Jul 25 06:00:12 106 PA - Morning Illusion
From Chronicles
The current game time is: Mon Jul 25 06:00:12 106 PA.
Early morning finds the park empty and surprisingly foreign. Not just odd due to the slowly rising sun, or the sureal characteristics of a widely used place thats empty, but like a completely different landscape. And in fact, it is, or appears to be, with a strange figure sits before an instrument atop a rocky outcrop, a small stream winding around him. His hands move fast over the strings of an odd instrument as he plucks cords from the horizontal harp-like device. Around him the strange scene seems like something out of a chinese ink-brush painting, odd trees not from the area blowing in the breeze as he plays. One thing is for sure, this isn't the park it was yesterday.
Vixen approaches Calex's location slowly, glancing around as she takes in the change to the landscape. Cautious, with her whip held in a coil in one hand, the other, her right, relaxed if a bit tensed. Strange.. but when she picks up the sound, she approaches it. She'll dip behind a tree when she comes near enough to see. Her eyes narrow subtly, but she lingers, head canted slightly as she listens to the music for a few, gauging its quality.
Calex is absorbed as he plays, the sounds serene and pleasant, though not something that would be common to this region. He continues on, oblivious to his surroundings for a while longer before finishing his song, his hands slapping flat against the strings, silencing the guzheng, allowing the sounds of the brook and birds to be heard. His insect-like head lifts then, and he slowly begins to wrap his instrument in a large silk cloth, his movements deliberate and practiced.
Vixen eases her way out from the tree when the music ends, though she remains somewhat cautious, not moving too close before she pauses, head still canted just a bit. "You the one that did this?" Her hand lifted, the left motioning to the side with her whip. It's held in a relaxed way in that coil, her other hand resting against her hip, thumb hooked into her belt.
Calex looks up, multi-faceted eyes searching out the voice that addresses him. He finishes wrapping and binding his instrument even as he speaks, "I am, and I apologize if it displeases you. I try to be finished before too many are awake and about," he stands and straps the guzheng to his back, staff coming to his hand, "Today, however, I had a bit of a late start. It should fade soon, though." his voice is apologetic.
Vixen glances around casually, then shrugs. "Nothing 'wrong' with it, I guess. Just a bit odd when things change. Could freak some people out. Me, I'm just more cautious." She lifts her free hand in a casual gesture towards him. "Interesting sound you got there. Might try and replicate it. Don't think I got nothing like that on my keyboards yet. Might be useful.. that's kinda how keyboards are. Never know what you can do with all the little sounds you make."
The helmeted head tilts a bit to the side, the segmented back stopping the motion before it becomes a full on tilt, "That is why I try to keep my practice confined to the night," his hand grips at his staff, which he raises a bit higher. A light fog rolls in, obfuscating the scene, "That should limit the amount of freaking out that could arrise. As far as my music, I'm glad you found it interesting, much as I did once. I would be happy to assist you in replicating it, if you really had a desire."
"I have the sound recoded," Vixen replies, grinning slightly. "Probably a bit of piano or guitar with some modifications will do it." Lightly mused as she lets her eyes drift slightly for a moment before they fix back on the armored man. "So who are you, coming around here and making the scenery change?" Asked as she walks a little closer, though she still keeps a discreet bit of distance between the two. Still just a little wary, but not much.
A muffled chuckle escapes the pincer like mouth, as Calex leans his staff against the crook of his neck, allowing his now free hands to grasp his helmet and lift it off, "I'm just a somewhat homesick mage, I suppose, though we've met once, briefly." He smiles then, offering a small bow, "Back home, the forests were safer, and I could easily slip away on my own. Since being here, I don't have that same sense of security, which is why i chose a more public place." He offers a shrug, still smiling, helmet hanging from his left hand as his right grips the staff, which he leans on.
Vixen considers as its revealed she's met him before. Trying to place the voice, but not pausing while she does so. "Yeah, not too many places to just be around here.. always people somewhere. Wouldn't mind some privacy like that myself some time." She shrugs a little. "Sometimes I come here for the same, but I tend to practice something different." A casual little grin displayed as she lifts the coiled whip to waggle it around. "Takes a certain kind of focus, you know?"
"I have no doubt about that. At the school where I was trained, we shared facilities with those who practiced the more martial arts as well magical. I was always impressed with the skill in which they could make a weapon an extension of themselves. I've never had much skill in such things, which is probably why I lean more towards doing things that don't require much physical effort." He pauses, eyes on you, blinking occassionaly, "Still, do you not "freak out" " you can feel the quotes as he attempts to mimic your slang, "Others brandishing a weapon in the park?"
"Like I said, I usually do this when its dark," Vixen notes. "This baby loves to make noise. Ain't real subtle when I practice and I kinda like to not draw a whole lot of attention. Don't do it to show off, most times. Helps me think sometimes." She considers teh whip for a moment before she shrugs a little. "Ain't really an extension of me. I'm good at it, but I'm not really a warrior per se. Just trained. I work best with my fingers and my mind."
"Then we have something in common, you and I." Calex grins at the thought as his eyes remain on you, "Strange how two completely different people from completely different places can have something so fundamentally in common. I would not have guessed it, though, I admit i know very little of people like you."
"People like me are pretty simple when it comes right down to it," Vixen replies. "I like two things. Comfort and respect. Though I guess how you get those two things is the complex part." She grins idly and lifts a hand casually in vague gesture. "Lots of people have things in common. They just usually don't figure it out cause they don't get to know each other."
"True words, I think, so many differences make people apprehensive. It is hard to get them to look past that to find what common ground they share. I suppose that is why i'm here, to try to see a different culture and see what I can learn from it." he shrugs, still smiling an almost innocent looking smile, "So tell me, Ms. Vixen, what is it that you are trying to find a temporary escape from?"
"Noting specific," Vixen replies, glancing outward into the trees. "Sometimes you just wanna relax and let your mind wander. Or let it focus on something simple." Her hand slips along the whip gently, tracing its braided structure. "This is simple. A bit like instinct and a bit like the mind.. but without having to really think about it. There's nothing complex about it, once you get used to how to swing it."
"Nothing is complex once familiarity is gained though, is it? Creating something like this," Calex motions about the two of you with his staff, viney tendrils blowing in a breeze much stronger than is present, "Is meditative for me, a simple act of creation, really." He shifts his weight a bit, the large instrument moving a bit against the segmented plates across his shoulders, "I suppose I can understand the need for peace and quiet, to focus on only the task at hand. Tell me, is this city always so chaotic, it seems, at any given point, to be on the verge of boiling over into something completely different, and yet, I find t never does. Its really quite strange."
"That's what Kingsdale is all about," Vixen confirms. "So many people coming and going, lots of them transient. And a hell of a lot of people with different ways of thinking." She shrugs slightly. "Can't not have clashes and such. Me, I kinda like it. But everything gets old after a while." She glances own at her whip and then grins. "I'd best go get some time in before it gets too late in the morning."
Calex offers a bow, stepping to the side and motioning to the area behind him with his helmet, as if letting you pass, "Of course, I've kept you from you intended reason for being here. It was very nice speaking with you." He smiles once more before fitting his helmet over his head, taking a second to make sure it is secured, "Until next we meet, young Ms, fare well."
"Trust me, if I didn't want to be bothered with you, I wouldn't have been," Vixen assures him, grinning slyly. "That's one thing about me.. unless I have to I don't do what I don't want. You watch yourself, making things look different. Never know what someone might think about it." And with that she turns, still casually stroking her fingers along the curve of the braided leather as she moves further into the park to find a good practice spot.
