voidtreckernet

[There's a blue lady on the comm's screen, not looking like she completely trusts it -- or that she quite likes being so visible. She has something to ask, though (as much as it feels like an exploitable vulnerability to ask) so she stays. And it's fair that others should see who's talking.]

Hello.

[. . . Knowing how to start is harder than anticipated, and considering the last time she was on the comm was to apologize, it feels even more awkward. She swears she can feel eyes looking at her. Unconsciously, her arms tuck into a cross.]

I heard there are "missions" every month. Where we're supposed to infiltrate, or something attacks.

. . . This time there was water in the city. In the pipes. And the sewers. But people say it's not always a city. Locations are different every time.

I need to be able to access some when it isn't there naturally.

I need . . . help.

[Silence for a moment. That was extremely uncomfortable to say, and the next question isn't much better for her.]

Also . . . I'd like to know what people do to find their own space. Where they can sometimes be alone. When . . . they need to.

. . . Thank you.

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I . . . need to. Sometimes.

[There's a flicker of discomfort in her voice, but it's quiet statement of fact. It's not something she's sure she wants to explain -- or that anyone else will understand. How do you explain a small eternity of absolute solitude and stillness colliding with a constant thrum of movement and activity?]

[And the reason that solitude existed . . . that she's not sure she's ready to give to anyone.]

That carriage is all right sometimes. But . . . it can feel like a cell, too. I was hoping there were other options.

I've been using the pools in the spa and going underneath the water. So far that's been best. But sometimes people want to use the pools.

I think honestly, the whole train can feel like a cell to me.

[Sure the only difference between the train and her tower was the fact there were people and more things she could actually do. But she still felt that sense of being trapped when not on missions... and she wasn't on the last mission so it's been a while since she last stepped off it.]

But yeah...it's hard to find areas of quiet but... the train has taken requests before, so that's always an option. Might not be right away, but you never know. I can even ask too if that helps? More voices the better.

[Quiet at that first part. Then, softly,] Yes. And . . . it is.

[A place that keeps you against your will in a small, confined space . . . what is, that, really, but a prison? An elaborate one, maybe. But still a prison.]

Thank you . . . [Said with a flicker of surprise that she would offer.] But . . . even if it were to offer such a thing, it feels . . . [She gropes for the right word.] Like a bribe.

[Which is still not to say that she doesn't want it. It's irritating how much she wants it -- knowing it's within the train's ability and dangled just out of reach.]

[She nodded slightly. At least another could see it in that way. Sure, she loved what the train has done for her, but at the same time she wants to explore the worlds more if possible. Not be on a train more.]

A bribe? [She asked curiously for the most part. She didn't know much of what that word meant, but she knew it was at least not a good thing.]

Thats a bad thing right? It sounds it after all.

[There's a small blink at that, because usually it's her that asks that type of question, not someone else.]

A bribe. Like . . . something offered to make you do what someone else wants when you don't want to do what they want.

Something that someone will either do or give to you to make you do something or give something up.

It's . . . underhanded. Dishonest.

No one does anything like this in your world?

Oh, so it is a bad thing.

[She was going to remember that and know to not accept such things should they happen to her. But soon she shakes her head slightly.]

I really do not know if such things even exist where I'm from. I... never left my tower all my life. So I know nothing about the world outside my window.

Yes. It's a bad thing.

[At least in Lapis' world, it is. When people try to supersede your will with their own, it's one of the worst things. When it's done with smiles and trickery, it's even worse.]

[She's quiet for a long moment at Rapunzel's next words.]

Why?

[The answer is important.]

[Why? That was a good question and an easy one.]

Because... my mother always told me the world is a bad and cruel place and to never go outside because of it. She is my mother, the one who raised me so of course, I trusted her word on it. More so as a child because there was no way to know better. To not know that people weren't going to use me for a selfish reason... It was just scary, I guess to.

[She's quiet again.]

It seems . . . like it would have been good to be able to decide for yourself?

[Not that Lapis doesn't believe that the world can be a bad and cruel place herself. But she also knows -- or has learned now -- that there are small lights in it. If she'd stayed in her mirror, she might never have learned that those lights existed.]

[And now that she knows they're there, she can't help but always keep hoping that there are more. Her world would be very dark without that hope.]

It would have been nice and... Now I feel like I would make that choice should I go home. But it was hard.

[But Rapunzel felt like they might have been going off point. What was the point they were on originally? Rapunzel pondered this for a moment or two.]

We were trying to think of places one can be alone, right?

[Lapis hasn't minded going off point. Someone with an experience similar to her own is new. Having anything to offer is new.]

[Her voice is soft, faintly hoarse. She doesn't always say so much at once.]

I think . . . I've found that the world isn't always happy. But worth exploring.

I think, though, if I hadn't found the right people, I would have felt the same. That it was hard. And maybe I wouldn't have.

[After all, her only goal had been to get back home -- back to what was familiar and secure. Vista City shifted more than she had thought at the time.]

[She would like to know more, but Rapunzel has changed the subject, and Lapis doesn't push. The subject seems delicate (or at least her own is for her), and she herself doesn't like to be pushed. They've also only just met.]

Yes. We were.

There . . . aren't many. Unless you pay for it.

[She nodded. She understood that. If one hadn't found the right people then one might not even be in the same place right now. It was one thing she was at least grateful for.

But the move off the subject for her was a good thing to. She didn't want to make anyone feel bad or anything too soon.]

Basically. Though I've found if you ask enough the train might put it up as an option.

[A shake of the head at that.]

It still feels like a bribe if it were to listen. I don't . . . want to ask it for anything. It brought us here.

But.

Thank you.

[She's at least started to separate the people on board from the train itself. It's not their fault that she's here; they're as much victims as she is. And they, like Rapunzel, have been trying to help. That means a good deal.]

It might have brought us here but... It gave me the freedom I never would have had otherwise. Or at least, more freedom than I did at home.

[Thats why she wasn't as negative about the whole situation compared to a lot of others, because she herself saw the positives for herself. She did thought understand others who didn't want to be here.]

But you also get to meet soi many interesting people and get to make really great friends.

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