>>5300543“Sweetie, I…thank you.” You half-sigh, half-chuckle as you struggle to stay upright. “It’s just been a really long day, is all.”
“But we saved a whole lotta people!” She protests, the only face in a crowd of impostors whose eyes shine with genuine concern. “So why do you look so sad?”
You open your mouth to answer when Gina’s voice speaks directly into your addled mind.
{Hey, things are going pretty smoothly, but I wanted to run something by you} She says, her words tinged with regret. {I’m like…ninety-percent certain that some of these Daughters are claiming bodies that they don’t actually know. It’s free real estate, I get it, but I wanted to let you know before I started anything}
[Started anything?] You echo, and there’s a flash of hesitation before Gina’s idea breezily slips from her mind and into your own.
{Look, Francine and I were talking, and I think we can jerry-rig something between us to figure out who’s bullshitting us. Flip side is that I’m pretty sure some of them would key in on the fact we don’t trust them, and I didn’t wanna make a scene} Gina continues briskly. {I didn’t want to ask you this, but…I figured you’d want to weigh in. It’s the only thing you’d need to give a ‘yay or nay’ to, I swear!}
In mulling it over, you cast your eyes across the crowd of faces, now mostly filled with expressions of relief and openness. Julia and Dorian play off each other to the benefit of the Daughters gathered around them, a few girls even managing to chuckle as the two playfully bicker about the merits of Arcadia versus Laoc. A few meters away Rath’s engaged with a surprising number of Daughters, though judging by the admiration shining in their eyes, it’s more than the red-head’s charisma that’s drawn a fair few of them in. Even Vector’s surrounded by a sizable crowd, the living bolt explaining their philosophy in greater detail for their rapt listeners.
And, behind you…
Fifty-two bodies, dead by your hand.
Fifty-two souls, caught in the purgatory of your impending judgement.
>>There’s been enough suffering without you trying to split hairs. Denying a few isn’t worth hurting the many. (Keep 20, Lose 32)>>No, you’re going to ensure that the biomass goes to those to whom it’s owed…and not a pound of flesh, more. (Enact Gina’s plan, Keep 44, Lose 8)>>Give them up. All of them. These girls could use the power more than you could, now. (Lose all 52)>>Bring in the Sparagmos Engine, and between Gina and Francine see if they can’t extricate the Dram Daughters from their powers…because where you’re going, you’ll need all the power you can get. (Keep all 52 bodies)>>…Leave it up to your allies. You trust them, so let go. (What will be, will be)>>Write-InYOU ARE IN CONTROL
