Post by Fang on Jun 16, 2023 0:08:00 GMT
The new Agent, Rex Papillion as he called himself, spoke of the Anomaly with him with something like affection, his shift from personal to impersonal pronouns seemingly instinctive through their connection. Catian’s eyes studied the butterflies that flitted from plant to plant, their connections and their apparent ambivalence. In the instant his glasses and drink were to vanish that innocuous nature shifted, the Order Catian had written replaced with soft wingbeats and tiny legs perched on the rim of his tropical beverage. The air around Catian seemed to ripple like heat waves in the depths of summer. He knelt to the glass curiously, the researcher momentarily forgotten.
”ACF-707, The Butterfly Effect. He identified the glasswing with 707’s official designation flippantly, extending an index finger toward the translucent insect before it flitted away. As he straightened Catian looked around the room again, seeing the concrete walls and diffused light with different understanding after Papillion’s explanation. The waves of distortion that surrounded him grew stronger, be ding the light so the plants around him seemed to bend at impossible angles, their hues changing to alien extremes with diffusion of reality around them.
”Bureaucracy can be such a pain, can’t it?” The words were soft and understanding as his eyes met the researcher’s. Catian dusted his hands on the fabric of his pants, and the distortion around him dissipated in ebbing waves that travelled through the cement walls and ceiling, changing them as they passed. Hard stone shimmered, light passing through it as its qualities shifted to translucency. In the span of a few moments the containment cell for ACF-707 became a greenhouse, and its location shifted to somewhere else. A river ran past the glass walls, trees dotted a horizon littered with towering mountains and the telltale haze of a distant city.
Catian extended his finger again, seemingly oblivious to the change. His soft words were mingled with the fluttering of wings as an iridescent blue butterfly settled on the proffered digit. ”Occurrences like this are hardly uncommon in perceptual based realities such as yours. Think of how you saw the world as a child, how so many things seemed magical and unknowable. As you grew older those things were given definition, anchored in the reality of those around you as you began to interpret your reality by the rules and laws you were taught as fact.” Catian lifted the butterfly to his face, smiling as it drank the moisture from his finger in quick, flitting taps of its proboscis.
”This little guy was known as Xerces Blue, a species of Lycaenidae that went extinct over fifty years ago.” He let the words hang there for a moment as the butterfly took its leave, joining its brethren in their unfathomable machinations. ”When the mind is untouched by the ideas that define possibility for us the borders of reality become far more malleable and easy to manipulate. A butterfly might just be the perfect example of the kind of mentality necessary. Though I am still looking into the origins of these Anomalies your organization collects I have reason to suspect they’re merely an effect of the causality of the Chaotic Order your world seems to derive from.”
Catian crossed the distance between researcher and traveler in a breath, figure slightly hunched to come nose to nose with Papillion. ”You seem particularly connected with her, Rex. Why haven’t you just asked her for answers yourself?”
”ACF-707, The Butterfly Effect. He identified the glasswing with 707’s official designation flippantly, extending an index finger toward the translucent insect before it flitted away. As he straightened Catian looked around the room again, seeing the concrete walls and diffused light with different understanding after Papillion’s explanation. The waves of distortion that surrounded him grew stronger, be ding the light so the plants around him seemed to bend at impossible angles, their hues changing to alien extremes with diffusion of reality around them.
”Bureaucracy can be such a pain, can’t it?” The words were soft and understanding as his eyes met the researcher’s. Catian dusted his hands on the fabric of his pants, and the distortion around him dissipated in ebbing waves that travelled through the cement walls and ceiling, changing them as they passed. Hard stone shimmered, light passing through it as its qualities shifted to translucency. In the span of a few moments the containment cell for ACF-707 became a greenhouse, and its location shifted to somewhere else. A river ran past the glass walls, trees dotted a horizon littered with towering mountains and the telltale haze of a distant city.
Catian extended his finger again, seemingly oblivious to the change. His soft words were mingled with the fluttering of wings as an iridescent blue butterfly settled on the proffered digit. ”Occurrences like this are hardly uncommon in perceptual based realities such as yours. Think of how you saw the world as a child, how so many things seemed magical and unknowable. As you grew older those things were given definition, anchored in the reality of those around you as you began to interpret your reality by the rules and laws you were taught as fact.” Catian lifted the butterfly to his face, smiling as it drank the moisture from his finger in quick, flitting taps of its proboscis.
”This little guy was known as Xerces Blue, a species of Lycaenidae that went extinct over fifty years ago.” He let the words hang there for a moment as the butterfly took its leave, joining its brethren in their unfathomable machinations. ”When the mind is untouched by the ideas that define possibility for us the borders of reality become far more malleable and easy to manipulate. A butterfly might just be the perfect example of the kind of mentality necessary. Though I am still looking into the origins of these Anomalies your organization collects I have reason to suspect they’re merely an effect of the causality of the Chaotic Order your world seems to derive from.”
Catian crossed the distance between researcher and traveler in a breath, figure slightly hunched to come nose to nose with Papillion. ”You seem particularly connected with her, Rex. Why haven’t you just asked her for answers yourself?”