mylittlejamjar | Neurosis 01 [Visual]

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Neurosis 01 [Visual]

[The week was nearly over, and the air was starting to clear significantly... the town wasn't quite as blue as it was Monday morning. Literally or figuratively. Yet, trueberry-induced awkwardess hung in the air even still, liable to last a few more days yet. Now seemed like the perfect time to strike.

He'd spent most of the week watching from a vantage point nopony would question - after all, they were so worried about blurting out their deepest secrets that nopony paid the suspiciously new potted plant near Town Hall any mind, even though it was blatantly wearing a ratty toupee. And with that, he learned of the situation... including what was going in in town, and how he had gotten to a place like Ponyville anyway, when normally changelings still couldn't get within miles of Canterlot.

Making sure he's not seen, the changeling reverts back to his normal form, unrolling the nearby scroll and working its magic.]

Greetings, my little ponies. I see that I have arrived in your world during a bit of a... crisis. Something in the air compels you to speak truths uncontrollably, yes? I notice a large number of you are highly uncomfortable with the idea, and yet it is highly liberating, is it not? Being able to vent what is truly hidden deep in your minds. Perhaps it would help you to seek a neutral third party in this situation, to allow that truth to flow without fear of judgement.

I would like to introduce myself. I go by the name "Hain" amongst ponies, and yes, I am fully aware that I am a changeling. However, I have nothing to hide. I shall not pretend to be some random pony whom you have never met simply to garner love from you - I will do that, instead, with honesty and promise.

You see, I am a deserter of my changeling hive, and as of such have to subside on whatever love I can gather from ponies directly. To that end, I have taken up profession as a therapist. I help ponies with their problems, and in lieu of coin, they provide me sustenance. It is actually truly a remarkable deal, yes?

And it sounds to me like many of you need the assistance. While I do not have a place of residence as of yet, my non-existent doors are quite open for any and all of you.

However, do bear in mind that I do not work pro-bono. As I said, I ask only for my next meal, but that is payment I am unwilling to negotiate at this present time, as a sheer matter of self-preservation. I also do not take kindly to being short-changed.

Regardless, my offer is on the table. Allow me a meal, and I will listen to your problems, even help you through them.

And I assure you; despite the teeth, I will not bite.

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Hain scowls slightly as he tries to fight back the compulsion of the trueberries. Sadly, he was no more immune to their effects than any other. At the very least, he is able to make the conversation more private so that others don't get this kind of confession from mere eavesdropping.

"No. It is not reformation. That would imply I felt like a changeling's way of life is wrong, that I would seek some way to find sustenance without drawing it from the emotions of ponies. As for the teeth, they are for combat. Teeth, hooves, horn, the body of a changeling is meant as a means of defense should we be cornered and our disguise seen through."

He gives a low sigh, really wishing he wasn't quite so wordy, before giving a slow headshake and adjusting those glasses.

"The queen of my former hive thinks like you. That consideration need not be given for livestock. It cost her significantly, both in the amount of land under changeling control and in drone lives. I, on the contrary, believe that if you cultivate your chattel and take only what you need from it, it will not respond with aggression."

"Chattel." Handy snorts. "I can't say I'm surprised -- though I didn't say that's what I thought. Your queen's just got a more typical viewpoint, that's all. I'd rather see you all starve."

He stops, eyes widening. He hadn't meant to say that. He'd meant to say something about how he'd like to help all the vampires and vampire-like beings develop alternate food sources in order to make themselves independent of their parasitic natures. That's him, isn't it? The helpful one? The one finding a place in the universe for everyone to coexist without harm? "I mean," he says, "I like to talk about how I want to help everyone find a way to coexist, but I really hate vampires --"

Nope. Handy stops himself again, ears going back, and tries to take refuge in something that makes Hain sound monstrous instead of himself. "I can hardly trust you not to harm any of the ponies if you see them as livestock," he mutters.

"She's no more my queen than she is yours, at this point." Despite the icy edge to his voice, he's grinning once again. He seems to realize that, despite everything, he might have the upper hand here.

"Oh, I'm certain you do hate vampires, and it's starting to become clear as to why. I may view ponies as livestock, certainly, but I've expressed my desire to not let a good source of food be wasted. You, on the other hand, have just suggested that you want to condemn an entire species to death for no other reason than what they are."

Oh, but condoning genocide wasn't really the issue here, was it? No, now it was time to strike a little more truly. "You feel like we're competition. We're monsters that it's much easier to hate, something you know nobody will question if you detest. So tell me... what happens if we all starve? Do you think you'll be able to evade your own judgement indefinitely by finding other things to hate in your stead?"

Why did Handy think it was a good idea to challenge the changeling while under the influence of the trueberry bomb? Granted, he got confirmation of Hain's true motives he would have been unlikely to evoke at any other time, but he should have known better than to rely on his gift of gab while forced to tell the truth.

He's all too aware that Hain thinks he has -- and probably does have -- an advantage now. At another time he might comment on the irony of arguing that ponies aren't livestock, but he doesn't have it in him to be glib at the moment, particularly when such unfortunate things keep coming out of his mouth.

If he has to tell the truth, he's not going to go blurting it out while trying to say something less incriminating. Choosing his words, Handy says darkly, "What makes you think I've evaded it? You don't know who you're dealing with."

There was entirely a reason he had switched to private communication. Should Handy try to use those words against him, it is his word against the pony's... a pony who seems to have a clearly blatant prejudice and maybe more than a little emotional volatility.

As long as he keeps things under control, he has the entire advantage.

"You're right. All I know is that you are an off-world pony, meaning you were not originally equine. I also know you appear to detest things that wish to feed from you, regardless of if they intend you true harm or not. Judging by your choice of words, I can fairly easily assume that you would be violent if put under pressure." Hain smirks knowingly, shaking his head.

"And I know you've got the same problems I do at the moment. Even if I didn't ask, I'm quite sure you'd tell me, in excruciating detail, who exactly I am dealing with."

On the other hand, it would also be a pony's word against a changeling's. Some might believe Handy on strength of species alone, though even he would be at least a little bit troubled by that.

"I'm a half-human duplicate of the Time Lord known as the Doctor." Great, already off to a terrible start. Handy's ears are more or less permanently pinned back now, and a grimace distorts his features. "He's a member of an ancient and powerful race, who's older than either of us can remember, who's traveled across the galaxies and protected some people and killed others...and I'm a biological accident with his memories."

Well, that could have gone better.

"All of the ego with none of the pomp. It doesn't much matter, as here, you're a pony version of a half-human et cetera et cetera. You have no problems killing and think you're inferior because you are abnormal, an outlying case." Hain's grin only widens, those teeth bared even as he speaks.

"You and I are more similar than you would want to admit, which deeply disturbs and angers you. I could be considered half-pony by my willingness to walk amongst them openly as opposed to hiding in another pony's life, am unappreciated and unloved by many, and was created by a fortuitous accident."

Well... technically his spawning was normal, it was simply that the love of the creatures used to create him was much more... concentrated than that of a pony.

Handy's frown deepens and deepens as Hain speaks, and he's on the verge of cutting his losses and simply turning off his scroll -- a solution nearly unthinkable to someone who prides himself on his wit and his ability to charm (or at least fool) all he meets.

A tiny glimmer of hope for a subject change flashes before him, and he grabs at it. It helps that his curiosity is piqued by the statement, though his enthusiasm is mostly born of a desire to get the discussion off himself. "What accident was that? How did you come about?"

"I don't particularly enjoy talking of myself, but if you must know, I spawned from the emotions of a creature quite unlike a pony. The energy which made me was more concentrated, purer." In fact, he seems a bit nauseated thinking about it. It was like being a cake made entirely out of frosting.

"And what kind of creature would that have been?" Handy's interest is piqued, both because this could mean an explanation of why Hain isn't living like an ordinary changeling and because Hain's not enjoying talking about it. Serve him right.

The response out of Hain is obvious - disgust and a bit of anger. He would rather NOT speak of this, and yet his own moral code insists he gets the last word in; this is just a pony, after all.

"I don't have the words in my vocabulary to properly describe the wretchedness. You'd better settle for pictoral evidence."

And then, against his better interests, the changeling starts to sketch out a shape in the dirt before turning the scroll to show it.

In a single burst of truth, all of that former advantage Hain had is gone. A pony knows that he's technically a byproduct of his former queen's attack on "Wuvy Dovey Smoochy Land".

Ugh.

The more angry and disgusted Hain gets, the more smug Handy feels in having found a way to needle back at him. By the end of this, he knows, both will have more dirt on the other than is really healthy, but he's absolutely not going to let himself stay at a disadvantage if he can help it.

He watches expectantly, not sure what he expects -- something monstrous, perhaps, if it's really all that different from a pony. Maybe Hain spawned from a dragon; they seem like they'd have strong emotions.

He's surprised, therefor, when he sees what the changeling's drawn. A long snort emerges from the blue pony; while he doesn't know what that creature is, it's obvious enough that it's about as impressive as one of Fluttershy's bunnies. "That's adorable," he laughs. "What is it?"

Handy might be biting off more than he can chew, there; after all, the creature might be adorable, but the method of his creation certainly was not. "I'm not entirely certain of what they were called. My former queen drove them to extinction around the time I was spawned - or near extinction, I doubt a single changeling hive can commit complete genocide that quickly."

If it helps Handy, it doesn't look like Hain is any more comfortable discussing this. "One of the benefits of being the queen of a hive is that the queen can overconsume love, using the excess to spawn a new changeling asexually. These creatures had enough of the stuff to completely repopulate a decimated hive."

Edited 2013-09-16 00:29 (UTC)

Smile gone. Really, did Hain wonder why Handy would want to ~~exterminate~~ strike back against the changelings, if they went about causing genocide to replenish their ranks? "And what, that killed them?" he asks, serious as death. "So much for feeding without causing harm."

He didn't wonder in the slightest; at the same time, he had to act the part to be relatable. In addition... "My former queen deserves all the scorn you want to throw at me. Yes, I can tell. Answer me this, though. If I shared her beliefs, would she be former? I went through a lot of trouble to sever myself from the hive, from the hivemind, so that I would not be lumped in the same group as her."

Hain snarls, his ire raised considerably; the only other person to get this kind of reaction out of him was Chrysalis herself. "Even if I look down upon those I feed from, is that not miles better than slaughtering them?"

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