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 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?
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-22 11:37 am (UTC)(link)
... They're worried about him? That won't do. Lemm rallies, realising how he must look.

"No. If you'll let me I'll finish the whole thing," he informs them, much steadier than before. "Never shied away from the facts. Just gave me a - surprise, that's all." Understatement. He's not going to dig any deeper at why he was so uncomfortable right now, but it sits stubbornly heavy in his head.

He swaps their hand positions and pats the back of theirs, once. He returns to reading. The next segment is Coliseum stuff; he'd think it a good distraction if not for recent events. He should know about this, though, so he studies the text even if his mind is lingering elsewhere.

"It didn't occur to me any of the others made it out," he says quietly, without looking up. It's not phrased as a question; if they have nothing to say about that, he's not going to press.
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-22 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
A nod. He might consider stepping back from this read if things get any more complicated. Getting to look at the Hunter's Journal doesn't seem like a one-time-only opportunity. Stopping midway has never felt necessary before, but this, with the cracked Vessel and the strange icy feeling in his chest when he'd seen their horns, came surprisingly close.

Lemm doesn't think he needs to say be careful down there. Or impress upon them that he thinks it's a bad idea - that would be hypocritical. He just nods, and at the mention of Nosk he skips back a bit to double-check the image. It's on a second pass he realises what he took for mandibles are an eerily familiar set of horns, upside-down. This earns a displeased hum.

After reading the final line he glances again at where they're pointing on the map, thinks about it, then gives an even look up at the Knight. Is, they'd said.

He doesn't say much, just: "Will we visit?"
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-22 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Objections. As if he'd even consider it. "I have none," he confirms, with an agreeing nod.

It doesn't seem like they're done with this part of the conversation. Lemm turns his gaze back to the journal without reading it that intently, and when their pen moves again he lets them finish before looking up to read it.

"I don't know her from the next bug," he reminds them, first. "Wouldn't like to guess and I doubt I'd be winning any favour if I asked. Might be that she'll tell you herself one day. Maybe not." Lemm found himself very wary of Hornet, and a lot of it had admittedly been bias from what little the Knight had told him about her. At least it had been before she pointed a Needle at him.

How to offer condolences for something like this? He doesn't even know what to say to a bug with an ordinary loss, and nothing about this is ordinary. A sibling they never knew who died mysteriously, and that on top of everything else.

Pragmatism is easier. "Whether or not they'd have 'wanted you to have it' -" this is quoted from so many personal journals, and it shows "- if it served you so well maybe that's the sentiment to take with you."

...That's... not very good, he thinks, as comfort goes. Lemm takes a second pass.

"We'll visit. Tidy the site, maybe. If you want." He knows how to do that, more or less.
capitalcurator: (Default)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-22 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Their look is matched with a mildly sardonic glance of his own, just for the short moment it takes to convey yes, yes, I wasn't going to - but he doesn't give any real rebuttal. In fact he turns markedly docile the moment they take his claws. He just sits there, quiet, until they let go of their own accord.

(His hand curls subtly.) Lemm gathers himself, turning back to skimming the Journal after they nod. He's said all he should. Any more would be... too much, he decides, with a remembered pang of embarrassment. A subject change is in order.

"These." He indicates the symbols decorating figures like Xero and Galien. "Moth stuff, is it? What does it mean here?"
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)

[personal profile] capitalcurator 2023-02-23 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Lemm laces his fingers in front of his face and eyes the Dream Nail over the top of it, then the grave pin, contemplating a few things. Like - that the Knight fights ghosts sometimes. Mildly he wishes he'd met more moths, or at least taken any interest in the few he did - but it's not like he would have believed any of it even if they'd seen fit to share.

"...Alright..." he says slowly, processing. "Hm. I'd put good faith in that being one of the thing's main intended uses, if that's true. What an artifact you've got."

'Putting to rest' and 'passing on' and the like... Lemm never put much stock in it no matter what culture was talking about it, but a great many do talk about it. Should have been a flag. Anyway, all of this is far too close to the previous topic for comfort.

Lemm bluntly swerves into a different one, tapping an illustration of Grimm. "Business only with yourself, you said. I'm still to leave that alone, am I?" He's just checking...

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 16:57 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 17:35 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 18:14 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 19:06 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 20:09 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 21:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 22:54 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-23 23:15 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 08:09 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 08:39 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 09:13 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 10:09 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 10:53 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 14:41 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 15:26 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 16:42 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 17:34 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 18:20 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-24 20:07 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-25 07:42 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-26 10:21 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-26 16:32 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-26 17:37 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-27 06:58 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-27 21:41 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] capitalcurator - 2023-02-27 22:28 (UTC) - Expand