He had Art in his Bones

[Seyp]

1st Day of Summer, 510 A.V.

The bustle of the Myrian streets announced the coming of summer as the natives began preparing for the summer festivals that were on the horizon. Seyp was busy with other things, however. His room was bare for the most part, void of any semblance of décor. There were no trophies from hunts, no colors or the like of any kind on the walls. No windows lined the walls of his home, the only sunlight that crept in being that which came from the small slivers of space between the door to his home and the frame it was attached to. Lighting was provided by a few simple candles set about along the floor in random places. A slight scent of incense lingered in the room, burning near one of the candles. It’s scent was of a jungle flower that bloomed only two weeks out of the year in the Jungle itself. It was his mother’s favorite scent, and claimed it often helped her concentrate. A simple chair sat in the corner, his clothing, pack and weighted chain resting over it. A bed large enough to fit two rested along the back wall, it’s frame made out of wood, it’s cushioning a lamb’s skin stuffed with feathers, furs and straw. One dominant divot in the center of the bed suggested that Seyp spent a majority of his nights sleeping alone. Something that didn’t seem to weight heavily on his mind according to most people’s guesses.

In the end, Seyp’s home was plain and boring by most Myrian’s standards. It lacked the extravagant decoration of bones and trophies that many kept. Seyp, however, always had other uses for the bones he collected. True enough, the only bones kept in his house that weren’t used in his practice where the skulls of his mother and father, as they stood facing him as he was crouched in the center of the room, all clothing discarded entirely. The black spheres where eyes should be giving a hollow stare to their son as his arms rested along his knees, his fingers sliding lightly over the surface of the forearm bone he had collected the previous season. It belonged to a vain artist, who thought the scenery of the jungle would make for a magnificent painting. He was right in his assumptions, the jungle was beautiful. He was wrong, however, in the assumption that it would be a simple day. The forearm and fingers of his painting hand went to Seyp, the rest into the bellies of the hunters who had killed him. He had spent the past few weeks, reading over the journal, learning every single detail of the man’s life he could. Fortunately, the arrogance of the artist led him to jot down the events of his life in great detail, even the events Seyp himself found menial.

Seyp began to mutter words, it’s tone barely reaching the level of a whisper as his fingers continued to slide of the surface of the bone in his hand, the fingers, hand and some of the artist’s blond hair laying along the floor to the side of him. The words his muttered weren’t quite Myrian in dialect, nor common. They seemed more akin to chants, but not in any ancient tongue either. It was quite possible that Seyp’s mutterings meant nothing at all, but were merely a means of concentrating as he began his work. His right hand slowly reached out, the tips of his fingers sliding underneath the flap of a small leather case, flipping it upward. Inside rested several fine carving tools. The metal of the tools made of iron, their handles made of bone. The size of the bone, and thus the Malediction Circle he was about to create, was small. Too small and delicate for the use of the wooden carving mallet his fingertips rested gingerly over for a moment. Further and further down his hands continued to slide along the surface of the tools, until finally resting along the smallest tool in the kit. A small four inch long iron pick, it’s tip blunt, rather than sharpened like a chisel or pointed like a conventional needle.

It was, although, coarse at the tip. The use of the tool became immediately obvious as Seyp began sliding it lightly over the surface. That light sound of “scritch, scritch, scritch” echoed in his room, mingling with Seyp’s continued muttering chants. The scratches were delicate, and short, practically just gliding along the surface. It would barely cause any change in the bone to any spectator, and would soon become boring, causing someone to lose patience with the practice. Seyp knew such a process could not come quickly though. The art of Malediction was one that required infinite patience, especially in the practice of carving out the circle. One small section of the circle alone could take a full days work to carve out, and it wouldn’t even be a tenth of the way done by the end of that day. Rushing it though, often produced disastrous results in an already unpredictable discipline.

Like with any sculpture or carving, one could not start by breaking the mold or just taking a hammer and knocking off large chunks of the beginning product. It would take time, as layer by layer was slowly stripped away until the finished product could be finally admired. And so Seyp would take his time, as every light scratch to his first line, slowly but surely began to produce a fine bone powder to begin forming along the surface of the bone and his tool. When enough collected along the surface of the bone, Seyp lowered it to a small cup that sat nearby, brushing it off into the cup itself before tapping the tip of his carving tool along it’s rim. A hint of enjoyment appeared on Seyp’s face as he continued. Many noted that it was the only time they saw such expressions on his face.

[Seyp]

2nd Day of Summer, 510 A.V.

Seyp’s room and general set up for the new day hadn’t changed by much. The only addition was the empty plate and cup that laid near the door, emptied of the food and drink they once contained. His frame was once again crouched in the center of the room, the little needle of his tool scratching lightly over the bone once again as small amounts of bone dust formed along the surface. The cup he had been periodically dumping the bone dust into was close to a tenth of the way full now. Later, when his circle had been completed, he would use the bone dust as well, forming a past of sorts after adding other ingredients.

Seyp slowly looked up from his work, his incomprehensible muttering pausing for a moment as he looked to the skulls of his parents, still sitting in front of him. The dark sockets of their eyes peered up at him in silent expression as his body remained motionless. A hint of a smile appeared on his face as he slowly turned the bone towards them, showing that the circle was a quarter complete already. “Mother, father? What do you think so far?” Seyp asked idly, slowly turning the bone back again and resuming the light scratches to it’s surface. “The man was a good artist I think Even handling his bone, without bringing it’s latent power to the surface, seems to instill me with a steady hand and guided focus in the creation of the Malediction Circle itself. I think this item will turn out quite nicely, yes I do.”

Seyp fell to silence once again as the only sounds to fill the room were the subtle “scritch, scritch, scirtch” his tool made along the surface of the bone. It wouldn’t be long, however, before the sound of his muttering once again started. A habit that helped his concentrate perhaps, but in the end no one ever asked. He didn’t even notice how time passed by when he was in his home, working on a new item. For him, he would wake at dawn and begin, only stopping occasionally to eat, drink and relieve the urges his bladder signaled. Otherwise, most of the day would be a blur, as the sun rose as if to begin work, and the next thing he knew the night sky and starlight skies were suggesting that it was time for sleep.

As the sound of footsteps stopped at his door, and the creek of the door opening let a flood of sunlight into his home, Seyp gauged that it must have been at least three bells before night fall, as he rose his hand up to shield his eyes. The sun’s light shined in from the west, as it was making it’s way down towards the horizon. Such direct light hurt Seyp’s eyes, especially after having spent most of the day working in a room illuminated by nothing better than candles. The silhouette of a female stood in the doorway, blocking the sun momentarily as the figure just stared down at Seyp silently. “Why do you always do that naked?” the female asked, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She was tall, and well toned, like almost all Myrian women, her dark hair only carrying slight streaks of grey in it as her skin and scars told the tale of her past endeavors. Her face, despite her age, remained smooth, beautiful, and unscarred save for a small one that ran along the right side of her cheek. Jungle green eyes peered down at Seyp, carrying with them both a look of discipline and concern.

“Ah, greetings T’wala of the Snake Slayer Clan.” Seyp said as he continued to work on his circle, lowering the bone to let more of the bone powder slide into the empty cup. “My clothing has foreign material. Material which could come free and contaminate my work. The only thing that should go into it at the beginning, is little of the owner of this bone, and a little of me. Nothing more. Anything else after, will merely be decoration.”

“Your parents never practiced such approaches.” T’wala replied, stepping over towards the one single chair, settling into it. She was an old friend of his mothers, the two of them grew up, training together, serving together among the Myrian warriors for their required three years. Even then, as Seyp’s mother went into Malediction as her field, and T’Wala continued the path of the hunter, they never drifted apart. Point in fact, the two of them had become as close as any blood related family could become.

“Yes, well my parents, were much more skilled than I in this art.” Seyp said, his tone a little more somber that it usually was when he conversed. “Their ability to draw out the powers latent within someone’s body part could not be hindered by much. Have you come here to lecture me?”

“Don’t take that tone with me, Seyp.” T’wala said sternly as he legs tightened slightly, the instinct in her calling for her body to rise and discipline Seyp. Eventually, however, she just released a sigh, shaking her head. “No, I’ve come here to see if you’ve reconsidered moving in with my family? You shouldn’t be living alone.”

Seyp paused in his work, looking over towards T’wala in silence for a long moment, almost studying her. Slowly, his clear vision began to give way to colors, vibrant and like a haze, dancing in front of his eyes as he continued to look at T’wala. Her shape was still there, thin lines almost glowing like neon now accentuating her facial features and curves of her body. Hints of red and blue colors seemed to dance around her body like flames as the rest of the area behind here took on a more dark color, only basic shapes being seen. Her aura was true, showing only concern and a slight amount of contempt at the tone he took with her earlier. Slowly, the colors began to fade, giving way to blurred vision at first, slowly coming back into focus with the passing seconds. “No, in all honesty, I like my solidarity. It helps my concentration with my work.” Seyp replied, turning back to the bone as he continued to carve out his circle. “Besides, I get the feeling your daughters don’t much like me. It would cause slight unrest within your clan.”

“You don’t need to worry about them, I am the Elder of my family, and my word is law to them.” T’wala said, her voice taking a more reassuring tone to it.

“I think it best if it not even become an issue that you need to do such.” Seyp replied, dumping some more bone dust into the cup as he showed T’wala the work on the circle thus far. “What do you think?”

T’wala paused for a moment, remaining silent as she continued to look at Seyp. Finally, she released a sigh, looking over towards the bone, and the work Seyp had done so far, her eyes narrowing slightly, indicating that age was beginning to slightly hinder her sight. “It looks very detailed, though I can’t begin to fathom the designs meanings.” T’wala then noted, a soft smile crossing her features. “Your mother would constantly try to explain them to me, but failed in the long run. You hold her passion for the art, both her and your father would be proud at how far you’ve come.”

Seyp fell silent, turning his attention to the bone once again as he began scratching at it. “I, thank you for your words. Also, I do appreciate the offer, but,” Seyp said, pausing in his work for a moment, looking around his home, “this is where my family was. My home. My clan. I can not leave it. I know how most feel about me. Detached, without family, alone. Perhaps I am detached to a certain extent, diving into my work as much as I do, but my mother especially, created such a fascination within me for Malediction, that I find it hard to focus on anything else. True enough, you are the only one who I can carry a conversation with, and it’s only because you choose not to stop coming by to try. For that, especially on behalf of my mother, I thank you as well.”

“She saved my life as many times as I saved hers, it’s the least I could do for her.” T’wala simply said. “Still, most think you detached because you don’t spend the time that others would, even for a male. Go out there, be with your people more.”

“I fear I find it difficult these days to speak with them, and not see anything but potential in what their bodies could create. It………….distracts from simple conversation.” Seyp said before looking to T’wala once again, tilting his head to the side as he displayed his bone. “Would you like me to go over the circle thus far with you?”

T’wala flashed a hint of a smile, feeling slightly nostalgic over his question. “I would, but like with your mother, I fear I may not know or remember what the circles mean.” T’wala replied, leaning forwards slightly.

“Ah, but I think you missed the point in what my mother was trying to reveals.” Seyp replied, setting down his tool as he began to slide his finger then over the work on the circle he had done so far. “The circle itself, tells the story. That, I think, is what my mother wished to convey. The story is what imbues the circle with it’s power, and the circle itself, the item. She wished to share the story, as a fascinating tale of a circle will determine what the item itself can do. Her excitement in the story, stemmed from the curiosity that would become the end result. Take the story of the man this bone came from. He led a life as an artist, painting beautiful landscapes and sceneries. Some of which took the breaths away, and inspired poets. He was commissioned from influential and wealthy individuals in parts of Syliras and Mura, as they requested his hand capture the beauty and emotion of their family and faces. The draw back, one that he couldn’t even likely see, is that such requests made him vain, arrogant. Such could be discovered by the stroke of his hand in his writing, and the haughty words he used to describe certain people he had come across or clients that tried to commission his work. Such is added to the circle as well, which will likely cause an individual to feel slightly arrogant when using this item, but whatever detail one has, should never be hidden. Otherwise, the hidden aspects may very well come to surface more.”

T’wala sat there, an intrigued look on her face as she looked over the bone and then to Jaeden. “What are you making using it?” T’wala inquired, a general interest in her voice.

“A paint brush.” Seyp replied, as he once again began to scratch at the surface of the bone.

“So all the times your mother went over a circle with me, she wasn’t trying to teach me, to learn to create items in Malediction?” T’wala then asked, leaning back in her seat.

“You were as close to her as any sister could have been, T’wala, that much I’ve heard her claim when she spoke to father about you one night. So there was likely a small part of her that hoped you would learn such,” Seyp explained as he dropped some more bone dust into the cup, “but in the end, she wanted to share her excitement with you. She felt about creating a new item as you do about hunting a challenging prey I imagine.”

“I see.” T’wala said, slowly standing up from the seat as she moved over towards the door. “Well, night will soon be falling, and I have a couple of errands to run before I go back to my home. I hope you will at least visit it some time.”

Seyp remained silent for a moment, looking up to T’wala as she looked back to him almost as a concerned parent would. “I promise I will at least consider it, but I would not lie to you and make no further claim than that.” Seyp replied as his hands remained motionless as he looked at her.

“I will accept that. At least you go that far, and not just say no.” T’wala said as she then cracked the door open, revealing that only light of dusk now remained outside.

“T’wala?” Seyp said as the woman paused, looking back to Seyp. “Not that a woman of your exceptional skill needs such, but if you would be willing, track and observe an eagle or hawk for three days time to a week. Document it’s behavior as it searches for prey, it’s flight and it’s hunt. Include every detail that you see. Then, when a time has passed, hunt it down. Bring me it’s head and eyes, and from that, I can make you an item that will most likely allow you to see much further and more clearly than even the youngest of hunters out there. With eyes like that and hands as steady as yours, you will be able to use your bow to shoot the hairs off of an insect I imagine.”

T’wala looked to Seyp blankly for a moment. Her mind teetering between whether she should be insulted that he suggested such, or angry with herself that he was able to notice where no one else had yet. In the end, her mind went in neither direction, but recalled the various items that his mother often created for her, paying her even to test. In the end, she would let T’wala even keep some of the more grand and successful items. It was something that T’wala found herself agitated over, thinking that her best friend thought that she would need them. Seeing her son offer the same thing, so many years later however, her mind got to thinking that his mother didn’t really think that T’wala needed them. Rather, she wanted T’wala to advance in Talbola, and offered her means to do so more quickly back then. With that thought in mind, T’wala then just gave a slight smile and slow nod. “I will, and thank you.” T’wala said. “I will come by again soon, to check up on you.”

“I’m sure my mother would appreciate such.” Seyp replied, letting his gaze fall to the bone once again as he continued his work. No word of departure was given, and none was needed. The two of them knew full and well that they would see each other again. For one didn’t venture into danger without the aid necessary to survive it, and the other was to skilled a Myrian warrior to be fall victim to almost any danger that was present in the jungle. Instead, only the slight light that remained outside filtered in for a moment as the door was opened, and then faded just as quickly as it was closed behind T’wala when she left. A slight smile crossed over Seyp’s features as the circle took further shape, and he wondered if his parents would be as excited with the item he worked on as he was.

[Seyp]

His circle had nearly been completed, the small bowl now a third of the way full with the specks of bone he had painstakingly been scratching and carving away for the past two days. Today he set to fixing the other parts together as the finger bones and part of the victim’s scalp was laid out before him, his blonde hair still looking as golden and silk laden as the day they cut it from him.

He sat before the bowl that contained the bone dust he had scraped away in making the Malediction circle. To his right sat various common items he would soon start reaching out for. The first of which were a couple of eggs. Cracking them over the bowl, he split the shell in half and began to constantly pour the insides back and forth between the shells, separating the egg yolk as the egg white poured inside over the bone dust. The next to go in was the honey, the thick golden liquid pouring in slowly as it began to layer itself over the egg whites and bone dust. Finally, a slight amount of milk and glob of sap from a jungle tree was added before a simple wooden skewer was used to mix all the items together. He stirred it all until it was blended together, forming a paste of sorts in an off white color.

Seyp then casually reached over to the bone, picking it up as he began stirring the top of the bone into the paste mixture for several rotations. It was unlikely he needed to do so to cover the top of the bone itself, but he did so all the same, making sure the very mixture and the bone that had been etched away, during the process of carving the Malediction circle, was making it’s way back into the bone slightly. He then held the tip of the bone itself over the bowl, as excess amounts dripped down back into the bowl at a very slow pace. His idle hand reached over the patch of scalp and hair he had set aside, lightly pressing it along the tip of the bone as the natural adhesive slowly began to bond with the dried out flesh of the scalp. A few strands on opposite sides were then brought down and wrapped along the bone itself, further anchoring the hair to the tip of the bone. Finally, Seyp grabbed the fingers, one by one, and began pressing them along the surface of the glue covered bone, pausing for close to a chime each time to make sure that the glue had a firm grip along the finger bone. Eventually, the fingers surrounded the bone, a finger bone tip alternating between the other links of bone that made up the fingers themselves. More strand of hair that was set aside was then taken and wrapped tightly along the finger bones, finally forming the head of the brush as the blond hair dropped down slightly.

Seyp released a slow sigh, finishing his intended work for the time. He slowly held the bone out, setting the length of it along the rim of the bowl. It would take several bells for the glue to fully set and harden, and until then, any further work on the circle could possibly jostle one of the pieces loose. Seyp would have to be patient for the time being, but even he disliked sitting idly for lengthy periods of time. So Seyp rose from his set in the center of the room, and slowly stepped over to the chair holding his clothing. Pulling his weighted chain free, he then slowly began to swing it, letting the clinks the links of the chain made whenever they were wrenched together fill his ears, a sense of calm beginning to wash over him as he did so.

[Seyp]

Seyp was crouched in the middle of his room, once again carving out the remaining etches of his malediction circle. He was nearly done, a process that took most of the bells found in a day, over a couple of days. The inside or the circle was more painstakingly done, the outer part telling the story of the artist’s life already completed. The inside, however, was an addition, a symbol naming the artist himself as the detail of it was labored over with great care. The bone was held close to Seyp’s face as each small scratched was evened out to the best his eyes could see, as well as the depth of the groves which that made up the carving of the circle itself. It likely wasn’t perfect, and Seyp knew that it never truly could be. There was, after all, no perfection in the art of Malediction. There was simply the unpredictable end result. If the item didn’t do something, anything, for better or for worse, only then was it considered a failure.

About another three bells would pass as Seyp was down to final scratches of his circle. The head of the paint brush remained solidly attached to the main bone, only a sharp strike to it would cause it to rattle apart, and further steps would be taken later to ensure that further. For the time being, however, the final act of the process was about to begin. Seyp made the final scratch with his carving tool before he slowly set it down along his kit. He pursed his lips for a moment, letting out a quick puff of air to clear away any final particles of bone that had been dug up from the carving tool as it flew through the air in a small cloud for a brief moment. Several chimes was then spent inspecting the circle, making sure it was free of hollow gouges and foreign materials.

When Seyp was finally satisfied, he slowly set the bone along the floor in front of him. His hand reached to the side once again as he slowly began his muttering chants once again. From the floor beside him, Seyp then picked up a long, slender needle, holding it out in front of him over the bone. Seyp then slowly raised the index finger of his left hand out, carefully moving it towards the tip of the needle as he continued to chant. The surface of his finger lightly pressed up against the needle’s tip, being pushed back slightly as the pressure increased. “The circle is the most crucial part. It is the door to the power.” Seyp heard his mother’s voice from the past as it began echoing lessons within his head. “Your blood is the key that unlocks that door.”

Finally, the tip of the needle broke through, the stronger material forcing skin and tissue to tear and part ways, allowing the blood beneath to begin making it’s way out. Seyp withdrew the needle, now setting it aside as he pressed his thumb up along the soft tissue of his finger, just below where the needle had pierced. The red liquid slowly began to form a ball at the tip of his finger, blood clinging lightly to the tip of his finger until the weight of it and gravity did it’s part. The drop of blood fell, traveling the short distance before it hit the center of the Malediction circle that Seyp had carved into the bone. At first there was nothing, but soon a slight hissing could be heard, like water being lightly flicked along a red hot piece of metal. The blood then began to glow slightly, illuminating the small area it had dropped, and before long, it slowly began to seep into the bone itself, spreading slowly. It traveled along all of the grooves within the Malediction circle, the glow becoming even brighter. Seyp’s eyes widened slightly at this, the corners of his mouth sharpening into a smirk at the reaction. Eventually, the glow filled the entire malediction circle itself before fading slightly, growing black as if the blood itself was burned into the grooves that the Malediction circle had formed.

Seyp slowly reached down to the paint brush, his eyes focusing as colors began to overcome his vision, his Auristics kicking in. He observed the item for a long moment, looking to see if it formed any sort of aura. The purposes wasn’t to see what the item itself could do, as such would be impossible at Seyp’s levels if possible at all. Instead, he just gazed over the item for a short moment to see if it held power at all. Closing his eyes, Seyp set the paintbrush down once again, letting the power of Auristics fade from his vision. A satisfied look appeared on his face before he finally reached out once again to the floor beside him. Several straps of leather laid there, cut from the very satchel that the artist used to carry his own painting tools. Using them, Seyp began to slowly wrap the bone itself. The bone, circle and head of the brush would have added protection from this from outside elements. Using some of the left over paste he had made earlier, Seyp glued the end of the final leather strap, fixing it down over the first layer of leather and holding it in place until it would stay of it’s own accord. Laying the brush down one final time, he then released a sigh, allowing one final time for the glue to set. “Well then, now all that’s left is to find a buyer. I’m wondering if there are any painters here who would make me an offer?” Seyp said silently as his hand slowly rose, rubbing the underside of his chin in thought.

[Cayenne]

Well, well, well! First Malediction thread on the boards, and a great one. Seyp is a very interesting character, and definitely not your typical Myrian! Well done indeed! I'm looking forward to seeing his progress! I hereby award the following: Malediction - 3 XP Carving - 2 XP Teaching - 1 XP Weaponry: Weighted Chain - 1 XP Auristics: 1 XP One completed paintbrush: It grants a particularly fine hand while painting details, and after repeated use, will begin to make the user feel particularly proud about their work, however lacklustre. It enables its user to spot technical flaws in paintings.