AFTERMATHEMATICS

[sulahnan]

WHO: Athessa, Madi, and YOU
WHAT: post-Dream catch-all
WHEN: after part 2 of dream time
WHERE: The Gallows/Kirkwall
NOTES: tags will be slow, brain still bad

[ starters in the comments ]

Comments

[lumelume]

Mado opens his mouth to speak, then closes it with a thoughtful frown.

"Perhaps I'd better not say," he muses, "they may have secrets of their own that they'd prefer not be blabbed about." He shrugs helplessly at Athessa, his smile returning.
"One never knows."

[sulahnan]

She clicks her tongue against her teeth. Tch.

"Yeah if there's one thing Riftwatch has an abundance of it's secret-havers." Bloody typical, innit. "Are you...worried about them telling someone? Or worried that they know or...?"

[lumelume]

Mado's smile is soft, and he sighs out at the skyline.

"I don't know," he admits, "I don't know what I'm worried about." Kick-kick go his heels on the stone below.
"I suppose that when you have lived your life one way for so long, you want to hope that, when it changes, it might be on your own terms."

[sulahnan]

"That's fair," she says, also kicking her feet loosely. After a moment of mulling it over, she shrugs a shoulder.

"I think you still have a chance for that, actually. I mean, unless someone made an announcement I'm not aware of, whoever it is that saw you change in the dream hasn't told anyone. Or at least nobody who'd say as much. So if you wanted to make sure it was on your terms, even if your hand's been forced, I think you can.

"And if nothing else, I think here's probably the safest place for that secret to get out."

[lumelume]

Tilting his head to one side, Mado raises his eyebrows in sudden realization.

"It may have only been Colin," he admits, thinking back, "...and Edgard, but he already knew." Don't ask.
A little smile flickers back onto his face.

"I also dreamt I could be a bird."

[sulahnan]

"Colin won't tell anyone," she says automatically, completely certain of that. She would of course love to ask how Edgard knows, when until today she thought it was just herself and Yseult who were privy to his abilities, but he's back on the dream and she decides not to press.

"Do you think you might be able to do that for real? Jenny-Lou can—could do that, and it was really helpful when we were all stuck in the Donnarks."

[lumelume]

His eyes go wide with intrigue.

"I could try," he muses, and taps his finger against his lips in thought.

"I haven't thought to do it yet. I don't even remember when I started being a dog! It just sort of happened one day, I thought about it and then I could do it."

A goal for the future, perhaps.

[sulahnan]

Athessa points at him, raising her eyebrows.

"If you do try, I wanna be there for it. In case it works."

[lumelume]

Leaning back dramatically from her pointing finger, Mado grins.

"More likely it won't," he admits, "is that what you really want to see?"

[sulahnan]

"Well, sure!" She laughs and shrugs. What kind of question is that? "If you had the chance to see someone turn into a bird, wouldn't you take it?"

[lumelume]

"What I mean to say is," Mado laughs in response, "at least, with my first form, well, it doesn't always entirely take, on the first try."

He gestures vaguely with his hands, moving them as if weighing something invisible.

"Some parts change and others don't. It can be a mess."

[sulahnan]

She blinks.

"So you mean...you might end up with wings instead of arms but otherwise look normal?"

[lumelume]

"Your mental image is generous in its majesty. I think it's more likely I will have feathers and a beak and a bare human bum as I fall from a great height to my death."

[sulahnan]

"Maybe you should try to turn into a bird while standing so you don't fall from any height? Because if that's the scenario, the bare human bum thing would be pretty hilarious."

[lumelume]

"But where's the fun in that," Mado says, his smile cheeky, "...though I suppose any excuse for the people to admire it. I have a lovely bum."

[sulahnan]

"Of course you do," she agrees, quite assuredly. "Everybody in Riftwatch has a good arse because of all those fuckin' stairs."