♥ don't tie me up

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

[Sirkka looks like she just took a bath! In the bathhouse, no less. There may be creepy-crawlies around, but that doesn't mean she can skip out on hygiene. She draws a comb through her long hair methodically as she perches barefoot on the bar, wearing a purple silk yukata.]

It's rather quiet for a zombie apocalypse. Now I'm starting to worry.

[ooc: IMPORTANT NOTE IN THREADS. Your character will only be able to tell the truth when talking to Sirkka! Have fun guys.]

Comments

[collector]

In my Chancellery robes, certainly. Not that I'm Chancellor any longer, courtesy of Narvin, but we suffer the slings and arrows of Time Lords if only out of pity for their small-minded perspectives.

[Braxiatel immediately recognizes the effect, and something changes in his smile. He has, after all, already learned how to outwit it.]

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

[... Oh, that was rather sharp for Braxiatel. She blinks a few times.]

Is something...?

[collector]

'Wrong'? Yes, in fact. I'll be interested to see if you can work it out.

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

It's either a severely biting case of sarcasm or you're unable to keep from being bluntly honest. And I don't mean to call you a liar at all, it's just... you're not quite so... harsh.

[collector]

I have a 'reputation for discretion,' is likely among the politest ways to put it. Yes, I think that's precisely it. I feel compelled to speak to you honestly.

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

[Sirkka's lips form a line.]

I think I know why.

[collector]

Oh?

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

Someone put me in a room and forced me to make a choice. I should have told you before, Mr. Braxiatel, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, so I thought it had no real consequence...

I was mistaken.

[collector]

You don't have an obligation to tell me anything. And, on that note, what was the choice?

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

'Do you want the truth or do you want lies?' I normally get the truth anyway. I thought I could handle it. I thought I could use it to help us find the person responsible somehow. I'm not so sure anymore, if it's that compulsive... It may do more harm than good.

I'm sorry.

[collector]

Don't worry. I've already learned how to handle it, more or less. And if you ask me how, I shall have to disclose a name that the named may not want to be disclosed, so I'd rather you don't. Are you missing your family?

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

I won't ask. But if you do wish to avoid me for the time being, I don't blame you one bit.

[She plays with her hair a bit and finally sets the comb down.]

I miss them terribly. I just hope time is stopped for them. As long as they're safe, I can rest easy for now and focus on the family I have on the Plane.

[collector]

Don't be ridiculous. I may have an aversion to honesty, but if I want to walk away, I'll tell you, won't I?

[smiling] The Plane is a better place for your presence.

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

[That makes her smile, finally.] I suppose you would.

[A smile which becomes tinted by a blush, and there she goes with her coy little smile, playing with her hair like that.] I don't know where you got that idea. I feel like all I ever do is complain. I was far worse as a teenager, but still.

[collector]

I have never met a teenage human more petulant than those under a hundred of my own kind. And over five hundred, for that matter.

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine being a teenager for a hundred years. That is far too long to have terrible skin and grow out of your old clothes. Not to mention deal with the hygiene...

[collector]

The cultural differences, fortunately, are enough to spare us that. On a tangential subject, how much of an institutionalized education did you get?

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

That's a relief. [She actually has to think about this.] I got close to finishing secondary school, but I never had the chance to go to university. I would have liked to. [She almost asks why, but stops herself.]

[collector]

[a slight smile] I don't think I've ever told you, but I was a professor once. Education still has an interest to me. I used to believe that perfect knowledge could lead to perfect peace.

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

[Her eyes widen slightly.] I didn't know that. It makes sense considering how hard you work on your Collection. You would get along well with Karl, I think; he used to watch documentaries all the time.

[She doesn't press about his old beliefs, but she will say this:] It's less about knowledge found in books and more about what we learn from each other. Everyone has the potential to do terrible things, but the same people can also be selfless.

It's harder to fight an enemy you understand.

[collector]

[At her last comment, something slips out from his smile:] Yet it makes it much easier to win.

[He leans against the bar and winds the conversation back. That's how you win against this; you twist the words until you get carried off in a direction you don't mind going. You use the compulsion against itself.] I'm sure I could find him the equipment for a projector, if you're ever out of ideas for birthday gifts. The Collection houses quite a variety of technology, and not all of it relies on standard electricity.

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

[She lets him lead the conversation moreso than usual, gives him the choice to end it at any time. And while his truths tend to be biting she takes it without a blink. She's shared headspace with people like Luke and Mark after all.]

I can probably come up with something. Everyone always expects me to send him a date, but unless it's a kind of tree, he won't pay it any attention.

[collector]

[Braxiatel would not be flattered by that comparison.]

I can supply those as well. Not sentient trees; I don't think those could pass through here, considering how the place treats my porter. But the Collection is home to a wide variety of plants. Mr Crofton keeps our gardens well.

[newworldlover.livejournal.com]

[Which is why she keeps it to herself. :| Actually all of the Freakangels are prone to blatant sarcasm. It's in the genes.]

I don't think a sentient tree would like it on Earth, at least after what's been done to it. [a smile] But I think adding a few baby trees to the landscape wouldn't be a bad thing.

[collector]

Ask and I'll do my best to give you what you want, Sirkka. The real joy of the Collection is in the sharing of it.