Scene Archives

, as the group disperses, reaches out and snatches Aurelius’ arm. “We’re talking,” she says, dragging him into the most private nook she can find—a dark one, with two nice couches.

: “Okay.”

lets his arm go once they’re in the nook, and quickly, expertly Bubbles the space. It settles around them, glittering rainbow for one moment before fading into a quiet hum. She looks at him. “What,” she says, “the fuck is going on in your head right now?”

: “Well, I am currently wondering why you have drug me into a dark recess of a strange building in the late hours of the night and then bubbled it, but that probably goes without saying…?”

: “I don’t think I’ve done or said anything particularly strange today though.”

stares at him.

: “Look,” she says, slowly, carefully. “I know you think my … issues are … stupid, or childish, or immature, or annoying, or. I’m not actually sure what you think. But when Melpomene appeared and made herself known and I was trying to accept her you—groaned. And. I’m not sorry about this whole thing, but it was actually hard for me and—“

lets out a breath.

: “I groaned when I saw your doppleganger when I put one and three together to get five, somehow, and realized you had somehow managed to jettison an entire part of yourself out into the larger world, despite having initially thought, surely, there was no way you were ACTUALLY responsible for this island, as you were worried about. And then you were! It… wasn’t about you accepting the parts of yourself you find distasteful. I feel like we’ve had enough conversations about this at this point that you should well know that I like those parts of you.”

: “And yet, when confronted with the reality of it you seemed—“ she takes in a breath. “So it was just about my being, what? Embarrassing? Annoying?”

looks up and slowly lets out a breath. “I was, initially, very upset actually. At myself. Because it had not initially occurred to me that the cause of this was… the first night. When you came to me drenched and upset and worried you had made some kind of mistake. And instead, had thought this was… something more recent. Even though we have spent so much time since we got here talking through these sorts of things and, I had thought, getting us to BOTH accept one another for who we were, deep down. So I had thought… I don’t know. That you hadn’t actually started coming around in the way I had, that I had failed to reassure you instead.”

: “Thought I had failed you so bad you had to make you your own, stupid, shitty bird and…” He looks down, rubbing at the back of his neck.

swallows, hard. “Oh.”

: “Now of course I understand how the timeline actually worked out, but.”

: “I don’t think it was even—I think it was even before that? Before I cast the gnosis into the sea? I think it was weirder and dumber than that.” She presses her lips together. “I think it happened the second I stepped foot into Samudra. The moment I started minding my thoughts. And I think …” ⁂

: “I’ve told you a bit, about the Sword-Saint, about who she is. Selfless. Radiant. Flourishing.” She laughs. “Polite. She doesn’t want anything other than to play her role. And ever since—“ ⁂

nods.

considers, and then reconsiders, and then reconsiders again. Says, “I remembered out in the sea something that I had always known since becoming the Sword-Saint, and that is—I know I told you this but—certainty that I was going to die in the Mask. I spent days unspooling the lengths of the cycles when I first took up the Mask. The current cycle of Almachadta is about as long as it ever gets. I knew I was going to die and that everyone I had ever known was going to die too. It was easier, in some ways, to stop myself from loving. The Mask is good for that, at keeping people at a distance.” ⁂

: “I remembered the first time when Wolf came speaking of the dropped notes in the song, and then we woke up in Sanctuary and I was told of an even worse kind of destruction than the one I’ve lived with my entire adult life. And then, for a brief—what, few hours?—that wasn’t true, and then we were back on Almachadta again and it was. I’ve maybe had a week of my life where I didn’t think the only choice I had was to die at the right time, and that feeling…” ⁂

: “It’s intoxicating. It’s terrifying. It’s—for the first time in my life I’m not … some unwanted child or a doomed hero. Everything feels possible and I want to change it. And the wanting is terrifying. The infinite possibility is—well. If everything is possible, there’s so many ways to cause harm. So it’s been tangled it my head, and when we got here it just—tangled further and I couldn’t talk about it. So. The island and Melpomene.” ⁂

: “But it wasn’t a failure on your part. In fact, it’s probably largely because of you that it wasn’t worse.” She reaches for his hand again, but can’t quite bring herself to take it. 🙧

was reaching for her hands, anyway, and so they meet in the middle as he laces his fingers around hers.

: “Right, I had… the timeline a bit off.” He smiles slightly. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

: “I did make you embarrass yourself in front of Archie’s … other aunt? And. You know. Everyone else.”

: “(For what it’s worth I had a ‘I understand imitation is the more sincere form of flattery, but really, a bird of your own…?’ prepared but it didn’t seem like a good lead in after all.)”

laughs. “That would have worked pretty much any other time but.” She looks down at their hands. “So the groan was … what? And then afterwards it seemed like you were almost avoiding me.”

: “Well, as mentioned… groaned because I thought things were still messy, and not… previously had been messy. Afterward, I don’t know. It just felt a little weird. Watching people celebrate you… being up your doppleganger? Accepting parts of yourself I had thought you already had? Not questioning why it existed, and being kind of ashamed that it did?” He rolls a shrug.

: “Which… yeah, more mistakes for having guessed the shape of what was going on but not the finer details.”

: “As in you were ashamed it existed, because you thought it was a failure on your part?”

: “A little of both, but mostly the latter.”

squeezes his hands and tugs him over to the couch, to sit. “Are you ashamed of your stupid, shitty bird?”

slides over and considers for a moment, “Well, no, but I didn’t make that one.”

: “Sure didn't.“

: “But you’re … a little ashamed that I have a bird I invented all on my own?”

is trying really hard to unpack this.

: “Well yeah you inventing an entire ass doppleganger because you hate yourself is WAY different from me possessing an unconscious body.“

: “…I can handle this myself, you know.”

: “If you say so.“

tilts her gaze so she’s looking slightly beyond Aurelius’ head. “You know, Jorule, if you decide you want to be a dickbag about this you can sneer at me next time I’m in the library and not when I’m trying to resolve things with my boyfriend.”

looks back at Aurelius. “Okay. So we know what he thinks. Is that what you think? There only wrong answer here is a lie.”

: “Well, he’s. Not wrong on that front…? It is pretty different.”

: “Yes. He’s not wrong that it is very different. He’s not wrong that my self-hate is. Unpleasant. But I am not asking you, Aurelius, if Jorule has a point about the circumstances being different. I am asking if you, Aurelius, are ashamed of me.”

: “Oh. No?”

: “I thought I made that clear earlier.”

: “I asked if you were ashamed Melpomene existed because you thought she indicated a failure on your part and you replied ‘a little of both’ so I wasn’t … sure.”

: “You keep saying you don’t mind that I’m a little shit, but … Melpomene represents more than me just being a little shit, and. I need to know you’re certain that’s okay. And maybe you think you’ve been saying that, but I haven’t. Quite been hearing that.”

: “Hmm. Maybe I misunderstood some degree of intent. Words are. Hard.”

: “The only thing I find particularly frustrating about being around you is… how often we seem to have these small misunderstandings that somehow turn into larger ones.”

: “Which isn’t really a you problem. Might be a me problem? Feels like something we are working on and getting better at, regardless.”

: “(Slowly, perhaps…)”

looks down at their linked hands. “Words are easy, for me. Usually. Often. But even for me, they’re hard with you.” She runs a thumb over his knuckle. “In some ways, though, I value that. We make each other laugh easily. We have each other’s back. I—when I’m not stuck in my own head, I trust you. I think there’s something maybe a little beautiful about choosing a path that doesn’t always come easily and walking it anyway?”

nods slowly.

looks up at him. “It is getting better, I think? I’m working on it, and I think you are too. And I am sorry for the misunderstandings, but that is also part of building something. And it’s new for me, I think. Being vulnerable, not as a calculated move to build trust, but just because—“

: “Just because.”

: “Just because.” Another nod, as he leans against her. “And yes, I do think it’s getting better. This conversation is… awkward? A bit hard to have? But I think it’s… good, that we’re having it and not letting bad ideas that might not necessarily even be true fester.”

immediately curls into him. “Oh this conversation is super awkward. It’d be way easier to make jokes and pretend I wasn’t bothered, and that you weren’t bothered, and then we could go about our merry way and both bird out again at the worst possible moment.”

kisses the top of her head before resting the side of his head against it. “Mmm.”

: “Mmm?”

: “Agreeing, but also glad for the understanding.”

nods and then, after a moment, says, “I know I’ve kept harping on this and you keep telling me it’s nothing but. I am worried about you. You’ve gotten quieter and quieter. And as awful as your bird copycat joke would’ve been it at least sounded like you. It reminds me of that day, back on Almachadta, when you were trying to embody the Hunter again. And. I don’t know. I should take you at your word but,” she laughs, “I need to know.”

: “No, it’s just… being more mindful of my words and what I say, while we’re here. Proper eidis and all that. And also, trying not to… accidentally offend anyone. And. Well. There just hasn’t really been a lot requiring I act in a manic fashion in a while.” A pause. “I’m sure when we get to the iceberg we’ll find something that does though.” A quiet laugh.

: “Hm,” she hooks her legs over his. “I feel like you and Wolf really went hard on the not offending people. Maybe you really are his son?”

: “Doesn’t seem so far fetched, now that we know you were dropped down a hole into the fire realm as a child.”

: “From the fire realm…? We swapped…? This joke may be getting away from me.”

: “You really don’t strike me as the Flourishing type either.”

: “Fair.”

: “Though that reminds me. That does belong to you, so.” She takes a deep breath—one, two, three, and there are sparks in her eyes, gossamer threads of heatless flame dancing over her skin, and then she draws herself up and kisses him, burning, but like a hearthflame, like a home. Returning to him something that he lost.

: “You probably won’t use it, and I need to give it to Luĉja as well, but. You first.”

returns the kiss, and pulls her hands toward himself when she initially starts to pull back, but, eventually they break away and: “Well, I certainly hope you don’t use the same method. A man’s liable to get rather jealous.”

looks at him. “You? Jealous?,” but it sounds almost like a challenge.

: “He’s just so tall, how do you compete with that?”

: “They’re also made of metal and starlight? I do have a marked preference for flesh and blood,” but she laughs.

: “Though. If you’re here, and I’m here, and we’re done talking about our feelings … you should get the tablet. I do have something to show you.”

: “Are we ever really done talking about our f e e l i n g s?” He reluctantly lets go of Salme’s hands, in order to produce the tablet.

: “You assume that I’m not about to do something that’s all about f e e l i n g s.”

: “I would never assume that.”

laughs, and holds one of his hands while pressing the other to the tablet.

: “…Right… I remember something about extra rooms and a false shelf…?”

: “Hello Jory. This is Aurelius. You should love him extra, because your namesake does not.”

laughs.

grins at Aurelius. “Yes, kulta, but before that there’s something else.” She pulls him towards the center of the room, as close as she can get, and she’s grinning.

isn’t going to shoo it away, no, and follows.

: “I told Jorule I was encountering a work blockage, but I was really just waiting for you.” ⁂

: “Oh?”

: “Yes, Jory, it’s time,” she says. She reluctantly drops Aurelius’ hands, and takes a step back. ⁂

thinks of the crystalline perfection of the academy libraries—their well-ordered shelves; their neat, dustless crystals; their comprehensive, if baffling, cataloguing system. She moves her hands slowly, and as she does pellucid gnosis like crystalline wire weaves between her fingers. “First, the structure,” she says. ⁂

then draws up the flourishing in thick strands of gnosis like wool or roots. She thinks of stories and storytelling, parchment and palimpsest, the material of things and the roots and rhizomes and the mycelia that connect them all together. “Then, context.” She loops the flourishing threads over and under and around the pellucid threadwork girding her hands. ⁂

next draws up burning gnosis, but controlled—candleflame, lantern-light, short-fibered cotton thread that gleams orange-yellow-golden. She thinks of the first story that brought her to tears, the last story that made her laugh, of truth and lies-that-are-truer-than-truth. “Next, meaning,” she says, interweaving the burning threads through the pellucid-flourishing mesh. ⁂

holds the narrow gnosis-tapestry between her palms and looks up at Aurelius, and she smiles. “And finally,” she says, looping her arms around him without disturbing the work held between her hands. “The impossible, which you have made possible,” and then she draws up to kiss him as she drops the tapestry from her fingers, but it does not fall, it ripples, rising into an impossible, unbroken circular ribbon before floating back, drawing higher and wider, to form perfect, polished teak bookshelves on each previously-empty wall.

: “Bam,” she says with a smirk. 🙧

returns the kiss before spinning around in a circle to take it all in. “Very cool, Salme. Very cool.”

jumps back a half step. “…Wait you can talk too???”

laughs and laughs and laughs.

: “He has certain … stock phrases.”

Close your eyes, and open them again; something new will appear.

closes her eyes, and then opens them again, still grinning.

: “…Ah… that’s how…”

turns back to Salme and throws his arms around her. “I’m very proud of you for finishing this, and all on your own. Can you imagine telling yourself before the void that’d you’d be able to create something like this…?”

jumps, a little startled, and throws her arms around his neck. “You showed me how. How to see, and how to look, and how to think.”

nuzzles his head against hers. “I don’t feel like I did much, but, I’m glad that whatever I did for you was so useful.”

: “You do so much. You made the tablet. You taught me how to make fiends. You showed me how to look at the world and understand it. You inspired me with your work on the tablet. You do so much.” She kisses him again. “Can I show you something though?”

: “There’s more?”

: “Well, there’s the secret hallway behind the bookshelf, but,” she tugs him over to the shelves under the Duelist’s Mask. “You can chronicle any memories you’d like for public perusal, any thoughts you have by holding a folio and thinking with intent, but.” ⁂

looks at crystalline book in her hand, and something makes the stars-and-flames flare in the book. Then, she puts it back on the Duelist’s Mask shelf, and the book disappears to Aurelius’ eyes. “You can also store things privately, just for yourself. I was going to get you a journal, but I thought—well, you don’t have to use it, but since you spend so much time in your own head it seemed like it could be valuable.” 🙧

: “Really thought of everything, huh?”

: “Probably not, but. A lot of it.” She tries to shrug like it’s no big deal, but she’s grinning.

grins wider. “Want to see the secret rooms?”

: “Hell yeah.”

twines her fingers in his and leads him over to the bookshelf beneath the Key-and-Gate constellation. “You’ll want to reach for the azure book. Any azure book—it’s almost easier if you unfocus your eyes and just focus on the color.”

allows himself to be lead along while nodding. “Azure. For hidden secrets. Of course.”

: “I’ve tried not to get to caught up in the details. The other book colors are gold, red, orange, light purple, and green and none of that makes sense either. I think it’s another esoteric magic system.” She shrugs.

: “Are you going to reach for the book or would you like me to do the honors?”

: “Ah, sure.” He rolls his head around, then uses his free hand to grab the correct book.

watches as, as expected, the bookcase slides down into the floor to reveal a door inscribed with a familiar ꙮ

: “…The liminal glyph.”

reaches up and pushes the door open easily, revealing a hallway with three doors, each bearing the ꙮ sigil, along with a keyhole. “Jorule tried to open one of the locked doors by turning a finger into a key. It bit him.”

nods. “Yeah. I’m not. Really sure what it means. And these rooms … are … a sealed space in the same sense of the library? But they’re … different, as well.”

notes the subtle sensation of movement as they step past the shelves. “Hmm. Weird.”

: “Extremely.” She leads him to her door, then, and pauses. “I. Made a room for myself here. Which was maybe selfish, and I doubt you’d want to spend time here, but you’re welcome if you ever do.” And then she pushes the door open and leads him into her atelier, with its enormous floor loom, rich, layered carpets, and Centrelight pouring through its giant windows.

peers around the room. “I mean… most of the weaving I do is with my mind, not a loom, that’s true. But. It’s a nice room.”

: “What are you weaving in your mind, kulta?” she says, running her hands over the wood of the loom. There’s some wide strip of fabric being worked, though the edges seem to be uneven, like she hasn’t been able to keep the tension correct on her project.

: “…Magic?”

: “Gnosis and spells and the like.”

blinks, and then laughs. “Right. Right. I …”

laughs again harder. “That makes. That makes sense. I do better if I visualize something … concrete?” She gestures at the loom. “The intent is to weave enchantments into what I make.”

: “Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense considering your childhood. Growing up around weavers and all.”

: “Well, sort of. I never really learned.” She looks at the loom. “Decided I wanted to now. And I’ve always embroidered, and thinking of gnosis as … roots and strings and strands is … easier than thinking about it abstractly? It’s certainly easier than thinking about it in terms of music,” she makes a face. “So. Why not?”

thinks about the other rooms. “If you could have your own room here, what would you pick?”

: “Fair. Hm.”

: “…I know you’re not going to like the answer, but, really nothing comes to mind.”

: “I mean, am I really allowed to keep getting irritated when you prove yourself … consistently consistent?”

sighs a little. “I do wish you’d want something now and then. Even outside of my giving you a gift or … that sort of thing.”

: “…Hmm…”

: “…Well. If it’s just something. There might be one thing?”

: “No room of course. But. I kinda feel like I could go for a burger. Seems like ages since I’ve had one.”

: “A … what?”

: “You know, a cheese burger?”

: “I know what cheese is, but what’s a burger? Some kind of food?”

: “Yeah. It’s like.”

: “Hmm. So you take two pieces of rounded bread, right? And then between ‘em you put a cooked beef patty and some cheese, and then it kinda depends but some veggies - usually tomato, lettuce, maybe onion - then some sauce? Mayo’s a solid choice. Sometimes mustard or ketchup. Maybe BBQ or teriyaki if you’re feeling adventurous.”

nods seriously. “Is this a Beast thing or a bird thing?”

: “Both, believe it or not.”

frowns. “I’m not sure they have beef on Samudra,” but she sounds thoughtful more than anything. “What kind of … veggies and sauces do you like?”

: “…Wonder if you could kinda fake it with tofu…? Which, I guess, would probably mean teriyaki sauce, lettuce and onion…?”

: “No. I don’t think we’ll need to fake it.” She frowns at him. “Don’t doubt me.”

: “Please do not break reality for One Burger.” But it’s said with a laugh.

: “Well, no, if it requires beef from an entire cow, it would create multiple burgers,” she says thoughtfully, but she’s smiling too. “I actually had a request for you too, if you’d be willing.”

: “Depends on what it is.”

: “Oh? What would you say no to, Aavikkokettu?” She goes over and wraps her arms around his waist, looking up at him, beaming.

: “Probably nothing you’d ask for seriously.” He returns the smile.

: “Hmm.”

: “I want a gun.”

: “Hmm…”

: “Yeah, we can probably work on that. You probably don’t want a bird hand me down, but they could be useful in figuring out what you DO want for yourself.”

: “Why, though?”

laughs. “Well. A lot of the Breath Rites are ranged, and the knives have never felt quite … right.” She shrugs. “Also I liked the dramatics of it when we sparred.”

: “Good enough for me.”

laughs. “Well, I’m glad your newfound sense of responsibility doesn’t extend so far you’d deny me a gun.”

: “From what I remember on the Beast they’re not especially powerful verses anything you could do with a spell anyway, so, by all means look as cool as you like while I look on.”

beams up at him, then slides her hands up around his neck. “Well. While I’m just making demands of my pliable boyfriend, I have one more request.”

: “Ask away.”

: “I want you. Somewhere in Cloudset. Alone.”

: “Of course, Salme.”

laughs and rolls her eyes. “Don’t sound too excited.”

: “Ah, yes, I suppose that could be arranged.”

only makes it another second before he starts laughing.

: “I’m going to regret Archie teaching you pellucid resonance so much, aren’t I?”

turns her head to rest it against his shoulder. “Though. I think it’s lovely. That you cared enough to learn. To ask. To do it right. That,” she reaches up and flicks one of his ears, “is you too.”

: “I promise to not abuse this power that has been entrusted in me.” A pause. “Though, honestly, why are we still here…?” Aurelius nudges his head against hers in response, before grabbing her hand and heading for the exit.

, joyfully, lets herself be led.