A question of perspective [very early week 4]

[razorblade_empress]

So I dunno how many of you I talked to in Questing Country or just after it - or in general, for that matter - but for some reason the place saw fit to make me the Oracle of Perspective. It doesn't let me know everything, but I can still get a general read on someone's perspective at a given time, and given recent events I figured I should try using it on Edward.

Turns out his perspective is a lot more adult than it should be.

Comments

[highsteaks]

... is this a weird sex thing?

[Look, that's one meaning of 'adult' and Edward DOES have his weird Queen obsession.]

[razorblade_empress]

...No, it means he is one.

[highsteaks]

Edward's a weird sex thing?




... oh. Wait. No. You mean he's an adult, right?

Wait. He's an adult?

[razorblade_empress]

He's an adult.

[grimjeaper]

...well shit.

[razorblade_empress]

Well put.

[grimjeaper]

We, uh. We should probably investigate this further, huh.

[highsteaks]

I wanna help, as much as my stupid ankle will let me.

[razorblade_empress]

Probably.

[fruitknife]

Your last description of him reminded me a little of Ikutsuki. Real earnest and eager to help, as long as you don't ask him the wrong questions, and just weird enough that you don't wanna ask questions.

I think we got a problem here.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah.

[Private; Psychic Protection I]

This Ikutsuki guy... he related to the end-of-the-world bullshit you were telling me about before?

private, protection 1, probably staying there indefinitely

[fruitknife]

Very. Told everybody he knew how to stop the problem and then went 'no actually I just manipulated you into making sure that whole end of the world thing would happen.' He was so good at givin' people reasons not to question him that Mitsuru and her dad trusted him.

Covered it all up with a layer of really fuckin' awful puns. [Shinji never really trusted Ikutsuki, but the only authority figure that's ever actually won him over was Mitsuru's dad. He also didn't think the guy was actually bugnuts insane.]

[helborn]

... So I've got a baseball bat and am totally ready to use it if we need. Or I can just hold him down.

[Casper, no.]

I mean... Yakumo's a decent guy. I'm sure he'd understand.

[Casper, no.]

[razorblade_empress]

...Do I wanna know what you're thinking here?

[helborn]

... Look, that's incredibly suspicious. I'm not going to hurt him if I can help it. I like the guy.

I'm just saying that if we have to... he'll get it.

[highsteaks]

... are you gonna beat him up with a baseball bat? [...] Okay, but if he's pretending to be a teenager for creepy reasons, that might not be a terrible idea. Especially because I'm not allowed to kick things for a while.

[helborn]

If he's here for a creepy or dangerous reason then yeah. I can't do the 'automatic lie detection' thing here - haven't since I started Traveling. I'm still pretty good at listening for fast heartbeat and such, though.

[finalizes]

He's a fighter in his home, he'd understand if we have to kill him. [Or at least he's pretty sure that's the case.]

[helborn]

... He is, but we are not going to kill him unless it's absolutely necessary. I have uh. Several ways I can incapacitate someone for a while, ranging between physical melee and... less so.

[finalizes]

If he can mask himself to look like other people, he might not look like this age normally.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah.

[She thinks for a moment, remembering the not-a-nightjar and the tag he'd clipped onto it.]

That nametag he put on the bird... that might be what keeps the disguise in place - I mean, his specialty is penmanship and all. Could be he's doing that for himself, too.

[finalizes]

Then one way of making him reveal himself would be to strip him naked.

[That sounds like a fairly practical solution to him.]

[whatspringislike]

Maybe... he just had to grow up quickly?

Even in a world like this one, that has to happen to some people.

[razorblade_empress]

It does, but I don't think that's what's happening here. There's a different feel to that kind of thing. I'm not saying he might not have had to do that for whatever reason, and if he did it might influenced or even directly led to this somehow, but the perspective I'm reading from him is that of a literal adult in a teenage body.

[whatspringislike]

Is that even possible? I mean, how would...


... magic, I guess.