paradoxlol: (;misc: dreaming)
Arthur ([personal profile] paradoxlol) wrote2011-04-28 10:11 am

Goodbye, Sanity~

Have you known such a savoury grief as I?
Do people say "Strange fellow!," whom you meet?
— My amorous soul, when I was due to die,
Felt longing mixed with horror; pain seemed sweet.
 
Anguish and ardent hope (no factious whim)
Were mixed: and as the sands of life ran low
My torture grew delicious yet more grim,
And of this dear old world would not let go.
|

[There's a long pause in the text, then he switches to voice.]
 
It's Baudelaire.  I can't remember the rest.  I just wanted to share, because... because I woke up, and it was like when you get a song stuck in your head.  An idea that replays over and over again, and you try to get it out, but you can't. [He lets out a soft snort at the thought.  NOT THAT ANYBODY WOULD KNOW, but Arthur's tone sounds more like his normal, pre-Invasion self.]
 
The thing about an idea is... If it isn't yours, you can always trace it back to its genesis.  Your mind-- your mind is-- it's this incredible tool; it retains so much more than you can even comprehend.  Some speculate that you never really forget anything-- you may not recall something, but it's still there, locked inside your head.  You can't, you can't make a person believe in a lie forever, not if you don't go deep enough. [He laughs hollowly]  Any memory can be retrieved. 
 
Anything...
 
[Murmuring:] It's on the tip of my tongue.
 
[He lets out a soft sigh and begins to recite, his voice going flat:]
 
J'étais comme l'enfant avide du spectacle,
Haïssant le rideau comme on hait un obstacle...
Enfin la vérité froide se révéla:

J'étais mort sans surprise, et la terrible aurore
M'enveloppait. — Eh quoi! n'est-ce donc que cela?
La toile était levée et j'attendais encore.

 
That's it.  That's what I was forgetting.
 
[OOC: CUE ARTHUR GOING CRAZY.  Or beginning to.  He knows something's wrong; he knows that he should be able to check that this is reality, but the whole concept of a totem is basically gone, so he's left in a daze.  IF I'M FEELING INTELLIGENT ENOUGH, his comments will become more and more surreal, but if I'm not, he'll just be in a weird malaise.  By tonight/tomorrow, he'll start trying to "kick" his canonmates and himself.  With a gun.  The poem is "The Dream of a Curious Man", and I'm using the second translation here.  OH AND: Arthur's on the deck right now, staring down at the "sea" of stars, so that's where you can find him.]
cauchemal: (washed up)

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[personal profile] cauchemal 2011-04-28 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well. Mal isn't expecting that. In dreams (and unbeknownst to her so far, as Cobb's projection) her reflexes are quick and dangerous; in the waking world, not so much. So even though she flails at Arthur with the pillow, it's too little, too late. The gun connects with her head hard in exactly the right spot, and she drops to the floor, unconscious.]

[Arthur, you've got a funny idea of "no lasting harm".]