( OPEN ) system zero

[hating]

» WHO? Morgana + anyone who wants to get hit in the face with a communicator
» WHEN? 5/18, you know, around then
» WHERE? deck 6 corridors, observation deck
» WHAT? Morgana wakes up, thinks her communicator is possessed and then yells at the moons (Old Witch Yells At Space)
» WARNINGS? None, but I'll edit accordingly and warn in subject lines if anything comes up!


a; outside level 6 quarters

[ all things considered, this is not where she expected her soul to end up.

the cold, grimy floor of the deck corridor is not so unfamiliar to her that morgana is perplexed. no, it feels like somewhere she was before, and this dim lighting certainly doesn't help. there are key factors missing, and she uses those to ground herself. Don't forget about those things. It is not the same, she tells herself.

far less familiar to the girl is the device that buzzes. it comes alive, and it's looping message is curious. morgana thinks it's just someone speaking directly to her, and upon discovering it is not a person...

...the source of the noise, whatever this curious device is, must go. metal doesn't speak. morgana wastes no time in disposing of it.

by throwing it into the corridor.

you know, with her skeleton hand. there's a redhead with long braids lobbing her communicator down the corridor with such a disdain for the thing, you might think she was doing it for the vine.

hope it doesn't hit you in the face? ]

b; observation deck

[ the other point of offense was that hideous jumpsuit. morgana doesn't have spare clothing, though, so she raids the room she claims as her's, and can be spotted in the observation deck. the sheets off her bed have been pulled free of the mattress and wrapped around her like a cloak, covering most of her body. this is much more appropriate, she thinks - now, if she had a belt and some way to sew sleeves into it...

...but that's not why she's glowering out into space. her expression is hard, steely; she doesn't look particularly approachable. morgana is standing there, arms at her sides, one flesh hand exposed and one skeleton hand peeking out beneath the sheet settled over her shoulders. ]

...And I'm to believe there were two moons all this time? What sort of madman dreams up a world with two moons? I have to say, it's unique, at least.

[ she's calling it stupid. going quiet, the girl stands as still as a statue. she seems unaware anyone is at all present in the room with her...? ]

What are your ears for if not to listen? Decoration? I must say, my dear, I was hoping you might have an opinion on the doubling of that particular celestial body.

Comments

[hating]

[ a heavy pause. ]

The 2000s.

[ GREAT. ]

In that case, you must be from around that time, yes? Tell me, ...have you heard of the make-and-break transmitter? That is as far as my knowledge of communication devices go.

[splinten]

I'm from 2425.

[To clarify.]

I know about the Reis telephone. This follows the same basic concept of converting sound into electrical impulses and then transmitting it.

[hating]

[ oh. ]

... I see.

[ MORGANA DOES NOT SEE. ]

The Reis telephone. Is that what they called it? It was a recent break in technology last I heard. [ in other words, she's from the 1860s... maybe. ] In that case, this is a telephone of some sort. And one was left with me? Why? For what reason...? This level of advancement... it's far more than I was prepared to see.

[splinten]

We all got one when we turned up here. It's definitely at least two hundred years advanced, probably more.

[So, her throwing it kind of makes sense? It's crazy and weird.

Actually, no, it still doesn't make sense.]

Why did you throw it, anyway?

[hating]

[ funny thing you're asking about, dirk! ]

And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee.

[ guess what? ]

Metal does not speak. I removed it from my person, did away with it, because it is unnatural. Temptation and sin takes many forms.

[ she thought it was possessed. ]

[splinten]

[uh]

So you thought it was a talking vibrator.

[hating]

A what?

[ FARRAH DONT DO THIS ]

[splinten]

Maybe that's later in the 1800s than your time. [Since it WAS after that telephone.] You mentioned sin and temptation, so I'm assuming you think it's a device that aids that.

[hating]

Are you always this vulgar, or do you save it for people you just met?

[splinten]

I save it for people I just met. But okay, I'll bite. If it isn't something sexual, what kind of evil did you think this device had in it?

[His mind still hasn't gone to possession because he is from 2425.]

[hating]

To think such a lustful individual was so close to my vicinity... I could almost throw up.

[ it's like, a joke? maybe. there's a ghost of a smirk on her face. ]

A creature trying to take the form of something harmless to lure in unsuspecting victims for it's treacherous ways, not unlike one of Satan's personal servants... Yes, I believe it is possible that thing harbors a spirit in it. Not the first time an inanimate object housed the soul of an annoying man in it.

[splinten]

Oh, you mean like a possession.

[Fair enough.

Wait a second.]

If you're from the 1800s, why do you talk like you're straight out of the Renaissance era?

[hating]

Do you truly wish to know the answer to that question, or are you merely sticking your curious little nose wherever it sniffs out something intriguing? There's a difference between thinking and doing, my dear.

[splinten]

I'm familiar with the definitions of different basic verbs.

[These two are a good combination, clearly. Dirk watches her calmly from behind his shades.]

I don't super care, but it's kind of inconsistent. Just pointin' it out, bro.

[hating]

I imagine it would be. Displacement in time isn't new to me, and spending time around those who speak their own modern dialect would affect anyone's, would it not?

[splinten]

Yeah, probably. It kind of sounds like you're saying you're some kind of time traveller though.

[This is cool, and kind of interesting?]

[hating]

You can read it as such, if you wish. I can certainly see why you would think that. For myself, I would clarify it as something only possible because of my will.

[splinten]

Which means it isn't that. [There's a pause—a moment that's experimental and curious. He tries reaching out, and—sensing who she is. Sensing her soul.

Jesus fuck, her soul is old.]

What do you mean by your will?

[hating]

It is merely one part of the sum.

Let me answer you with a question of my own. I would rather enjoy hearing your thoughts on the matter, you know. Rather than what is it, I would like to ask... what do you believe it is? Not think. Believe. They are two different things - one is more likely to rot the other from the inside out, as though it were a piece of fruit left in the sun for too long. Always lingering, always present, always filling your heart with dread and hope... So, my dear... what do you believe that means?

[splinten]

If you want to do belief, you'll have to talk to Jake. That isn't really my domain.

My domain is telling me that you're ancient as fuck. It's also giving me an intuition that you might want people to understand you, but you have zero trust and make people wade across an ocean of bullshit to accomplish it.

[hating]

Is this the part where you ask me to cut to the chase, then? [ the way she words that, it's clear morgana has never used that particular slang before. she's only heard it recently - during jacopo's reign as the lord of the house... how ridiculous. ] Have you ever hated someone, Dirk? Wanted them to suffer? Has someone ever hurt you so deeply that you felt they deserved nothing but pain and misery for all their life, and their next lives? Have you ever thought someone so terribly horrible that it seemed fitting that they were punished on such a scale they might only be thrust into the very deepest pits of despair, again and again? You imagine their little head coming up for air, as if breaking the surface of the dark waters... only to be forcibly plunged back down.

I can make that happen, my dear. All those terrible, terrible people who have done nothing but cause hurt and pain and despair... Wouldn't it be nice to curse them?

[splinten]

[Huh.]

Yeah, sure. The Batterwitch deserves Hell and then some. I'd love to be the one to give it to her, even.

You're kind of weirdly into it. Who pissed you off?

[SOMEONE clearly has.]

[hating]

Never you mind that.

[ you have to PROVE to morgana you can handle her backstory. ...or else she just feels sad for telling you. ]

The woman who brought you misfortune is a witch, you say. Haha... a familiar tale, no doubt.

[splinten]

[Morgana you big baby.]

That wasn't really the issue.

The corporate tyranny and annihilation of the human race is more of my beef with her. 'Batterwitch' is just a nickname because she ran a baked goods empire.

[hating]

A glutton.

[ SINFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GLUTTONY IS A SIN!!!!!! ]

A tyrant who built her kingdom upon the sins of mankind, committing all manner of horror where she went... Really, sounds exactly like a witch. Would you not agree, my dear?