Video

[tergiversant]

[The video feed this morning has multiple purposes. Initially it was a simple test, to see if the illusion he'd cast broadcast to the network. It failed, instead, showing a young looking man sitting in the Observation Deck on the moon, face half obscured by his fan. But mostly, this is for information. His tone is arrogant and movements slow and measured.]

I wish to pose two queries to thee.

Firstly, I wish to know what of the enemy thou hast unearthed below. I hath read accounts of war and organization, accounts of those of less human appearance treated within the tenants of fear. Leaving aside such debates upon the validity and consequence of tampering with what hath passed in the mires of one's regret and defeat, tis a great number of conversations upon the future and past, but a dearth of those of the present. I assume such, that thine situation remains bleak, and that the project vile and untoward may have continued... But little of the new face of our enemy.

This world, which hath changed so wild and bitterly from the squalor and civilization it had boasted... do we still have a capable enemy who still strikes at our worlds afar? What sayeth the people below?

Tis true, to attack boldly is suicide. Tis true, spying without knowledge as a guard is suicide. However tis true, to jab wildly at the past at an enemy we dost not understand ... tis foolishness and absurdity. Tis possible we may not have a war that concerns us.

Corrections of this, these assumptions, art most welcome.

[He pauses, folding his fan to tap it at his chin.]

Secondly, tis thus: I desire to speak with one most practiced in the art or pedagogy of science. I hath researched soundly the foundational elements and request to employ an expert in 'chemistry' and 'genetics.'


(OOC NOTE: Rufus Barma is a ridiculous creature who speaks in deliberately archaic mannerisms! BUT, if OOCLY you'd like a plain English version, just mention it in the subject line!)

Comments

[tergiversant]

I hadst wondered if thou had listened a wit.

I assume thou hast kept thine nature concealed to see to thy safety and accommodations.

[veratrum]

I find it's easier to keep people wondering that. [Wait, what, go back to that one, Liam--nope he's moved on.]

The people I live with know what I am, or at least most of them do. This form is a convenience to keep from making them feel uncomfortable, if they can't handle it.

[tergiversant]

[He doesn't press for more anyway. It tells him quite a bit... whatever power to read the boy had, it was not limited to the supernatural skills.]

Matters not the hostility of the natives?

[veratrum]

That kind of hatred and hostility...is nothing I'm not used to, even before my current condition.

Why should I care about those sorts of people? [It's strange, Liam's still smiling but there's an edge to it, a little bit crazy, maybe a little bit bitter.]

[tergiversant]

[Mildly,] For even a dragon may be bested by a dog, should there be a large enough pack.

[veratrum]

But the dragon knows Death is but a comforting embrace, when compared to other suffering.

[His tone does get gentler at that. He recognizes the concern. But dying's the least of his problems.]

[tergiversant]

If thou hast given up so soundly, I advise thee to be more active in seeking such.

[veratrum]

Hahaha, I've already died before! That wasn't what I meant.

I don't want to be pretending to be what I'm not, such loneliness was much darker then when I was killed...Or so I felt.

[tergiversant]

And yet, ye returned.

[The HOW? was another question, but it could wait.]

[veratrum]

I got better.

[He smiles.] There were reasons for me to do so.

[tergiversant]

I may imagine a paltry few worth defying death.

[And only one of those have been a matter of conversation between them.]

[veratrum]

So long as you can still imagine at least one, that's good enough.

[The form melts back--Liam is more comfortable in the form as he is now than the form as he once was, and besides, what's the point in hiding from a man like Rufus.]

You're seeking a way to prevent the enemy from striking at our own worlds, right?

[tergiversant]

[The change was interesting, from his point of view. He was too far to feel the terrible disquiet it brought, the edging dark on the edge of his senses... which left it room to be observed. It almost seemed like a reflex, ducking, tense and relaxing. Or was it more for some perceived benefit to himself? He'll have to push at it later.]

Tis as ye say. Twould be foolish to focus upon it alone, but little else should be upon the final goal.

[veratrum]

I couldn't say for sure without having a better look at the enemy...but it's possible my power might extend to protecting a world such as yours.

[He pauses, and then smiles.] I mean, naturally such a contract isn't free, but I couldn't discuss that until I knew for sure. That'd simply be dishonest.

[tergiversant]

[That was... A rather important piece of information. For everything that was going on here, the one he needed to protect would have no idea of this threat, and even less of a way to deal with it. Of course, nothing came without a price, but no bargain came without proof. Besides, there was a more pressing question that came to mind.]

What should keep thee here, then, if thou mightst wield such?

[veratrum]

How do I put this...? It's interesting here, but more than that...while the person I absolutely must protect is already here, but there are those here who have earned it as well. I wouldn't want to be the sort of god who abandons those he protects....there's plenty of those already.

Furthermore, the amount of energy it takes to bend reality enough to go home isn't worth the trouble. [He hasn't even tried--he's too damn lazy.]

[tergiversant]

[For a long moment, possibly long enough to be uncomfortable, Rufus Barma doesn't answer, merely studies the ethereal child on the other side of the connection.

There was such a high index for suspicion... he hardly was inclined to trust any offer phrased as a contract to begin with. But a god whose transactions seem to be bound to them... and yet speaks freely of other power uses.

He was fantastically interesting.]

Simply then, thine own human interest.

[veratrum]

I was human once, too. It hasn't been so long that I've lost that.

[If Liam recognizes the detachment of Rufus' interest, if he recognizes the danger of being so brutally, openly honest, it never shows--to be perfectly frank, he's never considered this man a threat, and even if he had, that'd be no reason to change how he behaves.

He is what he is. The fact that he's not lying and never is will eventually sink in, and Liam's patient enough to wait.]

[tergiversant]

An excellent thing.

Twould seem a dull thing to me, to lose one's humanity. A life stripped free of all its ticks and irrationalities hardly seems worthy of air.

[veratrum]

And to you and I, that remains true, but to the rest of Them and their entourage, humanity isn't a thing they know to miss. Even the most ...compatible of them are essentially alien...it isn't to say they don't feel and think and react, but the ways they do would make as much sense to humans as our ways would to a fish. Flaws and irrationality aren't a human creation, after all.

So now there's me, standing on both sides of the divide! They kind of thought it was funny, and I can't say it's not!

[tergiversant]

How dost one come betwixt two such worlds?

[veratrum]

By standing outside reality until you either are crushed by the weight of it or you emerge something no longer really human. It was kind of really excrutiatingly painful, actually!

But what I was does not disappear because of what I am, nor does what I am become invalid in light of what I will be.

[tergiversant]

[That... does give him a pause. The whole situation might be at a much higher level, but it's so very much like the formation of a Chain from a fallen Contractor...]

Nay, I wouldst not deny thee the privilege of self.

[veratrum]

[It's not a far off comparison, except Liam had forfeited all his contracts when it happened.]

Nor would I have let you, but I appreciate the courtesy nonetheless.

[tergiversant]

Indeed.

[The fan closes against his palm, and is tucked away in one of his sleeves.]

I should like to learn more of thee.