Starspeak II [5/16]

[23:05] "So, lemme ask about this. If two men were out in space, and one man kills another man with a rock, would that be real messed up or what?" The heavens above fizzle gently with an energy almost imperceptible to the naked eye. They chime and shine and glimmer, and offer their response with no ambiguity. "Yeah... I bet it would be."

"Okay. What about... Oh, right. There was that word we had a hard time figurin' out. Lashivious. Somethin' like that. And that means..." Armondt waits for the heavens once again to offer their answer. As soon as it's given, the courier turns a little red in the starlight, and covers his mouth.

"Huh. ...Thank ya. Lemme think... other questions... ah, Hel. If Leni were awake, I bet she'd have plenty."
(Armondt)
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[23:07] Oh man. That is a great couple of questions. Leni does not at all regret waiting and hiding after hearing those. But she can't hear the answers, which honestly tears her up inside. Half the fun of a question is hearing the answer, after all.

She fidgets behind the tree, debating just what to do, then bursts out and yells up at the sky.

"HEEEEY! DOES THE SKY THAT FAR UP HAVE A SMELL!?" she hollers, unthinking of the fact that, as discovered before, she can't hear the replies.
(Leni)
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[23:14] "Well, ya heard her." Leni makes herself entirely clear, and so Armondt makes that inclination entirely clear to the stars. Specific patterns in the sky churn, shine, pulse, and glow. Some configurations shift and turn in kaleidoscopes of color that seem to be entirely incidental to the question asked.

It takes some time. The stars have to think about it.

But when the answer is sent back at him with the chime of a gong, Armondt twists about towards Leni. "Well, 'pparently it does. But 'pparently since most folk like us can't breathe up there, we can't rightly smell nothin'. 'Course, some other stars mighta said 'Answer cloudy, try again later.'"

"Not sure what that could mean."
(Armondt)
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[23:17] Leni stares up at the sky, as if at any moment the stars might literally spell something out, or a voice might boom down from the heavens with the answer she seeks. Neither of those things happen. Instead, Armondt is the conduit for their sacred wisdom.

"...Cool! The stars're really smart, huh? Wait, do they have noses!?"

Instead of harassing him, or making him the subject of her mischief, she sets herself down on the cliff beside the courier.
(Leni)
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[23:20] Armondt turns from the skyward tapestry to his companion, smiling and nodding in response to her presence. As she sits herself down, he quirks a brow up towards the stars yet again. Maybe they'd have an answer to something he wasn't about to say, but...

The stars don't seem to answer, if it's a mental question he proposes. Instead, he nods. "Go ahead, do ya fellas have noses?" However frivolous the question was, Armondt was absolutely going to indulge in it, in the hopes that the stars would as well. The response, however, takes more time than before. No sound from the skies, no glimmers of light.

They had to stew over it for a bit.

"...Er, it's like the stars got people in 'em might have had noses at a time. Or dreams about noses. But maybe not actual noses. Hey-- why don't ya ask the grass and trees a question or two?"

"Like... a joke. Do the trees and grass come up with any jokes?" A two-way conduit of different forces asked different frivolous questions. Tonight might be interesting.
(Armondt)
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[23:24] Leni is all about asking silly questions. To her they're not quite stupid, per se. More unexpected, unorthodox.

She turns to the nearest tree at his suggestion and, for Armondt's benefit, asks the question allowed. "Hey! 'Scuse me! You got any nice jokes?"

Much as with the stars, it takes a moment. Not only are trees more slow and methodical than most of the flora, their lives spanning much longer than the flowers and grasses, but they too must have their time to think and chew over questions.

The nature magi must get an answer, because she giggles and turns back to the courier with a grin.

"They said they'd tell us one, but that we 'wood'n't get it."
(Leni)
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[23:30] Armondt sits in rapt attention to what both Leni and the bevy of nature before them has to say. The stars, too, seem to sparkle just a bit more in curiosity. Or maybe that was just happening anyway. Who knows. "Ah... y'know, I can't really treat that joke too badly. Can't, say... take it or leave it." He leans a bit closer towards Leni, propping his cheek on his hand, giving her a terribly smug smirk.

"But I figure ya got space to ask the stars if they got anythin' else. Why don't ya look up to the stars? And I'll look down to the grass. Might not be we can get much in the way of answers from either, but it might be interestin' to be outta my element." Armondt's loqaciousness seemed to just grow in Leni's presence. Had more cause to blabber on, as it were.

Fit to work on his end of the deal, Armondt turned his attention to the grass and the trees surrounding them. He shuts his eyes, regulates his breathing and slows it to try and feel the pulse of the land, and...

...Nope, nothing. The wind feels nice on him, though.
(Armondt)
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[23:34] Leni snickers, delighted at even the awful jokes the cowboy dispenses with. Both of them. Never let it be said that her sense of humor was poor- so long as the jest doesn't go over her head, of course.

"Yeah! We can try to trade. Maybe you'll get the hang of it.

Hey, stars! What do you do for fun? Do you have dreams? What's it like up there? Is it cold?"

A string of inane questions. There's a stillness, dead silence. And, alas, no answer to any of her queries. Not that she can discern. She doesn't take the calm, meditative approach that he does. Why would she?

"Huh. I don't think I can talk to them like you do."
(Leni)
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[23:41] "...Huh. Yeah, couldn't say I felt much comin' from ya on that one. Maybe it's based on how we think..." Although his attempts to play the nature magi seemed to fall on deaf ears, let it never be said that he isn't a persistent person. Once more does he go into the breach, keeping his eyes wide open. He tries his best impression of Leni.

Maybe not voice and all, but a fair amount otherwise. He didn't want to creep himself out. "C'mon, I know ya'll got somethin' interestin' to say! Gotta be there's somethin' wild ya can give me, feelin'-wise." Armondt focuses, and the mana around him swirls and quickens.

A few blades of grass tip about hesitantly, and a vine from a tree pokes down like a snake, whipping about to try and get an 'eye' on things. It points itself at Leni, peering as if by way of a submarine's periscope. Beyond that quickening, however, nothing seems to happen on his front.

But it was something!
(Armondt)
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[23:45] Leni watches as Armondt's attempts a communication bear fruit. The swiveling fine, the stirring of the grass; nature magi that she is, of course she can tell that the flora is perking up to take notice.

"Hey! I think they're listening- let me try again, yeah."

She pops up to a stand, cups her hands around her mouth, and bellows up at the sky. Perhaps the stars just hadn't heard her? They are pretty far up there.

"HEEEEEEEEEEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?"

There might be just the barest twinkling in the heavens above. Maybe. Or perhaps it's simply the natural flickering of stars, as they tend to do.
(Leni)
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[23:56] "Heey, hey. Ya can go 'round askin' questions like that, but if ya spook the stars, they might not be willin' to answer. Here, here. Sit back down." He grabs at Leni's hand to guide her back onto the ground. Maybe he's going to start having her do some vinyasas or tree poses to really level out her energies.

Because it was time to meditate. "Sit down, and if ya want the stars to hear ya? Make yourself known, but don't do it with your voice for now. Do it with your... you. Your mana, y'know?" As if to demonstrate, Armondt shuts his eyes and begins to conjure with his own mana. Once more is he shrouded with that familiar yellow aura, and it lightly nourishes the circuits of anybody nearby.

"Just... reach out, Len."
(Armondt)
[00:01] Leni's energies have always been, as long as she can remember, all over the place. Even as she's 'grown up', it's persisted. Time has not calmed her in the slightest. Maybe it never would?

She's reluctantly pulled back to a seat and huffs. "Do...do they really get scared? Do they not like loud noises?" she asks, dropping her voice to a whisper and looking skyward.

Ugh. Meditation. One of her least favorite things to do. It requires sitting still, and doing nothing, and-

Patience.

The nature magi reaches out, silently this time. With the aid of Armondt's influence the heavens seem to take a little more notice. A bit. The fact that Leni's still fidgeting probably isn't doing her any favors.
(Leni)
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[00:11] "They can get scared if ya ain't with their vibe. Aggressively so." The stars didn't just cling onto anyone. It had a flow, perhaps in a flux state, but a flow regardless. To try and move against it or commandeer it would only cause a gentle rebuttal. "What ya need to do is stop thinkin' again. Maybe even stop bein' Leni again, even if ya wanna ask 'em questions as ya are."

"Might be ya won't even see stars. Maybe you'll see somethin' else entirely if ya clear your mind again. But just focus on that heartbeat again. Let it go slow, and..." He considers his words. Maybe saying 'relax' wouldn't work, not unlike telling an angry fella to calm down in the middle of an argument. "...Think happy thoughts."

"Think about how the grass sways 'round in the wind, or how the trees shake and rustle, but manage to stay on well." Calling patience what it was - calling a spade a spade, effectively - might not jive too well with Leni, but if he were to rephrase and redirect...
(Armondt)
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[00:15] He's right, in the fact that patience doesn't jive well with her. Though at this point that's probably fairly obvious. Patience, stillness, silence. All things that don't 'gel' with her. Or vibe, as the case may be.

"But that's booooring," she balks, shifting in place in her spot in the grass. That surplus of energy, where a boon in some situations, becomes a veritable curse in this particular instance.

"I guess I can try."

She gripes about it the whole time though as she tries to settle into a comfortable position to empty her brain. It's easier said than done; so packed full of nonsense it is, there's some serious house-keeping to do.
(Leni)
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[00:18] "Tryin' is the best I can ask of ya. It's all I'll ask of ya." Despite Leni's griping, Armondt's patience remained pretty airtight. If there was an actual field of interest for her to find here, he was absolutely going toh elp her find it. "And it ain't borin'." An iron rod was set in his voice at that assertation. It softens pretty quickly, however, as he continues to speak.

"I'll tell ya why. 'Cause when ya meditate, you're lettin' every thought, conscious or unconscious, go through your mind. Go ahead. Follow those thoughts through. Let it all wander. Just don't try to cling too hard on any li'l one. Imagine your brain's like... a dock, and plenty of ships are just passin' and portin' and disembarkin' and such."

Not that Armondt knew much about ports anyway. The nautical metaphor would burst at the seems pretty fastif she tried to ask any questions of actual substance. "Be Leni for as long as ya feel like."
(Armondt)
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[00:25] There's another exasperated, melodramatic groan as he once more suggests that the thing she deems boring is not, in fact, boring. Her head lolls back and she sticks her tongue out, as if the statement alone had made her expire.

When she resumes normal(ish) function, she brings her head back forward, shifts in place, and closes her eyes. She is sort of still.

"Okay, okay...I'll try. Promise," Leni declares. It's more palatable if she can still think of stuff, to let her mind wander as it usually does anyway when it's left unattended. That's when she thinks of the best questions.

For Armondt's sake she doesn't ask about anything remotely naval. No, instead her focus is on allowing her mind to bob in the metaphorical mental current, like a piece of driftwood at sea.

Somewhere, far above her head, a single star shimmers.
(Leni)
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[00:42] With every intention to act as a helpful guide on this inward journey, Armondt kept his eyes closed and let his own mind wander... but not too far. His 'sixth' sense remained open to Leni's own. Somewhere, high, high, higher than he could ever hope to reach, he could feel the presence of that star. That brief quickening of mana sent in her direction - he couldn't not perceive it.

"Now... how did that feel? For a moment. Some kinda satisfaction show up? Fulfillment? Ah... forget about it -- just keep focusin' on your thoughts and where they're leadin' ya." He was starting to inherit Leni's propensity to ask questions in rapid-fire form. That might just be problematic for his career... or it might be super handy.

Maybe the nature around him was reacting? ...Kind of. It's not entirely significant.

"Once you're erady to let go... just do it."
(Armondt)
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[00:48] He asks a lot of questions at once, but rather than answer them it just spurs on more questions that float in and out of her own head. One after the other after the other. Her natural curiosity for things great and small is the catalyst for something greater.

A little 'blip' shows up on her radar, so to speak. A little ping somewhere above and somewhere deep down. The two signatures seem to resonate, establishing a connection from terra firma to another place far above.

She doesn't quite grasp what he might mean to by 'let go'. Leni's not precisely in the Leni headspace as she's become distracted with the new sensation she's exploring. Unintentionally, the nature magi's delved outside herself.

It's not the steady and sure 'Howdy' of Armondt's star. Instead it's a fluttering, waving burst in shy salutation. A tiny, distant 'hi'.
(Leni)
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[01:07] The silence maintains for a while longer. Armondt cuts off most of his senses, willingly so, in order to take a temperature on Leni. Consequently, he, too, winds up disassociating from the things that make him Armondt. The courier's mind clears, and for a spell he's just another soul adrift on the celestial winds. His mind was far, far, far up in the stars. Head, at least figuratively up in the clouds.

It's with Armondt's commune with the stars that his subconscious notices something precipitous on the horizon. Far flung to the West - or perhaps far enough that he could feel it from the East - there was a vibe that he, as Armondt, did not enjoy in the least. Familiar, and therefore monstrous. A terrible thing that encroaches, no matter how faraway they seem to be from their troubles here.

His concentration is broken, but perhaps Leni can mend it. Armondt cluctches his hands against his knees.
(Armondt)
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[01:12] Her concentration wavers. Not because of any disturbances to either side, but because she'd actually felt a notable shift. That surge of excitement causes her to fidget anew and her smile, ever present, broadens. Her eyes snap open and she looks up at the skies.

If the sun hadn't risen, the light blotting out the blanket of stars in the atmosphere, she might have seen a timid yet friendly wink of light. Alas, time's slipped through her fingers and they're no longer visible.

"Arm! Arm, did you feel it! I thought I felt something!" she chatters, nudging him with her elbow and pointing up at the sky.

"I think it tried to talk back! It was really quiet, but I think I heard it!"
(Leni)
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[01:16] The sky illuminates, and that vibrant drapery of dust across the heavens gives way to the sun. Good - Armondt was just about wondering what time it was... or how many days had passed since they decided to start hanging around at the peaks near Theria. Just being here was therapeutic in itself; a place so unfettered by natural wealth that no one in particular had any strong desire to hang around up here.

"I did." The celestial courier's own eyes open, and he looks down at Leni. There's a decisively broad smile across his lips. It reflected more than just a generally pleasant simper - there was real, palpable pride on his face. "Seems like you're really chattin' up the heavens now, Len."
(Armondt)
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[01:18] The nature magi's eyes squint shut, not because she's going to meditate, but because it's necessary to accommodate her beaming expression. There's literally no other way her face can contain it.

"I think the plants and stuff were starting to hear you a lil' too! They're tricky to talk to sometimes, but they're nice lots of times- grass and stuff is the easiest to talk to. Trees can be hard, cuz they're kinda' sloooooow."
(Leni)
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[01:22] "Can't say I know how to come up with as many questions as you can. Ain't sure if I got the creativity for it." He reaches up to scratch idly at his cheek with his index finger, before turning an optimistic gaze back to Osrona. The pangs of uncertainty and dread still wrested itself a place in his heart for now. Everything was contingent on Esshar being ready for the threat making ready to levy itself against them.

Armondt did not figure they were ready.

But he tries to ignore the dread, and diverts those energies to that bone-deep pride for his companion. "They might be slow, but I bet they know the most. Bet they've seen plenty, too. Grass, 'course... young, tiny, everywhere. Grows just about anywhere. Weeds in 'em, too, so they got more folk to talk to. Then there's the vines in the trees, or the moss on the rocks, and..."

Leni's ever-present reserve of vivacity was getting reflected pretty clearly, despite Armondt's claim.
(Armondt)
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[01:27] There's only so much meditation she can take in one day. It's time to relax from...relaxing? Leni leans back, rolls onto her stomach, and spreads out her arms to hug the ground.

"Oh, yeah, definitely! Trees always know the most, you're right. The grass and weeds're always growing, and trying to spread out and go places! Sometimes I talk to them and the flowers about the places I've seen- that's why I try to pick them up by the roots, so they can see 'em too sometimes."

Is it any wonder then that she relishes her connection with them so fiercely?

"I like talking to them all. They're all nice for different things."
(Leni)
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[01:28] Leni asks, "Are stars like that too?"
[01:34] "Well, y'know. Stars can work the same way, for sure. Some of 'em are old. Spendin' thousands of years to burn, and it might take thousands more 'fore they finally burn out. Others are newborn, twinklin' all over the place, but their gleam ain't as strong as their elders. Couldn't tell ya how a star is born, though..." Didn't work quite like plants. Pensive, Armondt placed his fist against his cheek and canted his head to the side.

He looks down at the grass-hugging Leni, and smirks. "There's a whole book on it, but a lot of stars have different aspects to 'em. Constellations of Leonaus. Mine, for example, is a yellow star. Has to do with leadin' and movin'. The blue ones, meanwhile, are all about thinkin' and improvin'. Then the red ones are about bein' able to do stuff."

"Maybe ya didn't see the color of the star ya called on, but ya could tell me a thing or two about its nature?"
(Armondt)
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[01:34] Armondt spoke a lot just now. He takes a heavy pull from his canteen.
(Armondt)
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[01:38] There's a lot of words getting tossed around. It's a miracle that Leni actually absorbs and comprehends most of them for a change. She almost zones out about halfway through.

Leni gathers enough to determine that the two are similar enough for her to liken the two; they each had personalities, in a way; not unlike the stubborn palms when compared to the calm, wise oaks.

"Nope, didn't see a color. Buuut. It was kind of quiet? Like it was there, but only really quick, to say hi. Then it was gone!"

It had been a brief, bright pinprick of light that was there and gone before she couldn't even think to try and find it again.
(Leni)
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[01:51] "Shy li'l thing, huh... Maybe it was a yellow star. Or maybe a blue one. Red ones tend to be pretty headstrong, so it ain't likely it's one of those..." The drifter mulls over the notions, but ultimately whatever it was didn't seem to matter. The fact of it was that she found a star, and that in itself was a spectacular thing. "When we get back to Os, I can look to some kinda fancy book to help ya figure it out."

Armondt himself flops onto his back next to Leni, facing skyward. "Wonder how much else is just sittin' underfoot waitin' to actually be spoken to... or discovered... or anythin'. Got an ocean twice as deep as the land 'round these islands, too."
(Armondt)