With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit ‘em right between the eyes [post t5]

[chiseler]

[Even if Luke's never said so, he's a fairly perspective person. You have to be if you want to survive where they're from and even moreso in a place like this. Due to this, he's not too surprised that Arumat's taken Kazuma's betrayal harder than most. He doesn't know how close they are or anything, but he can imagine it's a lot the way he felt when Lavi hit betray. That weird feeling where you don't know how to channel how blindsided you are.

So with one last night as a valued player, Luke's wandering around the halls to seek out the space-elf friend toting a bottle of wine in hand that he's confiscated from the trial room again. Dorian had a great tradition going. Even if Arumat won't partake it seems better to have some kind of offering when he shows up at the guy's room.

He even has the audacity to knock on the door to his room with the bottle, waiting patiently.]

Hey, Arumat. Open up. [Luke is apparently not taking no for an answer either.]

Comments

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat's coping horribly. He managed to put up a shield around himself, to play off that he was adapting to Kazuma's betrayal easily. But right now he was lying, sprawled on his bad, his thoughts and emotions a mess due to what the other male had done.

Some part of himself even blamed himself for what happened. He should've watched over Kazuma more, if only he hadn't...

He hears a knock at his door, groaning in bed and almost deciding not ot get up until he heard the familiar voice. Then, he began to rise to the door, opening a bit. }

... What's going on?

{ The inquiry comes off softer than he intended, and for that, Arumat frowned. }

[chiseler]

[Yikes. A lot of people really aren't doing well today, are they? This is why Luke's tried not to get too close to people...but that's laughable, especially considering what he's doing right this moment. The bottle's still in his hand and he leans on the doorframe, glancing over his shoulder as though suspicious they might be followed.]

Mind if I come in for a bit? Think a lot of us are too wound up to really sleep yet.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat tried too, but it was unavoidable on his end as well -- getting close to anyone, that is. However, it's made him realize he needs to do some reevaluating...for better or worse. }

Do what you want.

{ There's his brusque attitude as always shining through, but he moves farther into the room to sit back onto his bed. }

Even now, I'm hardly good company to share a drink with.

{ He won't object, though. He's done it before once. }

[chiseler]

Who said anything about sharing? [There's an impish sort of grin, but he's following Arumat into the room and making himself comfortable at the desk even as he sort of shifts the bottle back and forth between his hands. He's willing to share despite what he says, but he doesn't do well being serious about something like this, not when it hits a little close to home. He's antsy as always, giving himself something to do more than anything. He's analyzing Arumat carefully though before he speaks up again.]

...this trial really sort of messed you up, didn't it? [They're friends...of some sort. May as well jump into it.]

[thanatosincarnate]

{ He'll scoff at Luke's jesting. Really.

He doesn't plan on saying much, but then Luke asks something like that. He tenses. }

Not as much as everyone might think.

{ Actually yes, it's that bad. But Luke got an admission -- something which only a few would, so it's a start. }

[chiseler]

Which is why you're sulking, I'm sure. [He recognizes sulking. He's good at sulking. He's just getting up to head for the food shoot, ordering two empty glasses for themselves. Sometimes Luke is classy and doesn't actually plan on drinking straight from the bottle.]

...I didn't even know you were really that close to him.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Something about this feels like deja vu, but he's not about to mention it now. He'll just give an annoyed grunt at Luke's insightful comment (although it was painfully obvious Arumat was indeed sulking). }

Like you, he was one of the few I spoke from the onset of our forced stay on this ship. He seemed to require someone to look after him as well, and ironically enough I had thought him the naive type who might foolishly get himself into danger.

From thereon we spoke often.

{ ... }

There are a multitude of events I have witnessed or been through -- surprisingly until this "game" betrayal was something I hardly had experience in firsthand other than one or two incidents.

[chiseler]

[He's busying himself with pouring glasses of wine and listening to Arumat, nodding along like he's paying attention. (He is, but he's allowing his brain to process every other word to understand it faster so he's not slowed down.) In a way, he thinks he understands. He's been looking after some of the younger kids in the last couple of weeks, ones who seemed the naive type and needed to be protected. Adam and Adrien both come to mind, but he doesn't say so.]

Take it from someone who's been betrayed a handful of times and seen some of the greatest betrayals in history. Even if you have a lot of experience with them, they don't get much easier. What kind of things did you and Kazuma talk about anyway?

[thanatosincarnate]

I would imagine if you've had a great deal of experience with them, they only continue to do the customary damage. They're especially worse when it has something to do with individuals close to you.

{ He sighs, frustrated. He'll begin to probably reach for a glass when Luke's done pouring as he thinks over the situation again and again. He thinks about the other children, but Adelina and Adrien specifically. Adam now by virtue of how hurt he must have been at Kazuma's betrayal. }

We spoke about a lot of mundane things, although sometimes concerning his own world or having to do with his health. Kazuma always showed a startlingly disregard for it. He tried to keep to himself and provide for himself a measly meal of one hard boiled egg or three. I learnt he was treated like trash by his peers and his supposed guardians as well, possibly even tortured on the regular.

Occasionally we did discuss the ship and its technology, but it never got that far as he wasn't too familiar with its inner workings. Although, I did plan to teach him about what he could not understand.

[chiseler]

[There are all sorts of retorts he could throw out, such as how it was good he didn't have individuals he was close to on this ship or how he's usually the one doing the betrayal. But none of that seems like it'll help at the moment. So instead...there's wine for the two of them and he sips his slowly as he takes all of that in. He'd never really spoken to Kazuma, though somehow this still isn't entirely surprising. People who are mistreated are always the ones who end up going crazy.]

You think maybe all of that was why he finally snapped? It just seems...sudden, I guess.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ He'll begin to gulp down the wine, because what is restraint, and he'll stop to speak. His lips twitch upwards in an almost smile of sorts -- to be likely wry in nature. }

I believe it was what caused him to snap long before he even set foot onto this vessel. It only seems sudden because he was maintaining a damned facade.

{ Arumat doesn't wonder who will be the next to doublecross, who else is hiding some sort of secret because he believes its fruitless. He'll just see when it happens. }

Tch. In retrospect, doesn't matter now, does it?

[chiseler]

Personally, I think it does and it doesn't. [He says, taking a dramatic pause for another drink.] It doesn't since people are dead, but it does in helping us put together the whole puzzle and maybe start figuring out how to read the rest of the people on the ship and what may push them over the edge.

[thanatosincarnate]

Hrm.

{ Reading people is easier in battle for him-- something subtle like deception is harder for him for all his own attempt at observations. }

That's true. Insightful, Luke.

{ He almost says something, but thinks better of it when he gives a light hiccup -- the latter of which happening because he may have finished up his glass already. But he's just pouring another. }

[chiseler]

[He's watching Arumat closely even if he's not quite so fast with his own glass. Apparently this happened to be a good choice for the both of them.]

Why is everyone so surprised that I'm actually pretty smart? [Probably because he says stupid shit like that.] That's how things worked back where I'm from. You could sort of tell who would be easy to sway based on their behavior. And this whole thing is an experiment, right? Alice is pushing us. Why not push from another direction?

[thanatosincarnate]

I wonder why.

{ He just takes another drink... remembering when he met with Frankenstein earlier to do the same. Arumat may be aiming for another chance to get drunk at some point during this conversation, but he does have good enough tolerance it'd take awhile. It was a, uh, "good choice" indeed. }

Hmm... she must find that interesting as well for data collection reasons, but at least if we do it that way we're not sitting around with our thumbs up our asses, and surprised at whoever decides to murder next.

[chiseler]

The downside to that--[Yeah he's straight-up ignoring Arumat's sarcastic answer about his brilliance and focusing on the real question]--is then we might end up all being completely paranoid of each other, start a giant witch hunt and start killing each other based on speculation and wrong readings. That's the only flaw with that plan. So...unless we can guarantee we know how we're all supposed to normally act...[A shrug.]

Alice has to have data on all of us right? Where do you think she keeps it?

[thanatosincarnate]

{ That gets him to stop drinking for a moment, but he seems to stare off, thinking for a second, before he downs a gulp from the glass again. }

We'll have to be careful then, as always.

{ ... }

That stupid AI probably stores the data somewhere within her own computer database, very much out of our reach. Seeing as its unobtainable right now, it'd be useless to try to think about it much or retrieving it for that matter.

[chiseler]

You always give up that easily? [He sounds more baffled than amused this time, unsure how to proceed.] Just because it's unobtainable right now doesn't mean it'll always be like that. And when she lets down her guard enough, I wanna be there. Just in case.

[Luke stop sounding paranoid, gods.] But I'll let you know what I find.

[thanatosincarnate]

No.

{ He'll grunt, irritated.

Arumat is a conflicting combination of pessimistic, cynical, slightly optimistic, and fatalistic so it's hard. }

...

Just be careful { There's a slight shift in his tone, but it only lasts for a fraction of a second. )-- then again, despite everything I'm sure you'll do fine. That said, I'll entrust that task to you. If I figure out anything else on my end, I'll come on by. Discreetly.

[chiseler]

Have I ever really struck you as someone who's not careful? [Don't push your luck, Luke.] I'm not worried about it. What I am worried about is the possibility of there being another person like Kazuma on this ship.