[Scholarly Abode of I.P.]A Club for Men[Seidaku]

[Ssafirsotibones]

20 Fall 508AV Once more Bones found himself walking along the streets of Alvadas. He was in no particular hurry... He would get to were the city wanted him to go, when it wanted him there.... Besides, there was really no point in trying to go to a specific destination. The one time he had tried, he had ended up in a really weird place, even by Alvadas standards... So he stopped trying to force his destination. Finally, he ended up at a place he had never seen before... Walking to the door, he went to knock, however before Bones could, it opened to reveal a old man. Well old for a human. He was probably younger than Bones. Once more, as usual in the city of illusions, things could not be taken at face value. He instantly questioned why Bones was there, and did he think he was worthy to enter the Scholarly Abode of Intellectual Pursuits? Bones thought this over for a moment, measuring out his response, before smiling, and responding. "Here? The question isss am I really here? Or are you here? Perhapsss one of usss isss an illusssion ssat the osser one is ssseeing? And I did not choossse to come here, I sssimply followed the road were it took me, and the city decided ssat it would take me here. If it wanted me to be here, sssurely I ssshould be allowed entry?" Bones paused after finishing this small response, looking at the mans wrinkled impassive face as he tried to come to a decision.

[Seidaku]

Listening to Bones' answer to his question, Doddel Asperenus' mouth curled into a derisive frown. After the other man fell silent, he blew out his moustache and said, "Another amateur philosopher, hmm? Well," he made an impatient gesture for Bones to enter, "Come in if you're coming, or quit blocking the door."

---***---

At a table near the back of the currently thinly occupied Scholarly Abode of Intellectual Pursuits, Seidaku hunched intently over a slender tome of higher mathematics. The concepts therein were well and truly beyond his grasp, but that was not enough to stop him from being fascinated. He was not entirely sure even what use there might be in theoretical mathematics. Either something was math, or it was not. Though, the author of the book before him seemed to believe otherwise. Perhaps there was an application in magic? It certainly sounded like something that should be useful in magic, if nowhere else.

Leaning back in his chair and stretching his back, he glanced toward the light spilling into the common room through the cracked door. Past Master Asperenus' form, he could make out the silhouette of a man against the white of the light. Just from appearances, the silhouette did not belong to the sort of fellow who would frequent the Scholarly Abode. The broad shouldered shadow towered over Doddel, who apparently decided the man worthy of entry.

Marking his place in the book with a strip of cloth, he watched to see what the shadow resolved into, curiosity plain on his face.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones shrugged at the mans response. He did not really care about others preconceptions, and there thinking of themselves as intellectually superior. Though he did know there were others smarter than himself. Maybe he would look around and meet someone to talk to, who was a bit more open minded. You would think though people studying the city of illusions would be more open to look at things past what they first seemed. Of course that could also be a problem, if anyone figured out what he was. For some odd reason people freaked out when figuring that out. Though there was no way to tell by looking that he was not human. While in human form as he was know, he looked just like one. Walking over to a bookshelf, he grabbed one, and inspected it. It was full of many different sketches of places in Alvadas, and mapping out the difference layouts the city had made, trying to find some structure or pattern. Though it seemed he had been unsuccessful in doing so. Moving over to a cushy chair near the back wall, Bones sat down to read the text, without looking around.

[Seidaku]

Apparently the figure outside passed muster, because Doddel allowed it into the Abode. As it entered the room, it resolved itself into the figure of an incredibly tall, heavily built man. His initial judgement still held true, the man did not look like the sort that one would expect to find in the Abode. Of course, the very fact that he was here seemed to put the lie to that initial perception.

Once inside, the newcomer walked, apparently at random, to a bookshelf, selected a book, found it to his liking, and then took a seat at a table near Seidaku. Given the rather sparse crowd in the building, Seidaku wondered whether it was chance or premeditation that caused the proximity.

Putting the matter out of his mind, he tried to return to his reading. However, the highly advanced and entirely abstract nature of his reading, paired with a palpable curiosity about the apparently scholarly nature of the burly figure nearby, made it almost impossible to gleam anything of worth from the pages before him. The text had gone from an explaination of terms to page after page of apparently randomly scrawled symbols and letters. From the previous reading, apparently some of the letters were supposed to indicate numbers. Except, the numbers that they represented were not real numbers, they were potential numbers. The symbols were even more complicated, but he was fairly sure that they indicated manners in which the potential numbers related to eachother.

With a sigh, he closed the book. Maybe someday he would revisit it. Someday, but not today.

Without the book to occupy him, he paid closer attention to the figure at the next table. Just from the title, it appeared the man had chosen a book detailing the possible rhyme and reason behind the movements of the city.

Looking up at the other man, Seidaku finally said, "You know... Master Asperenus is, umm, probably the world's foremost student of the movements of the city. He has, ah, devoted his entire life to it, and I am fairly sure that even he has not, umm, figured it out entirely."

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones sat for a bit more, looking over the book. As he looked through it, the author seemed to have even more trouble finding a pattern. He had thought he saw something, however his predictions did not come true.... It seemed his theory had fallen apart upon further scrutiny. That was about when the writing changed, as it appeared a new author had written the next segment. Listening to the man speak, he noticed how timid he was. Not much boldness in his speech. Setting aside the book, he looked up, and checked the guy out. "Yesss.... I can sssee it isss a hard ssing to figure out... It appears ssis attempt to record it and figure it out wasss a failure. And what are you reading?" Looking over, Bones checked out the other mans book. It did not seem to interesting either. "Ssso, what interest do you have in coming here? Are you looking for sssomessing? Or jussst wandering around? Or maybe sssomeone?" oocI think you misunderstand my characters appearance. He is not a huge hulking muscular guy. He is rather tall, but he appears to be skinny. He has tight compact muscles, and unless he is walking around bare chested, you are not going to be able to tell how muscular he is.

[Seidaku]

"I think that the, ah, air of mystery is intentional," Seidaku said, making a vague gesture around him, "What else does one expect from the god of, umm, Illusion, after all. Though, if the source of the transient nature of the city is, ah, its inhabitants... Perhaps removing the human aspect?"

He trailed off into silence, deep into his own internal musings about the city, before he blinked and gave his head a little shake as he reoriented himself, "My readings? Oh, umm... it's a tome of higher mathematics. A bit, ah, beyond my level, unfortunately. I lack the proper foundation for much of it, I think."

"I try to come here every, ah, every few days," Seidaku replied to the larger man's questions with a friendly smile, "The Scholarly Abode has the, umm, best library in Alvadas outside of the Sunken Conundrum. Umm, better in some regards, because of its, ah, specificly academic nature. Mathematics, philosophy, theology, umm, magical theory... If it is an academic topic, the, umm, Abode probably has a book or two on it. It's fascinating, really."

He pointed to the book laying on the other man's table, "Are you, umm, new to the city?"

OOCNope, Seidaku's assessment is intentional on my part. Bones is a VERY tall man, seven inches beyond the racial average for humans, with broad shoulders to boot. Compared to someone like Seidaku, Bones is intimidatingly large.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones thought on this. "Yesss, but would ssere even be a city if ssere were no people here? Or would it even bother to make itself if ssere was no one to appreciate it. Ssere isss a good chance ssat if the people left, ssso would the city." Bones would look off into the distance, wondering if even the city and the things in it were real. If he were to some day leave, would he come to find them slowly disappearing? Or would they still remain and exist outside of the city if taken out, even if they were illusions? Or in spite of it... The city was such a mysterious thing, and Bones often found himself falling into deep internal discussions on it... "Math? I never bossered wiss sssuch ssings... It just never sssemed interesssting..." "Am I new here? No... I have been here for... twelve yearsss... A short time of my life..." This might seem a bit odd of a thing to say, and might even seem like Bones was lying, since he only looked to be in his twenties, and was speaking as if he was much older.

[Seidaku]

"Yes! That's exactly it!," Seidaku all but shouted, drawing enough irate looks at the outburst to cause him to flinch back into his seat. More quietly, but with undeniable enthusiasm, he continued, "Those are exactly the right questions! And no one but Ionu really knows the answers to any of them. Certainly, the city, ah, seems to model itself based upon the expectations of others, whether to support or, umm, refute them. But, is that some inbuilt trait of the city itself, or does it require, umm, constant concentration from Ionu to preserve the Illusion? Either way, what good is maintaining the show if there is no, ah, audience to appreciate the display."

He sat back and took a sip from his glass of wine, heavily watered for the prices he could afford, and grinned broadly. Other than Doddel, the number of people he had met who shared his interest in the nature of the city they called home was depressingly slender. Most of the natives treated the shifting nature as part of their same dull normalcy, a sin of which he had been guilty more than once, and the average visitor was so overwhelmed by the deviation from their perceived norm that they had no inclination to consider the deeper questions of Alvadas.

Something about what he had said was off, though. Twelve years as a short time? That would mean...

"Surely you cannot be, ah, terribly much older than me," he said slowly, running the numbers quickly, "Twelve years ago you would have been, what? Ten summers old? Twelve years is still a, umm, significant amount of time."

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones was caught a bit off guard by the mans sudden outburst, he seemed very energetic. Bones was just not one to waste so much energy on a useless display of emotion. Yet another instance of how alien these humans were.... Then there was the assuming. Humans always took things at face value, and thought they knew so much. Most would think a person having spent time in the city of illusions would be more open to looking beyond the surface, and beyond what there senses told them. Looking over at him, he gave him a look with his eyes, and spoke again in his slow sibilant speech. "Humansss... I ssought you weren't like the ossers... I ssought you had an open mind? Don't you know that ssings are not alwaysss asss ssey ssseem? What would you sssay if I told you if I was much older ssan even ssat?" Shaking his head, Bones looked once more at him. "Twelve yearsss isss sssuch a ssshort time really...."

[Seidaku]

His statements cast his drawn out, lisping words in another light. Changing them from a politely unnoticed speech impediment to a sign of inhuman nature. From his words, it appeared that the other man was a member of one of Mizahar's non-human, but human seeming, races.

Seidaku tilted his head inquisitively as he considered the questions. Why did he assume that what he had seen was what was? Obviously, part of it was the natural human tendency to assume sameness within others. The mistaken assumption that others thought, felt, and believed the same way they did. He was not immune to that shortcoming, despite his own personal experiences with it in regards to an irrational fear of magic for its own sake. Reflecting on that fact, he was disappointed in himself. He would have thought that a lifetime in Alvadas would have been enough to teach him to look beyond the surface, for people as much as features of the scenery. That was apparently not the case, however.

Aloud, he finally said, "Honestly, I would be, ah, still surprised. Even knowing intellectually that members of other races are, umm, longer lived than humans - some of them almost unbelievably so - is quite different than being able to make the necessary, uhh, adjustments to the mindset that would be required to consider half of my present existence as a, umm, a short time."