'ɓเɠ ɠαყ' รσ૨εყ (
monolike) wrote in
driftfleet2017-01-04 10:19 am
Entry tags:
Jan 3rd - Broadcast
Who: Sorey & y'all
Broadcast: Huntress & fleetwide
Action: n/a
When: Jan 3rd
[ Broadcast: Huntress only ]
Hey everybody, this is Sorey. I'm just checking in, seeing if everything's okay. Oh, and paperwork for new upgrades will be coming in soon, so if there's anything anybody would like to see upgraded, cast your votes now!
Oh also, we don't have any lab support personnel. I know Mikleo's been doing some stuff but if you know anybody looking to transfer who'd like the use of the lab, could you let 'em know? I'll include a call out in my public broadcast in a sec.
Okey dokey, that's all for now! If anything comes up, don't hesitate to contact me or Mikleo!
[ Broadcast: all ]
I'm kind of curious; so there are a lot of different kinds of forces or energies here that are a lot like the ones back on my planet, but they don't seem to behave the same way here. Like the rules are different. Is anybody else running against that?
And as an aside, if there's any potential lab personnel looking for a place, the Huntress has an unoccupied lab, for now.
Broadcast: Huntress & fleetwide
Action: n/a
When: Jan 3rd
[ Broadcast: Huntress only ]
Hey everybody, this is Sorey. I'm just checking in, seeing if everything's okay. Oh, and paperwork for new upgrades will be coming in soon, so if there's anything anybody would like to see upgraded, cast your votes now!
Oh also, we don't have any lab support personnel. I know Mikleo's been doing some stuff but if you know anybody looking to transfer who'd like the use of the lab, could you let 'em know? I'll include a call out in my public broadcast in a sec.
Okey dokey, that's all for now! If anything comes up, don't hesitate to contact me or Mikleo!
[ Broadcast: all ]
I'm kind of curious; so there are a lot of different kinds of forces or energies here that are a lot like the ones back on my planet, but they don't seem to behave the same way here. Like the rules are different. Is anybody else running against that?
And as an aside, if there's any potential lab personnel looking for a place, the Huntress has an unoccupied lab, for now.

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[It bursts out of Sorey's mouth, his chest, like the feeling had struggled free and ripped away from his clutches. His jaw clicks shut immediately after he says it, fists shaking at his sides. The surge of emotion from his apology, from Mikleo's acceptance and then rejection, all of it wells back up into an ugly tangled mess that Sorey has to pull apart, has to examine, no matter how badly he doesn't want to. He has to do it, for everyone's safety, for his own and he hates it.]
Because- because you all expect it. Zavied, Lailah- they've said as much. Dezel hasn't said it but it's obvious, because it always happens, all humans have done for hundreds of years is just hurt seraphim-
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[Mikleo can't hold it in, a lightning-quick rejection of every word. He'd known Sorey was wrong, but that- that's too far. It's too horrible, toeing the line of self-loathing that he can't bear to see in someone he treasures. It's frightening.]
You say that like humans are the only ones who fall and do terrible things, or the only ones who screw up. It isn't true at all! Before he joined our group, Zaveid killed hellions! Edna hates humans who don't know any better! Lailah can't talk about it, but she's made mistakes with her previous Shepherds, too! And that's not even getting into what Dezel did to Rose for years! And I--
[He hesitates, because this- this is hard. It's been building for a long time now, since they left Elysia, since they left Glenwood, since that awful planet where the poison in the water let slip the poison in his mind while they were armatized. While he couldn't hide it.
Maybe that's where this all started. Maybe he should have acknowledged it then.
Steeling himself, he closes his eyes, shoulders hunching.]
...I... I let what everyone said back home get to me, even though I knew it hurt you. I'm no better than Gramps when it comes to judging other humans.
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Why would he? There are some humans, maybe even many of them, most of them, who want nothing more than the peaceful coexistence of their races; Sorey doesn't doubt that in the slightest. Those who lust for war and upset, they're the aberrations, but a person doesn't have to be an aberration to hurt and destroy the things they hold dear. Isn't Sorey evidence enough of that?
It's not that humans are inherently bad. And that's not what Gramps had said back home either; Sorey hadn't realized it, and maybe neither had Mikleo, truly. Gramps never called humans bad. He'd called them dangerous.]
Gramps was right.
[Humans, whether they mean to be or not, are dangerous. Humans make malevolence, not seraphim; humans are the one with the impure hearts. Human turmoil churns up the darkness in the world, wars breed hellions, which prey on seraphim and humans alike. Sorey isn't fool enough to believe something radical, like the eradication of humans would be better off; everybody alive deserves to live, but to ignore the dangers humans present is just as Gramps said. Foolish and naive.]
I'm not saying humans are terrible or malicious by nature, and I'm not saying that seraphim are perfect pure beings. But humans- we're dangerous, Mikleo. We're prideful, and short-sighted, and easily swayed. I'm not going to be a proper Shepherd if I refuse to understand that.
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...That still... isn't why.
[He finally straightens up, meeting Sorey's eyes, as stubborn and fierce as he'll ever be. He won't back down on this. Sorey can argue about the nature of humans or seraphim until his ears bleed but he will never convince Mikleo that the choice he's made has anything to do with what he is.]
I- all of us- we've forgiven you because it's you! Not because you're human, or that we're seraphim, or that we expect it because of both of those things! It's because you mean more to us than anything you've ever done or could do! We're your family!
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But, Mikleo's right about this, too.]
I know, [Sorey says softly, gaze slipping down from Mikleo's face to his collar.] And you are. Everybody, Mikleo- you are. [He looks back up, squaring his shoulders.] So, I'm sorry you hate it, but...but I'm allowed to admire you. I can admire you for forgiving me of something I can't forgive myself of. I'm not going to be ashamed of that.
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...Do you see us differently, then? Me?
[He's not sure he can stand that- for what happened to change how things are so irrevocably, for Sorey to see them the way that regular humans might. For them to be anything more, something ethereal and out of reach. In so many ways since his return they've gotten closer, but...]
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He never hated himself for not being able to do that, for being unable to truly understand the song of the wind or the thrum of the earth, and he's never spent a day lonely, but...]
...c'mon, [he leans back against the desk, looking down at his hands in his lap.] I don't have to be a seraph to be family, right?
[That's probably answer enough.]
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Mikleo sits back down on the bed, unable or simply unwilling to look up again. He does, doesn't he? His perspective has changed, seeing seraphim and humans in a different light, now that he's experienced the worst of them. Now that he's been the worst of them. What the hell is he supposed to say to this?]
...You've been family the whole time. You don't need me to tell you that.
[It feels like such a weak answer, a default response to Sorey's distraction from the real problem, but he doesn't know what else to do. Is there any way to change his mind? Mikleo's wracking his brain but he just wants to reject the very idea of it, that Sorey might think less of himself for something he can't even help.
Dangerous. Dangerous, like they're an inherent burden on the world just by existing. Every cold and cautious thought he'd ever had about humans outside of Elysia, all the warnings that Gramps used to pass along to the both of them, every criticism... he can't stop thinking about it. For years they'd heard it, and he'd only ever defended Sorey, not humans themselves. How must that have felt?]
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Mikleo? [he asks worriedly, fidgeting with his fingers, rubbing over his nails.]
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It just doesn't feel right to him. Agreeing with it, smiling placidly and letting it be- he'd be dishonest to do that. It won't help either of them if he's the one lying about how he feels, instead.]
Hey, Sorey... remember, in that one iris gem we found... the Earthen Historia showed us how Symonne manipulated humans over the years? Even without resonance, they were able to hear the will of Heldalf and become corrupted through her. A lot of people must've suffered or died because of it.
[He doesn't wait for Sorey to answer, continuing onwards while the words are still cooperating with him.]
And Uno, Rohan, Morgrim, Forsea, Alken... they were ashamed of what happened to them, every one of them. They never blamed humans for their becoming hellions- only their own weakness. Even if the malevolence in the world played a part, they would know themselves better than we did. I'm sure they had their reasons.
[He should've paid more attention back then- to their words, their mistakes, the lessons taken away from the fates they'd met and been saved from. Remembering it now is humbling, and he's grateful. He's felt that shame now and he understands it better than he ever could back then.]
And... then there's Eizen. To have made Zaveid promise to kill him like that... he must've known he was changing. What we never learned is why. How was he corrupted? Wasn't there anyone who could help him? Why'd he put it all on Zaveid's shoulders like that? How many people did he kill?
[These days he wonders, sometimes, what Eizen was like before he changed. He never used to think much of it- Zaveid never liked to bring it up, and he always felt badly for upsetting Edna no matter how much she teased him the rest of the time, so it isn't something he could really ask about. Did he suffer, trapped in that body? Was he ever aware of what he was doing? Was there a time in the early days where he'd listen to Edna's voice, the way Mikleo himself had listened to Sorey? Would he, over time, have lost that instinctive recognition of the one he loved the way Eizen had, if he hadn't died so early in his transformation? Would he have tried to--
...That... is probably a road he shouldn't walk down. He shakes it off and slowly, finally, he lifts his head, focusing cautiously on Sorey again.]
You get what I'm saying, right?
no subject
Isn't that because their scope is greater? Sorey can't go one conversation with Lailah without saying something that hurts her feelings, but that must be because he simply doesn't understand like she does. Right?]
Seraphim aren't perfect beings. But worshiping seraphim- it's a mutually beneficial system. It's coexistence. [And Sorey had heard that implication too, at the mention of Eizen.
I'm not perfect.
Mikleo had become a dragon, and it doesn't take a spiritual connection to know he carries a lot of darkness around with him because of it. He'd even started collecting malevolence over his denial, over trying to tell himself he's okay. Maybe...maybe Sorey shouldn't have brought this up like this. Mikleo is still struggling with so much, and Sorey just dumped this onto his head without a single concern as to whether or not Mikleo's even ready for it.]
We wanted coexistence. Didn't we?
no subject
[Mikleo frowns tightly, brows furrowing. Sorey's words - his particular phrasing - reminds him of something else he'd forgotten.]
Back when Morgrim agreed to bless Pendrago again, something she said stuck with me. She said it doesn't really help anyone if she just exchanges the prayers of humans for her blessing. And we've seen the downside of that, with seraphim who've tried before- the humans take the protector seraph for granted, and the seraph resents the humans for forgetting their sacrifice. With no way to communicate, no equality between the two, it all falls apart. The way things stand, seraphim are just merchants selling blessings instead of goods.
Morgrim said the seraphim need to reconsider their roles. I think she meant... to truly coexist, we have to be more aware and proactive in maintaining more than just the blessing. It isn't just give and take, but... finding a level ground, mutual understanding between the two... that's what's been missing the whole time.
[Even as he says it, it comes together in his mind, like that final puzzle piece snapping into place, the last switch pulled to open a door. His eyes widen, fingers tightening in the bedsheets.]
Sorey, what you're suggesting isn't coexistence... it's co-dependence. It isn't the same thing.
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Sorey knows it, of course, obviously. The definitions are different, but...]
Mikleo- ...we'd been spending weeks searching for seraphim to return blessings to places. Are you saying we've been going about it the wrong way?
[Because that's what he's getting. And he knows Morgrim is wise, a seraph her age can't be anything but, but to say that seraphim worship is co-dependence strikes Sorey as unbearably condescending, to both humans and seraphim.]
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[A part of that broken relationship is due to the Lord of Calamity, sure, and the state of the world itself, but it hasn't been this bad for that long, as far as they know. On the other hand, the gap between humans and seraphim has existed for hundreds of years. Resonance is so rare that even devout, uncorrupted churchgoers can't perceive a seraph right in front of them. A Shepherd can only do so much- they need more people to get involved and communicating, both humans and seraphim alike.
He hesitates again, now, because... well, it's another thing they haven't talked about. He hasn't brought up Sorey's messages since the day he'd come back, as they'd felt like too much of a sensitive topic - the same could be said of the messages he'd left. Even so, it's too important to ignore.]
Sorey, you've said before... the relationship the two of us have, how close we are- that's the ideal you're going for. That you want more people to experience this. Is that still true?
no subject
But coexistence has happened before. There's evidence of it everywhere- in ruins, in the trial shrines, with seraphic artes and the like. And there are documents detailing how humans used to worship seraphim that predate the Age of Chaos. I don't think it's right to throw all of that aside because you're worried about people taking it too far.
I mean- I pray to that shrine, Mikleo, every day. Does that make you uncomfortable?
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And there's a reason why, despite his early objections, he'd not-so-subtly put that stupid snowglobe back. Turns out it'd been much easier to accept it when Sorey praying by an object that represented him was a joke rather than something genuine.]
That depends. Are you praying for us, or to us?
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Sorey... that's the difference. That's what I'm talking about. Wouldn't it be better if prayers to the seraphim were conversations, rather than just humans asking for things and worshipping one-sidedly? When so many of them avoid using the chapels as their vessels, where people would naturally go to petition for good health or forgiveness... What do you think seraphim would appreciate more?
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This is where the distance between them as seraph and human feels larger than ever, a gap incapable of bridging, ideals that separate them farther than land ever could.]
I think that probably depends on the seraph, [Sorey settles on, finally.] There's nothing to say worship can't be a conversation. And...and I've fallen short of being properly grateful to you guys, and you're always with me. I've used your powers thoughtlessly like they were my own.
[Sorey shrugs uncomfortably, looking way and folding his arms again.] Maybe that doesn't bother you, but it bothers me. There's the danger of humans looking at seraphim as tools when receiving their blessing too, but with the worship comes respectful distance. I don't think that's something that should be dismissed.
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Their friendship is proof that relationships can build between seraphim and humans, he knows. But only if they stay as strong as they've always been.]
If that's true... if it does depend on the seraph, then you should know where I stand. I've told you before, and I'll say it again: I went with you for myself as much as for you. Our dreams have always lined up, so it isn't like I'm here because you're human, or because I'm selfless. And... I forgave you for what happened... because I don't want to lose you over this. You mean too much to me.
[He breathes out, a long and quiet exhale, and turns his gaze off to the side, away from Sorey. It's hard enough to say all of this- he really can't look Sorey in the eye while he does it.]
So you should also know... I don't want worship, and I don't want "respectful distance"- I don't want any of that. I'll end up resenting you, if you treat me too differently because of this.
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Those aren't because he's a seraph.
But had Sorey gone too far...? Mikleo's face, when he'd shoved Sorey away, he'd been- he hadn't just been embarrassed, had he? He'd always wondered if he was the only one overthinking things, looking across his family and seeing only differences. It didn't happen often but it did happen at his most vulnerable moments, him with his simple name and his simple strength and his simple life. Sorey, the human, living amongst old gods.
Maybe Mikleo's been thinking about it too.
Maybe Mikleo's picked up on it before even he has.]
Mikleo, you...you asked me earlier if I think of you differently. [Sorey rubs the back of his neck.] The truth is that I've always thought of everyone in Elysia as different from me. Not in a way that- that invited worship, but...I knew if I stayed there I would get old, and I would go gray and I'd die a long time before anything like that happened to any of you.
...I do see us differently. Humans and seraphim.
But no matter what we are, you'll always still be my same old Mikleo. [Sorey rubs his arm uncomfortably.] I'm sorry if I...if I made you feel like I wanted distance. I'm still working through some things...
And. And thank you...for forgiving me.
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It wasn't just that. It was- it was that day-
Barely breathing, wounded and bleeding and crying out in suffering and loneliness, wild and confused as only a dying animal could be, he'd heard those words.
"He was never supposed to die first. It was supposed to be me-! I’m the human!"
Of course Sorey knew already. This isn't something they ever talk about, but... of course he'd be aware of those differences. He would have noticed it at least when Mikleo did, if not before. It's easier to see things when you're the one that stands apart.
They don't talk about it. Maybe they should. Maybe now that death has touched them, their differences are all the more important to acknowledge... so they understand one another, the way they ought to, as partners.
The silence stretches out, almost too long; that memory takes more effort than he'd have liked to shake off. Some of them are. The fragments of darker days, the ones Allen had warned not to try and remember, linger uncomfortably and often inconveniently around those who might see it. Sorey's noticed those, too. He wishes there was a way to make himself stop, to alleviate some of Sorey's guilt, but that sort of dishonesty won't help them, either.
He'll share this, too.
Finally he lifts his hand, tentatively patting the spot on the bed beside him.]
...Come here.
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Mikleo's fits and visions haven't completely subsided; Sorey suspects they're more getting lost in his memories than anything, trying to chase down details and getting stuck (like Sorey himself has done once or twice) but hovering can sometimes just make Mikleo feel even worse so he's been making a sincere effort to keep his distance and give Mikleo space to work through things on his own. It's been terribly difficult.
So many things between them are so uncertain, and Sorey hates it. There's never been uncertainty in their relationship before- no, but maybe that's because they haven't spoken about these things before. Sorey being human, Mikleo being seraph...it was something they discussed lightly, for the sake of quips or abstractly academic. Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe they should've been frank with each other from the beginning, neither of them shying away from their differences, afraid to examine them for fear that they'll find something that will split them apart.
So Sorey sits beside Mikleo, but he also leans against his side, purposefully heavy and warm. He feels a little better that way, Mikleo's shoulder against his arm, sure and steady. There's no distance between them; they'll bridge that gap somehow.]
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This is good. This is better. And eventually, when he feels more like himself again, he rediscovers his voice.]
There's... been something I've been trying to remember, from that time, but I can't. No matter how hard I try, it just doesn't come. I can't remember when I would've told you that you'd be okay.
[As he died; after he was gone, forever. Dragons can't speak, can they? They're not like the animal seraphim, with souls and voices and thoughts to share. They fly, they burn, they kill. Dragons are known as their own sort of calamity for good reason. Monstrous beasts that can't be contained, controlled, or befriended.
When, while dying, would he have found his voice enough to tell Sorey that he was capable of living on? It's true, of course- he'd never deny that- but how had that belief been conveyed through the fangs of a monster?]
The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that it doesn't matter how. You heard me, anyway. And I know what I must have meant.
[Tentatively his fingers slip sideways to find Sorey's hand, instinctively knowing. He hasn't reached out much in recent years but his hand has always known where to find Sorey.]
I forgive you as a seraph. But I'd forgive you if I were human, too. Or a dragon. I'd forgive you if I hadn't ever come back at all. It doesn't matter what we are or what we become... how I feel isn't ever going to change.
[A dozen years, a hundred years, a thousand years. These are the moments he'll keep.]
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It...doesn't shock him that Mikleo doesn't remember telling him that. Mikleo's made allusions to it before; only barely remembering his time as a dragon in flashes, in scattered sounds and smells that he can't bear to look at more closely. On the one hand Sorey is intensely grateful that Mikleo doesn't remember those last few horrible moments; on the other, it feels so lonely, being the only one between them holding Mikleo's dying words in his heart. It's a burden he'll just have to learn how to carry.
Mikleo's strong, cool fingers slip into his hand, curl around the edge of his palm and Sorey automatically grips back. His hands are bigger than Mikleo's now; knuckles obvious and tendons sharp compared to Mikleo's smooth skin and clean nails, but Sorey likes the contrast. They've lived similar lives but still turned out so differently from each other.
I'd forgive you if I were human, too.
(I know,) Sorey thinks, fiercely and gratefully, eyes stinging again. Mikleo might hate worship but Sorey doesn't know what else to call this, this warmth, this huge swelling thing inside of him that threatens to take him over and eat him up from the inside out.
It doesn't matter what we are or what we become.
It doesn't, but it does, because they're together no matter what as Mikleo and Sorey, seraph and human, (dragon and hellion) and there's something fatalistic about that, about considering what they'll be decades from now if they even survive defeating Heldalf. If they'll live together, travel together, be together until Sorey's knees are too weak to carry him through ruins anymore, but at the same time...it's the most wonderful thing Sorey's ever wondered because there is no considering it. It's what they'll always be.
...how I feel isn't ever going to change.
Mikleo, gods willing, will be eternal. And, gods willing, one day he'll live in a world that Sorey is no longer in...but his heart will still carry Sorey inside of it, his whole memory. Not as a human he knew, or a worshiper, but him, clear as words on a page, tall as a relief carved into rock.]
I love you Mikleo, [Sorey mumbles, voice thick. He twists so he can wrap his arms around Mikleo and pull him to him close, so overwhelmed with thankfullness he can hardly keep his tears at bay.] You're my best friend. I love you.
(no subject)