ICRP Thread IV: Back to Business

Archive 33AR
#21

“Do you remember Milton? He was here a few months ago. It’s his creation, I don’t know what the stuff is properly called. I’ve still got it here, though…” She reached for her bag, began rummaging through it, then produced the bottle and held it up, frowning, before passing it to Dahlia. “I have no idea how it got into my bag in the first place. There’s no way I’d carry it with me. Dahlia, are you sure you properly remember what happened? I got you addicted to… Whatever that is. And I attacked you. And Ivy. Some of those bruises are my doing.”

If only someone would just get properly angry with her, she thought, but no. Nothing but the outpouring of understanding and patience that she didn’t feel she deserved.

#22

[quote=“siximpossiblethings”]

“Do you remember Milton? He was here a few months ago. It’s his creation, I don’t know what the stuff is properly called. I’ve still got it here, though…” She reached for her bag, began rummaging through it, then produced the bottle and held it up, frowning, before passing it to Dahlia. "I have no idea how it got into my bag in the first place. There’s no way I’d carry it with me. [/quote]

“Milton… Milton…” she pondered as she took the bottle from Esther. “Oh! I think I remember him… wait, was this the stuff that Moss had that drove her vriden? Er, I mean… a little crazy? Fascinating substance” she thought aloud, holding the bottle up to the light.

[quote=“siximpossiblethings”] Dahlia, are you sure you properly remember what happened? I got you addicted to… Whatever that is. And I attacked you. And Ivy. Some of those bruises are my doing."
If only someone would just get properly angry with her, she thought, but no. Nothing but the outpouring of understanding and patience that she didn’t feel she deserved.[/quote]

“Well, I do remember everything. Some things stand out more than others. Yes I remember you attacking me and practically strangling me. But I also remember having a blade driven through me by a demon and being as good as dead. I’m more likely to be forgiving of you aren’t I vinur minn. It isn’t like you were the one who put a sword through me that day”

“Now” she sighed “As for this thing you gave me. I think you’ll forgive me in saying this, but some would say it was what I would call, a fuck fávitalegur hugmynd. I’ll spare you the English version of that”

She looked at her friend’s tired eyes “I’m going to be honest Esther. I am a little angry that this is what it took to save me. But I suppose an addiction to a powerful and dangerous substance is much better than death, and myself and probably most of the camp are grateful that you gave me it. You saved me under really horrible circumstances, judging by what I saw when I awoke. So in the end, you have mine, and my father’s thanks. Even if he might be angry about this whole… addiction thing”

She put her head in her hands a little and rubbed her eyes “All of this is my fault anyway. I could feel he was there and I moved closer to where I thought he was to make sure you and Sameera wouldn’t be harmed. Like a human shield. It almost got me killed. But you know what? I would do it all over again if it meant saving anyone here.”

#23

“Don’t be ridiculous. It wasn’t your fault. How on earth could you think that? You got hurt protecting people. You of all people should know that that happens, sometimes.”

#24

[quote=“siximpossiblethings”]

“Don’t be ridiculous. It wasn’t your fault. How on earth could you think that? You got hurt protecting people. You of all people should know that that happens, sometimes.”[/quote]

Dahlia smiled up at Esther.“Occupational hazard, I’m afraid. ‘Sometimes’ is a bit of an understatement” she laughed, pointing to the various scars that decorated her body.

“It’s my own fault, all of these. But I regret none of them”

She saw the confused look on Esther’s face, but continued anyway.

“This one” she said, pointing to the one on her lip “is from a demon battle turned nasty. Saved a couple of men who were surrounded by the creatures. Got this one while dragging a man out of a trench. Erik was holding most of the demons off but one strayed and took a nice swing at me as I turned around. Ended up covering the poor man with my own blood while trying to clean up his own”

Esther still looked confused as to what Dahlia was trying to explain. “My point is, they’re reminders… mostly good. Reminders of some of the lives I saved from being in the right place at the right time”

She looked down at her arm which started stinging as more drugs left her system “Maybe that is why these ones remain open. Constant reminder for the lives, er, life I couldn’t save…”

“The scars from being stabbed is a reminder not only for the lives I potentially saved, but a reminder of such a great friend I have for wanting to do anything to save my life” she smiled at Esther “Don’t feel guilty about any of this. I know that look better than anyone else. I can see it in your eyes. You did what you had to in order to save me”

Dahlia wasn’t usually one to initiate a hug, but she seriously considered it in this moment.

#25

A few days pass.

Esther rolls bandages, folds blankets, blesses water- Anything that requires a great deal of time and little mental effort. She’s sleeping less than ever. She thinks she’s hiding it with a reasonable amount of success, though the comments about how tired she looks are increasing. Of course she’s tired, she wants to say, but doesn’t. That’s what happens when you only sleep for a few hours out of any given day, and then never at once.

She’s pinning a note to the announcement board on behalf of one of the doctors when she spots it. Amongst the tributes to the dead and missing and advertisements for dubious patent medicines: A handwritten note.

She removes it from the notice board, re-reading it several times.

Jophiel is incarnate.

Harriet, in her sling, begins to fuss. Esther reaches to take her out, cradling her daughter as she reads the note once more.

“Someone has a sick sense of humour,” she tells Harriet. “At least, I hope that’s all this means.”

#26

Dahlia comes in to the Taverna to see Harriet kicking up a fuss to her tired mother

“Calm down little one” she says in a soft tone as she approaches Esther.
“Thank you for pinning up the notice…what’s that?” She said, nodding to the note in Esther’s hand while she strokes Harriet’s cheek in an effort to help her mother calm her down.

#27

Esther hands the note to Dahlia and lifts Harriet to kiss her on the top of her head. “We’re neither of us very happy right now, are we, little one?” she whispers, rocking her gently.

To her amazement, Harriet -who often seems to scream purely for screaming’s own sake- begins to calm down, lulled by her mother’s voice and movement.

“At least I can still do something right,” she murmurs as Dahlia puzzles over the note.

#28

Dahlia scratched her head. “Jophiel is incarnate…” she muttered before looking up at Esther. “How very… biblical” she said in a surprised tone. Looking around to see if anyone new was around who might have put it up, she saw no one out of the ordinary.

“This word, incarnate… Rarely my English fails me but Tho-Erik mentioned it a few times. His personal belief that somehow he is the human form of Thor himself. I think that is what this word means, yes?”

Esther nodded a little

“Well Jophiel from my understanding of reading various books, especially ones that someone of your knowledge would possess, is an angel of some sort. I think he has something to do with humanity… but I can’t remember what”

She handed the note back to Esther “I think you should look in to this. You’re well versed in demonology and also Christianity, especially compared to someone like myself. Things like these shouldn’t be left ignored”

#29

“Jophiel,” Esther told Dahlia, accepting the note, “is said to be the angel who drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. You know Adam and Eve? Supposedly the first humans? The ones who ate the apple from the one tree they were forbidden from eating from? Uncle Dennis always said that it seemed like rather bad form of God to tell them they couldn’t eat from that tree then get upset when they did exactly that, that they were only human- What did God expect? I got into so much trouble when I repeated that to my demonology tutor at the Church, mind…” She looked at Harriet, who actually seemed to be drifting off. “He’s essentially a heavenly watchdog. Drove humans out of Eden for misbehaving, and guards it to prevent anyone from getting back in.” She folded the paper and carefully moved so that she was holding Harriet in one arm, then slipped it into her bag.

“Either someone’s got a terribly unfunny sense of humour, or they’re delusional. I hope this nonsense hasn’t spread too far, the last thing we need is a rumour that some heavenly busybody is hanging about in mortal form.”

#30

“Huh, I thought that name was familiar”

[quote]“Either someone’s got a terribly unfunny sense of humour, or they’re delusional. I hope this nonsense hasn’t spread too far, the last thing we need is a rumour that some heavenly busybody is hanging about in mortal form.”
[/quote]

“Hmmmm…” she thought out loud. “Well let’s just hope any rumour of that sort wouldn’t prove to be true. We’ve seen demons take human forms, wouldn’t be so strange to see an angel do the exact same thing”

Dahlia was clenching her left fist while she spoke. Medically, this wasn’t the best approach to stop the pain, but it was an automatic reaction. After she spoke, she rubbed her arm and looked carefully at Esther, then down to Harriet. This always happens around them. After staring a little, she shook her head and carried on speaking, noticing Esther looking up from Harriet.

“Is the sort of delusion of grandeur really common around here? I have only ever noticed it with Erik…”

#31

Of course they come and tell her about the words on the standing stones. There are enough here that like her to want her kept out of trouble. Besides, she’s gotten very good at thatching and there’s no one else who will come to their aid faster if one of their barns gets razed by demons. Weirdly enough the demons always let the cows go. Perhaps demons have no quarrel with cows.

#74 reached the standing stones quickly. She looked around. The place was deserted. Then, with a borrowed scrubbing brush and a requisitioned bucket, she quickly began to remove the words from the stones. It was probably sacrilege to do this to something this old, and when she finishes there’s a bright clean patch on the stone. Someone will see it and no doubt tell her, and she will say something like Yes that’s very interesting but do you see all these forms I have to fill out for wood for when people’s barns get burned down?

She goes back towards the main camp. Jophiel is incarnate. It was only a matter of time before she or he showed up, she thought ruefully. Ah well. His or her business wasn’t much to do with humans, anyway. No doubt he or she’s be running around East India Trading Company territories and eventually get themselves caught. No harm, no foul, as Bill said. Although…“Jophiel” might put some of his fears to rest Maybe she’ll mention it the next time she sees him. The Skye Labour Corps is doing well, and Bill seems to be fairly happy that the natives of Skye are having their rights looked after.

She feels the picture in her pocket, suddenly, and feels…guilty. -Pray for my boy, Miss. They still haven’t found him, there’s still hope- and Bill: There’s no harm in it. Take the picture, lass. There isn’t hope, really. Either the boy in question is dead or cooling on a Resurrectionist’s slab. And if the Company catches her, Hell will be a walk on an overly warm evening.

She returns to the Camp, gives the bucket and the scrubbing brush back to their owners, and trudges into the taverna. She hopes that no one’s been playing silly buggers and putting those messages anywhere else.

#32

Dahlia nods at #74’s arrival, before giving her a small motion to come over

“You wouldn’t happen to know why a note saying ‘Jophiel is incarnate’ was posted on the announcement board, would you?”

#33

#74 sighs.

“It’s really not much to do with humans,” she says, looking at the paper. “From what I’ve heard Jophiel is a suspected homunculus seperatist. I didn’t think that sort of thing would have got all the way over here.”

She looks at them.

“After all,” she says quietly, “For the most part, Homunculi are treated well on Skye. Not that Homunculi are really mistreated anywhere, but things are little bit better here now that everyone’s got used to being about.”

#34

“Odd” Dahlia thought out loud.

“if it isn’t the sort of behavior expected here… why is this note posted here?”

#35

“I suppose it could be a warning,” said #74. “Watch out for anybody calling themselves Jophiel and telling you to abandon humanity. It’s not the sort of thing that homunculi are going to talk about through official channels, or in front of humans.”

Damn, she thought. That was probably left for me. Thanks. As if they’re not leery about us already.

“Although it’s nothing you should be worrying about. The worst thing speratist homunculi are going to do is leave. Anyway, The Company probably loses more homunculi to necrosis than it does to seperatists.”

#36

[quote=“RobotPie”]
“Although it’s nothing you should be worrying about. The worst thing separatist homunculi are going to do is leave. Anyway, The Company probably loses more homunculi to necrosis than it does to seperatists.”[/quote]

“Well… thank you for that mental picture, #74” she said, opening her eyes a little more despite her tired state. “How can you be positive it is a homunculi-related incident and not a human one? Someone who isn’t… differently alive could very well be leaving these around”

#37

#74 thinks for a minute.

“I suppose it could be human Lazarus heretics, but I can’t think that it’s reached this far. The heresy only really flourishes when humans and homunculi have been together for quite some time, and most of us have been here less than 9 months.”

#38

[quote=“RobotPie”]

#74 thinks for a minute.

“I suppose it could be human Lazarus heretics, but I can’t think that it’s reached this far. The heresy only really flourishes when humans and homunculi have been together for quite some time, and most of us have been here less than 9 months.”[/quote]

Dahlia looks puzzled at #74 “Uhh… Lazarus heresy?.. I think there is something I missed here”

#39

[quote=“BlackDahlia”]

Dahlia looks puzzled at #74 “Uhh… Lazarus heresy?.. I think there is something I missed here”[/quote]

Nodding in greeting at #74, Esther speaks up.

“The Lazarus Heresy is the idea that homunculi have the souls of angels. Isn’t that right, #74?”

#40

[quote=“siximpossiblethings”]

Nodding in greeting at #74, Esther speaks up.

“The Lazarus Heresy is the idea that homunculi have the souls of angels. Isn’t that right, #74?”[/quote]

Dahlia raised her eyebrow and opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. Might have been a bit hypocritical to question that when she was introduced to the camp with people who went by the names of Gods.

“So… you think humans might think they are part of that whole… thing too?”