randomplaces | The Dream. Swindle's house and outside. What Carl told.

Swindle: *snooze* *snuggabitties?*

bitties: *snug their daddy. And bitty purr*

Swindle: *happy daddy*

Zoe: *puttering around the house, quietly setting things in order and such. Looks toward the door as someone knocks on it, her sash swirling softly around her legs*

Swindle: *mrrmrrr*

Zoe: *opens the door, and then hunkers down to talk to Carl for a moment* -Swindle?-

Swindle: Mrrrr? *sleepysleepywake* -Zoe? What is it?-

Zoe: *softly, with love* -Carl wants to talk to you.-

Swindle: -Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up.- *gets up, snuggling bitties as he walks into the living room*

Carl: *looks up uncertainly from where he's standing on the doorstep still*

Swindle: What can I do for you, Carl?

Carl: *quietly* I just... need to talk. To tell you what happened.

Swindle: Want to come in?

Carl: No... I probably shouldn't tell this story where children can hear it. *looks away, thinking of what the older Heirs had done when he'd told them what happened*

Swindle: *thinks of what he saw, then nods lightly*

Zoe: *moves to gently take the bitties, who squeak and click, but don't really wake up* *kisses mate*

Carl: *boggles at that slightly, but then turns his head politely so he's not looking*

Swindle: *purrs lightly, then turns to walk out the door* We'll find a private spot to talk.

Carl: Alright. *walks along beside him* *quietly* Zoe says you were hurt.

Swindle: Just got caught by a... surprise. *frowns* I'll be okay. Just needed time to rest and heal.

Carl: *sadly, looking down at the grass as he walks* I'm sorry.

Swindle: It's okay.

Carl: *isn't sure about that, but only nods*

Swindle: *goes to find a secluded spot*

Carl: *looks around the quiet little place with trees, then awkwardly sits on the ground for the first time in his life. Wonders if he's doing it right, and what the Rules are for this*

Swindle: *sits down next to him* You okay?

Carl: *looks at his hands* I don't know. I don't know how to tell.

Swindle: *slight worry*

Carl: *quietly* I should never have approved that serum.

Swindle: You? A vote, yes?

Carl: *looks at him funny* A vote? I was the Prince.

Swindle: ...Oh.... o.O .... Who's the Prince now?

Carl: Unless I'm mistaken, a drone of me that they'll program with the Laws and Duties.

Swindle: *twitches ever so slightly*

Carl: If I had stayed, and taken the serum he would have been programmed for servitude till such time as I might take damage and need a new body.

Swindle: ....Slag.

Carl: That is the new system, you see. Designed to preserve House purity and to keep the Bloods from being diluted or mingled further by making each Householder immortal.

Swindle: *just shakes his head at that*

Carl: The Householders no longer age. They no longer need to eat. They'll be perfect for the rest of time unless some accident damages them too badly, and then one of their drones will be inoculated and programmed with their memories and personality.

Swindle: *just blinks, then nods faintly*

Carl: No more servitors will be needed. All those who broke the Laws and Duties were executed and replaced with automatons till the drones were ready. And now that the crops aren't needed for the Elite, they can be sold to bring in even greater wealth and glory to the Houses.

Swindle: That... just sounds... not right...

Carl: *puzzled look upward*

Swindle: I... you know, different way of thinking...

Carl: *nods, and then looks down again* One it seems I need to learn, since I've fallen from Grace and sidestepped my Duty.

Swindle: *winces and nods*

Carl: *quietly* I think I must have gone mad when I stole the extraneous Heirs. But something wouldn't allow me to let them be disposed of.

Swindle: *is silent. Not sure what to say.*

Zoe: *quietly, in Swindle's mind* -Common decency and humanity.-

Swindle: *smiles at that, and repeats what Zoe tells him*

Carl: *looks up uncertainly* What are those?

Swindle: *describe them as best he can*

Carl: Are those the Duties for you Others?

Swindle: They can be thought of as, I suppose.

Carl: Ah. *bows head and thinks to himself that now that the unwanted Heirs are safe, and his replacement is no doubt getting old enough to leave the tank, that there really isn't any point in him continuing to exist now*

Swindle: *catches that thought* o.o

Carl: *and then nearly faints with surprise and amazement as he sees tkStryka walking toward the common room*

Swindle: *looks over, and smiles* Wonder if the rest of the family is here...

Carl: 0_0 Is that... a woman?

Swindle: Yes, she is.

Carl: *amazed and a little shocked at how wide and strong she looks, and her lack of clothing*

Swindle: *chuckles lightly* She's a warrior.

Carl: *shoots him a wide-eyed look, trying to see if he's joking*

Swindle: *shakes his head* No joke.

Carl: *eyes even wider* The World... is so strange. *once more thinks of how he doesn't fit in it and has no further use*

Swindle: The universe is even stranger. *chuckles* Yet we all manage to fit in somehow.

tkBlitzwings: *going by yelling about pizza!*

oStryka: *pauses to watch those Blitzes go past, and then snorts and heads inside herself. Gonna steal some noms. And pretend her son hasn't been eating fence killed coyotes again*

Swindle: *chuckles* ...And one of these days, I'm gonna open up a pizza store in the Well.

Carl: *tears his thoughts away from the shock of giant naked metal warrior women* The... Well?

Swindle: -Zoe, do you know about the Afterlife of Carl's people? Beliefs and such?-

Zoe: -They don't believe in one. They just try to make a perfect heaven in this life.-

Swindle: ...Cybertronian afterlife.

Carl: *blinks* After what?

Swindle: Where we go after our sparks go out. Or at least... most of us.

Carl: *frowns deeply* But when your spark goes out, you're dead. You don't exist anymore.

Swindle: *laughs at that* ...Oh, very much not. I was offline- dead- for a year.

Carl: *blinks* That's impossible.

tkStryka: What's impossible? Hothead, stop that.

Carl: Ahhh!

tkHothead: ...That was Random.

tkRandom: Was not!

Swindle: Ghosts. Afterlife.

tkRandom: Oh, like us!

tkStryka: My aft it's impossible. *will now try to knock heads together*

Carl: *flatfooted shock in his boggling*

tkRandom: Stryka has an impossible aft! AHAHAHAHAh! *run away, run away!*

tkIcy: *comes over. Facepalm*

Swindle: It's possible. When we first met, I was inhabiting Zoe's shell and using her hologram emitter.

tkStryka: *after her Random with ENERGON in her eye!*

Carl: *stares after them, brain blank with shock*

tkRandom: *in the distance* You can't offline me, I'm already offline! Ahahahahahaha!

Swindle: Carl?

Carl: *blank*

Swindle: ... -Zoe, I broke Carl...-

Zoe: -Try poking him.-

Swindle: ... *poke a Carl*

Carl: *soft cry and nearly falls over, then blinks up at Swindle*

Swindle: Are you okay?

Carl: I... think I need to lay down. *serious culture shock. And shocked sensibilities*

Swindle: Want me to take you back to your room?

Carl: I... I can find my way. *gets up slowly and shakily*

Swindle: Okay. If you need anything, let me know....

Carl: Yes... thank you. *so befuddled he's forgotten his 'throw Carl in the garbage' thoughts*

Swindle: *does catch that... and is at least glad for it. Not Carl in garbage*

Carl: *makes it back to his room and collapses on his bed, then passes out and sleeps hard*

Swindle: *will head back to his house*

Zoe: *looks over from where she's sitting on the couch with bitties in her arms, Blizzard beside her, Phantom by her feet, and Roxy and Velvet perched on her shoulder*

Swindle: *goes over and carefully flops on the couch* *will tell Zoe what he just talked about*

Zoe: *gentle love bomb* I heard. *offers him bitties*

Swindle: *snugs bitties* I'm feeling tired again...

Zoe: *softly rubs his shoulder* Yeah. *gets to her feet and then gently lifts him and the bitties and turns to bring them to bed* Coming, Blizzard?

Blizzard: Mrow! *comes*

Zoe: *soft chuckle. Will put mate into his pillow case and then gently tuck him and the bitties among the pillows*

Swindle: *purrs happily at that*

Zoe: *soft chuckle, and then lays down beside him and puts her arms around him and the bitties*

Swindle: *snuggles*

Zoe: *cuddle, love, dream*

((Co-written with

swindle_blitz))