silent, in the trees [open]

[necrocabbage]

Characters: Trahearne, open to everyone
Date: Early February
Location: In and around the Dreaming Bridge
Situation: There's a quiet plant guy lurking around. That might be a little weird.
Warnings/Rating: Nothing yet


A. During the day - outside the Dreaming Bridge
When he's not busy with other matters, Trahearne has been spending some time right outside the Dreaming Bridge building. He mostly walks around the outside of the Quayside wing, though sometimes he makes a circle around the Breakwater wing as well, to cover all his bases.

What exactly he's doing out there might not be immediately obvious. When he's not just walking around, examining the dirt and peering under bushes like he's looking for something, he's been leaving little pieces of jerky in specific, tucked-away places. Trahearne later returns to check to see if the jerky is gone, but even when it's disappeared, he seems to keep walking away with nothing to show for the endeavor.

Whatever kind of animal Trahearne is trying to lure out hasn't yet revealed itself, but he's certainly patient enough to continue trying.



B. At night - in the Dreaming Bridge lounge/lobby
Trahearne hasn't been sleeping well. Tossing and turning is one thing, but after the first night when he kept waking from terrible nightmares, he decided that persisting in a useless endeavor would only end in disturbing his roommates. The idea of having to explain what he was seeing in his dreams to two complete strangers wasn't just unappealing, he knew that it wouldn't help matters any. He'd still have trouble sleeping, and he'd still wake them with it, whether they knew what was happening or not.

Instead, he's taken to slipping out of his room after the others are asleep, taking with him a small pile of books on the Planes that he's obtained from one of the local libraries. Trahearne then curls up in one of the more comfortable chairs in the public lounge, reading by the light of a lamp, up until he dozes off or simply can't see straight anymore. Whether he's found awake or asleep, he's always gone before sunrise, either to get breakfast or to return to his room to prepare for another day.

Comments

[corundrum]

Ah, well, I've heard humans only live a tiny amount of time. [Padparadscha's been doing what reading they can on the species here since they arrived. They'd always suspected humans were like other living things, with their fleeting existences, and now they know it for sure.

Padparadscha considers before answering that question - they've let it slip before, and they don't seem to be the only person here beyond what's considered a "normal" age, so it shouldn't be a harmful thing to say.]

Gems don't "die" like living things do. We can be destroyed utterly, but if we're pieced back together, we live again. So there's no limit to how old we can be.

[necrocabbage]

Incredible, [Trahearne murmurs, regarding them with renewed awe.] You must have seen and done so much - do you have any idea how excited a historian would be to meet you?

[Why, he's almost starting to get excited himself, and it wouldn't even be relevant to his own studies.]

[corundrum]

[Padparadscha laughs softly, leaning back a little with an almost apologetic look.] I'm afraid I've done less than many gems despite being one of the oldest. Sometimes, not even being made equal can help us.

[One of their hands drifts to their open shirt, and the gem-plugged holes plaguing their torso, a delicate finger running across the surface.]

[necrocabbage]

[Trahearne's gaze follows the movement, making him frown faintly now that he's paying more attention to those markings. That's what he had assumed it was, but now Padparadscha seemed to be implying that those were something a little more damaging. Old wounds, perhaps?]

One of the tenets my people follow says that 'harder ground makes for stronger roots'. Our struggles make us stronger, but it also means that what you achieve is all the more precious for it.

[corundrum]

[Padparadscha hums a little at that, as if considering it. It's a little hard to believe for someone like them, but then, it sounds like something important to his people, so they'd rather not reject it entirely.]

Different things grow differently, huh? I think there are struggles that do and struggles that don't, but I can see why your people would hold something like that to be important.

[necrocabbage]

Every single person grows differently. I would argue that the strength of one's soul isn't so easily measured.

[Trahearne gives them a small smile,] It's more like a guideline, in any case. Forgive me for going on a tangent.

[corundrum]

Ah, well, there aren't many things about life that can be put so simply as in one phrase.

[Padparadscha puts that in a somewhat musing tone before moving on, their bearing remaining just a little amused.] Sometimes the best conversation comes of going on tangents. Staying in line all the time is a little boring.