Completed Shane's Day Out

[Shane Wallsly]

Timestamp: 14th of Summer, 515 AV

Ever since Kavala had taken him to the Sanctuary in Fall Shane had been thinking about the outside world. He’d been thinking of the somewhat lush terrain outside the city and had been somewhat yearning to take a stroll through it. Of course he was no longer the young and carefree Shane of previous seasons. He had returned to the Shane who had spent his whole life in Syliras but never once ventured outside of the Citadel to take a walk in the country. However with all the weird stuff that was going on inside the city he was starting to wonder if the wilds of Cyphrus were safer.

Ill equipped, under educated and aimless he set out from the city on the morning of the fourteenth. He had no specific route to take but he had assured himself he wouldn’t stray too far from Civilisation. He would stay near the farms and outposts and beaten paths and what not. This he did. He meandered for several hours taking in the nice scenery and speaking occasionally to the locals. It was about noon that Shane started to notice he was rather bored. In fact he was quite extremely bored. There was only so many times one could look at a different colour of dirt or tree and plant and still feel something.

Something had changed; perhaps it was he; but before long he was beginning to consider what other things he could do with his alone time. He could practice some magic. He was certainly lacking in his skills. It was then that he heard a rustling in the trees. He turned his head to the sound but could see nothing in the foliage. He blinked his eyes switching into the auras of the universe with a subtle casualness of long practice. Immediately he could discern an animal’s aura in the foliage. He focussed on the aura drinking in the details of the creature. It was yellow and four legged but strange patterns in white and black covered its coat. It had strangely circular ears and watchful eyes. It was clearly canine be it a member of the dog or wolf family he did not know but it was more dog sized at the very least. It was tense; every muscle in its body was at attention; and very, very still. It was looking directly at him, watching, assessing.

Shane shifted subtly, slowly, he allowed his sphere of influence to grow and bridge the gap between them. He suggested with his arms and shoulders. Friend. Harmless. Come closer. This was not the first time he had bent the grand power of hypnotism on a dog. He suspected it was perhaps the bond he had unknowingly built between them via his powers that had caused Norman’s loss to hit him so hard. He had unknowingly amplified his love and dependence on the dog as he was trying to do for the dog. At least this was a theory was playing with. The knowledge of it didn’t make his heart ache any less, however it did make him hesitant to unleash the full range of his power on the dog though he could try a new trick he had been working on.

He watched the oddly muted colours of the dogs ‘feelings’ trying to discern how the dog was reacting to his suggestions. This part of Auristics certainly wasn’t an exact science but perhaps the colour was of a slightly less suspicious shade. It was time for the ‘flash’. Shane focussed on this image. He was the dog; he was looking up at the form of Shane, Shane offered the food out to the creature, it hesitantly took the food and Shane scratched it behind the ears, he took a snap of that moment. Shane transmitted this image to the dog. It was like instant recall to the dog. A ‘flash’ of a happy memory involving Shane reinforcing the idea that this person it had met was a friend.

Shane watched it’s aura for several moments. It’s colours changed a bit as it seemed unable to make up its mind. Shane had just blinked the Auristics out of his eyes when he noticed a pair of circular ears exiting the brush...

[Shane Wallsly]

The dog was pretty much exactly as he had pictured it. He was impressed with the outstanding clarity of his auristics these days. He might still have difficulty with some of the more advanced stuff but his mastery of the basics was coming along swimmingly. Its demeanour was how he’d pictured it too, it moved toward him but slowly and cautiously. Shane could never tell whether an animal could fight a flash from his hypnotism or whether they would just believe anything that they saw or supposedly recalled. It could even differ from species to species. It was certainly said that some animals were smarter than others.

He knelt down slowly but in a similar way to how he had done so in the flash. He suggested some more comfort and safety letting the hypnotism transmit through subtle gestures. The dog padded toward him a little less cautiously. He’d always seemed to have a way with animals. Either that or they were powerless to resist his magically amplified will. In any case the dog approached and sniffed his outstretched hand. Shane moved his hand to pet the dog not knowing it was best to wait until the dog had sniffed your hand and decided you a friend beforehand. The dog recoiled. Shane responded by sending the dog feelings of calm via the emotional response technique. The dog did not bare its teeth when Shane went to pet it again nor did it recoil. It did give him a thousand yard stare however. This was fair enough in Shane’s opinion.

“So, what you doing out here?” He asked the dog after a small while. He took a seat upon a rock and continued to stroke the dog. He waited in silence for a response. It took him longer than he would ever care to admit to realise the dog could not reply. It had always seemed to Shane that Norman had replied though he had studied the dog’s aura so much that he could have read the dog’s mind by which direction his tail pointed. “Don’t speak Common, huh? Tukant any better for you? No, that’s a surprise. Everyone and their, well... Their dogs seem to speak it ‘round here. You’re a breath of fresh air you know that.” Shane ruffled the fur behind one of the dogs perfectly rounded ears. “Talking to a dog and it’s the best conversation I’ve had all season. So, tell me about yourself.”

This time Shane blinked and let the rainbow wash over Mizahar so that he could focus in to the dog’s aura. He simply sat and pet the animal for a little while studying its aura. “Well, you’re very skinny and a bit mangy so you haven’t been looked after in a while. However you seem too willing to trust humans and your nails are cut in an unnatural way suggesting that they’ve been cut before rather than sharpened or left as a wild animal would. You’re either a stray or are sometimes taken care of by the people in the farms around here. You also appear to lack a pack though I don’t know if dogs have packs. You’re really just smaller, tamer wolves though so wild dogs probably would have one...” Shane mused continuing to study the dog’s aura. “Ha, these powers of deduction are astounding. I should open a business where I look for people’s lost dogs...” He noted only half sarcastically. With his Auristics and intellect he probably could find things for people; expensive things, things people would pay a lot of money to have back...

[Shane Wallsly]

“So, what do you do for fun out here?” He asked the dog as he rose to his feet. He was stiff from sitting so he stretched out somewhat. He kept his focus on the dog’s aura as he did so not once dropping concentration. “Norman really enjoyed doing anything that allowed him to run. You like a little running? I’m not a fan myself but I can see the need for it. I’d be a lot quicker if I could do it two-legged as you can. Wanna try fetch? I don’t know if semi-tame dogs can fetch. Let’s try it.” Shane blinked the Auristics out of his eyes and scanned the ground for sticks. No sticks. “I don’t think I’ve seen a stick since I arrived in this continent. There are plenty of trees though...” Shane half mused, half told the dog.

He idly set off into the trees in search of a stick upon the ground. The dog followed curiously. Shane was reluctant to mutilate such beautiful trees as were all around so he strictly sought to come across some long fallen twig discarded because of age or other tree-related ‘stuff’. Curiously the ground seemed oddly devoid of twigs. The trees were a deep and healthy shade of green and were thoroughly rooted where they stood despite often seeming quite windswept. He wondered what these trees were called and if the needles that sprouted from the branches were sharp.

“Just a little twig, is that too much to ask?” He asked the dog after some fifteen odd minutes of searching. This was starting to get ridiculous. However, just as he was thinking this, he spotted an abandoned cart in a clearing up ahead. With its open end pointing toward him he could see several abandoned axes lying inside. “I could probably just chop a little off, don’t you think?” He asked the dog heading toward the cart. The dog followed hesitantly. Shane could hear the dog sniffing profusely. That was one way to assess a situation. Shane had another. He allowed his Djed to alter his vision opening his mind to the technicolour universe. He focussed on one axe allowing the details of its nature to reveal themselves to him. He opened his mind further and focussed on a second as well and a third. The information was too much. The colours too bright and muddled. His breath quickened. His heart raced. He took a steadying breath. He separated the different focus’ in his mind. He analysed each separately. When he was happy with one he let it go and focussed on another axe always keeping only three axes in focus at a time until he was satisfied that every axe was completely ordinary.

He let the auras fade from his mind forgetting to check the cart’s aura in his haste. He approached and just as he laid a single tiny hair on his fingertip upon an axe it jumped up into the air. Shane jumped backward unnecessarily and stumbled falling to the hard floor. The dog bowed down and growled at the floating axes. They took no heed of either of them and floated toward the nearest trees. Unbidden, uncommanded and with unceremonious frankness half of them began to hew wood from the trees. The other half chopped them to lumber and loaded them into the cart. They did all this while bobbing up and down jauntily. It was a song away from something off the stage...

[Shane Wallsly]

Shane watched in amazement as the axes worked busily. He looked from the axes to the dog almost as if to check the dog was seeing this too. The dog was still bowed defensively but it wasn’t growling anymore. In fact it was sniffing. “Ah, good idea.” He complimented the dog and blinked letting the filter of his mind come loose. For Shane it no longer seemed like an effort to ‘turn on’ his Sight. It almost seemed like an effort to limit his sight to the physical realm. He focussed on the nearest axe. It was as it was before. The axe seemed normal for the longest time. He continued to focus; he continued to expand his mind. His eyes were getting droopy and beginning to sting. He couldn’t discern any magical activity from this axe but it was clearly involved in something magical. The physical information didn’t make much sense either. He could tell it was flying but not how. He could tell it was chopping but not how. It was simply doing these actions as if controlled by invisible people but there were certainly no auras to support that theory.

But then he felt it; a small pulse of power. It was either hidden or so slight it was hard to find but it was there and he could now feel it. He couldn’t even remotely discern what kind or really anything more than the fact there was some magic involved here in some capacity. Whether the axes themselves were magical or the cart was or this was some kind of active spell or even the divine work of a God Shane couldn’t be sure but he was content with what he had now found out.

Shane reapplied the mortal filter and closed his eyes pressing his fingers to his temple wincing slightly. Even Auristics didn’t come without some risk. He worried about blindness almost every day but luckily for him his vision didn’t seem to have been damaged any. In fact sometimes it seemed his vision had grown sharper. He opened his eyes blinking away some light stinging and watched the axes as they worked.

“I wonder if they’ll stop when the cart is full.” He mused in the direction of the dog. The dog was no longer on guard. It was sitting on its haunches watching curiously. “You dogs have such descriptive faces. Your emotions are just out there. If more people were like dogs I could do or have anything I wanted. Could you imagine? Success at my fingertips. Mmmm, I’m not even entirely sure what I want anymore. I think I wanted to be God of Gods at one point. Crazy, huh?” Shane smiled and laughed. Sylira seemed so far from here, in both time and distance. “I had some big notions about success.” The Shane that lived there and dreamed such dreams seemed far too. “Thought I could just achieve whatever I wanted. Easy as following a few steps.” Every season he aimlessly wandered in this paradise he left a little bit of that old Shane behind. “Look at me reminiscing about my foolish, young self.” What he was becoming he could not tell. “I’m nothing yet.” Even if he was just going to end up empty.

[Shane Wallsly]

The axes were beginning to slow, Shane noted. This also seemed to directly correspond with how much space was left in the cart. He was now starting to wonder what he was going to do with this cart full of lumber once the axes were finished. He doubt he had the physical strength to wheel the cart into the city but he didn’t have any horses or draft animals to help out nor did he really want to leave this miraculous cart unguarded.

“You think you could guard the cart while I go borrow a donkey?” He asked the dog. He’d already entrusted the dog with some of his innermost musings. Why not? The dog was more suited to guarding than listening to his problems anyhow. He rose to his feet and turned to the dog. He put his hand palm outwards toward the dog. “Staaaaaaay!” He commanded slowly but urgently reinforcing it as a hypnotic suggestion. “Protect. Guard. Your territory. Our territory.” He reinforced these suggestions with urgency using his hands to motion the cart and the clearing to give direction to the concepts. He didn’t have time to lay down an intricate fabric of suggestions and piercing thoughts. He did however give the dog a rising feeling of protectiveness. Shane wondered briefly what would happen if he continued to reinforce this notion of protection. Could he create the perfect Guard Dog who would guard a single spot relentlessly until it was simply unable to anymore? An interesting thought.

He began to back away from the dog. He smiled when he saw it did not follow. It continued to sit where it was just watching him as he left. He struggled to remember what direction Riverfall lay in but decided in a general direction relatively quickly. Time had gotten away from him a bit this afternoon. He’d sat watching the axes for much longer than he’d thought. Luckily the days of summer here in Cyphrus were long. Even the shortest days here were longer than the middling days of Sylira Summer. Shane walked quickly and before long came across a farm. He enquired of the owners if they had a donkey he could borrow or buy. They would not rent their donkey to a stranger and were reluctant to part with it. He continued on to the next farm. Same story. This continued until he was almost all the way back to Riverfall. He came across a human farm and to his pleasure the folks were welcoming, accommodating and when he revealed that it was for transporting lumber they offered to buy all he could sell. He thanked them profusely and paid eight gold Mizas for the donkey and the necessary harnesses he would need.

And so it was that it was almost sixth bell when he arrived to a remarkable scene. The clearing that had once been small was now so large it was more a gap than a clearing and there in the cart in the centre was a cart laden with much limber and several axes on top of them. There too was the dog sitting exactly where it had been earlier. As Shane and the donkey approached the dog glared menacingly at the donkey. It noticed the stare and tried to pull away a bit but Shane quenched its unease with a hypnotically suggestive hand on its nozzle telling it they were safe. So far donkies were a lot more willing to trust than dogs were.

He then attempted to harness up the donkey with only the quick tutorial of the farmer wrote in memory to help him. Needless to say it took almost a full bell and even then it seemed overly loose in some places yet rigid in others. The donkey, it seemed, would probably have to work twice as hard to get this cart to the farm than it should have. Shane was tired of redoing it however and decided this would just have to do. Now that he was done he turned to the dog and smiled. “Thank you. Do you want to come back with me?” Shane asked again forgetting the dog had no verbal answer for him. It remained sitting and watching however which seemed like a no. “Okay, I’m off.” He told the dog as he began to lead the donkey out of the clearing. He looked behind. The dog had not moved. He continued on some. He looked behind. It was still there. He continued. He was beginning to wonder if the dog had eaten at all today. The horror realisation struck him that he might just have hypnotised the dog too much. What if it continued to wait there until it dehydrated or starved? Would he come back tomorrow to find a corpse? He had to get this lumber to the farm before nightfall. He had no torches. He really needed to be in the city before nightfall. Could he leave the dog behind like that? Maybe if he had time later...

The couple were surprised with the amount of lumber he had brought. He was surprised that the cart could carry such an amount. They paid him handsomely and Shane smirked inwardly for the little amount of effort he’d put into it. It had taken him much longer than anticipated to return and night had fallen by the time he’d arrived. Luckily the couple offered him dinner and to stay the night in their barn. He gladly accepted. They had a hearty meal together and Shane found the humans refreshing company after all the strange customs and cultures of Riverfall. He actually enjoyed himself though he was not forthcoming at any point about how he’d come across the wood or his own personal history. He gave them perhaps the briefest of outlines of the general stuff. Born in Syliras etc etc. The couple seemed content to talk about themselves on any account so it was never an issue. When the hour grew late he retired to the barn for a fitful sleep spent dreaming about starving dogs and magical axes with malicious intent. He’d go and see the dog in the morning. Maybe see if those axes would work for him again as well...

[Kiva]

Shane Wallsly

The Good Stuff :

Experience:

Auristics	3
Observation	3
Hypnotism	3
Animal Husbandry	2
Socialization	2
Detection	1
Deduction	1
Persuasion	1

Lore(s):
Hypnotism: A Way To Instill Trust In Animals

Loot:
-8 GM for Donkey & Supplies
+10 GM for Lumber (local) Payment
= 2 GM Earned

* I was a little weary awarding the mizas considering your character was making money for doing basically no work, and just happened to stumble across "magic axes". I would have liked to see him meet the actual owner of the cart or experience more conflict. Still, it might not be as much as you wanted to make, but with the price list and all things considered, it is something.

Notes:
I'm excited to see that you're back up and running at Miz. This was a cute little grade to thread, but I am tragically upset. If that dog stays put there, and Shane happened to hypnotize it too much... I will be heartbroken. He just like... left it. What is wrong with you??? lol

Still, I enjoyed reading it and the fact Shane almost became overwhelmed with the magic. Although, I am curious... Why didn't Shane try to hypnotize the farmers for a free donkey? Was he scared to get caught? I have so many questions. ;) Anyway, if I missed something, let me know. More than happy to re-grade or review whatever you'd like me to. Last but not least, make sure you edit your request in the grading queue.

xoxo

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Keep writing!