middaeg | (closed)

[ Well, it might not be the rudest thing. Certainly not the worst he's done, that's for sure. Though the way that the tail swishes with a slight lift, maybe to brush back at the hand, was from someone being more touch starved than they'd otherwise act or admit. But, y'know, fauns often would do well with more contact. ]

If I stay straight, the crutches start slipping out from under my arms. It's not like I can adjust them.

[ More proof of Eren being right about them being too small. It's also not like the crutches are on the tallest setting- the hospital gave him one that's appropriate for his full height. His hands are just still not recovered enough to do that stuff himself. ]

[ judar you are on crutches, public tailplay is forbidden (unless it were ever long enough to do the curlies). it earns a huff that’s curt and quick, and luckily— they aren’t far off when it comes to walking. writing convenience as well! with all his complaining about the crutches to begin with, it is time. ]

That’s why you will.

[ how? magic. what eren wants to stroll into his a carpenter’s workshop, manned by an elder (pika) puca and a pair of young bonded apprentices: a witch and a woodpecker harpy. the old pika’s whiskers are bent and his cheeks sagging with wrinkles, but his round furry ears perk at the guests that enter shop— especially the dragon. “ah, lad”, he says with a snap of his larger incisors against his lips, and a lazy smile under a lopping, bushy mustache. “what do y’have fer’ me—?”

they’ll sit in the waiting room, and once the faun unhands his crutches (and the harpy jitters over for leg measurements), work commences: drilling hammering and sanding. and while they waited . . . eren leans over, legs apart and elbows against his knees. ]

You’re a writer?

[ why else would judar be carrying a notebook around? ]

Edited 2020-02-20 00:50 (UTC)

[ Joke's on you, Eren, that wasn't actual tailplay. It was just an automatic reaction from you putting your hand there.

But yeah, this whole sudden trip was confusing. Even with the 'that's why you will' thing, he had no idea what was going on, even as the crutches were being taken away. Something he wasn't happy about because hey, he needed those. Especially to stand straight! It was all definitely an experience, until they were able to just sit and wait.

Eren, what even the fuck??? ]

What?

[ Oh, yeah. The notebook. ]

No- It's easier to keep track of what I'm focusing on for certain projects this way. This book's for my notes and theories for helping the comatose people in Dorchacht. Some of it's data, or notes from provided information, or theories I want to adapt from my world, to see if it'd work.

[ because helping people is confusing. he knows only partially of the work being done with those comatose in dorchacht— everett has even asked for him as an escort into the wilde for herbs, plants that could revert these effects. some recognition shifts plainly into eren’s features, and he nods, reaching for something in one of his pockets: a small, palm sized notebook, a paper or two sticking out of it, and a leather cap that’s been worn so much that it’s even flexible to look at. ]

I’ve heard you guys have leads. [ which is good, very good. it’s nice to see people moving, even if it’s all in different directions. that’s how things get done, no? ] Mind sharing?

[ Ah. Somehow he managed to draw out the guy's notebook. If he hadn't obviously been here a good while longer than Judar, the faun would wonder how it'd gotten so worn. Just how much was Eren looking into and trying to figure out? ]

I couldn't tell you what anyone else has been doing. Because it seems that any energy the witches try to press into those people just falls through, I figured there's either no base to be built upon anymore, or they can't take energy that's been filtered and processed. So, maybe there's a way to draw straight from the leyline to rehabilitate that part of them. I just have to find out how some things can naturally draw and hold onto that natural energy.

[ Which he was making progress on, but had to get back to again to understand the crystals and plants better. ]

I have a few things on leylines, [ he considers for a moment and flips through some of his pages. it wasn’t much, probably what’s already known about them if one were to ask common questions. still, he wrote down what yako dig up. chicken scratch that you think wouldn’t make sense, but laying your eyes on them actually does. ] but it’s nothing deep.

[ he could take a look himself, just to be sure, and will find the other pages have a lot more to do either with dewaint forest, fae or “dragons”, and how each drawn an overlapping line across each other. ]

It’s good that the comatose are being tended to.

[ Well, he'll certainly take the excuse of looking at the notebook to lean and rest on Eren's arm. That and read while following the lines of notes with his other hand. It shouldn't be surprising. Some physical contact is better than none for the faun; especially when he wants to focus on other things.

Really, it all makes sense as he reads it, instantly. Maybe it's the researchers' souls he's absorbed that made it easier to read chicken scratch, but he follows along with it all pretty well. ]

They've been doing their best, from what I can tell... Especially with the original things that caused this being destroyed. I've been jumping ahead, so this helps.

[ He made jumps and guesses to see how it worked out, which has worked so far, but this is all really handy. With handy, he'll just flip a few other pages. The forest, fae, and dragons. ]

Have you cross-checked any of these things with Dorchacht people? A lot was destroyed, but they've still retained a lot of information that's not really in Aefenglom.

[ welcome to his arm, young deer, please enjoy it while he doesn’t show a single sign of discomfort. not even a shift or nudge to keep him in his own space. if anything, some of his ear fins move, and the rest of his side accommodates. he opens a page that says exactly that: dorchacht. ]

Yeah, and it’s all different. Aefenglom believes the moons [ not goddesses, moons, ] created the Cwyld. Dorchacht’s people say it was the True Fae.

[ it’s all . . . a matter of perspective, but both should be taken with a grain of salt. ]

When info deviates from each other, you know both sides are probably wrong.

Edited 2020-02-27 16:11 (UTC)

[ It's always good to be indulged in things like this. At least it keeps the faun patient and able to focus on the book, instead of getting inappropriately uncomfortable. ~~Though he could...~~ ]

Given how the Cwyld reacts to the fae that exist now, it was probably something used against them first.

[ There's no doubt that Eren's had to have heard about how sensitive fae are to that stuff, at some point if not when he was warned of his own vulnerability. It could've easily wiped or put the True Fae into hiding. They wouldn't have survived creating it.

Both these theories are absolute nonsense, essentially. ]

As someone familiar with places being corrupted and darkened to a magical level, I'd be ready to bet that people created it before moons. It's what I figured happened to begin with. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some war going on around the time it first appeared.

It’s what I guessed— especially after the last dream.

[ oh, eren knew. eren knew of a fae’s vulnerability just as much as his own. he’s learned the scolding a rather hard way, the first month of his arrival and he recklessly ventured too far with a friend for some answers. delving even further into this world’s mechanics and how full this notebook is brings him to this. ]

. . . The only war I remember hearing about so far back was when the first King tried to seize Dewaint. That was 300 or so years ago. [ it still doesn’t exactly give them an answer. eren’s brows furrowed and his talons curl across his mouth in deep thought. that’s definitely something to ask about. ] It’s possible that things like that could taint leylines— there’s even suspect that Fae used to care for them, before fauns.

[ even if that’s only based on lore and speculation. he’s writing that down and connecting the thought with a line, so he doesn’t forget. ]

[ The fauns must've also fallen a bit out of the ways, then, given the way Hilda reacted to his abilities. It's not really mentioned very often that there were natural caretakers of such things. Not hidden either. He's sure that if he looked, there would've been plenty referencing that. ]

It's more than possible. I'm used to it having been done in my world, but Hilda confirmed that it happens here. It takes a lot, but it's not hard with the way those types of feelings and overall mood can start spiraling out on its own. Dark spots that develop on the surface easily sink into the earth. Wars and rebellions are good for that kind of thing, but oppression, strife and other similar things could feed into this if it smothers those trying to live on and try to have more than just that in their lives.

[ And yes, he's very used to these things. Sowing discord and resentment, to lead into civil wars or mass deaths were a particular group's specialty. ]

[ tell him about it. no, literally— it almost reminds him of certain talks he’s had with mikleo when he was around, how magic and seraphs could corrupt and polluted with ill energy that takes catastrophic proportions. ]

What are you used to, exactly?

[ he’s curious, not so much in a mutual experience at war, but— at a magical side of things. ]

Mm...

[ It's a hard question. Not because he doesn't have an answer, so much that he doesn't want to explain too much about it right now. Not the part of how he knows the process, or anything like that. Though in thought, Judar turns his head to... Well, it almost seemed like it was to kiss Eren's arm, here he was leaning, but it seemed to be more important to just rest the front of his head against there instead.

How to phrase... ]

Something more invisible than the Cwyld, that doesn't care about magic, but any kind of energy. It's like walking into a place where you can feel the oppression, like something bad happened, and maybe still could happen, even if no one was around. It spreads with words and actions that leave people fighting in strife, instead of a hope for the future, because they're just angry over the present and unable to think of anything past how it's not fair. Depravity seems pretty normal, but it can permanently taint both the people and the land, and further isolates them from the flow of the world.

[ eren sets his back against his seat and slouches the rest of himself, eyes casting down at the faun’s head against his arm before watching the carpenters literally work their magic into completing the crutch pair into perfect length. one down, actually, eren sees the woodpecker harpy smoothing out the bumps added. ]

In other words, [ he was familiar with that energy, that weight, as if history was fated to repeat again and again, with no hope. that something was wrong. that something needed to change. ] not moving forward.

[ he jots something down— maybe a mental note about “energy” that could be useful. ]

I grew up in a prison like that.

[ He's going to stay like this for the moment, just for a brief rest. Recovery drains you, and Judar's good at hiding it, but he's been working himself a lot. The crutches have a lot more use than what you'd expect for him getting them within this month. His hands have seen even more work done with them. ]

That's... Essentially it, yeah.

[ As a whole, for anyone to look at and understand, even in his world, that was a good nutshell of the situation people are left in. Not moving forward, and maybe even sliding back somewhat.

But damn, Eren. Grew up in one? What kind of life did you even have? ]

It's pretty easy for prisons to develop into that kind of place. In cities, slums are often targeted for this sort of thing, because it's easy to feel like there's nothing but to watch royalty and nobles, while they're eating enough for a family on their own, as they struggle and die from starvation or sickness.

[ a life behind walls is definitely a prison (not to be confused with a literal prison, but eren is dramatic with his freedom, that way). ]

You have experience with that?

[ maybe he was wrong, but that thing with nobles and starvation was awfully suspicious. ]

[ Also, he's just dramatic. It's an overall thing. ]

I've got experience in not being blind to it. My own 'struggles' were in less populated places.

[ Just side-stepping what his role and involvement with these things were. He'd rather let Eren paint his own picture, then fix it if it gets too bad.]

It's not hard to see in some cities, either. The class divide can just be that obvious.

[ judar is generous! eren gives very little to work with about himself— and when he does it’s still kind of messy. no matter— he prefers not to paint any sort of picture based on history. he’s safe to be what he is, his own conversational curiosity about so many worlds available to him and how they work aside. ]

It can be obvious, just not everyone cares.

[ cares enough to see, anyway. trash doesn’t matter, all that. the woodpecker harpy, though—! he’s coming over rather enthusiastically with both crutches in hand, the mentor puca close behind and thumping his foot for their attention. he knows how cuddling foreplay works, but he has to interrupt! the sticks should keep you erect now hahaha the old man says. good lord, his whiskers twitch and he clicks his teeth. eren himself seems to be gathering his notebook back up at the site, and sticks his talons into his pockets to pull out a few coins.

the witch comes to collect, and the amount he has should be enough. he stands next to judar then, but doesn’t offer himself. ]

Try them out.

It's not always about caring.

[ Seems like cozy time's over, then! Well. It's enough of a queue to put his legs back to the floor, but has enough control to neither flush up from the innuendo (it's almost expected from a puca!,) or call the old guy out for it. It's probably expected for even that to be some kind of foreplay from a faun, given the way some of the natives had expectations towards his behavior. Some of which did prove true, but not all of it.

The shoe-boots that were used to keep the damaged hooves and ankles protected also do their own job in making this easy to do- Meaning there wasn't about to be any grumblings about how sore they felt for all the walking Judar forced himself through. Though even as he got the crutches ready, to pull himself up, Judar paused for a bit to watch the exchange, with Eren taking over the payment. ]

I had the coins, too...

[ But okay, okay. Enough with the procrastinating. Judar does pull himself up, and the adjustments do have a noticeable difference. His posture is a lot straighter, which meant there also wasn't as much pressure on the hands that were supposed to be going through their own kind of recovery. Now it's a lot less stressed. ]

Well?

[ true that. but, enough of it too, yes? and stay hush, he pays. he’s the one who suggested it in the first place, and— it’s kind of hard to be greedy when you’re literally loaded (thanks to selling body parts).

now those are proper crutches! as the puca laughs and steps away to the inside of his shop, the apprentices lower their heads and mutter with abashment they were had only kept to themselves. grandpa is so embarrassing. ]

You tell me.

[ the posture looks right. what about the movement? ]

[ Yeah, it would be embarrassing to have to deal with that all the time. Judar feels embarrassed for having been on the end of it this one time. Just... Not enough to have it show or anything. At least there wasn't any comment about public displays before the old puca went off to his own thing.

But sure, sure. Moving with the things. There's a couple of uneasy steps as he's clearly expecting it to be the exact same way as before, but... They're staying where they belong, which means no lunging or anything like that. It looks a lot better. ]

I mean, I thought the way before was fine too, so I've got no clue if this is supposed to be right.

[ Here, let him take a few steps around so you could also see him from behind. ]

[ so perhaps it’s time to go then, no? eren thanks the three for their services and walks off after judar, only stopping to make sure everything was in working order. it’s pretty easy to answer, he doesn’t see the reason for dancing around— ]

If it feels better, it’s right.

[ his tongue flicks— and he does briefly look, up and down, without realizing the turn was intentional. when lizard brain is done, he snaps his attention back like nothing happened. a+ 👌]

[ Consider it part of the reward for helping him out with this, or something. Sometimes a really nice view, just given, can be really nice for a while. Maybe Eren'll get something else later, when they're not out on the street. ]

I mean, a lot feels better just from getting a break.

[ Maybe if you weren't literally overextending yourself in every way for this recovery, Judar... You'd be fine. You're supposed to have breaks. ]

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