oo1 ✦ let’s begin.

[richesse]

[ There’s a whisper through the murmur, more a breath of feeling than a fully formed thought. It’s sweet, and warm, and laughing—though it is not gentle, nor kind.

A voice follows the whisper, chased by darkness and shadows, the very suggestion of a nightmare. ]

Do you think we’re still dreaming? Or is this a living nightmare?

[ a hum, and another brush of teasing laughter, there and gone like a brief burst of memory, the last moment of summer that you can taste on your tongue before it’s irretrievably gone. ]

You’ve changed, haven’t you? We all have. What are you thinking, right now…? Who are you?

What are you?

Comments

[richesse]

A businessman! [ she lights up—genuinely, no hints of poison or fakery. ]

I happen to be a businesswoman, myself. Though… I’m the company head, in my case. I fought hard for that position.

[ poison and flames and fire and fear

gone, like popping soap bubbles. ]

[sorte]

[ there's an air of being genuinely impressed to hear this. ]

Hmm? Might I ask your age? You might be surpassing one of my younger colleagues back home that's considered a prodigy in the business world.

[ and it would be glorious if he could tease Topaz with this info of being beaten out by a girl who's way more like him than she is like her, in particular. once they all get back to where they belong, anyway. ]

[richesse]

[ … ]

Are age and competency correlated?

[ she taps her chin with one fingertip, smiling peacefully. ]

I’m seventeen.

[sorte]

Not necessarily. But the younger you are, the less chances you have had to show it usually, right? You just haven't lived as many hours yet as others, that's all.

Wonderful.

[richesse]

… mm, well. I might have more practice at it than you think.

[ the murmur whispers a name, elte, and it burns like a brand, crushes like a curse. baleful and blackened. ]

Do I surpass your colleague, then?

[sorte]

[ he files that name away for later. ]

You do. Such a fantastic discovery in this situation of ours.

[richesse]

You’re so enthusiastic! Such faith in the skills of a stranger. I’ll have to work hard not to let down your expectations of me.

[ an ally. or at least, a tool.

it’s not nothing. ]