[ It's with a surprisingly clear mind that she reaches this decision. In the end, she's very grateful to the others for having helped her get this far, to learn what she could about her father's disappearance. And it's true that she'd learned more than what she'd known before.
But that truth isn't one she needs to burden anyone else with right now. Not when she's not like them. Not when she really is a monster, and so Cardia closes her eyes against the memory of all of those lifeless bodies in glass tubes and turns her back to the mansion, starting a swift walk to nowhere.
Maybe she needs to return back to that place where she'd first been found. Maybe it would be better to sleep there forever. ]
and in this case, the wildcard that isn't going to let cardia isolate herself so easily? well, yeah. it's tytree, of course. though in this case... it's not entirely intentional. he's really just trying to find his way right now.
which means tytree is spending more time looking at his surroundings than at where he's going and what's in front of him.
...so it'll be totally his fault when he slams right into cardia.]
[ Enough training with Van has taught her how to fall, either to roll to lessen impact or to catch herself on her hands. But that's in a fight, when the chance is definitely there, and not so suddenly like this, so what actually happens is Cardia topples over, her hat flops off, and she's ready to push herself up when-- ]
[for a moment, tytree just stands there, stunned.]
C...Cardia!? [what. what!! he was unprepared for this, but at the very least, he is scrambling to actually reach a hand out to help cardia up.
since of all the people out there, he especially didn't mean to knock her down. even if it's probably tradition at this point for something like that to happen.]
[ Probably. She's definitely surprised, confused-- but as she takes his hand and rises to her feet, a dog's bark rings out and Cardia instantly looks over her shoulder. It's too deep to be Sisi's, but all the same, any noise in the middle of the night is a bad idea right now. ]
... I'm not sure, but for now I just need to... go.
[ It's rushed and hurried, unlike Cardia's usual calm demeanor, but she's been through a lot today. And she can't drag any of the others into this-- not anymore. That includes...
Eh? Ya can't just go runnin' off in the middle of the night without knowing where you're goin'! That's too dangerous, Cardia!
[if she's going to leave, he's going to follow. there's no getting around that—tytree isn't the kind of person who would let a dear friend just leave, especially not walking into some kind of dangerous situation.]
[ she takes a few steps, aiming to move past him-- because to her, it really is fine. If anything happens to her, she'll likely walk away from it. And if she doesn't, no one will get involved. It will finally be her problem and no one else's. ]
[nope, he's not accepting this. he'll just leap in front of her—and if she tries to step around him, he'll grasp at her arms lightly enough to keep her from walking away.]
What the hell's gotten into you? You can't just go leavin' like this and acting like it's all okay!
'Course I don't understand! You're runnin' off without explaining anything... how's anyone ever supposed to understand if you're not gonna talk about it!
[he doesn't let go, because he can't just let her run off without understanding why she's so adamant about this. and it pisses tytree off in a sense, because it feels like she's just running away.
and running away doesn't ever actually help anything.]
[he's going to trust her on this one, so he'll finally let go properly and give cardia some space. he's still pretty upset and displeased with this situation, but she deserves a chance to explain herself.
he can try to figure it out from there, so tytree will just let her lead the way to wherever it is she wants to go to talk about this.]
[ She'll at least pause to pick up her hat first, dusting it off before settling it back on her head and heading off. They're near the edge of a forest, and Cardia picks her way carefully through the trees until she finally stops and turns to face him. ]
... I don't know. [ Not anymore, although she has to wonder if she ever really knew who she was. ]
But I'm... not even human. I'm an artificial creation... the one successful attempt out of six hundred and sixty-six, in order to create and sustain an incredibly powerful stone.
[ She says this tonelessly, because if she lingers on any one part of it, she won't be able to continue. ]
I'm just a doll. And I don't hold any more importance to the others. There's no reason to involve them in anything else.
[tytree doesn't like this—he doesn't like it at all. to him, it sounds like she's just making excuses to run away. cardia is making choices on her own, deciding things that he's sure nobody else thinks.
which is why his expression hardens so quickly. he can't accept her logic, even if some of what she's saying doesn't make much sense to him.]
I've said it before, haven't I? It doesn't matter what you are—you can't decide that you're not important to people! You're you—that's enough.
[it's probably not enough to say, but you know. sometimes tytree just needs a minute to get the stream of consciousness going.]
I don't know what most of that stuff means but... if you're here and you're feelin', then it makes you important. Even if someone created you, isn't it more special that you're here? How you got here doesn't matter. You're here, you're alive, you can feel and talk and live... you're important!
[his words are getting a bit jumbled because he's having a hard time wrapping his head around some of it...
but tytree's gonna tytree. he doesn't care what she is. cardia is cardia, she's a person like the rest of them even if it's not some kind of normal way of coming to exist. or whatever.]
[ She wants it to be simple, more than anything, but as her voice cracks a bit and she shakes her head-- she can't wrap her mind around it. Her hands have balled into fists now, for as much as she fights to calm down. ]
I was never supposed to-- do any of that! I was just supposed to wait and be-- completed, and not feel or care or hurt anybody--
I don't know what to do anymore! I don't know where I'm supposed to go from here!
[ She's lost, plain and simple. Lost and scared, but the last thing she wants to do is hurt anybody else. ]
Why does what was supposed to happen matter? What happened already happened—ya can't just ignore it and go runnin' away! That doesn't fix things at all!
[he can see that she's lost and scared—even tytree can't miss that. he's yelling, but it still hurts him to see her like this. hadn't he already told her more than once than she wasn't a monster? she was a person, no matter what she believed.
and even if there are things he doesn't understand about what she is specifically, how she was brought into this world or why—tytree doesn't think this is right. she shouldn't have to run, she should have to be alone.
that's stupid. if this had been veigue, he would have thrown punches to make a point. but this is cardia, and with her—it's definitely different.
so instead he reaches forward, enveloping her in a hug; his grip is tight, because he doesn't want her to just push him away right now.]
Let us help you! Don't run away... don't you know how selfish it is to do that without thinkin' about how the rest of us feel!?
[ She'd considered herself a monster, but she'd always wanted to believe-- even if she wasn't normal, even if she had memories from only a short time ago, there was a reason. Her father had placed the Horologium inside of her to save her, she was still a human, she was still--
But all of that had been badly shaken and it's hard for Cardia to explain just how it feels. There's a sharp, shaky gasp when he pulls her against him, a little too disconcerted to even consider struggling-- but no one's ever hugged her like this, except for Lupin pulling her in to kidnap her/help her escape from the train. And this... this feels different.
A part of her wants to protest, to say he's done enough, but with tears blurring her vision and the Horologium pulsing in her chest, she can't muster an argument. Just a very small ]
[tytree doesn't let go; even if he probably should, even if he's absolutely invading her personal space like this—and even if there were to be potential dangers to it, tytree won't let go yet.]
Stop apologizin'. I'm not looking for any of that, Cardia. [he just wants her to be okay, and for her to understand that she doesn't have to isolate herself. she doesn't have to hurt alone—thinking she should is just stupid, in his opinion.]
[ Just don't touch her face, it's probably fine. ]
I don't think you were looking for anything... [ She's honestly not sure how he's even here in the first place. But she doubts he was expecting to run into her or for any of this to happen. ]
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dycroft2016-11-22 08:25 pm
The Reveal
But that truth isn't one she needs to burden anyone else with right now. Not when she's not like them. Not when she really is a monster, and so Cardia closes her eyes against the memory of all of those lifeless bodies in glass tubes and turns her back to the mansion, starting a swift walk to nowhere.
Maybe she needs to return back to that place where she'd first been found. Maybe it would be better to sleep there forever. ]
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and in this case, the wildcard that isn't going to let cardia isolate herself so easily? well, yeah. it's tytree, of course. though in this case... it's not entirely intentional. he's really just trying to find his way right now.
which means tytree is spending more time looking at his surroundings than at where he's going and what's in front of him.
...so it'll be totally his fault when he slams right into cardia.]
Whoa! Sorry—
[...what.]
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Ty... Tytree??
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C...Cardia!? [what. what!! he was unprepared for this, but at the very least, he is scrambling to actually reach a hand out to help cardia up.
since of all the people out there, he especially didn't mean to knock her down. even if it's probably tradition at this point for something like that to happen.]
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I-- I'm sorry, I need to go--
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[not that tytree likes the sound of the barking either, but this is probably not the time for her to go rushing off on her own this way.
(and if cardia thought for even a second that tytree would let her, she's fooling herself.)]
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[ It's rushed and hurried, unlike Cardia's usual calm demeanor, but she's been through a lot today. And she can't drag any of the others into this-- not anymore. That includes...
... Tytree, doesn't it? ]
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[if she's going to leave, he's going to follow. there's no getting around that—tytree isn't the kind of person who would let a dear friend just leave, especially not walking into some kind of dangerous situation.]
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[ she takes a few steps, aiming to move past him-- because to her, it really is fine. If anything happens to her, she'll likely walk away from it. And if she doesn't, no one will get involved. It will finally be her problem and no one else's. ]
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[nope, he's not accepting this. he'll just leap in front of her—and if she tries to step around him, he'll grasp at her arms lightly enough to keep her from walking away.]
What the hell's gotten into you? You can't just go leavin' like this and acting like it's all okay!
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You don't understand! I've already caused enough-- please, just let me go!!
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[he doesn't let go, because he can't just let her run off without understanding why she's so adamant about this. and it pisses tytree off in a sense, because it feels like she's just running away.
and running away doesn't ever actually help anything.]
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[ She really looks like she's about to cry, but she's taking a deep breath and forcing herself to slow down, stop struggling. ]
Please, at least... let me move further away from here. I'll tell you then.
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[he's wary. she's acting like a flight risk right now and it kind of frightens tytree a little.]
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[ Let's be honest, here. Cardia may have an astonishing amount of stamina for a girl her size, but Tytree's not exactly slow. ]
... I won't run.
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[he's going to trust her on this one, so he'll finally let go properly and give cardia some space. he's still pretty upset and displeased with this situation, but she deserves a chance to explain herself.
he can try to figure it out from there, so tytree will just let her lead the way to wherever it is she wants to go to talk about this.]
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I'm not... who you think I am.
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Huh? Who are you, then?
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But I'm... not even human. I'm an artificial creation... the one successful attempt out of six hundred and sixty-six, in order to create and sustain an incredibly powerful stone.
[ She says this tonelessly, because if she lingers on any one part of it, she won't be able to continue. ]
I'm just a doll. And I don't hold any more importance to the others. There's no reason to involve them in anything else.
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which is why his expression hardens so quickly. he can't accept her logic, even if some of what she's saying doesn't make much sense to him.]
I've said it before, haven't I? It doesn't matter what you are—you can't decide that you're not important to people! You're you—that's enough.
[it's probably not enough to say, but you know. sometimes tytree just needs a minute to get the stream of consciousness going.]
I don't know what most of that stuff means but... if you're here and you're feelin', then it makes you important. Even if someone created you, isn't it more special that you're here? How you got here doesn't matter. You're here, you're alive, you can feel and talk and live... you're important!
[his words are getting a bit jumbled because he's having a hard time wrapping his head around some of it...
but tytree's gonna tytree. he doesn't care what she is. cardia is cardia, she's a person like the rest of them even if it's not some kind of normal way of coming to exist. or whatever.]
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[ She wants it to be simple, more than anything, but as her voice cracks a bit and she shakes her head-- she can't wrap her mind around it. Her hands have balled into fists now, for as much as she fights to calm down. ]
I was never supposed to-- do any of that! I was just supposed to wait and be-- completed, and not feel or care or hurt anybody--
I don't know what to do anymore! I don't know where I'm supposed to go from here!
[ She's lost, plain and simple. Lost and scared, but the last thing she wants to do is hurt anybody else. ]
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[he can see that she's lost and scared—even tytree can't miss that. he's yelling, but it still hurts him to see her like this. hadn't he already told her more than once than she wasn't a monster? she was a person, no matter what she believed.
and even if there are things he doesn't understand about what she is specifically, how she was brought into this world or why—tytree doesn't think this is right. she shouldn't have to run, she should have to be alone.
that's stupid. if this had been veigue, he would have thrown punches to make a point. but this is cardia, and with her—it's definitely different.
so instead he reaches forward, enveloping her in a hug; his grip is tight, because he doesn't want her to just push him away right now.]
Let us help you! Don't run away... don't you know how selfish it is to do that without thinkin' about how the rest of us feel!?
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But all of that had been badly shaken and it's hard for Cardia to explain just how it feels. There's a sharp, shaky gasp when he pulls her against him, a little too disconcerted to even consider struggling-- but no one's ever hugged her like this, except for Lupin pulling her in to kidnap her/help her escape from the train. And this... this feels different.
A part of her wants to protest, to say he's done enough, but with tears blurring her vision and the Horologium pulsing in her chest, she can't muster an argument. Just a very small ]
I'm so sorry...
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Stop apologizin'. I'm not looking for any of that, Cardia. [he just wants her to be okay, and for her to understand that she doesn't have to isolate herself. she doesn't have to hurt alone—thinking she should is just stupid, in his opinion.]
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I don't think you were looking for anything... [ She's honestly not sure how he's even here in the first place. But she doubts he was expecting to run into her or for any of this to happen. ]
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