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Protective wards, seals, and exorcisms, [he says easily, in lieu of drawing attention to her reaction to the dolls. He feels a little guilty for not giving her a heads up; he has a tendency to forget that just because people understand some aspect of his profession doesn't mean they're used to, say, giant moving piles of paper.] The dolls can also carry messages. I turn the phone off when I go to sleep, so they're the best way to get me in an emergency. I can give you one if you'd like.

[he sticks to just offering out one of the mugs for now.]

There's a few residents here who have similar abilities to mine, though theirs are more tied to the Christian tradition of exorcisms and purification. Apparently there's enough of a pattern to this place that they've decided to make a network of sorts for future problemsolving. [read: he got added to a holy boys group chat.]

[She'll take the mug, but she doesn't drink for the moment, trying to force her heart to stop beating so fast, though she does far better at looking like she's not doing just that than the initial flinch backwards.]

Well, colour me surprised at there being more than just you here for exorcisms. Not that I ain't thankful an' all, what with all the weird things I've heard goin' on around here. I think I'll take you up on that offer too. Best to have an emergency line, I think.

Haha, right? It's a little reassuring in some ways, a little alarming that we'd need so many in others. They seem more fun to talk to than the rest of the community at home, at least.

[He dunks his teabag in his mug; normally, he'd just gesture for one of the dolls to fly over from the pile, but...] Remind me to give you one before you leave, [he says lightly, immediately moving on to] So what was your talk like? Did you get to disprove your theory?

Will do. [She gives a nod, swirling the tea in her cup a bit, though not taking a drink. Bad habit, letting it steep far too long, letting it go slightly cool.]

Not sure if I disproved it so much as proved that they know of the thing that had me trapped in its realm before I got here. [She says with a dry chuckle.]

Hope you don't mind the downer I'm about to be.

[He makes a small hum of consideration-- so it sounds like it wasn't the best case scenario.] Not at all. It's better to know than not, right? [Mm, but maybe not; she's said as much in the past.] Or even if it's better to not-- well, we're here now and it's relevant.

I don't think you're wrong on that. [She inhales softly, turning the mug in her hands for want of something to do with them.]

The place I was before I got here... I'd been taken too. Not in the same manner that I got taken here, but the same kinda situation. People trapped across different timeline's and universes. All of us brought together for one purpose. To evade those that the Entity brought in to hunt us. We only ever saw 'em in what we called trials, but the basic gist is that four of us go into a trial, we evade getting stabbed and put on meat hooks to be sacrificed to the Entity by the killers we faced. [She shakes her head here, one hand going to idly rub the spot on her chest that's obviously discoloured, circular in nature.

Where she'd been hung many times in the past.]

Or, if the Entity was feelin' generous, it'd let them murder us outright. There's rules as to how that works, an' how the sacrifice works, but that's the gist of it. Our goal was to survive, to not get caught, and to fix generators to power the exit gates to leave alive.

Dying isn't permanent though. An' surprisingly being outright killed is the better outcome to bein' sacrificed. Being sacrificed... The Entity eats part of you. Part of your soul. It's what that note I got was about. I know mine's been chewed to hell n' back, and those that be in this place offered to fix that.

That's... [Probably the most cruel thing he's heard in his life. Horrific too, yes, but to a certain degree it's not incompatible with what some of the foulest youkai could get up to. Feeding off the souls of humans, doing it slowly, turning into some sort of game-- he can believe all of it. It's the sort of creature they'd have to exorcise whatever the cost, the sort of thing that would get every exorcist in Kyushu mobilized to take it down as soon as possible. He's never had to face something like that. Never heard of anyone who had to face it, over and over.] Awful. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't say anything more meaningful than 'I'm sorry.'

But... [She said she had no intention of acting on the note; if she did, would he be able to say it? He thinks he would, but it'd feel even worse.] Kate, I don't think you should do it.

You ain't gotta worry about that. [She replies, giving a soft laugh.] I know what I had is gone. I know there ain't any way of getting it back. The Admin asked what I'd be willin' to do to get it back, and then asked what I thought was worth it.

[She shakes her head.]

Ain't nothing I can think of would be worth it. You don't just play around with things like that and not have it be a steep price. One that someone else would pay.

[He thought that'd be what she said, but it's still a relief to hear it. He doesn't want to have to be in a position to try to talk someone out of restoring their own soul.] It's insensitive of me to say something like 'good' right now, right? Messing around with something like that is... far, far more complicated than anything humans should be involved in.

[But what does it mean to confine her to only a portion of her soul? What did it mean that she was aware of it in the first place? It's so outside the realm of anything he's familiar with that he doesn't know where to start.]

...This might sound like an odd question, but did you get the sense that they meant the offer as a kindness? Or as a test? [Or a trap?]

Somethin' like that... It's got a steep price. I don't know if it was a kindness, since it was clear they meant for me to do somethin' in return for them. I guess I am, though it isn't like I've got a choice in the matter. [She pauses, finally taking a sip of her tea, mulling her words a little.]

It's not because I'm keen on getting what I've lost back, to be clear. It's because it's the right thing to do, as much as I can see. The last thing I want is to hurt someone with the choices I've made, or to be forced to hurt them for my own gain.

So what they asked you to do isn't something unpleasant, or something that only benefits them, but... [Something she'd be doing anyway? It's hard to get a read on what their motivations are-- he's distrustful of anything in this situation that seems to be purely altruistic towards the residents, for obvious reasons.] ...I had a conversation recently about trying to figure out why they want us here. What they want us for. So far everything I've heard them ask for has seemed to be for our own good, on the surface.

I'm gonna be honest, hun. I prefer here to there, and I'd much rather have those I care about here than back with the Entity. And I.. guess I do owe them a debt of sorts for saviin' me from that situation.

[But she shakes her head, and gives a sigh of frustration.]

I just don't know when they're gonna collect on it.

...Yeah. I can't say I blame you. [Not with what she described. If the people behind this place were capable of rescuing Kate and the others trapped with her from something like that, well... Even if they had their own reasons for doing it, it certainly approved her current situation.]

So you're thinking of helping not for your soul, but in exchange for being here in the first place, or bringing in some of the other people you were with.

No, because it's the right thing to do. Preventin' others from fighting, at least. I guess it just lines up with what they want to begin with.

[Means she doesn't get much choice in the matter, but what is she supposed to do? Let them fight? Let them kill each other?]

It's a sticky situation. I just wish I knew what they were gettin' from it, is all.

So what they asked you to do was to stop other people from fighting? Fighting each other, not fighting them?

[He just wants to make sure-- it fits, somewhat, with what Abel said about their interest in keeping everyone relatively healthy, on a physical and maybe mental level. Why they would be stressing that to this extent is the bigger question.]

That's right. Fighting each other. Seems weird to me.

[It can't just be as easy as that. It can't.]

Or I dunno, maybe it just seems like that because we were pitted against people who were only out for our blood and death. Maybe that's just what I'm used to.

As someone who was not in that situation, I also think it's a little strange, [he says dryly. He hopes it's not too soon to be speaking about it so lightly, but it feels easier than acting otherwise.] Not that you'd want to stop people from fighting, of course, but that they would. I've heard from a few people that they seem to want us to stay relatively healthy. It just makes me wonder for what.

I've got no clue.

[It's fine, Kate doesn't mind him speaking lightly about it. If anything, it helps take the pressure off. She doesn't do well with speaking seriously about the Entity for too long.]

I tried askin', but they told me to just focus on feelin' better. Hard to do that with an unknown threat loomin' an' all.

[There's that insistence again on feeling better. It's just like Kate says-- it's hardly their first instinct given everything that's going on.]

Did they seem... sincere? [It's easy to imagine that in a snide, gloating way; it's also possible to see it as the opposite.] Sincerely wanting you to feel better, I mean.

It was over text, kinda hard to tell, but it was definitely a comment about my sorry state. [Her soul, she means. She shakes her head and sighs.]

I don't know. Maybe?

Hmm. 'Maybe' seems to be the best anyone can get a read on at this point. [Maybe malicious, maybe backhanded, walking that line so they never tip over into outright sinister. It can be worse to deal with than the alternative sometimes; it could certainly be more annoying.

He messes up his hair with his free hand, pulling an irritated face.] I guess it's too early to say more than what we already know-- they know a lot about us and like to make sure we know it. What a pain. [He sighs before turning back to her with a smile.] Do you think you'll need a hand with playing peacemaker?

[She has to agree with him. Their captors know a lot about them, and they know very little in return. Funny how that had been true even back in the Entity's realm.]

I'm not sure yet, honestly. Maybe I will, depends on how likely I am to get stabbed by the one the other told me was dangerous... Though so far, it doesn't seem like he's as willin' as the other made me think.

[Before this conversation, Natori probably would have taken it as a given that the reference to getting stabbed was a hypothetical. Now he's... a little less sure.]

So it's a specific pair you're working on, not just quashing any potential fights that break out among us? You can let me know if you ever need backup, though I don't have any particular defense against being stabbed either.

[She gives a halfhearted chuckle to his comment about not having any defense to being stabbed. Unfortunately for him, it's not hypothetical.]

Just leave the bein' stabbed to me. I'm pretty used to it by now. Honestly ain't the worst thing that's happened.

Just because it's not the worst thing that's happened doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. [He says it fairly lightly, more matter-of-fact than as a reprimand.] But how about this: if it looks like something supernatural is coming into play, give me a call and I'll see if I can stop it from getting worse. I do have some defenses in the right circumstances.

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