十 - shí

[getsomesleep]

[The words appear is the quick, delicate scrawl that characterizes Huo's writing when he's distracted. Long moments pass between sentences.]


This is very unusual.


And violent.


I'm reasonably sure that a feather fan can't do that.



Is anyone else in the Wilderness at the moment? I require some assistance.

-- 火

Comments

[of-mindelan.livejournal.com]

No, it doesn't. [She doesn't take a considering-difficult-things pose. Her stance doesn't change at all. Still, after finding her journal in her pack she ventures] But it might. This could be an interpretation of someone from legend or history that was important to you. I don't know.

[When she's at rest, Mindelan writes with a brush and ink. In the field, she puts down map lines with a small compressed-charcoal stick. She uses that now on a canvas scrap that was between the pages of her journal, copying the characters carefully.]

I should wait to put this in ink. It's going to smear off left like this.

[The demo now involves sheets of fire. She raises her eyebrows, a very mild and understated expression.] Have you tried to work it? [She's tried out fighting games, and isn't great at buttonmashing.]

[getsome-sleep.livejournal.com]

[A legend... he considers this, but it doesn't feel right; and though he doesn't let it show, that irritates him. He dislikes having to rely so much on feelings, and for the length of his life in Edensphere, he has been forced to do it left and right.

Watching her copy down the characters, his eyes follow the movement of her hand closely, trying to form a picture in his mind. The task does not seem as though it should be difficult, but he only becomes confused, and the marks on the canvas are still only smeared patches.] Do you by any chance recognize the writing style? [His mind is racing with possibilities to test, to unlock the secret of the words. Read them out loud, code them in numbers, trace them on skin...

Her question causes him to smile sheepishly.] I do not think I'll be very good at it. [He has no idea if that's true, but it's his default answer to such questions.]

[of-mindelan.livejournal.com]

Jump. [Her ugly dog, who'd wandered off to sniff things, comes back and looks expectantly up at her.] Can you remember what a pen or pencil is? [The dog nods, a sharp but weirdly human gesture.] Can you bring one of either to me? [Another nod, and the dog trots off.]

[Mindelan shakes her head.] I recognize the characters, but they're not Common letters, they're kanji in a language I don't understand. I can't sound it out. [She wraps the charcoal stick back in the dirty bit of cloth it had been in before and stows it.] I could say what each character means, but they probably have different meanings in different languages. [Such are the issues with lographic writing. ...And mun has no idea what the meanings would be.]

I don't think it would play like Street Fighter. [Well, she's waiting for Jump anyway. A bit warily, Min touches something on the console, and the Start Menu comes up.]

[getsome-sleep.livejournal.com]

[He watches the dog with some amusement, but it isn't any stranger than everything else around them, really.] That's an intelligent pet you're acquired, [he comments absently, still considering the greater riddle. Kanji, Common - neither of it means anything to him, and he knows enough of how languages work in Edensphere, by now, to know that meanings would be nothing to go by. But another option occurs to him, and not a positive one.[

Please forgive me for imposing so much. [His voice is low when he finally speaks.] But I should appreciate if the copy remained with me. It may be precious information. [And he knows of at least two people who may be able to read it. And one of them is unthinkable.]

You seem to have more experience than me, [he comments as she brings up the menu. His hands brush one of two sets of controls, testing the joystick.] This is... not intuitive.

[of-mindelan.livejournal.com]

He's a friend.

[The dog comes back with something in his axelike jaws. Min steps away from the console, takes it, notices the stickiness and the sweet smell, and shakes her head. It's a stick of candy.] Jump, this is some kind of food. Right shape, wrong matter. I want a pen or a pencil. [Jump's ears flatten against his head, and he trots away again. Min sets the stick on one of the consoles and cleans her hand with some water and a kerchief. Dog saliva, she has no problem with, but sugar is sticky]

I'll give it to you once I've retraced it. As it is, the charcoal will smudge off. [There's no reprimand in her voice. At some point in her life, Mindelan has mastered the art of calmly telling people to be patient.]

I have a little. [She has no idea what the menu is saying and is hitting "A". Fortunately nothing in this Wilderness actually needs coins or tokens. ...and she would pick Pang De (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dynasty_Warriors_characters#Pang_De_.28.E9.BE.90.E5.BE.B3.29), because vaguely medievally.] It's fairly simple. Make the figure move with the stick and do... various things with the other buttons. Sometimes he ignores you, and you have to hit the console.

[...yes, she learned from someone who's not as patient.]

[getsome-sleep.livejournal.com]

Of course. I will wait. [Huo nods, she is right after all. And he is cautious, but he has already decided to trust her, in the very act of revealing the mystery to her in the first place. Even if, speaking frankly, he feels a little bit relieved that she cannot read the unknown words. Their origin might be... unusual, but they are still his. He knows that. Somehow.

He can read the menu, but it means very little to him; instead, he follows her hands on the controls and tests his own until he also gets a response from the machine. The character portraits cause him to stop and stare: bar one or two, he can read none of the names. All of them smudge in the same way, though the faces they accompany are utterly unfamiliar. It's a lapse he cannot and does not attempt to hide. The machine seems to almost be mocking him.

Unwilling to be shaken, he ends up settling on the character that attracted his attention in the first place, the fan-wielding general with his loose hair and cunning eyes.] There is some resemblance, [he mutters again, studying the man's elaborate headgear and the yin-yang on his robes, before glancing at Mindelan.] But what is the purpose of the game?

[of-mindelan.livejournal.com]

[Min gets a hint of his displeasure, but politely pretends that she hasn't seen it.]

The same as any of them, I'd guess. Probably not any kind of training, but amusement. [She has little idea about what she's doing, but it's an arcade game. Things will work out tolerably as long as she doesn't accidentally select "quit".]