Afterburn
6 Winter 515 AV
Testing Grounds: The Prairie
Near 14 Bells
Testing Grounds: The Prairie
Near 14 Bells
Retic scuffed through grass, the toe of his boot digging into the ground and Fawz trailing along somewhere off to the side. He wore only his simplest clothes and a rucksack tucked around his waist. The sky was a dull and lifeless grey, reflecting the nature of the island below. It seemed to be hanging lower than normal today, vestigial smoke hovering just below the clouds and clinging to the hot summer's air like a blanket no one had asked for. It reminded him too much of the cheap pipeweed his father had smoked many years ago, the stock of which his brothers had accidentally set ablaze when they were young and stupid. The scent had seeped into his skin that day, just as it did now.
The smell of death hung in the air just as well, unsurprisingly, though it was a different kind of death than what he'd grown accustomed to expecting on the undead isle. It wasn't the stench of ever-rotting flesh -- that had a sickening bitterness to it, a taint that continued to turn Retic's stomach no matter how many seasons he was exposed to it. This was something more pure, the smell of actual death, of crisped meat and mild decomposition, rather than the odor of unnaturally prolonged life within a decayed shell.
The wildfire yesterday hadn't lasted long; it'd been long brought under control by the time the smell of it had wafted into the citadel, and longer still by the time he'd found a tiny window from which he could see the blackened ground. Nonetheless, where fire went death surely followed. At the very least, it may have cleared away some of the taller grasses to make it easier to locate any bones strewn across the ground. As he trudged along, scraping his feet across the ground in search every now and again, a pair of apprentices passed in the other direction a number of meters away, heading back to the citadel after seemingly having had the same idea. Ashes grimed up their hands as well as the fronts of their robes, which looked to be a bit too dark and heavy and not at all conducive to prolonging the usefulness of their bodies in the muggy afternoon heat. Between them they dragged a charred hunk of... something, either a corpse or a melted lump of gears and cogs. The pair's scowling and unquiet muttering indicated that perhaps it was the remains of an ill-fated experiment that had gotten caught in the fire, though it was impossible for him to tell at this distance. They didn't spare a second glance in his direction, but Retic made careful note of where the pair had been coming from.
It was five more chimes of walking in the northwesterly direction before he found physical evidence of the fire. A small lizard lay dead and shriveled on the earth, its skin singed despite the fact it was some ways away from wherever the fire had raged. Retic knelt, catching the attention Fawz's as he did so. She had wandered away, head low and following some trail of scents, in her element though still within sight across the flat land. Now she turned to face him, large ears perked in curiosity, and as Retic gingerly picked up the lizard's remains in his fingers, she trotted back toward him.
Retic stared at the lizard, drawing it closer to his own face while concentrating and focusing on the tingling mark on the back of his hand. All he needed was one moment of clarity, if he could clear his mind for only a tick, he could glean something about this tiny corpse. Breathe in, breathe out. Empty. Suspension. Floating. Lizard. And there it was:
Hot, fleeing, choking. There was the distinct impression of motion as well as pain, but that was it. There was no vision of what the lizard may have looked like before its body became dried and blackened, no hint of species, no inkling of any abilities it may have had in life. Only its last moments. The line of Retic's mouth flattened in disappointment, though he truly couldn't have expected much. All he could conclude was that the creature must have run from the fire, perhaps getting burnt along the way, though whether it had died from its burns, the pain, or the smoke was still up in the air. Not that it mattered -- a corpse was still a corpse. Fawz finally made her way to him, nose twitching as she sniffed at the lizard. Retic pulled it back slightly, aware that she might very well try to eat the thing if he wasn't careful. After a moment, she snorted in disapproval, tail lashing as she turned away once more.
"I know," he agreed, but not before placing the body in his rucksack. He'd see what he could make of it later, if he didn't find anything more interesting by the time he returned to the citadel. Being out of practice and with Judgement approaching, he couldn't afford to be picky, only to churn out as many products as he could and choose the most successful for presentation.
With a grunt, he pushed himself onto his feet once more and continued his trek, Fawz sticking closer now, though still traipsing off every now and again to investigate a stray shrub or oddly lumped patch of dead grass. The smoke-smell grew stronger the farther he went, assuring him that he was headed in the right direction. A few more chimes, and he finally came across what remained of the wildfire, a large scar of blackened earth, stretching farther than Retic could guess with any accuracy. Some patches of the ground still smoldered, though the embers were quickly dying out without anything around them left to burn. He surveyed the area, eyes alighting on the one or two other people who milled about the area, though he hardly paid them any more mind than to recognize the fact that they were there. Any bones he might have spotted on the ground had likely been blackened, camouflaged against the ashes and pieces of char that crunched underfoot.
He sifted through the ground, hovering at the fringe of the damage to see what he could find there before he moved further in. His dog, however, had little patience and instead wound her way through the cinders, leaving Retic to simply hope she might dig up some creature's remains. After a while, he finally spotted something -- the fractured top half of a femur, if he had to guess, though it was too small to be human and too slender to be canine. He crouched, dirtying one hand against the ground as he reached and brought it closer, thumb tracing across the ball joint. It would make a good necklace, he imagined, if he filed down the sharp point where the length of the bone had splintered. Or perhaps that point could be used as a weapon; it would all depend on what it chose to share with him.
The smell of death hung in the air just as well, unsurprisingly, though it was a different kind of death than what he'd grown accustomed to expecting on the undead isle. It wasn't the stench of ever-rotting flesh -- that had a sickening bitterness to it, a taint that continued to turn Retic's stomach no matter how many seasons he was exposed to it. This was something more pure, the smell of actual death, of crisped meat and mild decomposition, rather than the odor of unnaturally prolonged life within a decayed shell.
The wildfire yesterday hadn't lasted long; it'd been long brought under control by the time the smell of it had wafted into the citadel, and longer still by the time he'd found a tiny window from which he could see the blackened ground. Nonetheless, where fire went death surely followed. At the very least, it may have cleared away some of the taller grasses to make it easier to locate any bones strewn across the ground. As he trudged along, scraping his feet across the ground in search every now and again, a pair of apprentices passed in the other direction a number of meters away, heading back to the citadel after seemingly having had the same idea. Ashes grimed up their hands as well as the fronts of their robes, which looked to be a bit too dark and heavy and not at all conducive to prolonging the usefulness of their bodies in the muggy afternoon heat. Between them they dragged a charred hunk of... something, either a corpse or a melted lump of gears and cogs. The pair's scowling and unquiet muttering indicated that perhaps it was the remains of an ill-fated experiment that had gotten caught in the fire, though it was impossible for him to tell at this distance. They didn't spare a second glance in his direction, but Retic made careful note of where the pair had been coming from.
It was five more chimes of walking in the northwesterly direction before he found physical evidence of the fire. A small lizard lay dead and shriveled on the earth, its skin singed despite the fact it was some ways away from wherever the fire had raged. Retic knelt, catching the attention Fawz's as he did so. She had wandered away, head low and following some trail of scents, in her element though still within sight across the flat land. Now she turned to face him, large ears perked in curiosity, and as Retic gingerly picked up the lizard's remains in his fingers, she trotted back toward him.
Retic stared at the lizard, drawing it closer to his own face while concentrating and focusing on the tingling mark on the back of his hand. All he needed was one moment of clarity, if he could clear his mind for only a tick, he could glean something about this tiny corpse. Breathe in, breathe out. Empty. Suspension. Floating. Lizard. And there it was:
Hot, fleeing, choking. There was the distinct impression of motion as well as pain, but that was it. There was no vision of what the lizard may have looked like before its body became dried and blackened, no hint of species, no inkling of any abilities it may have had in life. Only its last moments. The line of Retic's mouth flattened in disappointment, though he truly couldn't have expected much. All he could conclude was that the creature must have run from the fire, perhaps getting burnt along the way, though whether it had died from its burns, the pain, or the smoke was still up in the air. Not that it mattered -- a corpse was still a corpse. Fawz finally made her way to him, nose twitching as she sniffed at the lizard. Retic pulled it back slightly, aware that she might very well try to eat the thing if he wasn't careful. After a moment, she snorted in disapproval, tail lashing as she turned away once more.
"I know," he agreed, but not before placing the body in his rucksack. He'd see what he could make of it later, if he didn't find anything more interesting by the time he returned to the citadel. Being out of practice and with Judgement approaching, he couldn't afford to be picky, only to churn out as many products as he could and choose the most successful for presentation.
With a grunt, he pushed himself onto his feet once more and continued his trek, Fawz sticking closer now, though still traipsing off every now and again to investigate a stray shrub or oddly lumped patch of dead grass. The smoke-smell grew stronger the farther he went, assuring him that he was headed in the right direction. A few more chimes, and he finally came across what remained of the wildfire, a large scar of blackened earth, stretching farther than Retic could guess with any accuracy. Some patches of the ground still smoldered, though the embers were quickly dying out without anything around them left to burn. He surveyed the area, eyes alighting on the one or two other people who milled about the area, though he hardly paid them any more mind than to recognize the fact that they were there. Any bones he might have spotted on the ground had likely been blackened, camouflaged against the ashes and pieces of char that crunched underfoot.
He sifted through the ground, hovering at the fringe of the damage to see what he could find there before he moved further in. His dog, however, had little patience and instead wound her way through the cinders, leaving Retic to simply hope she might dig up some creature's remains. After a while, he finally spotted something -- the fractured top half of a femur, if he had to guess, though it was too small to be human and too slender to be canine. He crouched, dirtying one hand against the ground as he reached and brought it closer, thumb tracing across the ball joint. It would make a good necklace, he imagined, if he filed down the sharp point where the length of the bone had splintered. Or perhaps that point could be used as a weapon; it would all depend on what it chose to share with him.
"Common."
"Ancient tongue."
"Arumenic."
"Ancient tongue."
"Arumenic."
