Requiem
Weyrleader S'rei WM M?ta Rider A'nd Harper/Handler Dmitri Weyrbrat Miguel
Posts: 2,861
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Post by Requiem on Sept 29, 2011 8:39:42 GMT -5
He climbed.
A shadow followed the greenrider, twisting and looping around in a pattern not unlike that of a vulture waiting for the creature below it to enter that final stage of exceptance. Of course, Eveyth was no vulture, and she had no interest in consuming Hers anytime soon. It was certain now; she was developing the first faint traces of her pre-Flight glow. She nudged questioningly at X'rx's mind again. Why were they here? There wasn't much out here apart from dangerous things, springs and trees. Maybe it was time to go back.
The young man ignored her mental proddings. He forged ahead against a wind that was picking up smartly in this higher elevation, moving to lace up his jacket higher so that the decrease in temperature wouldn't bother him as much. The bow strapped across his back remained there. Up here, the winds liked to howl and shriek, and it didn't take a lot of imagination to hear within them voices. Old voices. To X'rx, they were the voices of the dead. Never a superstitious sort, a prickling had begun along his spine a hundred feet down, and now he was almost certain that he could just about make out words.
It was a whim, and a strange one, that drew him higher over the rough side of the mountain, searching for a path that was relatively friendly to humans. If he could just reach the peak...he might be able to hear what it was that the voices of the dead were trying to tell him. Eveyth chose to alight higher up on the mountain, mantling her wings and peering down at the man struggling up the mountain face against the stone and the high altitude. Fortunately, being a dragonrider made it easier for him than perhaps someone not used to the skies. Was he sure he wanted to listen to the voices of the dead? Most likely they weren't here (she'd never heard of the dead speaking to the living) but she'd think that if they were it would be a bit...frightening, otherworldly, maybe even dangerous...to speak with them.
Again, X'rx ignored her, pushing the hair whipping about his face back. The screaming winds had picked up in their fury.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Sept 29, 2011 10:46:12 GMT -5
Getting back down this mountain was going to be a bitch.
As it was, the suspiciously dead-looking greenrider was in absolutely no rush to go anywhere at all; he was numbly, perfectly, wonderfully alone, without even his mindmates to play distractions. A’emi’d come up the mountain a few hours earlier, following his inevitable, ever-widening circuits around Burimyu in search of somewhere private, and he understood that scaling a mountain alone was probably not in the top ten smartest things he’d ever done, but he was still alive (if debatably—he certainly looked dead, or at the very least in a very uncomfortable, very still doze on top of a rock that was only mildly sun-warmed and not at all a shelter from the wind).
Kyrahth was going to be pissed at him once he got back; he could already tell that her mute fury was growing with her worry, and likely he’d catch a scolding from Titania too. Darkling would play his defense, probably. But it wasn’t something A’emi was very worried about; he pretty much existed in a state of blissful blankness, folded up on his rock in a distinctly awkward sprawl with the blood slowly oozing to his head.
The flash of a cold shadow passing over him made the greenrider go even stiller, instinctive camouflage, before his brain caught up with his reaction and he blinked his eyes open without moving, considering the stretch of sky above him in confusion. No clouds, didn’t look like rain. What, a really fat Razorclaw? A’emi rolled over onto his stomach carefully, bracing his hand against the side of his rock and muffling a groan as his blood remembered how it was actually supposed to go. He wet his lips, shaking away the dizziness, and squinted up at the sky again—this time actually catching sight of Eveyth.
“You’re not Kyrahth,” he muttered, mildly bemused, blinking at her, and then glanced down the mountain again, awareness and the beginnings of wariness returning. He sat in silence, acutely still, until the first movement caught his eye and he pursed his lips curiously at the sight of X’rx, who struck him as both vaguely familiar and completely harmless. A’emi tilted his head to one side, debated calling out. He had, after all, had several hours of pleasantly brainless time without the company of people, so…
“Hey, kid.” Soft enough to go unheard if the kid wasn’t listening. At least he’d tried. “Don’t look now, but you’re being stalked by a giant green be-winged monster.”
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Requiem
Weyrleader S'rei WM M?ta Rider A'nd Harper/Handler Dmitri Weyrbrat Miguel
Posts: 2,861
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Post by Requiem on Sept 29, 2011 13:30:29 GMT -5
It wasn't the wind talking to him. He was at least cogent enough to notice that the shrieking wind, even at a murmur, would probably not sound like that. The first couple words themselves passed by without recognition, though. Perhaps it was something other than the wind but equally emphemeral. He certainly couldn't seem to locate the source. Then it spoke again, and his eyes moved to the rock and the windswept man upon it. Ghosts. Spirits. It certainly looked dead, and the last X'rx knew of the small man whose name he couldn't quite remember was that he'd disappeared in the takeover. Likely killed. Most who disappeared in the takeover were killed, weren't they? He certainly looked dead. A ghost.
Eveyth informed him with some exasperation that she could see his ghost, too, even if he was rather tiny from way up here. That meant he was real and Hers should really probably take a drink or something because he was beginning to sound just a bit crazed. Naturally X'rx did not find the fact that she could see his ghost, too, a reason for his not being a ghost, though he definitely was real enough. The greenrider knew that he was not prone to seeing things nor in the physical condition at present where that might be possible. Eveyth did not seem so sure that Hers was in his right mind. As with most of their "conversations," it passed below the level of consciousness, a mere exchange of impressions while X'rx made his way to the spirit rock.
"She tends to do that," the younger rider commented, his lips twitching a touch to betray a certain amount of humor. "Going anywhere without her seems to be out of the question." So close now he became certain that this was the same greenrider he'd met once upon a time on a rail outside the feeding pens, back when he and Eveyth were still weyrlings. Why would a spirit travel all the way up here, so far from where he'd died? Was it because the new weyr was below and all the people he'd known most recently before death drew him there? Or was there something special about this mountain? Something otherworldly? The voices on the winds howled.
How did one speak to a spirit? They were kind of...holy...or something, weren't they? He couldn't remember where he'd gotten that from, and Eveyth certainly couldn't figure where he was getting any of this from, whether he cared to be informed of her opinion or not. The greenrider settled for kneeling at the base of the rock, staring at the nameless spirit curiously. "I remember you. From the feeding pens, turns ago. You said I needed to see a mindhealer, I think." Not that someone who had gone beyond the grave was likely to remember such an unimportant conversation with a person equally unimportant. Surely they had much more interesting things to occupy them in this life after death.
"Are there more of you? At the top? Why aren't you up there with the rest?" He tilted his head to one side.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Sept 29, 2011 14:17:33 GMT -5
A’emi went still as the boy approached, tilting his head to one side as he tried to pinpoint where, exactly, he’d seen this particular specimen of child from before, or why he at least seemed familiar. He spared a moment to flash a glance up at Eveyth again when the boy spoke, raising a hand to wave at the green dragon, before he resettled on his rock, cross-legged, and peered at the rider who had taken up residence at the foot of said rock. It was slightly unnerving to realize that he was being inspected with just as much, if not more, interest and solemnity, and A’emi was appropriately and carefully quiet, automatically unwilling to divulge any more in thoughtless words.
X’rx spoke first, and at his words A’emi blinked, considering, trying to recall. “Did I?” He couldn’t remember—maybe because it was just too long ago, too short a meeting, maybe because he was being mistaken for someone else? After a pause, as he digested the rest of X’rx’s words, he added, “Did you? See a mindhealer, I mean. Because I was probably not serious?” Not that he could remember. But he didn’t typically go around insulting people just for fun, so there was that. He didn’t think that much had changed in two years about himself.
Aaaand…
Now he was definitely starting to think he was missing something. A’emi stared silently at X’rx, and then said, very slowly and deliberately, “Well, there’s only ever one of me, you understand. But since I assume you mean ‘you’ in terms of a general group, what kind of group are you talking? I could be lots of things, it’s kind of unfair to assume I can read your mind. I can’t, by the way. In case you were wondering.” He paused, trying to read X’rx’s face (since his mind was, unfortunately, indeed out of the question), continuing absently, “It’s not one of my many talents, I’m afraid. Are there more of you at the bottom of the mountain?”
(A’emi suspected that whatever answer he received would likely be a good deal more helpful if he had the faintest idea what they were talking about, but whatever. He could put together the clues later. Clearly it wasn’t going to happen right now.)
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Requiem
Weyrleader S'rei WM M?ta Rider A'nd Harper/Handler Dmitri Weyrbrat Miguel
Posts: 2,861
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Post by Requiem on Sept 30, 2011 7:40:16 GMT -5
Eveyth was very much tempted to facewing at the picture presented by the pair of greenriders, though she did offer A'emi a croon of greeting when he waved to her. One cross-legged on the rock, the other kneeling at the base of it, the scene might have passed for something from some sort of religious cult. Didn't one of the people here worship Faranth as if that ancient gold was still alive? (Eveyth's memory was about a day long, but if she was curious, X'rx's was always open to her.) Speaking of the greenrider, he found her own mental tangent highly fantastical. To which Eve couldn't help but snort softly. She, illogical? He had a right to comment?
The young man smiled slightly at the spirit on his holy rock. "Not officially. The mindhealer is...kind of a friend of mine, though." He was fairly certain that A'emi had been serious, actually, but that was okay. It was an unimportant event involving an unimportant person; X'rx doubted that a spirit with no ties to him would care overmuch about the details. His head canted to one side slightly as the ghost spoke again, though. Oh, curious. Wasn't it obvious just what X'rx was referring to? Apparently not. Eveyth though it obvious he wouldn't, since ghosts did not exist, but again the greenrider ignored his dragon.
X'rx couldn't resist a chuckle at the spirit's question, even if it probably wasn't very polite to laugh at a spirit. "Of course there are," he responded with a smile. "A whole host of us, down below the treeline and the rocks. Were you trying to find us?" Maybe the rocks shielded them from the spirits just as it shielded them from the living. His eyes returned to the summit when the winds whipped into a howling shriek even louder than before, and when X'rx shivered it was not entirely from the cold.
"Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Are all of the...departed...benign?" Dark eyes returned to the spirit's face questioningly. He'd chosen his words carefully, thinking that saying dead or ghosts directly might upset this spirit. So far he was the only one that X'rx had found, and even if he hadn't been that helpful in terms of information, the potential was there. It wouldn't do to upset him. "Do you remember your name?" he questioned curiously. Who knew how much of their old lives spirits remembered.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Sept 30, 2011 10:57:47 GMT -5
Oh, okay.
A’emi blinked mutely at X’rx, deciding it was probably better not to ask why he thought being friends with a Mindhealer was a good idea. They were always psychoanalyzing people, weren’t they? But, anyway, that wasn’t his business, so he just shrugged, continued to watch the kid kneeling at the bottom of his rock with honest curiosity. The chuckle made his mouth quirk at the corners in an automatic responding half-smile that lingered absently as X’rx spoke. Was he trying to find…who? The entire Weyr? He was pretty sure he’d definitely already found them, unless X’rx was talking about some crazy cult he was supposed to know about.
Which he definitely didn’t.
He didn’t really notice the wind rising—he’d been listening to it long enough that it just didn’t really register as important anymore—but managed a confused “Um?” at X’rx’s question, and decided to work his way backwards with this tricky problem, at least he knew the answer to one of these things, “Yeah? I’m not amnesiac, last I checked? It’s A’emi,” he added, unwilling to uncurl enough from his seated position to shake the kid’s hand. “Of green Kyrahth?” It came out more of a question than he’d intended, a hopeful offer of recognition beyond what had happened two years ago.
What he wanted to say next was that maybe the kid ought to see a Mindhealer, or at least an inter-personal relationship counselor, for advice about how to carry a linear, mutually understandable conversation, if nothing else. Instead, he said, since clearly he (and K’sel) was a master on the topic of ghost-hunting, “I’m sure there’re some not-so-friendly ghosts and ghouls lurking around, but I’m sure they would’ve already found the Weyr—that’s what you’re talking about, right? People are really noisy down there. You’d have to be pretty deaf and blind not to?”
A’emi tilted his head to one side, his eyebrows drawing together slightly in confusion, and added, “I’m not a hobo, by the way, I definitely know where the Weyr is. So…um, yeah. There’s that.” He paused, and then asked, not entirely sure whether or not all of this was some kind of hallucinogenic-lizard derived dream, “Is that why you’re up here, looking for the paranormal? You should’ve just checked the Weyr, there’s only like a billion dark and dreary hallways in there for ghosts to lurk in.”
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Requiem
Weyrleader S'rei WM M?ta Rider A'nd Harper/Handler Dmitri Weyrbrat Miguel
Posts: 2,861
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Post by Requiem on Oct 1, 2011 12:30:31 GMT -5
"A'emi," the young greenrider repeated, turning the name over as if sampling it. Then details began filling in. A'emi. Fortian. Captured in the attack when Eveyth was still just the size of a rather large and friendly canine. On Legatus and then subsequently kicked off. Ended up on S'rei's wing if X'rx remembered correctly. Yes. Wasn't there something to do with him and Cr'oph's twin? He thought there was. Shame that he'd disappeared. Died. He would have been interesting to talk to. Northerners fascinated the young man.
Actually, he still was talking to him, wasn't he? Then the opportunity wasn't completely lost. Funny thing about spirits, though...if you said something they didn't like they could disappear without a trace. Not like a person who could only run away and could always be found again later. "X'rx. And she's Eveyth," he returned, mistaking the questioning tone for a desire to know his name.
He blinked, then looked down toward the Weyr, biting his lip a bit worriedly. You certainly couldn't hear them from here, but A'emi was right. There were dragons visibly on watch, or in the air above it, and closer the sound of the Weyr must be obvious. "Can spirits be dangerous?" And if they could, would the new Selenitas have a problem with them? Maybe it was not such a good idea to occupy an abandoned Weyr near a spirit mountain. Who knew why the Weyr had been abandoned? Who knew what terrible wrong might have infused this mountain with such spiritual energy...
"In a way, I guess. I was looking for..." his family "specific ones?" His head tilted back up toward the peak, then his eyes refocused on A'emi with that same insatiable curiosity. "But why are you here, then?" By the egg. He thinks you're a spirit and I have yet to be able to convince him otherwise. Perhaps you might have more luck? Eveyth finally interrupted. It wasn't unusual for her to speak to other people, though she did it a lot less now than she had as a hatchling. More because she knew that some other dragons were very possessive of their riders and would not appreciate it rather than any problem she herself had with addressing a human who wasn't Hers.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Oct 1, 2011 20:31:28 GMT -5
“Okay,” A’emi said mildly, in response to the kid offering his name, “Hi.” Not what he was going for, but that was good too. Recommending someone helpfully to a mindhealer tended to be easier when you knew their names, he figured. He blinked, slowly pressing his fingers together and settling his chin on them, pursing his lips in genuine confusion at X’rx. Dangerous spirits, what? (His immediate answer would’ve been duh if it hadn’t sounded quite so serious; A’emi didn’t believe in the sort of ghosts most people did but he acknowledged the rumors of them in a mock-grave sort of way that was a sort of self-terrifying joke. This kid—X’rx—seemed slightly insane, though.) “Uh,” he said absently, gaze flickering up to Eveyth curiously, the words unintentionally distant as he considered.
He didn’t quite jump when the dragon bespoke him—what he did instead was more like an instantaneous freezing, even though he hadn’t even been quite moving before, his entire body going completely still. The words didn’t register immediately; the first thing that went through A’emi’s mind was that Kyrahth was going to kill him but—uh. His eyes flickered first, and then A’emi slowly uncurled from his position on the rock, tilting his head at X’rx before he said, slightly awkwardly, “Um. I’m not dead. You do know that, right?”
Eveyth hadn’t sounded like she was joking, after all, and even if it was a joke bespeaking a human about it seemed like an awful stretch, but…couldn’t hurt to be sure. A’emi leaned forward onto his hands and knees, and then reached out to actually poke X’rx on the forehead to demonstrate his…aliveness. “See? I can touch you and everything.” (And by ‘everything’ he meant he was three-dimensional, breathing, and not the color of marble, although given that he was sort of freezing a little now that he thought of it, maybe he was a little pale. Details.) He paused again, tilting his head at X’rx despite the inherent strangeness of his position, hovering over the kid when his hand still half-extended, and then added, “I don’t think dead people talk very much…”
He resettled, squatting against his heels, hands dropping back to his knees—didn’t quite understand what was happening, still, but at least that cleared it up a little bit, some ways. Other ways it just made things even more confusing—like why in the world this kid who was apparently at least a little bit terrified of spirits would be frolicking around looking for them, but whatever. One thing at a time. They were getting there.
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Requiem
Weyrleader S'rei WM M?ta Rider A'nd Harper/Handler Dmitri Weyrbrat Miguel
Posts: 2,861
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Post by Requiem on Oct 4, 2011 7:46:34 GMT -5
At A'emi's words, X'rx's eyes half-lidded in what could only be described as a wary look, watching the older greenrider shifting on his rock. He didn't try to avoid the finger questing for his forehead. Instead, the younger merely let out a sigh and began removing his jacket. "Did you know your lips are blue from cold, A'emi?" he questioned, as he rose on his knees and slung the riding jacket around the smaller rider's shoulders.
Standing, he wrapped his arms around himself and turned toward the view of the jungle stretching out beneath them. He'd kind of...figured, he supposed. Though it would have been nice, to find some sort of proof that he might be able to see his family again. "Not that I'm disappoined you're alive," he added, as if A'emi were actually privy to all his unspoken thoughts. "Most of the ones who disappeared don't come back."
That wasn't exactly the best explanation for thinking that A'emi was a ghost, but he was up here, pale and alone and without even a dragon, in a place no sane human had a right to be. It was cold and dangerous up here, on the side of the rocky mountain face. "What are you doing up here, anyway?" X'rx asked the other greenrider, glancing back over his shoulder and frowning slightly at him. He'd been here far longer than X'rx. Even in summer, at these altitudes he risked frostbite from exposure.
Eveyth shifted above. Perhaps they should get off this mountain now, if he was finally convinced that he wasn't going to find ghost shades of his family here. Shouldn't he be trying to let go of the past rather than searching for ghosts? X'rx half-glared at her, then shrugged a shoulder and turned to A'emi again. "Want a ride down?" He didn't think it was a particularly good idea to leave the small man on his rock here. Besides...A'emi still had his jacket.
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Avu
Weyrleader Ce'thian Rider A'emi Handler Sena Harper Matteo Weyrbrat Riaren
Posts: 2,439
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Post by Avu on Oct 6, 2011 11:11:35 GMT -5
That…was not the kind of reaction he’d expected. A’emi shrugged, silently accepted the jacket and threading the arms in a loose half-knot around his shoulders. He had been out here long enough, he supposed, and his hands were a little bit numb, but all things considered, it worried him less than it should have. It was almost nice, freezing again. It was hard, in the North, to remember how hot the South was, exactly, but he was definitely remembering now that he was back here. He watched X’rx through half-closed eyes, moving back to a half-seated crouch on the top of his rock, tucking his hands under his armpits in a decidedly half-hearted attempt to warm them. He hummed in noncommittal response to X’rx’s addition—it sounded more like a continuation of a thought process than really a comment anyway.
The question drew a sidelong glance before he shrugged, dismissing it as pretty harmless a question to ask or answer. “Wanted to get out of the Weyr, but other people seem to have the same ideas,” he commented dryly; he always ended up running into somebody or another. Like now, actually. “Anyway, it’s cold up here, it’s nice.” He’d missed that, a lot. Even the waterfalls were hot here. “Was that really it, searching for ghosts?” he added; it was mostly a rhetorical question. A’emi didn’t wait for a response, at any rate, snorting in soft bemusement. “Far from home, isn’t it, know many dead mountain hermits?”
He shook his head at the offer, though, and raised his hands to pick at the jacket around his throat to give it back to X’rx. “I’ll get Kyrahth to come pick me up,” he answered, “She’s been angling to get up here for a while anyway.” Didn’t need to mention that he’d been deliberately withholding the coordinates from her to keep her away—Kyrahth would only be upset at him for the climb he’d risked to get there and she only made good company when it wasn’t him she was distressed with. “Thanks, though.” A’emi slanted a sideways glance at X’rx, an absent smile twisting the corners of his mouth. “Gotta say, that was one of the more interesting conversations I’ve had since you all came down.”
And—unless he was mistaken—pleasantly shorter than most, too.
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Requiem
Weyrleader S'rei WM M?ta Rider A'nd Harper/Handler Dmitri Weyrbrat Miguel
Posts: 2,861
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Post by Requiem on Oct 6, 2011 13:33:18 GMT -5
Most of what A'emi was saying sounded like it wasn't intended for a response. For that matter, X'rx really wasn't in a terribly social mood, despite his willingness to commune with what he'd clearly thought to be a spirit. Thus the trip to a seemingly secluded mountain. He could appreciate the humor of going off to be alone and constantly finding others doing the same thing, however; the greenrider's track record for making a successful escape from the rest of the denizens of New Selenitas was not terribly good.
"It does sound pretty crazy, doesn't it? Eveyth keeps saying it doesn't make sense...she never understands anything that isn't strictly logical." And he wasn't so sure that wasn't the right way to go about it. The thought elicited a pulse of smug approval from his mindmate. Of course her way was better; it didn't send her up cold mountains in the search of these 'spirits.'
The younger man took the jacket back from A'emi when the older greenrider moved to give it to him, slipping his arms back into it. He was not used to this chill, being native. "Was it? That was perhaps one of the most embarrassing ones I've had," he responded, with a twin expression. "Well...enjoy your cold and quiet then, I suppose." He strode up toward where Eveyth waited, then mounted her, glancing once again at A'emi. Queer man. Then again, how was one supposed to react to someone talking to you as if you were a ghost.
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