EVERY TRUTH BECOMES LIE

[hellshot]

who: Reaper hellshot and Jacob Kane aeturnus
what: Meeting up because being unable to die isn't exactly common
when: Around the 15th of May
where: Just outside of the living quarters
warnings: body horror, talk



[Any excuse to get out of the housing circle was a good excuse in his books. So despite how he really would rather not socialize with perfect strangers on a planet far from home--he can't lie that he is curious about a being that can't die, like himself.

After all, he was a freak accident, and you don't exactly go around googling for support groups for other undead, forever-living folk in your area.

And as he said he would be, he's easy enough to pick out. A long black coat with a hood over his head, but that unmistakable stylized skull (owl?) mask over his face, hiding his eyes and features from sight.

It's not like he has any idea what this Jacob guy looks like, so he's just going to wait around, arms crossed, looking about as approachable as a cactus. Goodluck, Kane.]

Comments

[hellshot]

... [He considers answering yes to the others' question, as 'moose' is a more obvious pun than mouse, but that would just mean he'd be admitting how the joke flew over his head even more.

So he'll drop that, for now, in place of a better line of conversation:]

...I don't feel like trying to kill you just to prove a point. And I don't wear a mask for the sake of wearing a costume.

I wear it to hide the cost of my 'immortality'.

[aeturnus]

Right, the smell and the burning and the state it's left you in.

[ He tilts his head, consideringly, at the whole package that is this man who calls himself Reaper. ]

How long have you been like this, if I may ask?

[hellshot]

[He might not have noticed it at first, but there is the slightest hiss of black smoke that escapes from under his mask every now and again. The very same black mist rises from under his hooded jacket as well--and just as Reaper had warned, it doesn't smell all that great. Not to say that it was strong enough to chase anyone off, but it certainly will be noticeable the longer Jacob hangs around. An odd, ozone-like scent mixed with carbon, like charcoal burning without cooking anything.]

...About ten years now, give or take. It's not gotten any better or worse since I came 'back' to life.

[aeturnus]

[ He notices, tracking the motion without really moving his eyes. Due to the fact that he tends to read peoples' necks so often and doesn't let on, he's really good at using his peripheral vision by now. ]

So it's just like a moment frozen in time... What happens if you get hurt? Does it heal or reverse?

[ His tone of voice says he's curious, but not closed off, either. He just isn't going to outright offer information about his own condition unless this reticent guy asks first. ]

[hellshot]

Exactly like that. [He just won't mention the fact that he constantly feels the death and rebirth of his cells on repeat--noone needs to be privy to that.]

If I get hurt, my body rebuilds itself from scratch. I've been blown apart by a Tesla Cannon before, and yet, here I stand.

[getting ripped apart by electricity, he wouldn't recommend it.]

My cells always return and revert back to how they are now. In between life and death.

[Which will now give hint about his name--Reaper, 'Death' walking, a 'grave' mistake.]

[aeturnus]

[ Yep. All those death puns. ]

I'm sorry. [ His head tilts, considering. ] We're about in the same boat but I wasn't dying when I got stuck. But you don't sound horrifically insane to be going through all that, so I guess congratulations are in order.

[hellshot]

[What can he say, he's a little fixated.]

You're hardly in a position where you need to apologise. [He waves a hand at the other, dismissing the 'im sorry' too easily.] And I don't feel like being congratulated is appropriate either.

[See, friendly. Just as he promised.]

My 'sanity' is the High-functioning kind. Lucky for everyone here who's a little less immortal than you claim to be.

[Which... now he's squinting at Jacob.]

What were you doing when you got stuck, then. [He answered your questions, now it's your turn.]

[aeturnus]

Very luckily for them.

[ There's a lot of things to be said for Cain's hard-earned knowledge and wisdom. He knows a lot, knows how to handle even more when he can't predict it. His common sense, however, often takes a leave for things like shock-factor and the ability to answer easily instead of trying to overthink things. He's not really trying to make a sob story or one-up anyone because what happened is just... what happened. Still. ]

Watching my brother die.

[hellshot]

[He can't really relate, watching family die was actually something on his list of tragedies that he hadn't gone through. So it's easy, how he shifts his weight between his feet, arms crossing with a bit of a scoff.]

Immortality gained over a traumatic event, or there's something more to that.

[Because last he checked, watching family die doesn't give you everlasting life.]

[aeturnus]

Unfortunately, I don't know what the correlation really is. All I know is that's the moment it happened and considering—a lot of things around my brother's death, it's the most likely catalyst.

[ Hard to do research when you're the only one in the history of ever this has happened to, and the guys you could ask about it seem to either fear you or hate your guts for some inexplicable reason. ]

i press send too early all the time lol

[hellshot]

.....

You mentioned 'being the only one' in your world as well, didn't you.

[As he shifts how he's standing, re-settling his arms in their fold against his chest. As if standing idle is enough to make him uncomfortable.]

So you really have no way of finding out what makes you immune to death.

[He's... a little jealous, honestly--if only because Jacob looks so okay.]

No outstanding 'price' to pay?

i just don't know what i pressed!

[aeturnus]

[ Physically he's fine. Inside he's something of a mess that's going to take a while to sort out. Better than constantly burning, though. Probably. ]

If there is, I'm paying off someone else's debt. And it's supposed to have been in the works since I was born. [ He shakes his head, briefly runs a hand through his hair. ] Is that what yours is? Some kind of "make it right" clause?

[hellshot]

'Since you were born'. I'm sure you realise how shady that sounds. [Having your life planned out to be immortal doesn't sound right at all, and he's already skeptical enough of the others' situation as it is.]

And hardly. My situation stems from someone using experimental sciences on my corpse because they don't know how to let go or something.

[It's vague... mostly because he still has no idea what Angela did.]

[aeturnus]

That's just how it is where I'm from. You get an amount of time and what you do with it is your call.

[ He shrugs, because he's sure it sounds shady to say it so bluntly but it's a fact. He's known ever since his brother could communicate it to him that he's had far too much time to live — it wasn't until later that he realized how it was all supposed to work out. ]

Ouch. That's... completely disturbing, actually. [ There's no purpose in that, and part of him aches for the meaninglessness of it. ]

[hellshot]

There's some sort of poem about everyone getting the same amount of time in the day, but I'm too tired to think up the actual words of it. [He waves a hand at the other.] Where the hell are you from, then? I know there exist other planets than Earth by now.

[As he waves off the 'disturbing' comment for now. They can come back to it (never) later.]

[aeturnus]

Earth. Just one not so similar to where most others come from.

[ It does seem to be the most popular choice for the portal. If what Taako said was true, maybe there's actually a reason for that. ]

Reapers are actual forces in the world instead of... [ There's a slight smile and he gestures at the man before him. ] ... metaphorical?

[hellshot]

I've heard that enough. Most people aren't from My version of Earth, either. Complaints about 'too far' in the future. [A low scoff.]

Who said there was anything metaphorical about me calling myself Reaper?

I'm more than just a rotting corpse.

[aeturnus]

How far is "too far" for people? [ It's pretty arbitrary considering how quickly the world changes... He's seen all that firsthand. ]

But you were or are still human underneath whatever else happened. [ He does nod, however. ] What else is there?

[hellshot]

2076. A turn for the worse when machines started acting like people. And it terrified the hell out of everyone to a point of war.

[He raises a hand, silver claws clicking off the front of his bone-like mask, a low exhale escaping him.]

I'm human-shaped. When I want to be.

['When I want to be' is followed by his entire body shifting where he stands, and it's as if he suddenly turns into a cloud of smoke. it moves, like tendrils, shifting and flowing around the ground in a shapeless form--until he stands again out of it, whole.]

[aeturnus]

Right, like we haven't been making speculative fiction about that sort of thing for ages. You'd think people would have an actual plan for that sort of thing by now.

[ He watches, eyes rooted to the form of Reaper as he moves, and doesn't flinch or step away. ]

... Okay. Way closer to Reapers for real now. How weird does that feel?

[hellshot]

Exactly what I said. I've said a thousand times over that if you get robots with self-awareness to build your cities and fix your problems, taking away their rights as cognitive beings is how you start a war.

But it's not like anyone listens too hard for people like me.

[He shifts his shoulders in a shrug, for the other question.]

'Weird' is one way to describe it. Falling apart and then building yourself back from scratch. 'Weird' doesn't quite cover it.

[aeturnus]

Any kind of resolution for that by your time?

[ It seems like a clear cut case to him, shouldn't have gotten to that point in at all, but no single person can decide for anyone else how to react. That's the whole issue in the first place. ]

So you're always feeling in control, or that you can fight for it? There's that.

[hellshot]

Fought in a war for nearly 30 years trying to fix it.

Shit's more like a cold-war standstill with tensions high on both sides, but it' calmer.

[No more worrying that a bunch of Bastion units are going to storm into cities and mow down thousands of innocents.]

...

Some days are easier than others. That's all I'm willing to say about this.

[Bad pain days and feeling like his body was threatening to split apart weren't common, but they happened.]

[aeturnus]

It's an opportunity, anyway. Well, I'd hope it is.

[ That sort of answer just gets a nod from Cain. ]

Hey, I'm not trying to push. You can ask me whatever next, if you want.

[hellshot]

[Good, because he's not much in the mood to talk about how gross his body physiology is at any given time. He doesn't much feel like talking more about the Omnic Crisis either, so:]

You're immortal in age, how about body.

Still have to eat and sleep like a normal person?