SMILE

💀 ┋ She frowns, tails swaying gently from side to side like an angry bird.

Alastor has proven himself to be nothing if not a provocateur. Hell knows what he really thinks about this, that or the other—only that he seems to do what is the most entertaining to him at any given point. For that, Mori tries not to engage with him too sincerely. There's an air of avoidance in the way she treats him, despite talking to him, despite being willing to spend time with him, because she cannot trust him to be honest.

Or at least that's the impression she has of him. Hell knows how it really is when it comes to this guy.

❝ Okay. ❞ It's plain, neither offended nor pleased. She shrugs, her paws upturned and open. ❝ Well, that's not such a big deal to me. I think I'm plenty entertaining, so I fit right in. What's the harm in that? ❞

She pauses briefly, feeling a strange wave of defensiveness for the place that has replaced the gloom of her shitty apartment and her lacklustre existence. It doesn't show on her face, but she wants to at the very least make her stance clear.

"AND I FIND YOUR ABERRANT LACK OF CYNICISM RATHER CURIOUS."

Disappointing, he means, with the word itself found hanging on the end of its own rope. Alastor's smile tightens, a thinning veneer of civility increasingly at odds with the pleasantries that usually dictate his own indifference...but even that is a ruse unto itself.

power surges, a buzzing sensation that lights up a single red light. it grows, and grows, and grows. pulsing, far too erratic to be a heartbeat, something messier, made of coiled wires and electricity, circuit boards and power cords. the ghost in the machine meets G0D. where do wires begin and intestine end ?

program hums, the sort of sound you can feel, listen closely and you might hear the spinning blades of the computer fan, the ever expanding code of the circus he has written and rewritten, and deleted just to write again for those worthless, ungrateful, backstabbing, humans.

a beat is taken, a millisecond of time passes as code reshapes mind, mismatched eyes moving over his deer friend. ❝ oh! HOW [ . . . ] DEPENDABLE ! ❞

alliance built on a common enemy, a mental note is taken and filed away for a future adventure before attention snaps back to situation at hand. he surely isn't the brightest bulb in the shed.

ai does his best impression of a TOOTHY SMILE, ( get it ? )

It's hard to imagine a world where Vox pairs well with much of anything, let alone nothing at all. A terrible, wriggling, writhing mess of half exposed cable spaghetti screaming and howling and attempting to claw it's way to freedom out of spite. ( DOWN THE HATCH AND BACK FOR MORE; YES FOLKS, THIS ONE'S STILL GOT SOME FIGHT LEFT IN HIM ) That's where the gullet (as...makeshift as it is) becomes a necessity, you see. A means of filtering out the noise in favor of something a bit more...maybe not pleasant, but quieter than the screeching alternative, although the acoustics themselves must be heavenly. Whatever the state of him, it's more than enough for Alastor to feel comfortable handing the reins over to something else for a change—to admire, for once, the artistry of another sordid, puerile program such as himself.

(  dialogue prompts taken from the silent hill 2 remake, developed by bloober team. trigger warning for dark themes. feel free to change as you seem fit. )

❛ in my restless dreams, i see that town. ❜

❛ hey, it's okay. i didn't mean to scare you. ❜

❛ i'm kind of lost. ❜

❛ i guess i don't really care if it's dangerous or not. i'm going either way. ❜

❛ what happened to this town? ❜

❛ whatever it is, it's not human. ❜

❛ i didn't do anything! he was like that when i got here. ❜

❛ you wanna come with? maybe together we can find a way out of this town. ❜

❛ sorry, but i can't leave. not yet. ❜

❛ are you afraid? ❜

❛ did you find the person that you were looking for? ❜

❛ don't worry, i'm not crazy. least, i don't think so. ❜

❛ should i go with you? this town really is dangerous. ❜

❛ what's a big dumb-dumb like you doing here anyway? ❜

❛ hey, that's not very nice. didn't your parents teach you any manners? ❜

❛ do i look like your girlfriend? ❜

❛ i can't believe it. your face, your voice... you could be— ❜

❛ i don't look like a ghost, do i? see? warm. ❜

❛ i can show you if you want. unless you have somewhere else to be? something else to do? ❜

❛ hey, easy there. i'm just messing with you. ❜

❛ you're coming with me? can't you just tell me where it is? ❜

❛ what, you were just gonna leave me here? alone? with all these monsters around? ❜

❛ is it because i remind you of... her? ❜

❛ this place we're going to, what is it, exactly? ❜

❛ you ever stay in a place like this? the walls are so thin you can hear everything. love, hate, jealousy... ❜

❛ i think you just saved my life back there. ❜

❛ hey. you think i'd look good in this one? ❜

❛ this room... there's something wrong with it. i think we should leave. ❜

❛ oh, loosen up. it sure beats running around with those monsters out there. ❜

❛ what will you tell her if... when you find her? ❜

❛ oh, c'mon. don't give me that look. i was just kidding. ❜

❛ can we stay? just for a little while? ❜

❛ this place, this whole thing, it's like a nightmare. i just wanted to get away from it, even for a second. ❜

❛ here. something to take the edge off. ❜

❛ we should probably get going. ❜

❛ we could come back later, if you want. you know, in case we need a break. ❜

❛ i wanted to ask you... what if you can't find [ name ]? what will you do? ❜

❛ thanks for checking up on me. it's very sweet of you. ❜

❛ how do you know my name? ❜

❛ i'm sorry, but i can't let you just run around this place. you might get hurt. ❜

❛ please open the door. there's something in here. ❜

❛ i was almost killed back there! i've never been so scared in my whole life! ❜

❛ all you care about is that dead wife of yours. ❜

❛ you couldn't care less about me, could you? ❜

❛ stay with me. don't leave me alone again. you're supposed to take care of me. ❜

❛ i don't know, for some reason i feel like it's up to me to protect her. ❜

❛ well, whaddaya know... a stroll in the rain. how romantic. ❜

❛ i'm trying to keep things light. just humor me, okay? ❜

❛ you think you could give me a hand? ❜

❛ you're supposed to be the big man around here. how's a little girl like me supposed to help? ❜

❛ what's wrong? i thought you wanted to get out of here. ❜

❛ this place is different from what i remember. i guess... things never really stay the same, do they? ❜

❛ you... still don't want me to go with you? if we stick together, we just might make it out of here. ❜

❛ ain't no big deal. just put the gun to their head and... pow! ❜

❛ you can't just kill someone 'cause of the way they looked at you. ❜

❛ please. i'll be good. i promise. ❜

❛ it's always the same with you. you're only after one thing. ❜

❛ i don't know who you think i am, but i don't want to hurt you. ❜

❛ i thought that thing killed you...! are you hurt? ❜

❛ but that thing... it stabbed you. there was blood everywhere. ❜

❛ stabbed me? what do you mean? ❜

❛ honey... did something happen to you? ❜

❛ are you confusing me with someone else? ❜

❛ you said you took everything. but you forgot the videotape we made. ❜

❛ it doesn't matter who i am. i'm here for you. ❜

❛ see? i'm real. ❜

❛ don't you want to touch me? ❜

❛ i'll come back, i promise. ❜

❛ how many times do i have to kill you? ❜

❛ it doesn't matter if you're smart, dumb, ugly, pretty... it's all the same once you're dead! ❜

❛ you wanna talk down to me some more? tell me to relax? ❜

❛ you know i'll find you! ❜

❛ guess i deserved it, huh? the fartface that i am. ❜

❛ you got any other things planned? i think i saw a dark room back there you could lock me up in. ❜

❛ where are you? i'm waiting for you. please, come to me. ❜

❛ i think you were right. what we're looking for... it's not here. ❜

❛ thank you for helping me earlier... but i wish you hadn't. ❜

❛ i know what you are. i know why i needed you. but it's all over now. i don't need you anymore. ❜

❛ it'd be easier if they just killed me. ❜

❛ why are you still here? i told you to go. ❜

❛ wait! please don't go. don't leave me alone. i didn't mean what i said. ❜

❛ please... tell me i'll be okay. ❜

❛ i'm here for you. so what if i'm not her? ❜

❛ i can give you what she never could. i can be better than her. ❜

❛ what else do you want me to be? ❜

❛ i won't let you do this to me. i won't let you go. ❜

❛ the truth is, i hated you. ❜

❛ i wanted my life back. ❜

❛ i tried. i really did. but... i just... can't go on without you. ❜

❛ i can't forgive myself for what i've done. ❜

❛ i want you to go on. i want you to live. for yourself and for others. ❜

💀 ┋ She squints slightly, then snorts.

❝ I dunno what fairytale you've been living in, but that's literally the nature of the real world. It's built on bad people getting the spoils of life. Always has been, always will be. ❞

Excess. Lavish houses and seven cars. Psychopaths being the billionnaires of the world because they're the only ones cutthroat enough to do what needs to be done to keep their riches in their pocket. Corrupt government officials and bent cops.

She'd think that someone as cynical as Alastor would know better than this.

—or he's keying her.

ALASTOR wipes a nonexistent tear from his eye.

"AH, WHAT A WORLD THAT WOULD BE...ALAS, THE GIFT IS IN THE PRESENT, AND AS SUCH THERE'S NO USE IN DWELLING ON THE PAST, BUT I FEAR YOU ARE STILL QUITE MISTAKEN. YOU AREN'T HERE AS PUNISHMENT!"

ALASTOR leans forward.

N̷̿O̷̧̮͘T̵͕͈͓͚̋̀ ̴͉̫͖̖́̓͝Q̵͕͖̾͜U̷͎̍͋͝I̵̞̪̘̒T̵̡͉͇̖͆̏͐E̴̯͉̣͔͛̐.̷̫̫͂

"BUT I'M NOT HERE TO SPOIL YOUR FUN. I SIMPLY HAD NOTHING—AND I DO MEAN NOTHING—BETTER TO DO, SO I THOUGHT TO MYSELF: WHY NOT VISIT THOSE HOPPED UP HOODLUMS AT THE CIRCUS AND SEE IF THOSE RAG-A-MUFFINS HAVE LEARNED HOW TO PUT ON A SHOW LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS!"

ALASTOR disappears and reappears behind you him.

She blurts this. She isn't thinking; moreover, she doesn't get how basic patronizing beavior works.

"IF YOU LIKE. NOW—"