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Post by Marshmallow on Dec 29, 2018 2:07:19 GMT -6
Was that Sohl's voice now as well? What was going on? He saw nothing, but felt impressions, imagery sliding across his mind's eye. They were familiar presences, but felt in new and strange ways. Alien. His mind recoiled, seeking a safe shelter but finding nowhere with which to ground himself. Had he an ocean, he would have tucked himself beneath the swaying fronds of the reef plants, rearranged his skin to match the scenery...
Isaac? Sohl? What is this? I don't... I don't understand. I'm dreaming. But I can't wake up. Malthiel's thoughts faltered, jerking in panicked spasms like a frightened bird. He felt scattered, directionless, adrift. What is happening?
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Post by MP on Dec 29, 2018 2:07:40 GMT -6
At this, a tentative flutter, like something stirring within its shell. But Sohl didn’t understand what was happening any better than Malthiel, was almost as nervous, and his attempt at reassurance was hardly more than a whisper of wind.
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Post by Sharei on Dec 29, 2018 2:09:17 GMT -6
Silence fell across the network, universal and complete as all three minds failed to answer. Finally it was Isaac, stirring from some private shock, that reached out first. It came as a tentative touch against Malthiel's consciousness, and it was filled with so much shock that his mind's voice was nearly inaudible.
It can't be. You...
Another pause. Isaac's mind recoiled slightly. Sohl. When you concentrate... does his presence feel like... like mine to you?
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Post by MP on Dec 29, 2018 2:09:36 GMT -6
I.. A troubled pause as he examined the other mind for the first time. It does.
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Post by Marshmallow on Dec 29, 2018 2:10:13 GMT -6
The ghosting touches of other minds to his own was at once soothing and troubling. He was torn between leaning into that comfort and pulling away, curious but confused, frightened. Inexperienced, his emotions flowed freely through the connection. Shock and wonder and a quaking fear of the unknown.
He imagined himself reaching for Isaac, for a grounding presence.
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Post by Sharei on Dec 29, 2018 2:12:03 GMT -6
It's alright -
Except that it wasn't. Or it was, perhaps, but the knowledge dumped on the group as soon as Malthiel's mental presence touched Isaac's fully threw them all into a state of shock. Isaac recoiled, thoughts tumbling, memory rising to lash like waves against their tiny lifeboat at sea.
It was impossible, and yet there could be no other explanation. Isaac recognized it in Malthiel on a biological level, a knowledge so intrinsic that it could not be mistaken.
Malthiel was his kin, and everyone in the link could feel it.
How is this possible? He said, mental voice quaking like a young child's. He touched upon the pack-bonds that had formed between them; glowing ribbons in the darkness of their minds that ferried information back and forth. They were solid - as solid as though there were two of Isaac, one on each end. But Malthiel was not a creature like him - he was a shoggoth, not even from earth. How?
And then he felt the pulse of a second core, weaker, like a flutter of gentle birds wings where Isaac's was the wingbeats of dragons. It was a matching rhythm to his own - the twin core he had long thought lost, ejected into the deep millennia ago to spare himself its increasingly demanding cost. Malthiel had it, albeit significantly weakened, but it was for sure the same.
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Post by Marshmallow on Dec 29, 2018 2:13:26 GMT -6
For long moments, Malthiel's end of the link was silent, unmoving. He sat upright in his bed, eyes wide but unseeing, as he struggled to process the sudden rush of memory and feeling. With that single touch came a flood, an abrupt clarity of understanding as though he had spent decades beneath a shroud and it had finally been yanked away.
The answer to why his isolation on Earth had felt so complete, that more of him was missing than just his brood and his home seas. Why his infatuation with Isaac had been so consuming, why their presences so soothed one another's. He had mistaken those feelings, that innate draw, for something entirely different. These were not the bonds of a romance, but... of a family. The truth at the heart of it, as he focused on the gleaming pack bonds and the fluttering impression of a core hidden somewhere within himself, was they were truly kin.
Isaac, you... I... We are... He faltered. Something like a sob filtered through the link. ... Brothers?
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Post by Sharei on Dec 29, 2018 2:14:22 GMT -6
At the sob Isaac's mind reached out to comfort, but something held him back and kept him from making that connection. His presence receded, a cowering shape in the back of their minds. Fear edged his thoughts, a whiplash of sensations - hope, loss, joy, grief, millennia of mourning. It was too much. Malthiel was his brother. His brother! That romantic love he'd thought he'd felt had been his response to the pack mentality, a bond familial in origin, and he'd misjudged it, misused it, been utterly unaware of it. Stupid. Stupid. Should have seen it. Should have known. Could have helped. Malthiel is an abomination now, just like you, and its your fault. He could have stayed asleep, but he didn't and its your fault...
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Post by MP on Dec 29, 2018 2:14:51 GMT -6
Don't say that. A savage refute. You’re not an abomination.
It was directed at neither, both - a blazing certainty that, after that initial fire, waned into smaller, more timid thoughts. He was still examining the concept, trying to understand.
You couldn’t have known, Sohl added, more moderately.
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Post by Marshmallow on Dec 29, 2018 2:19:03 GMT -6
Malthiel flinched back from the rushing tide of Isaac's backlash, confused, concerned, wounded. Isaac.. he pleaded, thought edging forward like a timid animal, small and insignificant. He reached but did not press, too afraid of another lash, of rejection. Isaac please... He hadn't known, how could he? That missing piece had been hidden, they were both ignorant of it. In this ignorance though, he'd wronged Isaac. The thought burned him like an acid. How could he fix it? If he could just fix it, everything would be okay, he didn't want to be alone anymore, so alone, if he could just-
Sohl's voice cut through the mire he was losing himself in. He stilled, forced himself to breathe, his consciousness coiling inward on itself as he tried to force order.
I don't know how this is happening, or why now after all this time... I'm sorry, if I had known sooner...
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Post by Sharei on Dec 29, 2018 2:19:40 GMT -6
The shout made him jerk his head up. He jumped, knocking the china cup off the edge of his desk. It shattered on the marble. Muttered oaths flooded the link.
It's not your fault. It's not... I just...
Isaac's voice drifted off. It turned inward, as did his thoughts, and his presence all but disappeared as he collected himself in a private struggle behind closed doors. When he reemerged it was steadier, his previously quivering voice more solid.
I'm sorry, he said, brushing Mal's thoughts with an apologetic touch and Sohl's with a thankful one. This is just... startling. I never dreamed this could happen.
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Post by Marshmallow on Dec 29, 2018 2:20:59 GMT -6
More tentatively this time, Malthiel's thoughts reached out, then leaned into Isaac's like an embrace. He struggled to separate the mental connection from the reality of sitting alone in his room; when his arms closed around nothing but himself, both his mind and his body shuddered. He drew a long, steadying breath, and became distantly aware that his cheeks were wet. Shadows danced across his walls to the beat of his emotions, and he watched them with a detached fascination.
I don't even understand what this is. It's not a dream. How are we communicating like this? Has something.. happened?
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Post by Sharei on Dec 29, 2018 2:21:12 GMT -6
Y̶o̸u̴ ̷s̴h̶a̵r̴e̶ ̷a̶ ̶p̸a̴c̵k̴ ̷b̶o̷n̶d̶.̶ ̷T̵h̸i̷s̶ ̸i̶s̵ ̴y̴o̵u̶r̸ ̴n̸a̶t̵u̶r̷a̸l̴ ̵s̷t̷a̵t̴e̸.̴
Isaac fell still, his thoughts placid like a reflective pond. He dared not even breathe as the Dark's voice vibrated down the link.
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Post by MP on Dec 29, 2018 2:21:28 GMT -6
But...
The thought was tentative, but for all that, fearless. Sohl refocused on the silken touch of the dark, mental ears pricked.
Malthiel isn’t like Isaac. He has his own kind. How are they bonded?
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Post by Sharei on Dec 29, 2018 2:22:08 GMT -6
T̴h̷e̵ ̷l̵i̷t̸t̸l̷e̶ ̵o̵n̵e̴ ̷w̴a̷s̶ ̵n̸o̴t̸ ̸c̸r̵e̸a̶t̶e̴d̸ ̷a̷l̷o̸n̸e̷.̶ ̵H̴e̷ ̵p̵o̸s̸s̵e̶s̵s̷e̵d̵ ̵a̷ ̶t̸w̵i̴n̸,̶ ̴b̸u̴t̷ ̸h̷e̴ ̷l̸o̴s̶t̶ ̵i̵t̴ ̵l̴o̵n̸g̵ ̷a̶g̸o̴.̷ ̸ A touch of pride. I̸ ̸f̶e̴r̵r̸i̵e̵d̶ ̷i̶t̵ ̴t̷o̷ ̶a̶ ̴n̴e̷w̶ ̸p̶l̶a̵c̴e̸,̴ ̴w̵h̵e̶r̶e̴ ̵i̸t̸ ̷w̸a̴s̶ ̷b̶o̴r̵n̵ ̵a̸m̴o̵n̴g̶ ̵t̶h̵e̴ ̷b̴r̵o̶o̷d̷ ̵o̵f̸ ̶t̵h̶e̸ ̸S̸o̷n̴g̴ ̷o̸f̶ ̸t̵h̶e̵ ̸D̴e̴e̴p̷.̸
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