[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Moritz and Madeira meet on Moritz birthday...

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The Diamond of Kalea is located on Kalea's extreme west coast and called as such because its completely made of a crystalline substance called Skyglass. Home of the Alvina of the Stars, cultural mecca of knowledge seekers, and rife with Ethaefal, this remote city shimmers with its own unique light.

[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Moritz Craven on April 5th, 2021, 12:45 am

Moritz nodded along, vaguely understanding what his mother was saying but not fully understanding all of it. Some of the words though he was half sure where made up, or where so technical he had never heard them used before.

"Right, an Aura is a... Thing around a thing, that's more or less what I said. Whats a Corona though? Is that also... A thing around a thing? Yeah that sounds different from this. I imagine there are lots of sees to see, its just most eyes or peoples senses aren't able to perceive them. Like I said, like explaining a certain color to someone who is blind. Its out there, they just can't understand or perceive it without the correct sense. It sounds like this aura thing lets you see some stuff, but not the djed crumbs and stuff you leave behind you which makes the paths I see with Iraso vision."

As the topic changed to the bracelet stuck on his wrist, Moritz watched silently as his mother grabbed at his arm and tried to move the bracelet around. As if she did not believe what he said, or had somehow been pulling on it wrong.

He was no sooner thinking over this though when he began to feel... Something. Not his own feeling, but someone else's. The only other person around being his mother, it made sense she was the source. But then he had never felt such things before when touching someone, not that he did so often... But still it was certainly new, the young kelvic knew that if nothing else.

Pondering it logically, Moritz moved his eyes from his mothers hand to the bracelet on his wrist, and noted that the only difference he could perceive in himself was the item he was now wearing. Going about it logically the new item which was clealry magical, in its ability to stick to him if nothing else, was the most likely cause.

He felt from his mother, not his own feelings but a conveyed one... That she wanted.... Needed.... Understanding. Information Perhaps? To learn something new? Or perhaps further clarity on what had been said. That seemed to be the impression he was getting off her, her great need of the moment.

Of course Moritz being Moritz he had trouble understanding what he was feeling from his mother, even though he could sense it. Which left him to try and muddle through as best he could.

"I feel fine. It doesn't hurt, it just won't come off. Although.... I do think... I might be feeling.... Or sensing... Not my feeling. Which I don't think I've ever done before. Like I can sense... Maybe something you are feeling. It happened when you started touching me, after I put it on. Like you need... Something.... Need.... Understanding. Is that right? What are you needing to understand? Or like you want to learn something new?"

Pausing for a moment and deciding to hedge his bets so to speak, Moritz went into his recent memory of something they had spoken about, which he could give more information on. Something which fitted that requirement, while also being her learning something knew, and therefore in Moritz mind solving all of her possible problems at once.

"Did you know gods can have kids? I learned that from my vision. Didn't know that before. This ice goddess lady, Morwen, who's been missing. I think since before I was born, hadn't heard of her that I can recall until the vision. Anyways, she's got a kid. And that kid has a son, because she's a grandmother with a grandson. But he's missing too. Although I think he was missing longer, since she went missing trying to find him when he was already missing. Does that help?"

Puzzling over the situation and watching his mothers reaction, seeing her eyes Moritz recalled she had asked him to use his Iraso sight on her. Closing his eyes for a moment and focusing his mind Moritz pictured an empty grassy field. Then he moved into it, seeing the edge of the field slope up into stone. The water in the grassy field was laying about in puddles, and he urged it upward. Up away from where it naturally lay, and up the grooves in the stone he had slowly been making with his past uses of Iraso sight. Willed it to move faster, perceiving those grooves to be the route that led to his eyes.

He kept focused on this for a bit, finding it easier than his prior attempt, and even easier than the time before that. Each attempt seemed that bit easier, slowly grinding a path into the stone by traveling his djed over it again and again. This time it did not take long, not much work at all, before he felt the change and opened his eyes to find his Iraso vision blazing atop the world. As this occurred the lights in his eyes would awaken, showing his Iraso sight was active.

Looking at his mother he inspected her djed body, noticing something almost right away. While his instructor had been brighter than he was, his mother... His mother was even brighter than his instructor. More dense. A thickness of djed he had not seen before.

"Huh... Your djed, it seems much.... Stronger. Denser. Brighter... Than the others I've seen. Even stronger than the one who gave me the gift. I wonder what that means... Any idea?"

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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Madeira Dusk on April 11th, 2021, 10:23 pm

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Moritz’ pondered his way through the strange flood of emotions he was getting, and as Madeira slowly realized what he was talking about, her first instinct was to flinch away from his arm. It was Aldgare and his auristics all over again. The Spiritist hated the idea of being so emotionally undressed like that. Having ones wants and needs on full display made you an easy target for all kinds of coercion.

“I really wanted to know what was happening”, she confirmed, turning his elbow with her palm and giving him back his hand. “Seems you’re the new owner of a very unique magic item. Be careful with that. Knowing what someone is feeling can give you an edge in a lot of social or persuasive situations, but it also seems like something that could overwhelm you if you let it.”

Moritz didn’t waste any time before launching into satisfying her perceived need, babbling in a disjointed way about the winter goddess, Morwen. Madeira furrowed her brow as she listened.

“The vision you had was about Morwen disappearing while she was looking for her missing grandson?”, she reiterated patiently. “Do you have any idea why you were sent this vision? And does this mean you know where they are? Morwen has been gone for four years. Possibly longer. It’s a major cause of strife in the world right now.” A dark expression winged across her face. “A lot of people died when she left. But if you told Aysel and Talora I’m sure they will figure something out. You don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

She had been in Alvadas when the word got out about the disappearance of Morwen and winter. The city had erupted into violence almost overnight. They had thought that brutalizing the Vantha people would somehow bring their goddess out of hiding. The governing bodies had even put bounties on the head of every Vantha. Then the lot of them had the gall to come to the Cravens for help when hordes of new, vengeful ghosts were born from their genocide of an entire race.

She shook herself out of the memory when Moritz surfaced with observations about her djed.

“I’m not sure why it would look like that”, she answered honestly. “I was using magic while you were looking at me. Could that affect how you see it?”
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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Moritz Craven on April 11th, 2021, 11:33 pm

Moritz nodded as his mother partially confirmed one of his questions, her statement further clarifying what he had felt... From her? Off her? Of her? He also learned that while he had understood her want, her need, he had not understood that well enough to know what it meant.

A desire to know what was happening. Partly, perhaps, related to the effect he was feeling from the bracelet? Or from other things? Or both? As he thought on this his mother released his hand, and as she did the feeling he got from her faded quickly away to nothing.

"Hmm.... So I was only partly right. But that's probably just me not interpreting it right. Huh... As soon as you let go, it... Faded away. Now I'm not feeling anything from you. Maybe it only works on people I'm touching?"

Muttering, somewhat under his breath, Moritz spoke a bit more flippantly to the air in general regarding the new magic item.

"Another one? That's the second season in a row. Seems a bit too often to just be chance. Which would imply I'm getting them on purpose... But from who? And why? To help me? Or... Mmm..."

Ending his train of thought for the moment Moritz returned his gaze to his mother, focusing on her djed pattern and trying to remember it deep in his mind so he would not forget. Similar to how he had done with others, he took time to break it apart and consider it both in chunks and as a whole. With enough time he felt certain he could memorize it, useful if he ever saw it later and needed to pick it out from many.

He spoke as he watched her, akin to someone tying a knot while speaking. Not completely focused on one thing or the other, instead doing each slowly over time, and with more focus on one as the conversation paused in fits and starts.

"I'm not sure why I was sent it. Though, I mean... I was sent it. Which I suppose, logically speaking, could mean a few things. But since I don't know who sent it, like this magic item here, its hard to say why they did it... But the most obvious reason they sent it to me, was because they could. Maybe for some reason it was easier to send it to me. Or something about it meant others couldn't get it. Or maybe they knew I would spread it, which was what they wanted. Or maybe I got the vision by chance, at random. Or maybe... Or maybe I was sent it because they want me to go and resolve it."

Pausing for a moment his mother responded on his query about her djed, which made Moritz ponder that further.

"I don't think that would be it, or all of it, since I'm always using magic when I see my own djed pattern and yet mine is always dimmer than yours."

Sensing a connection, disparate strands of logic moving into a line when looked from a certain angle, Moritz suddenly smiled to himself as he reached understanding. A rare smile on the boys face, so quickly aging into his teens.

"I'm new to magic, and my djed appears dim. Not as dim as some I've seen, but then perhaps they don't use magic. Aja uses magic, has for a long time, and is pretty skilled. But she's only pretty skilled, since she does a lot of things. She's brighter than me, but dimmer than you. And then you, you've been called a master, I mean your a instructor after all. So... Maybe it relates to how powerful in magic one is. Overall? Or in your best magic? Or... Something. I think its something to do with magic. Magic use. Magical ability. Or something related to that."

While connecting his points of logic Moritz eyes had drifted off, and he had stopped examining his mothers djed so focused was he. As he finished his thoughts he redoubled his efforts, focusing on his djed and once more using the mental image to will it to act in the desired fashion, shaping and molding the djed to the end he wanted. A breath in, and slowly out, and then he focused on a steady drip of djed to keep his Iraso sight intact. With that done he turned back to his mother, continuing the task of examining her djed. This bit here reminded him of a part he had seen on... And this bit here had a depth and clarity similar to... But then that part when next to that... A complex weave and mix of djed and information he was only beginning to puzzle out. But for now he would settle on remembering it, keeping it in his mind for later use.

Recalling the earlier bit which he had been distracted from a few times, Moritz turned back to something he was able to do more easily and without diverting as much focus. Retelling a story, that of his true vision, more or less the same as he had done before though as always with some deviation. It was never exactly the same when he told the tale, for each time his setting and audience was different. Which, he supposed, was how a tale should be told. Otherwise one might as well be reading a book.

"Yes, I know where she is. Where she went, why, and where she ended up. And what happened to her. Why she's been missing. To be honest, its kind of sad. But I suppose even gods don't always win when they try things."

Pausing to collect himself Moritz continued his stare, looking more into his mother that at her. He certainly was not meeting her gaze, but then that was only something he had learned to do recently and he was focused on many things at once, too many to also focus on how he appeared as he spoke.

"Morwen has a grandson. Or had one. But he'd gone missing. So... So she went looking for him. She heard a rumor, which took her to a place in a jungle. A hot place ill suited for a goddess of ice and snow and cold. But she went in, hoping to find her grandson. Inside she found a gate, a place of magic, which took her to another world. An even hotter world. A molten world of heat and hot. "

"But as she arrived onto the world, she was captured by a horrible creature. A monster. Something I cannot describe, could not see, but understood its monstrosity. It took her. Captured her. Chained and enslaved her, bound to its throne in its fortress. There is began the process, slowly draining her of her power, of her cold, of her being, using it to cool his hot world. Draining her more and more, slowly bleeding her of her power, till she is upon death."

"If nothing is done, she will die. If that happens, another will ascend. Or... Or someone can rescue her, free her, return her, and bring her back to her place as ruler of winter."

As Moritz finished speaking he noticed something obscuring his vision, moving up his hand to find his eyes were watering. Perhaps from staring so long, having perhaps forgotten to blink? Brushing away the wetness he peered at his mother, seeing her as she was in truth. Her djed, the true her, so much more than her physical form displayed. A thing of beauty, not bound by flesh.

"She needs to be found. To do nothing, with that knowledge, would be... It would be like helping kill her. All things die in time, but she has struggled and fought to live. Surely she deserves a chance to be freed, to live. To not die as a chained animal being bled out on the floor."

"I think I need to go. If they send someone, I think I need to go. Maybe I was just a messenger. Just meant to pass on what I saw. But what if I'm meant to do something? To help? Even if only to find this gate she went through? Or to try to fight. I can't just do nothing. Not and let a goddess die. What would be the logic in that?"

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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Madeira Dusk on April 26th, 2021, 5:53 pm

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“You think…” Madeira swallowed hard and tried again. “You think the logical course of action is to run off to the jungle to help save this goddess?”

It was such a leap for her emotion-devoid, overly analytical son to make. The story itself was incredible, the fact that Moritz was the one to receive the message was more incredible still, but it was the tears gathering in the corners of the Kelvic's eyes that nearly broke Madeira. What could move Moritz like that? Why was he talking about being meant to do something? Like he was on some collision course with destiny? Why, when she needed it the most, was his logic abandoning him?

Was this what those priests have been going on about all this time?, she wondered. Was this faith?

“Moritz… Gods are terrible beings. If this… thing, this monster, is powerful enough to hold Morwen captive then what do you possibly think we mortals can do? You are two years old. You have never been in a fight. You have never even left this city. Now you want to run off to the jungle to hunt for other worlds and monsters? Do you even hear yourself?”

She stood up, restless and agitated. The manor groaned behind them.

“If she must die, she will die. You say another will ascend to take her place? Then let it be. Winter will come again and we will honor Morwen for her sacrifice. But you, Moritz…”

She turned to look at Moritz, and took the time to really see him: his calloused hands and downturned mouth, that straight brow that was constantly furrowed. She could see a lot of Allister in him, but almost nothing of herself.

“You are a righteous person, my love. If you must act, the logical course of action would be to give this task to someone else. Anyone else. Tell the whole world and let those glory-hungry fools charge in. Just not my son.”
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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Moritz Craven on May 1st, 2021, 8:58 pm

Moritz frowned, not quite agreeing with his mothers oversimplified explanation, but not outright dis-agreeing. Or at least not feeling it was the right moment to voice his disagreement.

He did think it was clear, his path, to go to help. To try and find and save this divine being... In what form that would take he did not know, and felt he had said as much, whether or not his mother had heard that. He was going to go, that was his plan, though for now he was still pressing for the first step which was to get someone interested in the journey and involved in working on resolving it.

Shrugging in reply to her first question, Moritz rubbed off the wetness on his finger on his pants, staring at his mother and her Djed body. The more he looked the more he saw its depth, the "this"-ness that made up her. He could at once understand why her djed pattern was hers, while also knowing her understood so little of it. She was her, just as he was him, and they were all their own person. Distinct. Unique. Individual. Not necessarily better or worse, he was beginning to see, but different.

"I'm not sure I'd quite use that phrasing, as it implies some things... Like lack of preparation..."

"I don't know what I can do. Maybe nothing. Or maybe something. Or maybe a lot. I don't know. But its too many maybes to know what. And its too many maybes to try to plan now what exactly I will do when I get there. And honestly a bit early in the process to even begin thinking about such things. Your asking what to do before I've even made that thing possible. That's not how plans work, from my understanding. You make a simple plan, pick a step, and begin working on it. When that's done you do another, and so on till your done. And with this each needs to be done before the next can be fully understood as to what needs to be done next."

For a moment Moritz moved his visions focus to his mothers eyes, seeing the dual sight of his Iraso vision and her djed eyes along with her mundane ones. To his odd eyes they seemed somewhat simple, unlike his own which were clearly not human and marked by the gift of the witch with Iraso. Simple enough human eyes, unmarred and unchanged.

"Just because something is hard, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. And you keep saying I'm planning to run off. Do you know me at all? I'm a preparer. A planner. I'm logical. I'm not going to run off half prepared and without thinking things through. A year ago I was barely talking, and honestly half the words I was using I didn't fully understand. I'd barely touched a blade. Who knows what I'll be capable of in another year. I will take on the challenges I am prepared for, work on training and becoming prepared for the rest, and when I'm properly prepared I'll take on those as well. Given enough time, and preparation, given logic and planning, I can do whatever I set my mind to. I feel like I've been told that by someone, even if it wasn't you, and I believe that to be true."

Moritz felt many things at once. Fear of leaving home, of leaving his familiar known world. Sadness at what he saw and heard and was told. Lack of belief. Lack of understanding. But along with that certainty, a cold logic that made it clear his fear and sadness did not matter. They were still there, still felt, but outweighed by other things.

"Gods are people to. I think... I think you think both too much, and too little of them. A hill doesn't look at a mountain and see something different, nor does it fear it. A hill knows a mountain is just a much bigger version of itself. Why would being divine be any different? Morwen is just a grandmother, sad at having lost her grandson. She was captured, taken advantage of, and used. Enslaved. If she was a normal person, I would try to help her. Why does being divine change anything? Its just a difference of scale. And while you can climb a hill by preparing for a day, you can also climb a mountain with enough planning and preparation."

In his mind Moritz saw a logical progression, whether it was there or not did not matter. It was clear in his mind, and he understood it. He could follow the chain of logic that led him there. Understood even if others did not. To him that was what mattered. What was the truth.

While bits of his mothers argument made sense, they were washed away in Moritz perceived view. He saw his mother as a chicken pecking on the ground, seeing a stump in the way and pecking at it. While he saw himself as a bird flying overhead and seeing the full lay of the land, how unimportant the stump was and how minor a problem it represented. For a moment he was lost in thought as he mentally pictured how his mother would appear as a literal chicken, then on his own unique mane colored across a sharp talon-ed bird in the sky, but quickly pulled himself back to the conversation at hand.

"I think I disagree on your definition of logic. Logic is not about being happy, or coming to the result you searched for. It is about coming to the correct conclusion. Even if it makes you unhappy, or fearful. Otherwise doing the correct thing would always be easy, wouldn't it? You say logic, but I think you mean something else. And you point out facts, but not the whole fact."

Taking on a hard look to his eyes Moritz mentally threw down the gauntlet, imagining the sharp talon-ed bird in the sky swooping down to grab the chicken in its clutches.

"If you want to talk logic, then how about the logic of your hypocrisy. You say one thing at one time, but when it suits you then you say something else. Is that logical? You talk about Dira. Of death. Of life. But now that it involves me, you speak differently. I'm not rushing to embrace death mother, but neither am I mindlessly fleeing from Dira. All things die. Even the plants live and die, are consumed, and those things that consume them in turn die. To live is to know death. So I pose a question for you. If my death could save a god, would that not be a fair exchange?"

"I don't plan to die mother. And if I can I will certainly avoid it. But I cannot say I will avoid it at all costs. That if I thought it was worth it, that I would not trade my life for something I felt equaled its value. "

"Logic, is about finding the correct answer, not the one you want to hear. And sending someone else off to do something, how is that a suitable method? I ask you this. If someone took me. Was slowly killing me, and you knew that if you did nothing I would die. And then you learned of where I was. Would you just send someone off to rescue me, and sit hoping all was resolved well? Or would you go with them and make sure things were handled correctly, and that everything that could be done was done. Would you sit and trust in everyone else doing there job, or would you trust in yourself and your own importance you placed on that task. For how could anyone who did not find the task as important as you did do as much? Go as far?"

"Logic would seem to say that not everyone places equal importance on all things. Clearly, as I don't see anyone else rushing off to save Morwen, and quite a few people know at this point. People care, but how much? And how quickly? How important is it to them? And should I trust the task to those people who place less importance on it? I don't believe so. I find it hard to believe you would believe that."

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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Madeira Dusk on May 7th, 2021, 2:51 am

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"If my death could save a god, would that not be a fair exchange?" Moritz challenged.

"No." Madeira's answering smile was full of pain. "Not to me. Not if it's you."

He was lecturing an Eiyon on death, calling her a hypocrite, saying
all things die and 'to live is to know death' like the child had any idea
what that actually meant. Accepting the cycle didn't make one feel it
less. Accepting the inevitability of death didn't mean one shouldn't
fight to live. There was relativity here that logic
didn't touch. She would sacrifice anyone, god or not, to see her son survive a little longer. That was not refusing the cycle, that was valuing the life of her family over a stranger.

The death of Morwen would be felt by the whole world.
The death of Moritz Craven would destroy the world of one person.

The verbal gauntlet was thrown but Madeira didn't pick it up. She let
the tirade wash over her, making no move to interrupt or stem the
flow. Only when he was done did she move to speak.

"The gods are not people", she disagreed without rancor. "They may
look like us, they may sound like us, they may be jealous and sad and
angry like us, may love like us, but never make the mistake of
thinking they just a greater version of us. Morwen is not a person, she
is a force of nature with a family." It wasn't something she could put
into words, just how alien they felt. Of the gods she had met, it was Dira who stuck in her mind the most; the way she looked through and past her, two meters
away but a millennium apart. Not a person with dominion over death,
but death masquerading as a human being.

"We don't see the world the same way, Moritz. Nothing on Miza is more
important to me than us. This family. Right here." She opened her arms
to indicate the ground they were standing on, and all the people and
creatures that called it home. "Everything else, everyone else,
is secondary. You think that's small-minded of me, don't you? The fact
that you are more important to me than this goddess that affects the
world."

"If you were trapped I would rile armies and tear this world apart
myself trying to find you, you're right. Yet I would never, never,
risk your life for this Goddess. No, it's not logical. I don't give a
petch about your holier-than-thou logic and I never have. Don't you
see that? She does not matter. You matter. I do not love
this goddess. I love you."

She could make him stay. She could keep him here and wait for Morwen
to die and another to ascend. She could do it. It would be hard, but
she could. She could have Moritz haunted, have Jomi live in his bones
for days or weeks at a time, ready to forcibly turn him around if he
tried to leave the city. She could convince the manor to become a
fortress, ringed with steel walls and moats and anything else it
could dream up. She could right now reach into Moritz' mind and, if
not scrub out his wild thoughts, at least supplant them with her own.
She could make him stay. He was her only son, the only creature on
Miza worth more than her own life, and she could make him stay.

Even as the thought manifested she cringed away from it. That
possessive, desperate tone sounded like her father.

If Moritz gave her time she could inspire more capable people-
adventurers, mages, and warriors- to go save his goddess. She had the
magic and resources and the persuasive talent to make it happen. The
young Kelvic would never need to risk himself. But that wasn't what
this was about. He wanted to do this himself. There was something
about this mission that he found personally important.

There was nothing she could do. She looked into the fire in his eyes
and realized there was nothing that would change his mind. She had
lost before it had even begun.

"If you must go, go." Her pale eyes flashed and her gaze lifted,
staring unseeing at the trees that dotted the Manor land. She will not
cry. A Craven doesn't cry. "If this crusade is really so important to you. If
some force out there says you are meant to go. If you are willing to place all your faith in this vision. Go."

"But if you leave..." She breathed, steadying herself. "If you leave,
you must come back. I don't care how. I don't care if you're an old
man by then. I don't care if you have to look Dira in the eye and tell
her to wait for you. No matter what, you will come back home."

Her voice snapped then, a clean crack like the sound of an
overburdened branch that couldn't take the strain. A hot wash of tears
rolled down her face before she could stop it.
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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Moritz Craven on May 9th, 2021, 1:32 am

As Moritz spoke on death, dying, and life, his mind filtered back once more to Aja. Some things she had told the young kelvic had a deep impact on him. Things he was still left pondering and working through.

He had avoided taking life, or so he said, but life as she explained it was in everything. Plants, grass even that was eaten by animals, was alive. He did place more importance on his own life than some random bit of cud, but still it brought into question many things Moritz had considered before. He still did not think he would eat meat himself, but better understood the reasoning and logic of doing so if needed.

It was a tricky subject, and though he did not enjoy the idea of taking life or dying he knew it was not something to be avoided. Life. Death. Beginnings. Ends... Moritz pondered such things, knowing it was beyond his ability to come to a conclusion on in the fleeting moments he had spent on it. Such, he supposed, was the purpose of philosophy. Where logic began, or perhaps ended, philosophy took up its place.

He knew the words he said were harsh. He spoke knowing that. Knowing the barb on his tongue lashed even as he had so hated when his mothers had. But then he felt at that moment such a barb was needed. This was not a time for niceness, with silently agreeing as he had before. It was stating his point, making his logic clear, and trying to persuade his mother into stepping beyond her illogical emotion into his own logic.... Albeit, he accepted, his own logic somewhat tinted with emotion.

Though, as he was also beginning to see, emotion often mixed in with logic. He was not sure which had come first, his logical conclusion or his emotional one? Did hearing a question and answering right away without thinking for a long time make that response incorrect or illogical? He did not think so, but felt he had considered things enough over time that he now understood his way of thinking to be the right and logical one.

Balance. Balance, he knew, was important.

When his mother spoke finally in response he was somewhat surprised and off put to see her calm reaction. He had been expecting anger. Emotion. Thrown words with great speed and energy. Instead his mother had simply stated some point and moved onward. This left the young kelvic feeling a bit wrong footed, as if he was in a great battle and arching up for another attack only to see his opponent collapse to the ground.

Confusing to the young kelvics mind.

Gods were like people, but not people? Moritz was unsure if that was an argument of semantics, or an actual point. A force of nature... With a family. But if they looked and talked and acted and felt like a person... How were they not a person?

At her question Moritz pondered, frowning in thought, before answering simply.

"I.... Don't know that I see that as wrong or right. I certainly don't condemn anyone from having a different viewpoint than me. But you are you, and I am me. We are each our own, unique. So I don't expect to see things exactly the same. Personally, I think balance is important. You think your children are. I can't say for sure which is right, or which is wrong. Only what I understand to be from my view."

If Morwen died it would mean imbalance. Until she died, and upon her death. Eventually it would be fixed, but what damage until then? Moritz did not know, but felt it was far greater than the death of himself.

Canting his head Moritz watched his mothers eyes, seeing the odd dual flash of djed as liquid formed in her eyes, the twisting and turning of the material. Seeing it as a part of her djed, and then slightly shifting within the pattern that was her. Seeing it also with his mundane vision and understanding it in another way.

Hearing her words and seeing her face Moritz considered, thought, planned, and then took action.

Leaning over he wrapped his arms around his mother in an awkward embrace, approximating a hug but not quite doing it right. It wasn't for him an instinctive response, not something he did on his own. Rather it was more like adding up a row of numbers and finding the proper solution through logic and reasoning, and then acting upon that solution. If nothing else it showed he was trying, was making an attempt, even if the spirit of the action was not quite right.

"I always planned to come home. I never said I was leaving forever. But I give my word, I will do everything I can to come back. And I'm not going to just go and die over nothing. I will do my best to live as well."

Almost as an afterthought Moritz looked over at his hound, seeing the dog enjoying being outside.

"But I think you'll have to watch Naymon till I get back. I don't think she'd do well in a jungle. She's a mountain dog, meant for the cold, not a hot place like that."

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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Madeira Dusk on May 30th, 2021, 11:26 pm

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Madeira startled in her skin when Moritz stood up from his seat on the step, took a stride towards her, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

The Spiritist had never shown much physical affection to her children as they grew up. She had never kissed them goodnight, rarely hugged them, she didn't brush her daughters hair again once she was old to do it herself, and didn't clasp her son's shoulder when she was proud of him. Familial affection was as foreign as another language to her, and despite the effort she never managed to be fluent.

So how did Moritz know to do this?

The embrace was stiff and awkward and had none of the comforting warmth one would expect from such an action, but Madeira shattered into pieces at the touch. Wrapping her skinny arms around her son's shoulder she wept like a child, the sound shivering across the building and the grounds. The last time she had cried was the day her children were born, and now she was about to lose both of them. First their father left, then their daughter, and now their son. They all left her, and now she was the only member of their small, broken family left in Lhavit. An ache etched itself in her heart, burying itself deep inside her, and at once she knew she was going to carry it for the rest of her life.

Moritz promises her that he will do everything he could to come back, that he never meant to leave forever. Madeira just clutched him like somehow that would be enough to ensure he simply didn't go. It was only as his attention wandered to his dog that Madeira managed to get a hold of herself. Red-faced and shining with tears, she forced herself let him go. There were wrinkles in his shirt from where she had it in her fists. She smoothed them out numbly with her thumb.

"I'll make sure Naymon is taken care of", she nodded sharply, her lips a thin, hard line in her effort to keep her thin composure. Her eyes drifted over the house and the grounds they were standing on. A lot of changes were on the horizon.

"I'm getting married in a few weeks", she admitted with a watery laugh. "I was rather hoping you would be there. I'm inheriting Chiona Dusk's last name and all the Dusk's power." Turning away, she smoothed down the front of her dress and wiped away the tears clinging to her eyelashes. "And I've been thinking of starting my own business. Something in the service of death. A cemetery or a church. Maybe a spiritism business. Maybe all three. I'm just... tired of teach other people. It's time I used my talents to aid the dead like I used to." She shook her head, her smile heavy and exhausted. "Things might have changed a lot when you come back, but I'll still be here, waiting for you."

"Now go", she waved him away, her face still turned away to hide the moisture returning to her eye. "Go get your friend before he manages to devour every drop of soulmist I have stashed away."
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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Moritz Craven on May 31st, 2021, 9:23 pm

While Moritz was not an overly emotional person, nor did he often feel the need to show physical signs of affection, even he could not say if that was just his natural state or from hos he had been raised.

He had seen other adults do as such, children and their parents at school, a child banging there knee in a market and being embraced, and had from trial and error and some simple social math worked out what he believed was the socially expected response to someone in emotional turmoil.

1+2=3. Emotional turmoil+tears+familial nature=hug expected. He might have been missing a few variables, and the math was a bit unclear in his head, much less clear than normal math involving numbers, but he still felt he had approximated a normal response. Even if it had been worked out and not instinctive or natural.

When her tears seemed to increase at his touch at first Moritz thought he had done something wrong, though as he felt her own arms wrap around him in response he was less certain. Perhaps tears were not always meaning... More meaning worse? Or perhaps it was like someone draining a waterskin, sometimes it just needed to get out? He was not quite certain, and did not have much experience in his own life for tears outside of pain, whether in himself or others, or at least not that he could recall. Certainly no tears such as these.

So perhaps due to some unknown variable these tears did not follow the same progressive nature of normal tears, of more meaning worse? It seemed a solid enough theory, logical and sound, though he was unsure how to go about testing it or at least verifying it.

And so the young kelvic just accepted the hug and hugged back as best he could until his mother seemed ready to end the embrace. Once they departed their embrace Moritz was left wondering why others seemed to enjoy it so much, not having really gotten any enjoyment out of it. Or perhaps he was doing it wrong?

When his mother then noted she would be getting married shortly, Moritz frowned in thought and confusion.

"Wait what? Who? Were you... Seeing someone before? I guess not anyone you felt you needed to mention. I don't think you've ever said anything about seeing anyone before to me. Either you've been seeing someone for awhile and just never mentioned it, or your getting married rather suddenly."

"So who is it that your marrying? Or... How did you meet them? And why are you getting married?"

As he thought on the topic another thing met his attention, which he puzzled over. Chiona.

"Chiona, isn't that a woman's name? Do woman marry woman?"

His understanding of romance was a bit vague, but woman romancing woman was a new one for him. Of course he had a rather simple understanding of such things, more to do with mating and breeding and bearing children or its most basic elements, more so than actual romance.

"Do you love them? Or are you marrying for some other reason?"

From his own understanding of his mother he felt it was likely the latter. Particularly due to her use of the word "power" before in their union. But he left it open for his mother to clarify or to explain as she would the reasons for her union.

Once her mother finished explaining whatever she would Moritz rose and ran off to find Julan, finishing the ghosts feast it was all too likely partaking of.

As a passing note as they left Moritz turned to his mother once more, waving as he left.

"See you later. And I mean, I'm not sure where I'll end up, but it'll likely have a link to the outpost won't it? So we could always meet there."

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[Infinity Manor]A Born Day Marked[Madeira]

Postby Madeira Dusk on June 2nd, 2021, 9:03 pm

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Madeira blinked, genuinely taken aback.

"I didn't know you were so interested in my romantic life, Moritz." It hardly seemed like big news when just a few chimes ago he was explaining that a deity was giving him psychic vision that he just now decided to tell her about. "Chiona Dusk is a wonderful woman, the bright and capable daughter of the man I work for. I met her through my classes at the Tower. I didn't tell you I was seeing someone because our relationship was not public, and I don't trust you to keep anything to yourself."

It was a strange thing to admit, that she didn't trust her honest, hard-nosed son. She laughed, wiping her eyes with the sleeve on her wrist.

"Alice Weaver has said that what you told her about me was very... enlightening. She seems to think I'm a liar with ulterior motives. Why does she know that, Moritz?" The reality of it still knocked the breath out of her, that her son could so flippantly speak to strangers about her like that, completely clueless to the damage he was causing. She shook her head, waving off any reply he might have made. "It doesn't matter. As for us both being women, gender has little to do with love and marriage. You love who you love. And political marriages have existed for hundreds of years. Those are made more for the benefit of the individuals or families rather than for love or children. I have a lot to gain from marrying Chiona, and she has a lot to gain from marrying me."

Then Moritz was off, jumping to his feet with his new sword in hand to find Julan. He waved from the top step, saying wherever he was going to end up, he will probably be able to access the outpost. Madeira waved back, doing her best to smile. Even if she won't be able to help him, wherever he will be, at least she could try and keep in touch with her son.
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