void dream ; open

[crypdick]

WHO: The Outsider & you?
WHERE: A Shared Dream
WHEN: June, whenever
WHAT: The Outsider dreams of the Void, and sometimes people wander in
WARNINGS: Outsider often talks about or alludes to death, murder, violence etc, though he rarely goes into detail



[ You were asleep, and it almost feels like you've woken up again, but something is... strange. You get up, turn around and wherever you were sleeping is open wide to the Void.

Nothingness as far as you can see, except the strange black rock and some sort of species of whale floating in the Void, and the objects and things on the rocks.

The Void draws from the minds of who is there. Some of what is here may be random objects from this world, a hovercar or televison. But some are definitely from somewhere else - there's machines and objects and bits and pieces of architecture from the Outsider's world. Other things you may recognize from home, as the Void draws from your mind. There may even be people you know, from here or home, frozen and unmoving as if in a tableau.

While you look at something, the Outsider appears beside you in a cloud of his telltale black smoke. ]

You've found your way into the Void.

(( OOC: check here for more on how this power works. His vision power is still an option too! If you're cr, he may have pulled you in. If not, people can randomly wander in if they're sleeping the same time he is. If you have dream powers of some kind, feel free to have your character have more control over aspects of the dream, or jam with me about what that might do.))

Comments

[ralltiir]

I didn't ask to be here.

[ Akobi keeps his head on a swivel, watching the young man as he circles him. ]

Aegis is led by Commander Jacob Taylor. [ So yeah, it's a remnant of his Empire days. ]

[crypdick]

Then you're not a commander, are you? You've been demoted.

[ He stops, leaning forward just a little. ]

I didn't invite you, and you didn't invite yourself. There is little to be done about it, so we may as well speak. Tell me - [ He dissolves in a cloud of black smoke that whirls away, and reappears inside the med bay, looking around. ] what kind of a place is this?

[ralltiir]

I've been killed. My rank didn't follow me after dea-- [ His complaint is interrupted by a musical fanfare and a sung declaration of: "HE HAD IT COMIN'! HE HAD IT COMIN'! HE ONLY HAD HIMSELF TO BLAME!"

Akobi just looks annoyed. ] Not again.

[ Anyway, rather than complain any further about his death and tempt another chorus, he follows the strange young man into the med bay. ]

It's a starship med bay. Much like the one I-- [ Don't say "much like the one I died in." That'll cue the music again. ] Much like the one on the last battle station I was stationed to.

[crypdick]

[ If anything could make him laugh in nearly 4000 years, that almost did. Particularly that little not again.

He looks up. ]

And I assume this is the ceiling you were staring at as the life drained from your body. [ He appears directly in front of Akobi, only moving maybe a few feet. ] I was killed flat on my back not on a table for medicine but an altar. But you know - [ He leans forward conspiratorially. ] - I didn't deserve it.

[ralltiir]

[ Akobi has known this young man for thirty seconds and already he's one of his least favorite people on this planet. ]

Yes, go ahead. Side with the chorus singing my damnation. You'll have plenty of company.

[crypdick]

You could speak in your own defense. I do not know what happened - perhaps you were an innocent casualty.

[ralltiir]

[ He could... But he wasn't. ]

The galaxy is at war. I was-- [ Nope, don't want to trigger the singing. ] What happened to me was in retaliation for the loss of innocent civilian life. In that respect, I did deserve it.

[crypdick]

Do you regret it? Or would you have done the same, even knowing the outcome?

[ralltiir]

Of course I do. I never set out to kill innocent bystanders. These were my people. I was supposed to be protecting them.

[ And yeah, not dying would have been nice, too. ]

[crypdick]

Was it an accident? Or did you push yourself too far and find out the cost far too late?

[ralltiir]

[ Akobi scrubs a hand over his face, turning away from the boy and stalking across the floor of the half-med bay. ]

Our intel was sabotaged. We were supposed to be bombing an ammo dump, depriving the Rebel forces of the weapons they needed to keep up the resistance. Instead, the bombs dropped on a hospital.

[crypdick]

[ The Outsider does not follow, simply watching Akobi's movements dispassionately. ]

Of course, you managed to keep your hands clean of blood before then, while you were simply supressing rebels.

[ Space or no space, he's cynical. ]

So you destroyed a hospital. Blood for blood, they came for you. It's what those who run hospitals want, after all.

[ At least he's equally cynical? ]

[ralltiir]

[ That gets Akobi's attention. His head whips around to stare incredulously at the young man. ]

Those who run hospitals want to heal the sick and injured. What sort of mad world do you come from where that is twisted in such a way?

Gross cw?

[crypdick]

[ Well, he was being a touch sarcastic, but then again - ]

I would say I'm not, but when the one running the hospital is mad and twisted, who's going to stop them from painting blood on the walls? Certainly not the people who don't care about letting hospital rot, if they can use that madness for their own ends.

[ralltiir]

[ Akobi doesn't like any part of this. He wants to wake up now, please and thank you. ]

That is hardly the norm. You can't just go lumping all hospitals as rotting madness just because the few you know of are that way.

[crypdick]

Is that what you think I was trying to tell you?

[ralltiir]

[ Akobi can't help but sigh in frustration. ]

I don't know what you're trying to tell me! I would very much like to wake up and be gone from this place, but here I am, once again not getting the things I want!

[crypdick]

There are always hypocrites and those who would bend the pain of others to their own advantage.

[ He sits on one of the medical tables, appearing there in his usual way. ]

If you could have everything you want, besides the immediate moment - you made that very clear, what would that look like?

[ralltiir]

Everything I want? [ he echoes, still pacing. ] Well, I'd have my life back, wouldn't I? And not on this insane backwater planet, but back in my galaxy.

[ He stops pacing, sighs, shoulders sagging with the weight of a galaxy's conflict. ]

I'd have the end to the war. My galaxy living united under peace and order. No more fighting. ...No more dying.

[crypdick]

You already know that you cannot have it. Are you trying to torture yourself, by wishing things were different? Or is it the nature of man to drown in the memories of the past?

Or maybe it is easier to want what you know to be impossible, because then you do not have to work to achieve it, or blame yourself for its failure.

[ralltiir]

[ Akobi whirls on the boy with an accusing finger. ]

You asked me what I would want if I could have anything. Don't tear me down over a hypothetical you yourself proposed!

Remind me to not write out half the real tag before doing the gag tag

[crypdick]

[ Akobi's right, of course. Unfortunately, trying to shame the Outsider is like trying to shame a brick wall. ]

You are an angry one, aren't you? You turn your anger on me, on your situation, on others and on yourself.

But what do you do with the rage seeping through your veins?

[ralltiir]

[ There really is an awful lot of rage inside Akobi, lately, isn't there? Between blowing up his own damn house, fighting with Archie, feeling powerless to help 622 with his surgery, and now this? Akobi feels like he's about to burst.

But he's better than that. He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. Presses his eyes closed, doing his best to ignore the boy's taunts. ]

Nothing. I do nothing, because that's what adults should do.

[crypdick]

i have watched many grow into adulthood, and I have a secret for you.

[ He leans in. ]

It may be what they think they should do, but it isn't what they actually do.

[ralltiir]

[ Akobi's laugh is an empty, hollow laugh. ]

No. I know it isn't.