GOD is a HOUSE

[agentminiskirt]

Who: ANYONE WHO WANTS TO FIX THE HEART.
What: Well, time to go fix up Soundwave’s fuckup.
Where: The Heart of Nautilus.
When: Sometime after the events of this log and around the time this announcement was made.
Notes: Party-style log for anyone who wanted to help fix the Heart. Feel free to tag with action, threads, or even just a narrative. OOC

Comments

[doorwasopen]

Rion didn’t know what it was that called to him so loudly. Be it his heightened senses thanks to his Angelii abilities that connected him to this city, or something else-he couldn’t shake the feeling. It would have been against his nature to simply ignore it.

Whatever it was, in his mind, it posed as a threat to Lilia. Everything always came back to Lilia... Rion didn’t even think twice about his own preservation; he had someone else here to look after, to protect. That alone served as a drive to stay alive. For that reason, he had to take out the source of this unbearable feeling.

No matter the cost.

Teleportation, like always, made traveling easy, which meant that Rion took the shortcut to the source of the trembling fear. It all came pouring towards him in a flash, and before he realized it, he was standing outside of the Heart of Nautilus.

There were people here. Quite a few of them, and even more were gathering. He didn’t know what was going on, and it was unsettling.

What unsettled Rion even more was the sight of his doppelganger in the very, very visible prospect. The psychic froze, knowing full well that his instincts drawing him here was not to stir crap with Cain, but to mend this hole that could very well threaten the city to tear itself into the Labyrinth.

But damn if there were not any conflicted feelings involved.

[rihoooon]

It was hard to miss Rion suddenly appearing onto the scene. Though more people gathering by the minute (to fix the hole, Cain assumed, although he wasn't doing anything for it) could have made him harder to see, that same buzz immediately filled Cain's head, pointing out his brother's presence even if he hadn't spotted him.

What was he supposed to feel now? Cain had never liked him. Mother had told him he was supposed to kill Rion, yet he'd never liked that, either. A brother was a brother. He'd wondered if his duties had played into his dislike for Rion; however, even with his loyalty faltering heavily, he found that seeing Rion with no intention of trying to kill still caused those unpleasant feelings to boil up. Jealousy. Disgust.

At the same time, he immediately wanted to talk to Rion. Needed to. Even as much as he didn't like Rion - hated him, even - there was literally nobody else who understood Cain. There was no one other than Rion who he could talk to about all of this. More than that, there was no one other than Rion that Cain would even think of talking to about this issue.

Funny how things work out that way. Conflicting feelings, indeed.

Cain's expression had the somewhat alien element of desperation mixed into it upon meeting Rion's gaze, and he straightened up from his semi-slouching posture. The usual flat quality of his voice had a definite uneasiness to it - though how much of it was due to the hole was debatable.

"Rion."

[doorwasopen]

Things had been pretty interesting the last time Rion had spoken with Cain. Of course, he still refused to acknowledge the Galerian as his brother, but there was some sense of... sympathy? Was it sympathy? Rion couldn’t tell. He wasn’t used to giving the things he felt names; he just acted out, which oftentimes led into him saying and doing things without really thinking through first.

Even if Rion did understand how people felt, he still wouldn’t be able to put a label on what Cain must’ve been feeling. The weight of his words back then didn’t really seem to matter much to the psychic at the time, if only because he’s always simply spoken whatever was on his mind. He was blunt; he held nothing back, no matter how rude he may be.

If it was one other thing that the two had in common, it was their stance. Only Rion didn’t even make any effort to straighten himself up like Cain just did. Instead, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts, glanced at Cain briefly, and looked back to what was left of the Heart.

He didn’t like this feeling at all. Cain was only distracting him.

Completely missing the expression on the Galerian’s face and the tone of his voice, Rion curtly responded: “Not here to fight, Cain.”

Bending came to him a bit easier these days. He’d had well over a year to practice it, so he was no novice to the concept. Not to mention there had been the one time he helped everyone repair the chains when Isis had sent Nautilus falling into chaos. Almost without even thinking, he began to absentmindedly work on Bending, just like he had back when he’d been repairing those chains.

[rihoooon]

At that answer, Cain's eyes narrowed in anger. Idiot. This was his fault in the first place, wasn't it? That kind of ignorant reply was just like Rion. Of course, it was unreasonable to expect Rion to want to deal with him, but the thought didn't really cross his mind while he was in this mental state.

"I don't want to fight you, you fool," the older Galerian snapped, sounding much more like his usual self for at least that comment. Ignoring the twisting in his guts from the dismal state of the Heart, he stepped towards Rion. It didn't matter if the latter had no intention of speaking to him - Cain was dead set on getting answers, even if he had to force them out of his brother.

"I want to talk. Talk with me, Rion." He came to a halt a few feet away from Rion, staring at him heatedly. Much as he tried to keep his words cold and stark - his sense of pride wouldn't let him do anything otherwise - the demand had the sense of a plea hiding behind it.

argh, short tag

[doorwasopen]

With more people showing up, it wasn’t like Rion had to focus too hard. It was annoying that Cain was here, though, and the fact that he was acting rather... strange didn’t help.

Rion stopped and glanced over at his doppelganger (because, no matter how much he’s come to accept, he still refuses to consider himself a brother to the Galerians).

“What’s there to talk about?” Rion retorted, in his usual, snappish and Rion way. Not that he was any different from Cain’s approach.

IS OK, IT'S DIALOGUE

[rihoooon]

What is there to talk about?! Rion truly was ignorant. Like everything else, this was his fault, and he still didn't feel even a hint of guilt over it. Cain's glare intensified.

"What do you think?" The Galerian hissed. "Do you understand what you did to me, brother? Your stupid words ruined everything! I don't know what to do without Mo-- without Dorothy!"

His hand falls to his side, and he balls them both up into fists. Like the other Galerians, he was a little bit emotionally stunted. Almost every extreme he felt ended up being channeled into violence or anger. But he couldn't get angry now. Especially not with all this insecurity dangling over his head and that hole making him so uneasy. After a moment, his hands relax, and he raises a finger to point at Rion. "... But you know, don't you? You've always lived without her."

[doorwasopen]

“What do you want me to say? I’m sorry? Because I’m not. You’d learn sooner or later that Dorothy was not really a loving god like she made herself out to be. Rita knew that. Even Rainheart knew that she was a bitch.”

Rion turned away, looking back at the empty holy that gazed back at them, reminding him oddly of the Mushroom Tower after it had exploded. He couldn’t shake the feeling, the fear, but he was also angry and frustrated with Cain as well.

“Bet it doesn’t feel good, learning that everything you ever knew was a sham.” Rion couldn’t feel bad for Cain for this reason. Telling him that he was a Galerian, that the real Rion had died, that his memories were fabricated after all this time, believing otherwise?

Now it was in reverse; it was Rion’s turn to be the one in the right.

[rihoooon]

It was difficult for Cain to resist the urge to throttle Rion right there. All of Dorothy's conditioning spurred him on to attack the other boy, compounded by the ugly feelings he'd grown naturally and his already-violent nature - in fact, this time, it probably was just the oppressive feeling emanating from the Heart that kept him from lashing out with Nalcon or something along those lines.

"Shut up!" His eyes flashed. "Is this some kind of petty revenge for you, Rion? Are you enjoying this? You're disgusting!" What a hypocrite. The fingers of one hand flexed, and he came close to lashing out, grabbing for the front of his brother's shirt - but, again, he did not. He couldn't afford to mess this up. He was that desperate. Instead, he just huffed, then tried to smother his anger, turning his own eyes towards the hole.

Once he got past the insults, Rion's words were a little disturbing. Rita... knew already? So did Rainheart? Had Birdman known, as well? Had he been the only one still grasping onto that hope? Cain called them his siblings, but he'd barely known them, it seemed. That gave him a terrible feeling.

"I don't want an apology," Cain spat after a moment. Rion's pity was the last thing he ever wanted. What he needed was... what? Advice? He wasn't sure. But he was certain that he needed to talk to Rion. "... was that true? Did the others really know?"

[doorwasopen]

Rion was almost expecting Cain to lash out at him; he wouldn’t have objected to the idea. Hell, it may even give him an excuse to toss the Galerian right into that broken hole...

No. No, he couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that. For as much as he detested Cain, loathed him for killing Pepper, the Labyrinth wasn’t something that even Rion should take lightly.

“Maybe a little.” Rion had to admit; he was getting some kind of twisted satisfaction out of seeing Cain like this, if only because of the way Cain had been when he’d torn Rion’s reality apart.

But he wasn’t necessarily enjoying it, either. No more than he enjoyed watching all of the other Galerians die, or killing the hospital staff.

Now, the Rabbits, on the other hand... That was cathartic.

“Rainheart was terrified of Dorothy. The drugs she gave him destroyed him. Rita hated herself. She wanted to die, but Dorothy wouldn’t let her. In the end, she wanted me to kill her so she could get away from all that.” Took the easy way out. “I think they both knew.”

[rihoooon]

Rainheart had always seemed like the 'little brother' in the group, even though he was older than Cain. In fact, his being older than Cain made him less biologically perfect; it wasn't too surprising to hear that the drugs had an especially adverse effect on him, although it was depressing. His following Dorothy out of fear was even moreso. However, the news about Rita hating herself - that was both new and frightening. Cain's gaze flew back up towards Rion, scrutinizing the face that mirrored his own for some sign of a lie. But, of course, there wasn't one.

His eyes dropped down to the floor after that, brows furrowing. "Sister..."

She wanted Rion to kill her. Rainheart -- how had he died? Had it been that pathetic...? He didn't know if he should press for that answer. The facts didn't change - Rion had murdered his siblings. Cain could never forgive him for that. But the circumstances under which they went to their deaths seemed to be the opposite of what he'd always assumed - that they'd gone proudly, thinking they were serving a great cause.

What was it Rion had said before? They died for nothing?

The older sibling didn't quite manage another response. He stared into the abyss. This new understanding was just serving to disillusion him further.

[doorwasopen]

Far as Rion was concerned, this “talk” was over. The words were registering to Cain’s brain, it seemed, and with nothing further to add, he turned.

The gaping hole was still there, staring back at him. Rion’s willpower was stubborn, strong. Lending it to the other Benders, he went back to working on fixing the damage that’d been done. His goals were set solely on doing so in order to protect Lilia, as well as the city he’d come to call home.

Dealing with Cain could always come later.

Narrow-eyed with determination, Rion went back to ignoring the Galerian’s presence and focused. Whether or not if Cain stuck around to help out or leave was not any immediate concern he had at the time.

[rihoooon]

That just left Birdman. And Cain had little difficulty imagining that he probably hated Dorothy, too - he didn't like much in the first place. Birdmain, Rainheart, and Rita... they had all been like him. At some point, they'd realized that she wasn't fair, wasn't good, but they kept serving her anyway. The difference being that they had all known she wouldn't bring them the future she dreamed of, or so Rion said, but... Cain wondered how often he'd forced himself to believe in it, too. It was lonely and dark in that tower, and the outside world was dangerous and repulsive. There wasn't much else for him to cling to but that stupid dream of the Family Program, even if he had to block out parts of it to make it believable.

Ignorance was bliss, and now that Cain had stopped being ignorant, he was miserable. Maybe this was what had happened to Rita. Without the Family Program, the world for a Galerian seemed impossibly bleak.

Right. That was why he needed to talk to this lowlife brother of his.

"Rion." Cain spoke again, breaking the silence (probably unfortunately for Rion.) He stared at him quite intently. Then, bluntly: "Why do you exist? You're a Galerian, too. Even though they hated Dorothy, the others died for her, because they had no other reason to live. But you're still alive, and you never listened to her." It was, honestly, a mystery to him. One that needed solving. Because Rion and Cain were the same. If Rion could do it, Cain knew that he could, too. "How...?"

[doorwasopen]

Why do I exist?

Cain’s question wasn’t something that Rion hadn’t asked himself before already. He’d wondered it, many times. The only reason he’d ever have an answer to such a question, was because Rion had already created an answer for himself.

The psychic didn’t even bother to look at Cain when he answered: “The launch program in my head was created to help kill Dorothy when collaborated with Lilia’s virus program, and Dorothy wanted me to find Lilia, but I didn’t know anything about the Family Program. She never should’ve created me... That’s her mistake, not mine. And I don’t care who created me. I’m not anyone’s puppet; I am my own person. That’s how I live.”

Were the Galerians even capable of separating themselves from the Family Program?

Rion was a Galerian, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Perhaps it was possible.

[rihoooon]

In other circumstances, Cain might have gloated a little bit that Rion admitted Dorothy had created him; at this point in time, however, he was concentrating too hard on Rion's actual answer to care. It was a little remarkable that he was willing to swallow his pride enough for this. Or maybe it was more of a testament to how deeply Dorothy had sunk her hooks into him.

His answer wasn't unfamiliar to Cain. When he'd asked a similar question over the network, he'd gotten a few replied that sounded a little bit like it. Of course, he'd all but discarded them. Free will was something that humans were supposed to have, not him. Even now, with his loyalty to Dorothy all but broken, he didn't want to be like a human. But here was the only other Galerian left in existence besides himself, saying the same thing.

"Living for yourself...?" The older brother tilted his head. He didn't really want to live for Dorothy anymore, at least. That left no higher power directing his actions. Just him. In that sense, it... did make sense. Maybe "free will" wasn't a species thing.

"...hm."

Because Cain wasn't about to thank Rion for anything. Even if he deserved it.

Crossing his arms, he turned to face the great hole in the Heart, then, after a moment, closed his eyes. He'd never been any good at Bending, nor had he practiced improving that skill - it seemed pretty pointless to him, most of the time. Nonetheless, he added his small seed of willpower to the rest of the Wakened's, trying to cover the wound. Not yet - he wasn't ready to give up this strange second chance called Nautilus quite yet.