Closed Friends In High Places (Phobius)

[Lani Stranger]

75th of Summer 514AV

It was times like these when Lani wasn't sure if she liked waking up early or not. After a rather confusing street navigation, in the dark, she had finally reached the outer wall. Normally, Lani had little trouble in the city of illusions, she had learned long ago that the city only got harder if you fought it. With that lesson, Lani had long abandoned any attempts to make sense of the illusions, deciding instead to simply let the streets take her to where she needed to go. But today it seemed as if the city knew she was preparing to defy it. The city seemed to know she was looking for something, or someone, and it didn't want to reveal him to her.

The thought of personifying the city itself sent shivers down Lani spine as she reached the outer wall. Unlike the city, the outer wall did not move around, however, that didn't keep it from appearing as many different walls haphazardly put together. One bare foot rose to land squarely on a crumble block of granite. It was this section of the wall that Lani knew well. If she managed to climb up the loose rocks, she would find a more stable brick wall, which was also incredibly high. The perfect height to catch a view of most of the moving city.

A sigh flew from her lips as Lani leaned her weight into her foot, grasping another stone with her left hand and allowing all her weight to rest on the crumpled wall. One more foot up, lean in the weight and grab a handhold. And again. And again. Lani was easily ten feet up before she met ehr first resistance. Her bare foot caught hold of another rock, and it held under her weight but when she moved to grab another hand-hold, the wall let her go. A small whimper bubbled out of some crevice in her soul before Lani's muscles screamed at where she hung on her awkward angle.

"Stupid, stupid rocks."Lani muttered to herself as she strained to find another foot hold and release her arms from their agony. She had to be careful.

Thankfully, the crumbling wall had diminished from its previous height, letting Lani balance on its spine as she crawled towards the brick wall that connected to it. The mixed blood loved how the multitude of stones, densities and heights made up the wall. It offered no real protection, that was no illusion, but it marked the city limits clear enough. It was only a few feet of slow crawling before Lani was able to rise to her feet. The wall was much higher here, about fifteen feet up, but the stone had been cut into bricks, more stable and flat. The wall was only a foot across here, but it was enough for the flexible girl to balance on her feet. Step after step, Lani found herself in the center of that perfect chunk of the wall. She turned to face the city, her bare toes gripping the edge of the stones.

This was when her mind wanted to play tricks on her. Her brain would pretend that her legs were tired or her balance was off, one little twitch would send her over the edge, falling fifteen or sixteen feet before flattening against the ground. But Lani didn't dare listen to her brain. She didn't let the doubts creep into her heart and pick up its speed, forcing her to panic. No, instead she enjoyed the thrill of it. The precarious stance and the feeling of being above everything that was regular. The city rippled out below her, but she could not see it yet, not until the sun came up.

Lani let out a sigh, crouching down so she was no longer at such a risk for toppling over. The sky was turning grey and soon, she knew, it would turn purple. Then pink. Then orange. Then all the colors would slowly melt into the beauty that was day. But Lani had time before she watched the sunset, and so she let her body weight fall on her rump, her left side facing the city. Making sure she was aligned, Lani lowered herself onto the wall. The cold stone creeped through her shirt and slowly froze her spine as she let one leg hang off the wall, in city boundaries. She propped the other up so that she wasn't completely relaxed on the wall. One could never be too careful. But that didn't keep Lani's eyelid from fluttering closed, soothed by the cool morning and the chirping of morning birds.

PC/NPC Talking -- Kontinese -- Common -- Thoughts

[Phobius]

Phobius was quite the early-bird. It was an odd thing, really, considering that most of the people he'd meet tended to be the exact opposite. And they never could understand how he could "tolerate" being up during the "ungodly hours" of the morning, but Phobius never really tried to explain it, content with accepting the fact that he was just...different. He rose with the sun, while most seemed to rise with the moon.

This particular morning was no different from the rest. The Inartan boy awoke while there were still starts perched in the sky, as if reacting to some internal cue. Sitting up in his bed for a moment, he blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes and then wriggled his way over to the window, bunching his covers down to his waist so that his arms would be free. Once there, he leaned in and pressed his cheek up against the glass, smiling a bit at the cool feeling on his skin.

Mornings were quiet. The rest of the inn residents were usually asleep; Phobius could tell by the faint snores that seemed to waft in through his room's walls. And it was during times like these that the boy didn't mind being alone. He felt relaxed, having nothing else to do but sit back and watch as the moon slipped away to allow the sun to take its place, and as the colors of the sky changed from a pale blue to palette of pastels. Purples and pinks, oranges and yellows...

It was going to be a nice day, today.

A few chimes passed. Suddenly, the boy found himself compelled to go outside. For a short walk, at least. After all, he was wide awake, and it was looking as though the morning was going to be an especially pretty one. Why did he need to watch it all from his room?

Lifting his face away from the window pane, Phobius thought it over for a moment. The decision seemed to make itself, though, and only a few ticks had gone by before he'd stood up from his bed. He looked around for the rest of his clothes—the boy never slept wearing any less than a shirt and his underwear—and slipped them on once he'd gotten them, along with his shoes. Then he gave his unkempt hair a few pats in an attempt to smooth it down, some. It didn't make much of a difference.

Phobius started toward the door, but stopped himself when he realized that he'd forgotten something. Whirling around on his heels, he went over to his sole desk and took something off of the top. The object clutched in his arms, he nodded to himself and then continued out, closing the door quietly behind him.

It was a shell. Or, more appropriately, a souvenir from a few days ago, when hundreds of the things had been scattered all across the city. The one he'd stumbled upon was smallish and peach-tinted, and when he'd hold it up to his ear there'd be pretty little tune that came from the inside. A surprising thing at first, but after a while he'd grown used to it; the boy liked to imagine that the shell was full of teeny-tiny musicians. In the end, he'd liked it so much that he'd decided to keep it in his room.

Now he carried it with him as he made his way outside, where he was immediately greeted by the crisp, pre-dawn air.

It was going to be a really nice day.

Slipping the shell into one of his pockets while putting his other hand in the other one, Phobius picked the nearest sidewalk and started to walk along it. He didn't really have a place in mind to go to, nor did he really care where he was headed; the boy just wanted to take a walk, and was more than happy with ending up wherever Ionu decided to place him. If the god wasn't asleep, of course. ...did gods even sleep?

...did they need to...?

The question stayed in Phobius' mind as he walked, but was more of a distraction than anything, and before he knew it he'd ended up at the base of some massive, tall...thing. Some sort of wall, maybe? Had he reached the edge of the city? Blinking at the stone surface, Phobius tilted his head up and tried to spot the top. Despite how large it was, there was one...along with what looked like a person sitting on it.

Wait...what?

Phobius squinted a little, focusing as much as he could on the shape. And a few extra ticks of staring only confirmed what he'd thought; that there was an actual person on top of the wall, and that they didn't seem to be in any sort of danger. At least, not that he could see. How'd they get up there...?

Curiosity was quick to get the best of him. The boy cupped a hand around his mouth as he prepared to call up to the person, but then he removed it, thinking that he wouldn't need to talk too loud. "Excuse me," Phobius called from the wall's base, looking up at the figure. "But how'd you get all the way up there...? You're really high up! Really, really high up! And it's not...you're not scared...?"


"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.

[Lani Stranger]

The sudden noise startled Lani and she pulled herself up immediately. Scared? Lani could still feel the ghostly chill on her back as she peered down the wall. What she really wanted to do was go back to sleep, wait until the sun came up and start her search. But today was already her fourth morning on the wall. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the city didn't want to lead her in the direction she was hoping to go. If she even knew what direction she was supposed to go. Hmm. Black eyes grazed over the caller's shockingly red hair curiously. She had the faint recognition that he belong to some sort of seperate human culture but she couldn't place a name to it. From her quick look over he seeme to be friendly enough, something that welcoming for a newcomer that had yet to meet a friendly face. "I climbed." Lani answered his first question and shrugged, glancing to her left. A few meters away she could see where the wall began to dip down and crumble. "It's not too scary. It's actually pretty beautiful. You can almost see the whole city up here."

Lani looked back down at the boy who stood below her. He couldn't be much older than herself, and it was obvious he was used to early mornings, something she had to get used to. A yawn shook through Lani at the thought and she hoisted herself up, balancing on the bridges of her feet before relaxing into a crouch. She didn't know how well he could see her since she was so far above him. "Wanna come up?" Lani pointed towards her left, unsure whether the stranger could see the crumbled wall in the dark. She couldn't see it very well, she just knew it was there. "There is an easy climb right over there."

PC/NPC Talking -- Kontinese -- Common -- Thoughts

[Phobius]

"I climbed."

Climbed...? All the way up there? Phobius mused as he stared up at the woman, gaping a bit at the structure's height. He'd wandered around the city plenty of times, before, and had gotten lost on more occasions than he could remember, but Alvadas' twisting sidewalks and rearranging alleyways had never led him all the way here. Were there other walls lining the edges of the city, or was this massive one the only one?

The boy lowered his gaze to the mass of stone and brick and tilted his head a little at it. Now that he was taking a closer look, he realized that it looked quite old. There were little crevices and chipping portions all over it, and off to his right it seemed like the entire wall had crumbled a bit. That the woman had managed to climb this huge, aging thing was impressive.

"The whole city?" Phobius echoed upon the woman's comment, his eyes flicking back up to her. Could she really see all of it...? He couldn't imagine what a view of all of the houses, shops, parks, and little alleys must look like, from up there, but he believed her when she said that it was beautiful. Especially with the way that the early-morning sky was, at the moment; the whole scene probably looked like something out of a soft-toned painting.

Phobius was growing more and more curious by the tick. He'd left his room at the inn with the intention of taking a nice, quiet walk throughout the city while the streets were still empty, and now here he was, talking to a stranger who seemed to be somewhat comfortable with mornings. It was an interesting turn of events. Speaking of which, said stranger was getting up, now; Phobius was tempted to shout for her to be careful, worried despite the fact that she was able to balance perfectly on her two feet. And then, to his further surprise, she invited him up.

The boy didn't respond right away, choosing to mull over her proposal, for a moment. He had no innate fear of climbing or heights; back in Wind Reach, he'd actually spend a lot of his time climbing things. Trees in the outlying woodlands, cliff faces...Phobius could even recall having climbed onto a few houses to chip away at moldy roofing tiles, a few times. He liked to climb, but...it'd been a while since he'd done it. Looking over at the part of the wall that the woman had pointed at, the boy squinted a little, trying to gauge how "easy" of a climb it'd be with the limited morning light.

I guess...I could try. If it's all broken and stuff, I at least have more things to hold onto...and it's not too dark, he told himself, already walking over to the crumbled portion of wall. Then, without giving it much more thought, he started to climb, first grabbing at jutting pieces of rock to pull himself up, then resting the tip of one foot on another piece so that he could push the rest of his body off of the ground, his other foot soon following. For once, Phobius was glad that he was slim and didn't weigh much; climbing wasn't easy to begin with, but at least he didn't have to deal with the trouble that being heavy would cause. He lost his footing every so often, but seemed to grow more determined to get to the top with each tiny slip-up, pausing only once when he was halfway there to readjust himself a little and get a good grip on some crumbled stones above his shoulders.

In a little over a couple chimes, Phobius had reached the wall's top. He smiled at his success, taking a few ticks to let his fingers and toes rest before he turned his head and looked over at the woman.

Right...now if he could just make it over to her without falling...

A lump began form in the boy's throat, but he ignored it as he began to inch his way over to her, consciously keeping himself from peering over the wall's edge as he slowly crawled. It took a lot longer than it needed to, and it was possible that the woman would laugh at him a little, but Phobius was intent on being careful. When he'd gotten close enough to her, he rearranged himself into a sitting position, cautiously lifting his legs to dangle them over the edge of the wall. Now that the risky-portion of his climb was over, he could let himself relax.

"Woooow," Phobius murmured in awe as he looked out at the city splayed before them, every trace of former anxiety gone from his face. "You were right. It really is beautiful. Do you come up here a lot?"

The question was impulsive, and one that he'd been thinking about asking her before the climb had even happened, but the boy was quick to realize that he'd forgotten something. He mentally scolded himself, then looked over at the woman and offered her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I forget about names a lot. Mine is Phobius," he said, holding a hand out to her. "What's yours?"



"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.

[Lani Stranger]

Lani walked along the wall beside the man as he made his way over to the wall. She feared that she looked like a coyote, crouching on the last part of whole wall and waiting for him near the top. He stumbled a few times, but Lani offered no hand. She didn't believe the man needed it with how easily he took on the task. He wasn't afraid of heights, at at least he was good at concealing it, and so she didn't need to help him. It wasn't until he reached the top when Lani held her palm out. Long digits lay in wait to help the man gain his feet instead of crawl like she had.

Lani grinned at his reaction to the city that bled from the base of their wall. The sky had reached its color palette, dipping into the most beautiful dark violet hues she'd ever seen, it was starting. Lani had always thought the sunrise was the color of true love; Syna and Leth's love. It was a time of between, when the lovers of the sky shared their domain with each other. It was a fleeting moment of unmatched beauty and serenity that a mortal like her could never hope to understand, but at least she could watch the half-a-bell display. "I found this wall when I was nine." Lani offered the odd fact, glancing back at the shocking red hair and then she let her black orbs graze over his face.

She could see him much clearer now that he stood so close. She was taller, but he was older. The unkept length of blood red hair was the first thing Lani noticed, but it was also easy to take in the man's wide amber eyes. The line of his jaw and length of his nose were so much more noticeable in his thin face, and yet his sharp, thin features didn't seem misplaced or ugly on his face.

"I haven't, not for years." She finally answered his first question. "I came back a few days ago. I've been looking for an old friend and Alvadas lead me here one morning... so I've started up the habit the past couple of days. I thought I'd be able to find who I was looking for from here, but the city doesn't want to show me yet. So I'll keep at it." She shrugged, and turned around, chuckling. "That was a bit more than you asked for. And my name's Lani, it's nice to meet you Phobius." The mixed blood offered her friendliest grin and took his hand for one quick shake before turning on her heels.

"It gets a little higher over here, you can see the ocean sometimes." She hopped forward on one foot, making her heart skip a beat as her muscles strained to keep her upright. A rush of uncertainty shot through her, but Lani craved the small amount of adrenaline, choosing to continue foreword on her toes, like a feline on the prowl. After a few feet of playing on the edge, she turned back to Phobius to see if he was following alright. "Phobius? If you don't mind me asking, where did you come from?"

Lani made the assumption that he didn't come from Alvadas. She didn't out right verbalized her theory, incase see was wrong, but the implication that she suspected he wasn't from Alvadas was heavily strung on her words. The thought tickled in the back of her mind and she swore she knew what he was, she had studied his people very briefly at the University. But she couldn't remember. "You don't get hair like that from Alvadas, I don't think."

PC/NPC Talking -- Kontinese -- Common -- Thoughts

[Phobius]

Phobius found himself staring at the woman as she spoke to him; the sun hadn't completely risen, yet, and the moon was still dipping down beneath the horizon line, but there was just enough soft light for him to be able to notice a few new things about her. Like her height, for example; she was only crouching, but Phobius could already tell that the woman was tall. Really tall. Taller than him. Was she maybe older than him, too?

There was something interesting about her eyes, too, but the Inartan boy couldn't really tell. Once the sky had changed colors a few more times, there'd probably be enough light for him to get a better look, but for the moment he settled with the things that he could see. All in all, she looked and acted like a nice person. And Lani was a pretty name, but it was rare that Phobius ever met anyone whose name he thought wasn't pretty or nice-sounding. She shook his hand, then went back to her little balancing act along the wall. And Phobius watched as she continued along, somehow managing to stay perfectly upright on one foot until she decided to tip-toe across the stone. The sky was still a breath-taking flurry of colors and tones, but the woman was making herself out to be a much bigger source of wonder, at the moment. At least, as far as the boy was concerned.

That looks like fun, Phobius thought to himself, smiling a little. I wanna try!

And so, slowly but surely, he eased himself back up onto his feet, holding his arms out at his sides to balance himself. The boy was a lot more timid about it than Lani seemed to be, however, and had just begun to move when she asked him where he came from.

"Wind Reach," Phobius replied, wobbling a bit as he made his way toward her, his attention erratically shifting back and forth between his feet and the space in front of him. "Have you been there, before? It's not far from here, I don't think...there are lots of woods around it, and it's inside of this really big mountain where there's a volcano—ah!"

The boy yelped in surprise as he misplaced his footing, violently rocking on his toes until he readjusted himself and got his balance back. Then he let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, and looked up at Lani, an awkward and slightly-embarrassed smile upon his face.

"It's...it's really nice," he continued, then spared a balancing-hand to give the top of his head a few pats. "And everyone there has hair like this. I didn't think it was weird until I left, 'cause now people like to ask me about it, a lot."

Phobius came to a stop a couple of feet away from Lani, just then, and blinked at her until his expression was suddenly aglow with pride. It'd taken a while, but he wasn't wobbling, anymore! He doubted that he'd ever get to be as great of a balance-er as Lani, but considering how long it'd been since he'd climbed anything, the boy liked to think that he was doing okay.

Still smiling, Phobius tried to meet her eyes. "Where's your home?"



"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.

[Lani Stranger]

Lani had turned to watch Phobius balance, but didn't lurch forward each time he tipped. She had the reaction, just as any other person would, to do so and yet it didn't read through to her muscles. The mixed blood fleetingly wondered why she didn't offer this man, who was friendly to her and she was friendly to back, her help. She wasn't the best at acrobatics, but it was clear she was a little more used to this than he was. Lani stored the thought, deciding instead to pay attention to Phobius' words. Windreach. She remembered now, during Geography lessons about the city in the Volcano. She smiled back when he nearly lost his balance, offering an assisting hand a bit to late, as a result of decision instead of reaction.

"Here." Lani answered his question. It wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't the truth. If he hadn't heard enough of her accent yet, he would soon realize that it wasn't an Alvadian accent. While it had small hints that said she spent a significant about of her time here, it was mostly a Konti accent, odd coming from a non-Konti or a woman who had never visited Mura. But the answer was enough to answer the question, unless he asked more. There was little doubt in her mind that he would, since Alvadian children never grew quite as tall as her and she'd never seen another with her soulless black eyes, it was unlikely he had either. To keep him from detecting her lie, she decided to change to subject. "The sun is starting to come up." She turned away, taking a few careful steps away from the Inarta before lowering herself into a crouched position on the wall. She pulled the boomerang from her belt, using the wooden weapon to distract her from looking up at the man. Maybe if he didn't see her eyes, he wouldn't ask her about them.

She didn't like being asked questions she couldn't answer.

"Do you usually wake up this early?" A quick glance up showed her where he was. She was starting to worry if he really was going to fall off. It was a nasty height to land from. "Not many people do, unsurprisingly." The reminder of the time of day pulled a long yawn from her and she covered her mouth, listening to Phobius' answer.

PC/NPC Talking -- Kontinese -- Common -- Thoughts

[Phobius]

'Here'? So she was from the City of Illusions itself, then? Blinking a few times at the woman, Phobius continued to balance himself on his feet as he waited for her to continue, but after a handful of silence-filled ticks it seemed as though she was done talking about it. Why? Wasn't she...happy to be home? Just how long had she been away from Alvadas, anyway, and why had she decided to leave it in the first place? Did she travel a lot while she was gone? If she did, what sorts of interesting things did she see? Had she gone outside of Kalea?

The boy's mind was suddenly filled to the brim with questions. Yet, as eager as he was to get them out into the open for Lani to answer, he held his tongue. If she wasn't saying much about it, then there was a chance that it was because it made her uncomfortable. And Phobius didn't want to make the woman feel uncomfortable, no matter how curious he was about her travels outside of the city. The polite thing to do would be to leave her alone about it, and move on to talking about other things, like...like the sun coming up.

At the woman's announcement, Phobius immediately brought his attention to his left, his eyes falling upon the big orange ball as it crept its way into the sky. The mass of colors surrounding it had faded into oranges and light blues, and for a moment the boy could only think of the sun as the jelly-like yolk of a gigantic egg. Then his stomach growled a little, as if telling him not to think about food.

Right...breakfast. It was still really early, but his tummy was used him having had some sort of snack, by now, whether the sun was just rising or he'd slept in. Normally it'd be a piece of fruit; Phobius had grown to especially like pears.

"Do you usually wake up this early?"

Thankfully, Lani's question ended up bringing the Inartan boy away from his thoughts. Starting to ease himself down into a crouch that mimicked hers—she looked like she was having an easier time staying steady—Phobius looked over at her and said "Kinda. I wake up early lots of mornings. Sometimes it's because I'm not up late, and other times it's because of—"

Nightmares.

"—bad dreams. I like mornings, though. They're pretty and quiet...and I get to look out my window and watch all the stars disappear...have you ever done that?"

It was a serious question, as Phobius was genuinely curious. He tilted his head at Lani like a curious puppy, awaiting her answer, before his eyes fell upon the thing that she was holding in her hands. Squinting at it, the boy studied the object for a moment; he didn't think he'd ever seen something like it, before, and wondered if it was some sort of instrument that she could play. There didn't seem to be any little holes in it, though...maybe it was a toy?

"What's that thing?" he asked her, inching a bit closer to her so that he could get a better look at it. "Does it make music...? Oh! Did you find it laying around here, a few days ago? There were lots of these pretty shells everywhere, but that...doesn't really...look like a shell..."

[575]


"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.

[Lani Stranger]

Lani was content with letting the man talk. She was used to being the one talking, or dragging, someone into a predicament, but it was too early for the teenager's mind to come up with much. As Phobius talked, she let her black orbs drift across the city. She had never actually seen a building move, it was impossible to see under the illusions veil, she would simply find that hte buildings were not in the same place, no matter how long she stared in place. And so Lani let her eyes graze the shingled and thatched roofs, searching for the one she knew well. "... Sometimes it's because I don't stay up late, and other times it's because of—"

Lani's head snapped to Phobius when he paused. The sudden motion forced her to wiggle on her toes, re-steadying her balance. As her soulless eyes grazed over his pale skin she realized he was not balancing as well as she was. To be honest, Lani was not a master either, and her muscles proved it. The joints in her knees and ankles had locked in place but her long leg muscles screamed in protest, despising the position she forced them to keep. But Lani wasn't thinking about her mild discomfort, what was Phobius hesitating for? "—bad dreams." He finished, bringing Lani's eyebrows up. She didn't have the courtesy or politeness of the Inarta next to her, and so she had little issue preparing to interrupt him. "I like the mornings, though. They're pretty and quiet...and I get to look out my window and watch all of the stars disappear...have you ever done that, before?"

"Uh-- yeah. No." The question broke on Lani's tongue, her thoughts distracted by his queries. "No I don't." She turned her eyes down to her hand, where she traced the edge of her wooden boomerang. Small nicks littered the outer edge, where her faulty throws had damaged it. After some time with the weapon, she realized that it was not actually a weapon, but a practice tool. She could barely knock a person out with the light wood, even if she knew how to throw it right. The mixed bloods thoughts floated back to the red head beside her and his dreams. "What sort of dreams do you have?"

But he had already asked her another question, curious about her peculiar weapon. Lani let out a quick laugh, amusement playing in her voice. "Ha! No, its a boomerang. It's some sort of blunt-force weapon... You throw it and it comes right back." Lani motioned how to throw it for him. Gently guiding the wooden blade parallel to her ear. But instead of letting the weapon fly when it reached momentum, she held on, not daring to loose her boomerang in the ever changing city. "I would show you, but I'm sure I won't get it back, I am not the best with this thing. If it made music, I wouldn't be surprised, it is as foreign to me as it is to you, I just picked it up at a weapon shop in Zeltiva..." Lani turned to the Inarta, letting one knee fall to the cold stone, she handed him the boomerang, so that he could look at it. "I remember those shells. Did you pick any up? I thought they were sort of funny, but its only expected from Ionu."

Lani's friendly grin swallowed as she remembered her earlier question, she was still intent on receiving an answer. For a woman who hardly dreamed, the vivid nightmares of another attracted a more dark side of her curiosity.

PC/NPC Talking -- Kontinese -- Common -- Thoughts

[Phobius]

Lani's question floated right over Phobius' head, his attention shifting to focus on her arm as she reared it back, the supposed weapon clutched in one hand. He fully expected her to throw it, too, watching the curved wooden instrument's every move, but was a bit surprised when she kept her hold on it. Her explanation, though understandable, didn't do much to get rid of that surprise, either. If it was supposed to come back to you when you threw it, why did it matter where you were throwing it or how high up you were when it left your hand?

The woman turned to him and bent down a little, holding the boomerang out so that he could take it. Phobius blinked at her, then looked down at the instrument before he realized that she was giving him permission, more or less, to touch it. Smiling, he gently took the instrument from her and sat himself down on his rump, again, wanting to give his toes a break from keeping him balanced. The boy turned it over and over in his hands, not having expected it to feel as smooth as it did, and in the light of the creeping dawn he could see some of the designs that had been painted onto it.

Lani had said that it was a weapon, right? Inspecting it some more, Phobius tried to imagine how effective it would be in a fight. Did you run around and hit people with it, or was it only for throwing? It'd probably hurt, either way, especially if you used it on someone's head. The boy wondered if she'd ever used it on another person, before, and how it must have felt if she had. Some people seemed to act as though they were perfectly comfortable with fighting, and Phobius, while not being one such person, guessed that he could understand how it was a necessary thing, sometimes. Lani didn't really look like a person who'd been in a lot of fights, but it was hard to tell those sorts of things from just looking at someone's face or their eyes.

Of course, if she had been in any, he wouldn't hold it against her or think that she was bad because of it.

Tempted as he was to go ahead and ask, the Inartan boy didn't have the chance to before she'd gone ahead and asked him another question. My shell...! I brought it with me, didn't I? Phobius mused, starting to dig in his pockets as soon as the woman had spoken. It only took a few ticks for him to find the peculiar thing, and he fished it out and rested it on his lap, smiling down at it before he looked over at Lani. "Yup! I found a really pretty one sitting at the corner of a window shop. It was the first one I saw all day, and I really liked it, so I took it with me and put it in my room." He then handed the shell over to her. "When you put it to your ear, you can hear music. I thought it would go away after a few days, but it didn't!"

With that said, Phobius eagerly watched and waited for the woman to lift the shell up to her face, the boomerang still sitting in his lap. And then, as though his brain was choosing to remind him, her question from earlier drifted to the forefront of his mind:

"What sort of dreams do you have?"

The warm smile that sat upon the boy's face seemed to fade a bit, all of a sudden. Dreams...she wanted to know about his dreams. Huh. He'd never really...brought them up with anyone, before, having been content with ignoring them until recent days as they'd gradually become worse and worse, demanding more of his concern and puzzling him to no end. Lani was asking because she was curious, and she had every right to be...but the boy would be lying to himself if he'd said that telling her about them wasn't something that made him feel uncomfortable.

"Umm..." Phobius began, not really sure how to start. It was difficult to try and talk about something to someone else, when you barely even understood it, yourself. "They're...they're really weird. I don't usually have a lot of dreams, either, but it feels like they happen every few days, now. And it's always the same dream, kinda, but...but little things change every time."

Pausing, the Inartan boy summoned up some energy and thought back to the last few dreams he'd had, passing through the mental walls he'd created to keep them all locked up in his head. They weren't pleasant, and he'd tried his best to simply forget them, having lost a good amount of sleep during some nights, but now he needed to remember.

"I'm usually in this really dark place," he continued, his eyes falling away from Lani to stare at some random piece of wall as he focused. "Really, really dark...like nighttime-dark, but even darker. And there's nothing around anywhere, but I can see myself, and all my clothes are..."

Phobius hesitated at this point, unsure as to whether or not he should tell the woman that he was naked in all of his dreams, for some reason. But it wasn't like he could choose to wear his clothes, no matter how much he wanted to; his brain had merely dictated that clothes couldn't exist, in the dream-world. A few ticks later, he forced himself to continue, assuming that there was no harm in admitting it, save for his embarrassment.

"...well, gone. I dunno why. I wish they weren't. There are usually voices, too...lots of different kinds of voices, and they don't sound like ones I know, but sometimes they say my name. And I can't see any people, but I always feel like there's someone there...so I run and try to find them. I don't think I ever do."

His voice was growing quieter by the tick. Try as he might, the boy couldn't hide how confused he was.

"Before I wake up, though, there's always stuff that hurts me. That's the part that I don't like the most. It feels like something hits me, or my legs and feet will feel really heavy, so I can't move...or loud sounds happen, and they hurt my ears...or I'll trip and fall, and won't be able to get back up...and it always gets worse with each dream."

Finally, Phobius looked back up at the woman. "I don't get any of it, at all. And I don't...I don't really talk about them to anyone, because I'm hoping that they'll go away, soon. I don't know what I'll do if they don't. ...I don't wanna think about that, either. But, I mean, they...they have to. That's what bad dreams do, right? They go away after a while?"

[1166]

"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.