Sector 001 - video;

[fingersnapping]

[ Functioning. It applies to both his own body, and the communications device, but sadly not his powers. He'd worn himself out trying to zap himself back out of this miserable existence, and now Q was suffering--suffering from a bruised ego, a sore head, and - perhaps most unfairly - a grazed knee. Mortal, but not not Q. Trapped, but not wholly aware how. And the ticking of the clock is making his headache worse. A most disagreeable state of affairs. And now here's his face, at first much too close to the camera, and then withdrawn to a more reasonable distance, revealing Voyager era command red, and four pips at his collar. Not for a moment does his scowl subside. ]

Oh, I'm sure you think you're very clever. Do you have any idea who I am? You'd be well advised to send me back where I came from immediately. Otherwise--well, I can't be held responsible for what might happen. [ Not from him. Oh, no. But the Continuum might have something to say about it. Or his family. At least he hadn't actually fallen into the fountain. He'd come close, but with at least some small part of his once magnificent power available, he'd saved himself the splash at the last second. He leans back, inspects the fingernails of his left hand disinterestedly. ]

Well? Hurry up. I haven't got all day. I'm getting bored.


[ ooc: I'll tag this right up when I'm 100% sure what Q's tag is, thank you for bearing with me! ]

Comments

[fingersnapping]

I seem to recall a great deal about my rank, my ship, and how I earned both, and very little about who and what you are.

[ The closest to admitting he doesn't know. ]

[dragonofalthena]

Well, you were talking about yourself and never asked.

I'm Nall. I'm a guardian. It used to mean of the goddess Althena, now it means her people.

[fingersnapping]

I've never heard of you.

[ It sounds like 'so you don't matter', but for Q the fact is worrying. He's heard of everyone...ish. He knows everything. ]

Guardianship of a people. Ugh, how do you stand it? The boredom would seep the very eons out of me.

[dragonofalthena]

Why should you have? [Dur, weirdo!] You're not from Silver Star.

[He shrugs.] There hasn't been much to do for the last thousand years. Nothing so great that I've had to be involved, anyway. So I collect orphans. [He grins.] Adopt twenty or so kids and you'll never be bored.

[fingersnapping]

I don't think you truly understand. I know everything. I've been everywhere, seen it all. There's nothing I don't know.

[ Grump grump grump. ]

One child is more than enough. What would be the point in raising any that don't even belong to you? It defeats the purpose of the so-called sentient prerogative to reproduce oneself.

[dragonofalthena]

[He laughs.] Obviously you don't and you haven't.

They have no one to look after them. They need someone. And really, my form of reproduction is... different from how humans do it.

[fingersnapping]

[ Q scowls. ]

Frankly it's more likely that you simply don't exist, and I resent the tone. [ He waves his hand. ] Yes, well, given the choice who would reproduce the human way?

[dragonofalthena]

If I didn't exist, wouldn't you know it?

It sounds more fun than just waiting for the next to be created after my death. But I don't want that emotional investment.

[fingersnapping]

If I knew it, then you would simply exist, and we wouldn't be having this conversation at all.

Formed out of the embers of your dying form--why, it's almost poetic. Too bad the reality is duller than a Vulcan's wit.

[dragonofalthena]

[He smirks a bit. See? You don't know everything!]

No, nothing like that. The last Red died a thousand years ago and Ruby was only formed fifteen or so years ago. [Dragon reproduction: something so oddball that even Nall doesn't fully get it.]

[fingersnapping]

[ He hates it. Loathes it. He's been in the City for twenty minutes and he already hates everything. ]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[dragonofalthena]

The subject was: dragon procreation. Which you,knowing everything, should know.

[fingersnapping]

[ Well there, that was rather a surprise. Most so called 'dragon' species in the universe tended to keep their dramatic forms. After all humanoids were so limited. ]

There are hundreds of dragon species in the universe, and many more legends of them, thanks to Kukulkan.

[ He's not rising to the bait otherwise. Not this time. But his face does stay scrunched into displeasure. ]

[dragonofalthena]

What's a Kukulkan?

[fingersnapping]

Who is Kukulkan.

[ Just the correction, not the answer. ]

[dragonofalthena]

Oh, it's a person! Okay, who is Kukulkan?

[fingersnapping]

Kukulkan is the last of his kind. A lonely, benevolent creature who had the misfortune of pinning his hopes on humanity fifteen-hundred years too early. A dragon, as anyone might describe one.

[dragonofalthena]

[He shakes his head. Poor dragon.]

Would they have done what he hoped now?

[fingersnapping]

They learn, but not nearly fast enough. By the time humanity is truly ready, he'll be dead. A wasted effort if you ask me.

[dragonofalthena]

Well, they're children still... at least on Silver Star. It takes a long time for a species to grow up.

[fingersnapping]

Children need a firm hand; firmer still if the potential of their mistakes might rewrite existence itself.

[dragonofalthena]

That's between them and their Gods, really.

[fingersnapping]

It's between them and the rest of the universe, anyone with any sense who sees fit to interfere, and keep them from taking everyone else down with them.

[dragonofalthena]

[He quirks an eyebrow.] How in Althena's name are they gonna do that?

[fingersnapping]

Any way they can. I've had to personally avert several such catastrophes myself. You wouldn't believe how determined humanity is in securing its own uninvention.