reality_crossroads | (no subject)

*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.*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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.

From:

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!

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

Oh yes. Occasionally they even manage, inasmuch as having nightmares about teeth and drowning for the next fifty years counts as no longer Seeking.

But most people who get in that far would never dream of backing out anyway. Not just from the sunk cost fallacy, either, but from sheer curiosity. It's lethal stuff, curiosity.

From:

dee_lorean81

Sort of -- Seeking subconsciously, then. [hums] "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. . ."

Well, yeah, it can be -- but without curiosity, we wouldn't have a lot of good stuff either. I mean, you could say I'm the product of curiosity.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

Well put. Is that from a song? It sounds like it is, the way you say it.

We are all the product of curiosity, are we not? Without it life would be terribly dull, and dull people tend to have very little personality.

From:

dee_lorean81

[Dee nods] Yeah -- "Hotel California" by The Eagles. Er, they're a band of humans, not actual eagles. [in the Nexus, talking to someone from the Neath's world, it feels appropriate to clarify] Marty listens to it a fair bit.

[she laughs softly] Suppose so. And yeah, that's definitely true enough. I guess that's the trade-off -- curiosity gives you a life, but it can also lead straight to your death.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

That's just the name of the band, then? Probably for the best, as I doubt actual eagles make for very good singers.

In the midst of life we are ever an inch from death. I should know.

From:

dee_lorean81

Yeah, just the name of the band. And heh, yeah -- unless you're another eagle, I guess. And maybe not even then, given there's all different kinds of eagles. . .

[she looks him up and down] You would. . .though I think you're an inch away in the wrong direction these days.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

Definitely the wrong direction. It feels quite strange, let me tell you.

I expect that eventually I shall bring at least a few of my ex-companions down to me. Even if I merely kill them, that will trap them down here with me. Veils will not get such easy treatment, of course, but that's only to be expected.

I suspect that Fires will find his own way down. He likes London to much, he's in the others' way. A Mr. Water would be welcomed, if reluctantly.

From:

dee_lorean81

I bet it does. Stranger than the first time I went from DeLorean to fleshy, I bet.

Yeah, I bet they're gonna be thrilled when that happens. [you wouldn't think so much sarcasm could come out of such a small girl] And I didn't think he would -- you've made it pretty clear he's gonna get the worst you can dish out.

[Dee winces at that] I guess if they turned on you, turning on him isn't out of the question. . .maybe you won't have to do anything. Maybe they'll end up turning on each other before you do.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

Bone on bone and a distinct sensation of unreality . . .

*He finds the sarcasm rather adorable. She'd fit in well with the roof urchins in Fallen London.*

He loves London too much. The bedamned Vake's impatience shan't be having with that, and he's not the only one who wants the entire mess over with. Just the least pleasant. Oh Veils, that proud-singer, that wing-hunter. I shall pull out his teeth and stab him with them. I long to feast on better fare than the poor things my Seekers toss into the wells.

From:

dee_lorean81

Yeah. . . "distinct sensation of unreality" might be a good way to describe my shifts. I don't think there's really words to capture how it actually feels.

[She learned from the best -- aka, she learned from Alice]

I see. . .definitely not good for him, then. [she tilts her head] Pull out his teeth and stab him with 'em? That's a new one. Though I guess more than appropriate for you and your backstory. Let him see how it feels.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

There may be words in the Correspondence somewhere, but none that I ever learned.

Very appropriate, I think. Our kind have sharper teeth than human ones, after all, so it would work better than you might think at first.

From:

dee_lorean81

Right -- and I think we've already established me trying to do anything with that would lead to the fiery bad things. I'll take having no words over my head exploding or something.

[Dee chuckles] Right -- though duller teeth might hurt more. [she shrugs] But it's not for me to decide what he gets.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

*Dryly* Lighting on fire would be bad, I agree.

W shall see what happen when that day comes.

From:

dee_lorean81

It's enough that I nearly set my tires on fire every time I go through time. DeLoreans weren't really made for going 88 miles per hour. Or breaking the space-time continuum. Even if Dad sometimes says different.

That we will.

From:

thelightontheedgeofsleep

I was once far faster than that, but my wings are tattered now. I remember the rarefied air of the highest sky, I remember and I mourn for all that the High Wilderness is full of cruelties.

Your father is, I think, too smart for his own good. I attract people like him all the time.

From:

dee_lorean81

[Dee nods at him sympathetically] I'm sorry. Flying is a hell of a thing, and -- yeah. Knowing you could taste the highest sky and can't anymore. . . [she pouts] At least Dad's working on it with me.

[that gets a grin] You know, I don't think he'd say you were wrong. Dad's a good guy, but -- yeah, he can get kinda caught up in projects. We've had to poke him to go to bed or eat something more than once.