ORIGIN - diamond dust

Pages: 1 2 3 4

The drone listened, and it found itself content listening to Ananke speak. There was something nice about physically hearing someone rather than listening to them among the chatter in your own head. They were frighteningly still and unblinking, but they were absorbed with rapt with quiet interest. Even Ananke's grim tone and the flashes of creatures of Chaos did not entirely dampen its mood-- it considered them, mulled them over, and promptly decided that, despite the Priestess's clear grief, Mother could fix it, somehow. Mother could do everything, as far as Elysium was concerned.

It also enjoyed not only the images of the rabbit's travels, but the idea of travelling with members of their family. They had started daydreaming of it; wandering barefoot through long grass and watching light glint against mountaintops, when Ananke's question had them blurting out a near-immediate answer. "No."

And it was strange, how they just instinctively knew. They had never tried to fly before, and yet-- "I am not... an aerial fighter. They are not for... quick escapes, either." A beat, and the heavy, low-slung wings on its back twitched to life and lifted. "They are... heavy. They are for... protecting, yes." Perhaps they could glide on them, if their sheer weight didn't make them plummet like a rock-- but somehow, Elysium was leaning more towards the latter being more likely.

Wiry, snow-dusted limbs flapped once, rinsing themselves clean, and then folded neatly back into place. "I guard my siblings," they continued, oddly soft-spoken. There was distant pride at this: their given purpose assigned to them by Her, and it was, they thought, something to be treasured. "I would... like to travel. Even if I... cannot fly, I will keep you and Halycon safe." At any cost, was both unspoken and unthought, but certainly ensured.

For the first time in several minutes, Elysium blinked as their pupilless gaze drifted again from the horizon to Ananke, where it regarded her with warmth and gentle excitement. "When you next travel... where will you go...? Will you... look for anyone in particular?"

@Ananke

Ah. There was a faint disappointment, certainly, if only because the emerging dreams of being flown safely about by a swift guardian had been so quickly swept from the table. But Ananke set that thought aside, with a mental note to continue to keep an eye out for someone who could do such a thing. For now-?

Strategically, it was a question, and as she mulled it over she ensured her thoughts were open enough to be easily read. She and Halcyon were relatively small. If danger presented itself, they had a good chance of making an escape--but Elysium? Their large form was... not unwieldy, but it jerked potential group tactics from "flight" firmly into "fight."

Ananke considered. She knew--she had been warned--that the Masters would kill them on sight. She doubted that even this pillar of a winged sentinel would be enough to stand against them, except maybe to buy she and Halcyon time to escape but there was no need for that, not when they could simply flee to begin with. And they were not fighters--not her, not Halcyon.

Against lesser enemies-? Or Lesser enemies, with a capital 'L?' Well, Elysium could undoubtedly stop those in their tracks. It gave them a few more options, anyway, but she rather wished they had some form of scout.

I could look for Lessers to use, she mused. Control them, or find infected spies to search their path--that would do.

"We can try," she said at last, after weighing all these thoughts. She shifted a little, to stay comfortable, in the statue-being's hands. "And as to where? I think... somewhere I haven't seen, before." It was a faint, pleasant idea of adventure, though she had to tamp down that prey-beast fear of the unknown. But perhaps they could, with Elysium's guardianship, travel so far as those caves she'd heard of but never seen: Orion, or Monoceros, or... anywhere without Masters, at least.

It was a shame, she thought, that none of them could ever safely see Cepheus. And as for Draco-... well, from what she'd heard, she never wanted to.

Ananke considered, and then tilted her head just slightly, watching Elysium from practically behind her own head. (And it might have looked odd, should Elysium choose to view those glimpses through Ananke's eyes; her field of vision was nearly entirely around and above her, dizzyingly.) "Is there anywhere--any type of place--you'd like to see? Warm, or cool, or... rocky, or--plants?" Okay, so "plants" wasn't an adjective, but--still.

They'd get the point.

@Elysium

There was a pang of... sadness? Guilt? Elysium could not help but wonder why Mother did not make it capable of flight if it would've been useful. It buried these thoughts away for the time being-- surprisingly easily, when you are born into a hivemind --and listened quietly.

Ananke had a lot of thoughts, realised Zero-One-Two. The glimpses of which they were uncertain they entirely understood, but they did not follow the link further down to peer in. Things like Masters and Lessers (with a capital 'L') meant very little to them, presently: their priority was to protect from whatever was attacking their siblings. It did not matter what brand of Whatever it was.

"A place you have never seen before," it echoed softly. It tried, then, to picture a place it had never seen before, excluding the places Ananke had shown them. What was the opposite of Usra? Somewhere... hot, and entirely flat. Some places were rock, and others had grass, but if it were to be the opposite, then the floor of this room would be.. entirely fire. Hm, it wondered, inwardly. That is not good.

Burying away its vision of Hell, Elysium instead tried to think of a place it would like. It liked... the stream, Ananke had shown it. The trees-- the jungle, yes, but not that colour. Not that.. structure. Everything would have to be neater, less wild. White? No, that would just be Ursa. Its eyes searched Ananke for a moment, and pried a random colour from her pelt: the pinkish blush of her ears.

An image came to it, then. Trees of pale bark that were so tall, even Elysium would have to crane their head up to look at them. Their leaves were wide, fan-shaped, and pale pink. They would be very soft to the touch, the drone imagined, like springy little feathers. When the leaves fell, they would leave a blushing blanket at their roots, smooth and unmarred like fresh snow.

It considered this; studied the image in their mind, and then tentatively showed it to Ananke down the hivemind; a gentle nudge like a child showing their teacher their new artwork. "Is there anywhere... with trees like this?" It asked.

A beat, and Elysium considered a little further. Adventure seemed fun, yes-- it searched briefly among the visions in its head, sifting carefully through the eyes of other drones, before picking one at random: white-gold sand littering the ground, frothing waves lapping hungrily at the shore, and a wide expanse of warm water. Leo, it registered in their mind, automatically.

"I would.. like to go to Leo," it tested this name aloud, for the first time. "With the.. water."

@Ananke

Ananke listened, or rather watched, as Elysium pictured first one place and then another. The pale-trunked trees she watched with fascination. She had never seen Cepheus before, nor had she seen it through another Drone's eyes--the place was dangerous, for their kind--but that'd have been the closest thing; most of the trees she'd seen were dark, with green leaves.

Leo, though--that was easy. It wasn't far from here; and the funny thing was, well... "The tunnel we have to go through, it's that way-" she nodded her head in that direction, "I think it's like the fire-place you imagined. If we're careful, though, I think it will be fine?"

Think, because she'd never been there; but it was a tunnel that one of the other Hive frequented. The dragon family--Svartis, Bone, Dread and Charon--lived between the caves, so Ananke's memories of Bone's visions of them could easily be guidance.

"Do you want to go... now, or--just wait?" she asked; again, she didn't mind. But a second thought occurred to her then, and the rabbit let out a rare little laugh of humor: "Leo's... an interesting choice. It's the opposite of Ursa," she noted.

Warm, full of sand and water, and islands--maybe if you melted all of Ursa's snow and filled it with a sea, it might be another Leo, with its mountains as new islands? But as it stood, they were summer and winter; tropical and arctic.

It would be interesting to see it.

@Elysium

The opposite of Ursa? No, that did not seem entirely correct. The brief glimpse that Elysium had seen seemed... pleasant, soothing. It had not seen a perfect, black flatland of fire. Their features barely twitched as they stared out across the driven snow, thoughtful.

It was, however, a fairly short decision. "Okay," it said. Their hands wavered for the first time as they finally shifted in place, another fresh, thin layer of snow falling from their shoulders. They were careful not to drop Ananke; it held her as though it had cupped water in its palms, fingertips half-shielding her from snowfall. It soon fell still again, with just barely a little shuffling turn as it turned its head to watch the line of tiny footsteps Ananke had left behind when she approached.

The Drone was hesitant, but it took a careful step in the snow. The others did not seem to have an issue with wading through freshly-fallen snow; there was no reason Elysium should. They should stop thinking about it. Never mind the fact that it just felt inherently wrong, and her clenched muscles wailed for them to stop.

It tried very hard to push down the ache of distress. "Have you... ever been, to Leo?" It asked the Priestess, as it trudged onwards through the plain. They were not entirely sure if they were even going the right way-- they walked only where it felt right to.

@Ananke

"No!" The answer, a single word, was nonetheless filled with nervous excitement. She'd seen it, of course--and its route--in the vaguest terms, through others' eyes. But been there-? No.

And it was interesting that Elysium... disagreed. Their ideas of opposite were different, and Ananke might have debated the point along the link if they hadn't been of one linked mind. Instead, she eyed Elysium's idea of "opposite" and set it aside as another, interesting perspective. (Maybe a better one?) But she clarified her point. "I mean that... it will be--Leo--the opposite in many ways from this place. It'll be a different experience?" That sounded--better, yes. Clearer.

She kept an eye on the distant tunnel, ready to correct their course if need be.

But Elysium's reluctance to move wasn't lost on Ananke, either. She paid it half-puzzled attention, for a time, before finally speaking up, concerned. "Does walking--hurt, somehow?" No--that wasn't right; she didn't sense pain. But there was--something--what was it?

"I can walk, if you need me to?"

@Elysium

"Hm," the Drone grunted thoughtfully. Opposite in many ways, but not all. That made a little more sense to it, it decided, as it continued trudging through the snow. Hot instead of cold, watery instead of powdery. "Different experiences are... good?" it half-tested the words as much as it had asked them; the gentle uncertainty of someone seeking reassurance before forming a solid opinion.

As for Ananke's questions, though-- "No," it decided. Movement was something it did not particularly enjoy, in general-- but it was difficult or painful. It was merely more comfortable standing still. This, though-- this sensation as their feet uplifted swathes of snow --was studied, for a time.

Not sadness. Perhaps something close to guilt would be more accurate, but not quite. It was... an imposing sort of sensation. Rudeness to some unknown entity for disrupting what was perfect in Elysium's eyes. Perhaps, it wondered, to Mother?

Discomfort was a good word. It half-caught the glimpse of the tunnel as it sent these feelings to Ananke and turned to plod steadily towards it. "Walking does not feel right here," they said, softly, to back up this little stream of emotion. "I do not... understand it. But it will be okay."

A pause. "You do not have to... walk on your own. But it is up to you. You are... light, not heavy."

@Ananke

She curled against Elysium, thinking. It seemed a given--one of those things she'd just sort of deduced and learned while growing--that different experiences were good; she'd never really thought about why. But Ananke did so now, laying out the concept in neat and orderly lines in her mind, in a grid of ideas: all sorts of experiences, and what they could teach.

Going down that mental grid: strategy, tactics, mistakes, corrections. And the rows: conflict, exploration, teamwork, magic, combat, and so forth.

"The more things we have seen, experienced, and learned," she began--slow, but confident in her ideas, the Priestess in her taking the lead--"the better we can react to new things. We'll know what to expect. Our reactions will be faster, more accurate, more efficient," and yes, that seemed correct. I believe it's a matter of prior exposure preparing us for new threats, situations to be solved... things like that.
That little speech over, she turned her mind to Elysium's second thought process. She thought over the angelic being's stress as she felt the heavy footfalls plod beneath her. Hmm. Ananke turned, suddenly leaping from Elysium's arms in a little scrabble of soft feet and determined thought. "Let me try something."

She scrambled over to Elysium's feet, briefly eyeing them over, and then scrunched up her tiny nose--which paused its incessant bobbing as she focused.

A single thread of clear, glue-like substance began to extend out from her nostrils, paws, and ears--combining with the snow and assimilating it. But the formation paused, as if stymied by something, and Ananke sneezed and backed away, studying it.

It was a small, misshapen thing, and she looked from that to Elysium's feet. No--that didn't work. I can try again, though, she reasoned, glancing at Elysium in the hopes that the other was willing to wait, for a moment. I'm... fairly sure I can make something for you. Something so you slide on the snow instead of crushing it. She could have just reassured Elysium that snow would fall again, but she fully understood the distress of smashing something so pristine. A practical solution would be far better, she thought, than empty platitudes.

@Elysium

Elysium listened, half-watching the rabbit in their hands and the distant tunnel as it drew closer. Her speech made a lot of sense-- if the Drone could expect more, it could do a better job at its assigned task. It made a little mental note to try to experience as many things as possible and, content with this, tucked it away for later. "You are... good at talking," it offered, quite genuinely. "I would like to... see many things. React well. I do not want to... disappoint, or have someone hurt when it could have been... prevented."

Speaking of preventing injury, a jarring wave of alarm coursed through its body as Ananke leapt from their hands. It thought, for a terrifying second, that it had managed to drop the Priestess-- they scrambled briefly to try to correct their mistake but, it seemed, Ananke was fine, and talking. Fingers twitched. It took a moment to think, and slowly crouched down in the snow to watch.

A slow blink, as the filament produced by the rabbit came to a standstill. It was not entirely certain how she could make its feet slide, but it did get to thinking. "I do not know if I am... meant to be a thing that slides," it picked its words carefully. "I think, perhaps... Mother made me to crush." A sad thing, it realised-- but understandable enough.

That said, it did not seem in any particular hurry. Hands on its knees, knees to its chest, it watched the Priestess patiently and with a gently-tilting head-- for surely this, too, was a good new experience. If Ananke could use some problem-solving then it may come into use later down the line.

A second blink within twelve seconds (a new record). "How would you... make something slide, instead of crush...?"

@Ananke

Ananke turned, and stuck one hind foot up at Elysium. "I walk on top of snow, because my feet are big. I was going to try and make your feet big, too," and this seemed to her to be good reasoning. She'd never seen a snowshoe but she'd certainly seen rabbit's feet.

She tried again, focusing on making a pair of big, bushy, but plastic-ey rabbit's feet that could slip on over Elysium's. They'd be unwieldy but still-... they'd function. If she could get it right, that was. She began to work as she spoke and talked, threading out thin spools of organic polymer and magically shifting them--with little shuffles of her forepaws to help--into the appropriate shapes. She allowed a brief, half-absent thread of gratitude at Elysium's compliment--that she was good at thinking. In cycles past, before the Hive, she might have been flustered by such a thing: unsure how to respond, wishing to brush it off as an accidental positive trait. But whatever bad the Hive offered, the good was that she had gained real perspective. She no longer saw herself as a separate being, but as part of a greater whole; her successes were due to her family, and she had learned to gladly acknowledge them without awkwardness or undue pride. They were a way to help--and that was good.

And on that note--If you ever fail at something, or disappoint, it's our mistake too. You have all of us to draw on, she reasoned. If you aren't sure on something, we are all always here. All the time. If you need to know something, we can all help. It's how she'd learned much. But that wasn't to say that new experiences weren't still very important; the more each of them knew, the stronger the whole would become.

Crushing isn't bad, she went on, seamlessly switching back to verbal speech a moment later. "We have plenty of those who are small, to serve. A protector who can fight is a great thing." Undoubtedly, that's why Mother had made them--to make up for a lack of guardians.

At last, she'd finished with the 'snowshoes': they were bristly, the polymer thin enough in strands along the bottom that it was almost like stiff fur. Like walking, sort of, on giant short-bristled toothbrushes that would sift the snow a little better behind them. But they were broad, too, enough that the snow might not be crushed quite so badly. They'd been made so that Elysium could slip their feet in through holes in the top, but undoubtedly they'd take some getting used to.

"Here--try these? Put your feet in them, and try to walk?" Ananke suggested. It wasn't demanding, or authoritarian; she was cooperating, performing with Elysium as her equal. Her teammate--her family. However she could improve the other's life, she would do her best.

@Elysium

Pages: 1 2 3 4