Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 5, 2021 0:12:08 GMT -5
“I’m… alright,” Orpheus said after a moment, taking a second to catalogue his new memories. It was hard, processing any of it when he was with the House. He had needed to start sorting fake memories from real ones, memories that happened because of the House and memories that had happened before he had died. It was the only way to keep himself sane, especially now that he had more time where he was actually able to be himself. He hesitated for a moment, then managed a smile. “Thanks for giving me the time to be someone real, not… not whatever the House wanted to create,” he said after a moment, a sentiment that he was certain Elpis would understand. They wre able to define themself now, and the House had no say in it. “I… like what you’ve done with the place,” he added, crossing his arms and appraising it once more. “Where is that sunset from? Anywhere in particular?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 0:39:52 GMT -5
Elpis gave a small nod, watching Orpheus for a long moment. They could tell the shift to being himself again wasn’t very easy…which made sense. His brain wasn’t really built to be adjusted that fast. They didn’t think they could actually damage him, since he was already dead, but still…it probably didn’t feel very good. They gave a small smile at his words. “Of course, Orpheus,” they murmured, dipping their head. “You’re my friend. I want to help.” They glanced up at the picture, brightening as it was mentioned. They’d hoped it would be…they wanted to talk about it. “It’s an earth sunset,” they told him, moving towards it a little. “From a different version than yours, but very similar. This is actually the only sunset in that world that wasn’t witnessed by a single human.”
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 12:46:25 GMT -5
“It wasn’t actually anything that unusual,” Elpis told him, shaking their head a little. “It was just…a coincidence. No one was looking. The ones who were awake weren’t watching the sky.” They looked at it for a long moment, a tiny smile touching their expression. “I watched it, though. It wasn’t really prettier than any other sunset, but I liked it.” They were probably stalling again. They glanced at him, head tilted just a little. They didn’t want to make him stop talking about the picture, though…they stayed quiet, letting him look at it.
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 12:59:49 GMT -5
Elpis hadn’t thought about what the sunset might mean. They hadn’t considered that it might have a deeper meaning, though there was probably a reason it had attracted them as it had. They didn’t think about it. They just turned back to Orpheus, nodding a little as he spoke. “Yeah, actually,” they replied brightly. “I‘ve been thinking about how humans generally work, and how they react when things aren’t as they usually are. It’s really interesting to me that humans need so many things to stay functional. I wanted to try seeing what happen when you don’t sleep.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 5, 2021 14:16:10 GMT -5
Orpheus blinked. That wasn’t what he had expected, but he found he wasn’t opposed to it. He was curious, though he didn’t really see how it would help Elpis defeat the House. He could ask, but… well, it was a test of Elpis’ powers, wasn’t it? It was them figuring out different ways to use them. “You might want to talk to L,” Orpheus said after a moment, tilting his head as he looked at Elpis. “He probably knows a lot about what happens when people don’t sleep. And he has some first hand experience with it. He… doesn’t sleep enough.” A fond smile touched Orpheus’ lips before he looked back at Elpis, his expression growing serious again. “After we do this. How… exactly are we going to do this?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 17:42:40 GMT -5
Was this going to help Elpis defeat the House? Directly, probably not. It wasn’t like the House needed sleep in the first place, or would even react the same as a human would to being deprived of it. But surely anything Elpis wanted to try was a good use of time, right? Even though this really wasn’t much of a test of their abilities. Okay, maybe it was a test of the barrier they planned to put in Orpheus’ head, but…if they were doing this just to test their abilities, it was a very specific, very unhelpful thing to want to test. They wouldn’t be using this barrier for anything else, would they? But they were curious. And it wasn’t like they could really test this on anyone else, was it? Orpheus was the only one who’d given his permission. Not that they’d really asked anyone else, of course, but no one else knew what they were, besides L, and they weren’t sure they really wanted to spend that much time around L. Besides, Orpheus had been pretty clear that L wasn’t to be involved in this. “I want to put a barrier in your head,” they explained, focusing on Orpheus. “All it would do is stop you from sleeping. Then I just want to see what happens.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 5, 2021 21:24:09 GMT -5
Orpheus wasn’t letting himself think about how this might help Elpis defeat the House. It wasn’t really his place to ask, and he had volunteered himself for experiments. If it meant he was going to get to go home… if it meant he would be able to hold L and wake up next to him in the morning, that he would be able to make L’s tea and braid his hair as he worked on cases… then it would be worth it. He didn’t think to question why Elpis thought this would be useful. If they thought it was useful, then he was going to trust them. After all, they probably had a better idea of how the House worked than Orpheus did, considering they were likely the same thing it was. “A barrier,” Orpheus repeated, lightly touching a finger to his temple. “That doesn’t sound bad.” It also seemed like it might be useful. If Elpis could successfully stop a human brain from getting something it needed, then would they be able to stop the House from getting something it needed? “For how long?” he asked, stretching just a little bit as he glanced over at Elpis.
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 21:36:43 GMT -5
Elpis was going to get Orpheus home. They were going to make that happen. They’d promised they would, and they had no intention of breaking that promise. This was an experiment, wasn’t it? Anything would help. They needed to know how to use their powers, and this was a good way to find out. Maybe they were getting information they wanted at the same time, but that wasn’t wrong, was it? “I don’t know how long exactly,” they admitted, meeting his gaze. “Since I don’t know how humans work, exactly. It isn’t like anyone’s been able to do this before, since humans just fall asleep eventually without a way to stop them. But with the barrier, I can prevent that. So…as long as possible.” They wished they had an exact estimate, but they didn’t. That was sort of the point. “Another thing, once you’re tired enough, you might ask me to let you sleep. I’ll have to listen, unless you give me your permission not to.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 5, 2021 21:43:02 GMT -5
Orpheus looked at Elpis, uncertainty burgeoning in his chest. He could say no. He could tell Elpis that he didn’t want to do this, but… it was just not being able to sleep. That couldn’t be too terrible, right? L did it all the time and he was fine. Maybe humans could survive indefinitely without sleep… he had to admit that he was rather curious. And if he did this he would know exactly when to make L go to sleep when he refused to for cases. In fact, there were no downsides that Orpheus could see. It did, however, make him a little bit nervous. Not as nervous as the things the House did with him, but… still. It wasn’t natural. It was letting a being have control over him in a way he could do nothing about. “I understand,” he said, giving a firm nod. “If I ask you to let me sleep, you don’t have to obey. As long as… as long as you don’t manipulate anything in my brain other than the barrier, then you don’t have to listen to anything I ask of you until the experiment is over.” He hesitated for a long moment, then bit his lip and sank down into the beanbag. “I don’t know when I last slept, thanks to the House. Should I… sleep before you begin? Or would you rather just… use your powers or whatever to make it so I just got a good nights sleep without actually getting one?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 22:21:06 GMT -5
Elpis gave a small nod. “Thank you,” they replied, breathing out. I think it would be best to let you sleep now. I could just fix your brain, but I’m not sure that would be as accurate as actually sleeping…I want to be as accurate as possible, with minimal intervention from me.” They knew there wasn’t a good way to make sure Orpheus was as rested as he could naturally be, but they were willing to let that slide. As long as he got enough sleep beforehand, anyway. If he didn’t sleep enough, they’d rethink it. “I’ll put the barrier up when you wake up,”
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 22:34:00 GMT -5
Elpis hadn’t left. Eleven hours was…not that long, all things considered, but it was a little longer than they’d anticipated when they had absolutely nothing to do. They’d ended up wandering around, adjusting things here and there and keeping an eye on the barrier. They’d gotten a little better at finding a place out of reach. They weren’t positive they could pull off an experiment this long without getting caught, but they were going to try. They looked up as Orpheus woke, relief filling them. It was finally time. “We are,” they confirmed, and reached out with their mind, gently fixing the barrier in place in Orpheus’ head. “Is that okay? I don’t think you should be able to feel anything, but I don’t know for sure.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 5, 2021 22:39:33 GMT -5
At first Orpheus wasn’t even certain that Elpis had placed the barrier. It didn’t feel like anything. There was nothing poking out of place in his head, it was just… well, it didn’t feel like anything. But it hadn’t felt like anything when Elpis had given him hallucinations, either. It struck him, what he had sealed himself into. Elpis didn’t have to listen to any of his requests until the experiment was done. If this hurt… if he asked them to stop… he had signed away his right to put the experiment on pause. But he trusted Elpis. They were his friend, in spite of L’s fears. They wouldn’t put him through anything that wasn’t necessary for their training. He was confident of that. “So,” Orpheus said after a moment, blinking sleep from his eyes as he looked back over at Elpis, “I think L would say that we need to have some sort of baseline so you can see how lack of sleep is impacting me. Like… I guess what I can do physically and what I can do cognitively… and then you can test those periodically, right?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 22:48:27 GMT -5
Elpis nodded a little, watching Orpheus carefully as he woke up the rest of the way. “You’re right, I think,” they agreed. “So we’ll need to test things now, I guess. Maybe you can run around the room a few times and I can time you…and I can give you math problems. Or maybe have you play music and measure how many mistakes you make on average.” This was actually pretty exciting, they had to admit. Having actual concrete information on this felt a little bit thrilling. They weren’t going to put him through anything unnecessary, of course, but they were glad that they had the chance to do this to its full conclusion.
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 23:21:21 GMT -5
“Eleven days,” Elpis replied, watching him. “And that was without the barrier, so they technically could have slept. I don’t know how long it’s possible with the barrier in place. There’s obviously been no studies like this done, ever.” They considered. The problem, of course, was that it was much harder to accurately measure poetry than it was math, and so they weren’t confident that their results would be as accurate if they used that. It wasn’t easy to think of a good way to measure it… “We’ll start with physical challenges,” they decided. “Can you run around the room three times? I’ll measure your speed and time.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 5, 2021 23:28:06 GMT -5
Eleven days. That was longer than Orpheus had anticipated, but… well, he wasn’t really afraid. He just needed to adjust his expectations. The longest he had ever stayed up was three days straight, and that was because he was working on music and had completely lost track of time. It had been a relief to fall asleep that night, his body relaxing into sleep he hadn’t been aware he had needed. He had a feeling this wasn’t going to be an experience of blissful ignorance like that had been. He was going to be very aware of how tired he was, especially if he had to last more than three days. “Okay,” he said, shaking hs arms out before jumping up and down once, then twice. He had never been a skilled athlete, but running around the room three times wouldn’t be too difficult. He began to run, making sure he didn’t go fast enough to overextend himself and make himself too tired right off the bat.
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 23:43:20 GMT -5
Elpis was aware that this wasn’t exactly going to be fun for Orpheus, but…he’d agreed to it, or they wouldn’t be doing it. He has agreed that they didn’t have to listen to him until the experiment was over, and that meant that they could pursue this to their heart’s content…they’d tell Orpheus what they found out, too, of course. They figured he’d probably like to know. They watched him run, noting the speed he was at, which was fairly average. They had to wonder whether there were any differences between how he was now and how he’d been when he was alive, but they had no way of telling that…it didn’t matter now. “How do you feel?” They asked when he’d finished, watching him closely.
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 5, 2021 23:47:49 GMT -5
Orpheus had no way of knowing how much had changed since he was alive. He wanted to believe that it wasn’t very much, but it was hard to tell. Maybe one day he would have the time to catalogue all of the differences. It felt like a very long time since he had been truly alive, though. Would he even remember what all of the differences were? Unease rose in his stomach as he slowed to a stop, but he pushed the thought away. He would have plenty of time to overthink things like that when Elpis wasn’t relying on him to answer their questions to the best of his ability. “I feel fine,” he replied, frowning a little as he tried to figure out if that was the complete truth. “I mean… when you wake up, you often still feel a little bit tired, so there’s that, but I don’t feel fatigued or anything from running. It was pretty easy – it’s not like it was a very long distance.”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 5, 2021 23:54:02 GMT -5
“You feel tired after you wake up?” They asked, blinking a little at thar information. “Really? I thought that would be when you were most awake. I guess maybe your brain hasn’t fully woken up yet, though…?” They shook their head a little. “Well…that’s good. I guess maybe I can just monitor your brain waves to see how you’re doing mentally…I’d like to have some concrete proof of changes, but…” They hummed lightly under their breath. They guessed this sort of thing would be easier with L, since he would give them exact calculations, but that assumed he’d be willing.
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 6, 2021 0:14:38 GMT -5
“Oh, right. You eat,” Elpis hadn’t forgotten that humans needed food so much as they’d failed to apply that knowledge to more than the theoretical. Humans needed to eat: a general statement Elpis had learned. Orpheus would need to eat food at some point: a logical conclusion they hadn’t yet consciously reached. “What would you like to eat?” They considered, then gave a small nod. “I will do that,” they decided. “I’d like to be able to get all the information I can from this. I don’t want to think of something i should have been watching later or anything like that.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 6, 2021 0:20:18 GMT -5
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that humans need to survive,” Orpheus laughed quietly, crossing his arms as he looked at Elpis. It was odd to him, that he had thought they were going to get to live out a normal life on a normal world. There was nothing normal about their freedom, but he was still grateful it had been granted to them. He figured that, if they wanted to, they could make themself human and see what things were like on a normal world, but they would have to wait until after they had finished here. Orpheus felt a bit guilty for the fact that he was probably stopping them from exploring, but if he was… there wasn’t anything he could do about that now. “Breakfast,” Orpheus said after a moment. “Something with eggs and tomatoes, perhaps?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 6, 2021 0:29:40 GMT -5
“Right. Water, food, air…” Elpis listed, frowning a little bit as they thought about it. “Is that everything? I mean, the food has to have a bunch of vitamins, but that’s more long term, I guess. And humans die eventually anyway, so it’s hard to say if something would kill you in the long term once it gets long enough.” They shrugged, concentrating on the task at hand. They knew they couldn’t explore as much as they might have, if Orpheus had been free, but this was their choice. They had decided to do this. They didn’t want to stop now. They considered, then stepped back and blinked a table into existence. On it was a plate, a fork, and a perfect omelette, with spinach, tomatoes, cheese, and ham.
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 6, 2021 0:39:26 GMT -5
Orpheus watched Elpis for a long moment, unsure exactly what they were saying. In his defense, a lot of what they were mentioning were things that his world’s science hadn’t quite caught up to yet. There were things that L had taught him about, but it wasn’t as though L had the most well-balanced diet, so vitamins had never come up. He had little to no idea what Elpis was talking about, but he didn’t really feel like questioning it. Besides, it seemed like it might lead into a tangent about death, and he didn’t really want to give death too much thought at the moment. “Thank you,” Orpheus said, grateful that the meal presented a perfect subject change. “Have you ever made food before? I mean… I trust you, but I do want to be certain that it’s not accidentally poisoned or anything. If that’s… okay with you, I mean.”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 6, 2021 0:46:34 GMT -5
Elpis was willing to concentrate on the meal instead. They weren’t sure exactly what all was required to keep a human alive, but…it couldn’t be all that much. Orpheus would ask if he needed anything. They didn’t need to worry. They considered the food, frowning a little. “I haven’t really made food before,,,” they admitted, stepping forward. “But I do know what all I put in it, and I’m sure it’s safe for humans. I’d offer to eat some myself, but…” they shrugged. It was pretty obvious why that wouldn’t help. “I could try to test it somehow if you want?” They added after a moment. They wanted to make Orpheus as comfortable as they could, after all.
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Aug 6, 2021 0:57:39 GMT -5
Orpheus considered the food for another long moment, then lifted his face to look at Elpis. It could easily be poisoned accidentally – he didn’t think that they would purposefully poison him, especially since it would ruin the results of their experiment, but… he had to consider that it might have been a possibility. “I think the fact that I love L might be showing itself a little bit right now,” Orpheus admitted, his face coloring pink. “He would be worried about poison, although I think he’d be a lot more concerned about intentional poisoning than accidental poisoning.” With that, Orpheus neatly cut off a bit of the omelette and bit in. It was… well, it was good. His face lit up and he took another bite, shooting Elpis a grin as he did so. It was good. He wasn’t sure when the last time he had eaten was, but he was grateful to have the chance now. “Doesn’t seem poisoned,” he added as an afterthought.
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Aug 6, 2021 21:57:10 GMT -5
Elpis raised an eyebrow, studying him as he began to eat the omelette, apparently deciding to trust that it wasn’t actually poisoned. “Because he doesn’t like me?” They tried, eyeing him. They didn’t know L well enough to know if it was a personal thing or not…it seemed possible that L just wouldn’t trust them not to poison him. Even though they wouldn’t. Not unless he agreed to it. They shook their head a little. Orpheus’ opinion of them mattered more. “The worst it’s probably going to be is radioactive,” they added after a moment. “Not poisonous.”
|
|