2010-11-04: Personal Tastes

Players:

Heather_icon.jpg Mike_icon.jpg David_icon.jpg

Summary: Mike, David and Heather collect their thoughts.

Date: November 4, 2010.

Log Title: Personal Tastes

Rating: G.


Tegu-Haaz - The Slaughtered Lamb


Outside the wooden sign displaying a Wolf's Head on a pike along with the name 'The Slaughtered Lamb' swings in the breeze of the run down old pub. Inside the wooden floors creak as extra weight is applied and the smells of lingering alcohol and tabacco smoke permeate the air. Oil lanterns are hung on the walls circling the pub to provide light the patrons while the walls are marked with old tally marks from games long ago played. Behind the bar are old barrels of wine and ale, an hearth for cooking up meals and a layer of dust is caked onto the dishes. Long tables that can sit at least ten people each are still sturdy but some are turned over while the chairs are scattered across the place. A second hearth with ash from long ago still sitting in it is built against one of the sidewalls for light, heat and additional cooking. If one were to search the pub they might find food that is mysteriously still edible.


Heather is doing her usual sleep schedule. She's made a lot of headway into, well, whatever it is that she's planning on doing to this world, and she deserves some good sleeps now and again, especially given she is not getting quite enough food for her metabolism lately. Right now, she is writing using the ink she found in the train station on some blank papers. Between finding Robyn's bear and Alaric in the Asylum, she has plenty to write about in her speculation files. She wears her recently cleaned pyjamas, though now the cheery pink Hello Kitty! pyjamas look a little permanently trashed. Heather does not seem too shaken up about this. Scritch, scratch, scritch goes her makeshift pen.

Entering the tavern carrying a burnt wooden spear and bag of salt, David dressed in the tattered remnants of his usual costume, which he had been wearing when he arrived in this dimension. He is also wearing his cybershades though they are off for the moment. Spotting Heather, the Xavier staffer smiles widely and grins to Heather, "I would hug you, if I didn't feel you would kill me." He sits down a moment and exhales as he relaxes. He is in a rather happy mood considering his surroundings.

And there's a familiar, robot-tinged voice speaking in fast-world pace. <Hello, Kitty. It's good to see you again.> That's a voice Heather might not have expected to hear.
<Alaric told us one of the rules,> he continues. <You can free the prisoners by using their weakness against them. David freed me yesterday.>
He's not wearing that stupid robe thing, but he does have the nuts-and-bolts rosary he was carrying around when Franklin Stane's reality was overwriting him.

Heather's gesture language and paired speech are returned to the two, glad that she doesn't have to resort to the scratchings on the wax case. <Mike. That's an interesting rule. I need to document them. I have not yet spoken to Alaric. He's too feeble for now, I'm too annoying to talk to. But do let me know what he knows. And yes, it might be painful to hug me for no fault of my own, nemesis.> She crosses one leg over the other, glancing between the two with a tilted head, <I like you better when you're you Mike. Robyn's bear may be his weakness, it is his unfinished business, I may take care of him. Connor… he seems afraid that Alaric is a demon. But he was in a state of madness. To a creature of this world, that may be the case… We have to destroy their world to escape it.>

David hmmmmns and nods, "Well, Alaric gave us a bit of information. One is that he summoned a demon and it got out of hand and that is why we are here. The demon is Tegu-Haaz and this is his dimension. The longer we are here the longer we remain trapped. And he mentioned something regarding silver waters for our escape back to our dimension." He looks to Mike, "Do you remember anything else he said? And more importantly, how are you doing? Sorry about stabbing you with a flaming spear."

"Stop saying that name, David. I don't remember the whole conversation clearly. I was something else for some of it, and I didn't have a physical substrate for mnemonic store. Not sure if it was the name of the demon or the name of the place, but it has the power to get its attention. We don't want that until it's a time of our choosing." The robot is snarky today, apparently, but then he's been Very Pleasant for more than a week. He's not completely unhappy though. Clearly not. He says to Heather, <By the way, why did you call David 'Nemesis'?>

<Because he is my nemesis. We will resume standard nemesis activity once we escape this reality. It's as I've been saying, it is simply a puzzle that needs to be solving, and our goal state is in sight.> She considers for a moment, raising her brow as if she just got an idea and then she continues with the gesturing, <I think Professor Kenta says that James is better. I know nothing of Jinx. But Robyn is into this horror stuff. If I can turn him, he can help us turn the others. As for Alaric… if he summoned a demon, maybe he really is bad news. I do not think it's worthwhile to kill him, but watch him close.>

David just shakes his head at the nemesis commenting, "The enemy of my enemy and some such." He grins and nods, "Alaric will have to be dealt with…even if he gets out of here. He is responsible for bringing us here." He hmmmmns, "The teddy bear. Where is it, Heather?" He asks, "We still need to figure out about Connor and Jinx, then. I was ready to approach Star with the salt, but I do believe Cloud should be the one to turn her. Is there an accurate count of who exactly is here?"

The robot-teen laughs at the nemesis idea, but not without some inner sense of trepidation, because Heather's grip on ANY reality is a little slippery, in his opinion. "You should ask Emma that question, David. She knows."
Mad genius in computer mind is digging through what he has with him on horror and the occult… sadly most of it came from movies and comics, not necessarily the best source of accurate information. His parents might know better but they never discussed that kind of thing around their already slightly odd child.
"What happened to Jinx then? Where is she? And have either you or Heather been injured in any way? No sense of having died?" Mike repeats the latter to Heather at fast-world speeds.

<David, can you do me a favour and speak in my gesture language? It is less annoying than your boring voice and Mike can understand it,> requests Heather, standing up from her seat and brushing off her top. <The bear is where I left it.> She gestures off to the corner, where the bear sits with a 'do not touch' note on it. <I will talk to Robyn, and we will see what happens. And no, I have not been affected by this world. I have been affecting it.>

David hmphs and quirks an eyebrow at Heather's request. He walks towards the teddy and bends over to look at it and begins gesturing, <I am not affected by this place either, <Ok, so I will ask Hosea about Jinx or go visit the asylum. I want to search for these silver waters as well.> He studies the bear and then stands up and walks towards the bar to get some water.

Mike thinks about that concept, 'have been affecting it' … <I'm not sure that's any safer, Heather. But you might simply be hard for the demon to get a grip on. You have a very strong belief in your reality being your own creation, and it may simply be that it cannot hurt you because it cannot impinge on your sense of self. You're protected. One thing I remember: Alaric said the thing feeds on fear. If you have no fear it cannot draw power from you. I was afraid of the gremlins, so they were able to hurt me, but if I turn off _all_ my emotions that cannot happen again, so I'm keeping that option ready.> Mike squeeks at Heather for a moment, then says to David, "Fear. The entity feeds on fear. If we are unafraid it won't want us around."
He stands and goes to the lamp-oil stash, and sips down a third-cup of the stuff, then some of the irish whiskey that had been given to him by Tara. It tastes like licorice candy to him, for some reason.

<I'm not afraid. I think that I might be broken, but it has worked for me. Perhaps I have arranged for myself to be broken in this way to be most effective? Who knows, but it is possible. This place, I don't think of it as scary. I think of it as a challenge, another obstacle to overcome in order to improve myself and gain mastery over my univserse,> gestures Heather, after this discussion about fear. She furrows her brow at the bit on silver waters and adds in, <I may have to interrogate Connor. Sometimes the mad know things the sane do not see. Not that I make that distinction.> Given that she definitely has the 'insane' stamp on her file.

David hmmmmns, <That makes sense.> He grabs a cup and pours some water and sips as he ponders why others weren't affected. Why weren't the other students and staff were not affected. He exhales and half smiles as he takes another sip.

<He's very helpful. I remember that. But I also remember him making horrible noises that didn't sound right, what was he doing, do you know? And you might want my help to interrogate him. He reminds me of the character Renfield from an old movie, Dracula, with Boris Karloff.>

Mike sets a reminder to himself, finish the design for that high-speed display so it can be used to show the movies for Chloe and Heather. He had seen some nanosecond switching designs for laser networking, they'd work pretty well for a laser-diode monitor, like the ones in the HUD for the latest Chrysler MomVan thing.

<Yes, I think I learned that. Asking for his help brought results. He wanted to help when I asked for help to break the wall, but he was also afraid. Like a caged animal,> gestures Heather, before she shakes her head quickly. <You can feel free to come with me, but we have to be careful not to harm the person under the facade. Connor is a friend, and I have very few. I want no harm done to him except when we know how to cure him.> She pauses for a moment, and without a change in emotion, only in seeming determination, <And then we will take those necessary risks.>

The robot teen shrugs, which makes him happy - sure, he's not as elaborately mobile as a human but wow, this is SO MUCH better than the clockwork body. He can actually do that motion! It's a bit awkward but it's there! Of course it's likely wasted on Heather since doing it at her speed would probably damage something.

<When we get back, I need to figure out how to rewrite this body. It's not human enough. If I can, I want to be able to move for real, to eat, to smell… I've been without a sense of taste for almost a year. It's been very dull.> Mike's told this ambition to only a small number of people, all friends. He's not sure whether Heather will understand that the confession is something he doesn't share easily, but that's not why he makes it.

Heather can see the shrug and appreciates it only for what it is: a shrug. She's not that empathetic to begin with, despite being a little bit of a manipulator. <This place has been tiresome. I've been here for five months already in my perception, and while I'm not scared, I'm kind of looking forward to ending this world.> She pauses for a moment at the revelation and she signs, <When you can taste, I will cook you something. I hope those modifications can be made soon.>

Mike nods. <I look forward to that. I'll need to calibrate my sense of taste again, I hope.>
He isn't going to say how that will work with Heather's food. He isn't sure himself, after all.

Heather nods her head quickly and gestures, <Apparently, my senses are a little bit defective, but it works for me. So long as you gain hedonic value from normal positive interactions with your environment, I'm sure the senses will be okay. If you want something more familiar, though, that seems like it will take some artistry. I hope you get whatever it is you want from it.>

David finishes sipping his water and signs, <Alright….I need to check on the others.> He exhales as he hasn't gotten much sleep the month thathe has been here. Ever vigilant of the students and others here, David rises and smiles at the other and makes his way out holding the burnt spear.

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