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crushed_pearls) wrote2022-09-16 02:28 pm
I'm trying really hard not to hear it.
Not gonna lie I'm not unworried about how you're going to handle her. But if I explain why the way I want to explain why I feel like it's going to turn into an argument.
Our joint funeral.
Things like Helen aren't people, Erin. Not the same way you and me are. They're like little fragmented pieces of their Entities. Embodiments of some little part of the thing.
They don't think like us. They want what they're created to want. Helen is literally made of lies and tricks. You go searching for some hidden person inside her endless corridors and you're not going to find it. You're just going to find more lies and half-truths and mindgames.
They have to be in some way sapient. That's not the same thing as people.
Nikola was a literal mannequin brought to life by the Stranger after a guy built her out of bits of mannequin and Grimaldi. All she wanted was to bring about the Unknowing. Nothing more nothing less. And she was here last time.
It takes her a while to send the next message, but unlike in the last argument, it being text means she can get it down without losing her thought track or immediately getting into a shouting match.
I want you to understand where I'm coming from, Erin. There are vampires in my world and you know what they're like? Literal humanoid leeches. All they do is hunt humans. Hypnotise them, take them home, drain them. No higher functions. There's that thing that whispered to Calvin that was probably never a human, it was just there to get into Calvin's head. There's a being that was created entirely to eat other people's lives and replace them. I don't think like this because I want to think like this. I think like this because I've seen it.
And I'm worried you're going to treat her the way you treat every other monster and she's going to use it against you. That's what the thing Helen is does when it's not just tricking people into its doors. It uses a human face to lure people into a false sense of security. To make them doubt their reality and get past their defences. If you treat her like you treat everyone else she's going to find a way to hurt you anyway.
Because going after her could well play into her games just as easily as actually humouring her. She'll find a way to twist that, too.
Like I said, better not to be completely open with something like her. There needs to be some other approach.
Cue groaning and burying her face in her hands.
Goddammit Erin
If I knew better how to handle it, I'd tell you. But this is the Spiral. Impossible nightmare scenario is kind of built in.
I'm sorry.
Even Jon didn't really have a read on her. The Eye can only follow the spiral so deep.
The way I handled her was being mostly honest but keeping some important things back. Be direct as you like but don't show your whole hand. And always be aware that even if she isn't outright lying, she's still not being entirely honest. She wants you to trust her. So don't.
If she knows what's good for her she won't attack you without provocation.
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