| − | * Day one: Kansen, newly exalted and fresh from the Scavenger Lands where he received his Exaltation while messing around in a forgotten tomb, arrives in Chiaroscuro by boat. He has been travelling creation, visiting places his fragmentory memories tell him he used to know, and Chiaroscuro is just another of these, although as the boat approaches the glass walls of the harbour he feels imense relief: most of the places he's tried to visit have been entirely destroyed, absent, or otherwise unrecognisable, but the city is still obviously the same one, when looked at from the sea. He spends his first day there in a haze of intermingling experience of vision and reality, with the city seeming a confusing blend of old buildings and the buildings as they were when they were new, and the confusion is only heightened by the half-familiar city being filled with people whose culture he doesn't understand. It's late before he realises, and he remains oblivious to most things until someone takes advantage of his vacant expression and tries to grab one of his bags. Kansen, with remarkable presence of mind, grabs back, and finds himself holding his back with street-rat attached, and not letting go, either through stupidity or bloody-mindedness or a suicidal combination of the two. A brief struggle follows, ending with the street-rat bolting, only to crash headlong into a lady who was giving a performance on the street, knocking her to the floor and scattering the crowd who was observing her dance. Another brief struggle ensues and the stupid / unfortunate child runs again before the woman can start on him too (which she fully intends to do, having lost her audience, which had included a particuarly attractive young man who had seemed to take a particular interest in her). The woman, traceing the disturbance back to Kansen, turns on him as the only available target, surprising him for more diverse reasons than one might expect. The woman is called Sybil, but the reason for Kansen's recognition and surprise has little to do with that name, and much more to do with a woman called Isanna, who died perhaps a thousand years previously on her own sword; and his surprise is partly due to this, and partly due to the fact that Sybil (who is and yet is not Isanna) holds in her hand a mask, which he recognises immediately for an artifact, and which reveals itself after a moment's covert inspection to have orichalcum trappings on the inner face. Busy with this inspection he misses much of what Sybil is actually saying, which fails to improve her opinion of him in the slightest. As far as Sybil is concerned, he has been indirectly responsible for her performance being ruined, and is now ignoring her. Beyond this, he looks like he may not have taken a bath this year. From Kansen's point of view, he's looking at one of the Sun's chosen, who he feels a sense of familiarity with, and who is acting in a very stupid way over very little; not to mention foolishly carrying an artifact with association to Anathema, openly, in a city where Anathema are unwelcome. He shares his thoughts on how sensible this is (which is to say, not even slightly)with her, and an already poor relationship degenerates further on the spot. The two part on bad terms and with foul moods. A long relationship of distrust and mutial disdain has begun. Kansen heads off, somewhat sheepishly, to find somewhere he can take a bath, a few of Sybil's more choice comments on the matter having stuck; and Sybil heads off to get drunk and forget anything ever happened. | + | * Day one: Kansen, newly exalted and fresh from the Scavenger Lands where he received his Exaltation while messing around in a forgotten tomb, arrives in Chiaroscuro by boat. He has been travelling creation, visiting places his fragmentory memories tell him he used to know, and Chiaroscuro is just another of these, although as the boat approaches the glass walls of the harbour he feels imense relief: most of the places he's tried to visit have been entirely destroyed, absent, or otherwise unrecognisable, but the city is still obviously the same one, when looked at from the sea. |
| − | * Day two: Sybil emerges from her home (which is essentially a squat, but an obsessively cleaned one), slightly hungover but determined, and sets out to work, performing on the street for what tips people will give her. Part way through the day she realises that the attractive young man who had vanished during the disturbance the previous day is back, and puts all the more effort into her dancing, only to discover that he has left again -- and been replaced by Kansen, although not before he could leave a sizeable tip in what is, unmistakably, marked realm coin. The change from the unknown attractive man to Kansen is a decidedly unwelcome one, even if Kansen appears somewhat less unwashed than the previous day. Kansen's presence is due to general paranoia. He has been wandering the city all day, feeling that he is being watched for much of it. He has decided that he has to try and warn Sybil about caution again, so that when she dies a horrible death at the hands of the Wyld Hunt he can say he told her so. Sybil, naturally, is having none of this, and dismisses him quickly, setting off to find the man who she'd noticed watching her for the past two days in a row. It takes her remarkably little time once she manages to get some idea of the direction he headed in and it's not long before she sees him again, walking down one of the main roads towards the docks. She rushes up to him, ready to thank him for his generous donation and perhaps engage him in more lengthly conversation, but as she opens her mouth to speak to him something entirely different comes out, and she's left not entirely certain of what she <i>did</i> just say. The man, however, seem offended [Unbidden Oracle is not a flaw I am going to simply ignore the existance of. Heh].
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