ꙮ Morning, at the Obsidian Road, inasmuch as there are any characteristics by which it could be considered such; the six of you are awake and about. Timepieces do, still, work here; they concur with the assessment. (And Archie, blessedly, has had, at the bare minimum, a substantial nap.)
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#full cast session
#caion
#chapter 3: samudra
Unua continues to carve symbols into his new weapon, pausing every now and again. Once the rest of their friends wake, they put away their tools and begin packing up camp.
has forgone the usually intricate crown braids for a single, simple dark braid. She stumbles out of the ziggurat, a bit blearily, and looks around. “Can I help with anything? I have some food for a … not very good breakfast?”
seems to have gotten up early and helped Unua get breakfast ready, and is currently laying on his back on the floor while tossing some sort of ball into the air and catching it idly.
yawns and stretches as he rolls up his bedrool in the ziggurat, wearing an expression that somehow seems both bleary-eyed and excited.
assists Unua with the process–long experience sees bedrolls and tents quickly and expertly bundled up, ready to be distributed to packs, and then to backs.
has risen! And! Has dutifully worked to break down the tent he shared- it was set up, the least he could do is help take it down. He uses a flicker of burning gnosis to heat up a small pat of cloudberry jam on top of pieces of soft-enough rolls that were pilfered from the Courtyard Sink Inn- small and numerous enough to be held between each space of his fingers. He unmajestically eats one by leaning in and just consuming it from the space between his right thumb and pointer, and goes around to the others, offering for them to do the same.
: “Would not recommend a Not-Very-Good breakfast before a world jump, consider a Decent one instead.”
ꙮ There is, of course, breakfast, but it’s an ad hoc affair - the supplies you were given- not pilfered! given!- are quite nice, though, especially with the application of a modicum of burning gnosis.
: “I would recommend being well-fed. No telling what we encounter on the other side.”
: “There’s actual food?” Salme shoves the bread of questionable freshness back into her emergency rations pack and instead goes to examine the food. She helps herself, carefully not taking more than a sixth of anything, and goes to sit next to Aurelius. “What are you throwing around?”
: “I should hope not, I prepared for Samudra.”
smiles a little. “It’s never a bad idea to eat up, but if I know who’ll be waiting for us on the other side, he would perish the thought of any of us going hungry.”
: “But I’m flexible to changing plans, so.”
: “Speaking of no telling what one might encounter,” Aurelius lazily turns in his in Awoken’s direction for a second before turning to Salma. “Nothin’, just a ball.”
ꙮ It is a very good idea. (And the proprietress of the Courtyard Sink Inn packed your packs so nicely, specifically so that you could have breakfast, in this singular moment! And stew last night, besides. And probably enough for a couple more days, if need be. She was thorough.)
: “Where did you get a ball?”
: “Pockets.”
: “I did not steal it from The Creature.”
: “I wasn’t accusing you of that. Though.” She raises her voice, “Sininen, did you lose something? Perhaps a ball of tenebrous gnosis?”
Over his shoulder: “Its name is Ember.”
: “Oh, no I didn’t lose it, I pitched it here intentionally.”
: “Oh, is it? That was a little unclear, but so noted.”
snorts and looks amused, as he deftly secures his bedroll to his pack. “You could spend time with it!”
ꙮ There is, incidentally, a spotlessly-empty bowl on the dark-cobbled ground next to the entity that lives here.
: “It did not give the impression it wanted too much of my company and questions, but maybe I was reading into it too much.”
nods to Aurelius. “For those types you get in and be your bright, brilliant self and they crack like an egg.”
goes to see Ember, “I hope the food was to your liking, little spark. I will make sure you have more when next we return.” They quickly wash out the bowl and add it back into the cookware.
huffs something between a snort and a laugh. “I said spend time with it, not ask it questions.”
: “You,” Salme murmurs low, to Aurelius, “reading into something too much?”
: “Have you met me?”
: “Yes.”
ꙮ Big bright jade eyes blink at the Clockwork Knight in a manner that could be considered joyful and thankful for the shared meal.
laughs a little while continuing to intermediately toss the ball upward and then catch it again.
: “Okay this time the segue works: SPEAKING OF QUESTIONS, my good friend Ken, do you know what’s in the Empty Space?”
blinks. “Who?”
: “You know, Ken.”
narrows his eyes at Aury. “No, I do not know.”
looks around, scanning the darkness.
points towards the Awoken lazily.
: “I believe he means the awo-Ken, friend-Wolf.”
ꙮ Oooohhh.
idly brushes her finger toward the opening of Aurelius’ ear, where the fur is long and delicate, testing to see if he’ll notice while she watches this play out.
takes a deep breath…lets it out slowly. He lifts a hand and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Just for that, I’m making you carry a pack with a tent in it.”
: “Ore?” He points at himself, with wide eyes?
: “There is no need, I am easily able to carry the packs.”
: “Of course I do.”
: “Could carry ‘em all if you really want.”
: “Oh, you do?”
lifts both eyebrows. “Come now. Mating displays are unnecessary here.”
: “Yeah. It’s nothing.”
: “Empty space.”
: “Do you know what’s supposed to be there?”
leans over to whoever’s near, and stage whispers. “(You’d think the name would give it away.)”
withdraws her hand from her ear experiments. Earsperiments. To cover a smile.
gives the Awoken a look. “Why are we talking about empty space?”
, upon finishing his food, washes the bowls to the best of his currently admittedly limited capability and walks to the side of the Obsidian Road. Pulling two small jars out of his cloak pockets, he scoops them down into the reality-mud. “Just enough for some further study back at the lab,” he mutters to himself, pulling out the coat he woke up in when he arrived at Sanctuary. Slowly, methodically, he transfers the contents of the cloak’s pockets - some pens and a bit of paper here, the isohedron there, the pressed and dried leaves he gathered in Almachadta, the few crystals that remain as his remaining currency after having shopped the market - into the coat, then tidily folds the cloak itself and tucks it in an impossibly large pocket somewhere deep in the coat. He rejoins the circle and the conversation, only occasionally glancing back at the portal.
: “Is there something that is supposed to be there?”
: “The one in the Sky. Where Stars should be. Aury seems to know something. Or have a guess at something.”
: “There is!”
: “Okay, so what is it?”
mutters, under his breath, with more nose-bridge pinching. “Oh good. We’ve gone cosmic again.”
: “A fucking Sun. He lost. A sun!”
: “Who lost a son?”
: “The Architect, presumably.”
pulls out the Tablet and tosses it on Aurelius’ chest. “We have something to share before Samudra.”
oofs quietly.
looks increasingly baffled. “How do you know he had a son?”
gives Archie an apologetic look.
: “No no, sun-with-a-U, not O.”
picks at an ear with a pinky (which is no longer balancing a makeshift pastry, it got mysteriously eaten. There was supposed to be one there, but– nevermind).
looks, if anything, more baffled than before.
: “Alright, Aury, start from act one here.”
mutters, more. “Or the prologue…”
: “Wolf, do you not have a concept of a Sun?” frowning.
catches Salme’s expression and returned it, looking a little pained.
: “Honestly it’s weirder that you do than him not.”
: “I have no data on a …sun. Aurelius, there are none on the Beast, yes?”
looks a bit…grumpy. “I don’t know, I forgot my would-be-apprentice until a few days ago!”
: “No suns on the Beast!”
: “You can think of a Sun as something very similar to the Centrelight, though, except for uh… not inside out worlds.”
: “Or attached with the umbilical.”
: “Ah.” Comprehension doesn’t exactly dawn, but the grumpiness eases a little. “I think I get the idea.”
: “No sun in Samudra, technically. We theorize that there’s something like a sun based on observational weather data, but Samudra’s constant cloud cover means nobody’s ever seen it.”
opens his mouth, stares up at Salme for a second, then continues. “Yeah it’s mostly just the Mu where it’s relevant to the five… ‘known’ worlds here? But.”
sighs, irritated. “This is stupid. If I let him explain we’ll be here forever.” She snatches the tablet off Aury’s chest. “The critical point is that Aurelius and I designed a … space, for us to talk, in private, and we also perhaps. Accidentally. Discovered a couple other things.”
: “(I mean that’s fair.)”
: “Ohhhhhh. Shenanigans.“ His face lights up.
peers at the tablet, narrow-eyed. “…what did you two do?”
: “Helped her make a Sealed Space.”
: “Not shenanigans. The goal was utility. The shenanigans were incidental.”
: “Also wouldn’t a sun, just be a star, if it was very far away?”
: “You put a seal…on a tablet…and we can talk inside it?”
: “Yes. Times two.”
: “Two…seals?”
brandishes the Tablet. “If everyone would be so kind, it will be clearer to just look.”
helps the remaining pastries disappear before nodding to Salme. “Right! How’s it work?”
reaches over with his free hand and places it on the side of the tablet.
: “Just touch it with some degree of intent. We’re working on allowing … remote connections, but. For now, we all have to touch it.”
nods and approaches the tablet, resting his hand on it and closing his eyes in focus.
places a finger on one corner of the tablet.
: “Wolf, Sininen?”
intentionally touches the tablet and demands all answers as to its purpose and existance.
very slowly, with a narrow-eyed glance at both Salme and Aury, places two fingertips on the tablet and closes his eyes in concentration.
satisfied that everyone has followed her instructions, focuses on entering the library
ꙮ When you are all touching it (for that is Salme’s intent), there is a certain subtle echoing vwoomy sound which, once heard, will be recalled forever; an brief and vivid inversion of your senses, as you are pulled -within- the Sealed Space. ⁂
ꙮ Inside: a thirteen-sided room made of iridescent irrica shot through with green flourishes and black strands; the abstract concept of bookshelves- solid blue with white chalk lines vaguely defining their contours- line most of the walls. If you tried to place anything in one of the shelves, you would not be successful. There are tasteful couches in an Almachadtan style in the centre of the room surrounding a central table, also made of irrica; a few lecterns in some of the corners of the room. It’s spacious enough that six people could walk around and exist comfortably in it. One of the thirteen walls is, instead of a wall, a shimmering soap-bubble - you’re all standing in front of that one looking into the room. ⁂
ꙮ If you look up, the ceiling is made of glass panes, and through each of the glass panes shine one of the Constellations in bright jewel tones. The thirteenth and largest of the panes, inclusive of the central piece of the skylight, like a keyhole, shines with the light of the Sun. This is a light that neither of you have ever experienced before. It is soft, and warm, and profoundly and unutterably comforting. The moment you see it, the Clockwork Knight and Archie know what a Sun is, have a sudden place for it in their accounting and ordering of things. Aurelius, of course, has Aurelius’ familiarity with strange things. Salme, Wolf, and the Awoken have all seen a Sun before, at this point, and so they do not have this precise experience of revelation. 🙧
: “Yet another place-between-places, but this one has the stars in full view…?”
: “Whoa…” He idly wanders foreward, staring up, his wander only interrupted when he ‘oophfs’ into the back of a couch.
: “Also do NOT touch the shutter latch.”
: “I will not. But why is there a need for one?”
blinks quietly around, and then looks up–and while it is not precisely a revelation as it might be for Unua and Archie, he still cannot help but close his eyes and turn his face up into that perfect warmth, breathing in and letting out a shuddering exhale. “Oh…” he breathes, softly.
shifts his attention constantly from one detail to the next. “That’s… huh. That’s a new one. Suddenly it feels like I’ve never not known what a sun was, or what it does, even though I learned about it mere moments ago. It feels like a long-forgotten memory, suddenly returned.”
: “Yeah. There’s two. If you touch the latch you get the sun that screams. It almost killed me.”
: “Because if you fuck with the settings, the Comfort Sun will turn into Angry Sun and attempt to kill us all.”
glances sharply at Aurelius at that, his brief reverie broken. “…angry?”
: “So there are two?”
: “At least. That this window can look out on.”
: “Very angry.”
: “It hates you and wants you to die. Do not summon it.”
: “Also stop asking him. I’m the one that actually saw it,” she says, a little sullenly.
: “Sweet sparrow…” he’s speaking, but the heart in the words is a million miles away. “…please do not die to the…”
says, quietly: “Does it scream in pain?”
: “I saw it too I just left when it started attacking, you lunatic.”
: “And it doesn’t hate you. It’s. Sad.”
looks at Wolf. “I couldn’t tell if it was in pain or not. I was trying to listen but.”
: “I wasn’t strong enough that time. It was screaming though.”
: “I wonder…” he frowns up at the warm-kind sun, and the sentence trails off.
: “Salme, this is not the same, but a similar warmth that I miss.”
tilts his head backwards towards the Awoken with an eyebrow raised in silent question.
doesn’t notice, he’s clearly lost in his upwards stare, despite being stopped by a couch.
: “Oh. I’m glad,” she smiles at Unua. It is nice, this Sun above them. “The first time I saw this one I couldn’t stop laughing. I thought–“ she looks to Awoken, and notices his gaze.
: “Anyway, uh, it’s not quite done yet, but I’m tentatively calling this one the Liminal Library. It’ll eventually have more features, but for now it’ll function as a place where we can retreat away from whatever world we’re actually in if we need a moment to ourselves.”
: “There should be a way to share memories. We’re … working on it.”
tears himself away from his thoughts and the lovely sun. “Are we here…physically? One assumes so, but…if so, this is a magic I’ve never heard of before.”
: “Not… physically, no.”
walks over to the Awoken, and twines her fingers with his. “Awoken, are you okay?”
: “Is time….passing here?”
: “And if we’re not physically here, then…what are our bodies doing?”
: “It’s more like…” Aurelius crosses his arms over his chest. “Has Salme ever done that thing with the green gnosis where she shared memories with you before?”
stares up at the Lantern-in-Eye in amazement, absentmindedly nodding to Aurelius’s statement. He suddenly has a thought: “I’ll have to ask a specialist whether the wards that allow us to talk about heavy subjects safely in Samudra work in meta-spaces. I think the answer should be yes, but this is way out of my field of expertise.”
squeezes Awoken’s hand but can’t help but be drawn back into the conversation. “If you’re able to inscribe them into this space permanently that would be even better.”
doesn’t respond much to Salme’s intial touch, though the squeeze- “…huh? Yeah…”
maintains his gaze at the Lantern-in-Eye. “Like any kind of ward, they’ll probably need maintenance, and they won’t be truly permanent. But not on a timescale that matters. I think usually maintenance is scheduled for once a century or so?”
: “…close…it…?”
ꙮ Archie, you get the sense- you’ll want to check your work, of course, and confer with experts, but you get the sense- that this space is inherently Bubbled by its very nature.
finally breaks his gaze to turn towards Awoken. “Hey, uh, feeling alright?”
To Aury: “So, this is something like the…Mask?” He looks a bit staggered. “But that is work beyond any wonder-worker on Almachadta…” The Awoken’s tone finally punches through to yeresh instincts. “Salme? Is all well?”
nods at Archie but is more concerned about–“Hey, what are you thinking? What are you hearing?”
: “Sort of…” He trails off, joining the rest in focusing on the Awoken.
: “What an excellent…”
: “…question?*
: “Presence?”
: “What terrible idea was it trying to put in your head?”
: “Very, very much… not terrible.”
: “I love you. I love you. I love you. The way it’s been…felt.”
wonders if it would be possible to switch the sun shade so that there is a third setting that has the central pane looking out on neither option.
steps forward, kneels in front of the Awoken, and–very gently, very tenderly, takes the other’s hand. “Friend. Friend, look at me.”
steps behind Wolf, towering over the two of them, attempting to impede friend-Awoken’s view. “Friend-Awoken, to whom do you speak?”
blinks a few times, but hasn’t stopped looking up. “Just… hang on… wait… don’t hang on…”
ꙮ The conditions of the central pane’s construction were that it was to look out upon the light of stars and suns. It would be very difficult, at this point, to change the fundamental nature of the Sealed Space.
: “Someone turn down the light,” his voice suddenly regaining the his natural capriciousness, before that fades without speaking another word.
sighs, pulling the welding glasses out from his pockets, then slips them onto Awoken’s face.
ꙮ When the Awoken says that: ⁂
ꙮ The Light of the Sun dims, gently. Does not fade, but it attenuates. Still -present-, but veiling itself. It holds its breath. 🙧
softens, lowering his head to level, and looks to his sides- Salme, Wolf, why are they… oh, he’s wearing goggles now.
: “…how do you even see out of these things, normally!”
: “So dim!”
: “I have really good eyes.”
chuckles softly, releasing the Awoken’s hand–but not standing, yet. “Are you back with us, my friend?”
takes a step back
: “Yeah, yeah I’m here.” He gives Salme’s hand a squeeze.
: “Were you communing with the Sun or something else?”
pulls him into a hug. A tight one. “You were gone. For a moment, you were gone.”
: “It was…” he lightly laughs, even as he’s dramatically hugged.
: “It was really, unfalteringly good and pure.”
: “And rendingly familiar.”
: “Which, admittedly, is a curious thing to feel!”
stands and moves back, giving the pair their space. “One was about to ask…familiar?”
: “Makes sense.”
has pulled up an arm to hug Salme back (he can’t pull up the other one, it’s in the tight hug already).
looks at Aurelius, a little bit of the grump coming back. “In what world?”
: “That’s the constellation he’s watched over by.”
tilts his head. “Which?”
: “Uncannily familiar, that feeling.”
: “The one that should be in the Empty Space. Which the Sun is a part of.”
: “Like the light you remember?” she asks him softly, relaxing the hug.
: “I think I need to (rotate) that a bit for a good answer, but ‘pretty dang close’ suffices for now.”
: “The Empty is…that?” His eyebrows rise, glancing up at the Sun-that-loves.
: “At least in part. Not sure in full.”
nods, releasing him before pressing a quick kiss to his temple. She turns to look at Wolf. “I think this might be Aurelius confidently saying bullshit, Wolf.”
: “The other twelve panes are the Constellations we all know. The last one is The Empty Space in the Sky. In here…it appears to be rather a misnomer.”
grumbles under his breath. “I’m glad one of us can tell, sword-sister.”
: “I could be convinced it was a poetically-armed windowmaker.”
: “Come on. The pans directly open to one another. He remembers it, and can commune with it. This seems pretty obvious.”
- Aurelius has gained 1 Arete, and now has 6.
: “Aurelius, the depths of what seems obvious to you and is not to anyone else could fill the Tangle.”
: “Good thing you have me around, huh?”
: “Oh, was nobody else communing?”
: “No, no one else was communing.”
: “I tried with this one. I couldn’t.”
rolls his eyes. “If I could pry one unambiguous answer out of you, Aurelius–while we’ve been off doing this, what have our bodies been doing?“
ꙮ What an excellent question!
: “Oh, sorry got distracted by Ken being weird.”
: “It was a lot of one way communing, I think. But, y’know, like the aformentioned silent eggs, sometimes you just bask in it.”
glances upwards sharply. You stay out of this.
: “It’s okay to be the egg sometimes!”
: “Anyway uh, this is sort of utilizing that technique we were talking about. Time IS passing outside, but IN HERE, we’re moving at the speed of subconscious thought. So time OUTSIDE of the Sealed Space is moving…. very, very slowly.”
: “It would be good for one of us to go out and examine the others, though? To know, for certain?”
: “So if I were to leave, and both of us were to count to 100….”
: “So, in theory, while we’re in here, someone could be cutting our throats?” Snorts, nods at Salme. “What she said.”
: “That would be incredibly narratively boring, come now. (Well, I guess, until it wasn’t…)”
: “If we stayed here long enough in an area where someone would want to do that, I suppose so.”
: “Friend-Aurelius, may I see your timekeeper?”
: “Yes let’s–“ she gestures to the soap-bubble wall. “You can return through there. If one of us wants to leave, and one of us wants to count, that would be an excellent benchmark.”
flicks his wrist and produces the pocket watch in Unua’s hand.
just gives the Awoken a very bewildered look, before turning back to Aurelius. “So it’s probably a bad idea to do this all together at once, unless we’re in somewhere like, well. Where we are now? Assuming, of course, that nobody else has access to the Strange Paths.”
: “You’re acting like I didn’t confirm this already… but I suppose a second opinion slash peer review doesn’t hurt.”
stands still for a moment. The ambient ticking and grinding of gears stops briefly. It then resumes, to the tempo of Aurelius’ watch. “One hundred ticks after I leave, Friend-Aurelius.” Unua hands back the watch and walks out the bubble-wall, back into what they assume is the Obsidian Road still.
: “Naw it shouldn’t really matter unless we’re planning on spending days or weeks in here at once which… seems unlikely.”
: “I don’t think you did confirm this before? I might have missed it in all the bird chirps though.”
nods to Unua and starts mentally counting down.
: “Did it take you half a second to try and talk to the sun and produce the shutters, Salme?”
ꙮ Outwith the liminal library: Unua notices five absolutely flawless, perfect, indestructible gold-and-alabaster statues of his five friends, huddled around the tablet he just had his hand pressed against.
sighs a little and walks the edge of the room as he waits, tracing over the outlines of shelves with two fingers while he walks.
ꙮ One hundred seconds pass like that, and the statues do not move, as statues, habitually, do not.
: “Anyway, this place is really neat!”
: “No,” she says, sullenly, and then takes a spot on one of the couches and kicks her feet.
: “There ya go.”
perks up when she hears Awoken, “glad you like it. We worked pretty hard on it. And I’ve never done anything quite like this.”
rotates his wrist and looks down at Nothing And Particular, as if he was checking something while giving the Awoken a thumbs up with his other hand.
: “It is quite impressive. It’s a work beyond any I’ve seen save the Mask itself, and that is ancient beyond counting.”
ꙮ One hundred second pass in the Liminal Library, as well. At one second per second.
: “Archie, do you think this place will work for Samudra? If we need to talk?”
: “She DID do an amazing job for a first attempt, it’s true.”
then steps through the portal.
ꙮ One of the statues becomes Aurelius, rather than a statue.
: “There does not appear to be any change in time. One-hundred seconds.”
: “My guess would be yes, but I’d want to make sure.”
: “Though, you do seem quite heavily defended, while away.”
stares after Aurelius, then looks at Wolf. “He said yes, you know. We talked, he said yes, and still.” She briefly covers her face with her hands and lets out a bone-deep sigh.
: “That’s bullshit, I know for a fact she did all that crap before I could even think to react.”
: “Perhaps the circumstances were changed.”
: “I bet it synced up because you were being actively aware of it.”
: “Or perhaps the…angry one changes things.”
sighs as well, and pats Salme’s shoulder, and sits on the arm of the couch near her.
: “Then I have bad news, friend-Aurelius. It will always sync up. Unless I stop ticking.”
: “This’ll be a great place for clandestine meetings.” He hops over the couch and sits within the Almachadtan natives.
: “Meetings, catch-ups, tea ceremonies.”
: “Can it truly be clandestine when our bodies still exist outside?”
raises a hand into the sky and flips off… something…? “Making me look like a fucking idiot changing the rules after the fact.”
ꙮ Perhaps you made unwarranted assumptions?
: “No secret is fully incapable of being unearthed.”
: “I know what I saw! I know what the ⁂ means!”
peers at the Awoken, narrow-eyed. “I’m not entirely sure that’s true.”
: “But this one at least keeps the mental ones within, and the physical can be dealt with on its own time.”
grins at Wolf. “Okay, what mystery would you like solved?”
leans into Wolf and holds Awoken’s hand. She has carefully not looked at The Duelist’s Mask while they were in here. “We should probably go back out?”
nods. “I’m ready to go when you are.”
: “The mystery of how to make–“ he bites down on what is promising to be a very un-yeresh-ly comment. “You know what, let’s go back outside.”
reaches over and pats their clasped hands with his free one. “That’s right! Samudra awaits! But- thank you both for showing us this!”
stands and stretches, though before heading toward the bubble, she pauses in front of Archie. “Thank you for your faith in me earlier. I promise I will make you proud when we are in your homeland.”
: “Mm, truly.” To Salme: “You and Aurelius have made a remarkable work.”
smiles and nods. “I’m already proud of you. This is incredible work, and will certainly be valuable to us going forward.” He exits the Library.
ꙮ One by one, vwoom-echo, and the statues return to being the six of you.
exits last, and before he does, gives one last long look up at the sun–and then steps through.
looks to Wolf. “Thank you Wolf-Brother. I. Thank you. And I do have a question or two for you, when we are not on so tight an itinerary.”
: “The time is the same, but you are safe. Here, I will show you.” Unua replaces their finger on the tablet, wishing to be alabaster and gold to allay fears.
Unua counts to three, and walks back out.
blinks as he pops to himself just in time to see Unua turn into a statue, and then back again. “…what the fuck?”
ꙮ Unua nearly bumps into Wolf re-rentering the Library briefly, but everyone gets to see him briefly be, and then not be, a statue.
exits, and marvels a bit at the statuesque Unua upon resurfacing.
is still staring up in the sky, looking more irritated than he’s ever been when the others come back, but he’s probably not still shouting at someone that isn’t there, at least.
: “There is likely no need for a watch. But a great need for discretion. Unless you wish me to pretend to be the five worlds’ greatest sculptor.”
laughs, “you certainly deserve the accolades, Unua.”
just…boggles. “I’m sorry, is someone going to have an explanation for why we turn into statues when we’re in there?”
: “Magic.”
: “We met many more talented than I in Kesset.”
does his best to try to think of one.
Can I roll Liminal or Pellucid about this one?
skewers Aurelius with an icy, narrow-eyed gaze. “Thank you.”
: “Yes, but when you can’t get what you want, sometimes it is acceptable to steal it,” she tells them with a grin.
brightly smiles at Salme. “Now that’s thinkin’!”
ꙮ You have the impression that it would require significant research into the nature of the Sealed Space. “Magic” may really be the most satisfying answer, for the moment.
: “I am confused, friend-Salme. But thank you, I think.”
turns the gaze with more intensity than is strictly warranted or has been observed before. “Your welcome.”
winks at the Clockwork Knight, and then, to Archie, “I wonder if … you know the Rite, [ivory blood]? I wonder if this is a thing Tasna was doing. Could do.”
gives an irritated flick of his eyes upwards, meets Aurelius’ gaze with jaw-clenching steadiness, and then takes three deep, slow breaths with long exhales before turning pointedly away to listen to Salme.
blinks and all the aggression vanishes from his body at once. Huh.
shakes his head. “Reading the text on the Rite, I don’t think it was Tasna’s choice to end up like that. I see the resemblance, but if this was when she was in the Serpentrione, it might have something to do with Ancient magic. Which, now that we know there’s most likely a door to a Strange Path there, would make sense why they would have the requisite knowledge of Liminal gnosis to achieve something like that. What’s more interesting is that either she or a traveling companion found a way out of that state, if she made it to Beast.”
nods. “One more question. I want to–know more about her. She’s everywhere, for me, in the Rite. As a breath user. I know I don’t know her, but I feel like I do. Would it be appropriate to ask in Samudra, or is it–a thought that should be sunk?”
: “It would be a matter of asking the right person under the right circumstances. Any questions about what happened to her on the expedition she didn’t return from will need to be especially handled with care, but she remains beloved and I think many people would love to share what they remember of her.”
nods again. “Okay. Thank you Archie,” and then she smiles, with a little less solemnity. “You’ve been so very patient with us. Now I believe it’s your turn.”
takes out the Mask and puts it on. If anything is worth recording, this probably is.
turns to the group. “Well, that’s up to you all. Is everyone ready to proceed to Samudra? No unfinished business to tend to before our next stop?”
glances at the tablet, but just as quickly shakes it away. “All squared away, professor!”
: “A thousand unanswered questions, but they will not be answered by standing here, I think. The road will bring the answers, or not, as it will.”
tucks the tablet away on her person and gestures at the Mask in answer.
: “Sure. No point in staying mad about changes.”
nods. “Well, hearing no objections…” he shuffles a little bit, planting his feet more firmly beneath him and straightening up a little. “In its current state, the portal is complete, but not usable. With help from Wolf and a Helpful Friend,” he says, taking a brief moment to glance upwards, slightly unfocusing his eyes, before finishing the thought, “I think I know why. Ancients put wards on the other side that were activated somehow. My current hypothesis is that the Architect may have activated them when he took me to Sanctuary, but that’s only a hypothesis. So I was thinking about what I know of the Ancients, and what worked when we opened a portal to Almachadta, and I think I might have a solution.” ⁂
walks over towards the side of the Obsidian Road, scooping a little bit of the reality-mud with his fingers, closing his eyes in focus. His hands move quickly, pulling the mud through his fingers like toffee, stretching and shaping it until he holds an ornate instrument not unlike a small harp. ⁂
ꙮ The mud, for this purpose, obeys his volition without question.
brings the harp back towards the portal, plucking a few of its strings quietly. Satisfied with the tuning, he begins to sing. 🙧
“While you live, shine, / have no grief at all; / life exists only for a short while, / and time demands its toll.”
- You hear — and your Star hears — a song, echoing from the stillness: Epitaph for a Drowning World
ꙮ As Archie sings, something, in one of his pockets, glows brightly blue; as he continues singing, his entire body glows with the same pellucid light. ⁂
ꙮ The melodies weave and build and echo over on themselves; the static glows to match, flickering and shimmering with unfathomable intricacy; you hear the slightest shimmer of a -response-, rippling piano keys. ⁂
ꙮ The static then finally stills, and brightens; the portal turns the bright deep blue of a break in Samudra’s cloud-cover. 🙧
lets the end of the song wash over her, and then says, “that was amazing, Archie.”
smiles at her in exhausted satisfaction. “A new world awaits!”
holds out their hands to their friends, “Together then.”
pats Archie’s shoulder and smiles. “A worthy song, my friend, and sung well.”
takes one of Unua’s hands. Or, rather, grabs their thumb with her whole hand.
: “Lead the charge!” He claps a hand to one of Archie’s free paws.
takes Salme’s free hand and holds out his other to whoever would wish to take it.
closes the link by grabbing onto Awoken and Wolf’s hands.
takes the first step forward through the portal and across the threshold.
ꙮ On the other side: a room built into a cavern full of lapis-blue crystals; the floor of the room is made of the same crystal, polished to a mirror sheen, inscribed with gold circles-within-circles and runework of immense intricacy and artistry. There seem to be a complex of such rooms carved into the structure, and this is the largest, and central; light streams in, through the crystal, through a break in the rock casing - your initial impression being that the entire structure is inside an enormous geode of some sort. ⁂
ꙮ There is an apparatus in the middle of this room whose purpose you can only guess at, but you can have a pretty good guess; an array of sensors and crystalline instruments all surrounding a particular, icosahedron-shaped setting at the heart of the apparatus. The six of you are standing in front of the frame of a mirror that’s lost its silvered glass, set into one wall. ⁂
ꙮ Standing in -front- of all of you is a person whose body looks like it’s made of -water-, somehow - anyone who’s seen an image of Tasna would recognise a Naiad, here - with slicked-back blue-black hair, piercing eyes, shifting his weight from foot to foot in a manner startlingly reminiscent of Archie’s idle stance; he’s watching the space where you appear, and his eyes widen - instinctively -noting details-, processing what is before him, but his eyes stop on Archie, and then they close and he lets out a very slow breath that it feels like he’s been holding in for the better part of several months, and then asks a question:
: “Which way does the moon rise tonight?”
: “It rises, like all things, to the North.”
lets out another slow, deep breath, and then moves rather quickly in Archie’s direction. ⁂
continues the movement, without cease, and then with extremely careful control and reservation hugs Archie as hard as it’s possible to safely hug someone and buries his face in his shoulder, and very softly, triumphantly, whispers “I was -right-.”
- You hear — and your Star hears — a song, echoing from the stillness: Dóchas thar Eagla
returns the hug with much less reservation, tears of happiness starting to well in his still slightly bloodshot eyes. “You were. You always have been. I’m here. You’re here. Together. Again.”
gets out, “Hope, over fear,” and that’s all he can manage for a few moments.
turns and diverts her gaze–the Mask’s gaze–to the room, allowing them what privacy she can.
takes a few steps back, taking in the room and gives Archie and their host some space.
had gracefully released Archie’s paw, and rocks back on his heels, politely staring about.
angles away with Salme, hands clasped behind his back, politely studying the room–well, not politely; with a good deal of wonder.
knows there is no way they’re going to be any less conspicuous, and just attempts to look at everything else in the room.
gently pulls away, suddenly slightly sheepish at the display. “How long has it been? How long have you waited? And the others - what do they think? What did you - we - tell them?”
: “Beautiful, isn’t it?” she murmurs quietly to Wolf. She means the room. She also means their friend.
ꙮ It is a room full of wonders, although it seems significantly focused around the central point, and whatever once had been kept there. Brass and crystal instruments the purpose of which one could only guess.
smiles softly. “Ah, Salme. I almost didn’t believe it until now. Other worlds…” And his face lights up in a fierce grin. “And we’re on one.”
: “We’re on one!” and he can hear the smile in her voice, if not see it on her face for the Mask.
pulls away, but he doesn’t let go of Archie’s hand, of some connection. “Arcs-Through-The-Depths-Towards-Truth’s-Light, I have answers and questions and answers for you.” And so many questions- about the others, about what happens, all SIX of you can see them burning bright behind his eyes. “Archie. Tower and Circle, I…” -he takes a moment, visibly, to try and retain his composure; it keeps making a break for it. “Heard. It’s been three tides and seven lumens; I have waited through every hour. Not… here. Had to retrace your steps and get Solei’s permission and break -several- of your ciphers and find the Geode. That took two tides and fifteen lumens. Solei gave a hypothesis to anyone who needed to hear one. I-“ He forces himself to pause. “I made a remarkable discovery, but it’s… heavy, and I don’t understand it… by myself.” That sounds like it was going to be ‘yet’ and then was honest, instead.
then, with bright curiosity, allows himself: “…who are they?”
: “Excellent question!” he can’t help but pipe up.
looks at Caion with bright eyes. “My research assistants. How much of this lab did we already Bubble? I have much and more to tell you. Though if you could do me one small favor - we’ll need seven slate tablets. Are there any in here?”
takes the Mask off, a little quickly, as the naiad begins to talk. She’s staring at him in a kind of … fascination. In wonder.
turns to their host and offers a slight nod.
ꙮ One moment, please.
stands perfectly still, envisioning the calm in the quiet hours, peace.
turns and almost opens his mouth to say something, then gives an almost-sheepish look and just nods respectfully to the Naiaid.
focuses, intently, on Archie. “My eidesis is as good as it ever was. There was a Bubble here but something or someone which I was unable to correctly identify obliterated it. The Geode itself exerts a significant, but not complete, eidetic force, but there are questions which I am led by the virtues to not pose even to myself until circumstances permit. Do they -all- have strong eidesis?” He looks up, briefly and appraisingly, at Wolf.
pulls his lips tight, he wants to make a quip, but is being Good.
: “Well, the virtues, and what your aunt would do if she found out I’d let myself sink-talk.” A slight smile. “She’s going to be so happy.”
responds cautiously but confidently. “They’re… picking up on it quickly. I wouldn’t have brought them if I didn’t have confidence in all of them. My aunt has been asking after me? Is she well?”
rolls a shrug in Awoken’s direction, pauses for a second, then leans over with a frown and retrieves his welding glasses. He then returns them to their rightful place: resting on the top of his head.
for his own part, appraises right back–he can’t follow half of what the Naiad is saying, but he knows a person of import when he sees one. Also, he’s never seen a Naiad before, and it’s an excuse to indulge a little curiosity.
: “She is well. Ksenija has ears everywhere listening for you. We… were highly confident it would not help but the listening mattered.” He rummages around, briefly, in a perfectly organised pile of accoutrements and hands seven perfect pieces of slate to Archie with a soft “heard”.
stows the Mask–she can watch the wonders of Samudra later. “May we have a name to call you? I’m Salme, one of Archie’s research assistants.”
: “Oh, First Principles. I apologise.” A -very- Kushtaka-ish motion of greeting towards Salme - every time he’s in motion you can see it, the way that he gesticulates, the way that he walks. “I am Caion, of Whisker-Clan and of the Academy.”
turns towards Caion. “My fault for not making the complete introductions! My other assistants are Wolf, Aurelius, Unua, and… Ken.” He takes one of the pieces of slate and brings it to Salme. “You did me a favor, not too long ago, and it’s time I return it. Hold the slate on both sides with me, and imagine what you’d like your official Academy research assistant garb to look like. Focus on color, texture, and pattern - I’ll take care of making sure the cut and construction is appropriate.”
coughs into a hand, “You might want to provide an example…?”
looks over to him. “I’m wearing one,” he whispers back.
looks at Archie’s clothes, then down at his own crimson robes with an expression of mild dismay.
blinks, and then shrugs. She takes the piece of slate and imagines–something flowing, a linen, she’s always loved linens though flax is so hard to work with. Practical, certainly, but flowing and comfortable as well. “I’m imagining something. I hope that’s good enough?”
still seems a bit skeptical, but shrugs and decides to trust Archie to not let this turn out too weird.
turns out a little bit so you can get a clear look at his coat for the first time. It’s white with purple trim along the buttons and collar. Looking closely at the fabric, you see that there’s a very faint design of open books, only visible as a shimmer when it catches the light.
notes that and adds the idea of sparrows in flight, just because she can.
snaps the slate tablet in half, arms outstretched. Laying across his arms is a garment just like they imagined together - green trim on a light blue coat, light and airy but feeling sturdy, with a sparrow motif above the chest pocket. “I hope you don’t mind the blue, it’s part of the uniform for research assistants. Try it on!”
raises an eyebrow and looks over the six of them. “…for whatever it’s worth, I think the Eighth and Second Virtues will be as much of a shield as we’re going to be able to expect, for some of them. And others already look so much like Scholars I doubt anyone will blink.” Another slight smile. “In any event, we’re- we should go topside. I need to set off the flare to alert your aunt that– she should come as swiftly as glass and song can carry her, and…” A brief pause. “The five of them ought to see it, while nobody’s around to see them seeing it. Irós or not, I suspect they’d prefer privacy for that moment. Yes?” A pointed, raised eyebrow.
: “It’s beautiful,” she says, awestruck. She takes the garment gently. “I’m sure I’ll love it.” She goes over to Unua. “Would you be willing to carry my cloak for me, friend?”
: “Of course, Friend-Salme.” They carefully fold the cloak, and place it into one of the packs, making sure it is under enough that it will not be seen.”
casually puts both hands behind his head. “I’m comfortable if you are, probably nothing you haven’t seen before.” He pauses, and then points toward Caion. “But if not, sink those thoughts!!”
: “…Before anyone says anything, yes, I can appreciate the irony, but… does anyone have any idea what half the words coming out of his mouth are?”
actually laughs at that, from the Awoken, and grins at Archie, and asides, “Heard. Someone’s been a good influence.”
looks over at Caion with a laughing smile. “I’m sorry to hold things up. You’re right, there is much to be set in motion. This can wait. Though, will you permit me to at least give you your present before we go up?”
just looks at Aurelius, both eyebrows climbing towards his hairline.
shrugs out of her cloak, and then of the structured coat she wears beneath. She adjusts the laces of the loose linen shirt, and unbuckles her belts. She uses her friend as a glorified butler’s rack with a slightly chagrined smile, pulls the coat on over her blouse and pants, rebuckles her belts over the coat, and then folds cloak and coat up into a neat package. “I’m going to stick these in the camp pack,” she says.
sighs. “I know.”
blinks, and stills his body and his face, except for a faint smile he can’t, and wouldn’t wish to, get rid of. “Of course.”
gives Aurelius another look, one that’s arch and faintly amused.
: “Thank you,” she tells Unua, and then, feeling very pleased with herself, goes over to Aurelius. “You’re cute when you’re confused.”
: “I’m not - I am.” Some eye rolling with a shrug.
: “He iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis.”
: “Oh, and you can’t even try to connect the dots aloud. It must be really frustrating.” She’s smiling. Wide.
: “Children…” But his tone is distinctly amused. “Be good.”
: “Remember your thoughts, friends.”
tilts her head innocently at both Unua and Wolf. “The only think I am thinking about is how nice my new coat is and how handsome Aurelius is.”
takes a deep breath, focusing on his recent studies. “I know you always love playing with the animals kept in observation. I’ve tried asking for one of the specimens that they’re done working with, but you know how it is here - nobody’s ever done working with them. So I thought I’d bring you back something! Think of it as… a souvenir. A research opportunity. A companion.” He closes his eyes and snaps the tablet.
Unua attempts to remember the warm, happy light of the sun even louder, while their friends have their fun.
stares at Salme for a second, before raising one hand and miming puppet mouth motions. But does not say anything, or think anything strong in particular. Then realizes this is probably pushing it and stops.
laughs and tugs him down low enough to kiss his cheek.
ꙮ There’s a loud snap, and gnosis shimmers and weaves and bends into the form of a tiny, miniature swift with tiny little sapphire-and-pearl antlers and bright blue eyes that immediately runs up Caion’s arm and curls up on his shoulder.
loosen up with a dramatic sigh.
observes the miniature–summoned?–swift with a smile, and a brief pang of homesickness quickly soothed.
looks to the redressed Salme, and gives an approved thumbs up! “Excellent choice!”
has been utterly oblivious to everything that’s been going on out of the corner of his eye, to a degree that he’ll be chagrinned about later, and gasps in astonishment at the invocation, laughing, -delightedly-: “O- oh, my virtues, what in- this is- ahh, I understand.” He beams. Hugs Archie again, impulsively, presses his face into the shock of purple fur and stays that way, for a little while.
winks at the Awoken, and then loops her arm with Aurelius’, resting her head against his shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll explain eventually. That’s how I survive being around you, you know.”
untangles himself from Caion after a few, too-short moments, and gives the pocket swift a few scritches between the antlers. “Okay. Topside we go.”
mumbles to himself while dragging Salme with him after Archie. “Yes, please, explain the basic jargon even a six year olds would know to us. I promise, we’re very useful research assistants.”
looks very amused, trailing behind Aurelius and Salme. “Oh dear. Now you know how I feel all the time. Poor you.”
: “Alright. I suggest you hold yourself to… that training which I’m sure Archie has given you. And I promise I will explain everything I need to explain, I just need to do some preparation, first.” And then he leads the party through the Geode - it’s a short path, and you turn a corner, and:
takes a bit to examine the setting at the center of all the instruments, but doesn’t get too distracted, following their guide out.
turns to the others. “If we’re headed topside, that means that this room is under the surface of the water. Most of the Academy is, though there’s a good bit that’s above water too. We’re just heading up. Everyone except Unua, be prepared to swallow - the pressure changes can catch up to you if you aren’t used to it.”
takes a moment to ponder if Endjinn would be immune to that or not… then gives Unua a ‘maybe you should too anyway’ look.
ꙮ The Geode floats in the middle of a truly endless expanse of water; rough waves lap at its rock shell, into which a door was, at some point, very carefully carved. Most of the Geode is underwater - there’s a tiny portion poking above the water, an outcropping big enough for the door and some clear rock surface leading to the water’s edge. The waves are rougher than ANYTHING you’ve ever seen and they stretch out in every direction into the horizon; the sky is heavy with dark clouds, with bright rays of light cutting through the clouds in elaborate, fractal patterns. Distantly, there’s a break in the clouds and a bright, vividly blue sky.
looks out onto the horizon with newfound appreciation. “Welcome to home.”
murmurs, quietly enough that only Aury can probably hear. “Ah yes, all that training. Where we don’t know the basic vocabulary,” but she still sounds amused. She focuses on what’s immediately before–next–to her, and how much she likes him, and he’s flummoxed enough that he isn’t even infuriating. She thinks of the new coat, she thinks of Awoken with his bluejay charm last night, she thinks of Unua carving birds, of Wolf singing, singing, singing, and as they break to the surface she feels happy. When she sees the water, she laughs with delight.
reaches out, and takes Archie’s hand.
grabs on tight with a smile.
: “Oh ho ho ho ho, what a treat.”
- You hear — and your Star hears — a song, echoing from the stillness: That Which The Ocean Holds
lowers the glasses down over his eyes as the sea spray starts reaching then. “…Right, the storms.”
steps up out of the Geode, and onto the rock…and for the first time in his life, outside of vision-fragments borne on the Song, Wolf sees…the sea. And he stands, and stares, transfixed, eyes locked on endless waves, as the Song of Samudra crashes against his ears, and the sight crashes against his eyes. He stares, and stares, and stares, and somewhere in the staring his full eyes overflow and tear tracks make their way down his face like the trace of rain.
: “Goddess…Goddess Bright…” he breathes.
quietly: “Something about the Geode seems to push against the storms, but I’ve still been being as careful as I can.”
nods. “You can never be too careful, with things like this. But you’ve done so well, keeping it safe.”
then, slowly, and with profound reverence, takes something out of one of the innermost pockets of his coat, and unwraps it, and solves an immensely complex puzzle-box in about twenty seconds, and deposits something inside the puzzlebox into his hand, and he grins, like a -maniac-, and tosses it into the sea.
inhales deeply, the salted air irreparably tinging his lungs. He scans an endless horizon, and points at the tiniest bit of break in the clouds- he winks at it. Holstering that finger, he idly tests the stability of the outside of the geode, tapping on it with the toe of his boot.
ꙮ Something rises up from the sea- a winged serpent, made of light, with jewels for eyes and jewels for scales; it rises and rises and rises, emitting a sharp burst of gnosis in a specific, particular direction, and then disperses into iridescent particles.
squints.
: “Aunt Silver-Throat will probably be in the middle of something, but when she sees that flare she’ll know what it means, and what I was saving it for. The Geode should be comfortable enough, until then.”
ꙮ Awoken: It’s pretty tough rock! All visible surfaces of it look like they’ve been -sandblasted- to smoothness by something, and you have no idea what on earth cut a neat rectangular door in rock like this, but whatever it was must have been pretty cool.
nods. “Shall we settle in for the evening, or is there other business to attend to?”
: “Unless the six of you somehow solved the problem of constructing a portable Bubble, which I would not… put past the world to provide as evidence, at this point, I will have some work to do that I could use some help with.”
: “Well, actually…”
blinks.
: “Archie isn’t certain it’s a portable Bubble but…”
: “Unproven. What assistance do your require, friend-of-Archie?”
looks at him with a smile. “I’m happy to help with anything that needs the extra hands! Though as Aurelius is referring to, we may well have found a solution. You were always better with Bubbles than I - could I ask you to look at something my assistants developed?”
: “It’s probably not a terribly practical solution, either, but, y’know.”
: “Also, like- humor me. What is a bubble. Just so we’re working off of the same information.”
fishes out the Tablet and offers it to Archie or Caion. “If either of you would like to examine it, and this is an appropriate place to do so? You simply need to touch it with the intent of … entering the space.”
peers at the tablet with open curiosity. “Let’s go back downstairs, and I can take a look at it. A Bubble is… something we developed here, a safe place to talk about heavy things without worrying about what the Sea’s response might be. If you truly have developed a portable one, I…” He laughs, openly. “I will have SO MANY questions to ask you in its safety.” And he leads you back into the depths of the Geode.
ꙮ Ugh just pretend that’s Pellucid I can’t be arsed to fix it at this juncture