Aven at Black & White 1009
Author: Domino, for Ged
Ged woke up at the graveyard valley once again, puzzled. I don't recall setting myself up for anything like this...
Place/Gathering Discovered: The Dreaming Date: November 23rd, 1009 Transcribed by: Aven It was then he saw Duke Domino lounging on a crypt... Hers. Anger rose within him as he pushed himself up and onto his feet. "Excuse me--" "I prefer 'Your Grace'," Domino casually replied, swirling a trail of smoke in one gloved hand before gathering it up and stuffing it into his pipe. With a snap he lit the instrument and puffed away on it. Ged wasn't impressed. "I assume you know where we are and what exactly you're sitting on, then." "Do I know? Yes. Do I care? No." and he blew a smoke ring over toward Ged, who turned his face away to avoid a full hit. As he did, though, he saw a plain-looking elf... no, a human... no, an elf? Fidgeting with a hat and slowly making its way over to the two of them. "My lord Domino," it spoke up, soundly vaguely male, "is this really necessary?" "Oh yes, if for nothing more than my amusement," Domino replied with a smirk. "You see, Peon, many things are in motion behind the scenes that not even Mages can see. We're just granting this particular Mage here a perk." "I thought we were doing it because the Master ordered it?" The glare that Domino sent toward the creature caused it to clear its throat and cower, fidgeting even more with its hat. Dressed in mostly patched-up clothing, Ged wondered if it was a Changeling... and then turned his attention back to Domino. "...and what exactly is it that your Master wishes me to see?" "All in good time, Master, all in good time," Domino smirked again, puffing on his pipe. "And how doth thou fare recently?" Ged considered this, but his countenance still showed that he was annoyed. "I was working on some magical studies. Rel was hypothesizing how people live under the sea, and if adventurers could ever do the same in buildings. Aymise made us food, something called 'nachos'." "Underwater homes for mortals, eh? Well, I don't know about that, but I know there is an indoor water park a small, wizard-type place called Fitchburg. Well, Fitchburg County." What the heck or where is a Fitchburg County? thought Ged. "Ah, don't you worry about it. Maybe people will see it much later on a different sort of Path. Maybe not." "You make no sense... Your Grace." "I know." Domino blew another smoke ring toward Ged, this time it changed into a question mark before disappearing. "How was your Day of the Dead, your... Black and White?" "It was good," Ged replied, backing away a couple of steps and turning from Domino to face the creature again, and look at all the other graves around, keeping a look-out for Ghosts from the Past. The sky was over-cast with a little bit of light rain here and there, but it was cold and depressing as opposed to the warm rains from before. Ged continued with his conversation out of politeness. "Good food, I had a lot of important conversations, the new adventurers seemed to enjoy it, although James at least was hoping for more questing." "I heard Her Majesty and Isil were in attendance, and that the First Lady of Fae proved to be very talkative after you and your friend Janus." Ged shook his head, putting on his own smirk. "I was in the room when Faelinn started saying 'Laurante, Run. Laurante, run faster. No really, I told them everything, run'...but you act as if you know all this. Why ask me?" "I didn't at first. Not until Aven here came back from his mission I sent him on. You see, the Peon needed to tell a Story at your Black and White, and I really wanted you to hear it, but I heard Blue rocked your world instead." "Not really for that long... Oh wait, were you that woman who was the Story-Teller?" Ged turned to face the Peon named Aven, surprise on his face. Huh, guess I was right about the Changeling. "Y-yes," Aven replied nervously. "That was the woman all dressed for the dinner that didn't happen, yes. Domino promised she'd still be at the Black and White...So, she was. I asked the first three people there what story they wanted to hear, and the hand-maiden Freesia trumped them and asked about the True Story of Nimbus. And so the whole thing got told, from an unbiased point of view." Ged raised his eyebrows. "Wow. I do wish I'd been able to talk to that woman... err, you." Aven shrugged. "You wouldn't have missed anything. Both Freesia and Pawldo were frightened by the story, but the others gathered there had the look of confusion. They heard a nice story, but had no idea what a Deep Fae was." Ged sighed. "I do really wish I'd been there, but I started avoiding that area after Blue came out. You know, I saw Freesia dead on the ground and someone dressed in blue running around with a magic weapon and assumed that the Shield had just gotten hold of Nimbus' Sword and all was lost." "No, sir," replied Aven. "All is not lost. Not yet. Also, I saw you briefly having a conversation with Freesia, and then Lord Cain came over and said they were playing a game with you? Do you know what that meant?" "Playing a game? No, not at all," Ged turned away from Aven to face Domino as the Duke of Magic chuckled. "I had a lot of important conversations, actually. I talked to Freesia and we made peace about Nimbus' Sword. She and Gideon had misinterpreted things I'd said at the Seeing Place as 'I want the sword and no-one else can have it', so I explained that that was not the case." "Well, Cain isn't especially the epitome of truth," commented Domino dryly as he drew a green smoke shape of an Auroran star at Ged. "Freesia confided in my Peon here a message to pass along to you, hoping that you are alright, because she knows she can be... intense." "That's surprising and appreciated; let her know I'm fine. If I appeared overwhelmed by her, well... yes, I was. Freesia was really angry at me, though eventually explained after she understood what was going on and was sure I did too that she doesn't get many emotions, and so when she does get one she hangs on to it as long as she can, just to be feeling something. And this time that emotion was anger." Domino puffed on his pipe. "Hmmm... I wonder why that is." "Do you know something about Freesia?" "I do, but you should find it out on your own." "Thanks," snapped Ged sarcastically. "It is true, though," Domino winked at Ged. "When Her Majesty shows up from time to time, Freesia gets to smile and such. It's the little things." "Yeah..." replied Ged. "I also talked to Cimone, Pyr, Gideon, and Faelinn, and they all seem much happier with my likely future actions, now. Gideon and Freesia are okay with me using "Blackstar Magic", or at least accept that they won't convince me otherwise soon and there are bigger fish to fry, and I believe that I'll be able to convince them that it's our magic, not theirs. Faelinn gave me a hug and agreed that we don't like fighting with each other." "How quaint. Did they tell you about the Walking Runes?" asked Domino, a smile on his lips. Ged's lips turned into a frown. "...No." Domino chuckled."Jeta, Kara, and Mannaz." "And I take it Jeta continued to be difficult to figure out?" "Absolutely, and convinced them that attempting to fight the Runes would only result in their destruction," said Aven. "And they decided, 'eh, let's not fuck with them' and gave the Runes the Eye of the Golem, which Jeta and Mannaz promptly destroyed." "Ahhhh, they told me about destroying the Eye. They thought the people were... White Rowan bandits, I think. Didn't tell me anything about what or who they were besides that." Aven cleared his throat. "Those were the first group the adventurers met, yes, and they killed them very quickly." "Ah, they assumed all the rest were the same." Domino chuckled again while shaking his head. "No. Ah, assumptions. Oh, well. I can't change that with mortals." Ged smirked himself. "Are you not the Duke of Magic? You can mock them incessantly for it. Though, as Rel showed, that doesn't always work." Domino returned the look to Ged. "Heh. Because in Rel's case: say it enough times and the weirdest fucking shit DOES happen." Ged and Domino shared a laugh filled with pride and anger, while Aven fidgeted uncomfortably between the two. "Uh, sir... I think we have to go soon." "So we do, Peon. So we do." Domino took the pipe and knocked it against his boot. "But here, Ged, let me leave you with some hints: You're not whole. Black and white, two sides of a coin. Finally found him again. And I'm not talking about Rosetta. There's going to be revelations on all sides that'll make you re-think about who you are and what path you're on. You might even consider giving up following in Rosetta's shoes for a time due to everything that'll be happening in your short life." Ged frowned. "If you're trying to dissuade me, stop. My mind is made up, and there's no way I would back off from something this important, ever. I'm Fae, and more importantly, I am the Mage." Domino gave a smirk. "That confident, are we? Peon, make a note of this. He's about to wake up...and I don't want him to remember a thing until the time is right." As Domino spoke, Ged raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth as if to argue or cast a resistance, but he disappeared. Aven rushed to Domino and looked all around, putting his hat back on. "W-what... where did he go?" "Back to his lovely human waking world. The Master asked me to give him a dream, but said nothing about taking it back. Besides, the boy seems over-confident. Let's see if he is anything like Rel and can learn a lesson over time." "My lord? What lesson is he supposed to learn?" Aven asked. "None of your business, Peon. When the time is right, however, you will make this available to him. In fact, make it available to all of them." "All of 'who', my lord?" "You'll know when you know. Now come, let us leave this Skerrie. It's damn depressing," said Domino, his smile now replaced with a scowl of his own as he pushed off the crypt onto his own two feet. He moved his stray hairs back behind his pointed ears, and stared around for a moment before giving a sweeping bow to the air and striding off. Aven, looking around nervously, hurried to catch up to the Duke of Magic. |
Created by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 10-12-12 02:35 PM
Last Modified by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 10-16-12 08:47 PM