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dndfuckhouse · 2 years ago

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Whistling away the time, floating through the sky...

FEATURING

DAY SEVEN > Keva and Psalm Mess with the Necromancy Book -23/4

DAY NINE > Keva’s Second Follow Up Lesson - 27/4

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Psalm and Keva mess with the Necromancy Book - 22/4

The next day keva wrings her wet hair as she makes her way back to her room from the baths. She notes the wrinkles on fingertips, left over from spending long enough in a private bath to get asked to leave.

Keva: the day's just been so boring. there's only so much someone can do on a flying boat, and they still have three more days. her only solace is the nice smelling... things just freely available in the baths. she sniffs the ends of her hair--still somewhat pleasant but definitely undistinguishable. she thinks that she'll make to make sure to take some on her way out as she opens the door, and she finds psalm reading, as he often is. the book looked new though, and the cover was different from the others he usually reads. the letters were large and the colors bright. "are you reading a book for kids?" Psalm: Psalm turns to look at this temporary roommate, concentration broken by her arrival. Not to say that he was concentrating too hard on the book in front of him, since it was in fact a book for kids resting in his lap. "Yes," he says, "it's a 'children's guide to necromancy. Got it from one of the stores in Figstup." Keva: "necromancy... that's like, raising the dead and shit, right? the stuff the letterheads do?" keva makes her way over to her bed to sit, pulling her legs up into a pretzel "didn't take you for a turncoat" Ghester: you hear a misty void echo in both your heads "so far it's mostly been about reviving ancient creatures of the deep, very fascinating stuff..." Psalm: "I'm not a turncoat, I'm bored. And I've no plans to drink with the others for some time after the other day, so.." he gestures vaguely at the book. Keva: keva snorts that someone thought this book would be a good idea "how many ancient creatures have been brought back by kids with nothing better to do, do you think?" Psalm: "Hopefully not too many, don't want to be fighting for the attention of any ancient gods here when I try it for myself." Keva: "what's it say to do?" Psalm: "Well the beginner's stuff is mostly just summoning one or two servant gods to serve the eventual coming of the ancient ones... so nothing too extreme. And I guess it is a children's book so... for now all I have to do is turn off the lights and keep reading." Keva: keva's eyes flit to the side and back for a moment. "wait... are you actually going to?" Psalm: "Of course I am. I said I was bored." He pauses. "Unless you're uncomfortable with necromancy, in which case I won't bother." Keva: keva's gut tells her this is probably a bad idea. it's obviously bad. but..........she's also bored. and it's not like she hasn't seen some weird shit back home anyway, she reasons with herself. after a pause, she gets up to peer over psalm's shoulder, a silent agreement to go along with whatever's about to happen Ghester: "oh how exciting, even more witnesses to your grand experiment psalm" Psalm: Psalm isnt all that surprised that Kevas decided to join him. Boredom is a powerful motivator after all. "Great, because I flipped through and some of these rituals require two people." to keva "Do you mind getting the lights?"

Keva silently climbs up and puts out the oil lamp lighting the room from the ceiling as instructed.

Psalm: “Thank you, now let's see what the next steps are... think we'll need a knife or dagger and some parchment?" since his bags right next to him (he's been sitting on the floor by his bed) he just reaches over and grabs a few sheets and the dagger Henrick gave him. Keva: keva gets her journal out from under her pillow and rips out a few pages from the back. she returns her book to its place before sitting down near psalm. "pretty normal things for summoning an eldritch creature" Psalm: "It's what you do with them that matters probably, but I'd rather it stay simple then having us go fetch some weird crystal from somewhere."

Keva leans over and examines the book, though she cant read anything she’s curious to see what the illustrations look like. She sees little characters drawn in a crude rounded cutesy style, a little man with a whale head and a skeleton in blue robes. Both of them litter the pages throughout next to the written instructions as if helping to explain them. Though they are sometimes rendered over shockingly well painted backgrounds of the ocean and fish she doesn’t recognise from the deep waters.

Keva: "who are these guys? do they have names?" Psalm: "Doesn't seem so? I think they're just characters in the book. Kind of a cute idea honestly." Ghester: "we can have the freedom name them ourselves, i can see myself becoming immersed already" Psalm: "You are concerningly enthusiastic about this." Keva: "and what would you name them, ghester?" Ghester: "well what's the fun if we don't give it some gusto? you've got to get yourself in the spirit psalm" at keva's question he makes an exaggerated humming sound in thought before his voice echoes in your heads again "maybe....willie for the whale? and... hm.... would you say pepper's a cute name?" Keva: "pepper and willie, it is then" keva says with a bit of a laugh. simpler names than she was expecting. "what do pepper and willie say to do next?" Psalm: "Pepper and Willie are telling us that we have to arrange the parchment in a square shape," Psalm says. “Don't think it matters how much we use to achieve this...? It's not really specific." Keva: "like we have to have the full outline of a square? or just the corners?" Psalm: "It just says make a square, but the next step is to draw a shape on it so it's not just the corners." Keva: keva places the parchment on the floor and arranges them as instructed, the edges of the pages touching just so "draw any shape?" she takes out her journal again, pulling out hte quill stuffed into its pages, and grabs her inkwell from her bag. “what if we draw pepper and willie" Psalm: "Not just any shape," he points at a symbol on the page. It looks like a bunch of overlapping pentagrams with a few circles of varying sizes scattered around it. He frowns at it somewhat, no clue where he'd begin drawing that. Keva: keva takes one look and immediately hands the quill and inkwell to psalm. she still isn't forming her e's right--there's no way that's happening. "i'm better with a dagger" Psalm: "Whatever the book requires the dagger for will be your responsibility then." He dips the quill into the ink and begins to draw. Well, let's hope he doesn't fuck this up.

With a deft hand, Psalm skillfully and quickly recreates the diagram from the book over the parchments.

Keva: nice keva's impressed Psalm: Psalm didn't think he had it in him, somewhat impressed with himself for not fucking it up. Anyways, onto the next step. “The book says we have to sit across from each other with the parchment in the middle." Keva: keva doesn't get up but instead scoots her way over to the other side. "what, are they going to tell us to hold hands and say a chant next?" Psalm: He snorts. "Close, we just have to say the chant. Don't tell me you're secretly the author?" Keva: "if i could take credit for pepper and willie, i would, but i'm not that gifted" Psalm: Psalm looks at the decidedly simple whale man and skeleton illustrations for a moment. "I wouldn't say that. Also, I have no idea how to pronounce this." The chant is written in common, probably translated(?), but it's a long string of nonsense.

The first go around Keva messes up slightly repeating after Psalm so they attempt it once more. After the two of them finish chanting with a few less mistakes the second time around, they pause a moment staring at the parchments.

After a beat or so they suddenly see the ink glow a brief blue colour, and spot something begin emerging from the floor between the two of them. Glowing a faint blue and looking as crude as it did in the book, they see the image of little 'Willie' pop out of the floor with an airy flip. Landing on his feet he lifts his arms making little squeaking sounds. Soon after they spy a little pile of bones trickle in from above their heads, with a prolonged shaking sound the pile suddenly forms into the image of Pepper!

The two look at each other as Pepper makes rattling sounds if if they were speaking, before the two begin doing little rolls and hops across the square of parchment, performing a little show.

Psalm: Psalm is just staring at them like 😲 "That is not at all what I was expecting."

Keva reaches out to tap Willie on the head with her finger, though it phases through him as if he weren't there, he doesn't seem to notice her at all as he continues on with his little performance

Psalm: "Maybe Pepper and Willie are the servants," Psalm jokes. Keva: "i mean, maybe" keva tries to catch pepper with a hand, even knowing he'll phase through. "are these just like... magic pictures?"

After Keva says that the two see Pepper and Willie take stances on either end of the square and gesture. Soon after they see the image of a realistic giant whale emerge and swim through the air, from one the end of the parchment to another. It’s followed by little schools of fish and a parade of various sea creatures. After a minute the creatures become a little more horrific and distorted looking in strange ways, but they move around the same as the others. Willie and Pepper roll around underneath in some sort of jaunty routine.

Psalm: "Huh." Keva: keva's entranced for a few moments watching sea creatures she's never seen alive and moving, but jerks her head back the smallest bit as they start to warp Psalm: "Well that's disturbing." He flips the page, "anyways, lets continue." Keva: she seems to let out a breath of relief "okay, so they're not supposed to look like that" Psalm: "I mean it's a necromancy book, I don't think it'd display regular fish. That'd be somewhat anticlimactic." Keva: "well, they started pretty normal-looking" and then she mumbles under her breath "not that i've seen a lot of fish until recently" Psalm: "It doesn't really say what the purpose of that last spell was beyond 'summoning the servants', but we can't move onto the 'higher level' ones since it has to be done sequentially it seems..." he's just kinda rambling now as he flips through “For what it's worth I don't think fish generally tend to look like that." Keva: "a relief they don't" she says as she peers at one a little more closely while grimacing Psalm: "I think the second ritual requires an offering...? Doesn't say what kind." Keva: "uhhh" keva grabs some of food she saved from lunch earlier in the day and places it on the parchment Psalm: "Yeah why not." Psalm sees no issue with this considering the title of the book. “Then...another symbol, this time drawn around the offering." Keva: "how many spells are there to this?" she wonders aloud Psalm: "Seems there's five total? I think the other three are just summoning different types of gods though. The steps are pretty similar."

Keva takes the quill to have a go at drawing lines this time. Though a little wobbly, she completes the circle around the offering. The ink glows blue again as she finishes and from the ground rises a giant whale creature, mouth first as if it were snapping up the offering in its jaws as it continues drifting upwards into the air.

Though shrunken in scale to be the same size of the two of them, they can tell it's much bigger than the other creatures from earlier. Barnacles and a tens of flippers adorn its sides, it's beady eyes glance in all directions as it lets out the sound of a whale cry. Below, Pepper and Willie make little synchronised rolls before they gesture at the creature. They see little crude handwritten text pop up in the air above the image of the whale in front of them.

"Whoa! You just summoned Rraud'KunBinkur! How cool!"

Psalm: "How cool..except that this thing is huge and our room is tiny enough as is with two people."

Keva scoots back from the parchment as the whales makes its way upwards and moves around the room. She can't take her eyes off it, and without thinking reaches out to try and touch it again. Similarly to Willie before, her hand simply phases through it.

Keva: "not gonna lie... this is pretty awesome" she says as she watches the whales drift around them "what's next?" Psalm: "Yeah honestly I was expecting nothing to happen, and that the book was just being figurative." He flips to the next page. Keva: "hopefully whatever comes out next doesn't get much bigger" Psalm: Psalm checks the book to see if there's any indication of the size of what they are about to summon next, but as expected, there isn't. Oh well. "Guess we'll just have to see for ourselves." After skimming through the instructions quickly he says, "This one doesn't require a chant, but we have to hold hands over another symbol and just...wait for a few minutes?" He makes up his face a bit, "that's all? That can't be right." Keva: keva looks away from the whale to raise an eyebrow at psalm. she doesn't have a reason to think psalm might be taking advantage of the fact she can't read to confirm what he's saying but the thought still crosses her mind. seeing his usually stoic face twist a bit, she says "careful there, you'll get wrinkles" Psalm: Psalm just shrugs "I was just expecting us to have used the knife by now, is all. There's no complicated eldritch chant either." In any case he picks up the inkwell and attempts to draw the next symbol.

Psalm sets about drawing the next symbol with immaculate penmanship, as he does he hears Ghester pipe up again in their minds.

Ghester: "i do wonder if this is partly a ruse to force children to sit still together for a few minutes...?" Psalm: "Kind of a roundabout way to do it considering the only way to get this spell to work seems to include summoning a whale and two cartoon characters." Ghester: "If i was entertained by such beautiful imagery i wouldn't be crying too much at my mother's ankle i think" Psalm: "I would be crying for an entirely different reason yeah." Ghester: he lets out a chuckle "kids do love the... creepy crawlies don't they?" Psalm: "Not all kids, myself included."

The two join hands and wait for a couple of minutes, eventually good ol’ binker' makes it way back over towards them. It swims through the ‘o’ shape the two form with both their arms back into the parchment and the ground, out of sight.

In its wake emerges a thin long sea serpent, it coils out quickly, looping through the air as they hear the sound of water splashing echo around the room. Much thinner than it's whale friend, it makes up for it with its length as it swims around the air above their heads. They see the same crude handwriting appear below it in the air again as willie and pepper hop over their arms.

"Wow! You've just summoned Stot'klull! How fun!"

Psalm: That being said Psalm is somewhat relieved that they don't have to deal with a whale taking up all the space in their room, albeit that relief is evidently short-lived. Keva: keva watches it swirl above them "are all these creatures real? or are they from stories?" Psalm: "I have no idea. Eldritch stuff isn't my preferred genre of novel." Keva: "do you know anything about them, ghester? being i assume pretty old yourself" Ghester: "i have heard tale of our friends Stot' and Binkur' before in fact, though i wonder just how old you assume me to be madam?" he hums in thought "They're said to be great beings from the outer elemental planes, though others like to say they're denizens that lay in the deep of our very own. Perhaps they simply come to visit every now and again?" he chuckles at his own joke "I can't speak for how accurate these depictions themselves are, though detailed, they could simply follow the fancies of their creator, I've never gazed upon them myself. They are said to be a great whale and eel in most sightings or tales for what that is worth." Psalm: "Probably for the best, since the book says if you look at them directly you go insane." Ghester: "Ooh! The natural enemy for you then our watchful gaze?" Psalm: "Would make my job a lot harder for sure." Ghester: ghester laughs again at that

Keva: keva kinda squints at psalm a bit hearing this conversation but she has a gut feeling that psalm won't tell her even if she asks. fuck it she'll try "what is your job anyway?" Psalm: Psalm thinks for a bit, eyes focused upwards as he does so. "I don't mean an actual job, for starters. And the details are vague at best." He shrugs. "Ask Ghester." As he watches the eel swim around he realises something "I think we can stop holding hands now." Keva: keva blinks and pulls her hands away, tucking them under her legs. she turns her eyes upwards too while she forces a slight blush down. "at least i can trust you to answer my questions, right" at ghester "what's this guy's deal?" Psalm: "That makes it sound like there's something wrong with me..😥" Ghester: at Keva's insistence he chuckles a little "Our boy Psalm here was tasked by our dear patron from beyond the plane to witness as much as he can of the world. In exchange he was granted a little aid, and a new companion in myself" he says the next part a little proudly "The one and only Ghester, erstwhile man, sharpened blade and friendly ally" the tone of his voice soon returns to normal again "-Though you are already aware of that part." Psalm: "I have a dog too now, actually, so make that two companions. Don't tell the others just yet though." Ghester: "Ah, very true! another good ally in your midst" he seems in a good mood Keva: "i don't know what 'erstwhile' means but you are quite friendly, i can confirm" she laughs a bit "where's your dog? seems like we're slowly becoming a circus." Psalm: "Means he used to be a man, but no longer is one. Which I guess is obvious since, you know" gestures vaguely at his own head. "And the dog, well, you can't see it. It's inhabiting my shadow right now." Keva: "so like a ghost? did you die, ghester?" Psalm: "..........Sure? Don't think that's quite right." Ghester: he hear a sound as if he were repressing his amusement at the question "i do not know, there is a lot i remember of life yet i don't know that. an interesting thought though isn't it?" Keva: keva hmms before asking "what's your favorite memory you have then?" Ghester: he hums in thought, though less theatrically than his usual. "a favourite? that is something I hadn't put too much thought towards" after a few moments you hear him speak again in his wispy voice "i have one of being somewhere where it was blindingly light, where my feet would clack on the floor when i would walk, someone following at my side. eventually after i keep walking i find myself in a grand beautiful garden, warmed by the sun. though i cant recall how it looked or why i was there, a great warmth always seems to fill me when i recall the place." he chuckles "apologies for being none too clear, though I cant quite help it in this case." Psalm: "Yes, being clear is what your best quality, not at all in contrast to how you usually are. /s" Ghester: "you'd blame an old man for his senility? too cruel Psalm..." he snickers good naturedly Psalm: "You're an old man? News to me 🤨 " Ghester: "Yes, as old as tiiiii-me... I jest. Well we both know I've seen centuries by at this point, existing as i do now, would that not make me quite aged?" Psalm: "Well, there's a difference between being an ancient being, and an old man." Ghester: he laughs "the distinction means so much to you?" Psalm: "I mean think of it this way, if say, Finn lived another thousand or so years as a vampire he'd be an ancient being of sorts, but not physically an old man. That's what I mean." Ghester: he seems amused by the explanation "well ive told you before, he looked to be middle aged when i recall the body, as old as someone young and green as you would consider i suppose." Keva: "a rich man then, were you?" keva rests her elbow on her knee and then her chin on her hand. "or do you remember much of who you used to be?" Ghester: he laughs "wouldn't it be fun if that were true? I remember having a body once, though I cant say if it was mine" he thinks a moment "rather than who, it's snippets of feelings and sensations, though i think i did once think myself quite skilled with weaponry." Keva: "do you have a hunch about whether you chose to become an old not-a-man or not?" Psalm: he hums again "i do not know, though i am only made to know what i need, as so far as our patron deems. though that in itself is suspect wouldn't you say" he thinks "i find it hard to care much though for things i do not remember, it's not as if i will find out how i came to be ruminating in any case" Psalm: "Hmmmmm whatever you say," shrugs

Keva: "who is this patron anyway?" keva asks as she peeks again at the book, curious about what other creature might be next. Psalm: "No idea." Psalm also looks at the book, wondering if the next one requires more symbol drawing. Keva: keva looks from the book to psalm "...wait, so you don't know who you've made a deal with?" Psalm: "No, implying I 'made the deal' of my own volition." Keva: keva leans back on her hands, considering psalm for a moment. "so... is it like what you think happened to orin then? that thing you mentioned when we agreed to meet with vorde?" Psalm: "Not sure what exactly what your friend's deal is myself but it's likely. Says here that we have to stab through this next symbol but I don't really want to ruin the floor." Keva: keva doesn't say anything to that for now, but psalm might be able to tell she's thinking about it. she takes the quill and tries to copy the next symbol

Looking around, Keva finds a spare pillow and transfers her work onto the work carefully instead, in lieu of them needing to have to stab through the floor.

Keva: as she does she finally asks a bit quieter, "...do you think whatever's happened to you or... or orin... could be dangerous?" Psalm: "Dangerous? Compared to doomsday cults or plant witches?" He asks, deadpan. He takes the dagger out. "From the way you were looking at him like he's a walking ghost, I'd say whatever happened to him is better than the alternative" then he stabs the pillow.

After Psalm stabs the pillow, the ink lights up blue once more, the serpent in the air turns its direction and opens its jaw as if it were trying to swallow the knife as he holds it in his hand. It passes through it and Psalm’s arm, zooming back into the parchment.

Willie and Pepper let out a little squeak and clack of bones as they hop around excited below the two. Suddenly they hear a splashing sound as they watch two halves of a single octopus emerges from the ground, from either side of where Psalm holds the dagger. As gargantuan as its friend the whale, its two halves drift slowly upwards. They expect to see gore and viscera on the inside of where its bisected but instead simply see a flat surface of hard white, like bone. The various hundreds of tentacles of the octopus move as it swims idly through the air as they see text appear once more.

"Hooray! You summoned Hresturn'Tantala ! You're getting good!"

Keva: keva watches this halved octopus make its away around them like the previous creatures. "i know, i just-- i just want to understand, is all. all of this is..." she gestures vaguely but referring to all the recent experiences she and orin have had "it's all been a bit much, compared to... i don't know. you know what, never mind. what's this guy's name again?" Psalm: He crosses his arms. "That's....fair. Sorry, my response was a bit.. I don't know enough to help you. And that in itself is." He pauses. "Frustrating." Psalm recoils a bit at the serpent as it reaches for the knife. at the octopus he says "Hmmm I'm not sure I'm a fan of this one. It's Hresturn'Tantala. Whatever that is." Keva: keva waves a hand to brush off his apology. "don't like octopuses?" Psalm: "I think I'd be less disturbed if it wasn't cut in half like that." Keva: keva snorts "also fair. though i'd expect the insides to look worse" Psalm: "They should. They would for a normal octopus at least."

Psalm and Keva mess with the Necromancy Book PART 2 - 20/8

Keva: keva's gaze gets caught on a tentacle as it floats by just inches from her nose. "how many more of these are there?" Psalm: Psalm flips back through the book, counting aloud to himself. "Seems like one more. A shame. I was having fun." Keva: "were you?" her brows lift and he can hear a bit of a laugh of disbelief in her voice. she leans back on her hands as she lightly teases, "can hardly tell with you. ever tried your hand at (dnd equivalent of poker)? i mean, without cheating dangerous people." Psalm: "Yes, I was." He crosses his arms, mock offended. "I have a few times when I had nothing better to pass the time. Less fun without my life on the line though." He gives her a wry smile. Keva: keva snorts "you must be having a lot of fun then, with all this madness" referring to the multiple times they have nearly died in the short time they've been together. she points her chin out at the book "let's hope this last one will be a big finish" Psalm: Psalm ruminates on that a bit, suddenly serious. Is he having fun? There are times like that surely, but they're interspersed with a lot of shit he really would rather not be doing. It seems nothing has really changed from before he left home, but oh well. He flips to the last page, "Hopefully not too big, I think the whale from before was already enough. Says this last one requires the summoning of the previous four to work, then all we need to do is chant."

Keva: keva blinks, picking up on his slight change in expression. funny how it gotten a little easier reading the minute differences since sharing a room with him. "oh, okay" she looks down at their work so far for a brief pause before saying cautiously, "did i say something i shouldn't have?" Psalm: Psalm looks at her, mildly confused. "No, What makes you say that?" Keva: "i don't know, you just... got really serious all of a sudden" and jokingly flashes a mimicry of his face just then "something on your mind?" Psalm: "Oh." Weirdly enough, her concern makes him feel kind of embarrassed. He fiddles with his bangs a bit. "Not really, I was just getting moody thinking about how rough we've had it recently. Not your fault." Ghester: ghester hums a little in your heads after psalm speaks "at least this ride has been a bit of well earned respite for the time being for yourselves" Psalm: GHESTER DOESN'T KNOW HE DOESN'T KNOWWWW)

Keva: "it has, actually. didn't think being bored could feel like a luxury" she peers over the edge of the book, not that she could read any of it. "do we just repeat everything from the top to summon all of them? they went away every time we summoned a new one" Psalm: "I doubt it'll last very long, knowing us..." He frowns at the chant. "I think its all of the previous ones plus extra on the end." Are they even going to be able to say all this? It's way too long. Keva: "do we have to redo all the drawing stuff tho? we can reuse this stuff right?" she picks a downy feather out from the cut they already made Psalm: "I think we can leave it as is. There's no mention of it so..." Psalm attempts the chant and immediately bites his tongue. Keva: keva laughs "are you okay?" Psalm: "[SETETH] " <-- this but as a facial expression, he attempts again, carefully sounding it out. Keva: keva follows along with a slight delay, doing her best to keep up

As the two of finish speaking out the incantation, the various spread out sigils on the papers light up for a final time. The floating bisected octopus floats over, split on either side of them before it sinks back into the ground below. As Pepper and Willie roll around in another elaborate little display of dance they hear the sounds of various sea creatures echo around them, squeaks and squeals, bubbling and sharp cries before a a dull and heavy sound echoes around the room.

It reminds the two strangely of something sparking or zapping. Eventually from the papers floats up the image of a gigantic jellyfish, close in size to the whale from before. It's boxy in shape but as it floats up it reveals thousands of small tendrils and stingers coming out from below it. As they stare closer at them they notice small creatures caught up in the stingers, other marine life, fish and eels and all the rest, dead and in various states of decay being dragged along with it. It floats up towards the ceiling before it settles in the air between the two, doing little loops in a slow and drawn out matter. As they glance back down theysee the same childish scrawl from before appear in the air.

"congratulations, you summoned The Great Manak Warunza, the great arbiter of the old ones!"

Psalm: Psalm looks at it for a little while before going, "I'm a little disturbed." Keva: the awe and wonder morphs into disgust when keva catches sight of the decomposing animals in between the tendrils "not the fanfare i was expecting, but i guess that's on me. what's up with this guy, ghester?" Psalm: "I suppose most children's sense of curiousity runs out before they get to this one." Ghester: a little pleased that keva's asked for his input again he responds in a showier manner than usual "That, my dear, is probably the most well known of our great sea denizens. it's said the grand jellyfish looks over all matters of the sea, if you don't believe kord does in any case, maybe they jointly rule?" he chuckles under his breath "it's said that if you die beneath the oceans surface your body is grasped up into its stinging tendrils to drift forevermore beneath the waves, under its control beyond death..." Psalm: "That sounds terrible," Psalm says, flatly. Ghester: "hah, i'll do my best to insure you don't pass to the great beyond while over the sea then. we wouldn't want manak to come knocking for you" Psalm: "Death on land would be preferable, yes." Ghester: "anything for my kind host" Keva: "eugh" as the other two banter she thinks of how she nearly fell overboard into the sea just earlier during this trip... on second thought, maybe it hasn't been that peaceful "what does 'under its control' mean, like... you're a puppet or something?" Ghester: "mmm... you do its bidding, never leave its side, whatever it wants im sure. i remember a few scary stories about manak acting as judger of actions on the sea, and when you commit some great wrong it's undead minions will come up from the water to drag you below to repent" Keva:

Keva: keva can only conclude that the ocean is scary Psalm: "Kind of like us and the patron in a way." /s Ghester: he laughs at that "i suppose you have become a dealer of justice as of late..." Keva: "unwillingly--he never wants to get involved" Ghester: "hmmm... even more fitting..." Keva: "well? is your patron a giant jellyfish?": Psalm: "I'm glad you understand. As for the patron, they're more like a large formless mass of black smoke with eyes. Very imposing." Keva: something in keva's brain clicks. "is that what all that smoke you cough up is about?" Psalm: "Yeah, fun side effect that. Not that I really know why it happens. Or who else has seen it so-" he makes a shh gesture Keva: "hmm" she leans forward "what are you going to give me to buy my silence?" Psalm: He smiles at her. "You're funny." Pretending to think, he says, "Maybe I can ask Cimmorro what you like, since the two of you seem to be closer recently?" Keva: she chokes on nothing in particular. oh gods, what has he seen? she's a poor actor, but she tries to look confused anyway. squinting her eyes, she asks, "what are you talking about?" Psalm: He just blinks at her, "I'll be honest I wasn't expecting that severe a reaction from you, since I was just bluffing anyways. You did kick me out yesterday though, or did that slip your mind." Her (failed) attempt at being secretive is amusing though, so he figures why not keep pretending. He pauses, then lets a look of realisation slowly cross his face. "You two aren't actually..." Keva: keva has just enough self-control to yank the dagger out of the pillow before pitching it into his face, breaking the summoning circles and sending down exploding out everywhere Psalm: "HEY, WH-" he starts as it smacks him square in the face. Quite forcefully too, he actually stumbles over a bit before catching himself. There are feathers in his mouth.

With a blip the jellyfish dissapears as the lights quickly die out, Willie and Pepper alongside it.

Ghester: he lets out a surprised murmur "ooh, great form, a shame about old manak..." Psalm: Spitting feathers out of his mouth, Psalm goes, "I'm sure he won't mind too much." Keva: with an irritated twitch of her brow, keva doesn't let up and draws close, jabbing a finger on psalm's chest "don't get any funny ideas" she sinks back into a sit before saying with less bite "he's just helping me with something, that's all." she's kind of pouting bc she was messing around but got messed with instead. after a bit of glaring and calming down she crosses her arms and sighs in defeat "fine, you got me. was hoping to get something useful" she mutters the last bit Psalm: He raises his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine , I was messing with you but I went too far. I'm sure if you were involved in any way it'd be more obvious anyways, I mean look at how much he flirts with Vinny :plumface:." He starts laughing though, in a kind of obnoxious way. "It was a good attempt. Better luck next time." Keva: she pinches her face a bit at him, but it doesn't last. as stoic as he is, it's kind of nice to hear him laugh. she'll throw herself into the sea for the giant jellyfish before she tells him that though. "oh so now you're having fun, huh?" a small laugh of her own bubbles up a bit "asshole" she starts to gather the parchment paper up "you're cleaning the feathers on your own" Psalm: "I said I was having fun from the start :psalmface:." He sighs. "If that's what you want..." Admittedly he's curious about what Keva needs help with, but since she seems to want to keep it a secret he doesn't push it. Keva: she notices something when she looks up, reaches over, and picks a piece of fluff out from his bangs "it is" before blowing it into his face Psalm: He lets it bounce off, deadpan as always. "It just occurred to me that this is my pillow...." is he going to have to get a replacement...

Keva’s Second Follow Up Lesson - 27/4

Leaving their room for a bit to read on the deck, Keva gives it a few moments after Psalm closes the door before she squats onto the floor and lifts up her mattress.

She pulls out her completed worksheets, folds them up haphazardly into easy-to-hide sizes, and shoves them into a pocket. She hasn't been able to have a proper lesson in a few days, partially because there aren't too many windows of time they can study privately, and partially because... well, she's long figured out she's difficult. Things have been awkward with Cimmorro, not for his lack of trying to smooth things out more, she recognizes. Yesterday, finishing the last bit of her assigned work, she finally came around to trying, too.

Not that she feels any less nervous as she approaches his room. she bites at her thumbnail a bit as she arrives, and then wills herself to knock.

Cimmorro: cimm was on his way back to their room after letting jasper have some morning stretches when they both find a familiar face lingering at the front of their door. "keva...? is there a problem?" finding himself surprised, he could only assume there's a pressing reason why she's here after she's been putting some distance between them recently, despite his efforts. not like he could blame her too much for it though, he still feels bad for what he said. Keva: lost in her thoughts, she startles a bit when she hears him call her name. she glances at the door she just knocked on before looking back at him, "no, i--no. i just, i'm done with... you know." she fishes out her folded papers from her bag, brushes off crumbs from the bread she's stuffed in there from breakfast, and hands them over. it takes her a moment to get out her next sentence, but she manages, "...are you busy right now?" as she points covertly to her room. Cimmorro: "oh," he takes her papers and skims through them quickly, aware they're in the middle of the hall. as fast as it was, his expression seems pleased at all the work she's got done. but before he could comment on it, he looks up at her question/invitation. after glancing at her door once, he replies, "mmm, I'm not right now, nope." he folds her work again and stacks them securely as a handful as he patiently watches her, as if letting her take this where she wants it to go. Keva: she chews on her thumb as she makes her way back to her room. she hasn’t really figured out a way to not make this… weird or out of the blue. she hasn’t had to put effort into getting along with someone new in so long, and she was never good at it in the first place, but she just… she doesn’t want to let this chance slip away. not when she already has once.when she arrives to her and psalm’s room, she kneels by her bed and reaches for something underneath. “psalm will be out for a while. said something about getting some sun.” Cimmorro: "ah, didn't take him for a sunbather. maybe we could slip in a couple of studies then," he pauses with his eyes trained on her. he realizes he doesn't actually know why she invited him over. "if, that's what this is anyhow." Keva: she pulls out a few sheets of parchment leftover from her practice first--"we can"--and then pulls out the colorful children's book she had asked to borrow from psalm last night. "i just..." she keeps her eyes trained on the floor as she speaks "i wanted to show you something." Cimmorro: he watches her curiously and at the glimpse of the book, his eyes glint in amused surprise. "oh, what's that? you've been reading?" the tone in his words sound pleased. he tries to discern what the title is while it's still in her hands, at the very least it's certainly vibrant... something about that makes him think it's kind of cute in a childlike way, the idea that keva would be enticed by a colorful cover. Keva: she sits properly on the floor as she arranges the papers together to form a larger rectangle, as she remembers doing a few days ago. "it's psalm's--some sort of guide to necromancy but for kids" slight amusement can be heard in her voice as she explains, still thinking it funny that someone thought to make a book like this. she juts her chin out at the space across from her, on the other side of the paper, while she gets her quill and inkwell. she pauses a moment when a thought occurs to her, "oh, but it's not like... bringing people back from the dead or anything." Cimmorro: at her initial explanation, his face of amusement turns into something that practically spells out 'h-huh?!'' across his face. but at her follow up detail, he seems to go back to being lax, letting out a relieved breath before sitting across from her. necromancy can be pretty broad, but it's difficult to not have the undead's wake as the first thing in his mind after all that they get up to recently. "i was about to comment how you two seem to have not gotten enough of our cultist endeavors to be partaking in raising the dead," he snorts and continues watching her. "what are you doing now?" Keva: "you'll see" she opens the book and flips through the pages until she finds the first symbol she needs to draw. picking up her quill, she doesn't need to think about how to hold it anymore as she copies it without much issue (i rolled a 21 sleight of hand lol). "um... there was something else... oh" she pushes the open book towards cimmorro. "there's a chant we have to say somewhere" cimmorro can get a better look at the goofy drawings of a whale-headed man and a blue-robed skeleton and the contrasting wildly realistic paintings of the ocean and animals down deep

Cimmorro: a smile tugs at one side of his face when he sees her carry her quill with what is almost like finesse. he looks up at her as she mentions a chant, then taking the book with a surprised laugh that's mostly like a gasp. he's never heard of this book in particular before, but it's nostalgic as he remembers how his mother used to bring him similar things whenever she came back from a trip. after scanning through it, he eventually finds the chant which is really just mostly nonsense, but also almost like a tongue twister in a way. definitely for kids and starters. he supposes it's to help them get used to reading and reciting more complex arcane incantations. "says we have to do it together, so, follow my lead?" Keva: she eyes him as he takes in the book for the first time, not showing her satisfaction that he likes it as much as she thought he would, and then nods in agreement Cimmorro: cimmorro begins to read it out loud, giving her space to follow in between a few words. Keva: the symbol glows blue, and soon enough the whale man willie pops out of the floor and does a flip while the bones clatter down from the ceiling and form pepper. they start to do their little dance and job on the parchment. "ghester named them willie and pepper," keva says with a small smile. Cimmorro: he watches the initial display almost in a trance, mouth open in surprise but smiling nonetheless. when keva mentions their names, he looks up at her. "aw, congratulations to ghester...! they got his beautiful eyes," he jests. before he could even let the joke sink in, the whale makes itself apparent in front of them, making him flinch and lean back in shock, jasper puffing up in surprise and scampering behind him. soon enough the spooked feeling fades away as they realize it's all a harmless show, and once again watches it all in awe. the timing couldn't have been better when they all started warping as he mindlessly tried to poke a fish floating by, to which his eyes grow wide and finds himself smiling somewhat horrified and amused at the same time. with a hand over his mouth, he laughs. "hmm, interesting. but not something id give my 5 year old if i wanted a peaceful night's rest." Keva: “don’t you think it’s weird someone thought this would be a great book for kids?” she snorts as she rips off a piece of bread from inside her bag. she places it in the center of the original symbol before gesturing for the book back. Cimmorro: "you'd be surprised to know that there's a book out there for everyone. i, for one, would've enjoyed this." he takes a moment to hand the book back to her. "i had a few things like this before, but my favorite was a small arcane orb that would project stars in a room. it played a small tune too," he shares as he goes back to watching the creatures above them. Keva: keva flips the pages again until she finds the next symbol she needs, though she looks up at one point so say, “why not just…look at the actual stars?” she starts to draw the larger symbol around the first. Cimmorro: "well, our tower doesn't really have any big windows, at least on the higher floors. it's to keep the archives safe from being damaged by the weather," he leans forward a bit to watch her write before continuing. "so if i wanted to see stars late at night, I'd have to go down, what, 20 stories, with my tiny little legs. I'm not allowed outside that late anyway... plus it's often cloudy at night." Keva: huh. she’s always imagined the top of the jasidian towers had the best view of the night sky, even imagined sneaking up one just to see it. it’d be a safer climb than some of the the steep faces of the hills in her home city. well…there goes that fantasy. she hmms as she finishes the symbol. “does that mean you had to climb 20 stories just to go to bed?” she says with a little bit of a laugh. Cimmorro: he rolls his eyes lightheartedly. "if i come from outside then yes, but sometimes i also just hang out at the archives, which is closer to the sleeping quarters. or i'd just fall asleep in my parents' offices..." he idly taps a finger on the floor while staring at nothing in particular then snorts after a pause. "my ma used to joke she hired kavach just so i could be carried up and down the tower because i'd just be crying 10 steps in otherwise." Keva: “sounds like fun” just as she says that, the ink on the parchment flashes blue again

Keva: as binky starts to swim around them, keva watches for cimmorro’s reaction instead Cimmorro: at each display, cimm marvels at them in a similar way as a kid would in an aquarium. he watches them with his tail wagging behind him, pointing out stuff here and there in all smiles. "you've never seen these things before, right? this one seems like a sort of whale. they're humongous, this size is nothing in comparison... one might even be as big as this airship itself." he tilts his head trying to read the writing. "it says this one's name is Rraud'KunBinkur." Keva: a small smile appears as keva listens to cimm point and explain. his enthusiasm is infectious. she doesn’t say anything for a bit, but as they settle into a silence while cimmorro admires the show, she inhales and says quietly, “listen…i’m not sorry for trying to pay you back for helping me. i’ve just learned the hard way if i have to ask for help, the sooner i can make things square, the better. but… i am sorry that…i made you upset.” she stares down at her parchment and fidgets with her quill, pausing for a moment before continuing “i still don’t really get it, and i know i’m difficult but… i don’t want to fuck this up, so… sorry” Cimmorro: cimm goes from watching binky to slowly looking down to stare at keva as she speaks, slightly surprised at the change in tone but never interrupting her. he patiently and carefully considers her words as she goes and, at some point of it all, he finds himself smiling at her. after a small window of silence, he softy says, "it's okay..." starting to feel a bit shy and guilty again, he keeps his eyes on the floor and shrugs sheepishly "uh, i was pretty pushy too so... and i wouldn't really call you difficult per se, especially knowing what you've been through... listen, i--" his words get caught in his throat when he attempts to look up at her again, only to be met with binky right in front of his face instead, staring at him as it swims by which makes him struggle to keep a laugh down. Keva: hearing cimmorro get cut off, keva looks up from smoothing down the fibers of her quill, only to narrowly dodge what would be a slap from binky’s tail. she has to catch herself with a hand placed behind her as she leans back almost too quickly, and she breathes out a laugh. “i guess ancient creatures of the deep wouldn’t know about personal space.” Cimmorro: "you think it likes me?" he jokes, still watching binky seemingly circle around him. Keva: “i think it likes the shiny things in your hair” she snickers. Cimmorro: "ah," he smiles defeatedly. "just like most people i come across, it seems. always the jewelry, never the man himself" with both hands he cups his face to add to the theatrics and sighs wistfully. Keva: "can't blame 'em. anyone down on their luck would think they hit the jackpot, seeing all that you're wearing on you,"

Keva: keva pushes herself back upright. "why do jasidians wear so much jewelry anyway?" she thinks back to all the excited whispers amongst those like her whenever the jasidians from the temple were in town. not many people actually dared to steal from them, being servants of the goddess of death, but it was fun dreaming about all the things they could have if they could snatch just one ruby. Cimmorro: "i'm a treasure in more ways that one, not just my jewels, thank you very much." he snorts and smirks, leaning on an arm and opts to sit more sideways. at her question, he hums idly. "it's mainly her formal clergy that wears this much, really. it's part of our uniform. the more jewelry, the higher the position they hold in the church. we must look like suitable representatives of her teachings after all." Keva: keva rolls her eyes at cimmorro's self-flattery. "does that mean you're pretty up there in rank then?" she starts to thumb through the children's book again, but then remembers the steps for the next summon and opts to close the book instead. no more of that! Cimmorro: "mmm, yeah sorta," he tries to explain the hierarchy to her by emulating the tiers in mid air with his hand gesturing to each level. "so, there's the entire church, right? the grand leader is who we call the ruby, the high mother. below her are the mothers and fathers," he pauses for a bit, trying to think of how to explain it to her a little more plainly. "so they're like, monarchy who oversee the land, the land being the entire clergy in this sense. then each temple across portcus has their own leaders managing them as well... kind of like mayors and their cities. now, the hierarchy within each temple has the high priest and high priestess as their leaders, and the one right under them are the priests and priestesses, which is where i'm at. then below that theres 2 more, the sisters and brothers, then the acolytes. of course, not counting the casual followers." Keva: she was not expecting to learn about the jasidian hierarchy, but keva’s grateful cimmorro’s distracted as she discreetly inches the book back under her bed. “busy climbing the ladder then, are you? you don’t strike me as someone power hungry,” she jokes. maybe attention hungry though, she thinks, and that’s not a joke. she focuses her gaze on binky as it glides around room making its lonely-sounding calls. Cimmorro: he shrugs to one side while casually watching binky. "mm, I'm not all that interested, no. i mean, it's an honor for sure but... I'm content with my place in the church." recalling where she's from, he looks back at her he goes, "have you ever visited a jasidan temple yourself?" Keva: she sort of laughs out a "no," in a way that suggests she would never choose to, but catches herself and neutralizes her tone. "sorry, no." she rubs her arm a bit as she continues, "i've seen one though, in the distance. hard to miss. sometimes the clergy comes through and gets all the pickpocketers in a tizzy." Cimmorro: he gives her a pensive smile, one that tells he expected as much. not a lot of people find their temple as a tourist spot, even the locals can be wary. half of the time, people who don't practice or follow wee jas' teachings only come if they require their services. he looks away from her, still in thought. at the comment about the pickpocketers, he says "yeah, i bet." Keva: aaah fuck. leave it to her to fuck up saying sorry. uhhh think think think “she’s quite popular where i’m from though. wee jas, i mean.” a pause “i didn’t mean any disrespect. i know jasidians aren’t as... scary as some people say they are. i just… don’t get it.”

Cimmorro: he blinks at her, not expecting her to explain herself like that. he didn't really take any offense from it, but he guesses that's how she took it, when it mostly just reminded him of their place in the world, currently. "don't worry about it," he waves a hand dismissively. "i'm aware i wouldn't be sitting in the same room with you like this if you really thought that way." he looks up to observe binky again. Keva: her shoulders seem to slouch a bit in relief. she thought she might as well quit now if they were just going to accidentally piss each other off all the time. but if he's not upset with her then... "what was that look for then?" Cimmorro: he gives her tiny smile and a slow shake of his head. "nothing, i just remembered something. hey," he sits up straight and leans over. "is this all there is in the book? i thought there were a few more pages... maybe there'd be some fun trivia about this guy!" Keva: keva searches his face for what he wasn't telling her, but can't follow her train of thought when he brings up the book. she starts to sweat a bit. "uh--well, there's not. trivia, i mean." Cimmorro: "haa?" tilting his head confused, he adds "then what's the rest of it for?" he tries to look for it where he last remembers it was earlier but realizes it isn't there anymore. "where'd you put it?" Keva: "uh, nothing much" she looks askance, not meeting his eyes but instead meets jasper's. oh gods, she forgot about jasper. what if she saw? she probably saw. "hey jasper, want some treats?" trying to give her a meaningful look as if to say 'this is a bribe' Cimmorro: cimm finds her behavior strange, especially when she suddenly addresses jasper like that. he stares between the two of them trying to understand what's going on. "jasper...?" he calls to her, like a parent trying to get their child to talk. jasper looks frantic as she turns her head between him and keva, clearly conflicted. on one hand, that's her papa. on the other, treats... can anyone blame her? even with her intelligence, she is still an animal at heart.

Keva: without breaking eye contact with jasper, keva blindly pats around for her bag. "yeah? you want treats?" when her fingers finally find leather, she wastes no time digging into it and feeling around for the familiar shape of the jar. "it's been a while, hasn't it?" she takes on a slight doting tone she only uses with amos when they're alone. she does a fake soft gasp as she finds it, pops the lid open, and shows jasper what's inside. "we can't let amos eat it all himself" (there's a squeak squeeak! 🥺 over on her bed) Cimmorro: jasper watches keva do that and moves to take a step towards her as if hypnotized, until she freezes in place when she briefly remembers cimm is right behind her. she slowly turns to look at him with the most apologetic 🥺 he's ever seen her do before she hurries over to keva's offer, as if going faster would make him hurt less. he sits there in complete shock, mouth open, eyes wide. dumbfounded. she's never done this before. "e-excuse me, young lady?!" he sputters as jasper pokes her head into the jar. he makes excessive movement of his hands in the air, trying to find words to express himself "what's happening right now?!" Keva: a victorious smile on her face, keva gently scoops jasper up with one arm, pulling her away from the jar briefly "oh no no, we wouldn't want you to get a stomach ache." with her free hand she dips her finger into the jar for a moderate amount and holds it up for jasper to lick "there you go. good girl." Cimmorro: "HELLO?" cimm scoffs in disbelief as they continue to ignore him. at this point he's forgotten all about the book thanks to the sound of his heart breaking into pieces as he watches this unfold. "so, I'm just expendable to you then? and you!" he points at keva accusingly. "you... you temptress! explain yourself!" Keva: there's a strange sense of pride that comes over keva watching cimmorro become so flustered. her lips wobble a bit as he jabs a finger at her. she can't help herself. she holds jasper, who is still trying to lick away, up to the side of her face while she blinks innocently "what do you mean?" Cimmorro: "you're teaching her to misbehave!!" he bristles. "jasper! come back here!" she only looks up at him like 🥺 again but doesn't stop licking even so Keva: "i don't know what you're on about" she feigns ignorance a bit exaggeratedly. she angles her head so she can get a better look at jasper's ever adorable face "she's a perfect little angel, aren't you?" she shakes her gently a bit as she asks that. as this is happening, amos has been gradually making his way over to the still open jar, scuttling in spurts. Cimmorro: he claws at his face as jasper finishes her helping with a satisfied lick around her teeth. slurp slurp. truthfully, he knows jasper wouldn't disobey him like she's doing right now if not for the fact that she's taken a liking to keva already... but it still grinds his gears. with a hand still over his face, he lectures the both of them. "you need to be careful with that, as pretty as she is, she's a trained watcher! what are we going to do if thieves can just bribe her like that!" he says with a bit of growl in his voice. "furthermore--- NOT NOW BINKY" he waves binky away from his face as it started to drift between them again. at that moment he notices amos making a move and he points. "your mouse is going to end up with a sugar overdose if you don't stop him now" Keva: "sounds to me like i'm not the only one you'll be giving lessons to, because" and keva jiggles one of jasper's paws with every word she says next "a thief-just-did-bribe-her-like-that" when cimmorro shouts, keva fully laughs, perhaps her first unstrained laugh since she last spoke with orin. it's cut short with cimmorro's warning though, and she snaps around to see amos now gunning it for the treat jar. "amos, you little sneak!" she snatches him up, his little claws straining to reach the lip of the container as he's lifted away mere centimeters from his goal. there is nothing but amusement in her face and voice. "you'll get your fair share, don't worry" amos only squeaks in response, hanging in defeat

Cimmorro: when keva's attention shifts to amos' mischief, jasper hops off and trots carefully in front of cimm who has both of his hands to his hips and frowning at her. "young lady, what do you have to say for yourself?" jasper replies a very soft and guilty meow before hopping onto his lap and rubbing herself against his middle, her way of apologizing. he relents with a sigh, clearly unable to stay upset with her and strokes her fur. "you and i are going to have a looooong talk." he looks up at keva and amos, the display funny enough to make him snort. "he learns from the best, doesn't he?" Keva: keva's already letting amos eat off her pinky finger by the time cimmorro addresses her. "nah, he was already quite the thief when i caught him running off with food i had just stolen," she chuckles a bit at the memory. Cimmorro: he snickers a little. "and what a duo you two have become." after watching the both of them he looks up at binky still floating around. "does this just eventually run out or..." Keva: "i don't know, actually... my guess if we break the symbol it'll just disappear" pointing at the parchments with her chin Cimmorro: "ah, that makes sense," he nods, looking somewhat impressed. "smart guess." growing quiet for another moment watching binky, it sinks in to him how thoughtful it was of her to share this with him in the first place. this entire time he's known her, she hasn't been one to initiate such a thing unless she needs him for something. so it does take him by pleasant surprise that she's doing so now. he looks down to face her again with a smile. "how about i teach you how to write amos' and jasper's names today? then i'll let you have a smoke break as thanks for showing me 'binkur," he jokingly grins. "we didn't get to have one the other day." Keva: as silence falls over them, keva sets amos back on her bed and moves to tuck her now closed treat jar away. her hand freezes in her bag for a moment as she glances up at cimmorro in surprise. a blink, a small smile, and a small nod. "what should we do about binkur in the meantime?" Cimmorro: "well, unless you don't like working with an audience, i don't mind keeping it around... though the wailing will probably start to be grating at some point," he laughs Keva: "ah, right" she snorts a bit and pulls apart the parchments [insert chip's lovely desc of what happens when the summoning circle is broken lol] "i do feel a bit bad, he sounds so lonely" she muses as she pulls out her writing tools. Cimmorro: "they do tend to sound like that. ah, reminds me of this one whale that sings differently," he starts to go on about it while scooting over to her bed. "so she's always kind of ignored by the others cause they can't recognize her mating call." Keva: she also makes her way to her bed, opening her notebook to the next free page. a few more have been filled in since cimmorro last saw it. she keeps her eyes on her notebook, but he can tell she's a bit bothered by what he's told her. "that's really shitty" she sort of laughs humorlessly. "is she okay?"

Inside the journal Keva has her practice scrawled on the pages as given to her by Cimmorro, there are also little doodles of willie and pepper scrawled around the page as she grew bored.

Cimmorro: he notices the work she put into journal since the last time he saw it. "oh! may i?" asking for her notebook so he could look through her penmanship properly. "also, no one really knows! no one's seen her yet. there's still so much about the ocean undiscovered, this is one of them." Keva: her gut reaction is to pull the book a bit away from him, but a second later, she relents and pushes it more towards him. she opts not to watch him look through it though and thinks of this poor whale instead. she has to let him see so he can teach her, but that doesn't mean she has to like it. though it's only been a few days, her letters aren't so large and inconsistently spaced out anymore. it looks more like a lazy school child's work more than a toddler just starting schooling now. in one corner there's a crude drawing of the characters from the children's book, which were already crudely drawn in the first place. Cimmorro: "but doesn't it sound tragically romantic?" he looks up dreamily while sliding the book towards him. "migrating from one region to another, waiting for a lover to hear her call." when he finally looks down to study her work, he looks and sounds nothing less than impressed. "w-wow! you're quick and it's just been a few days... at this rate you'll learn how to write before we even get to antessa... assuming we don't bump into trouble so often." he flips over the pages and pointing out the improvement as he goes, until he finds the drawings which earns a surprised and somewhat gleeful noise from him. Keva: keva especially makes an effort to not look in his direction while he praises her, feeling a bit embarrassed. that's only the beginning of it though, because when she turns to see what could have possibly gotten that reaction out of him, she immediately starts to blush and tries to snatch her notebook back Cimmorro: keva swiftly swipes the book away from him, so fast that it still leaves him in the static position of how he was once holding it for a second or two. "....?" he takes another split second to realize what just happened and shouts, "what the hell!" his head shooting up to stare at her with wide eyes. Keva: she quickly flips to a different page and places her hand, quill tightly gripped, over it such that he would not be able to take the book or change the page. she stubbornly refuses to look at him, though as a result he can see the pink of the tips of her ears through her hair. she grumbles, “you weren’t supposed to see that” well, more like she forgot she drew those things in the moment… but still…! Cimmorro: "i wasn't even going to make fun of it!" he protests. why's she being so embarrassed about it, she's already seen his drawings too! "it's actually a good thing, the drawing. it can be useful when you find something you don't know the name of yet, like the symbols you drew earlier for 'binkur." Keva: squinting her eyes, she turns to him in confusion, "when would i need to do that?" Cimmorro: "i just pointed out an example. you could also draw labels for things. you asked me to help you with medicine, didn't you? you can mark which ones are poisonous and which aren't by simple symbols... stuff like that! also, they're just fun to do," he says as he pulls out his new spellbook from his bag and flips to a random page to show her. there she sees, among dense arcane formulas and his absurd handwriting, small drawings residing that depict what the spell does. at first page of it, there's also a cartoonish drawing of jasper with a wizard hat. Keva: honestly, she had forgotten she had asked him about medicine since it had been a while. weird that he even remembers. even weirder that his writing in his book looks nothing like his writing in hers. he must be making the effort to write more clearly for the sake of her lessons... she eases a bit, and simply says a noncommital "i guess." Cimmorro: he blows his fringe out of his eyes as a way to pout. "cmon, give it back i have to show you amos' and jasper's names. also i'll draw 'binkur" he opens his palm out to her Keva: she twists her mouth in hesitation and suspicion, but says, "don't try to go back to the other pages or i'll twist your fingers" before sliding her book back over. Cimmorro: his eyes go wide at the threat, less about being scared and more surprised she's being so abrasive about it. "wh- but, how am i supposed to give you my assessment of those then?!" Keva: "you can just check the worksheets! my writing looks just as shitty in here as it does in there!" Cimmorro: he shakes his head, finding it unbelievable how ridiculous she's being. "what do you even have left to hide, i already saw it! okay- you know what, fine-" he pinches the bridge of his nose while sighing. "we'll talk about that some other time lest psalm comes back here with us like this..." he starts to write jasper and amos' names, which pretty much has the letters she's learned to write so far, while mumbling about how they're going to look like an old couple arguing if psalm finds them.

Keva: keva leans over from the side as she watches him write, thinking to herself that that's not how she expected amos' name to look. however, her proximity that also means she can hear him talking under his breath. she lightly elbows him in the arm, saying "stop saying that before he actually does show up" Cimmorro: he gives her a little glare when she does that and a huff before finishing the writing. "you can start writing their names next for now, just so you're not always going by worksheets. this way you can practice the spacing between letters too," he says. in the next moment he turns the pages all the way to near the end, writing something on the corner which keva can make out her name being involved before he folds the corner into a neat triangle before pushing the journal to her. Keva: "wh-- hey!" she immediately turns to the dog-eared page, squinting at it as if that will suddenly help her read. "what did you write?" Cimmorro: "a treat," he puffs out his chest with a smile. "for when you learn how to read! though you'll probably need a new journal by then, but i'll just put another when the time comes. more stuff to motivate you with" Keva: keva makes a bit of a face at first as she looks back and forth between the page and cimmorro self-satisfied look. what the fuck did he write? she can't even ask someone else to read it for her, not even just because it would immediately give her away, but what if he wrote something embarrassing?! all she can really do for right now is huff in resignation and turn back to the page she's supposed to be working on, plopping it back onto her bed. she rests her chin and right arm on the bed, pouting without actually pouting on her face, while she dips her quill into her inkwell with the left, and starts to copy down amos' name first. Cimmorro: he doesn't try to rub it in but he does feel a bit smug that she didn't argue any more than that, his tail swaying amused behind him. the way she's moping is kinda cute, he thinks and helps her with a few attempts of their names before he starts packing up his things too. "i'll leave you to that then. should keep you occupied enough til we land tomorrow, hm?" Keva: "yeah, yeah" she says begrudgingly, in that way when one is forced to agree with something they don't want to agree with. she continues to write a few more letters before pausing, and adding a genuine though still a bit muted, "thanks" as she glances as him get ready to go without moving her chin from its spot. Cimmorro: he gives her a wide smile. as he gets up, he messes the top of her hair and knowing she's going to react strongly to that and he's at high risk of being hit, he rushes to the door with a hurried "see ya!" followed by a laugh as well as a fluffy jasper sprinting behind him. Keva: keva's shoulders rise to her ears as he ruffles her hair, exclaiming an "HEY-- AAAAAhagHH", and almost immediately swipes at him with her arms that just narrowly missing. she's left to lightly seethe for a moment as she stares out the door with her mussed up hair. how's he going to complain about what all this might look like to psalm? what if psalm came back down the hall just now to see cimm leaving their room and seeing her hair like this? the thought is enough to get her hairtie and tie her hair up into a loose bun for now while she works.

Keva moves to kick her door shut, making a point to make it louder than she normally would.

#recaps #life is long babes #this one TO BE UPDATED

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