The soul cannot dwell in dust

[acroodawakening]

Who| Guy and YOU! OTA
What| Guy sneaking about the museum.
Where| Anywhere on levels 1-6, although if your character is with him the first time he finds level 3, be prepared for a freakout over the human evolution exhibit
When| Week 2 catch all.
Warnings/Notes| Guy's not the type to wantonly kill but he'll try to spear someone's face in if they go after him and is very aggressive when provoked.

Guy had decided to stay mobile this arena, barring finding the odd, secluded corner to sleep - and even then he only slept slightly and stayed still for a very short time.

He'd opted to switch out of the pajamas (ones with little dinosaurs on them because apparently the Capitol's grasp on history was really quite thin) and into clothes he'd worked off of a mannequin in one of the exhibits that were much closer to what he was used to wearing back home. It was actually the first time in a while he felt truly comfortable in his own skin, since the "caveman" clothes they put him in outside the arena were more about the idea of him as a "caveman" Tribute. The clothes here weren't quite accurate but hadn't been designed simply to look good on Capitol cameras.

Unfortunately, none of the boots he'd looked at seemed the right size for his small feet, but he'd found some sandals from the Rome diorama that were. He liked the open toed thing, it meant he could stick them out a little to help him climb on things.

Over top it all, he had fashioned a sort of headdress from hakama he stole from the exhibit in ancient Japan, one that created a cloak of dark strips of cloth that helped him blend in with the shadows. He hated the darkness of this place but at least it made it easier to hide when they'd all been forced into such a small space.

He made something of a sight as he sneaked around the museum dressed like that, armed with a spear, looking for familiar faces and hiding from unfamiliar ones - at least for those who actually spotted him. He clung to the edge of exhibits so he always had a place to take cover, trying not to get caught up looking at the strange sights here. He wished he could see this place during a time where people weren't able to kill him, maybe with someone that could read the words he saw next to each interesting thing so he could find out what they were.

At the same time, he wanted to leave and never come back, because the only reason he had familiar clothes to wear was because people like him were something ancient and gone. Being in a place that presented people like him as something long dead made him feel like he was already dust, like the insides of his bones had turned into it, like his stomach was filled with it, like it had settled on his tongue - a tongue speaking a language that no one else in this entire world knew.

That was how he felt already and he still hadn't even seen the bones in the glass cases on the third floor.

[ooc: Feel free to set the thread in any place in the museum that you think your character would be. Just put the setting in the description or subject line.]

Comments

[asklepian]

Julian takes it with a grateful, tired smile and drinks. The last couple weeks are catching up to him fast, the lack of sleep and worry--and now this physical assault.

"It really is much nicer to sit calmly and talk."

He coughs, clearing his throat, but resists the urge to reach up and rub at it--it certainly wouldn't help.

[acroodawakening]

"Yeah, well, I'm here, I've got a spear, and I'm really not too shy about using it if anyone shows up and tries to kill us so you can take a few minutes to catch your breath, okay?"

He wasn't sure with some of these people if the physical affection he was used to giving to other people would be welcome. He'd noticed the differences many of them had in physical gestures and personal space, but nearly getting killed was pretty traumatizing, so he reached out a hand to Julian's shoulder in a sort of half-hug, half-pat.

[asklepian]

Julian takes him up on the offer, and is surprised by the touch--but not exactly going to turn it down. In fact, he leans against Guy's side. He has no hang-ups about touching friends, or being in close proximity to people.

He's been in trouble before, attacked, injured, imprisoned--he thought he knew how he reacted to being in a tough spot. He started to realize that he was completely wrong the last time around, on the island. Now he's fully aware of it. He's out of his element, expected to do things he'd never even consider before. And he's realizing now that he can't avoid it.

"Thank you. I'd rather you not have to, but."

[acroodawakening]

"But that's life. It's okay. Been doing this whole thing since I was little."

The killing people part included, though it was fortunately not often. Just often enough that he was comfortable with it.

Julian didn't seem to mind the touching so Guy outright one-arm hugged him, and moved closer to his side so he could wrap his arm around his shoulders comfortingly for a minute. It was important to remind people of this.

Apparently, someone had put their hands on him to try to hurt him. But people touched other people to show affection, give comfort, and heal, so right now was the most important time to remind him of that.

[asklepian]

"We've been at war for a while now, at home, and I've certainly not gotten used to it." He doesn't want to. He really doesn't. But it's starting to dawn on him, truly now, that he might.

He's had some time to calm down, breathe, and evaluate just how he was feeling. 'Like hell' was a good descriptor. He hadn't been this rattled since he woke up in the Dominion's prison camp, and even they'd left him alone.

"It's rather funny. I used to love museums."

[acroodawakening]

"Is that what this is called?" he said. "I still like it. It's - there are things here I haven't seen and it looks like people tried to put names to them. There's just certain parts I don't - like the tar pit."

His voice went flatter for a moment. "I don't like that."

He went on, "Think about what made it though. This is a place where people tried to put names to things, isn't it? Like the stars? It means people make places like these even if other people ruin them. They still exist." He turned to look at him, his expression gentle. "So try to think about it all in reverse - people ruin them but they're still made."

He still hadn't taken his arm away from Julian's shoulders.

[asklepian]

Julian remembers why, from when they first met, and now it's his turn to offer an arm in solidarity. "I can't imagine that you would."

"My favorite is the Hagia Sophia. I used to go there with my grandparents, it was a place of worship in ancient days and the architecture of it is simply stunning--all the works of art inside as well. Simply being in the same place as all that history was staggering to me as a child."

He remembered it completely, used its halls and rooms as his method of loci--even now he could dive into his own mind and walk its halls, mirrored in his memory.

He hoped it was still standing here. Of course, he couldn't know--it was in Istanbul, and here he was.

[acroodawakening]

He leaned into the hug. He was quite frankly starved for affection. It wasn't that he didn't have people who were friendly, who were kind, who even made an effort to make it clear they were starting to care about him. He had those people. He could even call some of them friends.

But he was used to sleep piles and a little baby all bundled against his chest. He was used to Belt's little arms around in his waist in a constant hug and him sleeping half-wrapped around his head. He was used to Gran's nudges during her ribald jokes and Sandy jumping off of things and onto his back to try to get him to roughhouse. He was used to Ugga grooming his hair and Thunk hugging him and lifting him in the air when he got excited over finally learning something Guy was trying to teach him about hunting.

He was especially used to Eep coming back from triumphant from a hunt he hadn't gone on and pulling him bodily into her lap to lavish him with affection due to her celebratory mood.

Then there were Grug's side-armed hugs, which were not altogether unlike how he and Julian were half-hugging now. Grug, for all his aggression and inability to change when Guy first met him, had a mind that was remarkably creative. Sometimes he, Eep, and Grug sat under the stars and talked about what might be beyond them and when they did, sometimes Grug would throw an arm around him, as if now that he had him as a son, he didn't want him to ever sneak away.

So Guy was starved. He wasn't like the people here, with their imaginary hoops of personal space, with their sleeping in a bed by themselves. The time he'd been entirely alone had been painful and he might not have survived that constant ache, that emptiness that came of never being touched, if he hadn't had the good fortune of meeting Belt, who'd spent every night thereafter sleeping curled against his chest or half in his hair.

There was a moment as Julian talked, right after he put his arm around Guy back, that his face twisted just slightly to look far younger than it was, his eyes watering slightly.

He heard what Julian said but he didn't trust himself to say anything back past the the lump that had taken his throat hostage.

[asklepian]

For a moment, Julian was confused. Guy appeared distressed--but not by the contact, not in a way that indicated he should pull away. And then realization struck him.

Honestly, he didn't know why he hadn't made this connection earlier. Humans were social creatures--evolution had made them that way, with family connections and the tendency to organize in communities. Societal development had ended with unrelated people not generally using bonding techniques such as touch, which would be an important tool of communication and relationship-building to someone like Guy, from a more primitive society (but not a lesser one,) whose interactions were probably far more tilted towards the physical. Not only had he been cast into a world where he was expected to fight and die, he'd been cut off from an entire method of communication. Like a Betazoid without telepathy.

"Are you alright?"

He doesn't pull away, his 'personal space' bubble being, by necessity, far smaller than most other people's. And he's well-used to the psychological needs of other cultures, reading them to see what is welcome and what isn't. He's definitely not getting an impression of 'let me go, right now.'

[acroodawakening]

Guy's lip was trembling.

"Sorry," he said, but still, he didn't pull away, as if he was rooted to the spot, as if he couldn't bear pulling away just yet. "It's...back home, we're...we don't do all the personal space. I mean, my family sleeps in a pile. That's how little we do personal space."

Julian was right on the money. He was cast adrift, denied a method of communication, a form of connection with other people, even though plenty were trying to connect with him in other ways.

"I, ah, just haven't really had anyone hug me in a while."

And he was used to getting it every day. He was used to being cuddled. He was even used to his family sometimes passing him around for cuddling like he was a Macawnivore kitten on occasion after he'd done something impressive.

[asklepian]

"I understand. You don't have to apologize--there's an entire method of communication you've been denied, for quite a while now. If I can help you with that, then I'm more than alright with it."

Julian smiles, lets his head rest back against the wall.

"It's probably a lot for you to get used to, how reserved we all are. And here we are, expecting you to understand immediately how the rest of us function, without trying to meet you on familiar ground as well. It's hardly fair."

Julian, for his part, was used to close spaces, friendly hands on shoulders and claps on the back. Tokens of affection doled out with some regularity, just due to the solidarity between friends and crewmembers. This wasn't much of a stretch for him.

[acroodawakening]

"I'm trying," he said. "I like some of the people here, like you. Like Mindy and Hawkeye and - there are people here that are good people at heart, even if this place tries to make us all bad people and I want to help everyone feel less alone and I want to try to protect people. All of you deserve that."

He looked off into the distance, leaning a little closer to Julian.

"I'm trying to understand. So that I can do that. But people talk about things, like - like your Hagia Sophia and architecture. And history. And I can't even see it. In my head. I wish I could. And I wish I could let you see the things from my home. Some are them are so beautiful we don't have names for them. They just are."

[asklepian]

"You're doing more than trying--you're doing fantastically well, in adapting. Were it myself trying to adapt to your environment, I'd be fairly useless, I'm sure."

Julian doesn't shy away, he wasn't exaggerating or lying when he said he was perfectly fine with this.

"But you deserve a little understanding as well. And I would very much like to see your home."

This one is actually fairly analogous to Julian's, and even he's not impressed with it.

[acroodawakening]

Guy looked over, spotting a mural up on display, of people - people like him, traipsing through rugged but beautiful wilderness, dressed in skins, carrying spears.

He gestured to it, then finally pulled away, standing up, spear in hand as he looked at it.

"It's kind of like that."

A lot less flat, though, a lot less lifeless.

[asklepian]

Julian stood as Guy did, eyes roaming over the colors--dull, mostly browns and tans, as most museum murals were in his memory. He'd never thought that they could possibly do their subjects justice--not every world was dull and brown. Just like pictures of the stars paled in comparison to the real things.

He looked around, struck by the thought that they were standing in the midst of a hall of displays that had never been anything but scientific curiosities for him, until now. For Guy, they were dioramas of his reality.

"We couldn't quite get the planetarium upstairs working, or I'd show you something like what I'm used to seeing."

[acroodawakening]

Guy gasped a little bit at that, eyes lighting up.

"You can still show me back at the Capitol. When we get back - if - when we get back, can you show me there? I know there are...things that if you search for them. Pictures." He turned and wiggled his fingers. "But I can't read anything and I wouldn't know the words to even look for."

Guy kept walking along, curious as to what else he'd see here and how close it would be to his reality.

[asklepian]

"We'll get back, then yes--I'll show you." It wouldn't be nearly as magnificent as the flash of brilliant blue light as the wormhole opened, like a flower, or seeing naked starlight, the curve of the Earth receding behind a starship. But he could show Guy at least something.

"I could teach you how to read, too. I'm sure you'd pick it up quickly."

Julian cautiously follows--he's a touch paranoid after the earlier attack. His eyes are roving over shadows, ears open for sound.

[acroodawakening]

"I really want to learn that, too. That's - that's the key to everything. If I can ever go back home, that's how so many good things could start..."

But also some bad ones, which was something he had to consider if he brought it back with him.

If there was ever any going back, mind you.

They came upon a Neanderthal exhibit, full of muscular hairy Neanderthals that looked...not actually altogether unlike Guy's family.

"They look like my family," he said, excited that he no longer had to describe them without any visual reference. One of the statues was of a young woman, with a build like Eep's and a wide face that wasn't beautiful but was still handsome in its way. "She looks a little like Eep."

He stared for a moment, as if imposing Eep's features on the statue from memory, before turning back to Julian. "She's way more beautiful, though. Red hair out to here -" He held out his hands to show how far out her hair fanned from her head like a halo, "And she has these great big green eyes, and the most beautiful smile..."

He looked across the way at the Cro-Magnon exhibit, where the statues looked far more like he did than the Neanderthal statues did. "And that's - those ones are like my other family - the one I was born into." His voice went a little more distant as he saw one of a young man that had features very much like his own. "They're like me."

He was standing in a place that held dead things and staring at himself.

A shiver went down his spine.

It gave things a bit more clarity, though, for one who knew history. He was an early modern human taken in by Neanderthals.