ꙮ Sometimes, in the Academy, you want to just get away from everything and relax. And there’s a tower for that! Or, well, there’s a platform, shaped like a big elegant crescent, stretching into the waters; sometimes, waves crash over the platform. There’s railings for most of it, but places where you could sit and fish. And there’s some kind of gnosis-work cradled by the crescent that sings: Hey, fish! Hey! Hey, come here. So there’s definitely lots of fish, but still not terribly many -bites- on the line. But, regardless, it’s a nice place to go to just unwind, a while.
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#awoken
#caion
is unwinding. He’s -really- halfheartedly fishing at best; if he wants fish there’s dining halls open in the Academy. Mostly he’s just watching the Sea, and letting his feet get wet when the waves crash.
casually walks up, tiny tacklebox in one hand and a plain fishing rod slung over his shoulders, a simple folded chair under one arm- the kind with some simple wood supports and a soft cotton-esque sling that you laze yourself into. He doesn’t call out, instead waiting until he’s within casual-conversation range.
: “How’s it going, Caion?” He gives a slight nod towards the Naiad’s feet. “The two types of liquid don’t mix easily?” His question is light and with a smiling face, it’s teasing tinged with curiousness.
startles, -slightly-, but then it’s the Awoken’s voice so it cancels into a grin over his shoulder and shifting his own seat just slightly to face the Awoken a little more than the Sea. “Oh, hi!” He taps one of his feet against the other. “Conveniently, not a liquid, almost all of the time. It’d be incredibly awkward if we could just dissolve on contact.”
: “‘twould! But, I mean, I had to ask. Equally curious about that with regards to Synthesis, but I’ll let them field that surprise question too.” He gestures with his chair-filled arm to an open spot next to the Naiad. “Mind if I?”
: “Don’t mind at all. Although I think the fish here are too well-educated to bite at a hook. The Academy rubs off on them.”
: “A low tide is no less compelling than the high.” He flips the chair around with a flick of the arm, and it’s perfectly seated and slung. “My opinion would change if I were a hungry seabird, though!” The tiny tacklebox makes a soft thunk as it drops to the ground, and he turns to face the water. He reaches back with both hands and grasps the rod, testing the weight of it with a few wiggles of his arms. There’s a sharp inhalation as he draws back, and the breath is gently released as he casts the line forward, up, and out- it’s a long cast, and it doesn’t even look like there’s any bait on the hook. As the plain white-and-red bobber hits the water, he eases himself into the seat, one leg up and bent, the other casually slung over it.
: “The seabirds can go mooch off the refectories around Ripple’s Rest, it’s much less effort.” He leans back in his chair, eyeing the Awoken, mulling something over quietly.
: “Sometimes, you take the easy win.”
: “And sometimes, you just take it easy.”
lets a few waves roll in and out, before speaking up again. “Not bothering you, am I?”
speaks while looking out over the sea, his hanging foot gently waving with lil’ kicks.
shakes his head! He seems… very, -very- relaxed, right now, honestly. “Not in the slightest!”
: “Heh, well don’t worry, I will be.” He puts one arm up, hand behind his head, his other hand only casually attending to the rod. “But not everything has to open with a crash-boom-bang.”
: “(Doing so is fun though.)”
snorts, softly. “I doubt that, honestly, given the week I’ve had I think I’m on a Relinquishment runner’s high. If anything, I might have to bother -you-.” He grins.
: “Oh yeah?” He turns his head to look at Caion. “What’cha pondering?”
: “Salme, Archie, and I were performing science, earlier! And in the course of so doing, Salme asked a favour of me. To use a particular technique of analysis that I performed on the Duelist’s Mask on various other subjects. And who am I to say no to such an exercise of the First Virtue? Provided, of course, that I can secure your permission.”
: “Ooh, interesting. I’m game to be a lab experiment!” He eagerly nods, smiling in anticipation.
: “What’s the technique? What did you discover?”
cannot help, and would not help if he could, giving the Awoken a very this-is-why-I-like-you grin. “So, okay. Have you observed a Pearl with some sort of gnosis-sight before?”
’s eyes look up and to the right in thought. “I hadn’t, no! Maybe I should, I’ve got one.”
: “It won’t work with just the one. Although it probably would with the collection they gave us to listen to the… songs? with, but- anyways, I can just tell you what I perceive, and you can validate it for yourself later, if you’d like - it’s subservient to a larger point anyways.”
eyes focus back down, and he nods once in encouragement. “Yeah, tell me what you perceived.”
: “No matter how hard you look, and what you do, there’s no gnosis holding the Pearl-strands together. Whatever it is is something -else-. Something that, if you use a particular kind of crystal attunement device, or just are very very careful with your observations, appears as… a particular kind of light, that doesn’t look like anything -else-.” ⁂
: “Solei scanned Unua with the attunement device, and their core, their heart, was glowing with- not the same light, but the same kind of light. And then the three of us looked at the Duelist’s Mask, and it was glowing too. I think that’s why it can do things I’ve never seen a gnosis-worked artifact do before.” 🙧
: “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!” he hums, looking back out to the sea.
: “Salme’s curious what -else- might be glowing without us knowing it, and I offered to do a broad assay. Although Naiads and Kushtaka and humans all don’t have the light the Pearls do, so I’m not expecting to find anything. One must run the experiment, though!”
smiles. “She’s ravenously curious. Absolutely burning of the first virtue. (Rotate) all that you want, and especially what you need!”
: “There’s a reason she and I get along. Well. Several reasons, at this point. A growing list.” He grins lightly.
nods, not unlike the bobber in the water. “She really is amazing! She cares so fiercely, it’s hard not to fall in love, and she has so much of it to give. I don’t think she’s found a limit for it yet, though her heart rends for those she loves, but was not able to save.”
: “And, well… limits aren’t strictly neccessary!”
ꙮ The Awoken feels a tug on the line.
: “Hm?” He reaches over, gently pulling on the reel, raising the rod a bit with the steadying hand, waiting to see if there’s a larger bite.
ꙮ Something’s on the line, and it’s feisty!
: “Oh man–!” He strengthens his grip, and steers the rod oppsite the tug, and begins to rapidly reel in the line!
: “C’mon, c’mon…!”
looks up, riveted and curious.
ꙮ It’s a struggle! An epic battle! Very nearly a Rite in and of itself, as the line goes this way, and then that, and the Awoken reels it in, pull by pull…! ⁂
ꙮ Eventually, he gets the line clear out of the water! There’s a noöplankton stubbornly clutching the end of the line. The hook’s gone missing. (The noöplankton has it. It’s theirs, now.) ⁂
ꙮ With utter, profound joy, the noöplankton sings out: “I’m a fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!” and then does an incredibly acrobatic arc off of the end of the line back into the water with a loud splash. 🙧
is rocking this way and that in his seat, using his whole weight (light as it is) to fight back against the hooked beast–
: “…hahahaha!” He claps a hand on his knee in surprised laughter!
is laughing, bewilderedly, to the point of possible hazard and harm, nearly doubled over in his seat.
: “Ahh… damn! What a brazen plankton! I’ve half a mind to swim out and stuff it in a bowl!” The bobber dangles alone, and now the Awoken is silently mulling something over, staring at the vacant line.
is still laughing. “Getting one to stay put long enough to analyze took me tides, it’s a real hassle.”
: “Ahh, but you did it, yeah?”
: “I did! I did. Needed something to be working on while other things were bubbling away, before I could find Archie’s geode.”
: “Worthy endeavours, both, though some definitely more important than others,” emphasis derisively aimed at the concept of noöplankton. “(I jest. They’re fun critters.)”
: “Anyways.” He’s finally gotten some control over his face and his laughter, although he wasn’t trying THAT hard. “You came looking for me, I think?” He tilts his head to the side, curiously, and smiles.
turns to grin at Caion. “Perceptive! I’m enjoying the conversation, but still, perceptive.”
: “I’m enjoying it also! But I, too, am insatiably curious, -and- I love questions.”
reels in the line and brings the rod in close, to inspect the now empty end. He sniffs, and opens the tacklebox, hands dancing over various glittering, gelatinous lures. His hand dances over them in consideration.
: “First, I’m amazed how you can call your study of Polite Visitors a ‘quiet’ focus, given how electrifying your words are about them, even if not spoken very loudly.”
gives the Awoken a bit of a wry look, and listens.
: “Any context I’m missing on that? Face-up, I’d say it’s due to how revered they are, infamous as it is. To have the tide shake those who stand on what they feel should be solid ground.”
: “Revered is… an odd choice of words, but maybe not a wrong one. There’s a respect in the way that Whisker-Clan treats them, at least. The Academy’s not written any songs concerning them.”
nods his head from side to side. “‘Awesome’ in the sense of heart-trembling awe counts, but, well, I bet people would get the wrong idea if I said that about them.”
: “Which sure does carry troublesome consequences!”
: “I’ve definitely referred to them as such. In its old, archaic sense. When I see one, I…” He shakes his head. “It’s hard not to feel so -small-. But not in any way that diminishes me, I don’t know if that makes any sense.”
: “They’re bigger than I have words for.”
: “Larger than even the boundless sea, I bet.” He pauses to turn and look at Caion. “Does the sea have a bound? Or is it as assumed as the seabed beneath us?”
: “I love a question I can actually answer. I’ve not seen it myself, but I trust my Aunt’s recollections. If you go far enough to the west or east - or somewhat less far, to the south - on a Glass Ship, the Sea stops making sense.”
: “Well now you have to elaborate on that.”
: “Silver-Throat’s got a necklace that…” He pauses. “Hang on, I think I can just show you.” He gesticulates, and there’s a loop of ribbon in the air made of gnosis. It splits, does half a turn, rejoins, and a spark of gnosis travels it - “See how it’s only got one side, even though it’s… the sort of object you’d expect to have two sides?” He gestures, again, and the twisted loop rotates through space, gains depth, becomes a vessel which contains itself. It’s a bit weird to look at. “Silver-Throat’s got one of these, on a necklace. Made of crystal. That’s the kind of thing that just happens, there.”
chuckles- it’s a start and stop at first, but graduates to a purring, ongoing concern.
: “And yet, it does,” he says, wielding a grin.
: “It’s dangerous to traverse the Sea there. The older, braver Irós will have a trophy like this, will have gone as far out as they dared.” He grins a little. “I want to see it some day myself. But, as far as it’s known, that’s the boundaries of the otherwise-boundless.”
: “Now I want to witness it, too. But, let’s get back to other you-concerns.” He picks up a jelly-like lure- it’s spherical, of a dark, violet hue, but within the center is a spark of gold that shimmers as its held up to the overcast light.
: “‘Respect’ sure is a word you’ve used, but I doubt it’s entirely the correct one. One oft ‘respects’ a slavering beast by giving it a wide berth, or by avoiding it altogether.”
: “And this is the bolt of lightning that struck clearly across a still air, one that you could not contain but tried so hard to,” ⁂
: “And that even if it was writ into history that it was infinitesimally muted- and oh no, no I did hear it-“ He shakes his head with each beat of the ‘no.’ ⁂
: “I heard that you are listening, and might have heard something, yourself.”
: “A warning.”
stares, intensely focused on Caion.
: “That you’ve heard at all is the closest thing I can think of to be heresy amongst this world. What do you believe about the Polite Visitors, and what have you heard?” 🙧
leans back in his seat, and closes his eyes. Not that the stare was bothering him - it’s just something he does, when he’s thinking. “They rescued me. My earliest memory is of being woken up on a rocky strand by Archie, with Silver-Throat and some apprentice Irós following behind. But I know that they were tracking some of the Visitors that had risen close to the surface.” ⁂
: “And I… do not and cannot know that they’re the ones that saved me. From… whatever happened. Maybe I was on a Glass Ship that met with a terrible fate and was cast to the waves, maybe- I don’t know. I can’t know. I was very young. But I know that the Visitors visited, and they left me as a gift.” ⁂
: “I know what they make me feel when I look at them. Incomprehensibly small, in a way that the Academy tower at its most imposing can’t hold a candle to. And that they make me feel like anything could happen. I’d… I’d chase them if I could, I’d swim with them. I’d lose myself to it, if it weren’t for Archie. I know I would. And sometimes, it’s hard to resist. But it’s not fear.” ⁂
: “And if Samudra, like Almachadta, is facing a terrible fate? There are stories, Kushtaka and Academy both, about the Visitors as harbinger. That… some day, the Visitors will rise to the surface, more and more insistently, be seen day in and day out, in all their terrible visage, and they will usher in the end of everything. And I just can’t imagine a world where that’s true. Why would they have saved me, then? And so the only other explanation is that they’re trying to warn us, in the only way that they know how. That’s why they’re coming up to the surface more and more, these last few years.”
opens his eyes.
slowly nods, something having clicked into place within his mind.
: “Such bravery. Such trust. Such love.”
: “Providence smiles upon you.”
: “The chase will come to an end, and I believe the Polite Visitors can be met as equals. And not at some moment where the seas lash at our throats.”
: “But, oh… maybe within a few turnings of the tides?”
waves the violet lure in one hand.
: “Want to catch one?”
raises a single eyebrow, rather elegantly. “Catch one? I’m certainly interested in and curious about what you have in mind.”
: “It won’t be with a harpoon, or net. It will not be warded against as though it were a hurtful, hateful thing that could consume. Some people meet others where they are met. And rare few can truly subsume their fear of another, into a wholly and truthfully welcoming, loving form.”
: “The Song must be met with such similar Stillness.”
: “Even if it’s only one… if only one Visitor could be known to love, I believe those of the Academy, the Ripple, and numerous other ports I don’t know the names of- I believe they can sink their own fear.”
leans forward.
: “I will bring that love to them. Will you walk this strange path with me?”
nods, immediately. “I don’t need to know if it’ll work to think it’s worth a try. I’ve been wanting to reach out to them… literally, as long as I can remember. So. Yes, yes I will.”
smiles widely. “Excellent. I doubt this experiment would be approved, so we might need some help getting it done clandestinely. (Also, it’s fun to sneak around, even if it’s not needed!)”
: “There are one or two prepartions more to make, as well.”
grins rakishly. “I can open some doors. And keep others closed.”
nods, and continues, though a bit quieter. “One is… you’ve been in the Liminal Library, yes? Why am I asking- of course, I saw your name in the guestbook. But I’ll need to bring that loving Sun with me, and I don’t think I could get a Visitor through the door, so I’ll need a different modus. And the second, well… the second is just for me, in case something goes wrong.”
: “It’d be a shame to die an ignoble death! But I’ve got a good feeling.” He winks.
: “A strange path for myself, to pull back from the brink.”
: “After that… we’ll just have to play it by ear!”
clasps the lure within a fist.
tilts his head to the side, then nods. “I won’t let you come to harm. I don’t fear the Visitors, but… any undertaking like this, it’s good to have backup. Let me know if I can help with the preparations?”
: “Oh yeah. You will, and so will several others.”
: “For now though, start thinking about, oh…”
scans the skyline of the Academy, making a few calculations… ⁂
: “See if you can’t start thinking of ways for us to be about… there-“ He points to an elevated bridge, or balcony, from one of the Academy’s towers. “-and how it can be worked so that we’d be unbothered.”
tilts his head all the way to one side, and then laughs, delightedly, eyebrows raised. “Okay. I think I can do that.”
: “Perfect.”
: “We’re all gonna be co-authors on this one, Caion!” He happily strings the lure onto the end of the line. Somehow, it works, despite having no edges that could poke or catch onto another.
chuckles, to himself as much as to the Awoken. “And don’t let me forget I need to borrow you in the Library, sometime. Maybe once we’re celebrating our success.”
: “It’s a date–!” he says with a grunt of effort, as he casts the line back out into the sea.
: “You’re wondrously strange, Awoken.” And he leans back in his chair. He’s got nowhere to be, and he’s got daydreaming to do, and a… heist? Apparently? To plan. Sure, we’ll call it that.