To Kokabiel only, the Lost had to inquire.
i apologize that i have overheard
but
do dead gods dream?
Meanwhile, the consciousness reached out to its edges and further, pushing out to what it had sensed far away, the thing that would appear to 'organics,' as Kokabiel kept calling it, as a glowing ball. A breeze curled around it, but only slightly probingly.
Kokabiel shrugged its wings and said to Prisha, <I lose track of time. I don't think it's even relevant here.>
Then it turned its attention to the Lost, speaking only to it. <Yes, in a manner of speaking. We dream of what we once were, and what we could yet be. All things that have thoughts have dreams, in their own ways, depending upon how one chooses to define the concept of "dream." Such a... varied word, is it not?>
Zacharias kept a cautious distance, wanting to reach out and comfort Eli, but utterly uncertain as to how to even start. Then, nervously, teneously, he meekly asked, "are you okay?"
God! Zacharias thought to himself as soon as the words left his mouth, of course he's not okay! Why would be be crying like that if he was okay?! Well... it was a start.
edited 6th Apr '12 9:30:17 PM by KillerClowns
we do? chimed the Lost to Kokabiel.
do we?
live in dreams
and dream ourselves away
i know not.
edited 6th Apr '12 9:32:22 PM by ohsointocats
The future of warfare in UC.
Nara shrugged a bit stiffly. "Turn back to what? The elevator, even the building, are gone. We might as well stay put or move off in a random direction."
Nous restons ici.
Qrlil tilted her head. "Oh. Er... yes. I suppose that is the question, then - should we approach the lights, which I suspect may be what the dream 'wants' us to do, or should we move in a different direction? I am not sure I see a reason to stay here, at any rate..."
She glanced at the table and blinked again - somewhere during the conversation, its surface had turned into a lumpy dark realcoral-like substance.
The sphere drifted up, ignoring the contact against its surface, until it reached the giant geometric construct. There it hovered, soundlessly.
edited 6th Apr '12 9:51:58 PM by nrjxll
Drummer Boy
Friedrich struggles to give Zacharias a response. Within him surfaced a sudden desire to defend his parenting skills, to explain it's that not his damn fault, sometimes they just—
Nah, he couldn't possibly mean that. "It's certainly not my area of expertise. But most of them are quacks and molesters, so the rest of the family and I managed as well as we could. I think he turned out all right. He's got a future outside of an asylum, anyway."
Then Eli provides a welcome diversion. Friedrich suppresses the urge to snicker at Zacharias's initial response. "I suggest that you let him be until you can see if he's in a state that can accept help," he says, forgetting that his tactics for Wilhelm might not work for Eli.
Wilhelm, in the meantime, didn't seem to hear Zacharias at all. He doesn't react to Eli, either. He rams a screwdriver under the picture frame, curses, and then tries again.
"If it's any comfort, even there are two problem children in the room, there is only one temper tantrum. For the moment, anyway. He's obsessed with his mother." Friedrich sighs and takes off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Just—just a teeny bit."
He winces. "Well, I certainly could have worded that a hell lot better, but you get the point."
edited 7th Apr '12 7:20:06 AM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
highly secure
"And that, of course, is assuming that this dream wants us to go anywhere that we didn't already want to go in the first place," Hector said.
As Hector stared at the lights in the distance, he shook his head in bewilderment. Where there had once been only one, now there were two.
The lights continued to multiply, forming rows and columns. As the array drew closer and closer, Hector saw them as lights peeking through row after row of buildings. The buildings were dull and gray, but the lights pulsed, cycling through random colors.
Hector felt something brush against his shoulder, then his leg. When he looked up, he was met by a mob of ghost-people, smoky wisps that flowed around the trio. Upon each of their faces was a placid, contented smile. Startled, Hector raised his hands into a defensive pose. None of the phantoms reacted.
"They seem...happy."
Whatcha gonna do, little buckaroo? | i be pimpin' madoka fics
The future of warfare in UC.
Nara drew back, noting with annoyance there was no spot to try and get completely out of the way. She thought she recognized a face, and smashed it with a fist, but the phantom moved on. At least the damage remained. Another face she recognized, but too far to reach. "They're not happy. Not all of them. They just look it." Definite contempt and anger in her voice.
Nous restons ici.
Qrlil blinked in confusion. She sniffed the air, but there were still no scents.
"I do not understand - what are you seeing?"
Kokabiel considered. <I use the English word "dreams" in all its myriad meanings — hopes and aspirations as well as the chaotic activity of a brain in resting state. It would appear I have grown to fond of these primitive words — ever so flexible, ever so fun to toy with. I sense you will understand what I mean by this — words are so ephemeral, yet so powerful. Shaped by minds, yet shapers of minds.>
It examined the newcomer, and — though it was uncertain — it thought it sensed sentience. <Greetings, if you understand my words. I am Kokabiel, Angel of Entropy, and...> it stopped, recalling the Lost's request. <...I bid you welcome.>
Zacharias cleared his throat nervously. "Ah. Er. Yes, I..." he coughed, then whispered, "let me ask so I don't misunderstand. You are his uncle, yes? But... well, you seem to be something of a father figure to him. Are his parents..." he trailed off, leaving many possible scenarios open.
Samira said, "ah. I suppose Kokabiel is capable of a... basically civil demeanor when it suits its needs."
She leaned against a wall and dryly noted, "you didn't exactly choose a place of warmth and comfort to explore. What brings you here specifically, of all the places in this odd dreamscape?"
Mistook thought for spoken words — edited to amend.
edited 7th Apr '12 8:31:15 AM by KillerClowns
To Kokabiel, the Lost whispered,
the words
i suppose mean nothing
but i know not
if i dream.
Despite Kokabiel thankfully pausing and not introducing the Lost, the Lost made his presence known to the sphere, unthreatening and weakened to creatures that would not just jump at anything.
Drummer Boy
Friedrich takes a deep breath. "Elise died of blood loss shortly after his birth. Heinrich has been struggling with throat tumours since Wilhelm was about one. He's survived for an amazing amount of time, but after the first surgery, he couldn't talk. His grief turned in on him and ate him away, and I can't fix that. He doesn't recognize Wilhelm. Just lies in bed all day. If Wilhelm's at school, he can miraculously get down to the yard and sit for a few minutes, but if he's home... no."
He crosses his arms and stares at the ground. "I don't know what should scare me worse: that or the fact that Wilhelm truly doesn't give a shit."
Bianca smiles serenely at the newcomer. Damian's disappearance didn't surprise her—he sleeps very fitfully. The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
The future of warfare in UC.
Will be unavailable the majority of daylight hours today.
Nous restons ici.
Samira made no effort to hide how much more comfortable she was with Damian gone. Not only had his arrogance bothered her, but Kokabiel seemed to have been trying to lead him. To what, she wasn't precisely sure, but she knew it would not benefit any mortals in the room. She noticed Bianca had not answered her question, about how hidden her people were, but decided not to force the issue. When she realized Kokabiel's fragment would probably do so instead, she held her breath. Three... two... one...
The fragment remained silent, Kokabiel only monitoring for signs of trouble now as its interest in its own affairs increased. Samira breathed another sigh of relief. She said, "sorry, just thinking about... something." To Raphael, she said, "ah, but I'm too full of questions, and I've not introduced myself!" She offered her hand and said, "Samira Hosseini. And my young friend there is Bianca." Hoping to at least basically patch any rift created by her misunderstanding and her argument with Damian, she added, "a most remarkable woman, from what I've heard thus far." To herself, she thought, even if the beliefs she was brought up on are... troubling.
Zacharias gave a grim nod of understanding and said, "ah." He refrained from suggesting it might really be better if his father was dead — certainly a better state than a comatose fugue, but how could one possibly say such a thing without offending. So instead he said, "you've done well so far, taking up the responsibilities of a father like that. It must be hard." He moved to keep Eli and Wilhelm both in his line of sight, slightly worried what would happen if, in their present emotionally unstable state, they started interacting more directly.
<Very well>, Kokabiel said to the Lost. <Definitions are slippery. Perhaps I misspoke, then, and not all creatures of thought dream — for you are clearly a creature of thought.> It said no more, awaiting word from the newcomer — or perhaps the young woman who it had lost track of.
Drummer Boy
"Yeah, well... let's just say there's a reason I never got kids of my own. I'm a bit too scientific. At least he had his grandmother for a while, until he was about eight. Kind of a scary lady, but a hell lot better than me. And he has his sister, of course."
Wilhelm seems to have given up on the picture and is playing the harmonica again. The trilobite curiously circles Eli.
"Best not to disturb him," Friedrich mutters, eying the gouges on the wall. "So, do you have kids?"
Still thinking about what Bianca is going to say.
edited 7th Apr '12 2:08:26 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
Zacharias nodded and said, "just Rachel. Best daughter a father could ask for, despite all the complications." He smiled fondly, considering how joyous a day it had been when it all worked out. "For better or worse, she takes more after me than her mother." He gave a half-smile. "Probably the better — I love Samira dearly, but I don't think I could stand my daughter taking the same risks, no matter the cause."
Then, he leaned in close and whispered, "but tell me, as one father — for all intents and purposes, anyways — to another: do you ever get that nagging feeling there's something very important they're not telling you? Some little, vital part of their life they're not sharing?" He bit his lip. "Truthfully, I think I might just be paranoid. It could be something we all go through... am I making any sense?"
The sphere hovered in the air for a few moments soundlessly. Then the 'veins' of light flashed and it spoke audibly, in a voice that sounded like several speaking at once - not in unison, but on top of each other in a discordant confusion.
Who are you
If the way I'm writing its speech is too annoying, I can tone it down, though as it's rather painful for human-equivalents to listen to these things talk normally, some amount of annoyance seems appropriate.
edited 7th Apr '12 1:12:30 PM by nrjxll
i have tried to speak to this one, said the Lost to Kokabiel, concerning thr glow.
i think not
that it is intelligent.
edited 7th Apr '12 1:37:13 PM by ohsointocats
Kokabiel made an effort to parse the garbled sounds, and then experimentally sent a packet of data introducing itself as Kokabiel, Angel of Entropy. The data explained its purpose in this place — to protect Samira and Zacharias) — and offered a general formal, boilerplate greeting and request that after the initial data-exchange handshake, conversation be done in the manner of organic speech in order to avoid alienating others.
To the Lost, it said, <perhaps. We shall see — it has thought, and speech of a sort. Anything beyond that remains to be determined.>
The sphere flashed with lights again as it received the initial data package. It replied audibly again.
We are the Messenger. You are transcendent?
edited 7th Apr '12 2:05:23 PM by nrjxll
Kokabiel tilted its head as it considered the possible definitions. Finally it said, <once, perhaps, depending upon your definition of "transcendent".> It glanced over at the dead mockery of its former self, then back to the sphere. <There are many such definitions. But it is irrelevant: now I am Fallen.>
The sphere rotated in place, the lights on its surface shifting.
Audible speech is inefficient. Translation/ context absent.
He passed his lily into his other hand and shook Samira's hand. "Raphael Cline." He gave Bianca a friendly smile and nod.
"I probably look a little ridiculous with this flower, huh?" Why did he say that? That didn't make much sense.
Keeping his sketchbook to his chest with his elbows, Eli wiped the tears from his face.
He had to get away from Jonathan. That man was going to be the death of him. Eli scooped up the trilobite, letting it crawl up his arm, and scurried away, to where Lydia was waiting atop a picture frame.
Seeing Zacharias, Wilhelm, and Friedrich with her, he realized that he was going to have to explain himself. So he did.
"I don't want to be reported," he said sadly. "They'll take away my art."
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
i think perhaps
it is broken, said the Lost to Kokabiel,
and these titles
i understand not
'It'? Must be a different Kokabiel. That's awfully pretentious- taking the name of a Jewish angel.
"No, actually, it was probably a little more tolerable than the kids."
"I know I'm batshit, okay?!" The look that Eli shot at Jonathan over his shoulder was one of unsubtle, burning hatred. How could a convict that didn't even have a white coat-
He stopped himself and turned to a random page.
A comic-formatted progression of the making of a meal assaulted the eyes in tearfully vibrant color, each action given but a single staggered panel, each ingredient celebrated and elevated by his father's skillful hands from container to plate.
This wasn't the one.
Tears spontaneously spilled down his cheeks in silence, and he clutched the sketchbook to his chest.
edited 6th Apr '12 8:42:20 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."