Encore

Speakers

"...but these days often the parents give them a written name early on, from the first town the child enters after their birth. So when they're asked, 'What is your name?' they can say, 'My parent called me...' and then if that person later asks, 'Do you know this person?' or 'Where can they be found?' the rest of us say, 'I know no one who calls themself that.'"

"To my understanding, humans do not consider themselves bound by technical truths. Or truths of any kind, when it's inconvenient."

"Oh, people can be very angry if they realize, but often they do not. And it is also...since we don't know someone's written name, we cannot give any other answer, no matter what's threatened or offered. And that is a good habit to be in for when they're asking using a real name." She considers, and adds, "I think sometimes, because townspeople can't keep us straight, they think we can't either. We're all just blue robes to them."

"It seems it would be easier to not stand out so much in the first place." Alucard is tugging idly at his gloves.

"People may be hostile to visible differences, but they very much do not like surprises. Being noticed is like...diluting the hostility. Watering it down so any sip is not so deadly a poison. If we were not viewed as apart..." Sypha shakes her head. "Maybe they wouldn't have said they'd kill us if we didn't leave. Maybe they would have simply arrived in the night. That's what they do to their fellows."

She looks at Trevor, as if she expects him to have anything to add. He shrugs. "People stop caring about imaginary problems once real ones stare them in the face. The one good thing that came out of all this."

It occurs to him that liking how the upside of demons massacring everyone is at least the Church got fucked over too is maybe part of why he's in this situation in the first place. Sin's bad but he's pretty sure not caring it's bad is worse. That's what you really get in trouble for.

Even what he regrets...it's not really the part he did wrong, it's all the stuff that made it happen in the first place. That's certainly not repentance.

If this is, maybe, only Purgatory, then...he's not sure how any of this is supposed to work. Purgatory burns the sin off or something. He doesn't see how making him miserable is going to change his mind if it's his mind that's the problem. He's said a lot of shit to get people to leave him alone and he can't think of a single time getting his testicles kicked in made him more sincere about it.

Not knowing how this works is probably another mark against him, but exactly whose fault is that, God?

"What exactly do you expect to come of this?" Alucard asks.

Trevor snaps, "I didn't do it because I expected anything. It's what I do. God, I would've done it however it ended, I would've still done it even if everyone kept believing all that shit. Can't I get to be happy they don't?"

"How enlightening."

"Fuck do you care." Alucard doesn't. He'd made that terribly clear. And indeed, Alucard doesn't argue the point. Instead, he begins to slow, enough to lag behind the group.

Maybe it's more baiting. See if Trevor complains about having his back to a vampire. Trevor had done that himself a bunch in the first few days and been rewarded with nothing but condescending disregard from Alucard. Well, Alucard can go fuck himself, now Trevor gets to not care about things.

And then there's the Speakers. Two of them seem to be still examining the dead cyclop while the rest sit or lie on the ground. Sypha runs forward and begins telling them about what happened above. Alucard trails in almost grudgingly behind Trevor then slides a few steps to the side so he's out of the doorway.