Nice and peaceful, Nabias offers a great place to start your journey or stock up on supplies before heading out to brave the rest of the wilderness out there. They also have Barakka's largest hospital facility to treat all sorts of injuries you could get out there. (+2 Precision)

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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/14/2014 10:17 AM

He wasn't even sure if he could take care of himself, which may have been the most horrifying prospect of all. Vision had a great deal of very practical uses, and to lose all of those at once...

He could hear the sound of something shifting, and he squinted at the Senna-shape even though he knew by now that it would be futile. “Hold on,” she said. “I'm looking for something... Aha! Here it is. I have no idea what the prescription on this is. There might not be one. But it's worth a try. Here.” The next thing he knew, something was being jammed onto his face. He blinked again... and to his surprise, the world came back into focus. Well, it came back into focus somewhat. Things were still blurry, especially at a distance, but he could definitely see more than he could before. He wouldn't be able to read anything anytime soon, but he could... walk. And he could tell more or less what Senna's features looked like again, for example.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/14/2014 10:26 AM

“Thank you,” he said. “I have no idea what happened, but this is better.” He adjusted his glasses slightly as he said so, playing with the way they changed his sight.  

“Mmm, we'll have to get your eyes checked out when we get to town,” Senna said with a frown. “You never told me you had vision problems.” She sounded almost accusatory. Beckett did his best to look grave, and drew himself up to his full height when he replied.

“I was not aware that I had vision problems. I never did in the Garden.”

There was a pause, then Senna's face lit up with a realization. “... Ohhhh, right! The no-memory thing would explain that...” She laughed, but it was more like the laugh of Yllis when his scribes were late with their documents. “Yes, um, Beckett... The Garden is a place where we exist purely as our souls. They lack the defects of the body.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/14/2014 10:26 AM

“The Celestials are the same everywhere they go, but us former mortals? We get our bodies back, more or less, when we touch down again. And it seems like last time you had a body, you needed glasses. Probably from squinting at books too much, if you were anything like you are now.” She snickered at her own joke. Beckett rolled his eyes, and wondered whether she suffered from any such newfound defects. It certainly didn't seem that way.

With his vision recovered, however, he could finally look at his surroundings and get his bearings, which he now did. They were on a beach, as he had first suspected, and the sun was high up in the sky, marking the time as midday. The sand around them was of a soft, fine grain. Trees with which he was not familiar grew further up on the shore. Waves lapped gently at the sand. The ocean was a brilliant blue, and stretched out as far as the eye could see. There was not a boat to be found. There was no sign of any humans to be found that Beckett could see.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/14/2014 10:32 AM

“I suspect we are very far from the town you spoke of,” Beckett said. A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth. Natural beauty was all well and good, and in a way it made sense--- Elirian did love places like this. But there were bound to be countless such places in the mortal realm, and it would be incredibly impractical for them to visit them all.

Senna shook her head, however. “Not at all. It's just that nobody knows about this spot, which was why I came here. Watching us materialize out of the sky isn't going to do us any favor with real mortals, Beckett.”

He wondered again why they had bothered to send him at all. Senna could not have gone alone, but he was truly no better than any of the others, given his amnesia of his time as a mortal. Any of them would have done just as well.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/14/2014 10:39 AM

… Except, they wouldn't have. Revel was definitely out of the question. If the fate of the Garden rode on Revel and Senna, they would all surely be doomed. Yllis was unsuitable on account of his nervous disposition. Levana would not have been able to put up with any kind of unpleasant conditions, and heavens forbid her lodgings were unclean. Irael could not be spared, nor could the even-tempered Lanwen. As things stood, Beckett was their best choice, next to Senna herself.

He was an eternal servant of their Lord of Stars, Beckett reminded himself. If his duty led him into the mortal realm, then he would cope with it as best he could. But right now he still felt foolish and thoroughly useless, and it sat uncomfortably on his conscience.

Senna interrupted his thoughts. “Let's get going. The sooner we get you proper glasses, the better, and then we've got to find a place to stay.” She'd already started walking, though Beckett hardly had to strain himself for a few steps to catch up to her. He was frowning again.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/14/2014 10:39 AM

“Should we not immediately begin our search for Lord Elirian?” he asked, unable to keep the disapproving tone from his voice.

Senna sighed in exasperation. “Yes, Beckett, that's why we're here, but you can't search when you can't see, and I highly doubt we'll find him today. Thus, glasses and lodgings.”

“I can see perfectly fine,” Beckett said, but it was a weak protest at best.

“Look, just trust me, alright? I can be the mortal-world guide, and you can do all the official Garden procedural nonsense. How does that sound?” She didn't wait for an answer, and stalked off into the woods. Now Beckett was hard pressed to follow. Across open ground, his longer legs afforded him every advantage in speed. In the foliage, however, her smaller size eased her passage, and Beckett's height actively hampered his own. Many of the paths she chose would not admit him, forcing him to find his own way. He lost track of her several times during the journey, though thankfully never for too long.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:19 AM

Image


It was a quiet day at the office. The fact that it was quiet meant that it was slow; Tor would have been making a ruckus by now if there was anything going on. Morris stood at the door, his hand paused above the handle, then sighed and shook his head. He opened it, walking into the room briskly, and surveyed his surroundings. His mouth drew into a stern line at what he found.

Image


Tor was sitting in his desk, as was proper--- and that was just about all that was proper about it. 'Sit' may even have been too strong a word for what he was doing. His feet were propped up on the desk, his chair leaned back against the wall. Tor was, inconceivable as it might have been, sleeping. There was a newspaper draped over his face, but Morris could hear a stream of quiet snores emanating from beneath.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:19 AM

Admittedly, it wasn't inconceivable, if  Tor was the one in question. It was merely nothing Morris would ever consider doing himself. “Tor,” he said. Tor startled awake, snorting, then breaking into a fit of coughing from having inhaled the newspaper. He sat up straight, and tried his best to look alert. Morris reminded himself that he ought to appreciate the effort.

“Er, welcome to Truman's--- oh. Morris,” Tor said, deflating at once when he recognized his visitor. Morris raised a brow. He could have made some comment, but that sort of thing was beneath him. Tor needed no reminders from him of how badly his business was going. Tor may not have thought so, but Morris was still doing all that he could to be a considerate brother, even though he no longer privately felt that it was worth the effort. Family was family.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:20 AM

“Mother would like to have us over for dinner this weekend. Will you be able to make it?” he said, cutting to the chase. Instead of answering, Tor looked away. Morris waited a while, before sighing again. “I know you don't want to see me; I'm just delivering a message for mother. You can give your answer to her if you like. It'll be at six.” He briefly considered encouraging Tor to show up earlier, since their parents were anxious to see them, but decided against it in the end.

“Yeah,” said Tor, noncommittally. Morris turned and walked out, closing the door behind him. No slamming, no softening of the click, just brisk and business-like as always.

Tor watched him go, then heaved a sigh of his own. He knew that Morris hadn't even done anything, but a lifetime of playing irresponsible second fiddle had made his presence unbearable to Tor long before.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:20 AM

It was his own fault, really, but how were you supposed to measure up to a sober-faced stickler like that? Law school, on full scholarship, just because he wanted their parents to be able to afford to send his goof of a younger brother to college on the off chance he shaped up enough to go. Which, funnily enough, forced Tor's fate in the other direction. How were you supposed to say no, after all that?

But that had always been the question for Tor, when it came to Morris. That was why things were the way they were.

He wished he had some kind of distraction. Most people would turn to their jobs at a time like this, but Tor's job often required some distracting-from of its own. The private-eye deal had been plenty glamorous on paper, but as it turned out, he could only make a living if people actually wanted to hire him.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:20 AM

even that was preferable to this. Having Morris see him like this was the biggest slap in the face imaginable.

The worst part was, his brother never even said anything. By now, Tor figured he'd be ready for it. Nothing could be worse than what Tor read in his eyes anyway. Might as well put that final nail in the coffin and say it out loud.

“You're a real fuck-up, Truman. A real piece of work,” he said, and chuckled. Hey, if he couldn't laugh at himself... Nah, he didn't want to finish that thought. He didn't like where it was going to lead.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:39 AM

“What do you mean, you don't know your prescription?” the woman asked. She sounded irritated, but Beckett couldn't read her expression well enough to make out the nuances of her mood. “You're wearing a pair right now, aren't you?”

“We're, ah, foreign,” Senna supplied. “And those don't exactly fit him. We picked them up at a drug store as a temporary measure.”

“Then what happened to the ones he was wearing before?” the shopkeeper asked. She didn't sound as if she believed them in the least. Senna's story was that they had lost Beckett's real glasses when they ran into an accident at sea, which left them washed up on the beach. Also, they were siblings.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:40 AM

The former was ridiculous, but the latter was probably what did them in. Beckett and Senna looked nothing alike. He was tall, and blond, with sharp features; she was of middling size, with almond eyes and a round face. And, in terms of how long they'd been Senna and Beckett respectively, she was much too old to be claiming that they were siblings... But that was another matter.

Eventually the shopkeeper sighed and said, “Fine, come to the back. We'll do an eye exam, then see about the lenses. In the meantime, you can pick out some frames for him. Goodness knows he can't see well enough to do that himself.” She grabbed Beckett's hand, and he tried not to bristle at the contact. Her grip was surprisingly strong as she all but hauled him into the chair, and pointed his head at a projector screen.
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:40 AM

“Here's the deal, bucko. You cover your left eye. I point, you tell me which way the E is pointing, got it?” Beckett nodded. The first few he managed, but it became apparent very quickly that his vision was atrocious. He switched eyes with no visible difference in results. At least his vision problems were evenly distributed. He could hear the woman muttering, half annoyed and half incredulous.

Next, he was told to look at the projector through an apparatus. “Is that any clearer?” she asked.

“Yes, much moreso,” Beckett replied. She pointed to a few of the letters to test him, pursed her lips, and fiddled with the lenses.

“Is that better or worse than before?” she asked.

“Worse, I think.”
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Re: No News is Good News [Self] [M: L]

Postby crow » 05/17/2014 9:40 AM

She swapped lenses again and asked him the same question. This went on for a while, before the woman was finally satisfied, and scribbled down some last notes on  a slip of paper. By then, Senna had selected the lenses she wanted. It seemed unfair that she would be the one choosing the style of his glasses, but then she had designated herself as official 'wardrobe coordinator' for the remainder of their journey. She would likely use that as an excuse if he raised a protest.

Money exchanged hands, and the shopkeeper brought out the finished pair of glasses out. Senna put them on, and Beckett blinked. The world had fallen into crisp, sharp clarity once more. He was relieved. He was beginning to forget what it felt like to look at anything and not feel a headache coming on.
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