✖ IC CONTACT #1

[silverking]

Well?

You're here because you have something to say, so... out with it.

Comments

[priscilla]

You can pry if you want. I don't mind either way.

What if I say... they meant more to me than almost anyone, and if they didn't... if they didn't, it would be easier to forgive.

I wonder if that's really fair.

[...]

Who was it?

[silverking]

Perhaps ask yourself what you might have done in their position, then. Why they might have done what they did.

[ Really? Did he just say that? ]

It was Zack.

[ ...So it was. Hmm. ]

[priscilla]

[Well, she was going to say something about how she wouldn't betray anyone unless she had absolutely no choice, and this doesn't really qualify, and it's horrifying and she doesn't know what to do, and--

Well she was going to say a lot of different things, but then he says that last bit, and she goes quiet instead.]

What? What happened?

[silverking]

[ This is discomforting. ]

He agreed to help me with a certain task, one of great importance to me, and then decided at the final moment he could no longer do what he had been set to do previous.

[ Isley frowns. ]

You came to me about your own predicament, however. We ought to focus upon that, and... I will help as best I can.

[priscilla]

I didn't know you two were so close.

[Her voice is a bit... flat. Cold. Whether the chill is directed at Isley or Zack (or both) isn't especially obvious.]

[silverking]

I suppose that would depend upon your definition of close.

[ Does it? ]

Why do you sound troubled?

[priscilla]

...a long time ago, before you even came here, he promised me he would never become involved with the three of you in any way. It was part of a... deal, I guess. The reason I didn't go after someone he considered dangerous. Our um. Pact to each other, to keep each other safe.

It was kind of annoying, to be honest. He was always trying to protect me, even though I... really don't need to be protected. And anything I couldn't protect myself from, he wouldn't do any better against.

But I went along with it anyway, because that wasn't true in reverse - I could handle myself against his enemies, but he can't handle himself against mine. And he meant a great deal to me, then.

[...]

Since then he's thrown himself into a fight with Riful, provoked Luciela and started spending time with you.

With Riful, I understood. Even though he shouldn't have done it, I understood, and he left before things escalated too much because Senji was dying and needed help.

But the other two... Luciela, and you. He never even bothered to talk to me about it. I can't forgive him for that.

[...and since we're being honest.]

And I don't trust you with him.

[...]

But I'm not upset at you about it. After all, you're not the one breaking promises.

[silverking]

[ You're right not to trust me. ]

Do you think you will ever be able to forgive him?

After all, I was the one to approach him, and initially he was... quite hesitant.

[ He pauses. Feels as though he is treading through a field of landmines. ]

A better question...

Do you want to be able to forgive the people that have wronged you?

[priscilla]

I can't forgive anyone who breaks their word that easily. If he had spoken to me about it, it may have been different. But he didn't.

Given that, it doesn't really matter who approached who or how hesitant he was or wasn't.

I don't forgive people easily.

[...in fact.]

Usually I don't forgive them at all.

No matter how much I love them.

[silverking]

Well, Priscilla, I do believe you answered your own question, then.

[priscilla]

Not really. The situations are different.

[She pauses, considers asking what he wanted with Zack to begin with. Except that she can probably guess, based on that voice mail Irene left her a while back.]

[As it turns out, she can't quite decide. So she goes with the subject shift... at least for the moment.]

It's not as though I asked her not to report everything I say back to that woman. And I guess I shouldn't be surprised, either. [Her voice picks up volume... and intensity as she speaks. ...it also begins to tremble as she fights back tears.] But I don't think it's too much to ask that anything said in a personal conversation, especially such a personal one, should be considered confident!

[silverking]

Let me ask one final thing.

Did the individual who betrayed you have reason to believe that the nature of what you divulged to them might lead to the danger of others?

[priscilla]

It was about you and me.

What do you think?

[silverking]

[ He laughs, and the sound is deathly cold. ]

Isn't it obvious? I am not trusted with you, either.

[priscilla]

I know.

I doesn't matter, though. I trust you with me.

[Admittedly, it's the only thing she does trust him with. But it's enough for now]

[She bites her bottom lip a little, and shifts in place. In the background, there's the rattling of trees.]

...why didn't you ask what happened? Aren't you curious?

[silverking]

Such hypocritical reasoning.

[ A sigh. ]

I didn't ask because you didn't seem entirely convinced it was the right thing to do by coming to me. Of course, I was... and I am still curious.

[priscilla]

What? Whose reasoning is hypocritical?

[!!]

That's not it. It's more that I didn't know whether I wanted to talk about it at all.

There are really only two people I would talk to about it. I--

--you can always ask me anything. If I don't want to answer, I'll just say it. But I don't really like hiding things. The last thing I hid from anyone was you.

[And then you outed her. Thanks for that, by the way.]

...that didn't go very well, so I'll probably answer anyway.

[silverking]

What if Zack trusts me like you do?

[ And he does. Did. That's coming apart slowly... needs to be fixed.

In order for a tree to be healthy, it must be pruned. The dead leaves must be cut away. ]

Therein lies the hypocrisy. You see, Priscilla, you are very biased when it comes to me. Others are very biased when it comes to you.

Due to that we have interference, and we have broken promises and betrayals... all given birth to by good intention.

Perhaps it isn't appropriate to hold grudges for that reason? None of us can claim not to have made mistakes, although the best example of yours haven't yet come to pass for you. Nevertheless... from the knowledge that you will awaken one day and destroy comrades in arms, kill innocents by devouring them... you can see that not even you are exempt from straying far, far, far from the path of seeming righteousness... because you were trying to do a good thing.

[priscilla]

That isn't really the same thing. I trust you with me because I know you won't hurt me. I don't trust you with anyone else... because I can't say the same thing about them.

Do you think I'm biased about you? I don't.

But I do know I'm not immune to mistakes. ...everything I just said may be a mistake, too. If it is... I guess I won't know until it's too late.

...and I wouldn't really call it a grudge.

[silverking]

[ Dismissively. ]

What are you going to do?

[priscilla]

I don't know. Cut off another piece of myself, I suppose.

[Well, maybe that only makes sense to her. She rubs her face, hugs her knees.]

What's with that tone?

[silverking]

[ He understands all too well. ]

We had digressed.

[priscilla]

Oh. That's true, isn't it?

[...]

It was Irene. When I was most confused about you... I used to talk to her a lot about it. Everything I felt and thought, and the way you hurt me, and the way you made me happy. I told her everything, because I trusted her more than anything.

And she repeated it to Deneve.

[DENEVE OF ALL PEOPLE.]

I heard her. Playing back a message. It must have been an older one, but that doesn't really help.

[silverking]

[ It slips before he can stop it. ]

I wish you would let me kill her.

[priscilla]

[That takes her breath away for a moment.]

[And then there's nothing but silence. For a while.]

[And when she speaks, it's quietly. A little shaky.]

You probably think that about a lot of things.