flameandpassion | 50 [Text] Hours after Usagi's post.

Then do whatever you want.

[It's pretty much impossible to tell through text, but he types it with great frustration.]

[It's at least twenty minutes before she responds, but with voice, this time. At first, she doesn't really know what to say -- except the first thing that pops into her head, which is:]

I'm sorry.

[Then, a soft thump as she rests against her headboard.]

-- it was a stupid thing to do.

[It's said with some reluctance -- Rei does have her pride, after all, but even she can't see a single good thing that came out of her standing her ground. She grits her teeth to herself before closing her eyes.]

But he can be hurt.

[Sigh and bother. She always has to do that. Get involved, ask all the wrong questions, make the black list of everyone capable of slitting her throat, and then when he's the most irritated by it, by her, by everyone, she drops something like that.]

Of course he can be.

He controls bodies. He creates illusions or copies of himself. His -- brother, Gabriel, sent us away when he found us... so I guess he's a good guy.

[She's quiet for a minute.]

He told me that I would have to face him one day and when I did, I needed to bring Usagi so she could watch me fail.

In other words, you did exactly what he told you you would do. A self-fulfilling prophesy.

[...Dammit, he hates you all.]

It means nothing. Only that he knows the nature of your relationship with Tsukino.

I didn't bring Usagi, she found me.

[How, Rei has absolutely no idea, but she's trying not to think about it. She's also not thinking of how she played right into the Devil's hands and how incredibly easy she is to manipulate.]

-- it was just a reflex. [Muttered.] I thought he was going to attack me, that's the only reason I took out my talisman.

Edited 2011-04-13 05:43 (UTC)

[How? That would fall under "the nature of your relationship with Tsukino," Rei.]

You're not at fault for defending yourself. You're at fault for not defending yourself. You had nothing to argue about. The best course of action would have been to leave, but you didn't. That's all there is to it.

[Breathe in. Breathe out.]

How does he control bodies?

[But that terminology just makes her feel even worse for Usagi being injured in the first place, so she's trying not to think about it, shhh.

She's not stupid enough to argue against Hitsugaya on that point because... well, he's right, so she'll just focus on his question.]

... he just does. He moved Usagi without her will and threw her at me. I bound her with fire so she couldn't move after that -- I'm guessing it has to do with using her physical body, because she could still talk to me.

The only way to counter it would be to find out how he controls a person. His brother might know.

I sent him a thank you.

[... only a little sheepishly, because that sounds somewhat ridiculous.]

-- so he might respond back.

...He might.

Why do you say "illusions or copies" instead of one or the other?

[... hrgh. She doesn't say anything for a long moment.]

I shot him in the head.

[It's -- somewhat sinking in, now -- and it was obviously a double, as Lucifer attacked her from behind -- but it was real, in that one moment.]

And?

[Sensitivity what?]

[...right. She's talking to Hitsugaya.]

I've never killed anyone before.

You still haven't.

What does that have to do with illusions?

Exactly.

[Irately. You are so frustrating.]

It was another solid body. One that was attacking us. It was a double copy.

An illusion is just a picture.

An illusion can be very real.

[One sentence. No particular emphasis on any one word. But it's deadly serious and speaks from experience.]

Edited 2011-04-13 06:13 (UTC)

[A very long silence at that.]

-- right.

[Murmured. She gets it. She senses she should drop it, but -- talking about it isn't taboo if it relates to another problem, right? Right.]

But they're broken, aren't they?

Sometimes.

[If the caster wants them to be. If the caster is injured. If the breaking itself is only another illusion. Never trust anything about an illusion. Not where it ends or where it begins. Nothing. Because that's how they work.]

...

[Silence.

At least with Aizen, Rei knew what to look for, what to listen for, what not to look at. Hitsugaya and the other shinigami, the trusted ones, told her -- and she listened.

With Lucifer -- she has no idea. Even the other angels in Adstringendum have no idea what to do about the Devil himself, and that terrifies her, like nothing else.]

... after the Inner City.

[It's quiet, but urgent, because it's deadly important, because Hitsugaya's comparison just made something click -- ]

When I was in the clinic recovering, he visited me. And he made the entire room look like a battlefield.

[He doesn't answer right away. He can't, really. Because she's doing it again. For a while, only his breathing can be heard, then a shift as he switches positions.]

Illusion then. Though he may also be capable of copies.

[Not addressing that problem. So not addressing that problem. He can't handle this shit right now.]

[It's tell him now so he can be prepared or tell him later after something has already happened. Rei will suffer the consequences now rather than later.]

But you can't tell the difference unless we ask.

[Which leaves Gabriel. Castiel. Anna. If they can be trusted. Rei has to meet them in person, to truly be able to get a feel for them, but she doesn't want to go anywhere near that family unless she can be certain they don't have any allegiances to their psychotic brother.]

The difference won't matter if there is a way to tell which is the real Lucifer.

[Hitsugaya would, naturally, insist she not meet any of them in person. A video feed is enough, dammit, work from that.]

I can't do that without seeing him in person.

[Quietly It's not a suggestion, just a reminder. Rei has absolutely no intention of going near the man -- nor is she allowing Usagi out by herself ever again. Ever.

And a video feed doesn't let her use her awesome darkness detector, Hitsu. :|]

50 [Text] Hours after Usagi's post.

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