Catch All for November

[lightbranded]

Characters: Will Stanton and Anyone
Date: Throughout November
Location: Various
Situation: Various

A. Around Town

Will spends much of the first part of the month slowly exploring the parts of Aifaran around the Dreaming Bridge. At the beginning he has to rest often, and is grateful to find quite a few benches and small cafes to rest at. But as the month goes on, he slowly starts to get some of his endurance back, and does not tire quite so easily any more. He finds one of the neighborhood libraries, and spends a lot of time there in the folklore and mythology sections.


B. Seitura Park Arboretum

Towards the end of the month, Will finally finds his way to Seitura Park, where he regards the autumn colors with more than a little delight. He wanders through the arboretum, reading the descriptions of each tree and trying to remember the names to look up later.


C. Astronomy Hour

Will had always liked watching the stars at home. Having grown up in a small town in the country, the stars at night had often been easy to see without the glare from city lights. Upon receiving the invitation to visit an observatory, Will had accepted with great anticipation.

It was disappointing that the night was too cloudy to truly see anything, but Will still wanders around the observatory with great interest. He has many questions about how everything in the observatory works, and asks them of anyone who seems likely to know.


D. For Yuuko

Yuuko's first meeting with Will had left him with much to think about. And with no school or family here, he'd found himself with a great deal of time to think.  He often thinks about that certainty he felt that he had forgotten something terribly important. And those few words. On the Day of the Dead, when the year too dies. By Cadfan's Way where the kestrels call. What did it all mean?

And Yuuko...  She'd said she'd sensed a power around him. But what power could that be? He didn't think that there was any kind of power or anything remarkable about himself, apart from being the youngest child of a very large family. But she had sounded so convinced. And she didn't seem the type of person to joke about something like that.

He resists for a few weeks, but in the end his questions drive him out in search of Yuuko again.
 

Comments

D

[shaini]

For once, Yuuko isn't inside the cafe, but is in fact seated on one of the tables outside, and she looks up with a small, enigmatic smile when she sees him approach.

"Greetings, Will Stanton. We meet again."
She lets the portentous greeting hang for a moment, then adds "Soda?"

She stretches slowly, then tucks her feet away from the chair across from her, freeing it for him to take a seat if he chooses.

[lightbranded]

He gratefully sinks down in the seat. He was doing much better than he had been last month, but the walk to get here had been at the limit of what he could do now right now.

"I guess we do," he says slowly. "It was Ms. Yuuko, wasn't it?"

[shaini]

She smiles, and nods. "It was. You are looking better, young man. Instead of soda, why not some tamago-zake? It's good for illness."

She doesn't ask why he's visiting, as she both has a very good idea, and also expects he will just tell her on his own.

Out of consideration for his still weakened lungs, she puts out her kisaru pipe, tamping it down and making it disappear into her clothes, tucked away somewhere.

[lightbranded]

"I am feeling much better, thank you," he says solemnly. "But what is tamago-zake?"

It might have been a roundabout way of getting to what he wanted to know, but some part of Will was very certain that manners were important in this kind of conversation.

[shaini]

"It is a Japanese eggnog, but one made for those who are ill, to strengthen their body. It is simple and quick to make. Would you care for some?"

She leans forward, studying him with the usual frankness she shows, not bothering to hide how closely she is looking at a person.

"Then, we can talk, since that is why you are here."

[lightbranded]

"I do like eggnog," he says thoughtfully. "I think I would like to try it, if it won't be a bother."

He gazes right back at her, his expression calm, but some part of him couldn't help but feel very aware of that feeling of something missing. As he had not been since arriving in Aifaran.

"I would like that very much," he says carefully. "I have questions about what you said before."

[shaini]

"It is no bother." She rises, going back inside the cafe, where she gathers a few items, taking them with her into the kitchen. She pours a measure of sake into a saucepan, heating it good and hot to kill the alcohol content, as Will is quite young for that. Once she judges the sake safe, she cracks an egg into it and stirs rapidly, until the egg foams up into a creamy, frothy drink. She adds a generous measure of honey, whips it again to a froth, and pours it into a large mug. She grates some ginger over the top, dusts it with cinnamon, and returns to the table.

She sets the mug in front of Will, along with a long handled spoon, just in case. "Careful" She warns. "It's very hot as of yet"

Once she has reseated herself, she props her chin on her hand and regards him thoughtfully. "You said you have questions for me?"

[lightbranded]

He nods and doesn't make a move yet to try it. Better to let it cool some more.

"You said that you sensed something in me before. I wanted to know more of what you meant."

[shaini]

One of her fingers taps against the tabletop, as she considers what she can tell him voluntarily, and what she can't. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts.

"I sense power within you, similar to my own in some ways. I'm rather surprised you are unaware of it, but you are still quite young. However, awakening to power can be... hazardous, especially when one is unprepared"

She takes a delicate sip from her glass. "I could tell you more, but not freely, and I am not at all sure you can afford the payment for what you want to know."

[lightbranded]

Will stares down at his hands as they rested on the table.

"I don't remember ever having any kind of power." Even if some part of what she had just said echoed strangely within his mind.

"But... I think I've forgotten something. I know it was important. Maybe more important than anything else in my life. But I can't remember what it was."

[shaini]

Her head tilts as she stares at him, then she leans forward, one arm extending across the table, and taps his forearm lightly, over the pale quartered circle branded into his skin.

"I suspect it is related to this. Do you remember it?"

As her fingers touch his skin, she blinks, taken aback at the rush of power running up her fingers from the mark, and from Will himself. She pauses long enough to get a sense of it, then sits back, flexing her hand to clear it from the tingle still thrumming slightly through it.

"It is quite powerful, Will." She frowns slightly, not in irritation, but a certain sense of concern at somebody carrying that kind of potential wandering around nearly helpless. In her experience, this only leads to bad things for everybody involved.

[lightbranded]

Will frowns. "I think I burned myself on something?" But the memory was hazy. Had it been at the hearth at home? In the shop at school? He wasn't sure.

But as she touches his skin, he stiffens as a rush of power runs through him and he is lost within it for a long moment that seems to never end. Images run through his mind. Snow, deep and cold. A pair of cat-like golden eyes, fringed with feathers. A golden cup. And fire, fire blooming into a flower.

And above everything else, the words that come into his mind.

"The Youngest of the Old," he repeats aloud.

[shaini]

Yuuko sits back, her eyes narrowing as she watches him, his reaction to the power, and how he seems to lose focus of everything else for a moment.

"So, a memory." She shakes her head, as the phrase he utters does not currently mean anything to her. "Those words are a place to start."

"Drink your tamago-zake. It will help" She is familiar with the crash which can follow an unexpected flow of spiritual energy, not to mention hidden memories. Sugar and protein will do a lot for him now.

She moves her chair slightly away from the table to relight the pipe, and spends some time lost in thought herself. After a few moments of turning things over in her mind, she turns back to him.

"You are from an Earth, are you not?" She had assumed so based on his appearance, but appearances are not accurate. "Do you remember where are you from precisely? "

[lightbranded]

He nods and reaches for his cup. His hands shake slightly as he raises it and takes a sip.

"England," he says after swallowing. I live just outside the village of Hunterscoombe in Buckinghamshire. Although I was a traveling to Tywyn Station in Wales before I arrived here."

[shaini]

This is mentally noted. Since she has plans to visit the academy library stacks, she may just be checking the folklore of England and Wales, too.

"I see. Do you miss your home?" Her head cocks, still watching him closely. She is curious what 'home' will bring up to him, with his apparently fragmented memory.

[lightbranded]

He sets his cup back down and stares down into it.

"Mmm, quite a lot. It is too quiet here, I think. And it doesn't feel right. But I guess even if I hadn't been brought here it would have been a while before I could have gone home."

[shaini]

Her eyes flicker toward him. "Why do you think it would have been a time before you could go home?"

She tamps some more tobacco in the barrel of the kiseru pipe with her thumb, and lights it again. The scent of the smoke, when it reaches him from time to time, is unusual. It doesn't seem to be just tobacco, but something she has mixed into herself.

[lightbranded]

"I was sent there to convalesce." His gaze flicks up at her as he gestures at himself. "You saw how I was when I first arrived here. Mum has an old friend who has a farm in Wales. I was supposed to stay there until I was recovered."

[shaini]

Again, her eyes narrow. "To convalesce from what, Will? What happened to you?" She holds his gaze, her eyes steady, not shifting, then takes another, meditative pull on her pipe.

She follows her first question with... "Can you tell me at what point you lost your memories?"

She is quite sure the amnesia is linked to something to do with his abilities, and is looking for threads to weave together into something coherent.

[lightbranded]

"Hepatitis," he says, keeping his eyes on his mug. "I was very sick for a while. I don't remember much of it. Mum and the doctor told me that I had a terrible fever, and I was saying all kinds of strange things. And I think that was when it happened. Because the first thing I remember when I woke up was being sure that I had lost something important."

[shaini]

"How long after this illness did you find yourself here?" She is leaning back, still smoking thoughtfully, but angled toward the window so the smoke doesn't drift his way.

"Also, what kind of strange things were you supposed to have said? Did anyone record it?"

She frowns, the her expression smooths out and she pats his hand gently.

"If you are sure you lost something" she says "Then you probably have." She pauses, then adds. "The world is very small place, so just move onward. Your memories will return when it is time. To those who know, the world is also a very large place, and when seen by those who know, holds far more than just one world can hold."

[lightbranded]

Will frowns thoughtfully. "If you mean by when I was able to get out of bed, it was only about a week."

He tries to think back. "Mum didn't want to talk about it much. I think it worried her. But she said I kept insisting I had lost something important. And I said some things like lines from a poem. On the day of the dead when the year too dies. On Cadfan's Way where the kestrel calls. Something like that."

He frowns."I suppose so," he says doubtfully."Perhaps I'm just being impatient. But it is a terrible feeling to constantly feel like I've just forgotten something."

[shaini]

"I wonder"...she says musingly "..if your illness, memory loss, and arrival here are not all linked. High fevers can cause amnesia, but it is temporary. However, your amnesia could have left you more vulnerable to things like...this"

She gestures around them, to the city, the barrier, all of it.

"Normally, someone of power would be able to avoid a trap like this. Forced relocation, being bound to a locale.. It makes me wonder what the purpose is, and why."

She doesn't mention what circumstances might have left her vulnerable to the very situation she just described, because A- they are focusing on Will's issue, and B- she does have her pride.

[lightbranded]

Will smiles uncertainly. It did make some kind of sense. But it still felt odd to think of himself as someone of power. He believed Yuuko when she said that she had sensed something from him,but there was difference between believing what you were told, and knowing it to be true.

"So you think someone was doing all of this on purpose?"

A!

[annihilist]

While Devin works for the Academy library, he's also volunteered himself to be on loan when they need someone to fill in for unexpected staff absences. It means he gets some exposure to more than academia and has a growing familiarity with the catalogs at libraries around the city. Sometimes, it's nice to just have something to read for pleasure, not study.

On one of his floating assignments, he sees the same boy two days in a row, seemingly without a parent. Dreamfolk, maybe. "Let me know if you need help finding anything," the vampire offers, rearranging books on a shelf that were replaced out of order. "If I can't point you in the right direction, I know who will. Unless you're trying to read your way through the whole section, in which case carry on."

Devin will pretty much always encourage fellow bookworms, despite his otherwise prickly demeanor.

Re: A!

[lightbranded]

Will looks up from his most recent book and smiles uncertainly.

"Thank you? But I think I'm alright for now. Some of the old stories here are really quite interesting." He frowns thoughtfully."But for later.... Are there any books here on the history of this city? Maybe anthropology too."

[annihilist]

"There are some, yes," Devin confirms after a moment. He's a little surprised about the request of anthropology, if only because of the boy's age. "The history section is sizable, in fact. I'd recommend an official anthology of Aifaran's history that goes over most of the broad strokes. I found it well-balanced in its retelling. With anthropology, however, you may encounter the usual challenge that comes with authors being living people who have differing opinions and values."

This last is said wryly. Soon, though, his curiosity gets the better of him. "You must be Dreamfolk, too." Native children of Aifaran would learn its history in school. "Are you here on your own?"

[lightbranded]

"I have been called that. And I am alone here as far as I know," Will says politely. "I haven't seen anyone here yet that I knew from before. But I understand that isn't unusual here."

He listens to the advice with a solemn, thoughtful expression. "Thank you very much for the suggestions. I wasn't quite sure where to start."

[annihilist]

"That's the name for people like us." Devin shrugs lightly. "It's better than 'Foreigner', which is what they called us the last time I was here. 500 years changes things."

Maybe the boy is just quiet; it's been a while since Devin has interacted with children, or since he was a child himself. He nods. "Yes, there's a system to organize everything, but that doesn't help much when you aren't sure of the ideal point of entry," he agrees, a touch wry. "Books are a good way to learn about a place like this, given how much information and detail we aren't familiar with. Have you been in the city long?"