true frans don't need permission to break into each other's places!! ...wait

[ex_seventh238]

Who: Ciel and Charles
What: Charles' house looked weird from her stalking angle for a while now so Ciel just decided to go ahead and break in gets a surprise housecall that he wasn't supposed to know about!! Shenanigans ensue, alas.
Where: 767 Bunker Street
When: Oct. 19th, ridiculous hour in the morning like at 2AM
Warnings: Possible spoilers for Tsukihime/Blood+, also casual talk of gore... will update this as needed!

[Not that Charles has been acting particularly suspicious of late, no. If anything, Ciel can honestly say that the babby bat's temperament has been improving. She'd know, with how much time she spends around the Chiropteran even if they're not remotely close in living together... How did this even happen.

BUT! What's essential is that for a while now, he seems to act... not quite as he used to, back at his place. NOT that Ciel actually keeps an active watch all the time to his house, but woman's intuition + her inherent passive perception + predisposed mama henbear instinct + legit stalking has tipped her off to something unusual. ...Which coincides with around the time when Charles confirmed to her that he's traded Horace back at the post office, come to think of it!! He never DID tell her what he received in return, though there has been another few rounds of regains distributed since also, if she recalls correctly.

Either way, it's been something at the back of her mind for a while now, even if she's never given any serious thought to act upon the desire to investigate... Until now, apparently, when she just so happens to pass by during her usual patrol at ungodly hours. Ciel's no amateur at this, specializing in stealth and well deserving of her true profession and title of 'agent', so even if there are non-drone members within the household, she ought to be quiet and discreet enough to slip in by a window completely unnoticed. This theoretically shouldn't take long, she's just wondering if there's anything noteworthy in the house! That means checking the basement would be top priority, buuut she should be able to afford a side trip or two in the living room/study... Charles is out now, probably for his usual midnight stroll, so it should be fine, no worries!~

...Except when have things ever gone to plan, huh. Time is definitely going to end up passing faster than she'd expected, after coming across a certain discovery that she definitely couldn't have guessed. Now when is Charles coming home, she might just need to ask him about this in person, even if she has initially planned for him to NOT find out about her impromptu break-in...]

Comments

[encored]

Why me what? [he sees that sober stare and raises it one very flat stare!! mostly because he's not entirely sure if Ciel is just pressing for the sake of pressing, which irritates him to no end. eventually he settles on an answer that he hopes might appease her, while only being a vague half-truth.]

If you're asking why it resembles me, I can only hazard a guess. There are only eight being in my world who are veritable gods walking the earth, you know, so if those abilities needed preservation, there aren't many to choose from.

[ex_seventh238]

[charles pls everything irritates you to no end

But as a change of her usual easygoing trolly self, he's receiving a cool side way glance with this.]

You're talking about monsters. God doesn't need to walk the earth to prove anything. His power lays within the faith of the people, which will stay eternal as long as the human race continues to live on. [It's easy to forget she's Catholic sometimes, huh, but there's nothing light or casual about her expression anymore.

In fact, it's downright stern and judging. Her gaze sharpens.]

You're describing a sacrificial lamb.

[Not a question, but a statement. Not targeted at anyone in particular, just a comment to follow up on his, just now.]

[encored]

[some things irritate him more than others-!!

he glances off to the side for a moment in what might look like flippant dismissal, but is actually him taking a second out to muse over the phrasing. sacrificial lamb... it does sound much more elegant than lab rat.

and then he glances back and brushes a strand of hair from his face. at least she gave him a convenient out of that potential mess...! strange as it is to hear her wax on about her faith, it lays down a much simpler conversational path for him.]

Viewing it through the lens of your world, perhaps. Religion is a flimsy crutch in my own. The interest of most lies in tangible things now, and if a person is as indestructible as any fabled god of days past, it's not surprising that a great amount of investment would be placed in that, yes?

[ex_seventh238]

[doesn't change the fact that everything still irritates him

and wow charles are you rusting, who would've thought the day that someone would resort to more elegant terms than you in a conversation (and what a conversation this one is... turning out to be!!) would come...

but in all seriousness

It clicks in place inside her head quickly, too. ...Dissociation is a good way to deal with otherwise touchy topics, hm?]

Not lens, but reality. Faith is tangible in mine, you forget. [The efficiency of the Sacraments are a clear testament.] Neither does it change the fact that whether or not it can be achieved, invincibility and invulnerability lead to an outcome [read: immortality] that most living beings cannot cope with, much less adapt to.

Humor me. How much struggle went into these 'investments', if you're to be asked subjectively, not objectively? [The need to precise here is wired for her own reasons. Give her your opinions, Charles. Don't wriggle out of this one with a general statement about how everyone else that mattered back home treated this little science project with you as its head subject "star".]

[encored]

[he can pretend...

ONE SINGULAR MOMENT OF RUST!! it's hard to think of any other term when you've been hearing one for the better part of thirty years, okay!

regardless, that statement does get a flippant eyeroll of dismissal.]

It's the same thing, in principle. You oughtn't apply the rules of your world to one outside of your experience. I haven't. [during this conversation at least... DETAILS. as for her question... he leans forward to rest an elbow against his knee so that he can prop his chin up with the palm of his hand; a very relaxed pose, reflected well by the surprising amount of neutrality he's managing to keep in his tone (which might, all things considered, be working against him this time, given her theories of disassociation).]

Well I can't answer a direct question subjectively, can I? That's a bit of an oxymoron. If you're asking how much struggle might go into similar investments under similar circumstances, I would say it depends on the efficiency of any third parties involved.

[ex_seventh238]

[quietly shakes head...

On her side, she'll keep looking neutral and stop waxing Charles-level riddles and poetics. She's nevertheless starting to piece this together, and the direction is, unsurprisingly, macabre and unpleasant. ...Familiar too, how about that.]

You can, if you base on personal experience. Were they efficient then, from what you've witnessed?

[encored]

[but the riddles and poetics are his favorite part...! or at least his way to gauge the direction a conversation is going in. he doesn't at all like when she starts jumping to the point quickly since it gets more difficult to dodge questions. why can't she ever make things easy gosh]

Somewhat. [a shrug.] Efficient enough, from what I've seen.

[ex_seventh238]

[grow up, charles... and don't you already know the answer to that question being 'never'...]

What were they trying to test, really. The potential of life, or the limitation of death?

[it sounds like a rhetorical description of the same thing, huh, but she's fairly certain that he'll catch the nuance of just what sets the two terms apart.]

[encored]

[he's got a long road of catching up ahead of him in order to do that... (ie there's a "never" for that, too).]

I wouldn't know. In this nonsensical "hypothetical situation somehow based on personal experience" you've managed to come up with, I wouldn't have bothered asking. [he knows what she's getting at, and he definitely knows the difference between the two, but that's far too personal a matter for him to speak freely of if he wants to maintain his distance and composure.]

But that hasn't much to do with the end result. People crave perfection, so perfection is replicated when the means are provided. That's all there is to it.

[ex_seventh238]

[Giving him a flat stare, no get back here we're not done yet--]

It has everything to do with the end result. Means aren't magically provided, they're established through experimentation and are essential for reaching any form of conclusion - whether thatbe 'this is the extent of the subject's limit', or 'the subject cannot be killed'.

[...Hmm

are there any open windows in here

because that sure felt remarkably chilly for a second there...]

[encored]

[the immediate reaction he displayed in the tree that one time seems miraculously absent this time! it takes a lot of concentration to keep a fragile front up.]

Fancy that. [basically another "I wouldn't know". his shoulders rise like he's going to shrug again, but remain there for a few seconds too long.] I don't make it a habit to go peeking through shut doors, unlike some people.

[ex_seventh238]

[Keep it up, Charles. You're going to need every last drop...]

Peeking is unnecessary when you're already on the other side. Hmph. Don't tell me blindfolds were involved? Neither humans nor monsters would be that considerate.

[If there's a derisive quality to her features, it may well be because this is one of those few times when Ciel actually displays open contempt. Telling, isn't it...]

[encored]

[it's already being tried... that minute display of contempt, for example, is enough to briefly shake it, and a small amount of surprise causes his shoulders to raise a tiny bit higher before he drops them back to a relaxed position.]

This seems to be rapidly detaching itself from the subjective scenario.

[ex_seventh238]

[Impressive what expressions can do depending on who's wearing it... Nobody would bat an eyelash if this was from Charles]

Not at all. I'm speaking common sense, regardless of what's objective or subjective. Whether it be to gauge the potential or establish a limit, thorough research would always involve controlled experimentation. Isn't the advancement of science also considered by many as the very antithesis of traditional religion? In that case, this should apply to your world all the more than mine. [She gives a careless shrug, and a small pause.

...So. Want to interject something now, or should she keep going?]

[encored]

[he always looks disdainful, it's hard to tell when something actually garners real disdain from him! Ciel, on the other hand...

of course he's going to interject something then, gotta keep her from barreling over him with her conversational might]

You were getting quite specific. [unless the blindfold thing was metaphoric, which is why he doesn't say anything more than that for the time being. he doesn't want to accidentally shoot himself in the foot...]

Science and religion are only considered the antithesis of one another by people who haven't lived long enough to see the similarities tying the two together. But yes, gauges are often set that way, if gauges are needed or desired at all. Traditionally speaking, of course.

[ex_seventh238]

[Let him worry about accidentally shooting himself in the foot, then maybe he won't notice the scope aimed at his head. ...METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING, that is!]

There's another difference you're leaving out. Science would seek to develop the unknown, religion would attempt to destroy it. You don't need that explained, do you?

[encored]

[IT'S SAD THAT IT EVEN NEEDS TO BE SPECIFIED...

and he almost laughs at that because this is a case where the differences she's pointed out are dead in the water. he does wind up smiling, though it's an oh you smile rather than one that actually highlights what about the situation he finds worthy of the sudden change in expression.]

True, true. Science is a very curious thing filled with curious people by comparison, I suppose.

[ex_seventh238]

[ALAS...

Hey watch it, if the difference was that dead then she wouldn't be standing in front of him right now, does he know that huh huh :|]

Not at all. People can be just as obsessed with destruction than creation. [A beat, and her eyes focus back on him.] Which one do you think they excel at more, whether these third parties are humans or monsters?

[encored]

[he considers them to be nevertheless!! it isn't so much that he believes religion doesn't destroy, or that destruction isn't something people obsess over. on the contrary, it's that he believes science doesn't create or develop, and when it does, it only destroys its developments later or uses its creations for that same purpose.]

My, am I the best person to answer a question like that? I'd say they're equally capable of either, but if it's of monsters and men, those hands aren't truly meant for creation.

[ex_seventh238]

[and in the end

Everything comes in full circle and it's all the same damn thing once the smoke clears, huh.

She's not looking at him with her next question, merely passively glancing out a nearby window to the quiet night outside.]

Why not ask you? Is it the first time, because the opinion of a lamb ultimately never matters?

[encored]

[pretty sad, isn't it. sad, but definitely not unexpected.]

I've never been asked, no. [which is apparently pretty amusing - either his own statement or her question - since a short burst of laughter follows it] But the question doesn't matter, so it likely wasn't important enough to ask.

[ex_seventh238]

It doesn't, no. But shall I receive that as your confession?

[That he's been there. The lamb, the rat, call it whatever you want. It makes no difference.

Still looking outside, though.]

[encored]

I've had a long time to be a lot of things, you know. God, monster, knight, playwright, and most everything in between.

[lamb too, or as he preferred to hear it, the perfect specimen. his pride won't allow anything less, in the same way it won't allow him to face this topic with any shred of attachment or true verbal confirmation.]

[ex_seventh238]

[Well, that's more or less what she'd expect. This is getting a tad tiresome, but she can play along with the charade if it stays as an indirect means of obtaining some answers in the long run.]

Why did you auction? You don't seem too pleased with the finished product.

[encored]

Anyone would be displeased with something like that. Would you appreciate it if someone with your face was waltzing around sounding like a complete moron?

[granted he regards drones in a very similar light...]