domainless | Duplicity Inbox

neither am i we all have our strengths
you could text something to me instead

i'd like to hear your lovely voice at some point, but we can work up to it.

Fine. But don't laugh. And you can't say I didn't warn you when it's terrible.

Down amongst the boxes, hidden well, not hiding
Holding fast against the forces of darkness pressing in on –

Darkness.

Paper words security, certified and filed.
Words to explain the darkness,
Explain the need for resting amidst the weights of statements
A comforting, centuries heaviness.

Experiences in words, words in boxes, boxes on shelves.
Shelves in order, everything in its place.
Where it ought to be.

Filed.

For future consultation.
End of an era consideration.
Threads abound, surround, linked to might in volume to be found
Hidden strength in knowledge,
Kept hidden from the darkness.
Secret weapons in the darkness.
Everything is filed in places and all is right with the world.

Only it’s not.

Is it.

[He doesn't point out that, even if he did laugh, Martin wouldn't know...especially not when he's genuinely thrilled to him to agree.]

That's not terrible at all! Maybe a little hiccup in a place or two, but I love it.

Poems are like snippets of story and you hooked by end, so I'd say it was exactly as it should be.

I mean, I did write it while I was living in the Archives after being driven out of my house by a woman made of parasitic worms. I might have been a bit stressed at the time.

Right
Then you can be forgiven for a bit of structural oddity

Jon and Tim have those worm scars, were you able to get away from them?

Yeah. I- I ran away. I thought they were behind me but they weren't.

I abandoned them.

[...]

If you were in a life or death situation and thought they were behind you, what else were you meant to do?

As I understand it, there was only one way to fight them and it obviously wasn't perfect.

Edited 2022-08-10 05:29 (UTC)

Yeah but... I should have looked. Turned back.

Did Jon tell you about it?

You were scared.
There is no shame in being scared.

Yes, he did. A while back now, but I recall the broader strokes. That it was a servant of one of the entity things that came after you all.

Being scared takes on a whole new set of issues when you're literally feeding an evil god with it.

And yeah, it was Jane Prentiss. The Corruption. Tie between that and the Flesh for most physically disgusting.

Well, I suppose that's fair. Still can't just turn it off.
At least I think.

I've heard a little about the Corruption, but I don't know anything about The Flesh. Though, I suppose I don't have to guess too much.

[But he's gonna.]

Big floppy ball of meat and skin? Maybe with a mouth?

Probably not.

...that is not actually entirely wrong. I mean, I read a statement about the Flesh ritual, which was just... throwing meat into a hole.

...why?

isn't that just a massive waste? or is it about quantity of meat in one place..?

I mean, I think there was something in the hole? A huge mouth or something.

The entities don't really work on human logic. Jon always says they work on Nightmare logic. And another avatar I met said... rituals are just what feels right.

Oh.
Well, then that makes sense. The mouth thing.

And the rest, I suppose. If you figure the avatars are nightmare-based beings, then their logic in doing what 'feels right' would be nightmarish.

Yeah, it gets weird. When me and Jon were walking through the apocalypse he kept trying to explain it, but I'm pretty sure he was actually working on a different level of reality to me at that point so...

He told me a little, but I understand it hasn't happened for him yet. If it's an apocalypse tied to the Eye, I suppose that makes sense too. I imagine it'd be...I don't know super powered? On it's home turf, as it were? That can't be easy for a mind to handle.

Dominion over the other powers, yeah, everyone and everything being watched forever as they're terrified.

And Jon was kind of... the closest thing to a god, I think. He said he could see the whole world. Everything.

The closest thing to a god in a world that doesn't have them, I guess.

They honestly sound like the sorts of Great Powers that are just a step down from gods back home for me, the kinds that make pacts with mortals and grant them powers similar to the types gods can for clerics. I'm pretty sure they're only not gods because they're relegated to cults and niche focuses that just don't net them enough power and influence to reach godhood.

[...]

If you'd rather not discuss it, there's no need. Jon shut me down early on that sort of theorizing and discussion cause he didn't like I said it made him a warlock by my world's standards.

I guess. Not sure I'd consider the entities gods, although I know plenty of the cults and followers do.

...yeah, that sounds like Jon. I don't mind discussing it if you want to know things.

I thought they might be gods at first, just evil twisted ones that took over your world, but I'd be inclined to agree now they're not. Gods are people and your entities in their own form are not, to my knowledge.

I'll remember the offer. And ask you things he gets dodgy about maybe.

Just for clarification: was that poem about Jon?

Yeah, they're not. I mean, one of the avatars I met, he doesn't believe they think at all, not like we'd understand it. All the avatars are just guessing because the entities... they sing. Sort of. it's weird. The conversation ended with him thinking about throwing me off a roller coaster so... weird.

Oh the poem was- sort of? But about me too. And the situation when I was living in the Archives.

Sing? That's a new one I think.

That makes sense. I suppose you'd have little else to think about. Did you read statements too while you were down there? They don't do anything for you, right?

[...]

Wait what's a roller coaster?

I don't think he meant it literally. But... call people, try to transmit their desires to people.

He said something like... it's like trying to recreate a piece of music you heard in a dream, when you have never heard music before.

I read a few statements. Got the same weird feelings as Jon, but I never read as much as him, so no, I don't need them to live or anything. If I was going to feed on trauma I'm pretty sure it would be making people feel really lonely.

Oh! It's a kind of... You know the trains here? Like those, but smaller, open-topped, going really fast, on a track that has steep drops and sometimes goes upside down.

I know that feeling intimately. An impression of will by something too big for the mortal mind to handle.

Hard to imagine you making people feel lonely. Your presence is rather enjoyable to me.

[...]

That sounds like a fucking nightmare. What is it, a torture device for enemy forces or something?

Edited 2022-09-10 13:52 (UTC)

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