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 Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2016 7:12 pm
He’d –had- to go back, not because he was feeling particularly brave, or in any way ‘lucky’. That much was a certainty… but he had to go back because he had to try and reach Heliodora like he’d planned last time. He needed to try and find some kind of answers to the far too many questions that rattled around In his head. At least this time he could admit he had no idea where he was going, but if he couldn’t find HER he could find the library at least. The library would have information, if not answers.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:25 pm
Before Zac could reach Heliodora or the library, intent on finding answers, it seems something else has found him. From the cobblestone path, a mass of what seems to be slime bubbles up from the ground. It pulls itself together, forming a greater and greater shape, until a rather large owl, dark as the midnight sky, stares down at Zac. While its face is held neutrally, you get the impression that the thing is rather unimpressed by the boy. The masks draped around its feather rattle in an unfelt wind, and the owl blinks at him.
"So many questions, this one. So curious you all are. Stay and talk with me. I offer my word you will come under no physical harm." It blinks again, and its neck oozes outwards, lowering its face to be even with Zac's.
"No fun, no fun hurting Visitors, no. This one has too many questions, seeks too many answers to break you so quickly. I have heard the stories, the whispers on the wind. I will not harm you, but I do bid you stay."endejester Too lazy to hop on the mule, so you get me on my account.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:39 pm
His mouth opened, and then closed again, there was absolutely no denying the utter unease that crept up his back just…watching it form itself like tar taking the form of the nocturnal bird. Those masks as well, eerie and, they felt like they contributed to the air of being generally unimpressed. His breath was perhaps just a little fast but he was trying, he was trying to find whatever in him had kept him calm, and focused when he was here -first-. There was, after all…no one -else- to hurt this time. And… It gave its word, at least for ‘physical harm’. Clever distinction. “…I…” He hesitated. “I will, stay for -some- questions, but only if you agree that I may pass when I feel it’s time to continue my search. Questions only seem to multiply after all…” He said carefully. He really didn’t like the ‘break so quickly’ line, but… he really, really didn’t want to try and fight this thing.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:23 pm
"Fear, fear. I smell your fear," It commented, closing its eyes so close to Zac's face. "Fear is good. Fear is healthy. Fear means you will not be food for something else." Just as quick as it had struck its neck out, it retracted with a sickening 'shlurp', and the owl opened its eyes to stare at Zac once more. There was a pregnant pause, as it simply regard him.
But then, suddenly, its face was melting. Rotting away, like a corpse in the sun. Its flesh caved in upon itself, and where an owl's face once was, it was gone. One of the masks upon its left wing seemed to glow, immensely, and then it was Autumn- burnt around the face, but otherwise herself- staring at him unwaveringly.
"Why do you seek answers? This place has done nothing but hurt you. Hurt her. Hurt me," It questioned perfectly in her voice, blinking.
"What do you think you will gain by doing this? Why not turn and leave, leave now?" Somewhere, a child's voice giggled. Eyes were upon him. The creature shifted so that the now-Autumn face was closer to Zac's own.
"This world isn't yours. You are safe, safe at home. Why do you return?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:40 pm
Watching that face seem to rot, running like wax and decay only to replace that owl’s face with a far, far too familiar face was like a punch to the gut, His face may have somewhat reflected his thoughts on the matter too, he couldn’t even begin to make himself close his eyes, too bound by the horror was he. Quivering one. The title stuck to him and he wished he could peel it off but it was there, in the back of his mind, a whisper of horrible truth. “Because… I’m not sure it -is- safe in my world, because things from YOUR world are there. Because the influence of y our world is… is slipping through the cracks perhaps.” He said squeezing his eyes shut as the face drew closer, the sight of those burns against her skin too real, too close. He could half imagine the smell of burning again. “Because… if I hope to make anything I’ve done right, I need answers. Answers were never gained by inaction.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:14 pm
"But will the answers to what you seek now be enough? It is as you said, questions bring more questions," the not-Autumn questioned him, face impassive. Emotionless. She regarded him in silence before she, too, melted as the being's initial face had. It was, perhaps, a jab at the fate Autumn had met not too long before. Or perhaps it was not. Who could say, with this being? It whirled suddenly, as if alarmed by something behind it, but no. Instead, on its back, one of the masks was forming itself into another familiar face. Another familiar voice.
Jeremiah.
"You have seen what seeking answers gets you. Deals for hearts. Burnt out bodies. Is that really the fate you want?" He questioned, brow drawn up scornfully. Disappointedly.
"Questions, questions, and more questions. And suddenly, you wind up dead. Why not go home, little one? It's much, much safer there. All you do is hurt the ones you love." The feathers of the great beast ruffled, and the not-Jeremiah face blinked.
"Or I could help. In a way."
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:24 pm
His hands clenched into fists, it was not unlike all his doubts were written on his face. Perhaps they were… he didn’t know how this strange, other thing worked. He was shivering slightly, though if it was anger or fear he couldn’t say. The face twisted away like something called from distant places, maybe it even chased a thought that traveled through Zac’s own mind, finding faces and toying with feelings. Perhaps that was why it had wanted to speak in the first place, offered him no …PHYSICAL harm, though it scratched at his mental state like fingernails over a rash, no relief to be found, only the lingering desire to keep clawing away at it and finding only pain and irritation. “Because Right now I’m powerless…and knowledge is power.” He replied. I know better than to travel with people who might be hurt because of me now, now it’s only me, and MY choices, MY consequence. So…so we might end up dead. We’ll all end up that way some day.” More bravado in those words than he was sure he felt. Power of positive thinking? Ha… like putting a blanket over broken glass and pretending the window was whole. “Do you want us gone? Is that why every question seems to turn back to why I’m here?” He shook his head and then turned his eyes skyward, blinking as the rain pelted down on his face. At least if he started crying again, it would hide the tears. “And how would you help? Take something from me and make it sound like a favor? I think if you were from our world…you’d be offering bridges.” There was a weary bitterness in his worlds even as his gaze turned back to the false Jeremiah face framed there by blackness and feathers.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:35 pm
"Do I want you gone?" It asked, and this time, it was not Jeremiah. It was Zac's mother, over the beast's heart- if it had a heart at all. In a way, she seemed... sad. More caring, perhaps, than he had ever really been.
"You intrigue me. Fascinate me. All of you, you visitors. But you." A blink.
"You are afraid. You are sad. You are broken. And yet, here you are. Speaking. Fighting. It is... unique. It is fun." Her voice did not really sound like she was having fun, not in the way humans might expect, but perhaps she was honest? It was impossible to say, as odd as the shapeshifter was. She smiled, but it was sad, did not quite reach up to her eyes.
"I want to play. In this game. There are things, things, things at work you will never understand. You will never really comprehend. I am going to get my name on the board," she answered, only it wasn't Zac's mother anymore, it was the owl itself. It loomed over Zac, looking down upon him curiously.
"I do not want your heart. Hearts are so silly, so tangible. Not at all what I want," and it shook its head, tone almost dismissively.
"Give me the regret of leaving your mother. You miss her. But you do not want to do so," this was not mocking, but honest. No tone in its voice as it stared upon the boy.
"Will it hurt you? I do not know. I do not care, really. But that is what I want. If you will not give it to me, that is fine too." It turned to absently nick at one of the masks with its beak, the endless void of its eyes still trained upon the human.
"In turn, I will look out for you. My eyes. Always seeing. Always understanding. What questions I can answer, I will answer honestly. You will not like the answers, but I will answer them."
It stretched up.
"And if you leave, that is fine too. Always wondering, though. What if? What if. You will always wonder it. But I am not hard to find." It gave an actual hoot here, and stretched back up to sit normally.
"You can bring other things, later. It will not be the same. I will not watch you. But I will still speak, for things."
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:49 pm
Answers, it offered answers for… some small fragment of what he felt. The regret of leaving her behind. He felt… responsible after all, for her in a way. She was a wonderful business woman, but she did not take care of herself well, more especially not others. Her life was her job, and on a level he respected that. He thought she’d probably never retire, and if she ever did shed pick up some -other- job. He didn’t… He did not need to regret leaving her. It was such a small thing for such a large boon, and answers besides. For a moment, just for a moment, he missed her face. So different from his own, but… there were also echoes to his own features there. A curious mixture of genetics he had no real connection to besides her, and the half memory of his Father. He glanced away uncertain. But what it said, what it said was true. There would always be ‘what if’. What if he should have, what would it see, what could it answer. Now too, the wonder if it might not then wait for someone else to come. Broken… what was a shard then? Not even that, a sliver… Maybe they all made deals sooner or later. “… if I said yes… “ He said cautiously. “It would just be that feeling? I would still, I would still love and respect her in my own way?”
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:52 pm
"Just that specific regret, yes." It replied, giving a curt nod. It unfurled its great wings, and raised them to shield Zac from the persistent rain. The endless eyes gazed down, unblinking.
"What do you think, human?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:55 pm
He hesitated, then nodded before realizing that Nods might be a foreign idea to the thing. Would he regret it? Possibly, but it was not like he was removing all feelings for her...just a part, a small part it seemed. "....alright." He said cautiously.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:58 pm
With its wings unfurled, a small tendril emerged from the inky abyss of its main body, before manifesting itself into an arm and hand. The fingers furled and unfurled, as if testing itself, and then the open hand was extended to Zac.
"Shake," It spoke simply.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:04 pm
Surprise then. “You shake on deals.” He said, it was not so much a question, it was a statement to himself, affirmation that this oddly civilized, ‘normal’ behavior was being done by an owl-creature, who traded it’s face in a rotting, melting parody of humans. Something like Howl’s moving Castle meets, Spirited away. In his head he half called it ‘Noh’ face, a nod to the masked plays he’d read about in passing. Perhaps an insult to them as well as he had no deep understanding of them. He took the hand cautiously, not sure what to expect for how it would feel against his own, and shook it, with as much civility as he could.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:11 pm
They shook, and the being's hand retracted once more into its body. There was the sensation of tingling in Zac's mind- almost like the beginning of a headache, before it faded. Immediately after, one of the masks upon its string began glowing. The face remained passive, but reshaped itself- into a perfect replica, hair and all, of Zac. The Unspoken looked upon this newly shaped mask, seemingly pleased. It then dug into its wings, and pulled out a great feather- decorated with what seemed to be stars throughout its fibers. The being offered the large feather- nearly the size of a human's forearm- out to Zac, and blinked.
"It is done. You will snap this in two, if you have need of me. If it is within this world, I will come. It. Does not work in your world," It explained, when Zac had taken the feather.
"You will tell me if you need another. It will take payment. But not memories. Things. Answers."CONSEQUENCE If Zac enters a situation in which he feels regret about leaving his mother, he will not feel regret- he will feel NOTHING. An overwhelming apathy that overshadows every other emotion and feeling for the rest of the day. This feeling will persist until Zac goes to sleep.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:47 pm
“… Seems a shame to even think of breaking this.” He admitted, he let his fingers run over the feather, it was enormous, like… well, no in a way it -was- from a great and predatory bird. “It’s…beautiful I mean.” He said and gave a small shrug…embarrassed to have said anything. He did glance askance at the mask though, bothered, he had to admit. “… does it stay like that?” he asked cautiously? He didn’t doubt that the creature would one day run into Jeremiah, or Alg…. or, well he almost hoped for Autumn because she’d have to be doing better to run into this thing. When that day came, there would be… a few questions to answer. “Thank you?” He added after a moment, he couldn’t quite keep the caution in his voice from turning it into a question. There would always -always- be ‘what if’ thoughts, the same as there would always be questions.
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