mattersverymuch | 17 ɂ text & spam & video

spam } roundabout

[There are two rats. Neither of them have names but what are known to themselves, and both of them were, until recently, terrifically annoyed at being removed from their perfectly amenable existence and deposited on the Barge, where there are no other rats and also no real gravity (the kind that exists they don't wholly believe in).]

[After a significant period of negotiation, a deal has been struck: they will stay, for the purposes of errands, company, and general nuisancing, in exchange for food and protection. As such, the marquis de Carabas has placed a charm on them, so that should anyone or anything threaten them, they grow to twice the size of the threat.]

[They run around on their own a decent portion of the time, but it's more energy-efficient to ride with the marquis, so he can be seen more or less everywhere he goes with a rat on his shoulder or in one of his multitudinous pockets. The CES is a dimly-lit forest when he visits, drifting mist obscuring one's view of the path ahead, and he consults with them on the most interesting direction in which to proceed. On deck, they run the railing ahead of him and pause to criticize the others on board with their beady eyes. In the halls, they scuttle from door to door underfoot, tails twitching, seeking out shadows. In the gardens, he tends to the beehive in a distant sort of way and will definitely not tell anyone how he knows how to do this. The rats keep away in his pocket for this period, because they were not born yesterday, thank you.]

private } snow

[Someone is a terrific mood. Which, lately, makes him contemplative.]

Your gift was useful. ["Thank you." Still can't say it.]

spam } dean

[Congratulations, Dean, there's a rat in your room. The slightly smaller one, not that you'll probably be able to tell the difference. Don't ask how it got in. Just don't.]

[Currently it's sitting on the bedside table, perfectly sedate, as if waiting for something. Which it is.]

video } public

[The aforementioned rats are sitting both on one shoulder, looking with an air of intense disapproval at the communicator. Technology: fuck it. The marquis looks amused at their annoyance, as he generally does whenever anybody is annoyed about anything. At least it's friendly amusement.]

What's always baffled me about this place is how inorganic it is. No - pests. [One of them looks at him with extreme displeasure. He shrugs. What?] An ordinary ship would pick something up at port, especially with all the cargo taken on. Even for a ship that's not technically a ship, enough other things come on board - entire alternate universes, for example - this level of sterility is impractically perfect.

And boring.

At least there are bees now.

( ooc; THERE IS A BEEHIVE IN THE GARDENS NOW, I JUST FORGOT TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT, THE MARQUIS AND THE EMPEROR STOLE A BEEHIVE. yep. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Evil is far too simplistic.]

Ravenna sought power. She lost everything when she was a young girl and was essentially powerless, subject to whatever the men who destroyed her village were wont to do. All she had was her beauty where her power was tied. But as she grew old and her looks began to fade, her power began to fade as well.

If she consumed my heart, she would have lived forever and remained youthful and beautiful. Beyond that, I cannot say for sure.

[Nothing, he is finding, is simplistic. It would be far easier to be able to say this is the right path for survival and this is the wrong, but that seems to be more and more impossible lately. Even Ravenna's story is complex enough. He can pick at it and pinpoint her downfall, but he can't say how he would have done any better, in her shoes. Any cleverer.]

[Instead he just tilts his head and thinks quietly for a moment.]

Everyone seeks power. Don't they?

[It's a simplistic, almost childish question. He gives no indication of realizing this - maybe he doesn't at all.]

[She's surprised by the question. Most of de Carabas' questions are philosophical in nature as is this one. But they are never so simplistic. This one seems almost rigid to her for a man who lives and thrives in the grays of the world.]

I do not believe so, no. Not exactly.

I believe each of us seek power over our own lives. Some wish for more power than that, but I believe most are content with that much.

[He considers this, his eyes moving more slowly than usual, focused on somewhere more distant.]

People run on fear. Of the world, of other people, of their own inadequacy. I still believe this.

[There's a but on the tip of his tongue. He is still better - cleverer - than everyone else. But he has seen goodness. It's a test of his own perfection: if he sees something, if he must believe in his own ability to perceive it correctly, then perfectly accurate perception of goodness must mean that goodness is a quality that does exist in the world. Strength of heart and soul is not a platitude, but a reality, no matter how rare.]

[He's distressed by this and, in the end, says nothing; just sighs.]

[Snow is not so certain she would agree with him. Some do run on fear. Ravenna certainly did. But in her attempts to master it, she tried to wield it against others, inspire it within them. It was her ruin.]

And yet...?

[He glances up, wary.]

Yet nothing.

[It doesn't matter, probably; or at least doesn't matter enough to share.]

De Carabas.

[It's fine if he doesn't wish to discuss it. But don't lie to her. Not now.]

[A roll of his eyes. Don't say "de Carabas" like that, it almost makes him feel something. Which is the point of this whole endeavor, he supposes, but that doesn't mean he has to like it.]

I may . . . have been wrong about one or two things, in the past.

[Somewhere, a star has just gone supernova.]

Is that so?

[There's only a small touch of amusement though not in mockery. She is still generally serious.]

Are you going to make me repeat myself?

[At least he's relatively good-natured about it. For now.]

No. Only because you had the courtesy not to mumble.

[A moment of silence.]

I meant it. But I won't elaborate.