[Hearing about this makes her wonder a little just what he'd look like to her. She doesn't particularly want to find out, but as an idle thought, it's an interesting one. Would someone who wasn't human see anything? And if they did, what even frightens her the most? She's actually not sure, and has a feeling she'd find out more about herself than she'd want to if she found out.
... Somehow seeing him crush the branches with just his fingers is even more strange than just seeing him pick things up. She's glancing at that over her own work with the knife when she speaks.]
'When you're here'? Where are you from? [And then, after a second's pause.] You don't have to answer all these questions, just tell me to stop and I will - promise.
[ He laughs gently and waves his hand lightly as a dismissive gesture, though it's still friendly. ]
Oh, no, it is quite all right. I had said we would swap stories, so this is as good a start as any! Besides, curiosity is something I expect, so please, do not worry.
[ Even amongst the CDC's recruits, Sebastian still felt that he was an odd existence, since while seeing magic and fantasy made real was one impressive thing, he knew that a soul-eating demon was entirely another. He was the sort of danger that human stories always warned of, but wrapped in such a polite and pleasant way that he would be surprised if there weren't questions. ]
But I am from a realm separate from mortals. That is all I can really say, so you must forgive me for the vague nature of the answer. [ Because canon never explains it... sweats ] I must be called to this world rather than living here myself.
Okay, good. [She sounds genuinely relieved, too - not because of any kind of intimidation (she doesn't understand demons well enough to feel that intimidated), just because she doesn't want to offend one of the first people she met here. She knows what it's like to have people ask stupid questions because they don't know what she is - back home, quarians have been like this for three hundred years and people need to pick up an extranet article; here? She's a lot more good-natured about it. She's just not sure how other people think of it.
Either way, she doesn't understand a thing about him - and she wants to, so she'll ask as many questions as he'll tolerate. He's opened some floodgates here.]
[ He shakes his head, and his expression turns lightly fond, as if he were recalling a nice memory. He doesn't give specifics on what it was that called him, since giving them went beyond playful teasing of his master and would come with repercussions from Ciel. But certainly, if Tali knew the circumstances, that smile would be chilling enough to give her the context for why humans feared demons. ]
They did not, as a matter of fact. The more I learn of them, the more I am surprised that they did not, but I was called a few years prior. It is what brought the young master and I together, though he was technically not the one that summoned me, just the one to make a contract.
[Not knowing those circumstances - and this is where it becomes patently obvious that Tali still doesn't like perusing files - she's perfectly free to assume that he's just happy to be in the mortal realm, or really likes his master (she'll have to get used to that word sooner or later if she's going to keep talking to Sebastian), or... Well, either way, her assumptions aren't particularly bad.]
It does seem quite close to what they already do - make contracts and bring people from... I don't really know if it's other realms or other dimensions or something else. They bring people from elsewhere.
[ He shrugs slightly, and the fondness slips out of his smile, but it's to a gentle, pleasant amusement instead like he's had thus far. ]
I must complete the one with my young master first before I would even consider another, and that would require us to return to the manor... But regardless, the business of contracts is one I am familiar with, as you would guess!
Actually, I... didn't expect you to work with contracts at all. [She pauses for a second as she's reduced to pulling a branch off the trunk with her full weight on it.] You can probably guess, though, I didn't expect anything. You could tell me anything and I'd just have to assume it was true.
[... Maybe within reason. ... Or not - she has no idea where reason is anymore; she's talking to a demon.]
So your master - he needed a butler? That's the contract?
[ He's lightly surprised, but he realizes his error quickly, since treating her like she has the context that he expects is an error, though it's one completely his own. Part of him thinks of that as a unique opportunity, since he could use his words cleverly to shape her perceptions to his advantage, but he also knows that's unwise. A single word against what he says and it would collapse, really. ]
Not exactly. My servitude as a butler is incidental. The contract is because he needed the power I can provide.
[ With words like that, it puts the contract in a more truthful light, since any pursuit of power didn't come without a cost. He felt that idea was universal enough that it would be understood, though he adds: ]
He pursues revenge against those who killed his family, but any more than that, I cannot say.
[Demons are such a nebulous idea to her that the thought of one making something so precise as an actual contract is a strange one. And it's true, it would take very little effort on Sebastian's part to give her any idea he wants about the whole matter.
For a time.
But an exchange for power, for revenge... That at least puts it in a context she can understand. That sort of thing is universal, demons or no demons. But then...]
So if there's a contract... [She pauses, considers the fact that the answer is quite likely nothing good, then asks anyway.] What's your side of it? What does a demon get out a contract?
[ His answer is smooth and easy, as if it weren't troublesome or private at all. He continues at his work without any pause, and that just creates a further odd sense at what he says, since it absolutely shouldn't be so casual. The CDC has given him a freedom he hasn't been able to taste before, and so now, he can admit all of these facts without care. ]
Demons consume the souls of the mortals that call to us. When the contract is complete, I will eat the young master's soul.
[Tali gives a physical start at the words, and pauses in what she's doing momentarily. She knew this about him - Garrus told her that much, that he's a demon and eats souls and for goodness' sake read the files already - but hearing it so casually is something else.
She still doesn't know if the concept scares her particularly or not - they've been here killing Neraki for no other reason than they're there, after all. With a wry twist of the mouth, she finds herself thinking that at least when Sebastian kills, he's doing it for a reason.]
But,] He knows that's going to happen, and he's... OK with it?
Well, I certainly think he would prefer I did not, but...
[ He trails off softly, then nods. Ciel hadn't really known when he had actually made the contract, but there wasn't exactly time to explain. Ciel had simply reached out to the spider's thread of hope he may live without caring of the consequences that came. It's pitiable, at least if Sebastian were truly capable of feeling such a thing. ]
[At that, she quirks her head, letting out a huff of a breath. She can well imagine he does.
When she starts working again, it's slow. Thoughtful. It doesn't take long for the next question to come out.] What happens to somebody when you eat their soul?
[ Which is obvious enough, but there's a "but" in his tone that's clear, though the conversation is punctuated by a pause as Sebastian breaks off a particularly large branch and tosses it aside. ]
But more than that, they forfeit their right to any sort of afterlife, whatever it may be. The reapers cannot ferry their soul along, and so they are nothing in death.
[She expected the dying. Not that souls have any scientific place where she's from - it's not like you can find it on a scan - but the idea is there. The sense of it, and the sense that without it...
Well, that without it, you are nothing. In life or death. A shudder runs through her before she can suppress it.]
It's... weird, you know? Where I'm from, I don't believe in most of that - an afterlife, or reapers or anything like that. Not in demons, either. But for you, they're just facts. They just are.
[ He agrees simply, with a sort of coolness in his tone, but he still speaks quite freely. There is a limit to how much he can say, and though these sorts of topics toe the line, he knows he's still free to give as much as he would like. ]
But that is also why many are willing to pay a great price to call my kind. We are not exactly guardians of forbidden knowledge as some stories would suggest, but our longevity gives us many answers human seek, and our intrinsic ties to matters of the soul gives the rest. But I am hardly all-knowing. For example, all of my experience is only for Earth, since until the CDC contacted me, I had no idea there were any other places that housed life at all. So the afterlife I speak of could only apply there. Or it could apply everywhere. I have no way of knowing, since there will be no afterlife for me when my existence comes to an end.
I don't know if that's comforting or not, actually. [She stares, unmoving, at the tree trunk without really seeing it for a moment.] That there are people who know what happens after death... that something does happen... but not if it applies to anybody else.
[She starts working again, but it's slow.] I think I've always just assumed there wasn't anything. There's no afterlife, no questions, this is all we get. But I never thought there was a way anybody could find out.
Personally? I would still find that viewpoint to be the most productive.
[ In comparison to her slower work as she considers what Sebastian has to say, his work is just as smooth, carried out with no hesitation. This is all familiar to him, of course, but it's still a bit unsettling for someone to speak so casually about death and what's beyond. ]
If this is all you have, then you will proceed using it well. Those who place their hopes in what may lay beyond will be somewhat disappointed, for the death that is its prelude is inevitable. I find a beauty in that, for it is not a question of "what if" as the afterlife. Take death as a certainty, and you will use your time well.
[At that, she actually manages a grin.] The best pep talk I've heard in a long, long while, and it's from a demon.
[And she get back to work, properly this time.] My people die young, a lot of us. We're good at making the most of the time we've got. I don't want to spend more of it than I have to worrying about... [She quirks her head and shrugs, a gesture that says clearly, 'about I don't know what'.]
[ This presents an opportunity for his curiosity, and so he asks with interest: ]
Do they not? If you will forgive the ignorant question, is this why you wear the mask?
[ And everything else, but there's not an elegant way to ask about that, so he leaves that part to implication. Still, after his question, he does bow his head with a warm, grateful sort of smile. ]
But I am glad I can provide some comfort. Longevity does at least give me a unique perspective, if nothing else.
[Considering the number of questions she's just been asking, she's in no position to mind Sebastian's.]
It's not ignorant, don't worry. It's a long story, but my people are all immuno-deficient. We wear these suits to protect us from pathogens, but... nothing's perfect, you know? We make mistakes or something goes wrong and somebody's just really unlucky and... [She shrugs, a small jerk of the shoulder.] It could happen anytime. Especially if you're military - and most of my family and my friends back home are.
[ It's interesting to hear her explain it, and it shows with the shift in his expression, because it's honestly something else that's a bit beyond his time, though he's learning the more he talks to people in the CDC, naturally. Germ theory wasn't exactly new, but it was still in its fumbling, careful stages in the England he and Ciel lived in, and for a creature that doesn't even fall ill at all, it's especially fascinating in its foreignness. ]
I can only guess at how difficult that may be. It is a bit hard for me to wrap my mind around at all, in truth...
[ He turns his attention back to the tree with a furrowed, thoughtful brow, since he's parsing through it and applying this new knowledge to what he knows of the world. ]
It is especially difficult for me, admittedly... To grow ill at all is an experience I have never had.
[There hasn't been that much change in Sebastian's expression until now, and to see - and hear - that of everything they've talked about, the simple idea of getting ill is what's thrown him... Well, it brings home a little just how different they are - how different everyone here is.]
Trust me, you don't want it. I know people who've spent more of their lives sick in bed than up and doing anything. We deal with it - I mean, we're improving these all the time... [She taps at her mask.] But hopefully one day we can do something about it.
I do not, no... Disease is only something I have witnessed, but it does seem perfectly miserable.
[ Which is casual, and especially casual if she were to learn that he had actually been the one responsible for bringing the Black Plague to Earth. She may not have the context for it that someone from Earth would, but the numbers alone that had fallen to that plague would make it truly frightening with how little he actually cares.
But. He also knows that, which is why it's something he keeps quite secret. ]
It is my hope that you do as well, Tali. I would offer direction if I could, but matters of health have always been questions which I cannot answer, even if the price is paid.
Most aliens seem offensively disease free most of the time, but someone who doesn't even have the proper concept of sickness... That's almost funny.]
It's fine. We'll manage. We do manage. [She pauses for a moment, tapping the flat of the knife idly against the trunk.] You'd be surprised what people can get used to if they have to.
[... Or maybe he wouldn't - he's a demon who eats souls, for goodness' sake.]
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... Somehow seeing him crush the branches with just his fingers is even more strange than just seeing him pick things up. She's glancing at that over her own work with the knife when she speaks.]
'When you're here'? Where are you from? [And then, after a second's pause.] You don't have to answer all these questions, just tell me to stop and I will - promise.
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Oh, no, it is quite all right. I had said we would swap stories, so this is as good a start as any! Besides, curiosity is something I expect, so please, do not worry.
[ Even amongst the CDC's recruits, Sebastian still felt that he was an odd existence, since while seeing magic and fantasy made real was one impressive thing, he knew that a soul-eating demon was entirely another. He was the sort of danger that human stories always warned of, but wrapped in such a polite and pleasant way that he would be surprised if there weren't questions. ]
But I am from a realm separate from mortals. That is all I can really say, so you must forgive me for the vague nature of the answer. [ Because canon never explains it... sweats ] I must be called to this world rather than living here myself.
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Either way, she doesn't understand a thing about him - and she wants to, so she'll ask as many questions as he'll tolerate. He's opened some floodgates here.]
Did the CDC do that? Call you here, I mean.
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They did not, as a matter of fact. The more I learn of them, the more I am surprised that they did not, but I was called a few years prior. It is what brought the young master and I together, though he was technically not the one that summoned me, just the one to make a contract.
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It does seem quite close to what they already do - make contracts and bring people from... I don't really know if it's other realms or other dimensions or something else. They bring people from elsewhere.
[Pause.] But you make contracts yourself anyway?
[She's honestly not sure what she expected.]
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[ He shrugs slightly, and the fondness slips out of his smile, but it's to a gentle, pleasant amusement instead like he's had thus far. ]
I must complete the one with my young master first before I would even consider another, and that would require us to return to the manor... But regardless, the business of contracts is one I am familiar with, as you would guess!
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[... Maybe within reason.
... Or not - she has no idea where reason is anymore; she's talking to a demon.]
So your master - he needed a butler? That's the contract?
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Not exactly. My servitude as a butler is incidental. The contract is because he needed the power I can provide.
[ With words like that, it puts the contract in a more truthful light, since any pursuit of power didn't come without a cost. He felt that idea was universal enough that it would be understood, though he adds: ]
He pursues revenge against those who killed his family, but any more than that, I cannot say.
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For a time.
But an exchange for power, for revenge... That at least puts it in a context she can understand. That sort of thing is universal, demons or no demons. But then...]
So if there's a contract... [She pauses, considers the fact that the answer is quite likely nothing good, then asks anyway.] What's your side of it? What does a demon get out a contract?
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[ His answer is smooth and easy, as if it weren't troublesome or private at all. He continues at his work without any pause, and that just creates a further odd sense at what he says, since it absolutely shouldn't be so casual. The CDC has given him a freedom he hasn't been able to taste before, and so now, he can admit all of these facts without care. ]
Demons consume the souls of the mortals that call to us. When the contract is complete, I will eat the young master's soul.
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She still doesn't know if the concept scares her particularly or not - they've been here killing Neraki for no other reason than they're there, after all. With a wry twist of the mouth, she finds herself thinking that at least when Sebastian kills, he's doing it for a reason.]
But,] He knows that's going to happen, and he's... OK with it?
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[ He trails off softly, then nods. Ciel hadn't really known when he had actually made the contract, but there wasn't exactly time to explain. Ciel had simply reached out to the spider's thread of hope he may live without caring of the consequences that came. It's pitiable, at least if Sebastian were truly capable of feeling such a thing. ]
He knows. It is no secret between us.
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When she starts working again, it's slow. Thoughtful. It doesn't take long for the next question to come out.] What happens to somebody when you eat their soul?
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[ Which is obvious enough, but there's a "but" in his tone that's clear, though the conversation is punctuated by a pause as Sebastian breaks off a particularly large branch and tosses it aside. ]
But more than that, they forfeit their right to any sort of afterlife, whatever it may be. The reapers cannot ferry their soul along, and so they are nothing in death.
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Well, that without it, you are nothing. In life or death. A shudder runs through her before she can suppress it.]
It's... weird, you know? Where I'm from, I don't believe in most of that - an afterlife, or reapers or anything like that. Not in demons, either. But for you, they're just facts. They just are.
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[ He agrees simply, with a sort of coolness in his tone, but he still speaks quite freely. There is a limit to how much he can say, and though these sorts of topics toe the line, he knows he's still free to give as much as he would like. ]
But that is also why many are willing to pay a great price to call my kind. We are not exactly guardians of forbidden knowledge as some stories would suggest, but our longevity gives us many answers human seek, and our intrinsic ties to matters of the soul gives the rest. But I am hardly all-knowing. For example, all of my experience is only for Earth, since until the CDC contacted me, I had no idea there were any other places that housed life at all. So the afterlife I speak of could only apply there. Or it could apply everywhere. I have no way of knowing, since there will be no afterlife for me when my existence comes to an end.
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[She starts working again, but it's slow.] I think I've always just assumed there wasn't anything. There's no afterlife, no questions, this is all we get. But I never thought there was a way anybody could find out.
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[ In comparison to her slower work as she considers what Sebastian has to say, his work is just as smooth, carried out with no hesitation. This is all familiar to him, of course, but it's still a bit unsettling for someone to speak so casually about death and what's beyond. ]
If this is all you have, then you will proceed using it well. Those who place their hopes in what may lay beyond will be somewhat disappointed, for the death that is its prelude is inevitable. I find a beauty in that, for it is not a question of "what if" as the afterlife. Take death as a certainty, and you will use your time well.
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[And she get back to work, properly this time.] My people die young, a lot of us. We're good at making the most of the time we've got. I don't want to spend more of it than I have to worrying about... [She quirks her head and shrugs, a gesture that says clearly, 'about I don't know what'.]
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Do they not? If you will forgive the ignorant question, is this why you wear the mask?
[ And everything else, but there's not an elegant way to ask about that, so he leaves that part to implication. Still, after his question, he does bow his head with a warm, grateful sort of smile. ]
But I am glad I can provide some comfort. Longevity does at least give me a unique perspective, if nothing else.
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It's not ignorant, don't worry. It's a long story, but my people are all immuno-deficient. We wear these suits to protect us from pathogens, but... nothing's perfect, you know? We make mistakes or something goes wrong and somebody's just really unlucky and... [She shrugs, a small jerk of the shoulder.] It could happen anytime. Especially if you're military - and most of my family and my friends back home are.
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I can only guess at how difficult that may be. It is a bit hard for me to wrap my mind around at all, in truth...
[ He turns his attention back to the tree with a furrowed, thoughtful brow, since he's parsing through it and applying this new knowledge to what he knows of the world. ]
It is especially difficult for me, admittedly... To grow ill at all is an experience I have never had.
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Trust me, you don't want it. I know people who've spent more of their lives sick in bed than up and doing anything. We deal with it - I mean, we're improving these all the time... [She taps at her mask.] But hopefully one day we can do something about it.
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[ Which is casual, and especially casual if she were to learn that he had actually been the one responsible for bringing the Black Plague to Earth. She may not have the context for it that someone from Earth would, but the numbers alone that had fallen to that plague would make it truly frightening with how little he actually cares.
But. He also knows that, which is why it's something he keeps quite secret. ]
It is my hope that you do as well, Tali. I would offer direction if I could, but matters of health have always been questions which I cannot answer, even if the price is paid.
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[Wow, Sebastian, you demonic Typhoid Mary.
Most aliens seem offensively disease free most of the time, but someone who doesn't even have the proper concept of sickness... That's almost funny.]
It's fine. We'll manage. We do manage. [She pauses for a moment, tapping the flat of the knife idly against the trunk.] You'd be surprised what people can get used to if they have to.
[... Or maybe he wouldn't - he's a demon who eats souls, for goodness' sake.]
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mass effect science with no basis in real life, coming right up
grips shoulder consolingly
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