bitches on my dick cuz i'm so clearly intellectual

[tongue3y3s]

Who: Dirk Strider (timaeus_testified) & Terezi Pyrope (tongue3y3s)
What: Meeting for discussion and hashing out of information.
When: Day 250.
Where: The library.
Rating: PG-13.


The next day every single ache and pain has hit her at full force, but Terezi can smell again. Not quite as well as usual, but enough to muster enough depth perception to avoid running into things. It feels weird to be up in daytime. It always has, but Asgardian days don't burn quite like Alternian days, and she doesn't have eyes that function enough to be light-sensitive, so she doesn't shun the feeling of warmth on her skin.

She hisses as she ties on her shoes, though; the miserably infected gash across her sole has been cleaned and dressed, but it still hurts like an irritable lusus and makes walking unpleasant. Terezi stands anyway, spinning her cane between her fingers and knocking it against a tree to get a good feel for the vibrations. She's glad for it, because she's had to rely on it a little more than usual with the exhaustion of her scenting capabilities. With a toss of her thick hair, Terezi heads toward the narrow end of Odin district, course set for the great library.

The previous day was spent thinking and moping and generally being fussed over, which is never something Terezi likes, and the night was relatively sleepless and even more drenched in thought. She and Dirk agreed to meet and discuss past events, and Terezi is eager to distract herself with the rush of an investigation.

(Anything to distract herself from the shadows of memories that still won't leave her head. Even knowing that they were daymares, Terezi still can't entirely convince herself they weren't real.)

Her foot stings as she walks but she ignores it because she has to, because sitting on her ass waiting to heal and letting her guilt and confusion consume her is nothing short of openly self destructive and will invite prying eyes and prying minds into her private emotional business, which is, again, not something of which Terezi is overly fond. She sighs as she crosses the border into Thor, wiggles her foot, and prepares for another hour or so of walking. She'll make it. Just so long as they can sit while they talk.

Comments

[timaeus_testified]

The problem with being Dirk Strider is no matter what problem he'd like to bury or hide, in the end, it will be shoved in his face. Because he can never leave a problem alone, not even his own. He hasn't slept much since the dreams and sleep walking. Slumber is very difficult to achieve and he does it in snatches of an hour or two at best.

He can't shake the knowledge that lies in his head now thanks to the dreams. He wouldn't have found it on his own. Not the feel of green fire or the calm of the other him that he'd never known. Occult symbols and the stench of murder. All of these things hang in his mind like spider webs with enough strength to ensnare him or if he isn't careful, kill him.

When it gets to be too much Dirk takes solace in the library. New words will push back the old ones and he'd promised to meet Terezi there. She's an interesting person to him and smart enough to keep up with him. He won't admit that they're somewhat alike in how they approach things. It takes no time as all to pick a book and pull it from the shelf. Using his bracelet, Dirk takes notes as he waits.

He'd been unprepared last time --even if it was just some mock trial-- it irks him that he didn't have the information needed right on hand. Today will be different. As he reads, he cross references with the network, compiling data with quick taps of his fingers. He takes a break just after early morning and realizes he's been buried in books since just before dawn.

Well, old habits certainly have a way of sneaking up on a guy.

[tongue3y3s]

The door to the great library heaves under Terezi's small hands. She presses inward, sniffing around the musty expanse of the room. It's filled with the scent of people, both old and new, present and long-gone, but Terezi keys in on the familiar smell that says Strider, that says a sharp, active mind and a sharper sword, and she doesn't stutter on her way over to him.

Silently, she takes a seat across from him, leans her cane across her thigh, and places her chin on her fists, eyes blank as always, gazing forever into the middle distance. Waiting.

She'll let him speak first, when he's ready. Terezi's in no hurry.

[timaeus_testified]

For the first few minutes, Dirk continues his research. It takes him a minute more before he stills and raises his head. He brushes his pale bangs out of his face, nothing to himself that he might want to cut it a bit. "Hey," His voice is raspy from disuse, he's spent the day in silence. "Do you want me to start this history talk right away, or chill out for a minute?"

If he remembers right, the Loki district is some distance from the building. He still remembers what happened in her dream. As long as he doesn't focus on the macabre imagery, he won't lose the contents of his stomach.

[tongue3y3s]

Remembering the graphic nature of their shared visions, Terezi scrubbed and bandaged herself as thoroughly as possible previous to visiting him. That still leaves her with scabs all over her face, swaddled wrists, the remnants of scratches peering out from under her sleeves, the white of a bandage visible underneath a small tear in the knee of her pants. She's pretty rough off, and the heavy bags underneath her eyes don't help the image very much.

"You can talk whenever you want to," she answers glibly, shrugging a little. "I figure we have a lot to discuss; we'll be here a while either way." Perhaps a bit unhelpfully neutral. Whatever.

[timaeus_testified]

He doesn't want to think about his own dream with the splintered selves that resided in it. It tended to show itself in various ways, sometimes showing the nature of his own heart. But it always told of the pain, the loneliness, of being born alone.

It helps that Terezi doesn't bring it up. He won't talk about hers either. "Then, I'll begin with the last mission the gods placed upon the travelers. There's a place below the sea, where no one of this world can pass. That's a bit circumspect but if you ask a question when you get in there, it answers. In the vaguest and shittiest possible way that's no help at all.

I assume from experience, that it probably has to be a question specific to whatever the world wants. I asked it how we could protect the gods souls from being stolen. It decided to answer with 'take them back'." Which was not what he was asking, but of course the world has a vaster scope on things than some tiny human.

Frustrating as that is.

[tongue3y3s]

She's not entirely sure where he's going with this, so Terezi stays quiet, listening politely and waiting for him to make his point. Absently, she runs her tongue over the sharp points of her teeth, gnawing the tip of it lightly.

(And maybe while she listens she also thinks of what the dream showed her of him; of loneliness, and loss, and shame. She doesn't usually trust people so quickly, but... there's a sameness to them that she can't ignore.

It's nice.)

[timaeus_testified]

"There's an old legend in Norse Mythology about the voice of the world. I believe that's where we went. But it makes no sense it would be blocked off from the people of this world, or at least, the gods." He picks up a book from the stack he'd left beside him. The volume is heavy and thick, he opens it, flipping it to the page he wanted.

"And we saw a massive snake under the water. To give an accurate basis for how large it is, think of your session planet, then imagine something circling it. It was another myth, the world snake. Or at least, all evidence supports it. I believe, we'll be encountering more things like that. Like the giants themselves, and their attacks on the city. The dreams, was a god's doing. But who's to say that is not the giants aim. If they drive the gods mad, all the easier to capture their souls."