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[sealeted]

 

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NETWORK ID: HEI

[dipolar]

Hakuno. If you're available, I'm ready to travel to Kyst.

NETWORK ID: HAKUNO

[sealeted]

I am. We can meet at the mirror, if you know where it is already.

[dipolar]

Sure, I've been there.

(that's a whole saga of events, actually, which would make for a good story if he were ever willing to tell it.)

It'll be 15 minutes or so.

[sealeted]

I’ll be the girl in the green dress.

[Hakuno, stop trying to sound like you’re in a bad spy thriller.

Helpfully, she sends a selfie of herself, a poker-faced peace-sign, so he can spot her easily enough.]

[felldennpc]

[ A few days following this offering, Hakuno will discover every item given has been returned to her, including the hat that had previously been sent. There is no letter given in return, just a simple pile of things in Hakuno's room. ]

[sealeted]

[She tucks them all away for later consideration.

Except for the cookies.]

scribbled over a couple of pages, torn out of a notebook, left on a table.

[summonere]

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (MEDUSA)
Marvin Bell (1937— )

Live as if you were already dead.

— ZEN ADMONITION

1. About the Dead Man and Medusa When the dead man splays his arms and legs, he is a kind of Medusa. Thinking himself Medusa, the dead man further splays his arms and legs. Now he can shake it, toss it, now he can weave a seductive glamour into the source of all feelings, a glamour known to roots and to certain eyeless vermin of interiors. The dead man knows the power of hair by its absence, hairy as he was at the near edge of immortality while his fame kept growing. The dead man uses the ingredients of cosmetic products made just for men. He pares his nails in the background, just as Joyce, the elder statesmen of rainy statelessness, pictured the alienated artist after work. He snips the little hairs from his nose and from inside the shells of his ears, for the artist must be laid bare in a light easily diverted. He wears the guarded fashions of loose clothing so that changes that might offend — the loss of a limb or a sudden hollow in the chest — may go undetected. Mortal among immortals, the dead man can change you to stone.

2. More About the Dead Man and Medusa The dead man mistakes his rounded shoulders for wings. His shoulder blades suggesting wings, the dead man steals a peripheral glance and shrugs, causing a breeze. While the dead man's nails keep growing, the dead man has claws. Once the dead man has lain in the earth long enough, he will have snakes for hair. Who could have guessed that the dead man was so feminine? Who knows better the extraneous ripple of a long yawn? In the theory of the dead man, nothing accounts for his maternity. The dead man will not move out of harm's way, nor leave his children; he repeatedly gives his life for them. Who else may someday be beheaded by a sword made out of water and weed? Mortal among immortals, the dead man strangles the moon in saliva. Domed and tentacled, capped and limbed, the dead man resembles a jellyfish. Under his wig, the dead man's waxed skill belies the soft spot on a baby's head that turns whosoever knows of it to mush. The dead man speaks also for those who were turned into stone.

[summonere]

[ The only person he gives any sort of update to.......... ]

We went with the rest of the Temple to Jarl's Keep. Classes in Terebellum begin soon. We'll visit the house first.

[sealeted]

[The response is immediate.]

I hung back to search for and heal survivors. I'll head home soon.

Stay safe.

[summonere]

[ Healer has never been his role, it's difficult to even want to imagine searching for survivors among rubble and corpses. He had frozen a few enemies and just walked away from them, left them to their own fate like it had no impact on him. Maybe he'll try thinking about that later. Right now he's thinking about the quiet black room Hakuno had put together for him. Washing his clothes, finally getting all the grit out of his hair. A cup of tea. All the things she would probably be happy he was thinking about at all: downtime.

Bae gives away their return this time, rather than Griffon's loud voice. The piglet squeals noisily to see the other demon and comes to hop circles around V's feet in the snow. ]

Your very own welcoming committee.

Laugh it up, Shakespeare.

[sealeted]

[The house is dark, when he first gets there. Dark and silent.

It takes about half an hour for Hakuno to end up home, groping through the snow and sleet. She's exhausted; her coat is stained with dust and soot and blood, with a dark smudge of all or one of them high on one cheek. She's mid-yawn as she tumbles through the door.]

......I'm home.

[summonere]

[ Griffon is the first on the scene because he can teleport. ]

What's up, Nerd. You look like shit.

[ That is not the correct greeting. ]

post-a-quest

[summonere]

[ V has stumbled home and gone up to bed... but just because he's sleeping doesn't mean that Griffon has to hang out with him. The bird teleports out of the room and goes to find the Nerd. ]

[sealeted]

[Hakuno, shock of shocks, is actually asleep.

...on her desk. Passed out on top of a notebook with symbols Griffon can't read.]

[summonere]

[ He poofs in after finding her nowhere else. He hovers over her for a moment eyes narrowing and then lands on the back of her chair. He leans in with his nasty beaks and pulls on some of her hair. ]

That ain't where you humans sleep!

[ get in your bed??? wow. ]

[sealeted]

[At the first tug, Hakuno bolts awake, tumbling out of her chair and crawling away with a fumbling, instinctual alacrity until her shoulder rams into her bed and she blinks, bleary but more present as she squints up at him in the dwindling candlelight.]

...Griffon? ...wh-what?

[summonere]

[ He has to take wing again so he doesn't go down with her. By the times she's stopped and is facing him, he's landing back on the desk. ]

That looked like it hurt. You still freakin' out?

[ He asks suspiciously. That was quite a reaction. ]

action;

[summonere]

[ He was already making breakfast when she got up. It's his tried and true corn cakes and fried eggs; a pretty sizable breakfast for someone who hates to eat but the satisfaction of having made it himself makes it more palatable to him. He puts down a big plate with the food and three little ones. God forbid he forget Griffon. ]

I slept at Dimitri's home, and then came back early this morning. [ He pauses. ] I think that's what I'll do after tutoring there. He didn't mind if I took a room, the house is very empty for him right now.

[ Oh? Rather than repeatedly break promises to be home, he's going to be upfront about what he's doing to rest more?

Someone sure got lectured like five times. ]

[sealeted]

[Hakuno, for once, doesn't meet him with a smile or praise or gentle, heartfelt thanks.

Instead she slips into her chair and looks up at him, expectant, with arms crossed and a totally neutral expression on her face.

She's apparently waiting for more.]

[summonere]

There will be students for a while longer, but most won't need so much of my time once they go to the University. [ He laces his fingers together at the edge of the table, running the pad of his thumb along his knuckle thoughtfully. ] And one or two might be reliable enough to take over some of my research. Dimitri and Ashe have also been reliable enough to take over projects.

I'm sorry that it's taking longer and I didn't-- keep the commitment I made to you.

[ But, but, but. He doesn't say but. ]

And I know you're only concerned. All of you.

[sealeted]

Mm. You really didn't.

[That's all he gets for a moment, still very, very neutral.

Hakuno pours herself a cup of tea, sipping it lightly.]

Has Griffon let you know about the contingencies we're considering?

letter;

[summonere]

The Voice of Spring

I come, I come! ye have called me long;
I come o'er the mountains, with light and song.
Ye may trace my step o'er the waking earth
By the winds which tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves opening as I pass.

I have breathed on the South, and the chestnut-flowers
By thousands have burst from the forest bowers,
And the ancient graves and the fallen fanes
Are veiled with wreaths on Italian plains;
But it is not for me, in my hour of bloom,
To speak of the ruin or the tomb!

I have looked o'er the hills of the stormy North,
And the larch has hung all his tassels forth;
The fisher is out on the sunny sea,
And the reindeer bounds o'er the pastures free,
And the pine has a fringe of softer green,
And the moss looks bright, where my step has been.

I have sent through the wood-paths a glowing sigh,
And called out each voice of the deep blue sky,
From the night-bird's lay through the starry time,
In the groves of the soft Hesperian clime,
To the swan's wild note by the Iceland lakes,
When the dark fir-branch into verdure breaks.

From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain;
They are sweeping on to the silvery main,
They are flashing down from the mountain brows,
They are flinging spray o'er the forest boughs,
They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves,
And the earth resounds with the joy of waves.

the 25th

[summonere]

[ The morning of the 25th they come get him. Neither of them make any fuss, which is likely why the guards don't refuse her in coming along. She's even allowed to stand in the back of the audience chamber, with the warning to be silent before the High Priestess.

His crime is providing a charging crystal to the birth of the new god, which V does not defend nor deny. He just says Yes High Priestess, calm and cool and accepts his punishment. For three weeks, he will be unable to leave Moon territory. Griffon will be sealed and cannot be summoned for two weeks.

He goes with the guards to have his anklet put on, and then returns to Hakuno with his hands in his pockets. He looks out pensively across the courtyard leading to the Temple. What an inconvenience... ]

Let's go home.

[sealeted]

...yeah.

[It's the first thing she's said, since they came for him. Griffon had been in her arms, up until he was firmly advised to be returned to totem state, and she's been gripping her bag in his place ever since. She merely nodded her understanding and kept to the back while the Priestess made her decree, her eyes never straying from her friend. As if, with a misplaced blink, he'd be gone entirely.

Compared to that, being bound and stripped of a third of his fighting force isn't unreasonable.

...

It still stings though, even from where she's standing.]

I... didn't expect that from you. Given your...

[They're in the heart of the Priestess's domain.]

Your firm feelings about the magic drain to begin with.

[summonere]

I got a little sentimental.

[ A not untrue statement, but it wasn't over the life of the upcoming god. ]

I had hoped that my other diligent work would count in my favor.

[ What can he do other than shrug. Arguing over his merits to the High Priestess would only draw further attention to himself. ]