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[howtheyshine]

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[howtheyshine]

[A brief pause because now that he's started asking questions it's annoying to stop. But he manages.]

Yes, at Halloween.

[betacuck]

Okay, great! Progress. Fuck yeah. Okay, so you know how you can do anything you want with this thing? I thought you could show me a place that makes you feel less.... You know.

[ Roman makes a flighty sort of sound, wiggling his fingers. ]

Safe, or comfortable, or... that shit.

[howtheyshine]

[Yellow-- Edwin-- You know what he's not thinking about a name right now, it doesn't matter!!!]

You... want me to show you a place that makes me feel less safe?

[betacuck]

No.

[ Fuck. That's right. He can't just trail off and assume his line of thought is being followed with this guy! he's go to finish his sentences and be, like, a good warden and shit. Roman scunches his nose and pinches the bridge of it. He's definitely texting Raylan after this. ]

The opposite. I thought it would be nice if we had a little get-to-know-you in a place you were, like, alright with.

[howtheyshine]

Oh. [UHHHHH. A safe place. A safe place. He can think of several but they're all just.... different places on the barge.] I don't... know any on earth.

[betacuck]

That's fine. Earth's shitty anyway. What about where you're from on not-earth?

[ He's, like, a demon, right? Or some shit...? ]

[howtheyshine]

There were no safe places before that. [It's a quiet grumble, like a kid on a playground muttering something they think is going to get them punched in the junk.]

[betacuck]

[ Oh boy.

Roman exhales slowly, looking around like there may be someone to help him. There isn't. ]

Tell you what. You cool with water and trees?

html who

[howtheyshine]

"Yes." He actually does seem to brighten at that, or at least the tone of his voice does. "I like plants. I thought the crab apples in the greenhouse were animals, but they're seeds, and now I have some growing in my cabin."

Re: html who

[betacuck]

It's a start. Roman presses his lips into a thin line.

"Are you familiar with a place called Montanna?"

[howtheyshine]

"No." But he sounds curious now rather than defensive.

[betacuck]

Okay. So part of being a warden is being vulnerable, right? Right. Roman exhales loudly, blowing a raspberry as he does so.

"One of my brothers took me fly fishing in Montanna when I was really young. It sucked, but it was fun. You wanna check it out?"

[howtheyshine]

"Oh. Yes." Definitely intrigued now. He perks up, signified more by his tone and the way he floats fractionally higher than any actual expression on his blank, broken mask. "What is 'fly fishing'?"

[betacuck]

That's gonna take some getting used to, too. Roman adjusts his line of sight appropriately.

"You know I don't have any fucking idea? Con didn't catch anything, he just sort of stood in the river with the dumbest looking pants I've seen. C'mon."

He's already at the closure itself, fiddling with the controls.

"You can tell me about yourself and shit."

[howtheyshine]

Yellow follows, still curious and now also surprised at Roman's interest. Arthur and JD caring made sense, even Collins to a degree, given they were all from the same place. Jedao he can understand. Hunter-- well, Hunter got to know him after they were paired, too, he supposes, though it wasn't this deliberate.

"Uh. What... do you want to know about? I've only existed as I am for..." He raises a few tentacles to study like they'll help him do the math before he looks at Roman again. "Eighty days. Only three of those were before this place."

[betacuck]

Roman stops what he's doing entirely, craning his neck around.

"Excuse me?"

[howtheyshine]

Edwin gives him a blank look in return. ...Well, yes, because his face is literally a blank mask, but somehow his aura also manages to communicate 'what, like it's weird?'

"I've only existed as I am for eighty days, and three of them were before the barge. Before that I was in the Dark World, a lifeless dimension of chaos in which the refuse of the universe collects."

[betacuck]

If he's here and an inmate and he's only existed for three before needing to be snapped up by the admiral, what the fuck was he doing before?

"Jesus Christ. I guess that answers some things. C'mon--hop in."

[howtheyshine]

"...What does it answer?" He's both curious and confused, because he's pretty sure he has no better idea now of what Roman wants to know, but whatever, he'll follow him into the enclosure.

[betacuck]

"Why you're you." A beat, and Roman steps into the Enclosure.

It's sunset, the river glittering beautifully during golden hour, temperature perfect. Roman doesn't even know if it's how it really was: it's how he remembers it, and that's what counts. There's a big thermos and two folding chairs, and Roman gestures with a thumb at all of the picturesque beauty.

"Pop a squat, buddy."

[howtheyshine]

"Oh," he says, softly, not to Roman's answer--he's got more questions about that--but to the landscape they've just walked into. Or floated into, in his case.

He drifts further in, hovering just over the edge of the water and listening to the stream, wishing he could touch it and feel anything more than the pressure that says there's water there.

After a second, distractedly, he adds, "I can't squat. I don't have legs."

[betacuck]

"Caught that. Pop a cloud, then, I don't know, just... relax."

It seems to be going well. Nothing weirdly upsetting, nice, relaxed atmosphere. Yeah. Okay.

"So I guess...I just wanted to know about you. Not the shit in the file--which I haven't got don't worry--or like the cold, clinical bullshit, just... you. What's your story morning glory?"

[howtheyshine]

He's still taken by their surroundings, looking around in awe, only half-paying attention to his own words.

"There isn't much to tell. I was a piece of the King in Yellow, a patron god of madness and art, broken away from him when he attempted to enter a version of your Earth and was severed. I was trapped and bound in a book that exiled me to the Dark World. I forgot who I was, what I had been. I existed there for centuries beyond counting. Then I was dragged back to earth and trapped in the eyes of Arthur Lester when he tried to save John from being taken again by the King. Not this Arthur. A very different one. One the Arthur here hasn't become, won't become now."

He finally looks over at Roman. "I lived for three days in that man's eyes, and then he killed me, or I assume he did, after teaching me how to survive the worst things a human can be."

[betacuck]

Roman's brows have been increasingly furrowed as the other talks. To his credit, he's actually listening. A miracle, but hey, he's a warden now.

"So... Why are you here?" He gives the other a curious, if confused look.

"Doesn't sound like you've actually done anything. Feels a bit more circumstantial than anything else."

[howtheyshine]

A long silence, his mask still turned toward Roman.

"The means by which I choose to survive, if I need to, I imagine."