speakerstone | Inbox (Prismatica)

I see. Like a distance mirror, but for crossing over gaps of time, rather than space.

[There are divination spells and artifacts that can perform something similar, but piecing together the language would take even a skilled magician ages. Also...good to know, all of this. Not just because these movies sound immensely fascinating to her, if only she could carry this knowledge back to her people, but because she doesn't ever want to be in a situation where she sees Lindenfeld burn over again.]

How much did he show you?

it was kind of an accident
he just wanted me to see the castle
like a tour
that's how i found out about you breaking it by the way

but being back there got him thinking about his dad i think
so then it sort of
changed
right out from under him

it was going to make him kill dracula again
but i didn't let it
i got in the way and i did it instead
told him to close his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch it

[Don't bring up the castle. Not right now. The time for redemption comes later.]

Jotaro. I know we hardly know each other, but can I ask you something?

...Something you can't tell him about. At least not for a while.

[This is a bad idea. She knows it. They must trust each other so much, he has Alucard's best interests at heart. But this thing is weighing down her heart like she's circling a black hole, fighting against its pull. She needs to tell him, and she doesn't know how.]

i won't lie to him
whatever it is, if he asks me about it directly, i won't pretend i don't know

but
i'm listening

and i don't go telling secrets that aren't mine to tell

I appreciate it. I want to be the one to tell them, in the end, but...well.

[Just because she needs to talk about this doesn't mean she likes doing it. She can't remember a time in her life where telling a story has been this painful, personal, this stained with blood and suffering. And she's not doing to tell him everything at first blush. Not yet.]

When Trevor and I were out on the road, we ran into a town with monks. Suspicious monks, creeping around a priory oozing magic from the walls.

Long story short, there was a portal to something called the Infinite Corridor down in the basement. A sort of dimensional door, usually invisible to the naked eye. They'd found a way to see it and to open it. Mostly by accident, but they had intent and the will to see it through.

They wanted to use the portal to bring Dracula back from hell.

what the fuck
is that

what the fuck is that a thing people can just do
drag people back from hell
what the fuck

Yes, I know. If you can somehow control it, the Infinite Corridor contains windows to many different realms. Hell is only one of them.

It must sound absurd, doesn't it? I burned his body, but I saw him alive as ever in Hell. Looking straight through us. We were able to put a stop to it, so it isn't like our friend is about to get a sinister knock on the castle door, but...

Some monks left town before we knew what their plan was. They said they were going to spread the word, and it's not as if there are portals scattered just anywhere in the countryside, but we needed to stop them.

That's the last thing I remember from back home.

but that means you don't die when you're dead
you're still there
you just go somewhere else

...

like what happens to people when they come here holy fuck
what the fuck

that's incredible
that means you could save everyone
you could use that thing and save everyone holy shit

You need to lose something to open the portal. Something of a great personal cost. Even if you had some way to control it, it isn't that simple. Countless people have died in the pursuit of what you've said.

You can't just bring people back on a whim. It isn't right.

it's not like it's that much different than how my life usually goes
getting sucked into bullshit i can't control just because it has to be me
at least this time i'd save some people maybe

but whatever
i don't have access to the thing anyway

and it's pretty obvious that it bothers the hell out of you

Keen of you to notice. Bulls and their shit aside, sometimes it's important to save yourself, too.

I didn't have time to think about it, before I got here. We just needed to get out of town, and quickly. But now, I think he deserves to know, needs to, even. Back in Wallachia, but I think he needs to be told here, too.

...

so you're going to go back, then
in wallachia

you're going to go back to the hold and get him?

I think that's what we need to do.

There are crazed monks roaming the countryside aiming to resurrect his father. We can't just...not tell him. It will hurt, I know this, but it's important.

he might not be there
when you get back

so if you're gonna tell him, it should probably be while you're here

...what?

Why would he not be there?

because he's not going back to wallachia, from here

he's not going back there

[The response is slow to come in after she reads the message.]

What do you mean he's not going back to Wallachia

Nobody said that was a choice we had

well it's going to be
i'm taking him home with me
that's what he wants, too

sorry if that fucks up your plans

[Those three little dots above the text box. And then none. A cycle of words rewritten.]

He's

What

How do you even

That's all you can say? Sorry if that hurts my plans?

Do I even get to know why he came to that decision? Or is it not your secret to tell?

look
i don't

i don't want what happened at the beach to happen again
it pisses you off when i don't say things
i get it

but tell me something
honestly

not an accusation
no fucking games

what did you imagine he was doing back at the castle
while you and trevor went away

what did that daydream look like

I imagined he needed space! To grieve! Like a human being does! But apparently that was just another mistake I made you're going to dance around forever, wasn't it?

for FUCK'S SAKE i just TOLD YOU I WAS

can you just give me the benefit of the doubt for five fucking seconds
assume for a minute that i'm doing this for a reason OTHER than that i think you're a complete bitch
and listen to me

i'm asking what you thought
i want to know what you thought
you're not stupid and you care about him and i'm trying to give YOU the benefit of all of those things

but i can't READ YOUR FUCKING MIND

I'm telling you what I thought!

I'm telling you that I thought he needed space, and that he never once acted like he would have been happier without us leaving. I didn't magically forget about him or something on the road, of course I thought about him. I thought we would visit, once we were on our way back from where we wanted to go.

You're clearly intelligent, but I can't for the life of me tell what you're thinking, not yet, and I'm not in a patient state of being. Is that enough?

Edited 2020-08-03 23:10 (UTC)

yare yare what a fucking pain

look
you told me the thing about his dad
and the infinite corridor and whatever

so i'm going to tell you something too
and it's not to make you feel like shit
and it's not because i think you're a bitch
and it's not because i'm over here counting up all your mistakes in a little book

the only reason i'm telling you what i'm telling you
is because i get that you're frustrated

ok
i'm telling you i get it
what i'm thinking is "she's frustrated and pissed off and maybe this will help"
and that's all

so look
he didn't know that you were coming back

he didn't know, sypha
he thought you were just gone

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