Crescentia
Outskirts of Perindor
Ganonia Vernie landed in the opening in the forest. While Laura’s mind was abuzz with all sorts of thoughts flying haphazardly around she still took care to land softly, disturbing the woods as little as possible for a massive machine. But she did not turn the Autowarlock off. Not when the connection between her and the still Spirit collective within the Ganonia was the reason she was here.
She was out on a picnic. Just her and her Ganonia, which apparently now housed a massive… egg for a lack of better term. Which the spirits of her dead world had fused into after forcing themselves into her body.
And when whatever the Spirits were changing into hatched, how it would come out was entirely on her and her actions.
A faint, halting and breathy, incredulous laughter escaped her lips, not entirely unlike her manic laughter after waking up in the ruins of her home.
“I never believed in any of the personifications of… things. Father Time, Lady Luck… Hags of Destiny. All of it sounded like nonsense.” What was she even supposed to do, to talk about? A being with the collective power of an entire planet’s Spirits was not a child she expected to have. Laura buried a hand in her hair, running it through them. “I still don’t. It’s a load of bull. But if they did, I’m sure they’d be laughing their asses off at this masterprank they’ve pulled.”
Laura blinked. Was she supposed to avoid swearing in the presence of a pre-birth spirit? Maybe it was a good thing she’d sworn it off decades ago.
She patted the control panel, before relaxing as best as she could in the seat and taking out drawing tools. And then she just… drew. It and painting were the only things she was good at that wasn’t related to fighting or terrorism. It was creative and inspiring in equal measures, and let most of her think while some part of her was focused on drawing. Get her thoughts in order, to figure out what to say out loud even if the egg could hear every thought. Maybe it could maybe it couldn’t.
“This situation is ridiculous because I am so very unsuited for something like this.” Laura eventually spoke without interrupting her drawing. She smiled wryly. “I just know how to break things.”
Liana’s eyes stared at her from the paper. The dull, lifeless eyes she had had when they first met. From the moment they met Laura had made annoying her as much as possible and pressing on all the sore spots as often as possible into her quest. It had taken her years to figure out why.
“Do you remember Liana? The other Elaima you’ve been around since ‘you’ were put inside that blackbox? Well, I’ll assume you’ve inherited the memories of the mass ‘you’ used to be, at least those that happened while you’ve been Vernie, makes it a lot less awkward.”
The drawing finished, she began another one. “She was programmed into the Illiad juice quite thoroughly. I did my best to help her, to deprogram her so she’d have a choice in what she does. By angering her, frustrating her and triggering her as much as possible. It is the only way I know how to.”
Laura grinned. It had been fun, at times, though the entertainment value wasn’t why she did it, at least after the first year. “I’m pretty certain she hates me for it.”
She fell silent again. And for a while the only sound inside the cockpit was the steady sound of pencil meeting paper. Slowly forming into a Laura scornfully staring at numerous chains.
“Freedom.” The child who had never been a child mused. “It is the other reason why this whole situation would no doubt be hilarious to the fictional personalized cosmic forces. This was thrust on me without any input from me. I’ve revered freedom and chased after it for most of my life, so this thing I’m not fit for being thrust on me is ironic.”
She laughed out loud, the laughter aimed entirely at herself. “But the quest for freedom has been a joke from the beginning. I may be and have been free from the opinion of others and their expectations, but I was still a prisoner both to the path laid out to me by the people around me while i was a child and to my desire to be unfettered.”
And then she’d been a prisoner to her hatred and desire for vengeance against Prometheus and Duminass. Misplaced vengeance, in the case of the very dead Prometheus. Faint, almost invisible chains joined the drawing, fettering and locking up the drawn Laura.
“I think it is only now that I’m starting to truly reach that freedom I’ve thought I’ve had multiple times before now, now that I can take and accept fetters.” Matilde had been the first step, thrusting the legacy of Maake and Elaima on to her on her death bed.
“‘You’ helped me out. I’m more twisted than a pretzel, but being connected to the collective of Spirits with so many different emotions, thoughts, sensations and experiences helped me out a lot, when the spirits that formed into you were still separate enough for that.” Laura smiled softly, pen pausing for the first time. And then grimaced. “Do I call you my child? That sounds weird, I don’t think that sounds right at least for now.” That dealt with, the soft smile returned once more. “You’re my one and only friend Vernie. I’ll do my best to return the favor.”
“I can’t teach you much, but I can teach you two things. Do not bother with hatred. In the aftermath of our grudgematch against the meatball Duminas, when I was recovering from being almost killed by it, I realized that hatred is stupid.” Laura frowned, lips turning downwards unhappily. “It’s exhausting, nursing hatred for so long. It’s a prison, chains that do nothing for you and there is no satisfaction in killing the target of your hatred. Just emptiness.”
She shook her head. Hopefully her distaste for the whole hatred thing and just how futile it is carried over to the egg.
She raised two fingers up. “The other thing is, perhaps ironically - doubly so in your situation - freedom. Actions have consequences, but taking away someone’s freedom is the worst sin you can do. But do not do things just because someone wants you to or because it is expected of you. Do things you want to do, that you think are right to do, that feel right to do.”
Laura was pretty certain the world would be a better place if more people did that. There’d be less wars that way, if nothing else.
Silence descended once more, Laura having little more to say. Hours passed, and Laura drew, at times humming, at times whistling to herself. And the sun began to set, and almost disappeared behind the horizon.
“I doubt it’s even possible, but it would be nice to have peace. The people here apparently had it before we came along. But while there’s no place for me in the mythical peace, you and Liana are a different case altogether.” Laura laughed again. “But there being no place for me in peacetime is all the more reason to want to experience it. It’d be interesting! This whole being kidnapped into another world thing has really opened my eyes into how fun and interesting fish out of water experience can be!”
She straightened her posture from the relaxed, slack position her body was in and patted the controls again, grinning widely ear to ear. “Let’s go back shall we?”
Outskirts of Perindor
Ganonia Vernie landed in the opening in the forest. While Laura’s mind was abuzz with all sorts of thoughts flying haphazardly around she still took care to land softly, disturbing the woods as little as possible for a massive machine. But she did not turn the Autowarlock off. Not when the connection between her and the still Spirit collective within the Ganonia was the reason she was here.
She was out on a picnic. Just her and her Ganonia, which apparently now housed a massive… egg for a lack of better term. Which the spirits of her dead world had fused into after forcing themselves into her body.
And when whatever the Spirits were changing into hatched, how it would come out was entirely on her and her actions.
A faint, halting and breathy, incredulous laughter escaped her lips, not entirely unlike her manic laughter after waking up in the ruins of her home.
“I never believed in any of the personifications of… things. Father Time, Lady Luck… Hags of Destiny. All of it sounded like nonsense.” What was she even supposed to do, to talk about? A being with the collective power of an entire planet’s Spirits was not a child she expected to have. Laura buried a hand in her hair, running it through them. “I still don’t. It’s a load of bull. But if they did, I’m sure they’d be laughing their asses off at this masterprank they’ve pulled.”
Laura blinked. Was she supposed to avoid swearing in the presence of a pre-birth spirit? Maybe it was a good thing she’d sworn it off decades ago.
She patted the control panel, before relaxing as best as she could in the seat and taking out drawing tools. And then she just… drew. It and painting were the only things she was good at that wasn’t related to fighting or terrorism. It was creative and inspiring in equal measures, and let most of her think while some part of her was focused on drawing. Get her thoughts in order, to figure out what to say out loud even if the egg could hear every thought. Maybe it could maybe it couldn’t.
“This situation is ridiculous because I am so very unsuited for something like this.” Laura eventually spoke without interrupting her drawing. She smiled wryly. “I just know how to break things.”
Liana’s eyes stared at her from the paper. The dull, lifeless eyes she had had when they first met. From the moment they met Laura had made annoying her as much as possible and pressing on all the sore spots as often as possible into her quest. It had taken her years to figure out why.
“Do you remember Liana? The other Elaima you’ve been around since ‘you’ were put inside that blackbox? Well, I’ll assume you’ve inherited the memories of the mass ‘you’ used to be, at least those that happened while you’ve been Vernie, makes it a lot less awkward.”
The drawing finished, she began another one. “She was programmed into the Illiad juice quite thoroughly. I did my best to help her, to deprogram her so she’d have a choice in what she does. By angering her, frustrating her and triggering her as much as possible. It is the only way I know how to.”
Laura grinned. It had been fun, at times, though the entertainment value wasn’t why she did it, at least after the first year. “I’m pretty certain she hates me for it.”
She fell silent again. And for a while the only sound inside the cockpit was the steady sound of pencil meeting paper. Slowly forming into a Laura scornfully staring at numerous chains.
“Freedom.” The child who had never been a child mused. “It is the other reason why this whole situation would no doubt be hilarious to the fictional personalized cosmic forces. This was thrust on me without any input from me. I’ve revered freedom and chased after it for most of my life, so this thing I’m not fit for being thrust on me is ironic.”
She laughed out loud, the laughter aimed entirely at herself. “But the quest for freedom has been a joke from the beginning. I may be and have been free from the opinion of others and their expectations, but I was still a prisoner both to the path laid out to me by the people around me while i was a child and to my desire to be unfettered.”
And then she’d been a prisoner to her hatred and desire for vengeance against Prometheus and Duminass. Misplaced vengeance, in the case of the very dead Prometheus. Faint, almost invisible chains joined the drawing, fettering and locking up the drawn Laura.
“I think it is only now that I’m starting to truly reach that freedom I’ve thought I’ve had multiple times before now, now that I can take and accept fetters.” Matilde had been the first step, thrusting the legacy of Maake and Elaima on to her on her death bed.
“‘You’ helped me out. I’m more twisted than a pretzel, but being connected to the collective of Spirits with so many different emotions, thoughts, sensations and experiences helped me out a lot, when the spirits that formed into you were still separate enough for that.” Laura smiled softly, pen pausing for the first time. And then grimaced. “Do I call you my child? That sounds weird, I don’t think that sounds right at least for now.” That dealt with, the soft smile returned once more. “You’re my one and only friend Vernie. I’ll do my best to return the favor.”
“I can’t teach you much, but I can teach you two things. Do not bother with hatred. In the aftermath of our grudgematch against the meatball Duminas, when I was recovering from being almost killed by it, I realized that hatred is stupid.” Laura frowned, lips turning downwards unhappily. “It’s exhausting, nursing hatred for so long. It’s a prison, chains that do nothing for you and there is no satisfaction in killing the target of your hatred. Just emptiness.”
She shook her head. Hopefully her distaste for the whole hatred thing and just how futile it is carried over to the egg.
She raised two fingers up. “The other thing is, perhaps ironically - doubly so in your situation - freedom. Actions have consequences, but taking away someone’s freedom is the worst sin you can do. But do not do things just because someone wants you to or because it is expected of you. Do things you want to do, that you think are right to do, that feel right to do.”
Laura was pretty certain the world would be a better place if more people did that. There’d be less wars that way, if nothing else.
Silence descended once more, Laura having little more to say. Hours passed, and Laura drew, at times humming, at times whistling to herself. And the sun began to set, and almost disappeared behind the horizon.
“I doubt it’s even possible, but it would be nice to have peace. The people here apparently had it before we came along. But while there’s no place for me in the mythical peace, you and Liana are a different case altogether.” Laura laughed again. “But there being no place for me in peacetime is all the more reason to want to experience it. It’d be interesting! This whole being kidnapped into another world thing has really opened my eyes into how fun and interesting fish out of water experience can be!”
She straightened her posture from the relaxed, slack position her body was in and patted the controls again, grinning widely ear to ear. “Let’s go back shall we?”
