7thStep [Action//Voice]

[myowndrumbeat]

[River is outside of house #58 with several cans of paint. Quite frankly, she's sick and tired of living in a dumb square box with no personality, so, she's painting Serenity onto the side]

...I made a ship, I gave it wings to fly... and crafted the heart to keep it in the air.... Hope you like it guys.

Comments

[antisilent]

[Doop doop...

...Oh. Atsuki sees River and, well, he's curious. Frankly, other telepaths are always something of interest. Before getting closer to her he again tries to erect a mental barrier - though it seems useless with her, honestly - but he makes it anyway and then advances on her]

What are you painting?

[myowndrumbeat]

[This question seems to matter to a lot of people, but she's not gonna change her answer]

A ship.

[antisilent]

[He's inspecting it... a ship? A ship... He sees her Shinen are still as erratic as ever, so he can't even get a focus on the color, but he thinks it's mostly yellow. So... a positive association? He doesn't dare try to activate Σ on her again though, given the results of the last time he tried.

...Which is unsettling. He's so used to reading minds. Oh well, might as well go about it the old fashioned way]

It doesn't look like any type of ship I've seen before.

[But then, to be fair, she's not done painting just yet either. He's trying to see it but... maybe it's not a boat?]

[myowndrumbeat]

...It's a ship.

[antisilent]

Alright. [He'll just... watch silently for a while now. Maybe it'll be clearer in a bit]

[myowndrumbeat]

[It doesn't get clearer, not even in a few 'bits']

[antisilent]

[...Hmm. Frowning. Atsuki is a nosy bastard who needs to know everything, so not recognizing this is bugging him. As she's painting she clearly has some Shinen of nostalgia... maybe? It could be a memory. He still hesitates to use Σ, but under these circumstances it might make sense to try.

Either way, he'll wait just a little more...]

[myowndrumbeat]

A piece is part of the whole you know.

[She doesn't stop painting, but if he can see her face, a bemused smile is ghosting about it]

[antisilent]

[Wait- that character.

So...]

Is Serenity a ship?

[He was expecting something grander, somehow. Hm]

[myowndrumbeat]

[Not responding to that, but she's most certainly full on bemused now.]

.

[antisilent]

[...Now he feels silly. And he- Okay he can't take it. He's going to attempt to read her mind for an association he might have with the word/concept of "Serenity." He activates Σ. It would be amazing if you threw me a bone for the results of this]

[myowndrumbeat]

[What he finds makes little to no sense, there's no blocking of his intrusive probe into her mind, quite the opposite in fact. Her brain seems to be brimming with more then is humanly possible, her consciousness going into places that Atsuki can't even comprehend they're so complex in theory and creation.

And if that weren't enough, the memories he's searching for seem to be jumbled and confused, her brain holding several dozen minds at once, all with their own realities and perspectives on what Serenity means to that person.

The overall effect is something like a great omnipresence, thought searching far beyond the scopes and limits of the majority of humans, but also of severe struggle between the great mind that makes River, and the many minds that become River.]

[antisilent]

[...Fuck. This makes his head hurt but his brief glimpse is enough to get several different lines of random words and such. The issue is he can't tell if it's her or... something else which might have been someone else's but was now taken into her. It does confirm something though: River survives in the exact opposite way of he does to survive. Still, he only narrows his eyes a little]

[myowndrumbeat]

[Looks over her shoulder at Atsuki with a very faint smile]

Cause of causal causation. It doesn't fit.

[antisilent]

[He shakes his head there, working on his mental barriers all over again as he does]

Maybe not.

[myowndrumbeat]

But you don't think that now, do you Atsuki?

[She gives a small belated sigh, sitting down under her artwork and leaning against the house. Rummaging in her skirt pockets for a moment, she pulls out a Chinese-Ginger-candy, and pops it in her mouth.] Dragonfly, four causes each their own purpose, two eyes each their own way. A dragonfly flies.