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ioduanlogs2018-05-05 08:04 am
psituational) wrote in ioduanlogs2018-05-05 08:04 am
[May Catch-All] A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down~
Characters: Devin, Valdis, Kit, Zephyr, the Fool
Date: Backdated to mid-April-ish for Devin, throughout May for the rest.
Location: All over Aifaran.
Situation: Ranging from 'hi you should probably know that I'm never going to go to sleep again and here's why', to 'we need a therapy group stat.' Also some identity theft and finely-tailored coats thrown in.
Warnings/Rating: None for now, but at least one thread is going to get personal, so warnings in comment headers as they become applicable!
A: Devin | mid-April-ish, a few days after the park destruction | Oh, By The Way
Valdis has gone missing, and X is pretty sure there's nothing he can do to find her until she wants to be found. It's not ideal, and it makes him antsy, so he's focusing on the one thing he can do something about -- Devin.
For the past few days, whenever X isn't at the park helping to repair some of the damage, he's with Devin in the library, talking. He talks even and especially when Devin doesn't talk back. The bookcases are high, but Devin is better at staying within his own physical limits than X was fearing, and as a result X never has to leap up and help out. He does wince, though, once or twice, when Devin reaches a little far.
Once it's pretty clear Devin is completely healed (and that ability, both in humans and in people like Devin, will never stop being weird), X knows he can't put off the truth any longer. "Listen," he says after one short and companionable silence. "There's... something I need you to know."
B: Valdis and Kit | early May, after talking to Valdis on the beach | Therapy Group, Stat
Valdis has moved out of the Dreaming Bridge now. That's something X intends to do himself, eventually, but not yet -- nowhere near, if he's being honest with himself. He doesn't spend much time there to begin with, and since it looks like sleeping is not an activity he'll get to engage in again any time soon, there's really no point until he's saved up a bit more money.
But he still considers Valdis a roommate. And you don't need to be a reader to know when two different people could benefit from having someone to trust. So X sends both his roommates a message -- text for Kit, audio for Valdis -- in the hopes that Valdis won't keep ignoring him.
Meet me outside the Bridge. There's something I'd like all three of us to do. Don't worry, it's nothing bad.
C: Zephyr | mid May | Crime 1, Identity Thief
Well, X thinks as he stands and blinks at the poster on the outside of the Sentry building. At least this time it took three months for them to decide I'm a threat.
He feels more at home right now than he ever has. That's... something he undoubtedly needs to work through. Still, X can't pinpoint what might have caused this. The one thing he's done that he knew would make the authorities angry, he's already been punished for. Is it because of the park last month? Has someone worked out what he is and decided he can't be allowed to roam free anymore?
The longer X stands there pondering those questions, the more obvious it becomes to any onlookers that the angry, aggressive face depicted in the poster looks about as similar to X as a dragon does to a lizard.
D: The Fool | mid May | Commerce 3, But It's Bespoke!
X's weekly chats with the Fool aren't the only reason he suspects the Fool might be the one who's sent him this... frankly, beautiful coat. It fits X perfectly, which implies an attention to detail, and he can't help recalling the day he tried to climb through the cafeteria window and shattered the glass. He'd been wearing a coat then, nabbed for practicality, cheap and thick and entirely ineffectual against the rain. It would be just like the Fool to order a custom tailored coat right after that.
The problem is that, if he did, he doesn't seem to have paid for it.
So, with the tailor standing right there and very impatient, X tries to get the Fool on the yimo. "He's not very good with technology," X explains to the tailor. "It might take a minute."
"I'm telling you," says the tailor, exasperated, "no one called the Fool ordered this! You did!"
Date: Backdated to mid-April-ish for Devin, throughout May for the rest.
Location: All over Aifaran.
Situation: Ranging from 'hi you should probably know that I'm never going to go to sleep again and here's why', to 'we need a therapy group stat.' Also some identity theft and finely-tailored coats thrown in.
Warnings/Rating: None for now, but at least one thread is going to get personal, so warnings in comment headers as they become applicable!
A: Devin | mid-April-ish, a few days after the park destruction | Oh, By The Way
Valdis has gone missing, and X is pretty sure there's nothing he can do to find her until she wants to be found. It's not ideal, and it makes him antsy, so he's focusing on the one thing he can do something about -- Devin.
For the past few days, whenever X isn't at the park helping to repair some of the damage, he's with Devin in the library, talking. He talks even and especially when Devin doesn't talk back. The bookcases are high, but Devin is better at staying within his own physical limits than X was fearing, and as a result X never has to leap up and help out. He does wince, though, once or twice, when Devin reaches a little far.
Once it's pretty clear Devin is completely healed (and that ability, both in humans and in people like Devin, will never stop being weird), X knows he can't put off the truth any longer. "Listen," he says after one short and companionable silence. "There's... something I need you to know."
B: Valdis and Kit | early May, after talking to Valdis on the beach | Therapy Group, Stat
Valdis has moved out of the Dreaming Bridge now. That's something X intends to do himself, eventually, but not yet -- nowhere near, if he's being honest with himself. He doesn't spend much time there to begin with, and since it looks like sleeping is not an activity he'll get to engage in again any time soon, there's really no point until he's saved up a bit more money.
But he still considers Valdis a roommate. And you don't need to be a reader to know when two different people could benefit from having someone to trust. So X sends both his roommates a message -- text for Kit, audio for Valdis -- in the hopes that Valdis won't keep ignoring him.
Meet me outside the Bridge. There's something I'd like all three of us to do. Don't worry, it's nothing bad.
C: Zephyr | mid May | Crime 1, Identity Thief
Well, X thinks as he stands and blinks at the poster on the outside of the Sentry building. At least this time it took three months for them to decide I'm a threat.
He feels more at home right now than he ever has. That's... something he undoubtedly needs to work through. Still, X can't pinpoint what might have caused this. The one thing he's done that he knew would make the authorities angry, he's already been punished for. Is it because of the park last month? Has someone worked out what he is and decided he can't be allowed to roam free anymore?
The longer X stands there pondering those questions, the more obvious it becomes to any onlookers that the angry, aggressive face depicted in the poster looks about as similar to X as a dragon does to a lizard.
D: The Fool | mid May | Commerce 3, But It's Bespoke!
X's weekly chats with the Fool aren't the only reason he suspects the Fool might be the one who's sent him this... frankly, beautiful coat. It fits X perfectly, which implies an attention to detail, and he can't help recalling the day he tried to climb through the cafeteria window and shattered the glass. He'd been wearing a coat then, nabbed for practicality, cheap and thick and entirely ineffectual against the rain. It would be just like the Fool to order a custom tailored coat right after that.
The problem is that, if he did, he doesn't seem to have paid for it.
So, with the tailor standing right there and very impatient, X tries to get the Fool on the yimo. "He's not very good with technology," X explains to the tailor. "It might take a minute."
"I'm telling you," says the tailor, exasperated, "no one called the Fool ordered this! You did!"
no subject
"Whatever it wants," he mutters, barely keeping control over his voice. Books-- focus on the books, not what X may see of him. "The Dreaming has no qualms, what with not being a living thing with a sense of morals. It has a habit of... bringing to light what should remain in shadow. Secrets have no meaning, no matter your intentions."
no subject
Devin still won't look at him. That might well be a taste of the future.
"Then as long as the world lets me," says X, "I won't sleep."
He hesitates, wondering if the follow-up might help as well. What he says to his friends, when they've agreed to be read and everyone knows it's going to happen eventually, the reminder that they won't be alone. Somehow, he doesn't think Devin will appreciate it, and X still believes it may not even be necessary; but at this point it can't hurt to try.
"When I say 'everything'," he goes on, slow and hesitant, "that means... not just memories, not just events. I can't judge you any more than I can judge myself. I can't add to the pressure you put on yourself, not when I feel it as intensely as you."
no subject
Despite his horror at what X will learn, Devin listens. Some part of him is desperate to not have to hide; he is built to be with people, no matter how much he denies it.
But X does not deserve to bear his burdens. If-- when, Devin reminds himself forcefully, swallowing the lump in his throat-- X sleeps, an ocean of violence will crash down on him. He can't comprehend having to carry Valdis' life on top of his. The fabric of his life is woven with lies and bloodshed and isolation, and that is not a cloak that X should have upon his shoulders.
Too late.
"Judgement is not the real problem," Devin replies quietly, shaking his head. He closes his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. It doesn't help much. "I am a secret that shouldn't exist," he elaborates distantly. X will learn eventually how much hinges upon the fact that Devin does exist, to his dread. "My life does not belong to me, and so no matter what you absorb, it will not and cannot belong to you, either." He can't help the faint tremble in his voice now, whether it be from anger or fear. What and who he is came at the cost of surrendering his soul; he's learned that was his choice. How that will affect X, Devin cannot begin to guess. "That knowledge or understanding, or whatever you call it and whatever it entails, is extraordinarily dangerous."
He raises his eyes, and something ancient and endless can be seen there for just a moment - or perhaps the agelessness is just a trick of the light. "This world is no refuge from my fate; I carry it with me wherever I go."