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 Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:45 am
Lurks Beneath seemed to hold the monopoly of the Original's time but there were times when his brother was elsewhere. It wasn't that Waits didn't enjoy sharing with with Lurks, in fact he was really the only one would be given the option among their clan but there were opportunities, like this one, where he wouldn't mind observing alone. Without Lurks' chatter and fluttering about when he wanted to do just the same. Waits smiled when he saw the Original alone. And silently wondered what sort of fun things his brother - and even Qarah - had already done with it. There were probably going to be some repeat actions.
Like smoke in its face. It hadn't taken him too long, though perhaps too long in his perspective, to finally light one of the joints he had concocted from his findings. Smoke wafted around him as he drifted towards the Original - one his own toys batting at the air like it had done previously with the lit bugs. The two mules had been sent back to the cluster of others while Favorite had been sent on an errand because, well, he was the favored one. So it was just Waits and No, who had been tasked to continue to crush leaves and things.
"What makes you so interesting," the alchemist asked, his hand free of the layers of sleeve to touch, to grab and hold onto the sides of the human's face. It wasn't exactly the most gentle action, but at least it wasn't harsh and forceful when he moved its head from side to side, examining. It looked just like what the others called the stupids, but there was an obvious something in those eyes. He was not about to say it was rightfully intelligence though.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 5:03 pm
He closed his eyes, tense as a wire under the horseman's hands, wound up on himself as though he would have liked very much to yank himself away but instead submitting to being examined. "I'd rather not be especially interesting," he said through gritted teeth. "You are more than welcome to find me boring."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:56 am
"Nothing is ever boring," he informed the Original very matter-of-factually, his voice very stern as he released its face. Still, his gaze bore down upon as he took a swift inhale of the rolled parchment and then exhaled the smoke through his nose. "Never ever, even rocks," he went on, "they don't do anything but sit." There was a slight hitch in his voice, a small rattle of a laugh, his eyes a little wider.
"But they don't just sit, they still react to so many things. Over time, even slowly. Nature, us, them." So many types of thems. "And things react to rocks," he briefly wondered if there were any rocks. In fact he glanced down in the space between them, his hand shifted into the sands until he found something of adequate size. He considered throwing it at the Original until he remembered a few choice words and decided to throw it at No instead.
Who flailed at the sudden attack, it made a noise of alarm and looked around frantically unsure of what had happened. Or where.
Waits turned back to the Original and grinned. "So, never boring. You have to be interesting in some way," He insisted in his dry tone, though there was a slight pitch akin to Lurks' levels jovial tones. Maybe he should throw a rock. Tests maybe? He wondered, leaned closer, pushing past personal space bubbles that might exist.
"Did you react well to the Mother? Did she test you?" He asked, questions falling out of his mouth as he reached forward again and grabbed hold of a bit of the Original's shirt, feeling the fabric between his fingers. "They learn very quickly, sometimes, is that why? Do you?"rejam rocks, I dunno... I think Waits just wanted to hit No with one *shrug*
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 3:37 am
He flinched away when the stone was thrown, eyes closed even tighter. Everything was easier when he didn't look at them, and now he especially wished he hadn't tried. It should have been impossible for his tension to ratchet up, but it did when Waits touched his collar. "She tested me," he said. He did not volunteer whether he had passed or failed. He wasn't sure what the standards for either had been. He thought of Tuesday, of being asked how many of his lives were worth hers, and he rocked back again, away from Waits as much as he could. He had passed his own. He would pass that test again and again, if he had to.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 11:55 pm
Not very talkative. Waits' lips thinned into a line as his expression fell into its usual display of boredom. Excitement waning. So many of his questions unanswered. He rocked backwards on his own heels as he continued to stare at the Original. Was this a natural state for the human? He had to wonder if Lurks and Qarah had gotten more out of it but the though simply made his long torn wings quiver with frustration at the thought.
He was trying to study here and was getting so little results. Questions seemed to be the easiest way to come by results in this instance, experiments out of the question with the Mother's request. Not to mention he had not brought much of his travelling equipment with him as it was, the trip had been such short notice. He probably could have had a fun time with acids here. Well, there could be possible things to do. Especially with a control and variables in play. Waits considered his options before he leaned forward again, taking a slow drag from his handmade cigarette before exhaling the smoke this time deliberately at the Original's face.
"I wouldn't mind trying some of my own," he told it. "Its a shame Favorite isn't here, but No will have to do." He reached out again, grabbed hold of the Original's arm, "up up up."
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:10 am
He resisted but only for an instant, a split-second of laughably-weak thrashing before he simply went limp, a deadweight (albeit an incredibly slight one). "No," he said, dully, without any true defiance in it.
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:46 am
Waits gave a frown and clicked his tongue from the resistance he held in his hand and then simply let go; he had no interest in actually lifting anything. "Yes," he still insisted. Because he was very well going to see what the fuss was about this particular one.
There was a shuffle from behind them, growing patter of footsteps and a small little hopeful noise that accompanied. The copy that had been there in the room as well had heard it's name after all and had come like a good trained little thing - it so wanted to please. "This one does as its told." Well, sort of. At least came on command.
"Do I need to bribe you with treats?"
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:55 am
His eyes wandered back and forth and saw nothing, and after a long silent second he heaved himself painfully but obediently to his feet, and waited for orders, and pointedly turned away from the shambling copy.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 2:27 am
There might have been a slight hint of a very satisfied smile when the Original finally complied to his demands. Moreso when it didn't completely answer his question, perhaps he wouldn't actually have to give him treats; though being able to display positive reinforcement on yet another creature and deny any to No seemed like a delightful prospect. Perhaps he would dwell as it came to it.
The Original's attempts of shielding its head from the lacking copy would prove futile, however, once Waits pulled the dumb looking thing by the shoulder, forcibly standing them next to one another. Examining the differences on face value alone, "no chemicals and very little tools," he muttered under his breathe as he took note of the gaunt look in both their faces as he looked closely, "crude and boring at best." Such little he could really do, but he could make it work. Just something simple, make it worthwhile.
How exact they looked, he noted. Just a few nicks and dirt out of place. Such marvels the Mother could produce. Were the frames similar as well? (He did notice how wiry No and Favorite looked, imagined the same for Original, could have been mistaken as one of their own from afar. Uglier though). He was tempted to pry off that shirt to check but brushed the idea off, he had seen far too much of that body as it was. Instead he stepped between the two and reached into the layers of clothing and pulled out a thin roll of leather - and incidentally a millipede - the least of the tools he always carried because of their lack of weight. Aside from the empty pouches of course, but those were always handy to take things home. And that tin, because well, obviously.
Waits unrolled it to reveal a few crude looking instruments. Most of them pointy, one of them sharp enough to cut. He picked up one of the long needles and lightly brushed it against No's arm, deep enough to cut. The copy yelped and flailed and grabbed at the wound, Waits paid it no mind as he simply leaned towards the Original and did just the same as best he could with the obstruction of clothing.
True, he couldn't break the toys, he would try his best at that little rule but that didn't mean he couldn't do a few things to it. Just minor. For science.rejam this took forever... sorry
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 2:35 am
The Original did nothing besides steeling himself. Part of it was the clothes and part of it was the fact that Taym had spent eight years putting needles into his arm on a regular basis and most of them, old and blunted and passed around, probably weren't in top experimental form as Waits' presumably was. He closed his eyes again. "She told you not to hurt me," he reminded him in a whisper and he hated himself for how simpering it sounded, how cowardly.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 2:43 am
Though he could say he hoped for more, Waits couldn't say he was completely unsatisfied with the the lack of reaction. It was intriguing. It didn't seem to be passed around as No had a pleading look in its half-witted eyes.
"We were told not to let you die," Waits corrected, pressing the tip of the needle ever so against the skin at the base of the Original's neck. "And you won't. Not from this. I do not wish to make the Mother angry or upset my brother."
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 4:31 am
A contained flinch, but he did not move away, or fight. "Do you know what kills a human, then? You're more knowledgeable than the others."
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 11:44 pm
"Of course." A half truth, perhaps it could be heard in his voice as well. A hint of defense in his normal bored manner of speaking, maybe even slightly appalled at the question. His wings bristled. But it was still a truth even if his time around humans had been limited as opposed to one of the elder of his clan. Waits had never been given the chance to really test the limits and the extent of the human body (or the attention span) but he felt he knew enough.
Like how simply poking the Original wouldn't kill it. Well, maybe if he pressed deep enough. The chest especially. Parts of the head. He would not, even if it was tempting to push that pointed end into that sunken temple. Instead he placed the needle back onto the cloth tool kit and debated on the next instrument.
"I know much more than Lurks Beneath," he went on. There was no pride in the statement, it was just fact and he couldn't fault his brother with not knowing as much as he did, they had simply taken different paths. "And I am certain I know more than Qarah," the name said with a slight hiss.
A skeletal finger drifted upon the crude looking scalpel. "Do you suppose she would be displeased if I took a piece of skin.... or a finger..." The horseman wondered aloud.rejam aha.. so delayed *lays on floor*
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