driftfleet | can you spot the drama queen

Entry tags:

can you spot the drama queen

Who: Mattias Larnaca
Broadcast: video; fleet-wide
Action: marsiva so NO ONE
When: 2/17

I don't understand. [The screen is black, the voice is ragged, raw. Wet with sobs that gasp and hiccup out of him. The comm scrapes against the floor of the ship and a glimpse of space can be seen ] I-it's dark. She-[He chokes, splutters, coughs.]-She's gone. Is this... [A deep, bedraggled breath. The screen brightens, adjusting to the color of fluorescent lights and a young man's weary face, wet with tears. Despite his appearance, he's smiling. The kind of smile seen at births, marriages, a baby's first step. He's overcome with emotion, excited and battling it, fighting disbelief in order to confirm that this, any of this is real.]

This is a communication system. I don't-[He swipes a hand across his face, wiping his eyes clear.]-I don't know how I know that but... [muttering:]... it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Whoever's out there-[He chokes again, this time laughing.]-Goddess. I really am. Above the clouds. In her domain. I never-[He swallows, trying to contain his excitement again.]-I never thought this would happen. I could never even imagine it. Not like this. Not-Goddess.

[Falling back to one hand he sighs, pulling a hand through his tired hair, loose waves spilling between his fingertips. After a few minutes, he seems to remember that he's broadcasting. Eyes glimmering with elation, he leans forward, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face.]

Please. Anyone. Tell me. [He turns the comm quickly and presses it against the glass. The screen fills with the void of space, stars glittering in their myriad.] Has night finally come?

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A fool... [He whispers it, testing it on his tongue. It's not the first time he's been called it but it might be the first moment he considers it true.] Yes, I might still be one.

[Yet his words reach him, even if they hit hollow. He tries not to dwell on helping her. That path only leads to what's missing. How she's not there, swimming under his skin, wrapping him in her cool embrace. No, better to focus on the constant. Take comfort in the similarities then dwell on what's empty.

Taking a deep, wavering breath, he levels his gaze with the calm, eyes oddly firm.] But, I understand.

[yes, good. that is what he wants, and the smile returns. if the man can manage that small but heavy step forward, he might still be worth the dragon's time and attention.]

We've all seen the faces of our gods, but I'm now sure that those are only single facets of much more complicated creatures than we've ever given them credit for.

They may look differently out here, go by different names, are known by different stories, but the things that matter are still the same. Maybe we should count ourselves lucky that we're able to learn of them now.

[which is deviating farther from his personal less-than-favorable opinions of the gods, but he's not above offering the reassurance anyway, in this case.]

...Did you know, there are tales of a time without darkness in the ancient histories of my home? Perhaps it's a story that has repeated itself in various forms throughout the worlds.

[Mattias' eyes widen.] A time without darkness. [He repeats the words as if they were holy. The more Tek speaks the more likely things become. A proper explanation to the madness just unleashed on his mind. He uses it as structure, cogs turning to forge theories. Excitement, slowly, returns.]

Then it's a pattern. Or a cycle. Or-[He's sitting upright again, eyes wild with the possibilities. He gulps.]-even time. A disparity.

[He snaps his fingers.] Like what happens in a Joining! The slowing of time. Your world could be my future.

[He laughs, not only at the thought, but at the return, however slight, of hope.]

[there we go! he watches the chain reaction of wheels, finally catching and spinning under their own power once he gives it a push. it's the same jump-start that kicked off the readjustment of his own worldview several years ago.]

There isn't anything saying that it can't be. Or it could be one more illustration of a grand design that repeats itself across every variant of creation.

Not everyone will know of a time when light so completely conquered darkness... but ask around. The notion that there is a war between the two will still be familiar. It's universal.

Maybe our nights are the very same beings, with different names. Maybe they are sisters. The details hardly matter. ...The fact remains that there will always be day, there will always be night, and one will always be trying to burn the other out.

Sisters. [His voice trembles, a smile wavering from pure elation. He wants to see all of them. Trace the similarities, note the differences, too excited by the potential future to be deterred by the possibility it's a false assumption. Astonished, he laughs again, clutching the communicator with both hands as he scrambles to his feet.]

Marvelous. Simply wonderful. Well, not the conflict but-the possibilities. To think, there could be a world-multiple, even!-where she reigns. [He sighs, his smile only broadening.] It's all I could ever dream of.

See, it's not all as bad as it first seemed. Why, I'm sure you may even learn entirely new--

[oh something hits him, genuinely, and he suddenly stops to grin.]

Oh... you likely know very little of star-stories at all, don't you?

[His neck nearly snaps with how fast he looks up.]

Star-stories? No. I-please. Tell me.

Oh, well...

[oh gods he's so pleased right now. what a perfect audience.]

One of the many benefits of nighttime is the skyscape of stars... which, people have used to help keep track of and tell their stories for eons. For every group of people who have been graced with the stars overhead, you will find a new crop of star-stories among them.

Where I'm from, the tale goes that the goddess of night stole pieces of the sun-god's shining cloak of fire. Some, she used to wrap herself in and became the moon. And the rest were scattered into the sky as flecks of light, to guide and comfort her nighttime creatures. Afterward, her son--the god of dreams--was the first to use them to tell stories... and the tradition has continued ever since.

A god of dreams. [He says it wistfully.]

How wonderful. And for him to be a storyteller too-magnificent. But, ah. What do you mean by the "tradition has continued"? Has it continued within the gods or outside of them? It's a minor question, I know.

Oh, yes. He may be the original storyteller--passing on messages and mysteries to the mortal realm through dreams. Quite the imagination, he has. You should see the creatures he's made.

[and, as for the question, he cants his head to the side in half a shrug.]

Both, most likely. Mankind likes to claim that all of their star stories are handed down from the gods themselves, but I'm sure that is hardly the case. As many a mother with child on her knee uses the stars to keep track of their tales as the gods do, I wager.

How distant. [Mattias is used to the gods being much more intimate. Involved in not only the lives of the people but their politics, their thoughts. It seems strange for a god to allow such a loose leash for their stories.]

But what of these creatures? Could you describe them for me?

Well, the gods had a much closer touch, generations ago. It's said that they get further as the world gets older.

[just wait until he runs into an atheist. Tek still doesn't know what to do with those.]

...And, ah, the bestial children of Nagrafae.

When the gods each crafted their races, they all ended up looking something similar to one another. Standing on two legs, with arms, faces, clothing--you know how it goes. But when the Lord of Hunger's monsters went ravaging across the land in those early days, the mortal races needed help to fight them.

So, the god of dreams borrowed designs from various creatures, and used them to craft his children. They all have the faces and wings of birds, and the bodies and limbs of beasts. They were instrumental in winning the war against the ravenous monsters... but have never been seen as equals by the other races. To this day, they're treated more like animals than peers.

...Another group of nighttime creatures pushed out of the light.

[The face and wings of birds, with bodies of beasts. Mattias can only imagine it and he can only assume his attempts are clumsy.]

They sound beautiful. A pity for them to be mistreated so. Does no one defend them?

No one but themselves. They've gotten very good at hiding, over the centuries... and they fiercely defend their colonies when they are discovered, since they're often captured and kept captive by mankind.

There is even one bloodline of them that have learned to cloak their territories entirely--hiding from the eyes and ears of others until the moon is full. And even on those nights, they're almost impossible to find.

...Lovely little creatures once you get to know them, though.

They can turn invisible? That's remarkable. I've heard of adapting but that-that's an entirely new level of advancement. How do they do it, do you know? And how did you meet one? If they're invisible it must have been quite hard to find.

It's all magic, granted to them by their god.

[said offhandedly, while giving a little wave of his hand, like the whole thing is no big deal]

Oh, I've known a few of them over the years. It helps if you know the language, and they're friendly toward many things outside of mankind anyway.

Outside of-[Record scratch. He freezes, voice dropping to a near whisper.] ... You're not human.

[but you look human?? but??
???
exPLAIN??]

[gods, but this guy is simply precious. and the smile Tek offers him says as much.]

Well, of course not. Do I look human to you?

[aside from the unnatural color of his eyes and hair, and the fact that he looks perhaps a bit prettier and more perfect than he should, he could certainly pass when someone isn't expecting something else.]

[Mattias swallows tightly.]

Would I... offend you if I said yes?

Not offended, no.

But I might call you unobservant.

[Mattias perks up at that, feathers properly ruffled.]

Well, I might take offense to that. [He leans closer to the screen, only now picking up on the, uh, rather prominent features. Muttering:] Although I suppose it's true this once.

[Sighing, he leans back, running a hand through his hair.] Here I thought you were just abnormally, uh. [Shit. How does he say this without getting weird.] ... Pleasant. [He coughs.] To look at.

[mOVING ON.] What are you, then? I've never heard of anything that resembles humans.

[pleasant to look at, hmm? he answers that with a quiet, but horrible little giggle. and as for that question--]

--That will have to remain a secret for now, I'm afraid.

And you really don't have anything inhuman like me, where you're from? Other passengers have told me that they also come from places like that, and I imagine it must be terribly dull.

We have all kinds of creatures back home.

[He's imagining a haven of gorgeous people. It's somewhat discomforting.]

Now you're simply teasing me. Must you bait me? You know I'm only going to ask for the whole menagerie.

[oh Tek would never put up with a crowd of creatures as pretty as he is.]

Oh, I could keep it to myself, if you'd rather.

[his smile is turning coy--it's probably because someone just called him good-looking]

I was merely bringing it up for the sake of future conversation. ...Unless you have any objections to that too.

[That's two people in one day who want to continue talking to him. He could almost get giddy. Instead he gives Tek a sly look, a grin playing at his lips.]

Oh, you're a cruel one. [But he laughs.] But no, I-the only objection I have is that I must wait.

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