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]

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?

[aeturnus]

To stay comfortable? Absolutely. But... if it killed me, I'd still just come back.

[ It's not one of the best ways to go but it happens sometimes. Yanno. ]

[hellshot]

Cycle of rebirth after dying then, that's what you're dealing with.

Somehow, it sounds like you got off on the lucky side of 'immortal.'

[He's not bitter you're bitter.]

[aeturnus]

It's more of a reversal than coming out the other end. I feel everything until it's just not there anymore, so say... recovering from a gunshot wound or electrocution or torture or whatever else. Hurts just as much going in as it does going out.

[ And he grimaces for himself, for show, because he gets exactly what Reaper means but it isn't as clean-cut as he probably wants to think of it as. ]

[hellshot]

[He seems to think about that for a second--his gaze being hard to measure due to the mask he wears, but the moment of silence should be enough of a tell. He gestures with a hand.]

So you're telling me when a bullet goes in, it travels the same path to get the hell out when you heal?

[aeturnus]

[ Cain waits patiently. It isn't like they don't have time, and it doesn't usually take long for people to understand what he means. ]

Got it in one. At least, if I don't pull it out myself first. That usually helps the process.

[hellshot]

Sounds painful. Don't exactly envy you.

[But honestly, he'd rather that kind of life opposed to his body just dropping bullets out of his body as if he's made out of water.]

Sounds less like you heal, and more like your shit rewinds.

[aeturnus]

Yeah, neither of us are the best posterboys for immortality, huh?

[ Cain just shrugs at that. ]

Technically yes, but as long as I come out of the other end okay you might as well just call it healing.

[hellshot]

Who knows. You might play the part of 'poster boy' better than me.

But it's still utter bullshit. [yep, he's full-on calling your immortality bullshit. He'd come here expecting to meet someone who couldn't be penetrated by bullets or weapons or something.]

...

What's the worst way you've ever died.

[You should probably leave the conversation here.]

[aeturnus]

Right? I'd say eventually you get used to it, but I wouldn't know for a case like yours.

[ Is the, er, novelty of burning forever going to wear off at all? ]

Hm. Burned to death, broken to pieces and scattered to the winds. 'Course, I only felt it up to the burning.

[ Nah. This could be fun. ]

[hellshot]

You get used to a lot of things, like this.

[The chronic pain being one thing, watching your body fall apart day-to-day being another. But that's beside the point.

He's more interested in discussing the second answer Jacob gives.]

So, when you get fucked up like that, how the hell do you recover from it?

'Scattered to the winds', do you just come back together like the ending scene in the Iron Giant or something. [There's such a snide sound of sarcasm in his voice here.]

[aeturnus]

Yeah, guess you do.

[ It's definitely something he has no interest in learning for himself. Something to be said for human resilience. ]

Wait, hold on. I mean, yes, something like that, but how do you know Iron Giant? Is it some kind of timeless cult classic?

[ Cain focuses on the important things here. ]

[hellshot]

[that sure is ONE thing to focus on. You can almost feel the judgemental look of 'are you kidding me' from under that skull-like mask.]

Of course it's a timeless classic. I might be from the 2080s, but some shit doesn't fall into a vault and die.

People are still playing old-ass games like Hearthstone, for fuck sake.

[I wish this canon wasn't real]

[aeturnus]

[ What, you want him to go the boring route? The thing he's probably had a million conversations about instead of knowing stupid, irrelevant shit about the future? Puh-lease. ]

That's... the card game isn't? Digital? [ He just looks bemused, vaguely mystified. Offended? Hard to say. ] Do you have it in VR by then?

[hellshot]

I don't know if we have it in VR. But given how popular that sort of bullshit is, I wouldn't be surprised.

We used a lot of VR Technology in the military to train men how to properly work on the field though. That shit's gotten realistic enough to be viable as something other than just a 'game'.

...

I admit I was a bit too busy in life to enjoy that sort of thing to know too much more about it.

[aeturnus]

No, you're right. Not your wheelhouse, it's not something I can expect you to know.

[ He waves that off. ]

Eventually yes, I'd come back. Just slowly piece together until I'm whole and wake back up.

[hellshot]

You'd be better off discussing that sort of thing with the Cyborg Ninja that lives on the same floor I do. [He doesn't give a name, but that's more than enough information, he feels, for now.]

Sounds like a pain in the ass, all the same. Guess that's what you get if you can't separate your own cells on will.

[aeturnus]

That's a real sentence you just said.

[ He probably knows, Cain. Still, it bears repeating because wow there is a lot to learn and accept about infinite realities. ]

Yeah, it's got trade-offs. I get to pretend I'm normal for twenty to thirty years at a time.

[hellshot]

Yeah. It was. You'll see I'm not kidding when you meet him. If you meet him. Genji.

[Because he's a friendly sort--he'd likely get along with Kane.]

Wondered about that. You'd have to move to a different city or town every now and again. Hah.

That sounds like shit, too.