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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 26, 2007 14:05:30 GMT -5
A mage who animated things? Kazifel would have objected, but he found that Femi wouldn't have listened either way. Okay then, he was dragged along for the ride. He expected nothing less from her, and he had no problem with it.
The forest's sudden change caught his attention, but beyond that he couldn't really gather that it was the creepier part of the Wood. He noticed how dim it became, and how something just wasn't right about it. Beyond that he never would have guessed that stranger people lived in the Wood. Strange really didn't bother him, he didn't know what normal was.
The house with the creepy door knocker caught his attention. He stumbled backwards with a whimper when it so suddenly complained. Loud nosies were still not his sort of thing. Animated things indeed! It was all to find his ability to touch then he would put up with all the surprises. It didn't mean he had to like them.
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 26, 2007 14:30:20 GMT -5
Femi made faces at the knocker, like she used to when she was a little girl, and it swiftly grew annoyed with her and stopped speaking in a sullen sort of silence. Her initial banging had sounded loud and clear throughout the keep, however, and in another moment the door was flung open to reveal a short human man with a long face and a well-groomed if bushy gray beard. His hair was likewise a silvery gray and kept neatly trimmed. A bit darker than a normal Tulgey's human self, but his hair had darkened from white as he aged, oddly enough. His eyes were beady and red as he blinked at them. He wore a rich violet robe that looked as though it had seen quite a few years of use and a long white coat over top of it with colorful pockets sewn on haphazardly. They were stuffed with parchment and who knew what else. He also sported a strange pair of sandals, green with red and yellow toe-straps. Not your normal get-up, and it just screamed bizarre older man.  ((Image taken from the Suikoden games because it's so very convenient. He is NOT an NPC with a picture, technically. This is just... what he looks like. Heh.))His expression, a not-amused glare to begin with, soon lightened into a welcoming smile when he saw the young squirrel standing on his front step. "Little Femi!" he exclaimed in pleased surprise, holding out one arm in an invitation she quickly took, leaping at his arms and giving him a big hug. The man was like an uncle to her, a person she could stand because he treated her like he might any other person. "You haven't stopped by to visit in quite some time. I take it there's something you need? And don't you look cute with that pink bow. Your mother's doing?"She giggled and nodded, fiddling with the ribbon, then turned to hold out her hand to Kazifel. "Yes indeed, I wore it for Mother's benefit. You know how she gets. But Vren, there's someone I want you to meet, someone I've been talking to you about for years and years and years even though I'd never met him before just last week. I finally found him, Vren. I finally found my Kazifel. My Real Doll, my True Love, whatever you want to call him. I've finally found everything I've ever wanted, and I need you to meet him and help me!"The man narrowed his eyes and squinted at Kazifel, his small lenses evidently there for a reason and perhaps needing a stronger focus. "Well... well, I'll be. Look at that. Ball joints and everything, and standing there pretty as you please staring at me. That face looks like your work, m'dear." |
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 26, 2007 14:46:57 GMT -5
And his father used to complain about eccentric people in people in Corvistowne. Right. This would have caused him to die of a heart attack. Thankfully he had died in a much worse way. Putting that aside, he focused on the man in front of him.
He eyed him up and down briefly. He was a lot less intimidating than all the other people he had met. What should he do though? Probably a proper greeting would be a good idea. He smiled cordially and said, "Hello." It wasn't as clear as Kazifel would have hoped, but people generally made him nervous.
He really wasn't sure what to do. This was a new situation entirely. Kazifel had never met a real mage before besides the brief introduction of Femi's parents and Lord Ghi. And there was his Aunt but she was something that Kazifel could do without thinking about. He glanced between Femi and this new man. He really had no idea what he was supposed to do.
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 26, 2007 18:08:53 GMT -5
Vren drew back in slight surprise at being addressed. "Hello there." He hadn't quite expected the doll to be able to talk. Speech was a very advanced form of animation, one you didn't just find in your run-of-the-mill magic-user, especially if it was accompanied by a Real personality, as she had said. Before she even spoke, he determined to do a complete scan to find out just what kind of enchantments were surrounding this man. Was he a doll? Was he a man? What was he, then? As a professional and an individual, he just had to know.
Grabbing and tugging at one of Vren's hands in a by-now familiar gesture, Femi looked over at Kazifel and smiled. "I brought him here to see you because I know you're so much better at investigative magics than anyone in the village or around there, and... well, we really, really need to find out how to make him feel again. He used to be a man and now he's a doll and he's lost all of his senses but sight and hearing. Touch is the one we need to bring back the most."
The mage nodded slowly, squinting eyes growing wide. Used to be a man... complicated magics indeed. "Come inside then, both of you, and let me have a look. I'll be careful, of course," he added when Femi shot him a quick glance. Sometimes he was more delicate than others in his 'scans'. She'd watched one or two. Scurrying over to where Kazifel remained standing far enough away to be cautious, she took his hand and pulled him along inside.
Evidently each floor of the small keep was one large room with a staircase up and down, spiraling along the wall until it reached the ceiling and the next floor. The walls were undecorated stone but there was clutter everywhere, more odds and ends and random objects than would fit in a large pawn shop. As they ascended to the second floor and the third, the same held true. It looked like there were walking paths wending through the objects, but they were packed quite tightly together. The fourth floor was much more open and, without all the clutter, it showed how large the circular rooms really were. There was a large, complicated circular mark burned into the wooden floor near the center of the room and tables lining the walls, covered with shelves and bottles and bags and who knew what else. This truly looked like a mage's laboratory.
"Could you get your wooden friend to stand in the middle of the circle, please?" Vren asked as he walked over to a table on the far wall, grabbing a few items. Femi turned to Kazifel and smiled hopefully.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 26, 2007 18:19:05 GMT -5
Kazifel's eye twitched in discomfort as he was dragged along by Femi. This house was more cluttered than anything he had seen before. Even Cassiel was neater than this... and that was saying a lot. Somehow this was a small comfort. Even if geniuses were cluttered or some such nonsense, it didn't mean this man could fix him. And judging from his surprise at Kazifel's response, he probably never saw anything like Kazifel's predicament. Then again, who had?
When they reached the fourth floor something didn't seem right to Kazifel. If he had a heart it would have skipped a beat the the sight of the magic circle. Those never really brought good things about. And then Femi gave him that hopeful look. The one he really couldn't refuse.
"A-alright," he said as he stepped into the circle's middle. He choked back a worried whimper. Femi wouldn't put him in danger. She wouldn't. He just had to keep saying that until he convinced himself.
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 26, 2007 18:34:38 GMT -5
Femi beamed at him when he did as Vren asked - really, she didn't know anyone else who might be able to help them with something as complicated as this - and stroked his cheek until Vren returned near the circle and gave them both a slight cough. She giggled a little in happy embarrassment and stepped back, moving perhaps ten feet away while the mage slowly walked around the circle and counted his steps out under his breath. He'd done it countless times before, but it was always a good means of grounding himself. "Knew you'd end up with an odd one," he muttered at one point.
He'd emptied his pockets on one of the tables and filled them right back up again with a few things he might need, bags and bottles and a packet or two of something wrapped in paper. A routine scan would be simple enough and he knew quite well which components he would need. After that, though, a more in-depth exploratory scan would be required. Who knew what he would need then.
"Hold this, please," he said, handing Kazifel a small dried wing that he pulled from one of the bags. It looked like it used to belong to a bird of some sort but the feathers were all dulled with age and the whole thing was brittle in his hands. He then withdrew a few pouches and sprinkled half-rings of powder within the circle, several different colors. One of the bags contained very small eyes, which were thrown against one of the runes on the floor. He muttered a few words, the language indiscernable to Kazifel but native to the Wood. Femi listened curiously. Something about revelations. She never really heard much of what he said during these spells.
Vren stepped back and took a deep breath, smearing something dark across his palms and slowly raising his arms to curl with the circle, standing just on the outside, palms facing Kazifel. Were the man able to feel, it would have felt wholly unusual, small tingles and jolts running along his muscles and through his veins. As it was, he felt nothing but an odd crawling, tickling sensation in the back of his thoughts, kind of like static but more alive.
After perhaps twenty minutes, the mage took in a deeper breath, exhaling slowly and bringing his hands together so that the smeared marks were almost, but not quite touching one another. His eyes opened and looked straight into Kazifel's, the expression odd, disconnected, and piercing. His red eyes seemed to glow. "Do you see yourself as a doll? Or as a man?" the question was asked in a voice unlike the one he had spoken in before. This voice was deep, almost growling.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 26, 2007 18:58:35 GMT -5
This was a wholly unusual situation. He didn't like not knowing what was going on--even if Femi had previously comforted him. The strange speech was unnerving to Kazifel. This whole situation bothered him. Mages he could do completely with out as far as he was concerned.
Then after some time that he wasn't all that sure about the man spoke to him. Spoke to him in the most unnerving manner that Kazifel had ever experienced. His eyes were wide with surprise. He had to answer the question truthfully and it was quite a question.
He knew the answer. He knew what he thought of himself. He knew it was wrong. He knew perfectly well what he should have thought of himself. Kazifel whimpered his reply, "A doll." It was the only way he could see himself.
Why did he think of himself that way? He didn't know anymore. He just felt like a doll. He thought of himself as a doll. There was nothing else he could be... he was broken after all.
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 26, 2007 19:17:52 GMT -5
Vren grimaced at the answer, as if it pained him, eyes closing and back bowing slightly. "NO!" he shouted, voice a cry of pain. "That is WRONG!" His arms remained perfectly still, exactly as they were, and he took another large gulp of air before slowly shoving his hands together. It looked as thought he was fighting a great weight, pressing in against something that wouldn't give, but after a struggle of what seemed like forever, the two hands touched and the spell released with a loud banging noise, all of the powder in the circle exploding outward over both of them.
He breathed in the dust and coughed, going down to one knee, back shaking with force. The more he coughed, the more he inhaled and he was eventually forced to stand and stagger away several feet so he could gather a clear breath and continue coughing. Femi let out a small cry of surprise and ran towards the circle, diving in to find Kazifel and pulling him out.
The wooden man was completely unharmed, though covered in a rainbow of dust. Her fur was likewise acquiring a more colorful hue and she coughed a few times out of reflex, trying and failing to brush some of the dust off of him. "...what...?" she whimpered, looking over at the mage, who had stopped coughing and could now only gasp for air.
Shaking his head a few times, Vren slowly straightened, putting one hand on his chest and grimacing again. "That was... horribly unpleasant. Remind me to prepare a few warding spells before ever scanning you again, sir." He took a few more deep breaths and then sighed, visibly trying to calm his breathing. The dust hung like a cloud in the middle of the room, not spreading outward. "He is... it's being blocked, you see... can't work while he... I released it, but that was only one... the other is all him." He paused and looked straight at Kazifel. "You will never feel anything again if you think you are a doll," he said, quite seriously.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 26, 2007 19:34:25 GMT -5
Loud noises, screaming. NO! NO! NO! He yelped in fear as everything seemed to come crashing down around him. All of the bad things that made him all happened at once, and he really couldn't grasp anything besides panic.
He didn't know how to react to the man's statement. Any of them. 'Never feel' seemed to repeat over and over in his head. No, no this wasn't good! He shouldn't have come here, never ever. This was all just some horrible mistake. This was all just something terrible that happened in a nightmare.
But it wasn't was it. He stared at the man for conformation. He was telling the truth but... Kazifel was at a complete loss. He honestly had no idea how to respond. "W--" he started but he stopped himself. This was bad. So very bad. Kazifel knew it was all his fault. It was all his fault from the beginning, and now? Well this was proof wasn't it? Everything was his fault. Everything.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do or say in a situation like this," he said quite clearly. Lost. Loss. Those were the familiar words.
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 26, 2007 19:52:10 GMT -5
Vren looked at him, brown drawn together in a sympathetic expression, breath calmed down enough that he was no longer gasping his words. "You are one of the most unique cases I have ever been asked to look at," he said with a small frown. "You are... you are a person, but something in your transition from flesh to wood, whenever it was, withheld feeling and sensation. I'm amazed you can see and hear. The others, there was a block of an indiscernible nature and I believe that I removed part of it, whittled it down if you will. It's still there, but not... as badly. You can work at it, work with it, if you try. But first, you'll need to stop thinking of yourself as something you're not."
He sighed and pulled off his lenses, cleaning them on the inside of his shirt, what wasn't covered by clinging multi-colored dust. "You've given me some stuff to think about, sir, yes you have. Perhaps my research should take a completely new direction if something this complex is possible. Go on, go home, wherever that is for you. Femi, see if you can change his mind, can't you? I... I have a lot to consider..." He turned, almost unwillingly, and stumbled towards one of the tables. Within moments, he seemed to have forgotten all about them, as if they weren't even there.
Femi stood next to Kazifel, her eyes wide, standing very still. Without looking at him, her hand slowly moved towards his and grasped it. "We... we should go," she whispered finally, shifting and taking a step towards the stairs. "He looks busy." Her expression was a difficult one to interpret.
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