[J] Fugue's Diary +Illusionist: Asahi Kumoru+

[oneironym]

In which Aurrek displays his already-superb child-rearing skill.

Out for a walk.

Plays well with others ...?  

[oneironym]

Immortality means never having to say, "Good night"

Aurrek curled up in bed and closed his eyes. Fatigue was a strange thing for a god like him; sleep never really seemed to help much in terms of restoring energy. For a good long time, he had written it off as simply a quirk of mortals, who never seemed to stop rattling off the many and varied benefits of losing consciousness for periods of time. Aurrek, like many other gods, had found sleeping to be more of a way to pass time. The hourglass deity would sometimes sleep for a week or two at a time, because, really, what else would he do with himself.

Still, it seemed that Aurrek had softened quite a bit to the habits of the mortals in Gaia, sleeping every night and waking up again the next morning. And, like humans, things sometimes kept him awake.

Ordinarily, the chirping of insects outside all night made a nice kind of background noise. Tonight, however, as Aurrek fidgeted under the covers, it seemed almost deafening, even within the walls of his home. Thankfully, Kelreid seemed to be sleeping through it just fine, but Aurrek himself could not fall asleep, even when he stopped breathing and relaxed completely.

After tossing and turning for several more minutes, the hourglass god finally threw off his covers and climbed out of bed. If anything happened at night, then Aurrek would have no need to sleep; since sleeping seemed to be out of the question tonight, he supposed he would have to find something else to do.

With a sigh, Aurrek put on his bathrobe, and headed out without slippers. He picked up Nordri from the crab's small "nest" of shredded paper in a cardboard box on his way out, since he could never really go anywhere alone. Even though he was bonded to the crab through magic he was not even sure about, Aurrek knew the crab's current resting state would not help him at all. It was just sort of a pain, to have to carry the sleeping crab with him.

"Let's just go see what all the bugs find so interesting," the god sighed as he headed out into his small backyard.  

[oneironym]

Immortality means never fully understanding an end

As soon as Aurrek's slippered feet touched the grass in his yard, all of the insects went silent. Silent. It was profound. The hourglass god froze in his tracks for a moment, moving only his eyes as he closed his silver one and glanced around with his unmatched orange one.

Nothing seemed out of place. It was just like any night, really.

And that made it even more unusual.

When he felt like he could move again, Aurrek directed his gaze upwards, and folded his arms over the crab, to hold Nordri against his chest. The stars shone overhead, looking teasingly normal in the deep silence outside; the god slowly began to get a strange feeling, looking at them.

It was not necessarily an emotional response of any kind. Almost a strange sort of humming feeling, deep in his chest, really. Something had happened out there in the black expanses to silence the insects here; in reality, it had occurred somewhere so far away that the light from it would not reach the hourglass god's eyes for thousands, maybe millions of years. But he had no way of knowing that.

Tenatively, somewhere off to Aurrek's left, a bug scraped its wings slowly together, emitting one cautious chirp. Aurrek glanced in its general direction, and then all around at the grass around him as the chorus of insects picked up where it had left off. The tune was the same as before the odd whatever had happened, and so the god figured he would pay it little mind as well.

The bugs had picked up on it before he had, so whatever had been going on must be important to them only.

Aurrek turned to go back inside.  

[oneironym]

Immortality means... finding really weird s**t in your backyard at 2am o.o;

Hanging in the air between Aurrek and his open doorway, the god found a thick, somewhat ill-looking brownish haze.

The god frowned and sighed a little, setting the still-sleeping Nordri down in the grass as he took a step towards the thing. He waved his hand at it a little, to see if it would dissipate. By the color, it looked like it should smell bad, or at least feel humid or something, but Aurrek could discern no difference in temperature between the patch of haze and the surrounding air.

He started to step away from it again so he could fetch Nordri and give sleeping another shot, but as he withdrew his hand, strange images flickered through the god's mind.

Insect eyes...

... moth-eaten drapery embroidered in aged gold thread...

... fragments of rock, drifting through space.

And then the thing started to chirp.

Aurrek blinked, though he could see nothing within the haze through his orange eye. He kept watching it, though, as he bent down to pick up Nordri from the grass. Then he slowly walked around the patch of haze towards his door.

"Excuse me," he muttered to it as he passed, and refused to look at the stuff until he was back in his doorway. Then, keeping a close eye on it, Aurrek started to close his door.

The haze rushed inside as though riding a stiff wind, and in spite of Aurrek's attempt to slam the door in its... face(?), it still got inside.

And chirped.

It was intelligent, apparently friendly enough, and making noise.

"Fine, you can stay, whatever you are," Aurrek told it with a sigh. It was not the strangest houseguest he had ever had.

Maybe he would not get much sleep tonight, especially if the thing was going to keep following him and chirping. Something about it was kind of endearing, though. So it could stay for now.If nothing else, it would give Aurrek a little more time to figure out what had caused those strange flickers of images in his mind.  

[oneironym]

Aurrek

So, I didn't exactly get a kid dropped off on my doorstep or anything, but a few nights ago, this strange swirl of brown fog decided to take up residence in my home. It chirps like a bug for some reason, and whenever I get near it, I can see little flashes of weird images inside. It's obviously at least a little intelligent, since it can follow me around the house. No idea what to make of the thing, though.

It's been hanging around in Kelreid's room for a little while now, for some reason. I watched it carefully for about half an hour, but the fog thing doesn't seem to want to hurt the kid. Fortunately. Can't have anything happen to my next high priest.

The fog thing can't talk or anything, though, so I just have to wait and watch to learn more.

I really wish I was one of those omnicient gods sometimes.

Oh well. I'll just take notes on the thing here. Not like mortals can read what I write anyway.

 

[oneironym]

Aurrek

I have a job now, and it is naturally menial labor, working as a server at a restaurant. It makes me oh so thankful that I don't actually have to eat, because I get very tired of food by the end of the day. But it brings in mortal money; I'd prefer not to deal with it, but Kelreid needs it for his upbringing.

Even though it hasn't done anything outstanding or interesting in the last several weeks, I went out of my way to ask a few of my coworkers if they knew anything about the cloud of fog. Fortunately it hasn't followed me to work, but it has apparently been doing a good job of keeping Kelreid occupied in my absence. Not that I leave the kid alone or anything - part of my paycheck goes to keeping a babysitter around every night of the week. No breaks for single parents, I swear. How do humans live like this?

No one at work knew anything about the fog creature, although plenty of them had stories to offer. Must have been the Halloween spirit around the mortal world, because they all seemed to think that the thing was some sort of angry ghost, or something otherwise unpleasant.

It doesn't even poop like Kelreid or misbehave like Nordri, so in my book, the thing is fine. It can stay in my house.

Just as long as it doesn't turn into a baby or anything.