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Visitor :  Dice Roller| Game Info| The Cast |
| Part 73c - The long road. Posted by Dworkin. | Group: 0 |
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| Author | Message | Page: 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 [all][bottom] |
"Yes. Aku Cyan, aky [click]-ogok." She smiles. It has worked, and [click]-ogok accepts it without fear. "We two are the same." She points to the sketch, which now begins to move and shift with his motions. "[click]-ogok adcho deku. [click]-ogok is here. And also..." She points to him. "[click]-ogok is here. With me." A touch on her chest with a small smile and a bow of her head, then a touch on [click]-ogok's shoulder. "I am happy to meet you, [click]-ogok. I am happy you think it is good, seeing and hearing me." That hand rises to touch her forehead. "Here." Just as he said. Then, with a broad motion of her free hand - slowly, so as not to alarm their companions - Cyan paints an arc over her head. "But [click]-ogok. Where is here?" | |||
The rabbit makes a strange noise, and then Cyan realises it is actually a quiet laugh. And it brings a smile from [click]-ogok. "Aku aku Juchak denokag." - Same same Juchak's cave. | |||
"Juchak lives here as well?" She touches Juchak briefly. "Clever Juchak." A wave of the hand takes in the cave. "Juchak denokag, [click]-ogok denokag." Then she frowns. How to explain this? "I walked here. Cyan naka Juchak denokag. From the sky." She mimes walking down with her fingers. "Bokt. But not alone. I came with other people." She fans out her palanqueti, slipping out James' and holding it out for [click]-ogok to see. "With James. James," she states again, pointing at the image of the tired soldier. "Then they vanished." She waves as if blowing something away. "Gone. And I was with [click]-ogok and Juchak. Here." Her lips thin, and she takes up her pen and ink. A rapid sketch follows, the picture of a blazing wheel, very specifically not the sun. A bladed wheel. A wheel surrounded by arcs of electricity, highly stylized. "Archons. Nephillim. Seraphim. Do you know of them?" Interesting. The grammatical structure of the language resembles her own, even if the words do not. | |||
"Ja'ez deku-juk. Chy-an deku-juk. Juchak deku-juk [click]-ogok veknojk!" - James isn't here. Cyan isn't here. Juchak isn't here. [click]-ogok dreams! He takes the sketch from Cyan and gazes at it, turning it from side to side as he tries to puzzle it out, "Nojk-juk. Koge adcho?" - Not seen this. What is it? | |||
"Well. I am here. Cyan deku. Is this a place of dreams?" Another arcing wave around the cave. "Deku vekonjk?" Her attention turns toward the picture of the Archon. "Good. They are dangerous." She doesn't have the words in his language. "Archon." She taps the paper. "This is an Archon. Some are friendly. Many are not. All are dangerous. If [click]-ogok sees one, stay away." More sketching. This time, it is of a stick figure and several archons. "Cyan," she states, pointing to the stick figure. "Archons. We travel together." Agho, she thinks is the word. Maybe. "But dangerous." | |||
He pushes himself to his feet, "Chy-an agho. Nojk [click]-ogok vek." - Come Cyan. See [click]-ogok sleep. He beckons urgently for Cyan to follow him, and starts towards the narrow fissure in the back wall of the cave, muttering as he goes. "Nojk-juk Ach-un. Gocht-juk nojk." - Haven't seen Archons. Don't want to see. | |||
"I may have to leave," she mutters, "if this is only your dream and you are still in your home...where myself and my companions now are. There are Archons." Better to avoid exposure as much as possible. The Archons need to learn, need to see new things...but at the same time, she doesn't fully trust all of them. Some? Certainly. Others? Less-so. "Please show me, [click]-ogok. Cyan nojk [click]-ogok vek. I want to see." | |||
[click]-ogok points, "Nojk Chy-an. [click]-ogok vek." - See Cyan. [click]-ogok sleeps. Where he points though, there is only a faint impression in the dust, partly occupied by a few shreds of long-dried fur. Oddly though, across the chamber another person sleeps. Cyan herself lays on her side, half curled, and breathing quietly. [click]-ogok can not, apparently, see this doppleganger... | |||
Oh, no. Cyan slowly nods. "Yes. I see." No lie, that. She may not see [click]-ogok, but she finally understands. A gulf does separate them, the gulf of time. For [click]-ogok, time ended long ago. Now, they meet in a dreamtime, a place without such limitations. They dream, and they dream together. "Ah, if only I had met you long ago," she whispers, rubbing Juchak on the forehead. Like Berd, he is, in a way - a Berd-That-Was, not the father she has now. And [click]-ogok, like her in his own way. Her lips tighten - she will lose him, lose him forever; another friend, another helpful soul, lost on the road of this quest. To time, this once, and not to the quest itself, but still lost. "[click]-ogok." Turning to face him, she holds up her book. "Would you like to learn? Learn what I do? Learn this?" Cyan indicates the palanqueti she holds. "I do not know how much time I have with you. I cannot say how long I will stay. But I can try - try to teach you this, if you wish." Tears stain the topaz of her eyes. "Please?" | |||
A trade then... to teach each other what they each know. And more? "Chy-an aku Juchak adcho nongodo. Chy-an aku Juchak naka-[click] aku aku denok. Aku aku bokt. Juchak gocht." - Cyan and Juchak are friends. Cyan and Juchack walk same same ground. Same same sky. Juchak wants this. "[click]-ogok veknojk aku aku Juchak nojk." - [click]-ogok will dream same same Juchak sees. | |||
Same sky? Will dream what Juchak sees? Does Juchack see differently? Whatever the case, this will be an experience. "Through this -" and she taps the palanquet "- [click]-ogok will feel what I feel. Experience what I do to draw it. [click]-ogok already holds dreaming skill, I see. This...may be easy for [click]-ogok to learn." There could be crossover. And if [click]-ogok's mind is already open to mysteries, to things beyond the norm, it will certain be more flexible. "In turn, I hope to see what [click]-ogok wishes me to see, to understand what [click]-ogok wants to show, to feel what Juchak sees." Her smile is shaky, but it holds. "My friends." | |||
Shapes,colours and lines are easy. Other ideas, not so much. [click]-ogok's mind and eyes, it seems, work differently. Realism to him is more stylised. Simpler forms which give the impression of more complex ones. Colours too... a brown antelope appears on the wall in shades of red. Yes, these are the pigments that he has available to him, but they also show how he sees his world. His eyes do not see in subtle shades, instead they provide approximations of them. And gradually it becomes clear that only animals live when he draws them. Men and plants and water are just dead marks on stone to him. But animals... they are the reason behind his work. It is important that their images should live, even if only in the mind of the viewer. Hunters come to him and ask that he ensure the success of their endeavours. So he will give them a pebble, marked with a tiny image of a bison or an elk, and the power bound into the work summons the animal to the hunters. More than that... the image pleases the spirit of the animal so that it will die easily and quickly. And for many pictures, like Juchak and the deer, life extends far beyond the viewer's imagination. [click]-ogok does not know why it happens, but he can tell the difference in them as he creates them. From his description, he can feel a "fire" within them. Those animals he never gives to the hunters. | |||
Either way, it is not so far off of the palanqueti. The imagery Cyan creates is imbued with her impression of a person's spirit. The exact details of the palanqueti are not so important as one might think. If her perspective on reality were different, it's not impossible that she might use complex symbols to represent places, friends, and other things. The images she uses, that most people use, are exact because that is primarily how people remember other people - visually. Then that image is empowered with a matrix containing elements of the person - their spirit, their personality, who they are from the perspective of the creator. Similarly an area. When psychic energies are applied to the matrix, vibrations echo through the Underflow...and reach the recipient. With sufficient connection, portals can be opened directly. The two forms of art are not the same. Cyan may never manage to create life, like Juchak or the deer. [click]-ogok may find it beyond himself to make something capable of opening a portal. But the bases of each art? Cyan throws herself into study with [click]-ogok, feverishly working to absorb as much of his art as she can. Stylization she can grasp - her training in art at the college of Cattashford was not all about 'photorealism', and some of her own personal artworks have tended toward the abstract through the years. Simultaneously, she seeks to draw parallels between hers and his, and guide him toward some kind of realization of how her own art functions, and how he might replicate it in his own way, for an exact copy of her style is not only unnecessary, but would be a hindrance to him. Trump. Palanquet. Likely there are more names for an art carried out in slightly different ways through the Myriad Worlds. It is possible that one more will join them, untold years before. It is possible that [click]-ogok's art will live on, in Cyan herself. | |||
Food appears in the cave, from time to time, and Cyan can not recall where it comes from. Fruit, berries and nuts, for the most part. Some fish. Sometimes there is a faint impression that a third person is there, bringing the supplies, but they are no more than a quickly moving shadow. But Cyan learns. There are ways to create the image of an animal, techniques for drawing out the essence of a beast and bringing it to you as an animated form. Create the image of a creature as it feels in the heart, not as it appears to the eyes. Only when the spirit approaches does it need a familiar shape to inhabit... And [click]-ogok learns too. His eyes and mind see things differently, but he learns to produce likenesses of people and places. And eventually Cyan can feel the reality behind his images. The icy chill when she lays her hand on the stone, and the sensation of moving towards the person, or the location. Days pass. Weeks? [click]-ogok produces a portal to a nearby hilltop, and the two of them travel there. Then realise that they have no way back, other than to walk for a mile or so in the light rain... Cyan summons the spirit of a fox, which promptly steals the food she had been saving for dinner, and runs off... Weeks? Months? | |||
Time, it seems, turns out to be very, very elastic. Friendship grows, but friends already exist. She misses Left. She misses Berd. She misses James. This is important, though, and Cyan perseveres. Both of them have learned something important. And time being what it is, perhaps there is a need; perhaps Cyan needs to carry this spirit-imagery forward, so it might not be lost. Perhaps [click]-ogok needs to learn of palanqueti in order to create the future. Perhaps it is merely the friendship that is needed - a small star glowing in a very dark universe. There is frustration. There is laughter. There is...success. She picks at her food one night, staring into the fire, then shoots a smile at [click]-ogok. "We have come a long way," Cyan whispers, then switches to [click]-ogok's tongue. It hasn't been difficult to learn, not at all - languages are one of her specialities, and here she has insisted on immersion whenever possible. "Cyan and [click]-ogok have come a long way." Her gaze flicks to the cave mouth. "Cyan wonders if fox-spirit will return. Probably without food." Run free, she thinks. | |||
"Chy-an aku [click]-ogok agho dooj. Naka-[click] aku aku degokada. Nok aku aku, nojk aku aku." Cyan and [click]-ogok have come far. Walk same-same trail. Sit same same, see same same. He lifts a finger to tap at the side of his head, still adorned with the deer antler head dress. "Magd aku aku." Know same same. | |||
As well as once can know a fox, in any case. "Agho dooj indeed," she whispers. "Aku degokada. Cyan aku [click]-ogok magd. We know." 'We' has proved a tricky word to explain, but Cyan felt fairly certain she managed. Her sapphire eyes gleam in the firelight, and she stares at the cave mouth. "Doch. Cyan gocht." Her lips twist into a smile, then her voice carries a hint of command. "But...Doch aku Juchak naka-[click] aku aku denok. Aku aku bokt. Juchak aku doch nongodo." Same sky and earth for Juchak and Doch. Allies. "Cyan gocht," she whispers. | |||
It does, at least, seem to be paying attention, and makes no attempt to attack Juchak. Instead it looks at something just above Cyan's left shoulder, head tilted to one side... | |||
Berd. So long since she has seen him. James. Left. Harbonah. Any and all of them. She doesn't reach out - the fox is a fox, he'll will allow her to touch it when it chooses. Respect is important. Only...what's he looking at? Slowly, Cyan turns her head to regard her shoulder. | |||
And then she hears a voice, a woman speaking softly, "General? General? Wake GeneRAL! + At the end, it bears the harsh, metallic tones of an Archon's voice. + GENERAL, YOU MUST WAKE. WE WILL BE LEAVING SOON. + The cave is dark and cold, and Cyan is sitting against the wall, faded paintings forming a mandala around her. Left hovers close to her ear... | |||
She stares blindly through Left for a long moment, then shoots to her feet (with care not to contact the Archon). For an instant she studies the mandalas surrounding her, studying them. Then without further hesitation, she hurries to the back of the cave. "I was...here. But not. In a dream, my conscious slipped to another place," she stammers as she searches. "Another time, where the painter lived...he was here." And she stops at the back of the cave, looking down at where her host's remains had lain in the dream. "Right here," Cyan finishes. | |||
Left comes into the chamber, moving hesitantly towards Cyan. + WE MAINTAINED OUR GUARD WHILE YOU SLEPT, AND DETECTED NOBODY ELSE HERE OTHER THAN THOSE WHO TRAVEL WITH US. + + THE OTHERS SEEK FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY, AND SHOULD RETURN SHORTLY. + Then: [click]-ogok awakens to find a young man standing in the cave. The dream, and all that he learned from it, is many hands of days in the past, but every detail is still fresh in his mind, and the new visitor's clothing is similar to Chy-an's. A friend, possibly. There is only one way to find out, he taps himself on the chest. "[click]-ogok." The young man bows, and smiles, then mirrors the gesture. "Dworkin. I have heard that you know the secret of pictures that speak. I would learn from you." The smaller individual beckons, and moves across to the wall, with its bright, clear paintings, where he uses a fingertip to describe a circle around a group of men engaged in a hunt together. "Nongodo." Then he points at a lone man, "Gonchok." and back to the group, "Nongodo." This message was last edited by the GM at 19:18, Thu 04 Dec 2014. | |||
She glances over her shoulder at Left. "It was no mere dream. I experience things. Learned things. We were friends." Her voice shifts. "Cyan aku [click]-ogok adcho nongodo." Her lips tremble for a moment, and the bard swallows thickly. "And now he is gone. Has been for milennia." Fiercely, she rubs the back of her hand across her eyes. "Lords of the West! I pray his life was all he desired." There's no sense in wishing he yet lived; [click]-ogok died thousands of years before Cyan had even entered this cave. "Juchak?" she whispers. "Juchak agho?" Are you here, Juchak? Will you come? Her lips thin, and she moves to the cave wall to where Cyan herself had painted. Slowly Cyan passes her hand over the designs, searching for something familiar. Something she, herself painted. Something she watched [click]-ogok paint. | |||
There are other shapes that Cyan remembers too, ones that she herself had created - an eagle (Boktnojk), three deer (though only one of them - Denokad - had ever lived, the others being mere practice pieces), and more. A raccoon (Vadchok), a loon (Gratag-nuk) and something she had never been able to identify, a sturdy creature with a long neck and legs and a short, flexible trunk (Hokod). And off to one side, separate from the others is [click]-ogok. That image had never moved, but had functioned as a palanquet, only a few minutes ago in the distant past... | |||
Berd perches on her shoulder, considers hissing. Decides against it, and chooses to study instead. "Oh, Juchak. I'm so sorry you've been alone," Cyan whispers. "I left you and [click]-ogok. I hope you've kept each other company." A wave of the hand encompasses the others, there on the wall. Her gaze falls upon the final picture. "And [click]-ogok, as well." Suddenly the bard sits in place, Berd struggling to keep his balance. "Lords of the West, Left. Again and again I leave people, lose people. When will this end?" Gritting her teeth, Cyan shakes her head, her eyes a deep ruby. "Ah, Juchak. What would you do? Would you come with me, or remain here? I could brighten you again, I am sure. Make you splendid. But perhaps you would wish to sleep. Sleep with the others. Or perhaps the others would come with me, as well?" She sniffs, brushes fiercely at her eyes with her free hand. |
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