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 Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:38 pm
"Do you see the yellow marks? I think they're places you've touched. The fact that you don't walk means it won't quite be like following a trail of backward footprints, but it should work."
Carmaic hadn't exactly noticed that Rituk's eyes were closed because he, himself, was noticing that the color was turning a darker yellow as the seconds passed. Rather like when one was following a trail using only infrared vision. The color of the trail let a person see how long ago the quarry had passed. It struck him that the trail was likely invisible to normal eyes which lacked the capacity to see heat, and that this would lead to some awkward explanations.
Well, fine. If Rituk decided not to take the help he offered, he could stay lost, Carmaic thought somewhat uncharitably, borrowing trouble based on the reaction he was seeing from the undera.
"If you can't see it, it's because it's heat-based, but I can't tell you for sure if it is or isn't unless I know whether you can see it, because I can see heat if I have to, so I can't tell if others see what I'm seeing or not." He was not much good at explanations.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:25 am
Rituk pressed his lips together in a tight line, cracking his eyes open and seeing... nothing. "I can't see it." The undera replied, looking to Carmaic with a rather unhappy expression. It hadn't worked for him!
The dragon undera really didn't like or appreciate magic when he thought to it. It irritated him. Carmaic's spell had irritated him as well though he wasn't making too much of a big deal about it.
Rituk promptly decided that he didn't care if he was lost; he didn't want to see anymore of this spell-casting business. Cecil might find him someday, anyway...
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:49 am
"Well, I can see it," Carmaic muttered, trying not to sound pettish. It was hardly Rituk's fault he couldn't see it.
As he spoke he tried to think about any other spells he might know which would make the trail visible to the undera's eyes. The problem was, it was heat-based, and heat didn't have any form or substance, so he couldn't do anything physical to it. It was an interesting problem, from a scholarly point of view, but utterly impractical and frustrating from a practical point of view. He made a mental note to take it up with the spell's creator, but just as quickly decided against it: the spell had not been intended for use by a surface dweller.
He stared at the yellow patches for a moment longer, watching them turn a darker yellow, knowing they would then go orange and then red and so on down the spectrum as they cooled until eventually the trail's temperature was the same as that of the ground it followed. Except only the trail was outlined in heat. The rest of his vision was still normal. So it stood to reason that he would still be able to follow the path, even once it reached a neutral temperature, because he would see whatever color that ended up being.
Still did nothing for Rituk. Had to be something Rituk could see.
Then he had it! Snow was visible. If he just cooled those patches sufficiently, frost would form, and Rituk could follow the frost. Of course, it was summer, and frost was not natural, but he could probably make semi-perma-frost which would last until daylight, at which point there would be nothing he could do anyway. Drow enchantment wasn't very effective under sunlight, anyway. It was a spell he had cast before, and so he had only to think it and direct it.
The patches frosted over and then he saw them in a sort of dual vision, the white frost and the purple cold.
"Can you see it now?" he asked.
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:40 am
Rituk raised a brow unhappily to Carmaic as he spoke. It didn't matter if he could see it! That wasn't the purpose of the spell, now was it? The dragonet looked rather impatient.
Rituk looked even more uncomfortable as the patches of frost formed. "Yes," He muttered, his voice tight as he eyed the unnatural frost. He didn't know how it worked. He didn't like things like that. Things that he didn't know the exact mechanics of.
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:45 am
Carmaic realized he may have made a mistake in performing more magic for Rituk. He was aware, of course, that many people in this world were uncomfortable with magic, but it had not occurred to him that another of the orb-born would be similarly discomfitted.
"What bothers you about my magic?" he asked. He couldn't do much more of it for the evening, anyway. This world drained his magic faster than he had anticipated. "I was only trying to be helpful."
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:33 am
Rituk looked to Carmaic as the other questioned him. "It's unnatural. It feels unclean." The dragonet replied through clenched teeth as he continued to eye the frost warily.
"I just don't like it." He added, his voice defensive.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:18 am
Carmaic considered this. He had never considered magic natural or unclean, and he found it difficult to think of it thus. He had lived in a magic-less environment before, but he had been relieved upon his return to the Underground and the Underdark to be steeped in magic. The magic had felt very right to him. He tried to remind himself, though, that Drow magic is fairly dark and twisted by the standards of those from Above.
"Not everyone does," he said. "But I hope that won't deter you from taking advantage of its benefits in this instance. I imagine you would like to get home to Cecil eventually?
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:20 am
Rituk frowned. "Perhaps." He mumbled, making a small face. He wondered if Cecil was out looking for him at all. He was still on edge somewhat. Wary and confused.
"What are you, anyway?" He questioned, biting the inside of his cheek as he eyed Carmaic's dark skin. Carmaic was most definitely different.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:39 am
Carmaic had no difficulty answering that question. He knew exactly what he was: a mess. Of course, that wasn't the answer Rituk was looking for. Rituk wanted to know what Carmaic was, and probably without all the background information and asides which a full explanation would have required. Carmaic didn't mind leaving those sorts of details out, as they weren't particularly relevent, and only gave him more excuses to feel sorry for himself.
"I'm a Drow Elf. Some legends say that thousands of years ago we broke away from the race of elves commonly thought of when people speak of elves, and moved underground, dwelling in the caverns in the depths of the earth. We evolved physically to adapt to our habitat: developing dark skin for better camouflage and the ability to see heat trails. As a race we're somewhat photophobic, meaning we're very sensitive to light, particularly solar light." Too much detail again. He really needed to work on filtering what information was actually necessary and just stick to that.
"Of course, you didn't need to know most of that. Let's just say I'm Drow and that I don't like sunlight." He didn't catch the well-meaning condesencion he was displaying because he was making such an effort to be friendly.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:56 am
Rituk frowned at Carmaic's detailed explanation. "So why are you up here?" He questioned, pursing his lips. "If you hate sunlight so much. Because while you're not in a cave or something you can only come out at night, right?" The dragonet quirked a brow.
By now he really wasn't very concentrated on going home to Cecil at all. He was oddly curious though he didn't know if he wanted to be aware of the half of it.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:20 pm
Carmaic, too, frowned, but he was frowning at himself. Verbose. Loquacious to a fault. His Matron had called him both on numerous occasions, and he was beginning to see what she meant. He was becoming downright chatty, which was hardly an appropriate trait for a male drow to possess. The process of re-adjusting to living in the Underdark would be ridden with beatings if he couldn't manage to overcome the talkiness and hold his tongue before he was returned to his home. He didn't like being beaten.
"I'm up here because I was given no choice. The Goblin King sent me, a failed orb-born, to act as a guardian for a human who lives up here. So I'm here. And, yes, I can only come out at night. If I went out during the day my skin would burn very quickly and I would blinded, perhaps permanently. There are those of us who are so sensitive that even the light of the moon is painful, but I'm lucky not to be one of them."
"What are you doing up here? Do you know?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:33 pm
Rituk blinked at the explanation, looking a tad confused. "The Goblin King?" He sounded near-amused at this. Cecil had never gone into detail when it came to the part of his life where he'd be an orb.
He looked confusedly to Carmaic as he was questioned on his own reason for being 'up here'. "I don't know." He knit his brows together and frowned at the Drow. "This is where I was born."
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:49 pm
Carmaic wasn't sure he was qualified to offer a discourse on the Underground and its illustrious ruler, Jareth. He had next-to no personal experience with the man, for one thing, so almost all of his knowledge was second-hand. Not to mention he was still a little miffed at the man for sending him back to the human world, rather than allow him to wallow in self-pity in the Underdark forever. Though the opportunity to regain legs would be nice, he supposed, as he would if he ever grew to be a coursier. Sometimes he wondered if he ever would.
"Ah...The Goblin King - Jareth - is the ruler of the Underground. He's the person who sends us out. We who are born of orbs, that is. Many of us had lives prior to being sent, but not all of us can remember them, or they choose not to remember them."
He suppressed a sigh and remembered that he was not dealing with someone who was used to the Underground. Explaining the Underground was a royal pain, though, to the uninitiated. It would be easier just to keep things as simple as possible.
"The Underground is another world which is connected to this one by magic - for lack of a better term. The Goblin Kingdom is not the only one in the Underground, but it is the best known, and serves as a place for a variety of races to meet. There're other lands considered mythological or legendary by humans there as well, such as El Dorado and Atlantis." He didn't know how much of this Rituk was understanding, but he continued.
"Jareth, however, seems to have a fairly unique ability to send his subjects - and very occasionally others' subjects - into the human worlds in orb form to be reborn there when they reach the human they're destined to help." He shrugged. "Does that help?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:38 pm
"...Oh." Rituk raised a brow, looking immensely confused at this but trying to act as if he were following at least slightly. "I see." He mumbled, though he really... didn't. It was all quite frustrating to try and take in so many new things literally overnight. The Dragonet sighed, brushing some of his hair away from his face and glancing around to see if anything interesting was about. Nothing really seemed to be, however...
"Well, sometimes Cecil wants me to help him when he finds out where I put my shinies." The Undera pondered. Cecil's "or so help me!"s were always rather interesting, since he didn't quite understand them.
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