Location [T&T] The Letterbox

This ornate wooden box with its lock holds the letters Alric and Taz leave for each other.

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[T&T] The Letterbox

Postby Tazrae on March 5th, 2022, 4:56 am

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Resting in the Terracotta and Teal Apartment on a large coffee table before the couch lies a giant letterbox that Tazrae picked up in the market on the first day of Spring 522 A.V. The Innkeeper learned, throughout her day in Syka, that something was amiss and everyone who wasn't in her presence immediately forgot who she was. Taz rushed to The Outpost in an attempt to locate Alric and did not immediately find him.

Being too early for their prearranged meeting that evening, Tazrae feared the worst and purchased a wooden letterbox in the bazaar and left it on the coffee table with a copy of her first letter to Alric in it. She included a second letter as well, one explaining that something was going on in case he fell victim to it, and promising to return later that night to talk to him in person.

Throughout the season, if she needs to get in touch with him, Tazrae will leave letters in the box for Alric and writing supplies in hopes he returns the correspondence. She will leave one key with him and keep the second spare key for her own.


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Last edited by Tazrae on March 7th, 2022, 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
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[T&T Apartment] The Letterbox

Postby Tazrae on March 7th, 2022, 12:40 am

Copy: Sent 73rd Winter 521 AV


Letter :
Alric-

I hope this letter finds you well.

There's a lot that's happened that I need to tell you about immediately, but I can't make it to The Outpost for a while. It's my hope you will know the woman who bears this letter as a friend for she is the young Kelvic that has been working for me at The Protea, Oralie. Bree agreed to take her to see you and deliver this letter. Share kindness with her since she has had so little of it in her life.

I was riding Bree in the jungle and was attacked. Someone threw bolas at Bree and tangled her legs. She fell from where we were running which caused us to get separated. The Ixam had enough sense when she understood it was an attack and ran for the Settlement to get help. I was captured.

It was a group of men - large in number - in the region gathering what they claimed were spell components and investigating the area for a potentially new stronghold because from what I understood the pressures of the desert had been overwhelming them and displacing them more and more due to war.

They were led by a man named Nico. He was under the direct control of Florentin Arcadius. The man seemed to recognize me, and more than that my twin sister was among the group acting as their field healer. This man was not a nice man and her treatment was appalling.

While in captivity, I overheard a few things I wanted to share with you. These things are going to be hard to hear, but I need you to know and I don't dare leave them unsaid while I convalesce in Syka's sun. Arcadius doesn't want you for the same reason he wanted your mother. He doesn't need you for breeding stock. Arcadius can somehow now step into a new form. He doesn't need your cooperation or your spirit to remain. He can take your body and make it his own, and live your life as his. There is no telling how many times he's done this or actually how old he is. Nico was adamant that they were looking for Arcadius' a new vessel and had to find him one soon. Once he has done this - if it is indeed possible, which I think it is - he can sire as many vessels as he wants as his host ages. It's why he wants me as well. It seems while my sister has no deep and abiding well, her magic is rich with healing and that's where her passion lies. I got all the aptitude Arcadius favors.

Be careful Alric. I have gotten away, thanks to the help of one of those dreams like you had. I had one of my own that was very similar, where I stirred a cauldron and a woman named Falyndar said she needed me. It changed me in ways I'm just beginning to understand. But at its core, I am now able to borrow a shape much like Bree enjoys and I used it to flee Nico before much harm was done. I took his head while I was at it - with my teeth. Then I fled with my sister and my life straight into the arms of a rescue party that Bree had rallied to our cause.

I have more information on Arcadius too. He is Florentin Arcadius Kois. My twin sister Kami was a hostage to him to keep the desert tribes from all-out war. He’s a Kois and my father is a Lisuli. My mother is warchief of the Kois, Matari Arcadius Kois. My father is Talsis Lisuli, third in line to the Lisuli leadership. They had a clandestine romance that couldn’t last. My Grandfather pulls the strings of the Kois, though his son who is my uncle is its leader. His stronghold is their stronghold and it's buried deep in the Eyktol desert. He held Kami to keep both the Kois and Lisuli in line. He holds her no longer.

Florentin Arcadius thought I'd died. My mother told him so because she knew I was the mage between the sisters while Kami was a powerful healer. I do not think my Grandfather believed her. She sent me into hiding with her own sister and her sister's long crush, my uncle Marketh. Estra was my mother's fraternal twin too.

I don't know if Nico was able to get him a message before I took his head.

Among Nico's people was a god Mascarading as a bard who was doing the recording of the expedition on what it found in terms of spell components and artifacts. It turns out it was Rhaus, keeping watch on the doings of mortals. He gave me a second audius mark and told me to get free and live... that I was important to this fight.

I flat out asked him... why Florentin Arcadius trying to get the Nymkarta bloodline into his family? Our… family? I’ve seen some things… in the past. He stole a woman who wasn’t his and did things to her, got her with children, until she could have no more, and is looking for her son that she had prior to his capture. She was a Nymkarta. This is what he told me.

Florentin isn’t a Nuit, but he’s older than even the Valterrian. He’s stolen something, something that doesn’t belong to him, and it allows him to… move from body to body like a parasite. He wasn’t originally of the Arcadius line either. He is something far older. But he’s taken it on as his own. And now he owns the whole of the bloodline, those that originally claimed it long gone. He wasn’t aiming for the Arcadius originally though. He wanted the Nymkarta. They were too smart and too powerful for him to take on until Kova was slain and they were scattered, mostly dead, via the Valterrian. He’s been tracking down the members remaining, one by one, and trying to bring their power into his own collective. Ivak thwarted him by Championing the Nymkarta left in Kova's line.

But Kova wasn’t the only sibling of that generation and her family passed through the Valterrian mostly unscathed. Her brother’s sons and their sons have all had strong djedline infused children until there was only one left and he got a child on a woman of another strong djedline. She gave birth to a daughter they called Serana. Serana was taken by Florentin because it was easier to infuse her djedline into his through breeding rather than magical means. The man refused to jump into a woman's body.

Serena also had a son, by a very powerful Mortanis, before she was taken and that boy is at risk of being Florentin’s next host. We knew that, and that the boy is you. They are assuming that you have as much or more power than Serana due to your father’s line. And if you have more power than Florentin’s current form, Florentin won’t suffer you to live long without taking you as a host. Rhaus said if he manages to switch hosts again, into you Alric, then I am in grave danger for he'll want me to be the next mother of the next set of hosts. Our power joined will be formidable in any children we have.

So my problems grow. Syka is now in danger from these intruders. When I fled after Nico's death, I ran straight into the rescue party that was coming full force to free me. They tried to kill what was left, but it only takes one person to escape and warn Florentine.

Kami is with me now. She's staying at the Healers where she thinks she has found a calling in a place that might just be able to keep her safe from her Grandfather. Her life has not been easy. And I honestly don't know how much I can trust her. We are working on that. I wish I could also have told you these things in person, but it's not possible. Nico had too much time alone with me and I need to recover before I can travel to The Outpost again.

Thank Oralie for bringing this letter. It took a huge act of courage on her part to leave The Inn and do me this favor. She is not good in crowds or with a lot of people yet. I am sorry I'm not there to tell you all this in person either.

But I understand how important it is for you to know all this. Trust no one, Alric. Be safe. We always knew this situation was dangerous, but if the Gods are watching and waiting... I can only fear this is world-changing. Your family is notorious for being in evolved with those things. And at least we know you are not the last out there. Somewhere, walking the world, is a Champion of Ivak that is your cousin.

PS. I sent cookies with Oralie.

Tazrae
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"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


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[T&T Apartment] The Letterbox

Postby Tazrae on March 7th, 2022, 12:43 am

Written: Spring 1, 522 A.V. Evening


The Letter :
Hello Alric.

My name is Tazrae Arcada.

We first met the eleventh of fall, 521 A.V. in the Open Sky Bazaar in The Outpost. I was browsing a booth full of decks of cards and games. Like normal, I was talking to myself asking how in the world did one choose from all the dice and decks when all I really wanted to do was purchase some entertainment options for my guests. I am an Innkeeper in Syka and I had just given myself the day off to do some shopping.

You were there, somehow, and offered some advice to my private counsel. You said that “Dice were the easiest to learn but also the easiest to lose your money with.” I haven’t forgotten that advice. We talked and, in the end, you helped me select a few things for my patrons of the Protea Inn. I told you about Syka – which in case you have forgotten – is a little settlement on the edge of the Suvan Sea. It’s on the eastern shore of Falyndar in the jungle. You told me your name and that you liked many games, but claimed to be an expert of none. It seems we are both forced to play a game now, and I’m not sure why. I’m writing this message – this letter to you – because absolutely no one in my life remembers who I am. I do not know why that is, but there are things afoot that I do not understand and I am waiting here in this apartment that we now share occasionally in hopes you return. I picture you pushing open the door and seeing me home and wearing an easy smile on your face that brightens your eyes after a day spent at work in Sunberth.

But I fear you will pass through that door, see a stranger sitting on your couch, and pull a weapon or worse. I assure you that I am not your enemy and you are by far the better fighter of the two of us so any action you take will be balanced incredibly in your favor. If that comes to pass, the next thing I say will be unbelievable in the best of times. You are my best friend and I love you. I do not know what I will do if you do not remember that fact. We do not live together and we are not lovers, but we have ties that bind us close and you hold my heart. My best non-human friend, Bree, doesn’t even remember me. She’s a jungle Ixam and probably the most beautiful soul I know. I also have a Kelvic friend named Oralie and a dog named Creech whom you’ve never met. At the time of writing this letter, they don’t remember me either. I have no idea what’s happened to make such a thing come to pass.

I spend the night here sometimes with you because I can sleep with my head on your chest and I don’t dream. I feel safe here, but my obligations hold me far from here most times. I know exactly how you smell, regardless of whether you’ve bathed or not. And I love the way your tobacco smells when you are smoking your pipe. You recently got a new one… one that smells even better than normal. And I think I’m slightly addicted to its odor because it does something to calm the creature inside of me that’s feral and longs for the wild. I have one of those hearts. It’s hard to explain. But city walls don’t hold the appeal to me they should. The jungle and the ocean have far more pull. That is so true that my home in Syka has no glass over its windows. It is open to the air and anything that wanders in day or night. I can shutter the windows if storms blow through, but I can count on a single hand the number of times I’ve done that.

That day we met, we decided to take a meal together, and then we started talking. I would say we talked late into the night, but the truth is our conversation is still ongoing. You told me about Sunberth and your world. Truthfully, I worry about you ever day of my life living the way you do. I shared Syka and my world with you. Somewhere in between, here in the Outpost, we found common ground. I am something of a chef and found that you enjoy being cooked for so I started meeting with you. Those meetings lead to this place here. We split the cost of its purchase and share it. I call it the Terracotta and Teal apartment... the T&T.

Before the T&T, we tried to do something about your memory loss before the age of eight. We sought help at the Redynn from Murine a master healer. She could not help because your memory loss was not due to an injury. Instead, she sent us to Margath Tuvas an herbalist to purchase a special tea. We drank it together and there were things you remembered about your past. I witnessed them in some manner to this day I cannot understand. When we were done, we were hungry for more knowledge and had even more questions than answers. We sought a Dreamwalker then. And we learned the story of Serana and Kalas. We learned your father was Mortanis and your mother was a Nymkarta my grandfather Florentin Arcadius sought. I didn’t know he was my grandfather until later in this tale when I learned he was hunting you for your djedline. It is old, powerful, and something he covets beyond measure.

I acquired a book in Syka from one of the Founders… an Encylopedia of Arcanology. And we’ve been teaching ourselves magic from it. The lessons came hard for your mind, growing up in Sunberth, but your body wields it as easily as breathing came to you the day you were born. I’m leaving the book here for now, on the library shelves, so you know I am telling the truth. I saw you last the 31st of Winter, but got into trouble on the 70th and was injured deeply mind and body from a run-in with my Grandfather’s people in the heart of Syka. I haven’t seen you since. Though I sent Oralie – my kelvic friend – with a letter to you on the 73rd so you would know I was not hurt and not worried.

You have a gnosis mark of Eryis. I have two of Rhaus and one of Caiyha. You have a snake here in this apartment you have yet to name but is a Mussurana, a rear-fanged constricting viper. The snake is a lot like us, a study in contradictions. He was my contribution to the place to keep down bugs and rodents. And even though we have doors wide open and patios that lead to the sky, he’s never tried to leave, has he? He won’t either.

We had plans for this day, the first of Spring, to induct you into Reimancy so you can further your power. It is a dangerous undertaking and one that needs to be done with perfect trust. I am not a woman to break my word, so I have returned today to induct you if that is still your wish… but that is before this … whatever this is… has happened and everyone I know and love has forgotten about me. I hope you are not thusly affected and I’ve run to you in the hopes you will smile and greet me with my name on your lips. If you do not… I will not hold it against you because that would mean I would have to hold it against everyone who ever knew me in Syka. If you can’t remember me… hopefully you can know me a bit through this letter. Hopefully the past letter I sent you is somewhere still in your possession though I’ve tried to recreate it the best I remember and added it to this box.

If you run me through with whatever of the any number of weapons you have on you, I forgive you because I know that’s the life you live in Sunberth. I find I’ve ran out of things to say… things to write… things to do. So I’m just going to sit here… with this letter box open and a fresh key in its lock for you. I have its twin on me… and maybe this can be the collection of our lives together until I get whatever this is that’s happening to me figured out. If you don’t return before I leave, write something in here… write me back… and I will do the same the next time I visit.

PS. The bunch on the counter is bananas and they are for you to eat and trade for other goods around the bazaar.

Yours,

Tazrae

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"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


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Tazrae
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[T&T] The Letterbox

Postby Tazrae on March 14th, 2022, 3:43 am

Timestamp: 15th of Spring, 521 A.V.


The Letter :
Alric –

I lasted fifteen days. Fifteen! I thought I was made of stronger stuff, you know? But I am not. I feel like I’m losing myself somewhere in all this madness going on in Syka. I don’t know how to take such a big part of my life and just rip it out and pretend it’s not there; that it’s not important.

But it is important. You are important.

I’m not good at writing out thoughts and feelings. I’m not good at expression at all unless its music. I love music, and now dancing… dancing with fire no less. Those are such vivid and beautiful forms of expression, but nothing at all like taking a quill to parchment and trying to convey all these thoughts I have.

You won’t remember, but I grew up as an only child. I’d like to think I grew up lonelier than most because when I was growing inside my mother I had a friend, a twin, which I was separated fromm at birth.

We must have done everything together in that womb. We must have grown and became little people in there together. I fancy we even held hands and had this bond that was utterly shattered when we were pushed from our shelter.

Who was born first? Was it her? Was it me?

Did I realize that as a child? I think, sometimes I did because there was always an emptiness inside me and a horrible longing for something I couldn’t name.

I never thought that emptiness would be filled up to near overflowing, but then it happened. I met you. And you filled all these gaps inside of me that I didn’t know I had. We are from two different worlds… you in Sunberth and me in Syka. Those are cities on opposite edges of the world from each other. So how in all the stars did we even perchance meet? I think that the concept of fate must be real. I’ve held hands with you. I’ve slept curled up against you. We’ve plotted and trained and formed a bond that replaced the one I had with my twin. You filled such a huge gap in my life; filled it to overflowing.

I miss you.

I think of you every day and wonder how you are doing and whether you are thriving in your home. I often find myself cooking more than I need too… as if I half expect to need to take some to The Outpost to restock the kitchen there.

Today I went foraging in the jungle and picked too many fruit that weren’t quite ready. I told myself it was a silly mistake. I told myself that they can ripen on my counter as easily as they could neatly piled in a basket on the kitchen counter of the T&T. Then I made a million excuses and baked extra bread and ultimately, I decided I had to go because I needed to check on Twilight.

What I really want to do is wander around the apartment and see if there are signs you have been there. I’m going to take my cleaning supplies and give the place a thorough cleaning because let’s face it, you aren’t the neatest housekeeper ever born.

It can’t hurt to leave you some fresh bread, can it? And all those extra fruits, you’d enjoy them, right? I have some salted pig and tapir that will keep well enough to leave for you so long as you return in a day or two. I was going to bring you python to try as well, but my guests ended up eating it all last night even though it was a sizeable snake.

They don’t remember who I am on a day-to-day basis, but as long as I stay busy cooking, no one has really said much. It’s like I’m invisible to everyone here in Syka. You can’t remember me either though.

I thought I should just stay away until I figure out what’s going on. I can’t make you remember me or try to convince you not to run me through whenever I visit. So I was going to stay away.

But honestly, I do need to check on Twilight so I’m coming by today to visit the T&T and drop off these things. I might clean while I’m here. I promise I won’t sit on the edge of the bed and smell the pillow where you rest your head. That would be too weird.

But I am going to change the sheets and take the linens back to Syka to launder. You don’t often think about things like that, but I do. I’m leaving a few extra sets in the wardrobe in case you want to start changing them regularly. I’ll return these when they are laundered. Don’t worry if they smell like green and rain and all things wild. It’s just the scent of my home.

So if there’s extra fruit on the counter, let it ripen. It’s mango and passionfruit. It grows wild all over. There are figs, as well as a few remaining plums. I am fond of plums so they tend to get eaten first. I’ll also leave the meat in the chest by the sink.

Anyhow, there’s nothing else I can think to say.

Everything’s fine with me. Life is quiet. Bree and Oralie seem fine. I don’t talk to them much though because they don’t remember me. But I’m keeping my eye on them and will be there if they need me.

There are two new guests that are young from Sunberth at The Protea. They are rail thin due to starvation. I’ve made it my new goal in life to feed them up and get them back to health. They had a long trip, I suspect.

Be well. Be happy.

Love,
Tazrae
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"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


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"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
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[T&T] The Letterbox

Postby Alric Lysane on March 15th, 2022, 6:39 pm

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Written 17th Spring 522 AV


Secret :
Tazrae,

I found the name Taz in my journal, also your picture and various other references alongside the letters you have sent. It seems to be a daily occurrence to read through everything, as if by doing so I might find a buried fragment, a frayed end that I can pull upon to remember…well everything. I find myself wondering at times whether I had done something to lose what was obviously a big part of my life, and quite a beauty too. I suppose things can just happen…but I tend to believe that things happen for a reason. In this case, by someone’s hand. Be careful, I would rather like to know you again.

I do not think Arcadius has done this. I’m not sure what you think about it, but it seems too powerful, and though I can’t be sure I do know that you are not the only one affected. Arcadius may be powerful, but it would seem a stretch to assume he could affect multiple people. Tread lightly, this feels like a beginning. I trust my instincts, as I seemed to have trusted them with you before, and they don’t usually lead me astray. I am safe, for now. No one has found me, and I have kept at my training. Perhaps, by the time we remember each other, you will be proud of my development.

We shall see.

Sunberth is as much a dark barrel of oil waiting to go up in flames as always. I keep to myself for the most part, keeping safe and becoming stronger. I have learned much about Reimancy already, though I wish you were there to guide me. The rest goes well, I can almost feel myself reaching another level. There have been no real riots or gang fights yet, though there was the Burning of the Giant – a festival day…well days really…where we celebrate the taking back of our freedoms. That has leant the city a sort of…what’s the best way to explain it? Sort of an unstated peace. So you can rest easy, Tazrae, I am safe for now.

Thank you for looking after me, I must admit I was surprised when Lys and I walked through the door and I saw things had been moved around. You are right, I am far from neat. Reading between your words I get the sense that I may have caused more than one…shall we say…pointed look before. You know me well it seems. Lys says she thinks you probably know me better than I do. I’d listen to her but then again, I did recently fish her out of a hole in the ground and heal her up so she can’t be as insufferably right as her teenage pride pretends to be.

Oh, if there is any extra food please bring it, she’s eating me out of everything I have and I’m worried she’ll eat me next.

I’m not sure if you remember her, I remember that she was in my tea vision…I assume that you were there too from what I’ve read. Just in case though, she was an orphan and I’ve known her many years. She is annoying and mocks me incessantly…she just made a face and skipped off to get into trouble…yes…but yes, she is one of the few people left who knows me now. I couldn’t leave her to die. I hope you get to meet her one day, she says she’d like to meet you when ‘you’ve stopped being a stubborn brat, Alric’ – I didn’t tell her about the curse, or the magic…I don’t even know what I’m going to say that won’t make her head for the hills. Something for another day, I think.

Which brings me to…you.

I don’t remember our times together, but I can tell you that I have spent much time thinking upon them and something…feels wrong. Empty. Blank spaces that don’t make sense, a sense of profound loss and the outline of…something…like the stories you hear of limbs still being felts after being removed. I don’t know you…but I am certain that you meant a lot to me, probably more than anything – or anyone – ever did. For someone who claims not to know how to write emotions you do it well enough that I know that I mean much to you. It will make the coming days easier, knowing that someone cares about me.

How do you put together the pieces of a broken life? I keep asking that question of myself…and truthfully, I don’t have an answer. Not just about…us. But with everything. My whole life has been a quest for that, and every answer breeds more questions than answers. I think, though, it doesn’t matter. The more I thin upon it, the more it seems to me that it is more important to simply live life, to enjoy what you have for however long you have it. I hope I get to experience that with you again.

It was written in my journal that I promised never to lie to you, whatever the reason. It was also written that I did love you…but …well you know the rest. It was underlined several times, so I suspect you were…insistent. Truth does not come easy to me, but apparently it did with you. If I am any kind of man then my promise should mean something, even in harder times. You deserve it.

With hopes of love’s memory returned,

~Alric
~ Thanks to Gossamer/Shiress for post Boxcodes ~
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Alric Lysane
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[T&T] The Letterbox

Postby Tazrae on March 17th, 2022, 1:31 am

Timestamp: 22nd of Spring, 522 A.V.


The Letter :
Alric –

I’m Tazrae, and I think I’m cursed. Everyone forgets who I am the minute I am out of their sight. You are my best friend and I love you, but this happens with you as well. Right now things are tough, and believe me when I say I miss you like I’d miss one of my arms or legs. You are my heart. I shouldn’t keep leaving you these letters, but somehow this is helping me survive whatever is happening to Syka right now. I hope when this is all over you will forgive me. I can’t imagine how this makes you feel to pick up letters and find your apartment cleaned and restocked with food periodically by someone who claims to know you but you don’t remember. I’m very much alive. I’m a real person, not a ghost. But truthfully?

It feels like someone is waging war on us, but there is no help coming. We must all fight it on our own.

I think you are right. Arcadius has not done this because it’s so extensive. This is bigger than I first knew. Everyone is being affected in Syka, but in different ways. One poor teenager is aging 5 years every day and she’s actually grown to old and restarted as an infant. Another person became bestial. Someone is very much haunted. The list goes on. One man forgets his language from day to day, each day having a new language he’s fluent with. Even the Founders, two of the three, are affected. I’m scared. But we’re trying to figure it out. Nothing I do really helps because people forget about me and my ideas.

I’m so proud that you keep training. I know you are going to excel at your art and be one of those mages talked about in history. I know that is not one of your aims, but if you can defeat this horrible man, you will be changing the world. I believe in you and I will help you however I can. Just tell me what you need… what I can do. Should I visit when you are here? I’ve been staying away and coming during times I suspect you are work so… so its not so painful. But I’ll come if you ever need me too.

I love the visuals you paint of Sunberth. Indeed, a dark barrel of oil just waiting to go up in flames. The thought makes me shudder. I’m glad you are working on your Geomancy. Please be careful in your city. I know they do not treat mages kindly. I am glad you are safe. Thank you for telling me so.

I wish I had a chance to meet Lys. I remember seeing her in your memories, but that was a few years ago and I can only imagine how she’s grown and changed. Take care of her. Keep her close to you. If you love her, then that means she’s family; our family. Don’t forget that. Don’t push her away because it’s not safe around you or some other absolutely pathetic reason to not be what she needs. Protect her. And please don’t leave her in that city to rot. If nothing else, put her on a boat to Syka when all of this is said and done. We will make a place for her here. Steal the money if you have too. I know you are capable.

Listen to me… bossing you around. I’m sorry. It’s your life and your business. But we have kids in Syka now, so Lys wouldn’t be alone. When you first told me you grew up in an Orphanage in Sunberth, I got an idea. I shared it with the others, and they thought it was a good one too. Syka sponsored some orphans to come here. They arrived on the first with The Veronica. James, our founder who is the captain, got them from everywhere… whomever wanted to come that was in decent health. They are all skinny and suspicious, but we got a dozen of them and a head mistress to watch over them. It is our hope they will learn trades from the craftsman here and live better than they could have in the cities they are from. They hail from Riverfall, Syliras, Zeltiva and yes Sunberth as well. The Svefra and caravan traders spread the word and the Founders funded the payments for them. And I have a very young pair of siblings living at The Protea who are half starved and I believe were almost out of hope living with me now. They give me something to do – someone to feed up – which is why I have been able to bring lots of treats and things for Lys. They are from Sunberth as well. I mentioned them before.

There’s muffins and cookies and of course more fruit. I also brought salted ham. The Outpost has been wonderful for supplying things like baking soda and powder and exotic spices we can’t get in the jungle. I’ll keep you all in supplies as much as I am able. I’ll bring more as I make more.

Oralie wants me to put in an archery range behind the Inn… perhaps on the land I want to put the house on. Have you ever seen one? Do you have any thoughts? I’m going to talk to some of the archers in the community and see what they say. They might have ideas as well. If I’m building an archery range, should I put something else in beside it that makes sense? I am not combat savvy, but I know you know your stuff. People here take physical fitness seriously and that sometimes entails fighting in ways I’ve never seen done before. Did you know your own body without a weapon could be a weapon? I didn’t. It’s fascinating. And it’s the kind of thing I imagine you and I could discuss in length over wine watching the sun set somewhere. You’d probably put discussion into action to prove your point and I’d love ever bit of the demonstration. I miss our times together like that. You are not a very book learned man, but you know about so much that has never touched my life because of being on the streets so long. It was a comfort having that sort of resource in my life. And I know you are still here, of course, but its not the same… these letters don’t replace the actual scent of your pipe and your furrowed brow as you think before you speak. I even miss that scary as the Ukalas blank look you get when you are very very angry. It’s a dead giveaway even though you pride yourself on not showing emotion. The more you lack it, the more alert and aware I become because something decidedly isn’t right.

I also have another thing for the Letter Box. I want you to look it over and see what you think. I’m saving the coin and will probably have enough by the end of the season if not late next season to break ground. I can afford it because I’ll have to build it mostly myself and sections at a time. I don’t mind. Syka’s life is slower than city life, so the building of this will be the talk of the settlement for some time.


Will you dream with me? This is doable. Once upon a time The Protea was just a picture like this on parchment drawn with ink and love. Now it is a real place. This is no different. It’s going to be a sprawling place with lots of bedrooms and a lot of space for Bree to come and go. She has told me she doesn’t want her own room, but she wants the indoors to be almost the outdoors and equally as wild. I drew in my big kitchen and a living room that wraps around the house full of green and growing things as well as couches and lounges that will keep us comfortable in front of the fire. I also put in a library area with extensive shelves. It’s going to be more of a reality than the pretention of the little shelf here at the T&T. You don’t have your own room because I… anticipated you sharing the master with me. If you don’t want that, then the guest room is yours. That is, of course, if you ever decide it’s time to make the trip to Syka. Just so you know… now that the children have come to Syka, I want a few of my own. I’ve never been around them before, but they seem to drop by the Inn a great deal because I give them treats. They don’t remember me, but they remember the treats and that they don’t have to pay for them so they come. And I love seeing them. I hope one decides they want to learn to cook or be an Innkeeper and decides to apprentice. It would be a joy.

You want to know something funny? My dog remembers me. He thumps his tail and treats me like I’m his favorite person. I can’t decide why he remembers and not Bree or anyone else in the Inn. I suspect its because he’s an animal and not sentient. Everyone sentient has forgotten.

Don’t worry about remembering our times together. I remember them for us. You are an unforgettable person, Alric. And I’ll tell you all about them some day when our paths cross again. And while I know you’ll scoff at this; we have our entire life ahead of us to make even more memories and have more times together. We’ll figure this out in Syka. We can’t fail at this… life continuing this way is not acceptable… not for anyone with these curses. As for your question… how you put together the pieces of a broken life? You keep going forward, Alric. Can’t you see that? It might be step by step, leap by leap, or it might be at a dead run. But you keep moving forward. You left me a letter. I can’t think of a bigger act of faith on your part. Truth still doesn’t come easy to you. You are truly a Son of Sunberth, but I am persistent, and honestly, I have enough optimism for both of us. I think there’s a reason we are best friends. I say ‘are’ not ‘were’. You are my present and my future, not just my past.

Look at the drawing. Read this note again. Look at the drawing again. And if you can hold it close enough long enough, tell me your thoughts. If it won’t linger long enough… I understand.

With Love,

Tazrae.




House Plans :
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"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
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Tazrae
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[T&T] The Letterbox

Postby Alric Lysane on March 17th, 2022, 4:19 pm

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Written 29th Spring 522 AV


Secret :
Tazrae,

Having read both this new letter, and the last one, I released I didn’t write about everything you conveyed to me. I’m sorry, I’ve never really corresponded in such a way…so please forgive me if I miss things. I will try to do better. I’ve spent some time reading this, as you suggested, alongside the plans you sent…I didn’t know what to say at first. Honestly…I’m still not sure but I’ll do my best.

I’ll start with the things I missed – the children from Sunberth. What are their names? If you can send them to me, I can look into things for you, if you like. See if there are any stories there to know. You are a better judge of them than I…I’ve never seen them. I admire that you see the best in people…but be careful. Sunberth children are not…average children. They get ground down, and often become the grinders after. Hopefully these two strays escaped before that could happen…and your light may very well guide them to better paths…I hope so.

I can’t speak for the current children there without meeting them, but I’m sure you could find one that could be called your own, and an apprentice or two to help you build your visions going forward. By the sounds of it they’ll all want to be with you if you keep feeding them. They will remember you truly, one day, and then you can give them the childhood that they never had. If that brings you joy then all the better.

After reading again about your dancing with fire, I wish I had continued my drawings…it would have been nice to imagine you fully, dancing without these cares that surround us. Fire is wild, but also warming…passionate. Your caring for others, even though they don’t even remember you…I’ve never known someone with that big a heart…or strength of character. It’s why I am certain that you will find a way to lift these curses you speak of.

Fear…fear is not the absence of courage Tazrae…everyone fears. I know I do, probably more than I’ve shown you at times. I don’t claim to be a strong man, but I do know that courage is when you face something…even if it seems bleak. So already speaking of fighting…overturning…winning…despite being scared. Perhaps it was that spirit that drew me to you, I will think upon it…when I remember everything. I can’t imagine how everyone in Syka feels right now, and I wish I could help. It sounds as if I am the one with an easy season…perhaps for the first time since we met…which lends me a shudder for how it sounds for you. You are far from useless…you can help them even if they don’t remember…they will, in time. I have faith, you are clearly an intelligent woman.

I have thought upon these curses…of who put them all upon you. I had thought perhaps only a handful of you were afflicted but now…I know of only one thing powerful enough to do such things…divines. I hope I’m wrong, and I probably am…I am, as you say, a Son of Sunberth…I am not as knowledgeable as others you probably know. But…from your past letter you already knew Gods were there in Syka…perhaps there are others. I don’t know, such thing darken my thoughts and it may be paranoia tugging at me. Though, it could explain why only sentient creatures were touched…some only care about such things and not other animals.

Lys positively glowed when I told her you’d like to meet her. She is currently wondering about what to talk about first…I think she is putting together a list of questions to ask you about me. I have not kept her at arm’s length, we are closer than ever it seems, but there are gaps I can’t tell her yet…for obvious reasons. If she gets on a ship, then it’ll be with me and we’ll both come…when I make my mind up, I tend to stick to it. No doubt that has…frustrated you a few times already. But you are right…for all of her annoyances…after a dozen days or so I can’t imagine not having her around. She follows me everywhere, mimics me and tries to lend some youthful cheer to my...as you say...blank faces. She is taller now…willowy and in need of feeding up…but she will grow to be a good woman, I think. She is more optimistic than I, more energetic and open to new things. I think…I think that she feels insecure about herself…her father sold her away…she hasn’t told me how she ended up at the orphanage. Hopefully I will prove to be a better guardian than he was.

The orphanage seems a good idea to me, though no doubt it will be difficult…not everyone from everywhere else will see things the…would it be Sykan way? Yes…but it is worth trying. Perhaps, in time, you could help some children not have a life like mine. If that is all it becomes…well then it has done some good. One day, perhaps, I will meet them, and they can know by my own story how lucky they are. Then again…had I been taken from Sunberth…I’d not have met you…or have Lys tugging at my cloak…so I suppose I am the lucky one in many ways.

As for the archery range…yes I’ve seen one before…it was in the Proving Ground…training area for the Sun’s Birth. They had straw targets, several at different distances but none too close…ricochet’s and bounce backs can happen apparently. It was up against a wall safety to stop someone wandering behind…though I’m sure the jungles would be just as good a barrier. Putting other activities sounds a good idea…but I’d keep it to just ranged things, no one wants to accidentally hurt anyone I’d imagine. Knife throwing…axe throwing…sling training…and so on. If you want somewhere to practise close quarters then there are other things to build…if you like I can try to visit the Proving ground again…or sketch things from memory.

If, though, you were asking for other ideas for other parts of your land…well children do like to climb and run…or at least they do here. Perhaps some for of acrobatics course…or similar…might provide training, and fun, for children and adults alike? I set up a stealth course once, for myself and younger children, with twigs that would snap and rocks that were about to crumble and crack…though I’m not sure whether that is needed there.

I did know about using your body for a weapon, it was the first…and still best…skill I learned. When we can spend some long periods of time together, I’d be happy to show you what I know. I am not sure if it the same as what others in Syka know…street fights can be different to open combat…though we get both here. If you seek to learn then that is a good idea, it means that you are never truly defenceless. Unarmed works well with the Flux, for obvious reasons. Though it carries further risk than when using a weapon, I’d imagine. I would encourage you to learn, it makes other things more fluid, even if it may not seem like it would…it’s difficult to explain…you’ll understand if you try it and stick with it.

I would like those evenings…and wondered where my taste for wine began…I never drank much of it before the past season or two…so one mystery solved. I would like to see you, in the flesh…but only if it didn’t cause you pain to do so. So, I understand why you stay away. It seems wrong of me to ask someone I have great feeling for to go through such pains, simply for my curiosity…which is what it would be given we would not remember you afterwards…but you would still remember the pain and difficulty. If, as you say, we have many years together ahead…well…then we can stand apart for a time, if that is easier for you. If….no…when…when, one day, you awaken, and everyone remembers you…come find me…I feel certain that I would greet you warmly. I will probably be waiting.

I think, with that, I have covered everything you wrote but the last points, if I missed some then I’m sorry, ‘boss me about’ and tell me in the next letter and I can share my thoughts…but…the ones that I still haven’t answered and am aware of, I will answer now. It is…difficult…because at first I didn’t know what to think…so I suppose I’m just going to write as I think it and see where we end up.

No one has ever offered such a thing to me before…I didn’t really know what to say. Even not remembering you I was…overwhelmed. Lys was worried for a while but broke out into smiles and giggles when she read about the plans…she went back to teasing me about a secret woman after a while…then when the idea of the dream offered hit her there were some tears. I think that can be taken as her acceptance…I hope you didn’t mind me sharing it with her…though being fair she also snatched the plans from me as the young do…no boundaries…and demanded I read out the part about it. I think, though, the reason that I didn’t know what to say at first…well I think it was fear…the idea that I could begin this quiet, fragile dream…only to have it all snatched away, like so many other things.

I think, on balance…that that is why I never really saw an end to the tunnel this quest seems to have become. Not because I don’t want to have something afterwards…but because the losing of it along the way might prove too much to bear. Sunberth breeds small hopes, if any. It teaches you to be grateful...if only for a little less misery. To have something so…beautiful…and have it crushed…well…I think you probably understand where that would leave me after everything else. I suppose, though…the time has probably come to try to believe in something...even if it is a home and not a grand vision of ruling like my ancestors.

Eventually I will be found here…no matter how well I hide myself…history tells me that a Nymkarta can’t just be left alone. We are...apparently…a rather dramatic family. I could say that I didn’t want to visit something horrific upon Syka…and upon you…but if I keep my word to you then that isn’t true…not entirely. I suppose it makes me selfish to want something, even though I know it might bring bad things to others. I haven’t really asked for much in my life…perhaps the Gods will be kind in letting me rest with those who love me without issue.

What you propose is a dream that I can share. The plans look sound, Bree will be happy, and I can imagine her toying with the fish as she lounges about, thinking it all her own private kingdom. I see that Oralie has a room too, she is a good person, she deserves to have more light in her life than she already has…I’m sure she will be overjoyed. No doubt she’ll be climbing everywhere as cats do, hopefully not up our legs too much. I don’t need much, I am a simple man in terms of comforts…as I’m sure you already know. Possibly it can infuriate you at times…and that you probably wanted a more detailed assessment of the plans and whether I would change anything and my reasoning. But I have no such thoughts at the moment…it is enough just to have the hopeful thought. If I think of anything then I will write another letter.

Thanks for the Dream,

~Alric
~ Thanks to Gossamer/Shiress for post Boxcodes ~
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Alric Lysane
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[T&T] The Letterbox

Postby Tazrae on April 4th, 2022, 5:06 am

Timestamp: 33th of Spring, 522 A.V.


The Letter :
Alric -

I have no idea why I keep writing these letters. I think sometimes it’s so I don’t forget what it is like putting pen to ink and just communicating thoughts and ideas, expressing emotions and recounting stories to someone else through the use of actual alphabetic letters. I know that might be oddly worded, but I’ll explain in a moment. It feels so awkward to me these days, finding someone to actually speak with or even communicating with at all.

I have no human connection.

I have plenty of human contact, but its impersonal and so incredibly unsatisfying. It’s as if somehow the perception of who I am in other’s eyes have shifted. I’m a lowly servant. People don’t see me. I’m a nameless faceless cook or maid. I am the dispenser of clean towels and delicious food. I am not truly alive or real or someone who is anyone. I didn’t realize how closely my identity was tied to being “Tazrae” before. Now I’m just a nameless face in a crowd of new faces. And when I do reach out and make a connection, it is gone a moment later or the moment I’m out of their sight. I hate sleeping. I hate waking up knowing anyone I’d spent time with or met the day before won’t remember it.

I might not have ever told you but I spent the first twenty years of my life essentially alone… a one woman work force for a small Inn on the second tier of Riverfall. I had my mother and father, but they were cold to each other and in my mother’s case… cold to me. I thought I grew up independent and not needing contact with humans – their laughter, their friendship, their companionship… but I’m not that person. I’m not who I thought I was. When I moved to Syka, I absolutely thrived. I wove connections. I made friends. I laughed and cried and got invested in other people’s lives.

I got invested in your life.

I need people around. I need companionship. I need the recognition in someone’s eyes when they see me. I need the warmth of a genuine welcome and to be surrounded with love and laughter and joy. I need family. I don’t care if it’s a family I create or one that I adopt. I know my real family is not worth all this longing and need. It feels like there’s none to be had in Syka anymore… no family I mean. I’m just going through the motions of life. I thought I knew pain in my life, but that pain is nothing like this pain. This pain hurts all the way to my core.

I know you’ve never met Creature, but he’s a harlequin Imperial Watcher. He’s a lazy thing, more interested in a life with a long series of naps, than he is in actually guarding the Inn or greeting guests. I’d score him low on any sort of scale of intelligence. He has a paunch and a tendency to expel gas from all sorts of orifices that can clear a room. But… he remembers me. He knows me. He wags his tail and shrugs his big form off whatever furniture he’s taken over and comes to greet me. The birds in Syka know me too. They call me by name and beg for snacks and treats when I’m in the kitchen baking.

The Alvina of Birds has left a statue in Syka that allows birds to speak in a short sparse way. They can say names, call hello, and mostly sing insults or claim found items as theirs. Their intelligence is also fairly low unless we are talking about the great parrots, then they speak more and in complex ways. But the birds know me. And believe it or not, so do the wild Ixam. Again, I think it means my curse is linked to sentient creatures forgetting me. That means you, all my friends, and even Bree who has sentience above where all the other Ixam are something simpler.

You can laugh if you want, but what the humans aren’t providing… what they can’t provide, I’ve been able to get from the wild Ixam. I told you about the cauldron gift… the black iridescent Ixam scale necklace that infused itself into my skin and allows me to take their shape. You got your bodysuit in a similar manner. Since I have been able to take their form, I’ve been spending time among them. So I’ve been running wild.

You’d laugh if I told you how I’ve been communicating. Did you know that Ixam can send smells and tastes to one another? They can. Do you know if they are close enough, that a ton of things they can communicate to each other can form almost pictures in their minds? They can make you feel like you are surrounded by a warm turquoise sea with the wind on your wet scales and your mouth full of soft delicious rockfish? That would be a suggestion to go swimming and catch some fish for lunch. They can express pleasure and pain and they sleep in big piles like puppies?

I can’t make it up.

And truthfully there are a few that like my company. I went to the outpost and looked it up in thier version of a library. I wanted to know what to call a group of lizards. Horses form herds, flamingos form flamboyance, and groups of crows are murders of crows? Truth be told I wanted to come to share with you all the group names I learned in my research because some of them were so silly!

Some we already knew. A swarm of bees, a caravan of camels, a pack of wolves or dogs, fish have schools, jaguars have shadows and jellyfish have smacks. Now why in the heck would they call jellyfish groups smacks? Anyhow, a group of lizards is called a lounge. And I swear to you I’ve been invited to join a lounge. It’s run by a big scarlet male Ixam and there are two green females and a blue. I like them a great deal and have roamed the countryside with them doing all sorts of things you’d laugh about. Ixam is curious. They explore. They hunt, fish, and sleep.

Mostly they roam. And I’ve been roaming with them.

I even found a creature in a place called The Cheenga Ruins deep in the jungle who is a Guardian of the old city of Pavena which Syka is built in the shadow. He’s from off-world, he claims, through the World Gate here, and I’ve become friends with him. My curse hasn’t affected him. He says the Gods of this realm have no power over him because he is from another realm.

So finally, I have another sentient creature to talk to. Though, not one of my own kind.

He’s teaching me about magic…. or rather a new way to wield magic. He knows about djed and how magic works, but he knows none of our magics. I may teach him in some of the disciplines I know in return for what he is teaching me if he wants to learn. His name is Zethas and he looks a little like a man-sized bat. He would never be mistaken for a man, but he has the size of one of us humans with beautiful bronze-green skin and leathery wings. The first time I saw him he was soaring over the sister towers of the Cheenga Valley. He has told me of other Guardians … all over the place and I have hopes to meet them soon. He doesn’t think like us. He doesn’t act like us… us meaning humans. But its something… anything… and he knows me from day to day so I’m going to go back and learn more.

I have to keep him in my life, Alric.

I don’t know how to say this… but I am forgetting myself. I’m hoping Zethas will help me find my way home. Its not a memory loss thing. It’s not like the curse I wear that affects others. Its like I am losing myself to fangs and claws and the hunt. I find happiness wearing jeweled scales and roaming among others with four legs and an easy joy at life. Ixam live good lives. They live simple lives. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Play. I go whole days without going back to the Inn now.

I can communicate with a flick of my tongue and by sending images. Sometimes I find it hard to find my two legs again. And once I have two legs, I find my voice is at a loss to me and takes bells to return. I want to exchange images within my mind as a human like the Ixam do. It’s easier than words… its simpler. And now with the gnosis mark of Caiyha, I have the language of Nura so there’s nothing in the jungle I can’t speak to. My double Audius still works as an Ixam, but I cry in the voice of a wild thing and not as a human. Sound works the same way and it seems universal between creatures. But with my Ixam senses, I can hear more sound than my poor human ears can. I can hear vibrations and the low thrum of the wild world around me… the trees, the running of water over soil, the growing of green things. I swear I can even hear flowers bloom.

I miss you. They are three words that hold so much meaning to me, but what can they possibly mean to you?

You won’t remember me. You can’t. I don’t know what I did to bring this on, but I wish I could change it. I can’t. I used to not understand how you thought about things… but I’m gaining a better insight. You’ve been alone too… all your life. But I know you have your own path to walk and you see no future for yourself past the death of my grandfather. That fact used to wound me deeply. I was a naïve person that thought I could make you think of a long happy life with a family, first children, then grandchildren… in the jungles with me.

Now… I just feel resigned what the reality is. You saw it clearly. I did not. Maybe it’s your Nymkarta blood and your powerful parents. I was slow to see, but I think I understand now. I see less and less of the future these days. I understand the now is important and how the future has so little meaning. I just want my next meal and a warm sandy spot in the sun to nap the afternoon away now.

The human I once was would be ashamed by this. The Ixam thinks it’s a fine thing to endeavor to do. In one of my more lucid moments… which are growing fewer and fewer…. I talked to one of the Founders of Syka and bought all the land between The Protea and Mathias’ Cabana with coin I had saved and scrimped.

What do Ixam need of coin anyhow?

I used to want to expand the Inn and that was what the coin was for. Now… the Inn holds little importance for me. The new land next to the Inn is six acres of jungle and beach. I wanted to build the Garden House there because it’s a beautiful piece of property full of fruit and flowers and white sand beaches. I’ve moved out of the Inn. I used to sleep in whatever room wasn’t taken. But it’s full these days.

I pitched a tent in the thick green and built a wooden pavilion on the beach that has a comfortable couch and lanterns I can light when it grows too dark to read. I still read as a human. Funny, isn’t it? I still read. I don’t know for how long, but for now it’s still a simple pleasure. I invited the wild Ixam to live there with me and several lounges have moved it. I’ve yet to decide where to put the house. I’m not sure I need one now. Zethas says I’ll change my mind when my magic is expanded, but I am not sure what he means by that. He doesn’t even live in a house anyhow. He hangs upside down to sleep in giant trees at night. At least I find warm sand beds and other Ixam to pile up against.

I wanted to be honest with you Alric. Somehow that is important to me.

This might be my last visit to The Outpost. The huge number of people here bother me… the crowds, the sheer commerce; all of it. It’s so noisy, there’s so much motion, and there is no pattern to it. Nature has patterns. This is artificial. Do you taste the djed in the air? Do you feel it? There is something unnatural about this place. It unsettles me tremendously now after running wild as I have been. I remember happiness here, some of the most intense happiness of my life. But it feels a long time ago and completely untouchable. Sunberth holds your heart. Syka has mine.

I’ve left you something else… something that has to do with Syka. It feels important, but I can’t right now remember why. I know you will do good by it. Give it to Oralie or maybe Bree… I taught her to read. I taught them both to read. Did you know that? I’m not sure why they wanted too. But they can read small simple words and write a bit too. If things in Syka go horribly wrong, maybe this will help someone somewhere figure out where it all went so wrong.

Be well, Alric. Take care of Lys.

Tazrae



The List :
Alric - This all started the first of spring when the Veronica docked at Syka's little port. I'm hoping somehow if things go truly wrong, this information might come in handy to someone somewhere that will help figure out what happened and maybe correct it before Syka is all dead.

Mathias - Unaffected

James - Has lost all sense of direction

Randal - Has become bestial in his features

Cleon - Has Extreme Cravings

Faye - Ages 5 years every day, when extremely elderly, ages to a newborn

Oralie - Chased by a violent dark shadow that hurts her

Naadiya - Sometimes becomes a male then becomes a female

Tazrae - No one remembers her

Shade - Wakes up knowing a new language each day fluently but forgets all other languages

Moritz - I think he lies? Uncertain... for he tells tall untrue tales

Crylon - Spontaniously hugs people

Shiress - Haunted by a violent ghost of a person she killed

Antelokes - Gets visions from various Gods

Ialari - Flesh rots off her and she sees herself decaying

Reve - When he touches metal it rusts, rots, and decays

Indigo - Gets lost after only a few steps

Uta - Is magnetic

Juli - Hears sound as visual color

Stu - Unaffected

Jansen - Narcolepsy

Rainmere - Afraid of the dark

Artik - Extreme hair growth

Gracelin - Tremors in her hands

Duncan - After regaining vision has gone blind again

Buraga - Crippling muscle cramping of random muscles

Tony - Plants die at his touch

Dawn - Allerigic to Isusas

Nesra - Constantly breaks things

Lars - Extremely forgetful

Ken - Assumed his kelvic shape of a fowl and hasn't regained his human shape since

Xander - Extreme arthritis for his young age and immobility in his digits

An'um - Loss of the use of Nura language which is divinely granted by her gnosis of Caiyha

Kami - Cannot remember people's names though she knows them

Zayne - Food appears rotten, tastes spoiled, often vomits up perfectly healthy meals

Sorien - Fires spread around him... burning candles set things alight, campfires escape their fire rings

Michaela - Voices in her head tell her to hurt herself
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"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
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Tazrae
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[T&T] The Letterbox

Postby Alric Lysane on April 4th, 2022, 8:06 pm

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Written 40th Spring 522 AV



Secret :

Tazrae,

I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner, things have…changed quite a bit since I last wrote to you. Though, in many ways they haven’t changed at all but…well hopefully you’ll understand by the ending of this letter. Much as your own opening stated, I suppose knowledge sometimes only comes forth when you’ve got to the end of whatever it was you wanted to say. Besides which, Lys has been commanding me to stay on the sofa and relax ‘lest I ruin Doctor Shi's stitching work’….then again she then complains I don’t help her to do other things…I think she is just worried and unsure how to take the events of five days past.

But that can come later, first I wanted to write about you. It is strange how someone can fill your thoughts even when you don’t remember how they looks, a terrible drawing the only reference point. I have read your letters many times and have found the light that clearly fills your soul to be a thing most comforting when days have been difficult. Letters…words…they are strange things, aren’t they? So able to express joy and communicate…so many things. But also, so able to do the opposite. Much like life, I think, they are a charmed thing…magical in their own way. It would make sense then that it would be something that lingers, calls to you…gives you a way to try to…navigate this burden you have found upon yourself.

I wanted you to know that, so you knew that you do have human connection…if not the physical embrace that you might need alongside it. If you wish, then we would love to see you physically. We may forget for a time, but in the end, we will remember and such times may…help to sustain you until Syka resolves the problems that it has. Which brings me to what I also wanted to say. I am worried for you. You sounded so sure that Syka would solve things before but now…you offer me a list (which I will take and put to good use, you have my word) of curses and talk as if you don’t believe that this will end anymore, one day. Are things so bad there that they cannot see a path forwards to end this?

You will find no judgement from me, I understand why you might find more…satisfaction with the Ixam than with your fellow humans at present. There is much to be said for living in the moment, being truly alive and burning brightly, full of sensations and satisfaction…if only for an evening. Truly what you write about is fascinating and the part of me that Eyris noticed years to learn more, to know and perhaps experience one day if possible. Like a tantalising puzzle it distracts and captivates me…but over the seasons since learning who I really was, since Eyris visited me, I have learned that such things can also become all consuming. I trust that you are strong willed enough to not fall into that trap, you were marked by many divines purposefully because of who you are and so possessed of strength.

But from the sounds of it I didn’t tell you everything that I felt. Perhaps that was a fault of mine, or perhaps there just wasn’t the opportunity between everything else we shared in our time together – I don’t know. I discovered that it is also easy to get lost, within such a mentality. Wisdom, it seems, requires you to get burned before you can appreciate the lesson – like the first time you touch fire as a child. Tazrae…part of the reason that I never was able to see a way out of the tunnel towards my meeting with Arcadius, that I saw nothing but death at its ending…was because I lived in the moment. I never thought of future hopes, dreams or possibilities. It was partly fear…but a large part was also the sense of…comfort. It is…difficult…not to be comfortable when all you set for yourself is the goal of a full belly, a drink and a smoke afterwards. It was like a soft blanket, protecting me from the raw emotions that I have since experienced…and it was, in some ways, a poison because of that.

And it clearly stopped me from grasping for that which I held most dear too, safe in my present and so unable to be hurt with the conclusions I had already rationalised and accepted a hundred times over. There is something to be said for it…but I have been shown that, perhaps, we need to have both perspectives to truly be whole. Your sadness, perhaps, is a reflection of that. I will not tell you what to do, you have always sounded capable and intelligent in our correspondence. You forge your own destiny…just know that there are those that would share it with you, whatever shape that takes.

You have told me much of your time and given me much to think upon. I would very much like to discuss such things face to face, but I leave that for you to decide, should you wish to return to me, in the Outpost. I would like that, but as many have told me of late, only we can decide our own fates. Now, it is my turn, to tell you of things that have happened to me. I can’t tell you everything, it would take too long, but perhaps any questions and blank spaces will be filled in with future meetings and communication.

On the 35th…gods 5 days ago already?...yes 5 days ago…I was kidnapped from Ruby’s, along with Lys. It was a god, posing as a man, and demanding to know answers to questions (who’d have thought the gods didn’t know everything?). Later I discovered this was Ionu, god of trickery, illusions and mischief (yes…I think I can hear your laughter from here…I laughed too…afterwards). He did not harm us but he did make Lys vanish for a time – she is fine by the way, before you start worrying, and we are back in the apartments with Jade…a Gasvik…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Anyway, Croix/Ionu told me that both the Mortanis and one of Arcadius’ Commanders were in town and after me. I am proud that I did not faint…less proud of some other things but for now…it was a shocking development, sooner than expected. He tasked me with killing the Commander and bartered using favours with the divine of memory to make the Mortanis forget I existed. The Commander is now dead, killed in a pit fight of gladiator team combat no less, and the Mortanis are now gone, I am forgotten to them. There was another god there – he called himself Vas. The Gasvik seem to…serve him? They are sentient gargoyle creature…kind of…that only Lys & I can see (I swear I’m not making this up). Jade quite likes Lys…likes me less…but then he was his reasons. I have a few more scars but managed to simplify my life…and strike a blow against Arcadius. He is down two commanders now, including the one you killed…he must be furious.

Croix/Ionu marked me, so now I have another ally on my path and something very interesting to play around with which…well I think it will be…fun. Less fun was when Vas showed me how it would be like to become a third marked Mortanis…like my father was. Gods…a thousand lifetimes of…terrible and awful things…I’ll remember them to my dying day Tazrae. But…it got their point across. More than one point. My father…Kalas…he overcame that torture to be with my mother – they are still both alive, but they would not tell me where. They are being allowed rest after their suffering. I suppose I can’t disagree, though I am sad I may never see them again.

I was almost beginning to hate my father, for dumping me here in Sunberth with no memory. I still did when I…argued with the gods. But now, after time and reflection of that evening has taken place, I find myself in awe. He burned away all of his Djed to scour himself of three gnosis marks! No one knows how he did it, no one knows how much power it took…not even the gods. He must have suffered…so much…just so he could be with my mother. I can only hope to be half the man he apparently was. Everyone important knows him apparently, he is famous. I think they will not think that much of me by comparison. I suppose that is fitting…both of my parents were extraordinary people it seems.

I also spoke with the real Arcadius, the one who Sran’tuka (that’s the name of the body snatcher the gods gave me) robbed of his body. They…summoned him somehow. We argued…oh how me argued…I was less proud of that. I was childish, I see that now. But he told me that the way he steals bodies is by using an artefact from before the Valterrian. It was originally medical in nature, made to store souls until replacement bodies could eb found, or their own bodies repaired. It has been…altered…by this…creature…for their own purposes. But the body he stole from Arcadius is dying…cancers and deterioration. This makes him vulnerable…but also more dangerous as time passes.

Oh…and Lys is my cousin apparently. Like Leo. So now there are three of us, at least. That means more to me than I ca put into words – that I have family and that they have found their way to me. I will leave that…at that…for now. I suspect you’ll know how much it means to me.

I have told you all of this not just to keep you updated, which I think you would want, but also so that you understand this next part for what it is. You offered us a dream, in your last letter, and we accepted. Never before have I thought ahead into the future, nor has Lys for something so delightful. But it is more than that…knowing now what my origins are…what my parents did…that I am more than just a pawn ready to be sacrificed…I want a future. That future. Remembering every detail of our past meetings isn’t necessary to know that the future with you is something I want…need. I have never thought of myself as a wise man…in fact I’m fairly sure I’m dense and foolish a lot of this time…but somewhere, deep down, what wisdom I have sings to me of you. The curse will be broken, they always are in the end. If my father could defy his goddess then I can help you erase this terrible affliction.

Nothing…is impossible. This I now appreciate.

Perhaps, one day, I can live up to my parent’s memory. But, I think, if I can manage a quarter of it then perhaps I will be found worthy. You say that Syka holds your heart and Sunberth mine…this may be true in some ways. But how can places have possession of hearts when…really…they are made to be held by the hands of others? I think, now, I understand the riddle Eyris gave me. But that should be left for another time, when you come see us and spend an evening surrounded my those as want you there…just because of your company.

We’ll be waiting, when you are ready,

~ Alric & Lys
~ Thanks to Gossamer/Shiress for post Boxcodes ~
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Alric Lysane
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Misc Thread Winter 522 #2

Postby Tazrae on February 28th, 2023, 11:23 pm

Timestamp: 79th of Fall, 522 A.V.


Tazrae fit the key into the apartment lock of the T&T once more. It had been forever since she'd been there. A thick layer of dust covered everything, showing its disuse. Taz wasn't much a fan of the Dominion ruled by Xyna. She could ... see it the way Ialari could see it... since the Izur had marked a rune on her forehead and granted her the use of the Domineers sight. Being a prisoner in a Dominion for a year, she had real reservations for returning to The Outpost. But things needed finishing... concluded. And one of those things was the sale of the T&T and the retrival of her personal things.

Taz moved about the apartment, picking up things that belonged to her - little things like her set of chef knives and small hand gadgets she'd used in prepping meals here. She avoided looking at the couch, Alric's chair, and hardly looked around as she slipped into the bedroom and packed her spare clothing.

Finally, she pulled an envelope out of her backpack - after stuffing all the rest of her things in it - and slipped it into the letterbox that sat on the back of the table that rested against the couch back. She turned the key in the letterbox, picked it up, and slid the whole thing into the backpack.

The last letter was delivered. I wasn't for her, but there was no need for other eyes to read it. She'd written it because it had needed to be written. But she couldn't leave the letterbox here for the next residents. She would take it with her and it would become a memory for her and a lesson for the future.

It was a hard-learned lesson, but one she wouldn't ever forget.

With the apartment secured, personal possessions removed, and the letterbox collected, Taz turned - keys in hand - and went to find Dell to hand them to him. The apartment would be resold and hopefully bring someone else a great deal of pleasure.

The Letter :
Alric –

You’ll never read this letter, but I’m not one to just walk away without closure.

Writing this letter gives me the closure I needed to move forward in life. When I knew you, I considered you my family. I’m not sure how that happened so quickly or why, but I do know I was a lost soul cast free from her roots and searching.

That search led me to so many overgrown trails that I hacked my way down, bringing me to many crossroads and decisions. And while I often assumed I was walking those life trails with you, the total truth was I was going it alone.

Down one of those pathways gave me a sister… a twin who has filled a rather large piece of my soul that I didn’t even know was missing. Another of those pathways led me to my own children, who fill me up to bursting with the love and protectiveness of a mother. There’s no way to describe such a feeling to someone who doesn’t have offspring.

Had you been walking those pathways with me, there would have been plenty of room for you in my heart. But I see now… clearly… that you were walking your own way and I was walking in completely different directions.

Sometimes, like the river and the highway, our pathways crossed, just like a bridge or a flood. But overall, they were decidedly different.

I understand that now.

I hope someday you will walk down your own pathways and find the same happiness I have found. I used to think that would be a pathway together, but I am wise enough to understand that wasn’t the case.

I am clear-headed enough now, especially after all has happened, to understand you will forever put no one equal or ahead of yourself, which is what is required in every relationship. Your journey to Syka was enough to open my eyes to that. The empty bottles, the roaming, the restlessness… all were signs.

And the truth is, I could never compete anyhow. I kept my promises and fulfilled my duties as a friend… and that has to be enough. I was warned early on to steer clear of Nymkarta. I was told their blood pumps true, no matter what. I find that those words were as a prophecy to me, one that came true soon enough.

You are a Son of Sunberth and I am a Daughter of Syka. Time will no longer move the same for both of us which will allow us to walk a pathway together. I know you won’t understand that and I have no desire to explain it to you. You’d perhaps call me crazy if I tried. I am something more, maybe one could make the argument of something less than human these days anyhow. This is better for all of us. Sran’Tuka can no longer take your body as his. He can no longer threaten my son. That doesn’t make him less alive, but it does make him less than immortal. That was the main threat and one that has been nullified. Now it’s Syka’s turn. The place needs all the love and protection its guardians can give it. I strive to be one of those. My home will always be my home.

Best wishes to you. May your road be long and paved with happiness.

Tazrae

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"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
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Tazrae
Be savage, not average.
 
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