Voices from Heaven (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thespaceopera) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
driftfleet2017-06-09 10:11 am
thespaceopera) wrote in driftfleet2017-06-09 10:11 am
Entry tags:
- !atroma,
- !mingle,
- anthony j. crowley,
- asuka shikinami langley,
- aurae "tempest" le paulmier,
- chloe price,
- daenerys targaryen,
- daeron,
- daryl dixon,
- doudanuki masakuni,
- edna,
- edwin jarvis,
- eizen,
- ezri dax,
- felix gaeta,
- felix harrowgate,
- fenris,
- fingon,
- ginko,
- hermione granger,
- ignis scientia,
- imperator furiosa,
- jack sparrow,
- kaidan alenko,
- katherine "kitty" pryde,
- katie mccoy,
- kazuto "kirito" kirigaya,
- keith,
- khadgar,
- kurt darkholme,
- lance,
- looma red wind,
- lumiére,
- lunafreya nox fleuret,
- max rockatansky,
- merlan margaret o'keefe,
- mikleo,
- mon-el,
- natasha romanoff,
- noctis lucis caelum,
- okita souji,
- pavel chekov,
- prompto argentum,
- remy lebeau,
- rokurou rangetsu,
- sayid jarrah,
- sokka,
- takashi shirogane,
- takeshi,
- uraraka ochako,
- vash the stampede,
- zelda
i know you, i walked with you once upon a dream
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(last updated: 6/18/17)
Dezel (see cw)
The reason becomes apparent soon enough. All the edges of the visible objects are blurred, the details of their texture all gone. And there is no color except in the sky. None at all. The world is gray and more gray, making it hard to focus, save for the endless blue stretching above. Visitors may need to concentrate on senses other than their eyes to navigate this world.
Reaching out and touching an object, whether it's the crate or something else, will give it a basic color (red, green, brown, blue-- whatever it is) and the proper texture. This will not, however, allow reading of any text unless it has been embossed. The faces of the people sitting at the head of the train are too blurry to see, but there's a young man and a young woman who dress alike. They're talking about "mabo curry buns"-- whatever that is.
Looking around, the most obvious things sitting in the cart are a green bottle of ale, a brown sheathed dagger with yellow strings on the sheath, and a broken crystal pendulum on a frayed string. There is also a tiny brown sparrow flitting to and fro and it seems very, very interested in visitors.
There are more items to be found in the wagons ahead. Jumping between carts seems easy, though any attempts to dismount the train will result in the wind gently scooping people up and placing them back into the cart. Other items to be found inside various boxes or strewn along the bottom of the wagons: a black paper top hat, a green necklace, and a tiny chirping keepsake box.]
[WARNINGS: suicide, depression, suicidal ideology, possession, gun violence, blood/gore (I'll keep it as vague as possible). Avoid the broken pendulum, the top hat, and the green necklace if you don't want to deal with any of this. And as always, PM me or plurk (
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Instead of exploring for once, Sorey closes his eyes and relaxes back onto the folded blankets he'd woken on. He thinks he can hear Rose's voice in the distance, though he can't quite hear what she's saying. Is this what it was like for Dezel, traveling with the Sparrowfeathers? It's...comforting.
A little sparrow flits right over and lands on his knee, peeping and hopping up and down in excitement. Sorey cracks open an eye to peer at it, before curiously holding out a finger to see if- oh wow, it really did.] You're a friendly guy, huh, [Sorey muses, watching as the sparrow preens under its wing.]
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Sorey is on a familiar beach-- the same one that he and Dezel saw on the ocean planet with the trees. It's the one where they armatized and flew. The color is dimmer here, only filled in bits and pieces from where Dezel and Sorey's sight had combed over it.
Dezel and Sora are a little ways further down, though the wind carries their conversation to Sorey's ears.]
Is it true? What you said to that other guy. About being...
Yeah. Every word. I've made my peace with it. It was my fault, after all.
So... when you leave, you'll...
Now is all I have. [His voice grows a little softer. It's rough at the edges as if unaccustomed to such gentleness, but Sora-- and Sorey-- know better.] I didn't want you to find out. I figured you'd just stress out about it. I made a mess of things, as usual.
[The revelation ripples through Sora, his surprise and grief quickly shifting to anger. He reaches up and punches Dezel's shoulder as hard as he can.] You... you...!! Were you just gonna lie to me this whole time?!
Why not? You're obviously upset! And now you're looking at me like everyone else, like-- [Dezel takes a deep breath.] ... I don't need you feeling sad for me, all right? I can't do that. I can't handle it.
Too bad, Dezel! People feel sad when someone they know dies! That's just part of having a heart! [Sora's voice crumbles at the edges.] I-if you had left, I... wouldn't have known what happened to you. And... I already feel that about too many people as it is.
[Dezel looks at him, shocked at the outburst, shocked at the simplicity of it all. They talk a little more. Dezel states that he's cursed and not worth the trouble, but if Sora forgives him, then he'll try to be a better friend. Finally, Sora pulls something out of his jacket and hands it to Dezel.]
Here, take this. Back home, sailors would make lucky charms outta Thalassa shells to ensure a safe voyage. I thought since traveling through space is kinda like a voyage at sea...
...Well, even just a little extra luck can't hurt, right?
[At last the beach melts away back into the gray, leaving Sorey where he was sitting in the wagon. Dezel sits on the other side of the cart, watching Sorey as if he's been there this whole time. He holds out a hand and the bird flits to his finger.]
He was like a little bird. That's what I called him...
no subject
Either way, now Sorey has context for what Dezel had told him earlier. It makes sense that Dezel would be so struck by it; he always did get that startled look on his face whenever someone called him out on his sulking, something Sorey should probably do more often but can never really bring himself to do (he's so much better at comforting).]
...at least he's safe back home, right? And he has Simba with him too. [Not that Sorey had ever seen the little blue cub do anything particularly impressive, but Sora seemed to think he was capable enough.]
no subject
The things that he can feel, that he can reach out and touch, are so familiar to him that it hurts. His gloved hands press against the floor of the cart before he pushes himself up and moves, trying to find some other means of escaping, of getting away. He's out of place and out of sorts, frustrated with his own understanding and knowledge, but he goes with it all the same.
When he stops, he knows what he's seeing. He can't stop himself.
Zaveid reaches for the hat because it feels as though it's his even though it isn't, his fingers brushing over the familiar weight of it, stroking over the fine edges. It feels like home, he thinks, but it fills him with fear and sadness at the same time, his stomach twisting in knots and his heart in his throat. ]
i typed up the wrong memory for this but whatever this is what you get anyway MAXIMUM PAIN
A demonic girl with purple hair appears and begins heckling the Shepherd's group. Dezel steps forward, growling, his body language absolutely fierce.]
I've been waiting so long.
[Symonne agrees that they've been leading up to this, but Sorey doesn't. He tries to keep Dezel from attacking. She's not a hellion! But Dezel doesn't listen. He has that reckless wind about him, that incomparable anger held barely in check this whole time.
For five long years, he's waited to take revenge on this girl for turning his best friend into a hellion and sullying the Windriders' name. He even declares this to the surprise of the group, all of whom have no idea that Dezel's vendetta involves Rose at all.
It doesn't go well. Dezel breaks the pact and forcibly takes control of Rose and the armatus, furious and unstoppable. He shoots past the group-- only to hesitate at the appearance of a face absorbed into the hellion.
Lafarga. Maybe it's an illusion, maybe not, but it jogs Dezel's memory in that moment.
And that's all it takes.
The hellion runs them through, mortally wounding both of them and sending them flying. Before Sorey can help Rose, she's snatched up into the hellion's grip. Mikleo tells Dezel to stay down but there is already doubt in his eyes. This is a bigger wound than he's ever had to handle. Dezel is bleeding everywhere and he can't really keep it in.
They can't save Rose. That's what Dezel hears in their panicked voices and that's what gets him to sit up, disobeying orders. Not that that's a surprise.]
Sorey... Hand me that thing you got from Zaveid.
[Shaking and wavery, but trying to be strong, he loads the gun with the last bullet. Zaveid had carried this for who knows how long in order to kill a dragon. And now--]
... Then I shall be that strength. I shall be your attack.
[His fingers tremble but his expression brooks no argument. Sorey and the others realize that Dezel isn't going to make it out of this, he's set on it. The seraph looks at them all and smiles wryly, the most he's smiled in a while. There's no more time for goodbyes-- and he won't hear the Shepherd's arguments on this.]
But that's just suicide!
[His lips curve bittersweet.]
Neither Rose nor I can afford to waste any more time. You understand, don't you...?
Dezel?
[He looks Sorey straight in the eyes as he grins his usual bastard grin.
He pulls the trigger.
Sorey murmurs his true name for the last time and he barely chokes it out. Lukeim Yurlin. He aims Siegfried at the hellion, and he screams.
He pulls the trigger.
The wagon hits a bump, sending several of the crates shifting. The sound of something tearing is nearly lost against all the other noise; it's the hat, torn in half.
Dezel sits in an unoccupied corner of the wagon this time, his knees held to his chest. He doesn't say anything, but he runs a pendulum over his fingers, again and again.]
what the fuck saffy
He can feel the familiar weight of malevolence, the pulse of it, the power. It's different to a dragon but familiar all the same, dragging him down as though he's rotting from the inside out. It's awful and dangerous and he feels as though he's going to collapse under the weight of it, too much too fast, too intense - because before he had felt it from the outside, had felt it grow and grow until he had chased it inside, and by then... It had been too late.
He was too late to save Eizen. He was too late to save Theodora. He was too late to save Silva... He was too late to save Dezel. His weapon, the one that Aifread had given him to save people, had been used to murder someone he had cared about. Dezel had used it in the worst way possible, and Zaveid isn't sure he can forgive himself for it.
It only gets worse, of course, as he feels all the emotions, the intensity of it, the pain and the depth of the feeling. It makes him shudder, as if he's going to fall apart, and he has to press a hand to his chest to stop himself from melting. Even Dezel's true name - Lukeim Yurlin, beautiful and stunning and wonderful - sounds wrong, dirty, being used the way it is. This isn't how the gun was meant to be used. This isn't what was meant to happen, how it was meant to go.
Dezel grins. He smiles, in the end, and Zaveid hates him, just a little.
The carriage bumps and he shifts, almost jerking forward before he breathes out, tilting his head up, looking around wildly. It takes him a moment or two to feel as though he's come back to his senses and by then he can see Dezel sitting there - and he shifts forward, reaching out, leaning over to brush a finger over his jaw before he realises what he's doing. ]
Dezel...
[ His eyes feel heavy, as heavy as his heart, and he feels it twist in his stomach. It's too much - too much emotion, too much hurt, too much pain. ]
You idiot.
[ He should hate him, but he doesn't.
It's the opposite. ]
(◕▽◕✿)
[He struggles with this, because the one thing they've never really talked about was why Dezel died.]
I had to do it, Zaveid. I had to free her.
[He can still feel Siegfried's weight in his hands.]
... I had to free myself.
R U D E
You think I don't get it? I know how important it is to free someone from something like that. I understand.
[ He shakes his head, closing his eyes, shifting to move closer, to reach out for more and more and more even as his hands shake and he feels like he's falling apart. ]
It's a curse. Bigger than the one you had, or he had. It's...
[ Closing his eyes, Zaveid breathes out. ]
... Sorry I wasn't there.
no subject
[He gazes into Zaveid's eyes, his own green and dark and serious. It's a fleeting glimpse of what Dezel used to be like when he was whole. Even dressed in his mentor's clothes, he can see here.]
You were there. That gun held your promise and it carried me to mine.
I didn't go alone.
no subject
Nightmares are real and present and sometimes impossible to ignore. ]
I'm not glad I gave Sorey the gun. Not for this. But I'm glad you could save Rose. I'm glad you found some happiness, in the end.
[ Then, quieter, squeezing his hand gently - ]
I'm glad you're back. I don't... It doesn't matter. Nothing matters apart from this. You're with me again.
(no subject)
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He peers head at the people, before sitting back again. Well. If he's going to be stuck here, he might as well snoop while he's at it. After about three seconds of consideration, he reaches out for the bottle of ale. Because of course he does. ]
no subject
There's a large bonfire set up in the middle of a clearing. It's a lovely summer night, the air crisp and clear. There are men camped everywhere here, at least a dozen, and the morale is high. There is drinking, feasting, and all sorts of mischief going on. Judging by the armor and weapons they seem to be mercenaries-- well-paid ones, in fact. Though the night dims it somewhat, there is definitely color.
A redheaded girl laughs as she pesters her adoptive father. Sitting a good distance away are two men who look like they could almost be related due to having silver-green hair. One of them is Dezel, hatless, younger and wearing some kind of bodysuit; his focus is on the redheaded girl.
Dezel's normal clothes, right down to the hat, are on the other seraph. He's much older and his face is creased with laughter lines. In fact he's laughing now.] It's a good night for the Windriders, isn't it? [He offers Dezel the green bottle of ale and smiles brightly.]
Yeah, [Dezel murmurs. He smiles fangishly, looking his age for once. He takes a drink of the ale and passes it back to the other man.
The memory fades back into the same old gray wagon ride that Crowley had before... except for the sky, which is painted in beautiful sunset colors. Dezel is sitting on the edge of the cart now, and he's drinking out of the bottle that had been in Crowley's hand earlier.
He offers it to Crowley. There's still a little left. If he drinks out of it, he'll find it tastes like an incredibly rich vintage-- almost like ambrosia in its rarity.]
Ale is always a good offering, but people don't really pray to seraphim anymore.
no subject
[He's a wine guy, but he takes the bottle anyway, taking a swig. Ugh. He remembers ambrosia, and the similarity does nothing for his mood. ]
Mortals do tend to change with the times. Things they used to go religiously are now, well...optional.
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[He meditates on that for a moment.]
The land was dying in my time-- tainted and struggling with calamity, blights on people and crops and land, monsters rampaging unchecked. Seraphim can bless the land and protect the people living there. We need humans, but the humans need us, too.
It's not optional for us. It's the way the world works.
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[That's both interesting and extremely uncomfortable to hear. Crowley LIKES humans, yes, would hate to exist without them a lot. But - ]
We've never really needed them, angels and demons. Our power is our own. We can exist without them, it would just be....well pointless.
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[Imagine being as myopic as Dezel and yet having to acknowledge that these assholes are keeping you alive.]
Why is that?
(no subject)
no subject
However, even though her sight is dim because of the fact that Dezel is blind, she can smell everything so much that she can almost taste it and the sounds are sharp and clear. And when the wind blows, it lifts individual strands of her hair from her face and head, almost feeling like a caress.
She recognizes the twins of the Sparrowfeathers, even if she doesn't remember their names. Their talk of "mabo curry buns" makes her smile and ache for Rose. With everyone but Rose and Lailah on the group of space ships, Edna can feel the lack of their resident assassin in everything about this place. As such, her naked hand touches the sheathed dagger with an air of sadness.]
I always knew he adored her, but I didn't think that it'd be this much. [Her voice is a soft hushed breath that is carried by the gentle breezes.] It's kind of difficult not to like her though.
no subject
It's a man with brown hair and a strong jaw. A little girl with red hair rides on his shoulders, giggling and laughing. The man says something to her and she absolutely beams at him, one tooth missing.
The man finally walks past Edna and kneels beside a gathering of rocks and flowers: a shrine to seraphim. The girl looks at the shrine with big eyes. The burly man gives her a few encouraging words. She sets a crown of flowers on the shrine and then kneels to pray.
A wind seraph reveals himself just behind the shrine. Despite wearing no hat, he's obviously recognizable as Dezel, just younger and in some kind of godawful skintight outfit. He peeks down at the girl curiously.
Their eyes meet. There is a tangible moment where one isn't sure if they are seeing the other. And then, predictably, Rose gasps and dives behind her adoptive father's legs.
The scene shifts again. Back to the wagon, the world desaturated and muted. The cart bumps along as Rose talks about market trends somewhere at the front of the caravan.]
That was the last time she saw me.
[Dezel appears on top of a stack of boxes in the same wagon as if he's been there the whole time.]
There was another time, but she didn't really know what she was looking at. Too much going on.
no subject
And, well, younger Dezel is sort of amusing to see as well, especially without his hat.]
Wind Seraph have no fashion sense. Nice to see it's never changed.
[Since she's already seen Zaveid from when he was much younger, she can definitely claim this. No fashion sense. Bleh. But, it doesn't really matter when they happen to be fairly decent people, even if they're a little warped sometimes.
So is she.
When she's back on the wagon, she looks over at Dezel, not at all surprised to see him there. Being a seraph with a vessel means control over when you're resting and when you're visible.]
Before Sorey showed up, not a single human had seen me in over a thousand years. It was sort of strange, you know? After a while, you sort of get used to it.
no subject
[He knows Edna is much, much older than she appears. Has known that for a while, really.]
I've spent a lot of time around humans-- at least, I think I have. I remember following the Windriders like a leaf rides a tailwind. [He adjusts his hat.] I didn't want to let that go. I didn't want to be alone.
[He stretches his legs out a bit and hangs them over the side.]
Maybe that's why I got wrapped up in the Shepherd, too.
no subject
[She doesn't try to think about it, because she's spent a lot of time by herself on that damn mountain. More than with others. It's probably why she comes off as so abrasive sometimes without trying.]
Humans can be both fascinating and horrifying. It's not that surprising that you'd be interested in them. I'm normally not.
[She leaves it hang out that she is interested in Sorey. It doesn't need to be said. She joined his group.]
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As he managed to figure out the wagons and carts, finally, trying to focus past the din of over-exaggerated noise around him, he ended up drawn to the dagger. He picked it up, turning it over in his hands to look at it more closely.]
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The first is man with silver-streaked hair and a strong jaw. A little girl with red hair rides on his shoulders, giggling and laughing. The man says something to her and she absolutely beams at him-- with one tooth missing.
The man finally walks past and kneels beside a gathering of rocks and flowers: a shrine of some sort. The girl looks at the shrine with wide blue eyes. Her caretaker gives her a few encouraging words, so she sets a crown of flowers on the shrine and kneels to pray.
A wind seraph reveals himself just behind the shrine. Despite wearing no hat, he's obviously recognizable as Dezel, just younger and in some different clothes. He peeks down at the girl curiously.
Their eyes meet. There is a tangible moment where one isn't sure if they are seeing the other. And then, predictably, the girl gasps and dives behind her adoptive father's legs.
The scene shifts again. Back to the wagon, the world desaturated and muted. The cart bumps along as a young woman talks about curry somewhere at the front of the caravan. Her voice isn't familiar, but the wind around the wagon is unmistakably warm and gentle. He cares about her.
Dezel sits on a box across from Keith.]
I saved her once, so she came to leave an offering for me and my friend. But she was always afraid after that. No one would believe her anyway, so she just... pretended she couldn't see. Until she stopped seeing altogether.
no subject
He glanced over at hearing Dezel's voice. He recognized it from the party.]
So, just as someone can start to see you... they can also stop seeing you?