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[ argalia... there's mixed feelings, there, about him and his crew -- but she's careful not to let it show in her expression or words, knowing angela's feelings on them. ]

Yeah, and we won, too. Both times.

[ she weighs the words, lining the timeline in her mind with experienced ease now, and draws from point a to b ]

I don't know what happened up at the top, I just made just the other Asiyah were okay after their bouts, so this is sort of second hand from Roland... after him and Argalia fought, it came out that Roland was some Color -- who'd have thought? -- and also they're related by marriage? Crazy. Anyway, you and him had some talk he didn't go into and you ended up releasing the Light we'd saved up through the "sacrifices" of others, which weren't sacrifices at all because they weren't dead just like, sleeping.

[ .....................

malkuth's kicking at her lightly. not to hit her, note, just at her. ]

Why didn't you tell us they weren't dead-dead, huh? Part of your petty revenge for us going against you? It's a huge relief to know they're back where they belong, or-- well, getting there!

( BOTH TIMES?

but, okay. so he hadn't said anything about... so they don't know what happened. the choice she made there must have been to let go of her revenge, to not let the past shackle her; his choice must have been the same. to agree to begin again together, to work towards a future where such choices didn't space to exist...

...hindsight is easy, but she can't forget the pain in her heart when he'd revealed the truth to her. it persists even now, his name on her skin worsening the less she talks about it, but she can't talk about it.

especially not to malkuth. )

The difference didn't seem to matter. They weren't sentient any longer, so they were as good as dead. ( really, essentially, right? ) I see, however. I appreciate the knowledge.

( could she become the type of person when, faced with betrayal, doesn't choose to lash out?

she doesn't know. )

I'm not certain if we're able to collect Light here, as nothing that worked in The Library does here—for example, I cannot book anyone. ( SO SHE TRIED? ) However, I won't discount the rest of the positives you mentioned.

You tried?!

[ no, hold on, full stop ]

As soon as my book was returned to me by Patho-Gen, yes.

( ? WHAT. )

I wanted to see if everything was in working order, or if it was as I suspected—that those particular powers did not stretch beyond the reach of my Library. I would have done the same thing in The City had I managed to leave. Don't make a big deal out of it.

And if it had? Are you confident you could've returned them to how they'd been before?

[ it is a big deal though, that she'd even try it -- that she wasn't past that part like malkuth thought, hoped she was -- and the other woman sighs, closing her eyes with a slump. maybe it's still too new. maybe it's only right to test it, to see... even if hopefully, angela would never use it against someone for real. she wasn't like that anymore. ]

Thank goodness it doesn't. I can't imagine how much trouble you could've gotten in depending on who it was.

( what if she needs to defend herself, malkuth? rely on powers she doesn't want, or ones she's familiar with? )

I wouldn't try something if I didn't think I couldn't reverse it. Don't think so lowly of me. ( ice cold. ) Regardless, the book is merely a book. A highly informational one, but a book nonetheless.

[ angela can be irrational and reckless. she trusts her, but she also knows that, and so malkuth doesn't reply to that. ]

Well... Whatever. What's done is done. [ ... ] We've been exiled by The Head, so our current view is the walls outside The City. Just so it doesn't come as a total surprise.

( ah. )

So the area we're in more closely resembles that dead area outside of Karteria. ( wonderful... well, the outskirts are a hundred times more dangerous, so. ) How terribly familiar it must be.

In every, and all, aspects.

[ from the city itself to the lands outside. ]

But you know... you can see the stars out there.

[ far from the walls, the light pollution, surrounded by entities of all kinds that want to strip your flesh from bone. malkuth sighs, wishing she'd been able to spend a moment more outside. ]

Countless little lights in the faraway sky, just like the countless little lights that faraway city. It's kinda funny how similar they are. Not so easy here, with its dreary weather.

( stars, huh.

she's never seen them before, she supposes. in books, yes. in memories that do not belong to her but are encoded regardless in her memory, yes. but she, angela, has never seen them before. to gaze upon bright twinkling lights in the sky, millions upon millions upon millions of miles away—

to reach those, doing everything in her power—

an impossible task, isn't it? )

That reminds me of a poem.

[ a poem... ]

And are you gonna share? [ ... ] I'd like to hear!

( angela's quiet. maybe she isn't going to recite it. maybe she shouldn't—but she does, voice soft and gentle like a nighttime breeze. )

"Wishing not to have
so much as a speck of shame
toward heaven until the day I die,
I suffered, even when the wind stirred the leaves.
With my heart singing to the stars,
I shall love all things that are dying.
And I must walk the road
that has been given to me.
Tonight, again, the stars are
brushed by the wind."

( ... )

That's all.

... That's really beautiful.

[ and she means it, too. it's a lovely, lonely poem, and reminds her of the angela who was so angry at being left behind, the angela who had seen them loop after loop after loop, the angela who resented her creators for making her who she was and followed the path laid out before her.

... who stepped off it, onto her own. it's a very, very lovely poem. ]

Something you read back in The Library?

Something I... ( ... ) Yes.

( no. it was before that, probably, but it's easier to say it was in the library. )

What do you think of it?

It sounds... lonely, and yearning. Like the person who wrote it wanted to be brushed by the wind, too. That the world moved without them, when they wanted to move with the world, off the path that they'd been given.

[ something... like that. she's not the analytic of their floor, not the literature nerd of their floor, not the sensitive artistic soul... but that's what she thinks.

she wished she could've been brushed by the wind, too. ]

( angela grows quiet, face turned away. that the world moved without them... )

...Perhaps that's why I felt myself so drawn to it. ( back then, and in reflection. ) Do you have a piece of poetry rattling somewhere in that head of yours that you feel similarly about?

( she doubts it. but. )

Not a one.

[ sorry she's the history girl

that said... her smile softens. ]

But I like the things Takasugi sings about.

( immediately makes a face and turns away entirely, busying herself with her book again. )

That's nice, Malkuth. Anything else?

Edited 2025-09-24 01:00 (UTC)

[ please ]

He really isn't that bad, Angela! I underestimated him too... But no, nothing like yours. [ hmmm. ] The way a friend of mine talks about painting is nice too, though.

( "he isn't that bad" he literally is. )

Are you going to pick that up in addition to the rest of your jobs and hobbies?

What, painting? Why not? It'll be a fun past time once I figure out how to blend colors.

[ sue her ]

...What's there to figure out?

It's not as simple as red and blue make purple. By adding different hues, or even starting with a completely opposing color on the wheel, you can make the result warm, vibrant, cool... all kinds of things! There's a science behind it that artists can do with just a look!

[ she's been reading, ]

I haven't seen him in action myself, but I'd really like to! We've just been drawing together mostly.

( uhhhh huhhhhhhh. )

It sounds like something Netzach would enjoy. ( would have enjoyed. ) Are you any good at it?

Nope.

[ but like that's gonna stop her ]

( inbox @ kart )

raises hand. major ruina spoilers, for the unwise,

yeah.................. spoilers as well.

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