Scene Archives

can’t sleep. It is … possibly well past the time for sleeping anyway? Can’t nap either. She’s on the walls again, walking the city perimeter. She thinks she could probably walk the city perimeter from memory at this point.

is also up walking the city perimeter along the walls, although he’s doing so much more… performatively. He takes marching steps- one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four- then stops, turns on his heel, and patrols back.

blinks, for a moment. She hadn’t expected to find him here—hadn’t known where to find him, really—and seeing him she’s suddenly more grounded in herself. She takes a few moments just to watch him, and then says, “Keeping watch, Sininen?”

spins about and snap salutes Salme, clacking his heels together. “All quiet on the Eastern Front, lieutenant sparrow!” he barks, before lightly laughing and loosening his pose.

: “I’m getting a feel for the place before diving into the markets. The area has a really strange sense of… ambiance? Temperature?”

: “It’s warmer and drier. And right now, this getup of mine isn’t doing me any favors!”

: “But that costume change is a surprise for later!” He holds a finger up to his lips, a silent ‘shh’ heard but not emitted.

laughs. And then laughs more, a her smile growing almost helplessly. “Well that getup does you many favors but yes. I understand wanting something more breathable.” She herself is currently wearing her boots and trousers from Almachadta with the strappy top from Samudra and not much else. “I look forward to the reveal.”

: “Likewise with you and your upcoming outing with Zaya!” He’s already adopted her shorter name as a nickname.

: “Did my advice give any good ideas?”

laughs. “Yes. It is funny. Aury gave me almost opposite opinions. But. Well. I have some very exciting ideas on how to integrate both.”

: “Likewise taking a walk to feel out the aesthetics, are you?”

: “It’d be nice if it were just that. No. I’m. Hm. Can’t sleep. Keep thinking. Was looking for you, sort of, or. Hoping to find you, really. If I was actively looking for you I’d have maybe tried to figure out how to use the tomestone feature. This was more … I have a question.”

throws his arms out wide. “Your hopes have been answered, your dreams are within grasp! And now- speak your desire to the winds to give it form!”

’s mouth twitches. “I don’t think you’ll like this one. You can say no.” ⁂

takes a breath. And then another, deeper breath. And then. “I know you don’t like to think about … him. This part of it. But I thought. Jorule knows you. Or implied he does. From other lives. And I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to love Aurelius who is so many other people. And I was curious about you. If you remember any of those other lives? Not from our world—I know you don’t remember shit—but from before you were The Awoken.” 🙧

’s motion stops, holding his pose as though frozen in time- but frozen for but a few seconds. He slowly puts his hands on his hips and lightly chuckles.

: “I suppose at this point there’s enough angelfish in the pond that one more wouldn’t upset much of anything.”

mouths ‘angelfish’ and smiles a bit at that.

: “Would you like to talk to them?” His eyebrows punctuate, rising at ‘them’, his eyes shifted from admiring to studying.

: “I would like to know anything you’re okay with me knowing. But only what you’re okay with me knowing.”

’s eyes shift left, right, and then back at Salme. “C’mon, you can put a lil’ guts into your request, here.”

tilts her head at him. “Usually you like to lead.” She steps closer, into his space. She looks at him, all of him. “Yes. I’d like to talk to them.”

: “Or.”

: “If that isn’t good enough,” she says, taking another step closer. She’s still shorter than him, but she barely notices in that moment. “Tell me. Show me.”

’s head tilts back ever so slightly, so that his gaze is now looking down his nose. The still air holds its breath.

: “Hello, Salme.“ The timbre of the voice is higher and lower than Awoken’s register, as though it were compressing itself to a form that is just a bit too tight.

: “I am who you are asking for.“ Awoken’s mouth moves, and he says these words, but you, yes, you, can tell that it is ever, ever, ever so slightly laggy behind what it should look like.

: “Your dogged curiosity is amusing and familiar in equal measure.“

: “Is it? Do you have a name, or is ‘86’ the correct moniker?”

snorts, amused. “Genuine question. Does 'close enough to the truth' satisfy, or will you not rest until you know, unerringly, the answers you seek?“

tilts her head the other direction. “I’m curious what you think?”

: “If you want to be precise, be longform with it. It will sound the same, but it'll feel different. Eight-Six.“

: “It is a moniker of the unusual, sometimes reluctant, but always keen underdog.“

laughs. “Okay, Eight-Six. I suppose I can be precise.” She still hasn’t moved, though she does reorient her head so it’s no longer tilted. “Used to being taller I see?”

: “I get the feeling you're working off of some subliminal knowledge of your own, but yes. Also, I feel that it sets the proper tone.“

: “Well you are doing a lot to look down your nose at me. It’s sort of funny. Even with the heels, Awa’s not that much taller.” She hums. “So. Other lives. I’m guessing you remember?”

: “Of course. I was, and am, them.“

: “Also, let it not be said that I cannot adapt change in situation or tone, itself.“

: “Oh, certainly. What did Seye say … something about parallels, shapes and feelings. I might’ve misunderstood her, but Awa himself is very good at shifting registers.”

gently hops off the ground, rising a meter or so, and with a brief flare of liminal gnosis, arrests his movement at the apex, settling himself back onto… an unseen throne? Or maybe he’s just really skilled at mimeing. But it looks like he is now seated on an invisible something- one arm propping up his chin, one leg crossed over the other. He no longer looks down his nose, but tilts his head down to look at Salme.

: “Youths who act as though they are immortal, and who know of little beyond their fist. Pirates of glory, opulence, and the chase of the unknown. The tactiturn muscle that shuns the universe to firmly grasp what lie in front of them.“

: “It should all make sense, considering who you treatise with before you.“

: “And even still, he is unique, and beloved.“

raises her eyebrows and steps back when he does the throne manoeuvre. “Oh. Is that why the Traveler’s Guide says ‘pirate-coded’?”

gently smiles. “It is. It is not an observation I made myself, but it is also one that is so unerringly correct that it shall stand in perpetuity.“

: “You could say I have a type.“

: “Well, maybe. Though I’d argue he’s all three at once, in some ways.” She taps a finger against her lips, thinking. “You’re very different from Jorule. You don’t speak as if … you, Eight-Six, have ever lived one of these lives. Or have you?”

: “I, who am speaking to you, am a layer up from Jorule. You're going straight to the Spark. Which, for posterity- is a rarity that vanishingly few have ever had, and many lesser have disintegrated from doing so.“

: “Those other lives... many of them still continue, or could continue. Some are frozen, awaiting within Winter, for the right time, place, and venue.“

: “I doubt any of them hold much of a place in this narrative. But... let it not be said I cannot adapt to change in situation or tone.“

considers this, and does bow then, low and sincere, before his invisible throne. “Then this is a great honor, and it’s one I do honor.” She looks up at him from where she bows. “Is there anything you would like me to know?”

looks up, and his eyes fixate as if locked onto an unseen celestial body. Moments pass. The silence turns the moments into unmoving eternities. ⁂

looks back down at Salme. “Truth and beauty can exist alongside each other, without sharing a vessel.“ ⁂

: “Pursue your truth. Rend that which would stop you. When you rise, blood and dirt under your nails, remember that your shoulders ache, and your legs burn.“

: “Remember the beauty that surrounds you, Salme. Never stop looking at it.“

: “Otherwise... what *would* be the point of any of this?“

: “Besides...“

: “Someone else needs you to be brave, and vulnerable, and messy, and coy, and loving, and wild and pure and forever free. For their sake.“

swallows, hard. And straightens out of the bow. “Thank you,” she says, and she wants to say—there is an infinity of words she wants to say but she only has those two. And then, “I do not know you but I do know you, and I hope you know that you, too, are loved. If only through him. If only by me.”

leans forward on his invisible throne, elbows on knees, hands clasped together. “I know. I don't always remember, but I do know.“

shifts his jaw left and right, and then smiles slightly. “One last one. Any given question, from the trivial to the most relevatory, loose it to the wind and I'll give you the unfiltered answer.“

: “Now that truly is a gift,” she smiles at him, bright and easy and warm. “Thank you. Though. I’m satisfied for now, and I’d like him back, if it isn’t too rude to ask.”

: “It is not too rude to ask. It is what was going to happen, eventually.“

: “Oh, and-“

: “All the soaring slits and nonexistant necklines have been a delight.“

’s throne vanishes, or so you would think, by the way he slowly rotates forward and straightens up, gently lowering to the ground, hardly making any nose when his boots meet the bricks of the wall.

kicks a heel against the ground, and splays his arms down and out to the sides, palms up. “And they’re gone, folks!” His face is bright, and his eyes focus to somewhere in this reality.

steps forward, not quite throwing herself at him, but not-not throwing herself at him, catching him into a hug and burying her face in his shoulder. “Did you know that we are here and alive and real right now?”

giggles slightly as he wraps his arms around her waist and lifts her into a twirling spin. “I know it! I know it and feel it!”

: “Thank you. I didn’t. Know I needed to talk to them, to hear that. But I did.”

: “I mean, I’m glad your head didn’t explode! But I knew you’d be okay. And really, I’m glad everyone else is turning out to be okay, from the experiences.”

: “Were you concerned?”

: “Yeah, a bit! It happens, y’know!”

: “People get lost in the weeds and then you don’t see them on the road anymore and then the air turns to an unwelcome chill.”

: “Of course, I’d burn twice as hot to counteract, but still!”

: “You would. But still.” She kisses his neck, his jaw, his mouth. Not pushing, just knowing him. “I have more questions for you, delightful questions for you. Your favorite cheese is provolone and you like to drink coffee but I want to know—“ she yawns. “Light. I’m tired. What time is it? I didn’t,” yawn. “Sleep,” another yawn. She blinks, sleepily. “Oh. I think I can sleep now.”

kisses her back- the cheek, the jaw- he cradles her head while his fingers are interwoven with her bountiful handfuls of hair.

: “Then, let’s.”

: “The morn can be for stylization and preparation.”

has no idea how much time has passed, actually. All night? Multiple nights? Are there days, here, on the Beast? She’s been a raw nerve, just electricity and action, for too long. She really—yawns again, enormously. “You don’t have to sleep too. You probably haven’t been running around like an insane person.”

: “But,” she leans her head back into his fingers, “I’d like it if you would nap with me.”

kisses her neck, and inhales deeply. “Mmm… yeah, that sounds like the perfect way to end this.”