abraxaslogs | [open; July adventures]

[Michael doesn't give way any more than a wall would, but he is at least a softer surface to bump into. Alucard might feel it's a warm wall of feathers he collides with, never actually making contact with the other man's back. He turns on him, a flash of anger in his eyes as if ready for a fight—

Oh. It's this guy. Alucard didn't strike him as a particularly violent man when they met, so he's quick to chalk the collision up to a misstep. The anger gives way to Michael's habitual impassive expression.]

I suppose it's no surprise to meet you here. Looking for inspiration for your domain?

[Of course the half-vampire would be spending time in Ikorr, he thinks, but motivations are usually more complex than species alone. Since he first met him rearranging the small home in his domain and he's an admitted artist, he guesses the opportunity to examine the architecture a little more closely is at least part of what brought him here.]

Not so much these days.

[Alucard has decided to categorically ignore the sensation of something feathery. He is Not Engaging with that right now. The stresses of an arts sector threatening to bottom out are enough, thank you. Ikorr is for himself before it goes to hell.

And even then, he's actually here with purpose. But Michael has no need to know that.]

Am I that much of a stereotype?

[The question comes with a small lilt, making it clear that, at the very least, he can take a small joke right now.]

[Conveniently, Michael looks human enough that it's easy to ignore he's not. He's a little more serious and stoic than the average, sure, but still not odd enough to mark him as something else until he starts talking about humans as a separate species.

Humor is usually an indicator of good mood. Michael looks pensive in return.]

I'm the wrong person to ask. I don't have anything else to go on.

[They've only had one conversation prior to this. Beyond what Alucard himself has said, he has only guesses about what he's like as a person.

He can think of one indicator, though. Michael glances around, looking for the gloomiest building in sight. He finds it: a place made of layered grey slate reminiscent of castle walls, a decorative iron fence out front, and an expensive-looking stained glass window on the upper floor. He lifts his head, nodding in its direction.]

If that happens to be your favourite building in the immediate area, then I'm afraid yes, you are.

That's a fair enough point. [There's a worse joke in there to make about two points, actually, ah-ha-ha, but Alucard is not going to get into count the fangs jests. There's low hanging fruit, then there's fruit rotted on the ground.

He can, at least, follow Michael's gaze. What he sees ids....hm. The window is interesting but cliched. The stone could be of a lighter color to make it all work. The fence doesn't compliment the windows at all.

There's a soft snort.]

Then happily for myself, I am not. There are better design choices that could have been made there, and even then, what? No towers? You can't invoke a castle properly without them.

[Michael's about as eager to get into Alucard's vampiric nature as Alucard is to discuss the fact that Michael is an archangel, but he might have appreciated that fermented punchline. He likes simple humour. From his point of view a good joke doesn't rot, it ages like wine.

At Alucard's comment, he takes another look at the place. If he were going to level a criticism against it, it'd be that the architect was already trying too hard. Adding detail to chaos does not render it coherent. He turns back.]

The fact that you've mustered the start of a critique does mark you as a creative of some variety. I wouldn't have anywhere to begin without knowing its function.

[He's practical to the core. Above all else, what determines the quality of a design is how well it serves the people that live or work there.]

The function is drama.

[But that isn't helpful or instructive. Alucard considers where they're standing, and gestures widely.]

I've noticed a number of the buildings here have extra flourishes, carvings, or are otherwise made to have some sort of means of drawing the eye in. They're meant to be looked at, and creating drama through ornamentation isn't a bad way of doing it. The extra step after ornamentation are components of the buildings themselves. Do you need a tower, for example? No, probably not. Does it stand out and loom? Yes, absolutely.

Are you suggesting a tower makes the difference in whether or not a business is worth your time?

[There is the barest hint of humour in the comment. He knows that's not what Alucard is saying—but the fact that it's done when the only purpose it serves is decorative means it makes the difference for someone. Enough someones that it's worth doing.

Michael really thinks the effort could be better spent elsewhere.]

I've never been a fan of needless theatrics, but point taken. There's a certain image they wish to project. I meant more the function the building itself serves. All the ornamentation in the world is worthless if your aisles are too narrow to allow clients to circulate freely, for example.

Business? No. A home? For some vampires? Yes, absolutely.

[Alucard grins. The humor is there, and while he's joking, there's absolute seriousness in there too. He's met enough vampires in his lifetime to know certain truths.]

Well on that you and I are in agreement. Practicality is essential, and if it doesn't meet basic living functions, you're a bad architect and need to do better.

[It's rare enough that Michael comes to a solid agreement with others. Alucard gains a point towards a good reputation in his mind for putting practicality above all else.]

A bell tower in which to hang upside down as a bat, of course. An important part of any vampire home.

[Now he's intentionally playing into stereotypes. It doesn't sound like Alucard is including himself in the same group as vampires who consider castle-like features an important part of the construction, so he doesn't expect him to be offended by the joking comment. He's yet to meet a vampire who could actually turn into a bat anyway.]

I would assume most Summoned are here for either business or pleasure, not seeking a new place to live. Would you leave the Free Cities for Ikorr if you could?

[Alucard's home in the Horizon seemed pretty modest. If he has a castle-sized residence back in the cities, Michael wouldn't know.]

[Alucard pauses. He's done this before and it has gotten mixed reactions in the past. Mostly because no one appreciates how sudden it is.

So he takes a few steps forward. And where Alucard is, he isn't. Instead, there is a cloud of about two or three dozen bats, squeaking and swirling, until Alucard is there again.]

You're not wrong. We just have to use the plural back home.

[He grins. Jaskier would have thrown a boot at him by now.]

I've given it thought. Perhaps if I want to truly take a break from the world and if I believe I could go without sunlight for a few years. I'm not at that place yet.

Would you leave Solvunn, given the chance?

[At his back, unseen except to any angels that might be watching from afar, Michael's wings flare in surprise. Turning into a swarm of squeaky bats is not a threatening move, though, so he doesn't lash out. On the human face that Alucard can see, Michael gives a slow blink. His expression isn't quite shocked but that is evidently not the response he expected. ]

Conservation of mass, yes. I should have known. [Just a guess and perhaps not at all the real reason, but it makes logical sense to him.] Interesting feat. Vampires as I knew them in my world weren't capable of such.

[His brother Gabriel, he thinks, would have been very entertained by the display. Having lived alongside that very same excitable brother for so long has long since taught him that a strong reaction is exactly the reward some people are looking for.

No boot to the head for Alucard. Just a light shrug, and a brief moment to gather his thoughts before answering the question.]

I intend to, eventually. The local fixation on gods and worship makes it impossible to call the place home. I'd only be exchanging one frustration for another by relocating to the Free Cities or Thorne, however. If I had the choice, I'd prefer not to be bound to any territory at all.

[Just about any Summoned would probably agree it'd be nice to come and go between them as they please, though for Michael the frustration is specifically in his inability to fly outside of Solvunn. Borders wouldn't matter if his wings still worked as they used to.]

It seems remarkably inconsistent from what few other off-world vampires I have met here. [He declines to remark upon the conversion of mass, if only because that theory was not confirmed until recently. And in a deeply silly manner.]

We're in agreement about not wanting to be bound, at the very least. I have very, very little love of Thorne, and they've only contributed to my dislike over the years. And recently.

[There's a little shrug.]

The only thing of note in the Free Cities is that you are expected to work. Nothing is provided.

I've noticed the same, with other monsters as much as vampires. They share one or two common traits between worlds but are otherwise distinct. Only pagan gods and humans seem largely the same between realities.

[Is that because humans already differ so greatly in personality? He can't guess at the motivation for tinkering with the nature of monsters but not of humanity, whether their creation here is his Father's work or another's. Maybe they're just the universal favourite.

He gives Alucard an appraising look. There are differences right in front of him, too.]

There is no such thing as a half-vampire in my world. They also have more fangs.

[He gives a slight shrug of his own. Not hard to come to an agreement on that particular issue, he thinks.]

Easy to come to a consensus on so uncontroversial a topic. Have you ever met anyone who'd prefer confinement to freedom? Thorne's own Summoned don't care for the place, from what I've seen.

[Michael absorbs the information about the Free Cities with a nod. He has few friends there, but he'd assumed as much. Even Solvunn expects its Summoned to work in exchange for what's given.]

That does sound like the modern world. Solvunn gives freely, but always with the expectation of receiving something in return.

Everything rhymes, but barely anything matches. [Pagan gods is a topic he'll have to trust Michael on. Humans have been easy enough to understand. They have a consistent biology that helps the species continue.]

Oh, more fangs just sounds deeply inconvenient. [They'd just catch on everything.]

And they're not throwing Summoned into the dungeons like they used to either.

[Some problems die very hard indeed. Alucard's gotten over the deeply inappropriate impulse to burn all of that castle to the ground, but he still would like to extend a finger to them.]

And that sounds very much like do ut des in the Roman sense of it.

That's one way of putting it.

[Kind of poetic, which is probably what he should expect of the man. He's starting to think it's a pity none of his vessels have ever been particularly artistically inclined. The perspective they have is unique.]

Perhaps not so inconvenient as you imagine. They're retractable. They are messy eaters, however.

[Michael knows better than an angel should what that's like, though he doesn't see their fangs as comparable to the teeth the Singularity cursed him with. His blessed jaws, their barbarous maws.]

In the religious sense, yes. Thankfully without the Roman appetite for conquering—for now. I can't say I've ever heard any of the Summoned openly denouncing the gods, so I can't say they wouldn't treat difficult Summoned as Thorne has in the past.

[Are Solvunn and Thorne really so far apart? People are people, wherever one goes. The commune sends its 'delinquent' members to the Tertiary Settlement. It's not a dungeon, but removing undesirable people from the main Settlement is still a forceful relocation. All it would take is a few changes in leadership and one of them saying it's the will of the gods to make a true prison, he thinks.]

It just seems correct. Everyone from the same sphere seems to have generally agreed upon histories, but some have vampires and magic, others don't. Yours has more interactive angels. So far as I know, mine does not.

[Alucard snorts at the fang comment.] That means they're poorly trained. Mine are retractable but if there's mess, it is on purpose.

[There's probably some other commentary to be made, but Alucard doesn't mind moving past it. Vampires are going to vampire and be ever so slightly different. That's just how it is.]

I'd...hm. I imagine that they wouldn't take kindly to it, but I also don't know how far they'd be willing to push their luck since they put such high value on them. I wonder what they'd think if they learned of any of what happened in those 800 years that weren't.

More interactive? [Michael raises his eyebrows at that.] I'm only interacting with you now because I was summoned here and have the benefit of a vessel. We avoided Earth as much as possible.

[Well, at least they did when he was in charge. What his younger siblings got up to while he was imprisoned is another matter. In any case, since he hasn't met any other than those from his world, he's assuming angels across realities are fairly universal; more similar than not.]

I'm not convinced those who claim to come from worlds without magic or monsters know the full truth of their home. They may simply never have come into contact with it. Where I come from, it was more common than not to believe such things were fiction.

[Probably didn't help that any angel interactions that did happen were subject to a snap of the fingers and a mindwipe.

Michael tilts his head, considering Alucard's point. The summoned are more revered in Solvunn than anywhere else, but they're still not gods. Not yet.]

Perhaps, but I don't know anyone who'd care to test that theory themselves. I don't expect the life of one Summoned to be worth as much to them as not offending one of their gods. Knowing we may eventually become gods ourselves might just push them to ensure only those they choose make it that far.

That's still much more than I've heard of or experienced personally. It may be a poor point of comparison or whatever god we have is especially down on Wallachia, if you'd like me to qualify my perspective.

[Then again, it isn't like Earth had a lot going for it these days.]

But as you say, the full true of one's home.

[That's such a nice, neat, concise way of putting it.]

I think you're right that if they knew, they'd be so much more deliberate with who they summon. Which...[there's a small shudder upon the realization.] That could create some kind of horrifying god training program under their watch or some similar thing.

[Michael nods. None of them can be certain they knew everything there was to know about their own homes. Even Michael, who'd existed since just about the very beginning of it, had been wrong about what kind of person his Father was—unaware of how many worlds just like his own were His work.]

Wallachia would be lucky to be free of gods, though nowhere seems to be free of fanatics.

[There's always a trade-off, some other complication. Life, it seems, is never easy. That much is universal.]

If they could, I'm sure they would. They don't seem to have any control over who they summon. If there's a pattern among Solvunn's Summoned, I haven't recognized it. [Everything from humans to goddesses to sharkmen; believers and non-believers alike. Maybe the choices make sense from the perspective of a god. Michael had never considered it during those imagined 800 years.] They do seem to expect us to adopt their ways.

[Not exactly a training program, but now that the thought's out there, Michael will scrutinize their requests twice over.]

[It probably isn't great to feel validated by an angel, but sometimes circumstances are stranger than expected and that is precisely what is happening here. Fanatics indeed, and the word gets a small noise of acknowledgement from the dhampir. He sure as hell isn't wrong.]

They may not have defined that part of the ritual yet. Who are any of us to say, given that the entire process is seemingly random and impossible to make sense of? [Their ways though....yes. That could be an in road.]

Let me know if any of the requests start to feel pointed towards a particular end?

That part of the ritual may be beyond their control entirely. Given a few more years here, I suppose we'll see whether or not they manage to refine it.

[As he understands it the summoning ritual isn't exactly a new thing, though Solvunn doesn't have the experience with it that other territories do. They may not even wish to exert the kind of control that he would, in their place. Leaving the selection of the summoned up to 'the will of the gods' seems just as in-character for them as handpicking fellow worshippers.]

You may be asking to hear from me more often than you realize. Their requests always feel pointed to some end, even if it's not always entirely clear what that is. Regardless, if they seem to be forming an army or looking to summon an old god, sure. I'll let you know.

If the Free Cities ever happens to point its aggression at Solvunn rather than Thorne, I'd appreciate a similar warning.

Let us hope it continues to remain out of their control.

[Alucard doesn't trust any of the powers that be. The best, the best they have now is that the summons are random. It avoids pointed selection towards whatever end may be thought of.]

If I know anything in advance, I'll try to communicate it. The Free Cities being as large as they are makes it harder to anticipate such things, unless one is deeply involved in various goings on.

[Alucard has made himself peripheral at best. He isn't suited for politics. Best to let him play around with buildings instead.] Thank you.

Of course. I won't hold you accountable should the worst come to pass while you're out in the middle of the desert.

[Or baking bread in the Horizon. Being at the centre of the commune's running would mean engaging in the same worship and rituals the locals do, and he's unwilling to do so. He's not connected to Solvunn's politics any more than Alucard is to the Free Cities'. Michael doesn't expect more than he can offer.]

Until then.

[He gives a parting nod and turns towards the street he'd been headed down.]

[open; July adventures]

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