[HH] Honesty ( Bix & Needle )

[Enoh Love]

"I never thought I would prefer the Manor." She said quietly, her lips pressing momentarily into a thin line. "I do not like this feeling." Needle's gaze moved to the extended hand, but she made no motion to reach for him. Her hands stayed clasped properly in front of her, finding a surprising sort of comfort in the formality of her training.

"I appreciate your apology, and for telling me the truth." She started, though the ache in her chest remained ever-present. There were so many feelings to sort through, truths and half-truths mingled together and there was no way to quickly figure out which of them meant more to her.

"Do you promise to never lie to me again?"

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"I promise." He hoped that he could keep it but in joining Deus he had established his loyalties. Bix hoped that those would not lead to any other betrayal on a personal level.

"If you'd like," He tested the strange grass with his foot, bent down to touch it with his hand and determining it safe, stood back up. "We can not go anywhere yet and you can ask me anything you want. I promise I will answer but you have to understand that if it's confidential for my organization..." he'd have to leave those truths out.

"How's that sound?"

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Behind her mask, Needle's eyes were narrowed to appraise the Hunter's offer. The nagging worry in the back of her mind whispered that he was just using this to lull her into a false sense of security, but her common sense told her that it was a legitimate offer. If he wanted to hurt her he had plenty of time to do it before now, and what kind of creature breaks a guise and then strikes? It seemed like a ridiculous notion, and realizing that made her believe that Bix was telling her the truth now.

"I would appreciate that. I have many questions I am sure you can answer." Which was really no different than any other day, but now they had a point, rather than the random things that would normally pop into her head to ask. He seemed to test the ground, and Needle took that as an invitation to sit. The Engraver knelt in the grass and settled down on her knees, hands perfectly folded on her lap in the very picture of grace. She waited in silence for Bix to sit, and when he did she stayed silent a little longer; she knew what she wanted to ask him, but she was oddly terrified of his answer.

"Do you know who hurt my sister?" As afraid as she was, she had to know. Before anything else. Even if his confidentiality meant she would be refused a name. It was important.

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Yes." Bix said, sitting and dropping his head. "But to put it in perspective none of us had even seen a student before. Most of us," he put a hand on his chest to indicate hunters in general, "have only ever been terrorized and persecuted by the shadows and creatures who slip into the human world. Some were locked away and most of them were just told they were crazy." Bix frowned. "They told us to capture creatures. Do you know how crazy it is to see little pink haired girls and furry eared boys? It's freaky!"

Bix took a breath. "All the hunters then were ordered to do it. Some of them were cruel. Saying and doing awful things. I didn't spit on anyone or call them names. I was so surprised that you guys were all so people-like." He frowned. "We haven't done that since. No net guns or anything." He deliberately made the issue a bigger one, leaving out names and identifiers.

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Needle tried to process what she was being told. Bix knew who hurt her sister, that much she understood, but the rest of it took a little longer to understand, if she could understand at all.

"All of that is normal to me." She did chime in that much at least, in regards to the pink haired girls and furry eared boys. Of course seeing colours wasn't really in her skill set, she could see vague shades, and that was close enough. Though when she compared a 'humanoid' like herself to some of the other creatures she had met she did recognize an awful lot of differences. "I imagine there is not much physical variety where you are from?" Every being in Halloween was a creature, but what made his explanation more troubling was his continued use of us. As if he had been there.

Her lips pressed together, uncertain and worried.

"The one directly responsible for my sister's capture was acting under orders, then? They were not unnecessarily cruel to her?" Needle probed carefully. What happened to the other students was unfortunate, but she did not know them. She could not act or take up arms on their behalf; Lattice, however, was practically her ward. Any action against Lattice was an action against Needle as well. "Did they try to stop those who were?"

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"You don't know a lot about humans do you?" Bix was amazed, to be honest. Weren't these kids trained to get the FEAR of humans? Didn't they teach them about humans at all? "We all look like this. No fur. No ears. No.. magical weapons. That's why us hunters exist. To protect them. Humans have no defense from FEAR or powers or horsemen."

It was almost exasperating for him to encounter this over and over from multiple students. They had no frame of reference for the other side of things. Granted, the hunters had done some bad things and communication probably could have been facilitated in some way, but it didn't stop it from being frustrated.

"I don't.." Bix scrunched his face. That event had been two years ago. Two long years filled with major invasions and a thousand encounters with Halloweeners. "Some of the hunters were jeering I think. I don't remember though. Everyone was in and out and I know there was a battle." Bix sighed hopelessly. "I'm sorry I don't remember the details of all of it. Some students were captured and held. After that I'm not sure what happened but I know they were freed by you guys. All of the hunters then were young and new. They'd never seen you all before and a lot of them spent their lives haunted and tormented by ghosts and things. They don't react well to seeing them." Bix merely frowned.

"I can't fix it or make it go away."

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

"I do not, unfortunately. It has never been an Engraver's job to acquire FEAR, at least not that I am aware of. Lattice and I are the first in our clan to be allowed to leave the Manor. When I enrolled, I adjusted my desired learnings to accommodate knowledge of Halloween. I had been considering Human Studies for my third year classes." She explained, but was not entirely sure why she needed to defend herself. This friendship thing was a dangerous one; she was sitting with her enemy, and yet wanted to tell him everything because he was her friend. She withheld her judgement on the Human world, thinking it unwise to announce to Bix how terribly sad it must be, to be so unprepared. No wonder there were Hunters. Needle remained silent for the rest of his explanation, and was unsurprised to hear that he couldn't recall it. It had been years ago, and she imagined his life to be very large and exciting.

"I understand." She said simply, her voice honest. "In my position, would you not want to know what happened? If you could understand the concept of violence as nothing more than duty, would you not like to hear that they did not personally approve? Would it not make it easier to accept, however slightly?"

"We are creatures of pain, Bix. Torture of our own flesh and the oppression that comes with iron-clad duty is what we Engravers experience on a daily basis. It is what we thrive on. But that event broke her. Please try to understand how significant that is." Needle moved for the first time, lifting a spike-ridden arm; he couldn't see it, but her gaze had dropped to stare at her stained palm, the years of needle pricks and ink glowing in her vision with sharp clarity. When the hand moved again, it was to rest over her heart, her wrist and elbow bent awkwardly to avoid impaling herself by accident.

"I only asked to ease my mind. My sister is my world. My twin. My literal other half. She means the world to me, and I can not feel whole without her. I've only begun to realize that these feelings are called love, and yet that word still does not describe it." It was easier to explain now that she had a word she could put towards it, even if it did underestimate the depths of her attachment to Lattice. She sighed heavily, her hand sliding back down to her lap, still held out just enough to avoid her own needles.

iloveyoudie

Apparently it's her turn to word vomit

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Bix listened, one of his rare moments of true silence, and allowed Needle to express herself. He did understand, of course, but he wasn't sure that the ghoul quite grasped that what she was feeling was what humans felt all the time.

"I understand." He spoke quietly to her and finally sat closer. He didn't reach out for her, in a way not comfortable taking that much of a step. Not with it all out in the open. It was also a nod to him acknowledging his own place: He was a hunter and she was from Halloween. As much as he felt like they could be friends, with their truths out in the open he felt that subtle ping in his conscience about his duty.

"That feeling, the love or whatever it is, we feel that all the time. While your people are driven by pain.. ours are driven by love. We want to protect our world. We want to shield our young. I guess in a way we are willing to put ourselves through pain so that they don't have to feel it." Which meant he was willing to hurt others and hurt himself if it meant someone he loved was alright.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

The Engraver allowed him to come a little closer, comfortable enough to allow the closer proximity, though she did not reach out to encourage further contact. Not like she used to. “Then perhaps you have more in common with us than you imagine.” There were a lot of similarities between them, but the gap was too large to be anything more than coincidence. She went silent again, trying to think it through.

”Forgive me, I fail to understand how that means hurting the innocent.” Needle was trying to understand, but there was a clear disconnect in her mind. “Would it not make sense to target those who have already been presented as a threat, instead of creating new ones with your actions? Surely your superiors understand this?” Had Bix not won her friendship first, she imagined she would have easily become their next threat, on the grounds of trying to protect what was most precious to her.

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"I'm not really sure what my superiors understand." Bix frowned. "When I first started I thought they would have us doing the right thing..." He then shrugged, his tattooed arm rising and falling in her vision to indicate the action. Now Deus had rogue organizations, traitors, and the only static authorities were crazy.

"I don't think I can explain anything to you if some of it I don't understand on my own. There's also no taking back what's happened in the past. I can only try to do my job in the best way I can while hoping not to make mistakes in the future." It seemed for the moment that was all Bix could say on the subject. It was on the verge of him talking in circles and he didn't want to do that.

"I've seen some of your people on our Island recently though." he said hopefully. "So perhaps it's not the same between us as it was before."

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Needle struggled to understand the logic behind Deus, and naturally fell up short. Bix's attempts to smooth over the past was helping, but through it all she had to wonder how honest he was being. He had, after all, kept up a rouse for so long. She wanted to trust him again, even blindly, but...she didn't know what to do.

"...And they were there of their own free will?" She questioned, and for a moment the monotone in her voice cracked to show a little curiousity. "Is that allowed? Does it happen often?"

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Bix nodded. He's looked into after he'd seen the first Halloweener with a collar walking around the island. He knew the intention. He knew they wanted to weaponize them. But for the moment, it seemed, they weren't forcing it anymore. Hadn't Life said that volunteers made more successful candidates?

"Yeah. You have to wear a collar thing." He added, "For safety. But it seems like you can walk around and talk to people. Learn about things. And then you can go home whenever you want to leave. I don't think it's very common but it's allowed."

Not a ton of students beat the door down to go to the hunter island.

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Needle was back to contemplative silence. If they had to wear a collar it was likely to control them, otherwise she didn't see a point in it. She had yet to hear of someone going to the island and returning, but that also didn't surprise her; she didn't know very many creatures, after all.

"If I requested to visit...would you stay with me?"

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Bix actually was taken aback. She'd inquired about the island and he'd offered, but after admitting being a hunter and lying to her, he didn't think she'd actually consider it. Was he so good... as being good? Yes, Bix could be trusted but could the island itself? Could Deus?

"Of course.." He nodded. "You could stay in my room and meet my girlfriend. Maybe some of the weapons would be in bodies too.. for you to talk to. But I will make sure.. double and triple check.. that it's safe for you." Because he didn't want anything to happen to Needle if she herself didn't want it to.

"If I brought you, you'd be my responsibility anyway." He luaghed softly. "So don't you cause any trouble."

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

A hint of a smile eased onto Needle's resting lips.

"I will do my best to contain myself." Because she was so rowdy and excitable, of course - and she knew it. As she had before, she fell into a contemplative silence, her form going still as she thought about the offer, and what it meant - not to mention, the risk she was taking by even asking. Outwardly, she was as calm as ever; inwardly, her ghostly heart was pounding hard, and her nerves were on edge.

"Please, do not misunderstand me." She said at length, having thought about it. "I do not think I can trust you so blindly anymore." Needle added, allowing a small dip of regret into her voice despite her unintentional pun. "However, with our history, I believe in you enough to take this one chance. If you really are the Bix I had come to adore, and if you are telling me the truth now, then there is no danger in this for me." She was, of course, entirely planning on telling as many people as she knew about what she was up to - just in case. Hunters were serious business, but Bix...he was her exception.

"Then I would be interested in experiencing your home first hand, as you have mine."

iloveyoudie