Mischief is an Art (Open)

[Marius]

1st of Fall, 510 AV Ah, the beginning of fall, Marius smiled as he breathed deep. He had donned his velvet attire and now strode the streets of Denval, seeking amusement. It was difficult to bear the tedium at times, especially after he’d finished a day's labors at the road, for the locals were a stolid sort. Oh, how he missed the diversions of Zeltiva! At least there he’d been able to engage in as many indiscretions as he liked without being shouted at come dawn. Marius had even ventured to Sunberth once, where he’d been beaten, robbed, and imprisoned over the course of a single night – and what fun it had been! Especially the escape. “I’m so bored,” Marius lamented. He’d found the locals distant as of late. Even that ragamuffin, Mihai, seemed to be giving him a wide berth – although in that case, Marius didn’t mind in the slightest. How he hated children with their grubby faces and sticky fingers! He’d rather copulate with a Jamoura than have to deal with those pint-sized deviants. Hmm… copulate with an ape? It sounded quite interesting, to be honest. I simply must head to the Spires one of these days, he mused. Marius paused for a moment outside the labyrinth, wondering if he shouldn’t head into the maze of stones so he could leap out and frighten some unfortunate soul. No, that didn’t seem like a good idea. It would be amusing to see a child soil itself, but Marius didn’t care to, say, terrify a pregnant woman into premature labor. He’d rather not find himself banished from the outpost – not with work at the road picking up. Marius looked to the sky, and then, with a look of distress, down at his muddied boots. How intolerable!

[Sitkanis]

It had been about a week since Sitkanis had fallen from the Ukalas. Things still felt strange to him. The way his height fluctuated from 6 feet to 5'6 at night, his rootless feelings, and most of all his lack of memories. He felt like his head was an empty notebook that had once been filled but all of the entries were erased now. He was starting anew in this city far from anywhere that felt like home. He did not know anyone and he did not look like anyone else in the city in either of his forms. In his day form he was a tall Drykas with dark skin and short dark hair. In his night form he was a short Ethaefal with light skin and purple eyes. He did not exactly blend in, nor did he try. He never was one to try to be like everyone else. Even though his memories of Endrykas were all faded any forgotten his Drykas mentality still held strong in his actions. He was a warrior and damn good one. Being one of the crowd was highly over rated in his mind. The Autumn wind blew briskly as the Ethaefal walked through town. He was looking for something, anything to spark an interest in his dark and clouded mind. He wanted a distraction so the annoying little fact that he was a stranger on a planet the he used to call his home. "For the love of Leth in the stars, I couldn't have fallen in a more lifeless place." His mumble was low and sounded a bit too much like a growl. He had taken on quite the grumpy attitude since he had fallen. Nothing like falling into an ocean and almost drowning to really put a guy in a good mood. After a while of walking through what seemed like a lifeless town Sitkanis saw someone. A person, finally. He was not an especially friendly person but he needed some interaction even if the man was a raging serial killer or a psychopath. He was not sure what to say to the man. He was not even sure what language people spoke in this town, nor did he even know what town he was currently in. He decided if he was going to speak to this man it would be in common since well, it was common. He knew a lot of Pavi too from his past life which went quite well with his Endrykas accent but he had no idea what that last life was. He hurried his pace until he was walking past the man. "Town of the dead here eh?" The comment was dripping with irony. Sitkanis was just recently not dead anymore. He was not undead mind you, just living again.

[Marius]

Who was this man? Marius hadn’t seen him before, but there was something odd in the cast of his face – an ethereal glamour that roused suspicions. It was obvious that he wasn’t from this backwater. “A town of the dead, you say?” Marius raised an eyebrow. Come to think of it, he’d never managed that trip to Sahova, where he hoped to seduce a Nuit and so dispel his fascination with the undead. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with necrophilia,” Marius spoke up. “I don’t see the allure most of the time, but it’s no worse than pilfering a peach, or even talking with your mouth full. Don’t you think?” Not bothering to wait for a response, he extended a hand. “Marius Mero, at your service. If you’ve a hole that needs exploring then I’m your man. Or should I say miner? I might not be attired for such delights at the moment, but that is what I am – in a cosmic sense, of course. It is the reason for my existence. Indeed, if you speak to my ‘nuncle Ambrose, he will insist my parents copulated for the sole purpose of expanding our lineage’s claim that ‘minerals are in our blood.’ I’m sure that’s particularly true in my case. I used to eat dirt as a child, and often pebbles – although those tended to come out the other end,” Marius chuckled. “Do you have a name, my friend, or shall I give you one? I so adore the spark of creation.”

[Sitkanis]

The man began to talk and Sitkanis got lost in the man's words. Boy could be talk! Still, it was good to see that he excepted Sitkanis' presence. That worry was ever present in his mind. He worried less during the day when he looked like a Drykas. He felt comfortable in that state. It was night that worried him. When Leth, Sitkanis' god took to the sky things changed. He aquired horns and light purple eyes. That alone as anough to make a man worry about his status among his peers. The corner of Sitkanis' mouth turned upward at the mention of the man, Marius as he addressed himself, eating rocks and dirt. He had gotten the terrible taste of sand in his mouth the first night he had fallen and he knew from that point on it would never happen again. This man Marius was a curious one. He seemed either to not notice that he was rattling off a good list of his personal details or he just was not that private of a person. When the time came for Sitkanis to answer Marius he was unsure of what he would say. "Well, I go back Sitkanis, Sitka for short. Unlike you my life tale is pretty short. I have no profession nor family to speak of. Just me and my horse Hasaana. I arrived here about a week ago and I still have yet to really know what is going on around me. Please don't think I am dull or anything. I have... I guess you could say I've been gone for a while. In all truth I don't even know what this town is called. I'm sort of just here." Sitkanis was well aware that his story was odd. How does a seemingly Drykas male just appear in Denval, lacking a Cyphrus Strider no less. The windmark accross his torso would have meant that he had a Strider but just like everything else in Sitkanis' life, it was long deceased and forgotten. The topic of mining caught Sitkanis' attention. He had never met a miner before. Even in his past life that was still buried deep in his unconcious he had never met a miner. What use would that have for one in Endrykas? They constantly moved so any mines would have had to have been abandoned. The scarce knowledge of the trade that Sitkanis retained was that it was a dangerous job. "So mining, eh? I heard that mining is quite the risking hobby. Do you have any scare stories you would like to tell?" Sitkanis always found a little excitement in the pursuit of dangerous endeavors. He was a man who still clung to his Drykas mentality. Life is fast and free, at least if you let it be. The rush of adrenaline, the push of the instincts. Although, mining was not exactly the best way to get an adrenaline rush. Sitkanis was relearning though. He was picking up the scattered peices all around him and trying to fit them back togather. He was a bit naive about some subjects just because he had been gone so long. Some day the puzzle would be complete but for now the peices were scattered and thrown everywhere. Some were hidden and some were just beyond his reach. That is why he sought out others. Anyone new could have a peice of the puzzle and who knew if Marius did. A miner in Denval, it was new alright.

[Marius]

Marius listened to Sitka speak – absently. He kept thinking of the Road, of the weight of a pickaxe in his callused hands, of stone dust in his lungs and the tang of iron upon his lips. I should go back, he thought, and then scowled at Sitka’s words. “What do you mean, gone for a while? Does that mean you’re a ghost? Ever curious, Marius reached out and poked Sitka in the chest. He felt solid enough, but just to be sure, Marius took the man’s arm and gave it a little shake. “How unfortunate,” he sighed. “I’m quite fond of ghosts – except, of course, for the lout that tried to possess me. No sense of manners. I don’t care how long he was stuck in that shaft; at least offer a salutation.” Marius paused for a moment. He thought he’d seen Mihai duck behind a rock, but it was just some sort of fowl. “Still, ghosts are tedious,” Marius said. “It’s always the same with them. Once, when I was but a lad, I delved into a derelict mine to determine if work could be resumed. It was in a sorry state. I was quick to ascertain that the shoring had rotted, but I continued to press on, working my way past a partial cave-in to the deeper shafts. Many were filled with noxious gases that confounded my search, so I turned back in hopes of finding an alternate route. It was then that I tripped over a bit of debris. I reached for a beam to steady myself, thinking the wood in fair condition, but instead it yielded to my hand. ‘How inconvenient,’ I muttered as chunks of rock descended upon my head. I blacked out at one point, but luck was with me. I was able to kindle a torch – for my lantern had disappeared beneath the debris – and surveyed the damage. It came as no surprise that I was trapped. So I retraced my steps, at times wending my way through pockets of gases, in search of an alternate route to the surface. It was days in the finding, of course, but what I did find was a multitude of specters. Most had perished in horrid ways; crushed by beams or falling rock, shoved to their deaths, starved and poisoned… the litany was ceaseless, and I became inured to it after a while. It was not the vivid descriptions that bored me – nay, I found those to be quite captivating – but the fact I was a captive audience for their sordid tales of love and betrayal, which tended to follow the same vein. Am I not correct, Sitka, in finding nothing so tedious as love and betrayal?”

[Sitkanis]

Sitkanis:

Was this man seriously asking if Sitkanis was a ghost. He was there talking to him for Leth's sake! He was not transparent as far as he knew and even at night when he took on a more heavenly looking form he was in no way a ghost of any kind. Sitkanis opened his mouth to talk but Marius' finger poked into his chest before he would say otherwise. Sitkanis clentched his teeth at the poke. He was not the biggest fan of being touched. As odd and immature as the pet peeve was he liked his personal space. The personal space which was now being invaded by this quite talkitive human. Just as Sitkanis was silently thanking Leth with his brown eyes up turned to the sky for the man ceasing his poking at his chest a hand gripped around his bicep. Sitkanis lifted an eye brow at the man. He really was an odd guy. Sitkanis knew that he would never even think of having this much contact on a first meeting. The constant proding and poking was starting to make him a bit testy. Sitkanis shot the man a serious look. "I'm not a Ghost okay? You poked my chest, you grabbed my arm, we're talking and weird stuff isn't happening. I think it is very safe to say that I am not a ghost." Sitkanis felt as though he had to be very direct with this man. People who seemed to be able to just get on personal levels like this so easily were trypically not the best listeners.  "To answer your question, I was... Dead." Sitkanis began to talk to Marius be he saw that he had get again launched off into another one of his excited storytelling modes. As much as Sitkanis did not want to give him credit for it, the man could really tell a tale. It seemed that Marius really did not care if he had an audience, be just enjoyed the art of storytelling. It was an odd behavior but Sitkanis respected it in his own odd way. No everyone had the courage to just started to tell stories like that. When Marius was fianlly done with his story Sitkanis smiled. "Have you ever considered being a storyteller other than a miner? You seem to really enjoy these little narratives that you keep going off into. And as for love and betrayal, you are asking the wrong guy. I cannot remember the last love or act of betrayal I I witnessed." He was staying it in a playful way but he words often had a habit of coming accross harsh. "I wish I could tell you some stories of my own but for now I think I need to fill in the blank pages first. Metaphoricly speaking of course."

[Marius]

“Oh, how dreadful!” Marius clapped a hand to his mouth. “I once knew a fellow with an identity crisis. He daubed himself with pink, stuck a carrot up his arse (pardon my arumenic) and oinked like a pig for several days. It was far from a perfect semblance, but then again, this man was not of a thespian sort.” Marius stared at his shoes, blinked, and directed a scrying look at his associate. “Speaking of thespians and blank pages, have you any notion of what you’re good at? I do believe you have the look of a warrior, but you might easily be a poet for all I know, or – well, it's obvious you aren’t a perfumer, so shall I venture candle maker? An important job, to be sure. How else would we see at night? By torch? Florescent fungi? Such substitutes are finite, but I digress.” Marius cocked his head. He was intrigued by Sitka’s emptiness, but then again, he was also intrigued by spiders – one of which was crawling up his sleeve. Oh, what a magnificent creature! Marius peered into the arachnid’s dark, beady orbs. How about I call you Franz? Franz, the Lord of Spiders. It has quite a ring, doesn't it? “Forgive me, Sitka, but why are you here?” Marius asked… and then chortled to himself. “Why, that’s a terrible question, isn’t it? So many connotations. No, what I meant was, how did you end up here. In Denval. A ship? An eagle, perhaps? I suppose that’s the gamut of options with the road incomplete.”

[Sitkanis]

Once again Sitkanis was lost in the man's words. He spoke fast and seemingly scattered. It seemed as though his mind skipped from subject to subject with no real rhyme or reason. At first it had annoyed Sitkanis but now he was starting to find it interesting. To have a mind like his, he could only imagine. Sitkanis' mind was stately and to the point. It never jumped from thought to thought like Marius'. At times he wished that he was not so serious and he could enjoy life as it came but he just could not. He was cynical and pessimistic and he doubted that would ever change. A small smile formed on Sitkanis' lips. "I did not come by ship, eagle, or even by foot." He wondered whether he should tell Marius the true story about how he arrived in Denval. He was sure the man could handle it. He seemed to be able to handle more odd stories than his. "I fell from the sky." He looked at Marius unable to hide his smile. It was a odd thing to say, and he knew it. At times he could barely believe it had happened to him. He still remembered the day like it had just happened. He had almost died. "Does that make it into your collection of stories Marius?" He was developing a playful way of speech for this man. A thought wandered into Sitkanis' head. This man must have an interesting aura. He had to with the way that he acted. Sitkanis focused his Djed and looked at Marius. An explosion of color filled Sitkanis' vision. The man's aura was like none he had ever seen. It was a pulsating with color and hopping around him like a rabbit. It was amazing to see. The only thing it was comparable to was the Talderan Northern lights but Sitkanis had never seen them.

[Marius]

“From the sky?” Marius blinked. How could Sitka have descended from the skies? He didn’t have wings. At least, he didn’t have wings in this form. Could it be that Sitka was a shapeshifter? Much stranger things had occurred over the past season. Still, Marius doubted it. He wasn’t the most perceptive man, but he was sure that Sitka was holding back. What do you think, Franz? Marius looked to the arachnid, wishing he could speak with such creatures, and then peered into Sitka’s eyes. “I don’t wish to pry,” he began, “but how does one fall from the sky? I’d understand if you slipped from a wind eagle’s back, but I’m informed that sort of incident tends to result in death – and you’ve already been quite adamant in denying such a means of transport. It’s a good way to go – of that I have no doubt. I would much rather be crushed to death, but to each his own.” Marius cocked his head as he awaited Sitka’s response. If not for his own curiosity, which had nearly reached its threshold, he’d surely have embarked upon another tangent. Fell from the sky? he wondered again. It was a remark that was laced with possibilities, and none of them mundane. Unless, of course, the Isur had built a giant catapult to dispose of their prisoners…

[Sitkanis]

Although the proud Ethaefal did not want to admit it to himself he was starting to enjoy Marius' company. He was a good foil to his own less desirable temperament. He also liked that Marius was actually stopping to ask him a question. He almost felt a bit honored! "Have you heard of Ethaefal? They are beings what once dwelled in the Ukalas but now have fallen back to Mizahar. Sadly the Valterian left fissures in the Ukalas letting the Ethaefal well..., fall. I am one of the ones who fell. I used to live in Leth's domain but now I am here in Denval." Sitkanis was a bit surprised that we spoke so much about himself. "I lived somewhere prior to here. A land of horses and grass. I just do not know where that place is." He continued to repeat this statement to people in hopes someone could tell him where this land was. He wanted to know why he longed for horses and the open space to ride them. It seemed the answer did not lie within anyone he talked to though. They did not seem to know where this land of horses and grass was and if they did they were not telling.  "To put it plainly. I fell from the Ukalas, through the stars, and into the Denvali waters. The sad thing is, I cannot swim. I would have died if the waves did not take me to shore." Sitkanis remembered that night quite well. He had almost died the day he had come back to life. "Sadly where ever I used to live never gave me the need to swim. I'm glad I landed here though. With all this water someone is bound to be able to save me if I fall in again."