A blast from the past [Ifran]

[Nyahna Sasin]

His mind blanked at a few words, but he got enough to understand. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of a city that could think for itself. Quite a few of the people he talked to had told him the city reflected Ionu's will. "Frighten me?" Sasin hesitated, not sure how to answer. "They startled me when they first appeared, I suppose, but now… They're kind of adorable."

That was actually a little worrying. He was calling spiders adorable.

"If there's any real meaning in multi-colored spiders, it's lost on me. It's a bit of a relief, really." He remarked dryly. "The idea of the city knowing what would mean something to me is worrying."

"What about you? What sort of illusions do you see?"

[Ifran]

"The idea of a thinking city knowing my mind makes me uncomfortable as well," he agreed. At the question, though, he had to stop and think. He did a lot of thinking to himself here, but rarely had a person with whom to share them, and so they often ended up mere concepts rather than ideas he could articulate, but articulate them he would, because here, with Nyahnasasin, he could articulate in that most felicitous and mellifluous of languages. "I notice general trends," he said, starting simply enough. "When I am walking somewhere, I can generally see it rising above the buildings in the distance, but the path there is never clear. I have found that with determination and my goal firmly in sight, I can navigate those twists and turns, lefts and rights, choices, eventually arriving. Also, things that I see will strike me as familiar in the way that things in dreams are familiar, and so what I believe the city might be attempting to teach me is to keep my goals firmly in mind to achieve them with determination, and to beware what seems familiar, for assumptions based on familiarity may easily prove false. "Good advice from a mad city, do you not think?"

[Nyahna Sasin]

How interesting. His destination visible, but the path not. Yet he could always find his way, if he was determined. It was like the city was a, what was the word? A metaphor. If it was advice, it was very suited to an Eypharian princeling.

"My illusions tend to just be unexpected. These spiders, and several other unnaturally confusing animals tend to pop up when I least expect them, and more often than not, the streets change into some difficult to navigate obstacle. Walking through Alvadas generally entails sliding on ice, running through tar, and climbing up from pits or traps." He paused, thinking.

He grinned softly. "I never know what's going to happen next, if I'm about to fall into a pit full of scorpions, or start sliding down a hill. I've also learnt that Alvadas isn't going to release me from it's traps on it's own. Climbing out of pits is becoming a habit now." He grinned. He was considering bringing a rope and grappling hook with him to make escaping easier.

"So, this city changes depending on the people? How does that work?"

[Ifran]

"I do not rightly know how it works," he admitted, "but that is one of the questions I hold for the Trickster, not that I have much faith that it would be answered or, if it was, that the answer would be something I could easily articulate to another person. If I learn the secret I will, of course, endeavor to explain it all to you." His smile was benevolent enough, redolent of sun-scorched sand, the will o' the wisp heat that one craved when the sun went down on the desert and cold skulked about the shadows waiting to take a man unaware. "And I shall expect an explanation from you if the opposite should occur."

[Nyahna Sasin]

He laughed at that. Certainly, it would not be out of character for Ionu to explain the city to someone in a way that would make it all but impossible to understand. "But of course. If I ever learn the truth about this mystery that is Alvadas, I will, of course, make haste to tell you all about it."

Finishing his drink, he pushed back his chair to stand. "It's been a pleasure talking with you, Ifran." He said honestly. But he had money to make (well, take, really), after all. "I hope to see you again someday, either here, or in Ahnatep." He turned to face where he knew the Viper nest, and near it, Ahnatep, lay.

Someday.

Turning, he exited the cozy little hideaway, emerging out into the main streets. Judging by the sun, a few bells had passed already.

Time to go back to work, he decided. Taking a step forward, he skidded carefully on the ice, going to find some unlucky person who was going to have a pretty bad day.

[Bedlam]

Thread Completed!

Ifran

Experience:
3 Philosophy

Lores:
Difference as Strength
Nyahsasin, the Snake

Sasin

Experience:
1 Subterfuge
2 Philosophy

Lores:
Kindness as Cruelty
Six-Armed Ifran

Notes:

Dear God, how these threads have accumulated! Better get to work! I’m feeling rusty right now, so if there’s anything I’ve missed it’s especially important that you point it out!