famous last words

[somebadnews]

WHO: Five and Winnie
WHEN: fresh out of lockdown/somewhere between October 19-22
WHERE: palace grounds
WHAT: mirror business, seven years of bad luck etc.
WARNINGS: language, tantrums, (maybe) doom

The undead that attacked the tower might have been what did it. Either Five had finally absorbed too much anguish, or he couldn't balance what was already there, but he'd increasingly holed himself up in his room since then. He's at his limit of what he can suppress, and he already suspects there's a campaign against him after he snapped a few too many times. But he hasn't given up on solving this himself. He has to trust that his family will manage to not get themselves killed while he puts all of his energy into getting rid of the curse. (It's a big ask, but he's hoping they'll have enough sense to tell him before they risk their lives on another bad decision.)

As long as they can manage to not have something catastrophic happen for just a few more days, he can get something to work. In the apocalypse he only had his own survival to distract him from his math, but here he has to make a conscious effort to ignore everything else so he can work out the variables. He's mostly ruled out the alternatives, and he hasn't had any brilliant insights since his last idea fell through.

It's slow going. He finds it monumentally difficult to concentrate, and he keeps going back to correct mistakes he wouldn't have made if it weren't for his handicap. He won't admit it, but the only time he was able to think clearly was when Winnie separated his soul from his body. He hasn't told anyone else about that experience since, but as terrifying as it is to think that she could have ended his existence, he wishes he could have been able to write something down back then.

Five only leaves when he needs to grab some coffee, and maybe something else for energy. He exits the room with barely a glance up, vaguely noting the people moving by. He hears passing rumors of Bonaccorso being poisoned and barely suppresses an eye roll. Of course he was.

Hunched with his hands in his pockets as he makes his way through the halls, he sees a familiar blonde woman coming towards him. A completely irrational panic flashes across his face before he quickly schools it to an impassive frown. He doesn't blink away, but he's paying careful attention to how close she gets to him.

"We keep running into each other." He tries for a casual tone, but he looks too tense to fully pull it off. "I thought we talked about that."

Comments

[soulsrob]

"We do!" She agrees with unrestrained delight, smiling brightly as if just weeks ago she hadn't ripped his soul from his body to give him a little rest. She stops a respectful distance away, tilting her head curious as she notes his tenseness.

"Is something wrong, Five? You look dreadful. Again." She frowns at him with an expression of both concern and something like a mother disappointed and chiding of her child that's gone and been reckless again.

[somebadnews]

He tightens his jaw and he narrows his eyes at her absolute glee upon seeing him. The last time he let his guard drop around her is clearly still on his mind, and he keeps that space between them. It's around the time she says 'again' that he takes his hands out of his pockets, and they emit a faint flicker of blue.

"Everything's dandy." He works up a tight smile, not even trying to sound convincing. Obviously her solution has already worn off, and his patience has only suffered because of it. "If you're here to check on me, I don't really have time to talk. I'm in the middle of something."

[soulsrob]

His look is met with nothing but a small, pleasant smile, Winnie seemingly oblivious and/or unperturbed by Five's hostility. After all, she didn't do anything wrong in her eyes. But even if she had acknowledged it as wrong, it wasn't like her reaction would change any.

The flicker of blue from his hands makes her frown again though, smile dropped as she furrows her brow a little in concern. "What's...?" She trails off, looking to his face and eyeing it in concern. There's a moment of hesitation, like she's not sure if she should continue speaking or not before she says, "I've been working on the mirror. I'm not sure if I've managed anything, but you're welcome to try again."

[somebadnews]

There's something so unsettling in watching Winnie pretend at emotion and knowing about the void underneath. Five has plenty of experience with any variety of sociopaths, and he's had his own disconnects from humanity, but she's a completely different animal. And yet she keeps wanting to help him.

His eye barely twitches when she reacts to his gathering energy. It's mostly for show. He could have blinked away the second he saw her, but it's probably obvious why he doesn't. She has something. It shouldn't surprise him that the first thing she does is bring up the mirror after he showed so much interest in it, and it makes him that much easier to manipulate.

Anguish pulls him back from telling her off. After an uneasy minute, the blue around his hands dissipates to nothing.

"Where is it?"

[soulsrob]

Winnie's plan is a simple one: Show him the mirror again, which she knows won't do anything, lament that it does nothing, and hope that Five will give up bothering her about it ever again.

When the blue disappears, Winnie's smile is back. "If I invited you back to my room, would you even accept?" Her tone is teasing though and she rustles around her skirt t find the hidden pocket and pull the wrapped mirror from it. "I couldn't do much, honestly. I can't seem to pull anything out of it, but I tried some folk things from home I could remember. Things to cleanse and open. I don't know if it helped, but... It's worth a try? Please be careful."

She then holds the mirror out to him, looking a bit worried again.

[somebadnews]

His gaze is stony and unamused when she references her room, though there's an uncharacteristically nervous energy beneath it. As sound as the theory seemed before, he still doesn't understand why the mirror didn't do anything the last time. He's relieved that she has it on her, but that also means she really was out looking for him. She must expect something to come of this. It feels like a trap, he just can't figure out the angle.

Why Winnie bothers to continue her act of looking worried is anyone's guess. Must be like a bad habit.

"Some folk things," he scoffs and shakes his head. He looks to the mirror and back to her, reluctant to take those few steps forward to grab it. Even expecting it not to work, the possibility is still there, waiting for him to give in. "Why are you doing this? Is this your way of asking for forgiveness?"

[soulsrob]

Winnie blinks slowly, her eyes dark and flat. She blinks again and tilts her head, a snake watching it's prey as she seems to deeply consider the question.

"Have I lied to you before, Five?" She offered at length. "I've obscured the truth sometimes, to protect myself. But I have rarely outright lied to you. As you know, I don't have a soul. I don't feel things the way others do, or mostly not at all. But I am still capable of feelings some things, once in a while. Happiness. Curiosity. Mostly curiosity."

She smiles a little at that, like it's a joke. "I'm not capable of love. I have tried for a very, very long time but I'm afraid it eludes me. I don't know how to feel things like friendship or comradery or gratitude. But I have developed a sort of...fondness, for you."

Winnie considers for a moment before continuing, "and the things I do know I have read in books. I know how to be a 'good person' because that's what the books say I should be, if I want to get ahead and survive. I understand concrete concepts.

You have kept my secret for me, Five. You didn't have to do that. There's nothing to gain from keeping it, really. I help you and you help me and I help you... it's balance. I like balance."

There's a laugh then and she makes a 'come on take it' gesture with the mirror. "I am a simple creature, Five. I do things because I am curious and I want to see what will happen. And I helping you seems like it'll bring more interesting things."

[somebadnews]

Five clenches and unclenches his fist beside him, ignoring everything but her as he debates how much of a risk he's willing to take. It's true that she has told him more about herself than he ever expected her to. And she'd generously decided to show him that she was completely honest about what she is. He still suspects that she's only fond of him because he hasn't betrayed her when he was given every reason to warn others. He hasn't even told his family, but he doesn't see the point in giving them another reason to question his sanity.

He keeps on staring at her after she finishes speaking. Eventually, he comes to some sort of conclusion that curiosity is a believable explanation. It doesn't rule out the chance that she did something else to the mirror to get it to react to him. He considers grabbing it and teleporting away so she can't see, but that would be showing just how much he was affected by their last encounter.

"If you try anything," he starts, and frowns. Threatening to kill someone without emotions seems sort of moot, and he has so few allies as it is. Most of the deals he has are with exceedingly dangerous people, and at least with Winnie he knows what to look for. With a sigh, he approaches and takes the mirror from her, then immediately steps back to the distance he held before.

It's heavier every time he has it in his hands. He doesn't unwrap it right away, but the curse seems to tighten something inside him and he barely covers a grimace. He doesn't need anyone to tell him that he's ignored it for too long. The mirror isn't more risky than the other plan he's been working on.

"It didn't make any sense," he says to himself, then looks back to her, skeptical. And possibly stalling a disappointment he's not sure he can stomach. "Did you know what you were doing?"

[soulsrob]

"I didn't," she admits honestly, shrugging her shoulders as she clasps her hands at her waist. "There are plenty of stories about how to purify and cleanse things or open things up like that, at least where I come from. Cleansing in moonlight, drops of fresh milk at certain times, etc. etc."

She shrugs. "I figured nothing I did could really hurt it, so I tried it all. I can feel something in it, and something does feel different now. I don't know if it did much, but..."

Again, what harm could it do to try, and fail, again?

[somebadnews]

That's what he gets for asking. Moonlight and drops of milk don't make any more sense than some of the other magic rituals he's tried to learn about, all so frustratingly illogical yet impossible for him to rule out. He huffs and gives her one last withering look before he starts to unwrap the mirror.

And again, when he turns it over he's met with his reflection and nothing else. He watches his own scowl for a long moment, trying to see past it, but damned if there's anything else looking back at him. It doesn't feel any different to him, and it should. This thing is supposed to be so cursed that an army was chasing her for it, and it doesn't do anything.

"I don't get it." He speaks through gritted teeth, still glaring at the mirror. It's one more jab at him and what he's unable to fix, and how stupid he was to think it could be that easy. "If it did work, it doesn't any more. It's just another useless antique."

Hearing his own words seems to set him off. Abruptly, he turns and starts stalking the hall, mirror still in hand and swearing under his breath. What the fuck is he missing?

[soulsrob]

Winnie waits and watches, knowing full well nothing will happen, but curious to see if something does anyhow.

Ah, nothing. Except Five’s frustration, of course, but she’d expected that. “Wait—“ where was he going?? Immediately she follows after him. “If you’re not going to use it then give it back! It’s still my mirror, thank you very much!”

[somebadnews]

Five keeps walking briskly down the hall, because it helps him think and he's tired of letting this drive him insane. If it worked, he wouldn't even have to consider what he's considering. But it's just a random artifact he lifted from a bank in some zombie-infested town. Winnie of course trails him, and he ignores her for several more steps before he responds.

"Didn't you hear me? It's useless." When he turns to look she's too close to him, and in a brief moment of panic he reflexively teleports several feet ahead.

His eyes are wild when he faces her again, and he makes a quick note of her hands and what she's doing with them. Jumping unfortunately upsets some sort of balance in him, and the curse works to pull away any sense of composure he had. For a moment all he can think about is getting it out, making it stop, and it takes exactly that long to realize he's still holding the mirror in his hands and she's still too close.

He'd like to say what he does next is rational; that he'd figured out that breaking the mirror was the next logical step. It's not. He sees Winnie move and reacts by throwing it with as much force as he can muster at the column nearest to her. He seems surprised when he hears the sound of glass shattering.

If he meant it as a threat or a warning, he doesn't follow it up with anything. He just stands there in temporary shock of how fragile it turned out to be.

[soulsrob]

"It's still mine--" She begins, making a frankly exasperated noise when Five teleports away from her. She plants her hands on her hips then sighs and begins striding forward with purpose. "Come now," she starts to say, but then she registers a split second too late that Five is throwing something at her.

And not just something, but the mirror.

Well, not at her, specifically, exactly. Her-adjacent. Winnie pulls up short, looking puzzled and hurt at Five, like she can't fit in his actions into any logical sense. Why would he lash out at her? Why did he seem so angry and upset? The sound of the breaking glass makes her blink slowly, head turning to the sound as she takes a few steps toward it.

"...Oh dear... Now you've done it." Her voice doesn't sound particularly scared, though; just matter of fact and sort of warning.

[somebadnews]

Following Winnie's muted reaction, he finally feels something surge from the mirror. It's all at once shocking and bitterly cold, and a rush of wind howls through the hall, drowning out any other voice. It's stronger than anything he knows how to fight against, and he can only brace himself as it whips past.

When it dies down he looks around them, but all he sees are the scattered objects that the wind knocked over. The horrible thought that he might have just doomed them all finally gets him moving. He clenches his fists and tries to push back against time, but after several seconds the faint blue glow just shudders and sputters out and he breathes out a heavy sigh. He can't undo it. Because his previous mistake is still pulling away his energy.

"Shit." He wraps his arms around himself and tries to hold onto some of his body's warmth. Somewhere during that power serge he had wound up on the floor, and he's slow to push himself back up to his feet. The cold seeps into his bones and he glances to the broken mirror first, then Winnie.

"I didn't...," he starts, but doesn't continue as he fails to suppress his shivering. He can't defend himself, so he doesn't try. "Do you... what was that?"