|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 7:22 pm
Rodney crying at this point wasn't so much of an alarming thing as it used to be. If anything it was more a natural state of affairs than the alternative.
"You killed them?" he asked, and could not keep the edge of skepticism out of his voice.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 7:44 pm
"My clones will find them," Rodney said. He had grown up in the same town, in the same house, his whole life.
"I knew I'd die, coming here. But I thought it was for a good reason."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 4:29 am
Lawrence paused mid-step. "They do that?" he asked. "I was unaware of that particular side-effect." And suddenly there was the issue that they might find or have found Maja before he could.
He gave Rodney a brief glance.
"Then we need to stop them."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:20 am
"They were made to hunt down families," Rodney slowly began to walk again. "America's was different. What can we do? If we...went there first, they'd definitely find them. ...You've...got family too, don't you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:09 am
"Oh I knew about that I suppose. I knew they favoured clearing away hunters and individuals with whatever innate gene it is which permits us to see supernatural creatures. I had not considered they might be able to track down our families. From what I gather they cannot, we need to lead them to them." he tapped his chin thoughtfully.
"I met her you know." he said idly. "The horsewoman who seems to be in charge of the tracking bloodlines down." He decided it was best not to mention any debt he might presently owe said horsewoman, remembering the question he was asked and his answer.
"She seemed fair when I met her, simply the opposite side in a war. I had not considered that she would be in possession about your family now and theoretically mine." Discussing it was relaxing he found. He did not know where Maja was and therefore none of his potential clones could really know either. His parents and siblings he could not have cared less about. If his father was still alive, he only regretted that he could not be there to see what happened to him if they found him and reap the reward in years for his demise.
"As far as what can be done, I am not sure. I am not permitted back to the Sahara until I regain some functionality though it seemed like that was where they were centred."
He just could not particularly care about the peril Rodney's family were in, they felt distant and far away, strangers of no consequence, greyed out and valuable only for their potential to make the other man happy. It was a strange feeling to know that if the other man had any idea of this he would be hurt and withdraw from him. Every human interaction he had was a careful balancing act of lies and twisted truths and then people wondered why the inclination to lie came so readily and easily to hand.
"I am not aware of where many of my family members presently live, nor could I or would I go to them if I did." this was another lie. He would if he could, he'd get all of them killed for the years they were worth without a second thought. Except Maja. It was the threat of being killed himself if found out by Deus which stayed his hand. "I was obviously in quite a lot of trouble for the going back to see Melody blunder."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 6:23 pm
Melody.
Rodney just covered his eyes with his hand.
"We...hunted down their families, too. Didn't we? All of them. With the others, in Halloween...it's just the ones who hurt and kill people. But with them we..."
Rodney's mouth felt dry.
"Did you name her?" He asked. "Your daughter."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 6:38 pm
"Did we?" Lawrence asked. "I don't recall pursuing the families of any Halloween anything. But if you mean the mass murder of almost their entire race, I can proudly say I had nothing to do with that one and heard about it only after I arrived here against my will." he shrugged. "But perhaps the retribution is - if cruel - perhaps earned by those who took part in that incident."
The mention of his daughter simply made him feel grim. Of course the question was a trap, no matter how he replied Rodney would think less of him. There was no way to deduce what he wanted to hear so the only thing he had was honesty to resort to.
"Yes." he said. "A little old fashioned as names go perhaps, but it had its meaning to me." He smiled distantly. "I wrote a song for her." he said, as if this made everything somehow different. "You heard it at the bar, though it likely sounded the same as all of the others to you, much of my work does, to the untrained ear."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:20 pm
"No. Nobody deserves it," Rodney said miserably.
He looked at Lawrence while he spoke.
Chantelle's music had been one of the few things he'd related to when he first got here. Because of the sad and searching loss.
"Why?" He asked. Why had Lawrence written her a song, but hadn't helped her?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:36 pm
He didn't argue with Rodney about whether it was deserved or not, to him it didn't matter if something was deserved or was not, it simply happened. Nature did not care if someone deserved a storm to wash their livelihood away or a blight to kill their crops, but it did it anyway. The endless cycle of fighting would continue regardless.
Why was the exact question he had not wanted to be asked regarding Melody. If he was honest he didn't know and had never looked too closely at it.
"Because I felt it was appropriate. She was a beautiful thing and I wanted to understand where I went wrong and why she was not exactly what I wanted her to be. Logically she should have been and might have been had I not been forced to leave. She did not look as much like me as Mikael does you know, she looked more like her mother."
There was that curiosity in him now forever unrealised about who she might have become. "But I could not stay, so she was not mine, she was not a part of me any longer. I wanted to keep the part which was. I wanted to have her live forever in a way, as I remembered her, before she changed."
As if realising Rodney was present and he was not simply addressing his own thoughts, he added. "I did not set out to kill her, I set out to test if they were lying to us as they were in so many other things, and even if I had wanted to I could not have stood up to the creature which took her, it was far far too strong. I could save her this way."
"So the song made sense." he concluded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:46 pm
"You didn't set out to kill her," Rodney said, "but you knew what might happen to her."
Everything out here was dark and cold.
"Did you hate her mom? They didn't kill her because of her mom. They did it because she was yours."
He pulled his jacket closer. He wasn't using the scarf today.
"I think...you did care about her. That you didn't want to lose her. It's...a beautiful song. But now she's...gone."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 11:38 am
"I did." he said. "I knew what they had said to us at least, I was new to the island and much of what I had heard appeared to be scare tactics. Of course I found out the hard way that they were not."
He shrugged his shoulders. "As far as hate goes, I do not particularly hate anyone, it involves a level of inherent anger and effort which I do not have to spare. I did not hate her but I will admit that there was a certain level of irritation. She was not Maja you see, and that was who I had hoped she could be, in order for me to run a simulation of sorts of that relationship and what went wrong." he shook his head.
"She was too unresisting and passive, too dependent and weak. And Melody likely would have been like her, logically they were of no material use. I had to leave because she would not leave me and one day I was concerned that I would snap and ..well. There would be consequences I did not want to deal with. I did not really get to know the child, and I wanted to see her again regardless, perhaps selfishly so."
He shook his head at Rodney. "I don't think one could call it caring. I wish that I did, any child deserves to be cared for, and I feel they more than most can perceive when they are not. I fear that was always the problem with Mikael for instance." he shrugged. "It was all an unfortunate mess."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 3:25 pm
"Love is an action, not a feeling. In the Old Testament, when they spoke about hatred, they meant...rejection. Nobody can help how they feel," Rodney said.
At last, the anonymous clumps of snow piles turned into a flat plain that might have been the fields. The only major identifying factor was the humming of the wards.
Rodney was dreading it. But it would be what he had been doing all along. Blocking. Just with his eyes open.
"Maja?" He asked softly, because he hadn't heard the name before.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 3:45 pm
Rodney got a look as if he was suddenly speaking another language. Lawrence wasn't sure what he meant as far as love being an action, if it was an action he had tried it and it had not worked, he had been told it was something deeper and more primal, something you had to feel to understand. This was contrary to that he was sure and very probably wrong, at least for anyone who wasn't Rodney.
Lawr summoned Butch almost out of instinct when they arrived, not shy of summoning him around the other man and the rest of the fields quiet and empty. He liked feeling like he had two hands again.
"Maja was my wife. My first wife. I tried. It was not sufficient, failure does not gel with my world view, I have to assume that it was something she did wrong, some commitment she did not make."
He shook his head. "I am not a good teacher. From what I gather it is about using your weapon practically to let it take the blow. Perhaps holding Sorrow's chain taut might be the plan of action. We can test that if you like. I am not dangerous, I likely could not harm you even if I wanted to."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Toshihiko Two rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-6)
|
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:18 pm
"I don't know enough about the circumstances," Rodney said. Seven appeared, solid and reassuring in his hands, "But, I'm sorry that you lost her." He did seem genuinely sorry about it.
So long as he doesn't try anything... Seven grumbled.
Rodney took a shuddery breath, but held out the chain. It was harder to hide behind. It felt like the difference between being in the middle and the front of a roller coaster.
"So you...tried again after that. And then, after that..."
HP: 40
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baneful rolled 2 8-sided dice:
6, 7
Total: 13 (2-16)
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:25 pm
"As am I" he said, and examined Rodney's posture.
It was facinating how reluctant he always was, and he found himself almost loathe to strike the chain held out for the purpose. Everything he did seemed to consistently and clumsily drive the other man further away and he had no doubt that in the end somehow this would simply be another thing.
"After that I gave up." he said. "At least gave up on that."
And reaching up with Butch, he struck out at the chain. "Brace yourself." he warned, even before he did.
HP: 40
DMG: 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
