ihavelost: (2)

[personal profile] ihavelost 2025-06-03 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
[Any power he wants? 'How about absolute power?' he thinks, but he doesn't say it. He has to think of a more diplomatic way to word it, something simpler that still means the same thing. He pretends to think about it for a moment. Then, casually, as if he's not really committed to the answer:]

Whenever I want to pay for something, [Bills, food, cars, lives.] I'll have however much money I need.
bellismortis: (quiet.)

[personal profile] bellismortis 2025-06-03 01:13 am (UTC)(link)

[Oh… that’s…

[Basil forces himself to nod. It’s polite. Acceptable. Money is hard to come by, even though there are some things nothing can pay for....]

Haha… M-maybe someday it could grow on trees, right…? [His grandma says that, sometimes. It didn’t help her.

[Basil wants that power, but he’s not sure how to say it. He falls quiet instead, still weaving his fingers between each other.]

ihavelost: (7)

[personal profile] ihavelost 2025-06-03 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
[MaYbe soMeDaY iT cOulD gRoW oN trEes. If Whelk didn't hate the kid he was talking to before, he does now. How is he supposed to keep himself pleasant with people who go around saying shit like that?]

And your answer?
bellismortis: (scared…)

[personal profile] bellismortis 2025-06-03 05:59 am (UTC)(link)

[Sometimes Basil really hates talking with people. Adults. Anyone.

[A gulp. Is this game over yet…?] I, um…

I want to help people. [He flinches as he says it. But it is true....] M-Maybe, if I could… heal? them? It would be okay....

ihavelost: (8)

[personal profile] ihavelost 2025-06-03 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
Begging your pardon. [He doesn't exactly sound kind as he says it. It's an interruption, curt.]

Are you quite alright? You're trembling out of your skin.

You're not being graded, so just relax.
bellismortis: (Default)

[personal profile] bellismortis 2025-06-04 01:26 am (UTC)(link)

[Everything is okay. He’s just answering questions with a strange man in a strange place and he doesn’t know what will happen if they stop answering or if they answer wrong or if they don’t answer with the truth (but he has, hasn’t he?) and everything. is okay.

[Basil continues to tremble out of his skin.]

Can… c-can w— May we go…?

ihavelost: (3)

[personal profile] ihavelost 2025-06-04 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[Take a deep breath, Barrington. Don't smack him still.]

I don't know any better than you do. All we can do is continue the game.

[Which indeed continues. The numbers roll: 93]

Would you sacrifice- [Sacrifice?

[Whelk's head jerks like there's a fly buzzing around it.

[Ahem. He starts over, slower.]

Would you sacrifice yourself. To save someone you care about?