Nowhere to go. Impatient to get there. (Open)

[Tak Tak]

Fall 1, 511 A.V.

There was nothing quite like the feeling of physical exhaustion mixed with spiritual elation. It's like a young musician plucking an ancient harp, each note lively, yet all the while strained. It was a song that could not last. Tak Tak took measures to slow this tiring, by nestling into the sands under a shade of a dune in day and emerging at night, but his body so unused to this nocturnal progression and the fact that his daylight slumber was constantly interrupted by shifting sands which sought to drown him did little to fight off his fatigue.

This and the fact that he was forced to ration his life giving clay and water due to the tight-fisted nature of the desert surrounding him continued to press down upon his thoughts, which once ran so high and unabated. For many hours of the days he had trekked, he had thought of return, to the solidity of life in Yahebah. Each time was stamped out by a determined stride in the sand and the echoing words of the many traders he had overheard in marketplace and taverns. They spoke of huge mounds of earth that unlike the sands he was so thoroughly ingrained with could not be moved except by the gods themselves and water so abundant it regularly fell from the sky.

Still, thoughts are not hardy traveling companions and exhaustion and heat make cruel riding partners. Still Tak Tak took great pleasure in the fact that each day he was getting closer. Closer to what he had little idea. In passing he had heard some accounts of trading routes across the many times non-descript sands of the Burning Lands. In fact he was currently approaching one of the first of many markers to come that would hopefully lead him to another great desert town.

Tak Tak picked up his pace, knowing full well that the figure before him would provide him no cool air nor invigorated legs, but still it did aid him one way, he gained great hope at its sight. For in Tak Tak’s young age he was swift to imagine the dazzling sights that might one day fill his eyes, but as per usual, nothing could compare to the true sight. So that even if this marker provided no practical or immediate aid to the young Pycon; Tak Tak took heart that it must mean something.

Though what it actually meant was a bit of a mystery. Before the diminutive creature was what the traders called ‘Steel Stick’. As it was, the translation seemed quite literal as Tak Tak soon looked up at the eight foot pole with wonder. It was rusted with age and atop it was a series of adornments left by traders and travelers, forks, feathers, animal skins, and the like that came together to shimmer and rattle in the desert’s biting sun and wind to create a beautiful if not melancholic melody of the lands it so gallantly stood sentinel over.

Tak Tak enjoyed the sight of the ‘Steel Stick’ immensely and like so many others wondered what its true purpose was. Suddenly remembering something, he thrust his arm back into his pack and pulled out his Py-pole. Looking at the stick in his hands and the stick before him, he smiled and said, “Big Py-pole!”

After this observation Tak Tak sat down, his back to the pole as the sun continued to rise for the day. He felt at last like he had made some true progress a good end to the first chapter of his journey. So with a simplistic grin he fell back exhausted into the sand, letting it bury him slightly in a natural warm blanket. There he wondered that if he were to dry up in the hot day, would he become sand himself and become one with the desert? Then he thought no more as dreams slowly lifted his drooping conscious and sent it to bed.

[Cantrip]

Not long after he’d closed his eyes, Tak-Tak became aware that he was not alone. The soft, warm sand moved in a rhythm he’d observed on so many occasions. Breathing. “Gaagh,” grumbled the giant py-pole – or rather the heap of rags that was curled around its base. “Guurg – what does it want?” The thing began to shift in fits and starts. Presently, a scrap of burlap turned back to reveal a burnt, wrinkled face speckled with liver spots, dominated by a pair of glowing blue orbs. They blinked. “Why are you disturbing my sleep?” The aging Svefra asked peevishly. He regarded the pycon for a moment, then groaned as he rose heavily to his feet. His robe was made of a hundred scraps of fabric crudely sewn together, along with leather, shards of glass, bird feathers, tarnished coins, and even a spoon. The feet that protruded from the scraggly hem were hard and dark, though his ankles were thin to the point of emaciation, and his pate was bald as an egg. “Go on, away with you.” He shook a staff with a gourd lashed to the end, sending puffs of a red powder over the pycon. “Unless you’ve got a message for me?” The man cocked his head, displaying no more than four teeth clinging to his brown gums. “Eleazas. With an E. Not a W.” Overhead, the sun beat down on the wastes, searing bare skin and the crests of undulating dunes with a blistering heat.

[Tak Tak]

Ah the pleasure in sleep, whether it be well-deserved like Tak Tak's or guilty as a cat nap, it brought the same wave of rolling release, what was like a full-body sigh. Tak Tak enjoyed this common pleasure with an uncommon appreciation as his body slowly became used to the nocturnal travel style he had to use to suffer least the uninhibited sun. As his body gently lolled into a place of rest his mind lingered, perhaps desiring a glass of water. As it walked down the metaphorical stairs into the symbolic kitchen however, the mental awareness of Tak Tak suddenly realized there was someone outside.

Bursting from his restful state, the young Pycon rolled through the sand, allowing it to slightly engulf him as he moved to get away from whatever figure was approaching. Eager to establish a possible cover, Tak Tak's initial senses sent him flipping through the loose dirt towards the 'Steel Stick'. As the Pycon dug swiftly to the iconic object, he just as swiftly had to recalculate his strategy as his eyes came upon not a rod holding fast in a shifting land, but a swelling and shrinking sack of life, that the diminutive creature could only determine as humanoid.

Stopped in mid-flip by shock and friction, Tak Tak reversed himself as swiftly as he reversed his position that the 'Steel Stick' was a safe haven against the potential danger his mind had warned him about. As the rollicking Pycon ceased his bodily gyration, he swiftly got into a sitting position and leaped from that preparing swiftly to defend himself from the predictably larger foe. It was then that he understood that the being was speaking, a good a sign as any, but this did little to subdue the Pycon's concerns. Still, he listened as his parents had taught him that all things upon the earth had things to say, even Steel Sticks it seemed.

“Why are you disturbing my sleep?” the humanoid gurgled as if he were underwater.

Tak Tak was confused for a moment, but that didn't stifle his ability to speak though the red smoke the man threw out slight did as the Pycon lashed back, Your sleep? My sleep! Also why aren't you a stick!

Oblivious to his own senseless response as drowsiness had robbed him temporarily of this, Tak Tak expected a serious answer from the not-stick. However what he received in reply was more guttural anger from the figure who said, "Go on, away with you."

This tone and Tak Tak's closeness with the land of dreams and memory sent the young Pycon back a bit to a sit down with his family. A night in the desert like the one he was in currently. He was sitting by the fire, watching the ashen shard of wood leap from their home, all desiring adventure and all dying. However his father explained to him that even though the ones who leaped lived less life, the ones who stayed behind lived a lesser life. From that Tak Tak learned that whenever there was a choice between leaping and living, and sitting and slowly burning out your own sweet time. He must leap.

So as the man brandished his cutting demand that made Tak Tak seem like an insignificant dog, the young Pycon drew up his Py-pole fully prepared to pole vault a message straight into the beings face. This message never reached its sender however as the humanoid suddenly became calmer and inquired,

“Unless you’ve got a message for me?” it was at this point that the figure revealed his teeth which flashed in the still diminishing sun. Tak Tak realized then he was in little danger. What is he going to do? Gum me to death? the young Pycon shook with internal laughter as the man introduced himself.

“Eleazas. With an E. Not a W.” Tak Tak thought for a moment that this would be a strange mistake to make, but didn't pursue it as he lowered his weapon and introduced himself,

Hello Eleazas without a W, I am Tak Tak. With a T and no um...Q. I unfortunately have no message for you as I am but a simple traveler, however I'd much like to sleep here as the surrounding ridges block the cut cut winds."

After expressing this the young Pycon, quite unused to the idea of territory began resettling for the night a bit farther away from his original position. He kept his peripheral on the cloaked man, but did little to signal that he cared for his response as his head gently reset itself upon the sand and he began to drift as it does upon the winds of dreams.

[Cantrip]

There was a creaking of joints as the crazed mendicant bent down to regard Tak Tak. “Why, it’s made of clay,” he gasped, a gobbet of drool leaking from the corner of his mouth. Eleazas was quick to notice the lapse, and he sucked it up greedily. “Every drop is a treasure, eh? That’s what they told us in that place. The place with the soaring gate, and the guards with sharp iron. There weren’t any chains, though. They came before.” Eleazas gave a slight shake, and then he began to laugh. “Tak Tak, is it? Tak. Tak. Tak. That’s the noise of a hammer, you know. That’s also what you hammer with a hammer.” He sat back down, his back sliding down the post so that he stared out upon the blur of distant, undulating dunes. He didn’t say anything for a while, just sat there, his sunken chest steadily rising and falling. Then he raised a long, bony arm. Crack, snapped his fingers. “If you are a traveler, where are you headed?” He sucked at his gums as he regarded the pycon. “There can be no traveler if there is not a destination, or is that the other way around? The wisdom does not spew from my mouth as it once did. No, as flatulence waxes, wisdom wanes. Ten thousand curses upon old age, and a blight upon fools and wastrels.” He reached into the folds of his crude robe and brought forth what appeared to be half of a human jawbone. “Here, do you recognize this?”

[Tak Tak]

Almost instantly the young alchemical being began to sink into sand and slumber, but this was yet again interrupted by the large person who so rudely continued to not be a stick. Tak Tak would have quite easily ignored any random mumblings or incoherent queries spouted by any particular individual, but the observation that escaped Eleazas' mouth, along with a great deal of spittle, piqued the interest of Tak Tak.

“Why, it’s made of clay,”

All at once the puny creature looked up to the man looming over him and before he could say anything, watched him shuck a gob of shimmering saliva back into his mouth like a wet fish. Tak Tak was a bit disgruntled by this, but he wasn't a practitioner of any hard and fast table manners either as he lacked the table, so he ignored it as he did ignore much of what the man was saying.

After shaking himself from this, Tak Tak began to speak, but was yet again interrupted by the frightfully passionate if not spastic man,

“Tak Tak, is it? Tak. Tak. Tak. That’s the noise of a hammer, you know. That’s also what you hammer with a hammer.”

Tak Tak at this point just nodded, but Eleazas didn’t even seem to catch this as he swiftly sat in the dirt, sidling into the sands as if he wished to merge with it. He then looked beyond the small Pycon, which was not a terribly hard feat, and out into the dunes. Tak Tak took this opportunity to respond to, whatever it was he had just heard.

”Um yes, I’m made of clay, I am a Pycon and personally I find it more manageable than flesh, as overall I am a bit more flexible than most. As for my name, I didn’t really pick it, the merchants in Yahebah called me that because on hot days my legs would harden a bit and tak upon the cobblestone, but in the end I like it because it shows I’m known for traveling most of all.”

Tak Tak had no idea if any of this was getting to the man who continued to stare in the sand, poring into the once porous rock as if it had secrets to tell. Slowly the young Pycon took to looking as Eleazas did and did find it strangely soothing, to look upon a once mighty rock, turned to dust by time alone. It humbled Tak Tak who understood then that he must not be like a rock, stable with the illusion of permanence, slowly grading away with the years, but like the win which blows past mountains, free and forever. This thought was interrupted by a swift snap that brought the small creature to his feet, staff in hand, but looking back he saw only Eleazas with his arm extended,

“If you are a traveler, where are you headed?”

Tak Tak hadn’t thought of destination in his immediate calculations. When his parents left him in his early days, he thought only of moving and finding and seeing. When he thought of an eventual end to this, a border that he might not cross he grew restless. Still he did his best to answer the man as he spoke up, hoping volume might cover his uncertainty,

“To the end of the world!”

Eleazas pressed on after hearing this, or not hearing it, Tak Tak couldn’t rightly say, but he certainly listened with a sense of half amusement and something more at what the elder next had to say,

“There can be no traveler if there is not a destination, or is that the other way around? The wisdom does not spew from my mouth as it once did. No, as flatulence waxes, wisdom wanes. Ten thousand curses upon old age, and a blight upon fools and wastrels.”

His youth gave him little ability to decipher the intricacies of the prose now befalling Tak Tak’s ears, but what little he could decipher he made do with as his thoughts trotted up new footpaths, towards enlightenment perhaps but for now just frustration. Before he might have responded and indeed how he would have would have been a mystery to the Pycon, he was instead distracted by the presentation of a humanoid jaw.

Eleazas asked him if he recognized it, but anything beyond what race its owner might have belonged to Tak Tak had nothing. He wasn’t concerned as to where the elderly fellow had procured the bone as he had passed many a sun bleached tanner, finding rest and relaxation on the endless beach. Still he felt the need to ask exactly why he would have such a jaw,

” I’m afraid I don’t know the owner of this jaw in particular, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any jawless individuals upon my travels.”

At this point it was clear to the Pycon that the much needed rest he deserved would not come to him here. So turning swiftly he began walking towards the ridge far off into the distance. Tak Tak had seen this ridge many times on maps and in the distances of empty lands. They were called the Redstone cliffs he had heard and he felt that that was a good as place as any to make way to as long as it got him closer to…closer to. He didn’t know but it was closer to something.

After a bit of marching, Tak Tak turned back and said “I suppose I do have a destination in mind. That city Ahnatep I’ve heard so much about. They say it’s the jewel of the desert and with this completion I’d be sure to agree. Tell me what are your plans?”

[Cantrip]

Tak Tak had done the right thing by walking away, at least by human reasoning. Strange men holding jaws were not to be trusted. Eleazas just stared at, or rather, past him, for that was the sort of thing lunatics usually did. Then the pycon turned, spoke a few words, asked a question. For the first time, the mendicant looked upon him with askance, the sheen of his eyes growing duller. “Ahnatep,” the word rolled around his palate, honey-sweet. Then sawdust-dry, wine-rich, and bitter. “Ahnatep, Ahnatep, Ahnatep.” He glanced at the pycon, thrusting the jaw back into his garment. “Why would you want to go there? Apart from the jewels, and the heterobrachiates, and the – hmm, I suppose you do have a point there. Ahnatep does have its fair share of sights and pleasures, though only if you’re of a mood to enjoy them. And they don’t decide to tread on you.” For a moment, he seemed affected by a peculiar tremor. “Do you like birds?” OOC : Sorry for short posts. I promise, the next will be much longer and much more... entertaining.