ioduanlogs | And I would give all this and heaven too

Entry tags:

And I would give all this and heaven too

Characters: Valdis and specific starters with some open
Date: April
Location: Around Aifaran
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: in headers

And the heart is hard to translate
It has a language of its own
It talks in tongues and quiet sighs
And prayers and proclamations
In the grand deeds of great men and the smallest of gestures
And short shallow gasps

But with all my education I can't seem to command it
And the words are all escaping, and coming back all damaged
And I would put them back in poetry if I only knew how
I can't seem to understand it

And I would give all this and heaven too
I would give it all if only for a moment
That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see
'Cause I've been scrawling it forever but it never makes sense to me at all

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The souls and the menacing sensation two alleys down gave her pause, so Valdis turned, ready to slink the other way and avoid any confrontation. Her nose flared, catching the familiar scent of one of the Dreamfolk. The soul seemed vaguely familiar, but she didn't know it well enough to place a name as of yet. She'd been distracted lately. What she did know, was that danger lay ahead, and not for her.

She shifted her direction again, stalking slowly the alley, toward the turn that would take her into sight of the group. A breath of wind announced her arrival, so soft that Hila's appearance was almost unnoticed. Quiet paws carried both Hounds toward the group. Valdis released a low growl, green eyes shifting to red, Hila matching the sound. The sight of two wolves the size of a Kirin should scare anyone, but if it didn't, Valdis had other options.

Startled, the gang members positioned closest to Valdis' entry point go for their spray cans.

("We've been made!" some of them shout, in what is plainly not English - not that that would stop either of the Dreamfolk from understanding them.)

One gang member - likely the leader - decided this would be a good time to make a break for it, and gestured for the rest of the gang to do likewise.

But first, the rest of them tried to empty their own spray cans. Nita instinctively reached to cover her nose and mouth, closing her eyes and reaching out with what little other lifesense she retains.

/What in Life's Name do you think you're all doing?/ Nita exclaimed. It was directed at the gang members, not the Hounds, but she wasn't precisely ignoring them either.

Foolish mortals, Valdis snarled at the gang members, who dropped their cans in terror at the sound of the voice in their heads. Your fate lies in the earth and sea, do not bring it sooner than you desire.

Neither her or Hila made any moves to go after the gang members, it was unneeded, they would likely run as far away as they could get, as quickly as they could get there. Not that she blamed them. Once they were gone, a soft wind whipped up again, and Hila's white coat lifted into the breeze as she vanished like smoke, leaving only the giant black hound with green eyes.

The gang members presently... were no longer present. They also lost a fair amount of group cohesion as they ran, though that might have the faint seemings of a tactical maneuver.

Still, they were no longer an immediate concern, to Nita's relief. A few quiet words in the Speech, and a little more oxygen surrounded her, allowing her to chance opening her eyes against any lingering spray.

/Wait, were't there- oh,/ Nita said, taking in the Hound.

/Thanks for the assist, Cousin. Unplanned as this all was./

A wry smile came to play on her lips as Nita said that last part.

Valdis snorted, taking in the sight of the unusual girl. The words reverberated in her bones, an odd sensation, no matter how clearly she heard. She shook herself from head to tail to clear the feeling.

Cousin?, she growled, I am quite sure I have no family.

She tipped her head.

Though if your knack for getting in trouble is a strong as mine, then perhaps there is something there.

"Sorry, force of habit," Nita replied, switching at last back to English.

Though that second comment did earn Valdis a wry grin.

"I'd bet we do have that much in common, though. You need any help with clearing the air around here?"

Nita gestured, indicating the literal air around them.

"I'd hate to leave this as an unpleasant surprise for people, come morning."

Though they should probably take photos or something, try and provide a lead for tracking down the vandalizers later...

I'll report it when I get back to my apartment she replied, still watching Nita through narrowed green eyes. You speak in Tongues?

Though the essence of it was similar, it didn't feel the same as the angels. Tongues was nothing like what the idiot humans thought. It was how angels and demons communicated with mortals on any level, in any language. Valdis picked up languages quickly, but she still had to learn them.

"Thanks," Nita said - that meant, technically, she'd owe this person on two counts.

"And no, not exactly." /This is the Speech, the language through which the Powers that Be first made the worlds./

"Or, well, Their worlds," Nita amended, wry expression creeping up again.

Valdis took a step backward, hackles rising momentarily. The language of creation. A language no one should know fluently, a deep and dangerous magic. Not even the angels knew the language, it took hundreds of years of study, and only the oldest among them could use the magic, but creation was reserved for the Creator alone, taught to none. How did this young girl know something so similar?

Only the Gods know of such things, she replied, And you are no god.

Though the gods of other worlds might move differently on the Soul plane.

"The Powers are mistaken for gods," Nita hazarded, "but They don't try to claim the title, ah, erroneously."

She made a face, picking her next words carefully. "They don't hand out the power without reason, either - usually there's a problem that needs solving, that only someone in Time can solve."

Valdis snorted, everything the girl said pointed to the meddling of the god of her world. Always granting some gift or another, trying to push the future in the right path, only to be countered by some other, fractioned force.

Your Powers seem much like the Divinity of my own world, she replied, And I am not on good terms with them.

Nita frowned. Tread carefully, tread carefully.

Hell of a late-night conversation this was turning out to be.

"If it's about free will, They're not on with interfering with that. When we act, They do, not the other way around."

But Nita was aware she could be 'barking up the wrong tree', so to speak.

"But this place seems outside of the Powers' khiliocosm anyhow; They're not looking for a fight, and I'm not, either."

She wrinkled her nose.

"Though I wasn't looking for gangs tonight, too."

The god of my world claims free will, but they are truly aloof and out of touch, allowing their angels and the demons to war over humanity.

But she tipped her head, curling back her lips in a wolfy grin.

If I were looking for a fight, you wouldn't be much of one. It was teasing, filled with amusement, but also a pride that would likely be difficult to damage.

Do you often get into such trouble?

Nita snorted.

"That, I know, They wouldn't stand for. People are people, not puppets - or chew toys of the universe, to be abandoned whenever."

Nita managed a wry smile.

"Honestly, yeah. Not the schoolyard kind, though - thank goodness for those days being over."

Valdis curled a lip, not in a smile this time, mildly offended by the inadvertent dog joke.

I am a Hound, she replied, We do not abide by the laws of the angels, demons or gods. Why do you?

Nita held up her hands placatingly.

"Because, as wizards, we look after Life. Not control it, or destroy it, but help it to live well in its own way, and strive to reduce entropy wherever we can."

She gestured at the graffiti around them.

"Sometimes it's preventing an apocalypse... sometimes it's just leaving the city looking a bit neater."

Valdis snorted, a low laughter rising. That's a rather wide range. she replied.

She walked over to sniff the wall, crinkling it at the sharp smell.

You don't look like a wizard, she continued, glancing back at Nita, But I suppose I wouldn't know what one looks like.

"It is," Nita agreed, tension easing out of her at the amusement, though she still didn't lower her hands just yet.

"And we're kind of rare as it is, so that's no surprise. You can say we're always outnumbered, too," she added, making another wry face.

"You can tell a wizard more by what they do and how they do it than by their shape or species, and even that's not a guarantee."

Given the range of entropy-reducing activities and all.

Quality, not quantity, is what matters most. She replied, I know that first hand.

There were only seven of her kind. Well, five now. Four if she counted only the ones without souls.

Is it magic then?

She sniffed the wall once more, wondering how long she should play, or if she should actually introduce herself.

"Gotta agree on that one," Nita said.

"But as for that... it depends on how you define magic. Can wizards make what's thought impossible happen? Yeah. Does it come at a cost? Yeah."

She shook her head.

"It's not for free, we're not making something from nothing. But it's not like card tricks, either."

There is magic in my world, Valdis replied, Not like yours. The magic resides only within certain races. Humans have no magic.

"Hnnn..." Nita said, turning it over in her mind, regretting that she'd stayed up so late.

"It's more than humans don't inherently have magic, in the world I'm from. So I guess that's just a difference between world structures."

She snorted. No two worlds are the same.

Valdis stretched back, then shook herself again.

It has been a pleasure discussing such things, she continued, But I'm afraid I must move on. You may stop by the Sentry in the morning to report this incident if you feel so inclined.

Edited 2019-04-22 22:18 (UTC)

Nita nodded, one last affirmative for the night.

/Be seeing you,/ she replied.

When she left the alley, she did not run, but neither did she shuffle.

This was going to be one for her self-reports.

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