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

[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.