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 Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 12:57 pm
They had rested and rejuvinated with the help of the wellspring and the supplies that Glyph had carried. It was early evening and the group decided that it would be a good idea to explore the surroundings to see what they could learn about those who had once inhabited the ruins.
The house they sheltered in was not the only one in the area. The storm had uncovered others, in varying states of dilapidation.
"This must have been an office of some kind." Cosine looked back at Ankou as she brushed a covering of sand off the top of the desks. A pair of sprites danced around, lighting the room with their soft glow. There were shelves, some of the books still intact. The little ones seemed intrigued by them, floating close, then darting to find more.
"I'm not sure they're children's stories." Cosine smiled, carefully pulling a book off the shelf.
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Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 4:46 pm
 When Cosine had wished to go along with him, Ankou had no opposition with it. He could only hope that it was not sorely in fear that he might either get distracted and wander off, therefore getting lost, or fall in an hole somewhere.
While he had made the soul path earlier that morning, he had not sent on all of the little wisps yet. Those who wished to go had went, but the others seemed intent with clinging to him for as long as they could. This was... strange, in his own way. Before, they had tended to be more attracted to Nergal - the destination, so to say.
But that some of these little souls would want to stay with him a little longer was... heartwarming, in it's own way. Strangely, he could not help but feel like he might miss them once they were gone, miss their laughter and playing.
He had not overlooked Cosine's like of the little ones, either, which... made him thoughtful, really. As tired and worn as he felt at his worst, when he was at his peak, well... He felt better than he ever had, really.
Everything was so easy and yet so hard at the same time. As much as he was now contemplating a certain matter that had come up before in between them, he knew that he needed to have that taken care of and settled before he could even bring the idea forward.
And, well... certainly not while they were here.
"An office, hmm ?" He pondered. "I wonder what it might have been for..." This small settlement's center of trade, perhaps ? Or a library ? Hm. "Anything interesting ?"
Books were more his love's forte, really. Ankou's research skills were definitively rather... lacking. He preferred wandering and being hands-in rather than going through books.
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 4:19 am
 "Not a library, no this was a functional place, a place of Number perhaps, I can feel it here, though prehaps more my brother's cup of tea." She closed the book and picked another up, this was mroe like it, a ledger.
"Trade office. If these were prarie lands then they would have traded crops and livestock I imagine." The language was not Common, though if she concentrated the words gained meaning. If this was a trade office then perhaps ... She looked up at Ankou and smiled.
"There may be maps in here. Trade routes at least, they would show us the major cities and ports."
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 3:08 pm
That made sense, really, that they would have a place of trading, to keep accounting and transactions forms and data. Not exactly his knowledge, really, but he was more than confident that Cosine would find her way though the multiple books and papers with ease.
"A map would certainly be useful, if we can find one. I still have some issues understanding what the souls try to tell me." They still had that tendency to bombard him with information more quickly than he could understand it, and while he seemed to assimilate more and more of their native language every day, well... It was still far from perfect. It would also be good for the group to have a reference point that did not depend sorely on him.
"If the mortals here did band together in other to try to withstand Gehenna... Then the one bearing Forge's gem likely died in one of these settlements... Probably one of the major cities that would be indicated on a map. That is... if she was still alive when it happened..." At least that had been his experience with the mortals at the pantheon, who had banded together after the weeks that more directly affected behavior has passed. Though would these mortals, without the guiding touch of a divine hand, have done the same ?
Well, really, there was only one way to find out.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 7:09 am
Cosine nodded and placed the book down. He was right of course. She imagined a god such as forge would not have been one to run and hide when the going got tough.
"You are really coping okay? With all these spirits?" She pulled one of the desk drawers open and glanced up at him.
It was not a question she would ask with the others around. Weakness was not something any of them really liked to admit. But to each other they could be more honest. The drawer was full of dusty artefacts, she moved them around and hunted before moving on to the next.
"They're not draining you?" She of all people knew how stubborn he could be.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 8:34 pm
That question was... well, not entirely unexpected. He knew how obvious it was that he was struggling, and it was equal part embarrassing and extremely, utterly frustrating in a way he was not quite certain how to put into words.
"It is not easy." He finally admitted. It was downright aggravating and taxing, even. "Glyph and Xun Jiang draws them in like magnets." Not the two gods' fault, of course, and it was not like he could ask them to stop being... well, themselves. "Xun in particular... I have to keep them off him all the time." The Dragon King was helping somewhat, if only because he'd stopped panicking every time he felt something.
He paused then. Really, he knew very well she would not like this, but. "It is draining me... But you saw what happens when I do not do anything." Really, what else was he supposed to do ?
The admittance still was not easy, and he tried to route his nervousness into something more useful as he began looking as well - scanning the spine of the books on the shelf, looking to see if any of the words would match what he had learned so far.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 9:53 pm
"That's true." She paused a moment and watched him. She had not realised that he was constantly fending off spirits from their party. It was frutrating for her too, to have to watch him struggle as he was.
"I wish there was some way i could help you." She had moved on to the next draw, digging through the different bits long forgotten. "Oh, I think I might have found something."
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:38 pm
"You already do help me." By being there, by making sure he did not end up lost, or did not end up into a hole somewhere. She knew how he worked more than anyone else did, and knew when she needed to step in and when he was able to deal with things on his own.
It might have not been a lot to Cosine, but to Ankou it meant a lot more than he could find the words to express.
"What did you find ?" He turned and made his way beside her, peering over her shoulder at what she had found.
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 7:08 pm
Cosine held up the role of parchment.
"A possible map." She placed it on the desk and rolled it out. "What do you think?" There were certainly cities marked on it, a coast and of course the vast prarie lands.
"The coast here, there are several big cities there."
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 6:13 pm
"Hmmmm..." He studied the object carefully, one of the wisps flitting about to better illuminate the paper. It took him a moment to decipher the rune-like writing, as most of what he had assimilated so far was verbal.
"...Yes, I think that is indeed a map. I remember those words. The souls mentioned them to me, and they sounded important." Birnam and Fehlar had been recurring, in particular, through he could place some of the smaller cities.
"That will be useful..." Sure, he had somewhat of a mental map... But having something tangible that the others could refer to would be best, especially with how easily distracted he could be.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 7:17 pm
So, they had found something useful at least, even if it were nothing to do with forge. Her green eyes studied it keenly.
"I think we could be here." She placed her finger on a small settlement. "If so we are not too far from the coast. I do not think it would take us many days to walk there."
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 9:15 pm
The coast would also give them something to follow, really... Some sort of location point that did not involve sand, sand, sand, and yet more sand.
Even Ankou had to admit that the sand was starting to get on his nerves.
"I am sure Glyph and Xun Jiang will be glad for something that is not sand all over, at least." The thought was amusing, really. "That's a really good find, love. Do you want to see if there is anything else before we go back ?"
There could be other records... Hints as to what happened here, perhaps. Or tools, even.
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 6:10 am
"I think we all will." She tucked the map into her bag and continued to look through the drawers. "And I think that's a good idea. I think at this stage any information could be useful information. This is beginning to feel far too much like a wild goose chase."
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Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 5:46 pm
"I do not think anyone expected devastation to this magnitude..." He certainly had not - even the pathways of old had crumbled, or somehow vanished. "This world has, more or less, gone as unconnected to the rest of All That Is without outright being destroyed... The old soul paths were completely absent. Those that I made before the fading are usually still around..."
Perhaps the only connection this world still had was to Yggdrasil. Forge was lucky in her misfortune - if that world had crumbled, drifted only to be eaten by Void, it would have most likely taken all that remained of Forge with it.
That said, he returned his attention to the books, trying to find something that looked like an encyclopedia, or maybe even more maps. Looked mostly to be accounting paperwork, as far as he could tell.
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