vecna | THE CITY INBOX.

[ Tsuruno... is unsure of amusement parks. Not normally, but sometimes there's something unsettling about ones that belong to cities with no native residents. But all the same, she feels as though she could investigate (and not tell Robby about it) and probably should investigate, just in case.

Which is why she's near the entrance when she spots a familiar face. ]

Oh! Hey! Henry!!

[Well. He's not much of an amusement park person, either. It all seems needlessly silly, all strangely performative to this man's less-than-flattering lens in which he views the world. But who is he, but not a person compelled by constant curiosity and the need to investigate? To know what exactly is going on with this city and its attempts to seem welcoming, with something darker churning beneath its surface--

Oh, anyway, there's Tsuruno.]

Tsuruno.

[He turns his head to spot her from where he stands at the entrance, smiling his usual little smile. Though this time, he does hike up a brow by a few degrees.

He waves her over.]

This city keeps surprising us, doesn't it?

Seriously... I wonder why it keeps revealing things slowly like this. Maybe it's related to the number of people?

[ The more they get, the more is revealed? Mysterious. ]

Maybe. Either way, it seems like they're trying to liven things up. Be more... welcoming.

[He casts his eyes towards the fair.]

I can't quite decide what to think about that, after the mall.

[Did SHE also undergo a mall chase sequence--]

Oh, did you also get caught up in a bunch of weird chases?

[ She sure did! Plenty of them! A lot of them weren't hers! ]

Just one. And I chased him, instead.

[It was very, ah, unhinged on his part. But it's fine! He's normal now. Just look at this face. :) ]

Guess that makes me the weird one. Even so, I can't say it was very pleasant, and I wonder if the city is trying to make up for its... misstep.

[Or, you know, playing it off like nothing weird happened at all.]

...

That'd be nice, but I don't think cities can feel guilty.

[ If only. ]

[GIRL YOU KNOW WHAT HE MEANS HE STG]

I wouldn't discount any theory right now, no matter how out there it sounds.

[Henry tilts his head towards the fair proper, its interior nothing but bright colors and other activities that might compel them to interact.]

Want to take a look around while we're here?

Sure! What's your fair attraction of choice? Or are you more of a food--

[ She pauses and looks him over. Tall. Very thin. Kind of gaunt? ]

... So! Fair attraction?

[You can say it. He's a noodle.

But wow, that pause and redirect.]

...Let's see what attractions they have for us first. We can sample the food later.

[Just in case it's the kind of food with Consequences, he wants to see if they play out in any passerby's first, should they happen to run into anyone else.]

Got it! Maybe they have one of those mirror halls, those are fun!

[ Henry out here to watch people be morons, sounds about right. ]

[Yeah, that's basically it.]

We can definitely take a look.

[Oh, it doesn't take much walking for them to spy something at a distance, though: it's indeed a hall of mirrors, if the scrawling script above the building means anything. But Henry pauses, gesturing in that direction, and mostly referring to the entrance which is shaped like a gawping, giant mouth of a clown.

Lovely.]

That look like "fun" to you?

[Clowns are terrifying to some people. Real nightmare fuel. Henry appreciates that at a baseline level, so his question is just a little wry, but not necessarily a rejection of the idea.]

... Mm. I guess it depends on the clown? That one sorta looks like a nightmare, but maybe the inside is more fun?

[ ... She doesn't seem sure of this, but she also doesn't seem afraid of it, either. ]

[He'd be surprised to see her afraid at this point. But he does recall, now, ever so briefly, the flash he received from skimming the top of her memories once before -- the image of an amusement park, a setting not too unlike the one they're in now.]

Let's give it a try, anyway.

[Henry also possesses zero fear, almost shrugging as they wander towards the clown's smiling, gaping mouth.]

Have you been to many places like this before?

Edited (Repetition!! ) 2023-09-22 16:18 (UTC)

Many...? There's one in Kamihama that I've gone to a few times. It was a lot of fun, but it didn't really have the same kind of weird... uh, maybe-haunted vibe this one does?

[ And she says this sincerely as they walk in. ]

[Inside, they're met with long corridors of mirrors, reflecting their frames in all sorts of strange and warped ways. It's a little disorienting, really, if one lingers on them for too long. Even Henry has to slow his gait down to 1) appreciate the novelty of it and 2) not feel too dizzied as they wander through.]

So only good memories associated with them?

[A very specific ask, huh!]

...

Do you think I have bad memories about them?

I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

[Here, they stand in front of a mirror that makes them very tall and skinny. With Henry standing before it, it's almost twice as hilarious.]

I have to admit something to you, I guess.

[ Wow he is a noodle. She's a slightly smaller noodle, but he's just Majestic and Tsuruno has to look up at him just to keep from laughing. ]

Huh? Admit what?

[It is... a humorous sight, even Henry has to admit to that in some far, far away section of his mind. But maybe that works for his benefit, given his admission-]

My powers aren't what they were; you know that. But enough still exists that I can gleam images, and wayward thoughts, from others if I focus hard enough.

I did that to you once, when we spoke last. What I saw was just a flicker of an amusement park, and I couldn't help but wonder why that was important to you.

... Oh.

[ Tsuruno pauses, to process this admission... and sighs a little. ]

It's not exactly a happy subject, but it's not traumatic or anything. I don't mind talking about it.

[Sometimes tactical honesty works.

And somehow Henry wonders if Tsuruno would have talked about it anytime he chose to ask, too.]

I'd like to hear it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious.

[ You know what else works?

Tactical honesty from the other side. ]

... About a year ago, a little longer maybe... I lost a friend of mine. There was a lot going on at the time and I was just... kind of a mess. I was super stressed.

But my friends and I heard about this amusement park and thought we should go, just to focus on something else. And I think...

That was probably the first time I just relaxed, completely. Like I was so stressed from everything that I just let it go then. So it's kind of associated with a bad memory, but at the same time, it meant something like peace to me. I can't think of it as something bad, not entirely.

[They're both very good at this! Selective, tactical honesty.]

I see.

[He takes a moment to think that over. A place associated with loss, but also with something fond. The ability to forget about all that ails you, letting it go, if even for a day.

Henry wouldn't know what that's like, always discontent, never knowing--or remembering--what it was to be otherwise. In that vein, her response... rankles him, just a little.]

Funny how memory works like that, isn't it? [He's going to keep walking to the next "aisle" of mirrors over. The default reply would be "I'm sorry to hear about your loss", but he doesn't offer that this time.] Never so straightforward. Always interwoven with some other experience, some other emotion, like the thread in a spider's web.

So how does being at an amusement park make you feel now?

... Like I feel like we're going to be jumped at any minute.

[ Well, this is just full-on honesty. Maybe Henry will have better experiences in the future and he can stop being a little shit over someone having happy memories! ]

[...He can't blame her there, not really.

AND MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD LIKE, I DON'T KNOW, GIVE HIM HAPPY MEMORIES--]

By more mannequins?

... Oh, I guess it is kind of the same feeling...

[ LISTEN SHE'S TRYING (unintentionally)

WE'RE BONDING, HENRY!! ]

But I think if they try, we could take 'em!

[I GUESS THAT'S WHAT THIS IS,

He tilts his head to suggest they keep moving, then walks on until they reach a mirror stretching their reflection out in wavy curves.]

I threw a toolbox at the last one. [A beat.] With my powers. That nearly took it out of me. I'd probably have to rely on you to do the protecting, Tsuruno.

[ Wow they look like the ocean ]

... Well, I didn't actually try to punch one, but I think I could do it. I wouldn't let them hurt you, at least.

[ FRIENDSHIP!!!! ]

[friendship????? what is that]

I wouldn't blame you if you did. You don't know me that well to go risking life and limb.

Does knowing someone super well or not have anything to do with what you'd be willing to do to protect them?

Generally, yes. [This is a difference of heroism, here. Can you tell one of these character is a villain.] Why would you throw yourself into danger for the sake of an almost-stranger unless you had something to prove? Or a more practical reason, I guess.

Well, if I let someone get hurt or worse, they stay an almost-stranger forever and nothing changes, for me or for them. You never know what someone's going to end up being to you, in the long run.

[That's an interesting way to look at it, he thinks. Almost pragmatic in its way of justifying coming to the aid of a rando.]

You make it sound like it's a priority of yours to collect as many friends as possible.

It just kind of reminds me of what you said, that your family never tried to understand you. I think a lot of things can change if people have support, one way or another.

[Hm.]

Maybe. That depends on who you want to support, and who you want to "change." Do you think people can change no matter what's already happened to them over the course of their lives?

Yeah.

[ calmly. ]

[Smilingly.]

I think that's naive of you.

[ Just as smilingly. ]

That's okay. I'm used to close-minded people assuming that about me.

Now you're putting words in my mouth.

[THEY CAN DO THIS ALL DAY, MA'AM]

I didn't say you were naive, but I think that belief in particular doesn't account for the range of experiences life might throw at a person. Change only happens when someone wants to make it, too.

Edited 2023-09-28 19:13 (UTC)

And you asked if I think people can change, not whether they will.

[ THEY SURE CAN!!! ]

I don't think either of us can say whether someone will decide to or not. But I do think everyone's got that potential.

[Something about this line of conversation irks him. It's not so much dealing in semantics as the topic itself, brushing a little too close to bone-deep misantropy.]

Maybe. I'll give you that much.

[But.]

But that's a very small percentage of people. [Anyway, he continues walking! Perhaps, if one has keen eyes, the flicker of a shadow moves along the row of mirrors nearby. For now, Henry's focused on the conversation.] I think what we're disagreeing on, really, is someone's inherent willingness to change.

[ She glances towards the shadow but opts not to mention it. ]

Mm... maybe that's it. So you think people are just too stuck in their ways after a certain point to want to change?

[Don't mention the spooky things, Tsuruno, it's probably fine.]

I think people trick themselves into thinking they're happy to be stuck in their ways, no matter what they say. It's easy to fall in-line with expectations and what you're used to. Even if it's suffocating, most keep marching on that way until the end.

... Are you happy, Henry?

[Absolutely not.

Of course he just smiles though, looking at her askance.]

I think I'm all right, given all that's happened to me. [What a question, Tsuruno.] But, at the same time, no. I'm angry about a lot of things, too.

Oh.

... Then we're the same, a little.

[His brows cinch just a little, questioningly.]

You mean that you're angry, too?

Yeah. I'm all right, but I'm also angry.

But the things I'm angry at aren't here, so there hasn't really been a point in saying anything about it.

[And, despite himself, Henry has to laugh just a little. It's probably one of the more sincere sounds she's earned from him, because it's underlined ever-so-slightly with something that nearly sounds... bitter.]

But it could help to talk about it, though. Or do you not want others to see that side of you?

[Certainly Henry's own reasoning, at least.]

[ It's difficult not to hear it, not because Tsuruno is particularly looking for it, but because she's someone who takes notice of everything she can. Uses it. Learns from it. Either way, she hears it, and she wonders at it. ]

What a lot of people want to hear... isn't that. I think you do want to hear it, though. To see it from me.

I'm not sure why.

[He doesn't respond immediately, judging precisely how he wishes to reply in the first place.]

I like to know what people are hiding. Whether it's on purpose or otherwise.

I think that's the closest thing to seeing someone's true self.

That's not wrong, but what if they don't want to share it?

Then it's disappointing, but not particularly surprising.

[Then it's just the default. Everyone hiding their real selves beneath.]

And what about you? Are you honest with people here?

[No. Henry Creel is a walking, talking hypocrite in many ways. This is perhaps the biggest one.

So, of course:]

I keep a little anger to myself sometimes. But nothing that hides what I am.

... Mm. I guess I still need to work on myself.

[That sounds like an acquiesce, so Henry consider that quietly.]

Don't you think it'll make you feel better to be more like... you? Not whatever you present yourself as?

... [ She smiles up at him. ]

Do you think this "me" is a lie?

[He raises a brow.]

Not entirely. I just don't think I'm seeing all there is to you, that's all.

I kind of feel the same way about you. Though I do think I've seen more of you than I did when we first met.

[There will come a time, maybe, when Tsuruno gets to see unhinged Henry. She missed the mall opportunity, but more will come. Then she'll definitely get to see the real him.

Hopefully that'll be fine.

But for now-]

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, some things take time. Maybe that's just the case with you and I.

Hey, Henry...

... Just wanted to check in. Were you okay around Halloween?

[ it's your favorite teenager!!!!

(Citation needed.) ]

[She is, in fact, his favorite teenager. At least in comparison to the ones he knows thus far.

Take that as you will.]

Hi, Tsuruno. I made it though just fine, though I heard that wasn't the case for everyone.

Guess I was due a break after everything else.

[(He's not sure how to feel about her checking on him in the first place, though.)]

Yeah, I'm glad you avoided it... It was definitely pretty crazy.

[ Wow, he should feel happy! Obviously? ]

[Happy? That's funny.]

What about you? Did you come out of it unscathed? That was the whole point of your party, right, to avoid anything the city might throw at us?

Oh no, I got... super punished for it.

And then I got... into a few fights in that one haunted house.

[Punished? Hold on. Let's start with that, first.]

What do you mean "punished"? For drawing attention away from the city's "main event"?

[Oh, that adds a sense of coercion to the fact that they're here, doesn't it? Subtle and insidious. They might not be told outright to attend any given event, but there's clearly a reason for them existing; reason enough to punish someone who purposeful pulls them away from it.]

Yeah, I really think that's it. For going against what they wanted and trying to draw people away from it...

A lot of people who tried to avoid it got hit harder with the impulse to go, and that was probably the lightest part of it.

[ Paranoia, weirdly paranormal activity... ]

[His tone wavers with irritation, though not directed at her. At the very gall of this place, instead.]

So. We are being tested for some purpose.

[A pause.]

What did you experience, exactly, when you fought others in the haunted house? Was it like they couldn't recognize you?

It was different, both times. One time he didn't say anything at all, he just did his best to kill me, no matter what I said to him. And the other time, she thought... well, she didn't recognize me. I think she was seeing me as something else, but she could hear what I was saying to her.

I could only snap 'em out of it by knocking them out, unfortunately.

[ And taking on some dents and dings for her trouble. ]

Then there's a theme. Or there seems to be. This city likes to play with our perception of reality.

[Which he would greatly admire, were he not also possibly going to be a victim of this further, someday. Hypocrite and all.]

But if it's trying to drive us mad, it's going about it in a strange way.

[He's not sure this is how he'd do it, anyway.]

Well, if they did anything straightforwardly, I'd have a lot easier time dealing with it...

[ She doesn't approve. ]

[They can agree on that.]

And yet I get the feeling that we're going to get fewer and fewer breaks as they try to achieve their goal.

[Whatever that is!]

How are you coping?

I'm okay. I just don't like being messed with, you know? Especially when I can't do anything about it except put up with it for now.

[ And that's incredibly frustrating. ]

[Oh. He'd agree.]

As much as I hate to say it, we'll just have to be patient. And wait for an opportunity.

[An opportunity for what, sir.]

An opportunity for what?

[ Yes, go on. ]

To fight back, of course.

[As a man as unhinged as Henry Creel does! This is only ever the real option, the final endgame.]

... We'll have to make sure that doesn't hurt you too much.

[ Your nosebleeds, sir!! ]

[A light chuckle over the voice feed.]

Right. My powers aren't where they once were. But there must be a way to get them to return before it comes to that.

Mm... well, let me know if I can help? I don't really know if there's something dampening people's powers, but maybe it's something we could access one day...

[ There's a package left in front of Henry's door, consisting of a... rock.

It's a lovingly painted rock, black and white, with pasted on googly eyes, and a note. ]

Don't throw this one at me, okay? It's for the memories! Merry Christmas!

THE CITY INBOX.

rings this in!!

opens my arms

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audio; un: mightiest

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