[LN] Thank Goodness We're Well-rounded Characters

[matchmadeinhell]

Kon was reading at relative superspeed. It wasn't at his usual brisk pace, because he found that the limitations of his powers meant he couldn't retain the knowledge for more than a few minutes at his usual speeds, so he had to slow it down a little, but he was still thumbing through far faster than some of the others were taking just to go through the study guides they'd quickly procured.

"Is it just the fact I'm reading this as superspeed or does this story make no sense?" Kon said, as he thumbed through page after page.

Another reality shard had fallen away and now that their brands had signaled it, it was time to go dimension-hopping. Fortunately, it was a very small shard in the middle of the wilderness in Siberia and the area of effect was spreading slowly, so they had time to prepare.

With his otherworldly wisdom, Manny had managed to help out on this one, communicating some clues about the world they were about to enter by flashing the image of a cover of a book.

A fairly terrible book. Apparently they were entering the world it was based on.

So they were doing their homework as they geared up to go and trying to make sense of the senseless.

"So what I'm getting from this is this is a world where you're not allowed to have more than one personality trait? I think? Under pain of death, you have to be a one-dimensional character."

Comments

[matchmadeinhell]

Kon's expression actually became quite grave as he approached the fire. This was the first thing that truly, truly unsettled him about this place, especially given its nature so far and what happened on the train.

"It's not about rebirth," Kon said quietly, so only they could hear. He didn't like it being talked about like it was a transition. He'd had his moments of rebirth himself and he'd needed them and they were good for him. This was different and he was clearly irritated by the thought of them being spoken about the same, "Don't...don't word it like that. Let's call it what it is: indoctrination."

He tossed his bundle in, the fire reflecting in his eyes.

"They incinerated my clothes at Project Gladiator, too. Made me watch 'em do it."

His costume. The real him. The S.

[mark_in_the_sands]

Cassie gritted her teeth, digging her fingers into the bundle of gray cloth in her hands before she flung it into the fire as well.

Kon was right about the indoctrination. And more importantly, it reminded him of what the people at Project Gladiator had done to him.

Somewhere between missions to save all of reality, she was going to need to start gathering information to form her plan of attack when they got back to their world.

She moved to stand next to Kon, sliding her hand briefly into his to give his fingers a quick squeeze of reassurance.

That wasn't going to happen to him again. Not now that she knew what was going on.

[matchmadeinhell]

He squeezed her hand back as the four moved on to be led into the eating hall.

Behind them Tris eyed their clasped-together hands thoughtfully before casting her own old clothes into the fire.