( the eerie similarity that the abandoned cities of highstorm and springstar had planted the suspicion in his mind, and once the Shard-Bearers had each gone to the labyrinth cradled within the roots of the Tree of Life to find what awaited them there, he felt more and more certain: what he had seen tangled into the dense malaise of his dead-dreaming had been a premonition of the future. to john, this is far more novel than one might expect. for all of its Sight, the Eye actually does not have any perspective on the future — it can't, because for an entity such as it, there is nothing but the "here and now"; all of the information it held of the past was inextricably and indecipherably interwoven into what it perceived now, and the future might as well not even exist until it happened. so it's a fascinating new insight, and one that he draws toward with an almost magnetic inexorability.
what is dreadfully familiar to him, however, is the feeling of being watched. at this point it follows him so closely it might as well be his own shadow — and, being the Archivist and tied to the Eye as he is, it partially is him, in a way. it's a fear he carries, a fear he similarly instills. a close friend that he knows and calls by name. the empty eyes of the effigy emblazoned with the symbol of the Iconoclast watch balefully as john approaches it, and he is not the only one to have drawn to it with interest. he doesn't recognize the man, and that makes him wary.
the verbal entreaty doesn't necessarily soften that wariness. ) Just like that? ( he raises one eyebrow, though the slight scowl to his expression shows that, despite words, tone, or mien, the gravity of their situation does not escape him. ) Nothing you'd demand in trade? No twenty questions?
( (though, really, when it comes to his trades thus far, john has more been the one demanding twenty questions, but i digress.)
it's not that he's against the concept. even having rid himself of some of it, the Meridian energy still courses through him, and he wants it gone. it's... it should be a dark sign that hope is something that pains him, shouldn't it? but even still, he doesn't let discomfort or the prevailing edges of despair push him to desperation; down here in these caverns, it is the only commodity they have to leverage with value, and so he tries to be at least somewhat discerning in how he trades it away. )
no subject
what is dreadfully familiar to him, however, is the feeling of being watched. at this point it follows him so closely it might as well be his own shadow — and, being the Archivist and tied to the Eye as he is, it partially is him, in a way. it's a fear he carries, a fear he similarly instills. a close friend that he knows and calls by name. the empty eyes of the effigy emblazoned with the symbol of the Iconoclast watch balefully as john approaches it, and he is not the only one to have drawn to it with interest. he doesn't recognize the man, and that makes him wary.
the verbal entreaty doesn't necessarily soften that wariness. ) Just like that? ( he raises one eyebrow, though the slight scowl to his expression shows that, despite words, tone, or mien, the gravity of their situation does not escape him. ) Nothing you'd demand in trade? No twenty questions?
( (though, really, when it comes to his trades thus far, john has more been the one demanding twenty questions, but i digress.)
it's not that he's against the concept. even having rid himself of some of it, the Meridian energy still courses through him, and he wants it gone. it's... it should be a dark sign that hope is something that pains him, shouldn't it? but even still, he doesn't let discomfort or the prevailing edges of despair push him to desperation; down here in these caverns, it is the only commodity they have to leverage with value, and so he tries to be at least somewhat discerning in how he trades it away. )