chikaidestroyer | ∞ 81: The mind as a canvas [thoughts/written]

Luceti once was a village of perhaps 30 houses.

[The page shows a small village surrounded by the forests and rivers most would recognize as the landscape of Luceti from a bird's eye view.]

There were no large buildings, and the plaza's most notable feature was an old well. There were approximately 100 people in Luceti within the first week, but they dwindled in the first month. It would be a few months before the "New Feather cycle" as we know it was established.

[The small village is shown to grow larger and larger; first, more houses are shown cropping up. Then, as the houses reach 50, community buildings crop up. Eventually, the village is shown with its full 60 houses and 7 community buildings.]

The majority of the village grows as the population increases. The barracks to the south, while not a structure made by the Malnosso, were integrated into the village as it grew. I would estimate the population to be around 450 now, based off of the growth and decline in New Feathers over the months.

There were many experiments in the beginning. A Malnosso scientist would speak to the villagers, taunting and scoffing at any threats, before an experiment occurred. Experiments occurred every two to three weeks. A few were relatively harmless, while others threatened the entire village.

[There is a myriad of images blurring together. Heavy rain and flooding; animals overrunning the village; a munchkin kitten transforming into a green-eyed furfur; transparent, bloody figures of Mathiu and Odessa Silverberg; dead, plagued bodies piled inside an empty house; the words "What cannot be seen, and yet is all that can be seen?" And then darkness. "In the process of...three days, we've lost 10% of the population to this sickness."]

In September of the first cycle year, something happened. To this day, we do not know exactly what happened, but the sky turned red and the barrier fell.

[There is a vague image of Sephiroth. And a red-haired woman, Nina Parker, smoking. Vyse, Yuan, Kratos, Sheena, Zack, Usagi, Raine, Mark, Cloud... The faces fade into the red of Luceti's sky.]

The barrier once only extended into the apex of the mountain range. Search parties were formed to explore what had happened beyond the mountains. For the duration of this incident, everyone found their powers to have been returned and their death penalties gone.

[Dark images of barren ground. Red sky above and an unending chasm of blackness below. A gray figure on its knees, wings skeletal and handless arms trying to cover the back of its neck.]

There was nothing beyond the mountains. With nowhere else to explore, the search parties started back. Along the way, everyone was struck by a sudden effect--weakness and wing molt. The entire village was afflicted the same way. By the time the search parties had returned, another effect had occurred--a few people disappeared entirely for day, only to return a day later, claiming to have returned home.

[All the dark images fade away, returning to green and sunny Luceti.]

The barrier returned to Luceti shortly thereafter. Residents began to recover from the sudden wing molt, and experiments began again.

[The clouds darken again, this time pouring an immense amount of rain. There is the image of the well to one side of the village plaza, fading away to be replaced by a large sinkhole.]

The tunnels were revealed not long after the beginning of the second cycle year. As many now know, the tunnels run underneath the mountains and into the desert beyond.

[A myriad of images again, mostly of the tunnels before electricity was restored down there. Then the startling golden-white of the desert, along with the desert fort beyond the tunnels. "Where is my brother?" "Home."]

There was unfortunately nothing of interest in the tunnels or beyond except for specimen reports on residents who were there at the time.

[The images of the village fade. Then there is a circle of glowing marks. People from Albert's world may recognize some of them as somewhat resembling the lower house elemental runes. To others, they would best be described as a tongue of flame, a drop of water, a thunderbolt, a whirlwind, a leaf, a glowing orb, and the sun.]

By now, everyone should be at least somewhat familiar with the elemental spirits of Luceti; you can learn about them from the schoolteachers or other villagers now. The spirits were communicated with accidentally; I believe Stella Telmes was the first to hear their voices in the wilderness. They are called the "Filial spirits" because, at the time we learned about the spirits, we were being told that we were replacement test subjects for the "Filial" race. We believed that communicating with the spirits was another trait of the Filial.

To this day, we do not know much about them. But almost a year ago now, there was an accident.

[A vague image of faceless people, their small wings growing huge and taking on vibrant colors representing a certain elemental spirit. A red-winged figure takes to the air and promptly sets fire to the forest.]

The elemental spirits possessed residents, or somehow augmented residents according to their own design. Some were so completely changed by the spirits that they referred to themselves as Nala, Sona, or any of the others. Those affected are widely believed to have had previous affinity with an element, which made them susceptible to possession.

The scientists ordered us to kill the affected residents. When no one moved to do so, they took measures into their own hands.

["One." "...stop-- ...don't-- ...Lin-- GAAAAAH!!" "Two." "....No...get off me...." "Three. Four." "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" "Five."]

There were ten deaths in the course of three days. The scientist "John" intervened to keep more deaths from occurring.

[The images are replaced by a closed door.]

[voice]

[There's an audible sigh.] My apologies. I will have to stop for now. It's late and I grow weary.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thanks, Albert. I appreciate that you'd consider putting in such a good word for me.

I see, I see. You know, I always thought something like this would be kind of helpful, but it's really just annoying.

It may make them more open to accepting carrots from you if they know who you are beforehand.

Clearly you are not using your imagination enough.

You're not trying to shove them off on me, are you? I don't think they'd ever like me as much as they like you.

No. Well, maybe. But no one here has very interesting thoughts! And sure, yours aren't so bad, but I don't feel like I understand you any better.

Of course not. They're rabbits. You can have one when they breed.

Perhaps you would have had better luck earlier in the week.

Thoughtful, as always. In honor of your kindness, I think I'll skip out on the historically-inspired names and name it after you instead. Al's a great name for a rabbit.

I did stop by earlier in the week, but not because I wanted to know what you were thinking. Guess you were busy. Or maybe you knew I was coming.

[dryly] Think of me when the rabbit sires many healthy children who are all successful and good-looking.

I decided not to make an appearance in order to save you any embarrassment in front of Raine. [Riiight.]

Don't be ridiculous. With a name like that, it's doomed to fail and, because they're rabbits, will only have cute children at best.

[Huff.] Yes, yes, I'm sure. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I learned it was foolish to think that. Seeing isn't understanding. Besides, if it was really that easy, I'd have nothing better to think about while considering my studies.

Now, now. Don't doom the poor children just because of your terrible experiences. [There's the mental image of blade bunnies.]

And here I thought it was natural for you to think of absolutely nothing on a regular basis.

It's all right. Even if they're doomed, I'd still take good care of them. Maybe. That's a lot of rabbits, I'm not sure I can be bothered.

It certainly is! But the time between naps can feel like an eternity. Such a hassle.

You may have to sell a few to a butcher just to make ends meet.

One less mystery about the elusive Caesar Silverberg.

Make ends meet? Surely you mean support my laziness.

Well, you know, I try. Now, in light of what I've learned, I'd like to take advantage of this experiment in my own way. Do you mind?

Exactly that. Since you wouldn't have it any other way.

Go right ahead. I won't keep you.

I knew you'd understand.

I'm better off trying to figure you out on my own, without the help of some stupid experiment. But since I can't do that... [There's a pause here as Caesar fiddles with his journal a bit. He hasn't used it all week, so he's not quite sure how the whole thing works let alone how he could get it to record thoughts on purpose. Once he thinks he has it, he decides to test it out. Let's think of adorable sheep.] Can you see that?

[There's a moment of silence as the image takes a second to pop up.] The sheep? Yes.

Good. I'm getting sleepy, I thought you should know. [And there's another pause as he decides to go ahead and think of something else. The image he thinks of is from the day he decided to become his brother's strategist, but the scene's a little different. Sure, Albert doesn't look anymore heroic than he actually did that day, but Caesar's fixed something else. In his thoughts, he could make his brother smile, and that's what he wanted to show him. It looks natural, not at all forced. It's definitely an improvement from that mess.]

Huh. There. I knew we could fix that.

[He doesn't know if his brother will appreciate it, but if anything, he wouldn't mind looking back on it himself once in a while.]

[There's a long silence as Albert looks at the image that Caesar's created. There's a feeling of embarrassment rising up that he has trouble quashing for a moment. And then he simply frowns as he notices what Caesar had changed.]

...What in the world, Caesar.

[VICTORY. Caesar grins. He feels accomplished, because that right there is a beautiful reaction. He was actually expecting something a little more annoyed, but this is okay, too.]

I just wanted to show you that. I thought we'd get it right this time.

∞ 81: The mind as a canvas [thoughts/written]

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