[[P]olaroid.]

As the last rays of pearly, translucent light slipped behind the horizon, a pair of large blue eyes split through the darkening shadows. The Cathedral was certainly not a place for anyone of a sound mind to take a nap, but, then again, Alistair wasn't someone you would classify as mentally stable. There was a soft whir and click of machinery as Alistair straightened himself and stretched each gangly limb slowly. He shook the dust and cobwebs that had blown from their respective corners of the dark cathedral and settled on him as he slumbered upon a pew. He gave a sleepy yawn, his mechanized lower mandible glinting in the dim light. He seemed incredibly docile, seated casually upon the pew and staring blankly at the stained glass windows. However, at the slightest sound he swiveled sharply on his paws and snarled, upper lip drawn back to expose his metal fangs and jaw. "I heard that!" He yelped, immediately taking a defensive stance. "Don't think that I didn't hear that, because I did! And don't think that I can't beat the brains out of you, because I can! I'll go over there, I swear!" For years Alistair had been a rather paranoid Yonyuu, and tonight was not an exception.

[Talverda]

A soft susurrus of wind sighed through the crumbling stone skeleton of the cathedral, sending tremors through the cobwebs that hung from the ceilings and in the corners of darkened doorways. As evening approached, the cathedral walls seemed to grow ever more hostile and uninviting. Most sensible creatures would have left by now.

Insomnia, so named by a long ago captor, was used to this routine. During the hours of sun, dark creatures like herself would gather to escape the harsh, revealing sunlight. As night fell, the gathered tenants would depart, ready to claim their share of the shadows, leaving the dusty cathedral cold and barren.

Insomnia didn't leave though. Sometimes she would, perhaps to go catch herself a meal or stalk the dreams of an unfortunate slumberer. However, today, like most days, she stayed in the cathedral, watching from the rafters as the last of the day-shunners departed. Once all was quiet, she roused her dark wings and glided down from her hiding place.

She landed with a soft thud upon the dusty floor. There was only a moment of silence before suddenly, a voice broke through the darkness. Insomnia looked up sharply. She saw a Yonyuu, standing between two pews, fangs bared, shouting something in the darkness. The echoes made it nearly impossible to understand his words and the sound of his voice swirled around insistently in the chamber.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" She roared, "Stop yelling!"  

[[P]olaroid.]

The sound of an actual response made Alistair even more tense. The Yonyuu's paranoia had been absolutely groundless in the past. He often awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, suddenly seized with spasms of fear. He would whirl about, hollering and snarling in his mechanized voice supplied by an artificial voice box in his throat. He would continue to scream for several minutes, decide that nothing suspicious was occurring and wander to a different location to slumber. Although it was an unconventional method of sleeping, it put Alistair's mind at ease during the day - well, mostly.

But to hear another creature speak to him - that was something new. He swiveled immediately to face the newcomer, digging his paws into the dusty grit underfoot. His eyes adjusted to the dark; what used to be empty space was now occupied by a colossal scaled creature, glowing faintly. Alistair gulped quietly - what seemed to be a pile of rippling black scales and markings took the shape of a Battleheart, towering over him. His jaw dropped slightly. He took a few startled gasps before composing himself. His tattered wings rustled and clacked as he hopped from pew to pew, large green ears pressed against his skull. At last he settled a few pews away from the Battleheart, his fur bristling. "Aha, I knew I'd catch you eventually," he murmured darkly. "So, you're the one they sent after me, eh? Trying to catch me off guard, while I slept? Well, I'm afraid they've underestimated me." Alistair had little idea of what he was talking about.

[Talverda]

The Battleheart's wings bristled tensely as the Yonyuu approached. Insomnia knew she could easily take down the Yonyuu in a fight. His wings were tattered and his appearance reminded Insomnia of a worn trinket gathering dust on a shelf. Yet... It was very rare for anybody to approach her with such bravado. The last time somebody had approached her in such a way, she had ended up imprisoned for generations. She would not allow that to happen again.

The Yonyuu spoke again, his voice quieter and understandable. Insomnia pondered his strange words for a moment before speaking. "You didn't catch me." The Battleheart rumbled lowly, "I'd know it if I was caught. There... there would be ticking." She peered at him, her eyes glowing in the fading light, "I wouldn't catch you either." She said, her voice almost contemplative, "All that metal. It would hurt me. Inside." She tilted her head, the runes carved into her horns glinting faintly in the glow of her scales, "Besides. You don't look very sweet. Not as sweet as a Son of Adam." She stared through him for a moment, seemingly distracted by something behind him. Her eyes snapped back to meet his, "Why are you here?" She asked, "All the others left."

[[P]olaroid.]

It was a rather bad decision on his part to approach the Battleheart. Naturally he was a very lithe fellow - very little muscle to flesh out his skinny, angular build. After the accident that had rendered him with a robotic jaw and ruined wings, he was even more frail than before. If the Battleheart decided to lunge, he didn't have use of his wings to flap away, and his biting abilities were now entirely diminished. Perhaps it was just Alistair's mental instability that pressured him onward, hopping from bench to bench with an unexpected agility.

The Battleheart's cryptic answers merely encouraged Alistair's paranoid fantasy. His head whipped back and forth as he tried to discern amongst the shadows a hidden assassin, weapon fixed upon him. When something in the dust stirred, he jumped and gave a guttural growl. At the Battleheart's words, Alistair gave an indignant sniff. "I would hope I'm not as sweet," he said, almost primly. "I'm nearly all nuts and bolts and scrap-metal now." He stared at her intensely as she gazed behind him, seemingly transfixed by something just over his shoulder, and gave another small, alarmed jump as she addressed him suddenly. "Well, I...don't know, really," Alistair scratched his ear with a paw thoughtfully. "Guess I must've wandered in here...I tend to do that when I'm, er, thinking. Or sleepy." When it came to Alistair's naps, he didn't care where he took them as long as it was dry. He hated getting his feathers and gears wet.

[Talverda]

The Battleheart watched uneasily as the Yonyuu drew ever closer, seemingly without fear. He did not seem like a mage or warlock, but Insomnia was suspicious nonetheless. Her tail whipped agitatedly as the Yonyuu suddenly jumped up, growling at something in the shadows. "I don't think you're... You're not normal." She muttered, almost under her breath, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized the Clockwork creature.

"Good thing you didn't sleep." She said, "Good for you. Never good to sleep near a Dreamweaver. We could drive you mad if we wanted to." She suddenly laughed, revealing rows of dagger-like teeth, "I suppose it's too late for that now." Her eyes wandered to his wings, curious metal things. They were rusted and some of the parts seemed to be damaged or completely missing. She wondered if he could fly or if he was earthbound and vulnerable. "What happened to your wings? Did somebody step on them?"

[[P]olaroid.]

The sound of the Battleheart's sudden laughter made Alistair almost want to crawl out of his skin and scamper away as quickly as possible. It was certainly unsettling - his mangy fur stiffened as the loud cackles reverberated off the ceiling and walls. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. "M-mad," Alistair gulped, his somewhat pompous attitude diminishing. "I, well - I prefer the word 'disturbed.'" He took a step or two backwards, shuddering as he felt the Battleheart's gaze on his tattered appendages. He gave his wings a slight flap, flexing them. They were little more than pulpy masses attached to large gears, which were in turn fixed to his shoulder-blades. Few sparse feathers were still attached, looking especially disheveled. They had been replaced by mostly metallic feathers now, each individual lovingly shaped from a titanium alloy. They looked slightly rusty and rumpled now, and even after Alistair's hours of diligent crafting, he was only able to fly several feet in the air.

The question made a small, rather ominous look spread across the Yonyuu's face. If he had been capable of smirking, he would have. "Got into a little bit of an...accident," he said darkly. "I guess I knew too much. A bunch of thugs got me in an alley and left me for dead. They did this -" Here he pointed to his jaw. "- and that." He shook out his feathers again, which hummed as the metal feathers scraped against each other. After a moment, he stared at the Battleheart again. "And what are you doing here, anyway? Isn't it a bit late for folks like you to be roaming around?"

[Talverda]

The Battleheart noticed the change in the Yonyuu's demeanor at her insinuation. He was much less sure of himself and perhaps even a little frightened. A small, satisfied smile tugged at the Battleheart's mouth and she relaxed slightly. This was an attitude she was used to.

She looked up at his broken wings with curiosity as he explained how they had come to be. "You knew too much? That makes sense then. Makes sense of a lot of things. Knowing is a double-edged sword." Insomnia said solemnly, before another sudden fit of laughter rippled through her, "Have you ever seen somebody wield a double-edged sword? It's so funny." Her words were quick and quiet, almost as if she wasn't talking to the Yonyuu at all.

Her eyes snapped back up to meet his at his question, "I like it here." She said, "Sometimes, I go out to hunt. But the best night to hunt is Freya's-Day and that's not for a while now." She glanced up, as if remembering something, "You said that you liked the word 'disturbed' better than 'mad.' But that means that there was something to disturb you, doesn't it?" Her eyes slowly travelled from the ceiling back down to the Yonyuu, "What was it?"

[[P]olaroid.]

Alistair certainly didn't think that he was mentally disturbed. He felt perfectly fine. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw the obvious delight he was providing the Battleheart - she seemed to derive some pleasure from his upset demeanor. "Who would want to hold a double-edged sword? A single edge would be more than sufficient, I'd think," Alistair wondered aloud, instantly picturing a knight in shining armor approaching the Battleheart, a massive double-edged sword clutched in his gloved hands. He imagined the knight bringing the sword upon the Battleheart's hide - only to have it bounce uselessly off and impale the poor man through the stomach.

He snapped back into reality when he heard the Battleheart speak once again. "Freya's-Day? Sounds...fun," Alistair mumbled, his voice straining to be polite. "Disturbed? Oh, I don't know, the work I used to do was..." For a moment, images of blood-splattered hospital rooms and horrified pets entered his mind. In a heartbeat, these images vanished from his mind, and he gave a light-hearted shrug. "I suppose my work was a bit stressful, is all. But apparently I've always been a bit...deranged." He accented the last word with an odd giggle that shook his skinny frame.

[Talverda]

"Mm. A slayer. He thought using a double-edged sword would give him twice the power." She grinned at the memory, the misguided confidence in the man's eyes, "The idea came to him in a dream." She said, almost wistfully as she relished the memory.

"Work. Work work work. I'd go mad... disturbed... if I had to work." She said. She didn't understand the way today's people did business. They went through hours of toil and all they had to show for it was a few pretty stones. Back in her time, people were paid in useful things; crops, service, cattle. At least it made sense back then, even though she had saw no reason to work even in those times when pillaging and stealing was so much faster.

"You couldn't have always been deranged." Insomnia pointed out, "You don't just hatch that way. Something had to make you that way." Her expression suddenly changed to one of great interest, "What did it? Did somebody die? Did you kill somebody? Did they lock you up somewhere for a long, long time? Was it the ticking?"

((5th post))

[[P]olaroid.]

"Dreaming? I suppose it's a, uh, favored pastime of yours?" Alistair casually flicked something out of his fur and growled at it - he watched it land on the floor with a loud splat and scurry off amongst the other pews, looking for slightly less fussy prey. He watched its retreating figure for several more seconds. "I usually don't have dreams. Well, I can never remember them, anyway. Sleeping is a rather boring hobby of mine," Alistair nodded solemnly. It was true - although Alistair was prone to taking many naps, he rarely ever dreamt anything worth remembering later.

"The ticking?" Alistair cocked his head to one side. "Well, I mean, I wasn't always Clockwork. No, no - I used to be rather normal." He gave another ominous chuckle. "'Cept when he thugs came and beat the living daylights out of me, of course." He suppressed a delighted giggling sound when he saw how interested the Battleheart had suddenly become. His life story was an interesting one, to be sure. "Well, they made me work in that dreaded place. I was - am - a mechanic, not some kind of twisted doctor." He rolled his eyes, expressing great exasperation even now. "And for some reason they thought I could stomach my work. Ugh. That place gave me the shivers. But I think I started losing it when...ah, when they brought that little girl in. Hmm, yes, that was vaguely disturbing."

[Talverda]

Insomnia gave the Yonyuu a rather puzzled look when he said that he didn't dream. "Everybody dreams." She said, as if she was pointing out that she sky was blue or that water was wet, "Never met a person, place, or thing that didn't." She smiled crookedly as she remembered the dreams of an old, mostly forgotten computer that sat in a frequently deserted internet cafe somewhere in a small dusty town. She had interrupted the elegant strings of numerical data that manifested in the dreams of the machine, integrating unintelligible ciphers and codes, maddened by the Dreamweaver's touch. The computer would wake, full of clinical, apathetic despair at the capriciousness of the world and logic's slipping grasp on reality.

She listened intently to the Yonyuu's story, vague as it was. "Oooh, what did you do?" She asked, "Did you take out their insides out and put wires in instead? Somebody told me that's how Clockwork's are made, but whenever I take the insides out, they just die."

[[P]olaroid.]

"Really?" Alistair blinked. "Well, I suppose my dreams aren't worth remembering then. They must be very boring." Alistair was partially lying - sometimes he would dream snatches of things, usually vaguely pleasant. A field he once visited as a kit, the sight of his brothers romping through the mountains. Such quick visions were oftentimes interrupted by images of a grimy hospital room, bloody parts scattered in the sinks and countertops, wires covering every surface like rusty ivy.

The Battleheart's comment made Alistair chuckle and roll his eyes slightly. "Well, of course," he scoffed, his tail flicking from side to side. "It's an exact science, making Clockworks. It's actually a very touchy procedure. Vital signs need to be monitored constantly. The precise amount of medication must be administered - I once had a patient wake up in the middle of a surgery. They ended up ripping out everything - very, very messy." He gave another chuckle, but this one was slightly more reluctant and slightly unsettled. "But I usually didn't do the surgeries. No - I was in charge of 'recycling.' It was my job to take out the machinery of those who...didn't deserve them anymore."