White Lies are Still Lies.

MYSRAI NEWS #174
Date: 7/25/2020 at 8:52
From: Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud
To  : Everyone
Subj: Horizon's Saffron Shoal

Brightest greetings to all the Beloved near and far.

As promised and foretold, more herb was smoked and more words came tumbling forth as the soft, delicate sandalwood mingled with the astrigent clouds of crushed obsidian poppies and amber resins. The thick vapours rough yet smooth, thick yet languid, advancing with velvety claws deep into my lungs. Like a puzzle, shifting from vague to formed, the words were such:


A soul from every tarnish free
Befouled by blissful apathy
Must climb a cliff suspended
Within a world upended

But does a soul so pure exist?
With not a hint of rusted twist?
Amomg our Freedom's stranger quirks
Here dark danger in ambush lurks

To breach horizon's saffron shoal
Avoid perfection's bogus goal
Forfeit direction within the maze
Embrace Love's deepest Chaos gaze

And so...

A trifold cross-road of lenses beckons. Feel it.
Choose your path, Beloved.

Tonatiuh al-Saaoud, of the First Paradigm


Penned by my hand on the 16th of Urlachmar, in the year 566 CE.

****next irl day****

(Veiled): Tonatiuh (from the Prime Material Plane) says, "Hello Beloved, hope everyone is doing well."

You give a chilled cantaloupe soup with ginger and lemon to Bizirik, the leothin.

With a toss of its head and some noisy chatter, Bizirik takes a chilled cantaloupe soup with ginger and lemon from you with its smaller set of forelimbs and scampers off.

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Never a bad time to eat soup."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** gentle affirmation - curiosity - muted pastels, a question - how are? **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Ever hopeful, Gurashi. Ever hopeful."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "... ** softer still - tired musing over latest post to Beloved **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Like looking for a needle in a haystack, but worse, don't even know it's a needle that needs to be found."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** soft blue-gray concern **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Haven't seen Akuuko lately have you? Aschwar is growing concerned."

You blanch suddenly.

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** as if the color were removed via siphon - deeper, darker gray **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, ".. you know something."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** deeper, nearly pitch - silvery anticipation, guilt, -fear- **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "... ** a resolution, trying to resolve - grasping onto faith, and duty - familiar conflict expressed to you before, with far less context **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Why the fear?" A long silence follows, broken by a soft crackle of static like the charge just before a storm. "We are all Beloved."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** the thief's voice, soft and firm, faint and fuzzy - an old memory: "If you tell them, I'll just leave" a wash of fear and concern, staring into their orange eyes "And youse guys'll never find me." **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** deeper conflict - was a -promise- **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Seems he's left regardless."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "It's a tight line we all walk, isn't it. Protecting Aschwar yet wishing them to grow, to become. Can they be sheltered for ever? Should they?"

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "..... ** lingering fear, deep black, color impassable - what is the rightest thing **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** swirling shades of gray, like smoke - to tell all, to ruin secret, to lose everything, and start a big fight - or to have faith in the thing that everybody that have trusted, all of life, wants to have hope in - what is the -rightest- **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** is waiting the right thing - or leaping - what if leapt, right into a web - is leaping the right thing if know is a trap -- **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** swirling confusion, pent up frustration, turmoil in muted pastels **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "If..." the thoughts spin out like a spider's web, delicate, ephemeral, attempting to piece together parts that seem so disconnected, and then with clear purpose. "Why is Akuuko avoiding Aschwar?"

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "... ** a far-faded memory, of a time when the tae'dae was still asleep, and their name was still a mystery. Shulamit is beside you, and Esei is not too far off either, and you lean on Shulamit, tired, hopeless, holding your lute. In the window, the once-thief looks out the window, commenting about the maze, then back at the tae'dae, calling them 'Ash'. So casual. Fear crosses their face, and they look at you and Shulamit, then quickly slip away... the Shofet's voice, drifting in like rustling paper - NAUGHTY - a bolt of lighting, red, a SCREAM of pain, from somewhere not far off in the city .... Esei blanches and flees, while you rush to the window, try to find the source of the cry ... 'Ash' ... **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, ".... ** the thief re-materializes in your mind, and you no longer see someone fleet-footed. No. what is left is a dracnari enrobed in saffron, much of the right half of his body shorn away from a terrible tragedy - scarred - suffering - a price, paid, for information shared **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "He wishes to conceal the consequences of the Shofet's wrath?"

Light spreads across your back in numerous colours and hues, enfolding you like butterfly wings.

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** a shared guilt - words, stuck in your mind, pasted bright in apricot orange - important, so important: "Sometimes...youse...youse gotta stay away from someone that youse love. Because if youse were close, youse...youse'd hurt 'em." **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "White lies are still lies, Gurashi."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** deeper guilt - do not want him to feel this way but -- "Youse want what's best for 'em?" confusion **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "..... ** a return to muted pastels, as if speaking up - apology - only knew most recently how very -dear- akuuko was and - deeper guilt - now all of the secrets feel ... the friendly tae'dae's face - ah - they will hate me **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, ".... ** must fix this thing ... the crutch from the recollection of the thief - no longer with its owner. the visual bright and clear and not at all painterly - not a memory, real life. now it is with you **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, ".... ** sudden fatigue **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Think on this.. will it get better or worse the longer you wait? Aschwar is one of the Sacrosanct now. It's hard to imagine the Most Beloved would empower them so if they were not up to such knowledge."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Lies are like rust, a little omission here, a tiny deceit there, spreading deep into the soul till a thing once strong becomes as fragile as thin, dry twig."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "... ** far off, yet still present - miserable gray-blue **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "... ** a continued lingering sense of miserable guilt - will ... **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "What will you do?"

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** soft mottled blue-gray - the right thing, yes **."

You think to yourself: ... ** must help akuuko **.

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Good," a small pause of acknowledgement follows a scatter of static appearing like a waterfall of opalescent sparks. "Good."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** washes of apricot - desperate, determined - will try one thing, first. a few things first. can still salvage this, without needing to bother the Shofets - avoid a fight, avoid a big fight **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "Why would there be a fight?"

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** awash in deeper mauve, amber - peoples always seeking a reason to fight **."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** distracted, motion, an unfamiliar, whispering, Powerful Voice: "eye for an eye" **."

Tonatiuh hisses sibilantly into the corner of your mind, "The Most Beloved is fond of eyes.. that's no secret."

Your melodic voice sings into Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud's mind, "** sadder, still - will tell Friend Aschwar - yes, as soon as able - urgent, desperate - still a thing to fix, first **."

****like 30 minutes later****

MYSRAI NEWS #175
Date: 7/26/2020 at 17:23
From: Soothsayer Tonatiuh al-Saaoud
To  : Everyone
Subj: Seek Truth through Love


Beloved, the smoke was harsh this month, full of bitter truths and sweeter lies from camphor burnt with saffron bark. My mind's eye expanded thricefold and spoke thus:


   I know you're misleading
My thoughts are leading
   Me straight into your eyes

I know you can find peace
   The harm done will not cease
Till there is only the Truth

   I'm looking right at you
This feeling will break through
   Even the whitest of Lies


Seek Truth through Love, dear Beloved.

   Tonatiuh al-Saaoud, of the First Paradigm


Penned by my hand on the 24th of Kiani, in the year 566 CE.


An incandescent spark bursts into existence, coalescing into a selcouth sand djinn levitating languidly in midair. Liquid gold begins pouring from his hollow eyes but before a single ephemeral drop can touch the ground, he spits a labyrinthine blossom with a vibrant saffron heart into your hands and vanishes with the static hiss of settling sand.

You tilt your head, gaze softening as you frown.

open blossom390862
A labyrinthine blossom with a vibrant saffron heart unfolds and sings to you, "I'm looking right at you."
1 emerald falls from a labyrinthine blossom with a vibrant saffron heart into your rift, bringing the total to 1.
A labyrinthine blossom with a vibrant saffron heart flutters apart in wisps of vellum as the last of its contents spill into your hands.

You stare blankly into space.

You have emoted: Gurashi stands perfectly still, as if in a daze, looking at the emerald in confusion.

Wyrden Auspice Esei Shee-Slaugh of the Ascending Dusk asks, "Someone bothering you, dearest cousin?"

You have emoted: Gurashi still doesn't immediately seem to register Esei's presence, looking at the emerald, then at a crutch-staff bearing praises to the Lord, Lady, and Neither, covered in webs.

You sniffle softly.

Uncertainly, Esei nudges you with her foot.

You have emoted: Gurashi's arms fall limply to their side, and they look at Esei at last as they are nudged.

Wyrden Auspice Esei Shee-Slaugh of the Ascending Dusk whispers, "Are you alright?"

Raspy and breathless, with incredible effort, you say, "... is right..."

Esei blinks.

You have emoted: Gurashi's fingers close over the emerald, then tighten on their staff as they bow their head.