sixthiterationlogs | Closed to Eddie, but visible to people in the Inn around lunchtime

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Closed to Eddie, but visible to people in the Inn around lunchtime

WHO: 7
WHERE: The Inn, later the forest, separate text to Altaïr
WHEN: Lunch (Day after for text)
OPEN TO: Eddie (Altaïr for text)
WARNINGS: Panic, will add as needed, Venom

Lunchtime

A routine had not so much been established as it had organically grown into being; 7 waking up mid-morning, going through ablutions and touching up the braided hairstyle that Altaïr taught her, which kept it up and out of her way. Then, she'd join Eddie for lunch at the Inn. She was warming up to the idea of people in general, even as it seemed more and more sifted in everyday; and while she may not be as relaxed as Eddie, she's not quite darting eyes about as she used to. One major change is that she's stopped carting her spear about everywhere she goes; this is not a hunt, it's a casual meal, and she's grown to the point that she recognizes it does not need to come with her here. All in all, it's a normal day, normal routine, normal conversation ... until there's an alert on her wrist device. She stares at it, frowning, then glances to Eddie before back at the device. Hesitantly, she taps the alert, and a little timer pops up.

It feels so good that people know now. Especially 7. It's hard to tell if it's Venom spilling over into him when he looks at her, but Venom is allowed his pleasures too. Indeed they're in more of an accord and while he sips at his water. It's peaceful. He nods to her and smiles, feeling awake and pleased to be here for the first time since his arrival. When she looked at the phone he paused, peering over and...

"When is that --" Before she can finish her thought, there's another little alert ping as a file message is received. 7's staring at it like one might stare at an angry rattlesnake - machines made her nervous and wasn't this just a miniature one? - but eventually reaches forward to open it, curiosity getting the better of her.

In The Library

There are books - open books, stacked books, old and musty and illustrated with simple lineart plates; something about alchemy. But the focus is that these books are Very Big; the perspective is narrowed in to a collection of burlap and canvas dolls - and a pair made of from gardening gloves - all only a few inches tall. Some are are adorned; one has a fancy hat with wire and a coin detailing, another wears a birdskull.

"Like 2! He always had to know -" One of the canvas dolls - the one with the fancy hat, a '1' drawn down the length of his back - reaches up to the book and tears off a handful from the page, gripping it in metal fingers and shaking it as if to make a point. "- too much!"

"I was right!" A burlap doll - unadorned - challenges the other; "You did send him out to die."

"He was old. He was weak."

There's an audible gasp from another of the burlap dolls; one eye, half his face patched with heavy leather, a makeshift quiver and crossbow across his back, behind him a doll with black and white striped cloth and splotches of ink across his body clutched a drawing to his chest.

The one with the birdskull glowers, but '1' continues, hand to his chest and the other in the air as if he spoke a singular, irrefutable truth.

"'Sometimes one must be sacrificed for the good of many.'"

"You coward!" Rage in her voice, the one wearing the birdskull leaps and swings her spear towards 1 in a single, fluid motion. Her white canvas back is covered with a faded red patch, nearly obscuring the '7' that had onetime been inked there. She attacks the other, her spearhead sliding in just under his chin, against his neck--

-- and that's where the video cuts.

The moment the video had stared, 7 had frozen stock still; seeing them all again - seeing this moment - when she's least expecting it is an absolute punch to the gut. She feels her blood turn to ice and her breath catches in her throat and that anger - palpable, unresolved, tucked away but not forgotten, flares up and for a moment she's not even sure where she is. When it cuts out, she pulls in a sharp breath, suddenly aware of the Inn again and glancing around like a rabbit that somehow inadvertently found its way into a fox's den. She looks at Eddie, part of her wants to say something, to explain, to get rid of this terrible burden that's weighing her down, everything between the loss of 2, the anger toward 1, the Machines, being here, being human, and how it's no longer just her secret.

"...What the hell?" It just bursts out as V stirs awake inside of Eddie. Are those toys?Is this some sort of...movie? TV show? he blinks at 7, at her horror, "...Did you- I take it you didn't mean to get the TV?"

Had the video continued, it would have shown 7 doing exactly what she does now; instead of answering Eddie, she pushes away from the table, ignoring any words or actions that speak otherwise, she turns and tears out of the Inn and runs as fast as she can towards the seclusion of the woods; somewhere dark and alone where she can tuck away from everything and everyone and try to process what just happened.

Text to Altaïr

UN: windmaker

hey. i was wondering if you were free today? i have something I want to show you.

[It was hard enough sending that text, so it takes a little longer after she's actually sent it to send the followup;]it's important. i think. it is to me.

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That was...deeply personal.

He can tell. He can tell - and the moment she rises he shouts- "7 wait!" before he runs in her direction. He's not as fast as he is when he's in Venom and he's winded by the time he reaches her.

Stupidity! Comfort her jackass! Venom's voice is harsh, You are disgusting and out of shape! Tomorrow we'll work out. What if you were chasing after that Wanda? What if you were chasing after Anne? Or me?!

"...7...7 it's okay. I don't know what that was..." Some kind of weird cartoon show? "...It's okay. 7?"

7's breathing heavy herself, between the sudden exertion (and she'd pushed herself to put as much distance from the village as she could in the shortest amount of time), and the sudden press of varied and conflicting emotions.

She hears Eddie, hiding behind a tree and pressing herself against the bark for a moment; she wanted to be alone, but the little blue line has shown up in her panic and it is curling a little trail back to him.

He doesn't know. He hasn't figured it out. There's a long moment where she tells herself she can still dodge this, but ... it's Eddie.

It's Eddie and Venom and she had watched quietly as they had told the entire village of their dual existance, of Venom's existance.

Eventually, she leans slightly away from the tree so she can see him,

"Hey." Still holding onto the park, still keeping partway obscured, this is the most vulnerable she's felt since she's been here; raw and panicked and wondering if she were making just the right choice or just the worst. "How - how much of that did you see?"

Obviously he'd seen the whole clip; he'd been sitting right there, but how much had he actually noticed? Had he recognized her voice when she'd yelled at 1? Had he seen the remnants of the number on her back?

"It was ...unclear and weirdly cute but all of it." He paused, "Those dolls were cute. It looked like something you'd see in a..."

He stops, thinking over it, "Can you come out? Or...maybe give me your hand to hold? Venom's really worried about you."

I HATE THIS PLACE EDDIE. DO NOT FORCE HER.

"...What was that?"

Venom's really worried about you. She feels guilt, she should have told them sooner, she should have taken their example and told someone, but she'd tried to manage on her own, and that hasn't worked out one bit.

She watches him in silence, considering, and then takes a step out and takes his hand. She takes another step and takes both hands, holding tightly, because if she didn't she knew she'd risk running off again and Eddie - Venom - deserved more than that.

Trying to breathe steadier, focusing on his hands, she feels like her skin's crawling and there's this odd, sharpness pricking at the corners of her eyes,

"Those - that was me. That was me." She wants to say more, but her words stick, it feels like there's something lodged in her throat.

Is it Venom? Or is it him? Is it...When she moves around the corner he studies her features and does his best to pour as much kindness into his face as he can. Venom is quiet, watching passively, like a dog waiting for something to happen.

"...That was you? You..." Wait.

"...As one of ...one of those little things? The ones that look like little toys? I..."

Don't call it a toy

It is not a toy?

"...Come and sit with me okay? I promise. It's just the...three of us. You look like you've seen a ghost."

Toy? Is that what she was? It couldn't be, though; toys were for people to play with. There'd been no people, maybe for a little bit, from when she'd woken up, but not long enough for any of them to be played with.

That didn't seem right. That wasn't it.

She lets Eddie guide her into sitting, where she pulls her legs up and sets her hands on her knees, looking at her fingers and knuckles and still finding it a really odd sight. She picks absently at her pants.

"We weren't toys. I don't know what we were supposed to be. One by one, we ... woke up, to war. It wasn't our war, but we were caught in the middle of it." This part, to some extent, she'd told people before; war against the machines, people dying ...

"Everything died - everything, all biological life - and all that was left were the nine of us, and the Machines. And they wouldn't stop hunting us, and ..."

She'd gone off to hunt them back, 2 had tried to find answers, and 1, well. She pulls in a shuddering breath, reaches up to press a palm against her eyes and it's wet. It's wet, she's crying, she hadn't even realized it.

It doesn't make sense for a moment, but he has an alien parasite inside of him. Buy into it.

so she's not human either? Venom perks up before settling back in. He can practically feel him watching.

One hand goes to her cheek and Venom blinks inside of him. Emotions are hard.

...Yes.

"...2. He was your....your friend? That other...that other...calling you guys toys is probably insulting. I'm gonna say totems. That's what you guys looked like with the...the feathers and the bodies. Is that okay?"

Touch was something she missed. So many little unspoken words and meanings in something as simple as setting your hand on another's shoulder and giving them a reassuring look, or fingers to an arm to draw attention. Eddie's hand on her cheek is familiar, that's something 2 would have done, likely, and she leans into it, but her biological human body is reacting in other ways and the tears are starting to fall faster and she just doesn't understand.

She'd never really had a chance to grieve. Just as they were processing he'd died, the Fabrication Machine had been coming to life and it was a race to escape before they suffered the same fate. Then there was the Flying Machine, then there was the fire, and the Seamstress - it feels like something inside her has broken open and she can't stop the deluge, reaching up to grip Eddie's arm because she needs that reassurance that she's not alone.

"1 wanted us to hide away until the Machines just ... stopped." Her voice is rough, thick with emotion, but tainted with a sharp, deep anger. "I escaped to hunt the Beast but I never stopped watching them, watching over them -"

"...that sounds like hell on earth. I figured you were...from some kinda..."

No. No. Venom clamps his tongue shut and Eddie sits and listens.

"It's okay to cry." He pauses, "That's what the...the tears are. It's okay to cry I'm not going to tell anybody. We're going to keep you safe. I will. Cause I care and Venom cares too."

Tell her I would eat this machine!

"...He says he'd eat the machine. Not sure...how well that'd go but...he's kind of stubborn that way when it comes to people he cares about like-me...and you."

She tries futilely for a couple more moments to wipe her eyes with the heel of her palms, but with Eddie's urging she eventually leans into him and stops resisting. It's a steady, quiet sadness that pours out of her, punctuated by sharp breaths as she revisits memories stirred up by the video.

"It was my world." Hell or not, that was where she fit in, where she belonged, "I miss my friends, I miss being small, the world made more sense that way.

She kept returning to just how angry she was at 1. She couldn't be at 9 - he hadn't known, 2 was the only one who had any idea anything was going on. But 2 wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for 1.

Eddie's assurances from Venom do get a short, dry chuckle out of it. "Can he eat steel? Wires and cables? As they're - attacking? Arms with saw blades and everything is moving? And that's just the one. It made more."

"...Well It'd probably kill me but he'd sure as hell try." All he can do is manage a squeeze, "I can never tell if I eat what he eats or he eats what I eat or if it's both."

He squeezes her hand.

"...I think we all miss being small some how. Human beings start small. Kids. Babies."

7 squeezes back, starting to relax somewhat, but her mind is still busy, did anyone else see? Does anyone else know? Should she tell anyone else or should she ask Eddie and Venom is they'd mind keeping her secret?

It all felt too heavy right now.

"I didn't grow, I just ... I just Was." She twists back slightly so she can look up at him, perplexed, "What was that like? Being a baby? Growing up?" Being human the entire time and not just the few months she'd been trying to figure it out here.

Here's the thing. Venom is curled up and listening too. He can practically see the creature's head tilted to it's side.

"What it's like being a baby? I don't really remember."

You hated it.

He shakes his head. He runs his thumb over her fingers. Trying to be gentle.

"...But it's just - most people hate it. It's hard. And some people have shitty childhoods."

"I didn't have a childhood." It's not a commentary on having a childhood so rotten it's not worth remembering, or having to grow up too fast; the word, the concept to her is foreign and it's not carrying the same weight.

"Ataïr calls me his 'daughter', and I wish I understood what that meant. I get the concept, I think? I just ... 2 might have been like that, like a father, but I can't say for sure."

There's so much about being human that she has been utterly bullshitting since she's been here, but now that she's had a chance to calm down, to open up and actually admit that this is new and scary to her, she is feeling some relief in telling Eddie and Venom.

Still, she's glad they can do this in the privacy of the forest and not in the middle of the Inn.

"Daughter is a good thing." Eddie squeezes her shoulders again, "It's...when you have a shitty childhood you can make your own family." If you can get your shit together he shakes his head, That is true. You do not have your shit together.

He sighed.

"Listen. Call me like, your brother okay? and V cares about you. He thinks you're amazing. We'll be your family."

"I like the sound of that." She smiles. She's feeling worn out and tired by everything (and a little bit hungry, as she hadn't bothered to finish her lunch), but Eddie's words are encouraging. She pulls in a breath and lets it out in a sigh, settling further against him.

"I miss the others." Slight pause - "Not 1, I don't miss him. I think 2 would have loved it here."

"Tell us about them." We are sitting in something wet Eddie. We can't move?

No. We're not moving. Settle in.

"You said I reminded you of one...I remember..."

"You remind me of 6. He was ..." She glances at the device for a moment, wondering if the video was still there and if she wanted to risk watching it again. She decides against it, for now. "He was the artist. Kind of twitchy, muttering to himself sometimes, often off in his own little world. He drew the Beast before any of us had seen it."

She'd go on to describe each of them, and admit that during the illness she'd seen Eddie as the one-eyed 5. Eventually, they'd get tired of sitting on wet cold ground and head back to the village.

Eddie wanted to stop back by the Inn, but 7 - emotionally exhausted from the ordeal - opted to head back to the house instead. She slept, long and deep, but when she woke up she wasn't exactly feeling rested. She wondered why the video had popped up, why this was all it showed, and why this moment in particular.

She thought about going out; it was past sunset and she could join Venom in the hunt, but she skept finding herself drawn back to the device and the video.

Settling herself cross-legged on the bed, she took a breath, and took a look at her messages. It was there, still, nestled on sporadic texts to the friends she'd made here. Steeling herself this time, she let it play through.

And then again, because 15 seconds was short. But everyone was there - except for 2, who was gone, and except for 8, who was guarding them.

It finished and she looped it back. She's not sure what she's trying to gain from watching it again; some sort of closure, maybe? But her anger still stirred. Her grief was highlighted, and before she realizes it she's fallen down an obsessive hole of watching it on repeat, shoulders tense, always expecting 9's call at the end that stayed her hand but it wasn't here, she didn't hear it, and she kept watching.

She couldn't stop.

When 7 had gone back to the house Eddie had walked. Then he'd slid his way to the gym and things had happened. Terrible things. Eddie had practically cried himself into a state of nothingness and Venom...venom was grateful when night fell and he could encase his host.

Sleep Eddie.

Nodding to every human he encountered, Venom bolted for the house, gently moving through the door and knocking on 7's door.

7? Are you awake? Eddie is asleep. I am here and you must point me at this machine so I can eat it. Or at least dismember it.

She hadn't heard him enter, and startles as he knocks on her door. She goes over to open it, looking worn, but awake, and leans on it as she answers him.

"The Machine isn't here, Venom. That was in my own world." She looks at him, hulking in the doorway as he is, and wonders what sort of chance he'd have with the Fabrication Machine. He could probably take out the smaller ones without too much trouble; the Seamstress, and the Flying Machine. But a whole factory? "Even if it were here, you'd have your work cut out for you." She heads back to her bed, leaving the door open, sitting and queuing up the video again.

Where shall I meet you, Bnti?

[He needed no more incentive than that. Just that she needed him. He set aside the task he'd been working at and was standing, walking, already leaving his house and pulling on his heavier robe against the cold.]

here? house 17.

After cataloging his knowledge of the village and the interesting (haphazard) numbering of its houses, he realised that house 17 was across the grass from his own - and so he didn't bother with the road. He simply crossed, coming to the front door and knocking to announce himself. He was careful about his approach. 7 already seemed wary. He didn't want to set her more on edge. "Bnti?"

Eddie's out of the house for the moment, so 7 doesn't worry about sending Altaïr to her personal entrance. She opens the door and ushers him in, glancing out before closing it if only out of habit. Her hair is in the braided updo he'd taught her, although it may need some touch up and she isn't quite as precise as he is with it, but it's serviceable.

Her demeanor, though is tense. She keeps wrapping one hand around her device and looking at it and fidgeting with it.

"I got a video. Of, home. I -- you were right. I should have told you, but I, was afraid." She's never been one for excessive words, not at all good with talking about feelings. Maybe better than when she first arrived, but it's not natural for her. She gives up trying to explain and queues up the video and holds her wrist out for him to see. 15 of the worst seconds of her life.

He watched. And as he did, he reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder - and then drew her closer, letting his arm rest around her shoulders protectively. "Ah, Bnti," he murmured. "I can feel your anger and pain there even now. But look at how brave you were."

There was much there he didn't understand, such as how those little creatures were animate. How they existed. How small they were, and how she had become as she was now. But those questions were all secondary. He had recognised her immediately, with the scar over her back, her voice, her spear, her actions. The rest could either be overlooked or asked later. Her emotions were important now.

"It has shaken you, hasn't it."

The video finishes and she fidgets absently with the device as Altaïr draws her close. She leans into gong slightly with a sigh. She'd talked through singe of it with Eddie already, but that was after the awkward realization that she wasn't human - was closer to a human's toy. That that isn't the first thing Altaïr questions relieves her, even if she's still wound from seeing this moment again.

"It has, yes. I've never been madder at him ... and I miss the others. I miss 2. But, why this moment in particular? Was it because I told you about it, when I was sick?"

"I have no answer to that," he exhaled, rubbing her arm. "In truth, with the moment so short, I doubt it was something we were even meant to see. Not in reality. But perhaps a bit of knowledge those at the helm of this place have sorted away. You have seen it - others have as well. So it stands to reason that all of us have such moments waiting to be seen." Which was not a prospect he liked, but one that he decided, for now, to try to ignore.

The very idea that someone was out there watching there old lives causes her to tense. She was the one that watched, she didn't like it the other way around.

"Altair - there are others here who, aren't human, but ... I don't think there's anyone else here like me ..." Non-biological. However you want to describe her and the others, she's been feeling very isolated here. She looks over at him. He, Eddie and Venom seemed to all be alright with it, but she won't be making a network-wide announcement like Venom did. She was feeling acutely aware, with this video, how much she didn't belong in a world like this.

He took in a breath, settling at her side and thinking for a few long moments of what to say. It was a delicate situation, and he understood that very well. "That may be. I've not met every person in the village, and you have kept this very private. If anyone else is similar, they have kept their state private as well. If it is that you are the only one..."

He wasn't sure what to say. He understood, to a degree, how she felt - but only to a degree. His own nature was different from so many here. His training, his upbringing. They set him apart in ways others didn't quite understand, but he was human. That was a luxury she did not have, though he wondered if humanity was a luxury at all.

In the end, Altaïr turned his head and drew hers to rest against him, a kiss pressed to her hair. "Let no one treat you as other than a person, Bnti. You are in my heart. I will not stand for anyone to hurt you."

She sighs and leans into him. At least, even if she was alone in this experience, she wasn't isolated. She had friends, and they'd help her out when she needed it.

After a moment, she reaches her arms around to hug him. If this is what fathers did, soothed your fears and bolstered your spirit, she's glad that Altaïr had declared himself as such for her.

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Closed to Eddie, but visible to people in the Inn around lunchtime

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UN: التاير

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