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driftfleet2016-06-22 04:37 am
isocelesmonster) wrote in driftfleet2016-06-22 04:37 am
Entry tags:
the devil in the details
Who: Bill Cipher
Broadcast: none
Action: Anywhere in the fleet
When: The night of the 22nd, and ongoing.
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
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
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[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?
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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.
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UH HUH. SO YOU DON'T NEED ME TO TELL YOU HOW THAT BIG PICTURE VIEW LOOKS FROM HERE, DO YA?
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So tell me, what do you see?
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[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!
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Never underestimate anyone because of their size. And you have only spun tales, yellow triangle. You have yet to tell me how.
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[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?
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[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.
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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.]
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[Tyrion pet the lion, who curls up in Tyrion's lap like an over-grown kitten. His mind, his dream, Bill.]
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[There is a faint hint of disgust there, but he's still listening Bill.]
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[Someone with such a big reputation is naturally fascinating, even putting aside her position as the one who Knows things.]
IT'S LIKE THIS: I WANT TO BE LIKED, JUST LIKE ANY OF YOU HUMANS! WHEN YOU TALK, PEOPLE LISTEN TO YOU! I'D JUST NEED YOU TO PUT IN A GOOD WORD NOW AND AGAIN TO THE MASSES, LIKE DIAMOND DOES FOR ALL OF THEM! I'LL PROVIDE YOU WHATEVER MATERIAL YOU'D NEED!
[Bill's flat surface flickers, displaying silent clips of Diamond speaking; the smile, the steady gaze, the microexpressions that betray nothing.]
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I see. Well. Allow me to consider your offer, before I consider it.
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[And for juuust a second, it looks like Bill really is going to let him get away just like that but then -]
OH, BUT ONE MORE THING! YOU'RE GONNA KEEP ANYTHING YOU LEARNED DURING THIS DREAM JUST BETWEEN THE TWO OF US, RIGHT?
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Absolutely not.
[And with that, Tyrion leaned forward, with all the menace he had -- and that was quite a bit -- and snarled.]
Now. Get. Out.
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[Bill floats backwards and lands feather-light on the floor at the foot of the throne plinth. He leans on his cane and examines his fingernails.
Or lack thereof, really.]
IT'S ALWAYS A TWO-WAY DEAL! IN THIS CASE, SAFETY FOR SAFETY! I GET THE SAFETY OF STAYING UNDER THE RADAR FOR NOW AND YOU GET THE SAFETY OF SOMETHING YOU LIKE, TOO!