[03/22 01:21am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty emerges from the <DICE> clan halls with a bound volume beneath her arm and her viola in hand, caseless. She makes her way toward the Lucky Dip without regarding the sky or horizon.
[03/22 01:22am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty speaks with Elias in low tones. Midway through sweeping the cobbles before the Dip, he laughs aloud. Gestures expansively. Z tears a page from the book, folds it, and slips it into her sleeve.
[03/22 01:24am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty hands the book over to him. Elias accepts it with both hands, grave for only a moment. Then he laughs again and shoos her away with his broom. She makes her way to the center of the square.
[03/22 01:25am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty settles on a swathe of air to attend to her bow. It doesn't need restringing, but.. nevertheless. She has the materials in her pockets somewhere.
[03/22 01:37am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty comes up with them after a great deal of fishing about. Thus equipped, she quietly sets to disassembling the bow. It's careful business and she does it full of care.
[03/22 01:43am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx emerges from clan hall. He stops by the Lucky Dip for his daily visit.. and wonders why it has always seemed so important to him to do this. Nothing to do with cigarettes. More like peace of mind.
[03/22 01:45am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx thinks it must be Elias's smile. Lights up the day, that does. Puts things in perspective.
[03/22 01:52am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty glances up at a familiar presence and smiles. “Hullo, you.” Let's see.. that's cut, so hold this bit here.. and pull and twist, there. That's it. And now..
[03/22 01:55am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx comes over to see what she's doing.
[03/22 01:57am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, by way of explanation, “I haven't played for a long time.” Not with this instrument. Not since he went away. “The bow's gone bad.”¹⁾ She sets aside the work and gets up.
[03/22 01:59am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty slips her arms around him for a loose hug. Her fingers dip brief into her sleeve as she pulls away, brush against his hip.. the note is hidden away in his pocket too quick to see. “How are you?”
[03/22 02:06am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx does not react to the feel of her fingers in his pocket. For later, he first thinks. Then, cold realization: not for me. “Well enough,” he says. “You?”
[03/22 02:10am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty half-sits again with a shrug. “Good, I think.” She puzzles at the bow. Where was she? ..oh! He has some fraction of her attention as she works. “I heard about the two hundred. Well done.”
[03/22 02:17am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx nods. “Thank-you. It gets easier as you progress. I've found it's useful to be clear about your purpose. For speed, for instance, reqs don't matter, so you just let them go.”
[03/22 02:26am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx sits on air beside her.
[03/22 02:27am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty uncorks a small vial and makes a little basin of the air, pouring out water to damp the strings. She smears her fingers dry along her waistcoat and compresses her lips. “Hold this for me?”
[03/22 02:28am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx watches her work. He wonders when the wind will catch up with him. It will, sooner or later, he knows. It always does.
[03/22 02:28am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty hands him the frog of the bow and proceeds to fully enlist him in the repair process, directing him to hold this or twist that, check to make this bit is secure, give that back.
[03/22 02:28am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard emerges from the house, and sees the two bobbing jokers. Smiling, he pulls Zimmer up close by..
[03/22 02:31am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard ,with no small difficulty, releases the seat harness and removes his legs from the travel blanket, “Good evening,” he appears to be, restraining himself.
[03/22 02:32am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty 's ears perk. She twists to meet Bernard's eyes. “Good evening, Messire. I trust you're well?”
[03/22 02:36am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard snuffles a little, and dabs a 'kerchief to his nose, “Been better,” comes the muffled response, “Thank you for asking..” He tucks the hankie in his sleeve.. “Yourself? Alandre, hello..”
[03/22 02:37am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard begins the drawn out process of powering down Zimmer. Levers are pulled, tubes re-attached elsewhere, switches flicked and fuel-lines isolated. The machine makes a heavy shudder and the engine dies.
[03/22 02:39am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin pads in from the jungle, on the trail of a pair of scents. It scans from the edge of town, almost immediately spotting its targets. It sits in a shadow, observing the two Jokers.
[03/22 02:39am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard nods at the bow, “Always wished I could play an instrument..” he licks a finger and holds it up to the air, “Never really had much musical prowess, was thrown out of the choir..”
[03/22 02:45am] A blast of wind comes tearing through AceHigh, questing, searching every crevice. It roars through the trees, twists the sign of the Daily News. Then it finds what it seeks, and calms.
[03/22 02:47am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard jumps, almost out of his wrinkly skin-suit.. “Garn it all.. It's a liberty..”
[03/22 02:47am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria walks in, setting a hand on Bernard's shoulder. Somehow, oddly calming. Which is strange as Hell in it's own right.
[03/22 02:49am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria looks at Bernard, then back to everyone gathered. He's unfazed by the harsh wind. “Evening.” He says quietly.
[03/22 02:50am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard looks calmly odd. Or oddly calmed.. One of the two.. “Thank you KK. I just never know which way I'm leaping at the moment.” Bernard settles back into Zimmer, and tucks the travel rug in, tight.
[03/22 02:51am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin looks at the new addition with caution. He has proved himself to be quite dangerous, and it isn't quite sure why he is here.
[03/22 02:52am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty gaze flicks coolly to the Daily News stand. Shifting her weight a bit, she nods at KK and takes the bow back from Alandre with a smile and murmured thanks. She combs a claw through the strings.
[03/22 02:53am] A light, gentle breeze caresses Zolotisty's cheek and lifts a lock of her hair. It touches her fingers and wafts a faint scent of hyacinths to her nose.
[03/22 02:53am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “There's nothing to leap over, Bernard.” She curls her lip a little - a flash of fang. “Nor anything to remark on.”
[03/22 02:54am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty pins her ears back. Flicks her wrist, as if to rid it of lingering water. “Nothing at all.”
[03/22 02:55am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria leans against the wall, shotgun slung around his back on a worn leather strap. He's here to watch, not much else.
[03/22 02:57am] Though no-one can hear it but her, it whispers, No, no.. never would I have left you, save that it was the only way.
[03/22 02:59am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty 's eyes have cooled to the color of an oxided penny, flat. “You left,” she says. “So leave again. KK, come here, would you? I need to heat this.”
[03/22 02:59am] <SPOON> The Lady Lelila quietly steps to KK's side, putting her arm through his.
[03/22 03:01am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria looks up, then to Lelila, unhooking his arm from hers and heading to Zolo's side. He speaks in a hushed tone. “Friends are here, Zolo.” He says quietly, waiting for the object to be heated.
[03/22 03:01am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin flicks an ear. It was sure it heard something, but then she called him over and she lost track of it.
[03/22 03:04am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty turns the hair of the bow to KK's palm. “Most of us here are, anyway,” she agrees. “Just a bit - steady.”
[03/22 03:09am] Only she can hear the low sob. Oh, do not think so ill of me, it says. If you do, I have lost everything.
[03/22 03:09am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria nods turning the hair in his palm. Too delicate for actual fire. “160 degrees enough?” He asks quietly, turning the hair once again.
[03/22 03:13am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin flicks its ear again. There it was again, interrupted by him. It pads closer to its first target, keeping a distance from the other target.
[03/22 03:14am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty scoffs softly, and only Lelila will recognize a brief wavering. Z's attention is entirely with KK. “I don't know what a degree is,” she says. “I'll watch, just go lightly.”
[03/22 03:16am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria looks at Z flatly, raising an eyebrow. He then shrugs, raising it up in increments, allowing Z to check the progress at her discretion.
[03/22 03:18am] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin rolls in, slowly, wings spread wide, then snaps them back. Half a second later, it sits on top of the Cake or Death sign, having always have a fondness for the Joker behind it, who grins.
[03/22 03:20am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty is finally satisfied. “Thank you.”
[03/22 03:22am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria nods, handing her back the string and walking back to Lelila. He gives his wife a solemn expression, then leans back against the wall. The vibe here is.. Somber, to say the least.
[03/22 03:23am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty smiles sidelong at Alandre. “So you see,” she says, deliberately echoing Elias, “a bow.” An exercise in the unnecessary for his benefit - one last thing to hold tight to.
[03/22 03:25am] Please, Zolo. I would not, I would not. Surely you know that I would never have chosen this for myself. Please, believe me. Please..
[03/22 03:27am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin sits near Z's feet, looking up at her. It has had enough of these tiny fleeting words it doesn't understand, and it thinks she is responsible for them.
[03/22 03:31am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty draws a small square of cloth and a tin of powdered colophony from her jacket. “The wind,” she observes to her friends, “has decided to break its silence.” She glances up. Skims the rooftops.
[03/22 03:36am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin tilts its head in confusion at the mention of the wind. It heard the wind speak before, but in a Different voice. It follows Z's gaze, wondering what she's looking for.
[03/22 03:38am] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin holds out a spread wing at one side, while being covered in chocolate and cream. It knows that there is something it wasn't able to hear.. but doesn't stop trying, either. [03/22 03:46am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx takes from his pocket an iridescent bracelet that might once have been a sprocket. “This is yours,” he says to Zolotisty. “Time I returned it to you.” [03/22 03:49am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty primes the bow and puts it aside. “This is a different wind from the one I've heard.” She's scanning the air again as she accepts the bracelet from him. “It's changed.” She narrows her eyes.
[03/22 03:50am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx says, “How is it different?”
[03/22 03:51am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty thrums for a moment in her throat, then says, “The wind before, that was ageless and huge. It knew the spines of mountains and the birth of lakes as puddles - as trickles through cliff cracks.”
[03/22 03:52am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty cants her head, watching. Listening for things to sort. “It knew where rivers slowed and died in their beds by the shape of smoothed rocks and then it pulled blankets of earth over them.”
[03/22 03:53am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “It knew watching and it knew what it was to usher clouds across the sky.” She'll sing them apart without song if she can - there can be music in words and she can bend music as she pleases.
[03/22 03:54am] The voice roughens. He's the one doing it, isn't he? You've been listening to him, Zolotisty. He's made you suspicious of me.
[03/22 03:55am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty wets her lips. “The wind before - it knew storm and calm and saw the passing of kingdoms of things well before anyone thought to call them a kingdom. And why should they? You don't need the words.”
[03/22 03:57am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty flicks her ears. Tips her chin back, breathes in. “And this wind, it's different from Sessine, too. It knows shapes, but it would know nothing of his shape in a doorway or his patience.”
[03/22 03:58am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin flicks an ear at the tiny words at the edge of its hearing. They do not come from Z, of that it is now sure. It looks up at both its targets, watching carefully.
[03/22 04:00am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “He knew what it was to fold yourself into purpose - to set on a goal, tuck your chin and fight for it. Bloodied knuckles and forearms in the Scrapyard - or cheek, in the Grounds.”
[03/22 04:01am] Sessine understands when she begins to sort. He feels relief, admiration, delight. He counts to distract himself, to keep from giving the game away.
[03/22 04:02am] Ninety-eight, ninety-seven, ninety-six, ninety-five..
[03/22 04:03am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty turns. Her gaze is still lifted. “He knew deliberation and he knew what it was to lead and rally - what can the wind do but scatter? He could warm a room with his presence - the wind, it cools.”
[03/22 04:06am] Eighty-three, eighty-two, eighty-one..
[03/22 04:06am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty glances sharply back to the group. “He had sly grins. He had a steady hand - you all, you know that. This wind is different.” She pins her ears and practically spits, “It only knows taking.”
[03/22 04:08am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty rolls her shoulders and sneers, “And even with him and all his understanding, it doesn't get that.”
[03/22 04:11am] Seventy-seven, seventy-six..
[03/22 04:15am] The wind twines around the ankles of those present. Doesn't get it, it wonders. Arrogant.. What is it, it asks, soft, that I don't get?
[03/22 04:18am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty pauses. “What you don't get?” She laughs. “All of it. Taking isn't all greed, but that's how you understand it. You, you snatch something and keep it for yourself even if you have no need.”
[3/22 04:20am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria has a dufflebag with him. He unshoulders it and sets it down on the ground to unzip it.
[03/22 04:20am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria shuffles through. Metallic sounds, wooden sounds. He takes out his hand-carved system of pipes that he had a few weeks ago for whatever reason they served. KK looks around, and then sets them up.
[03/22 04:22am] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin dissipates into a veritable mass of barely visible particles. Listens.
[03/22 04:24am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty turns to tune the viola. “But then,” she says, “how could you know? No one's thought to teach you.” She twists pegs, coaxing each string to purr its proper pitch.
[03/22 04:26am] <DICE> Civilian Legolos walks in, briefly listens to the echos and noting the presence of the wind, digs his claws in.. All four sets. He is ready to listen, and little else.
[03/22 04:27am] A section of air swings open like a Door, and Tor steps through, letting it swing shut and disappear behind him.
[03/22 04:27am] A moment of watchful stillness. Perhaps the wind is holding its breath. It catches the end of Zolotisty's scarf and tugs when it's clear she's more interested in her instrument than it.
[03/22 04:30am] Sixty-three..
[03/22 04:31am] The wind asks, lofty, So. Are you to teach me? The question resonates faintly through the carven pipes - it is a reedy, thin echo.. hardly recognizable as a voice.
[03/22 04:32am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty laughs. She looks up with a sharp gleam to her eye. “Why should I? You wouldn't understand, and aside, it would help hi-” She catches herself with a clack of her jaw and busies herself again.
[03/22 04:33am] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin 's parts settle in a hazy cloud around Legolos, close enough to be clearly visible, distant enough to be able to listen to the fine tones.
[03/22 04:34am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria nods, picking up the faint voice. It doesn't sound remotely like his own, for which he is quite thankful. Though it's hard to tell anyway what it is.
[03/22 04:34am] A stronger gust now, brief and fitful. Teach me. I'd understand. I understand more than you, little flame.
[03/22 04:35am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty sets aside her instrument with a moody look about her. “Very well,” Z says. She gets up. “Let's play a game.”
[03/22 04:35am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria 's own hearing is very well tuned, but even he can barely pick up what's being said.
[03/22 04:35am] Fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven..
[03/22 04:36am] Trousers and skirts plaster to the legs of onlookers as the wind draws back with a start. What kind of game. It does not like gamblers. Not after last time.
[03/22 04:37am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “A teaching game. It's easy. No one wins or loses. Here is how you play: I will take one thing from you and then you will take that same thing from me.”
[03/22 04:37am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth looks a bit uneasy at the suggestion of Z and the wind involved in a game.
[03/22 04:38am] The wind reasons. It owns nothing. And if you take the same thing.. Is that not passing back and forth the same leaf? A leaf skitters across the cobbles and grazes Rosin's paw.
[03/22 04:38am] <SPOON> The Lady Lelila has not moved from the wall she is leaning against, though she has paled several shades.
[03/22 04:39am] <SPOON> Ona Tko Vidi Teia stands next to her brother, a hand on his shoulder, eyes wide Open - she wants to 'see' this.
[03/22 04:39am] Fifty-four, fifty-three, fifty-two, fifty-one..
[03/22 04:39am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin watches the leaf go curiously. The wind is behaving rather strangely here.
[03/22 04:39am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty shakes her head. “No. Not if you have a leaf and I have a leaf. We both end with leaves, but they are different. Do you see? If I took a song from you, it would not be the song you take from me.”
[03/22 04:40am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “You choose it.” Z scans the faces of her friends. You can't meet the wind's eyes. “I'll go first. The only rule is that you must give without question what you are bidden to.”
[03/22 04:40am] Stillness.
[03/22 04:41am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty shrugs and crouches again with the viola. “Or if you don't want to..”
[03/22 04:41am] There is another surge through the Outpost. Go.
[03/22 04:42am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty straightens. Impassive, she nods. “Fine. I take from you..” She stops to consider. “The feeling of stirring to wakefulness on a good morning.”
[03/22 04:44am] The wind eases. So simple? There is a sense of purling across an open plain, roughed by golden summer grass and vast alluvial fans. Sweet air and unfettered momentum..
[03/22 04:45am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty smiles. Slowly, “Dawn in the <SPOON> clan hall. Coming awake alone and warm in the still with friends sleeping nearby, blankets all skin-temperature. Everyone quiet, everything satisfaction.”
[03/22 04:47am] This is not what it expected. She is right. If all the taking is like this, then it seems both of them will only gain by sharing. But what if she's lying?
[03/22 04:48am] If she plays by her own rule then it will play her game. It resolves to dupe her. Even if she takes this from it, she will not understand it. Only it understands this. Your name.
[03/22 04:48am] Forty-six..
[03/22 04:49am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty is blank for a moment. Her name? But.. what value.. and then, ah, she realizes. If you know the name of something, you can call it to you. It values names.
[03/22 04:50am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty slinks two steps to take Alandre's hand for comfort. Her body language is all reluctance, defeat. She knows it knows shape.
[03/22 04:51am] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin resolves to hold on Legolos, as stray, almost unnoticeable gusts of wind, may it be from the wind, or the anxious shuffling, tend to let it drift away.
[03/22 04:52am] Forty-three, forty-two..
[03/22 04:52am] Hah! It's caught her. Are you done with your own lesson so soon?
[03/22 04:53am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “Zolotisty.”
[03/22 04:53am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth frowns slightly, but holds his tongue. Even this simple game is not without risk.
[03/22 04:54am] ..so she'll play afterall. It is still. And then, reassured, there is a torrent of something so alien and unknowable that it stretches beyond even the ken of Z's hearing.
[03/22 04:54am] The pipes splinter and crack.
[03/22 04:55am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty does not let go of Alandre's hand. She laces her fingers tight with his and watches the ground. Toes a pebble. Breathes out. In once more. ..alright.
[03/22 04:56am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty looks up. Her eyes are clear. “Sessine.”
[03/22 04:56am] Satisfied with its own cleverness, the wind does not stop to consider her demand. There is a terrible rushing. Zolotisty whirls Alandre in front of her. Timing is paramount.
[03/22 04:56am] Zolotisty catches him in an embrace as he is cast from the wind.
[03/22 04:57am] <SPOON> Alandre Jeovanx stiffens. The copper-colored chain about his neck glows a dazzling red, then fades. His head jerks back, his eyes fly wide. A presence slams into his skull, speaks.
[03/22 04:58am] You there, Sessine?
[03/22 04:59am] Did she really get you back?
[03/22 05:03am] <SPOON> Count Sessine blurts, startled, “Alan?” The voice says, Good, you're there. You don't have to talk, you know. Or have you forgotten how this works?
[03/22 05:04am] <SPOON> Count Sessine closes his mouth. Thinks, Alan? Hears, That's right: Mouth. Shut. Yes. Sort of. Close enough. I'm the poor sucker you left behind to pick up after you when you made your fine noble sacrifice.
[03/22 05:04am] Again.
[03/22 05:05am] <SPOON> Count Sessine darkens. Alan, you treacherous bastard.. I've been watching you. Is answered, Shut up. You need a briefing. Pay attention.
[03/22 05:05am] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin knows this nuance. Nonplussed, the brazen clouds solidifies.
[03/22 05:05am] Half the Island wants to worship your shining memory, the other half wants to punch you in the face. Your closest friends are pretty much all in the second group.
[03/22 05:06am] You'll make that right, I imagine. In time. As I suppose you know, it was Zolotisty who just hauled you back from the Wind by the scruff of your sorry neck.
[03/22 05:09am] And you've been hating my guts. Well fine. Just remember, I made you do that. I planned for you to want to strangle me so you'd get off your lazy tush and do something.
[03/22 05:10am] All this in an instant.
[03/22 05:11am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty still has him fast - she presses her lips to the corner of Sessine's jaw, just below his ear.
[03/22 05:11am] And then the wind takes him from her.
[03/22 05:12am] All that it had of Sessine was not physical, and so it can only take the non-physical from her - her memories of him.
[03/22 05:13am] But.. It has learned something of compassion and it leaves one memory. The very first - curiously watching a self-assured stranger enter the <SPOON> halls..
[03/22 05:14am] <SPOON> Count Sessine feels something happening, reaches.. and then it is too late.
[03/22 05:14am] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin sits again as ball on top of the fuzz, wings wide spread, just Getting the deal. Oh dear.
[03/22 05:14am] With only the fading sense of Sessine's understanding, it regards its acquisition curiously then indifferently. These are of no value. It casts them free - discarded. Gone.
[03/22 05:15am] And then the wind goes, too. AceHigh is still.
[03/22 05:17am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty is left pressed close against who. She reels backward so fast she nearly trips herself.
[03/22 05:19am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin steps out of Z's path so as not to trip her. Something is Different with both of them.
[03/22 05:21am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty relaxes. Alandre. And a cluster of friends. And.. her viola.
[03/22 05:21am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria reaches out with a hand, steadying Zolo, then retreating back. He's only a vague idea what happened. His other hand is clenching and unclenching fists.
[03/22 05:22am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty glances at KK. Her heart is thumping in her throat and she's not sure why, maybe when she startled - why was she so close.
[03/22 05:22am] <SPOON> Count Sessine is suffering from emotional whiplash. Too much, too fast. And Zolotisty is looking at him as if he is a stranger.
[03/22 05:23am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth is silent, hardly daring to breathe.
[03/22 05:25am] Why was she so close.
[03/22 05:31am] And why this silence - there is a waiting, and she feels it, skirling tight and nervous from those around her. Z calms her breathing. “What's wrong.” Something's happened.
[03/22 05:33am] <SPOON> Ona Tko Vidi Teia sheds a tear her eyes closed now. so that was the final sacrifice.. well at least.. at least things can get better from here.. a new start perhaps..
[03/22 05:34am] TrueBorn Warrior Theo Just quietly carries his sister away, they have seen what they came to see.
[03/22 05:35am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin pokes Z's leg with a paw. She's definitely Different, no more determination.
[03/22 05:36am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth steps forward, and addresses Alandre and Zolo both, “Are you all right?”
[03/22 05:38am] <SPOON> Count Sessine takes a deep, shuddering breath. To have lungs again! Eyes. Limbs. To be all bounded in one definite shape, not.. spread everywhere..
[03/22 05:40am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty looks from Rosin to Tor. “I'm fine.” Shaken, but fine. Why wouldn't she be fine. “Tor, what's going on.” Why does everyone look as if they've seen Bernard naked.
[03/22 05:41am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria speaks up. “Who's Sessine?” He asks Zolo, a simple question.
[03/22 05:46am] <SPOON> Count Sessine waits for her to answer. Why is it taking her so long to answer?
[03/22 05:46am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty doesn't realize that KK is asking her for a second. What kind of answer is that. “What?”
[03/22 05:48am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth says, “You asked the wind for Sessine. By the rules of your game, the wind also Took Sessine from you. What did the wind take, exactly?”
[03/22 05:49am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria blinks, then shakes his head, glaring at Sessine. He looks back to Zolotisty. “Nevermind.”
[03/22 05:50am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty stares at Tor. “I what?”
[03/22 05:51am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth 's voice is gentle, “You were playing a game with the wind. Do you remember that?”
[03/22 05:52am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty , agitated now, peers at a bracelet she's been holding all the while. No one is answering, that tension has not eased from the air, what is this. What's happened. Why won't someone say.
[03/22 05:52am] <SPOON> Count Sessine takes in what Tor just said. Processes it. Comes up with an answer he doesn't like. “Zolotisty, who am I?”
[03/22 05:53am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty knows the bracelet. “I played a game with the wind,” she corrects, testy. “Just over there. Hazard, Tor - I know that, that was a long while ago. Why do you mention it.”
[03/22 05:53am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty stiffens. That. Is Not. Alandre.
[03/22 05:54am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty rounds on him, dangerous. Is this why no one's talking? “What have you done.”
[03/22 05:56am] A voice speaks gently in her head. Zolotisty, it's Alandre. You've lost something that was important to you. No. You didn't lose it. You gave it, to get something that mattered more.
[03/22 05:56am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth has an answer, of sorts. “You've lost something, Zolo. A memory of a friend, I think. Do you know the name Sessine?”
[03/22 05:59am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin looks confusedly between Z and Sessine. Its understanding of the situation has been turned on its head like a coin flipped through the air.
[03/22 05:59am] You gave up memories. That's why you don't know who that is, in the body you knew me in. But he was important enough to you, that you were willing to lose your memories to get him.
[03/22 05:59am] <DICE> Civilian Legolos leaves. He is done with this crazy business.
[03/22 06:02am] Take it slowly. You can find out what the memories were. You wrote a lot, in a book. Elias has the book. He'll give it to you.
[03/22 06:03am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty just shakes her head. “No,” she responds at length. “I don't know the name.”
[03/22 06:05am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth nods, and says simply, “Then allow me to introduce you. Zolotisty, this is Sessine. He was once perhaps your closest friend. In Time, perhaps he will be again.”
[03/22 06:06am] I don't remember a book. Where are you - the fastness? Yes. That seems right, there's something of that conversation. Gorbert's cottage after Lelila pulled KK's voice back.
[03/22 06:07am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth turns to the Count and smiles through his teeth, “.. so long as he doesn't go all noble and self sacrifcing again.”
[03/22 06:09am] I'm in the bracelet right now.
[03/22 06:11am] <SPOON> Count Sessine looks at Tor, and says wryly, “I gather you're numbered with the half of the Island that wants to punch me in the face.”
[03/22 06:11am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin is thinking. It knows something about Sessine, but it can't quite remember. Something about Before..
[03/22 06:12am] A low expression of pain tears from the pit of Z's throat. The bracelet? The bloody bracelet, he's in the bracelet and this here is someone who is important?
[03/22 06:14am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth shrugs, and smiles, “I think I'd settle for a gut punch. It is good to have you back. You'll have to cut me a key for the Fastness, so I can visit Al, though. A chap with potential, that one.”
[03/22 06:14am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty shudders as she exhales.
[03/22 06:15am] I can be in the fastness and back here in the bracelet before you can blink your eyes. Time scales are different. [03/22 06:16am] <SPOON> The Lady Lelila watches Z, clutching her elbows so tightly her knuckles are white. She looks faintly ill.
[03/22 06:19am] <SPOON> Ahi Koa KK Victoria has already gone. For a fairly large man, he's able to get away without the slightest notice.
[03/22 06:20am] <SPOON> Count Sessine raises an eyebrow. “Al? Oh my. You called him Al? Alan, perhaps. But I'll bet you didn't ever ask him whether he wanted you to call him Al.” He laughs. “Al.”
[03/22 06:20am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty swallows. She manages a small, crooked smile for him. “Well met.” And then she turns to fetch her viola and bow, fighting to remember. The square and Alandre, then.. Bernard.. KK, Rosin..
[03/22 06:21am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth Chuckles, “I was a Midget at the time. He didn't see fit to argue, so now he's stuck with it.”
[03/22 06:22am] Nothing. She reworked a bow that didn't need reworking to please Alandre, and then.. what?
[03/22 06:27am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth watches Zolo as she struggles in silence, “Do you remember the last time you played?”
[03/22 06:27am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin has begun to study Sessine curiously. Something from Before..
[03/22 06:28am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty 's voice is clipped. “KK gave me a violin to play.”
[03/22 06:31am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth nods, “The last time you played the viola, Zolo. Do you remember that? It might not be clear, but you should remember something. Look for the Holes.”
[03/22 06:31am] <SPOON> Count Sessine says, “Growing up, in my first life, I always hated being called Al. He and I have that much in common. So..” He flashes Tor a grin. “By all means, keep it up. He's in no position to stop you.”
[03/22 06:35am] <SPOON> Count Sessine turns away from Tor, then. Zolotisty. How.. what can he do or say that will not distress her? He goes to stand in front of her, a.. safe distance away. Don't encroach. Don't presume.
[03/22 06:35am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty stows the instrument Elsewhere. “I don't know, Tor. I don't know.” She casts about her mind. “Stupid, small things. Practicing.” She squints. No, that's not quite true.
[03/22 06:37am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin twitches as a memory locks itself in place and it is suddenly seized by the compulsion to both tear at Sessine with its claws and hug him.
[03/22 06:37am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty looks at Tor. “No. There was a time before that, when Snickerer left that I played it. That's all.” She looks back. Measures him.
[03/22 06:38am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin does neither, simply glaring at him from where it sits near Z's feet. Why did That have to be the first memory it recovered?
[03/22 06:40am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth offers a small smile, and indicates Sessine, “He was here then. And before, as well. Look for the holes in your memory, and consider what would fit. That's where you will find Sessine.”
[03/22 06:42am] <SPOON> Count Sessine bows his head. So very dear, but now she does not know him. “It seems we must begin again. So. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Alandre, Count Sessine. Just Sessine will do.”
[03/22 06:45am] <DICE> Questor Transcendent Tor NaGoth studies Sessine intently for a moment, then chuckles at a memory of his own. By the time he turns away, Sessine has sprouted distinctive sideburns and a sequined cape. Tor whistles as he fades.
[03/22 06:48am] <SPOON> Count Sessine smiles wryly. “Perhaps pieces will come back, perhaps not. But I am not in the holes. I am here. You can get to know me again. I..” his smile slips a little. “I hope you will like me.”
[03/22 06:49am] <SPOON> Count Sessine remembers the Elvis escapade perfectly well, and the sideburns and sequins vanish before Tor has finished fading.
[03/22 06:49am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty is very quiet. “You are not Alandre.” She would like to veer around him and go on her way. Instead Z touches on some last bank of courage and steps near him. “I am Zolotisty.” Tor said as much.
[03/22 06:50am] <DICE> Feral Miniature Rosin turns and walks from the square in the opposite direction of Sessine, a bitter memory running through its mind endlessly.
[03/22 06:52am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “I.” A pause. The courage is gone, there was very little of it left. “Don't know what to make of you.” She sidesteps and goes quick past him.
[03/22 07:00am] <SPOON> Count Sessine turns after her.. “Please. Zolo.” He almost says it, remembering his desperate pleading such a short time ago. But, no. Too much. Too fast. There will be world enough, and time.
[03/22 07:01am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty falters.
[03/22 07:02am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty stops to look back at him.
[03/22 07:03am] <SPOON> Count Sessine meets her eyes.
[03/22 07:07am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty is not so cruel that she would forbid him from calling her by a diminutive. But - he was not angling. That nickname was familiar on his tongue. This is not evidence Alandre or Tor could provide.
[03/22 07:08am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty murmurs, “You know me.” There is a look of intense unease on her face.
[03/22 07:11am] <SPOON> Count Sessine nods. “Yes. And you don't know me, any more. Difficult.”
[03/22 07:14am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty says, “Unfair.” She doesn't know what he knows of her. She can't begin to imagine - her closest friend, Tor said? Someone so important that she would trade all she knew of them to keep them?
[03/22 07:16am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty doesn't even know how you do that.
[03/22 07:20am] <SPOON> Count Sessine nods again. “It is unfair. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me, anything at all, but.. that can't replace your own memories. I can't fix that.”
[03/22 07:23am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty holds very still. “What did you do, that needed trading.”
[03/22 07:30am] <SPOON> Count Sessine smiles a little. “You don't waste time on easy questions, do you? Straight to the heart of the matter. What's the edge of what you do remember - losing your hearing?”
[03/22 07:35am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty mmns. “Bet it and lost it. Then.. I asked KK into it, and..” ..oh, this is upsetting.
[03/22 07:35am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty admits, “I don't know.”
[03/22 07:41am] <SPOON> Count Sessine says, “Before you asked KK to help, when you first told me you'd lost your hearing to the wind.. I made you a promise. I said it, and I meant it with all my heart..”
[03/22 07:43am] “'All that I have. All that I am,' I said. 'This will not stand.'“
[03/22 07:44am] <SPOON> Count Sessine says, “And then you said something about, of course it couldn't stand, it had no legs.”
[03/22 07:46am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty shifts her weight.
[03/22 07:49am] <SPOON> Count Sessine scratches his ear. “Typical Zolo, snagging on a phrase. But I meant it. We forced the wind to continue the game. KK was immediately to your left. He threw, and lost his voice. I was next..”
[03/22 07:49am] “And it didn't stand, did it.”
[03/22 07:53am] <SPOON> Count Sessine says, “And no, it didn't stand. I staked what I'd said I would, and lost the throw. The wind took me.. but once it had me, it didn't want to keep your hearing from you any more. It gave it back.”
[03/22 07:56am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty recognizes the gesture - it's an echo of an echo and she doesn't know it as such. She watched for those little mannerisms in Alandre, wanting him to be, and now she'd ascribe them to a man lost in metal and stone.
[03/22 07:58am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty looks at the bracelet in her hand. She works it on. A long while, then, “Did I ever thank you?”
[03/22 08:04am] <SPOON> Count Sessine says, “Well, I think you just did. Quite substantially. As Alan rather rudely put it to me just now, you hauled me out of there by the scruff of my sorry neck. And very glad I was to be extracted.”
[03/22 08:13am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty shakes her sleeve over her wrist. They're alone in the square but for night birds and insects. Elias is closing his Dip - even he sleeps. Alandre mentioned some book but she doesn't want to read.
[03/22 08:16am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty doesn't have the focus for it tonight. There's more to ask him - how it is that he came to be in Alandre's body, where it came that there are two of him.
[03/22 08:18am] <SPOON> Count Sessine says, “There will be time. You can get to know me again.”
[03/22 08:25am] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty studies his hands, the corners of his eyes, the slant of his nose. “I'll see you,” she says and then looking up, she's gone.
[03/22 08:36am] <SPOON> Count Sessine is not going to want to sleep in the open air tonight. Or perhaps ever, but definitely not tonight. The fastness is here in AceHigh.. no. That's Alan's, for now. Twisted Spoon will do. He leaves.
[03/22 09:10am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard awakes early, as is the wont of the old, the troubled.. He sniffs the cold air, and coughs a bit, as the dawn throws golden, pale golden and mauve shapes across the bleached palette of the morning
[03/22 09:11am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard had, quite luckily, tucked his travel blanket up under his chin last night when all of the miracles were going on. Mainly as he fell asleep out on the periphery of the square.
[03/22 09:13am] <CDAG> Uncle Bernard is covered with a smattering of dew, and he tries to wipe it away, fearing that his arthritis will play up and give him jip throughout the day, and he's so many questions he'd like answering..
[03/22 12:47pm] <DICE> Revenant Harlequin sits as dawn comes, on the Cake Joker's sign. As night comes, it does not move. As owls wake, it does not move. There is silence.
[03/22 02:06pm] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty drowsed the night in a secret place in the jungle, one of basalt and moss and tiny white flowers. Ridged stone, she is intimately aware, makes for an uncomfortable mattress.
[03/22 02:08pm] So Z is rumpled and rock-pressed as she pads into AceHigh. The aching will fade. She goes in and out of the Bank, stops to pet kittens, stops again to pet kittens and is shouted away.
[03/22 02:12pm] Into the Grounds, out of them, back in, to the Cake Stand, across to the clan halls and then she finally works up the nerve to approach Elias. “Look, look at the sky,” he says. Smiles.
[03/22 02:13pm] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty turns to look. It's beautiful.
[03/22 02:18pm] Elias presses a book into her hands when she faces him again. “So you see,” he says softly and laughs. He taps a finger to her nose. “It will be bright today. I hope you find shade.”
[03/22 02:19pm] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty blinks.
[03/22 02:20pm] “I'm forgetting something.” He drums his fingers on top of the 2 Req box. Reads the label, then, “Ah! You didn't pay.” He's grinning again, teasing. “Five req.”
[03/22 02:22pm] <DICE> The Soloist Zolotisty laughs despite herself. She fishes a coin from her pocket and leaves carrying a sturdy field notebook, one intended for the careful study of rare and exceptional things.