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 Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:02 pm
"Mik for short, if you want," he added idly. Mikhail accepted the prettily-worded invitation, sliding himself into the indicated chair and leaned forward with his elbows on the table. Sitting back didn't quite work very well with wings, after all.
As yet, Rionne had to be the most polite Fa'e he'd yet met; the next closest to him was a toddler, if that said anything. "Egyptian?" he asked curiously, peering at the pages as Rionne tidied them up. "Why Egyptian, if you don't mind my asking? Is that...what you were?"
There was a tiny bit of envy in Mikhail's voice. He wanted to know what he'd been. Who he'd been. It was all very vexing.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:16 pm
"Most find Rio a bit easier than Rionne," was the pale Fa'e's calm reply. Something in the way that Mik asked his questions caught at his ears, interesting more for the questions he didn't ask. By their age, most of the Fa'e Rio knew had SOME idea of who they had once been...he understood the frustration, and wondered what had kept such knowledge from Mik.
"Actually, it seems I might have originally been from Germany," he told the winged young man, setting the neat stack of papers aside. "I was, however, recently in Egypt with a friend who comes from that country; I ended up a bit deeper in the culture than I expected. For her sake, I am trying to learn as much as possible to help with her research, but pictoral languages are not my usual cup of tea."
He raised an eyebrow, thoughtfully taking in the details of Mik's appearance. "I do not wish to pry, but shall I take your words to mean you still seek the knowledge of who you once were?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:29 pm
The marks on his face were an old Hebrew-Samaritan script, which he rubbed out of habit as he thought of them, not immediately recognizable as the more modern forms of the lettering. It had been a long and ultimately lucky internet search that had finally turned up just the right image; after Mik had left the room, giving up and letting his guardian keep looking for something the teen figured he wasn't going to find.
"Germany, huh?" It seemed a little funny, somehow, that although Fa'e were centrally located on Gaia, at least some of them actually originated on Earth. Hmm. "I don't really know any other languages, just a bit of Latin, and I was a kid when I learned that."
I do," he confessed, nodding. "It's only been a month and a half since somebody told me what I am, and it looks like I'm behind everyone else on the was part, too."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:38 pm
"Strangely, I do understand your dilemma." Rio rested his chin in his hands, considering his companion's words. "I was someone else, until very recently. When I...split away from that person, I was forced to try and understand what and who I really am. Fortunately, I have assistance in the basics, but past the fact that I am a Doppelgaenger and a Fa'e I have no idea."
He shook his head, motioning to the mark on Mik's face and his brightly colored wings. "Certainly you have traits that make good places to start looking. Might I offer my assistance? As you might guess-" and one long ear flicked slightly in amusement- "I am most at home when given a challenge to research. That, and Mr. Budge is putting me to sleep with his brutally analytical translation."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:50 pm
Mikhail furrowed his brow in thought, trying to wrap his head around the concept that Rionne...had already been someone else? It was singularly bizarre, in a way that forced him to just accept it and get on with things instead of trying to figure it out and risk an aching head.
"Just wings," he frowned, looking back at the feathered appendages. "Well, and the stuff on my face. Father bet me I was an angel, but I don't think I buy it. I mean, since when do angels die and get...reincarnated?" His expression twisted a little; he still wasn't sure how he felt about this reincarnation thing.
"If you think you can help, I'd...well, I'd appreciate it," Mik said after a moment. "Hopefully I'm not as boring as Mr. Budge there. What an awful name."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:08 pm
"Then you have found yourself an assistant." Rio was all too happy to slide the heavy book away, retreiving his pen to squint at Mik and copy the marks he bore onto paper. "Well, certainly you have the wings for it, but Kia- my Egyptian friend- has flame-colored wings as well. Of course, hers catch fire from time to time, which can be slightly disconcerting."
He frowned at his sketch, then returned his attention to his companion. "I do believe 'reincarnation' might be a poor choice of wording, given what I have learned about the Fa'e. You are not...whoever you were, brought back to life. You are a new person who might yet someday possess the traits and memories of that distant spectre. We have been given a second chance at life, to live without the burdens put upon us before...to decide for ourselves if that path is one we still wish to take."
He started making note of what little he had learned about Mik, handwriting as sharp as a printing press on the college ruled paper. "Certainly there have been angels who have fallen, and angels who have died in the fight against evil. I see no reason you might not be one of those restless souls."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:18 pm
"Her wings...catch fire?" Disconcerting seemed like an understatement. Mikhail watched as Rio copied down his marks - it was the first time he'd seen them actually written. Plus there was something a little strange about suddenly being the subject of research, although he had asked for it. "Mine don't do that, but uh...things I touch do sometimes. I know what letters those are, by the way," he added, pointing to the sketch, "Not what they spell, though."
"I'm not really sure I follow," Mik confessed, frowning lightly. "I'm not what I was, but I am? Or can be, if I want?"
"But the ones who fell, they didn't die for it. God cast them down." The teen rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. "I hadn't thought about it before, but I guess some of them could have died in the battle." It was a disquieting revelation, especially considering it opened up the possiblity that he'd been on the wrong side.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:35 pm
"For example." Rio set his pen aside, using the example he knew the most about. Most of his friends hadn't reached a point of knowing the details, so he found himself abusing Astaroth's name again. He hoped the King of Hell's ears weren't burning. "The King of Hell is killed by one of his subordinates, mainly because he let his own sins control him and make him weak or distracted from his true concerns. He has been reborn, but is very definitely a different person than he once was- in fact the two seem to have only a handful of traits in common, yet this particular demon still feels the responsibility and desire for the power of who he once was. He feels it is his destiny, then, to take back his throne. He could have chosen to live a peaceful life, if he had wanted." Not that Astaroth was what anyone would call 'peaceful.'
He laughed a little at himself, rueful. "An odd example, perhaps, given that we speak of angels- but a truthful one, of a Fa'e I know myself. If you happen to be an angel, even a fallen one, you might have died at any point in that epic battle- before or after being cast down."
"Any information you have, of course, will be quite helpful." He slid the pen and paper across the table, interested in what Mik had already found. "Just remember, you are not limited by who you once were- this life is still your own to live."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:44 pm
The King of Hell?" Mik balked, drawing back some. "You have to be kidding! Satan is a Fa'e?" He, of course, was unaware of the actual workings of Hell, and so connected it with what he'd been taught...and subsequently got it wrong.
"I really hope I didn't fall," he muttered, "That would kind of suck." Mikhail wasn't sure how he felt about that, much less how he'd deal with it if that were the case.
Underneath the trio of characters, he wrote their letters, in order of course: 'aleph, lamed, daled.' And underneath the lone one, he wrote 'zayin.' Mik's handwriting was actually very good - plain, but strong and clearly legible.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:59 pm
"Astaroth's mythbase is Chinese- so not Satan," Rio told him, amusement heavy in his voice. The image of Roth in red spandex with plastic horns and pitchfork was more than slightly hilarious. "I'm not exactly certain how such things work...if his Hell would connect to the Christian version, or how the various planes interact. From what I understand it is a very complicated subject."
Referring to what Mik had written on the paper, he thought that mik's guardian must be a particularly sharp person. "A form of Hebrew, then," he said softly. "The indicators are currently pointing in the direction we suspect. For your sake, I hope that what we ultimately find is pleasant news."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:11 pm
"Yeah, complicated..." Mik scratched his head. Christian, Chinese, planes...good God, everything about his life had somehow gotten much less simple.
"Hebrew-Samaritan, or something like that. My father thought they looked a little like Hebrew, so we image-searched the alphabet," he admitted. There was no way they'd have gotten it otherwise. "They were on a chart on the last page of it."
"Oh, umm.." Mik rubbed under his eye again, "These kind of itch if there's a vampire around." Out loud, it sounded kind of strange.
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:13 am
Dutifully, Rio recorded all of this information on his paper, marking points he thought would assist them in their research. "And you say things sometimes catch fire around you..." he murmured, retrieving a second sheet of paper and continuing his scribbles. "We could start with any references to winged beings that are influenced by fire, then, and see what sort of a list it brought together. I am fairly certain a number of angels fall into that category, as well as others from various mythologies. It need not even be a winged creature- or male."
A smile lurked in his eyes as he looked up again, but it faded as his brain caught up and he retgistered what Mik had said. "...Vampire? Gaia has quite the diverse population, but what exactly caused you to encounter a vampire?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:23 am
Angels, mythologies, winged or wingless creatures...wait, NO. No no no. No way had he ever been anything but male. There was something just....just so wrong with the very idea of somehow changing genders, and he voiced as much, defensively, "I was not a girl."
"My father's a vampire hunter," he then explained a bit more sedately, tipping his head with a small smile, "And so am I, or on my way to it."
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:36 am
"Fascinating," Rio whispered, eyes a bit wide as he considered the possibility. "Perhaps there is some trait of theirs that makes you react- has it happened around anyone or anything else?" It sounded like Mik had a strong path laid out in front of him- unlike Rio, who still had NO idea what he was going to do with his life. It would be nice to do something that could help people, or protect them- but given the darker nature of the Doppelgaengers, he had a feeling that was going to be more difficult than it sounded.
At Mik's strong denial of their previous subject, Rio laughed and shook hishead. "It has happened! By your fortune, however, most of the time when we have a very strong feeling about something in our pasts it will lead us to the truth. I myself feel the same way- though apparently I will be able to change at will if I master the abilities I possess." He winced, and smiled weakly. "The thought is highly disturbing."
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:47 am
"No, not that I can remember." He shook his head, thinking. "My father is a dhampir, a...half-vampire," Mik's words were hesitant - he was still getting his head around it, "But he doesn't make me itch. So it's got to be something they have that he doesn't, right?"
"You'll be able to change?" That was even weirder than being reborn as the opposite of what you'd been before. "Why would anyone wanna do that?"
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