Voices from Heaven (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thespaceopera) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
driftfleet2019-01-20 07:25 pm
thespaceopera) wrote in driftfleet2019-01-20 07:25 pm
Entry tags:
- !event,
- !mingle,
- adrian "alucard" tepes,
- baku,
- bentley "ben" douglass,
- ciel phantomhive,
- connor,
- felix gaeta,
- glenn rhee,
- grievous,
- haggar,
- james tiberius kirk (au),
- kaname buccaneer,
- katherine "kitty" pryde,
- keith,
- krolia,
- lance,
- libra,
- loki,
- lorden gesh,
- lup,
- magnus burnsides,
- manji,
- messer ihlefeld,
- mikleo,
- nico di angelo,
- pavel chekov,
- prompto argentum,
- remy lebeau,
- sorey,
- taako,
- the vision,
- thor odinson,
- tyrion lannister,
- vash the stampede,
- veronica,
- victor frankenstein,
- wanda maximoff
dreams in digital
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(last updated: 1/21/19)
no subject
[It's said in the tone of a know it all child, because this is one very precocious child. Of course, leaning too close to the purple gem causes the room to melt into something else-- though, unfortunately, it doesn't set Han free.
The mansion has turned into a cramped apartment room, spartan and dark and messy. Belthazar is laying face down in the bed. His robes are tattered purple and blue. There is another elf sitting on the edge of the bed, older, possessing the same flickering green eyes as his charge. He is blond and obviously not related to Belthazar, but the fondness of his look is familial. He's conjuring something in his hands, giving the room a pale purple light.]
Don't let it get like this, Belthazar. Talk to me before you start looking like a goddamn ghost.
[Belth hides his face in his arms.] I was fine... fine until the mission. I used too much magic. We were supposed to distract them, and so... [He sucks in a sharp breath, and quietly adds:] I'm sorry.
[Adrasteius holds out a ruby flickering with mana. He sighs heavily, the weight of the world on his shoulders. But he has to be strong for the boy.] Take this. Please.
[It takes him a moment or two, but Belth draws himself up to his knees. He starts to reach for the mana gem, already feeling the thirst inside of him calling, screaming-- but he hesitates, looking up at the magister with the expression of a miserable child.
He draws the mana from it with his fingertips, taking just enough to stay alive.
They talk for a little while longer, with Adra steadily moving closer. His tone is gentle, unchiding. He recognizes that the boy is frightened and tired, and could take off like a wounded animal without notice. They talk about a few things: Belthazar being in a battle for the first time, Adra's inability to do anything, the fact that this world they're in has such little mana to feed on.
Finally, Adrasteius lays a hand on Belthazar's shoulder. The boy hunches his shoulders but doesn't move away. He can't be older than fifteen.]
... You have to fight to get anything of worth. It doesn't matter what world it is, they're all the same.
And when you get it, you have to hold onto it as tightly as you can. Someone will always try to take it away from you.
[Adra's lips form a line.] And what do you consider worth fighting for?
[Belthazar's voice is young and raw in the darkness.]
A place to exist. A... home.
[The vision fades, bringing light and summer back to the room. The purple jewel in front of Han's eyes cracks and breaks into several shards-- all of which get sucked into that nasty-looking green one.
Belthazar looks a little older now, from his place sitting in the chair, about sixteen with black robes on and those same bright green eyes from the memory. He watches Han like a distrustful cat watching someone walk through its territory, his hands on his spellbook.]
no subject
But everything melting away doesn't really lend itself to anything other than staring.
He doesn't miss the fact, when it's over, that the boy is slightly less boyish. It's one of the less weird things going on. He carefully does not touch the green gem. ]
Did you see all that? [ He's... not sure how this stuff works. ]
no subject
I saw.
[His tone is carefully neutral. That moment is one of the more vulnerable moments he can think of, and having it exposed to a near-stranger is kind of... painful, but he can deal with it. It's not the first time.]
I wouldn't have chosen to show anyone that if I could help it, but humans always get into things they're not supposed to. And I-- I do love that about them, so I can't judge at all.
[He sighs and turns back to his book.] I don't expect you to understand, so don't worry about it.
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[ He doesn't sound particularly sorry. There's an art to perfunctory apologies-- and Han has never actually mastered it.
Well aware that he's apt to regret doing so, he reaches to touch the other gemstone. ]
cw: starvation
-- but it doesn't matter, because the walls are melting away once more, and Han is thrown into another memory.]
C-c-cold, I'm cold... [Belthazar huddles in the wreckage of a cabin, looking no older than seven or eight and still frightfully tiny. His cottage is open to the elements aside from a single corner, though the weather seems to be cooperating... for now. He's made a small fire out of the wreckage, at least. His blue purple robe is draped over his shoulders; he's too small to wear it still, so he uses it as a blanket or a cloak instead. Despite the darkness, his eyes glow a dim blue-green.] Okay, okay, don't... don't think about it. I can't think about it.
[He pulls a book out of the shadows and splays it open on his lap. His face is full of concentration.]
I-I need to finish the other five chapters. Then I can find something to eat. [He gently slaps his face to wake himself up. Reading by firelight kinda sucks, but he's an elf so it's not as big of a deal as it could be.]
Chapter sixteen. [A breath, and he begins to recite with practice.] The threads binding a creation of mana are different from a creature of mana, such as dragonkin; they are living creatures, though arcane constructs are not. Constructs are built in such a way that...
[A rat dislodges itself from the wreckage and scurries fitfully across the floor. Belthazar is quicker than that. He jumps for it on all fours, snaps it up in his hands. It squeaks petulantly and tries to wriggle free but he is determined to keep his hands on it.
His expression turns to one of sadness as he watches the squirming creature.]
I-I'm sorry. I have to do this... I have to.
[The boy's eyes flash green. Tendrils of blue-purple energy wrap around the rat as if strangling it, feeding back into Belthazar's palms. The small creature screeches shrilly, bloodcurdling and terrible-- and then that noise cuts off just as suddenly as it shrivels up and turns to dust in his hands.
It's only a little. It's a little, but it's enough, and he sighs in relief.
The walls melt away again, and everything is in its place. A warm room with four walls and a ceiling and no rats. The glowing green gem appears to have lost its glow, however. Belthazar has turned back to the desk and is hard at work repairing that blue and purple robe from the flashback.]
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[ he mutters, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Watching Belthazar for a moment, he crosses closer to the window again. ]
This is where you're from?
hoo boy this is old, feel free to ignore
Mm. Yes. Silvermoon, capital of the high elves-- now blood elves-- and the biggest settlement in the forests of Quel'thalas.
You wouldn't know it, but beneath that golden veneer is a lot of nasty things.
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[ Look, he's been to plenty of fancy planets in his time. He knows the drill. ]
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It is, isn't it?
At one point our bastions of light and supposed goodness also had a benevolent being chained up in their basement so they could drain its power for themselves. They were hurting their own cause.
The leader had a change of heart after a while, but there's no denying what happened.
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[ Really, the idea of benevolent beings sounds like superstitious nonsense to begin with. ]
Do you trust that cause to begin with?
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[It's more like befriending celestial puppeteers.]
They used to beat people in the street for being poor, so no, I do not trust their cause overmuch. There are honest people in that organization to be sure, but I hesitate to paint any broad majority as good.