Open Whittled Tales

[Chodayu]

Lines embedded within walls, towers of wood and concrete housing a number of books that would last a scholar at least three lifetimes. Under the watchful eye of the sun, glimmer is replaced — walls are void of their usual, celestial charm — and, in its stead, dust settles. No matter for even without the help of the night, the museum offers nothing short of a heaven. An irony as, within, lay stories of hell. History tends to repeat. And as one of her late sisters liked to preach: repetition brings madness.

A penchant for the wheels of the world brings Chodayu here.

Long, oil-slicked silk of onyx cascades over her form. When her chin faces the heavens, her hair descends further. An eye travels along the chiseled parts of the wall. Engraved within the canvas is a tale of a boy and his snow partridge friend; carved in a variety of manner to tell their story from times where Chodayu's traditions were more common. More practiced. Like many other tales scattered across the halls of this museum, their story ends on the birth of another. Chodayu's gaze, however, stops just towards the end. Wordlessly, she fixates on the bird — allows time to slip by and waste, and shifts in her position only when the sleeves of her haori come together to cup warmth between pale, slender hands.

She feeds silence to where silence is rich, to where airs remain still from the lack of persons. And yet... are those footsteps she hears?



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[Mizuchi Kayda]

Kayda was of course embarking on a new quest for another rare item. The Quantum Cucumber was only the beginning of her epic scavenger hunts that her fellow monks had her get. Today's artifact of the week was a collection of ancient, intricately carved "talking sticks" believed to communicate with each other in a lost language when placed together in a specific arrangement. Rumor has it that these sticks were hidden around the Torre Celeste by a 100 year old sage who had a prophecy about the dragon awakening. Something that Kayda and her fellow clan mates were interested in discovering given their new strange abilities. Wandering around with a handful of just normal sticks believing one of them had to be a talking stick, Kayda decided to gather all the sticks in the area by sundown…

Her ocean blue eyes scanned the ground, looking for weird looking sticks around. Scrawling with her nose to the ground and picking up sticks with her mouth like a dog playing fetch. The dragon spirit dwelling within her seemingly manifesting itself from her large unicorn-like horn, seemingly annoyed at its host for being so… normal? 'Kayda, buddy.. pal.. friend… totally normal human. Why?' Kayda gave her firey blue dragon spirit who was over her shoulder a blank expression, picking up another stick with her mouth while crawling on the ground with her fish-like dragon's tail wagging like a dog. "Gathering talking sticks! Dunno if any of these are actual talking sticks but don't think I've missed one of all the sticks around here." Kayda went ahead then and used her tongue like a frog to grab a stick. Chomping down on the third stick with enthusiasm before crawling with a fancy trot to see if there are any more around. The dragon spirit following in behind its host seemingly was embarrassed, so embarrassed that it just outright disappeared and decided to rest within Kayda's empty mind because it wasn't really in the mood for this kind of thread.

So with the half-dragon still gathering sticks, she caught a glimpse of an outsider who seemingly was enjoying the silence. Kayda's eyes suddenly changed from normal to reptilian with a weird crushing sort of sound while making a noise that sounded between a purr and a growl before crawling over to Chodayu at a blinding speed, standing up and looking her dead in the eyes. Her ocean blue reptilian eyes sparkling as she chewed on the sticks in her mouth waiting for the outsider to say something first. Eyes getting much larger and more sparkly by the second… starting to water a bit from not blinking…

 

[Chodayu]

Inside this museum exists the number of one + another. Chodayu is introduced to her through thunderous tip-taps; feet of four scampering down the hall only to pause before her person. Eyes of obsidian settle upon those of a glimmering river. Though, not before passing by the horn growing from atop her head, and the scales littering a tail.

The single tilt of a shoulder signals Chodayu's attention.

She begins with a smile; "hello," her voice a shade above a whisper. Looks down to the creature with a flat gaze.

"My, what pretty eyes." Here, tilts her head ever so carefully, letting the weight of her hair fall over her left shoulder. "Might I be of help?"



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