REDACTABLE - Rufus

[heartablaze]

Comments

[heartablaze]

Why do you say that?

People who've loved someone that isn't themselves... they know the value that it brings.

[soulus]

How much does love cost? The only thing that can buy anything in all the worlds is money.

[heartablaze]

[Oh. That's.... sad? But that suddenly puts their first conversation into a funny new light.]

Money is just an object, though, right? Why does money have value, except for what you give it?

Would you give up your life for the sake of money, Rufus-san? Is it that valuable?

[soulus]

No.

If I were to give up my life for a particular sum, I wouldn't be able to make more money.

[heartablaze]

The way I see it... money is something you can always get, whether you need it or not, you know?

Some things you can only have once. Like your life. Once your life is gone, you never get it back. You have to live every moment for what is important, because you won't ever be able to go back and get more just by working hard or saying or doing the right things.

That's value, to me. Something you can't replicate. Something you can't sell. It's just a feeling in your heart, that thing that tells you that your one important life would be a lot emptier without what you value.

[soulus]

"Something you can't sell" . . . ?

[He scowls.]

I dislike repeating myself, but I will say it again: there's nothing money can't buy.

Please don't waste any more of your breath on this matter.

[heartablaze]

...

Why is money so important to you, Rufus-san?

[soulus]

If you insist on asking useless questions, I must request that you put away this place.

[Stop the virtual reality, so he can leave without incident.]

[heartablaze]

It's not useless.

You think money can buy anything, and I don't. You say things like humans have a value for money, which I think is wrong.

Money is important to you. Being given something for your time is important to you. I'm not saying that's bad. I just want to understand why.

[soulus]

Yes. It's important that I be given something for my time. Are you saying that you'll be able to provide satisfying payment for an answer I don't want to give?

[heartablaze]

I won't know what that is unless you tell me, Rufus-san.

If you don't wanna answer, you can just say so. I was just asking a question cause I want to get to know you better, not cause I want anything from you.

[soulus]

[Didn't he just say it? He inhales slowly.]

Will you tell the other participants what became of Cefiro?

[heartablaze]

A couple people know it's in trouble. I have to be honest about that. But I...

I don't want anyone to see how bad it's actually gotten. If I show anybody else Cefiro, it's gonna be how I want it to end up, so they know how good it used to be, and why I fight for it. Not...

[She bits her lip as she looks back down onto the storm, the castle, the ticking clock of Cefiro that was running out of rope.]

Not this.

[soulus]

[He follows her gaze to the chaos below them. The terrible sight is easier to handle than their previous topic.]

. . . You intend to change the Pillar system and rebuild the world.

[heartablaze]

Yes.

I'm the new Pillar, after all.

[soulus]

[He keeps his focus on the chaotic sea of debris below.]

Is there more?

[Or is this all there is to see?]

[heartablaze]

[She shakes her head, even though his attention is drawn elsewhere.]

If you wanted something that I'm going to show nobody else... then yeah, this is all. Even if I showed you the rest of Cefiro, I'm afraid that it doesn't look much different than this, right this moment.

I'm going to do whatever I can to change it. But that means I can't forget what it's become, and what will happen if I can't make the right decisions. In that way... this is a memory that's dear to me.

[soulus]

. . . Thank you for sharing.

[While it's spoken in a business-like tone, it doesn't sound necessarily dismissive. He lifts his head, straightening.]

[heartablaze]

[In contrast, she takes a step back and bows low.]

Thank you. Your time is valuable, Rufus-san. Thank you for teaching me that, if anything.

[soulus]

[He could leave now, and he nearly does.]

I abide by the contract. The deal was to exchange memories, as well as my time for something unique. Like you, I'll answer a question about my world.

[heartablaze]

[The scenery around the disappears, leaving the empty room full of whatever is in this room when the simulation isn't active. Magical hexagons. Who knows.]

Mmmn. You can choose, then, since you gave me that option. It's only fair!

[soulus]

This and that are different. I had to give you an option to fulfill my request.

[heartablaze]

Oh... you mean because you asked for it to be special, right?

[This is a very confusing bartering system.]

Okay, well... would... you like me to ask you something then, Rufus-san? I don't need anything unique. I just wanna know more about you, if that's okay.

[soulus]

[For a few passing moments, Rufus says nothing. Then he operates the room to transpose the blurry image of a withered landscape where the earth looks nearly dead and what little life there is has been stripped bare of its produce. There are no people in this false reality—only a barren land that seems to exist in the middle of nowhere, slapped together into something livable by another man's trash.]

[heartablaze]

[She's wide-eyed as she watches their surroundings ripple to something unfamiliar, a different sort of bleak than that of Cefiro - something that looked less like the husk of something prosperous and, instead, like something that was just trying to hold itself together out of nothing.]

...It's... it's so empty.

What is this place?