001 ❚ two truths and a lie ❚ daemon: cinnad ( cw: hunting/dead animals )

[hangingtree]

[ For those very few people here who might know Katniss, she's been oddly quite the past couple of months because the player had an unexpected and lengthy hiatus whoops. She's been spending time exploring the area in depth, trying to get a good feel for the land, and has also been scouting out good hunting spots. Not to mention the research and observation she's been trying to do to understand the wildlife of the area better.

As she's making her way back to the place she's squatting and calling home, Cinnad decides to broadcast for her and judging by the way she's ignoring the daemon, a bird-like creature held in one hand, quite obviously a recent kill from her trip into the woods. ]

2 TRUTHS AND A LIE
Preferred Alias: Katniss

1. I have a good singing voice.
2. I taught myself how to shoot a bow.
3. I don't know what pizza is.

One Of These Is A Lie

[ When she hears the sound of a message being sent, Katniss looks over her shoulder, brow furrowed. The furrow turns into a deep scowl as she reads through the broadcast. ]

I swear, I'm going to find someone to reprogram you so you can't post things without my permission. Or, better yet -- [ she reaches out to swat Cinnad with her empty hand but he steps back easily, the feed jostling somewhat ] -- I'll find a way to cook you.

It could be worse, [ Cinnad offers. ] I could have shared something truly personal.

Comments

text; daemon: Graced

[miss_brilliant]

While the third one wouldn't surprise me given that we're all from so many different worlds, I'd guess number two is the lie? Most people don't teach themselves skills like that, at least not the basics.

Also, if you're really that bothered by what it does, I could probably at least try to reprogram your daemon.

[she hasn't done anymore than messing around with Graced's programming yet, but it seems like a pretty simple task]

[hangingtree]

[ Katniss, far more interested in getting Cinnad to stop being a little brat, responds to the second half first. ]

You can? Have you tried it on your own?
What would you want in exchange?

[ It's about forty-two seconds later that she sends a second text, regarding the first comment. ]

You were right. About the lie.
My dad taught me.

[miss_brilliant]

Not that exactly, but I've been fiddling with it's capabilities. I was a programmer before I came here, and I got an ability in that prison world, that makes it even easier. I can sort of just...go inside them and tell them what to do, or not do, to a point. I'd need some specific rules for it to follow still, so I don't turn off something important

[she would have had trouble describing her work to a layman before, and now saying she can basically see code and circuits inside her head...she has no idea how to really put that into words]

That's neat. I could never do anything like that. All my hands can do is type.

[hangingtree]

[ Well, that definitely sounds complicated and not something Katniss is familiar with. But she's interested, absolutely. ]

Is there any risk of you somehow getting stuck or injured?

[ Abrasive as she may be, it's not like she wants someone putting themselves at risk for her just because her daemon is a pain in the ass sometimes. (Honestly, it's surprising Cinnad's even letting her have this conversation, considering...) ]

I used to teach people in Eudio. I've been thinking about doing it here, too.

[miss_brilliant]

I don't think so. I mean, I didn't get the feeling there would be from the memories I had when I was there, but I don't know how reliable those are. I haven't had any bad side effects from the experiments I've done here, though.

[she won't admit to anyone yet that actually, she's been getting a bit of a high from it--even if it's only an emotional one of doing something incredible. She wouldn't be ashamed, it's just...strange. And also something that feels really personal still]

I've been thinking I should probably take someone up on some sort of combat or defense training, considering. I guess I'm still a bit worried about hurting someone while I'm learning, but I suppose we all have to start somewhere.

[hangingtree]

Let me know when you're available, then. I'd appreciate any help I can get with him.

[ Katniss isn't the sort to pry too hard into private matters, so Amanda should feel pretty confident that her secret will stay safe. ]

I mainly try to hunt with it. But you can use it for whatever you want.
We'll do it in an empty area, too, so that's less likely to happen.

[miss_brilliant]

No problem, I'll be glad to help.

That's probably a good idea. I'm looking forward to all of it.

[hangingtree]

Me too.

[ Katniss isn't terribly great with small talk or being particularly friendly with people, but after a stretch of silence, she sends another message. ]

What's your name?

[miss_brilliant]

[Amanda's not great at small talk either, so she hardly notices when anyone else is awkward]

Amanda Perry. Nice to meet you.

[hangingtree]

[ Thank god for that; Katniss needs more people who can tolerate her awkwardness. ]

You too.
Have you been here long?

[miss_brilliant]

About four months. I was in the first group of arrivals.

You?

[hangingtree]

I was in that group, too.

[ A part of Katniss says it's a long shot, but considering the handful of people she's already spoken to that came from Eudio as well... ]

Does the name Eudio mean anything to you?

[miss_brilliant]

[Amanda's not surprised by the question, since she herself knows several people from Eudio but it still hurts a little bit if she thinks about it too hard]

Yeah. I was there for almost a year. Guessing you were there awhile too.

[hangingtree]

Eight months, give or take a few days.
At least we're not the only ones that remember it.

[ It makes Katniss feel better; if no one remembered it, she'd be concerned it had all been a dream, or that she'd merely gone insane. ]

[miss_brilliant]

Yeah. I hadn't decided if I was going to remember or not when I went back home, but now I'm glad to know it wasn't just a really detailed dream.

[because it would have felt like it, a place where she'd walked and drove and done so many things that had been more than she ever dared to hope for]

[hangingtree]

You fulfilled your incentive before ending up here?

[ Katniss might be a little jealous of that. Of course, it's Katniss, so it was bound to take much longer for her than probably just about anyone else in Eudio. ]

Is that where you got your ability?

[ Amanda had said it was from a prison world, so she expects the answer to be no, but it could still be possible. ]

[miss_brilliant]

Yeah. Well. Technically, it happened right I arrived. I was in an accident when I was a kid, I got hurt in a way that meant I couldn't live on my own. They fixed that. So I was just working off the debt.

[it's not exactly embarrassing to discuss, but still awkward. Still something she doesn't really know how to bring up, there's no exact science to figuring out what will make a certain person pity her for it]

No. Something happened in the prison world, before we got there, that changed some people. I guess to blend in, F.A.T.E.S decided some of us needed to be like that too.

tamw you forget about the event that happened when you were on a lengthy hiatus...

[hangingtree]

Oh.
Glad they fulfilled their end of the bargain.

[ Katniss still isn't sure if they'd followed through on hers. Finnick was alive and well when she got to Eudio, but he went home and she has no idea if he went back to live or die. ]

Did they do that with a lot of people?

[miss_brilliant]

Yeah. My big worry was if it would stick when I got home like they said it would. I guess the fact I'm still healed here means it would have.

I didn't always know how to ask about it, but I think they did for several. It always felt intrusive to ask first. I didn't mind talking about what they did for me, but for me people always knew by looking at me that something had happened, so it felt strange that people didn't after I got there.

[hangingtree]

Or it's just something that works in alternate worlds.

[ Sorry, Amanda, Katniss is an untrusting pessimist despite how many people told her in Eudio that their incentives were actually fulfilled when they went back home briefly. ]

How could they tell by looking at you?
That's probably an intrustive question. You don't have to answer.

[miss_brilliant]

[it's okay, she's...considered that. She tries to stop considering it pretty quickly]

Possibly. A couple people who had similar incentives and had gone and come back told me it worked, but I'm too much of a scientist to believe it without solid proof myself.

No, it's okay. I had to tell the story a lot by people who often weren't very polite in how they asked it.

I was in a car accident, and it broke my neck. Because of the way it happened, I couldn't feel or move anything below my chin. I had a ventilator, a machine that breathed for me because I couldn't do it myself. And a wheelchair. It was kind of hard to ignore, even when people said they didn't see it. It was more upsetting for people to tell me they didn't see me as disabled, because I was.

[hangingtree]

I think that's a good way to be, honestly.

[ Katniss isn't a scientist, of course, but she's still skeptical af.

She's not entirely sure how to respond to Amanda's explanation; it's terrible, of course, but Katniss isn't exactly known for her empathy or tact. ]

People actually claimed they didn't see all of that?

[miss_brilliant]

Yeah. Well. Metaphorically, not literally.

They tried to use it as a way to tell me they didn't see me as broken, I guess. But it just made me feel more like they did since they made such a production out of it. It was easier to deal with the people who actually said awful things instead of finding the most ridiculous ways around letting me know I made them uncomfortable.

I guess a lot of people didn't know how to handle a kid who was living with that though, or when I got older knowing I'd lived like that a lot longer than I hadn't. It was never okay but I got used to all of it. Sort of.

[hangingtree]

[ There's a somewhat long stretch between Katniss receiving that message from Amanda and her responding to it. Not because she knows what it's like to be paralyzed or anything, but because it makes her think of all the things she's faced and all the things she's adjusted to or done to survive. ]

It's amazing what we can get used to if we have no other choice.
But it's good, that the Eudio representatives actually followed through for you. Hopefully it sticks when you save your world here and get to go back home.