exsiliumlogs | obligatory encounters in the rain

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obligatory encounters in the rain

Date & Time: MEANWHILE, BACK IN EXSILIUM WHILE EVERYONE'S BREAKING AUSTRALIA...
Location: on Keith's way to the land of learning
Characters: Kiss Onion, Solja Boy Buru
Summary: wow it's been a while since we've stared intensely at each other
Warnings: i don't think keith's packing heat so we good...maybe... oh yeah theme song

It wasn't very difficult, if he were to remain one spot unmoving, to glow faintly and shield himself from the misting rain – rain that seldom seemed to rest, only change in intensity. A depressing atmosphere. Sadder still with the headcount greatly lowered, with so many Transports gone by order of the Initiative. Blue hadn't the strength nor the desire to participate; it sounded too much like mindless chaos, and there had been plenty of that before. There was still too much to learn about the motives of his desperate abductors.

When the others were safe, though. It felt like mere moments ago, Asami returning...Ruka, Miles...Faces new and old passing in and out his life here. Finding his place amid them all was as fluid and unsteady a thing as their presence entirely.

It hadn't been long since they had left; perhaps it was time now to survey, to seek out those who stayed behind, take stock. And hope those that had gone would be safe.

Blue was seated on a bench out there on the empty street, contemplating this, thinking little of the closed-off mind that was not far away. That enemy.

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The walk to and from the Initiative's library had become second nature to Keith by now. That was no surprise. For him, everything was either a threat to his balance, or part of a routine. It was natural to adopt his new study habits as the latter.

Even with most of the other Transports gone on the mission, Keith didn't change his stride. It wasn't like he interacted with them much when they were here. Why should he need human companionship? He didn't.

But the sight of the rain misting a bit strangely off a convenient shield was enough to disrupt his routine a little, and what he saw when he drew closer disrupted it more than that.

Soldier Blue.

Keith stopped several feet away from him, staring as expressionlessly as possible. The plain black umbrella he held was not as fancy nor as form-fitting as the psychic shield Blue used, but it served its purpose well enough. It kept him reasonably dry while he stood there and stared at the man he'd consigned to death in another world and wondered just what the two of them were in this one.

He'd stand there for several minutes, just looking, if Blue didn't look up and react.

He did not have to wait so long; while Keith's mind and heart were so closed off, his physical presence was not. It was all the more strange, that feeling of inhabited space lacking the murmur of a mind beneath – especially true in Exsilium, where creatures other than the sentient were few and far between within the city limits. Crows and cats and rats. Dogs, maybe.

Keith was no crow, cat, or other such. Yet when it came to dark, looming shapes and dreadful recollections of his own demise, Blue's mind would not have strayed too far to link black birds and Keith Anyan.

Blue returned the stare, nowhere close to the trained, stone and sturdy countenance the other so easily wore, yet all the same, if he were unsettled, it was hard to see. It couldn't be a shock to see him here, yet a piece of Blue wanted it to be. He didn't want to be comfortable encountering this man so easily, knowing what he had done to Nazca. It seemed almost an insult to those who had died by his command.

Yet even so...Keith was as much a victim of strange circumstance as himself, as anyone else "recruited" by the Initiative. How likely was it the two of them were brought with the knowledge of precisely who they were, where they stood? If the goal was to stop an all-consuming, machine-run government...

It was a thought that played out only faintly on his face as Blue watched, wary, searching. Searching for some break in that wall, enough to give him some insight into Keith's own feelings, his intentions. Even the unpleasant ones were more a comfort than absolute silence.

Yet silence persisted, outside and inside.

But as Keith gazed silently at Blue, his mind remained a wall. No: that wasn't quite right. Walls, after all, usually had some crack in them. Some chip. Keith's mind was like a sheet of black glass.

He finally spoke.

"How have you adapted, Soldier Blue? It surprises me. The rain should have beaten you down or washed you away. Your kind are fragile."

There was just the slightest nasty glint to his eyes as he said that, the tiniest sneering curve of his mouth. It was almost imperceptible.

"Not so fragile as that," said Blue, his tone soft, faintly distracted. With those walls, there was no way of discerning true intent, yet it struck him as strange that Keith would stop simply to toss demeaning remarks at him. Blue put them aside, not willing to mull them over.

"But I am not the only one who must adapt." You, too. He could only hope some good had come from Keith's time trapped with the rest of them; telepathy wasn't the only power there.

Could it be that Keith was human enough to feel the need to defend himself via petty verbal attacks on Blue? Or did he have some ulterior motive?

A thin smile curled up his mouth. "You're making an assumption. It's possible I will force this world to adapt to me instead."

"You still intend to see this world suffer the same oppression of our own?" Blue's expression grew more strained, as if the notion caused physical pain.

The smile vanished. There was no indication that bitterness or anger followed it; Keith's face merely lost its animation.

And he followed that up with a question. "Do you think I do any of this in order to make your people suffer, Soldier Blue? What a petty and limited view."

"It's not clear what to think," said Blue, his stare growing more intense, trying to follow Keith in past that withdrawn expression. But it was still no use; he'd have better chance of passing through solid stone before gaining entry into that secret place. Better chance, unless he were to force his will...

But he did not.

"What order you stand for has no place for my people, and so we suffer. What you gain out of that suffering, beyond the status quo, is unknown to me."

"I should have been more clear," Keith said without any passion in his voice. "I'm uninterested in what you think. Unlike you, I am not party to the thoughts of others. It's better that way."

He paused. "But there are others here who are not Mu, but who have your powers. Are your kind, and those like them, truly a threat across that many worlds? It's a troubling thought."

It would be, to the mind of one so groomed by Superior Domination. Blue's fingers twitched in his lap, threatening to curl to fists as he wrestled with a spark of frustration. It was one thing, calling out to the humans and hearing no reply...it was another, receiving such cold, unyielding refusal. It didn't have to be that way, did it? If he would just let go of the machine...if he could let go...

"I've heard no telling of worlds collapsing under threat of those powers," he said, his mouth tight with a frown.

Another thin smile raced across Keith's face, like the crack of a whip. "Do you think there would be any survivors from such worlds? Who would arrive to tell you of the carnage?"

There was nothing but grim certainty in his voice. He truly believed in this fatalistic worldview.

Carnage...

Was he being prodded into a harsh reaction, to prove the point he was trying to make? Or was that a sincere, believed fact? Keith's countenance alone gave no clue, setting aside the looming walls that kept Blue shut out.

"I would hope you don't take the lack of such claims as proof," he said, his eyes starting to squint, searching.

"There's no need for additional proof." His voice was calm, his face still unreadable in the shadows of the umbrella. "Our universe stands as proof enough. You Mu bring ruin to all you touch. Should I really keep hope for your equivalent in other worlds?"

A small, dry rattle of laughter escaped him. "Yes, doesn't that mark your way of thinking, Soldier Blue? 'This fire burns, but the next will not.'"

Terra was ruined well before our time, thought Blue. Before I awoke. Before any of us awoke...

But what did that matter to Keith? That the Mu were monsters was not so much an accusation as a fact of science in his mind. Monsters, fire...How much did Keith know of monstrosity? Of fire? Where had his life led him that could match the weight of Artarmeira in Blue's heart? Those were not monsters who died, who burned for simply being.

"Keeping hope..." Blue returned to that question. It was, no doubt, said with no intention of being contested; what did anything Keith say encourage argument, truly? "Are you saying you have none for coexistence? Or hope in the strength of your system?"

Or no hope at all?

"...the strength of my system." The words fell from Keith's lips like an echo, and for a moment he was still.

Blue could not possibly understand the importance of the Mother System. He had not been raised by it the way Keith had; he was not the embodiment of it the way Keith was. He could not truly understand either its necessity or its awfulness. He only thought he understood the latter.

When he spoke again, perhaps his gaze was flatter and colder even than usual. "Superior Domination does not need hope to sustain it. Unlike your brief, fragile whims of peace and freedom, it lives and thrives on humanity's very nature. It is natural for such a system to come to be and to continue, and for opposition to it to be weak and led by fools. You need only look at this world for more confirmation."

"Keith..." Blue felt a tightness in his chest, a mix of dread and...pity? Was he still at a point to feel a sadness for Keith Anyan, for being unable to make him understand?

"If that is all you can see of this place, these people..." His head shook. It was sad. Keith had no faith in the wills of mankind at all?

How chillingly similar, in ways, it was to the mindsets of the elders of his own kind.

Something flashed briefly in Keith's steely cold eyes. Some momentary glimpse of anger.

"Soldier Blue. Shouldn't you hate me for what I've done to your people?"

There was no anger in his voice, though--only a bitter tension. Almost resentment. How dare Blue even consider pitying him?

The question raised Blue's eyebrows, as though he hadn't considered it himself. Rather, the thought had been pushed aside by troubled concern and the search to understand him – Keith's uncertain will.

"Maybe I should," he said, his voice growing detached, wondering. If it were Zel in this conversation rather than he, wouldn't it be different? Or Ella, the younger ones...

Would Jomy have raised his voice? The vibrant, passionate Mu that he was...even so, would it have been hatred?

"But..." No, Blue realized. Even retaliation had not been out of hatred, but necessity. Survival. The quest to understand, to be understood....

It's not hatred. It's sadness. His expression waned, growing more withdrawn again.

"I don't hate you, Keith Anyan."

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obligatory encounters in the rain

wow I swear I didn't mean to neglect you forever

ur getting too ic

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