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[Caitlyn's nothing if not adaptable. While she isn't exactly pleased to find herself trapped in this new world, let alone with Jinx most definitely bouncing around and probably watching her every move, she's trying to settle in the best she can.

Which means by absolutely being ready for anything but also prepared to leave at any given moment. She's one hundred percent determined she's going to amend this situation, for her and everyone else trapped here. But she needs information first, and that's why she's addressing the other Chosen now.]

Hello, everyone. My name is Caitlyn Kiramman. Like many of you, I believe my arrival here to be a mistake and am eager to have this situation rectified as quickly as possible. Those I've already spoken to haven't known much about our captors, so I'm curious: what have the rest of you learned? I doubt I'm the only one eager to investigate the truth behind our arrival here, and how to get home. To those already investigating, I'm willing to work together to continue your efforts. I have experience looking into far-fetched and impossible to solve cases, already.

[She pauses here, then tilts her head.] And also-- where might I find a gun for purchase?

Comments

[entreats]

[ Huh. It's not the kind of supernatural Ange expected - the other's case sounds a little more like.. like something you'd find in a superhero story, maybe, she thinks? - but it works, she guesses.

The important part here is the fact that the other does seem to be very serious about this, anyway. ]

It depends on your definition of interesting. I think most of the stuff I've found out so far is only to be expected for this sort of place. [ There's still not much emotion in her tone, but there's perhaps the faintest hint of disappointment. ] Like the fact that all of us truly seem to come from different worlds entirely, and that some people claim to not have committed the crimes they were assigned upon arriving here.

[ She shrugs a little. ]

But that kind of felt like a facade from the very start, right?

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[Considering Caitlyn comes from a world of magic and deities, maybe it's not the most far-fetched thing. But still. That aside, it's the subtle jab that takes most of her attention in response.]

I can assure you, nothing about my own claims of false accusations is, in fact, false. The crimes listed on my parchment are nothing if not lies and slander towards my character.

[entreats]

.. ah, no, that's not what I meant.

[ She sounds calm though, even in the face of a slight misunderstanding. ]

I meant the facade that lies within the reasons of whatever brought us here and assigned these parchments to us. [ Considering Ange's own experiences, it feels hard to not imagine it being some sort of supernatural force.

It's what it has always been in her life before, after all. ]

I doubt this is about punishing us for crimes, whether real or not. I bet they just did it because they think it's funny to mess with people in such a way.

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[oh. Well, now Caitlyn feels silly, getting a bit defensive.]

Now that, I could believe. Putting us in a town, with the freedom to explore and live as we like seems....counterproductive, when the claims are that we're being punished.

[unless this is only the beginning? Considering the mess with the monster the month prior, it makes her wonder what's going on that they aren't aware of.]

I would hope that any sort of being or deity with that kind of power would be kind and just. Maybe it's a mistake, or miscommunication of some kind. [something they can talk out, if they can find the right person or being to talk to, anyway. Sigh. This is insanely complicated.]

[entreats]

[ Ange sucks in a breath, seeming to only think a moment before she speaks up to ask: ]

Do you have any deity like that where you come from?

[ Because Ange's own experience with powerful beings is very different - but before she starts pouring out that very cynical glass, she figures she might as well ask the other this first, just to make sure.

Just to see what Caitlyn's own experiences are. ]

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There are stories of some deities in our world. Powerful beings of magic. But my people are a people of progress and technology. It was founded to be a haven away from magic. I'm afraid most of what I've heard are probably just stories. But I like to think, if a being had that power, they would be good, not terrible.

[Just like how Jayce was using hextech to do good. As he developed it, there was fear in this concept of contained magic, but she's seen the difference it's made in the world, and dreamed of how much better things can be with it if it's used for good.]

[entreats]

I'm pretty sure we don't have deities where I come from.

[ Which she mostly mentions as a disclaimer, really, that she can't speak on that direct level. Sure, some people do believe in that sort of thing where Ange comes from, but it's always been wasted on her. She, too, thinks those are probably just stories.

But-- ]

There are other powerful beings though. I guess they're basically on the same level as a deity. [ Considering how far their powers seem to extend.. ] And in my experience with them, pretty much not a single one of them is benevolent. They only seem to think of their own pleasure, absolutely not caring who they hurt in the process, or whose lives they ruin.

I guess some people could claim it's incidental, but it's still made me believe that no one with that much power is able to remain benevolent. If you can do absolutely anything you want, it either corrupts people, or anyone with that much power just happens to be a shitty person to start with. [ Ange can't tell which one of those two things applies to the witches from her world-- but the outcome is the same, anyway. ] It's why it's hard for me to believe that whoever or whatever brought us here is any different in the end. It probably just wants to play with us like we're dolls, just like the witches back home did.

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I-- [That's a lot to process. While Caitlyn isn't sure about actual deities, she has seen people with power, people that saw themselves as gods, above all others, without a care as to who gets hurt in the process.

Silco's name immediately comes to mind. Shocker. But... was the Council much better? She didn't think of her own mother as that level of monster, but what about the others? They all were comfortable in their positions, and didn't care one second about what was happening in the Undercity. To their people. Just as long as they were rolling in riches, why did it matter?

She didn't want to imagine the horrors of what a true deity with that level of apathy could do, but maybe she was already stuck inside it.]

I'm sorry you had to live through those experiences. I've seen enough power and corruption in people to understand what you mean. I hope you're not right, for our sakes. [Because if the being that brought them there was like that? Was just toying with them for fun? Then there was no hope for finding an easy way home.]

[entreats]

[ There's something about what Caitlyn is saying here that seems to give Ange pause for a moment. It's the first part, really. Ange can't tell if it's just a platitude, but even if it is, it's more than most people bothered with back home.

.. it's unfamiliar. She isn't sure what to do in the face of it, but it does soften her a little on the inside after her near-rant from a moment ago. It doesn't show on the outside, but what it does do is make Ange inhale, and then speaks up with: ]

Sorry for painting such a bleak picture. [ It's not something she'd usually bother to say, but-- it'd feel unfair to not say it, if Caitlyn really meant that sympathy. ] I just think it's better to be prepared for that sort of thing, rather than allow ourselves to be caught off guard.

[ ... ]

It'd just get people hurt.

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I appreciate your perspective. And it helps me realize my own naivety. I don't know what we're truly up against, and pulling from simply my own knowledge of my own world is a limited point of view, when we have numerous worlds, deities, and powers to consider.

[Because Ange is right. Believing and hoping for the best might do just that: get people hurt. It's hard for her to admit her naivety. She had a sheltered rich, Uppercity life. She had only just begun to realize just how bad things were in her home city, and that's not even considering the state of the rest of Runeterra.]

We may not know what's the cause of our situation, but I think-- I hope we can all agree on the fact that we have to work together to protect each other here.

[entreats]

.. I'm not so sure about that 'all' part.

[ Sure, some people here seem friendly enough, so Ange is at least willing that some people would try to look out for others here. But everyone in this place?

Ange is a little too distrusting of the nature of people to really believe that no one in this place would stab someone else in the back, if it was better for them in the long run.

But rather than lingering on yet another negative sentiment, her thoughts instead turn towards Caitlyn, asking: ]

But you would do it?

[ Would Caitlyn protect everyone and anyone here, if she had to? ]

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I would. I have people important to me here. Some from home, some friends I've made since I arrived. Whether or not I want to be here, I am here now. It's my home for the moment. I'll protect it and it's people, just like I would in my home world.

[And okay, maybe not everyone would agree with that sentiment, but if nothing else, enough people have to have enough self preservation to know they have to work together to stay alive here.]

[entreats]

[ Well, if that's true - which Ange can't be sure of, a part of her just too wary about trusting people so easily - then Caitlyn is at least not being a hypocrite. At least she's living up to her own word. ]

You sound like a pretty idealistic type.

[ Though it's hard to tell whether that's a good or a bad thing, when Ange's tone does absolutely nothing to indicate either of those. ]

I don't think I could do the same thing, after all. Not just for anyone here.