The path deeper into the temple is convoluted and frustrating. One section had a floor that acted like a liquid under a membrane, along with another psicaster that made everyone feel drunk. This was not a great challenge for the women, but Aaron had to crawl. Then there was a tunnel whose curved walls were covered in ominous red lights. After tossing a few things it was determined that they were just there to look ominous and make people wonder what they were for. A wall blocked the end of the passage, which wasn't an illusion but could be pushed through with effort. It was thick enough that holding ones breath was necessary, and required being completely inside of it before reaching through to the other side.
After pushing through, the four explorers find themselves on a small platform suspended over a shaft that goes completely through the temple, showing sky above and the shining blackness below. Floating in the center is a geometric shape - a pair of pyramids, joined at the base such that one pointed upwards and the other downwards, while both also counter-rotating. It is the same not-quite-black as the pit below.
The Temple has proved draining, but not so draining as some of Tasha's other exploits. In the past she'd flown over entire continents in day long stretches of flight when the situation seemed to call for it, trekking by her own power across worlds with as much rapidity as she could muster. At the end of those roads, much as with this one, something ominous awaited -- hopefully with the answers she seeks. Answers, and too often questions as well. Sometimes, only more questions.
Moving to the lead position, the hybrid woman lifts her right hand and points. "Alright, well, I think we may have reached the center but that may also be an illusion. If we can judge this trial like the others, we should be able to assess it through how we feel and what we sense. I see two pyramids, connected, that seem to be made of something similiar or exactly like what that soul-rending pit is made out of. How about the rest of you? Yue, do you sense anything? Be careful, I'm not sure what that stuff might do to psi."
"I'm passive psi," Yue reminds, and then finishes catching her breath. "I'm not sensing.. anything," she says in confusion after furrowing her brow. "I mean.. I don't sense any of you even."
"Pyramids," Hakeber says. "Covered in glowing red eyes."
"I see that this doesn't seem like it was worth the slog," Aaron replies. "I mean.. it's a shape. Wow. That is just not very impressive."
"That's what I was getting at," Tasha notes, glancing back over her shoulder to point at the objects, " ... they're generating flattened space, or that's what I think. Flattened soul space. I don't know how souls work, or even minds, but I know that machines like this -- if they are machines -- do something to the space where minds and identity dwell, and probably not just in this universe or even in the three-plus-time dimensions." Her head shakes, then she turns to Hakeber and furrows her brow. "You see red eyes?" She glancs back to the other two. "Does anyone else see red eyes? I don't."
Yue shakes her head, and Aaron says, "No eyes, but it's not making any sound either."
"The eyes have more eyes inside of them," Hakeber whispers.
"So, it's a null-space that has eyes. Eyes within eyes. But only Hakeber can see them." Tasha turns back around to face the object, shifting her right hand to tap her muzzle as she chews on her lip. "Only Hakeber. That suggests there's a dark being within, something that can exist in 'null space', or maybe be trapped by it if it's not pervasive. Eyes usually mean awareness, watching. Symbolic of being observed and of letting the observer know it. Except, it's just Hake, so maybe they're really just eyes. Eyes that aren't supposed to be seen by most visitors. Whatever it is, it suggests it's aware of who comes here and not just a passive artifact." She then pulls in a deep breath, drops her hand and looks back. An exhale, then she offers, "I'm going to head over and say 'hi'. Any objections?"
"Watch that first step," Aaron warns, since the object is floating above and past the edge of their platform. "You'll need to fly, or shout.."
"I wouldn't touch it," Hakeber says. The pyramids aren't that big.. but perspective could be messed up in a place like this. From the platform they only appear to be about eight feet tall, and four across.
"Good thing I'm good at both," Tasha jokes, though she can't quite hide her anxiety in her tone. After rolling her shoulders and cocking her head back and forther a moment she gives a 'well, here we go' shrug and moves forward. "Oh, touching it is always later, you know, Hake?" She moves right up to the edge, about a foot from the drop, and leans forward slightly.
"My name is Aldara Tasha Argentine. Is anyone home?" It seemed as good a question to ask as any. With no prior knowledge, Tasha has found the best strategy is to act as she normally would.
In response, Tasha suddenly finds herself nearly nose-to-eyeball as the pyramids expand to take up almost all the available space between the walls of the shaft, so that a single triangular face is in front of her. She can see the eyes now.. or rather one giant red iris with multiple, ever-shifting pupils. "HOME IS IRRELEVANT," she hears.. or they all hear, since Aaron is covering his ears. And while the voice is echoing and loud.. it's also clearly just in their heads, since the language isn't really one they recognize.
Tasha immediately flattens her ears, muzzle wrinkling at the sheer volume in her head. She's not stranger to noise nor having words projected in to her mind; her experience is that of sudden movement and excessiveness. She fights the urge to step back, having, as of late, to feel that standing her ground is important when dealing with entities such as this, even more so with three of her friends and followers watching her example. Courage and conviction might win what power and understanding might not, or so she hopes.
"Doesn't that depend on your perspective and your will? The desire for home, and the people that make up that home, can be the basis for much. For some, it's the reason for creation, for others it's comfort. Whether it's irrelevant or not exists within the heart and mind, that's what I think." As she speaks she examines the eyes. Eyes within eyes. She wonders if they're an expression of higher dimensionality, symbolic, or literal. It's so hard for her to tell, and harder still to understand.
"THEN NO, WE ARE NOT HOME," the voice replies.
The hybrid woman grunts at that answer. "Okay, that means ... something. You aren't home. Home is irrelevant. You don't desire home, or not at home, or you have no will to make a home. Or more than one. Or none?" Her ears perk up, questioningly.
"YES," the voice replies.
"All and none. Hokay, good, that means you have a broad perspective that's probably not something a modern Galactic would have. I don't know if it's something an older Galactic would have, their way of thinking isn't something I understand very well. That is is true of many higher dimensional beings and extra-universal beings I know." The young woman then tilts her head. "Are you one of these types of beings? And if so, which one? Do you think you understand me?"
"Not all smartasses are gods, but all gods.." Aaron mutters behind Tasha.
At that, Tasha glances back at Aaron with a wide-eyed look that turns in to a roll of the eyes: tell me about it.
"DOES THE ANSWER MATTER? YOU ASK MANY PERSONAL QUESTIONS. YOU HAVE BROUGHT THREE SACRIFICES. WHAT ARE YOUR THREE REAL QUESTIONS?"
"Well first I'm not sacrificing anyone. That's not a question, that's a fact." The declaration is liud and definite; Tasha holds out her hand and then waves the others back. The motion is clear: Get out of here, now. She glances back to make sure there's compliance, continuing to speak as she does in the hopes the device, being or what-ever-it-may-be does not start sacrificing people for her lack of input or previous questions. "I'm here for Fessus, actually, I'm here for Samael. Thotep sent me, Bahomet, that-guy-in-the-castle-floating-by-the-neutron-star."
"WE ARE FESSUS," the voice announces. "The wall is solid now, Tasha," Yue whispers. "WHY DOES FATHER WANT SAMAEL BACK?"
"Do you think 'His Ancient Goatness' explains these things to me?" Tasha replies, gritting her teeth now that she sees it's true, the way out is denied to them. With nowheer to go and no escape to oversee, she turns to fix her full attention on the red eyes. Fixes, and locks. She refuses to be intimidated by what watches her, she's met enough gods and angels. Their otherworldy nature does not unnerve her, doesn't fray her mind as it once did. Nor can she back down, not with escape lost. "'Your personal existance does not concern me,' 'perform my task and then I'll answer your questions,' 'music is wonderful.' Believe me, I did want to know, but it's not like I can do anything if he wants to be coy."
The red eye churns slowly, pupils appearing and vanishing.. and sometimes with brief glimpses of faces in their black depths. "DID FATHER HAVE A MESSAGE FOR US?" Fessus asks.
Tasha waits, if not patiently, then as patient as she can seem after a trek through a torturous funhouse that made her mate suffer. She will always hold that against this place. When the question comes, she shakes her head. "Nooo, he pretty much just wanted Samael back. I think he thinks you're dead, because he described this as 'your resting place' and it does look a lot like a tomb. Everyone on this world seems to be gone or dead."
"THEIR AFTERLIFE WAS FLEETING," Fessus quips. "WE GIVE YOU SAMAEL."
"Well, um, thanks for being so considerate. I'm sure Thotep will appreciate it, or, um, well who knows what he appreciates. It's probably good you didn't resist, though." And it's good I didn't fail, Tasha thinks. She had been expecting more of a struggle.
"WHAT IS THERE TO RESIST?" Fessus muses, and then.. it's just a pair of black pyramids floating in the center of the shaft again.
Tasha blinks as the conversation abruptly ends. Her ears flick, then her tail. She waits a moment, then looks back and gives the group a thumbs up. "Professional."
"So, who is going to try jamming their head through the wall first?" Aaron asks.
"My head hurts already," Hakeber says, looking woozy.
"I'll go first," Yue volunteers, and proceeds to fall through the wall, having expected more resistance.
"I still have to stand here a while and feel dumb while I wait and see if Samael comes as a being, or a squid-ship, or maybe in a box ... " Tasha throws her hands up, what can you do. She then begins walking an aimless path, looking around. "I can catch up if you want to go ahead, Hake-Aaron-bear."
"What if he shows up somewhere else?" Hakeber asks. "I mean.. wherever he was being kept."
"Welcome to being the intermediary and speaker to gods, where everything is a question and nothing makes any sense until way after the answers would have usually helped." Tasha throws her hands up again, then walks over to the edge of the walkway and squats down to peer at the abyss. "At least Fessus was mostly comprehensible. I think maybe he -- they -- are a container for souls, a composite being, like many of the others. It's really good we avoided sacrifices, unless you dream about being an inverted pyramid on a dead world."
"Don't spit over the edge, Tasha," Aaron says before vanishing through the wall.
"And here I was going to try skipping souls," Tasha insists, though Aaron is gone before she manages it. "Maybe this is what my ship needs: An ominous soul-flattening pond, maybe a tasteful fountain."
"I don't think you should gaze into the abyss like that, Tasha," Hakeber offers.
"Spitting won't hurt anything," another voice comments.
Tasha barks a laugh. "Because the abyss will gaze back? I talk to the abyss all the time, I'm pretty sure it's used to me. And that's good, maybe some fishing would be good too?"
"You don't have the proper bait," the other voice notes.
Tasha opens her mouth, pauses. She settles back a bit, further from the edge, and shifts her muscles to rise. "So you're here, after all." Another pause, then, "Would you like to head back now? We could make more jokes about the soul-crushing ocean, if you like." In particular, she pointedly does not look back. Looking back feels like giving in, somehow. She won't let them mess with her, at least when she can help it.
"You'll have to guide me by hand," the voice claims. It's.. a bit masculine, but rather dry. Hakeber hasn't said anything since Samael first spoke.
"Holding hands with new friends, it'll be nice." Tasha stands up slowly, deliberately, then brushes her uniform back in to place and nods, thus preventing at least one being from directing her wrath at her. She then turns, ears up, eyes a little wide. "I'm Tasha, if you didn't catch it the first time."
Hakeber is standing next to the wall, with very wide eyes. Because between her and Tasha stands.. a corpse. A Stonecutter, to be precise. Apparently mummified. It's wearing a golden metallic robe-of-sorts, and leaning on a golden staff with a ring at the top. It's eyes and mouth have been sewn shut. It also holds out a paper-fleshed hand towards Tasha.
Tasha's younger, more primal self lurches at the sight. Well, she decides inwardly, ... I've probably held hands with worse. Blackwings is a ghost. Uh ... huh. Recalling just how many dead, undead, and who-knows-how-dead-or-alive friends and lovers she has helps, even if the comfort itself urges her to ask many questions about her life and sanity. In this way she moves forward, holding out her taloned hand. "Are you or were you ever a Stonecutter? Because you'ld be my first." She then reaches out and takes the hand.
The hand crumbles under the slightest pressure, so that Tasha is momentarily holding onto bone. But then she's holding onto a Vartan talon. It isn't connected to a Vartan though, precisely. The golden garment and staff are still there, but the Stonecutter has been replaced by a black-furred-and-feathered male version of herself. Although the hooves are definitely cloven, like Thotep's. "Ah, much better," Samael says, his eyes bright red as they meet Tasha's. He's even got the single taloned hand, but it's his right one, with the left being Karnor. "I'm Sam. Aren't you going to introduce me to your cute, terrified friend?"
This /does/ make Tasha recoil. The last time she had to deal with a male clone of herself it threatened to consume her mind, kill her world, and more personal violence as well. She can only hope she didn't grimace too much when she forces herself to resume her more professional demeanor, head shaking the memory away and hoping it's not also a /future/ memory. Even so, staring at a male version of herself that /isn't a dream remains very unsettling, more so for being the only being like herself she's ever found, and further for all the implications. "Uh," she begins to reply, which she decides isn't very professional at all, " ... um, /ahem/, I /mean/, that-- /she/, she, she is /Hakeber/. Being cute and terrified is, um, one of her many skills!"
"I promise not to eat you, Hakeber," Samael offers. "If you will do the same for me."
"Ehhhhhhh..." Hakeber wheezes. "No promises."
"I can't promise that either. Well." Tasha eyes her double for a long moment, looking it -- him -- up and down and asking entirely too many uncomfortable questions about life and herself before urging herself to keep going. "Lets get going. The Old Goat is probably patient, being beyond-time-and-space and, uh, all, but he'd also probably know if we were being slow just to annoy him."
"Wait.. you're taking me back to him?" Samael asks, not moving a step to follow.
This cause Tasha to stumble, being as she is still holding her copy's hand. She turns to face him, thumbing over her shoulder towards the exit with her free hand. "I thought we went over this already with your, um, boss? Pyramidal friend? Thotep sent me to come get you. He didn't say why. No messages."
"I've been dead for.. 13.3 million years.." Samael notes after looking thoughtful for a moment. "What have I missed?"
"Oh, lots. We think the Sifra -- Xilfrim -- went and killed everyone again, there's a new Galactic civilization, um, the Ogdoad may be close to breaking in to our universe fully. There are fish tacoes." And then Tasha gives Samael, or Sam, a tug with the hand that holds his. "We can talk about it on the way."
"Donuts," Hakeber mutters. This time Samael does follow. "What about exploding head-spores?" he asks before they pass through the wall.
"We haven'r run in to any, but knowing the universe they're probably out there somewhere. Come on, I'll introduce you to the others, 'your angelness'. And so Tasha makes for the wall. Leading keeps her from looking back, which she does ratehr want to do, but she isn't sure how she feels about a situation in which there is a copy of her. A male copy, no less. Dealing with Nora and her PersoCom have both been complicated, complex-creating fiascoes and Abaddon -- fake though he was -- left a huge scar in her mind. If she stops and looks, she might not be able to maintain her focus enough to lead, and right now she wants to get back to the others now that they have what they came for.
Yue is quiet when Tasha catches up to her and Aaron. She just raises an eyebrow. Aaron pokes Samael to see if he's solid. "Eh.. Tasha wears it better," he mutters. For his part, Sam ignores the Lapi.
"I know, this is weird for me too. It's not the first time either, this happens. A lot? Now and then." Tasha doesn't really stop when she catches up so much as slow down to say the words and shrug at both Aaron and Yue. She plows on, as if afraid to lose momentum, which is partially true. "This is Samael, or Sam. He copied me when we held hands. He'll be staying with us until we return to Thotep." It's here Tasha risks a look back, enough to ask, "So you know the old goat, right?"
"We have a relationship," Samael states, and glances at Yue and Aaron. "I don't recognize any of your species root stocks."
The way back is easier. The funhouse effects are gone, and even the floor remains solid. "So.. how are we going to explain him to everyone else?" Hakeber finally broaches. "Should we stuff him into one of the bug-pods?"
"So you recognize Vartans and Karnors, then? Hakeber and I?" Tasha resumes looking forward, deciding that watching herself walk and talk is still very weird. She does keep talking, at least. Talking helps, even if hearing a male version of herself is further strange. "I'm not sure he's actually what he look like, he probably doesn't have actual biology and we'd still have to sneak him past everyone, and none of us can operate the pods. Uhm. Besides, I have questions. I'll think of something to tell them, like he'd always been with us just scouting ahead because I'm a wealthy Khattan mezzode and of course I don't trust anything and I'm very clever."
"I can blend in," Samael insists. "And I don't know what Vartans and Karnors are either. You all smell a bit similar."
"Karnor, Humans and Lapi all come from Earth -- that is, Terra. Humans uplifted the Karnor and the Lapi, the wolves and the rabbits. Aaron is a Lapi, Hake-bear is a Karnor. I'm half Karnor. Vartans are from an entirely different world, and I'm half Vartan. So are you, I mean, you're half-Karnor and half-Vartan like that. And, um, half-whatever-kind-of-outsider-you-are." They make a steady pace with no obstancles and the hybrid Tasha leading the way at near full steam. "The Humans were probably uplifted by another group, and we know the Vartans were."
"Oh, so that whole thing is still going on?" Samael asks. "Eventually there won't be anyone you can eat without raising a stink. But as long as a species is spread across a few planets, it's not as big an issue if a few planets have accidents. By the way, as soon you let go of my hand, nobody else will be able to see me. Except for you bunch, because you've already seen me."
With that in mind Tasha considers letting go before Gabriel and Katherine -- especially Katherine -- gets to see a male version of herself. She's dreading the looks alone, and it doesn't help she's holding her double's hand, which she suspects will make Gabriel raise his brows. It's tempting, but she'd rather they see Samael then don't, the risks being greater than the personal reward of hiding him. Once they reach the exit, then she'll let go. "Come on, there's another party waiting for us and they'll get worried if we're too slow."
There are raised eyebrows when they reach the vestibule. Gabriel immediately asks, "Is this the guy, or is this the 'getting your own species' deal?"
"It's the guy." Tasha lets go of the hand now that everyone has seen Samael, stepping around to the side of him and leaning in to really get a good look. She doesn't need to lean in; it's a bit of avian feather-puff over what she's about to do. "This is Samael. Or Sam. He copied me when I held his hand. Well," she cocks her head to the side, then points down at the man's clover hooves, " ... except that. Why is that, anyway? Do you have to have cloven hooves?" She looks up in askance.
"Cloven hooves look cooler," Samael claims.
"Are you saying my hooves aren't cool?" Tasha asks, planting her hands on her hips and standing straight to eye Samael.
"I can see it.." Katherine claims, but overall has a rather confused expression. "That robe is just.. not good."
"Not cool," Tasha agrees, seizing on the advantage.
"I was a high priest of T'thogga-hem, and these are the official vestments," Samael claims.
"That doesn't sound.. good," Katie notes, looking to Tasha.
"I'm an envoy of one universe and like a handful of gods, I can still manage to dress stylishly." Stylishly with the help of Katherine and Liza, anyway. Otherwise she would dress comfortably, which is apparently, it has been hinted, the same as 'disasterously'. She turns to Katherine and nods vehemently. "He's wearing my body and isn't even dressing well. Liza will tell me, like it'll be my fault somehow. And it's making me self-concious!"
"I'm not responsible for how priests dress," Liza claims. She actually does have tea ready, as Gabriel predicted before they hit the psi-barrier.
"Not good?" Sam asks, and rubs his chin. "I.. oh yes, I was trying to choke him. Had an entire specially engineered species ready for Communion.. and then I think I was killed or something. That plan took a really long time too.."
"Well, that's good." Tasha walks over, accept a cup of tea and, despite her insistence they move quickly until now, promptly sits on a ledge and takes a long sip of tea. After that, she looks up, "So you were a soul-sacrificing high priest that tossed Clients in to, what, the soul-rending pond? Or did they get eaten by that statue and become part of the world, that T'thogga-hem?"
"T'thogga-hem is the world," Samael says, and knocks on a pillar with his staff. "Communion is having your soul eaten by it, so that you will have an eternal life in the city. Well, a simulation of you that wouldn't know any different, which I understand is no more disconcerting than waking up after losing consciousness.. 'sleep' I think it's called. Anyway, I created an entire species and sham civilization with.. well, I won't say corrupted but altered souls. Then the whole lot was going to take Communion at once and poison T'thogga-hem."
"Annnd why would you do that?" Tasha finds herself asking, like the urge to gag at a sudden unplatiable taste. "Were the Stonies your enemies? Tried to kill you? What?"
"Because messing with the Ogdru-hem is a family tradition," Samael claims. "Or at least it was a game I played with a few others. I think Fessus ratted me out though. Jealous of my awesome hooves."
Samael kicks the floor with a hoof, which raises sparks.
Tasha finds herself snorting a laugh despite herself, wondering if Samael is using her humor somehow or his own. This makes her futher self-conciously, and possibly self-absorbed depending on certain answers to the question of which humor the goat-legged being is using, so she presses on once more. "So ... You also opposes the Ogdru-hem. Thotep said that, too. That he opposed the Ogdoad and the Ogdru-hem, because he and his masters believed in something fundamentally different than what the Ogdoad wanted. Order and chaos, that's what he said. The Ogdoad want their order, and he works for a kind of chaos. One that likes flute music. I think that's why he's helping." The young woman lifts her free hand up and taps her nose, while a little voice in the back of her head wonders if it's 'awesome' enough. "See, that's what we;ve been doing. I think I started it, finding the Progenitors, then the truth about the Ogdoad. I've been trying to stop them. It's why we're here."
Samael blinks, then laughs! "Sorry.. did you say Thotep was helping?" he asks. "Helping whom?"
Tasha wrinkles her nose. "Sorry, I meant helping in a vague and self-serving way. Helping in that he didn't ignore me or burn me to ashes for daring to approach him. That way. I may have a low threshhold for what I consider to be helping, with gods." Her nose wrinkles all the more, staring at herself makes her ponder her life choices all over again.
"Well.. since all of you are alive, I assume something happened to the planetary zombie population?" Samael asks. He also looks at Gabriel. "You are large and intimidating. I like you."
"I get that a lot," Gabriel says. Turning to Tasha, he asks, "Did we have a plan for dealing with success here? I'm pretty sure Dr. Broom at least will notice a demonic looking Karnor-Vartan hybrid."
"I have psychic invisibility," the demon hybrid claims.
Tasha eyes her double. "Don't like him too much." She stands, then edges closer to Gabriel and then partly infront of him. "Yes, they're all gone. Well I don't know about everyone else, but this is the second evil male copy of myself I've had to talk to and I think I'd like to go deliver him now before he ruins my reputation by existing. And ruins my self-esteem." Her head just shakes. "Maybe I should ask for a species without males. Maybe that's what the universe is telling me." It almost seems she didn't hear Gabriel, but then she faces him. "He'll go invisible. Only people who have seen him can see him if he doesn't hold my hand."
"Does that work on cameras?" Yue asks.
"You have cameras?" Samael asks. "Oh.. well no, it does not work on cameras."
"Great. Maybe figuring out the ship on our own would have been easier." Tasha eyes her double once more, then exhales and hands her tea off to Liza. "We'll just have to bring him along in the open, or else the convoy will probably think they're going insane. I'm sure he'll spook the bugs."
"Well.. I could just replace one of you," Samael offers. "Or hide."
"I don't trust you when I can't watch you, and I don't trust you replacing anyone either." There's some glaring from Tasha, who increasingly has decided this is a lot like her last encounter with a male double. "Where ever you go, I want to be there."
"I think I can fix this," Yue notes. "If his invisibility is what I think it is, he just has to avoid robot cameras. Which.. given the way this planet reacts to foreign technology.. nobody is likely to have brought along."
The woman points at Samael's staff, and says, "But.. I'll need that."
"Alright. I'm still going to keep an eye on him, though." Tasha steps away from Gabriel and resumes her watch beside Samael, which also comes with more glaring. "Well, lets get going then before they decide to come looking for us. Give the tiny Human the staff and we can go."
Samael hands over the staff. "It's just a staff. It doesn't do anything," he explains.
Yue waves that off, and says, "Come with us, and hide behind a pillar by the door until we signal you." To Tasha, she says, "Yes, let's go. And show everyone the nifty golden staff we found. They'll drop everything to focus on it, and your evil twin can walk past them without worrying about cameras."
Tasha folds her arms. "Uh-huh. Except 'look awesome,' I bet." She looks the man up and down, wondering what would have happened if Hakeber had taken the hand instead. Nothing good. "Lets get going, you. And Yue."
The distraction certainly works on Nessus and his custodians. The others have already spread out through the city to document the architecture and any writing, making it easier for Tasha's group to make it back to the empty camp. They probably should have posted at least one person to watch over things though.
"Look at those things," Samael marvels at the bug-busses. "Do they taste good?" he asks.
"They're vehicles, and they're sort of like pack animals, so we don't eat them." Tasha has kept near Samael, half afraid he'll pop out of the blue to torment or murder someone if she leaves him alone. The make matters worse, he'll do it looking like her, if male and wearing a gaudy robe. That will not help her galactic reputation. "You really seem to like eating things. Are you also a soul eater?" She's kept somewhat apart from the others, which means she ends up looking a bit ominous and judgemental, watching people from a distance as Samael evaluates them. She can't get too close, or risk looking like she's talking to herself or in to a communcator with a madman.
"The proper question is: have you eaten any souls?" Samael corrects. "And eating is fun. Well, tasting anyway. Licking at least. I can't think of what better use you could put a body to. But actually yes, I am. Also like meat. I lied. Eating is great. Especially if it's something that tastes good too."
Tasha's ears go askew. Distinctly askew. She may have found someone who riles her more than Nora, or even Horus. And, they look like her! She can't decide if that makes things better or worse, but is leaning heavily towards worse, which means she must annoy herself somehow as well -- which also makes things worse. "I ... Uh, did you like about eating souls or meat? Or are you just going to keep saying gibberish in an effort to confuse and annoy me?"
"Well, I did eat the High Priest of T'thogga-hem in order to impersonate him," Samael says, glancing sideways at Tasha. He also grins, and says, "But he was going to be eaten eventually anyway."
"I bet you did." The implications for Tasha's own safety aren't lost on her. Her eyes narrow, almost to a squint. "If you try ot hurt me or my friends, maybe you won't make it back to Thotep. He only said he'd give me information if I returned with you, I could also feed you to a Ogdru-hem, throw you in a black hole, call some Titanians to see what they can do, I have a lot of options. Maybe I can even do it myself."
"Now now, no need to jump to threats already," Samael says. "We've only known eachother for a few hours. And I don't want to be taken right back to Thotep, so that's not exactly a threat. So the real issue here is.. how are we going to destroy this planet?"
Tasha would narrow her eyes more, but then she couldn't see well and she's not letting Samael out of her sight. She debates kicking him, but decides to save that for later. "You want to destroy the planet." It's said flatly, without surprise but with skepticisim, just not doubtful skepticisim. She pauses, because she needs to admit something that she hadn't quite decided to tell the others, but since it's come up she thinks she should. It's just, as she thinks, she isn't sure she likes the similiarity of expectation here. "I thought maybe that might be the case when we came here. That you were at the heart of the planet, or part of the city-system. That bringing you meant ending here. I have to be aware of the possibilities. But tell me: Why do we need to end it now? The Ogdru-hem? Is it dangerous? Is it because Fessus is jealous of your 'awesome hooves'?"
"Well, you said you were against the Ogdru-hem," Samael notes. "I assumed that meant you wanted them gone? T'thogga-hem isn't dangerous on his own.. but look around you!" He spreads his arms to encompass the city. "Trillions of souls sacrificed themselves for the illusion of immortality. The mechanism is still in place. You lot seem to have only recently begun to explore this world, but it's not like the whole Communion thing is hidden. It's written in every shrine in the city. It'll just all start up again once the knowledge is spread, won't it?"
"Can the practice be copied on other worlds, create new sacrificial systems? Or is this world the only world it can happen on? And are the people in the system suffering, or are they enjoying it, or, what? Did T'thogga-hem eat their souls and just make copies to foold everyone else?" It strikes Tasha she's discussing how and why to destroy a world. A whole world. It really ought to bother her more, she thinks, but this is where her life has arrived at. Destroying worlds, talking to demons. It really makes her wonder if she's doing the right thing, or what the right thing is. She lost track of it on Abaddon, now here again it becomes muddy. "I don't necessarily want them all gone, but I can't let the Ogdoad enter this universe and so long as they can allow that they must be stopped. I just haven't found a way to free the ones who are relatively harmless, yet."
"T'thogga-hem is a spirit of earth," Samael notes. "That's why it works here. It's in the Wellstone. And as for suffering.. well, they're gone so there's nothing to experience suffering or anything else. And whatever wiped the slate clean appears to have done the same for the simulations here. Self-aware robots, really. And being self-aware and technological is a big 'kill me' sign for the galactic purges. And that is an odd sentiment.. free the ones who are relatively harmless. That's what's odd about your friend."
"I have a lot of odd 'friends' lately, which one do you mean?" Tasha asks, arching her brows and perking her ears. The thoguht that speaking to herself remains as strong as ever, along with every other bit of baggage that comes with this particular version. "And by free I mena free them from the Ogdoad's control. The way they'll bring the Ogdoad in to our universe. They will, and they can't help it. It's how they were made, that's what I was told. But if I can break that, I will."
"And if they are just as bad as their masters once freed?" Samael asks. "And I mean the girl that was with you when I woke up; Hakeber. But... if you want to just turn off the whole simulation thing with T'thogga-hem, there's probably a way to do it. The Stonecutters managed to teach their god how to do it in the first place after all."
"Destroying the planet would also draw a lot of attention. Maybe turning off the simulation will destroy it anyway, but if not, maybe the world can keep on. It'd be risky, but if it's a problem we -- I -- could come back and deal with it." Tasha leans back, tapping her muzzle, frowning. "But maybe it would be better to destroy it. If we make it seem harmless, then others will come and find T'thogga-hem in time. It's really hard to judge a world. If I kill T'thogga-hem when it's harmless, then it died just because. If I leave it and people are tricked in to disaster, that's my fault, too. But I can't see that far. I just don't want to kill slaves because they're in the way."
"The moral dilemmas of mortals," Samael says. "I suppose you need to talk to T'thogga-hem."
"That would help," the hybrid woman confirms, nodding. "And don't you mortals me. You could have moral dilemmas too, you just chose not to or else can't and I'm not sure which is worse. Just because you're pan-dimensional or universal shouldn't limit your ability to care and make decisions about things. Actually," she pauses, stepping back and folding her arms, leaning back a little, " ... not being able to have moral questions seems less godly. Like you're lazy, or can't deal with them because you live so long. I talked to the creator of Vartans, he couldn't take it after millions of years. Is that it? If you care, it destroys you? So you live forever and stop caring, because you just can't? That's not really a mortal problem, is it?"
"I'm not a god," Samael notes. "That's a term that gets applied to beings like me. But this isn't my universe, ultimately. It's.. I don't have a metaphor that you won't find insulting, honestly. Life and death hold no real value to me, because they are ultimately alien to me, no matter how well I may seem to immerse myself in them."
"Hrrm," goes Tasha, who stands there arms folded, head tilted for a quiet and contemplative moment. At lnegth she nods, but not angrily. It makes sense to her; after all, how many pieces of other universes can she understand? How much that they do, wouldn't matter to her? Could she even comprehend them? She isn't sure, or more accurately knows the answer but doesn't like it. "Don't get too full of yourself when I say 'god', God is just an easy word I use to describe beings like you, because everyone kind of sort of know what I mean, even if all the gods are different. I use it like how Titanians use it, and because it's easier." She goes silent for another long stretch, then explains, "What you say makes sense to me. And no, I'm not mad. I don't even think it's insulting. I've been struggling to understand your kind, and others from outside, ever since I first met one of you. I speak to your kind, partly because I want to and partly because I must and I haven't met anyone else who wants to, b
ut I still don't understand. I wonder now how much of what Horus was trying to tell me just didn't make sense to me. Maybe you have to be something to ever understand it? Is that what Fessus is? But even though I'm touched by ine of the Ogdru-hem, I don't understand them any better. I think I might insult you the same way, if you told me about what matters to you."
"Well, I'd appreciate if you didn't call me a god," Samael says. "Or an angel. Imp, demon.. maybe a devil, if I'm feeling really ambitious. I think those are more appropriate."
"You seem to really want to be percieved as a sinister force, but do you even understand what that means?" Tasha leans in, really leans, studying her own eyes in Samael's face. Searching for some recognition in the foreign being who wears her shell. "You seem to like fighting the Ogdoad and tormenting mortals, but you don't understand us, so you'll never know what you're really doing. You're like a tourist,or maybe a child, playing with things they don't understand because it amuses them. Gods, now you're making me wonder if all beings like you can even be considered civilized. If I can never understand, how could we know? Thotep calls us them animals, and me, too, maybe. But he says he understands. Maybe he can know. But you? The others? Now I can't decide if you're big or small. If you're higher, or lower than us."
"There is no hierarchy, really," Samael says. "We're sideways to you, perhaps? Or spiral. We are Lords of Chaos. Gods are generally Lords of Order. There's no inherent 'good' or 'evil' to those positions, because those are abstract concepts. Order and chaos are not abstract, they are points on the entropy gradient. When you consider us, they may seem like philosophical concepts, but they are as much biological for us as breathing oxygen versus breathing hydrogen are for you."
"I am uncivilized, because civilization is artificial order," he points out. "But a storm.. that's natural and unpredictable. That's me."
"I know, or I think I know that. When Thotep said he served Chaos, I believed him, because I have met beings of Order made of Light and Fire. And there are the other places, realities of Mind. That you're of Chaos made sense to me. But that's not what's bothering me, now." Tasha never really leans away, she just keeps looking for something. Something she can't seem to find, or find anymore, because maybe it was neevr there to begin with. "I wonder if I've been fooling myself this whole time. If I can never understand, I can't really speak. Maybe I just did it because it made me feel important, and because I believed. But maybe I really can't ever understand, can I? Not what I'm doing, or what it means for the beings I talk to, or even what matters to them -- or convey what matters to me to them. Thinking about it like that, it's no wonder I keep getting used."
"Ah, see.. you're alive, and as such you are a paradox," Samael claims, and actually taps Tasha on her nose. "Life is born of chaos. It is a tangle of chaotic processes and forces. But it gives rise to order. It reverses entropy. And so beings like me.. and the Ogdoad.. find it so fascinating. The rarest of elements. Is it any wonder your motivations may shift from moment to moment, or thought to thought? You aren't even the same person you were yesterday. Isn't that amazing?"
"I'm not sure how that solves me problem," Tasha notes, leaning back a little. her eyes grow wider when her nose is tapped. "And I don't feel amazing right now, right now I feel like I'm not sure what I've been doing is right or makes sense, whether I should blow up this planet or not, and even if I do talk to the hem if I can understand it well enough to make a choice about what to do. I might as well do what you do, just be random." She then licks at her nose, rubbing it. Being taped by her own cloned hand itches in a way other than physical.
"Ah, see.. the proper chaotic approach isn't random," Samael says, and then leans in to whisper, "The proper way.. is to try everything at once." He then winks, and saunters off to look at the bug-buses some more.
Tasha heaves a sigh, but lets Samael go -- at leats until she remembers she's suppsoed to be watching him and hurries to catch up. She isn't sure how she'd blwo up the planet and talk to T'thogga-hem. No, that's not right; she knows how. T'thogga-hem is an earth-spirit, he's tied to the planet. If the planet fragmented apart, she might be able to contain it to a single fragment, and that she could possibly relocate and speak to, where it'l be easier to contain until the situation is resolved. That will also eliminate a potential Berserker colony and all records that might spawn a whole new Ogdoad cult. She thinks it might even be a very Titanian idea, if just for the blowing up part. "H-hey," she calls out as she catches up, " ... maybe you're got something, there!"