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 Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:19 pm
Melani fumbled with the large, old-fashioned lock on the wooden door, pushing in the heavy brass key after having dropped it once or twice-- or three times. It was the last lock on the door; the other fifteen she had already gone through.
Turning, she yawned as she came upon the wide, boisterous main street of the marketplace. It was good to get out of the shop, even if only for a few minutes. Barhma didn't even own the shop proper and he still worked her like a slave. She wished he'd come back soon, even if...
Melani shook her head. She didn't really want to waste her precious minutes of freedom thinking about that. Now what did she want to think about? Maybe those things that everyone in Duniya, it seemed, were talking about. Those... Tabula Rasa. She'd heard snatches of gossip in and around Odisse that they had holes in their chests; people talked about it as if it were scandalous. She smiled grimly; if only they knew. She felt a certain kinship with these Tabula, even though she'd never even seen one in her life. They seemed to be a fairly recent phenomenon-- nothing in any of the books she had perused had mentioned anything like them, save for one passage that she only thought might be referring to such a being.
Maybe she'd have the good luck to see one today.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:56 pm
The caretakers seemed to give this Tabula a slightly larger measure of trust than the other ones. He didn't tear off his clothes in public, and he didn't speak too boldly. In fact, most of the time, he didn't speak at all. Someone had suggested that if he wanted to learn more about the world, he should write down what he sees. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to write. So instead, he carried around a wax tablet and stylus for him to draw what he saw. As soon as he filled up the tablet, he'd go back home and draw his pictures in a large book using a quill.
His ugly green tunic scratched against his skin from time to time, the key slapping against his chest as he walked. It didn't take long before the Tabula found a place to sit down out of the street. He found that he learned the most about people by watching them. Talking was nice, but not everyone followed etiquette which he couldn't stand. Etiquette existed for a reason...even if he didn't know what that reason was, he knew that it had a purpose.
Crouched on the edge of the street, he watched to find something worth drawing. So far, nothing. He saw a woman walking out of a shop, but not even she seemed that interesting. Since it didn't look like he'd find something fascinating, he decided to just look around at the people and notice the little details. It wasn't useful, but at least it was entertaining.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:15 pm
In a good mood, Melani twirled the heavy keys around her fingers, humming intermittently, a louder note coming out with every circle the keys made. Maybe she'd go for a quick visit to Mehndi? The older woman was always a fun companion, and her magic enthralled Melani. Or she'd grab something to eat! She could already smell the tamarind an mango that she knew was at the end of the particular street she was walking down, on a small, rickety cart pushed by a man smaller than the cart itself...
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud noise. Looking down, she saw that she had flung her keys out of her grasp and they were now skittering across the stones on the path, slowing and stopping in front of a young man crouching down with a tablet in hand.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 8:26 am
What was that? He watched the keys skid across the stone path, hitting his foot gently as it stopped. This was very strange. He picked up the set of keys to study them with great intrigue. Were these all Tabula keys? He compared them to the key around his neck, finding that none of them were seeming as mystical or fascinating as his key. That was disappointing. So if they didn't hold magic, what purpose did the keys serve?
He looked around for their source, suddenly making eye-contact with a young lady. Oh no. What was he supposed to do now? He nodded stiffly, offering a shy smile. That was the right thing to do. Acknowledge her existence, and then turn his attention elsewhere. Keys in one hand, he balanced the tablet in his lap and began drawing with the other hand. He might be able to ask one of the caretakers about these keys.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:32 pm
Melani tilted her head slightly to the side, staring unabashedly at the man with the tablet, and now, with her keys. He didn't seem to realize they were hers; if he did, he didn't seem in a hurry to return them. She saw him hold her ring up to a key that hung around his own neck, looking from one to the other with interest. She was beginning to get impatient. Her break time was slipping away!
And then he smiled at her.
No matter that he turned back almost immediately, Melani felt instantly placated. She sidled up to him and bent down, inadvertently casting a shadow across his tablet.
"Hello! I'm Melani. What's your name? What are you drawing? Those are my keys, you know, and I need them back. But you can look at them. What's your key for? Mine are for the shop I work at. What's your name?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:20 am
That was far too many questions for the poor tabula to take in at once. He shrank away, upset by the bombardment. How was he supposed to answer all of those questions at the same time? Why couldn't she have just asked one question, waited for his reply, and then asked for another? Was this how she assaulted people? Had it been impolite for him to smile at her, and that triggered the flood of questions? Last he could knew, smiling was perfectly appropriate when regarding strangers. When wasn't it appropriate? Why couldn't these humans or whatever they were just make sense?!
She wanted...gods, what did she want? No, first off. What is the proper thing to do when encountering someone new? Tell them your name. Right. A name. Maybe that would keep her from looming over him.
He spoke in a squeaky voice. "I'm Damaris."
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:22 pm
"Oooh, Damaris! That's such a pretty name, even if it is a bit girly." At his drawing away, she moved even closer. He was so fascinating. She rarely ever saw people her own age. Barhma always handled those customers, sensing that they almost always had more paise than anyone else.
"Oh! Damaris, would you like to get something to eat with me? And I still need my keys back you know."
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:12 pm
"Forgive me," he said meekly, his voice almost cracking from apprehension. He offered up the keys, shying away when she snatched them out of his hand. There were those other questions she had asked. All he had to do now was remember them in their order.....
"I am drawing your keys. I didn't think that anyone else had keys except people like me." He fingered the key on the ugly green ribbon around his neck. "This is um...a magical key." He wasn't sure how much he could tell her about it. He shouldn't tell her too much lest she wanted to take it. Well, he shouldn't think that about her. Wasn't too polite. ...Wasn't polite only if he told her about it. Then it was alright. She couldn't read his thoughts, right?
"What do you eat?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:18 pm
"Oh, that's OK. You were drawing them? Did you finish? If you need to still look at them, you can, you know." Melani sniffed and pushed a few stray strands of her short, spiky hair out of her eyes. People like him, did he just say? "A magic key? Oooh. That's so interesting. Mine aren't magic though. They just open the door to the shop I work at." She stopped talking just long enough to point a small finger towards the facade of the synthesis shop. "You know, I think you'd like it. It has a lot of interesting things inside. I don't know if there's truly any magic, but..." And then he mentioned food and Melani remembered the growling of her stomach, and the minutes of her break that were slipping away. "I eat food, silly! Come on, my favourite chaat guy is rolling his stall into the next street!" With that, she reached out to grab Damaris's hand to pull him with her towards the street vendor.
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