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]

That's because I didn't make it up on the spot and it's what I've been trying to tell you this whole time. [Luckily Vash is just happy not to be in the nightmare he doesn't care how close Bill is.

For now.]

Can I wake up now? [Vash didn't realize he could feel so tired in a dream.]

[tetractys]

NO, HEH. IT'S WHAT YOU'VE BEEN AVOIDING TELLING ME!

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, I LIKE YOU, SUNSHINE! I THINK WE'RE GONNA BE GOOD PALS, IF WE CAN AGREE ON OUR GROUND RULES!

[goldenglasses]

Sorry for not wanting to talk about something that is really upsetting to me. [Bitter? No, Vash isn't bitter at all.]

But, alright. What kind of ground rules were you thinking of?

[tetractys]

LIFE'S UPSETTING! BUT YOU KNOW SOMETHING ELSE? IT HAS A TENDENCY TO FIX ITSELF - WITH A LITTLE NUDGE, ANYWAY!

[Bill opens his hand and a tiny, humming city appears in it - July on a spring evening, intact, its roads busy and its windows lit.]

WHEN I ASK YOU SOMETHING, YOU JUST ANSWER! EASY AS THAT! NO DANCING AROUND AND TALKING ABOUT DONUTS! I'LL DO THE SAME, SO YOU KNOW WE'RE ON LEVEL GROUND!

[goldenglasses]

Well, to be fair, I was dancing around talking about other things to get my mind off what happened.

[But fine. No dancing? Vash can outright lie if he wants to. He just prefers being honest. Even if it is a round about way.]

I'm allowed to say I don't want to talk about a topic, right? Because if so I think I could agree to that.

if they shake on this feel free to BS that the implant cancelled out as much/as little as you want

[tetractys]

HM, SURE, I CAN DO THAT! YOU CAN TELL ME ANY TIME IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING! BUT IN RETURN, YOU CAN'T TALK ABOUT A COUPLE OF TOPICS THAT I'D RATHER DIDN'T GET PICKED AT, EITHER! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT'S GOT SECRETS, HA HA HA!

[He's deliberately made the wording on this perilous. "You can't talk." He hasn't restricted this limitation to conversations with Bill, or to conversations held inside of this dream. If this becomes a binding deal (and if the implant hasn't restricted him too badly) he can effectively put a magical gag order on Vash trying to warn anyone else about what - and who - he saw here tonight.

Bill has no such limits in what he's agreeing to. Vash can tell Bill about his comfort zone all he wants, sure! Doesn't mean he'll be bound to respect it!]

It's fine! Teach Vash a lesson about being even more careful with what he says.

[goldenglasses]

[Vash shrugs.] Seems only fair. If I have topics I'd rather not talk about then of course I won't ask about yours either. Who doesn't have something that makes them uncomfortable.

[Not that Vash has fully caught on yet that he may be making a deal rather than conversation just yet.]

Anything a clear no-no topic I should know to avoid or just let me know if I stumble on one by mistake?

[Donuts. Donuts. Donuts. Donuts. Testing dream control. Test. Test.

Not that Vash shows outwardly that he's currently testing his lucid dreaming skills. Spoilers. He's terrible and not very good at it. Nothing he does changes the dream. Yet.]

[tetractys]

HMM. I'LL GIVE YOU A LITTLE NUDGE IF YOU'RE GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION! HOW ABOUT THAT?

[goldenglasses]

Now, your version of nudge. Is it a: hey, I'd rather not talk about this in words kind of nudge. Or is it the I'm going to throw a baseball that's on fire at your head sort?

[Donut rain. Come on. Donut rain. Eventually for all his silent attempts a single plain donut falls from the sky a little ways from the duo with a soft plop. Vash laughs in embarrassment.] Opps, sorry. Guess I'm hungry.

[He's going to need to work on his dream control a lot more]

[tetractys]

AW, DON'T BE A BABY! A LITTLE FIRE NEVER HURT ANYONE!

[Bill swivels around to watch the donut fall.]

PRETTY VIBRANT IMAGINATION YOU'VE GOT THERE.

[One donut. Whoa there, big spender.]

[goldenglasses]

Maybe not dream people fire doesn't hurt, but it hurts me! I mean, have you ever burnt your tongue before? It makes food taste, well, not bad. But not as good as it should be! And that's just awful.

[It's his first try. He was going for much more.]

Yeah, I've never been very creative I'm afraid. [The embarrassed chuckle perfectly masks the disappointment he feels over his control of his own dream.]

[tetractys]

YOU CAN BURN YOUR TONGUE?

[Whaaaat!

He totally has to try that. That sounds hysterical. Bodies are so fun!]

THE ONE IN YOUR MOUTH?

[That one, right? Not one of the other two?]

[goldenglasses]

Well, any body part can burn re-

...yes. That's the only one most humanoid creatures have.

[Although Vash shouldn't be surprised. This shape has one eye and no mouth so far as he could see.]

[tetractys]

HA! AHAHAHA!

[Some people's laughs are the tinkle of gentle windchimes, or a beautiful melody. Bill's laugh sounds like someone's trying to send morse code signals with an airhorn.]

THAT'S WHY YOU CAN'T TALK WHILE YOU'RE EATING! OH WOW, WHAT A MISTAKE OF NATURE THAT IS! YOUR LUNGS ARE RIGHT NEXT TO THE FOOD!

[He almost folds in half laughing and has to lean his top angle on his cane.]

AND -AND YOU HAVE TO EAT TO SURVIVE!

[h o l y s h i t]

[goldenglasses]

You know, you kinda got a point there. [Vash chuckles along with Bill. It is a bit funny. In an oh god. What the hell am I talking to right now?] You do need to be very careful not to talk while eating or you can choke.

And if humans can't breath they die

[Because you know. They were in space before. Vash is guessing Bill may not know that]

[tetractys]

YOU GUYS HAD MILLIONS OF YEARS AND THIS IS THE BEST YOU COULD DO, [Bill chokes out, between cackles.

For someone who doesn't, apparently, breathe, the sound he make sure sounds like gasping as he straightens up and swipes tears away from the bottom lid of his eye.]

HAAAH. OH BOY. I'M OKAY. WOW. WHERE WERE WE? YOU DON'T WANT ME TO SET YOU ON FIRE FOR SOME REASON? I THINK I CAN MANAGE THAT.

[goldenglasses]

Yeah, that's another thing we haven't figured out yet. We are not fireproof. Being set on fire is a very big and painful problem for people like me.

[tetractys]

I'LL KEEP IT IN MIND! HMM, WAS THERE ANYTHING ELSE?

[goldenglasses]

Just. Maybe be careful with most of your actions if we ever meet outside of a dream. You don't seem to have a very good grasp on what's safe for bodies and what's not. Wouldn't want to accidentally kill someone.

[tetractys]

HUH? OH, I CAN'T GO OUTSIDE OF DREAMS! HAH, DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT!

[Bill holds out his hand for the second time that night.]

SOUNDS LIKE A FAIR AGREEMENT! I LIKE YA, SUNSHINE! WHEN YOU'RE NOT PLAYING DUMB, ANYWAY!

[goldenglasses]

[Vash reaches forward to take Bill's hand. His dream self hardly even thinking about the motion just reacting.

Then he hesitates a moment right before he claps Bill's hand. Brain slowly catching up. Things still a bit muddled between lucid and dreaming.]

Wait. What am I dealing to? Not being set on fire? Or we'll tell each other honestly when a topic comes up we'd not like to talk about?

...or was it something else?

[For once he's not playing dumb. Just having a little trouble with keeping thoughts in line with his first lucid dream romp.]

[tetractys]

[In response, Bill rolls his eye and snaps his fingers.

They landscape shifts three feet to the left - or maybe Bill and Vash get displaced three feet to the right. Either way, mirror images of both of them are there they once stood, going through the motions of the conversation they just had. Time travel. Oops.]

GROUND RULES! YOU AGREE NOT TO TALK ABOUT TOPICS I DON'T WANT POKED AT, AND TO ANSWER QUESTIONS I ASK YOU!

I, IN EXCHANGE, AGREE TO LET YOU TELL ME WHEN WE'RE ON A TOPIC YOU DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT, AND ALSO TO NOT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY SET YOU ON FIRE!

[A big, flashy gout of flame envelopes the place where the images of past!Bill and past!Vash are standing just as past!Bill clicks his fingers and teleports them to their current location. FWOOM.]

[goldenglasses]

Oh, that! Okay, I'll agree to that. We'll tell each other when we're not comfortable with a topic and understand we don't have to answer those questions.

[Seems safe enough.]

[tetractys]

SEE? IT'S ALL EASIER WHEN WE GET ALONG. THINGS LIKE ME ARE ALL ABOUT BALANCE. YOU GIVE A LITTLE, YOU GET A LITTLE!

[goldenglasses]

Great! Glad we understand each other.

I've been asleep for awhile now though. I should probably wake up so I don't over sleep and get too tired. See you tomorrow night?

[See! Inviting you back! He's such a nice guy! Even if he doesn't really want Bill back.]