A call in the dark

[thespaceopera]

[It won't be long before the Marsiva leaves the system. Not once has the fleet's Host Ship gone near the green, mysterious planet, choosing instead to keep it only at the far edges of her reach. All the while, the party deck has remained open and welcoming, tempting passengers to stay and try their luck for last-minute prizes.

And just when it seems like the fleet may leave the Lagan system without incident- a sudden rush of energy flares out across the green planet's surface and beyond, rippling far past its atmosphere until it reaches every ship in the fleet. The energy buffets the hulls and scrambles the instruments for one or two very dramatic minutes - just as it had before, but much more powerful in its reach. The wave is still invisible, save for a confusing warp in the way light describes shapes, but those who are sensitive to various energies--psionic, magical, life-force, or otherwise--will be able to feel an overwhelming force comb through their entire being, before the phenomenon passes over and ends.

However, unlike last time, this wave of energy is not silent. Across both the speakers of every communication device and console, and in the minds of anyone sensitive to the energy, comes the message:]

Yei equoa seh ouat ti unduo ti akun. Yiat deht quoi yiat seh kiskhan. Yiaht seh yesui ti yiat seh enduan, tal yei vissai atuav yei ti esat yiat lehir hanui. Esat yiat lehir evess. Esat yiat lehir illua tal giskat deht. Wes sahat lehir enila yei, wes yei vissai seh nan sahat ista, sahat yayet quoi adaht woru vitsahn. Hanui gisketi ideht yesui ti tokia gisketi ideht uaru, tal adrifa deseht adtah.

[Those who had been investigating the wreckage's systems may notice that this message is the very same as the one coded in the distress signal. Perhaps the Virsua was trying once last time to communicate.]


[OOC: Feel free to use this post as a mingle--either for broadcasts over the network or in-person interactions. The Marsiva is still within range of the planet for another day or two, so any in-person threads can be on the planet's surface, aboard various ships or stations, or in the Marsiva's party room.

For those who had learned a translated word before, now is a great chance to put that knowledge to use!

While the mods continue to sort out the upcoming happenings with the Drift Fleet, we thought a final themed mingle would be fun to play with in the meantime. Enjoy!]

Comments

[axiomed]

[ His hands are still shaking. Charles forces them upon the armrests, his fingers curling tightly over them. ]

Are you all right?

[exothermia]

[Erik holds onto the armrests as well, though separate from Charles's hands.]

I blacked out. [Short and not so sweet.] I'm not usually on the receiving end of magnetic distortion like that.

[axiomed]

[ He huffs lightly, despite himself. Typical Erik. ]

My shields are weaker than I thought.

[exothermia]

[Shaking his head, he gives Charles a considering look.]

Even if your shields were perfect, I felt it physically. It was more than just... one thing.

[axiomed]

I've felt the world in my head. This should be nothing.

[ He feels it again, the burn of shame, of helplessness searing under his skin and always the underlying fear that his weaknesses have been exposed and his school will fall. ]

[exothermia]

[He breathes out, and moves to place one hand over Charles's again, lightly. His words are firmer than his touch.]

Charles. That wave could have been a world.

[axiomed]

[ That was a sobering thought and it effectively distracts him from his own feelings. ]

. . . Perhaps. I thought I heard something else in that message. It sounded like English.

[exothermia]

I... thought I did as well, but thought I was hearing things.

[He did pass out immediately after. His mind isn't as reliable as it used to be, after all.]

[axiomed]

There was something there.

[ He exhales, slowly unclenching his fingers from his arm rests. ] It wasn't . . .

[exothermia]

No. [Whatever Charles is thinking of, Erik's sure the answer must be no. Glancing down, he removes his hand.]

I understood... one word, I think. "Uaru." It means whole.

[axiomed]

I heard . . . Lehir. I'm not sure of its meaning though. Can, perhaps.

[exothermia]

I don't think... it's something we'd be able to puzzle out on our own.

[axiomed]

I'll leave it to the Fleet.

[ He's drained now and the voices still scrape over his raw mind. All that progress - undone by a single wave. ]

[exothermia]

[Erik nods. He pulls away from the chair, but only so he can sit down on the bed. Concern lingers, along with the trailing edges of his own visceral experience.]

How do you feel?

[axiomed]

[ Charles looks at Erik for a long time before responding honestly. ]

I don't know. It's not the same but . . . [ He shrugs helplessly. ]

[exothermia]

But it's close enough.

[Close enough for the memory, the reaction to strike. Erik glances at the red marks that Charles's nails left in his skin, and for a moment wishes he could brush them away with his fingertips. It doesn't work that way, and...

He shakes his head, but his voice is quiet.]

If it hadn't been, I don't think we would have reacted so badly.

[axiomed]

I won't let him beat me.

[ His voice is steel. ]

I don't care how badly I react to it. I won't let him have this.

[exothermia]

That much was never in doubt.

[Not by Erik.]

[axiomed]

[ He subsides at that. ]

No. I suppose not. This is an aberration . . . a moment. Not the sum of you or me.

[exothermia]

[It helps that he knows En Sabah Nur wasn't really behind it. It helps to know that sudden flood of energy, that hollowing out, filling up was brief. It doesn't help to know it will feature in his nightmares tonight, where the mutant reaches into his chest and takes hold of his heart as easily as Systems wielded his scalpel. Easily taken. Easily used.

Erik lets out a huff.]

No. It isn't part of the equation at all.

[axiomed]

. . . Why did you do it, Erik?

[exothermia]

[The question comes not from out of nowhere, but at least a little out of left field. The mild confusion on Erik's face doesn't take long to change to comprehension - they've been talking about En Sabah Nur all along, and yet not.

He looks down at his hands, taking a moment to regroup. Once, he might have found this question daunting, and he's a little surprised to note that he isn't afraid of answering. It's a question he's turned over and over in his own mind in the months since then, on his own and with others... and in the end, his reasons are obvious. He can hardly be more reprehensible than he already is. So when he replies, his voice is steady, if quiet.]

I was angry, and wanted to hit back. [Only there was no one left to strike at, once they were all dead.] I'd spent so long trying to do things differently... change myself into something better. I even thought I'd succeeded. But... I made a mistake. And that was all it took for them to rip everything apart again.

[He worries at the skin on his knuckles, roughened from years of work.] I asked myself if that was all I was. If that was what the universe wanted from me. If all I was good for was killing and destruction. I didn't understand what else I could possibly do. [To improve, to stop things collapsing no matter what he tried.]

[After a moment, he looks back up at Charles.]

When he took me back to the camps, I thought I understood then. ["This is where your people were slaughtered ... You don't know your own power, but I do."] I understood suffering, tearing things down. ["So we unlock your gift with anger. Anger and pain."] After that ... once he'd put that power in me, there was only the use of it.

[axiomed]

[ Charles is silent before he moves closer, prying Erik's fingers away from his knuckles. He knew that answer. ]

Were you angry with me?

[ Did you want to bury me too? he had wondered. Charles has stopped believing that he has some special connection to Erik, that he could change or make Erik do anything he didn't want to. It had been fantasy in his mind and the problem with the mind is that it conjures all kinds of beliefs that never hold up. It's tempered now.

But this . . . he still stumbles with. They had dealt with false gods and inhuman creatures. En-Sabah-Nur had just been one that came to their home. ]

[exothermia]

[He glances down as Charles moves his fingers, letting the question sink in. Was he?]

No. I was angry about a lot of things... even some of the things you said. [That he won't deny, though he's as much at fault for how he handled Charles's attempt to reach out after his family's death. Especially knowing where it lead.] But I wasn't angry with you.

It seems stupid to say I didn't realise he intended to destroy you. But I didn't. [He had been blinded to so many things, caught up in that vortex of power and despair. Thank goodness for Raven's efforts.] When I realised what was about to happen, that knowledge was what let me break out of his hold. I didn't want to lose you.

[axiomed]

[ Wordlessly, he presses them to Erik's knees before lifting his hands away and steeples them over his lap. ]

There's nothing to lose. I'll always be here for you.

[ But it sounds like verbatim, a script that Charles has followed dutifully for years. He sighs. ]

I know you never meant for it to get that far.

[ It says so much about them, though, he thinks dimly, that they only ever talk like this in the library, Kyriakos . . . the spaces between the real world. Maybe it's the same for their relationship. ]