Quoted By:
>Mercy
"I don't think it's the kind of thing that likes people, either," you say. "I don't think it— it likes anything, from what I understand. I guess it likes murder?"
"Ohh. No <span class="mu-i">wonder</span> you like It so much."
Claudia's like Madrigal, only smaller and less scary. You refuse to be provoked by anybody shorter than you. "Um, I don't. I had that conversation. But I don't know if it... does it like murder?" There's certainly been a lot of murder done in the name of the Wyrm. Even Claudia was murdered by Wyrm cultists, speaking indirectly. But does the Wyrm approve? Does it care? What little you've gleaned from Richard and Henry tells you that direct communiques are rare: mostly the Wyrm dozes listlessly. You don't know.
You're being looked at like you said something stupid. "Yes?" Claudia says. "It thinks stupid people should be killed. I think It's basically right about that, still, so..."
She needs to pick a side, in your opinion. Whatever. "Okay, but does it care about the actual act of killing, or does it just want humanity gone? Maybe it doesn't matter. I don't know. I think it's sad it hates everything so much."
"You're sad about the <span class="mu-i">Wyrm.</span>"
You are. You guess you didn't know it until you said it just now. "Yeah. I mean, it— it's angry all the time, isn't it? It hates everything and everybody. Even when it tried to get rid of all of us, we stuck around. The gods got the last laugh after all." You twiddle the knife. "And there's nothing it can do about it. It's just stuck down there, holding up the whole world. I'd be mad too."
"And that's why you stuck your gross tendrils in me, which <span class="mu-i">hurt,</span> by the way, and—"
"I didn't. The Wyrm did. Or its..." You don't know what the red stuff is, even now. "...its gunk did. Its insides. Whatever it feels all the time. Is the Wyrm ever happy?"
"What?"
You have no idea. "You know more about it than I do. Is it?"
"Uh... I don't... maybe before people came along? I don't think It ever liked people. But it also invented people, so, I mean— I dunno. Why should it be happy? It's the fucking Wyrm. It's the opposite of happy. It's, like, anti-happy." Claudia puts her hand on her hip. "You want it to be touchy-feely, or something? You want the fucking Wyrm to give you a hug?"
"I didn't say that. I just..." You what? You're saying things before you think them. "It has to be miserable, right? It has to <span class="mu-i">be</span> miserable. Like that's all it can be. It can't ever be happy, it can't ever like anybody, it can't— it can't live. Is the Wyrm even alive?"
"You're asking me? Can't you read a book or something?"
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