sixthiterationlogs | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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

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