FORCED HONESTY

[ancillary]

MAGICAL ELEVATOR OF FORCED HONESTY

Your character has just stepped in to one of the teleporters only to find that it's not a teleporter at all! It's an ELEVATOR which is like a teleporter, but not-- your grandparents probably used these at one point. To make matters worse it's an ELEVATOR OF FORCED HONESTY.

○ COMMENT with your character
○ COMMENT other characters and start grilling them with questions they wouldn't answer truthfully under normal circumstances.
○ Abuse and beat the gift of truth like a rented mule
○ aww yiss

Comments

[myownbestfriend]

[Emma's streak of refusing to believe Steve is for real continues unbroken.]

I--

I'm not sure.

[Well. That was supposed to be an "I'm fine."]

[usavatar]

[.....Oookay now he's actually starting to be worried. He rests a hand on her shoulder, careful to make sure he's touching fabric and not skin.] Maybe you should sit down.

[myownbestfriend]

Maybe I should.

[She doesn't even attempt to fight speaking the truth this time, and lets herself slide down to the floor, folding her legs beneath her.]

You haven't noticed--

[Captain America, Emma.]

--No, of course you wouldn't have.

[usavatar]

[He makes sure she's settled before redoubling his efforts to crack open the elevator doors.] Noticed what? What's wrong?

[myownbestfriend]

[Argh. Why did he have to ask?]

A compulsion to tell the truth.

[Emma's face conveys the concept of "FML" as clearly as anything ever has.]

[usavatar]

[...Oh. He stops.] Teleporters, you think? --Sorry. I'll try not to ask-- [Steve squints at the roof of the elevator.] When did it start?

[myownbestfriend]

[Emma laughs. There are worse people to be forced to tell the truth to. She probably won't even feel the need to erase his memories afterward.]

I noticed it when you asked me about claustrophobia.

[usavatar]

[Steve scratches his nose.] Try asking me something? See if it's affecting us both.

[myownbestfriend]

Rogers, how would we tell the difference?

[Good thing she likes him, or she'd have asked whether he'd closed the deal with Peggy yet.]

[usavatar]

Because no matter how honest I am, there are things I don't talk about. [He doesn't quite wince, but he does massage one temple.] Which answers that question.

[myownbestfriend]

[Emma shakes her head with a snort.]

Captain, I--

[She cuts herself off, trying to decide how best to tell the truth.]

It may not seem that way, but I'm well used to dealing gently with other people's secrets. Telepaths...well, we can't avoid becoming intimately acquainted with the things people think that they'd never dream of speaking.

[usavatar]

I know, I just... [And lo, there are a dozen things he's suddenly thinking about that he wishes he wasn't, including Peggy, Bucky, his mother--

CONGRATS EMMA YOU GET A PRIVATE RECITAL OF THE STAR SPANGLED MAN THEME.] I trust you, and I know some of the things I might tell you would be redundant, but I still want to be the one telling you.

[myownbestfriend]

[Emma does the telepathic equivalent of politely averting her eyes, focusing her mental gaze inward as she starts to multiply a few arbitrary large numbers together in her head. It's not the answer that's important so much as the concentration on anything but the only other mind nearby.]

...I could go diamond if you'd like.

[She actually surprised herself with that one.]

[usavatar]

[The offer startles him as well. He ducks his head. Quietly:] No. It's all right. Thank you. Very much.

[Steve plops himself down on the floor of the elevator.] Unless we can force our way out through the ceiling, I think we're stuck until the station fixes this. Are there... is there...

[More figurative chin-scratching.] I'm trying to find a way to ask what I should avoid asking, without... asking.

[myownbestfriend]

[She waves a hand.]

On Sacrosanct? Most of my secrets can only hurt me, and I'm used to that.

I don't like having my carefully-cultivated aura of detached amusement dispelled, but it's hardly fatal.

[...Emma really hates this. Whatever this is.]

[usavatar]

[He smiles at his hands and most definitely not at her.]

Well, if that's all. I already knew you cared more than you pretend to. [More seriously:] Whatever gets said, you have my word it won't go beyond this space.

[myownbestfriend]

[Stupid considerate jerk.]

I bloody well know that, you impossible man.

[That is meanest, most backhanded delivery of a compliment regarding one's integrity ever.

Followed quickly by:]

...Sorry.

[usavatar]

Emma, if that's the worst you have to say to me, I think I'll live.

[Which of course begs the question of whether or not that is the worst she has to say, along with the unvoiced question - one that's bothered Steve for months, if he honest - of how he stacks up against his counterpart. His counterpart, who apparently tries to force friends and orphans apart into foster homes and threatens young heroes instead of teaching them to fend for themselves.

He shakes his head, trying to dispel the thought.] Maybe we should just try not to talk.

[myownbestfriend]

/Not talking won't help./

[Emma sighs and shifts her weight. For some unfathomable reason, the floor is just not that comfortable.]

You'll only get to endlessly spinning your wheels and then eventually I won't be able to avoid overhearing that time in third grade you're still embarrassed about.

[usavatar]

[Wince.]

Right. That's - I knew that. [He did. He just, you know. Forgot. For a second.] But I doubt there's an embarassing incident in third grade people don't already know about.

[...the slightest ghost of mischief crosses his face.] How angry would you be with me if I asked you if you had any stories like that?

[myownbestfriend]

[Emma sighs and rests her head against the elevator wall. She's aware Steve doesn't know how rich a vein he's accidentally begun mining--most people don't realize how much she's transformed herself as an adult. Which is how she likes it.]

I was an...awkward child, Captain. Easier to ask about the stories that aren't like that.

[usavatar]

[He ducks his head to ineffectively hide the fondness on his face. It pretty much radiates off of him, regardless.]

Then I won't ask.

[myownbestfriend]

[Oh god, she can't even pretend to be upset about all that friendliness whyyyyyy.]

The worst part is that I know you're not faking the decency to hide your ulterior motives.

[usavatar]

[This time he does feel the compulsion toward honesty. He rubs his nose with the back of one hand.]

Decency is the only thing I've ever really had. Decency and a few good friends. [Steve squints at the ceiling.] That probably sounds stupid to you.

[myownbestfriend]

No. I've always had money and power, and all it ever got me was pain.

[There are a thousand examples, but she doesn't quite feel compelled to share the specifics. Yet. Who knows what the next words out of Steve's mouth might trigger?

Emma's voice is rarely this soft, and she looks at Steve with the reflections of old sorrows in her eyes.]