a human likeness

[fallen_ancient]

Objectively speaking, her drafting of landscapes and buildings showed a spark of real talent. Her life drawings, on the other hand, could not be classed as anything but abysmal. For as well as she read people and was able to be helpful in parsing their problems, she still could not seem to translate the cues that gave meanings to their actions onto

Comments

[jill_langston]

"Couldn't you just take a glance in the mirror instead?" Jill asked with a bit of a grin, giving Dante a gentle pat on the nose when he cocked his head curiously at Morgan. The cat had taken to following her most places, although he disappeared into the jungle whenever she entered the Compound and returned later, always coming back to her hut.

"I'd probably be a terrible subject," she added. "But I bet Dante might sit for you."

[fallen_ancient]

At the sight of a familiar face and familiar voice, Morgan's smile brightened, following on a soft laugh. She glanced to the sketch she had discarded, directing Jill's gaze there as well. "You couldn't possibly be worse than Dick. The man cannot sit still for a moment."

The cat drew her attention after and Morgan held out an inquisitive hand. "This will be Dante, I expect?"

[jill_langston]

"This is Dante," Jill agreed with a nod. The large cat's ears twitched as he stepped closer, seeming to be confused by someone who looked so much like Jill.

"He used to be Lucifer's," she explained, leaving it at that for now. He used to be Lucifer's and now he belonged to her or he'd picked her, she wasn't sure which was correct.

[fallen_ancient]

She knew even less about interacting with animals than she did about humans, but this one seemed not unfriendly. Wanting not to startle it, she left her hand out for it to investigate while she spoke to Jill.

"He's a beautiful animal." Pursing her lips, she glanced up to study Jill. "Has Lucifer gone, then?" They had not spoken of him much but she knew that Jill had been close with the man.

[jill_langston]

"Yeah," Jill answered and that was that. She didn't mean to be short or abrupt, but she couldn't talk about Lucifer either, not so soon after Teyla and Chris had disappeared.

"Mayko built Dante sort of a dog house outside of my hut," she continued, more than happy to talk about the cat. "He seems to enjoy it as his new home. He almost never leaves unless I'm going somewhere."

[fallen_ancient]

"Will you sit or were you on your way somewhere?" Morgan asked, dismissing the subject of Lucifer with a quiet nod. If Jill did not wish to speak of it, she had no cause to press. What Jill needed to work out regarding Lucifer, whatever it was, was Jill's concern, and she would find Morgan amenable did she wish to discuss, which she knew.

Picking up the thread of conversation, she continued, "It seems that would be unusual for a cat. I had thought them to be very independent creatures. Perhaps," she said, smile curving her lips and gaze warming, "he simply likes you."

[jill_langston]

"Just heading for the Compound, but I'm in no rush," Jill answered, taking the seat as Dante sniffed Morgan's hand once more, then returned to Jill. She scratched his ears, realizing more and more often just how absurd it was to be petting a lynx, but life on the island was strange.

"He tends to wander off on his own now and then. He used to do it more often. It makes me think he knows Lucifer is gone and is going through his own version of mourning," she admitted as the cat settled down on the ground. "I expect he'll get over it."

[fallen_ancient]

"Perhaps," Morgan agreed with a small nod. "I have little experience with such things, but animal consciousness is far more complex than humans credit." She recalled as much from touching their small minds as an Ascended, encouraging a bird to alight or lift in flight to distract attention at a critical moment - assisting humans in small ways that would not call the wrath of the Others.

As Jill had suggested, she pulled out her sketchpad to attempt a drawing of the cat. In some ways, she found it less challenging than humans. "What does the name signify?"

[jill_langston]

"Dante was a poet. He wrote The Divine Comedy, an epic piece of poetry about his own travels through the realms of the dead," Jill explained, unable to stop herself from smiling just a little bit. "The Inferno was Hell and he described it as having circles, ranging from limbo, which was the first and the least horrible, to the ninth circle, where Satan is trapped with three of the world's greatest traitors in each of his three mouths."

[fallen_ancient]

Her brows knit together, both in concentration upon the suggestion of spots and stripes of the cat's fur and in response to Jill's explanation. "That seems a painful subject for poetry. It had some allegorical or religious function?"

[jill_langston]

"It's supposed to be an epic and allegorical look at the Christian afterlife," Jill answered with a nod. "I read parts of it once for school, but never the whole thing and never again."

She imagined it would amuse Lucifer to hear how much she'd disliked it.

[fallen_ancient]

"Hm. Maybe I'll see if I can convince the bookshelf to permit me to read it." The cat took shape in a series of strokes. The tips of its ears a little wistful, a little whimsical.

She glanced up at Jill, mouth shaping a small but noticeable frown. "I know very little about what you enjoy other than your work and who you choose to spend your time with, and yet I am closer to you than most on the island. What do you like to read?"

[jill_langston]

"Textbooks mostly," Jill answered with a soft laugh. She'd never had a lot of time for fiction or reading for pleasure, not when school had taken up so much of her time. "I didn't have a lot once I hit high school. At that point I was too busy concentrating on getting grades high enough to get into any school I wanted and after that... well, once you get into any school you want, you have to work hard to stay there."

[fallen_ancient]

"So I have come to understand from my reading about your Earth, but my knowledge about the period in which you lived is terribly limited. I hope to learn more in the class I have begun with the Doctor." She also hoped to become conversant with the idioms and metaphorical language so often used, so that she would not seem as alien to the majority of people on the island.

[jill_langston]

"He's teaching a class on... Earth?" Jill asked curiously, trying to figure out how that might work. "Pop culture or history or just Earth in general?"

[fallen_ancient]

"Twentieth Century Popular Culture. Although I imagine it will be quite impossible to teach popular culture without reference to the history." At least she very much hoped it would not. As she had lived, she had received all information with deep context and deeper accessible with a thought. It would be very distressing to have the information unmoored.