb to their wounds? I do.

Xena took my family, my home, and everything good inside me. This is what she left me with.

[Talking about it hurts, but not much more than thinking about it does, and she already thinks about it all the time.]

Re: cw: fire death

[plainsimple]

As a matter of fact, I do know both of those things. And my world is currently occupied by a force that would like to entirely destroy my people. That is not to say that your struggle is less. It's simply to suggest that I don't see such a thing doing quite that much damage.

[He lies a lot, so he's not going to call someone a liar in so many words. He'll just let the implication be there.]

[myfavoritemurder]

You know nothing.

[plainsimple]

So easy an answer. How disappointing. Very well, then. I know nothing.

[myfavoritemurder]

And you should watch your tongue, or the next time I see you I'll cut it right out of your mouth.

[plainsimple]

Ah, my dear. And now I fear the problem is that you know nothing.

[myfavoritemurder]

I'll rip out your neural implant with my teeth.