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.

war

Date: 2022-12-15 12:05 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
"Do I-?" he splutters.

The problem is they do make a good point. The problem is admitting he's embarrassed would be a slight against Relic Seeker integrity! ...The problem is the art here is very good.

He hrrms under his breath, reluctance written into his posture, and stops and spins to face them, arms folded.

The problem is they have just told him they do not take keenly to being treated as anything but an adult, and Lemm may have been projecting a little bit, sometimes. Alright, then.

"...You know, you're quite right to ask." He clears his throat. "When I say mid-fleogean abstract, does anything spring to mind?"

Date: 2022-12-15 09:31 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
This is absolutely going to embarrass Lemm more than it's worth. Still - they've challenged him on his interests and he won't stand for it. Sacrifices must be made.

"If it were any other movement you'd think so. Every culture develops art in a way they see it best, though the ones doing the naming often don't learn until later. Come over here."

He beckons the Knight to the seating area and leads the way there - but he doesn't sit. Instead Lemm gestures across the room to a small sculpture on a plinth. It's pockmarked in strange little diagonal impressions, like it's been criss-crossed with the tip of a chisel, and the whole thing takes a bizarre shape in loops and twists.

"You must have met a few with compound eyes. Any thoughts?"

Date: 2022-12-15 11:06 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Lemm automatically sticks a hand out in their direction like he's about to push them back into place if they actually slip off - they're fine, though, so his hand returns to his side.

"It's probably safe to assume, yes. We won't get the full... urgh, benefit, but stay here and tilt your head..." Lemm stares at the thing and experiments for a moment. "...That way. No, wait, that way."

He walks backwards away from the table for a short moment so that he can indicate the angle to them with his arm.

"And don't blame me for the Great Knight's tastes!"

Then he turns, approaches the plinth, and fiddles with what look like ornamental plates on the sides.

They slide up to reveal the inner sides are reflective - the surfaces are broken up into many tiny angles that sit around the back of the statue like a hall of mirrors, breaking up the reflection and... rearranging it a great deal.

Date: 2022-12-15 12:11 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
"Yes, as I'm steadily finding out!" he responds, only a little disgruntled. There are certain things about the Great Knights he did not set out to learn, or consider too heavily that he might. He should have, really, as soon as he saw the Pleasure House.

After some fumbling around Lemm finds a catch to lock the panels in place, and makes his way back to the seating area. He leans an elbow on the table and turns to look, horn angling sideways.

"...S'a bit tame, isn't it?" It's not as wet-and-wild as he was expecting, is what he means. "Ugh, I can't make out the details. I'm sure they've used a real style of dress, there..." He waves a hand as if clearing some mental fog and sighs. "Anyway, you don't get art like this commissioned unless you've got the eyes for it, it's too hard to explain what you're after and the sculptor's got to be skilled."

He pauses.

"What d'you think that says about her?"

Date: 2022-12-15 12:39 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (Default)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Lemm hasn't caught it. He's had enough of squinting at refracted light for one day.

"...Hm. It may be that's the case. It's the mirrors that're throwing me off, though. Maybe she had them put in to show off to guests - that'd make sense." He considers this a moment, then gives a light shrug. "Or she doesn't and it was a gift. Either way, if it's in here, it tells us something. I've found no fleogean art in Hallownest before, and Ze'mer was well-travelled."

Lemm nonchalantly rubs at his eyes and gives up on looking for details; he looks back down at their paper instead. He does not feel like a repeat of earlier.

"Seems she had a taste for the unusual even after she settled here." He gives a good-humoured little huff. "Racy content aside, that's not unlike us."
Edited Date: 2022-12-15 12:39 pm (UTC)

Date: 2022-12-15 01:08 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Lemm looks appropriately scandalised.

"Wh - from an academic standpoint, yes!"

He flicks one of their horns in retribution. They'll always find it easy to get a rise out of him.

"Don't tell me you've got an interest in this kind of thing! What are you teaching those siblings of yours? I've half a mind to blindfold you on our way out."

Date: 2022-12-15 01:36 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
The paper-smack was deserved and he knows it. Still, when he reads the next line, he'd love to grab the paper off them, roll it up, and bop them on the head with it. He does not - because he has a certain level of respect for the Knight's written word - but he does think about it.

"You'll find a rare few of those here! If it's not abstract, it's heavily exaggerated!" He cannot help a glance back at one of the more gymnastic-looking paintings. "...I assume," he adds faintly, and then abruptly snaps out of a staring contest with it. "Regardless! Stop provoking me or I'll drag you out of here and see you cooled off by the greenhouse sprinklers!"

Date: 2022-12-15 01:53 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (this isn't a museum)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
"Gah." Rotten. Rotten little monster. He's never going anywhere with them again! (Not remotely true.) "Excessive isn't even the beginning of it. I didn't think I'd be learning this about Ze'mer."

Lemm is quick to move with them, and attempts to pretend to keep his eyes down on their way out... but it's not his fault the ones with the detailed dicks are the most telling of sculpting style and use the unusual paint pigments. Sometimes history is just like that. Passionate people making passionate art with excessive, outsourced materials (and usually for Geo, which he can respect).

He thinks he recognises one of the still-life models from a painting in the Royal Quarter. Lemm pauses in front of that one just long enough to catch a signature in the corner, and snickers to himself as he falls back into step.
Edited Date: 2022-12-15 01:53 pm (UTC)

Date: 2022-12-15 05:06 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (Default)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
"If we do, it'll add a strange flair to any meeting we have with them." Lemm is a bit more amused by that than he has a right to be. He pulls the door closed behind them, though he's not sure whose dignity he's pretending to protect here. "Maybe you've heard this one: if you find someone intimidating, picture them in a compromising situation."

He pushes open another door. This room is in total darkness, and the dust is swept up a little with the opening of the door, but he reaches for his lamp and crosses to the window to pull open another set of curtains. Even a little ambience from outside is enough to tell them what they're looking at.

"Aye, she was a lucky bug," he sighs.

It's a wet room, with a large built-in step-down basin in the middle surrounded by burnt-out candles. The water damage has not been kind to anything in this room and most everything is streaked with black mould, but once it would have been considered a pretty extravagant display of wealth. There's mosaic in here. And to have it upstairs? Unthinkable.

Date: 2022-12-15 10:59 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
Lemm stoops and squeaks a thumb over the edge of the tub, rubbing off the residual stuff between finger and thumb. Regretfully he stands and observes their writing.

Wait, but didn't they say not in enclosed spaces.

"...Are you sure?"

He is already backtracking to the doorway, just in case they're more enthusiastic than predicted.

'_' alert email lost in the space time continuum

Date: 2022-12-16 09:37 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (take off the defender's crest)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
He takes their cautionary gesture seriously and backs all the way out into the hall behind them. He hasn't survived this long just to become collateral damage to carelessness.

Good thing too, it seems - he feels it in the floor, flinching back and instinctively throwing arms up in front of his face just in case as the view into the room explodes into black for a moment. He swears he saw thrashing limbs for a moment...

Lemm warily creeps close enough behind them to peer over their horns at the result, his hands settling on their shoulders as if to steady them or reassure them he's still intact. Or maybe just because - wow?

"You're never doing that in my shop." This hardly means a thing - he sounds impressed.

Date: 2022-12-16 11:23 am (UTC)
capitalcurator: (Default)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
"...That depends. I wouldn't want to be caught on the other end of that."

He isn't thinking much about what he's doing, which is probably why his hands stay where they are - Lemm just kind of takes the Knight with him when he steps forward, steering them in front of him as he draws closer to the mosaic.

One hand does leave contact briefly as he runs a hand over the mural, picking at the edges of bits of mosaic just to see if anything is likely to chip off. The mural is water-themed, that much is obvious - but the details are lost under a layer of muck where condensation has given way to streaks of black stuff and then dried. Still, it's sturdy enough. Lemm glances over to the area of the room that the Knight has already blasted. It's... cleaner, definitely...

He eyes the cracked tiling. Calculated risk time.

"Can you do it smaller, d'you think?"

Date: 2022-12-16 12:21 pm (UTC)
capitalcurator: (Default)
From: [personal profile] capitalcurator
"Anyone could try to scrape it away," he points out. "I'm not afraid of us getting our claws dirty, Knight, but it'd take far more of our time to do it the simple way."

He peers up at the mosaic and considers how much he'd mind if it broke. It's not like he'd be able to take this back to the shop, so its value to him as a reference or as a show piece is moot. And the Mansion is so out of the way - and it's going to ruin without someone living in it, anyway... Does it matter so much if it breaks now, or rots off the wall later?

He hums faintly. In truth he'd already decided, but he's more sure than he was.

"I'm not pushing you, Knight - I just want to see what you can do, if I'm honest with you." He pats their shoulders with finality. "S'not so odd to find spellwork a bit of a novelty, is it? I'm sure you're capable."

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