extendedbrutalpipemurder

[ elias has no control the fear that comes over him.

this? this is why elias loathes what the admiral claims to be able to do. ]

I'd take oblivion first.

[Yeah, don't worry Elias, Eiffel hears that venom and hones right in on it.]

Hey, it wouldn't be that bad, right? You used to be human before, you've been human when the Barge plays alternate-universe Barbie Dolls with us. You're not gonna just drop dead. What's wrong with that?

Whatever I have been while the Admiral engaged in his alternate universe fantasies has not changed what I am.

[ it's-- not exactly a coherent answer, he's still recoiling in horror ]

Okay but - you were a human. Like. That's not subtext, Bouchard.

[And he slaps the file with the back of his hand.]

And you're still made of completely human parts. Even if you're a horrifying Frank-Eye-nstein.

[ Elias grimaces and runs a hand across his forehead, trying to regain control of himself. he is feeling s t r e s s e d ]

It's not-- as simple a matter as flesh and blood. I'm not like the Archivist, who now subsists entirely on fear-- but take it as the truth when I say that there is more at work here, Douglas, than is dreamt of in your philosophy.

[He grimaces.]

What, scared of losing your Wikipedia powers? Do you really think you're that worthless as a person if you're just a person?

[ there's another non-sequitur seems to throw him. what does worth have to do with anything? ]

Why not simply ask the Admiral to make me into a good person? If you're going to propose fundamentally changing what I am, we might as well expedite the process.

See, the thing is, I don't think he does free will. Otherwise you're not prisoners, you're slaves, and I think a lot of the current load of wardens wouldn't be here supporting that.

...I mean, we could ask and test it, but I kinda figured you'd hate the Stepford treatment more than being human.

I would no longer be myself in that case, and so the point would be moot.

Yeah, see? You get it! But you as a human is still you, like- all your brains are still yours! It's just the creepy Eye crap you'd be losing.

You don't seem to get it. I would not be myself, and your insistence otherwise won't change that.

[ douglas please, elias doesn't like any of this can we talk about something else ]

Yeah, but how much of you only thinks that you're you because it can't see how much of you is the Eye? It's like a parasite, that weird mold that turns bugs into zombies.

Or perhaps you can't comprehend it because you've known of this for all of a week, while this has been my existence for over a century now.

Or perhaps [yes he's actually five] you just don't remember. Isn't the Eye like, the fear of stuff you don't know you don't know, as well?

That's rather the province of the Dark.

[ now is not the time for the discussion of the blurred lines between the domains ]

Aren't you the one that was working off of the idea that it's all fourteen heads of the same hydra? You seemed pretty proud of it, especially since the Arch-- Jon's existence kinda confirmed it as a working theory. That means there is overlap.

[See? He does pay attention.]

[ another pause, in which elias tells himself that no-- murdering his warden is not a good option. it's not a good option at all. it's a bad option. it would be a bad thing to do. it would get him nothing and nowhere.

not. a. good. idea. ]

Mainly a province of the Dark, then.

Okay, so. What d'you think "actively refusing to see what's right in front of you" would come under? From your expert perspective.

Knowing what I am, even if you don't agree with it, does not count as willful blindness.

Okay, well, I'm just saying. Maybe you don't know.

[And he actually sounds sympathetic.]

I mean, an eye can't look inside its own head, right?

[ elias is not going to groan and drop his face into his palms. he isn't. he is stronger than this.

elias groans and drops his face into his palms ]

That's--

Okay yeah it's not a perfect metaphor, but like. Your warlock patron is a god of peeking secrets, I just think if it works like any other kinda bad boss, maaaaybe it's not showing you the whole executive summary? It's not like you knew when you started plotting your End Times that you'd get put in a bird cage and left to rot, right?

Edited 2022-06-01 10:04 (UTC)

[ if elias believed that help could come from a greater power, he would be asking for it right about now ]

I-- that isn't how the Powers work. They aren't-- that is to say, it isn't--

[ he stops. gathers himself. ]

Tell me how it is that you think the fourteen Fears work, exactly?

I mean...

[Well, if he didn't think he was wrong before he's certainly confident of that now.]

It... kinda seemed like the Fourteen-umverate are like-- it's eldritch, right? When you have spooky scary Colours From the Dark that hate people, and the people who do make contact get the full Weekend at Bern-thulhu'd by them into trying to set off the end times so their specific hydra wins?

The Powers aren't conscious actors; not for the most part. They're a primal force, feeding instinctively off the ancient and innate fear response that exist in most species-- and humans are a prime source of that. They have no specific will of their own, other than to feed.

Those of use who choose to serve them do just that-- we choose to align ourselves with them, usually because we have enough in common with them to begin with. The idea that one of the Fears would string it's avatars along-- [ he stops, shakes his head. it's hard to put into words just how inconceivable it is in most cases. ]

The only one I might see doing so is the Web. It's more aware of itself than the others.

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