focusedvoid: (shade of you)
[personal profile] focusedvoid posting in [community profile] boxfullofzeroes








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.

Date: 2022-11-01 09:42 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (...)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
It isn't as though he expects visitors, at least not many, but Lemm likes to keep the door open. He likes to hear what's coming. Likes to be able to see the hall beyond, and if he leans across the counter a little bit, check the elevator. By the time anything with a difficult look about it gets to his door - which he chose for its sturdiness - it's locked tight and its occupant is quietly minding his own business.

He has grown very good at recognising the difference between the dogged shamble of infected and, say, the nimble patter of damp little wanderers. It has occurred to him as of the past hour - perhaps earlier, but he was very focused on taking a rubbing of a particularly weathered journal - that the city has gone very, very still.

It is a good time for a walk, Lemm decides, and mentally adds that this has nothing to do with any growing sense of unease.

The elevator clunks to the ground floor, and Lemm catches sight of the body-? Immediately the umbrella comes up to be brandished like a nail (or perhaps a bat) as he checks very, very swiftly for signs of danger while ready to shoulder-check the elevator switch at the slightest rustle.

He isn't stupid - the little wanderer is a warrior, and he is not, and selfishly he considers leaving them to it and coming back later when whatever did this to them has had time to become bored of this area and wander away. However.

There is absolutely, definitely, nothing here.

A few moments pass. The umbrella lowers slightly.

"Dead, are we?" he stiffly challenges, already beginning to piece together that this isn't the case.

Between peering around on high alert, he does opt to give them a light nudge with the pointy end of the umbrella - on the mask, to avoid whatever in the name of Hallownest is going on with their cloak. (Some new ability they'll no doubt show off as soon as the opportunity to knock things off shelves presents itself, Lemm reasons, mostly to calm himself down.)

"Up you get. I won't have a reliable dealer lounging around out here attracting attention. I don't need advertisement."

Date: 2022-11-01 10:35 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
He flinches back slightly at the movement of those new... appendages, question mark that the little wanderer seems to be in charge of. It's nothing personal. He just doesn't understand, and for a bug in Lemm's field that's as good as dangerous.

This is his best archaeological contact in Hallownest, though, which is a very good excuse for the fresh alarm that ripples through him to see the wanderer so unsteady on their feet.

Still looking out for threats that aren't there, Lemm transfers the umbrella to one hand and gives a decisive sigh.

"You're soaked. But letting you stumble around out here like that seems like an unwise business decision." He tilts his head in some very reluctant, subtle invitation. "I'll let you sit by the door for a while, if you can agree to keep all of that," he gestures unhelpfully, "to yourself."

Date: 2022-11-01 11:28 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Mortifying behaviour. Lemm reacts appropriately: by backing off a couple of very cautious steps and grabbing tightly at the elevator switch.

He watches in measured curiosity as they seem to struggle with this new... ability, he's hesitantly calling it, though it seems more like a hindrance at the moment. Generally things that sprout extra limbs and move unpredictably are the reason for some of the rarer and more abruptly-ended journal entries he's seen. He's right to be on edge.

Still. This is not the first time the little wet beast has visited the neighbourhood with a new trick to show off. Lemm stubbornly holds himself still and waits for them to step onto the elevator beside him, and throws the switch. There is after all a difference between something that wants to turn him into a paste and something that drops by to sell him relics. So far. As evidenced.

Lemm deliberately does not look down at them as the elevator judders into place and he leads the way back to the shop. ("Wipe your feet," he mutters poisonously. There is nothing to wipe them on.)

He braces his foot against a particularly hefty chunk of historically-relevant architecture and rolls it onto its side with a dull thud, getting the spiky bits out of the way and making some semblance of a seat. Maybe he has a chair behind a curtain somewhere, or maybe he doesn't. That is no concern of anyone so damp and filthy.

"If you make a mess," Lemm warns, wagging a finger, and then thinks better of it when he pictures those black tendrils turning his shop upside down. Lamely, he finishes with: "Sit. Or don't. But don't make a mess."

Date: 2022-11-01 01:31 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
It occurs to Lemm, as he stares blankly at the offered idol for a second, that he maybe wasn't expecting to be doing business during this exchange.

Well, that's silly of him, frankly, so he draws near enough to reach out and take the thing. There appears to have been no sudden reappearance of alarming tendrils, and he doesn't immediately draw away.

"If I were the type to question your sources I might be more suspicious," he remarks, turning the idol over with careful fingers. "But you've never brought me a fake. The engravings on this are fine enough to convince me that's still the truth."

He goes to rummage behind his desk, producing the usual count of Geo and setting it out for them to collect, knocking once on the desk to indicate he's done counting. He doesn't know where they keep it all, and it's never seemed prudent to ask, just as it doesn't seem prudent to ask too much of anyone who never says a word.

Although.

"I hope whatever left you in that state met its end on your nail?" he muses as nonchalantly as he can manage, turning the idol again to examine the details and leaning casually on his desk. "The city seems quieter somehow. It wouldn't do to lead anything back here."

Date: 2022-11-01 06:50 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (will give geo for antiques)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Lemm does a pitiful job of pretending he isn't watching as the little knight checks over their weapon. It's hard to parse what they're thinking at the best of times, and normally Lemm doesn't try.

Normally they come into the shop, make their trade, and leave. Normally Lemm shoos them out, and doesn't stand for any of this lingering business.

After a moment or two, Lemm shuffles out from behind the desk and comes to stand at their side, arms folded across his front. For a little while he stares out at the city with them, pensive, and taps his fingers on his arm.

"You can tell, too, can't you?" he remarks, shifting slightly. "A dead place like Hallownest should be as stagnant as mud. The same addled bugs wore the same ditches in the streets, end to end. Nothing changes here." He pauses, tilting his head down slightly.

Winged sentries used to cling to the higher walls, watching for goodness knows what. A lot of them are lying curled tight far below their perches, now, and Lemm stares a bit longer - and then glances sharply down at the little wanderer, who he has never before seen lying in the gutter, either.

"None of my business if it does, I imagine." Maybe he wanted to phrase that as a question. It wouldn't come out that way.

Date: 2022-11-01 09:48 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Things will continue to change... Of course he gets this much. It's implied. Heavily.

Lemm-

"Perhaps that terrible fever sweated itself out at last.
What a convenience it was to have predictable neighbours."

-stares at the little Knight with their strange woven hilt a moment longer, and then turns back to the city view.

"Enough talk," he says, like he always does, though the Knight has never said a word, and he gestures to the door with finality. "If you find anything further of value, you know where to find me." A beat. Then, nerves getting the best of him: "For now."

natch

Date: 2022-11-02 12:36 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (don't touch the merchandise!)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Lemm hears the shatter of crystal through the open door. He's perhaps not familiar with the Crystal Heart, but he's heard the thing go off before, distantly, and he thinks little of it - at least until something huge and dark rockets out through the city while he is still very much looking out of his window.

"Good grief," he says without thinking, as though witnessing this was a minor inconvenience, and not an event that rattles his strange unease all the way up to full-on anxiety. He retreats from the window, his hand finding the edge of his desk and anchoring him there, and attempts to gather his wits.

His first conscious action, reasonably, is to cross the room in a hurry and close the door tight, muttering venomously. The Knight never answered his question. The thing that left the warrior so out of sorts is clearly still out there. Perhaps that was what left the darkness on their cloak. None of his concern to go running around after them, though, not when they're the one with the nail.

Lemm fidgets.

The city's silence is coincidental, obviously. But something about recent events has Lemm feeling that something is off, nonetheless. He finds himself beginning to dig through piles of yet-untranslated texts - at the very least it will be a welcome distraction between bouts of peering restlessly out of the window.

Date: 2022-11-02 02:00 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (don't touch the merchandise!)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
The journals begin to pile up, before too long. Lemm's collection has grown rapidly in recent times, with no lack of credit to the Knight in particular, and the backlog was starting to bother him even before he found himself needing a lengthy distraction.

He's especially glad of the work, now. Even if he's so engrossed in it that the pile of cross-reference material grows so hefty that pieces of it threaten to slide off the desk and clunk to the floor. It would be excellent if he could make some kind of breakthrough, though no sensible scholar sets to work expecting one. It's just that he has this feeling...

Lemm is halfway through comparing a couple of particularly dense texts about fossil records (that, honestly, he isn't sure are still extant, even if he knew where to look) when a nearby building explodes.

He jumps so hard that the two journals are lurched out of his hands - he lunges to catch them, fumbles, and drops both - before hissing a string of interesting curses and darting out from behind the desk, finding himself at the window even before the last of the glass hits the streets. There is a small avalanche of disturbed relics from the desk behind him, but Lemm is too busy identifying the source of the noise to bother gathering them up.

Date: 2022-11-02 03:56 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (will give geo for antiques)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
There are presumably few bugs who have yet seen the Knight's current state of shade in all its unified, thrashing glory. Fewer still who have seen them pull everything back together into that small, familiar masked shape afterwards.

Relic Seeker Lemm watches everything. Unwittingly, he winds up slowly leaning forwards to see better until he's close enough that his longer horn very gently bumps the glass, at which point he jerks back from it like he's been burned.

He forgets to grab his umbrella on the way out. He realises this when he is about to step out into the rain towards Fountain Square, which sets off a chain reaction of evaluating what he's actually doing.

Lemm stops short of the rain just in time, though now it has less to do with getting wet and more to do with reason catching up to him. He lurks just shy of it instead and stares out from under the building as a mortified spectator. Leaving his shop was an incredibly foolish thing to do - and those elevators are so loud! - but he feels rooted to the spot, now, and he can't bring himself to turn back.

His gaze traces from the little Knight to the scattered glass shards, to the statue, to the bodies - he looks sharply away from those and back at the culprit, and for now he just stares.

Date: 2022-11-02 04:22 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (Default)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
A thrill of fear runs through him when the Knight acknowledges that he's there. And instinctively, he looks. Just for a second. As if there were anything else to glean by following the Knight's gesture.

His stare returns to the Knight again shortly, as if magnetised.

"Yes," he murmurs, far too quietly for it to be audible from so far away. "I know. I saw you."

He realises the futility of this a moment later, and offers a slow, cautious nod instead.

"What was that?" he asks, and this time it's just about loud enough for his voice to carry through the rain. There's none of his usual irascibility in it. Just a plain question from a bug almost too concerned for his safety to be curious - but not quite.
Edited Date: 2022-11-02 04:22 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (...)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Yes, yes, they're done. Of course they are, there's glass all over the square. Bowing like a theatre bug, at the end of the act, really.

He'd like to be this sarcastic. He's a little shaken. Give him a minute to try, though, because it's the only way out he's got.

"...Fine," he barely scrapes out, "and I suppose all this is something I'll get used to, is it...?"

Lemm is emboldened, perhaps, by the bow and the fact the little shadow hasn't come roaring at him like something mindless and orange. They have a businesslike rapport, and the bow proves the Knight still thinks so. It's the only thing keeping him from running.

Lemm smooths down his beard with a similar finality to someone straightening a sheaf of notes, and wishes his legs would carry him further back into the hall.

"That was quite a fall," he calls, voice echoing a bit from the damp passage.

Date: 2022-11-03 01:48 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Lemm stays very still as the Knight approaches. There's still a barely-perceptible tension in the way he's staring, but the longer it is since the roiling shade fell from the tower, the more it seems to ebb. It is definitely helping that the Knight seems to be acting more or less the same as ever towards him.

He underestimated. Lemm thought them small and relatively insignificant, a simple wanderer with strange habits and skill with a nail - unusual, yes, but not massively so. What he just observed was... pushing it, a bit. Should have asked more questions.

"Don't think I'm not seeing patterns, little secret keeper," he tells them once they're close enough. Whatever that means. "I told you I was studying this wreck. Now you've made me wonder what your purpose is here."

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-03 02:34 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-03 04:12 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-03 09:22 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 08:25 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 09:28 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 10:10 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 11:24 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 01:38 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 06:08 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 08:11 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 09:01 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-04 10:36 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-05 09:33 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-05 03:02 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-05 04:35 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-05 05:33 pm (UTC) - Expand

I'll Be The Judge Of That

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-06 05:54 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-07 04:33 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-07 08:30 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-07 10:45 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-08 04:30 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-08 07:57 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-08 09:17 pm (UTC) - Expand

no u.

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-08 10:15 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-08 10:42 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-08 11:23 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-09 11:59 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-09 01:47 pm (UTC) - Expand

502 bad gateway had my guts there for a sec

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-10 12:11 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] capitalcurator - Date: 2022-11-10 12:47 am (UTC) - Expand

Profile

boxfullofzeroes: (Default)
B0X

April 2025

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27 282930   

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 24th, 2025 02:05 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios