Closed Dirt of the Earth[Delos]

[Clyde Sullins]

65 Spring 513 Clyde tried to breath. After all, the first step to calming oneself, was to breath. Of course, it was also helpful in keeping one alive, but... And Clyde ripped his mind from this train of thought, which was once more getting out of hand. It seemed the harder he tried to focus, the more his mind wandered. Emptying his mind, seemed to do little more than make more room for the existing thoughts to run around. Why, was he out in the wilds, trying to clear his mind, with no one but Rye keeping him company as he sat in dirt? Magic of course. Why else did Clyde ever go outside of cities, away from people? It seemed to be one of the few places he truly felt at ease, and truly alone, were he could study and work on his magics. Perhaps a habit left over, from his childhood days in Syliras, practicing his forbidden magics away from prying eyes. One of his newer magics, voiding, was what he wanted to work on today... But he was not very good at it yet. He had earlier taken out ink and quill, and painted a simple enough focus onto his hands palm. He know held it out open before him, staring down at it, and the focus glyph. A facsimile of the black sun. In his case, it was a circle, with a wavy line going around it. But no one said he was an expert drawer. As he did this, he focused on the concept of emptiness, alone, of the void which was so devoid of all things... Doing his best to not ponder the thought that void was in the word devoid, which meant empty... Trying to focus his mind, to meditate on his magics and his body, and not let stray thoughts distract him. But he was also no master in meditation... He moved his unglyphed left hand in a circular motion, above his upheld glpyhed hand, picturing a void forming, a swirling fissure of emptiness. As he swirled his hand round and round, a odd gesture to aid his magic, even for Clyde, he finally felt it happen... The small rent appearing in the space between his two hands, a tiny void the size of a pinprick. He focused on the void more, feeding it more djed, and slowly growing it larger. Totally focused on his magic, not noticing much of anything around him.

[Delos]

It had been a while since Delos had managed to get outside of Ravok, about a month if he were to be the judge of things. Between attending Amelia and her "sessions" at the Black Hole, and searching through every library he could find for new knowledge he had possessed very little time for personal walks. Today he was taking a little time for himself, and of course what better way to do that than by examining the local fauna outside of Ravok.

Delos had recently gained something of an interest in herbalism, probably due to a few books he had read on the subject. He remembered being absolutely mesmerized as he pored over the pages of one particular volume, detailing a number of plants around Ravok that only bloomed in the Spring and died in the Summer. He couldn't exactly recall the name but it was supposedly very distinctive.

Unfortunately Delos was finding that finding one particular flower, more of a lily really, in the wilderness around Ravok was rather difficult. Ah, such were trials of a scholar, but he would persevere! The plant needed to be found, even if only to satisfy his own curiosity, it was unfortunate that he had been forced to leave his scrolls behind at his home. He anticipated that if he did find it he would need to take notes.

The Pycon scholar sighed, perhaps it would have been helpful if he had swallowed his fear and asked Amelia to help him get around outside of Ravok. Then again, knowing the Black Sun interrogator she would be just as likely to throw him into the lake as help him. So he was alone, again, on the road to adventure.

Delos continued onward into the wilderness, alert and ready to use his reimancy should anything less than friendly decide that they liked the taste of clay scholars. Hopefully there were not too many creatures like that, still Delos made a note to research the common diets of animals around Ravok, it never hurt to be safe.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde gazed down at his small creation, a void, or should he say, a doorway into the void. But he supposed, he was seeing the void, as it was on the other side. It was always odd to look into it, to see the utter nothing, empty of anything... Or should he say devoid... No, that was just him getting sidetracked once more. It was held in the air, a rent open between his hands, one held under it, with a focus glyph, the other above, continuing its swirling gesture. He slowly fed it more djed, more life, growing it. It was almost imperceptible at first, growing, to the size of a fingernail... The portal got a bit bigger, as it ever so slowly swelled, and widened. Soon enough, it had swelled even more, till it was about the size of a Miza. Clyde let it settle at that size, not wanting to push to hard, or try to make it to large, even though he did not doubt he could manage a larger one. As he focused on maintaining his portal to the void, his attention was pulled away, by a low growl coming from Rye. He was a good guard dog, and usually alerted him to anything that might be a danger. The dog barked once, to pull Clyde attention, and he was forced to break his connection to the void. He pulled his hands back, making sure not to come in contact with it. It did not disappear right away, though it did stop growing. Soon enough it would collapse upon itself, once it ran out of djed to fuel it. "Is someone there?" Clyde called out, looking around. He did not see anyone, or any movement, but his dog had not been wrong before. If it said something was there, then it was there.

[Delos]

Delos had been startled from his introspection by a loud barking noise from somewhere up ahead. The Pycon's immediate response was to take cover behind the nearest tree. The scholar was not the greatest fighter out there, his only defense was his reimancy and while it was certainly potent Delos preferred to use it only when necessary. Considering his current location, Djed drain would likely not be advantageous.

A voice called out from beyond the trees, which surprised Delos as he had not expected to find another person out in the wilds. The scholar stopped to think of the implications of another person out in the wilds. There were very few people who preferred the wilderness to the city, most of them were rather unsavory. The young scholar was not a highly judgmental person, he was open to all knowledge both good and bad, he was however a cautious person.

Still on the off chance that this mystery person was friendly perhaps they could be of some assistance in his search for the lily. If they were not, well, he had plenty of earth to work from if circumstance dictated that he use his magic. The Pycon dared to leave the cover of the tree, trying to focus his Djed, just in case.

"Ah, yes, there is someone here. I am coming out of the brush, please don't be alarmed. I mean no harm." The Scholar called out, his words articulate and his tone highly refined.

He really did not want to get into a fight, not today or any day. Hopefully this person would be friendly. Or at least not hostile.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde recalled his portal had still not closed, and quickly inverted it. He flowed a small bit of djed into it, which quickly made it diminish. Soon enough, it was back down to the size of a pinprick, and then after had vanished entirely, with but a bit more concentration on making it gone. That, done, with one less thing to worry about, he looked around for whatever was approaching. But the last thing he obviously wanted, was for the person to see him doing magic. Really, he did not need the trouble. Rye had only barked the once, and was now giving off a low growl, staring off out of sight, in the direction Clyde could only assume was the direction of whatever was out there. Clyde heard a voice speaking in response, though he could not see were the person was... Coming out of the brush? Were, he did not see anyone... Which was odd... Shouldn't he see the person, if he was looking were the voice came from? As he saw a bit of movement, he looked down, to see a tiny little... What was that? And why was it oddly familiar? A little person? A dirt man? What the petch? Suddenly, Clyde recalled long ago, years ago, having met one before. A tiny little dirt man, which he had fought with. Well, not really fought, it was only a friendly little spar, but all the same... Looking at it, he examined it... It certainly did not seem threatening. It was so tiny... "What are you?" Clyde said this, obviously with little tact, but no malice, more of a genuine interest than anything else.

[Delos]

Well this was... rather unexpected, to say the least. Delos had not expected to run into any members of the larger races outside of Ravok. The wilds around the city were generally a place that they deliberately attempted to avoid, which Delos thought was a shame. For all the danger the wilds held it could be quite the spectacle of beauty to behold.

The young scholar craned his neck up to look at the man, another thing he found irritating about the larger races. Why did they have to be so big? It was really rather inconvenient for the Pycon.

The man was rather tall, then again so were all members of the larger races. He looked to be human, which was not at all an unusual sight in and around Ravok. His sky blue eyes were looking at him curiously and didn't seem to possess any malice, hopefully that would continue for the rest of this interaction. His face possessed prominent burn scars that looked quite painful.

The Pycon scholar was rather used to the question now posed to him, he had come to discover that the Pycon were not exactly a common sight around Ravok. In fact as far as he knew he was the only resident one in Ravok, not exactly odd considering the disposition most humans had towards those that were not human. Still Delos took it in stride, maybe this man could help him around, or at least point him in the right direction of any lilies nearby.

The young scholar bowed slightly, "I, sir, am a Pycon. Delos, Scholar and general seeker of knowledge at your service."

He looked to the side and nervously noted the dog standing nearby, the young scholar was not fond of those beasts. Hopefully its owner would keep it in check.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde looked down at the odd little... "Person." Not quite a person, though it sort of looked like one, and talked like one... But was it a person? Certainly not human, but that did not mean it was not sentient... Of course, just because something talked, did not mean it was sentient either... He was fairly certain now he had met one of these before, a long time ago in Zeltiva. But looking back, he could not remember a name being given, for what it was. At least not at the time. His reply to his question, seemed oddly frilly, like the little person was putting on airs, and trying to sound fancy... Which made Clyde think he was up to something... People in general did not talk like that. This, if nothing else made him a bit unsure of the fellow. Though he did not let this fact show on his face, doing his best to keep his expression neutral. He did not know what to make of it quite yet. "Clyde. Clyde Sullins. Perhaps not at your service, but here all the same." Clyde tended to be a bit of a serious fellow, and did not like niceties and "pointless blathering", as he called it, which other people wasted so much time doing. In his mind, it was a waste, and he had much better things to do, than say a lot of nothing, with only one word out of every ten holding value and meaning. "A pycon? What exactly is that? A little dirt person? Though I think I have actually seen one of your kind before. But it was awhile back. A few years ago, and not around here. I don't recall there name." Looking down at the small person, Clyde paused, thinking for a moment on Delos' words... "Why is it, that you consider yourself a scholar? What makes you one? And really, you just want general knowledge? General? How do you ever plan to become knowledgeable of a topic, if you try to learn everything. I think you might want to focus that a bit more, to be realistic. A little of everything, amounts to nothing." Though Rye, Clyde's dog, was still glaring at Delos, he had not moved, and had stopped growling. He kept his place sitting by his master, never taking his gaze off of him.

[Delos]

Delos pondered Clyde's rather blunt responses, nodding his head as the man spoke. It was true, Delos could be more than a little unfocused in his research. From a young age that was what he had been, a general seeker of knowledge even though his father had advised him to focus his studies. Such corridor like thinking seemed to limiting, especially when there was so much to learn about the world.

"A perfectly valid argument, Mr. Sullins. Though I would argue that a little of everything makes one more flexible, and that confining oneself to but a few schools of thought can make one blind to other knowledge." The young scholar said calmly.

"We are all of us scholar's in our own ways, always learning and changing our thoughts and feelings. I simply search for more knowledge in a more active fashion." The Pycon continued, musing as much to himself as to the human before him.

Delos was rather intrigued by this man and his forward manner of speaking, he certainly seemed knowledgeable enough. The young scholar had not expected any conversation so far from Ravok, though perhaps this Clyde could prove intellectually stimulating company. Belatedly he remembered exactly what had brought him out here, perhaps this man had seen what he was looking for.

"I don't suppose you have happen upon a certain lily since you have been out here? It is rather large and white with a distinctive orange center." Delos described, rather hopeful that this man could point him in the right direction.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde looked at the tiny person, a small frown coming on. He had completely ignored his first question, asking what a pycon was, which was what he had said he was. But a name, though helpful in designating and specifying once you knew what it was, did little to help someone understand a topic. He seemed more interested in his other questions, those on his validity as a scholar, than on his first question of what he was. But he would push on, and let it slide, in hopes he would bring it up later, instead responding to what he did respond to. "I never said to confine and limit yourself. Many different kinds of info can be helpful, and of interest. But still, you can never truly know everything. But it is possible, to know a lot about a specific few things." Clyde paused for a moment, before continuing on, a small grin coming on his face as he saw how Rye was eying the tiny fellow. "I suppose in some ways I am a scholar, but I certainly don't seek every bit of knowledge on everything. I seek information that is important, that is useful and helps me in my life, to better myself, or to better do what I do. Generally I look in a few places, but I do not discard info just becuase it is not from one of those routes I was looking for. One can go on a journey for a drink of water from a pure pond, and find a beautiful tree on the way. I would not discard the tree, even though it is not were I planned to go. But in the end, I would still learn of that pond, and of its waters, my true destination." "I certainly don't want to know everything, for a good bit of info is completely worthless. Would you say that a vital bit of info, is which leg I put into my pants first this morning, when getting dressed, left or right? Just because it is info, and knowledge, does not make it useful and something to seek. So in that way, limits are good." "And no, I can't say that I have seen this flower you are looking for. Why do you seek it, for what purpose? And what does it do? Or even, what is it called, do you know?" --- OOC: Just a small request, but could you set apart the things you speak a bit more, perhaps by bolding them or something? It would make it easier to respond to your post, and to find what you actually said when I reread.

[Delos]

Delos was rather disheartened when he heard that Clyde had not seen the lily, ah well, such were the trial of a scholar. He did consider the man's response carefully, noting some of the points he had. The scholar decided it best to respond to the first part of his question this time, before addressing the lily.

"Hmm, you make a strong case, however one never knows when a seemingly useless piece of information may become vital. I don't now much about pants, as Pycon shape their own clothes if their form calls for it, but should one not observe all aspects of life first before deciding what information can be safely discarded? Casting aside certain things may prevent one from viewing a much larger whole." Delos said, ignoring the looks the dog was giving him.

"Perhaps the pants alone are meaningless but what if you combine it with a large picture? If the person gets dressed the exact same way every time without fail then it gives you insight to their regimented nature. Conversely if a person simply slaps on any clothes they can find does that not suggest they possess a rather careless or haphazard personality?" Delos pressed, choosing his points carefully.

This was actually rather stimulating, it had been a while since he had been in a good debate. Most of the folk of Ravok were not interested in talking about abstract principles, unfortunately. Delos quickly went over the information he knew about the lily.

"It is called Spring's End, something of a rare specimen at the best of times. It possess no really properties someone like yourself would consider useful and is worthless on the open market however, it possess a great deal of interest for someone like me. Supposedly the lily dies when Summer first arrives, which is rather unusual as most plants can last until fall. It merely something I would like to study, maybe collect a sample or two." The Pycon scholar said earnestly.

OOC: Does that help?