Hiding out (backdated to April 2nd)

[zelda_hylia]

Who: Zelda, Duke, and anyone that actually manages to find them
Where: Duke's forest hermit home
When: April 2nd, after Zelda visits Shizuo
Style: Brackets, baby
Status: CLOSED AGAINST CHOSENS GO AWAY ZELOS

[After a long cry on Shizuo, Zelda has decided that the best course of action is to hide and gather her composure again until she's built up a wall big enough to keep her from breaking down over everything. She learned during the thought bubble curse that hiding from people is surprisingly difficult when you don't have a place to hide in. The forest seems like the best choice for a hiding place, but there's still the matter of where to hide exactly.

She finds herself wandering off in the direction that Duke went when they'd visited the forest together, half hoping to locate his residence. She can't imagine the mage being the prying sort, he's likely to let her sit in a corner and read quietly for a day or two. She hopes, at least. When she finally locates the hut, she calls out his name softly.]

Duke?

Comments

[zelda_hylia]

I do. Were you referring to some sort of necromancy?

[She's not unfamiliar with it, though she can hardly wield it herself. It's just completely out of her element. Maybe if she were to become a priestess of some kind and try to return someone's life to them via the power of the goddesses... then she could conceivably raise the dead. Otherwise? Not happening.]

[radiantwingedone]

.... Perhaps. I did not read the notes, however.. [ He doesn't know how the man had done it. ]

During a war I had returned a body and a notebook to the capital. Upon returning, some time later, after it had ended [ Leaving out that he had done so in a seething fury and left a trail of bodies in and out of the castle- ]

I walked past the man. On his feet. He was... dazed, seeming, but reacted to words. A decade or since those events, the man has grown his hair long enough to tie it back, stubble grows on his chin, he is... living, in the sense that his body functions properly. Save that his heart was pierced that day.

Similar, enough, but far different.

[zelda_hylia]

You're certain that he was dead? Absolutely certain?

[Zelda looks completely baffled. What in the name of...]

Did they replace his heart, perhaps...? Even so, if he were already dead, that should not make much of a difference. Nothing can bring a soul back to a body once it's... no, that's not true, Vatheon seems capable of it...

[radiantwingedone]

Completely through the torso - healing artes had no effect upon closing the wound and he did not feel, magically, as if he had any life force to him. It was not quite a half hour between the time I saw him fall and when I was able to reach his body, another three, four hours until I delivered it. All signs of death had set in.

I assume so; the flow of magic about him at that later time seemed to be that his heart was no longer... [ A short gesture toward his own. ] I do not know what he had done, the one whom I had returned the body and notes to.

It.. was not a replacement - another man who looked the same, for he remembered me. [ Sorry Raven, if you ever find yourself here. ]

It is.. possible, in some way, but not that I know unless I was to see it. I do not like the technology that was used.

[zelda_hylia]

I would imagine not. That seems entirely unnatural.

[That's not to say that there aren't a few people Zelda would like to bring back to life, but she doesn't... well, alright, if Link says she's a goddess, then she must be, but she still doesn't consider life and death to be her dominion.]

That poor man.

[radiantwingedone]

Hmn. [ Agreeing. ]

....


[ A w k w a r d . . . ]


Apologies, brought something up that was... [ Dark? Distrubing? ]

[zelda_hylia]

Oh no, not at all. It's a fascinating topic to discuss. Besides...

[She smiles sheepishly.]

I am the one imposing on you, after all. I'll hardly complain about something as small as a conversation topic.

[radiantwingedone]

Hmn. [ Somewhat agreeing. Breaking "rules" is always a bit fascinating, even if.. a somewhat awkward topic. ]

Still, particular one leaves... a bad taste? [ Best description he thinks he can give of it. ]

[zelda_hylia]

Perhaps you're right... even if it is only theoretical for the most part.

[Now that she's recovered from the initial shock of hearing about someone basically coming back to life, Zelda will gracefully change the topic.]

I believe it came up last time when we were speaking about magical music, did it not?

[She takes out her harp.]

I would be happy to show you a little, though it would be wise if we went outdoors first.

[radiantwingedone]

[ If he had mood ears, they'd be at 'Interested'. Duke nods, picking up the kettle from the arm of the chair and both of their cups, and moving back to his kitchen to leave them there, intending to meet Zelda at the "door" of his place for shoes. ]

[zelda_hylia]

[She'd like to show him the Song of Time, but that's private. Instead she chooses the Song of Storms, strumming her harp along with the words.]

Sing a sweet melody
Then everybody will see
Thunder rain and wind
The song of storms begins
From the sky to the ground
Rain is falling all around
The time of the storm has come

[Despite the fact that they're in the bubble, the mana around them wavers in answer to her call. It seems that using music to cast a spell uses very little internal mana. The area directly above the princess becomes densely foggy, then it looks as if there's a small cloud over her head. Once she launches into the second verse, it actually begins to drizzle slightly.]

In a time of despair
Shadows singing in the air
Telling of a time when the sun would shine
Thunderclaps resonate
Lightning flickers like a flame
Singing out a song of storms

[radiantwingedone]

[ That's actually rather fascinating. His eyes are between half closed and fully closed, but he's paying attention to the way the music and mana work together to create the weather effect. Already aware he probably couldn't hum in the correct pitches, down an octave or no, he mimics the harp sounds via whistle -

before pausing. ]

... is water not harmful to string instruments?

[zelda_hylia]

Usually, yes. This harp has been passed down in my family for time immemorial, though. It's magical, it never requires repairs. It is known as...

[Oh... it all makes sense suddenly. Hadn't the Link from the Sky asked her where her harp was?]

...the goddess harp...

[radiantwingedone]

..... Goddess religion seems popular. [ Pretending that pause didn't exist because he's sticking with the 'not asking' stuff. ]

[zelda_hylia]

It is. The idea that there's a benevolent, motherly woman watching over everyone... it's appealing. But even a goddess can make mistakes.

[Zelda plays the Sun's Song to hasten the drying of her clothing, not making any further comment.]

[radiantwingedone]

... Seems more developed than one from Terca Lumireis. [ He'll just leave it at that, if she wants. ]

... The musical magic - specific songs to create specific effects. Accidental creation of other songs? Humming something in a location of dense mana and becomes bonded, or is another case of ... emotions, driving magic?

melody line only, pretty much

[zelda_hylia]

Creating a song like that... it needs to be done on purpose. The sound acts as a form of incantation. Unless you consider music to be emotional by nature, of course. It doesn't have to be. It is instinctual to some degree, though. For example, if I were to create a song of wind....

[She mulls over it for a moment, then starts to play. The speed varies until she decides on something fast and jaunty. The harp isn't suited to this song, but nevertheless, it seems she's picked a tune that acts as an incantation without too much trouble (having a magical goddess harp certainly isn't hurting). A light breeze picks up and swirls around them.]

[radiantwingedone]

[ Blinking. ]

Ah. [ Now he has to figure out just how interested he is in this musical magic. It would be something else to take care of, that is certain. ]

[zelda_hylia]

It is not too complicated. It corresponds to the general nature of the element involved. In this case, I chose a song that was light and fast, and just a little unsteady - like the wind. However, the application for magical music is a little limited. That doesn't mean that it's not powerful, though. It's capable of changing the flow of time.

[...oh... she... hadn't meant to say that last part. That's alright, she'll just lineface and not extrapolate unless he asks. And he probably will. SHE would.]

[radiantwingedone]

Something deep and jarring for darkness, perhaps. Something full and smooth for water, something ... crackling but warm for fire, abrupt for lightning... [ Thinking about that for a moment and-

A blink. ]

... More than simply pausing it?

[zelda_hylia]

...yes. It is... perhaps something that shouldn't be used, though. I may have caused great harm in doing so...

[She split the timeline. She split the timeline and now a Link has come to Vatheon that didn't make it through the final battle, a Link that died. Who knows what else she's even done?]

[radiantwingedone]

Hmn. [ Idly scratching at the back of his neck. ]

... So far different from this. [ The spell he starts is a violet nearly black, but it doesn't feel like darkness. He pauses it, stalls the casting, and expands it so that Zelda can see the lines of what it would do.

Pause time for anyone not marked as 'friend' for a handful of seconds, what it seems. ]

[zelda_hylia]

Ah, yes, it is not exactly the same as that. The Song of Time can send one back in time. I believe the ocarina might be required for it, though the harp might work as well.

[Thinking of it that way, it really does no harm to teach it to someone from another world. He couldn't do much without the ocarina. She probably couldn't even do it without the ocarina, though Link-from-the-sky's insistence that she was a goddess reincarnated did give her pause. Just in case, she sets her harp to the side.]

This is the Song of Time...

[Instead of playing it, she sings it. It's a somewhat mournful song, and just like time itself, it marches along endlessly. Though the start of the song is clear when she first begins singing, as she continues it becomes muddied and sounds as if it should just loop forever. Whether time changed at all or not while she was singing is difficult to say.

The flow of time is always cruel.]

[radiantwingedone]

[ Duke blinks once, dispelling his formula. Send one back in time? Made no sense. The idea of such a thing -

No. Past is past. Stop thinking about it.

It's a bit of a sharp movement, his head shaking, like there was something stuck to his hair he wanted to get off. ]

... Dangerous. [ Could see him again, if he had that while upon Terca Lumireis.

Only Duke is fairly sure he wouldn't.. be able to just let events go...

Another headshake. ]

.. Definitely dangerous. [ But that doesn't mean he stopped listening to the pattern of notes... ]

[zelda_hylia]

It is. Having studied time travel more while within Vatheon, I fear that my actions have split the time line of my home world... no, I know that they have. Just today, someone arrived from my world reporting a different chain of events than the one that I recall. It isn't a matter of being from a different point in time, it's a different timeline altogether.

[I killed him. I killed him...]

Like bringing people back from the dead, perhaps time travel is something that should only be studied theoretically. Both must be studied intensively if we wish to understand Vatheon, though...