the devil in the details

[isocelesmonster]

Who: Bill Cipher
Broadcast: none
Action: Anywhere in the fleet
When: The night of the 22nd, and ongoing.

Although ostensibly the Golden has a new crew member, there's no new person in attendance at any meals. No new faces in the hall, nothing additional in the laundry. One of the standard crew cabins has been sealed up as tight as a tomb, the brass nameplate on the door unhelpfully scratched out with something sharp. No noises at all come from inside.

It'd take a careful eye to notice the only other change: the same sharp instrument has been used to carve little eyes of providence, no bigger than a fingernail, in strategic public places around the ship. They're shallow markings, not deep enough to interfere with any of the working parts of the craft, and no great works of art - each little scrap of graffiti is a matter of five lines at most. But they're there - and if sometimes the way the gold of the metal hull glints in the pupil is strangely canny, it's probably nothing to be worried about.

(It's not that Bill doesn't care about the flesh puppets that make up his new crew - oh, he does, they're all going to get very careful scrutiny over the coming days - but more important is finding out what his new playground looks like.)

When the fleet sleeps, their minds open and blossom like night-blooming flowers, each one illuminating a new section of the shared dreaming plane. For all of their poetry, few humans realize that the state of dreaming is as real an exploration as whatever meaningless actions they take while awake. It's irrelevant to their survival, most days, so evolution has never sought to provide that particular revelation. They're a young species. Five senses, auditory languages, limited psychic potential, and as far as they know when they dream they're just watching random electrical impulses fire in their brains. Ha!

(There's an expression about a one-eyed man's status in a land of the blind, and Bill intends to make it a reality.)

He steps sideways out of the material world into the closest dream as easily as a three-dimensional being can move along any of their limited axes. He makes himself invisible, at first, just to get his bearings.

[Bill is visiting dreams, as a way of saying hello! His permissions post for this ability is here. I am treating this ability on an opt-in basis. If you didn't give me the okay, he won't be spying on your character at all tonight ~but where's the fun in that~?]
ZOGSLFTS GSRH DVZP ZMW RWOV GSVNV

RH ML NLIV BRVOWRMT YFG Z WIVZN

DSVM NLIMRMT GZPVH BLF UILN NB GSIZOO

YV TOZW R OVG BLF DZPV ZG ZOO

Comments

[goldenglasses]

Yeah pro-- yeah. [That would have been a bit smoother if he was awake. His subconscious automatically not believing that as if he wasn't there the city would still be standing.

It was something he wasn't comfortable talking about awake. Let alone when his mind is having trouble focusing. So he agrees with Bill in hopes of moving on.]

[tetractys]

I MEAN, SHEESH, HOW SELF-CENTERED CAN YOU HUMANS BE? "BOO HOO, EVERYTHING'S MY FAULT." THE UNIVERSE DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU, YA KNOW!

[Bill cackles, and the tinny, nasal laugh seems to bounce off the walls.]

[goldenglasses]

[And there's the 100% confirmation Vash needed. He would never call himself human. Even in a dream. He was pretty sure by now this guy was an invader and that just sealed the deal.]

You got a point there. Humans do tend to do that sometimes. [There. Not really denying or confirming he isn't human. That works.]

So what are you then my new pointy, yellow friend?

[tetractys]

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH, KID! NOT EVEN BETWEEN FRIENDS!

[Bill lounges in mid-air, leaning on his little cane.]

WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT WHEN YOU WON'T TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW?

[goldenglasses]

That's too bad. Who wouldn't love a free lunch? Especially if it's donuts. Mmhmm. I could go for donuts.

I guess that's because I'm confused. What do you want? A free lunch? I think we could dream up one of those! I had a dream about raining donuts once. It was one of my favorite dreams!

[tetractys]

DIDN'T I ALREADY TELL YOU YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYBODY?

[goldenglasses]

Huh? [Outwardly Vash honestly looks confused. While around them the dreamscape stays dark and closed off, unless Bill decides to change it again.

No city, no flower petals, nothing as Vash keeps things locked up as best he can.]

Do you still mean that July thing? I guess I thought it obvious. Being in a city when it's suddenly destroyed kinda leads to nightmares about it. I mean, I can't think of anyone enjoying that kind of memory and not having nightmares.

What else is there to know? Nightmares are weird. I had one once about my hair turning into snakes. That was weird.

[tetractys]

IT'S FUNNY YOU BRING UP NIGHTMARES! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO PUT THIS ONE BACK WHERE YOU LEFT IT OFF!

[goldenglasses]

Now that doesn't sound very friendly-like at all! [Surprised idiot tone in his voice.

This is a dream. A person can control their dreams, right? He thinks he can. Has he before? He is so out of his element here. Come on brain. Wake up. Time to wake up now please.] I'd really rather you didn't do that, please.

[isocelesmonster]

YOU'RE A DECENT BULLSHIT ARTIST, BUT YOU'VE GOT A LOT TO LEARN!

[Bill leans back onto nothing, little black hands pillowed behind his top angle.]

PITCH ME A BETTER DEAL!

[goldenglasses]

Well, how about we do something fun instead? You know, quiet beach? Water? I dunno, what do tiny yellow triangles do for fun anyway?

[Please don't say murder. Please don't say murder.]

[tetractys]

OH, HAHA! I LIKE BEACHES! SUBJECT CHANGES, NOT SO MUCH! THIS IS WHAT I DO FOR FUN.

[But yeah also murder. Bill produces a teeny tiny baseball and tosses it up and down in his hand. Then he tosses it overhand at Vash's head.]

STRIKE ONE! I'M A GENEROUS GUY, IT TURNS OUT! PLENTY OF CHANCES TO GET IT RIGHT!

Unless the ball is suppose to be going to fast to catch I can change the tag!

[goldenglasses]

[Vash's left hand comes up to catch the ball before it can hit him. He takes the ball and looks it over in his hand.] You like playing baseball?

[Oh so confused. Part of it may be actual confusion.]

ha ha nah it's catchable he's just being obnoxious

[tetractys]

DEPENDS! DO TOU WANT THAT TO BE YOUR SECOND STRIKE OUT OF THREE?

[goldenglasses]

No. But why are you throwing balls at me then? Again, it doesn't feel very friendly like.

[tetractys]

YOU SURE DO LIKE WASTING YOUR CHANCES, HUH? I'M GONNA CALL THAT ONE-

[Bill throws him another ball. This one's on fire.]

TWO! LAST CHANCE! MAKE IT COUNT~

[goldenglasses]

[A thrown ball, fire or no, is nothing compared to the bullets Vash is use to easily dodging back home. Not that it stops him from screaming in panic and dropping to his knees with his hands over his head just before it can hit him.]

Is this really still about July?! It was destroyed! No one is really sure how it happened! What else is there to tell?! [Eh, true enough. Vash doesn't really know how his Plant powers work. Playing the clueless idiot till the end.]

[isocelesmonster]

[Bill cackles at the screaming.]

OH MAN, I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS FROM THE START! THIS IS ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR ME, GENIUS! MAKE ME AN OFFER BETTER THAN PUTTING YOU BACK IN THERE AND WAITING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

[goldenglasses]

[Vash has been laughed at by a lot of people with annoying voices in his long lifetime, but as he's out of his element Bill's is particularly annoying at the moment. Not that he shows this at all. Just still looking clueless.]

A deal, huh? Well, this isn't really fair. Up till a little while ago I thought you were just a figment of my imagination. How am I suppose to know what you'd like when it comes to a deal?

Because I can tell you it won't be my friendship if you do something mean like that.

[tetractys]

WHO TOLD YOU ANY OF THIS WAS GOING TO BE FAIR?

[Ha ha! Fair! These are the jokes.]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash stands back up and brushes his knees off with a sigh.] What do you want? Because besides some hair styling tips I really don't have much I can offer while in a dream.

[tetractys]

OH, READY TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY NOW, HUH, SUNSHINE? ABOUT TIME.

[The curve of Bill's eye suggests a big, manic grin.]

[goldenglasses]

I didn't realize I wasn't. But does serious mean less things on fire thrown at my head?

[tetractys]

HMM! I'LL MAKE THAT BARGAIN, SURE!

[There are so many other dangerous things he can throw, after all!]

[goldenglasses]

Thanks. I appreciate it. But I still have the same problem. I have nothing to offer you in a dream. Are you somewhere in the fleet?