ᯓ⭐ WEEK THREE MINGLE

Happy third week, lovebirds! Here's to hoping you're riding high on the wave of success of one whole pair being correct! Surely you must have an idea by now how to win this thing!

Probably?

The good news is that you're not going to have to find yourselves in any weird clothes this time around, except maybe that just leads to a strange sense of foreboding for a future scenario...? Who knows. You can't quite brace yourself for it this time.

But don't worry, it's not like there's nothing happening. On the contrary!

For the entirety of this week, you'll find yourself feeling... clingy. It's going to start feeling very strange if you're not leaning on someone, holding their hand, cuddling with them, sitting in their lap, stealing a kiss, or engaging in some other form of affectionate physical contact. And if it's someone you're already feeling fond of OR someone you actually can't stand, guess what?

That feeling is doubled!

You may realize this is an unusual feeling, but so what? Trying to ignore it is only going to make it feel stronger and do you really want to make yourselves feel miserable?

Shut up, masochists.

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Did I ever say she wasn't a child? I'm very well aware. And I've been taking care of several of them for years now. I know what's best for my children, and unless I want the government taking the initiative to dispose of them like they had originally intended, then we continue to couch it as an experiment. As a project.

And that is how you justify the torture?

Torture? Well. Aren't we suddenly quick to throw aspersions around without having been there. Without even knowing how HNL is run on a daily basis.

You know, after everything, I wouldn't have thought you'd be so quick to dismiss my own work, it being so similar to yours.

What was the purpose of the "sensory deprivation tank," then? One is listening.

And one refers to one's disciples by name, not some sterile classification. Even a pet name would be more acceptable, if their identities are such a state secret.

[ WHICH IS A BULLSHIT EXCUSE ANYWAY, since he's mentioned Henry so often. ]

[HENRY IS SPECIAL BUT ALSO LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT WHY HE'S SPECIAL]

Sensory deprivation heightens their senses and abilities. It allows them to psychically project themselves to faraway locations or locate distant individuals with impressive accuracy.

[Honestly, her censure. It's disappointing.]

What do you want me to say? That I'll put in a notice to have their designations changed to "pet names"?

[ SORRY FOR CARING ABOUT THE WELL BEING OF CHILDREN, BRENNER.

That he can say that so matter-of-fact is horrifying to her. Even if the sensory deprivation were absolutely necessary--which she's still not convinced it is--there should at least be some acknowledgement of how terrifying it must be for the girl.

His argument that classifying them as a project is solely to prevent their demise would hold more water if he wasn't so dispassionate about the horrors of that project and what it puts his young, vulnerable charges through. He's being frustratingly obtuse, completely missing the point of her criticism. Her issue isn't with the classification (well... it is, but that's not entirely on him). It's with how easily he uses it instead of a name, reducing these children to mere items.

Maruki's laughter before makes a lot more sense now. ]

One would recommend that you not refer to them by designations at all.

[This is the reality of the US government, especially one that desperately seeks advantages in the dredges of a Cold War. A willingness to do whatever it takes to make progress in ways that may further the country’s upper hand, and to thus a willingness to straddle moral lines.

Brenner is the sort of man who can thrive in an environment where no one questions his methods, no one cares to make him see empathy — either because they can’t be bothered to care, or because they care about keeping their jobs more. What’s wrong with what he does, if the children are ultimately cared for? The alternative is that they’re “disposed”, and what a terrible shame that would be.

Maybe he is being obtuse, then. But why would he change old habits in a world and environment that’s only catered to him for years? Encouraged him? How easy it is to be controlling, to be narcissistic, to be cruel, even, when it’s only ever progressed him.

Basically: what’s the big deal!!]

I’d say I’ll make it a new priority if I thought that’d make so much as a tiny difference in your perception of my work.

[And yet her mind’s made up, isn’t it.]

[ Oh, it absolutely is made up.

She doesn't respond to him right away, slowly sizing him up and seemingly debating with herself for several moments before coming to a decision. ]

Since you have shown your true self, so too shall one share a secret.

[ With a rapid movement, she lunges over the distance between them and grabs him by the throat, which she squeezes. Hard. ]

One's true name is Cloud Retainer, mighty adeptus of Liyue. One has built mechanisms that have felled gods, shifted the winds to change the weather, and ridden the lightning between the clouds within the sky. And if one ever learns to travel the rift between worlds, one will find you and your keepers and make you pay for your hubris.

[ She'll hold him there a few moments longer to make sure the message gets across. ]

[Well, he's just a normie, so he can't do anything about that. Her hand clenches quite firmly around his throat, and squeezes hard enough to restrict most of his airflow.

Most of it.

His own hand comes up to grasp at her wrist, for what good it does -- nothing at all, beyond mere instinctive response. And so much of what she tells him truly means nothing; Cloud Retainer? Mighty adeptus? Something more than what she's pretended to be with him, someone who's created great and fascinating things. That much, he can conclude.

What a shame it's had to come to this, then.

Brenner, despite the upped heart rate and the squeeze around his throat which makes each word a strain, still manages a frustrating tilt to his mouth.]

If you do manage to traverse the veil between worlds, then please. Pay a visit, let me pick your mind on the matter. I'd be happy to see an old friend.

[ The sheer, brazen impudence of his response only makes her that much angrier. She releases him and throws him down to the ground, if only to stop herself from snapping his neck. ]

One is no friend of yours.

[ She's fucking done with this. With a slight whirl of wind, she transforms into a cyan-colored spectral crane and flies out of the blanket fort altogether. ]

[Well, it's a good thing that this is a blanket fort!! Brenner is indeed thrown to the ground like he's little more than refuse, but his fall is broken by all the cozy blankets and pillows.

In which case, he's just left looking up at her depart in a whorl of breeze as his lungs find air again, his mind not quite registering what's happened until she's long departed.

As a... bird? Crane?? What the fuck.]

WEEK THREE MINGLE

ᯓ⭐ WEEK THREE MINGLE

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