ic Dagon The King (IC)

[Amelia]

Octoman

 

Quote

-Son, I grew up in the Bible Belt; you don't know the meaning of the word 'filth'. -

 

Oh hey, you ARE still in here. SNEAKY! Wait, what? Sweet Home Alabama has MORE porn? How does THAT work? They got the same Internet we do.

 

Quote

"Pardon me, ma'am, but I have a two part question on behalf of Nick Brown? He wanted to know how you modulate your voice to speak a Surfacer language, and could you give us a demonstration of your native tongue? Thank you!"

 

Ben turned to look over his shoulder at Ben. He held up his hands and shrugged while raising an eyebrow, shaking his head, and letting his mouth hang open. He signed, DUDE. What the hell? You got something you wanna say, you can just tap me on the shoulder. I'm RIGHT HERE. You don't need Ginger Reese Witherspoon to whip out the Spooky Mind Powers.

 

Quote

"We believe that the souls of the dead are contained within their flesh, and by eating them, we free their souls and keep a piece of them within us. We do this to honor the mighty dead, and remember those that are gone. I..have done this, and I hope it will be done for me if I die. But the people who live on the Surface, and also the Atlanteans, do not believe this, so it is wrong to eat them, even when they are already dead."

 

Quote

"Even now, Atlantis grows fat in the best places Below while we hunger in the worst. I am sure you are one of the good ones, but if I came to the place where your people live, I would be killed."

 

"Ms. Innsmouth? Thank you. Dalekos of the Atlantean Defense Force. Tell me, if you would be so kind - what would happen if an Atlantean, such as myself, or like Mr. Stylanios, came to the place where your people live? Wouldn't we also be killed out of hand - and then have our bodies eaten afterwards?"

 

Ben's eyes widened while Aquaria and the Atlanteans spoke "hypothetically" about killing each other. DAMN, this's getting HEATED. GEE, It's almost like putting the Horde and the Alliance together in the same room was a BAD idea! Good call, Miz Summers, turning a freakin' HIGH SCHOOL into a PVP ZONE. It's gonna take a DELICATE TOUCH to defuse this situation.

 

Without raising his hand, still reclining in his seat, Ben piped up. "I loved the part where I asked 'DID YOU EAT PEOPLE', and she's all 'That would be wrong', and y'all just BREEZED right past how, oh yeah, THAT's NOT A 'NO'. Good times."

 

NAILED IT.

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Grumblefloof

[Avenger Assembled]

That provoked another reaction from the Claremont faculty, and Ben had the distinct impression the headmistress was watching him - an impressive bit of body language given that he hadn't been able to hear anything from that side of the room (or in fact any other sides of the room.) 

 

"Small male" Aquaria croaked firmly, her voice perhaps a trifle louder. "You asked if I had eaten anything that could talk. To Deep Ones, everything that swims in Hydra's sea can talk. Every fish, every crab, every beast that lies below. Even dolphins can talk, and they do not say the things they say in the stories you tell. All the things that the people of the Surface kill in their millions can speak." She took a breath, her throat swelling and deflating, and said, "I was not here when my people attacked your city, but I know what happened. It was seen with eyes, and heard with ears. I have told why it happened." 

 

"But it will happen again?" pressed Dalekos, raising his voice from the back, who for his part seemed to fully approve of Ben's question. "If there is another Lemurian incursion here, then Deep Ones will kill and eat the innocent civilians of the Surface?" 

 

"...no," croaked Aquaria, obviously profoundly ill-at-ease with the question, over the murmur of voices in the back. "Because if there is another attack, they will be stopped, because I know their ways, and I know how to send them elsewhere. Deep Ones do not attack the Surface because they are evil, they do it for reasons, and it is knowing those that will make things better." 

[Dr Archeville]

Heroditus shot up again, "yes, I have a follow-up question to what my classmate just asked," he nodded to Leroy.  "Atlanteans have been told -- and your story seems to agree -- that the Deep Ones were created, were people who were taken and transformed by your... gods."  He'd put more emphasis on "taken" than he'd meant to, and sneered a bit more than he'd meant at the word "gods."  "But that now, Deep Ones can... reproduce in the... traditional biological manner."  Perhaps some students in the audience snickered at this.  Perhaps some adults did, too.  Others perhaps felt queasy at the thought.

 

Created as biological weapons by the Serpent Folk, in their war against Atlantis.  A war you inherited, possibly without knowing why.

 

"So there are Deep Ones who were born Deep Ones, who never knew any other existence but as a Deep One.  However," he took a quick sip from his waterskin, "we are told that... some tribes of Deep Ones retain certain artifacts, or spells, which can be used to... transform Atlanteans -- or even Surface Humans -- into Deep Ones, just as your gods did in the distant past.  So my question to you is: If such processes do exist, would you condone their use today?"

 

He did agree, as he sat down again, that dolphins were not at all like what the Surface stories presented them as.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Dr Archeville

[Ari]

To Aquaria, Leroy Ransom-Conte smelled like charring whale-meat. Despite hs cheery air the boy stank of death and ashes, it was faint and covered up by a citrus scent and Dio's unmistakable musk, but it was there.

 

At Heroditus Stylianos and Benicio's comments and questions he flinched visibly, hurriedly half-raising out of his seat to speak. "I-good Ackweera, Artificer Stylianos was a trifle careless. What was meant is to ask, what would help your people survive?"

 

"The Lion...my mother told me many times a people is defined by their stories, even more than blood or land. What you say sounds to me like this is true of your people. Even if others had your shape, I doubt they would sing the same."

Edited September 22, 2019 by Ari

[Avenger Assembled]

"No!" Aquaria croaked with great force. "Those are terrible things!" Grateful for Leroy's interruption, conscious of the damnable tiny eyes of the Atlanteans as they stared at her, she quieted, breathing wetly for a moment before she said, "We will survive if there is peace. For adults to know their children will always have enough food, and for children to know they will be able to grow up. To sing our songs and pray to our gods in the knowledge that we might live. And we must learn that we _can_ have a peace. We have to believe that this is possible - that one day the stars will be right and the first will be last and the last will be first and the land will be at peace with the sea."

 

There was applause from at least one Atlantean - but his smile was just as predatory as Aquaria's. "A noble speech! But then why are you here?" asked Dalekos from his seat. "Why are you here among the surface-people, Ackweera? Why not go and take this happy message to other Deep Ones?" Summers was on her feet now, moving quickly to the Atlantean's side and whispering in his ear firmly, but Aquaria kept speaking anyway. 

 

"Because this is my home."

[Dariusprime]

Nick turned a bright shade of red and slid down in his seat. He was listening, yes, but beyond a thumbs up to Lulu tried to disappear. In that position he remained well into Aquaria's answers. Not wanting to appear rude, he slowly poked his head up. His gaze flicked between the subtitles and Aquaria. The dumb grin on his face moved his situation from mesmerized to enraptured.

 

Beautiful! "Lemurian". It feels so ancient and fierce. Like the sounds I hear from space. Echoes in the dark..., at that point he pointedly buried the thought and its implications. Nick joined the clapping only for a bigger issue to arise.

 

Ben's reaction somehow made him redder than the first time. After slapping his forehead, Nick signed, "Sorry. I looked and completely missed the people around me. No slight intended. I'm sorry, Ben. Next time. My bad." The signing came out a jumbled mess but got the point across.

 

He hoped. He really had just overlooked Ben in the moment. Terribly embarrassing but well within his current repertoire. Besides a contrite apology he was at a loss for what to do. Rubbing the back of his head, the visibly embarrassed student tried his best to focus on the Q&A.

 

'The sounds are very powerful and it can hurt their brains'? Now I have learn more. He nodded as he thought before pausing, and the pretty redhead has heard of all of this and what you just called her.

 

At which point his train of thought derailed. Instead he focused on listening. There were surprises aplenty, but he couldn't help but feel more sympathy for Aquaria than the Atlanteans. That penultimate line though...

 

What does that mean?

[angrydurf]

Kam listened marking down notes in a small book as Aquaria answered the other students questions and as the Atlantean general began to engage let his gaze drift to the Headmistress who surely knew this outcome was ensured when the partisan first attended, frowning as it occurred this may have been her intention from the beginning.  As the discussion grew more contentious and less useful his frown deepened.  

 

He stood and spoke not awaiting being called upon lest this disastrous debate spiral further into the Atlantean-Lemurian conflict.  "Ms. Innsmouth,"  He began and let his eyes slide to focus on General Dalekos, "In the interest of the educational purpose behind this lecture."  he began pointedly as he looked back to the Deep One, "It is notable that you do not superficially match the common descriptions of the Deep Ones, historically, or as discovered in more recent encounters."  He paused briefly letting that small point sink in and hopefully cool the more heated moods in the room, "Is it correct to infer that your kind is varied in form and culture much as those on the surface or among the Atlantean peoples?"  he inquired curiously and smiled gently, "I am curious if perhaps your experience and our experiences with others of your kind may be incongruous due to these differences?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes," said Aquaria, "some of us look very different from each other. There are some who look like me, who live in very shallow seas or by the mouths of rivers, and some who lives down in the deep waters, the Dark Brothers. Those are the ones with the bigger scales and the teeth that always stick out." She pointed to her face to demonstrate how when she closed her mouth, her teeth entirely disappeared. "When I was in a city, I once saw a female who had a head like an anglerfish, with the part here that glows and dangles, and ohhhh she had a fine set of teeth!" she croaked enviously. 

 

She spread her hands, then said, "When many of us are together, we...are more alike than you are," she said, picking over the words. "But we are not like fish who swim in schools, who only think one thing."

[Dr Archeville]

Heroditus had been silent a while, taking everything in.  He'd almost said something at Leroy's comment (why is he trying to interpret my words?), and while Dalekos' words were laced with venom, it wasn't a bad question.  Her presence here is easy enough to understand: she's trying to smooth things over between the Surface, Atlantis, and Lemuria, to foster communication and cooperation.  Speaking to Atlantis would be near-impossible, in the current climate, but speaking up here, while difficult, was possible.  But has she spoken to her people about these grand ideas?  Do they reject her as much as the other two do?  Is she an outcast among her people?  Is she seeking someplace where she belongs?

 

He shook his head.  He was not accustomed to thinking on such weighty philosophical or sociological matters.  He knew mechano-mysticism, techno-magic.  Things he could see, hold, feel, take apart and put back together.  So he pivoted his next question in that direction.  He took another drink of water, stood, "that armor you wear, it appears quite unlike anything I've seen before, on a Deep One, Atlantean, or Surfacer.  Could you tell us something about it?  Is it of Deep One make, or from elsewhere?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria hopped in the air slightly, and Heroditus had the idea she sounded pleased by the question. "Yes. That is a good story. Some time ago there were terrible things in the stars," she said, gesturing to the sky above them, "and whole worlds died. There is a group called the Spectrum Knights," and at this one of the Lor students gasped aloud, "who wanted to use those terrible things to rule. So they took people from all over the stars and gave them armor, and told them to use it to kill everyone who was their enemy." Sea Devil tapped her armor and said, "But I did not do that. Oh, I had many adventures in the stars; my friend saw a rockman and she had to punch off his face. He is better now though. And so now this armor is mine! It makes it easier for me, because I can keep it moist. Otherwise my skin dries out in the air and it feels bad." She moved around a bit in her armor, and Crimson Spoke was polite enough to subtitle (squelching noises). 

 

Another student asked a question about Deep One politics, and Aquaria did her best to answer - Deep Ones were divided into a variety of groups politically, without the unity of Atlanteans. There were the Deep Ones who lived in the great cities on the ocean bottom, the ones who lived in isolated tribes like Aquaria's, and others who "were close with Surfacers. But that does not work,", Aquaria emphasized. "It is a bad idea. Surfacers should not worship Deep Ones, or our gods. It is not good for them."  

 

Another student, the Lor who had jumped a little at the mention of the Spectrum Knights, asked, "Is your friend who fought the rock creature the same as the one with the dog?" 

 

"Oh yes! She is Singularity, she is my best friend. We met when we were in Project Freedom together." Aquaria waved her hand. "She did not want to come today, because when she was your age, she was held prisoner under Claremont and they did very bad things to her. I told her it was a different Claremont but she stayed home to make pictures."

[Shofet]

Mia Mustafic-Markov sat off in a corner on her own, away from the other students. She didn’t know any of them very well yet, and was content to keep it that way for now. She was sure they were good people, but some of them were loud and others were really fancy and made her self-conscious which she really didn’t need right now.

 

She had decided to come when she had heard Aquaria was coming. Her mom had mentioned her, and said that she was pretty cool so Mia wanted to check out the Deep One for herself. However, it seemed like there were people here, like this old ugly dude - General Donkulous or something - was really being harsh on her. That annoyed Mia. She didn’t have much time for racism and all that.

 

Seeing her opportunity, she asked her question.

 

“Hey, Ms. Innsmouth. I’m Mia Mustafic-Markov, uh, Corona’s daughter. She was the lady you saved the kittens with? Anyway, uh... Whaddaya mean about the whole Claremont keeping someone in a torture basement? Because I didn't sign up for that. I mean, my mom signed me up. But she'd be peeved too."

 

Mia smelled strongly of ozone and a sharp metallic scent, not unlike that of a nuclear sub or meltdown. However, underneath was a more bourbon, caramel sort of scent, not entirely unlike her own mother.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Shofet

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh, she was! It was terrible, the ones with powers took her from her home, and did terrible things to her brain, and-" Aquaria was vigorously waving her arms about and hopping around, evidently a gesture of real excitement, when she was interrupted cooly by the headmistress, who had appeared on-stage with her with a swift professionalism. 

 

"Just to clarify Ms. Innsmouth's remarks, the heroine known as Singularity was held at a version of Claremont in another dimension, then liberated from there by Claremont students. It was a difficult and dangerous mission, and not one that should be repeated." 

 

"Yes, thank you! It was another dimension!" said Aquaria loudly. "I was going to say that part. But yes, that happened to her in another dimension. Did any of you have the thing where you met the ones who were you from another dimension? That was...that was very interesting!" she added awkwardly. "Does anyone have any other questions?" Another question about music got her singing - a deep, throbbing base that she said was a song for "the word in your language is romance, but it means something different in ours. The female sings it for the male and asks for his spear." There was some light tittering and she hastily added, "No, people think that, but our - oh, I am not supposed to talk about that, I am sorry!" 

[Dr Archeville]

Heroditus had been somewhat interested in the concept of power armor since he'd heard of the exploits of Daedalus (named after the Daedalus who'd helped Athenians drive off Atlantean invaders some 2,300 years ago, certainly), and moreso when Devil Ray attempted to conquer Atlantis (with Lemurian artifacts) a few years ago.  The convenience of incorporating so many different functions into one wearable item was tempting.  And they looked really stylish!  Well, Daedalus' and Devil Ray's did.  Aquaria's armor... adhered to a different set of aesthetics.  But the "keeps the wearer hydrated" function was one the young inventor had not considered before.  Truly, this had been a very educational event!

 

Hearing about Aquaria's Surface Human friend was unexpected, but pleasant enough.  Hearing about secret torture chambers under Claremont was jarring, and he (and perhaps others) let out a sigh of relief when Headmistress Summers clarified that that was all at a different Claremont.  (Parallel worlds!  Astonishing!  The other realms I've studied are all so vastly different from this one!)  But there was one other thing she'd mentioned that was still worrying the back of his mind, a contradiction in light of what he (thought he) knew.

 

He did not stand this time.  "You said Surfacers should not worship your gods.  Do you not wish to have more voices sing their songs?  Would not Surfacers receive the same gifts as the Deep Ones?" 

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria hunched down at Heroditus's words, squatting on the stage with her rear legs folded up behind her and forelimbs and hands spread out before her. The camera that was keeping track of her movements for the people in the back took a moment to pan down at her. "It is...bad for them," she croaked, after a time. "It is the true power of the Mother and the Father, and it is bad for their brains, it makes them rot. Someday they will be ready, but not this day." But not soon. Not in Jessie's lifetime. She scrubbed a hand across her broad face, thinking sad thoughts. 

 

"P-pardon me," said Prince Telemachus, raising his hand and rising to his feet, his face flushed with nerves now that he'd spoken in front of everyone. 

 

His stutter drew out his question as he stumbled over Aquaria's name, and thinking of other people like him she'd met in therapy, croaked softly "Why don't you sing it?" 

 

The Atlantean teen hesitated, swallowed, and then in an Atlantean melody translated by the room's subtitles: 

 

"When will that day be, sweetest of the Fallen?" 

 

Aquaria inflated her throat, deflated it, looked like she wanted to say a few things even though of course she knew the Atlantean poetry (if it could be called poetry in her considered opinion) and then said, "We believe that one day there will be a day of great transformation and change. That the stars will be right, and the first will be last and the last will be first, and the sea will give up its dead, and wrongs will be undone, and justice will prevail."

 

[Amelia]

Octoman

 

"So that's IT?"

 

As Ben spoke, several tentacles slipped out from under his shirt. They spread out around him for several feet in every direction, stretched down far enough to touch the ground, then kept stretching, slowly raising his feet about a meter and a half above the ground. He relaxed the muscles controlling the texture and pigment of his neck, revealing shiny, rubbery skin under his ears and chin marred by dual sets of three parallel scars on each side, which then flexed open to reveal that they were gills. They squeezed shut and pulled open repeatedly while he talked, getting louder as he went on until, by the end, he was screaming himself hoarse.

 

"I was ROOTING for you! I really was! I was all, 'YES, here comes an awesome superhero fish-person to school everyone on how even freaky fish-people can be awesome superheroes'. I figured I throw you a softball like 'Do you really eat people' and you'd knock it outta the park, easy win, everybody has a laugh. But I lined up the ball ten yards from the goalpost and you STILL booted it out of bounds! WHY YOU COULDN'T JUST SAY 'NO'?! Why'd you have to be all like 'Oh, OUR definition of "people" is just DIFFERENT from yours' like, WHAT, that's supposed to be COMFORTING?! Well IT AIN'T! Then you go FULL galaxy-brain, all 'Welllll, we don't NOT eat people, but we can talk to FISH, so it's cool.' NO IT'S NOT COOL! You were SUPPOSED to tell everyone they had nothing to be afraid of, not CONFIRM everybody's WORST FEARS! What kind of superhero ARE YOU?!"

 

Ben's tentacles quickly spider-walked him up over the seats to the nearest exit. He took a moment to glare over his shoulder at the faculty table. Then the tentacles slid back under his shirt as he kicked the door open and stormed out of the lecture hall.

 

[Shofet]

Well, this was something. Mia had come to here to meet one of her mom’s work friends and ask a few questions and now people were freaking the hell out. Oh, hey, the guy could turn into an squid thing. That was neat. Circumstances around it seemed pretty terrible, though. Mia wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to be doing in this situation. She was going to try and track Aquaria down after the presentation to talk to her some more but that seemed… unwise, now. Like she was taking a side against a fellow student? Didn’t need that drama.

 

“Uh… thanks for the presentation, Ms. Innsmouth! My mom says hi! Hopes you’re doing well. I gotta… go do a thing… In…” she said, narrowing her eyes as she thought. “Mexico.”

 

With that, the air around her warped and bended, and there was a loud crack, and then, suddenly Mia wasn’t there anymore. She was off to La Paz, until this whole mess blew over. Man, she could not deal with awkward situations at all.

[Heritage]

To hear it spoken of so reverently, the Deep One's day of reckoning sounded pretty darn scary, and Lulu could sense the unease in the room; was this amphibious woman somehow a threat to the surface world? And then she thought back to all her childhood Sundays sitting in a pew, listening to Reverend Pritchard sing out 'that old time religion', and she stood up and once again loudly projected her voice, as well as dramatic visuals to accompany it.

 

"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over to he fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

 

"Sounds pretty scary, huh? Anyone who followed a religion like that would have to be dangerous right? Oh wait, that's Revelations 6:7-8, one of the Bible passages that gave me nightmares as a kid. So why is okay if our religions have scary beliefs, but not okay if somebody else's does?"

She remained standing, looking over the whole room, including the Atlanteans, with her arms crossed across the chest, righteous and defiant.

Edited September 24, 2019 by Heritage

[Dr Archeville]

Heroditus recalled the last time he heard of Deep One "justice," and how Dalekos had interpreted (or misinterpreted?) to mean "victory."  Was that what Aquaria meant?  A "victory" for the Deep Ones?  And if they were victors, who would be the vanquished?

 

Bend's outburst, followed by Lulu's display, were a one-two punch to the young Atlantean.  He had seen Ben's abilities before, during team exercises or randomly on campus, but it was still a somewhat disconcerting sight, made moreo in this case by his obvious anger and frustration.  And Lulu's display presented a truly horrific aspect of Surfacer theology which he'd never encountered before.  A part of him retreated at these experiences; he shrunk down in his seat, clutching his water skin, and repeatedly muttered something in the click-pop language of Atlantis.

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil 

 

It's not working! It's not working! Aquaria could see the Atlantean man smiling and knew why - whatever moment she'd had with the prince of Atlantis had been taken away by the shouting boy and the fleeing girl. She hardly paid attention when the other girl tried to distract the others with Surfacer folk-tales, instead looking down at her hands spread flat on the stage in front of her and imagining the blood on them. They will see Deep Ones and they will kill them, because of what I taught them. She could hear what was happening in the theater; the elders who were chastising the girl who had cast her spells, others talking about 'getting a trace' on the one who had vanished, and no doubt others following the beautiful boy with the terrible words. 

 

She pulled her hand from the floor with a wet sticking sound in preparation for a leap up to the ceiling - when suddenly a Surfacer's hand was in hers. No, not a Surfacer's at all. 

 

"It is a hard thing to be alone before alien eyes, sweetest of the Fallen," sang Prince Telemachus to the Deep One. "Be thee not afraid." 

 

And Aquaria took his hand and squeezed it in her own and sang in return,

 

"I thank you,

Prince of the Light,

but I am not alone."

 

She thought of those she loved, and all who had brought her here - to the Hell Above. The headmistress was on her way back down to the stage to restore order, but all that was on the Sea Devil's mind for the moment were the words of prayer she'd learned as a young spawn. What was lost will be regained, and what was taken will be returned. In strange aeons - even death may die! 

 

It would up being, all things considered, a very interesting talk.