tushanshu_logs | the dreaming [open]

the dreaming [open]

Characters: Tu Vishan and you!
Date: May 11^th
Location: All over Keeliai.
Situation: Tu Vishan is attempting to reach out to the foreigner population, with... mixed results?
Warnings/Rating: Should be pretty tame. Will update if this changes.
Notes: This log is set at night, and characters are technically encountering him in their 'dreams'. He may or may not be exerting some subtle supernatural influence to make characters fall asleep, so if your character doesn't require sleep feel free to say he's done something to them. Technically, every creature in Tu Vishan would be sleeping during his little foray, so the streets are uncharacteristically empty.

This is not a predominantly plot-driven log. Tu Vishan is reaching out to people and may surrender plot details if the right questions are asked, but this is mostly part of his ongoing effort to become acquainted with people and the thread direction may stick solely to slice of life, depending on how your character chooses to direct it.

A character's 'dreamscape' should be shaped by their subconscious mind, so feel free to go wild with whatever you'd like. This includes details of their location and what their dream!selves might look like. Tu Vishan will appear to the characters as a young boy, between fourteen and sixteen years of age, and anyone he visits will have extremely peaceful dreams. It's considered a gift and a blessing to have been visited thusly by Tu Vishan, and one can expect good fortune in their futures if they are visited. Characters may also not remember perfect details of these dreams in the morning, or remember them at all. That much is up to you.

[The night is calm and still and on this night, Tu Vishan wanders.

He does not often take a form not his own, but there is a growing sense of unease in his shape, in his body, that he cannot escape. He knows it. He has felt his brethren sicken thus, and die. So for a time, when he can, he escapes. Like smoke, like a ghost, a breath, he escapes and he wanders.

The city is sleeping when he does so. He likes the cities at night, though the dimly flickering light of his shell is...

(Sad, he thinks)

--Inevitable.

He passes from house to house, between buildings and shadows. He listens.

'Keeliai' means 'Finality'. It is an irony he has never sought to correct. Instead, he stops at doors, on rooftops, in the empty rooms of old houses, and he thinks of all the lives scattered here. Small enough to be insignificant to him, but hardly that. He cannot so much as feel the patter of their movement across his back, but he is aware of each of them as a tiny heartbeat, an audible echo of life and hope.

When he finds a receptive mind, he will sometimes reach out and touch it gently. A calm, gentle reassurance. If they wish to speak with him, he is there.]

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We have spoken. You could not understand me, then.

[He holds his hands cupped together, lifts them, opens them. A little turtle made of swirling ocean water and sand stretches its fins and swims off.]

[Tu Vishan then. That's the only creature here he hasn't been able to at least mostly understand. The sea life here is different from Earth but much more relatable than this ancient being.]

I'm honored we have the chance to speak now, then. How are you feeling?

[The question surprises him, and for a brief moment it shows on his face. He is not accustomed to surprise.]

Do you know what it is like, to die?

[He couldn't help asking; he probably won't ever stop worrying about the declining health of the turtle they all live on. It's horribly, achingly sad to think about the world losing someone so old and wise. The question casts a shadow across his face, though, and he glances out across the seafloor.]

...Yes, I do.

[He smiles a little.]

As do I. It is inevitable of all that lives. Does it always seem like you haven't had enough time?

Always. [Then again, everyone in his family seems to die before their time. Some earlier and more unfairly than others.] There's nothing that can be done?

Nothing of which I am aware. It is... a matter of lifeforce. Mine is bleeding away. There would be ways to stopgap it, I suppose, but I would not ask that of any creature.

[His expression saddens visibly, hearing that, and it isn't a selfish concern; he truly feels terribly to hear that.] I'm sorry. [Nothing that he's aware of. Normally, this would mean there could still be a way, but a being this old, this vast... He's not so sure what that means.] What brought this on? It seemed to start so suddenly.

The one who is responsible is the reason the Lady Emperor has brought you here.

[There is a brief pause, and he inclines his head.]

A little one said that there are many heroes among you.

I see. The mysterious threat. [He purses his lips slightly.] I don't like how little information she's given us.

[That makes him smile slightly though.] There are. I know several heroes personally.

Ask what you wish of me. I will answer if I can.

[The fisherman and the sea, so to speak.]

I hope you are not all needed, but I am glad to... not be alone.

What have we been brought here to fight? What can be done about it? The waiting is... frustrating. [It feels like they're all spinning their wheels, waiting for something to happen, and maybe it doesn't bother others, but it bothers Arthur deeply, watching Tu Vishan slowly die and being able to do nothing.]

I know I must seem very tiny and insignificant, going by our first encounter- [A wry smile; he's not terribly upset about it.] -but you do have allies in us. In me. I think the seas would miss you terribly.

It is an essence named Malicant. It is older than I, and more powerful by far. I do not know how to defeat it.

[He sounds... regretful, over that. But his expression does brighten.]

You are tiny, but not insignificant. I do not consider any life to be so.

Has it done this before? [An essence... That makes things more difficult, but surely it's not impossible to drive it back.] And if... if it could be defeated, would your health improve then? [The fucks he gives about the Emperor are in the negative, but for Tu Vishan...]

I know the feeling. Usually from the other side. Coral polyps are very tiny, difficult to really make a connection with... but I've seen what many of them can do together. [It's a metaphor, an attempt at reassurance that they surely won't go down passively when it comes to fighting this Malicant.]

A word about the name. Do not speak it save for in dreams, and at the palace. The Lady Emperor has her palace warded, but it is a matter of ego, I believe, for the creature.

[Speak not the name of evil, lest it find you. He stoops, and takes a handful of sand from the ocean floor.]

It may already be too late for me. But it is perhaps the best chance at... saving my life.

[He wrinkles his nose a little at that.]

But do not misunderstand. I do not want anyone to die for me. I am quite possibly older than the cumulative life of every creature you have eve met. I have had my chance.

[He nods solemnly at that; he'll heed that warning, of course, since the last thing he wants to do is to make things worse somehow.] Maybe it isn't too late, though. We'll do whatever we can. I have to ask though... What is the worst case scenario? With everything?

[Arthur closes his eyes, lets another gentle current wash over him.] Still. I hope I can help somehow. In the meantime, is there anything that can be done to make things easier? [Even if it's just venturing out to the turtle's head more, to sit and watch the waves and remind him he is not alone.]

The worst case scenario is that Malicant cannot be stopped. He kills everyone on this planet, and moves to the next, in an endless cycle.

[It is a heavy thought to contemplate, and he lets the sand sift through his fingers.]

I would not mind the company.

[Everyone on the planet. Moving on to the next to wreak more havoc. Like Imperiex, then, only an essence, something harder to stop.] We'll do whatever we can to keep that from happening. There has to be some way to defeat this thing. [He has to believe that, because the thought of losing Garth again, of losing Kaldur and Mera and watching Tu Vishan die is too much to bear.]

I'll visit more, then. [He tries a small smile on, despite the gravity of the conversation. He can do that much, at least. But then he pauses for a moment as a school of brightly colored fish swim by.] You mentioned earlier a way to slow the illness... Is it even something you would want, if there are people who would step up? [How much would it take, he wonders. He doesn't want anyone to die for him, but how deadly a solution is it?]

I believe you will.

[And he does. There is a presence about Arthur. It makes him think of Mishadi.]

I would like that. The visiting.

[And then, he stills.]

It-- Selfishly, all creatures fight to survive. I-- if the cost were spread among many, it would perhaps grant me more life. A year. Two. Ten. Nearly insignificant in scope when one considers my lifetime. I do not feel it to be worth it, for what it would take away.

[His smile is slight, but warm; he can be more open in dreams, and there is no sense in hiding behind a kingly mask to someone like this. He takes the occasional day off already, he'll make time to go visit.]

What would it take away? I have no intention of acting rashly, but if we came up with a plan to take the creature, if more time was needed in such a case, even just a little... [He just wants to know options. To have the information if it should become necessary, because he will do whatever he can to help.]

I do not know. It took a life, before. It could take other things, perhaps. I have not dwelt on it.

[He is resigned to death, in many ways. False hope could only be cruel, now.]

[He just nods quietly, thoughtful for a moment. Too much unknown. The best chance is to get rid of this Malicant somehow, but they don't know anything about that either... And he's familiar with this resignation, from the dolphins he called kin, who had very different attitudes toward death. Still, he's never been one to just give up. For now, though, he has information to pore over when he's awake, and his tone turns a little lighter, a warmth to it.]

What do you call yourself, my friend? 'Tu Vishan' is probably kedan-given, isn't it? [Names are important, to the man who has so many of them.]

[A bright smile.]

I am called Asti.

Asti, then. [He returns the smile, and on the watery horizon, Poseidonis seems to brighten a little as well.]

[He glances towards the city, noting that brightness with a fond expression.]

Dream well, Arthur. I must leave. If you need to speak with me again, let me know.

[He taps a finger against his temple.]

And I will come to you.

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relentlesstide - 2013-05-28 02:04 (UTC) - Expand

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tuvishan - 2013-05-31 21:50 (UTC) - Expand

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