Masquerade Mingle

[thespaceopera]

[The night has finally come--the Gravity Rush is nearly upon us! What normally serves as a large performance hall has been gutted, emptied of its boring furniture and rigged up into a fantastical mismatch of technology and old culture. No matter where you go tonight, you're encouraged to move around, dance, play games, whatever helps you sleep in late tomorrow morning.

If you aren't one for scurrying around a ballroom all night, there's always plenty of people-watching to do. After all, so many people are wearing extravagant costumes and elaborate masks. How can you even tell who is who? Get lost in a crowd of sequins, chatter with a sun and a moon, or try to beat the guy in the monster-mask at a game of cards. Meet your friends or make some new ones--this masquerade party has begun!]


[[ooc: All sections are up now, have fun! A related ooc post is HERE for any questions or plotting you'd like to do.]]

Comments

[precedented]

Both. It has many kinds of uses. Spice is the lifeblood of the universe. Without it, everything would . . . just stop.

[ No space travel, no powers. Civilization would die out. ]

[pain_train]

[That is one hell of a statement to try to parse when you're at times painfully literal about things.]

...so it's like time? [...what?]

[precedented]

[ He smiles. It doesn't seem to be making fun of her. ]

Yes. Like time.

[pain_train]

Wow.

[She's just... going to need a minute to absorb that, Leto. Mind = blown.]

So your eyes are basically the color of time.

[precedented]

[ He can't help it. He laughs, dust chimes and sand. ]

Yes. I must remember that. It is a deep wisdom.

[pain_train]

[...is he laughing at her? She's not sure.]

Yeah, now I know you're fucking with me. [Wisdom is not a word that ever gets applied to her.]

[precedented]

I am not. It was certainly a kind of wisdom in that phrase. Especially to me.

[pain_train]

[Well, her default is to just believe what people say. So... she'll go back to that since he doesn't seem to be laughing at her.]

Okay?

Well, if you like it, I'm not going to tell you that you can't. [Because that would be a dumb thing to do.]

[precedented]

Thank you. I shall certainly treasure it.

Do you think yourself unwise?

[pain_train]

[She's not even sure what to make of this question. Though the number of times her brain's been forcibly regrooved has made its mark.]

I was a soldier. I did my job and I was good at it. [Shrug. Wisdom isn't really a thing that comes into it.] Not some kind of tech brain or something.

[precedented]

Being smart and being wise can be very different. There is wisdom in the battlefield too. Considering you are alive to talk about it, I'd call it impressive indeed.

[pain_train]

I guess?

Maybe if I had all my original parts. [She laughs.] My doc just always said I was too damn stubborn to die. But thanks?

[precedented]

Are you missing parts of yourself?

[pain_train]

At this point I'm more artificial replacement than original. Like... my left eye is still mine, and my right arm and my left leg. And one of my kidneys. And I think my pancreas? But most of the rest is replacement parts, I think. [Shrug.

Or does he mean, is she missing parts of herself like the holes in her brain, the years she can't remember?]

[precedented]

[ He listens thoughtfully. ]

And your mind as well?

[pain_train]

[Long silence as she looks at him. Well, it's not like she makes a secret of this stuff. Lying and being secretive takes up too much thought, too much memory.]

I forget things. I've forgotten a lot of things.

[precedented]

[ Gentle, soothing. ]

Do you miss them?

[pain_train]

I guess?

I miss the idea of it. Like thinking I came from somewhere. But... I miss sunsets. Because I remember sunsets, and then I didn't get to see them any more because the dome got closed. I know what's gone. It's not the same when it's just... [Vague handwave.] A shapeless idea.

[precedented]

[ Leto can't picture it. Not really. Everything was in fully formed concepts and ideas when he was born. He never had a chance to picture or imagine anything. He's able to draw out any skill, any piece of information at any time. Books became dull, learning became a chore.

Watching her, he can see how the opposite can be fraught with its own problems. ]

I've never felt anything like that before.

[pain_train]

I don't think a lot of people have.

It's like... there are holes in my brain, sometimes. Like once I remembered... I got field promoted to Lieutenant, and that's when I became Wrath, because before that I was in Envy platoon. And there was a reason I wasn't in Wrath platoon, because the CO--and it just stops, right there. I know there should be more, but I can't remember it no matter how hard I try. It's just gone.

[Excised.]

Other things, I just don't know at all. I don't remember anything before the army. [Shrug.] There's not even a shape to it.

[precedented]

I was in a place where we lost our memories, but what happened to you . . . was cruel. I'm sorry.

[ His words are heartfelt. ]

[pain_train]

Thanks.

[She shrugs one shoulder.] Non-compliant behavior. So it's kind of my own fault. [She still half-believes it, and half doesn't. It's hard to sort out in her own head.]

But I survived. Other people didn't.

[precedented]

Surviving is the greatest skill one can possess.

[pain_train]

I think it's just luck. Really dumb luck.

[precedented]

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Who can really say?