Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no Lies

[thelongcon]

The Truth Meme






→ Comment to this entry with your characters.

→ No matter the question, your character feels compelled to answer truthfully. Even if it's the most personal question they've ever heard, or a query about something they would normally refuse to talk about -- too bad.

→ Watch the madness unfold.

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[failsafegod]

[Some part of him wants to react with a laugh at the absurdity of the idea that needing him about is weakness, but he remembers easily that this is Wilhelm, and Wilhelm, like him, sometimes sees things a bit strangely. But then, there are humans who see things this way too. And there's no helping the smile that comes to his face.]

You and I certainly see things far differently from one another. Needing someone else is not weakness.

[fliessen]

[Wilhelm can relate far too much to the darkest parts of the human condition.]

It's more than a "need."

[failsafegod]

The what would you call it, if not "need"?

[fliessen]

[Because the language they're speaking is insufficient, Wilhelm resorts to another:] Ya'aburnee.

[Arabic. Literally translated, May you bury me. It means if they are ever fated to disappear forever, he wants to be the first to go; he cannot imagine existence without chaos. It consumes him.]

[failsafegod]

[That's a language he has not heard in a while, not that there is an issue in translating it for him. Instead, any silence comes from taking in the meaning of the words, and deciding the best way in which to respond. Another question, or to let it lie there?

The answer will be easy enough, realizing such admissions would be beyond what Wilhelm is generally comfortable with.]

Again, this does not constitute weakness. You have always found trouble in understanding which emotions are truly destructive.

[fliessen]

Don't presume you can lecture me.

[Everything about this is uncomfortable for Wilhelm. It can't possibly get any worse.]

[failsafegod]

Why? Will you try to say I can be discarded again?

[What did Wilhelm expect? chaos to not say something to his obvious hiding?]

[fliessen]

[Thanks to the compulsion to be truthful, even Wilhelm's facial expressions are genuine: he's giving chaos a decidedly withering look.]

No. It's simply... annoying. Telling me I'm mistaken does nothing to change how I feel.

[failsafegod]

Then what would convince you, not that you're mistaken, but that you shouldn't feel in such a way?

[He looks perhaps a little apologetic, but not enough to stop asking. Perhaps it's just his compulsion to help, but it's probably more that, hearing what Wilhelm believes, he's not sure he likes the idea of him hiding so much of what he feels, or at least, thinking it's a negative thing to feel.]

[fliessen]

If I knew how to solve it, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[Undoubtedly it's an endless source of frustration to Wilhelm that he can't simply erase all unwelcome aspects of his mind. What use are feelings when it comes to serving the Lower Domain?

Thanks to Zarathustra's revolutions, he's so emotionally numb to almost everything else.]

[failsafegod]

[He knows him too well to leave it at such an answer. Knows that he dislikes feeling, if all the years have been any indication. So he speaks the question once more.]

Yet your method of solving it would likely involve pretending it did not exist. So, again, how would one go about convincing you it was alright to feel in such a way?

[fliessen]

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know--

[Did his voice just break? Incredible. Wilhelm can't remember that last time that happened.

He turns away and digs his fingers into his hair, like some sort of tormented philosopher.]

Yeshua. Find another crusade. [Even more abhorrent honesty:] I'm not worth it.

I'd say he was sorry... but I don't think he is

[failsafegod]

[Neither can chaos, and although part of him wants to feel bemusement - and does - another part can perhaps fully understand. He doesn't hide his emotion as frequently as Wilhelm, but he is never fully open, either.

But the last words Wilhelm speaks causes a laugh, although it isn't a cruel one. It's more directed at himself than anything, though perhaps part of his words could be taken as insult; if someone didn't know him well.]

Since when did I give up on the hopeless?

[And unfortunately for Wilhelm, that isn't the last question. Curiosity dictates the next one.]

If you were honest with yourself, what is it you want?

lol

[fliessen]

You specialize in lost causes. I'm well-aware.

[For the first time in centuries, Wilhelm has to tell himself to calm down. He focuses on the simple act of breathing--inhale, exhale, then repeat ad nauseam--for as long as possible. Eventually, unfortunately, the compulsion to be truthful demands that he give an answer. It constricts his throat and contorts his tongue until he spits out,]

I want to save this universe.

[Oh. That is acceptable. To be the savior is what he wants most of all.]

Without losing you in the process.

[...]

Because I would keep you if I could.

[Not like a songbird in a cage. Something else. Something that has dropped his voice half an octave.]

[failsafegod]

[That first answer is of no surprise to chaos. He's known it all along, that Wilhelm is trying to protect this domain; both of them are, in their own ways. The rest is only a partial surprise, to the first part, and the second part, he's unsure if it is.

At the least, he seems through with questions, though he reverts to thoughts, something he seems only to do in the most intimate of moments, or when no other method of communication exists.]

You can't lose me, Wilhelm. Although I don't know how you would mean to keep me.

[fliessen]

[The last thing Wilhelm wants to do is succumb to an anxiety attack in front of chaos. He swiftly walks away, in a random direction, putting some much-needed distance between them. It's not enough to make a real difference, he knows. When it comes to telepathy, there is no escape.]

You can't be so sure of that, [he replies harshly. His inner voice is like sandpaper.] There is nothing outside of the realm of possibility with you. For better or worse...

[Inhale. Exhale. Repeat ad nauseam.]

Must I explain myself?

[Apparently so, given how he feels forced to elaborate:]

Keep you here and make you mine.

[failsafegod]

[As if walking away does anything to convince anyone that he's not already in a form of panic attack. For someone as cool and collected as Wilhelm, walking off is almost an indication of such. Of course, if he expects silence from that admission, especially after his own line of questions towards chaos earlier, he doesn't get it. Sadly, the answer is a question as well, but it's not intentional... And perhaps because it isn't vocally spoken, it won't matter anyway.]

Considering what you decided to ask earlier, do you truly think I'd fully mind?

[fliessen]

Why do you insist on asking me questions I don't know the answer to?

[Wilhelm has come to understand that some hateful measure of reciprocation is occurring here. It's unbelievable. It's terrifying. It's causing his stomach to churn with something humans would call butterflies and he would call a cruel and unusual torture, not unlike getting bamboo splinters shoved under his fingernails.

Acknowledging desire and acting on that desire are two completely different things.]

[failsafegod]

[There's really no hatred involved, just some measure of curiosity, and perhaps some amusement as well. It isn't every day chaos gets to hear the inner workings of Wilhelm.

But the latest remark seems to stop the questions for the moment, and there is pure silence on chaos' end. The question was answered before, although perhaps Wilhelm was having far too much fun to acknowledge the answer's real meaning. Or perhaps he's just as bad as his counterpart in admitting things. Which only leaves the question of what to do, since regardless of anything else, chaos won't leave Wilhelm in such a state as he is.

Which is why, after perhaps a minute of silence, chaos shifts in his usual method to be before Wilhelm, holding a hand out towards him.]

You know the answer, so why not lose control, if only for a time? There is no shame in it.