(Untitled)

[favorthebold]

Characters: Ilyigan (favorthebold) and Mona Lisa (vile_queen)
Date/Time: Backdated to April 20th
Location: Let's say Mona's house? (Jackie?)
Rating: Likely up to PG-13
Summary: Mona gives Ilyigan her vial of dream dust for testing. One cocoon nap later...

Comments

[favorthebold]

They were bold statements, he thought, but not uninspiring - not empty. In a sense, with a sort of self-knowledge that almost surprised him, Ilyigan knew that he had not yet quite stomached his situation yet - this imprisonment in so vast a prison, this dogged uncertainty that accompanied every decision. Perhaps he never will. And perhaps that was best. In his mind, he simply took it for granted that some breakthrough was possible. If not by knowledge, then by force.

Perhaps it was good that she was there to speak for knowledge - even, he supposed, for caution. Or else, well, he was not altogether sure just what he might have done.

"No." He nodded. "Sitting by is no option at all. But we will not die so easily." He will not, at least. And now she was under his protection.

He moved to look over her shoulder at the journal, thinking nothing of the gesture. So they had all the names, at least - and the hand of the dubious prankster, as well. "Perhaps creating some connection between different people was all that he meant to do," he mused. "It's a clever thing for a rebel to do, to set others to his dirty work."

[vile_queen]

Mona shook her head. "No. We will not." They seemed by far to be more intelligent than the general public of Edensphere, and she did not doubt his abilities to fight back should need be. Though he hadn't managed to combat the sand... No. That did not mean anything in regard to his capabilities. It was seperate, something having to do with this Locke, and not an actual attack.

As he moved, Mona noted that the position did not seem imposing. He was behind her, right there, and it did not bother her. Another clue, perhaps, as to how they had worked together previously.

"Clever indeed, and potentially useful. It speaks as to his personality, that he is recruiting without actually showing himself. Anyone may call themself by any name; that he is calling himself Locke now does not mean he will not change it tomorrow. And handwriting can be disguised." She contemplated for a moment later. "He does not trust us, clearly. But perhaps he also does not trust those around him. He bears watching, at the very least."

[favorthebold]

"Watching, and that is all?" She was right - there were so many unknowns. He imagined himself standing in a battlefield at the dead of night knowing that violence was to take place but having no sight of either army's banners. What did you do, when all that you knew was that you knew nothing?

"There must be some things that we can safely assume," he said with a touch of irritation, not at her but of a general sort. A restlessness that crackled in his limbs like electricity. "He is a crowd-stirrer - this doesn't have the feel of someone who wants only to smoke out true rebels. He is a man who gambles on others. He is at least a little bit desperate." They were all impressions that he was certain of, but they yielded frustratingly little information. "It's the others' dreams that I wonder about most. If they saw different things, then the pattern's the clue to it. If they all saw your dream through his trick, then..." he paused, and glanced down at her, eyes narrowed.

"Well, what is it about you?"

[vile_queen]

Mona considered the question, looking past Ilyigan for a moment. "I believe that for now watching and conversing with him will suffice. We do not know why he gave the dream out, but it is clear he has access to resources we do not. While he is willing to give he should be worked with. When he ceases to be of use, then it will be time to do more." It was practical. There were too many possible dangers for her to be anything aside from practical.

"Desperate. I think you are accurate. But what is he desperate for? To get home? To gain power? There is some threat he is worried about, but not so much that he is unafraid to speak, so perhaps it is larger than the concerns that most are focused on."

She returned the direct look. There was a little bit of annoyance in her tone; Mona did not appreciate admitting ignorance. "I do not know. Perhaps it is tied to the way that I knew Crystala already, and that my Greeter knew me. Perhaps it is something I have yet to learn."

[favorthebold]

Practical was rarely very satisfying, and yet Ilyigan conceded. For now, he thought - for now. But he felt it in his bones that he was not a man who did his work by watching and talking. That was all good and well for Mona, perhaps, and he could leave it to her. But there would be other, further action for him to take, or he would create it himself.

"You'd think that the stakes would be clear," he said with an irate shake of his head. "Tampered with and caged, that's all of us, exiles together. But perhaps it is wrong to assume that it's his memories that he wants. But if he rebels, well - it means that whatever does hold power, it has some weakness, some fragile places." It was good to remind himself of that.

Her annoyance was obvious, and easy to understand. Edensphere carried even more frustration for her than for most, he reflected, and was briefly angry himself. But curiosity was stronger, personal as well as general. "For all that we know, you may have been here before... may even have held some position."

[vile_queen]

She didn't entirely expect him to wait and be practical. Someone with the abilities such as he had would not need to be, and his temperment didn't speak to him exercising more self-control than he required. Nonetheless, he drew her.

"The stakes are death. Of the body and of self, for I am given to understand that when one dies here they lose some of what they have of who they are, their memories, their dream. And while it is a high cost, inactivity is far more costly." She nodded. "Every fortress has a weak spot. One must only find that place. This man may well know of it, or know one who does. We will find it."

The theory fit with the little she had. "There is one who may well know - my Greeter. He seemed to know of me. I already intended to seek another meeting with him. Now it has become a priority."

[favorthebold]

That, Ilyigan had not known - not that there was a price to returning to life. He'd gathered already that death needn't be permanent in the Sphere, and was more amazed by how easily he swallowed that fact than by the fact itself. Now, with this added knowledge, he was once again startled to discover: "I cannot guess why, but that seems right somehow." His voice was low with deep thought. "That a dead man may live again for a price. I can't understand it." It was perverse, after all, unnatural. More unnatural than most everything else. And yet.

He shook his head. He had no intention of dying - none whatsoever. He didn't even care to contemplate it.

"Oh?" So there was someone - it sounded like a solid lead. "It sounds as though he wasn't very forthcoming." Why did not one dare speak in this place?

[vile_queen]

She tilted her head, studying Ilyigan. "Then this is something we do have in common." Among all the differences there was that. "I do not know what it suggests, however, for it also seems incorrect at the same time as it is familiar." Death was death. One didn't come back to life except here... and clearly somewhere else. Or during something else.

A smile played on Mona's lips. "No. He was not. He teased, a great deal. But I believe that if I am to speak with him again, when I am more settled, Lezard will be more useful and informative." He was a flirt. But he was an intelligent and charming flirt, and she could see his inclinations. Perhaps he could be an ally. At the same time, though, she could tell she was walking something of a dangerous line, because something told her Lezard and Ilyigan might not get togther entirely well.

[favorthebold]

"Do we, then?" They had met before, he already treated that as a given, but now this was an unexpected turn nonetheless. Whenever it was that they had met, he thought suddenly, that place had already been unnatural. Not like Edensphere itself, perhaps, but still, a strange land. While not an answer to any question, it nonetheless reflected back - on how unnatural the connection between them was, how unusual, how unique.

"Death is nothing to be played at," he said after a moment, slipping briefly deeper. "But if the gods of this place will it so, who am I to argue?" Perhaps there was a daring to this, too. To treat death as only another temporary obstacle.

And then, perhaps not. Perhaps that was defying things that should not be defied.

He was more comfortable with the immediate questions and their potential answers, with this new name - Lezard. If it was a name at all. "Teased, did he. Does he think to hold something over you, then?"

[vile_queen]

"Do you not see it as that?" What was his interpretation of things? Mona wished she knew why his thoughts mattered so much. There was some hold there, some connection, and she did not know the depth of or reason for it. All she had was her dream, and having him there. He was important somehow. She would figure it out. Puzzles were made to be analyzed and solved.

"Gods? You believe this is ruled by gods, then?" She knew, for some reason, a great deal about gods and goddesses, now that the topic had come to mind, but she could not say that she believed in any. "Perhaps it could be. There are a great many things that seem inexplicable, from what I have seen." Privately Mona was not sure she could accept such a thing; she wanted to believe that she was mistress of her own fate. Time would tell.

Mona leaned back at the question, relaxing and considering. "No," she finally answered. "I think he simply takes what amusement he may, and as it did not cost either of us, he was confident in the situation. From what I have heard, the Hatchery is not a place for secrets to be told, and if he has secrets of my past, then he was correct to not tell me then. But I believe he will tell me, should I ask in a more... secure setting."