[ AW ] Kill Our Way to Heaven [Aryth]

MERCURY

He purses what remains of his lips, tattered and scarred though he may be. The action is mildly amusing, though perhaps somewhat grotesque to a bystander. He meanders along the winding length of the braid, a swath of dark ink sliding across a winter-canvas as he glides onward to some unspoken destination. But he carries with him something precious indeed, a treasure of the highest caliber and a gift only for the highest bidder. A book. Not just any book, indeed a book from outside the lands, for he has traveled far and wide in search of something redacted, and yet returns with shared knowledge that he finds little use for--after all, he cannot read. Not because he is illiterate, but because flat words printed onto paper is not something his eyes can perceive and nor will he make a fool of himself in trying. Instead, he recalls that scholar who found worldly pleasures in the knowledge of the world and so he decides this would be a worthy item for trade--after all, he should very much like to know what's gone on in his absence. The world itself feels balanced precariously on the blade of a knife, a strong gust threatening to tip the lands into disarray, and he would know the why, what, when, where and who. And perhaps, the How, which would be a beast all it's own.


He braces himself against a wintery breeze, a chill catching on the frosted tips of his coat and he exhales through the corners of his mouth in a plume of steam that rises from him like a dragon. Best now to warm up, he decides, though the coldness has not yet breached his layers of warmth.

table by rae - image from Pixabay

@Arythmetik

A R Y T H M E T I K

Winter finally settled over the kingdom, leaving Arythmetik in good spirits and high hopes. He traipsed across the Lowlands now, russet tail wagging gently behind him, ears perked forward atop his well-groomed skull. As one of the College’s primary caretakers, he was constantly searching for new herbs to collect and items to scavenge. Luckily, with Grigori’s muscle around the Arboretum, it was easier to hunt and provide for the denizens of Èolas. But there were so few students lately, Aryth had to keep himself busy somehow, and this was the way he felt most useful. He didn’t mind, of course. He was happier than he’d ever been. Sure, he was questioning his political leanings and the overall capability of the current king, but none of that mattered if he had family by his side.


As he wandered the landscape, carefully avoiding the slippery rocks near the many flowing streams of the Braid, Aryth spotted something (or someone) that caught him off-guard. It was like seeing a ghost from a fever-dream he’d had long ago. The professor outright stopped in his tracks, blinking then squinting to assure he was really seeing that unmistakable facade. There was no doubt. That tall, lithe figure was heading right toward him. And in those gruesome jowls, the ebony wolf carried an intriguing tome. “Hello!” Aryth called out, skipping forward to close the distance between them. “Mercury, was it? It’s Arythmetik, we met, oh…almost a year ago now!” It had been a long time. And the encounter itself was so strange, ending with Aryth leading the man to the Fae Forest…part of the scholar truly thought it hadn’t been real.

code by claerie

@Mercury

Rain!

It suddenly starts raining, gently at first, and then harder. Sheets of it come down in a sudden squall. You are stuck until it ends.


No post in updates required

MERCURY

Rain? R A I N? Oh come on.

He scowls--the expression uniquely unnerving on his face-- as he moves onward, turning to find something to dive under in an effort to avoid the drizzle that he is certain will soon become a cold, wintry deluge. He practically skips across the rocks, his balance immaculate and his grip one that could impress any seeing wolf-- and then he stops, nose wrinkling slightly. Stupid rain. It muddles the scents and washes away old trails, leaving him grasping for straws when it comes to some things. He must now depend on his hearing, and while it is acutely attuned, the sound of rain breaking the water's surface and crashing all around him as it begins to come down in sheets is a numbing and dulling sort of result. He cannot focus his hearing nor his sound enough to echolocate as he usually does, and it huffs as he comes to a stop atop a somewhat dry stone that seems to avoid the worst of the rain. Only then does he deign to grace the voice with his attention, and it takes a moment for him to shuffle through the mental rolodex to put a name to the voice.


"Ah! Just the scholar I wanted to see. ....Well, not *see*, persay...." he waves a paw in a manner almost dismissively before tossing the book in Aryth's general direction,"This is useless to me. Given to me during my recent excursion outside. Perhaps you'll find it's details more interesting."

table by rae - image from Pixabay

@Arythmetik

A R Y T H M E T I K

A chill ran up Aryth’s spine, but it wasn’t the weather that spurred his shiver. For a moment, he thought Mercury’s gruesome expression was directed at him. But split moments later, the scholar felt a couple raindrops hit his skull. And then a few more, all across his back, tiny barrages of icy cold. Before they knew it, it would be an icy slurry in the Maiden’s Braid—quite dangerous indeed! “Dreich!” he cried. “Come this…way.” The russet male half-turned toward shelter, expecting to lead the blind wolf’s way. Of course, before he even spit out the words, the ethereal male was leaping across the river rocks with more grace than Aryth possessed in his little toe. Aryth blinked. He was still rather stunned when Merc approached him and offered him the book! “You thought of it for me? Oh, losh, that’s gracious. Please, let’s head under this nearby willow and I’d be happy to tell you what’s inside.” Aryth wasted no time gently lifting the tome in his maw ( how could that insane man just toss it!? ) and hastening to shield it from the elements. Whether he liked it or not, he’d be trapped under this tree with his strange acquaintance until the rain passed. The scholar shivered as he huddled close to the trunk, setting the book at his own paws tenderly. “We should stay in shelter until the rain stops, lest we risk hypothermia or pneumonia.”

code by claerie

*Dreich = a word for dreadful, gloomy weather
@Mercury

MERCURY

He huffs, though his annoyance is quickly snuffed out by Aryth's obvious excitement. The energy that fills the air when someone is truly happy, truly excited about an object or event or a gift--that's enough to vibrate the world and he can feel it as a soft, low warmth in his chest. It is, in fact, delightful. He follows the scholar to settle beneath the willow and tilts his head back to listen to the way the rain gathers on the leaves of the tree, the way it batters the nearby waters and adds an extra thrum to its churn. Despite his annoyance at the weather going sideways, there is some small pleasure in the way rain cleanses the air and leaves even the ground refreshed.


"Yes yes, I thought of you. I certainly can't read it," he uses a claw to poke at one of his eyes, the nail resting upon the surface of the clouded orb and giving it a wee press which is...unfortunately weird."You're the only person I could think of that would find this tome as something interesting. Now, don't get me wrong--I enjoy a good story and a good bit of history as much as anybody else. But I cannot read flat words. Ink does not stand out enough for me to perceive, and while I can see in other worlds than this, this one is, alas, a mystery. And unless the tome has some sort of magic in it--which I do not think is possible in this realm-- then I am unable to decipher it." He inhales and exhales, slow and measured."But I promised to tell you things of my travels if you would share with me things of your books, did I not? I do so hate to break a promise."

table by rae - image from Pixabay

@Arythmetik

A R Y T H M E T I K

Once they were settled beneath the willow’s sheltering limbs, Aryth smiled awkwardly at his companion. His tail curled around his feet, the rouge edges of his fur standing on end as the weather rapidly cooled. At first, he chuckled at Mercury’s joke, hoping it wasn’t rude of him to laugh. But then Mercury poked his own eyeball, and Arythmetik damn near thought the eccentric wolf was going to pluck his eye out. He almost gasped in relief when the oil-slick male set his paw down. The strangeness was also softened by the traveler’s next words. Personally, Aryth thought of that as an esteemed compliment: Mercury thought only he would be interested in this frayed, historical tome! In spite of himself, and his hesitation, Aryth beamed.


“Well then, good sir,” Aryth replied, chuckling once again, “I won’t keep you waiting.” With the utmost care, Aryth nudged the book an appropriate distance from his paws, so he could stare into its pages. He used a tender claw to flip open the earth-colored cover. Inside, the pages felt like vellum, immediately cluing the scholar into the fact that this must be from the medieval period. They were yellowish in color, and on many of the pages, detailed illustrations in bright colors decorated the manuscript. Some of the pictures were…quite strange. Tall, lanky, hairless creatures with bird wings and blowing their mouths into gold tubes. But most of the drawings were quite lovely depictions of the planet, the stars, the sun and moon, and various animals. Aryth described all of these in detail first. He particularly liked one of a jet-black cow with huge horns. Of course, he didn’t know it was a water buffalo.


“I think,” Aryth continued, after more inspection, “that this is a translation of another work. I actually can’t read this language. It’s all…squiggly. But other words are written in the margins, in the common tongue: this says the book is about ‘cosmography.’ Oh! Here it says it’s called Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat, or ‘The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation’ by Zakariya al-Qazwini? I have no idea if I’m pronouncing that correctly.” Aryth smiled over at Mercury beside him. “Oh, didn’t you say you spoke other languages? Perhaps you recognize this one!” Mercury had indeed told Aryth when they first met that he spoke Arabic. “It’s actually a bit amusing… The text presents itself as historical, but here it says that ‘some stones are associated to jinn or are a remedy against ailments: the…smaragd? cures illnesses and repels devils; a stone called talk is used for talismans and magic drinks.' It’s just faerie tales from another country.”

code by claerie

@Mercury <3

MERCURY

"Ah," he nods sagely,"We often call that genre 'Aja'ib al-makhluqat'. It's a very literal translation, 'The Wonders of Creation'. .....This book should have illustrations." he explains, waving a paw lightly,"To the extent of my knowledge, it covers the heavens and earth. This one is one of the more well-known versions, though there are several written by others which cover different aspects." he listens to the way Aryth brushes it off as fairy tales, and while he doesn't seem offended, he does seem somewhat amused. "Djinn are dangerous creatures," he pauses,"And if you've not come across one, you should consider yourself lucky. I wouldn't consider such instructions to be fairy tales, but rather warnings. Even if some of the aspects they speak of may not be real, that does not make the danger they pose any less great." He uses a claw to draw line in the moist soil in front of them, surprisingly straight for one who cannot see. And then he draws several others, and sets them above and below. "Tell me, what do you know of the world outside of your own? You are a scholar of the college, yes-- but have you been to my homeland? Have you been across the ocean? Have you been to the frozen wastes of the north, or the island paradises of the south?" he draws an X and an O between each layer of line,"There are several layers of existence. Of being, of creation. Some can be more in-tune with some than others. We exist here, on this plane." an O. "The gods and their creatures exist here. " Two X's, above. "There are the celestials, which are above even them. ...The devils, below. The spirits and the dead, below. The worlds I see in does not correspond to the world I exist in." a check for the worlds he sees in--the world of Spirits, and the world of Devils, and then the world of Magic, tucked between the Gods and Celestials, though he seems unable to see either of those. "Tell me, then-- if I have been blind since birth, unable to comprehend or see such shapes, or even an illustration...how, then, am I able to write, when I cannot read the flat text offered to me?" he pauses, tilting his sightless eyes to the sky,"...Because in other worlds, such texts and manuscripts exist in different forms--forms I am able to see. Some of the things written are from other worlds. But you are a man of learning, no? And so perhaps the magic of it is lost on you."

table by rae - image from Pixabay

@Arythmetik

A R Y T H M E T I K

Aryth’s brow quirked with interest. Apparently his eerie friend was already familiar with the text! How fascinating; perhaps it came from his homeland. Part of Aryth wished he could see those faraways deserts and mountains. Maybe Grigori’s desert origins were even on the way to Mercury’s country. But the scholar knew his heart would always be with Rionnach. He glanced at the illustrations, wondering how Mercury even knew they were there. “I wish you could see them,” he mused, admiring the golden highlights. So many strange pictures of things that Arythmetik never would have imagined.


The conversation shifted, with Mercury taking the reins. He spoke as if Djinn were real creatures—intelligent, dangerous, even dastardly. Now Aryth’s brow furrowed. Did I misunderstand? Were Djinn just a species unfamiliar to him, native only to Mercury’s homeland and possessing biological properties he wasn’t able to study with his local texts? After all, the ebony wolf had a point: the scholar loved to learn, but he’d never actually left Rionnach. What he knew about the outside world was limited to the yellowed pages of ancient books. However, Mercury’s explanations quickly diverted to “layers of existence,” and Aryth realized the Djinn were fairy tales after all. He respected Mercury, but in spite of himself and his desire to be open-minded, Aryth found himself mentally scoffing. He smirked at the idea of multiple planes, of devils and spirits. Sure, it was easy to believe anything without proof.


Although…how did Mercury know to draw X’s and circles with his cloudy, milky eyes? Aryth’s shimmering, emerald gaze widened in confusion and concern. Finally, Aryth cleared his throat and responded. “You’re speaking down to me, Mercury, acting like you pity me for not believing in magic.” The scholar was walking a hair-thin line. He didn’t want to offend his unpredictable companion, whom he recalled was chatting with a skull when they first crossed paths. “But you’re asking me to accept a lot, here. How do I know you were born blind? I only met you a year ago, so I must take your word. And I do believe you, it’s just…we perceive the world differently, in multiple ways.” Aryth glanced at the book, then back to him. “I’m fascinated by these other cultures and it’s only natural that I compare them to my own. I’m…not entirely sure what I believe. I have seen some things I can’t exactly explain…” ( The mushrooms that appeared out of nowhere. The chill up his spine on Samhain. The…entirety of Mercury. ) “But there could be logical, scientific explanations to everything. Maybe we, er, I just don’t know enough about the outside world or about science to explain it yet.”

code by claerie

@Mercury

Faerie Ring

A soft glow seems to emanate from the left, and should it be inspected, you see what appears to be a faerie ring. Small, pearlescent stones form a tight circle and from within grows moss and red-capped mushrooms.


To interact with the faerie ring, please post in #updates