walk away from Omelas and come back with lockpicks and axes
Actually, Rinley's not sure why they're surprised.
It's the Titovs, after all. Everyone knows they're suss. There is literally no bad thing you can think of, up to and including 'eating human babies with a side of fava beans and a nice Chianti', that you could attribute to the Titov family WITHOUT pretty much all of Fortitude nodding and going "yep, that sounds like them". It's their brand!
So 'the monster in their basement turning out to be a kid that they're abusing' is, in retrospect, really something that Rinley should've seen coming.
That doesn't mean they're prepared to tolerate it, though.
(And maybe she is a sacred horror, but—so what? If this cruelty is what it takes to keep Town safe from the monster, then Town doesn't deserve to be safe. If complicity in this is what it means to be a shrine person, then every last shrine should be burnt to the ground.
People might accuse them of abandoning the duty of the Yatskaya, if they knew they thought that way, but Rinley will never betray Fortitude. It's just that that means that they won't let it betray itself either.
'You have a home in Fortitude.' Torture chambers don't fucking count as homes.)
Rinley Yatskaya breathes out slow, and works a comb gentle, gentle through the filthy, tangled mess that is Iolithae Septimian's hair, and begins to plan.
Fill: Chuubo's Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine, Rinley and Iolithae
Actually, Rinley's not sure why they're surprised.
It's the Titovs, after all. Everyone knows they're suss. There is literally no bad thing you can think of, up to and including 'eating human babies with a side of fava beans and a nice Chianti', that you could attribute to the Titov family WITHOUT pretty much all of Fortitude nodding and going "yep, that sounds like them". It's their brand!
So 'the monster in their basement turning out to be a kid that they're abusing' is, in retrospect, really something that Rinley should've seen coming.
That doesn't mean they're prepared to tolerate it, though.
(And maybe she is a sacred horror, but—so what? If this cruelty is what it takes to keep Town safe from the monster, then Town doesn't deserve to be safe. If complicity in this is what it means to be a shrine person, then every last shrine should be burnt to the ground.
People might accuse them of abandoning the duty of the Yatskaya, if they knew they thought that way, but Rinley will never betray Fortitude. It's just that that means that they won't let it betray itself either.
'You have a home in Fortitude.' Torture chambers don't fucking count as homes.)
Rinley Yatskaya breathes out slow, and works a comb gentle, gentle through the filthy, tangled mess that is Iolithae Septimian's hair, and begins to plan.