[DPRP] Thinking Ahead (Thezil & Hollandaise)

[The Semblance of Unity]

day one

Hollandaise had found, on one of her random walks throughout campus, a mannequin's head. One of the eyes had popped out and, since it was an anatomical model of a dragon, its rather hard, plastic-y brain was exposed. It sat on her desk for two days before she decided what to do with it. But eventually the idea came. It was a head, after all, and she knew of someone who needed heads.

The undead dorms were still unnerving, still colder than she liked. Instead of knocking, she simply placed the head in front of a certain room and skittered away. Looped around its ear was a tag that said, in neat, block lettering: 'Thezil, try it!'.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

day three

She had lurked outside the dorms a bit, hoping to see if he used it. But, alas, Hollandaise did not catch sight of him.

This time she set a squash with precisely carved eyes and mouth in front of the door. It might be a little too small, but...  

[The Semblance of Unity]

day six

Today, it was a cardboard box. The happiest of faces was drawn on it. Another singular note attached: 'please let me know.'  

[The Semblance of Unity]

day seven

This time, just a small letter.
'You need to find your head and I do not know if any of these might work, or if perhaps a visit to some graveyard is required. Please advise.
-H'  

[The Semblance of Unity]

day eight

The gramophone was very, very heavy, but Hollandaise dutifully lugged it up to Thezil's room. Next time she might see if a deer's skull might work. She hummed creakily as she set it down, but the ghoul slipped at the last moment and crashed into the door.

cherno astra.

 

[its me debz]

day one

He did not try it. It was not Good or Just or Right, and so Thezil disposed of it at Reese's door, with a note written on top of Holly's note, in big, bold letters:

"I DID NOT USE IT. IT MAY BE OF USE. IT IS NOT OF GOOD QUALITY. BUT IT IS INTERESTING, FOR A THING."

lizbot

 

[its me debz]

day three

It wouldn't even fit over his neck. But it had its charms, and smashing it seemed to have little point. So it was delivered to Tink's door, with Thezil's trademark handwriting:

"IT DOES NOT FIT FOR ME. MAYBE IT CAN DECORATE."

He had also included a candle, scrounged from one of his own supply. (In case Thezil's own wick went out. Stranger things had happened.)

rejam

fyi not a real tag

 

[its me debz]

day six

The cardboard box was returned to her, adorned with strange drawings and etchings. They were not from a skilled hand, but the angular lines of black marker etched a story into the box, a mural of a wall and a vast crevasse, a figure atop a nearby cliff. There was a night sky, clouds, a moon, all done in monochrome.

In the box was a sheet of paper.

"THEY DO NOT WORK. I APPRECIATE THE THOUGHT. I AVOID ITEMS IN EXCESS. DO NOT BE OFFENDED."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[its me debz]

day seven

A letter returned:
"I DO NOT HAVE A PASSPORT."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[its me debz]

day eight

Thezil looked at her, blinking behind his carved eyes, the flames stuttering light to dark, light to dark.

"Hello, Hollandaise," he said, standing. He had been polishing his old skellyvision head, with a simple cloth and tin of grease.

"Is that for me?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

day six

Hollandaise turned the box over in her hands. Each time she looked at it, a different side of the drawing appeared, some new detail she had missed. It was curious, much like the object head was. She wondered who the figure was and if it was someone at all or merely some fantasy. Hollandaise did not think him prone to fantasies.

She would try again.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

day seven

This was defeatist thinking, she thought. The warder did not have a passport, but she had gone out. There were ways around rules, she thought. And if there weren't ways, Thezil should burn new rules into the old ways.

Or he could wait, patiently. Or ask those with passports to help. She pursed her lips and crumpled the letter.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

day eight

"You have a different head," she said ingeniously. "And yes, it is. I thought something that had a natural ability to 'speak' might work well." A piece of paper fluttered from the gramophone. A letter which read in simple letters 'Stop being such a defeatist'. Hollandaise did not look at it. It was embarrassing enough to crash into his door.

"Have you asked students with passports to help you? Or are you content to remain without your head for some indeterminable time?" She titled her head at him.

cherno astra

 

[its me debz]

day eight

He took it from her hands, and resolved that Reese would see use to it.

"I do not know any with a passport," he admitted. "I do not know many at all. It is a flaw."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Did you know-" Here she titled her head again, to the other side, hair sliding through the leaves on her shoulders. "- that is an easily remedied thing?" If he did not know many creeple, he could simply go out and meet them. It was not terribly hard, she thought. "Surely you are not opposed to social interaction in the eventual pursuit of your head?" Hollandaise, of course, saw absolutely nothing wrong with making new friends with the eventual aim of using them later. It seemed wise.

cherno astra