( open log ) august catch-all

[ushiri]

Who: "Kyle" + anyone!
What: Just a newly Summoned tries to get his bearings. Checking out the layout of the castle, wandering around Horizon. All starters are open unless otherwise marked!
When: The beginning-middle of August for now
Where: Castle Thorne, Horizon
Warnings: Descriptions of violence. Will update if needed!
Misc: Check out his opt-out for general content warnings about this character. Starters are brackets but I will match prose!



NORTH WING: THE STUDY HALL AND GRAND LIBRARY

[ He's beginning to get used to the freedom with which these people use witchcraft— magic. In the study hall he observes the students and masters work from a safe distance, allowing them to assume whatever they wish of his curiosity from his plain tunic marked with the symbol of The Hanged Man and genuinely surprised expressions whenever they manage some particularly flashy bit of spellwork. The lights and flashes of color have a beauty to them, the movements of objects in thin air wonderous and kind of comical at times— when an apprentice creates a fake doorway he can't help remembering a colorful cartoon about a coyote and a speedy bird playing on an old, dusty television screen.

He unconsciously catalogues the practical motions of their magic— out of curiosity, and, perhaps unconsciously at first, out of necessary, life-preserving habit. He might one day need to quickly know the most efficient way to stop one of these mages from using their power.

It's never a thought he relishes, especially when he watches some of the younger ones, their expressions filled with awe at their teachers.

When he leaves, he does so quietly.

In the grand library he's overwhelmed for a minute. Neither in Nayeshi or Rathal'pesha has he seen a library of this grandeur, though there must have been something like it in the Black Tower before it fell...

He pulls out some tomes at random, finding a table to sit at where his back may face a wall. Despite his conversations with Jack he's actually not much of a reader. His attention wanders too easily when he's forced to sit still like this, a part of his awareness always on his surroundings when he's in such an open place.

There are histories of the kingdom that he skims, until he finds that he can't read a section. The words are in another language, which only stands out because so far he's been able to read just about everything as if it were in English or Payshmura script. ]

Can you read this? [ He'll ask with an raised eyebrow to whoever happens to be sitting near him. He holds up the passage, unbeknownst to him written in Ancient Thornean on the applications of magic in the past, nothing scandalous. ]

EAST, SOUTH AND WEST WINGS: LOOKING FOR BONES

[ He carefully maps what little he can of the east wing. When the guards ward him off he feigns being the bumbling outsider, which isn't so far from the truth, apologizing and turning around from the locked doors without argument. He's not used to being kept out of anywhere, but he doesn't have access to the Gray Space yet. He'll have to be patient.

He people watches in the south wing for a little while before moving on to the west wing. There he feels a little more comfortable, the cooks remind him of the women in the Lisam house. When they try to shoo him out he offers to carry some bags of flour from storage, listening to the back and forth of their comradery and, more importantly, scoping out where they toss their bones when they're done carving the meats. ]

HORIZON: THE TEMPLE

( description )

[ He'd come back to this place to conjure those promised magazines for Jack: it's only his second time entering the realm, the first with all of his memories intact.

Nothing of the Payshmura remains in Basawar, the Fai'daum and Jath'ibaye made sure of that. As lost as that realization had first made him feel, he couldn't blame them for what they did. And he had seen how life had continued for the people, no longer under the shadow of the Black Tower, no longer fearing that their daughters and wives might be accused of having witches' bones.

The Church had always feared the Rifter, and rightly so. But the people hadn't yet realized that they had never needed to.

It's strange to look at these two towering statues now, knowing who Jath'ibaye was and is. He tries to search out his features in their twin faces and they begin to take familiar form— which forces him to look away.

Once inside he sits on a thin rug in front of the iron tree, his leather duster folded on the floor next to him. His clothes are all black and form-fitting, his vest padded like body armor. Today is has white crystalline blossoms instead of its crystal fruit. There are echoes of the Payshmura in this place: the iron, the marble. But the air doesn't taste like burnt ozone. It's not thin and cold here. The tree looks ominous at first, but when he touches its iron bark is quickly warms from the heat of his palm. Above him the sky is a starry night, the darkest velvet of a Nayeshi sky and the pinpoint lights of stars burning brightly.

It's empty, but he doesn't feel alone here.

He can't remember the last time he felt this safe. ]

You can sit and pray, if you'd like. [ He'll say to anyone who enters through the open doors, still seated where he was at the base of the tree. There's a stone cup in his hand, the daru'sira curling with steam. More cups and glasses stand on a simple platter next to him, a simple iron teapot in front of them. He nods to them, then shrugs. ]

Or just relax with a drink.

[ As long as they don't plan on causing any disturbance.

Here, he doesn't mind visitors. There's a more sacred, hidden place behind the walls that he can go if he wanted to be alone to pray to his god. ]

Comments

[ushiri]

[ With his head buried in his arms Kahlil fails to recognize who it is that he's rudely awoken--

and, of course.

How does he keep ending up seated next to this man?

He leaves the book open between them, frowning at the page from where he sits. ]

Then you've seen this script before?

[ Will you tell him it takes a dance to unlock its secrets this time? ]

[thedevilwhorose]

[Ohhhh, the temptation is there. But he's still waking up reorienting.] Only that I've read through much of this library. And others. Seen it once or twice. [He sniffs and leans back, stretching his arms up over his head and getting the kinks out and making a bit of an exaggerated groan.

Only a bit though. His reduced state makes everything feel awfully cramped, his wings not settling right with his vessel. And he thought it was bad before his not!brother sliced a sliver of his grace from him.] Maybe they teach classes on how to read it. I don't know, haven't checked. But you know they say it's harder to learn new languages when you get too old. [That's not exactly how they say that.

But he's definitely calling Kyle old (and by default likely lumping himself in that statement, but whatever, he'd call himself an exception, re:assholearchangel).]

[ushiri]

[ There's a brief flicker across his expression, a slight tilt of his head and narrowing of his eyes, a wordless: excuse me? ]

Guess I'll have to ask around and find out. [ Nonchalant, not allowing any more reaction to the little dig at his age, except for a small shrug as he reaches over to close the book and slide it back toward his side of the table. He'll probably hold onto it to ask someone in the study hall later.

With a furrowed brow, and a little dryly: ]

What's your name? I meant to ask the other day, but your mouth was very full...

[thedevilwhorose]

I could've told you then. [He's grinning, like he just has that right sense that if he had said it with a full mouth, he knows the guy would've been annoyed.

He folds his arms behind his head and maybe it's only the delight of having someone that's enjoyable to needle around the castle that he gives his name more easily than he usually would, without subconsciously bracing himself every damn time.] Lucifer.

[ushiri]

[ He's not wrong, it would've annoyed him. Not because he's a stickler for manners all the time. It's the whole package.

Lucifer. It's a name he recognizes, although it takes a second to recall from where-- and then mostly in the context of those same cartoons as the coyote and the bird. A man painted all red with horns and a pitchfork, or an ironically named chihuahua. People of Nayeshi believe in a single devil to oppose their god. He'd wondered if they had known about Parfir and the Rifter in some distant past, whether their god and devil myth was some bastardization of Payshmura scripture left behind by another Kahlil.

It feels kind of on the nose that he calls himself Lucifer, but he can picture him in the whole cartoonish get up. ]

Kyle. [ He taps the cover of the book idly, offering his name even though he wasn't asked. Lets his gaze drift around the walls of bookshelves. ] You must've been stuck here a while now.

[ To have read so much already. ]

[thedevilwhorose]

[Well it's only polite for the call-and-response of a name given, a name to be returned. Not that Lucifer, clearly, is one to care about politeness.

He follows Kyle's gaze.] I think I'm working on month three. Maybe. The first was a bit of a blur. The second was more a distraction, ergo the mass amount of reading. And to be honest [which he has, oddly, been] I have little interest in whatever drivel they have about the basics of magic.

[ushiri]

[ Three months isn't so long. He wonders how many books Lucifer's actually read. And--

His gaze lands back on Lucifer, his tapping finger going still. ]

Then what are you interested in?

[ Still feeling honest? ]

[thedevilwhorose]

[(The truth of the matter is he got very Tired with much of the content he found and even he found a breaking point.)

His gaze sharpens. Lucifer--who by his nature is usually always moving in someway, whether it be pacing or simply fidgeting--goes completely motionless, almost to match the stopped tapping. There's only the barest tilt to his head; he's watching Kyle, looking him over.

Maybe for the first time.

Judgment? Consideration? Some weighing of a scale that only Lucifer knows what each side represents and it could change at any given day, hour, second.

His voice is crisp, cool. Two words:] The Singularity.

[ushiri]

[ He doesn't fear other men. Not since giving up his name and becoming Kahlil. Even when his memories seem to lie to him, he's still sure of this.

He doesn't fear this man, but there is something to be wary of in his presence. It's that abrupt sharpness in his eyes, the unpredictable shift from petulant manchild to something keen and intelligent and predatory. There's something distinctly dangerous about holding this man's attention for too long. ]

You and at least three nations who would go to war over it.

[ Along with himself, though he isn't ready to fight another world's war yet. Not until he knows what his god's purpose is for him here. ]

[thedevilwhorose]

What? Were you hoping for something more creative? [He draws out each of the words, his voice dipping low and carrying an eerie tune.

He grins toothily.] Maybe it's that war I'm interested in.

[And then in another abrupt shift--because even he won't risk letting such a phrase linger for long, regardless what context anyone could get from it (maybe he has other concerns than wanting war)--he's pressing forward, arms thumped over his book, boisterously laughing.] Look, whatever that thing is it messed with my head, and that's not easy to do, so I need to know more.

[ushiri]

[ Maybe it's that war I'm interested in. His eyes narrow at that, and then he's almost immediately forced to resist the urge to lean back and away from his sudden movements and laughter. The hand that isn't touching the book itches for a blade his no longer has.

(he sees Jath'ibaye in his fevered, poisoned state, holding Kahlil by the throat before he could think to run)

He manages not to flinch, somehow. Instead he slowly shakes his head, shrugging as he admits plainly this time: ]

So do I. [ A pause, forcing himself to hold his gaze. ] When did it mess with your head?

[ Unless he means when he first entered Horizon. ]

[thedevilwhorose]

[He's only so open about it because it further buries his other commentary. Despite all appearances, he's an extremely-cautious individual.

He sniffs.] That first "blur" of a month. Though I've been told that this wasn't the first time the Singularity made a mess of the Summoned. [And then some. He's still unsure the level of effects to anyone else.]

[ushiri]

I wonder why. [ His frown deepens as he murmurs that part aloud, mostly to himself. ]

Have you gone to the aspect of it at the center of Horizon?

[ He already has plans to. ]

[thedevilwhorose]

... No. [This is said with some hesitance. Some beginning of a crack in Lucifer's contrasting personalities in this odd, off-balanced discussion.

It's not that...! It's not that he's afraid exactly. Like he told Istredd, he'd like to be able to go to it with him on this sides of things if he manages to swing it eventually. But in the Horizon he feels closer to normal. Not nearly at full power, but better than he feels in Abraxas proper.

If he goes there and he loses that comfort he'll lose the last tether to his sanity.

And there's Istredd's own theories that the "attacks" to their minds could have been a result of someone coming too close to the Singularity via the Horizon. A reaction.

Lucifer, motion returned to him, rubs a hand through his hair and drags it back over his head, frustration without an outlet. There's wanting to know and then there's knowing there might be a cost and Lucifer absolutely doesn't care about the people here or the planet but when the cost might be a detriment to himself that's where he draws a line.] There are too many unknowns and that sort of thing needs a proper risk assessment before Summoned keep haphazardly potentially making things worse for the rest of us. [For him.]

[ushiri]

[ Both eyebrows raise, clearly that wasn't the answer he was expecting from him. ]

We're already changing its realm when we enter that space-- [ Horizon ] -- if there's fear of it reacting to us, then shouldn't there also be some way of asking what it wants?

[ Who's to say these effects they've felt aren't its possibly failed way of communicating with them?

It's a monument made of stone, not unlike the Great Gate. It responded to blood and bone, and the Rifter itself. It may have lacked clear cut sentience, but it wasn't entirely like an un-living thing. It was a holy site, and as all things in Basawar are of his holy body, connected to Parfir.

He doesn't know why he escaped death in the Gray Space to be Summoned here, except by the will of Parfir. It's possible that the Singularity is an aspect of his god, an answer to why he was brought here. But if it isn't...

Abandonment is a worth punishment than death could ever hope to be.
He can't consider it. ]

[thedevilwhorose]

I'd like to hope someone has already thought to do that. [He has a low opinion about most people, but there's a couple that he's met that have enough sense to them that have been here long enough.

He hasn't been asking the right questions, but then he hasn't been asking many, preferring to be a fly on the wall specifically to the locals until he gets his bearings and his vessel can stabilize to its new normal.] Fat lot of good it's seemed to do if they have. [And maybe they're not asking the right questions.]

[ushiri]

[ Or they're not being forthcoming with what they found. In any case, he'd rather trust his own senses. ]

Well-- [ he starts, tucking the book under one arm as he starts to stand, ready to head out. ] -- you were right about one thing, it's been a while since I've had to learn another language. I better get started.

[ He nods toward Lucifer. ] Hopefully I'll eventually find something worth sharing.

[ Best to keep a predator where he can see it. ]