Solo [Alluvion Academy]A Hide, a Peek

[Moritz Craven]

23 Winter 520

Heading out from the school building after another days tutelage, Moritz glanced about the school grounds. A curious but cautious person, he did his best to keep himself aware of his surroundings even under such places that were assumed safe. It was something his combat instructor Kyra had taught him, and something he attempted at. Complete awareness.

In theory it was simple, being vigilant and aware of a threat before it became a direct one, allowing you more ways to react. In practice it was tiring and not easy to manage.

At the moment he was alone, the other students having left a bit before him as he dallied with a query or two. It was as he walked across these mostly empty grounds, with the exception of a student or two coming or going, Moritz noticed something. A bit off odd motion out of the corner of his eye.

Turning to focus on it Moritz did not see anything... And then after a moment he saw it again, a blur of motion from one spot to another. One that vanished almost as fast as it began.

Curious now Moritz headed over to the spot to investigate. At first, as before, there was nothing. And then as he neared there was another burst of motion, and Moritz was faced with a small child, even younger than he himself was. With exuberance and a grin the boy threw his hands up, proclaiming "Found me!"

Moritz, confused, frowned in puzzlement as he tried to work out what was happening. It took but one glance to tell the boy was a spirit, not a living soul but a ghost. But as to why he thought Moritz had found him or had been looking for him.... At that he was left at a loss.

"I... Found who? I was just seeing what was going on over here, I wasn't looking for anyone in particular."

After a moment the boys smile turned to a more neutral expression as he got a closer look at Moritz..

"Wait, your not the kid from before... Oh... I guess they gave up."

Clearly seeing the confusion on Moritz face, the boy explained further.

"I was playing hide and seek with a boy earlier, he told me to go hide until he came and found me... But..." Looking up at the sky the boy frowned, seeing where the light was.

"I think that was awhile ago. I'm not so good with time. Maybe he gave up on the game. Anyways, I got bored waiting, so I was doing a little trick to bring attention, so they could find me. But I guess that got your attention."

Considering the matter logically, Moritz worked out his meaning. Perhaps his thought, that the boy had given up and gone home, was true. Or perhaps something else was true. Like the boy was playing a joke on the ghost, and never planned to find him. A lie then, at someone else's expense. Or perhaps he had been distracted by something else... Or... Or any other number of reasons. Whatever that was, he had not come back to find the ghost.

"Well, I'm here now. Nice to meet you. I'm Moritz by the way. Moritz Craven."

WC: 544

[Moritz Craven]

The young ghost seemed to perk up once more at Moritz greeting, showing his exuberance by blinking about a few places before settling back in the same spot before Moritz.

"Moritz, nice to meet you, I'm Julan! Julan Crag."

With the greetings exchanged Julan examined Moritz a bit more closely, moving about him in a slow circle as he examined him from every side. Moritz for his part stood there and waited, assuming the ghost would finish in a moment. Which he did. Once he was done though he had a number of questions that would contend with Moritz own barrages.

"Why is your hair that color? I've not seen anyone like that. Is it dyed? What did you use? How come your eyes are all funny? They don't look right, plus they have those weird color around the black bit in the middle. How high can you jump? Do you know how to play hide and seek? Whats your favorite color? Do you want to play a game?"

As the ghosts words trailed off Moritz paused for a long moment, doing his best to recall all of the questions and answer them one by one. No small undertaking, but something Moritz was willing to attempt.

"Lets see... My hair is that color because I was born with it that way. I'm an Okomo Kelvic, and it matches my pelt in my other form. Its not dyed, its always been like this. That's also the same reason why my eyes, for the most part, look this way. Okomo don't have the same eyes as humans, and my Okomo eyes carry over to this form. That's part of it. The other part is I was given a blessing by a Witch, and gained these eyes. Not the Okomo bit, but the bits around it. The splash of sun or whatever you would call it. That is the marking caused by the blessing. How high I can jump depends on which form I'm in. I can't jump to high in this form, but in my other form as an Okomo I can jump much higher. I don't think I've played hide and seek before. I don't really have a favorite color, though I suppose purple is nice enough at first thought. And if you would like to we can play a game."

As Moritz spoke Julan's face grew more and more excited, until he was practically hovering on the spot. At several points in his excess his feet absentmindedly dipped into the ground, though only the tips.

"Really? Wow! I've seen Okomo before, but never a Kelvic one before. But I guess your eyes, the middle bit, do kind of look like theirs. And you got blessed by a witch? Where did you meet a witch? Can I get one? What did the blessing do? Did it just change your eyes? And what kinds of games do you like to play? "

Moritz let out a sigh, realizing for once how others sometimes felt when he barraged them with a never ending parade of questions. Taking a deep breath he delved further in, trying his best to answer each query one by one.

WC: 530

[Moritz Craven]

While Moritz was a bit winded from the non-stop questions, he also found a small smile coming to his lips. He liked the openness of the spirit, the lack of deceit. He also enjoyed another person as curious as he was. As desiring to learn. Or, as he kept returning to the topic of games being played, perhaps the ghost was just focused on that. But then, Moritz supposed, even if that was the case the other questions could be used to learn more so as to better pick a game to be played. Knowing someones limits, what they could do, it was an issue with sparring and combat. It made sense it would also be a factor in more playful games. Such was the connection Moritz made in his mind.

A small smile to his lips Moritz replied to the next rush of queries.

"I was traveling just outside Lhavit, learning to track things with a guide, when we ran into her. And then she blessed me with her gift. I don't think it would work on you though, since it changes the actual physical eyes when done. Since your a ghost you don't have physical eyes to change. So I don't think it'd be possible."

At the next question Moritz had to ponder a bit his answer. Should he change the topic, and not answer? Or be truthful? It was not exactly a secret, his blessing, particularly since it was physically visible... And he did not exactly fear this ghost running off and telling everyone all his secrets. But still...

"I can tell you, but I don't think the witch who gave it to me wants everyone to know. So I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to tell anyone without asking me first and getting my permission. Alright?"

If anything sharing a secret just excited Julan even more, as the boy nodded vigorously. "Yes, I promise. Secrets! Its been ages since anyone told me one of those. I'm good at keeping secrets. I'll keep yours to! I promise."

At that the boy settled onto the ground with his legs crossed, as if waiting for Moritz to tell him a tale. Or perhaps he was simply too excited, and knew he could not sit still if he stood.

"The blessing gives me an ability called Pathfinding. When I use my special eyes, I can see djed. In everything. And that includes what things leave behind. Trails of a sort. Paths. I can find those paths, and track and follow them. Though I'm not very good at it yet. But that is what it does."

Excited once more, once Moritz finished his explanation the ghost popped back up to a standing position. Looking around to make sure no one was close by Julan grinned.

"Ooh! Idea! I have an idea! You can track things right! Follow where they went! Why not use it for hide and seek then! I bet you'd be great with it! Just follow my track thingy, and you could find me anywhere, right?"

WC: 510

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz paused for a moment, thinking over the ghosts words. It was not a bad idea, since he did need to work on his skill with the new ability. Whether he could actually do it though was another question... But a ghost, while dead, did have a human sized soul and djed, so surely it would be as easy to track as a living person? Or so Moritz reasoned. It would be a chance to train, while also making this ghost happy by playing with it. Two goals being met at once.

Taking a moment to consider further Moritz nodded and worked through the process.

"Sure. I think that could work. Though first... I need to see you with my Pathfinding, to get to know you well. Hopefully I can tell your trail apart from others. Then you can go off, and I can try to track you along."

Julan nodded, excitedly waiting for Moritz to do what he would while practically hopping in place. Moritz was left to wonder how long it had been since he had been with someone he could play with. Surely not too many people were comfortable playing a random game with a ghost. He himself was perhaps an outlier regarding that, having grown up around ghosts.

Pushing that aside Moritz began his meditation, beginning as always by steadying his breathing. Taking a breath in slowly, deep, and then slowly letting it out. Letting his body calm, his eyes closed, another breath in and out slowly. With that done he decided on another pattern of visualization, something he seemed to vary each time in an attempt to find one that worked.

Previously he had focused on his djed as a flow, cutting off the flow and increasing it. The next step from that seemed clear, treating it as literal water. Focusing inwardly Moritz pictured a blank void. Then he began to form something in his mind, a pool of water. Spreading out from that he imagined a rocky bowl, a depression where the water naturally settled. Focusing on the water itself, picturing it as his djed, he imagined it was colored water similar to himself. Pink and purple scintilations with some black specks hovering about. For a moment he focused on the dance of color and hues, imagining them merging but not mixing, before he expanded further.

Around the bowl of water were dry creak beds. Uphill, which meant the water in the pool would need to go out of its normal pattern to move along it. Something that innately made sense to Moritz, as magic required an active use of ones power against what that power normally did.

Focusing on the water he tried to picture it surging, starting a slow wave from one side to the other. Then he pushed harder, imagining the wave rising higher and higher. Focusing on one of those dry creek beds he imagined to be his eyes, he willed the colored waters to rise and splash upward. A pull back of a wave, and then forward again to strike the spot even harder. This sent the waters higher up the dry creek bed, slowly loosening and wetting the soil. Another pull back, and then a push forward, and the water surged up in a thin trickle.

Focusing on that trickle Moritz willed his Iraso sight to blaze to life, for his djed vision to awaken.

Letting out another breath Moritz slowly opened his eyes, seeing that his Iraso sight had indeed been activated.

WC: 585

[Moritz Craven]

As his Iraso sight activated Julan smiled excitedly, seeing as the pattern in his eyes lit up.

"Wow! Your eyes can glow in the dark! That's amazing!"

Moritz smiled in turn at the ghosts excitement, while focusing on what lay before him. First things first he needed to work on identifying the unique pattern of Julan. If he was too follow it he needed to be able to tell his path apart from others, a simple enough first step. He had not seen many peoples pattern so far, but knew from experience that each was different. Like someone scrawling out their signature, no two people had one exactly the same. So to, Moritz was coming to understand, no two people had exactly the same djed pattern when he viewed them in his Iraso sight.

He assumed once he improved he would be able to tell more details. As it was now he could tell the differences apart to know it was this one or that one, and if he had spent time getting to know one remembering it later, but little more.

Where Aja's djed pattern swooped in... This way... With a large more dense pattern here... Julan's was swooped in this way... And more evenly disbursed. It was also somewhat fainter. Perhaps because he was a ghost? That seemed the most logical reasoning too Moritz. For a moment Moritz considered trying to write something down, but he realized he could not really copy what he saw. It made a sense to his eyes, but did not have a truly physical nature being the representation of djed to his eyes. No one but an Iraso like himself would be able to understand if they saw it, nor be able to see it later was it was leanred. Which made Moritz realize trying to depict it in another medium was rather pointless.

As it was Moritz spent time going over the ghosts pattern until he felt he knew it well and would be able to tell it apart from others. Once that was done he took a moment to rest, before turning back to meet Julan's gaze.

"Okay, I think I have you down. I'll close my eyes and count to ten. You go and hide. Then I'll try and track your djed trail."

"Right okay!"

Moritz closed his eyes and covered them with his hands, but kept looking in the same direction. He wanted too make sure he knew where to start, and did not lose track of the trail. And then he began to count, hearing Julan giggling at first and then nothing. Seven, eight, nine... And

"Ten!"

With that Moritz uncovered his eyes and opened them, focusing on the spot Julan had been standing. Now he was gone, but... As Moritz looked more closely at the spot he could see a thin trail leading off away from him. Looking at it closely he could tell it was Julan's, Nothing more, and nothing less. But for his needs that was all he needed.

Heading slowly in the direction of the trail Moritz followed after, focusing on the trail and keeping his Iraso sight open, the two tasks difficult enough for him just then that it left room for nothing else.

WC: 541

[Moritz Craven]

As Moritz headed along after the trail, he soon ran into a dead patch. A spot where the trail just... Cut off.

Pausing Moritz looked around, trying to focus and find where the path continued. Noting the spot he was in, and the direction where he had come from, Moritz took a few paces in each direction before returning to the end spot of the trail. A few steps, look around, back. After he had done this a few times he saw another trail, and after a moment realized it was Julan's.

Letting out a sigh at having picked up on the trail, Moritz began to head in the slightly new direction. Seeing the gaps Moritz wondered if he was just not good at the skill, something he did not doubt, or if perhaps it was doing so for another reason. Perhaps when Julan blinked it caused gaps? Something to query the ghost on when he found him.

It was not long though before he came to another dead patch, this one picking back up almost instantly. It then continued onward, only to brighten considerably a few more feet on. And then it returned again to its normal brightness a few feet after that.

Pausing in his search Moritz looked about to see if he could find Julan by his more mundane sight. But so far he did not see him. Nothing shone out at him, at least at his current distance.

As he moved on again Moritz found another dead zone, this time a larger one. As it had worked before Moritz noted his spot and took a few paces in each direction. This time though the technique did not do anything, and upon returning he found he had lost the end. Using his boot he marked on the dirt, and then focused to retain the spot in his mind. With nothing else to do he walked further in each direction, using the spot as a central point and making a wide circle around it.

Moritz was about two thirds of the way around this circle when he caught on to the path again. Checking the directions he found where it linked up with his known spot, and where it continued onward. With that done he continued on again, hoping he would not find any more dead spots like that. As he did a thought occurred to him. What if a dead spot occurred right where Julan changed direction? Or if he came in and out of a dead spot, circling, with one end looping back in visible but the point where he actually continued on not... Moritz shook his head, knowing if that happened he would be sunk. As much to himself as for Julan to confirm he had not left him like the other child, Moritz communicated his progress.

"I'm still coming Julan! I'm going to find you!"

With that said Moritz slowly made his way across the grounds, following the choppy pattern of the trail on the ground with many more dead spots of smaller sizes than the earlier large one.

WC: 515

[Moritz Craven]

After what felt to Moritz like the five hundredth dead spot, Moritz began to notice a change. The trail he was following was changing direction more, swishing back and force. Perhaps indicating Julan was trying to settle on a location? This made the most sense to Moritz, but he was not going to stop until he found the end and Julan shown brightly in his sight.

For a few more feet the trail continued, and then it... Stopped? Moritz was confused as the trail seemed to do something he had not seen before. Climb? Shuffle? After a moment Moritz realized Julan had scaled the wall, and gone up the side of the building. Peering up above Moritz saw a glint of stronger djed, and realized Julan was hiding on the ledge of the window on the next floor up.

"Julan, I found you! But I can't get up there! Can you come down?"

With a cackling laugh Julan popped out over the ledge to look down, only to jump off the ledge. Or more so... Float? Moritz realized that since ghosts were insubstantial they did not move quite the same, and nor did they fall quite the same. After a moment of this Julan blinked and appeared on the ground, smiling at Moritz.

"That was great! You found me! I tried a bit of a harder to find spot, to let you test your ability. I don't normally hide in places like that, wouldn't be fair normally. But you still found me! That was the best game I've had in ages! Now do you want to hide?"

Moritz paused for a moment in the blast of Julan's exuberance, before he finally found the words to speak with.

"Ah, I don't think I have time, I probably need to head home soon. But that was certainly interesting. I do have a couple of questions for you."

Julan seemed to deflate at this news, clearly hoping to play for bells upon bells. Pouting Julan shuffled his feet on the ground, which had not visible impact or knocking about of dirt seeing as he had no substance. After a few moments of this Julan shrugged and looked up at Moritz with a odd expression.

"Fine... I guess I'll just be here alone then, with no one to play with... But sure, I can answer your question."

Moritz pressed on, not noticing anything odd in the ghosts manner, voicing his query. After a few more moments of this Julan seemed to hide his face behind his hands, only to peek out and see Moritz stolid expression. When he withdrew his hands his earlier expression seemed forgotten, as if it had never been real...

"I saw you blink to get down from the ledge. Did you blink at all on your way there? From when you left me to when you got there?"

Julan made a big act of thinking deeply, before shaking his head in an exaggerated manner.

"Nope, I walked the whole way. Straight there, and up the wall. I just had a bit more trouble getting down than up, so needed to blink. But I didn't blink around at all till I was coming down. Why do you ask?"

Moritz pondered this, looking along the trail as it looped from the windowsill and back down to where Julan now stood. It was a relatively solid line, even though Julan had blinked. That seemed to settle his supposition. He was simply not very good at seeing the paths. Not the best news, but still new information.

WC: 593

[Moritz Craven]

At the ghosts latest question, admittedly quite a bit shorter than many of his other series of queries, Moritz once more pondered his words before responding.

"Well I noticed as I followed your trail I was having trouble seeing it. It kept dipping in and out. So I was wondering if it was caused by you blinking. But it seems that wasn't it. I guess that means I just need more practice."

As Moritz spoke Julan seemed to dance about, already growing restless.

"So, when will you be back? I'm not the best at time though.... Could we play a game then?"

Moritz pondered the question again, this time more deeply. The ghost seemed young outwardly, but Moritz was unsure how old he really was. But at the same time, was he going to just leave him there? He could... And he would be left wandering about the school ground until he annoyed someone and got driven off, where he would be left searching for someone else to play with. And most were not so understanding of ghosts as his own family. Or... Or he could do something entirely different.

They had plenty of room at his house. Ghosts did seem to enjoy the place, though he was unsure if that was due to the house and its own oddities or his mother and her powers. Would anyone be bothered by another ghost? He did not think so.

"Well, if you wanted, you could come home with me. There are plenty of other ghosts, my mother works with them. I do to, though I'm not as skilled as her. I'm just learning. But no one would be bothered if you were about. I think the house kind of likes them honestly. Oh, the house, its kind of... Not sure how to say... Alive in a way. Not like you or more, but still alive. Its certainly aware. So... Would you want to come along."

Julan thought over Moritz words for but a moment, barely in truth waiting for him to finish, before responding with a loud "Yes!"

With that all signs of pouting were gone, and Julan was dancing about in excitement with a grin on his face.

Unable to help himself Moritz smiled at the ghost, motioning for him to follow along. As they walked off Moritz paused, focusing once more and working inwardly on his vision of a pool of water. Seeing the wet ditch to the side Moritz focused on pulling that water back, picturing it draining and drawing back. After a few moments he pulled and saw it slowly dry and peter away to nothing. Once that was done he willed his Iraso sight to turn off, and reopened his eyes to find it had worked. With that he continued on again, heading along the path that would lead him home. All the while Julan chattered and danced about, excitement clear on his face as being invited to a new place, and to a place with a new friend he could play with. Something that likely had not happened in a great deal of time for the ghost.

WC: 522

[Moritz Craven]

Grade Award!

Name:Moritz Craven
XP Award:

• Detection 1
• Interrogation 1
• Logic 5
• Meditation 2
• Observation 3
• Pathfinding 5
• Persuasion 1
• Socialization 1
• Storytelling 2
• Tracking 3

Lores:

• Signs of a moving ghost
• Julan Crag: An exuberant young ghost
• Empathy for over questioning
• Practicing by playing
• Pathfinding: Julan Crag's Djed Signature
• Meditation: Changing ones visualization
• Pathfinding: Not possible to visually explain
• Tracking a Ghostly child
• Pathfinding: Techniques for dead spots in trails
• Pathfinding: Tracking a trail up a wall
• Ghosts: Don't move or fall the same as living beings
• Pathfinding: Ghosts blinking possibly unrelated to gaps in a trail
• Gaining a new ghostly pal

Penalties & Awards: A ghostly pal