tragic_mask | (no subject)

"I tried that," she says, a little unhappily. "But what story would I tell, if I weren't there to inspire it? So circular."

"Write the background," he says. "Who this new version of you is, where she comes from, what she has been through to get where she is now. And then let her go, and see how she faces the world."

She thinks about it.

"I think I could manage that. If there was always the real me to come back to."

"There would be," he nods. "And it's just one option. If you want to take it."

"I'll remember you said so."

She continues to walk.

"We can do anything you like. If any part of it makes you uncomfortable, we can change it to your liking. The beauty of being a crafter."

"Certainly good to know you, in that regard." She smiles up at him.

He returns the smile, slipping his arm around her waist for a moment.

"And wonderful to know you. You inspire me, my dear."

"Then I'm doing my job," she says wryly, leaning against him.

"See? We are unstoppable."

He is content, just to be close to her.

"Essentially invincible."

After a time, she asks, "You ever going to let me see your world?"

"Oh, of course," he says. "Any time you like. But you must stay close, there--there's a war on, and I would hate for you to be hurt."

"Well, I think I might be more resilient than you suspect, in that regard. I heal remarkably well from injuries. And I've been on several battlefields, in my time."

"You'd be a target, just for being near me," he says. "Unless we never left my apartment, the forge, or... well, you'll see."

She tilts her head at him.

"Yes?"

"There are pockets of elsewhere," he says, "and I control them, and they are safe."

"Well then, if you really feel the need to keep me safe in your world, it seems there will be options," she says dryly.

"Several of the nine worlds still exist," he says, "though very few can leave the one where they were born, these days. I can."

"Why can't they? Why can you?"

"...well, mortals are limited," he says. "They don't believe in that cosmology anymore, either, so they could never travel. Also, they lack my aircraft, or my portals."

"Those seem to be important things. Belief, and transportation, I mean."

"If you don't believe, it will never be possible, even if somehow you manage to find the transportation," he says. "Though the transportation itself is not easy."

"Sounds a bit... mythical," she says.

He chuckles.

"Well, I suppose it does, at that."

"So, you'll take me there, then?" she asks, seriously. "If I believe, that is. You've seen my world, in its mundanity, now clearly I have to see yours, all of it-- including the war and the mechanical woman."