ꙮ Anything can be at the edge of the sea, if you try hard and believe in yourself and have elaborate contingency plans, including a bridge connecting two Academy towers, which has been blocked off on Very Official Academy Business on the authority of the Scholar-Emissary himself. It’s good to have friends in high places!
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- The Dragon
Scene Archives
← Active ScenesThe Sea's Edge, III
#awoken
#hunter
#saint
#caion
#wolf
stands with feet planted slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, his coat billowing dramatically in the wind. He hunches forward slightly, the coral pole with the dark lantern hanging from the end braced over his shoulders with one hanging arm, the other arm hooked with its hand jutted into a pocket.
: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to perform experiments most riotous.”
: “I thank you all for attending, and promise a miracle, and hopefully will deliver more than just that. This I swear upon the new star in the sky-“ and he points to the floating crystal of Radiance.
: “Yeah, I would definitely place the odds of riots at above zero…”
: “Are you two sure you’re not trying to get Caion fired…?”
: “I don’t think they can fire Caion. I think he’s too necessary. So why not take advantage?” Rolls a shrug, in a very good imitation of Aurelius’ body language.
: “Well…” He straightens up, rocking back and forth on his heels. It’s almost eerie how fast he tone switches into mischevious. “So long as we get results, it’ll be fine, right?”
smiles wryly out of the corner of his mouth, having been peering up at the crystal himself as soon as the Awoken mentioned ‘experiments most riotous’. “One step at a time, friends. The experimental protocol precludes ‘riots’.”
: “But riotous attainment of knowledge, and satisfaction of curiosity? Well.” He gestures at the nearest visible Academy tower, which is: all of them. “It’s a good day for that, so far.”
: “We’re fortunate to have the distraction. It almost makes the blockade unneccessary! Every little bit will help, though.”
shakes his head at Salme. “(And you all were worried about me before we arrived.)”
blows a kiss at Aurelius. “(I wasn’t! I was worried about me fucking up unintentionally).”
glances around.
: “I suppose shooting for intentional does get around that worry.”
: “So. Did you have a plan for calling one to the surface beyond a fishing pole and a prayer?”
: “I told Wolf I appreciated the care you’ve all taken with my world, and I meant it.” A less-insouciant, but precisely as sincere, smile.
looks up at crystal. “I can’t believe Luĉja caused that. And remembered.” She sounds a little emotional about it, but it’s unclear what’s making her emotional—Luĉja remembering, or Luĉja being a little chaotic.
focuses back in on the Awoken. “Oh. I’m sure he has an entire plan.”
kneels, setting down the pole-and-lantern, and stands back up. “Sure do.”
: “Just have a few last things to prepare.”
: “The texts regarding the Visitors have been most useful in generating ideas. But- a big enough spectacle, directed towards them, will suffice. And I’ve got a whopper of an idea for it.” He flashes a wild smile.
: “So, first… I’m not planning on just barreling into this without any safeguard.”
: “In my experience, if you’re -looking- for them, they’re surprisingly easy to find. Just… most people aren’t.”
cuts her eyes towards Aurelius at ‘without any safeguard’ then focuses back on her Sininen. She will meet his idea wholly and lovingly. She will.
interlocks his fingers and stretches his palms out, knuckles cracking. He brings his arms back to his sides, hands balled into fists, and he takes a few deep breaths, saturating himself with the sea air. Tenebrous gnosis ebbs from each contour of his clothes, his face, his body, pulsing once… twice… and then picking up in frequency until it flickers rapidly over his form.
barks a sharp, short yell with intention and determination, clapping his hands together- banishing the pulse, coalescing it into his hands. Slowly, he parts his fingers, to reveal a small, dense orb of glowing Tenebrous energy, pulsing from purple, to black, and back.
- The Awoken has attained unto the techné Walk The Strange Paths (Find your way back to yourself with a twisting carpet of Tenebrous-tinged obsidian. Requires a Tenebrous Orb. Same-plane travel only!)
- The Awoken spent 2 Arete and now has 0 remaining.
tilts his head to the side.
ꙮ The orb would fit uncomfortably in one hand. Comfortably, in two.
: “…Only two Arete for anchor points? Huh.”
: “It’s not quite what you’re thinking. Not yet, at least.”
walks over to Salme, smiling gently as he holds the orb out to her.
looks like he’s taking notes, in his own head, and he probably is.
looks at the orb, and looks at him, and smiles brightly, almost shining. “Thank you,” she says, and she tangles her hands with his and pulls him in for a heated, fairly intense kiss, before relenting, the tenebrous orb cradled firmly in her hands.
kisses back fiercely, with a free hand stroking the back of her head, fingers tracing along tied braids.
: “Hang onto it! I’m counting on you.”
walks backwards a few steps before turning, and goes to kneel at the lantern, unhooking from the end of the pole. He tests its weight as he holds it by the top ring with a tightly-gripped hand.
: “Now… Caion, if you will?”
had a hand in front of his mouth, a few moments back, eyes closed- and he exhales, slowly, -comprehensively-, and there’s a light that he keeps in his breath that he slowly exhales, out, trapping it between his fingers, winding it between them, catching it with his fingertips like hooks manipulating thread, until it’s wound shining, caught on the warp of his own hand. He pulls it away, slow and deliberate, breaking the threads between his hand and his own breath, steps over to the Awoken, and puts the back of his hand against the Awoken’s mouth. His voice slightly rough: “Breathe in.”
closes his eyes and inhales with his chest and abdomen, fully accepting the light within himself. No fear.
pets the ball of tenebrous gnosis, much like it’s a cat, and frowns. “Does this plan involve jumping into a bottomless ocean and sinking?”
ꙮ You inhale the light off his fingertips, and it settles. For a brief moment, you can all see the outline of the lungs in his chest, limned in pellucid and radiant light, and then it integrates.
: “Seems like.”
: “… Ah.”
: “Thence, all the careful precautions.” He smiles at Salme, reassuringly. “I won’t let him come to harm, and you won’t, either.”
’s eyes open and quickly dart over to look at Salme, and… he winks, sticking out his tongue in a silly, ‘you got me’ formation.
’s grip on the gnosis-ball briefly goes a little less ‘tenderly petting a cat’ and more ‘desperately clinging to a fool.’
ꙮ The orb starts purring.
: “You could have one of us go with you if you must. Or.” Frowns at Caion. “Could we … Circle with him? While he does this? Or could I go … somehow, by sending a tether for flourishing? Would that break anything?”
: “Lack of fear is paramount. Equally thus, is intentionality. Such that I shall meet the Polite Visitors, and they will only know love.”
: “By all means, circle away… I doubt you’ll want to miss the experience!”
sits down with a yawn. “Oh were you not bringing it back up with you?”
: “Oh no… I intend on that too. But I figured you’d want to know about the details first-hand, without being there first-hand.”
hums a note, bright and clear, then lets it drop. “Hum with me-“ -and he hums the note again, and reaches out to touch Salme’s shoulder, first.
relents her grip on the tenebrous orb, and then sits down next to Aurelius, pressing herself up against him, his warmth and solidity. “I want to be there if I can, though I know I also need to be here.”
looks at Caion a little helplessly. “I can’t sing,” she says, flatly.
pauses, for a moment, then quirks his head to one side, and smiles suddenly; clenches his fingers of one hand together into a fist, then splays them out- and there’s a knotwork of pellucid gnosis webbing between his fingers, his hand outstretched towards her; obvious gaps in the weave through which she might thread her own thoughts and gnosis-work.
: “Anyone can hum.”
stares at Caion’s hand, and then examines the knotwork, and then she nods. She nestles the tenebrous orb in her lap, and then quickly, swiftly, weaves a matching, complimentary knotwork into what Caion’s showed her. Flourishing, of course, flourishing that maybe bends a bit toward teal than earthy green.
touches his hand against Salme’s, as the pellucid and flourishing gnosis weave into one another and their minds briefly touch - Salme sees a hand reaching towards her. Caion sees a hand reaching towards him- and then Caion nods, carefully steps towards Aurelius, offers him a fistbump with a hand full of gnosis.
reaches out and fistbumps, while humming the same note Caion was earlier.
nods, and there’s another moment of shared awareness, and then he ambles over slowly to the Awoken, hand outstretched.
reaches out with his free hand, and begins to hum as he makes contact, holding the note to share in the gnosis.
tilts his head to one side, then the other… then sits up and stretches both hands out in front of himself, before twisting one hand and forming a square with his thumbs and index fingers. Hold it, moves it a bit to the right. Returns to directly in front, then a bit up and left; return to center, then a bit down and left. Scrunches up his face, then shrugs and drops his hands.
: “(What are you doing, Aurelius?)” she says, having gone back to slowly petting her purring ball of gnosis.
extends the Circle- it’s rudimentary, but strong, and all three of them can see what the Awoken can see, if they try, if they reach out, slightly. He glances at Salme curiously but, for the moment, takes a step back towards Salme and Aurelius. “Swift currents, Awoken.”
: “Default picture-in-picture layout on that is kind of ass, was adjusting the monitors.”
: “You will succeed and you will come back,” she calls to Awoken.
nods to Caion, looks to Salme and Aurelius, and nods to them as well.
: “That’s the power of making your own truth.”
suddenly whips around, and starts with a few running steps- he hops up onto the edge of the bridge’s guardrail, deeply crouching with his bounding momentum, and launches himself up, off, and over– hugging the lantern to himself with his other arm now, speeding out as far as he could, and then down, down, down so much quicker.
ꙮ And you can follow him, with your senses, as he does not fall, but flies, diving from the bridge, a few moments of breathless weightlessness and then the cold sea greets him- hands and legs tucked in, graceful of form, slipping into the water with not a splash more than a Kushtaka off a short cliff diving for kelp, plunging into the depths.
keeps her breath slow, slow, slow and steady. She feels the slightly ridged coral underneath her, Aurelius’ warmth beside her, the purring of the gnosis-ball in her lap, Caion, there, next to her, the strings and threads of the weaving that bind them—pellucid, so pellucid, almost like wire, thick and strong, but also the furred root-strings of flourishing, and the tenebrous taproot that is Awoken, and she can see-feel him, impossible, boundary-slipping, beautiful and she holds him in her head but also holds the reality of where she sits, rooted in place, and she is both places at once believing, loving, hoping.
: “Aury, if you’re done with whatever you’re doing, would you put your arm around my waist?” she asks. “Or a hand on my shoulder. Either works.”
clears his throat, very gently.
slips behind Salme, wrapping both arms around her waist and resting his chin on one of her shoulders. “Really no reason to be worried. Also hello, Wolf.”
: “Awa decided it was his turn to blow Caion’s mind.”
leans back into Aurelius. “I’m not worried, kulta. I’m doing what I can to not be worried.”
’s mind forces his body to adjust. The sea is cold, and he accepts the cold. The sea is salty, and it does not brine him. He opens his eyes, and stares down- and it will not blind him. Infinity has a limit, and this world is so much smaller than that. There is possibility to its edges, and possibility swimming in the depths. That is what he seeks.
: “Hallo, Wolf. Care to Circle with us?” He’s focusing, rather heavily, on being the fulcrum of the link, but he’s got enough presence of mind for pleasantries.
: “…Kulta. That’s clever. How long did you spend finding that?”
leans against one of the railings of the bridge, chuckles softly, and hums a tone a third below Caion’s, slipping into the link easily–much like he did with Silver-Throat.
blinks, at Wolf, as- the tension of being the fulcrum eases, and tilts his head to the side, and- puts that aside for the moment, maintaining the harmony.
cracks an eye at Wolf, gives him a twitch of a smile. “Hello Wolf.”
waves two fingers, jauntily, giving her a bit of an arch smile before he closes his eyes and focuses on the link, and the Awoken’s experience.
ꙮ Awoken: It was not, precisely, waiting for you, but it’s very close, and it’s already keeping an eye out. Several, really. You breathe the Sea, you’re not sure how- your mouth doesn’t open, the water passes through you, you can -feel- it, with all its life, with everything you need. (The rest of you, also, can feel this, although you do still have to breathe as normal.)
adds him to the weave in her mind. A thread of flourishing, of course, but the node on a rhizome more than a root. A string strung on a harp, smooth and flexible and resonant.
briefly reaches one hand up, pointing at something directly in front of him before dragging it, hm, far down and to the left, then returns it to Salme’s waist.
isn’t satisfied with that. You see me, you feel me, but that isn’t enough. He kicks his legs out, swimming further down, where the clouded light struggles to shine. I want to know you. I want you to know me. I want you to know us. I want to reach out to you, and be reached by you. Know me. Need me. Find me, and swim beside me.
ꙮ And you turn, slightly, and it’s there, it’s always been there, and you and Aurelius see what Salme and Wolf saw, although not quite. Iridescent, many-eyed, festooned with streamers and tendrils, spinning very slowly in place under the sea, its massive primary eye trained on you, the other nineteen blinking fitfully, peering off in random directions; bigger than anything you could put words to. ⁂
ꙮ It’s grown over with algae, in places - a green tinge, across all of its coloration. Vines of some kind of sea-plant, worn like accoutrements of a festival, strung between tendril and tendril, worn like a crown. In its eye, the reflection of a sprouting seed. 🙧
doesn’t lose his tone, doesn’t falter, but there’s definitely an awed edge to his humming now.
chuckles quietly to himself.
rotates toward it, lowering his forehead towards the entity, not unlike if he were going to forehead bonk it. It may be too far away. It may be closer than he thinks. He’s listening, listening for it’s Song. No matter how it sounds.
keeps her breathing slowly and steady but notes the 19 eyes. Notes too the green tinge. Notes also the reflection of the seed. Beautiful, beautiful, two beautiful, impossible things.
ꙮ Intricate, subtle. Fractal whalesong. Meandering, and utterly impossible to predict the course of.
moves a hand to one of the lantern’s latches. Slowly, he slides one of the plates aside. We wish to know you. And then a second, and a third. Swim towards what you fear the most.
ꙮ The Light of the True Sun spills from the Truth-That-Loves, and its light illuminates the Dream-Whale. It drifts- it must be drifting closer, but it’s so vast that ‘closer’ struggles to signify.
Paying attention with all eyes, yet? I hope so. We want to learn. We want to share. We want to exist, harmoniously.
slides the top switch of the lantern down, and all the plates shift into the lantern at once.
ꙮ Twenty eyes fix on the Awoken, one utterly unblinking, despite the sudden, full light. The sea-plant blooms suddenly in the light - vivid purples, bright reds.
We fear no Song. Our Stillness is warm. Our virtues are true and sincere, under the hood of possible annihilation. Yet still, we love. So… will you teach us?
…Hah. It can’t help but be a little silly.
Teach us the hearts of the deep ones.
sends a pulse of gnosis through the tenebrous sphere, through to him, and then hopefully to the Dream-Whale—invitation, an open hand, a question that expects no answer but that wishes for one. A thread for the Awoken to spin out if he so wishes, but does not have to.
shivers, from head to toe, his tone wobbling–not much, not enough to threaten the link, but his throat-catch awe rolls through the Circle like a wave. He adds a thread of his own, a gentle tendril of…delight.
ꙮ The Dream-Whale observes the Awoken. Its nineteen eyes see him, floating in the depths, and its twentieth eye sees -past- him, -through- him, beyond him. Its eye briefly lingers on Wolf and then on Salme, in a brief moment of recognition, and then on Caion, and then on Aurelius, and then on Jorule, before returning to the Awoken. The eye flicks up slightly, and stays there for several moments. It is closer, again, and still, infinitely far.
reaches out, to touch the Song… how would this one go? Its melody is already chaos- he decides to add a beat underneath, and… there’s still a pattern to those odd notes, one he can… sort of follow, if he thinks hard enough… the strings of Song move on its own, but his skilled fingers reach out, curling within each hooked quivering note, guiding its pattern to a long, bassy echo. It rises and falls, a reverberating bubble never breaking the surface.
ꙮ The Dream-Whale seems to understand the Song as the Awoken plays it; its warbling modulates with him like it’s reading sheet music using his heart as a lens. There’s something very playful about it. Not -silly-, like the google-eyed maw eel, but playful. And behind it all, the intimation of a profound truth. The rhythm of it shifting and stabilising around soft, bubbling, rising arpeggios. It doesn’t sound like anything you’ve heard before– and you can’t quite hear it, properly, yet, either, but you know that you will.
ꙮ The Dream-Whale shifts a slightly deeper shade of green, matching its blooming garlands.
: “Can Awa hear us over this, by the by?”
ꙮ He can, yes.
can’t help it–his own hum tries to find the counterpoint to weave in around those arpeggios–and, perhaps unintentionally, he tugs the link into closer alignment with that Song, and its singers.
adds a few more notes, on the high end. One, two-three-four… in a chord, five-six-seven… shifting down to eight-nine-ten… eleven… twelve in all? The harmonies weave through the tangled thoughts, a contexual measure to the endlessly possible mind.
: “Y’forgot the most important part when greeting a new friend, y’know?” Aurelius leans forward a bit, looking directly at the sprouting seed within the Dream-Whale’s central eye, and a moment later voices seems to (but not quite) seems to project itself from the Awoken and to the Dream-Whale, in a strangely monotone sing-song: “Hello!“
ꙮ A thirteenth note, implied, of course, in the negative space left by the twelve he added. A ripple of- amusement? Amusement, yes. Whatever it is, its song- its being- feels a little more comprehensible, now. Ancient beyond measure, still too vast to hold more than a single sliver of in your mind at once, but… as familiar as your own dreams. ⁂
ꙮ The Dream-Whale reaches out a tendril and the tip quirks up in what it is possible to imagine is an emulation of a thumbs-up.
laughs
: “Can we … is it possible to invite them into the Circle with us?” she’s asking Caion, and also Awoken, and maybe Wolf and maybe Aurelius.
looks at Caion, his hum-tone briefly going quizzical.
tilts his head to the side. “I’m not… sure. I’ve tried, before, and been rebuffed, but maybe.”
reaches out a hand giving his own thumbs up, and then tilts it towards the tendril. He hums with his heart, a pulse echoing through the water, displacing the microbes and waving the kelp.
ꙮ The central eye half-lids, ever so briefly, and it pulls back. Not out of alarm, but rather out of concern? Politeness? It has been unfailingly polite, this visit, after all.
: “It might not matter but you could try telling them that it’s going to be different this time.”
ꙮ The Dream-Whale ripples with- kind, gentle amusement, and all of its eyes pulse a bright and sudden and deliberate glow.
Still trying to find your own words? That’s okay. We trust you. We still love you. Your being, your pain, your fear, could not hurt us. Bravery and care, in equal measure.
- Salme, The Sword-Saint has gained 1 Arete, and now has 5.
exhales, slowly, through the focus, through the intent, a soft laugh, a smile taking up residence on his face.
thinks, but also…speaks?…from somewhere within himself: Let the Other be what it always was, and should have always been–the constant companion, the source of delight in all their differences…
presses her lips together, and even more determinedly adds: How many times was it not different? For me, it was 216. But it is going to be different this time.
to that thought she adds her own love. For Wolf, pure and admiring and clarion-clear. For Caion, like finding another self in the strangest place. For Aurelius like unearthing something you never knew what you were missing. For Awoken, for it is Awoken, centered in her lap, purring, purring, purring, trust. Absolute. Unflinching. He could never be otherwise but to love. Myself, and you, and all the worlds in their infinite possibilities. Please. Please. He is there, reaching for you. Reach back.
ꙮ It reaches tendrils, towards the Awoken. Basking in the light of the Sun, imbibing it, drinking its fill. (The tips of the tendrils quirk up, each and every one of them.)
ꙮ Awoken: You can feel Caion’s light in your lungs beginning, slowly, to fade.
slowly pulls his arm back. Somehow… I know we’ll meet again. Tell your friends about us! Tell them that it’s going to be okay this time.
ꙮ The tendrils-up wiggle fairly unambiguously. Some of them begin to wave goodbye.
brings his hand up to his forehead, giving a slow, lazy, two-fingered salute… before the same hand balls into a fist, punching downward, and in the liquid entirety surrounding him, it connects with something.
[Walk The Strange Paths - Recall]
ꙮ It connects with an obsidian platform, which blooms an obsidian road behind it like an unrolled carpet, stretching up, curving wildly, swinging one way and another, but always up- your eyes can follow it to the water-line- and it would take nothing, take nothing at all, to fling yourself backwards along it-
, when she felt the Awoken feel Caion’s light fade from his lungs, began breathing even more slowly and deeply.
catches onto it with his gripped fist and propels up, up, up, with dizzying speed but ultimate control- the road is easy to stand on, packed by the thousands that walked before. Enough to bring himself to a stand, both feet planted, holding the lantern by the ring and unable to lose grip to the force generated by the displaced, surrounding sea, fully unbothered by the velocity of creation.
ꙮ Pushing backwards on it, frictionless- not the road itself, nor the water, barring your path- and no matter how it twists, and turns, and bends, you’re always upright, riding it like a wave, swaying lightly and proudly as it shifts and wends- and you break the waterline, then, and go nearly straight up into the air, fountaining out of the Sea, cresting the path, which finds its end at the tenebrous orb- you realise, at the very last moment, that this means the path will deposit you unceremoniously into Salme’s lap, but that’s perfectly fine and perhaps even working as intended.
stares down at the Awoken as he returns, and, helpfully, offers: “No, that was basically what I thought it was gunna do.”
can’t NOT laugh, in surprise and no small amount of delight, as the Awoken drops directly into Salme’s lap.
immediately has her hands on him, in his hair and on his shoulders, even as she’s suddenly very damp with a very saltwaterlogged bluejay.
is limbs all akimbo, torso draped across her- and also part of Aurelius too, since they’re sitting next to each other. The lantern sets onto the ground with a satisfying clunk as he lowers his arm, but otherwise doesn’t work to disentangle himself.
laughs, and finally lets go of the Circle, but doesn’t look at all as tired as he feels like he should be. “Ah, good, I can record the -official- experiment a success…”
lets his hum trail off into a jaunty little tune–something like “da-da-da dahhh dah da-dah-da”–and lets his part of the link drop.
blinks at Wolf, then tilts her head back to blink at Aurelius, and then focuses on her soggy beloved. “Well done,” she says, a bit of a laugh in her voice.
coughs once and starts laughing at Wolf’s melody.
: “That was…” He’s still grinning, he hasn’t stopped. “Incredible. Everything about that.”
: “Yeah… didn’t catch ‘em, but I got a good feeling!”
: “You laid the groundwork. Or. Built upon the groundwork that had already been laid, I think. Though. What do you all think of the decidedly … flourishing … look our Dream-Whale was wearing?”
: “I’ve never seen one… -react- like that, or change its state based on- anything. I think… that’s… the same one’s been interacting with all of you, it almost has to be.”
idly wonders to himself, “(Wonder where it was hiding the machine-guns…)”
: “I thiiiiiiiiiink…” There’s a wet, slapping sound as he taps a hand on the bridge. “… that it is flourishing in a directly poetic way!”
: “You think it’s experiencing a period of personal growth?”
: “It came dressed to impress…?”
laughs.
laughs quietly, facepalming gently. “Ahh, it certainly is us.”
chuckles. “Luĉja described an image of a seed. And I suspect Wolf made an impression on it earlier, too.”
: “Oh. Did Wolf?” She turns to look at him.
tilts his head towards Caion. “Could you not see the Seed in its main eye?”
nods, and sputters as some damp hair falls into his mouth. “That seed is sprouting well, I know you all saw it.”
: “And, if I’m right, it sent a message to Salme, not long after you got here–“ he scrunches up his face at Aurelius. “The what?”
: “The Seed. In its eye.”
glances briefly between Salme, Wolf, and the Awoken.
raises his hands up, defensively. “I, among all of us, have not done some sort of lasting, rash, miraculous–“ he blinks as Aurelius’ words sink in. “Hmm.”
gestures at Wolf. “I’d take issue with ‘rash’ but he’s got you dead to rights on ‘lasting’ and ‘miraculous’ but also: seed? In its eye? Did you all see that?”
: “Did you not see it, Caion? The reflection of a seed, sprouting?”
: “Ohhhhhhhhhhh Wolfy, what’d you doooooooooooooo…?” he sing-songly calls.
then mutters to Wolf, “(Did you know Aurelius hummed the exact same tune when he wiped the floor with me at the Rite? The exact same tune. Stop pretending you two aren’t more alike than anyone else here.)” She doesn’t sound angry, except in a theatrical, amused kind of way.
would be dramatically pointing at Wolf if she wasn’t busy disentangling Awoken’s sea-wet hair.
looks almost indignant. “I haven’t done anything! The only thing I can possibly think of having done was creating a seeming for a nooplankton!”
rather hastily: “Nothing I wasn’t around to bear witness to, and I’m glad of it. And, no, I did not see a sprouting seed, that’s. Hunh. Shoe’s on the other foot, now, I suppose, I just saw its eye.”
files that away for later.
: “For what it’s worth, you aren’t missing much. Know baby plants? They look about the same.”
: “But it carries cosmological importance, so… it’s a wash!”
: “I didn’t put a shining crystal in the sky, I did not make a strange tablet that turns our bodies to alabaster while our minds go in and talk, I did not make a lantern that contained the Loving Sun and use it to try and hook an Ancient One like an eel, I did not commune with the being that gives almost everyone else fits of terror on our first day here!” His voice is about a half octave higher than usual, and he’s not…particularly ranting TO anyone, but it is…a little rant-y.
: “I did that before we got here,” A lazy correct, made without enough force to stop the ongoing sentence.
ꙮ I am being so good right now.
just looks… amused, albeit mulling over why in the world he didn’t see what the others did.
: “Why is it that just because it had a seed in its eye that Caion cannot see that everyone looks at ME?” He makes something suspiciously like a yowl. “You stay out of this!”
leans back into Aurelius so she can get a good look at Wolf. She still has one hand on the Awoken. She’s using Aurelius’ body to support her neck, and then holds out her other hand to Wolf. “Wolf. Wolf. Come over here.”
: “You seemed with a nooplankton?! Scandal!! Controversy!!” He’s saying this while still being uselessly and damply supine across laps.
: “Hey Caion definitely don’t think about what he just said okay? Okay.” Tone somewhere between amusement and bewilerment.
trails off, realizes that he’s panting a little and that his hair is starting to fly free around his face, and visibly contains himself, slicking his hair back with both hands. “Hrrr. I’m…I apologize.”
: “I will exercise the virtues to the best of my ability, Aurelius.” Besides, he’s… distracted.
: “Wolf,” she wiggles her hand insistently. “Stop apologizing and unclench. Please. Can I explain?”
: “Anyway, pretty confident there’s a reason we saw and you didn’t, but we’re not ready for that conversation yet.”
: “I am not clenched,” he mutters, visibly making an effort to unclench. He steps into Salme’s reach, albeit without great enthusiasm.
: “Oh, you have a hypothesis? Excellent, at least someone does,” and he rather clearly -means- it, and visibly stops (rotating) it and instead observes whatever’s happening here.
nods to Caion.
grabs his hand, and doesn’t … it’s not Circling, and it may not even work, but she tries to scrub away the distance between them, to show him what she’s feeling, what she means.
ꙮ It’s more like Circling than you think, you suddenly realise, having just been in a Circle, having that fact make it very simple to do what you’re trying to do, here.
exhales, and allows her to take his hand, and allows her to do whatever it is she’s trying.
then turns his attention back to the Awoken. “Are you really not even going to try and dry yourself off and just keep dripping on us?”
helpfully, “There’s gnosis-work for that, if you want.”
: “I mean I’m fine with it, and you’re not exactly moving all that quick, yourself.”
: “Hit ‘em full blast, Caion.”
gives a thumbs up to Caion.
glances at the Awoken for permission and/or verification that getting Aurelius dripping wet wasn’t– okay, right. A quick succession of mudras to orient, and all the water drenching their clothes and hair all goes spouting off seawards rather goofily.
: “Hm. That was way less hair dryer on max settings than expected.”
says, just to Wolf: Maybe I want you to be able to do something miraculous and strange. Maybe I am concerned you are always holding yourself back trying to be responsible and careful. Maybe I’m happy that you’re a little like Aurelius. And the emotions with it—love, trust, belief, concern for him, wanting for him, the sense that he belongs, he belongs, he belongs.
’s hair does frizz a little unexpectedly, and she frowns at Caion.
is helping! He’s helping, because he’s a helper.
: “Ahh… still feel like a good warm dip in a hot bath would be in order after this. (That was REALLY cold, now that I’m thinking about it!!)”
makes a little bit of a growl in his throat, not…angrily, just…grumpily. ~Care and responsibility is who I am, Sword-Sister. I’m not angry, just…exasperated.~ He does relax some–sends back reassurance, warmth; that he knows he belongs, that he is not keeping himself apart.
: “But,” she says sharply, and aloud, “it is not all that you are. Much like this one,” she tweaks Awoken’s ear, “is not only impossibility and strange-path-walking, nor is this one,” she turns her head to nudge Aurelius’ neck, “only Bird-noises and bizarre speculation. Nor is Caion only the Scholar-Emissary and bridger of impossible gaps. He’s also a goofy idiot.”
nods at the Awoken, consciously giving Wolf and Salme space. “Yeaaaah. Every time I spend any amount of time in the Sea I need to go to the baths. Also the gnosis-work gets rid of the water but not the salt and everything else, you’ll feel a hundred times better after you’ve showered.”
yelps and laughs at Salme.
gives Wolf’s hand a squeeze, and then lets it go.
sighs, patiently, squeezes her hand back. “I know, Sword-Sister.” He smiles, wryly. “I can be many things.”
smiles at him, then looks at the Awoken. “If you’re going to the baths I’d like to accompany you. My hair will be a disaster after this.”
: “I like to think we all had fun and nobody got hurt and that’s what’s can pass for a good afternoon of fishing.” He looks up to Salme. “Oh yeah, the salty air is great for adventure, horrible for hair care. I’ll see you there.”
: “Honestly, that doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. I had my model of reality challenged three times today AND I had to have the Circle’s most boring argument with Scholar-Procurer Elizet.”
: “Only three times?” Salme drawls. “You’re slowing down, Caion.”
: “I did with hold one deliberately. Two, actually.”
kisses Aurelius on the neck, right below the beard. “Good boy.”
snorts softly, and starts to lead the quickest way to the nice baths, from here. Lightly: “My eidesis thanks you! Timing is everything.”
finally starts to push himself up, getting up and over his legs. He slides the lantern slats closed, and picks up the pole to casually hook the lantern on its end.
: “Proud of you, Aury!”
: “I guess I’m also holding back. Hm. Several too,” she says, standing to follow everyone.
: “Now you’re both just teasing me.”
: “I mean, I’m still slated to get examined, wonder what’ll become of that, eh?”
snorts.
: “I’m actually not,” she says thoughtfully. “Well. I don’t know how model-of-reality altering they are, but they certainly are something.”
: “Oh, I know.” He gives her a smile, and they all wander off towards a ‘vertical train’ together.