hellraiser02 | IC CONTACT

[Unfortunately, D33's willingness to talk seems to have regressed a couple of months (at least).

[It's still Shinigami - that much is difficult to deny - but D33 feels as though he doesn't know him anymore. He doesn't know what he was like as a child, and D33 doesn't know if he can be trusted to the same level.

[It's too bad that Duo has access to all of their former correspondence, then. That realization doesn't stay lost on D33 for too long.]

Surely, you've done more than enough research yourself regarding your past dealings. There's certainly nothing more than that that I could tell you about yourself.

[Duo's eyes roll, exaggeratedly. He grabs a slice for himself. And leaves the box sitting under Dee's nose.]

Um, obviously. And anyway, 04 caught me up. [He pops a seat on a nearby chair- backwards, spread-legged with one kicked up- and takes a first gooey bite.] --Ah! hot, hot...! [He reverse-blows, fanning his mouth.] Sheeshh-- there's more to people than what can be recorded in text. Ain't you understand things like nuance?

[...If he was like Heero, maybe he just didn't care.]

[No, Duo was right the first time. D33 doesn't really understand things like nuance. Duo will learn quickly (again) that he'll have to be more direct to get a satisfactory answer out of this asshole.]

As I've said, whatever information I am able to give you is likely information you have already gathered yourself.

[Siiiiiiigh that's so laaaaaaame]

[Duo rolls his eyes, again, and takes another bite.] Whatever. I don't wanna know my future like that anyway. Not how things're meant to be...

So you're a trained man, right? Only combat? [They'd never really spoken about training before- not outside Duo's stealth training, but he was on a different level of perspective then. Now, it's just shoptalk.] Although I guess I taught you about some things. Shadows, huh... Half-baked, compared to mine, but it's got style. Maybe too much for you!

[D33 takes a brief, somewhat nervous glance around the room before putting his eyes back on Duo. He's not sure if the man is speaking only to him or if anyone else might be able to hear, but he kind of assumes that it's the first one. Either way, D33 doesn't want anyone knowing about his powers that doesn't have to.]

I am trained in combat, yes. There are a subset of skills relevant to that that I am proficient in as well.

[Duo looks at him for a long minute, then mirrors his shifty glance. With a movement sort of like a resigned shrug, he stands up again, shoving the rest of the slice in his mouth, and walks up to the counter again. He taps on the pizza box.]

Put your hand on it, like you're reaching for one. Don't let go.

[He waits, and then... it's not like Dee could feel it, but Duo's cloaked him before. His hand remains resting on the counter.]

You're dependent on the size of the shadows, right? Have you learned how to make yourself shadows?

[D33 reluctantly puts his hand on the pizza box, only seconds after which he realizes what it is Shinigami is doing. Still, he speaks quietly.]

To an extent. I can stretch them further now than I could one year ago. [At the second question, D33 looks a little confused, cause there's one of two things that that could mean and he's not sure which.] I'm not able to bring shadows into existence that aren't already there. I can move through them, however.

Nah, nah. What I mean is... [Duo glances around the shop, then points to a shadow stretching across the floor from a case of sandwiches.] See that? If the light was at another angle, it wouldn't case much of a shadow, right? So, have you figured out ways that you can artificially create shadows without relying on the ambient lighting?

[There were ways, he was sure of it... Even if the guy just had to keep a flashlight or a flare on him. Powers dependent on the terrain were such a drag, he thought quietly.] It takes some creativity. That's why I'm asking.

[He does keep a flashlight on him and it might have been Duo's idea in the first place.]

As I've said, I'm not able to manifest shadows myself, no. I don't believe that that is within the capabilities listed on my file.

You don't need it to be a power. That's why it's creativity.

[Duo squints up at Dee, like he's trying to decide something, his lips curled up in the same ol' smirk he had even as an older man.]

Hmmmmmmmmm....

I guess I could teach a young dog old tricks...

[D33 resists the urge to roll his eyes, but it's not like he isn't intrigued.]

Like what?

[Don't you roll your eyes at him, Dee Thirty Three]

I was like, 'training' you or whatever, before. Right? From the sounds of it, there's still more you haven't learned.

[Look at that smarmy grin]

You're suggesting we continue?

[He sounds a little impatient - antsy, maybe?]

I'm suggesting you could use it... [Duo corrects, corner of his mouth inching up just the slightest.]

Not everything is assassination-oriented, you know. Not in this world. Damage control, information control, escape tactics, multi-target battles- they all require different kinds'a skill and powersets from what we're taught individually.

[But his team isn't all here now, his connections have to be remade, and he's gonna need that help.] You wanna learn how not to get killed or what?

Edited 2018-09-05 14:48 (UTC)

[D33 rolls his eyes, but if Duo can read past the flat expression, he does look a little nervous. They'd been training efficiently before, he thinks, and not just in combat, but he had absolutely no desire for those sessions to stop.

[To think he'd be being taught by a child is beyond aggravating, but it is still Shinigami, and D33's sure he still knows what he's doing.]

Yes, of course. Are you offering to assist me in that respect?

Yeah. [Duo rolls his eyes back!! He can do this all day Deedee!!] I'm offerin'. From asking you just now... I can tell there's a lot you don't get, yet. Maybe the lessons didn't sink in, I dunno!

[He rubs his chin] ...Maybe you haven't had to think on your feet. I guess that's not a bad thing, either.

[He leans off the pizza box finally, flicking it open for another slice.] So, anyway! Glad we decided that. Got anything you think I should know about this world that I might not have recorded obviously already?

You seemed to think I was making decent progress beforehand. [He says with a bitterness that's incredibly hard to disguise.

[But then he glances around as if they're not still cloaked and leans in, speaking in a low voice.]

Atropos. You know well enough about that, don't you? [He knows he did.] A couple of ImPorts have apparently rediscovered her.

I don't know, [He admits reluctantly, a little discomfort showing through] what kinds of things I was thinking beforehand. I ain't the same guy, it seems.

[It comes out a little bitter, and he frowns. No good.] But that don't mean I can't still help.

[Duo nods.... he'd read up all his notes about this subject, the most important thing- the entire deal with this world, with what happened to the City. He stares into the pizza box somewhat blankly for a long few moments, and slowly chews his words with his pizza.]

Did you know, [He begins, still staring down at the box] That Death Herself was brought into The City by Lachesis?

Edited 2018-09-09 21:17 (UTC)

[He certainly doesn't seem like the same man. D33 had never seen Shinigami look so perturbed.

[That doesn't mean that he's ready to let go of him, though.]

Death Herself? [D33 shakes his head.] No, you hadn't told me. Like some sort of grim reaper? [Like a Shinigami, he wonders.]

[Duo's mouth quirks up at the question, still not meeting Dee's eyes as they flick up towards some point between them. Some kind, huh.]

No. [Not like me, he thinks.] Not some sort.

Death. The one and only. And yet even She was subject to the whims of the Porter. To Lachesis...

[He draws a pattern over the pizza box with one finger.] Atropos. You know what she represents, right? The End... The End of everything... just like what happened with the City.

Don't you suppose, if Lachesis is even at her mercy, that Death too is only an aspect of Atropos, in the way gods of death are merely the fingers of Death?

[And if that was the case, then the only God that mattered was...]

[Not D33's God, that's for sure. It's almost too much to comprehend that such beings could exist at all, but here they are.]

I suppose that would make sense. [He sounds deeply uncomfortable to be saying so.] Little we can do about that, then, is there?

[Yeah well fuck Royce!!]

[Duo doesn't miss the discomfort; he's just far too used to the reaction to care. And besides, even if other people denied it, it didn't stop being true.]

[They'd all answer to Her too, in the end.]

That's how it seems, isn't it.

[And by that, Duo is deeply troubled.]

[His expression remains in that distant, serious aloofness for another moment before he finally shrugs away from the counter, taking a few steps towards the door. He stops, and turns back to Dee.]

Enjoy the rest'a that. I got work to do, Deedee.

You have anything else important to tell me?

[D33 stands up a little straighter watching him go, and at the beckoning for another question, he goes quiet, serious himself. There's a lot that he could say, probably. That he missed him or that it's good to see him again or that he'll still be there to help him with anything he needs, but...

[D33 doesn't say any of that to him. He still doesn't get it.]

No. Carry on.

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