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[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

*A certain being is sitting with his back against the well, reading a book with a plain red cover. He's humming tonelessly to himself as he flips pages and in general he seems exceedingly bored. A better distraction than the interminable tome would be welcomed.*

Comments

[dee_lorean81]

And why it's your kind of insanity.

[Dee shivers at the passage] Yeah, I'm not surprised. . . [part of her can't help but wonder if it would have the same effect on her, who's not quite human -- but the more reasonable part of her knows it's too dangerous an experiment to undertake, and anyway Dad wouldn't let her]

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

Exactly why.

One more scar. One more scar, but what is that to me? What is that to any of us, we poor scarred people all? We are pretty when we bleed. *A sigh.* I destroy everything around me, will or nil I. There may yet come a time when you dream of water, or of candles.

*Back to the book.* He knew the others would turn on him. He hoped they would not. He once stood on the border between Parabola and the Wilderness to look out across his wounded realm. Or perhaps he only imagined it. *He sighs again and tosses it aside. Reading this has not been helpful.*

[dee_lorean81]

I -- think I'd be equally likely to leak oil, depending on where and when you caught me. I tend to get the most beat up in my other form. [she bites her lip] I guess we'll see, right?

[Her expression turns a little more sympathetic as he continues before tossing the book -- apparently that passage brings up too many bad memories] Maybe you need something else to take your mind off stuff. I could get one of the physics books we have at home.

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

I imagine we will.

Yes, I would appreciate that. Comparing natural philosophies sounds a much better use of my time than reading some maniac's description of the lighthouse on Winking Isle.

[dee_lorean81]

Hopefully not for a while though.

[that gets a grin] Okay then -- just a minute! [back into DeLorean form, zooming off from whence she came. . .

And back in a few minutes, carrying a physics book on her passenger seat. She opens the door to offer it to Eaten]

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

*He takes the book, flipping through it curiously.* This has an awful lot of maths. The diagrams are helpful, however . . . it seems to be the what without the why.

This would be a lot more useful on the other side of the Avid Horizon.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee swaps back to human form and nods] Yeah, most of physics is math. Showing how the world works the way it does, and why certain things happen. . .thought I think the broader why is the purview of philosophy or something.

[she tilts her head] Would it?

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

The Neath barely obeys the laws of physics at the best of times. Although even in the High Wilderness it's not quite as this book depicts--the air never thins away to nothing, the stars have voices and very strong opinions, your reflection may occasionally wander off without you, dragons crawl under the skin of space and time.

People on planets rarely notice, but once you get up high things are different.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee blinks a few times] Yeah, uh -- I'm pretty certain things don't work like that in my world. At the very least, I've never seen my reflection leave without me. Alice might have, in Wonderland, but that's a whole other kettle of fish. . .

Yeah, I think if the people on the planets noticed, you'd have a lot of very scared people. Which is not a good thing.

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

Not generally, no.

The sorrow-spiders travel through mirrors, the cats war with the serpents on the other side of the glass, and in your dreams you may visit those mirror-places. Parabola is where people hear my voice, for that matter. The whisper that speaks of betrayal and heading North. In the Neath, at least, mirrors are safer than dreams. Sorrow-spiders may well come out of the mirror, but the voice in your dreams can do more damage than a hundred spiders.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee raises an eyebrow -- this is the sort of stuff that makes her glad she and most of the rest of her family have only taken that one brief trip to the Neath] Mirrors, dreams, whispers, sorrow-spiders. . . Is there anything about the Neath that isn't kinda disturbing? And do I want to know what a sorrow-spider is like, or is it one of those things best left undescribed?

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

There's always something new to learn, the animals talk, much of it is darkly beautiful. Admittedly the spiders are included in the talking bit, and you soon find that cats really are as haughty as they seem.

I don't think you'd like sorrow-spiders, no.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee can't help a little smile] Probably why my Dad and Victor are more dog people. . .and Alice loves cats, but she'd probably agree with you.

[Dee makes some faces] I keep trying to picture 'em like the Nightmare Spiders Alice told us about from Wonderland, during the bad days -- big curly things with a doll's face for a body.

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

Most people who meet my cat wish they hadn't, but he's rather extreme. In every way.

No, they're merely large spiders. Except that they talk and plot and are led by horrible twitching spider-councils which obey the spider-senates. Also they steal eyes, but that's just a minor detail.

[dee_lorean81]

Yeah, I've heard. Kind of cat who'll rip your skin off as soon as look at you.

[up goes the eyebrow again] Uh -- yeah, I think most people who have eyes are gonna disagree with you on them stealing 'em being a "minor detail." I want mine to stay where they are, thanks.

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

There may have been a bit of understatement there, I admit, but if you had ever seen a spider-council you would agree that everything else is a comparatively minor issue. I saw a spider-senate once, long ago. I remember very little of my life before the well, and less of my life before the Neath, but some things are not to be forgotten.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee frowns] I'm guessing from what you said before that it's a looot of spiders all -- wiggling together. Sort of like a spider version of a rat king? That's apparently what you're supposed to get when you tie a bunch of rats together by the tail.

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

Something along those lines, yes. Spider-councils are bad enough, spider-senates look a bit like someone took all the tarantulas on Earth and haphazardly glued them together.

[dee_lorean81]

Ewwwwwww. [Dee makes a disgusted face] Regular spiders have enough squirmy legs, thanks. Why can't the cats be at war with them?

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

I wouldn't want to have to fight something like that, would you? Even a spider-council is close to the size of an elephant.

[dee_lorean81]

. . .yeah, okay, that's probably not something you want to mess with unless you absolutely have to. [she scrunches up her nose] But -- didn't you say that the cats were fighting dragons? How big are they?

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

In Parabola all cats are tigers, as they imagine themselves to be. But yes, the war of cat and dragon is a dangerous thing.

[dee_lorean81]

Well, good for the cats, but I'm pretty sure most dragons are supposed to be bigger than even tigers. Though I guess it depends on the dragon. . . And I can bet. Not something you want to get in the middle of!

[thelightontheedgeofsleep]

There are people who do anyway, but I haven't the foggiest idea why. *A dark laugh.* But then I'm hardly one to talk, being myself a danger that attracts unfortunate fools.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee shrugs] Some people are just dumb. Or too confident for their own good. Which kind of adds up to the same thing. You probably see a lot of those yourself -- people who think they can just do a little Seeking and then give it up.