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westfallcorndog) wrote2016-03-07 11:27 pm
Happy Birthday, Viatorus!
Invitations to this party have been written in neatly legible, semi-calligraphic font, hand-crafted with care and talent by Amelia Ronsam. Harrowheart has asked that she create a few more than necessary on the off-chance anyone lost theirs and was liberal in handing them out.
The room mentioned on the card is easy to find with a map of the aquarium: In the Earth wing, past a long series of exhibits, and through a glass hallway over which the water rests and the fish are free to swim. The corridor ends in a dome-shaped room spacious enough for a party of a few dozen.
The meeting space, like the hallway, is composed entirely of glass walls around which a vibrant array of Earth’s tropical fish drift through bright blue waters. Now and then they dart in odd directions, flashing their gem-like scales as their school is disturbed by the passing of a sea turtle or the flowing wings of a manta ray. Far, far in the distance are the silhouettes of whales that, on rare occasion, shadow the dome as they pass between the party and the far-off source of light above the water. Simpler creatures crawl through the coral just on the other side of the glass: crabs and minnows tease at algae, grinning eels poke shyly from their dark crevices, and anemones dance with the motion of the flowing seawater. The only thing to break the immersion of the scene are the mermaid attendants, glimpses of whom can be caught as they feed the fish while trying their best to stay professionally unnoticed.
Outside the glass is the beauty, but inside is the party! There are bubbly balloon letters hung from the ceiling reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Green streamers dangle from the ceiling like kelp, and someone's even set up a motorized shark balloon to swim through the air. Set up against one rounded wall are two buffet tables of food laid out. Stacks of cheese-stuffed fried peppers, fried chicken, grilled corn cobs, a kind of savory pork stew, something resembling black crab legs that’s been labeled ‘Duskwood Land Crab,’ a fruit and vegetable platter, a single pizza for the guests to fight over, and for the English Birthday Boy, cucumber sandwiches. Drinks are a bowl of punch and a keg of water. Looks like this aquarium party is a dry one. The sweets are cookies and hard candies laid atop a pile of pink candy floss. Then, of course, there is the cake: One large sheet cake of marbled chocolate and vanilla iced with buttercream frosting. On top there rests a little gingerbread man with black icing hair sleeping soundly atop a little frosted bed, a red smile on his face. Four tall candles make the posts of the bed. An unsteady hand has piped along the side ‘Happy Birthday Viatorus!’
Two people beat the crowd to enjoy this quiet afternoon retreat. Harrowheart, who sits at one of the tables in the middle and watches the passing of the fish, is dressed for the tropics. He’s bought himself a Hawaiian shirt to go over a pink tank with a pair of palm trees on the front, and of course he’s wearing his usual cargo shorts and tan work boots. Any rumors of pajama dress code were greatly exaggerated. With him is Amelia, whose garb for the evening is much more demure than her usual. The first sign is her lack of visible weapons. The second is the combination of dark navy jeans and black blouse. Her hair is tied back in a simple braid and the hair pin she's always been so fond of is nowhere to be seen.
((If you'd like to greet the host and/or hostess or remark on your character's entry, feel free to tag this post. Otherwise, try the Gift-Giving or Free Mingle subsections: Viatorus will accept gifts and well-wishings in the Gift-Giving section, and threadhopping will be with OOC permission. Free Mingle will be a threadhopping-encouraged area for party-goers to interact with each other. Meet new characters, talk about fish, fight about who gets to eat the pizza.))
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"Currently I project." His hands twist around his cup, looking between the two of them for any hint of discomfort. "I project my consciousness into dreams. It's much like being in my own dream, but with less control than the dreamer. It's... still far less dangerous than some other areas of magic." Perking up a little he adds, "I hope some day soon to figure out how to physically walk into the dreamlands. That would be wonderful. I'd be so curious about how it affects the body, and how I would interact with the dream."
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Because let's face it, when it comes to Jim's dreams, they're almost always nightmares, and always excruciatingly painful for him.
"That'd be pretty messed up. I'd think." No details. All purely hypothetical yep. Nothing to see here move along.
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He's grateful for Felix's smile and mimics it, nodding slightly. "It might be a way to meet new spirits. Or a better way to resolve nightmares. A channel to the gods. Or maybe a way to travel between places, realms, even. It's impossible to know!"
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It's the low hanging fruit but Jim finds it the safest avenue to pursue in conversation given the options. Talking about gods, about nightmares, seems like a much more daunting subject.
"It blows my mind that this is even a thing. Everything I know about sleep and dreaming is purely scientific." A pause, and then Jim gives a sheepish smile and looks down into his drink. "Actually everything I know about everything is purely scientific. The whole magic idea is still pretty new to me, even though I've experienced it firsthand."
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Jim's picked a good line of inquiry, and one that draws Felix's grin his way. Viatorus can answer on the matter of spirits. "Saying that only makes me wonder what you know that we don't."
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"Science is the same as magic, isn't it? A way to understand the world around us." Felix's thought makes him smile gently. "If only we could help each other understand what we both already know. I don't know much about science at all, really."
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This turn in conversation finally has Jim feeling like he can actually contribute to the conversation.
"Well, as I understand it, dreams are simply a chemical reaction happening the brain. A cache dump of images from the long term memory center of the mind as it stores away memories. They aren't processed all in one piece, after all. They're cut up into bits and pieces and each tidbit is stored individually, and often in different areas of the brain."
Bones would be the huge expert on this sort of thing, but Jim didn't exactly sleep through his academy lessons.
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"Then that must be the scientific way of explaining it. Dreams are often the brain taking memories or concerns that don't have satisfactory resolutions and trying to find ones for them. It's an exercise in problem solving. Which is why people have so many dreams about troublesome things in their lives." Rubbing his arm a little, he continues, "But it's also a good way for the psyche to try and communicate with you on another level. Which is one of the many reasons that dreams can be a sign of a person's mental and psychic health."
And now he'll take a sip of his drink in an awkward pause to shut himself up.
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"I don't know anything about psychic anything. But mental health manifests in brain chemicals as well, so it makes sense that dreams would be affected by a change in them if mental health is also affected."
There's a moment where Jim licks at his lower lip, expression shifting to something vaguely concerned before it disappears again.
"I try really hard not to think about my own dreams, personally."
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"I'm not sure mine get very far in solving my problems. Or maybe I'm not very good at listening." Felix leans closer to nudge Jim jokingly. Trying to help deflect attention. Not that he wants to disparage Viatorus' studies. The younger mage gets another curious smile.
"But then - all right, here's another question for you. Is it true that dreams carry omens of the future? I've met people who believe that, but true seers are so rare it seems peculiar."
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The small, concerned comment is addressed in tandem with Felix's comment. With a gentle smile. "Problems only get resolved when he seek to resolve them."
"Very, very rarely," he says with a deep breath and no hesitation. "When prophecy is received through dreams it's most commonly with people of great talent who work on their skills. Some others may have an untrained talent that they tap into. Or certain beings may seek to communicate future events through dreams. Most often it's a sign of pattern detection as people consider current events."
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For a moment Viatorus's voice is too loud. Everything else seems to get drowned out and Jim inhales sharply before pasting on a smile and snapping out of it. The nudge has Jim scrambling for the convenient out of this line of thought.
"I've never been too good at doing what I'm told, either." Jim replies back with a snort and a laugh that's only a little forced. He's fine. Best not to worry anyone unnecessarily. It's suddenly too hot in here, but Jim does his best to remain nonchalant as the subject sways to prophesies.
If his sleeping mind is trying to predict the future, it must hate him.
"How long have you been practicing it?" Jim finally manages to ease the choked feeling in his throat. "Dream Walking, I mean."
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"Ah, that's rather what I suspected," he comments in regard to Viatorus's professional judgment. He shifts closer to Jim so he can slip an arm around the captain's back without being incredibly obvious. Just a light offer of tactile comfort if he wants it. "But it's good to hear a more informed opinion."
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That Felix takes his answer and opinion with some value gets a smile from Viatorus. It's nice to be treated more like the other scholars in his family. With no hint of condescension to be found. A little scepticism, perhaps, but more curiosity.
"Since as far back as I can remember." A sip before he continues, "I don't remember a time when I wasn't able to. For the longest time I thought everyone could do it."
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"Well, I mean, you've been doing it forever. Would be natural to assume everyone can if it's as easy to you as walking normally."
Jim didn't come to this party blind. Befriending Viatorus means toeing the line with many of the things that the captain tries his hardest to bury away and hide. But Viatorus is good people, he's sure of it, and that is worth some small discomfort on his part.
And he does incredibly relax when Felix touches him, as though remembering he isn't alone here. Though it does flit across his mind that Felix has gotten very good at reading him, it's a thought for another time.
"That's not something you do too, is it Felix?" Jim raises an eyebrow and tries to tease, but he'd be lying if there wasn't a hint of anxiety touching his reason for asking. "You're a mage type too, right?"
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He chuckles in answer to the teasing tone. "Not even a little. I mean- I'm a mage, but I barely know anything about dreams. I have some telepathic contact with the beings I summon, but that's only enough to communicate - or try to, more often. Viatorus's skill sounds like it shares some aspects with Illusion magic, and I admit I'm terrible at that."