interstellar5555 | Going Once, Going Twice

Entry tags:

Going Once, Going Twice

Who: Rarity and whomever would like to talk with her
What: Rarity getting loose ends tied up before Sans goes on his teleport spree and gets her out of ~~dodge~~ Virgo
When: April 8-10
Where: Wherever you want, though mostly in Virgo
Warnings: We'll see?

It's been an odd, very tense sort of month. There are things happening in the background that Rarity can't quite put her finger on, and it's keeping her on edge. (Of course, it doesn't help that her hands no longer feel right, and her balance is terrible. This is what happens when you have the wrong number of legs, and the wrong just about everything.)

She may be in the penthouse, making tea or putting together different outfits in an attempt to make herself feel better; she may be in the Virgo lobbies or building at large, looking through the museum she rarely ever spends time in or committing the cardinal sin of wearing flats to the club; she may be out and about on the town, usually at a park, though the fashion district has caught her attention as of late, her bodyguard (regrettably) never far behind.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With the sudden announcement of their world tour, Greg's pushing himself into overtime working. His productivity had stagnated until recently, and he's doing everything he can to catch up on lost time. The dark circles under his eyes belie the little smile he shoots to Rarity as she sets up her tea. Instead, he's poured himself coffee from an old pot, gone completely cold, and put it in the microwave.

"Days're feeling longer all the time, huh?"

"Greg, for goodness' sake." She dumps out the coffee pot and rinses it out, tosses out the old filter and grounds and puts a fresh filter and grounds and water into the machine and sets it to brew - all hands-free, suffused in a blue glow. She's barely looked away from Greg the entire time. "Surely you can wait a few minutes for a fresh pot." He looks every bit as exhausted as she feels and then some; this is the least she can do for him.

"Heh... I'm just not a fan of throwing stuff out." It might not be as good as the fresh stuff, but if he can get some use out of it, it feels like a waste to toss it. His "thrifty" habits have been on the rise, lately. Despite fortune, he's clinging to the smallest, most useless things.

Still, he's not looking to start any sort of argument. Instead, he's far more interested in her magic display. "You're really getting the hang of that fast, huh? Must've been second nature."

"Well, yes, but that doesn't mean you have to torture yourself with it." Old coffee, honestly.

She pauses for a moment, the teapot hanging in midair, still glowing blue. "I suppose," she admits, and the teapot moves again, carefully pouring tea into a cup. "It makes it easier to multitask, at least." And do things without her hands, but she's not certain she wants to tell Greg that quite yet.

"You do like to keep busy."

There's something there that she's not saying, but that's no real surprise. No one seems to be capable of saying everything on their minds anymore. Greg's the chief example.

"You're being careful with it, right...?"

He knows Rarity's not going to do anything foolish in public, but he worries.

She pauses again and gives him a look. Oh, ye of little faith. "Greg, please. I don't plan on causing trouble." She's quiet for another moment or two before adding, "At least, not yet."

Greg raises his hands in surrender. "I know, I know!" He's wearing a smile, trying to play it off, but it doesn't quite reach the corners of his mouth. "Just, sometimes trouble comes looking for us, is all."

That smile isn't real. She has too many memories of real ones - made by muzzles instead of human mouths, yes, but smiles nonetheless - to be fooled any longer.

"What if it couldn't find us?"

She surprises herself with that one, and winces at the subsequent twinge of pain across her skull. Still, she's not about to stop. "Greg, what if we could leave?"

The smile melts away, leaving something confused and uncomfortable in its place. What if they could leave. What if the Solstice Bear were real.

"You know we can't do that, Rarity."

There's no justification. It's just a fact.

"How do you know?" The twinge of pain returns, more insistent this time, and she ignores it. "There must be a way home, even if we haven't found it yet." There are people here to rescue them for a reason.

The microwave beeps, and Greg uses the excuse to pull out the cup of subpar coffee and avoid looking at her.

"Sure there is." There isn't there will never be you're stuck you need to accept it just give up "But.. there's nothing we can do from here. We just... just gotta hang tight, and let the ones who are working on it figure it out." They won't they'll fail they'll all get taken out and you'll be safer if you have nothing to do with them stay away stay away

On one hand, he knows about the rescuers - he must have spoken with Sans about them. That's a good thing.

On the other hand, she is sick to death of people preaching the passive route. "Greg." She uses her magic to snatch the mug of reheated tar out of his hands and dump it in the sink. Honestly, there's a fresh pot brewing right now, it will be done in just a minute, and oh, also, quit avoiding her. "We can't just wait for them - we must meet them halfway! Surely there's something we can do from in here - gather information that will help them, or something."

He flinches as she pulls it away, but still can't look at her. Boy, the fridge sure is fascinating. Look at that. Wow.

"Maybe. I don't know."

He can't seem to register anything further than that. There's a wall in the way.

Rude.

For a moment, Rarity is flat-out angry at Greg. He never used to do this - he was the one who helped her come to terms with all of the odd occurrences around here in the first place! He was the one who helped her, who warned her that the label wouldn't like her new-old memories, and now-

And now he won't even look at her.

She's missed something - something that changed Greg, and not for the better.

The anger fizzles out. "What aren't you telling me?"

His eyes dart around the kitchen, equal parts casting for something to focus on besides her and scanning for anyone who might be listening. Like the bananas?? He's stalling, really.

"My... the magic stuff I got... it's not like yours, remember? I didn't have it... before..." He runs a hand through his hair. "They're keeping close tabs on me. Closer than everyone else. If I left, they'd find me, and drag me right back."

Greg takes a deep breath through his nose. "You could probably make it. If you found a way, I mean. But I... I don't want you to end up like the others."

It makes an awful amount of sense - of course they'd want to keep track of Greg, if they'd given him power. It's Greg's last few words that give Rarity pause. "The others?"

He twitches a shoulder. "Like Meril and Marty." He looks very, very tired. "Or Kokoro." A deep breath. "Or Krieg, or Gaige, or Lora, or Weasel."

She knows what happened to Meril and Marty, but- Kokoro was fired, and the others are names she doesn't recognize...

She doesn't want to know. She has to know. "What...happened to them?"

"Fired, officially." He shakes his head. "Something happened to them. Blanche is using them for... I don't know. But they didn't go home."

He finally looks at her. "This band has been through a lot of loss, Rarity. If you can find a way to stay safe, you take it." Whether with them or against them... so long as she wasn't hurt.

It's a good thing Rarity isn't holding anything, or it would be in pieces on the floor at this point. For a moment, all she can do is stare and remember to breathe. Greg wouldn't lie to her about this; somehow, that makes it both better and worse all at once.

"What about you?" she manages quietly. "Blanche gave you magic - is it keeping you safe?" She can hardly believe that it is - Greg is too tired and twitchy for that - but she needs to hear it from him.

Greg looks away again, teeth gritted. He hates seeing that expression on her, hates making her feel this way. But she deserves to know.

"I'm too valuable for him to hurt. I'm fine. I'm just... just worried about the rest of you, you aren't..." His face screws up. He's not very good at being some big protector. "I'm trying to help, but I'm just one guy."

Her expression is blank for a few seconds, as two and two come together to make a very terrible four. "You're too valuable to hurt, but we're not," she breathes. "Is that- are we collateral? You behave, or he hurts us? Is that how this works?" It's not an accusation - simply ugly surprise.

Tell her she's wrong, Greg. Please.

"He never said that," Greg admits. But they know it's there. "He kept Steven safe for me." Another veiled threat, that Steven had been smart enough to escape.

"I can do all sorts of stuff with my powers. Stuff I don't even know yet, but he does. He hasn't asked me to do anything but my job." Yet. "So long as we play, it works out."

She shakes her head slowly as Greg talks. It's bad - it's worse than she knew, and she'd thought she knew quite a bit. "And what happens when he tells you to do something you don't want to do?" The way things are going, it will be a when.

Greg doesn't have an answer for that; he's been wondering himself.

After a deathly still pause, he glances at Rarity--not her face so much as the hem of her dress. "Does your magic let you protect yourself at all?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject