powersthatbe | Conversation Space II.

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!conversation space

Conversation Space II.

As Thorne shared with the network, Travelers who vanish find themselves alone in a small room. But it doesn’t look quite as described last time. Paper lanterns hang in the corners, and a lemniscate of live, spicily scented blue roses traces a figure eight on the floor. A little marble plinth sits beside the looping roses, with a champagne flute balanced on it, pink, fizzy liquid quietly effervescing within. In place of the throne that was there before, each half of the loop holds a brown leather sphere - a yoga meditation-ball chair. They’re a little tricky to balance on.

The walls, floors, and ceiling are tiled, a prismatic fade from one color to another, each tile unique, just slightly different in hue than those around it, each colored line giving a sense that it belongs to a bigger pattern, but never revealing enough to allow anyone certainty about what that pattern might be. It is only a glimpse of a larger world… in this small, quiet space.

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"Hey, Zaknafein," says a voice coming from the other loop of the lemniscate. "It's been a while. How's married life treating you?"

(If he turns to squint, he'll see the woman who officiated his wedding, only younger, not an elf, and wearing a gold lamé suit with her hair in a pompadour.)

She's blurry, but he can recognize her well enough. "You."

Zaknafein approaches her, practically growling. "You wanted us together, did you not? Yet I was made to nearly kill her. How could you let that happen?!" He'd been trying to protect her!

She puts up her hands. "Hey, hey, simmer down, okay? You really think we spend all that time personally tailoring all the liminal effects to every single traveler? Some of that comes from you guys too."

"Yet you allowed for it to happen! I was aiming for her heart!" She is lucky he hadn't tried to behead her. It would have been far less likely for her to have moved far enough out of the way. "Why mark your slaves only to allow them to die?"

"Hey, hey, we put you back together when you kill each other!" she protests. "Sure, it takes longer than if you die out there, but that's because actual bodies are trickier."

"Death is no trivial thing!" He glowers at her. "No matter how many times you are put back together. It does not erase what has been done."

"You'd have to ask him about that," she says. "Death isn't in my purview--well, maybe the little ones are."

Unfortunately, he doesn't get the slang so the reference flies right past him. "What is it you want from me? Why bring me to this place?"

"I wanted to talk! Catch up! And, look, it's not like I realized you were gonna stab Elphie before you did it. I want you two to kiss each other, not kill each other! Small ways aside, I mean."

He's fascinated by Elphaba to be quite honest, though he will not admit that here despite having a feeling this 'Lovers' already knows. "That cannot be all there is to it. Of what you want?"

"Well no," she admits. "That's not all. You're my champion, Zak! You're there to help me by acting when I can't. That's what all you Travelers are for. We'll give you special new skills in return and everything."

"To what end?" Zaknafein struggles to see himself as anything more than a killer, and he cannot see what someone calling themselves 'lovers' could want for someone like him. "What is it that you are trying to accomplish by collecting us here?"

"Synodiporia," she says, with a cheeky grin. "That's what it's all about! Kinda like the hokey pokey."

“The what?” He asks in a moment of confusion at her foolish words.

"The hokey pokey," Lovers repeats. "You put your left foot in." She lifts her leg in front of her. "You put your left foot out." Back the leg goes behind her. "You put your left foot in and you shake it all about." Back in front goes the leg where yes, she shakes it. "You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around," she says, setting her foot down to make a single revolution. "That's what it's all about!"

After a few moments she takes pity on him. "It's a dance," she explains. "I learned it while I was at Heartbeat Academy."

He just stares at her blankly while she goes through her little song and dance, clearly unamused by the proceedings. "We attended very different schools"

"Yeah," she says. "I think we did. I wouldn't mind going back, though, if I can swing it. Give you a proper Japanese high school education." She grins at him, then sobers slightly.

"But no," she says. "Synodiporia's really what it's all about. We're playing for the World."

Given what he just saw, he has no interest in learning whatever 'japanese' is.

That second comment though, gets more of his attention. "Which world?"

"The World," she says. "It's everything."

"What happens if you win?"

"You get a more loving universe," she answers, immediately. Then, a half-second later, "And I'll make sure you and Elphie and Drizzt stay together. I can do that."

He is quiet for a long moment, partially hating himself for humoring this. "What do you need me to do?"

"Love," she says simply. "Drizzt, Elphie, whoever. Form relationships. Create bonds. Do those things that are part of me."

He's quiet for a moment, trying to calm down so he can comprehend all this. "Why would you pick me? Love is not even a word that exist for my people."

"Just because the word doesn't exist doesn't mean the feeling doesn't exist," she tells him. "It's a rare enough mortal that doesn't have the capacity to love--you aren't one of them, Zak. What you feel for your son is proof of it. Sure, it's the love of a father and not a lover--strong enough that Hakan would have grabbed you if I hadn't beaten him to the punch--but it's still love. Are we each other's best match? No. But if you'd been entirely unsuited for me, I wouldn't have picked you, wedding or no wedding. I mean, I won't lie, it was the wedding that drew my attention to you and Elphie. There's nothing that draws me like a wedding. But I could have just marked her and gone home afterwards. I didn't. Why did I pick you, Zak?

"One word. Potential."

Edited 2016-12-13 04:34 (UTC)

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hiding_honor_in_darkness - 2016-12-17 21:16 (UTC) - Expand

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cupidand - 2016-12-22 03:39 (UTC) - Expand

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