[ closed ] new best friends

[alldenim]

who: Barry Bluejeans & Dorian Pavus
what: Meeting at work
when: yeah
where: Gramayre Magic Research
warnings: Prrrrobably a ton of necromancy talk

[ Barry is so getting used to this new arrangement, no problem. Sure, not all of his family is here, but they can make due. Of course the first thing he's going to pour himself into researching is those teleporters. They, the IPRE, could go between them for obvious reasons but. Well a few talks with Kravitz revealed that they were on a whole different kind of fucking planar system! How insane is that! It's fucking rad as hell.

He's got a Fantasy iPad™ in one hand while he reads over some data he's collected and a paper cup of coffee in the other. He's adapting to this new technology insanely well. Scary well. But maybe too well? Because he's all Disney's Belle with this nonsense. He's trying to walk, read, and take a sip of his coffee all at once. So, yeah. He's going to walk right into Dorian's back. At least any coffee that sloshed out either got on his own IPRE robes or on the floor? Barry blinks for a second ]

Woah! Uh... Sorry there bud, didn't see ya there...

Comments

[tevinteraltus]

(Dorian, though acclimating rather well to the phone, has decided he prefers books. They have a smell he doesn't want t lose, and while it sounds a bit sad, they've been his most steadfast friends throughout the majority of his life. Between projects at the Research facility, Dorian has been, over the past few months, busying himself with the exploration of Necromancy has it applies to other worlds, and this one specifically, as well as the drawing of magic, the casting, enchantment, and basically just widening his experience.

He hadn't, even though he's worked here for months, gotten used to sharing space with people. Back home, people gave him a wide berth, even after he helped save the world. Here? Well, here people got close.

Or ran into him. Olive eyes watch as Barry's coffee splashes safely to the floor rather than staining his stylish white coat and it's only after noting the spill that he looks up to the man who'd apologized, smiling slightly, because he didn't ruin anything and so he was just fine.)

I didn't realize I was so unnoticeable. That hurts my feelings.

(His tone suggests that's probably not true, though.)

And my name is Dorian. You've got coffee on your robes.

[alldenim]

[ There's a smile, a bit of a smirky and joking one, that immediately blooms on Barry's face. He liked this guy already! Handsome and witty? Hey, those are always a plus.

Barry shrugs. ]

Not in the least, my man. Just uh. [ He holds up the Fantasy iPad and wiggles it a little ] Really distracted trying to catch up on the differences in tech and magic.

[ The stain? He glances at it. ]

Eh. They've been through worse. Dorian, huh? [ He sticks the pad under his arm so he has a free hand to shake with. ] The name's Barry. Barry Bluejeans. Kinda new in town.

[tevinteraltus]

If there'd been a question previously, a tablet computer being more interesting than me proves we've never met.

(He inclines his head with a confident smirk as he takes Barry's offered hand.)

And I assumed. It isn't often someone quite like you bumbles through the research floor. It's a pleasure, Barry.

(He gives his red robes another glance over.)

Is that something like a uniform, then? Red really isn't my shade.

[alldenim]

Someone like me...?

[ He's confused. Not offended or-- yeah no just confused. Someone like him. Did he sense that he was a lich? Aw fuck, here we go. He's gonna hold off on the nerves until that's done. ]

Oh, yeah.

[ He's kinda thankful for a different subject. ]

Mission back home. Me and a crew. You've met Lucretia? [ she worked here, made sense, and no harm in asking ] She was part of it too.

[tevinteraltus]

You do yourself no credit, Barry. You have a presence about you...albeit a slightly distracted presence.

(He smiles, though, clearly teasing.)

Lucretia...in passing, yes, here and there, but I've never had occasion to engage her at length. The two of your are co-workers, then, former as well as current?

[alldenim]

[ Wh. What is this. Is this flirting? No one flirts with him besides Lup. Is he hinting at the lich thing? He's gotta be. Right? Either way, Barry is so confused and it most definitely shows on his face. ]

Uh thanks. I think.

[ Okay this topic he can handle much better. ]

Yeah. Me and her, a whole group of us went out exploring once and uh. Ended up jumping between planes of existence and then a big battle happened.

[ A shrug. ]

The usual. Been wearing this uniform so long it feels naked not to have it, I guess.

[ He nods at the book. Well, they're co-workers in an R&D place... ]

Whatcha workin' on there?

[tevinteraltus]

It's a compliment, Barry. Not everyone you meet has a singularity about them. You do. Congratulations on being an individual.

(Barry's description gave him pause, though. He'd heard something similar to this from Taako and from Magnus, though neither had mentioned a battle. He realized he was going out on a limb here with his question, but if Barry answered in the negative, he'd simply move on.)

Was this "plane jumping" accomplished on a trans-dimensional space ship that reset once a year by chance?

(He glanced down at the tome he was reading for a moment before moving slightly to give Barry a better view.)

I'm currently between projects, and thus I've been looking into Co-spatial Planar Habitation. It's a theory that suggests that some planes of existence span several layers at once, so there are differences, often minor though sometimes drastic, but most events and occupants are identical. This author posits these planes don't share similarities so much as those identical traits are one and the same, existing on multiple, very similar planes, simultaneously. Fascinating.

[alldenim]

[ He blinks. ]

Yeah! Lucretia told you about it...?

[ That seems unlikely given what he just said but. It also leaves open the opportunity to mention others.

Of course. The rest is long forgotten because holy fucking shit does he love working here. Familiar with heart eyes? Fuck that, heart being. Well. Nerdy hearts of course. He's a happily taken man. ]

I'm gonna have to go nose deep into that book as soon as you get it done, my man.

[tevinteraltus]

[Dorian shook his head in response, sliding a slip of paper into his book before closing it. This conversation was obviously going to be longer than he'd originally thought and he could always come back to the book later.]

No, not Lucretia. I honestly didn't know she was part of the arrangement. Taako and Magnus have spoken of it. Lup as well. I assume you know them?

[He chuckled, but nodded.]

I doubt the librarian will have any objections.

[alldenim]

[ Barry's expression flattened. So he'd talked to all those fuckers, including the love of his life, and none of them mentioned him? He's gonna kill 'em. ]

Uh yeah, some of them intimately. Well, mostly just Lup. For about sixty years or so.

[ SERIOUSLY LUP. ]

[tevinteraltus]

Intimately? Ah.

[Dorian could see where this was going and he chuckled, placing a hand to his chest with a smile.]

While, admittedly, it's difficult to encounter such wit and charm as mine and not become distracted, it's more likely Lup and I simply haven't breached the subject of home. We've only spoken once or twice very briefly, and the once I was inquiring as to her state of undeath.

[alldenim]

[ He shrugs and nods in that polite and jovial sort of way. ]

Yeah fair. She and I get that a lot. Me and her are in the same sort of state.

[tevinteraltus]

[And now, Barry, you have Dorian's full and undivided attention. You see, he was never actually able to...collect any sort of data about Lup's...condition.]

Truly? You are...a lich, then, in some sort of artificial body?

[alldenim]

[ Someone who isn't immediately horrified! God he fucking likes this guy already. He beams. ]

Right about the lich, wrong about the vessel. It's flesh and blood, and mine. It's just regrown.

[tevinteraltus]

You mean like the body Lup has been working on? Or that Taako has, I was never really very clear on the arrangement...

[He looks Barry over, unrestrained interest glittering in his eyes.]

I asked if I might see her new body as it was being grown, but...I never saw it through. It seemed a bit invasive.

[alldenim]

Yeah, exactly like that. Really advanced black market shit back home. I'm pretty sure the first guy making them was trying to make an advanced and fucked up sex doll...

[ That was a total diversion. He shrugs. ]

If we ever need to grow another one, I'll let you take a look at mine.

[tevinteraltus]

I can imagine.

[He nods, and as creepy as that sounds, he actually seems excited by the prospect.]

Well, Maker willing, that won't be necessary. I am curious how you came to be in such a state, though. Were you willing?

[alldenim]

As a Lich? Yeah... It was necessary for our mission.

[ Which. Is long and complicated and does he want to get into that? ]

I performed the spell for both of us.

[tevinteraltus]

Becoming a "lich" was necessary? How? Why?

[Yes. He's not going to be able to live without an answer.]

...that's impressive.

[alldenim]

[ He takes a breath to explain but looks around for a good little reading nook or something. ]

You wanna take a seat? This is gonna take a little bit of explaining.

[tevinteraltus]

[That was just the sort of answer Dorian was hoping for and he smiled, nodding.]

Have you taken lunch yet, Barry? [Because discussing the process by which someone intentionally becomes the walking dead is perfect for lunch talk, right? Right?] Perhaps we can take our discussion elsewhere?

[alldenim]

Oh hell yeah!

[ Which is him agreeing to lunch, not that he's already taken it. Probably obvious by the bright light in his eyes. It's not every day that someone is pretty into the whole necromancy thing. As a matter of fact, most people ran from it.

So, they go to lunch. Barry suggests a cool little cafe because he's kind of into the whole aesthetic? You just don't get shit like this back in Faerun and the sandwiches were killer. Like, almost as good as Taako's. Food ordered, drinks at the table, Barry leans forward. ]

Alright. You want me to start at the beginning with our story?

[ Because the context was pretty fucking relevant. ]

[tevinteraltus]

[ While Dorian has lived among southerners for nearly three years, he was raised among the Tevinter aristocracy, which meant meals were as much about the conversation as they were about the food. Dorian is a very indulgent man, both in conversation and in consumption. He's avidly anticipatory about both, and he really couldn't care less of they ended up spending all day at this cafe. Yes, they had a lunch hour, but the research facility was always fairly lax when it came to attendance so long as projects were attended to. ]

Is that not typically the best place to start a story?

[alldenim]

[ Barry actually laughs at that. He just kinda likes Dorian and his sass? Shock and awe, right? Barry Bluejeans liking sassy people. Anyway, he settles in after a sip of his drink. He gesticulates as he explains. ]

Alright so. We were from a different plane than this one. Dimension? Some people call it different things. Anyway, we wanted to discover how to jump around, like the portals do here. We had a ship and a crew. Me, Magnus, Lup and Taako, Merle, Lucretia, and the Captain.

[ And... here's where it goes wrong. ]

Shit fucked up. Something called The Hunger was eating up different planes, worlds, everything. It was chasin' the Light of Creation. We'd land on a planet and do everything we could to find it to keep that world alive. Didn't work out so well, most of the time, but we did what we could...

[ He pauses, both remembering some of the worst parts of the journey and so as not to be totally rude and just bombard Dorian with tons of fuckin' info. ]

[tevinteraltus]

[ To his credit, Dorian doesn't look confused or overwhelmed by Barry's explanation, but he does hold up a hand when he tapers off. ]

Perhaps I was incorrect. I believe some backstory is required first.

One, how did the lot of you acquire this ship? Two, what precisely is the Light of Creation? Is it something that exists congruent of all dimensions, or are its copies, perfect all, as infinite as the realms?

[alldenim]

[ Okay, first thing was first. ]

We built it. Well, the development department did. We helped in whatever way we could. None of us are ship building experts. We mostly focused on the going between planes thing.

[ Now. ]

It's... [ Fuck how do you even describe this. ] It's just pure creation. It just is. As far as we know, every plane has one, yeah. Even here.

[tevinteraltus]

[ Dorian nods, accepting that explanation easily enough. ]

Not unlike the Fade, then. Were it not also here, my magic would be rendered thoroughly useless, but continue.

[ He made a small motion with his hand. ]

So, this ship was specifically designed for the task of protecting the Light of Creation?