revenance_rpg | Just One Day in the Sunlight

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Just One Day in the Sunlight

Who: Aeleus and Even
What: Time to pry Even out of the labs
Where: Ponyville.
When: Shortly after Ponyville opens
Warnings: Grumpiness

Truth be told, Aeleus had known that Even wouldn't have gotten out of his labs willingly. But even Aeleus could see that it was time to at least pull Even out into world at large again, and the recently opened world seemed like a reasonable place to start. The fact that it was a world that forced a form change on people visiting was, admittedly, not necessarily the sort of world that Even would have preferred, but it was Aeleus' hope that it would still have the intended effect.

After all, it was this or Twilight Town and Aeleus had seen quite enough of Twilight Town lately.

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"I don't know what you hope to accomplish with this excursion," Even gripes. "I am not a schoolchild to be excited by field trips. Furthermore - " He steps through the portal and immediately trips over his own four feet. "Furthermore I hate you."

"I'm aware of the fact," Aeleus answers as they step through the portal. Unlike Even, however, he doesn't immediately trip over himself, which suggest that he's been to this world at least once before.

(Which does raise the question of why he brought Even out here, but that is a question that can be discussed once Even has his feet back under him again.)

"However, even you can't argue the need to get out of the lab from time to time."

"Yes I can," he snaps, scrambling awkwardly to his feet - er, hooves and standing there stiff-kneed and splay-legged. "I see no reason to drag me away from my extremely important work to experience the wonder of involuntary world-based shapechange, without warning no less, for your amusement."

It isn't often that Aeleus is roused to significant emotion, but the look he favors Even with is very nearly offended that Even would assume this to for his amusement. After all, he's never been in the habit of laughing at his friends' expenses and something would have to be seriously wrong for him to start now.

"Is that truly what you think my intent was?"

Even doesn't register others' emotions much more frequently than Aeleus expresses them, but Aeleus's tone (the facial expression being blunted somewhat by being on a pony) renders him something close to abashed. "...I suppose not.

"But that does beg the question of what your intent was, that it was so much more important than my desire to remain a biped."

That at least, is something that Aeleus can answer without any real trouble.

"Worlds with sufficient ambient magic to force changes on unsuspecting visitors have always been a rarity. In addition, this is the first world of its sort to appear; if we can learn some of the mechanisms behind the changes we can not only have a general idea of what to expect from similar worlds outside the dream realm, but can perhaps also learn more about the dream world itself."

In short, his intent was largely science.

Oh, well, science. Why didn't you just say so?

"You know my opinions on the importance of opposable thumbs," Even gripes, but he's looking interested despite himself already. "I still hold that worlds that actively force visitors to blend in, rather than as most do leaving the matter up to us, have more active hearts, stronger ones, than the average." He has yet, sadly, to do any research to support this hypothesis.

As Even has, in fact, made his opinion perfectly clear on the issue of opposable thumbs, Aeleus is already quite aware of them. Still, he nods, mostly to show that he's still listening to whatever it is Even has to say.

"It's certainly a possibility. However, how would this affect a world lost to dreaming, if it does indeed affect such things?"

"That depends," Even says, mincing his way across the grass as primly as a pony can (which is extremely), "on what precisely caused this world in particular to fall into sleep and remain there - the latter being its own question that was never hitherto my field of study."

There's something relaxing about that fact: this was not his specialty; it carries no profound weight for him.

Aeleus nods thoughtfully, at that. It's never been his field of study either, but that doesn't mean they can't still theorize about the causes.

"I'm not certain if anyone knows what causes a world to fall into sleep. Traverse Town being present here is not so surprising, but the question is then what does Twilight Town's presence here mean for the worlds at large.?

"I would have said the reverse; Twilight Town has always been liminal, in a sense," says Even, warming to the subject somewhat against his will. "On the other hand, Traverse Town is itself formed of what remains after a world falls to darkness. If it is damaged to deeply as to withdraw into sleep..."

"A valid point," Aeleus rumbles consideringly. "However Traverse Town is also a world that is meant as a safe haven for those who have recently lost a world to darkness. Is it perhaps such a surprise that it would seek to have a presence here as well?"

Whether that means that it chose to represent itself here or is instead somewhere halfway between waking and sleeping is a different question entirely and not one that Aeleus is really set to speak with much certainty on.

"Besides, I can't recall having noted Traverse Town's presence in the waking world lately. It could well have fallen to sleep out of inactivity."

"We should be so lucky," Even gripes. If Traverse Town were not needed, that would presage a serious change in the balance of power among the worlds.

"If Traverse Town is here in its functional capacity, that's all to the good. I must say I appreciate its presence. As for the rest, we have Twilight Town, which I agree shouldn't be trapped here based on what we know of it, and two worlds which appear to have no major metaphysical import.

"And yet, something about this mess is important. You remember the nameless individual using our communicator system?"

It would, yes, but none of them can really say how things work. Not that Even doesn't have a point, but Traverse Town is certainly present here for some reason or another and short of getting to the heart of the matter in more ways than one they won't be able to tell for certain.

"It does appear to be here in a more function capacity, yes. It's where we all arrive, so one could argue it's still a 'safe haven' for those who would otherwise be lost."

Assuming one even can get lost in dreams, but that doesn't really bear thinking about just now.

"I do, yes."

"Well, whoever they are -" and Even has a suspicion on the matter, one he presumes Aeleus shares " - they certainly seem to be under the impression that something is occurring which...well, which they assert we will or would be unable to stop, but that implies we want to. Or would if we knew what it was. This lack of information is extremely vexing."

He sounds much more like his normal self already.

If they are who Aeleus half-suspects they are, the lack of actual information is not terribly surprising. Highly irritating, yes. But surprising, and he only wishes that it was easier to figure out just what was supposed to be going on.

"I agree. We can make certain assumptions, but we are no closer to the truth of this place than when we first arrived."

One advantage of being a pony is that their mouths are ideally shaped for expressing frustrated disgust. Even snorts.

"I don't know why I'm surprised, considering. The real question here is who's on the other side, since I doubt those trinkets with their partial messages have been being left by what I'm going to refer to for the moment as the opposition."

They are, and Aeleus is really not at all surprised that Even might find this to be an advantage. Still, there's no need to speak of that. It's simply a fact of life with Even.

"If we are correct in our assumption as to the identity of our anonymous visitor, who would be the most suited to stand in opposition?"

"The Keybearers, presumably." Even tosses his head until his mane stops being in his face. "Goodness knows we have enough of them. And knowing - well - if there's one behavior pattern that comes clear, it's not being willing or able to leave them alone."

Aeleus isn't certain about 'enough'. By his count they only really have a handful and most of them are ones he's not terribly familiar with. On the other hand (on the other hoof?) they probably one really need one Keybearer to take care of the situation at hand.

"A valid point. And it's unlikely we'd need to worry about them not stepping up to challenge here as well."

"I assume they're highly motivated." He can't say for sure, but... "I recall seeing one of them at least in Radiant Garden - before. Presumably there's a reason we never saw them since, when they would have come in handy." And all things considered, he doesn't find it a stretch to conclude that the reason in question is the reason for, apparently, everything unpleasant in their lives.

He picks his way primly across the ground. "Is there anything actually here besides scenes of bucolic simplicity?" He never cared much for pastorals.

"I would assume they are," Aeleus agrees with a slow nod. Without actually asking any of the Keybearers in question there isn't any way to know for certain. "However I believe I also remember having seen one of them before."

It was, of course, a very long time ago, but now that Even has mentioned it, it sounds about right if nothing else.

"Perhaps if we could ask one of the people native to the world they'd be able to answer that?"

"Well, I don't see any of them here, do you?" Even says. That's probably for the best, since he might ask in precisely those words. He's not actually averse to exploring, really. As long as nothing tries to eat him unexpectedly.

"The one that looks like Roxas?" he asks, returning to the previous topic as he investigates the landscape. "I'm not entirely clear on the connection there, but the resemblance is striking."

Thus far, nothing seems to be terribly inclined to trying to eat them. It's fairly likely that there are still Nightmares present somewhere, but most of those are nowhere near large enough to eat them even in this form.

"Yes," Aeleus answers with a nod at the question about keybearers. The other isn't really the sort of thing that needs an answer, as far as he can tell. "That one, although I wouldn't be able to say what connection there might be between the two."

"I assume there is one; the collective similarity is rather too acute to be coincidental. I suspect Sora is involved. He usually is." There's a bit of extra bitterness there, but not too much, by Even's standards thereof.

"Unfortunate that one can't ask." Sora certainly isn't going to answer Even - that's if he knows the reason at all. Even does not have a high opinion of the likelihood that Sora knows things.

Although he isn't likely to admit it, Aeleus would generally agree that Sora isn't likely to know the answer. Other wise he would have managed to tell someone. Not really one of them, but sure is life.

"There would have to be. Something like that doesn't happen under normal circumstances."

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Just One Day in the Sunlight

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