[Outside the Crooked Playhouse] Another Victem (Ifran)

[Nowa]

Nowa relaxed as this man's anger ebbed away. He even stood up again, ready to follow for the time being. As the man wandered, Nowa tried to slow down, and slow the pace at which they walked. Nowa still had questions he wanted answered. This change was much slower, perhaps it was a hard one after all? Nowa could watch and tell, but it wasn't quite what he expected. He thought that, Ifran would be a different kind of afraid. ...Not the paranoid kind. How many kinds were there? Nowa wondered to himself. "I-is this a-all right?" Nowa grinned his childish grin. "Yes, it works. Was it hard? I have one more I want to see! It's a tough one!" Nowa paused, letting his mind think on it a while. Maybe the fear would help, maybe not. "I want you to be... you! I wanna see you!" The thought of him misunderstanding didn't even cross Nowa's mind.

[Ifran]

Ifran let the boy set their pace, slowing down at his obvious desire to do so. The fear melted away too, leaving a more or less blank slate. He even smiled in response to Nowa's own, his amusement honest enough that his aura jived with his outward appearance and manner. The latest request, however, didn't receive an unquestioning response with his acting. "But Nowa," he said, "they are all me."

[Nowa]

Nowa thought about that comment, what could that mean? Was he really both mad and afraid of Nowa? Was he toying with Nowa's words? Nowa's disposition changed once again, as he started looking to the ground, and he began to fuss with his hair. "I know you did all those, yes, but... I don't have the words... Do you really feel that way?" He couldn't quite bring himself to look twords Ifran, in fear that he had angered him. ...or scare him, for that matter. Nowa began to think about what he could do to change that, and make a friend of this man. OOCYou are now the most dedicated poster in my threads. <_<; Woo? Now Nowa is misunderstanding things. XD I almost went on, but realized your actions would make a pretty key difference in how he chose to 'remedy' the situation. I'm having some fun here.

[Ifran]

Ifran considered the young boy, feeling a tug to take him under his wing, but refraining from any sort of physical camaraderie. Kelvics were animals by nature, given human form and a degree of intelligence, but communication and rapport with them was more like animal husbandry than anything else. Finally he smiled. "That is the art I seek to learn in the Playhouse," he said, "the art of imagination. I have felt anger and fear before, and merely imagined some reason why I should react that way to you and let that fuel my emotional life. In that moment, I was angry with you, and frightened of you, but I was also aware that it was an exercise of imagination. I would not have struck you, nor run from your presence. I find your conversation refreshing. You have no need to fear me, though your caution will stand you in good stead in this world. "Some would offer you food with one hand while hiding a dagger behind their back in the other." Of course, a six-armed Eypharian might have hexabrachian complexity of motivation, but Ifran was charmed by the simple creature and spoke with him forthrightly.

[Nowa]

Nowa considered the reply carefully, still showing signs of concern. There were many things to think about from that comment, the least of which the new words. "Im-magi-nation. What does that mean? Is it like, fake? Or more like an illusion? Re-fresh-ing. Stead? I don't think I'm old enough to know all your words. I'm not a horse! I'm a Raven..." His other comment would be baffling as well, had Nowa not already seen such things many times. Offering to share and take at the same time, his whole life had been like that so far. Nowa shook his head, trying to distract himself from the thought. "So, are your extra arms an illusion, too? Or do you really have them all?"

[Ifran]

"Imagination, in its simplest sense, is creating a mental picture. It is probably linked to illusion, but would take a more sophisticated mind than mine to make the link. Cold water on a hot day is refreshing. Stead is like place. Does that all help?" With each hand he reached out to tap Nowa's shoulder, so he might feel for himself the reality of them all. "They are mine and they are real. My people are descended from a river god. The river delta had six arms too. Hence these."

[Nowa]

Nowa continued to think about the answers. "So, you are going to the theater to make images in your head, which lets you change yourself like an illusion. The conversation is cold water when it's hot out, and stead has too many meanings. I think common is hard. So, you have six arms because of a river and a god? I don't know much about gods either. Your whole family has lots of arms? That's almost as strange as the city. Would you only have one if the river had one arm? What if it had ten arms? Would you be even taller? If you split the river, would one of your arms split, too?" Nowa's stomach grumbled again. He glared at it with a scowl for a moment before looking back to Ifran for answers.

[Ifran]

Finally Ifran just laughed. "You ask some questions that only the gods might answer, Nowa. The creation of my race is an old thing, and who can say what might have been? As for your words, well, words are tricky things, meaning fluid. But you have the idea. Things will make sense in time."

[Nowa]

Nowa thought about it some more, he only kinda answered. Has no-one really tried changing the river? How do you ask the gods questions? Would he know how? Nowa had more questions to ask, but didn't ask them. He was hungry, and putting it off. "So, do I need my clothes first, or can I eat with this much on?" Nowa didn't like the thought of trying to find the tree without being a bird, but if it kept him from being hungry, he'd do it. The city liked to make him think the tree was everywhere, instead of just where it was. If he did, it might just be easier to get food from somewhere else, too. Maybe he'd find something on the way? He wondered what kind of food Ifran had, though, maybe he'd do both. Get food on the way, and come back for this food.

[Ifran]

Finally Ifran's feet found a food vendor's stall. "Ah! You can eat naked if it please you to do so, as long as the vendor gets paid." He purchased a skewer of vegetables and chunks of meat that had been slow roasted in the man's portable oven and handed one to Nowa before turning back toward, he hoped, the Playhouse.