[Four.]
it is getting colder,
isn't it?
blood, mud
and snow
underfoot,
but everything is
clean and white
for now.
it is like anima's hair.[ooc: ohoho hello! No major events to speak of yet plot-wise, although something'll be coming up for a few of Team Dottedlines soon. This is just here because Neffe's now chilling in the Above with you fine people, ( Read more... )
isn't it?
blood, mud
and snow
underfoot,
but everything is
clean and white
for now.
it is like anima's hair.[ooc: ohoho hello! No major events to speak of yet plot-wise, although something'll be coming up for a few of Team Dottedlines soon. This is just here because Neffe's now chilling in the Above with you fine people, ( Read more... )
He couldn't have been there for terribly long before Allelujah arrived at the gate, but he looked comfortable enough to have always been part of the scenery; already he was dusted with a fine layer of snow, but the cold didn't seem to touch him.
On the sound of Allelujah's voice his head raised lethargically out of the swaddling clothes around his neck, and he turned to look in his direction. His eyes were blind and fixed on some direction past him.]
you came so soon. i had
not been expecting you, yet.
[Of course. There was something more at work, again - but what it was, Neffe didn't know, and that was no good. If he didn't know, then it meant something thing was being kept a secret, and if the city was keeping secrets from him...
Well. They might well be bad secrets.]
there is something you
need to do here?
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[He paused, looking him over. The face wasn't familiar, but the pattern of speaking was. Still, he didn't make any assumptions yet, still standing there, observing him.]
You were expecting me? Well. Going to expect me sometime?
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asking you to do.
[He smiled, looking down to where the key should be. Nothing he could see or feel in the same way he saw and felt the presence of the other residents, but there was a resonance - something to it, something the city was causing - and it captured his curiosity and his fear.
He looked at the gate, expression sobering.]
there is nothing you
experience here that would
stop you looking for the truth
when you are given an opportunity,
is there, allelujah?
you want to know more
about yourself. your
worth and your purpose.
you will take the invitations
even when they hurt you, because
you despair for why you exist.
am i wrong?
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...Neffe.
[Allelujah couldn't figure out how to respond to that. He had come here thinking that he wanted to find out what this gate was; curiosity, and maybe there would be some sort of a decision, but it hadn't fully entered his mind. What Neffe was saying, however....]
That's...
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...
tell me.
how does a person
prepare themselves
for the unknown?
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you cannot. but
you do not know
what you may encounter here,
and yet you have come. your
need for answers overrules
your self-preservation.
your fear.
[He stood at last with long, slow, jerky movements, as though he were a marionette to some arthritic puppeteer, a doll of limited motion. Approaching Allelujah, his gloved right hand settled on his chest where the mark lay across it unseen. On his own skin, pale even when the cold pinked it, the long dark stitches where his flesh had been carefully sewn back together all those months ago stood out dark and bold, creeping down one side of his face and disappearing into the clothes.
He could feel Allelujah's heart steadily thumping with its own resonance, a familiar source of life and heat.]
you have a guilty conscience.
you feel as though
there is something about you
that you need to justify.
you seek redemption. you came
to help me, and i dragged
you into the ground and marked you.
and now you are here, to try
something else.
i wonder what it is
that you need to hear,
allelujah.
[His hand dropped away.]
i wonder what this place
will tell you now.
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[He watched as Neffe placed his hand on him, staring down, before his gaze returned to the other. He noted the stitches, wondering, not knowing exactly what had happened all that time ago.]
I suppose you still won't tell me what this mark is. Lockon has one as well now, and I...
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i am going to need you before the end.
for now, there are more pressing
matters for you, aren't there?
to find out about the key,
and the gate.
i also want to
find out about them.
that is why i must ask you
to tell me what happens
when you return.
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He won't be---we won't be hurt, will we? At least tell me that.
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where nothing is ventured,
nothing is gained. it is
that same thinking that
brought you here, to this gate.
but i will tell you this.
i like you all too much
to see you die.
[He stepped back, granting Allelujah space, and returned to the same spot to sit again.]
i will ask you one more thing.
what is it that you
would like to
find beyond this gate,
allelujah?
Reply
...I don't know. An answer, even if I don't know exactly what the question is.
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