[X] Keep trying to play games on the walls.
-[X] With Headless. Talk with her (mentally) as you do.
[X] About ...
- [X] If she knows about what happened at the Simulator.
- [X] If she knows about what happened at the Church.
- [X] Where she was when you brought Verossa in.
You stretch your arms out, then pull your gift out from its resting place once again and walk over to the grid you etched on the wall. You decide to start with the moon's magic square; maybe you'll be inspired on what to play when you finish it. The fact that it was simple to do helped ... although maybe you should have made the squares a bit larger. You begin adding in the numbers, starting from one, of course, humming under your breath. Maybe you should have asked for a piano?
"Headless? Headless, are you there?" You send the thought bouncing around your head as you fill in the square. It's only after you finish the square and are starting to get irritated that she finally responds.
"Oh? Did you call me?" You frown; she sounds like she's in a bad mood.
"Yeah, I wanted to ask you about some things. ... And I was trying to pass the time with some games, but I don't know how to do solitaire games." You spin Laevateinn absently.
"Really? Questions for me? Whatever could you want to learn from me?" You blink, momentarily confused at her tone, but before you can respond she continues, "And if you're bored, why don't you just walk out the door and start killing people? You won't be bored, I won't be bored, and they'll start taking you seriously."
"I'm trying a novel approach and seeing if not killing things is a better way to get what I want." You sigh. "It doesn't seem to be. It's hard, and boring, and it doesn't seem to work and it's just not very fun most of the time." You wish you had more stuff with you - if you keep playing games, you'll run out of wallspace, and staying in your head too long makes it ache.
"Gee, I never would have guessed. Start making another grid." You smile and begin carving another box of boxes into the wall. "You know we're both going to get really bored long before they come back for you, right? You're just letting them relax their guard. ... What did you want to ask me, anyway?" Your smile fades as Headless insinuates once again that you have no self-control. You have lots of self-control! That's why you stay in the mansion instead of wandering around outside - Remilia explained that it would be easier that way, and you agreed to stay inside.
"Just a couple questions about some things that I couldn't figure out. Like at the Simulator. Or at the Church." You step back to admire your handiwork. You hear Headless sigh.
"Hmm ... alright, the sum is 360, and the ... zero, twenty-two, sixty-two, sixty-three, and seventy-one are there." You wait for a moment. She's going to give you more numbers than that to work with, right? You might as well build one yourself! Grumbling, you carve the numbers in, then sigh as you look at the squares. This is definitely not fun. "Well, the Simulator is pretty easy to explain. I did that." You blink, stunned.
"What do you mean?" You turn away from the wall and pace back and forth.
"I knocked you out. It wasn't that hard, considering how much energy you'd spent, especially since you weren't expecting it." That certainly wasn't something you'd thought could happen ... she didn't do anything else, did she? "And, no, I didn't do anything else - knocking you out cut me off from taking control, after all. And before you ask, I did it for my own protection. You know what you get like when you start running out of energy, you get hungry and start looking for the nearest blood-sack you can find. Well, if you'd gone and tried to rip apart that little hammer-girl, you'd probably end up blaming me for it even though it was your own fault. So, to make sure you couldn't do that, I made sure you couldn't do anything." On the one hand, you feel a bit relieved that nothing bad happened ... but at the same time, your irritated that Headless thinks you would have attacked Vita.
"That ... makes sense, I guess. But then why wasn't I hungry when I woke up?"
"I don't know, I don't know everything. You going to start work on that square or not?" You decide not to press her for now, and spend a few minutes trying to work out the zero column ... but you aren't even sure she gave you a solvable problem. You wonder if you're going to need more squares.
"And the Church?" You wait for her to respond. "Hey!"
"Well, it's ... complicated. And I'm not completely sure what happened or how. But I'm pretty sure it's not just my fault." You freeze. Not "just" her fault?
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Oh, don't start putting on airs with me. Neither one of us is perfect. But ... alright, so I may have been ... kind of trying to work around your sister's prohibition. You know, on sisters? I never thought that was fair, so I've been trying to see if I can get more. I ... may have almost succeeded." Well, now you know what you sound like when you've tried explaining to Remilia why you did something that, in retrospect, you probably shouldn't have done. Well, done and gotten caught, anyway.
"... So when can I meet her? What's her name?"
"Put the forty-five there and the fifty-seven there. ... Hopefully, you won't." You start to put the numbers in, then pause, waiting for her to continue. "She's ... not wholly there."
"Headless, do you mean to tell me that I have a crazy person living in my head?"
"Don't say things like that out loud! And, no, it wouldn't be right to call her crazy. I meant ... incomplete. Missing. Whatever happened, she ... well, parts of her just don't really exist. I'm not sure she can function on her own." You sit down on the bed, leaving the puzzle for the moment. That is not good news. Headless is one thing; she's fun, she's funny, and you can make deals with her. This ... crazy person ... though. You wonder whether you can simply wander through the castle in your mind until you find her and then kill her. That would make her go away, right? And then you could get Remilia and Patchouli to come in with you, so they could look at what Headless was doing and correct her. That way she can still have sisters! ... But you can do that later.
"... Were you locking her up earlier?" She takes a while to respond.
"When you brought that man in here?" She sounds a lot calmer than she did before, if still slightly upset. "No, I'd already made sure she wouldn't cause problems before that. I simply stayed away because I don't trust that man. He's far too clever. Besides, he'd probably recognize me."
"You two met before?"
"Yes, when he tried to read your mind when you were recovering. I'm not sure how successful I was, but I'm pretty sure he saw me. And from what I've seen of him, I don't like him." You shrug; there isn't much you can say to that. Before either of you think of something else to talk about, though, the door slides open and you perk up. A mousy young woman, escorted by two guards, carries a small tray with a cup on it and sets it down near the door before running out. You hurry over as soon as the door finishes closing and take a deep breath, then gently pick up the cup and enjoy the drink. Tea with blood ... you'll have to make sure they use better tea next time, though.
Two days pass. You never did finish Headless's puzzle, although she did say it was perfectly solvable. She gave you some easier ones. Two days of being shut up in a small room with bad tea and almost no one to talk to. That would make anyone cranky. You are not just anyone.
"Miss Scarlet, please be patient. I know it's difficult, but it takes time to -"
"I've been patient, Verossa Acous. It's been two days - how long do you plan on talking? I'm tired of sitting here; I'm bored." If you were willing to be fair, you might take into consideration that he does look tired, but that only shows that someone like him shouldn't be speaking for you.
"Miss Scarlet ... it might be possible to allow you out very shortly, but the terms are very harsh and you'd hardly be free -" He jerks back as you slam your fist through the bed. You're through being patient with these humans.
What do you do?
[ ] Accept the terms as they stand - you're bored, and you want out. NOW.
[ ] Demand to see whoever's making the decision so you can argue your own case.
- [ ] Any particular points to make?
[ ] Break out and find where Vita is so you can stay with her.
- Violently or do you take care to minimize deaths?
[ ] Break out and make your own way.
