The road to Getsemiel

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"Did I ever tell you my theory about humans?"

"I don't think so..." Eli replied. Was there a tickle at the back of his mind? Maybe, maybe not, but it was probably better to admit ignorance than to stumble forward under false pretenses.

"What side of the fence are you sitting on about them? The God's gift to the world? A virus with shoes?"
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Drusia
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Drusia »

"I don't think so..." Eli replied. Was there a tickle at the back of his mind? Maybe, maybe not, but it was probably better to admit ignorance than to stumble forward under false pretenses.

"What side of the fence are you sitting on about them? The God's gift to the world? A virus with shoes?"


I smile at his joke. At least I think the thing about being a virus is a joke.

"Neither one - something inbetween," I reply softly. "You've heard my mother tell the story of before the Errant War, right? About how the elves thought they could 'fix' humans by fucking them and producing half-elves?"

He nods. I didn't really imagine otherwise - my mother makes sure everyone in Snamish knows our history.

"Well, I've noticed something," I tell him. "Maybe I'm wrong, but in the old stories - and in Snamish - it seems to me like the half-elves who are more elven than human have a higher risk of becoming Errants. I mean, look at Tsuiraku - everyone there has some elven blood, but it's thin... and they haven't had any Errants. Ever - at least as far as my mother's ever heard. But before the war, in the old Elven cities, most half-elves were three-fourths elf or more - and that's when they started having problems." It's hard talking about half-elves like that, but...

"I think it's the elven blood," I continue, "I think it's wrong. I think the Elves had it backwards - they weren't supposed to fuck humans to fix the humans... they were supposed to fuck humans to save themselves. I think they're the... the patch, to fix what was wrong with elves. That's... one reason why I believe so strongly in Anilis - because I think we are what she intended. I think she is the mother of elves, and human... and half-elves. I think she dreams of a world where we're all half-elves."

My mother would think I was insane. That little theory goes against everything the elves believed.

But the elves were wrong about so much else. Why not about this?

-- Desiree
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Graybeard
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Graybeard »

Lillith had asked a very perceptive question. "I don't see any words on it. Do the other papers say anything about why someone is circulating pictures of Maduin? This could be more of what we encountered in town."

Sister Rose thought about it, ruffled through the other two or three papers. It didn't take long to identify them as travel orders from the Veracian Church for Sister Bree and Father Blaise. Scribbled in the margin were some notes about lodging in a hand she didn't recognize. She and Argus had seen enough of Bree's handwriting in that diary to know it at first sight; that only left one person ... and one mystery. "So why was Blaise carrying around a picture of Maduin?" she asked anyone who was listening. "And just as puzzling, how did he get the picture to begin with? I'm not getting this at all."

Another crash of thunder punctuated the question, and also served as a reminder that there were parts of Luminosita's world that didn't really care whether she understood the picture or not.
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Alberich
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Alberich »

Well, that killed Tim's theory that this was Uncle Shemmy's campsite..."If the pictures came with the travel orders, then wouldn't your higher-ups know? Maybe you could ask them with the next parrot." He paused. "Anything distinctive about the style of the art? No signature I guess?"
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Graybeard
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Graybeard »

"Anything distinctive about the style of the art? No signature I guess?"

Sister Rose squinted at the picture; although it was still early in the day, the storm clouds (although the rain was already letting up) had blocked much of the light of the sun, and they were in a forest that was blocking some more. "Hmmm ... let me see ... No, this isn't 'art' at all," she concluded. "This is an image from real life, I think."

One thing sure: if the image had been created by an artist, he'd picked a particularly inopportune facial expression on Maduin's part to depict. His eyes were flaring wide, as though in surprise, if not downright panic. His usually immaculate hair was mussed, and his mouth was slightly open in a posture of dismay. One oh-so-elegant arm was reaching for something out of the field of the picture. It was an indoor scene; there was a wall in soft focus behind his head.

Rose studied the picture. "I'm just sure I've seen this somewhere before," she said, handing it to Argus. "But I can't place where. Can you? And yes, Tim, I'm going to ask about these orders. I'm overdue to have a word with my contacts up north about what we've seen here."

About many things, she thought but did not say.
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Porcelain Fish
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Porcelain Fish »

"It's not a very flattering likeness is it?" Maduin said disapprovingly, having wandered over with the umbrella-toting Bryce and his palomino stallion in tow. His lips pursed in a slightly vexed moue, and abruptly his two-dimensional twin swept a hand through his hair, smoothing it into an equally casual but much more artfully appearing disarray, a small, slightly intimate smile curving his lips.

The portrait winked.

Maduin gave it a satisfied smile. "Much better." He glanced over at Rose. "On a slightly different note, I really don't mind that Blaise is running around with pictures of me, I'm always happy to be appreciated, but I must agree that it seems a little unusual for a man that I believe is supposed to be practicing celibacy if I understand the traditions of the Orthodox sect correctly. One does wonder at the happenstance and the manner of presentation though." He blinked, and glanced up at Bryce. "Do I seem more appealing when I appear to be in distress?"

Bryce blinked back, obviously not expecting the question. "I . . . you know, I hadn't thought about it." He shrugged after a moment. "Do I want to look after you more? Yeah, probably with the whole vulnerability angle going on. Sex appeal though? Not so much." He grinned broadly and wrapped an arm around Maduin's waist. "I like it best when you smile. Total turn-on."

Maduin's three-dimensional smile held a lot more intimate promise than his poor flat penciled dupe would ever be capable of producing. "Like this?"

Bryce's tone turned husky, embrace tightening, green eyes darkening with desire. "Just like that."
Last edited by Porcelain Fish on November 3rd, 2011, 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Alberich
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Alberich »

Brother Tim had been a little slow on the uptake but the true nature of Maduin's proclivities was starting to dawn on him.

Well, no matter. He was a heathen anyway, and an unlikely convert. Besides, any town the size of Umbartiel would have one of those funny boys or maybe two. If you lived in town a few months, you knew who they were. And if they kept their hands to themselves and their "doings" behind closed doors, you left them alone. As far as he could tell, they hadn't been flagrant on the streets. That was all you could expect.

Having made that mental adjustment, he asked Maduin, "Can you recognize where you were when that picture was made, maybe get a hint as to who was there when it got, ah, drawn?" He didn't understand what Maduin had done to make the picture move, and was hoping he could actually pan around the scene to see more details.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"I think she dreams of a world where we're all half-elves."

Eli listened to Desiree's theory as impassively as he could manage. Which wasn't very. The half-elf had no love for their 'purer cousins' and the thought of them being the ones who were carrying the flaws which dogged his kind was oddly comforting. It suggested that the ageless species were more fallible than they viewed themselves to be. But, then again, if elves were anywhere near as infallible as they claimed to be than they wouldn't have lost control of the world in the first place.

"I'm just dreaming of a world where I can walk around a town without people staring in horror or our 'parents' attacking us on sight." He sighed, and his mouth twisted into meanness. "I know your mother is one of the good ones, Priestess, but if someone told me tomorrow that a souped-up, super powered half-elf wiped them off the face of the earth I'd probably find the guy and buy him a beer."
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Graybeard »

How did he do that? Sister Rose wondered as the image of Maduin returned to its original form. The young man's magic was ... whimsical. Whimsical, but powerful. Unfortunately, it hadn't shed any light on where the picture had been generated. I'm just sure I've seen that place before ... but I can't place it.

"The rain seems to be letting up," she said. "We should be able to move in a few minutes. If everything goes well, we might still make it to Getsemiel. Now we just have to hope there's an inn available, it's a small town ..." And that triggered a memory. She steered Argus away from the group to start packing ... and to ask him a question.

"The only times I can ever remember seeing Maduin in a state like that picture were on the road to Stone Man Pass, which clearly isn't where the picture is since it's an indoor scene, and then when he took you shopping in Gervasiel. Could that have been where it came from? I'm not recognizing it, but he had that same panicked expression." She chuckled. "Panicking over an opportunity for a shopping trip that he very much wanted to make ... well, I guess it seems incongruous. But I can't think of anything else. So check my thinking: could that have been the place in the picture? And if so, how, who, and above all, why?"
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Drannin
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Re: The road to Getsemiel

Post by Drannin »

Argus shook his head slowly. "He was panicking that time because he was worried about my daughter's temper. So the only thing I can think of is if someone was following us..." He trailed off and fell silent. "Or, this could be from an event he never mentioned to us," Argus added after a moment, However, the first explanation worried him. A lot.
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