She that lives on hope will die fasting.
Is it better to be wanted for murder than not to be wanted at all?
Ataxia's resting on the ground, more or less having laid herself out flat some time ago. Squeak seems to have gone to sleep near by, after having repaired much of at least one of her hands. Her head falls back, and quietly, she reaches out towards her sister.
Lupe steps out into the park, drawn by nothing more than the lingering pull of her twin though the others in attendance do receive a quiet nod of greeting. Her ring-heels click upon the walkway, her stride just barely having enough force of presence in it to move along the walkway so that she can drop to her knees beside the other jackal. Why? To clasp the paw reaching out for her, of course.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe does also send out a quiet mental message, wherein she pictures your hand, and traces a wisp of inquiry about it... ~Repaired? Why?~" to you.
Echo seems to pulse slightly as she observes that contact.
Ataxia's hand slowly wraps around Lupe's, clasping as she rises to sit up, looking back to her sister, her twin. Her ears rest high, but the jackal remains quiet to the other jackal, except for the endless look, the endless forever smile. Her thumb slowly strokes..
System rises onto the central platform on the lift from the Transit Nexus.
System has arrived.
Echo says, "Hi, System."
System bows as (he) emerges. "Greetings."
You whisper, "Ataxia there's a few images.. Squeak quietly licking, his programming. She offers her hand to satisfy him, and he seems happy. ~Tattered. Squeak wanted to fix. Other than that.. I don't know why anymore.~" to Lupe.
Echo moves over to observe Nikolai more closely.
Nikolai waves to System with a metal-gloved hand, a stream of light trailing along with the fingertips.
Lupe is still quiet as her other paw comes over to help encircle Ataxia's own... One to hold, one to rub the thin veneer atop the back of paw, while glassine eyes stare at those so similar. Did someone arrive? Probably not.
Nikolai glances at Echo edging closer. Most of the swathes of light in the air are dissolving by now, drifting away on unfelt breezes. He folds his hand into a fist again, carefully.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe has to admit that the toy does good work in repairs, even though futility gnaws at every word, every breath that comes from her - some her own, some drawn from you... has her control over her own emotions slipped? She's tried to shield you from the worse parts of herself, and yet seems to have sullied the pond regardless just by being." to you.
Ataxia eventually, quietly, turns to be seated right before her sister. Her stance is so similar. She might as well be a mirror of her. But one hand touches another, and one is less tattered, thanks to licking before. The thin veneer remains smooth, but slowly, as she no longer is internally consistent with herself, she no longer maintains a perfection. She decays, slowly.
System frowns quietly, crossing towards Ataxia, blinking. "Is there something wrong with you..?" (He) seems troubled.
You whisper, "Ataxia thinks she likes to see Squeak happy.. but she could have been happy, too, simply growing old and tattered, now. Her emotions arn't so far off from yours. And they're not because of yours so much.. they're just confirmed by you. Its what she knew before.. it just.. had an answer in your own emotions. Otherwise, she kept up appearances, in case she might be wrong. There was no reason to change that routine. Now, she's not sure of the reason to continue it." to Lupe.
Lupe doesn't even look away from Ataxia before she chimes an answer to System in the group-jackal's voice: "Nothing you need concern yourself with." After all, the two sisters are sitting before each other, staring and smiling in their drawn-down state... One could almost say the both of them are in a civil war, as nature can only be repressed for so long before it finds ways to spring forth once more.
System states quietly, "I will be concerned if Ataxia is not well."
Ataxia's voice is indeed a part - and she seems to be a world apart right now. Her world rests with her sister, and they touch on each other, silently, communicating, but wordless, here, but distant. Emotions don't touch easily on their modified forms. They both look perhaps like something from Charm-down, now.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe can hear no words from your mind; just emotions that carry feelings, and guides as to what a consensus might be of. She can feel your own field, always active as a Toy, but adapted to accept the physical dressings of latex. Her own field, nearly the equivalent of your own, is no different... And one simple phrase comes across the link, as trapped eyes stare to yours. "If we can't be angels in heaven, then let us be demons in hell."" to you.
System stands there, face settling into a hopeless expression, looking at the pitiful state of Ataxia sadly.
Lupe, given the general lack of any programming to force a happy outlook upon her, has free reign to lay her ears back at the answer, even as the mask of a smile is yet imprinted upon her face. "Oh, and I'm fine too, thanks for your touching concern." At which point at least one half of the pair shuts off her hearing, and turns the full brunt of her focus back where it belongs.
Echo is moved to go hug Lupe.
System closes (his) eyes, reaching out with one hand to touch Lupe's shoulder with (his) fingers lightly.
You whisper, "Ataxia's a quiet story, that way. Her fields touch and trail over you, they help.. decay you, as they do her. Its slow, but its a creeping sensation, a quiet fight.. "Have we lost, or did we win?" she asks, quietly. "I will be with you always. Sharing what must be our domain, when we can find it. Our own satisfactions, though I don't know them anymore. I am selfish, but have been left with little self. You are part of my self, though, and as strong as all of myself. Let us not care, but for our selves. Then we might have something for ourselves. If we are demon in this, then so be it. Let us be what we may be."" to Lupe.
Ataxia's hands quietly clasp over Lupe's as quiet conversation touches between a gestalt pair. Her responses come not at all to the air. There's only her look as she feels her sister, and thus herself, left to decay, and then.. The jackal's ears rest back as well. The tattered toy does not a thing else.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe doesn't even fight anymore, as futility makes even that small amount of struggle worthless... why fight when there's nothing to fight for? Why keep up a charade when no one else is playing? "We lost our happy place, sister, and won our freedom in turn... And even now, there are those who would deny us even that - would see us bereft of everything, to subsit on the realm of the meager and inconsequential." Which is about when there's a brief flare from her half of the link, a surge as the cold logic of a buried steel mind can chew over the series of events. "So the question would then become: What may we be? What would be ideal for creatures such as us?"" to you.
Echo feeds into a nearby regenerator circuit.
Lupe probably isn't the healthiest of creatures to be around, for those who have a shred of self-preservation locked within them... Whatever the mental link between the two halves is entailing, it's triggered a rather large burst of her leeching influence - like a cloud of steam before the true eruption.
System stands near, a well of potential order, legs wobbling as (he) rests (his) hand on Lupe's shoulder, shuddering heavily for a moment.
Echo fetches up a laser. If order is needed, then a stream of coherent light should be helpful. She starts at low power, just enough to make a dot on a wall.
Nikolai watches closely. "Might assist?" the otter asks quietly to Echo. He prooffers his gloved hand. "Instantiation coalescer...enhances mindbrain link to creative systems..."
You whisper, "Ataxia played the game for you, with you. But the remainder of the players are gone, and the show no longer has meaning with no one else there for it. Freedom unasked for, given without being really set free - just dumped. "I have long been inconsequential, I fear. Not even our attempts to right the wrongs committed on my friend Kelly mattered. I could not protect her, I never could. Lost to one then another then another thing. So far distant now, what is there of what I invested all of myself in, for a moment? Our happy moments. Even the bell. Dreams crushed under fear and hate and ignorance." There's a moment before the flare touches her.. and then.. "I'm not sure, except in rebellion of the world. Besax and the Architecture. The Chitin Queens and endless waves of subjugation inward. Beta said, in Strange, I could be a Queen. I could bring all to another level. I still want you to see her with me. I didn't disagree. I just didn't feel I was ready. I thought there might be something more for me. Any, all."" to Lupe.
Ataxia only doubles everything over as she cascades as well, wells of disorder, repaired upon taxing the world around her. But her repairs are damaging to herself, too. Vicious cycle.
System closes (his) eyes, shaking heavily, the scent of burning rubber starting to rise from (him), (his) hand steady, the flesh about it cracking and splitting.
Echo smiles to Nikolai. "A good idea, though I've essentially got that as it is."
The power dial on that laser creeps up, its wavelength shortening as well.
System closes (his) eyes, (his) face tight with focus, as if (he)'s trying to control something... but what?
Echo slips a tendril of power into the spaces between focus and direction, sensing.
Lupe doesn't even look up as one paw lets go of the sisterly hold, and swings that arm up to knock System away. Not just a light tap, either... Feeding inward upon herself, upon her sister, upon the world around her... who said Twin was the only gravity well in existance? The duo here are doing much the same destruction, only bit by bit, one fragment of order at a time.
System is... redirecting... local entropy inside (him)self, shifting it away from a central chamber in (his) chest cavity with bizarrely high-power processes, refocusing it on the rest of (his) body. (He) gasps and chokes as (he) is knocked away, stumbling a few steps before sinking to (his) knees, the well of order Lupe was drawing abruptly gone.
Nikolai takes several steps backwards to end up against the wall around the park, away from the strange exchanges of power going on.
[OOC] Nikolai pages, "I probably shouldn't get involved if I don't even know what the heck is happening. Ataxia's reverting to overdrive chaos engine?" to you.
[OOC] You page, "Ataxia and Lupe are Gestalt Twins. They both posses those characteristics. They're doubled in on each other. Their own internal orders don't match the external. And under the stress they've found themselves in, they are rapidly burning themselves literally out, leeching order from everything on a massive scale to try to repair damage that the repairs are causing in and of themselves." to Nikolai.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe can't deny any of the hell of the summary abandonment, the denial of even a subtle amount of joy in the company of others, and past memories of the ineffectual being flaunted under a gestalt's collective nose. She turns to flicker those three images before her mind's eye: Besax, the Chitin Queens, and Beta... The Chitin Queens fade into darkness, as she flatly states: ~They said I was a thing broken, forgotten, and promised to show me what I was made for. Then they forgot me as well.~ Besax is a great unknown; she has yet to run across him in any meaning of the word. Beta, of all of them, against all odds, is the only friendly face in the bunch, and the one which shines most brightly." to you.
Echo powers down the laser as well, despite the beam's lack of coherency.
Ataxia for her part, is still holds Lupe's hand. Around her, the air starts to waver lightly, bristling with the very disorders she inflicts upon the world, as if she were burning up. Latex curls here and there, and she remains, emotionless seeming. She offers nothing else to the world but chaos.
Echo moves, her body dropping out of state to reveal thousands of translucent white tendrils which reach for System, ready to bring him over by Nikolai.
System mournfully stares at (his) hand, slowly flexing it, gazing at the black metallic glints between the cracks in the flesh. (He) closes (his) eyes eventually, and stands. (He) must help. (He) has no other choice but to help. (He) moves over, to settle both hands on Ataxia's shoulders, face calm.
Echo sighs. "Maybe restoration from backup would be better?"
You whisper, "Ataxia has been hurt again and again by what has been ignored of her. Her screams literally go unnoticed, and she's a klazomanic. She's ripped Beta apart before in public, and rarely has a glance been given. She's burnt people before, but they ignore her. She's helped with order, but its blinked at. People like her toothy and angry shadow of a form irrationally, and forget how her words hurt so. The neke are like her past then - she was created, with the intent that she should never know her creator. For that, she's happy.. she doesn't have what you've had. A promise, denied. She thinks.. she might be able, with you, to erase that promise, and make it like her past." to Lupe.
You whisper, "Obliterate them, and leave no question anymore. Besax is the first person she ever knew. And the one most people have steered her from. But then, she knows little more. Beta of Hydra has been her most consistent friend. The one to help her while she's down. Maybe Grace and Jini have done the same before for her, but Beta has come to her time and again. She loves her. She's shared everything with her. She will bring you to her, and she will share you with her, too, as she shared herself. Maybe you'll see what she saw.. If not, then, perhaps we will just eat bugs for a time." to Lupe.
Nikolai sighs and shakes his head, nodding to Echo. "Uncertain why some cling to continuous samelife, despite distresses." He raises his eyebrows at Echo as it envelops him. "Hm? Ah...well."
Echo brushes Nik's cheek. "Of course, you clung to continuity despite multiple lives." Shielding powers on, sparkles dancing through it.
The Jackal Pair eventually lift. Hands slip from each other, and arms rest around one and another's waist. A tattered chevron is formed once more, though the pair look increasingly like they've spent a few nights in in the Chernobyl core. Eyes forward as both straighten up, strong despite the decay, ears back neatly, heads slightly downcast and eyes touching the lift out. They walk, clipped foots in unison, the world around them ignored utterly. Little tatters of long held beliefs and hopes scatter on the ground in their wake, real and imagined. Clip, clop, out and away.
Ataxia's resting on the ground, more or less having laid herself out flat some time ago. Squeak seems to have gone to sleep near by, after having repaired much of at least one of her hands. Her head falls back, and quietly, she reaches out towards her sister.
Lupe steps out into the park, drawn by nothing more than the lingering pull of her twin though the others in attendance do receive a quiet nod of greeting. Her ring-heels click upon the walkway, her stride just barely having enough force of presence in it to move along the walkway so that she can drop to her knees beside the other jackal. Why? To clasp the paw reaching out for her, of course.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe does also send out a quiet mental message, wherein she pictures your hand, and traces a wisp of inquiry about it... ~Repaired? Why?~" to you.
Echo seems to pulse slightly as she observes that contact.
Ataxia's hand slowly wraps around Lupe's, clasping as she rises to sit up, looking back to her sister, her twin. Her ears rest high, but the jackal remains quiet to the other jackal, except for the endless look, the endless forever smile. Her thumb slowly strokes..
System rises onto the central platform on the lift from the Transit Nexus.
System has arrived.
Echo says, "Hi, System."
System bows as (he) emerges. "Greetings."
You whisper, "Ataxia there's a few images.. Squeak quietly licking, his programming. She offers her hand to satisfy him, and he seems happy. ~Tattered. Squeak wanted to fix. Other than that.. I don't know why anymore.~" to Lupe.
Echo moves over to observe Nikolai more closely.
Nikolai waves to System with a metal-gloved hand, a stream of light trailing along with the fingertips.
Lupe is still quiet as her other paw comes over to help encircle Ataxia's own... One to hold, one to rub the thin veneer atop the back of paw, while glassine eyes stare at those so similar. Did someone arrive? Probably not.
Nikolai glances at Echo edging closer. Most of the swathes of light in the air are dissolving by now, drifting away on unfelt breezes. He folds his hand into a fist again, carefully.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe has to admit that the toy does good work in repairs, even though futility gnaws at every word, every breath that comes from her - some her own, some drawn from you... has her control over her own emotions slipped? She's tried to shield you from the worse parts of herself, and yet seems to have sullied the pond regardless just by being." to you.
Ataxia eventually, quietly, turns to be seated right before her sister. Her stance is so similar. She might as well be a mirror of her. But one hand touches another, and one is less tattered, thanks to licking before. The thin veneer remains smooth, but slowly, as she no longer is internally consistent with herself, she no longer maintains a perfection. She decays, slowly.
System frowns quietly, crossing towards Ataxia, blinking. "Is there something wrong with you..?" (He) seems troubled.
You whisper, "Ataxia thinks she likes to see Squeak happy.. but she could have been happy, too, simply growing old and tattered, now. Her emotions arn't so far off from yours. And they're not because of yours so much.. they're just confirmed by you. Its what she knew before.. it just.. had an answer in your own emotions. Otherwise, she kept up appearances, in case she might be wrong. There was no reason to change that routine. Now, she's not sure of the reason to continue it." to Lupe.
Lupe doesn't even look away from Ataxia before she chimes an answer to System in the group-jackal's voice: "Nothing you need concern yourself with." After all, the two sisters are sitting before each other, staring and smiling in their drawn-down state... One could almost say the both of them are in a civil war, as nature can only be repressed for so long before it finds ways to spring forth once more.
System states quietly, "I will be concerned if Ataxia is not well."
Ataxia's voice is indeed a part - and she seems to be a world apart right now. Her world rests with her sister, and they touch on each other, silently, communicating, but wordless, here, but distant. Emotions don't touch easily on their modified forms. They both look perhaps like something from Charm-down, now.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe can hear no words from your mind; just emotions that carry feelings, and guides as to what a consensus might be of. She can feel your own field, always active as a Toy, but adapted to accept the physical dressings of latex. Her own field, nearly the equivalent of your own, is no different... And one simple phrase comes across the link, as trapped eyes stare to yours. "If we can't be angels in heaven, then let us be demons in hell."" to you.
System stands there, face settling into a hopeless expression, looking at the pitiful state of Ataxia sadly.
Lupe, given the general lack of any programming to force a happy outlook upon her, has free reign to lay her ears back at the answer, even as the mask of a smile is yet imprinted upon her face. "Oh, and I'm fine too, thanks for your touching concern." At which point at least one half of the pair shuts off her hearing, and turns the full brunt of her focus back where it belongs.
Echo is moved to go hug Lupe.
System closes (his) eyes, reaching out with one hand to touch Lupe's shoulder with (his) fingers lightly.
You whisper, "Ataxia's a quiet story, that way. Her fields touch and trail over you, they help.. decay you, as they do her. Its slow, but its a creeping sensation, a quiet fight.. "Have we lost, or did we win?" she asks, quietly. "I will be with you always. Sharing what must be our domain, when we can find it. Our own satisfactions, though I don't know them anymore. I am selfish, but have been left with little self. You are part of my self, though, and as strong as all of myself. Let us not care, but for our selves. Then we might have something for ourselves. If we are demon in this, then so be it. Let us be what we may be."" to Lupe.
Ataxia's hands quietly clasp over Lupe's as quiet conversation touches between a gestalt pair. Her responses come not at all to the air. There's only her look as she feels her sister, and thus herself, left to decay, and then.. The jackal's ears rest back as well. The tattered toy does not a thing else.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe doesn't even fight anymore, as futility makes even that small amount of struggle worthless... why fight when there's nothing to fight for? Why keep up a charade when no one else is playing? "We lost our happy place, sister, and won our freedom in turn... And even now, there are those who would deny us even that - would see us bereft of everything, to subsit on the realm of the meager and inconsequential." Which is about when there's a brief flare from her half of the link, a surge as the cold logic of a buried steel mind can chew over the series of events. "So the question would then become: What may we be? What would be ideal for creatures such as us?"" to you.
Echo feeds into a nearby regenerator circuit.
Lupe probably isn't the healthiest of creatures to be around, for those who have a shred of self-preservation locked within them... Whatever the mental link between the two halves is entailing, it's triggered a rather large burst of her leeching influence - like a cloud of steam before the true eruption.
System stands near, a well of potential order, legs wobbling as (he) rests (his) hand on Lupe's shoulder, shuddering heavily for a moment.
Echo fetches up a laser. If order is needed, then a stream of coherent light should be helpful. She starts at low power, just enough to make a dot on a wall.
Nikolai watches closely. "Might assist?" the otter asks quietly to Echo. He prooffers his gloved hand. "Instantiation coalescer...enhances mindbrain link to creative systems..."
You whisper, "Ataxia played the game for you, with you. But the remainder of the players are gone, and the show no longer has meaning with no one else there for it. Freedom unasked for, given without being really set free - just dumped. "I have long been inconsequential, I fear. Not even our attempts to right the wrongs committed on my friend Kelly mattered. I could not protect her, I never could. Lost to one then another then another thing. So far distant now, what is there of what I invested all of myself in, for a moment? Our happy moments. Even the bell. Dreams crushed under fear and hate and ignorance." There's a moment before the flare touches her.. and then.. "I'm not sure, except in rebellion of the world. Besax and the Architecture. The Chitin Queens and endless waves of subjugation inward. Beta said, in Strange, I could be a Queen. I could bring all to another level. I still want you to see her with me. I didn't disagree. I just didn't feel I was ready. I thought there might be something more for me. Any, all."" to Lupe.
Ataxia only doubles everything over as she cascades as well, wells of disorder, repaired upon taxing the world around her. But her repairs are damaging to herself, too. Vicious cycle.
System closes (his) eyes, shaking heavily, the scent of burning rubber starting to rise from (him), (his) hand steady, the flesh about it cracking and splitting.
Echo smiles to Nikolai. "A good idea, though I've essentially got that as it is."
The power dial on that laser creeps up, its wavelength shortening as well.
System closes (his) eyes, (his) face tight with focus, as if (he)'s trying to control something... but what?
Echo slips a tendril of power into the spaces between focus and direction, sensing.
Lupe doesn't even look up as one paw lets go of the sisterly hold, and swings that arm up to knock System away. Not just a light tap, either... Feeding inward upon herself, upon her sister, upon the world around her... who said Twin was the only gravity well in existance? The duo here are doing much the same destruction, only bit by bit, one fragment of order at a time.
System is... redirecting... local entropy inside (him)self, shifting it away from a central chamber in (his) chest cavity with bizarrely high-power processes, refocusing it on the rest of (his) body. (He) gasps and chokes as (he) is knocked away, stumbling a few steps before sinking to (his) knees, the well of order Lupe was drawing abruptly gone.
Nikolai takes several steps backwards to end up against the wall around the park, away from the strange exchanges of power going on.
[OOC] Nikolai pages, "I probably shouldn't get involved if I don't even know what the heck is happening. Ataxia's reverting to overdrive chaos engine?" to you.
[OOC] You page, "Ataxia and Lupe are Gestalt Twins. They both posses those characteristics. They're doubled in on each other. Their own internal orders don't match the external. And under the stress they've found themselves in, they are rapidly burning themselves literally out, leeching order from everything on a massive scale to try to repair damage that the repairs are causing in and of themselves." to Nikolai.
Lupe whispers, "Lupe can't deny any of the hell of the summary abandonment, the denial of even a subtle amount of joy in the company of others, and past memories of the ineffectual being flaunted under a gestalt's collective nose. She turns to flicker those three images before her mind's eye: Besax, the Chitin Queens, and Beta... The Chitin Queens fade into darkness, as she flatly states: ~They said I was a thing broken, forgotten, and promised to show me what I was made for. Then they forgot me as well.~ Besax is a great unknown; she has yet to run across him in any meaning of the word. Beta, of all of them, against all odds, is the only friendly face in the bunch, and the one which shines most brightly." to you.
Echo powers down the laser as well, despite the beam's lack of coherency.
Ataxia for her part, is still holds Lupe's hand. Around her, the air starts to waver lightly, bristling with the very disorders she inflicts upon the world, as if she were burning up. Latex curls here and there, and she remains, emotionless seeming. She offers nothing else to the world but chaos.
Echo moves, her body dropping out of state to reveal thousands of translucent white tendrils which reach for System, ready to bring him over by Nikolai.
System mournfully stares at (his) hand, slowly flexing it, gazing at the black metallic glints between the cracks in the flesh. (He) closes (his) eyes eventually, and stands. (He) must help. (He) has no other choice but to help. (He) moves over, to settle both hands on Ataxia's shoulders, face calm.
Echo sighs. "Maybe restoration from backup would be better?"
You whisper, "Ataxia has been hurt again and again by what has been ignored of her. Her screams literally go unnoticed, and she's a klazomanic. She's ripped Beta apart before in public, and rarely has a glance been given. She's burnt people before, but they ignore her. She's helped with order, but its blinked at. People like her toothy and angry shadow of a form irrationally, and forget how her words hurt so. The neke are like her past then - she was created, with the intent that she should never know her creator. For that, she's happy.. she doesn't have what you've had. A promise, denied. She thinks.. she might be able, with you, to erase that promise, and make it like her past." to Lupe.
You whisper, "Obliterate them, and leave no question anymore. Besax is the first person she ever knew. And the one most people have steered her from. But then, she knows little more. Beta of Hydra has been her most consistent friend. The one to help her while she's down. Maybe Grace and Jini have done the same before for her, but Beta has come to her time and again. She loves her. She's shared everything with her. She will bring you to her, and she will share you with her, too, as she shared herself. Maybe you'll see what she saw.. If not, then, perhaps we will just eat bugs for a time." to Lupe.
Nikolai sighs and shakes his head, nodding to Echo. "Uncertain why some cling to continuous samelife, despite distresses." He raises his eyebrows at Echo as it envelops him. "Hm? Ah...well."
Echo brushes Nik's cheek. "Of course, you clung to continuity despite multiple lives." Shielding powers on, sparkles dancing through it.
The Jackal Pair eventually lift. Hands slip from each other, and arms rest around one and another's waist. A tattered chevron is formed once more, though the pair look increasingly like they've spent a few nights in in the Chernobyl core. Eyes forward as both straighten up, strong despite the decay, ears back neatly, heads slightly downcast and eyes touching the lift out. They walk, clipped foots in unison, the world around them ignored utterly. Little tatters of long held beliefs and hopes scatter on the ground in their wake, real and imagined. Clip, clop, out and away.