[center][h2]K'nell and Archibald [/h2][/center]

K'nell stood in a vast emptiness, or at least that's what it looked like to the untrained eye. A certain emotion was in his soul and a certain thought was on his mind as he snapped his fingers. Slowly the world around him changed. While the world remained a certain black, rock formed under his feet and far in unseen distances. He could hear the dripping of water, an ocean forming around his stony island. If not for his godly perception, he would have been lost in a creation of his own. He went to sit down, and as he did, a porcelain throne came forth to greet him. He jutted his chin upwards, and a much larger throne appeared opposite of him. He patted his jacket, finding his tin. Pulling it out, he knew only one thing was missing.

"My dear Architect of Galbar," K'nell said out loud, to seemingly no one, "You have my cordial invitation to what I can only hope is what you find to be an adequate setting for -- well nothing but a chat, I suppose."

The words echoed through the endless hall, the dreamscape a perfect replica of the Architect's own throne room save for one detail--here, the wound in the ceiling above yet remained, and the night sky was still exposed. Though the echoes soon died and a disappointing silence seemed to be K'nell's only answer, there soon manifested a gigantic and disembodied eyeball. It came from somewhere up there in the skies above above, dangling in the air for a few moments before finding its place not upon the greater throne but directly above K'nell. And It stared. K'nell's smile remained as strong as it was polite, with only his eyebrows betraying his surprise. He cleared his throat.

" Welcome to the palace," K'nell offered, sliding his silver tin back into his pocket.

The Eye had strangely distorted perceptions. It (and the emptiness and darkness of the air around it, if air was truly what dreamers breathed) seemed to flit in and out of existence as if the dream struggled to reconcile itself with the presence of whatever outside force [i]gazed [/i] in. But the Architect's speech remained clear. [color=lightblue][i]'You desire answers.'[/i][/color]

"In a way," K'nell looked down, his form flickering. Slowly he looked back up at the eye, his eyes spirals and his smile unending as it wrapped around a pale skull. He looked as he did when he entered Galbar for the first time, purple dots dilated at the vortex of his eyes, "Before I get to that, would I be mistaken to assume you have seen my works?" His voice swirled between them.

[color=lightblue][i]'My gaze has never left you.'[/i][/color]

"Then you know that I have trapped myself," K'nell offered, "That through my birthing stupidity, I gave into my own damnation and I have committed a grave sin. In the first eons I created a life with no plan beyond my own weakness, and she named herself Hermes. I granted her the one boon of not knowing her birth, and through her actions I had built myself. Though my initial reasons were selfish, I grew to love her as my own child, but as my compassion grew, so too did my awareness of my own sin. I have done what you had done, except I am not wiser for it, nor do I have the answer to it: I had created life for my own purpose, but gave them no end and no escape." K'nell's eversmile shrank a little, "She now dwells in a world that hates her as much as it loves her, and I am to blame for any of her suffering."

The Eye did not blink, and nor did the void of its giant black pupil betray emotion. [color=lightblue][i]'That one has nonetheless served [b]my[/b] purposes well. She is an entity of value, sufficient to carry out your will as well as my own. Whatever happens afterward may happen.'[/i][/color]

"I see," K'nell composed himself, "Then I suppose I should ask: do you feel love?"

[color=lightblue][i]'Why should you ask such a thing?'[/i][/color]

There was a gentle pop of light as K'nell took the form of an experienced Dreamer gentleman. He wiggled his mouth, as if shaking off the strain of his previous eversmile and then raised his brows, "If you could pardon my inference but if this is not a topic you are comfortable or willing to discuss, we may bury it. I am not on a mission, as it were, to force words and complicate emotions."

The Eye continued to bombard K'nell with its stare, but for all its unwavering and unblinking watch, there was a tiny and almost imperceptible [i]twitch[/i]. [color=lightblue][i]'Many questions cannot simply be asked and answered, for there are some truths that words and thoughts could never convey. One must come to realize such truths of his own accord.'[/i][/color]

"One such being the..." He mulled over his words carefully, "Status, as it were, of your sense of love and all that it entails?"

In an unprecedented feat of generosity, perhaps rooted in a mere whim, the Architect offered K'nell a morsel. [color=lightblue][i]'Every entity is sustained by [b]something[/b].'[/i][/color]

"I suppose it would be foolish of me to ask what you mean by that," K'nell pondered out loud. Silence answered and K'nell cleared his throat, "By which I mean to say, I suspect we are now talking of metaphysics rather than your capacity to feel or, dare I say, be love. I do not assault the topic change, of course, but I am merely pointing out an observation."

Though it wasn't readily visible, from the perturbations in space and reality (or whatever equivalent existed within the land of dreams) there formed a Maw. From above there came the sensation of falling water droplets, but of course, the Eye was not crying. It could not cry. Thunder came into the form of words, from deep within the maw above rather than from some stormcloud, [color=lightblue][b]"Your actions have been acceptable, and your role fulfilled to my satisfaction."[/b][/color]

"Forgive me, but are you suggesting that my actions sustain you?" K'nell stared into the Maw.

[color=lightblue][b]"I offered the answer to another question. I was here long before you. I did not need you to sustain me then. [sub]and I do not now![/sub] Your discerning mind will eventually realize the reason behind my works here, but it will not come from any words. You would not understand."[/b][/color]

"I suppose that's it then," K'nell folded his hands, "And in time perhaps I will come to realize greater things, but then again, perhaps not. Who's to say how much time I have left, let alone time to think."

And the Eye dissolved into tears that the Maw drank, and then the Maw devoured itself and all was silent.

[hider=Summary]

So I guess K'nell wanted to talk to Archie and the fat bastard actually showed up. K'nell actually talked about his feelings but that lasted all of a hot second since Archiie doesn't really give a flying fuck how you feel and then the conversation devolved into a shit show of vagueness and perhaps this perhaps that. In the end we all learned that K'nell was better off keeping his shit to himself and that according to Archie, everything is sustained by something -- and whatever it is you wouldn't understand so fuck off. The end.

[/hider]