Closed Waxing Poetic

[Eyes High]

Waxing Poetic

First of Fall, 518 AV

Perhaps it was odd for some to consider two near strangers effectively moving in together, but Eyes High felt that the arrangement was suitable for both her and her new companion, whom she knew as Kiris Var. After meeting during their shared journey from Riverfall to Lhavit, the young pycon knew she had an opportunity to make herself a useful ally in the akalak. Being just over five inches tall, the animated creature of clay was very aware of the disadvantages that stood between her and her future, permanent form. Whether Kiris would be a long term asset or not remained to be seen, but so far the Akalak had been one of the best things to happen to her so far.

Sykanis, her pet sykanis, bolted through the residence before either could imagine stopping him. The energetic dog was led by his nose to sniff everything, snoop under everything and attempt to sit on whatever remained too large to snoop under. His tail flicked excitedly at the new surroundings, prompting the pycon to climb down from the Akalak's shoulder to toddle across a table and flop down onto the dog. His tail was almost vibrating with pent up energy and excitement whilst his master petted him with cold, lumpy clay hands that were smaller than his nose. Sykanis did not lick her, though - he had found out long ago that Eyes provided no salt and no pleasant, fleshy sensation upon being licked.

Their arrangement was a simple one. Kiris had his home and Eyes had hers, in the form of a simple, small pycon cottage that could easily be mistaken as a dollhouse on the Akalak's table. It had exactly what she needed and no more, and was made so well that she was absolutely tickled. A house, all of her own. Sure, her new friend could actually carry it (and did, bless him), but to the pycon, the simple, tiny cottage might as well have been a mansion with how proud of it she was. "Right there, that's good," she praised in roughly understandable Tukant. She was definitely not fluent by any stretch of the imagination, but she was at a basic level that afforded her some level of communication with her big, blue friend. Kiris didn't seem overly bothered where he planted her house, but Eyes liked to think that he cared just a little bit about her feelings on the matter. Unable to sit still for long (like a certain dog now sniffing around the room), the pycon approached her house to admire it up close. She had no idea how to repay the Akalak for carrying it for her, though he did seem to prioritise toothpowder, whatever that was. Looking through her gear, she stumbled upon her tiny engraver's tool kit and it was settled. She was no expert when it came to etching (far, far from it, in fact) but she was (naively) sure that she could impart some knowledge onto her new friend that could help him.

"Kiris," she trilled pleasantly in a rich, deep voice that was utterly shocking to hear come out from such a tiny body. "Can I show you something!" To some, this may have sounded like a question, but given the fact she was already rushing over to the Akalak with her tiny tools, it was evident that the pycon had no intentions on entertaining a negative answer. After navigating her way onto a surface that brought them within a more reasonable height, the bundle of moving clay plopped herself down and wiggled her well defined toes whilst going through her tools with two fingers to each 'hand'. Unfortunately for her plans, a sense of realism kicked in at the last moment - this stuff was far too small for Kiris to bother with. He was massive, quite frankly. The stuff of nightmares, really. No, she needed something awesome, and she knew just the thing. Nothing was more awesome than the god of transformation himself, Harameus. Did she know if he would have any interest? Nope. Did she care? Not enough to stop. Her engraver's kit was soon forgotten and she looked up at him with a big, gaping mouth that could almost be considered a smile. Sort of.

"Do you know Harameus? He's a god." Some true, inspiring facts were coming from this conversation already. She decided to elaborate a little more, in Common this time. "He's the god of transformation and alchemy and change and he's really important to a lot of pycons. Not all of them I guess," she said, starting to go onto a bit of a tangent - she had never sat someone down to tell them of something before. "Not everyone's the same. But for me, he was what started my race and is why was can do what we can do." She concentrated, and morphed out another appendage from her left palm-like structure, before returning to the comfort of her normal form. "He's great."

Word Count : 822

[Var Kiris]

Var had some regrets about where he had allowed Kiris to place Eyes High's cottage. He had one desk- one- and he was looking to work as a scribe or copyist of some sort. Furniture was in short supply in their apartment, and getting shorter as they arrived at their new home with a great deal of shopping. He very nearly sighed when his newest annoyance friend attempted a bit of Tukant with him to get his attention when he was already putting things away in his mind's eye (it was always best to do it mentally before one petched it all up by putting things away as you went and running out of room). Eyes High was only half decent at Tukant and he was only half decent at Common, so between the two of them, they had a great deal to master before meaningful communication could be achieved. This had not stopped Kiris and Eyes High from trying, however.

"I've not heard of Him," said Kiris aloud. Var wiped away an inner tear of relief as his dark brother took over the conversation, leaving him to fret quietly over the best way to encourage Eyes to allow her cottage to be moved. "Does He manifest in a particular region, or can he be encountered throughout Mizahar?". 'Well done, brother,' Var praised Kiris inwardly. 'Perhaps you could learn something if you listened, yourself,' Kiris suggested with a hint of amusement. Var didn't dignify that with an answer. As instructors went, Eyes High was about as proficient as one-legged ox in a cart-pulling competition.

Thus saved from terminal boredom by his personal sacrificial lamb, the Akalak took stock of his new possessions and returned to his organisation frustrations. The first order of business was to reclaim the table, and Var offered his apologies to Eyes High as he hefted her humble abode and relocated it to his nightstand, sacrificing another valuable surface but reclaiming another. The most fiddly articles needed a home first, and it was these that Var occupied himself with, separating papers, paper, ink and quill into a fastidiously neat drawer that had nothing else to occupy itself with. His lowly little desk had one other drawer to fill, into which went Var's personal effects such as soap, razor, comb and other hygienic aids. A third drawer turned out to be false and carved for aesthetic only, by which point Var had mentally given up on Lhavit. T'was a tad dramatic, but in truth, he was utterly exhausted. Eyes High only seemed to gain energy from the grey hairs she inspired in him.

"Can't an Akalak even put his thrice-damned shyke away?" exclaimed Var aloud, glaring at the drawer. There was room in the top drawer for perhaps two more small objects, but as he went to open the drawer once more it became stuck, and he wrestled with it momentarily before it flew open, scattering paper all over the apartment and floating down almost cheerfully next to Eyes, onto his bed and delicately over the sykanis' nose. The dog sneezed, flinging a piece paper into the air before he leapt up to eat it. Var twitched. "You don't mind the spot for your cottage, do you?" said Kiris hurriedly. Var had temporarily checked out.

word count: 547

[Eyes High]

Eyes High was blissfully unaware of the Akalak's dual nature. As a result, whilst Kiris' behaviour seemed a bit hot and cold, the pycon took it in stride and barely gave it a second thought. She wasn't there to judge her roommate's potentially moody attitude, she was there to answer his questions. Seeing as he was asking such great questions, the Pycon felt reassured that she was going great, when in reality she was an incredibly poor and naive instructor. It was quite exciting to introduce her god to someone who had not heard of him before, especially to someone that was already asking questions about him! Eyes was not an expert, however, but she knew a reasonable amount about the reclusive god in question.

"As far as I know, He's not manifested anywhere," the Pycon replied sagely, not being overly helpful at all, but she was trying. "Not as a physical form anyway. So, I guess that means he could be anywhere, but nowhere, all at the same time. He made us and we're constantly changing, so it'd make some sense that he wouldn't have restrictions either." She paused as she watched Kiris move her house after having just sat it down, though she didn't really care where it went. In all honesty, it would probably make more sense to put it on the floor, but if the Akalak wanted it on a surface, then it could go on a surface. Her concern for her pupil only continued to grow as she watched him interact with his drawer (well, with his fake drawer apparently). It didn't take much to realised that he was a bit cross, and she awkwardly picked herself up to start offering her assistance, before a truly hilarious scene erupted before her very eyes.

The paper was everywhere, and she let a piece slip off her clay-like body to land directly beside her. Naturally, she felt a bit bad by being so amused by it all, but at least she could hide her amusement reasonably well because she didn't have much of a face to express it with in the first place. Sykanis blinked as the parchment fell onto his nose, and for a moment Eyes thought nothing would go on from there, but she was wrong. One fateful sneeze later and the Pycon was trying to not laugh as her beloved animal companion ate Kiris' paper, even though the scene immediately before had primed her to do so. Eyes delicately clamped the paper that had fallen beside her between her two fingers, doing her best to not damage the parchment, and offered it to Kiris helpfully. "It's fine. I don't really mind where it is," Eyes answered. "Do you need help picking all this up?"

Word Count : 461

[Var Kiris]

Var counted to five before he shook his head at Eyes High's offer of help and accepted the piece she held aloft graciously, bending to pick up the rest of the dropped papers. He needed to practice more relaxation techniques, he decided. Kiris was certain at this point that he was best served chattering away to the Pycon whilst his light brother sorted the mess out, if he'd had any doubts before. Eyes High wasn't exactly thrilling him with her rhetoric, but it was better than Var in a mood. That could last for days.

"That's very interesting," praised Kiris encouragingly, mentally nudging Var to at least partially listen to the Pycon. "So He is your patron God. What sort of things do you pray to Him about? Or is Harameus not really the praying-to sort?" Var had to admire his brother's gentle manipulation. He could tell that Kiris was as bored stiff about Harameus as he was, but he was interested in Pycons. The more they knew about their little friend, the more useful she could turn out to be. Meanwhile, Var had retrieved his papers once more and pushed them back into the desk drawer after painstakingly stacking them back into alignment, their crumpled edges hurting his heart just a little bit. He decided to move Eyes High's cottage once more, deeming the side table to be valuable real estate in hindsight. This time it did go on the floor, tucked under the window where the sunlight rested upon its sweet little roof, and the Akalak paused to look curiously in through the windows. Although scaled down, it was nicer than his apartment, filled with rough but neatly carved furniture, hand-sewn bedding that served exactly no purpose whatsoever, and even a little hearth lined with pebbles. Var rolled his eyes and got up to finish his work. No one could say that life was easy for a Pycon in general, but some Pycons clearly had it easier than others.

It was apparent that he was lacking a place to eat other than at his desk, but mentally he could not abide the thought of eating where he worked, nor on his bed. Amongst his new purchases was a small, simply-woven rug, and it occurred to him to set it up picnic-style on the floor where he could eat comfortably. Therefore, whilst his kitchenware could reside by the hearth, his tableware he began to lay out neatly, smoothing his ruffled feathers over the paper 'disaster' moments ago. Fork, spoon and knife he laid next to one another, then changed his mind and placed them in the bowl and off the floor. The bowl weighed down the corner of the rug, and he slipped the plate underneath it where it made a neat little tower. Var turned to retrieve a small jug from his backpack where the other implements had come from, and when he looked back, Sykaris was leaning in and sniffing closely at the bowl.

"No," Var instructed the dog sternly. Skykaris appeared not to hear him, and parted his little, fur-lined lips to wrap them around the wood-handled spoon delicately. "No!" Kiris tried louder, for Var's sake, but the dog was off as though taking his tone for an invitation. The mutt bolted about the room and Kiris was up with him, scrambling up from the rug and pulling it out from under his feet and scattering utensils about the floor. 'Why did you think that leaving anything on the floor with a dog around was a good idea?' Kiris berated Var, amused, as he attempted to corner the overexcited dog. 'It can get to the things up high, too, I didn't think it mattered!' Var explained, dismayed, outing himself as one very unfamiliar with domestic animals. Somehow, despite their shared experiences, the light brother hadn't gotten the memo that child-proofing wasn't merely limited to children.

word count: 649

[Eyes High]

This was not the best of first impressions one could give, especially after deciding to share a living space together, but hopefully once the Akalak got himself organised they would find their rhythm. It was easy for Eyes High - everything she had was in her small house or her backpack and she had little else to offer. She also had no qualms about eating anywhere and everywhere and had the benefit of not needing to concern herself with Sykanis' nose - he had no interest in her meals of clay. She tried to offer the poor Akalak a smile and slightly succeeded, causing her mouth opening to stretch upwards slightly in a rather uncomfortable looking grin that likely failed to encourage him. To Eyes, however, it felt like a success - he was still interested in learning more about the most important god, in her very biased opinion.

"I'd say yes, he is the patron god of Pycons." Most Pycons anyway. As far as Eyes High knew, everyone thought of Harameus. It was hard not to, being a creature of change herself. Of all the gods and goddesses she had (and had not) heard of, he was the one that made the most sense to feel an affinity with. "As for what I pray to Him about... well, contacting him isn't all that simple, from what I know. It would more likely be like, He announces something in a way he thinks is very clear, and then it is up to the rest of us to figure it out." At the moving of her cottage, the young Pycon began packing her engraving tools away and crossed the floor to put them away in her house. After watching the utter chaos erupting right in front of her, it was probably best not to have Sykanis eat her tools. "I usually try and just emulate what he stands for when I do things," she continued, wandering into her house for a moment, only to poke her head out the window. "He is an old deity with no known shape that made a bunch of people who also don't have a shape. I think it's pretty obvious that the goal here is to just listen really hard and see what experience takes me." She started walking out the door again and plopped herself on the floor with the intention of continuing, but once again antics caused her to watch on in surprise.

Perhaps this was a trial by Harameus right now, because her poor friend seemed to be struggling to learn how to adapt to a dog in his environment. She didn't mean to cause him trouble and definitely felt bad for the lack of peaceful rest after a long day in a new environment, but she was also at a loss for how she could help. The Akalak was chasing the enthusiastic dog and she doubted that she would be able to keep up with either of them, so she focused on fixing up the large rug for him, and hunting down his scattered utensils to put them in a little pile that she valiantly guarded. She clapped her clay hands together and called for the dog to drop the spoon. Whether the dog listened to her command, or simply her incredibly deep voice is unknown, but he appeared cowed by the sudden eruption of deep, loud voice and took on some common begging characteristics. The spoon slipped from his mouth as he peered up at the Akalak, before creeping past him to run to sit beneath the chair. Eyes didn't seem to have much of an expression, given the fact she had to put conscious thought into it, but she was certainly giving the dog a bit of side eye before focusing back on Kiris.

"So, as I was saying," she started, wondering if it would be best to just ignore the antics and not bring mention to all the chaos surrounding them both. "You just go around doing things until they lead to something that works, regardless of the situation. That's change and transformation. It's everywhere. You have to accept that you need to adapt and then do it, or risk becoming stagnant. That's what I think is needed in order to feel a connection with Him - just giving a little extra thought into what you're doing in the face of all that potential change and trying to follow whatever suggestion you've found from it." Such as, adapting to an enthusiastic dog. She definitely hoped her friend and roommate was capable of that - for all their sakes. "Being one thing forever just wouldn't work."

Word Count : 765

[Var Kiris]

Var wasn't sure if Eyes was trying to hint to him about his inflexibility, but he knew he didn't care for it. He knew that he could be stuffy at times, but really, what was normal about moving yourself to an entirely new region for some unexplainable calling, ending up living with a clay-person whom you'd not even been aware existed as a race until your first meeting, and sharing your home with their dog who doubled as a steed? Meanwhile, Eyes High's ongoing prattle was more confusing than illuminating, and even Kiris was having trouble figuring out what Harameus' actual purpose was. Apparently one just ... did things, according to Eyes, making sure that you thought about them as you did them (as one generally did anyway), and you were in accordance with His will.

"Change is very important to your people, then. Adaptability," said Kiris vaguely as he retrieved the slobbery spoon for Var quite valiantly and set it aside to wash later. Var sighed and melted back into control, deciding to focus on something less intriguing to a dog and started to put his clothes away. "That does lead me to ask how Pycons feel about death," asked Kiris while Var began to fold what small amount of extra clothing articles he possessed. They were placed in the end table by the bed; cloak in the bottom drawer, belt and gloves in the top, and upon contemplation, the exhausted Akalak removed his shoes and set them next to the end table. His folding was a touch haphazard, but the cloak wasn't competing for space with anything else. Even before he'd found his own home apart from his family, he'd never kept much in the way of possessions. Changing his mind again, Var returned back to his desk and removed his toiletries, saving room for more writing materials as he carried them back to the end table and filled the top drawer, banishing the gloves and belt to atop the cloak. "A body remains stagnant upon death, does it not? Yet the soul carries on, either wandering the Earth or reborn into another. Death is both static and changeable. I'm curious as to your thoughts, and how Harameus has fit you into this cycle."

Var had his thoughts to himself whilst his dark brother and the Pycon chatted. Some part of him was listening, and he couldn't deny some minute curiosity as to the God Harameus. He suspected that there was far more to the deity than Eyes High could explain, and the purpose of her explanation seemed rather pointed as he fussed and flapped about his apartment, trying to settle in. His agitation wasn't common to him- Var tended more towards melancholy than mania- and he was unused to feeling harried. Sometimes, a small part of him wished that he was not born the light brother, and his unflappable other half could take care of life's rubbish while he sank into darkness and comfort. Kiris would do it, but Var had firm convictions on the subject of sharing his body, so he dealt as best he could and allowed Kiris to take some of the burden off by entertaining a furball and a lump of talking clay.

word count: 540

[Eyes High]

It was fortunate that Kiris appeared to be an attentive student, as his questions kept her grounded in what she needed to talk about next. She had never explained her thoughts or beliefs to another before, as she had always been the one that learned and there was a lot more to sharing knowledge than just throwing out an endless onslaught of conscious thought until something stuck. Unfortunately for Kiris, that was mostly what the Pycon was doing - uttering out what she personally thought, occasionally repeating herself, until she felt that she had sufficiently covered something. The distractions of Sykanis were of little benefit, but he seemed content to curl up under the chair for now, sulking a little at being snapped at. If Kiris learned anything, Eyes was going to be proud either way.

His statement seemed self-explanatory to her. Pycons were clay creatures that could change their shapes, so it seemed rather obvious to her - even if she had the advantage of growing up with it. "Death is really... complicated," she admitted, not quite at the point of discussing her own deep thoughts and revulsions towards it. It was the single most harassing reality in her entire life, and the one thing she knew that she could not change. One day, she would be forced to remain as one thing for the rest of existence and it was just a little bit terrifying. "When a Pycon dies, they become very hard and cannot be changed anymore," she explained, deciding to get straight to it as a way to skip over any in depth personal thoughts towards her own impending demise. "For Pycons, but that point it's expected that you have... well, that you have experienced everything you can and look like a worldly Pycon who has seen a lot and done a lot. So, I guess the dead are inspirations?" Even if it meant that the journey to becoming dead meant she had to do a lot, it was slightly comforting to know that so many before her had already accomplished this.

"As for where He comes into it," she added, suddenly remembering that she had not addressed that aspect of Kiris' question, though she was already starting onto tangents once again. "I guess it depends. Our dead mean what was before and what's to come, because we change due to what we've been through and done. There are lots of Pycons that have incredible shapes that I can't hope to puzzle out on my own, it'll just come along as I do things. So with that idea, then, His intentions for us could be that we're supposed to help get the cycle of change going and keep other Pycons moving. If we pick up someone else along the way, then that can only be a useful thing for everyone."

Word Count : 475

[Var Kiris]

So there they came to the crux of it. Var had had a slight suspicion that Eyes High felt she was helping them out in some way shape or form by 'adopting' him, thus expressed when she spoke of 'picking up someone else along the way'. Perhaps she meant other Pycons, or just 'others' in general, but under the circumstances (including her long and unnecessary introduction to her God), Var felt a bit like a project, which was just ... ridiculous. She was ridiculous. She was also, admittedly, a bit sweet, in an irritating way.

Out of the corner of his eye, Var spotted Sykanis poking around his boots by the side table, and without thinking, uttered another warning “No.” Something about his tone seemed to have the opposite intended effect on the dog, because immediately the beast dropped into a play bow. Kiris cackled inwardly and offered to try and soothe Sykanis, but apparently, he was prime playmate material for Eyes High’s dog. “Shoo!” Kiris waved his hand at it. “Go on, get off of those, you little Lith-licker! Do you want to be shoes?” Responding to the amusement in his tone, off the dog went, galloping around the small apartment while the Akalak chased him for his own diversion. Var objected to being used in such an undignified way, but his brother’s energy was catching, and even he chuckled inwardly- that was, until Sykanis barrelled right into Eyes High’s cottage, flipping the entire structure onto its side on the way past. Kiris stopped the chase immediately to survey the damage whilst the dog continued skittering around, heading towards Eyes High to be praised for who-knew-what, in its doggy mind.

“I’m sorry,” Kiris sighed, “That was my fault.” There he was making more work for his brother, but to his dismay, Var refused to swap out and help put everything to rights again. These were the things Kiris hated- the ‘fiddly stuff’, as he called it. Var wrote, he planned, he studied and he read, and all the while Kiris daydreamed and waited, aching for the night to come where he was set loose upon the world. Admittedly, he’d gotten more sun-time in the last few years, particularly the last month, preparing for the journey, taking to the sea for the first time, and traversing the streets of Lhavit. In any case, there was no wriggling out of this stuff-up, and Kiris was the one grumbling now as he crouched down and set Eyes’ cottage back onto its foundations.

"That must be a great quest to be on," Var commented aloud, surprising Kiris by his sudden takeover. The dark brother wasn't going to protest Var taking an interest in the conversation, let alone fixing the mess for him. Var began to remove all of Eyes' furniture from her home carefully, inspecting them for damage in case he needed to replace any of them for her. "Discovering all that one can before you're frozen to one image. Not all of us remain so pretty when we're dead," he smiled lightly. One by one, he checked each piece and returned them to the dolls house, rearranging the furniture by room and aligning them more neatly than Eyes High had had them in the first place. He was, perhaps, on a bit of a roll after all his attempts at sorting his own apartment out, but he had a feeling that his roommate wouldn't mind. "Imagine that, Eyes High- limited to one form for your entire existence. It would be hard to be a disciple of Harameus without the gift of change. At best, I am going to go grey and wrinkled in my late three to four hundred's."

word count: 617

[Eyes High]

Well, it seemed Kiris was trying a few tactics on Sykanis, each controlling him less and less until she realised that we were engaged in a game of sorts. Adorable! Sykanis was far too fast for her to chase, so perhaps it was best that Kiris was around to entertain him out of boredom, too. Or at least tire him out. The threats were funny to hear as well, as she had never considered turning her dog into shoes. She had one pair of shoes she had never worn (and likely would never wear) as she didn't need them, so the thought of a nice, fur lined sykanis boot had escaped her. As long as Sykanis didn't mind, she didn't mind either, and another awkward grin broke out on her face as she watched them run around the room. The crash of her cottage made her flinch, however. The wooden house slammed into the ground and sent her furniture flying within, whilst Sykanis ran back to her.

She was glad her beloved dog was uninjured, and reached out a tiny clay-like hand to affectionately touch his wet, wiggly nose. Eyes wasn't much good for licking, but Sykanis seemed to enjoy her nose boops and chin scratches well enough to be satisfied with his owner. The young Pycon then ushered the dog out of the way so that she could see Kiris again, and decided it was likely for the best to let him set up the house - he could move everything much easier than she could. "That's okay," she replied, apparently completely content with him just righting her house after causing it to fall over. After all, it was just an accident. Her clay feet made pitter patter noises as she crossed the floor to get a closer look at any potential damage, but she couldn't see any. "It looks just fine to me! Oh, well, when it's standing up again." When he placed it on its foundations once more, she threw up her hands in a 'Yeah!' gesture, before adjusting one of her windows that had opened from the fall. "There. Nothing wrong with that at all."

The malformed Pycon looked up at the Akalak as he seemed to get their conversation onto something more intriguing. It was quite a quest to be on. In fact, finding herself would be the only quest she would be on for the rest of her life, as it would just simply never end. "I suppose," she agreed. "At least, it's a lot easier for us Pycons to mark our changes than it would for you. All your change would be what you do, I guess. Or what you don't do again" Especially when she had seem him so often and he still had not changed at all. Kiris likely had not noticed the subtle changes in Eyes' form, but in response to the rush of the city and of her companion, she was already starting to become less awkward and was being steadily shaped into a less stout, misshapen Pycon. These were changes Eyes felt was her duty to notice.

Three to four hundred's. Eyes High had to admit, whilst the idea of living longer really intrigued her (in fact, she was rather desperate for more time, even at the age of three), giving up what essentially made her her didn't seem like a good enough trade off. Although, perhaps having old in three or four hundred years would be worth it. Maybe. It was more than a bit disconcerting to be reminded that she was merely a blink in history for Kiris, whilst he could very well become a recurrent entity in her life, never seeming to change. She had no time to waste being pensive on the matter, however. She could do that when she had the time and private space. "I guess that means you'll just have to change your personality all the time. Or maybe you could do your hair differently. At least, I'm pretty sure He would care more about what you're actually doing when compared to what you would've done in the past and evaluate your change on that. You've got forever to work it out, though, and forever to work out a million other things for Him." So much time! She felt rather jealous, but also slightly awed. Kiris was gifted with a wonderful life, simply by being able to live a long one. "But then again, I'm just a clay blob, so who knows. Maybe a disciple needs more time than what I'll have." She made the effort to dash over to nudge his leg. "Sounds like you have something to spare some years on!"

Word Count : 785

[Var Kiris]

Var had to admit that without Eyes High’s presence, his arrival to his new home would have gone a lot quicker but been much less enlightening. He was learning quite despite himself, and it was a good lesson to have under his belt- people had more to give than he often gave them credit for. He had also learned that, whilst originally being aware that he didn’t care much for pets, he really didn’t care for dogs. Kiris’ growing affection for both Sykanis and Eyes High was bound to poison his viewpoint eventually- after all, he was constantly exposed to his brother’s thoughts and emotions- so he merely had to wait until Kiris’ spirits lifted upon seeing them both to catch the same feelings, but for now, he could afford to be a crosspatch about it all.

Most everything he’d brought with him had been put away, and now they could relax and rest for the first time in nearly eighteen hours, but there was one thing still niggling at him in the back of his mind. Var sighed to himself and stood up from his crouch beside the Pycon's house, making his way over to his writing desk to retrieve some paper, a quill and the ink vial.

‘Itinerary-’ he wrote. He was bound to forget tomorrow’s tasks if he didn’t write them down now. One by one, he noted down places of interest that had come up in conversation on the ship or at the Cosmos centre where they’d been earlier in the evening, chores he knew he had to do and areas he knew he needed to go for supplies (and to search for work). Tired beyond measure, it was hard to decide which tasks took priority beyond the obvious ones, but they all went on the paper just the same, roughly sorted by urgency after another glance through, and how far away from Zintia said errand needed to be run. As soon as the information was out of his head and onto the paper, Var could feel the weariness seeping into his bones as he stretched back against his chair.

“Well, Eyes High,” Var murmured, letting his eyes drop to half-lids, “As much as I wish I could talk about Harameus, Pycons and the static nature of my existence indefinitely, personality notwithstanding, I’ve a finite amount of energy. I assume Pycons sleep, judging by the fact that you have a bed,” he half-smiled, “So, if you don’t mind, I’ll be sleeping now. There’s much more to do, tomorrow. We’re just getting started.” Var's smile grew a touch as he thought of Eyes' comment to changing his personality. 'If only she knew,' said Kiris within him, sounding just as tired to him as Var sounded aloud. 'And of course, we're trying to become more stable in personality, not less. That's how you end up a cerulest.' Trust his dark brother to dwell on the least important thing that Eyes High had to impart to them. 'Just change our hair, Kiris,' said Var faintly before he fell asleep in his desk chair.

word count: 513