[center][h1][color=a187be]Ailanthus_Altissima[/color][/h1]• Tʜᴇ Dᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴ •[/center][hr]


Tessa flinched as Graves put his hands on her shoulders, but otherwise remained stiff and unmoving. She was going to disregard everything that came out of his mouth until he said-

[quote=@Superboy]
[color=red]"But...We can't stay here. It does seem safer, yeah. But you heard the dev- he said they've been trying to fix the issue for [i]hours.[/i][/color]
[/quote]

-reminding her, and dashing her hopes that the GMs would come up with a solution. She continued to stare at him with a skeptical gaze, grinding her teeth. The simple fact was: she didn't trust him. After all, PARIAH was, for most people, an escape, a place for people to go and be themselves, their inner selves, their true selves, free from societal inhibitions, free from consequences, free from backlash. After all, it was just a game, people could be as mean and brutish as they wanted. And Graves, the Graves that she had seen only moments ago, the crass, belligerent, and prone-to-violent-outburst Graves, taht was his real self. And the Graves standing in front of her right now? The Graves that talked about camaraderie, and protecting each other, who showed concern for others? That was fake. Had to be. People's true selves were always their worse selves.

But what choice did she have but to go along? The admins have already demonstrated incompetence, so relying on them no longer seemed viable. Did she dare risk moving deeper into the dungeon on the vain hope that they'll be able to clear it and make it out alive? Who would betray them? Who would crack under pressure? But if everyone was going, then her chances of holding this position by herself were laughable at best.

[quote=@Xiro Zean]
[color=orange]"...He's right. Certain death or fight. Can you?"[/color] Unlike the concern clearly audible in Graves' question, his own was masked beneath a layer of professionalism, his inner thoughts pulling his inflections from every business deal the two of them had participated in. It was his subconscious way of trying to calm her down, to give her something recognizable in this harrowing situation, as if this was merely another transaction between them both rather than a task that could lead to their doom. He could only hope it worked. 
[/quote]

Tessa gave Ochre an unreadable look. Did she ever really trust her clients? Only enough to do business with them, which quite frankly, was no small amount of trust. This was the same. She didn't have to trust any of them, but the very fact that there was some give and take involved, Tessa could trust in the nature of human need.

[color=a187be]"...yes...I can fight..."[/color] Tessa replied, almost inaudibly, taking a step forward, her chains following, but maintaining the channeling circle.