[Side Social Thread for The Departure] Temple of All Gods

[Torc Ironwood]

Torc waited in the stone courtyard feeling the sun beat down upon his skin. For a moment, Torc closed his eyes and looked up at the sun. Heat fell down upon his face warming it. He saw white, and felt as if he was in a bath in light. Torc rolled up his sleeves, exposing his mixed blood arm. His left arm showed copper brown Dravite with veins of Rose Quartz. The colors clashed making it look almost if he had burned the arm in a forge fire. However, the one thing he knew was that the colors were darkening. At the age of four, he only had the faintest of coloring. Now it was darkening, and the skin was hardening slowly. Torc wondered if it would gain the strength of a true Isur arm one day, then again he had never met one so he couldn’t tell if it had the proper strength or not. Torc kept his eyes closed as he sunbathed for a few minutes. He thought if he didn’t open his eyes, he wouldn’t feel the stares of men who knew him as a bastard of Isur blood. He wouldn’t feel the desire of woman and then the hate of men with them. He waited instead belonging to the sun’s warmth and light. The atmosphere of the city slowly came to Torc senses. The sounds of foot traffic and mumbled conversations came to Torc. He had choose an open space with two merchant streets feeding into it, and even though the foot traffic gave the city an air of confusing, he was 60 feet from the main streets. The courtyard stones had become smooth with the thousands of feet passing over them, and as Torc pulled off his pack for a place to sit, he paused in his reflection of the sun to look at the stain glass of the Temple. The windows had patterns of the gods artfully done, some of the glass was painted to give the faces emotion.

[Sharn]

The Large Jamoura man slowly stalked out of the temple. He sill had several questions for the Priest, but he would have plenty of time for that, he assumed, on their journey. The group, assuming all that was inside moments ago was the entire group itself, seemed small, yet the emphasis on fighters being required made Sharn wonder. What were they really up against? It was true that Sharn was a pacifist, but he would let himself or his employee be killed without a fight, but would he be expected to jump into the fray with the others? Sharn hoped not, violence was just not how he preferred to handle things. Sharn hesitated a moment as he found Torc, pondering on what to say and decided on approaching the human without coming up with a greeting. "Hello. The Priest says we may be working together quite often. I'm Sharn." Boring much? He wasn't really interested in work at that particular moment, he was more preoccupied by the look Torc gave him in the temple, the one that reminded him of someone long ago. Regardless, the large Ape-like man extended his arm forward, offering Torc to shake it, the official welcoming greeting of humans, or most of them he thought. OOCSorry it's short, getting pretty late and I'm exhausted. I'll do better tomorrow.

[Torc Ironwood]

Torc turned to the Jamoura and a smile came to his face. Ever since that moment where something inside of him had recognized Sharn, Torc had wondered what had occurred. It had been very recently that Torc had acquired Auristics, and in truth his understanding of aura’s and emotions that came with it, was spotty at best. The world was changing for Torc, and feeling an instant bond form was new, or perhaps it was old. Torc had been taught about the wheel of life, how everyone was reincarnated into different bodies, maybe in the previous eight cycles of the wheel they were friends? Maybe it was just his aura and Sharns briefly echoing within one another. Whatever, the case may be, Torc took the hand of Sharn and attempted to shake it. The feeling of the giant hand wrapping around his own shocked him. The texture of Sharn’s hand was like his own, which seemed strange to Torc, for some reason he had thought it would like the pebbled texture of a dog, or roughly callused. Yet if those things were true, Sharn wouldn’t be able to sense delicate features. Torc, began a small chuckle that turned into a full blown laugh. “I am sorry, my friend. I just realized how comical this all is. Your hand will always be so big that any handshake will engulf mine. I must admit that I am honored that you greet me fairly, but since we are going to spend so much time together, how about we nod our heads in greeting? Seems like a better acknowledge of each other then this?” Torc placed his other hand on the Jamoura’s arm giving it a quiet reassurance. He like the Jamoura for trying to conform to human gestures while in their cities, but he was on his own path and it was better that they met in the middle. So as Torc released the handshake. He bowed his head and added a slight bend to his back. “Sharn, it is an honor that you greet me. I am Torc Ironwood, and it would be my pleasure to work with you and hopefully become fast friends.” Torc smiled and looked once again into Sharn’s eyes. The energy didn’t flare up again, but this time he felt honest emotions of good cheer and comradely. “Tell me, do you have experience in drawing or Auristics? I figure my small talents wouldn’t compare to someone like yourself!” Torc laughed again this time in good cheer. “I mean if the legends are true you are probably two or three hundred years older than me, and I will be a student learning from a master!” Torc said with a grin. He felt good about meeting Sharn, and hopefully the Jamoura had a sense of humor. Torc dug into his pack and brought out some road cheese. It was hard and had a sharp odor and taste, but Torc felt a little hungry and decided to eat while the two talked. Taking out a knife he sliced a small wedge for himself and then a bigger one offering it to Sharn.

[Sharn]

Sharn chuckled heartily as the two shook hands in greeting. This was starting of much better than he had expected. "Perhaps my hands are large, but I try to leave a gentle touch wherever I may go. You have a firm grasp though, few humans, which you appear to be, pardon me if I am incorrect in that assumption, but few humans dare to shake my hand, let alone with such a grip. It is refreshing to not be feared at first sight." Sharn's face lit up, these two would, he truly thought, make great companions. "The honor is all mine. I am but an unemployed citizen of no city. I do not fall into rank or caste systems, nor should I wish one if it would separate myself from such people as yourself. Torc Ironwood." Sharn watched as Torc bowed his head, and he awkwardly mimicked the motion. The situation felt quite comical indeed. "And I hope that we do not become fast friends, but stable ones." Sharn chuckled lightly, it was a partial joke, but it was preferable in his eyes. Why make something quickly that could fall rather than taking time to perfect something that will last? It wasn't that Sharn believed Torc planned to break off a friendship for any reason, nor that he meant a 'quickly built quickly destroyed' relationship, but he felt a need to point it out perhaps to show he was interested. Master, what an odd title. Sharn had one once, a beautiful human woman that raised him, cared for him for decades. She was kind too, not the sort of master a slave could even hope for. "I'm afraid I have fallen from the pattern of legend Torc Ironwood. I am actually quite young, and my experience is limited to that of my teacher and what she knew and could teach me. I am sixty-two years old coming this winter. Adolescence is the age that I would be considered, though I have been blessed with wondrous education and a comfortable life of travel and exploration. As for Drawing, I must say that I am a poor creature to expect to learn from, and Auristics I have only heard of in rumors and brief shallow lessons. No, I have learned the way of book, parchment, and ink, writing is what I have done for decades now, and I expect I shall do so for decades to come, I mean, of course, if the Jamoura legends are true about age. Perhaps you could be the master after all Torc Ironwood!" This day was good, the large Jamoura, who was physically Matured for his race, yet lacked in his ability to recollect past lives' memories, sat down slowly on the stone ground. He kindly refused the food Torc Offered to him. "I thank you, but I have eaten not but two bells before now. It would be unwise to obtain more fat than I already have without equally growing in muscle." Sharn chuckled at himself, he was, more or less, calling himself fat. Fat, as he found out, was something that was both rare and often frowned upon by most humanoid races. Sure it could mean wealth or health, but that itself was the cause for envy and greed amongst some in poverty. "I am impatient for this journey of ours to begin. It has been a long time since I traveled with company, and I have never, that I can remember (he meant in his past lives) have set foot or claw upon a boat." To be honest, Sharn was somewhat anxious about a ship ride. He wasn't able to swim, and the chances that anybody on the trip would be able to hoist the seven-hundred pound Jamoura from the water if he slipped was unlikely at best. "To the Inarta Homelands." 'I hope their greeting is a welcoming one.'

[Torc Ironwood]

As Sharn declined the cheese, Torc wrapped the piece and whole cheese back in the carrying cloth. As he opened his pack the books were wrapped in extra clothes, and his tools were placed in a nice wood box that he had crafted. He placed the wrapped cheese back into his meager food stores and thought over what Sharn had said. As the hard cheese began to absorb the moisture in his mouth, Torc realized that Sharn was going through the same nervousness that he felt. Torc rubbed his small stubble on his chin, he swallowed the small chuck of cheese, cough briefly and quietly to clear his throat. “Perhaps Sharn we can both be teachers to one another. Though I don’t know much about Auristics, if it’s your wish I will gladly teach you what I know. Granted it would be easier if I had some of the university’s magecrafting equipment, but I think I could probably get you up to a level that you could at least see an aura or two, that if your interested in learning?” Torc waited for Sharn’s response. “As far as payment, I believe in the exchange of knowledge and any you can offer and help me with I deem equal.” Torc turned his gaze to the ocean and thought about the sailors of Zeltiva, they were a rough bunch and he hoped for Sharn’s sake that the crew was grown from better men then those in Zeltiva. “Sharn, I spent a season in Zeltiva, and though I never step foot on a ship, I have talked to enough sailors to know it’s not a lot different than a skiff. For the most part, it will feel like the ground is rolling, or if you were standing in a wagon going up and down hills. As for danger, we should be fine. Sailors say the storm season doesn’t start till fall. The worst is if one of us gets sea sick, we won’t be able to keep down any food, due to the motion of the waves. It will pass in a week or two, but during that time the person will lose weight, since they can’t really eat. So I suggest before we sail, eat something hardy for if you are sea sick it will be the last good meal you have for a while.” “As for being impatient to begin… I have many emotions about the journey. A part of me wants to stay where I am, it’s the easy choice after all, to stay. I could be learning how to magecraft at the university chasing long legged dancers about, but that just passes the time, Sharn. I realized that the only time I ever felt right with the world was when I was working for others. It’s strange, but knowing that your work is going to something that will improve everyone's lives is so much better. I guess for me its about goals, do you know what I mean Sharn?” Torc wasn’t really expecting an answer and continued without thinking. “Zeltiva, Syrilas, any major city what could they want? In cities like these the powerful can take care of the needs of the rest. Of course, most don’t, but if I stay in one of them, I choose to accept their power and work for it. In truth, I want to do as much good for as many as I can.” Torc laughed breaking his introspect spell. “Well all of that… and mate with a female or two, have several kids under my feet and a home that has love in it. What about you Sharn? What are your goals besides cataloging flora and fauna?” OOC: Since no one has posted in this thread for a month or more, going to call it dead.