Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 2, 2021 17:42:44 GMT -5
Orpheus blinked as he was suddenly transported somewhere new, eyes widening at the unfamiliar location. He was in L’s world. Or… if not actually in L’s world, then at least in an approximation of it. It seemed Elpis had been listening to their conversation. Perhaps delving into their thoughts. Orpheus thought a quick apology towards them in case they were still poking around – he hadn’t meant to imply that he didn’t enjoy spending time with them, he just… missed free will. Even with Elpis, he didn’t have that. There was nothing he could do that was wholly his choice, because there was no time for anything like that. The House could steal him away at any moment, and anything he wanted would have to be facilitated by Elpis. The time they had needed to be spent doing useful things. Things that might help free Orpheus when the time came. There was no chance for Orpheus to decide what he wanted to do. Perhaps that was why he had welcomed such a long term experiment. It meant he actually had a little bit of free time to do with what he chose. “I’ve been telling you for years to take more breaks,” Orpheus murmured, pressing lightly against L and squeezing his hand as he stood up, offering his support to L if he wanted it.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 2, 2021 17:56:06 GMT -5
It wasn’t exactly a place L had been very often. It was familiar, of course, and he knew where to find most things, but he hadn’t come for a while. He traveled around, which explained some of why he hadn’t ended up here recently, but he’d also just…gotten used to not leaving where he lived that often. It was a lot safer to exist mainly behind a screen. “You have,” he admitted, squeezing Orpheus’ hand back. “But there isn’t much to do when I take a break. And there’s always more work to do. It’s easy to forget there’s anything else.” He glanced around the newest shelf, checking to make sure no one was nearby. It was more habit than actual worry, since this wasn’t real, but it did make him feel a little bit safer. Then he glanced back at Orpheus, and Elpis, who was standing a short distance back, glancing around as though they hadn’t just created all this. “This is a good place for research, though.”
Elpis hadn’t been paying attention to every thought, but they’d figured that seeing where L wanted fo go was a lot easier than making him explain it. There were probably a lot of places he could potentially have meant. They peered around, trying to make sure it was as accurate as possible, even though they’d plucked it from L’s brain, so it was likely affected by his perception of it. They could have gone to see it in person, but…this was still an experiment, even if L was here now. They didn’t think leaving in the middle was a good idea. So, this would have to work. They did glance at Orpheus as he thought at them, though, and offered a tentative smile. They didn’t mind it. It was true that the experiments weren’t exactly just hanging out.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 2, 2021 18:22:52 GMT -5
It was strange to Orpheus to see something L was more familiar with. This was something real in L’s world. This was somewhere he had been, somewhere that was accessible to L and everyone else in his world. Orpheus shook his head of the thought, looking around. There was nothing like this in Orpheus’ world. There was information stored on paper, of course, but there were no books the way L was familiar with them. There were the ideas of libraries, but they most certainly didn’t look like this. Orpheus gave a small smile, trying to take it all in at once. “I’d love to hear about this place,” Orpheus whispered, not wanting to break the quiet spell that had settled over the place. Were libraries always like this in L’s world? In Orpheus’ they were very different. They may have been repositories for knowledge, but they were always filled with intellectual discussion and passionate conversation and debate. Perhaps that was just a difference in culture. Perhaps there were other forums for those discussions rather than the library. “You know, when I join you, I’m going to make you take breaks. And I’m going to make sure you show me everywhere you’ve ever wanted to go, and everywhere you’ve been before that you’ve enjoyed.” He squeezed L’s hand again, then gave a quiet laugh as he imagined what it would be like to wake up and drag L out of his apartment, exploring as much of the world as they could fit in before they both died. “What would you like to research?” Orpheus asked, looking around once more. He didn’t know what there was available to research. He also didn’t know how research looked, but he was excited to see. He wanted to learn whatever L was interested in, and though he was sleepy, this was an opportunity to do that.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 2, 2021 18:35:23 GMT -5
Everything in L’s world was almost certainly going to be unfamiliar to Orpheus. The way the world worked had changed so much since they’d lived…L couldn’t even imagine how unfamiliar it would be to him. He hoped it wouldn’t be too overwhelming…he knew it might be hard to get used to, but he’d help however he could. “You won’t have to make me,” he replied, giving Orpheus a small smile and leaning against him a little, just for a second. “Because I’ll have you there, and I’ll have a reason to take breaks. Besides, you’ll need to get used to how different the world is, and you can only do that by seeing things.” It was possible to believe it would happen, when they talked about it. When they made plans, however distant…it felt just a little more real. He hadn’t let go of it. He considered, checking the section they’d appeared in. “Well…” he mused. “I’d rather not research anything for work right now. I can do that anytime. We could go somewhere else, too, if you’d prefer. For the amount of places I’ve been, I’m realizing I don’t know that many places specifically…” He shook his head a little. “Would you like to see anything in particular?”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 2, 2021 20:01:10 GMT -5
Orpheus knew that living with L was going to take some adjustment, but he would deal with that when it came to it. For now, the idea was intoxicating enough that he didn’t care how long it took him to adjust to L’s world. He just… wanted to be there, even if he was never going to fit in. Even if he was always going to be fifteen steps behind. It was better than where he was now, not even really living. As long as L was there, Orpheus was fairly certain that he could get through anything. L had helped him through the worst days of his life, and he had stood by him every day since. Even now, the days that were going to become the worst days of his life. L could have left at any moment. He could have requested that Elpis take his memories away, and he could have resumed life as normal. Instead, he had decided to wait for Orpheus. He had decided to love Orpheus in spite of the cost. Orpheus was never going to stop loving him for that. He never would have stopped loving him before, of course. “Well then,” Orpheus replied, a smile dusting his lips, “You’ll have plenty of good reason to show me around and take breaks. You should probably practice for taking those breaks before I get there, so you’re in the habit of it. Didn’t you tell me once that there’s science out there for how long it takes to establish a habit?” He lightly nudged L with his shoulder, amusement flickering across his features as he ran a finger over the spine of a book. “I like it here, if you do. I don’t know anywhere else, though.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 2, 2021 21:08:34 GMT -5
L raised an eyebrow at the words, shaking his head just a little. He hadn’t really had the chance to just…talk in so long now, that being amused by somerhing Orpheus had said felt like something that had happened a long time ago. It wasn’t his fault. It was just that what little time they got together wasn’t usually a good place for humor. Maybe this could be a real break. Not just the moments they had been able to grab, hanging onto each other as though they could prevent the inevitable. “I don’t know that it works that way,” he noted. “For breaks, at least. Otherwise, you could say that about anything and never get over practicing, because you’d have to practice practicing first, and so on. So practicing taking breaks isn’t a habit I have.” He smiled a little, glancing around the dim room. It was one of the smallest libraries he’d ever been in, and probably the smallest one that wasn’t just a room with a lot of books that had been dubbed a library but couldn’t be checked out from. Maybe that was why he liked it. He could tell where everyone was. “Here is good. There are quite a few rare books, actually. And maps. I liked looking at the maps a lot..
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 2, 2021 21:33:44 GMT -5
Orpheus looked around the room one more time. It was odd to him that a room this magnificent was a “small” library. It seemed pretty large to him, but perhaps he was just used to a different type of library. Libraries in his time were technically in large buildings, but he found he doubted they had this many books. Or… well, equivalents to books. They didn’t have any books at all. He found books to be a much more efficient way of storing information. You could fit a lot more books in one place than you could, say, stone tablets. He shook the thought away, letting his fingers trace the spine of another book. “Then you best practice practicing,” Orpheus replied, clearly amused. It felt a little bit like a return to old times, when they could find humor in the other and talk about trivial things without having to worry they were wasting what little time they had. They had known, then, that the time they had was limited, but neither had felt the pressure as much as they both did since the House had taken its side of the bargain. Orpheus rarely had a moment as himself, and when he did he needed to make up for all of the pain he had caused L in the moments when he wasn’t himself. “I’d like to see maps,” Orpheus admitted, eyes widening as L mentioned them. “I don’t know what your world looks like geographically, and I have a feeling that the maps from my time fall short. Just… a theory, I suppose. Considering we haven’t discovered half of the world yet.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 2, 2021 21:47:00 GMT -5
It was odd to L to think the first time Orpheus has ever seen a book would have to have been when he first blinked in. There were books in the living room, but they were always blank…had Orpheus thought all books were blank at first? He wouldn’t have had any way of knowing they weren’t. He shook his head. How many things did he take for granted that Orpheus would have no knowledge of? How many scientific discoveries were unknown to him? It was an odd thought, especially when L considered what it would be like to meet someone as far in his own future as Orpheus was in his past. “I can’t,” he deadpanned, looking Orpheus in the eye. “I haven’t practiced practicing practicing yet.” He did know what he meant, though. He knew he wouldn’t be used to taking breaks if he didn’t try to take more now, but it didn’t really matter, because he wasn’t going to be used to anything else either when Orpheus came. It would be very, very different than anything else he’d ever known. And he wanted it. He really, really did. “A globe. You’ve never seen one,” he added, perking up as he realized it. He moved, heading for the space near the back of the room where he knew the maps and things like it were. Including a very fancy globe.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 2, 2021 22:08:27 GMT -5
Orpheus gave a quiet laugh, squeezing L’s hand softly. He had a feeling that a lot of people would say L was humorless, but they clearly hadn’t spent enough time around him. He didn’t crack jokes often, and the ones he did were subtle, but… he was funny. He really was. At least sometimes. He knew they could have continued this conversation for a while, but there were other things to talk about and look at. Orpheus didn’t want to waste any time. Especially since he knew he was just going to get more tired the more time they wasted, and he didn’t want to be too tired to appreciate the things L was showing him. It was odd, he thought, that being around L made him feel more awake. Being comfortable around someone could make you feel tired at times, but wide awake at others. A sign of trust in L had been that he’d been willing to sleep around Orpheus. Another was that he’d been willing and able to talk freely. Trusting someone – loving someone – it was chock full of oxymorons. “A globe?” Orpheus asked, immediately excited by the idea of seeing something new. It wouldn’t be difficult to find things he had never seen before. He had been exposed to a lot of technology in the House, but even the House couldn’t show him everything. He was excited to see what a globe looked like. He wasn’t disappointed by the site of it. Orpheus stepped forward, a tiny smile on his face as he placed a hand on it and gently rotated it around so he could see the world. He had never imagined the world like this. The knowledge just… wasn’t available to his people yet. “It’s odd to believe that people believed the world was flat,” Orpheus mused, a tiny smile on his face. He was completely unaware that there were still people in L’s time who believed the Earth to be flat.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 2, 2021 22:39:40 GMT -5
L knew he was probably seen as completely humorless. To be fair, he was also seen as completely cold and heartless, so the humorless side wasn’t really that important. He was sort of a mythical figure, in the human population’s defense, and though he was famous, it wasn’t like everyone knew about him. Besides, knowing about someone was not even close to knowing them. He didn’t hold it against anyone. Even those who had spoken with him in person, which happened to be almost no one, could have easily thought he was cold. Even he thought he was cold, sometimes. And, sometimes, he was probably right. He followed Orpheus towards the globe, eager to see his reaction to it. It was a very nice globe, one that had been there as long as L himself had been coming, and probably a lot longer. They took good care of it, too. It didn’t even squeak. “Yes. Especially since a few humans have been to space,” he replied, coming close enough to see it and Orpheus at once. “I see the point of it. It’s best not to believe people until you can prove they’re right. But conspiracy theories…” He couldn’t talk. Most conspiracy theories were things he was in a position to prove or disprove. He had no idea if he’d believe them if he couldn’t. Or, at least, not trust either side. He was certainly paranoid enough to.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 3, 2021 2:59:05 GMT -5
“Humans have been to space?” Orpheus asked, loudly enough that he would have earned a few glares had there been actual people in the library with them. It was just… he had met people in the House who had been to space, but it was hard to believe that in the time L lived, there were actual humans who had made it there. L’s version of the world had always seemed far away to him, but the more time he had spent with him, the more normal it seemed. He heard about things he didn’t understand, but he was able to correlate most of them to things that existed in his own world. Computers had been a difficult thing to understand, but they served a purpose that other things in Orpheus’ time also served. Computers were just a faster, easier way to do those things. All of the sweets that L’s world had that didn’t exist in Orpheus’… he knew what sweet tasted like, and though he had never had the processed sugar taste before he’d met L, he at least had an idea where those foods came from. The fact that people had been to space completely blindsided him. “How did we make it to space?” Orpheus whispered, eyes wide as he looked at L, then back down to the globe. “I mean… you can see the curve of the Earth if you’re on the sea and far enough out for land, but… that’s not the same as seeing it from space.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 3, 2021 3:18:57 GMT -5
L supposed it was sort of hard to think about being able to go to space unless you’d actually done it, or you’d been hearing about it all your life. Space seemed very unreachable. Even knowing everything there was to know about flying and what it took to stay in the air…it still seemed pretty unreachable. Still, humans, being humans, had discovered a way to do it and were now trying to do it again, but better. “Yes. They made spaceships. They’re sort of like…boats, but with lids. They can take off and fly and they made it all the way to the moon, actually. Well…humans did. We’ve actually sent out ships without humans on board further than that. Mars, for instance.” He could imagine how odd that would be to hear. For Orpheus, the concept of space travel had to seem impossible. Yet…here they were. He looked at the globe, noting the places Orpheus wouldn’t recognize. “The earth is definitely round, though. There are people who think the moon landing was fake, but that seems improbable…most people do believe it, though.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 4, 2021 2:52:45 GMT -5
“You landed on the moon?” Orpheus asked, eyes going even wider. Orpheus had spent most of his life in love with humanity. He loved the innovations they made. He loved the way they always strived for the impossible. As insufferable as most heroes were in person, he loved the fact that there were people who wanted to try to do tasks that weren’t meant to be done. He loved the idea that there were people who wanted to explore the far edges of the earth for no reason other than that they could. The fact that people had found a way to launch themselves into the sky, that they had stood on the moon… it was amazing to him. It was so very human. People had looked at the moon and instead of just seeing a source of light, their first thought was ‘I’m going to go there.’ “I guess I understand why people doubt it… it seems impossible, just hearing that someone landed on the moon. It’s so far away… I suppose my people’s understanding of the moon is outdated enough that we don’t really believe that the moon is a place you can go…” Orpheus, it seemed, was a product of two times. He had the beliefs he had grown up with, but he had also been exposed to L’s version of the world for years. The version that existed in his head was a strange mishmash of the two, one understanding informing the other.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 6, 2021 16:54:00 GMT -5
“Well, no, not me personally,” L amended, shaking his head. “But humans have. Generally speaking. Only a few actually did, but they made sort of a big deal about it impacting everyone else, too. Most people still haven’t been to the moon, and probably never will be. Still…the fact that it happened is very impressive. It took a lot of time and calculations to get it right.” He glanced at the globe again. He had to wonder, sometimes, what the moon looked like for Orpheus. Did it look the same as it did for him? Were there any differences? What about the stars? “Some of the planets really are places you can’t go,” he mused. “Or at least not actually land on. But space is a lot more reachable than you’d think. It’s only 62 miles up…assuming it was possible to drive straight up and make it through the atmosphere and all of that, and assuming I was driving at 60 miles per hour, which is the same as a mile per minute…I could theoretically be in space in about an hour.” He glanced sideways at Orpheus. “I know that means less to you without all the technical knowledge, but still. It is very interesting to consider.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 6, 2021 17:10:32 GMT -5
“I knew you hadn’t, personally,” Orpheus replied with a soft shake of his head. “That’s something that I think you would have mentioned to me before now. I like to think I know enough about your life to know if you had been to the moon,” he added, lightly nudging L with his shoulder. He squeezed his hand, giving him a small smile just a moment later. “I can’t imagine how much thought must have gone into getting people on the moon. I mean… that’s impressive. Really, really impressive. I don’t… I don’t think there’s any way for someone like me to really understand it.” It wasn’t that he was stupid, just that he hadn’t grown up with knowledge of any of the technology that must have been needed. Boats and chariots couldn’t take someone all the way to the moon. They couldn’t even leave the ground. In order to make it to the moon, first you needed to learn how to fly. There weren’t any Greeks that had managed that unless they were descendants of the gods. “I don’t know what a mile is,” Orpheus murmured, looking up at the ceiling as though he could see through it all the way to space, “but I do know that an hour isn’t very much time. Is it really that close?”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 8, 2021 1:24:18 GMT -5
“True,” L admitted, glancing at Orpheus, a small smile poking at the corners of his mouth. It had been a while since he’d smiled without even trying, it felt like…and he wasn’t really one to force it, most of the time. He rarely smiled even when he was happy. This? It had to be one of the hardest things he’d ever had to cope with. He knew Orpheus was the one who actually had to live through it. He knew that he wasn’t the one the House had decided to play with until Orpheus broke for real, or the House grew bored with him. Whichever happened first. Which meant, as L had realized a while ago, even if he’d never seen the point in saying it to anyone, that he was quite possibly the main reason Orpheus still existed at all. It was a lot harder to get bored with one chemical when you also had a second one, and the two of them put together just so happened to make explosions. When that second one went away…well. L had never heard of any scientist who cared very much about the predictable. He knew it wasn’t over. But right now, it wasn’t happening, and if Orpheus could be distracted for even a moment, then it was worth it. “It is,” he confirmed, reaching out to spin the globe again. “Technically speaking. It’s not easy to get there, but the main problem isn’t getting to space, it’s that space is…well, big. Once you’re there, you have to actually make it to other places if you want to accomplish anything else. The further you go, the harder it is to get back safely, and the longer it takes, the more supplies you need, and the more things have a chance of going wrong. It’s a work in progress still.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 8, 2021 2:13:35 GMT -5
How long until the House got sick of the explosion? How long until it decided it wanted to have fun with something else that exploded? How long were the two of them capable of exploding before one burst in a way that was irreparable? Orpheus pushed away the thought. He didn’t want to be thinking about the House when he had a few moments alone with L. When he could do whatever he wanted, when he could explore this library as though he was inside L’s world, not just in Elpis’ version of the House. Would Elpis ever let the two of them visit Japan for real? Orpheus would have to ask when they weren’t in the middle of an experiment, but he didn’t really see the harm in it. It wasn’t as though visiting for a day was going to completely change the trajectory of the world. He shook the thought off. He knew that Elpis couldn’t change people’s worlds, but if they were to bring someone into a world and that person changed the world… would the House-like being be responsible, or would the humanoid? “I can’t even begin to understand how big space is,” Orpheus replied, shaking away some of his grimmer thoughts. He would much rather focus on space travel, as far-fetched as it seemed. “It seems like… it would be complicated if you wanted to go further distances. Where’s the furthest that a person has gone?” Orpheus had seen planets through early versions of telescopes, but he had no concept of how far away they were, or how far away from each other they were. “I mean… I can imagine that it must be difficult to get even to the moon. It appears quite close, but… even I know that it’s not. How did they have enough supplies for that trip?”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 10, 2021 18:00:11 GMT -5
Elpis was still there, but as far as L could tell, they’d decided to act as though they weren’t for the moment. Which suited L perfectly fine. It wasn’t even that he didn’t like them. He didn’t trust them, band truthfully he didn’t really like them either, but he wouldn’t have wanted anyone else besides Orpheus there at the moment. He had never in his life been truly alone with Orpheus, he knew, but…it had been a lot easier to ignore the House, once. A lot easier to forget. Or maybe pretend to forget. It wasn’t so simple now. He couldn’t forget its presence anymore. But at least Elpis was making it easier to try and forget theirs. “248,655 miles away from earth,” he replied, slipping his hands back into his pockets and resuming his usual hunched picture. “Is the furthest so far. They figured out how to pack a lot of supplies into a very small space, and how to make sure the food wouldn’t go bad. Water actually behaves very strangely without gravity, it turns out. Is sort of…I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s fascinating.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 11, 2021 21:07:33 GMT -5
Orpheus couldn’t forget that Elpis was there, just like he couldn’t forget that the House was there when he was in the House, now. Both had power over him. Both could make him hurt L in ways neither of them could even begin to imagine. He knew that Elpis wouldn’t do that – it was against the rules – but the fact remained that they could if they wanted to. Orpheus tried to shake the thought off. He wanted time with L, alone. Truly alone. He had never been given that gift before. One day, he would have it. One day, he wouldn’t have to worry about how much time they had together. He wouldn’t have to think about someone else listening in. This was the closest he had gotten to that. He didn’t have a limited amount of time with L, now. He could spend as much time with him as possible before his body got tired enough to break Elpis’ mental barrier. Elpis also didn’t seem likely to eavesdrop on them, except to monitor Orpheus’ symptoms. “That’s a long distance,” Orpheus replied in awe, looking at the globe again. “I don’t even know how to comprehend that difference,” he admitted, giving a quiet laugh. “Maybe one day I’ll be able to see water without gravity myself.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 16, 2021 11:59:49 GMT -5
L was trying to give Elpis the benefit of the doubt in every way he could, both for Orpheus’ sake, and his own. In the past, he knew he would have treated them as a threat to be monitored at all times. It wouldn’t have been personal, either…at least, he wouldn’t have thought it was personal. How could it be, when he treated anyone with power the same way? And, since he didn’t know who had the ability to hurt him or others and who didn’t, that merely meant he treated everyone with the same sort of open suspicion. He had even viewed Orpheus with that same suspicion, once. It had taken all these years for him to begin to realize that suspicion itself had consequences, too. It had taken Orpheus for him to begin to see that being a little more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt wasn’t necessarily a weakness. He didn’t trust Elpis in the slightest. But he trusted Orpheus, and Orpheus trusted them, and it was a start. “Maybe,” he agreed quietly, watching the globe. “I suppose it might…actually…” He glanced at Elpis, meeting their eyes for a moment. He had never been all that good at reading people in any personal way, but…he gave it a try now. “If you’d like?” He finished, raising his eyebrows. They were a person after all, not a vending machine. He didn’t like the idea of treating them like someone doing magic tricks.
Elpis was in the unique position of being able to read everyone’s minds, but not their faces quite as much. They could tell most of the big, obvious ones - smiling was generally positive and frowning was generally negative and yelling was generally even more negative, unless it was accompanied by positive words or laughter. They had been doing a bit of people watching, too. They were a little hazy on the details of privacy concerns…Orpheus made a point of wanting time with L uninterrupted and unmonitored sometimes, but how could they interact with people without interrupting them? It wasn’t much of a problem. Being whatever they happened to be, they couldn’t interfere in worlds, anyway. That was a whole other issue, naturally, since technically anything could change the course of history, but they could dwell on those implications on their free time. The point was, the difference between poking around in people’s heads and observing their features to figure out their emotions was a bit lost on them. So they were in fact popping in and out of Orpheus’ and L’s heads now and then. So far, it hadn’t been very exciting. L seemed to think very fast, though… They blinked as L glanced at them, meeting his eyes. Right. Something about what one of them had just said, perhaps? They had forgotten to pay attention. It didn’t take long to figure out what L was thinking, though, since it was directly on the surface, and they gave a tiny nod, taking a step back. And then the gravity turned off.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 17, 2021 3:14:26 GMT -5
Orpheus was looking at the globe, eyes scanning over everything in his general vicinity. He had gotten used to some of these concepts because of the House, but the House had always seemed a very strange, very foreign thing to him. It was beyond bizarre to realize that much of what he thought of as strange in the House was actually quite normal in L’s world. If this library was any indication, at least. He had known that books in that style were popular, but he had never actually imagined wall-to-wall carpeting anywhere other than the House. People where he was from used rugs, of course, but… nothing like this. He pushed the thought away, lifting his gaze to make a comment about it to Orpheus. It seemed, however, that L was engaged in another conversation. Orpheus tried to follow the looks between L and Elpis, but either the lack of sleep was finally catching up with him, or there was nothing he could pick up from observing for such a short period of time. Of course, however, that meant that Orpheus was blindsided by the sudden lack of gravity. He gave a soft gasp, reaching for L and holding onto him as securely as he could. His first instinct was to protect L. His second… a wild laugh escaped from his throat. “We’re… flying. Ish.” It was a technicality, but being weightless felt exactly how Orpheus had imagined flying would be. With less control over directions, of course. Orpheus didn’t quite let of of L, even as he began to adjust to their new surroundings.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 17, 2021 3:24:21 GMT -5
L hadn’t quite intended to catch Orpheus off guard…he had gotten the idea and wanted to do it immediately, was all. Having Elpis meant he could do that, without thinking it through, which was a bit uncharacteristic for him, he knew. Since when was he impulsive? Whatever the reason, he was looking at Orpheus when the gravity went off, so he could catch his reaction to it. He managed a smile as Orpheus reached for him, and he held onto him, too, making sure they couldn’t float away from each other. He wasn’t entirely sure how to move like this, after all…he had never been in a situation with no gravity before. Oddly enough, the House had never thought of it. Or if it had it had been with other people. “Sorry!” He gasped, a little breathless as he met Orpheus’ gaze, his eyes very wide. “I should have warned you. We were just talking about space and it occurred to me and sometimes my head moves faster than my mouth…I’m not used to being able to communicate by thought. At any rate…we’re technically floating. Although I suppose it depends on how you define flying…?”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 18, 2021 2:09:43 GMT -5
Orpheus had been startled, yes, but he wasn’t afraid. He was with L, and he trusted L implicitly. He trusted Elpis, too. They would follow the rules, though Orpheus knew the rules weren’t complete yet. There were things he had forgotten, he was nearly sure of it. There would be times when Elpis did harm without realizing they were doing harm, and they would have to have a hard conversation about it. For now, though… he wasn’t afraid. He was just used to protecting L, and now that he was holding him, he was fairly certain he didn’t want to let go for any reason. “It’s okay,” he breathed, one hand running through L’s hair. He gave a soft giggle at the sight of it sticking up, no longer held down by gravity. Not that L’s hair had ever obeyed gravity, but Orpheus thought it was better now than it had ever been before. More… spiky, but in a soft way. “I don’t know if the technical definition matters,” he breathed, reaching out to see if he could touch something and ground himself in any way. The books appeared to be floating as well… it was odd, seeing how everything was different now from when gravity was working. Orpheus’ people had barely begun to understand gravity, yet here were the two of them, floating as though it didn’t exist. “How are we going to see water without damaging any of the books?”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 20, 2021 8:04:52 GMT -5
It was true that the moment it no longer had to argue with gravity about what it could and couldn’t do, L’s hair seemed bent on making the most of its freedom. It stuck out in a sort of soft lion’s mane, making him look like he was floating against a backdrop with a black circle around his head. Circle…oval? It was too spiky to be either one, but it did seem to be trying to escape. He gave a small, serious nod. They were flying by some definition, anyway. Whatever they were doing, Orpheus seemed to be enjoying it, which was the main point of this. “That’s a good question,” he replied, flapping one arm in an attempt to keep himself upright. He didn’t know if he was in any actual danger of flipping, but he wanted to avoid it, since he didn’t know how he’d fix it, if it did happen. “We could just use a little bit of water,” he suggested after a moment, blinking at Orpheus. He was trying not to get ahead of himself, this time. It was entirely possible Orpheus would have a better idea.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 21, 2021 22:27:17 GMT -5
Orpheus wanted to reach out and touch L’s hair. It wasn’t a new impulse (it always looked very soft and had the added bonus of helping L think when it was in the process of being braided and played with), but he refrained for the moment. It, like everything else, was behaving incredibly strangely without gravity. Orpheus didn’t know how to navigate the new conditions, but he thought he might… like it. It was interesting, at least. He would have liked to experience more of the world without gravity, although… it seemed inconvenient. Some of the books had started floating, too. At least… the ones that hadn’t been crammed onto the shelves because ‘really, we can fit one more book here, right?’ Which was only a few. “What was that thing called that we saw in that one room?” Orpheus asked, reaching out to take L’s hand. He didn’t know if that would keep them upright, but that wasn’t the main reason he was reaching. “The… uh… water fountain? We could see if there is one of those here, and then we can watch how the water acts? It might not be so near the books, in that case.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 25, 2021 23:51:12 GMT -5
At least neither of them had been moving when the gravity had turned off. L wasn’t sure trust their momentum would have been a bad thing, but he wouldn’t have been surprised by it either. Orpheus might have ended up flipping in the air without even knowing why. Would Elpis have rescued him? L wasn’t positive. He still wasn’t sure he could read them all that well, which was…a little bit concerning. He pulled his attention back to Orpheus. For the moment…they were as safe as they were going to get. “A water fountain could work,” he agreed, taking Orpheus’ hand as he reached for him. “Especially if we move a little further from the books. I don’t think it should be a problem…and these aren’t the real books, anyway, it’s not too bad if they do get a bit wet.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 26, 2021 22:00:15 GMT -5
L wasn’t exactly eager to ruin the books either, but he was probably more okay with it than Orpheus was, if only because books were not a foreign concept to him. He’d seen them plenty of times before, and these ones weren’t even the real ones. He doubted that they’d be destroyed even if the water did find its way to them. He watched Orpheus move over to the books, not interrupting as the poet chose one at random. Which did mean that their first introduction to the concept of books (that weren’t blank anyway) was a manual on…well, L couldn’t tell what it was on, as Orpheus’ fingers obscured the title, but that was beside the point. The point was, L thought they’d have been a lot more excited about the books if they’d happened to grab Shakespeare or Edgar Allan Poe or something along those lines. He felt a sudden burst of curiosity at the thought - what would Orpheus think of that - but he didn’t let himself follow it. If he chased every tangent his thoughts ran along, they’d never accomplish anything at all. Maybe someday Orpheus could be persuaded to rant about whatever author happened to provoke the most emotion from him. For now…L added it to the ever growing list of things that would make reality better.
L’s thoughts were hard to keep track of. Elpis couldn’t tell if there were more of them, or they were just faster, but they seemed less like a train and more like…maybe bumper cars. That were also in a hurricane. And on fire. They couldn’t stay there for very long at a time. They had to keep popping in and out, or they’d get overwhelmed by it all. They couldn’t get headaches, but if they could have, they were pretty sure this would have done it. Orpheus was easier. His thoughts were still incredibly complex and difficult to manage, but they weren’t quite as frantic as L’s seemed to be. Maybe more of a roundabout than a train. They weren’t in either blinker’s head at the moment, though. They were recovering from staying in L’s a bit too long, while also double checking the hideout they’d made from the House, making sure the defenses were still in place. They’d check on Orpheus’ mental barrier in a moment, but they figured he would be okay as long as they didn’t let it go too long at a time. “Huh?” They replied, distracted as they looked up to find Orpheus looking at them. Oh…they must have been talking. Elpis paused, trying to remember where the conversation had gone after they’d shut the gravity off, but they hadn’t been paying it much attention. They did realize what he’d asked after a moment, though. “Oh. Um…yeah, over there,” they replied finally, pointing off to the side. “It should be working.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 27, 2021 3:24:27 GMT -5
Orpheus didn’t know about most of the famous literature that was available in L’s world. He likely would have been surprised to learn of it at first, and then would have delved immediately into reading as much of it as possible. He had no small amount of respect for wordsmiths, being one himself. He didn’t believe he was good enough with just words, though he knew that some people were. His words needed music to gain their full meaning. There were plenty of people who had words that stood entirely on their own. If Orpheus knew how many of those people had lived and were remembered by L’s world… he would have been in awe. If he found out while he was still alive, he could spend his afterlife seeking them out while he waited for L. There was a lot to learn from someone who had complete control over their words. There was a lot to learn from someone who could make others understand the whole spectrum of human experience with nothing more than words on a page. Elpis seemed… distracted. Sometimes, Orpheus thought it wasn’t quite fair that Elpis could see into his mind, but it was much more difficult for him to see into Elpis’. It meant he had a harder time telling when something was wrong with his friend and when they were just… thinking about other things. There were a lot of things for Elpis to think about and learn, but… sometimes that sort of staring off and not listening wasn’t necessarily learning. Sometimes, at least in Orpheus’ experience, it was the sort of dull, uncertain feeling that swept over you when something was wrong that you didn’t really have an ability to articulate. Hopefully with Elpis, it was the former. He would have to ask when he got a moment alone with them. He didn’t want to put them on the spot in front of L, who would almost certainly be analyzing their response. “Thank you,” he said instead, pulling L closer to him and pushing off one of the bookcases so he began to drift in the direction of the water fountain. Was this a challenge for Elpis, too? Were they having to figure out how to create things that actually worked? Hopefully, they were training and learning with this room, too. They could kill two birds with one stone that way, though Orpheus had never been a fan of that expression. Elpis could learn, and L and Orpheus could have a rare, wonderful moment together where nothing could actually go wrong. “Do you want to press it, first?” Orpheus murmured as the water fountain came into view.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 2, 2021 1:06:35 GMT -5
Someday, L wanted to be able to show Orpheus the parts of his world he thought he’d like the most. Literature, perhaps. There had to be some that Orpheus would love…and the things L was so used to, he wouldn’t even realize they were special until Orpheus stopped to admire them. Not yet, though. They had to get out of this first. It was odd, that it was almost more possible now than it had been before…if Orpheus went free, he’d come home. It was just going free that was the hard part. They were both exhausted, and they both knew it. The House had pushed them further than it ever had before. It was…hard. Continuing on even though it felt impossible. But for now, they were just exploring something new, and for now, maybe it would be okay to take a break. “No,” L decided after a moment, glancing at Orpheus. He didn’t know Elpis well enough to tell that they weren’t usually distracted, so he didn’t pay them much attention…instead he focused on Orpheus. “Go ahead. I already know more or less what I’m expecting to happen, even if it’s never happened in the same room with me before.”
For Elpis, this was something of a new experience. It was still learning, definitely…they hadn’t really done their own rooms before, and that was basically what this was, wasn’t it? They could see the appeal of it, they had to admit. This control…this ability to make an entire world, and then throw it away again, if you decided to. Yes, they could understand why the House did this. They could see why, with everything it was capable of doing, with all the options it had, this is what it had chosen to continue doing for however long it had been doing it. Longer than they could imagine, they were sure. Orpheus may have warned them against thinking of themself as a god, but they didn’t have another word for this. Maybe they weren’t a real god, maybe to be a real god you had to be able to do anything you wanted, change anything you wanted, but…by some definition… Weren’t they at least the god of this place? They couldn’t change what happened in the worlds. They knew that. There were limits, limits that frustrated them sometimes, when they tried to test what they could do, but they were getting better at understanding what they were and what that meant. Of course the House, unable to change what happened in the worlds around it and unable even to find anyone like itself, would create a place where it did have power. Where it could do anything it wanted. Of course Elpis, standing in a place they’d created and watching two humans accept it as real, interact with it as real, think of it as real, understood. They wished they could just talk to it. They didn’t know if they were right…only it could know that. How many stories did it have in its head? How many things did no one else know?
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