text | un: anonymous

[possessum]

( This is not Peter Graham, though of course, posting anonymously takes away that possibility. The user didn't want to use the boy's network handle, to inevitably be seen through the filter of "Not Peter."

The user is trying to define his own identity. )

why did you choose your title here on this THING
what is the meaning
?
?

( ...Texting is still something he struggles with, though the demon has been watching and learning and forming his own conclusions on how to do it. Autocorrect is a life-saver. Two questions get two question marks. ....Even if they go in the wrong place. )

i will grant you a
GOLDEN COIN
if you
RESPOND

( ...For those who know Paimon fairly well, that particular offer of exchange might betray who he is. But the demon of Knowledge is curious to hear reasons, and within them: perhaps stories, memories, self-perceptions. There is a meaning to everything, whether simple or complex.

And perhaps by the end of it, he will know what title he would give himself, here on the network. )

Comments

un: ortus | text

[noniad]

The device prompted me to enter a name. I did.

It was only after this that I learned it was possible to choose other names, but I have not seen cause to. I see no reason to conceal my identity.

[possessum]

there is POWER in names
some one could seek to manipulate you
if they know YOURS

( He's speaking from experience, here... and while he does not know this stranger, assisting humans is there at the root of him.

Assuming this particular stranger is a human, of course. )

[noniad]

[...

That bodes...ominously.]

I did not know that sort of power existed.

How would I know if this was occurring?

[possessum]

you might become ill
or compelled to act when you did not mean to
but i believe you might not know

but there must be a reason for some one to try it
if you have a POWER others might seek
if you can be SUMMONED and USED

[noniad]

I do not have much in the way of skill, save for my poetry, and the power of my blood is only suitable as aid to others. (I have found that, through verse, I may at times aid others in realizing their own strengths, but this does not strike me as a power that a person who may already command others would require.)

Nevertheless, if one wished to ward against such abuses, how might one do so?

And is this what you seek to ward yourself against, through a name?

[possessum]

realising their own strengths
does that mean making their power stronger
or uncovering power they could not reach before
?
?
?

( Both of which would be relevant to him, in their ways. He is very curious by this stranger — and unintentionally shifts between theoretically perceiving them as "human" and "something like himself", the two categories that Paimon defaults to sorting people into. )

i do not know

( A pause, as he feels the weight of frustration. The words aren't correct. How does he make them correct? )

i know but i do not remember
i believe my name was used in my home world
i believe i was MANIPULATED
now i can not remember many things

yes if a witch or magician sees my name and wishes to MANIPULATE me here i believe they could
so i must not use my true name
however i do not know what to use in stead
i have never chosen my own TITLE

( This is a whole lot of texting from him. It takes... awhile per each line.... )

[noniad]

The former. I may enhance what is already present, not instill new skills or qualities...but I find that at times, those I assist are surprised by what I perceive in them.

[And this enhancement may be of flaws as well, but that is an aspect of it he finds far less worth speaking of. In the meanwhile, he waits patiently on the words of this rather emphatic personage, his empathy for them growing line by deliberated line.]

To experience the loss of one's memories is a heavy burden. I am sorry that you are so afflicted.

Choosing a title is a difficult thing. I have had to title my own works of writing, and found that challenge enough. I would imagine that choosing a title for the whole of oneself is even more vexing.

When I have chosen mine, I asked myself: what is the first thing that I wish for a reader to perceive about my work? What mood, what sensation, do I wish to evoke? What best serves to prepare them for a suitable mindset to understand what follows?

Perhaps some of these concepts may be of help to you.

I'm so sorry to Ortus......

[possessum]

i under stand
there is much worth in such an ability
there must be many who wish to be touch by such a gift

( It's meaningful, to take what's already within and bring it out — to enhance. It's certainly something he has an interest in, given his situation where there are still so many lost things tucked deep down within himself, and he's delighted to have made connection with such an individual. (Could they perhaps sense anything to Peter? Draw something out? Surely the vessel that was chosen for him is capable of more than what it seems, isn't it?)

Certainly, he would like to make favour with them — the fact they're a writer, a poet, is even more of a bonus. He's meant to align with those who create and use thought as a tool. )

i believe this place will help me to find some of them again
this place opens things
UP
on the
INSIDE

( But oh... these do help. These questions, put into solid form, things he can see and touch and feel. This well of wisdom is one he's eagerly dipping into, and thankfully text spares Ortus from the way he's quite literally, loudly, buzzing with excitement right now...

Unfortunately, it means he's having a harder time typing again. Even autocorrect can't help some things; he's kind of... short-circuiting a bit... in capslock. )

IT DPJE IT HELP
HELPING
I SEE
////!!!!///!

P[REPARED FOR ME
I WHEEL PREPARE THEM FOR ME
I KNOWING HOW HOW
///!!//!/!/!!

( He knows how to prepare a person for the energy he has; it's part of how he works. Just as much as he knows how he's meant to feel to his summoners and those he works with. That is one thing that hasn't been lost from him, taken from him, even if that energy may have been made warped by those hands that guided him most recently. And there's a way to find how to describe it, he thinks. )

I AM GRATITUDE FOR YOUR WISE

( .......The intent is there.... )

[noniad]

[Perhaps Ortus ought to be frightened. He thinks he may be, in a physical sense, judging by the habitual tightening of his stomach paired to the rush of false clarity that comes with certain fears.

But what he feels in his heart is a gush of soft, familiar concern. He knows what a fit of too much resembles, the ways a mind might buck at its housing and at sense when overwhelmed or simply sent tumbling down strange corridors by no logic perceptible to the outside world. He has seen Harrowhark too often in abject distress at herself and the disobedience of her will and her body to flinch from the stranger's outburst.

It is a deeply painful thing to not know oneself. It follows that the relief of discovery might be paired with jubilation in equal measure.]

I am glad to have been of aid to you, given your help to me.

I hope that you are able to find a name that suits, good stranger. I would be pleased, if it does not trouble you, to know what it might be, once you have ascertained it for yourself.

[possessum]

( Truly, Ortus was one of the first here to inspire Paimon so profoundly... and it struck the demon hard, wild. But like a light that burns too brightly and quickly — it fizzles. Explodes, not entirely, only in small doses, little bursts that leave it scorched and stunned for a few moments.

And Paimon is a being of reciprocation. Though he can't hear this person's voice or manner of speaking: their calm way of typing, their choice of words, catches hold of him and helps smooth out those strange frayed, singed edges. This is a poet, and someone with power, and someone very WISE. Somehow who has helped him. He feels at ease, much too easily, latches onto the way this person "feels" to him. Ortus; it is a word that means, among many other things, "beginning".

It takes a few long moments, but his spirit finds calm again. Switches, again. )

i shall gladly gift it to you once it is made
ORTUS
you will know it
as you will know me

( That sounds... ominous, but he means it in a completely favourable way... To know him is a privilege, in the sense that he can assist, give greater gifts than simple gold coins. But he hasn't forgotten that initial promise— )

would you prefer the coin to be of a particular land
?
some prefer gold of egypt
some of greece or rome

( It's the same, underneath, but the engraving, the era and civilisation associated with it... Humans have made many different requests of him, that way. )

[noniad]

[That is unexpected. Ortus expected no payment beyond the knowing of the name, but now this stranger offers him coin of gold from places Ortus has yet to learn of.

There is an instinct to demur. Humility and poverty are values the Ninth holds dear by necessity. It does not do for members of the most meagre House to aspire to all that which glitters and gleams.

But he is striving to be better about accepting kindnesses. Surely, they would not offer if it was a great hardship to them. Ortus may hedge his bets.]

I would be greatly pleased by any coin you saw fit to give me.

I have never heard of these lands. Perhaps you might grant me the coin that you like best, if that is not too dear an ask of you.

[possessum]

( The one he likes best...? It isn't the first time in this place that the concept of choosing has been presented to the demon lord, and so it is not new, but it is still... foreign.

Perhaps not long ago, he would have insisted that the other pick very specifically, that the request of their heart be fulfilled, but now he can see that this is their request. For him to choose; they don't know which one, have no preference. It is up to Paimon.

He will put much thought into this. For the first time, perhaps in all of his existence, thinking of each coin and which one he may like best, and why. Rubbing his fingers over each imprint, taking in each written language, finding a... preference. (....It's all given him a bit of an identity crisis, but in ways that are less aching as they usually are. No, this does not ache. This feels... a bit exciting?) )

i under stand
i shall ful fill this request after taking some time
i shall contact you so that i may bestow it upon you
thank you ORTUS

[noniad]

Thank you, truly. I will wait to hear from you, and am eager to see which coin you choose.

[Ortus will reflect on this peculiar interaction for some time into the future, waiting for the delivery of the promised coin with an odd certainty that it will be sent to him at some date yet to come.

For all the stranger's unique manner of speech and evidently excitable manner - not to speak of their unfamiliarity with some social mores - Ortus perceived no malice in them. A sort of erratic flightiness, perhaps, but an earnest nature. Childlike is not quite the word, but there are qualities of the forthright curiosity and moods of a child, generous and fretful and preoccupied with all sorts of questions about the world by turns.

He feels an unexpected nascent liking for them, whoever they are, and cannot but to wish them well.]