Illusory Interlude II
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 2:42 pm
TIMESTAMP: direct continuation of this
NOTES: -
NOTES: -
► Show Spoiler
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As the pair of elven siblings moved from this piece and strode towards the next, their steps were light through the winding layout of this particular gallery. Built into the floor of the cavernous darkness of the Umbrium, it was cylindrical in shape and the path took viewers winding slowly down from top to bottom. In the center of the path floated a large sculptural piece made of crushed illumite shards to provide lighting through the whole building while individual pieces of art had their own respective lighting that suited each best. The walls ranged from marble installed and smoothed interwoven with the contrasting dark, volcanic obsidian native to the Umbrium's depths. The architecture and interior were as much of a work of art as that which the gallery held within. And while such a design was genuinely novel, beauty and brilliance were to be expected as the bare minimum in Solunarium– so to the viewing nobility, this was merely what set dressing felt appropriate; anything less would surely be a disappointment.
"Oh~!" Luna started abruptly, having just remembered something she had wanted to ask. "I am unsure if you've heard or not, but our dear mother finds it quite distasteful that you've brought that little Vastiana in to, ah, 'waste' Palæmon's oh-so-very precious time," she giggled, asking the question with soft mockery in their mother's direction. "I know you've been trying to avoid her, but I figured you'd find this more funny than not."
Æros scoffed. "Is she now…? How quaint." He rolled his eyes, irises of gilded gold glinting in the light of the exhibit; such news had not previously reached him, but he was also not the least bit surprised. "Then she does not know Palæmon if she thinks his time is wasted; I'm not sure how much you have heard, but it's not as if I just dragged in some random urchin off the street for the fun of it." The Færie spoke with a sort of feigned disbelief and something almost like mockery directed towards his mother. "I'll never understand why she thinks her own arrogance applies to everyone else," he added, shaking his head.
As this subject was brought up, the two of them stopped before another painting, this one by the same artist as before, crafted with the same exquisite technique and consummate skill. This time, however, it depicted a scholar in a crumbling tower, surrounded by a flurry of magic, of tomes, of stone debris, of what valuables could be pulled from the ruins. It utilized a colour palette containing a range of blues, whites, greys and golds. From what Æros could tell, the mage-scholar depicted was an explorer, sifting through the ruins of a bygone era for anything that could be saved, brought back, and restored. The idea of doing this was a fascinating one, though he himself had little experience outside of Solunarium’s capital proper.
Both of them paused, for a moment, to look at it– captivating as such a thing was, it briefly stole their attention away from the conversation at hand. Making use of his newfound sixth sense, Semblance, Æros once more examined each of the painstakingly applied layers of paint and magic, as well as the painting's Echoes. Each step of the Sunborn artist's process was executed with loving care; as a result, the making of each piece took quite a long time.
After a beat, Luna replied to what Æros had said regarding their mother. "See, that's why I asked! Mother has very different, um, tastes than our dear cousin; of that, I am very well aware– much as she likes to think that her opinion is always correct. And though you and he have been as estranged as, well, you with anyone else…I figured you wouldn't ever intentionally vex him; I figured you'd be wise enough not to rock the boat so early!" She sounded bright, curious, completely throwing their mother's opinion out the window with great haste. "...but I've been so busy I've not had the time to ask our dear Faun myself; tell me, then! About your friend," ever eager, ever enthusiastic, his eldest sister was.
For some reason, it had not occurred to Æros that others within his house would talk about the affairs of he, his cousin, and his friend. Bit of a foolish thing, that, to have forgotten; nobles sure do love a bit of gossip. Regardless, it's not as if such a thing would affect him at all poorly– Palæmon was quite pleased with his new protégé and, given his status, his opinion superseded that of the vast majority of those who would speak ill. His time was also his own to do with as he wished and if he saw potential in Hilana, then she was, in fact, worth his time.
But then, when it came to actually answering Luna's question, how does one aptly describe Hilana? "Ah…she is the daughter of a Tertium merchant and a Vastian nomad– her name is Hilana. She helps run an apothecary shop; I met her by chance– wandered in to find respite from the sulfurous smog earlier in the season. A real ray of sunshine, she is." Æros paused for a moment, pondering what else to share and in what order. "When I first met her, she had no runes and had done her level best to avoid going anywhere near aptitude testing," Æros laughed. "A bold sort of rebellion."
To accompany his rather brief explanation, the starlit Færie created a small, ætheric simulacrum of Hilana in the air between him and his moonlit sibling. To do this, he wove the æther through his Craft of Masquerade, and while the process of doing so only took a moment, it was a true to his memory recreation of his friend. He even went as far as to make a tiny Tiaz draped over her shoulders, for the serpent was almost always with her.
Luna looked to her brother's enchanted facsimile with interest, "Oh! And she is an animal keeper, too? How sweet!" Her expression, however, shifted shortly thereafter and now held some confusion. "Avoided the aptitude testing? For why? How would anyone…" the elf trailed off, gaze drifting to the left, then her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Sometimes, I forget that humans don't throw runes on their children as young as we do," she laughed sheepishly. "N-nevermind…do go on!"
The baseborn nodded. "Right, I got confused about that at first, too." It really was an interesting divide. Æros and all of his siblings had been given their first Crafts long before they'd ever been able to have a say.
"Nevertheless, she did manage to avoid it, but I talked her into embracing the idea of Elementalism, and I know nobody better suited to teach somebody that Craft than Palæmon. Plus, they're very much kindred souls– I had never met another person that could speak at length about horticulture, with such monumental enthusiasm, too, as our Faun until I came across her. Frankly, not introducing them to one another would be rude to the both of them." His tone held elements of teasing in it directed towards his cousin, but really, the man's love of flora and dedication to his work was nothing short of admirable.
"Really?" Luna sounded genuinely taken aback. "Somebody who can match his fervor about plants? Why, in all my years, I never thought I'd find another," she laughed, a bright smile on her face. "Good. He even overwhelms the other Elementalists, at times."
On top of his endless enthusiasm for the subject, Palæmon had lived quite awhile, too, so his knowledge on the subject was incredibly extensive. As such, he could speak on and on and on, and unfortunately, many would lose interest far sooner than he would like. Hilana might be quite a bit younger, but she did very much match his energy.
Before Æros could say anything else, "...you said she was also born, at least half, of the Vastian nomads? Has she much experience in the sands?" Ever and always an inquisitive one, Luna continued her questioning.
"Oh~!" Luna started abruptly, having just remembered something she had wanted to ask. "I am unsure if you've heard or not, but our dear mother finds it quite distasteful that you've brought that little Vastiana in to, ah, 'waste' Palæmon's oh-so-very precious time," she giggled, asking the question with soft mockery in their mother's direction. "I know you've been trying to avoid her, but I figured you'd find this more funny than not."
Æros scoffed. "Is she now…? How quaint." He rolled his eyes, irises of gilded gold glinting in the light of the exhibit; such news had not previously reached him, but he was also not the least bit surprised. "Then she does not know Palæmon if she thinks his time is wasted; I'm not sure how much you have heard, but it's not as if I just dragged in some random urchin off the street for the fun of it." The Færie spoke with a sort of feigned disbelief and something almost like mockery directed towards his mother. "I'll never understand why she thinks her own arrogance applies to everyone else," he added, shaking his head.
As this subject was brought up, the two of them stopped before another painting, this one by the same artist as before, crafted with the same exquisite technique and consummate skill. This time, however, it depicted a scholar in a crumbling tower, surrounded by a flurry of magic, of tomes, of stone debris, of what valuables could be pulled from the ruins. It utilized a colour palette containing a range of blues, whites, greys and golds. From what Æros could tell, the mage-scholar depicted was an explorer, sifting through the ruins of a bygone era for anything that could be saved, brought back, and restored. The idea of doing this was a fascinating one, though he himself had little experience outside of Solunarium’s capital proper.
Both of them paused, for a moment, to look at it– captivating as such a thing was, it briefly stole their attention away from the conversation at hand. Making use of his newfound sixth sense, Semblance, Æros once more examined each of the painstakingly applied layers of paint and magic, as well as the painting's Echoes. Each step of the Sunborn artist's process was executed with loving care; as a result, the making of each piece took quite a long time.
After a beat, Luna replied to what Æros had said regarding their mother. "See, that's why I asked! Mother has very different, um, tastes than our dear cousin; of that, I am very well aware– much as she likes to think that her opinion is always correct. And though you and he have been as estranged as, well, you with anyone else…I figured you wouldn't ever intentionally vex him; I figured you'd be wise enough not to rock the boat so early!" She sounded bright, curious, completely throwing their mother's opinion out the window with great haste. "...but I've been so busy I've not had the time to ask our dear Faun myself; tell me, then! About your friend," ever eager, ever enthusiastic, his eldest sister was.
For some reason, it had not occurred to Æros that others within his house would talk about the affairs of he, his cousin, and his friend. Bit of a foolish thing, that, to have forgotten; nobles sure do love a bit of gossip. Regardless, it's not as if such a thing would affect him at all poorly– Palæmon was quite pleased with his new protégé and, given his status, his opinion superseded that of the vast majority of those who would speak ill. His time was also his own to do with as he wished and if he saw potential in Hilana, then she was, in fact, worth his time.
But then, when it came to actually answering Luna's question, how does one aptly describe Hilana? "Ah…she is the daughter of a Tertium merchant and a Vastian nomad– her name is Hilana. She helps run an apothecary shop; I met her by chance– wandered in to find respite from the sulfurous smog earlier in the season. A real ray of sunshine, she is." Æros paused for a moment, pondering what else to share and in what order. "When I first met her, she had no runes and had done her level best to avoid going anywhere near aptitude testing," Æros laughed. "A bold sort of rebellion."
To accompany his rather brief explanation, the starlit Færie created a small, ætheric simulacrum of Hilana in the air between him and his moonlit sibling. To do this, he wove the æther through his Craft of Masquerade, and while the process of doing so only took a moment, it was a true to his memory recreation of his friend. He even went as far as to make a tiny Tiaz draped over her shoulders, for the serpent was almost always with her.
Luna looked to her brother's enchanted facsimile with interest, "Oh! And she is an animal keeper, too? How sweet!" Her expression, however, shifted shortly thereafter and now held some confusion. "Avoided the aptitude testing? For why? How would anyone…" the elf trailed off, gaze drifting to the left, then her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Sometimes, I forget that humans don't throw runes on their children as young as we do," she laughed sheepishly. "N-nevermind…do go on!"
The baseborn nodded. "Right, I got confused about that at first, too." It really was an interesting divide. Æros and all of his siblings had been given their first Crafts long before they'd ever been able to have a say.
"Nevertheless, she did manage to avoid it, but I talked her into embracing the idea of Elementalism, and I know nobody better suited to teach somebody that Craft than Palæmon. Plus, they're very much kindred souls– I had never met another person that could speak at length about horticulture, with such monumental enthusiasm, too, as our Faun until I came across her. Frankly, not introducing them to one another would be rude to the both of them." His tone held elements of teasing in it directed towards his cousin, but really, the man's love of flora and dedication to his work was nothing short of admirable.
"Really?" Luna sounded genuinely taken aback. "Somebody who can match his fervor about plants? Why, in all my years, I never thought I'd find another," she laughed, a bright smile on her face. "Good. He even overwhelms the other Elementalists, at times."
On top of his endless enthusiasm for the subject, Palæmon had lived quite awhile, too, so his knowledge on the subject was incredibly extensive. As such, he could speak on and on and on, and unfortunately, many would lose interest far sooner than he would like. Hilana might be quite a bit younger, but she did very much match his energy.
Before Æros could say anything else, "...you said she was also born, at least half, of the Vastian nomads? Has she much experience in the sands?" Ever and always an inquisitive one, Luna continued her questioning.
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'Thoughts'
"Vallenor Tongue/Speech"
"Vastien Tongue/Speech"
"Valasren Tongue/Speech"
"Common Tongue/Speech"