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?
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.
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.]
[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.
[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!
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.
[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.]
Edited (I found a better image.) 2020-10-08 01:13 (UTC)
[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.]
I know a lot happened during that trial, so... I think it's important that I don't assume one way or another, you know? Not everyone would think that a demon might be real, either. So... thank you for being honest.
You must have lived here for an awful long time, then... You said this is just part of it, though? Is the Underworld a really big place?
[This does not look like a city. None of this looks like a city... Maybe it was beyond the blurry stone whatever-it-was in one direction? The limitations of the VR room make it hard to tell.
But, more importantly:]
Is... there a reason you live out here, and not in the city?
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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.
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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.
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Will you tell the other participants what became of Cefiro?
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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.
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. . . You intend to change the Pillar system and rebuild the world.
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I'm the new Pillar, after all.
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Is there more?
[Or is this all there is to see?]
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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.
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[While it's spoken in a business-like tone, it doesn't sound necessarily dismissive. He lifts his head, straightening.]
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Thank you. Your time is valuable, Rufus-san. Thank you for teaching me that, if anything.
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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.
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Mmmn. You can choose, then, since you gave me that option. It's only fair!
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[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.
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...It's... it's so empty.
What is this place?
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This is where I live.
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Her fingers clench at the fabric of her shirt as she slowly starts to walk around at the rock and metal under her feet.]
It's your home... Does it have a name?
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This part of the Underworld is known as the wilderness.
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[Ah, that's right... he'd said something on Saturday, hadn't he?]
During trial, you said you were a demon, right? Did you mean that seriously?
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I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't serious.
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Okay. I'll remember.
I know a lot happened during that trial, so... I think it's important that I don't assume one way or another, you know? Not everyone would think that a demon might be real, either. So... thank you for being honest.
You must have lived here for an awful long time, then... You said this is just part of it, though? Is the Underworld a really big place?
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[This does not look like a city. None of this looks like a city... Maybe it was beyond the blurry stone whatever-it-was in one direction? The limitations of the VR room make it hard to tell.
But, more importantly:]
Is... there a reason you live out here, and not in the city?
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