focusedvoid: (shade of you)
the knight ([personal profile] focusedvoid) wrote in [community profile] boxfullofzeroes2022-10-31 05:57 am

voicetest the voiceless









They're not dead.

Less dead than they'd felt, at least. Their shell doesn't normally take so long to reform.

Then again. Their shell doesn't usually break of their own violation as they ascended in a boiling rage, ate at least one realm, a god, and all the Godseekers.

(That last point is debatable, actually. There's some odd sense, deep under their...shell? Void? Wherever they once stored things like Isma's Tear, much deeper now...that the sea-mind is still there, sluggish and held in a stasis. They're already adjusting enough, and they don't seem to be dying or trying to kill them, so that problem is neatly sorted as 'for later'.)

They push their body to stand. Their horn clangs uncomfortably loudly against the grate they've apparently woken up beneath. They're somewhere in the Royal Waterways. A quick check of the map--or, not so quick, as it takes time to locate where it had been--shows they've risen about halfway through, closer to the City of Tears than the White Palace. They'll go to the Stag Station in the City Storerooms next.

So they think. Complications arise on the way.

The Infection is gone, leaving dead Flukes, Pilflips, and Hwurmps in piles enough it takes time to force their way past. Their body seems too small. No, their body is fine--there's something wrong with perception itself. That will take time to adjust to.

Then, they discover the Monarch Wings now stretch and warp when used, twisting around the nearest pipes after landing before the Knight forcibly calls them back. Shade Wings, they decide to call these.

Once they're high enough to hear the rain above, they realize a noise they'd ascribed to water running in the distance is, in fact, something swirling behind their mask. Many somethings. All the fragments of Siblings with enough self left, staring out from their eyes. It's disconcerting.

By the time they actually get out of the Waterways, they're using their Shade Wings to grip ledges and drag themselves up, with those holding onto things better than their own arms are with the Mantis Claw. 

The Knight faceplants awkwardly onto the floor of the building Lemm's shop is in. If the City is the same as below, there's little left to try killing them in the area.

They'll just take a moment here, thanks.
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
He is surprised by that. Shouldn't be, probably. It occurs to him he has fallen into a pattern of assuming the Knight won't take him places.

Isn't it like the Archives? Like Deepnest? If it's dangerous he expected to be deterred from going there. Didn't the Knight die-? Lemm stares back, bewildered, before gathering himself. They hadn't meant never. And they're a capable guard.

"Ah... If you're - confident." Very smooth. He looks out of the window, feeling scrutinised now that they're looking at him so intently and from such close proximity. It's too close and his nerve fails. "I'd like to go. 'S long as you know I'd be careful."

He addresses the rest with a little more confidence.

"Seems the larger bugs and beasts of this place rarely made it into Hallownest's golden age, but evidence is scarce. I'd be eager to see that, as well."

...Why are they telling him about...

Sounding very tentative, Lemm dares to ask.

"You'd not object to my trying for an audience, then? Or am I reading you incorrectly?"
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 11:10 am (UTC)(link)
"Aye. Greenpath first." (Queen's Gardens sound... daunting. More so! But that's a bridge to cross later, not that Hallownest does bridges very often. Which is the problem.)

Lemm is slow to respond, one finger tapping quietly on the counter while he thinks things through.

He can tell he's pushing it. Or they're pushing themselves. The situation is rather a complicated one to defuse because... he needs his options open, admittedly.

So, backing out and writing off ever meeting people like the Queen or Herrah or whoever isn't an option, not if he wants to be realistic. Pushing harder definitely isn't an option. And he doesn't want to meet these damned people, if he's completely honest it sounds like a recipe for disaster. The problem is he will never get a history he can be satisfied with if he doesn't examine all the working parts.

This should have just meant relics if this Kingdom was actually dead, Lemm testily thinks. Bits of it keep getting back up and talking back. One of them is sitting on his shop counter waiting for an answer right now, incidentally, so he should probably get on with it.

"I'm not -" he starts, and with some stalling he grinds out "- fond of the idea either. And I'm not under any false impressions she'll be inclined to tell me much if I get there. I've got a responsibility to ask if I can, but beyond that..."

Lemm waves a hand, before realising they aren't facing him to see it. It drops.

"...Look, let's put a pin in it - might not even happen, and we're both fussing. S'all up in the air until we know I can do Greenpath, anyway."
capitalcurator: (...)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
He is a little at a loss on what to do with the Knight leaning on him like that. Lemm stares at one of their horns that is conveniently in his field of view, while he considers whether or not this is a cue and there's some acceptable way he should be responding to it.

No, likely not. He stays where he is and tries not to be so acutely aware. He'll just... be a backrest. He guesses.

"I - well. I'd believe toxic, so I suppose it follows I have to believe intoxicant. Where'd you hear something like that, then?" His tone shifts to mildly accusatory. "Surely not Dirtmouth?" Is Elderbug inclined to party, Knight.
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 01:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, he had a feeling it wouldn't be Dirtmouth. Normally his amusement isn't so obvious until he decides it should be, but normally they're not leaning on him. They'll feel a slight tremor as a snicker doesn't quite make itself anyone's business, and he moves on.

"The Hunter, eh? Never heard of him, but then I suppose it takes one to know one, and I'm decidedly not."

Lemm peers over the Knight at the map and slips a hand under the edge, lifting it a bit to get a better look.

"Hmm. Don't suppose I could take a look? At the journal, I mean, not the one who gave it to you. I'm not in the mind to get myself hunted. By someone who indulges in venom."
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[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
(He feels himself relax a notch when they pull away, though he hadn't realised he was tense.)

"Ah, that's on the bigger end of the scale, isn't it..." He hover-handses a little bit, despite knowing the Knight isn't one for dropping things and the fact it looks like it would do more damage to the floor than itself.

Besides that it looks fascinating. How much information might be packed in there? Hunt-related or not, Lemm is already itching to get his covetous Relic Seeker hands all over it, but first things first.

"Show me." With an eager little invitational gesture to go with it.

He'd rather see how they handle the thing before he does. If they let him. He hopes they let him!
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[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
He can't help himself, it's right there. Lemm sticks a clawtip under the scroll part and holds it still, letting the paper slide lightly over it as it unrolls.

"Foliose. Treated. Surprisingly tough for the fine grade. This'd have lasted a sight longer than silk, let me tell you." He retracts his hand with a wistful sigh and folds his hands together. "Might even weather an acid splash or two, though I wouldn't advise letting it soak."

Lemm focuses in on the text they're showing him, and after a brief read-through he gives a lighthearted little scoff.

"Sounds like your Hunter is more than partial, if you ask me. I won't be following his enthusiastic advice, I don't think, there are less noxious vices to have... Ah, look at that." More hover hands, this time over the artwork. Lemm gives an appreciative hum. "Detailed indeed. I'd guess this was done with a dead specimen close to hand, eh?"

He looks up at the Knight at that as if he's hoping they'll offer more information, sounding rather cheerful about the whole thing.
Edited (changed a word) 2023-02-21 14:32 (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'll take your word for it. I'm hardly one to go looking for this kind of trouble, so I doubt I'll recognise so many of these. Good to know what's out there though."

Lemm does not normally deal with artifacts that have a papery component, or at least he hasn't since coming here. He prefaces his handling of the journal by quickly cleaning off his hands on a cloth, even if he suspects it's survived worse just by the nature of what it records.

It's not long before he's eagerly meandering along the scroll, poring over the images and text at the early end with some fascination.

"Organised by location it looks like? I suppose it makes the most sense. Ah, I recall you telling me about fighting one of these..." He hones in on the Vengefly King and traces the jaws on it faintly. He knows what a vengefly looks like and this isn't much different, but it's the context that gives him pause. "This Hunter, then, he's got you going after everything in Hallownest? What for?"
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
He looks up now and then, checking-in on their writing with sideways glances even as he continues working his way ahead through the journal. With his quick reading at least the multitasking shouldn't come across as too rude.

"A challenge, eh?" False Knight. This one the Knight has told him about, too, and it gives him a very clean image of what that armour looks like. He lingers on it a moment, committing the detail to memory and hoping the Knight is correct about these being accurate. "Just mind yourself around him, if he's so skilled as to have seen so much of Hallownest's underbelly. I haven't forgotten what you are, of course, but you'll permit me some concern. S'a different world when you cart a weapon around to when you don't."

Different in so many ways. He lingers on the particularly lethal-looking depictions of mantises and considers what this implies.

"Shocked he thinks there's anything left to find with how much - urgh!" He just read the accompanying entries for the Mistakes and Follies. Lemm pointedly tilts his head like he's still now sure what he's looking at. "...Good grief," he says, quietly.
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
They had mentioned mistakes and follies in the records, but only toward the latter end. He'd wondered why that phrase had become so prevalent. Well.

Lemm glances aside as their pen scratches and offers a nod, just to let them know he's still paying attention.

More tentatively than before, he takes up the paper and keeps making his way through, pausing for the Soul Master. This one he recognises, caught in the Lord of Shades' claws.

"Seen many of the things penned in this journal, then, have you?"
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hm."

It's as good a reply as any. He's listening, and it indicates as much. It's just hard to know how to start chatting, currently.

(He considers saying something about Soul Master. Just as quickly he reconsiders; now isn't right.)

Ogrim's information is studied and remembered. Skimming ahead he finds one that looks eerily similar to the Knight's little friend, and a spike of discomfort makes sure he doesn't linger on it. There are Weavers...

"What am I going to find in here?" he asks, sincerely. Because it seems to be getting stranger and more confusing the more he reads. Lemm is not even sure what warning to ask for, staring at Nosk's entry.
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-21 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
His head tilts up somewhat sharply. It's not a jerk, he's more well-managed than that, but he does fix them with a serious look.

There are implications regarding this journal and the context in which it was received. Siblings getting a mention does not sit comfortably. And the Mistakes were a shock, and there may be stranger yet.

"Right," says Lemm, and attempts to force the switch from personal back to scholarly, and tucks his head back down.

Mawleks and infection, infection, infection...

He stops, not so subtly, at the sight of pronged horns.
capitalcurator: (...)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-22 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
His hands come to rest on the counter as they draw, and Lemm settles patiently and says nothing at all in the interim. He just waits for them to finish. It's their journal.

The complete entry is examined with his head on one side. As a scholar he should be asking a thousand questions. He doesn't want to.

...Lemm nods, lightly.

"Looks better that way," he mumbles vaguely as he studies the new sketch. The proper platitudes would come out all wrong, anyway. And his thoughts are sticking. He sits back a bit. "If you... realise there're things in here that aren't a Relic Seeker's business," he offers, a little lost, "you'll say so." Right?

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