Me. (thelastimmortal) wrote in choo_choo, @ 2015-12-15 20:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: baron harkonnen, character: me, scenery: vast ocean |
Hours [Baron Harkonnen]
Me's life was made of stories, for she was too old to remember the impossible sum of her life. Not ready to lose those experiences, she'd once tried to capture the memories her human mind wasn't capable of retaining in writing, only for the library of volumes, no matter how many times they were rewritten and republished, to eventually turn to dust.
She'd sat at the end of the universe in a leather jacket and an overstuffed chair watching stars die from the ruins of crumbing civilization when she was pulled onto the train. It left her in a curious position. Instead of enjoying a satisfying end it appeared to be a new beginning. The question became: now what?
Ten thousand hours to master any skill. Twenty thousand to become the best in the world. Over a hundred thousand, and she would be the best there'd ever been. The skills themselves, like memories, faded over time. She'd acquired and lost many over the endless years of her life. So how should she spend these new hours placed in front of her?
To start, she'd watched the people. She found a comfortable chair and watched her fellow passengers come and go. She watched them make alliances with one another, form bonds, create promises. Me hadn't watched the transactions directly, of course, but she could start tracing the lines of relationships by watching who walked with one another or by how softly they spoke. Hardly any time passed at all. Me was by no means an expert, she had only begun a handful of hours ago, but she had started.
It was something to do.
Although she would have been satisfied just to watch, Me struggled with the selfishness of it. Stars didn't care if you watched them flicker and die, but people generally did. Me hadn't settled on an objective yet. Was she supposed to save the people on the train? She could, she could even live long enough to clean up after any repercussions. Maybe she was supposed to let them save themselves or let the train do its work. She needed to get to know the passengers first to decide.
So she left her comfortable chair and approached the Baron Haronnen, for he was presently without company and said, "Hello."