notglitching | IC Contact: thisavrou

[A lot. Peter, Rinzler had known about—could hardly not have, after that message he'd been sent. Chara too, perhaps—though how (if?) Nihlus learned about that remains a mystery. But the user's implying... was that one supposed to be in beta too? It was larger than either of them.

...no. It's a distraction. Irrelevancy. It doesn't matter, and it doesn't answer his question at all.

Not the one he'd asked first.]

Why did you take my disk?

As far as I could interpret the situation, you were going to kill her with it.

[ Is he wrong? ]

[As far as he could interpret. Rinzler stares at the line, lets out a breath, slow and furious. He wants his voice back. He wants his voice back, so he could snarl out the words.

Text feels much too calm for this.]

You didn't ask.

Didn't wait.

You didn't tell me I should stop.

[He just took it. Took Rinzler's disk, like that was the only way to make him stop. Took his weapon, took his mind, like he was that animal the users called him in the first place. Stupid and mindless, violent and lethal and in such desperate need of someone's leash.

That's how you solve problems. That's how you save lives. It's the obvious solution, right?

He hates it. It takes longer than it should to type the line.]

Why?

Should I have waited before or after the disc hit her?

[ Because Nihlus still vividly remembers the smell of J's and Peter's blood, the gleam of Rinzler's disc off of the growing pool, the then-girl's neatly halved body on the floor.

And Rinzler isn't telling him he's wrong about the assumption. ]

I saw a deadly weapon flying towards a kid. It was either your trust or her life.

That's not a choice for me. It will NEVER be a choice for me.

And I know she was intent on murdering you too but it's not

She's a kid

You aren't supposed to kill kids

Not ever

[ There's a beat, Nihlus quietly recomposing himself. ]

I didn't attack you afterwards and I asked you both to stop. If I'd given the disc back to you immediately, she would have interpreted it as me taking your side and attacked us.

I put myself between you and her so that she wouldn't hurt you. I was gambling that she would trust me enough not to attack again as she'd think I'd taken her side.

I shouldn't have taken your disk. I'm sorry.

You could have blocked. Could have moved her. Give it back

[A kid. It's fine if she kills him, because she's a kid. Fine if she hunts him or tricks him, fine if she takes what's his, fine for Peter_Maximoff or Nihlus or anyone. Because they're users, because they know what's best and who matters.

Because their trust and minds and lives will always matter more than his.]

I will kill anyone who takes my disk again.

I could have Overloaded you from the start.

If I really thought she was completely blameless, if I really thought you were the sole cause of the problem.

Rinzler, you would NOT have known what hit you.

It would have been FAR easier than trying to stop the fight by mediating.

[ Because Nihlus is a sniper and snipers didn't win by throwing themselves in the fray, spirits dammit. ]

I didn't because I value your trust. I just can't choose between it and a kid's life.

I have seen too many dead children. It's NOT a choice anymore.

I was not trying to trick you. I was not trying to take your disk hostage.

[ ... ]

And you could have killed me.

I was close enough.

[ He knows he had been. Rinzler could have run him through faster than he could've blinked, that close and with his back turned. ]

The girl threw me because she thought I was going to hand you your disk back.

She was right.

I thought you'd just take the disk and run at that point, but

[ You were scared.

So scared. ]

You should have.

[Attacked him. Overloaded. Derezzed him, if that's what it took. If Nihlus really thought Rinzler was too stupid to be reasoned with, too dangerous to trust. If he believed there was no other way to save his precious, faulting user kid.

It would have been better.

Rinzler should have killed him, too. He doesn't say so. There's no point. He'll do better next time. Or he won't, and the user can keep doing this. Or whatever else he needs to.]

Did run.

[So it worked out, right?

The user got what he wanted.]

No. I shouldn't have.

[ He never will. He'll never use Overload against Rinzler ever again. But he knows that's not a promise that Rinzler will believe. ]

Honestly, I would preferred answers to running, but yes. You did run. And I am thankful for that.

Why were you fighting?

Better

[...than edits. Than the threat of them. Than being told how grateful he should be to be brought to heel with his code, instead. If the user had attacked that way, maybe he could have killed it.

Maybe the user knew. Maybe not. It doesn't make much difference, and there's no purpose either way to finishing the line. Clear slate. Answer. Be useful.]

Attacked.

[ 'Better'.

Rinzler's solution to a lot of his problems were fatalistic and very final. A cynicism borne of helplessness that he couldn't begin to imagine and he doesn't know how to bridge that gap.

Did he explain enough? Should he have explained more? Had he apologized for the right thing?

None of it changed the fact that he'd held Rinzler's soul up as a bargaining chip to stop the fight, intentional or not, for both party's sake or otherwise. None of it changed the fact that he'd needed to stop the disk before it hit the girl.

There's nothing he can change. He needs to focus on something he can do, however: he needs to try and get the full picture. ]

She initiated conflict?

Yes.

Motivation? And has she initiated conflict before this instance?

Unknown.

[A lag. He doesn't want to answer. He isn't sorry, and he won't be, and he's glitching sick of being told how little right he's ever had to attack back.]

Third attempt.

She tried to attack me because my armor had red lights. My bet's on that.

Anyways: desired resolution to this conflict?

[Just staring. Not at the color bias—that nearly makes sense. But desired resolution? Really?]

Don't care.

Alright. Still, in the interest of preventing future conflict, I will try and have a talk with her about this.

[ Nihlus, for one, doesn't particularly want to be put in this position ever again if he can do anything about it. ]

Do you want your baton back at least?

[That's the difference, really. Nihlus assumes there's something that can be done. No purpose arguing, though—or pointing out that she'd tried to derezz Nihlus too, last time.

One way or another, the users will work it out.]

Functional?

[ Maybe not, but Nihlus has come a long way from being a shitty, cynical teenager who thought nothing could be done. He's not about to backtrack. ]

Unsure. I don't see any visible damage.

Where should I leave it?

IC Contact: thisavrou

no subject

no subject

1/3

no subject

3/4 actually

no subject

1/2

2/2

no subject

1/3

2/3

no subject

1/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)