Very little time was wasted on pursuing the knowledge that had been dangled above her head like a carrot by the Nothing. There had been a time when she was more in her youth that it was wondered if she might perhaps leave, as Loki had, and join another clan. Specifically, if she would join Conquest, because she had a soft touch.
But Camixi herself had chosen that soft touch to be turned into soft feet on sand, the stillness required to tame moths and butterflies, and then to study them from the inside out. One day she hoped to create a kind of regenerative cocoon for her kind, to heal, to change, to become more.
Noth was a step on that path. So after she had cleaned up from mucking about with Rohim the brunette was clean and neat, raising a hand to knock on Noth's door.
baneful
Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 3:16 pm
Noth answered the door with a polite bow and an inviting sweep of his injured hand. "Come in." he said.
His room was large and airy, with a view of the dusk outside. The floors were soft rolling white sand and there were clear areas hollowed out for seating. The tabletops were chiselled and polished stone and there was no end of white pillows scattered around. The walls were lined with hundreds of jars of worms and other squishy looking creatures and dominating one wall was what looked like a glass fronted ant farm, except in place of ants long white worms burrowed though the reddened soil.
Several moths fluttered around the faint glowing lights in the ceiling, sending fluttering shadows scattering around them. It gave the room the strange impression of being under water.
Over in the darkest corner of the room there was a strange silken coccoon-like bed, woven from what looked like silk.
"Please take a seat, I will go and get the book for you. Would you like anything to drink? I have some exotic nectars you might like."
OOC
Character's name: Nothing Character's clan: Famine Sage Character's journal link: Character's arcana The Devil BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MY CHARACTER Pale and short with transcluscent skin and draped in strange tapeworms, Nothing looks like he should be slow and ponderous an much of the time he is, but he is capable of quick snaps of movement which is startling. He is missing his left hand and is almost always accompanied by a frazzled wild eyed famine companion who functions in many ways as his Igor.
HERE YOU SHOULD QUOTE ANYONE YOU ARE TALKING TO
QUOTE MORE PEOPLE IF YOU ARE TALKING OT THEM
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 3:44 pm
Deep in the catacombs of the office sandstone there was an office that the Nothing used for his private work and for the education of his current student. More often than not the two of them met there because it was, on a whole, safer. Camixi loved coming to his home because of the fact it was so rare, and because of the moths.
Moths were one of the things that had drawn her to the older Sage in the first place. Nothing could cover himself in the worms all he wanted but there was a dusty piece of him that was not easily denied and the creatures swarmed around his home. Reaching up towards the lights she stood still until one of the small insects landed on her hand to be brought towards her cheek, rubbing the softness of its body against her skin before releasing it again.
Lips twitched and failed to hide her smile so she gave into the laugh that was fighting its way out. "Maybe that's what happened to our memories: the nectars. I'd love to try your newest one." There had been a few...mishaps...with the nectars throughout her tenure as a student. It did not dissuade her from future forays into the drink.
Arranging her skirt the way her Mama had taught her the brunette sat and held out her hand again, patiently waiting. The day she came over to Noth's and didn't bother his moths was going to be a cold day on the sands.
baneful
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:42 am
There was a faint clinking of glass as Noth moved over to one of the hewn tables and retrieved several sandy bottles of various colours, some glowing dimly in the dappled light. He poured a few into a mixing jug and stirred them up with another glass stick. When the mixture turned a strange blue shade he poured it into a cup and brought it over to Cami, placing it into her hand with a courteous smile before he turned back to retrieve the book, well aware that with one hand he couldn’t handle both things.
The moths responded keenly to Cami’s presence, some venturing downwards from the light to flit about her as if she herself was a source of light, not colliding but dancing about her, a manifestation of the interest of their master. Noth himself would never admit it, but - as much as he was drawn to parasites and wished to be able to create them at will - when his fear took form, it was the moths that appeared, shadowy extensions of him which sometimes gave more than he would like away about his intentions. His moths were faint and pale, sickly looking creatures which mingled with the other natural denizens of the famine floor. He had never explained to Camixi this fact because he assumed that it would make things a little weirder than they already were.
The book itself was old, thickly bound with a brown cracked leather. The pages creaked and crunched when turned and the script was spidery and in an older hand. It detailed the nature of the native caterpillars of various species, both in the human world and naturally found around fear or in the dusk.
“I thought it would be of use to you, there is a great deal in there about different types of silk, cocoons and the creatures which create them.” Unfastening his cloak, he set it over one of the chairs before sitting next to her, preferring his wings draped across the low back of the chair while he sat, without the restriction of the fabric. The dust from the tattered wings hung in the air like stars, illuminated now and then by the light from overhead. “I thought it was lost.”
nessihime
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 2:04 pm
Perhaps it was a touch rude but Camixi couldn't help but sniff delicately at the blue nectar before taking a sip. They were slowly working out what specific mixtures and concoctions would make her so ill. One had caused her to dissipate completely and Nothing had not been very apologetic about it. Polite, of course, but not sorry. She didn't think he was sorry about much, ever.
Moths dancing about her head, her shoulders, always brought her a kind of delight that was hard to describe. Born of Famine she could make some kind of obvious, if hazy, connection between the creatures and her mentor but that didn't even remotely explain why they were so very welcoming. Only the pale ones, of course, but this was not something that was questioned too much. It was merely enjoyed to its fullest.
When the book was presented she put her drink far, far away so that there was a less than one percent (Mimsy had told her that zero was impossible once upon a time). Fingertips reverently touched the edges of the pages as her eyes devoured line after line of text with a hunger that few ever really saw in Camixi. It was her deep secret, that hunger, that ambition to be more than she was.
"Yes." The word was fervent, reverent, deeper than it would have been normally. "This is invaluable to what I - what we - are trying to create." Bending over the tome she forgot for a few moments the moths hovering about her or even the company of the Nothing and she simply absorbed the possibilities of this tome.
Sitting back up she smiled wide and crinkled at the edges. "I owe you quite a lot, don't I?"
Baneful
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 3:24 pm
The nectar smelled sharp and tinny with an edge of something hard to place, it tasted chill, the sharpness translating into a strange menthol cold which lingered on the tongue and throat. Mercifully this time it had no ill effects except a brief spike of euphoria which quickly faded in a heartbeat.
Noth was content to watch her while she read. It was always difficult to tell exactly what he was watching, on first glance to most it seemed like he had no eyes at all, simply smooth skin across his eye sockets. But those who got close enough saw that he did indeed have eyes, faintly glowing pale blue ones behind translucent white skin. It would be no problem for Cami to tell what and who he was looking at, when he was paying close attention he always tilted his head just a little.
It was facinating just to watch others he found, living vicariously through her eagerness and inspired curiosity.
"Excellent then." he said with a a nod. "You can borrow it for as long as you wish."
His impassive expression softened into a smile. "I am not a fan of favours, what I give I give freely and anything I receive in return I would hope was freely given also. You owe me nothing except what you choose to give."
nessihime
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 4:41 pm
Brushing hair back from where it had tumbled as she read the filly tensed a bit at the idea that she had said the wrong thing. Disappointing the ones she so desperately wanted to impress was a fate worse than true death. Who did she want to impress? Well, obviously, the Queen but also Nothing, her mothers, Loki, Mimsy. It was a bit of a long list, that was true, but better to want to be impressive than not want to be anything at all...right?
Had she been less of a team player there might have been a home for Camixi in Conquest. Her warmth would have been welcome in their conservatory and certainly she had a knack for working with small creatures but the Hive would always, always be her home. Living outside of it was not an option and that Noth managed it was ceaselessly impressive. And troubling.
Touching the book again with a light hand she summoned the courage to ask a rather awkward question. "May I leave it here? Or perhaps you can recommend somewhere safe? The Burrow is so chaotic and LeZli has a habit of stealing interesting things from inside my space. Just losing one page from here would be..." Wings rustled with distress at the very idea. "Bad." To put it mildly.
Lips twitched again into her irrepressible smile. "I promise I won't be too obnoxious if you let me keep it here."
Baneful
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 1:32 pm
“Certainly.” Noth said. “You are welcome here to read it whenever you wish.”
There was nothing negative that he could think of in having the younger horsewoman around his abode. It would be a brighter and more pleasing place with her there and always was. Though he wasn’t innately social in the same way much of famine was, he still appreciated the presence of others from a curiosity perspective. His home was typically empty, with even his daughter Song finding it dusty and unpleasant. He didn’t object to this, she was destined for far different than mingling in the sand with him, born of the same clan as her father, he helped to teach Cami instead, caring for her a great deal, even if many fought to hold sway over her life. He did what he could with the full knowledge that perhaps one day she would leave him for ever and return to the embrace of the hivewashed.
"I do not mind a bit of life in this quiet space, perhaps it will give you a little quiet within which to read. I do not know what your home is like."
Nessihime
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 1:32 pm
Appalled would have been the emotion that sprang to the forefront if Camixi ever learned Noth's thoughts as he considered her. It was true that she had a connection and a reverence for the hivemind that the Nothing himself did not but that did not seem, to her, like a reason to abandoned a cherished mentor. She would have vehemently, perhaps naively, argued that she would never abandon someone so important to her!
Thankfully the Nothing was a horseman who kept such fatalism to himself and did not trouble his student's fragile heart with such things. She only rustled and almost chirped with how pleased she was to have such a request granted.
"Thank you! You know my mothers, and my sisters, and while I can say that Mimsy would respect my research...my house is very loud. All the time." Sleep was easy enough when you were used to the noise and energy of it all but study? Deep thought?
