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[immortalpoet]

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@

red gaze

✖

NAME

Vergilius

CIVILIAN_NAME

Red Gaze

TEAM

Brimstone

HOUSING_NUMBER

11

❤

Comments

[ignoreher]

It so does! Goose are extremely aggressive waterfowl, but it's all about respect. If you understand their boundaries and let them get used to you, you'll eventually be able to sit right next to them with little issue. Feeding them helps too.

[ he's a goose...! ]

Or so I've read. Too bad there's no cute goose merch though, or I'd get us matching waterfowl.

[ look, she's taking his inch and stretching a mile. ]

[immortalpoet]

[Now he's getting a little grumpy again with that. Wow. Feeding them helps, huh.]

I don't agree with that. [A OFFENDED HUFF.] You still have a lot of ways to go than just giving me dinner.

[also]

You want matching...merch. Really.

[ignoreher]

[ wooooow he's getting grumpy again? watch out everyone, scientists just discovered that water is wet! ]

And I'm happy to learn them! It'll give me new ideas for befriending others, too.

[ an expansion on her three step plan... still three steps but more options... ]

Why not? I'll make sure yours is discreet if you'd like, I just figured I'd do something like a headband or clips for myself. To keep my hair out of my face.

[immortalpoet]

Ugh.

[UGH!! FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

I don't want any merch. [>8/] You don't need to get any duck merch, either. That's silly.

[ignoreher]

I like ducks, so why wouldn't I want some?

[ she is in her midthirties let her have duck stuff. she'll look so cute... let your heart doki, verg. ]

[immortalpoet]

I didn't mean it as a nice thing.

[More like a neutral thing but who's counting, right.]

[ignoreher]

I know that. But I was kind of happy you compared me to one, because they've been my favorites since I was younger. I even had a pen back home with a duck's head on it!

[ so joke's on you, old man, she's always loved them. and while "younger"... isn't wrong, it still isn't right. the thought lingers in her mind as it always does and she pushes it away with a soft smile. ]

Only my book came with me, though. It's not a very special book, by the way, I just use it to keep track of this and that.

[immortalpoet]

[fucking hell]

I really can't win with you, can I...

[The mention of book gets him to squint - of course it does. It draws back to that concept of the Library, once more. And this woman being so squarely in that concept, like a muddled painting he can't understand.]

That so. A regular journal, then?

[ignoreher]

You couldn't have know, Mr. Gaze. I'm sure you wouldn't have said anything if you did.

[ ... maybe. but from any other angle, he's really being sweet on her. ]

Yup! It has my three step friending process, recipes I'd like to try, notes about the people I know... plans, hobbies, projects -- anything and everything under the sun. It might sound like it's a mess, but I make sure to keep it all outlined neatly and labeled properly.

[ it also has every name of the people they've booked, the abnormalities she'd suppressed, and the general timeline of the city across pages of research, but dwbi. ]

[immortalpoet]

You got that right.

[HE IS WORRYING ABOUT IT. HE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT IT. OPEN UP THE LISA FRANK ABNORMALITIES BOOK]

How diligent. Just like an office worker. [A beat.] Guess that means you have notes on me.

[ignoreher]

[ and, reciting it by heart: ]

General description: A stern man who's more business than a suit, "Mr. Red Gaze" is one of the top of his class and has a kind of presence that speaks volumes to it. He likes his coffee taken black and seems to enjoy sake, but he dislikes pointless activities and having fun.

Physical description: Very tall, lanky, and always seen with a frown or neutral expression. He tends to wear clothes that would be classified as business-casual, leaning on casual for style, and avoids bright colors. His titular gaze is sharp, cutting into any who'd dare to look back, and stops those he catches in his sights short in both terms of steps and words. His eyes are a remarkably beautiful crimson color, alive in the way a fire consumes brush when struck with a match. [ a beat. ] Scarred.

Relationship: At the moment, I can't call us friends, but I can't say we're on bad terms either. I'd like to get to know him more.

[ ... ]

And then I drew a little mean face!

[immortalpoet]

[TRYING NOT TO MENTALLY TRIP AND MENTALLY HIT THE MENTAL WALL AND MENTALLY KNOCK HIMSELF OUT. WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT HIS EYES AGAIN]

...You memorized it....?

[ignoreher]

I remember everything I write down.

[ like it's hard? ]

That's why I write so much! Because... otherwise, I'd forget something. I've always been this way.

[immortalpoet]

I see.

[That's a real powerful memory.]

There were some poetic moments there. You'd think you'd be more factual.

[ignoreher]

[ yeah. it is. but she does have to physically write it down, she's found; it doesn't work with recording things through her implants, and she still does need to study hard to grasp other things. but writing reports was a skill she honed, and this was just another report in the end. ]

I was plenty factual! But facts only go so far to really get a feel for something or someone, Mr. Gaze. It was important for our employees at my old workplace to understand the sort of danger they might face when working with what they did, and if it was through facts only they wouldn't be half as careful.

[ ... and if they died regardless, well. that was just how it was. ]

Simply saying you're strong doesn't give anyone an idea of how strong you are, right? But saying that you're strong, and you have the kind of presence that would leave little room for doubt... that shows you know yourself and have a kind of confidence that comes from experience. It's not fake or a bluff.

[immortalpoet]

[Her old workplace...]

[She does sound like a manager. Though her happy-go-lucky attitude (masking duck paddling and all) seems a little too superfluous for such a position.]

....

So what was that about my eyes, then? Helping people to understand how beautiful they are? Or is that just from you?

[ignoreher]

[ nnnnnn the train's gotten warmer, huh, ]

Well... I figured most people wouldn't be able to look at them too long, and they're really stunning... and they're what you're named for, so they need special attention.

[ they're pretty!!! ]

[immortalpoet]

[LITERALLY MATHLADY.JPG RIGHT NOW]

You......you do realize the majority of people think they're scary. I wasn't named the "Pleasant Gaze".

[ignoreher]

They are scary. I feel my heart stop every time they turn on me.

[ but she still looks into them anyway, even if she isn't right now. watching the train's marquee and looking at the ads beside it. ]

Maybe if we were still back home, I wouldn't be able to look at you. But I'm a little more confident here.

[immortalpoet]

Why are you confident here?

[He doesn't understand it. Roland, he could understand. He's powerful enough, they were on the same level. Malkuth, who seems to be much more powerful than assumed, shouldn't treat him like that...right?]

What has changed? I'm the same person.

[ignoreher]

I know you won't kill me. It's a matter of trust.

[ rather than he can't, he won't. he still could. prove her wrong, end her life before she can react, it'd be easy anywhere there's not a person to be found if he really cared.

but he hasn't, and she doesn't think he will. she's offered herself up on a silver platter going on twice now -- taking him out where there wasn't a soul, even with the new knowledge of her lies of omission and who she really was, and in the future should she ever need a quick hand to suppress a high threat page.

... so it's simply that. ]

You haven't had anyone who could look you in the eyes, Mr. Gaze? There's no way you were born a scary wrinkled old man.

[immortalpoet]

Trust...

[What does that word even mean, to them? To lost souls from a City where beloved ones could easily turn on each other for the right price? He's a monster of a man. She could've just been like that wide-eyed worker of the Syndicate who was left behind after the massacre, who had painted that lovely yet ruthless depiction of his eyes as he let her bleed out as thanks for giving him the password. His "mercy" is worse, he thinks.]

[And yet Malkuth still trusts.]

[Why?]

[Why doesn't she understand...?]

[He threads a scarred hand through his bangs, pensive once more.]

I didn't always have these eyes. [...] Only fellow Colors were able to.

[ignoreher]

[ because they knew they were just as strong. they had a fighting chance, unlike almost anyone else below them; a grade 1 might be able to glance, but they wouldn't be able to hold for long. malkuth wonders if her coworkers would be able to manage what she does too.

no, they certainly would. if for different reasons. ]

But I'm sure you've always had a mean look. When did you get them?

[ sorry if this is never said crystal i'm about to put you through a wringer ]

[immortalpoet]

....It feels like a lifetime ago.

[It might as well have been. His voice seems as cracked as old parchment of a book he doesn't like opening.]

But is it important? I am what I am now. Even this place feels fit to name me after my gaze.

[ignoreher]

Of course it's important. You weren't always a Color.

[ he didn't always have that gaze he's named for. he was once just vergilius... an aspiring Fixer maybe, to change something or just survive the next day. it's things like these that she wants to discover, to learn about, to piece together as she sets a timeline of his life out in front of her.

before becoming the red gaze, and after that. what lay between? ]

Neither was the Red Mist. Kali was strong even before that, and she didn't talk too much to any of us -- but we knew we could trust her, because she believed in the same thing we did. We all walked the same path, even after... it started to fall apart.

[ splintered and crumbling, each person on their own stone trying their best to keep on. malkuth leans back in her seat, tilting her head up with a fond smile. ]

She was just a person, like anyone else. Of course it's important, Mr. Gaze. Even if the City doesn't think so.