visual :: later he saw that each weed was a singular knife

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

One moment, he is Uther Doul, a quiet, occasionally sly mercenary in the employ of Lady Petrana, and in the next, he is En-Doul. While he appears younger, it's unlikely that will be the first thing people notice. Far more shocking is that his skin is darker, no longer tanned by the salt and sea, but chymically tanned into well-crafted leather . After assuring himself that he is whole and hale, he examines his surroundings. The room is strange and brighter than he's become accustomed to, but his eyes are no longer susceptible to being injured by sudden changes in light. Instead of organic tissue, attached to the orbital socket is a thin inlay of metal, housing a pair of translucent, milky spheres. In dim light, it's possible to discern a pale, blue light at the core of the glass.

The window is open and the room is cool, but despite only wearing a linen kilt, fine sandals, and a pectoral necklace made of tiny, iridescent blue feathers. Unexpectedly, there is a strange silver bracelet grafted onto his wrist and while this is odd, the tablet on a nearby table is even stranger. On the top right corner, there is an icon labelled in Quiesy that reads [Lost?]. Tapping the image brings up a short file that explains where he is, what a glitch is, what is likely expected of him, and how to send out a video message.

[I have been told that I ought to introduce myself here and mention that I am 'glitched'. I am unsure if your devices will be able to translate my speech. Failing that, I have been advised to contact Deadman Brucolac.] During the entire time he signs out his message, En-Doul is completely silent and while it looks as if his mouth is just closed, it is actually sewn shut. Wisely, he never bought into the fad for detailed embroidery.

Comments

[voice]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Doul?

Is that you?

[reads the message]

What do you mean, what glitch? What happened to you?

[visual]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

Unable to speak aloud, his 'speech', such as it is, signed-out and then translated by the tablet.

"I am En-Doul."

"The documents left by my alternate have outlined the nature of 'glitches' and that you are an intelligent man. Tell me of the Liveman you know and I will explain the ways in which we differ."

[voice]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

[some smugness] He thinks I'm intelligent?

[clears throat, back to business] Well, he's---he's actually---you know, I don't know a great deal about him, actually. Well, nothing I'd share. Got fantastic taste in books, though. And he's not quite so creepy. Well, I don't think so, anyway.

En Doul. Particular reason for the En? Does it stand for something?

[visual]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"It is a title. I am a feared and respected priest," he signs without any display of pride. Even the name of the Doul that the Doctor knows is more a title than any actual personal name.

[voice]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Never a big fan of titles, me.

Where are you from, En Doul?

[visual]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

En-Doul cocks his head to one side and skims the notes his alternate left behind before responding.

"Much the same place Liveman Doul came from: High Cromlech."

[voice]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Mmm. But you're a priest. Liveman Doul isn't.

Also, Liveman Doul is alive. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that maybe you're not?

[visual]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"I have been Dead for some time." He'd very much like to know more about just what Liveman Doul has been doing with himself outside of High Cromlech. Rationally, it's a terrible plan and a great risk -- why bother?

[voice]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

And that's why you look younger. No living cells to age.

[slowly nods] Does time affect you at all?

[deadmanbrucolac.livejournal.com]

And he is answered, by a dark screen upon which pale, mottled hands appear, signing back in oddly-accented Quiesy. There are soft swallowing sounds accent his gestures, laying a pall of respect and great formality over what would otherwise be a rather flamboyant little diatribe.

[En-Doul, I the Brucolac am here.] It is possible that En-Doul might recognize what the word 'Brucolac' means, or at least its etymology. Perhaps he thinks it is simply a peculiar name. [By the grace of your hands and the care of your keep, I see you are worthy of the greatest respect. My long years have not been quiet, and my stay in the Silent City was brief, for reasons you will understand when we meet.]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"Your steady hands are welcome in this place, far from the deep hollows and airless rooms of my home," he signs with considerably more elegance than he put into the quick 'chat' with the Doctor. "Where shall we meet, Brucolac?"

[deadmanbrucolac.livejournal.com]

Unseen, the vampir's lips break in a sharp rictus too wry and cruel to be a smile. He bares his teeth like a crocodile: half-threatened, half-hungry.

"There are caves by the sea which will cast a rough and rustic shadow of the comfort you are accustomed to, which is all this mannerless land can offer us. But I would be a poor host if I did not consider your comfort during your travel to them. I see that you are in the Castle Gatas. I will send a clockwork car to you, for the roads here are long and coarse. The natives here cannot even be called Quick, so dull and demi-willed are they, and I will instruct the driver not to vex you with empty prattle."

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"I accept this in the spirit it was given." Which is to say, that if this clockwork horror backfires, he will find a way to track down the Brucolac and very slowly, very throughly reduce him to his constituent parts and use the delicate skin on the underside of his wrist to make a fine, supple bracelet. One of the benefits of killing the Dead is that their hide comes pre-tanned.

Given a suitable length of time, and a stop at one of the hatches to gather some supplies, En-Doul arrives at the sea caves ready to meet whatever Deadman (or otherwise) awaits within.

[deadmanbrucolac.livejournal.com]

Better liches than you have tried, Doul. Or so he would say, if he'd ever done more than glimpse a Deadman anywhere near your rank back in the old country. The best-cured dead almost never came within view of the sky, and untouchable vampir were barred from entering the deep city.

The cave seems dark at first, but as Doul moves away from the entrance, scattering crabs before him, the cave curves and a pale light appears. It is steadier and weaker than lamplight, just enough to light the smooth, sandy path deeper into the natural grotto.

There in this inner cavern, there's a vampir sitting by a strange lamp, waiting.

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

The darkness of the cave bothers him less than the humid spray of the ocean at his back. It is entirely reasonable to suggest that whatever his eyes are now made of, they do not need natural light to see.

"I wish to know if my alternate is truly mad or a danger to the people here. His instructions to me indicate that despite your infirmity, you are to be trusted above all others." Perhaps the most startling change between Liveman and Deadman is En-Doul's preference for plain speech.

[deadmanbrucolac.livejournal.com]

Oh that is not the most startling thing about all this, and it will take even the Brucolac a moment to swallow all of that.

"How amazing you are," he says, almost philosophically. "Forgive me, those were not the words I had expected to receive from a true Deadman. Madness means little here, you will find. He is internally consistent, he is logical, and he has been found trustworthy. The people here understand little about him, and he finds peace in that. He is more dangerous than I, and I am very dangerous - yes, even to you, priest of the Deadhouse of Doul - but all miracles are dangerous."

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"I do not know how long I have here, and I thought I would have to warn you, but if you know his true nature, how can you let him live?" The sort of madness he has been referring to has nothing to do with being internally consistent and all the more to do with drifting away from the human norm. There is a rather delicate flavour of irony at work here and En-Doul hopes that the Brucolac can savour it.

"Along with the recommendation the Liveman left, I can see that you have fed well, and that it suits you. In this place, you are a man and no beggar; there is no reason for me to treat you as some mewling wretch." It is the natural order of things that as a priest he is innately better than the Brucolac, but that doesn't mean they can't converse as sentient beings.

[ visual ]

[lajolieblonde.livejournal.com]

Sookie doesn't know Doul well enough to be poking into his business like this. But she's Southern and he was kind to her, so the second she catches the man who looks like him on her screen she'll do it anyway.

"Oh my Lord, Doul. Are you all right?"

[ visual ]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"I do not believe we have met, miss." For the sake of simplicity, all his signing is going to be represented as 'speech'. "I am En-Doul, and not the Liveman you know."

[ visual ]

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

'Dwelling too long on the delusions is only going to make them worse.'

River sees En-Doul on her tablet and can't look away. She'd think he was a Reaver, the calmest and most docile cannibal monster in the 'verse, if not for the fact that this isn't the right 'verse and he speaks with a dance instead of screams and violence. It may have been his appearance that grabbed her attention, but the language is what holds it long enough that she manages to respond to him.

"Translation is fluid," she says with her face peering so close at his that it takes up most of the screen. She's also trying, and failing, to not sound as scared as she is. "They picked the locks to all your doors."

[ visual ]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"I had little choice in the matter," he signs, then pauses before continuing, "But I suppose I must have had some choice and therefore must take responsibility for what was done."

"My alternate left notes on the people here. Are you River? He said you were kind, if a little frightening."

[ visual ]

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

She nods, satisfied for now with the knowledge that he won't (can't) eat her or anyone else. The mention of notes being kept, though, has her sitting back with new suspicion.

"He's nosy."

In River's experience, having someone take observational notes on you was never a good sign.

[ visual ]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"He may be, but he only wanted to prepare any alternate who might arrive. There are people here who might not be safe to trust," he says simply. En-Doul lacks so much of the experience that the Liveman takes for granted.

"I have been told that I'm younger than my counterpart." It's true. He looks at least ten years younger and considerably less tragic.

[ visual ]

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

For a long moment, River just sits back and studies his face. Eyes to chin to eyes to cheeks to eyes to ears to chin to eyes (never his mouth; that was just disconcerting) to nose. It's thorough, if dauntingly repetitive.

"Age is entirely dependent on the personal perception of time." A beat passes, then, "You are."

[ visual ]

[oneofthequick.livejournal.com]

"That worries me, a great deal." There shouldn't be a living a living Doul, especially considering just what he is or could become. Not only is it morally wrong, it's just play dangerous for himself and those around him. He just cannot understand how or why the Liveman hasn't taken care of it himself.