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

[tallasaking]

Any man who prefers women would prefer a beautiful blonde to a triangle. That's not judging, that is simply common sense.

[Tyrion answers glibly. He doesn't even look Bill up and down, because the illusion is quite ruined, and even more so when he speaks. So he waves his hand -- and a dragon's head looms behind the throne, glowering at Bill.]

I would lean the other way, if you would.

[tetractys]

AND I PREFER THE DREAMS OF PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY HAVE POWER, NOT JUST FANTASIES OF IT, BUT YOU DON'T SEE ME COMPLAINING!

[That was the triangle, now gleefully hovering several yards out of range of the dragon. Dragon's fire is powerful magic! It might even hurt him if dragons weren't hella extinct. And if any of this was real.]

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO KILL ME IF THIS IS JUST A DREAM, SMART GUY?

[And that was the showgirl, who is making no attempt to get out of Tyrion's personal space. In fact, she'll try to rap on his skull a little bit. Knock knock. Anyone home?]

[tallasaking]

Then why are you in mine, if I am so useless to you?

[Is Tyrion's dry response, before he tipped his head.]

I do not need to kill you. I just need to kick you out, yes?

[Which is why he waves his hand again, turning the throne red hot to anyone besides him.]

[tetractys]

[Well, this throne decidedly smells like burning flesh and nylon now. The sizzling sound is closely reminiscent of raw meat. The Bill on the arm flails, startled, and falls over backwards. Her head makes a dull clunk when it bounces on the floor, and she pops into an enormous cloud of yellow confetti. It goes everywhere. Everywhere.]

I'M GETTING ALL KINDS OF MIXED SIGNALS FROM YOU, BUDDY.

[Bill floats lazily up out of the cloud, back to being a triangle and apparently unscathed.]

FIRST YOU'RE DISAPPOINTED THAT I'M NOT A MEAT PUPPET, THEN WHEN I WEAR ONE IT'S OUT OF THE FIRE- [this, with a jab of his cane towards the looming dragon -] - AND INTO THE FRYING PAN! ALMOST ENOUGH TO MAKE A GUY THINK TWICE ABOUT STRIKING UP A BARGAIN!

[tallasaking]

[Well - that was ... unsettling. And annoying. Tyrion frowned from his throne and began to whisk the confetti out of his mind. Taking a moment to eye the triangle above his head.]

What I want in the scope of my dreams is not what I can attain in the scope of my reality, and beyond that ... I do not normally make bargains with people who float around in my mindseye.

[He did want something, though, and now he was trying to feel Tyrion out for it ...]

[tetractys]

[Unsettling and annoying is a pretty good summary of everything Bill does.]

NORMALLY I'D AGREE! YOU HAVEN'T DONE SO WELL ON YOUR OWN! BUT YOU'RE TALKING TO A GUY WHO MAKES DREAMS INTO REALITY! IT'S PRACTICALLY ALL I DO THESE DAYS!

[tallasaking]

[Well Tyrion would always to think that he was perceptive enough to get that obvious fact.]

And what's the running rate on making a dwarf's dreams come true?

[The confetti was gone, but Tyrion remained.]

[isocelesmonster]

FOR A DWARF, I WOULDN'T BOTHER! FOR A GENIUS THAT KNOWS HOW TO GET PEOPLE ON HIS SIDE, WELL, I THINK I COULD WORK SOMETHING OUT!

[tallasaking]

[One lip curled up at the corners, before he arched an eyebrow.] And what precisely would you do for this genius - specifically?

[tetractys]

THAT'S WHAT I CAME HERE TO TALK ABOUT! BEFORE YOU WENT OFF ON A TANGENT, ANYWAY. YOU'VE GOT A PRETTY GOOD GIG HERE IN THE FLEET, DON'TCHA? FRIENDS, A STEADY JOB, RELATIVE SAFETY...

[tallasaking]

So good that one would wonder what a yellow pyramid could possible offer me.

[tetractys]

HAHA! YOU AGREED? OH, BUDDY, I WAS KIDDING! WHERE DO I START?

[Bill starts ticking things off on his fingers.]

HERE IN YOUR DREAMS YOU'VE GOT A THRONE, BUT OUT THERE YOU'RE JUST FINE WIPING DOWN BARS AND DANCING AROUND LIKE A CAGED MONKEY FOR THE ATROMA? THERE'S A BIG FLOPPY PILE OF GIRLFRIENDS IN HERE, BUT OUT THERE THE WHITE-HAIRED CHICK WITH THE SIX HUNDRED TITLES HAS A WORLD OF BETTER OPTIONS LINED UP, AND IS A LOT MORE INTERESTED IN YOU AS A YES-MAN OR POSSIBLE SIDEKICK! BESIDES THAT, YOU'RE PLAYING CATCHUP IN THE KNOWLEDGE DEPARTMENT COMPARED TO ANYONE FROM A WORLD WHO'S INVENTED INDOOR PLUMBING, LET ALONE THE ONES WHO'VE MASTERED INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL! SO MUCH FOR THE BEST EDUCATION MONEY COULD BUY BACK AT HOME! AND IF YOU'RE NOT THE SMART GUY, WHO ARE YOU?

[tallasaking]

[Tyrion leaned back on his throne, resting his stubby fingers together as he listened to Bill's spiel. Slowly, one corner of his mouth twisted up, then the other.]

You ... haven't actually told me anything that I do not already know, or do not actually want. And trust me when I say -- I am doing twenty times better than the others from my country when it comes to modern technology.

[tetractys]

[Bill rolls his eye.]

UH HUH. SO YOU DON'T NEED ME TO TELL YOU HOW THAT BIG PICTURE VIEW LOOKS FROM HERE, DO YA?

[tallasaking]

[Now it was Tyrion's turn to roll his eyes.]

So tell me, what do you see?

[tetractys]

LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE THAT'S SETTLED! WHAT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT IS: WHICH PART IS THE LIE? YOUR BIG, AMBITIOUS DREAMS? OR BEING HAPPY WITH YOUR MEDIOCRE LIFE?

[tallasaking]

[Tyrion arched an eyebrow, before he said quietly.] Having ambitions here is like thinking you are the cat that ate the canary - while still in it's cage.

[tetractys]

IT'S FUNNY YOU CHOOSE A HELPLESS, DEPENDENT HOUSE CAT AS A SIMILE! I GUESS A TRIP OFF-PLANET IS ALL IT TAKES TO TAKE A LION INTO A TABBY!

[The image of gold lion, frowning, with two odd-colored eyes, hovers over Bill's hand. It bares its teeth and swipes at Bill until the triangle reaches out and gives it a spin; when the blur settles it's much smaller and cuter and has a collar instead of a mane. It makes a motion like it's trying to mew sadly, but no sound comes out.]

HUMANS COULD HAVE DOMESTICATED THEM A LOT FASTER IF THEY'D KNOWN THAT!

[tallasaking]

[Tyrion eyed the tabby cat, then nodded his head at it. The cat snarled, and went to claw out the eyeball of the yellow triangle.]

Never underestimate anyone because of their size. And you have only spun tales, yellow triangle. You have yet to tell me how.

[tetractys]

HEY, DON'T GET ALL SELF-RIGHTEOUS AT ME, STRETCH. I'M SHORTER THAN YOU ARE.

[The cat jumps at him, but raising a finger catches it in mid-air in a blue shimmer. Works on twelve-year-olds, works on cats.]

IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T PICKED IT UP BY NOW, I'M MAGIC. YOU THINK PEOPLE IN STORIES RUB A MAGIC LAMP AND SPEND A DAY AND A HALF ASKING THE GENIE HOW IT IS THAT HE GRANTS WISHES?

[tallasaking]

Yes, but you can make yourself whatever size you want. I am always going to be my own size.

[Tyrion turns the tabby back into a lion, before he arched an eyebrow.]

They would if they were smart. Life never gives you anything free, but misery.

[tetractys]

OF COURSE NOT! I DON'T JUST GRANT WISHES, I MAKE DEALS! YOU'LL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE PRICE IS, UP FRONT! THAT'S WHY IT'S IN MY BEST INTEREST TO HELP YOU OUT, AND VICE VERSA!

ANYTHING I CAN DO IN THE REAL WORLD, YOU CAN DO HERE IN YOUR MIND! LET'S USE THAT AS AN EXAMPLE! WE HAD A LITTLE CAT THAT WISHED HE WAS BIGGER AND MORE FEROCIOUS. YOU JUST GRANTED HIM THAT WISH YOURSELF! NOT BAD, HUH? BENEVOLENCE IS A REAL POWER TRIP!

[Bill teleports the lion into Tyrion's lap. There, have fun.]

[tallasaking]

Very well. What do you want? Because that is really the most important part of this deal, is it not?

[Tyrion pet the lion, who curls up in Tyrion's lap like an over-grown kitten. His mind, his dream, Bill.]

[tetractys]

OH, I WANT LOTS OF THINGS! BUT FOR THE MOMENT, I COULD USE A PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER! KNOW WHAT THAT IS?

[tallasaking]

I do know what that is ... that is a person who promotes a person or a product. Usually a person, however. The Lords of Atroma have Diamond for that.

[There is a faint hint of disgust there, but he's still listening Bill.]