guestservices | AUDIENCE FOR: Lup

Then too bad for you that being a dictator means I don't have any sympathy.

You're going to loosen up eventually. I'm charming and everybody loves me and so will you.

Wow. Modest.

Yeah! Also a big selling point for me.

Anyway, what do you do when you're not sassing me? Do you watch us on the cameras like a big weirdo?

[without missing a beat:]

Yeah, you got me. I'm a huge voyeur, so all I do all day is stalk you guys.

[GASPS]

I knew it! You had better keep your eyeballs on Kaeya, then! He sure seems like he's having a good time, considering he's had hickeys every time we've done strip check.

[be nice]

Yeah, he does seem like a whore.

[she's absolutely startled into squeaklaughing, sorry]

[please stop finding lepus funny, this is terrible.

anyway, you already gave me a memory before so wow now... lup is getting one...

The girl asks you why you're here, and you tell her bluntly: to kill her.

She isn't frightened or upset. Instead, she smiles. She tells you that she's relieved. That she's been waiting for someone to come and save her. For her family and friends to survive, she can't be allowed to live.

So, she's glad that you're here. She asks it of you directly.

"Please kill me."

(The same words your sister told you, so long ago.)

You raise your knife, prepared. There's no reason for you to hesitate. Taking lives, innocent or not, is something you're all too used to.

(You try not to see your sister's face in this girl.)

She isn't done yet, though. With that same gentle smile, she says that she's grateful to have met someone kind at the end of her life. You smile back, but with none of her softness. How are you kind, you ask. You know you're the furthest thing from it.

But even as you ask, you know what she's going to point out.

You're crying. Tears flow down your face, for this girl who is a complete stranger. You'd never heard of her before this day; if you'd passed her on the street, you wouldn't have paid her even a glance. She means nothing to you.

It's what makes this all the more cruel, frankly. A normal, unremarkable girl like this, whose only crime was misfortune. And for that, the penalty is death. To save the world, she must die; and as always, you cannot help but feel disgust for this very world that you're supposedly protecting.

Alone with this girl, who will not live past the hour, your walls finally break down.

Sorry, you tell her, your voice hoarse and your heart painfully aware of your weakness in this moment. Useless and powerless as you are--

"I can't save you."

"It's not your fault."

"... I'm sorry."

"You're saving me from this pain."

"... I'm sorry."

"You're saving my family."

"... I'm sorry."

You're running out of time, she tries to tell you.

You know.

You can't delay it anymore.

Because ultimately, you are not kind but cruel, and you can strike down this girl when you couldn't do the same to your sister. In the next moment, your knife slits her throat, and she disappears, thanking you. Dies, smiling.

You don't understand why. Nothing you did was worth her gratitude.

In the end, as always, you're just trash. (So worthless that you can't even save this single life.) Whether it's frivolous callousness or meaningless kindness--you're nothing but a hypocrite.]

[WELL I'LL TELL YOU WHAT SHE STOPS LAUGHING

there's just - silence, for a very long moment, after she comes out of it.]

Jesus, okay.

[i personally think she should keep laughing

anyway, lepus is very, very tense right now.]

[silence i'll destroy you

she weighs her options here a little, watching them.]

... You're not trash. [she can't help herself. she should just leave it alone, but.]

[one of their hands goes into their sleeve.

at lup's words, they just let out a quiet, mirthless laugh. it probably sounds a little unhinged but it's fine.]

[that's fine she knows what that feels like]

You aren't. [she insists.] ... Being in charge of the protection shit probably sucks for you just as much as me, doesn't it.

[their voice is tight.]

You don't know anything about me, so I think you should keep your mouth shut.

I want to, though, and you keep trying to push me out, and that's not going to fucking work. I feel like you should've picked up on this by now.

[

lup really deserves better than this, but. there's a flash of movement, and then, suddenly, she'll find herself slammed against the nearest wall—one of lepus's arms keeping her pinned there, while their other hand holds a knife against her throat.

unfortunately, virgo isn't the only unstable angry stinky npc around.]

Try saying that again.

[well, she's not expecting it, obviously.

she hits the wall, and she lets out a hiss of pain, flinching sharply. for a second, she doesn't move, heart thudding in her ears. she's terrified, she's without any sort of protection for herself. she shouldn't. she shouldn't push her luck. and yet:]

I'm not going to stop trying. You gonna kill me right now? Better get me in one shot.

[they remain like this for a while—probably an uncomfortably long time for lup, with the knife still pressed to her throat.

then, finally, they let go and step back, though they don't put away the knife.]

You're lucky that I'd probably get in trouble for killing you, given that it wouldn't be "entertaining".

[the longer she's there, the longer her breath gets unsteady. by the time they let go of her, she's trembling, a little, and when they step back, she sinks down the wall and holds a hand to her throat. i don't know if they pressed hard enough to leave a line, but.]

If we weren't here, you'd be ashes before you got close.

[probably not!

they snap with their free hand, for whatever reason.]

A moot point, since we are here.

[she glances at their hand, and then:]

Moot fucking point since you can't kill me, either. Don't do that again, you psychopath.

I've been upfront about what kind of person I am. [so, they won't disagree with the psychopath remark.] You're the one who tried pushing their luck.

[she pauses for a moment.]

This is going to make Mondays awkward.

[...]

I'm just there to facilitate your role as needed. It's your problem for thinking of me as someone to talk to for anything other than business.

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