d e v o n
bliss lane
Sade Olutola
hello vonnie
blake kathryn
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Keni
izzy's playlists!
Fai_Ryy
Cookie Run:Kingdom Official!
No title available
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
occasionally subtle
Sweet Seals For You, Always
ellievsbear
gracie abrams
Cosimo Galluzzi
Jimmy Eat World
Love Begins
PR's Tumblrdome
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from Canada
seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Libya
seen from Canada
seen from Indonesia
seen from Germany
seen from Australia
seen from Vietnam
seen from Kazakhstan
seen from China
seen from Venezuela
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Morocco
seen from Argentina
seen from Türkiye
@clever-lettuce-blog
OOC: I'M SO ANGRY ABOUT THE SHOW ANNOUCEMENT
Fox and Eric Heisserer both have a history of mucking up. Kingkiller Chronicles is beautiful because of the structure and word choices. Making it into a stupid drama with a driven plot will ruin everything.
On top of the Sandman and Transmet TV shows, television has just ruined my life.
Kvothe Cosplay
I would like to call upon the aid of anybody around who’s a fan of the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.
See, I’m going to DragonCon this year (hooray!), and I’ve decided to cosplay as Kvothe. I did some thrift store shopping and acquired a pair of linen pants (which I’ll have to alter a little, but are otherwise perfect) and a large amount of green cloth from which to make a cloak (Fela’s cloak, to be specific, hopefully also with lots of little pockets if I can swing it). I have plans to make a clay version of the talent pipes as well, which I’ll wear as a pin.
But I still feel like I don’t really have a cohesive plan. Should I be regular male Kvothe or a fem!Kvothe? Are there any small props I should carry around or wear other than the talent pipes? If I choose to be a male Kvothe, does anybody know a safe way to bind without purchasing a binder? (I know Ace bandages are supposedly dangerous, and I’ve read about some other methods, but I’d like to hear from people who have experience.)
Any assistance or suggestion would be appreciated.
Obligatory question mark to allow people to answer?
Ideas, anyone? I would say bring a lute with you but those are a bit hard to come by..
OOC: So, I've also wanted to cosplay Kvothe for awhile. Here is what I'm thinking for you: On Binding: Yes, bind. No, do not I REPEAT DO NOT use ace bandages. I messed my ribcage up with them really badly. I think someone else mentioned the sports bra method, which works for smaller chests, but here's a binding method my cosplay group came up with that really works. Of course, an actual binder is worth investing in but I don't have one either so here's an explanation what to do with this one: 1. Do the sports bra method to start. Maybe two of them. Then put a shirt you don't care about over it. 2. Get a trashbag and cut it until it fits you like a plastic tanktop. Cut out the elastic especially. Once that's done, throw it over your shirt. 3. Have a friend lightly (but firmly) wrap over the trashbag in duct tape. Be sure to wrap a bit under the armpits and down under your boobs a bit. If it hurts, wrap lighter. At intervals cut into the tape where it's very tight (around your ribcage) and once it's done cut until you feel "comfortable." (It's not going to feel great but it's better than other methods) The end effect will look kinda poofy but it will give you a triangular-ish hard shape under your clothes and confuse everyone you hug.
This is the most important part though-
4. At the con, bring a pair of heavy scissors. (Leave them in the car if that's against the rules but I've never had a problem) If at any time you feel light-headed or need to get out of your binding, simply cut it off and dispose of it. Underneath you'll still have your sports bra so it will be okay c: For other things- 1. For Kvothe, I think a wig is important. It's possible to get a decent or even pretty quality wig online for $20 if you hunt hard enough. Just don't rush yourself and be wary of everything. Sometimes even a stupid wig can look great too if you mess around with it. Kvothe is really cool though since there's no real image of him so you can have liberty with that. 2. Face makeup- don't do girly makeup. There's tutorials on contouring your face with cheap makeup you already have. Don't lay off the foundation but keep in mind you'r boyish. (I kind of imagine Kvothe being a bit filthy but anyways) I would also do eyebrows. /Guy eyebrows go a long way in crossplaying/ If you have the money/balls for green contacts they also go a long way too but I've honestly never bothered with them so- 3. For props- I agree that making a Lute would probably be ridiculous. (Especially if you haven't done stuff like that before.) Instead of something huge like that I would go for tiny things, like talent pipes as you mentioned. Perhaps you could also make stuff like jots and talents out of clay or model magic or something like that and keep them in your many pockets? Have a ring that (looks like) Denna's? (I know they make the ring and I want it more than air but it's expensive and I'm trying to give you cheap tricks). Also, I would find it funny if you had roasted almonds in your pocket because of the stupid scene with them and if you like almonds then they're also to have so you don't get con-starvation. Plus if fans see you they'll probably be all "KVOTHE NOOOOOOOO". Props that illicit humorous reactions are the best. I really hope this helps! Keep us posteddd
A Story From Another Time
Kvothe made the sort of face that implied that he was going to open hismouth and try to interrupt rudely once again, so I decided to continue on with the story, as if it were going to be told, it would have to be done within a single night.
—————
After sending a ridiculous amount of shuffling scrivs though tomes,I was unable to locate Auri the next afternoon. The ledgers informed me she had been there not an hour ago, searching for “Common roof styles". After almost a two hours, they reported back to me that her stack of books had been abandoned recently, but no one was quite sure where’d she had snuck off to.Rather than spend the entire day chasing the wind, I went about my average routine. You see, women do not like to be chased, despite luring you in. If you run after a woman she knows she has you in her net, and once she has that knowledge there’s nothing- and I mean absolutely nothing you can do to reclaim your time for yourself. To play it safe, I decided that if she wanted to see me, she’d surely find me. When the sun cast its dying light across the sky, I found her sitting in the shadow of Medica in a simple blue dress with white lace down the front of it. As ever, she was barefoot, and the soles of her feet were caked in a fine layer of dirt. In her lap was a garland of tiny white flowers delicately woven together. Even when I approached, she didn’t let on that she was paying attention for almost a minute before she suddenly demanded: “I have a present for you, but you have to guess what it is." She gave me a smile that would make demons cower. It was one of those smirks that would seem pompous if they weren’t so damnably aesthetic. Even though it was obvious that she still cared about taking the naming class, it was also so that it wasn’t the most important thing to her. Or it was the most important large-scale dream in her life, but if there’s one thing I ever learned from her, it’s that sometimes tiny happy moments outweigh long-term goals. Sometimes it’s better to take a scenic, emotional route than a fast one. So, instead of pressing her about naming I set aside my things and sat in the grass, completely intrigued as to what my present might be.
“Well,” I began, deciding that I was going to do my best to seem only slightly interested. “It has to be something that you can get here-or in Imre… Though you don’t look like you’ve walked that far today…” I paused, giving the impression that I was thinking long and hard about it.
Truth was, I simply had no idea. While our one night of acquaintance had been enlightening, I didn’t really know her. I don’t know if anyone can ever really know her. So there was no way that I could figure it out. But that didn’t stop me from attempting.
Pride can sometimes be a very bad thing but other times, it can simply be embarrassing. With what I thought was a cocky coolness, I smirked and answered her question-without really thinking.
“The warm kiss of a summers day?”
I had meant it in a slightly teasing way. This girl, that I’d known all of a day, this enigma was entrancing and I was enthralled by her. But I was still a teenage boy.
As such, I barely saw the way her eyes shyly fleeted to the garland in her lap, and then hesitantly returned to me. I can recall her face now, and just some time ago I realized she was as flustered and awkward as I was, but just a tad bit more graceful. She shook her head playfully when I spoke of Imre, the first notes of a smile playing across her lip. As ever, her hair moved around her face, as restless as her spirit. Mocking impatience, she stretched her limbs out against the red brick and yawned while waiting for an answer.
When I answered her, mockingly serious, she burst into an intense fit of laughter, and pressed her arm against her eyes, her cheeks underneath shockingly red in contrast. When the finally looked at me again, she tried to smile but as soon as she made eye contact she fell over onto her side, gasping for breath yet again. All I could do was stand before her and wait for her to re-gain composure as a few whispering students stared at us while wondering out from Medica. After some of the longest seconds of my life, she sprung off the ground with one hand, grabbed the garland with the second, and darted into the shortest ones.
Before the grass trampled underneath her bare feet could even bend, she was inches away, and before I could react properly, she was placing the garland in my hair. Biting her lip, she fixed it just as she wanted, and for the span of a long heart beat, I let her. When she was done, she smiled sadly and put her hands on my shoulders, and told me what it was she’d given me. “Here" she whispered, her voice so soft that despite being so close, I found myself leaning in to hear her, “Here are the stars above your head, tiny and white, delicate but heavy enough to feel. Even when they’re hiding they’ll always be there for you, and on nights with no moon they’ll protect you from the darkness. Just remember that if you crush them, they won’t love you anymore."
She blinked, as if she was looking for something else important to tell me, but instead shook her head and gave me a quick grin. “Summer kisses are sweet, but winter kisses are warm." she corrected me, matter-of-factly. “There’s a difference." The last word was stressed much like a key point in a master’s lecture, accompanied by a harsh look. Then it faded back into sunshine, and quickly, so quickly, my Auri brushed my starlight-ed hair aside and kissed my flushed cheek.
I’ve been to many taverns, but that was probably the drunkest I’ve ever been
Auri Under the Apple Tree by Lulolana.
A Story From Another Time
Surprised to be corrected so, the girl in took the smallest of breaths, held it, and let it back out as a quiet “Really?". The last part of it rose in the excited pitch of children who aren’t quite sure if an adult is lying or not. At the mention of legends, her eyes twinkled, brighter than all the stars in the sky combined. When she smiled back at me I felt honesty that simply doesn’t exist anymore.
When I began to climb up to the rooftops, my newfound friend hesitated for a brief moment. For a second, my stomach fell as I realized she might have suddenly had a second thought about recklessly running across the rooftops of the University at night, but when I looked down at her, I found that she was studying how I was climbing. Before I could process another thought, she was after me, grabbing at the same tiles I knew would hold, pressing her bare feet against the stone so they wouldn’t slip. Perhaps, if she cared about sympathy or artificing or chemistry, she could have been a brilliant student. The brilliant thing about her was she absolutely didn’t.
When I left her to wait, she sat down easily upon the dark tiles of the rooftop, her legs folded underneath of her, her hands at her sides. The trees above us cast wild shadows around her, running about her skin like dark faeries about their queen. All the while, she never spoke a single word, not even when I told her about the top of things. It seemed she knew, or was taking it in. I’m not sure which. She listened to my spiel about naming and for a second her eyes glinted with a feeling somewhere in the leagues between betrayal and amusement. (There is such an emotion, it’s cousin to contempt.) Shaking pale strands of moonlight around her face, her eyebrows furrowed in a way that already said “Listen, but…" before her tongue could form the words, she opened her mouth to tell me she didn’t want to hear it. But I managed to show her before she could dismiss my words as empty.
I’d never seen someone change so drastically in the blink of an eye before that second. The breath she’d planned on using to confront me turned into the slightest of gasps, and when that faded, it turned into the widest, most awe-struck smile I can remember. As the petals blew about her, her hair whipped around her face, forgotten. At one point it seemed like she was going to stand up, but then couldn’t quite remember where her feet were, and sat back down, cross-legged. Her fingers slowly rose together, extended with the palms up, and her bright eyes watched fascinated as the tiny specks weaved between them. When the wind was gone, she was completely wind-blown, and tons of tiny little parts of flowers had gotten stuck in her hair. Despite this, she jumped to her feet, running about, dancing mere inches away from falling to her death, the image of sheer happiness. She paused only to listen to me. And to my surprise, she spoke to me, her words tripping over themselves and their confidence. “It is…Beautiful I mean. Beyond beautiful."
She laughed, and fell back into a sitting position, from which she soon fell over into the petals, getting more stuck to her frame before sitting back up, too full of young energy to sit still. Only when she held my arm did she somber up again, the fae princess in her gone. “If I study naming, I will not break. I’m not made of the same brittle stuff as everyone else. Neither are you." It was that moment I realized that although we had just met, she considered us as friends.
“I can show you how beautiful it can be.” I told her, a part of my mind cautioning me against promising things I may not be able to deliver on. But at that moment, I felt more empowered than even the naming could give me. The way this girl looked at me, the way her eyes brightened as she allowed me to take her arm… it was …breath taking.
For the first time in a long time, my smile wasn’t faked. It was true and honest. “Auri.” I said suddenly, stopping in our stroll to turn and face her. “Your name…it doesn’t fit you. It’s too…heavy.” I tried to articulate things that I couldn’t explain.
“So if it’s alright with you, I’ll give you a new name. Auri.” I reached forward, hand poised to stroke some of her hair that still hadn’t settled down. I froze. I’d known this girl for less than two hours total and yet here I was, about to make an incredibly intimate and forward move. My smile moved from joyful to embarrassed and I pulled my hand back, stepping away slightly to look away.
“I think Auri suits you.” I said, “Not sure what it means, but that’s what I hear when I look at you.” I tried to flash her what I hoped was a sly grin. “Even if it’s just me that calls you that.”
Slowly, I led us back down to solid ground, pausing only to retrieve my boots. “I’ll put in a word with Master Aldor. He’ll take you into his naming class. But it’s a bit… different… when you think of lessons. You can’t learn naming from a book. You can’t learn naming. It’s something you just…do.” I spoke with a sigh, knowing how stupid it sounded. When I’d first heard that, I’d thought it was a load of horse shit. But by now I knew better. Even though it didn’t sound it, it was true.
Words failed her in that moment. Even simple syllables like “yes" were exhaled in breaths struggling to keep up with her lungs’ demand for oxygen. If she’s forgotten that promise since then, I wouldn’t count it against her, but that night it was obvious she’d locked it on a scrap of paper in some chamber of her heart not prone to forgetting. Sanity, or the lack of it, should never be able to change moments under a moonless sky. As it were, she swallowed, embarrassed, and as she does in those rare moments you’ve trumped her in an argument, bit her bottom lip and struggled to settle her eyes on any one thing. When I named her, she blinked, and even though I would never think it possible, smiled even wider. She took in that I was going to brush her hair, and despite being the the wild girl trapped within the University, did nothing to stop me. However, when I backed away, she laughed lightly and all at once found her words again. “You’re right- my name was too much. It’s like an old book that’s too heavy and too old so not even Master Lorren will touch it." Laughing at the thought of the master avoiding any sort of book, she went on as she stood up, plucking the petals out of her hair with casual, smooth gestures. “I’ve gotten a name from a namer" she half-sung, half-teased. “Auri, Auri, but none the tamer." She climbed down as effortlessly as she’d gone up, listening and talking all the way. At least thrice she thanked me for standing up for her going into naming, but that was part of the polite banter between any two students so you’ll forgive me if I skip around that. The things she said about the study were much more interesting. “If you learn everything from a book, you’re just remembering what somebody else already knows." she explained to me while reaching for a windowsill. “Naming is so beautiful because it’s something intimate. It’s between you and your subject, on the deepest level." The conviction of her words was infallible. When we reached the ground, she stretched, and excitedly confided in me: “I want to learn the names of the ground, the grass, the trees, every flower- the wind." She smiled on the last one, as she’d known what she’d seen. “I want every single star in the sky as my friend, so I’ll never be lonely. I want to sing to the face on the moon. I want to know these things, so then I’ll understand them. Then I’ll love them." Awkwardly, she realized she was on a bit of a tangent and shut her mouth again. Her shyness melted away within a few seconds though, and the air was filled with another refrain of laughter.
“You understand."
I smiled at her, nodding. I could feel our evening drawing to an end, and it was with some disappointment I led her back to her room. At her door, I paused, wondering what to say, what was the right thing? But then I realized that what I said at this moment didn’t really matter. Auri was my friend, she would be studying naming. We would be seeing a lot of each other.
“I’ll talk to Aldor tomorrow then have someone find you.” Chances are she’d be in the Archives. Where I wasn’t allowed to go. “Until then, my fair lady, I will bid you a good night.” I gave her a mock bow, and then before she could reply, I left.
—- —- —-
There was a pause in the narrative as Elodin turned to face his young student. The look on his face caused the master to laugh heartily for a full minute. “Don’t look at me like that!” He said.
“Like what?” Kvothe somehow managed to keep his half glare as he stared at the master, the wind and rain sending his red hair flailing.
“Like I’m some urchin sitting in a pile of horse-shit.” Another laugh from the Master, “Did you think that you were the first to meet her? Or to give her the name that shouts itself from her very being? She’s not as she once was, I’ll grant you, but Auri is still Auri.”
His expression turned dark for a moment as he looked towards the clouds. “Though your Auri is not the Auri I knew. And I’m afraid that was my fault.”
Kvothe made the sort of face that implied that he was going to open hismouth and try to interrupt rudely once again, so I decided to continue on with the story, as if it were going to be told, it would have to be done within a single night.
----------
After sending a ridiculous amount of shuffling scrivs though tomes,I was unable to locate Auri the next afternoon. The ledgers informed me she had been there not an hour ago, searching for "Common roof styles". After almost a two hours, they reported back to me that her stack of books had been abandoned recently, but no one was quite sure where'd she had snuck off to.Rather than spend the entire day chasing the wind, I went about my average routine. You see, women do not like to be chased, despite luring you in. If you run after a woman she knows she has you in her net, and once she has that knowledge there's nothing- and I mean absolutely nothing you can do to reclaim your time for yourself. To play it safe, I decided that if she wanted to see me, she'd surely find me. When the sun cast its dying light across the sky, I found her sitting in the shadow of Medica in a simple blue dress with white lace down the front of it. As ever, she was barefoot, and the soles of her feet were caked in a fine layer of dirt. In her lap was a garland of tiny white flowers delicately woven together. Even when I approached, she didn't let on that she was paying attention for almost a minute before she suddenly demanded: "I have a present for you, but you have to guess what it is." She gave me a smile that would make demons cower. It was one of those smirks that would seem pompous if they weren't so damnably aesthetic. Even though it was obvious that she still cared about taking the naming class, it was also so that it wasn't the most important thing to her. Or it was the most important large-scale dream in her life, but if there's one thing I ever learned from her, it's that sometimes tiny happy moments outweigh long-term goals. Sometimes it's better to take a scenic, emotional route than a fast one. So, instead of pressing her about naming I set aside my things and sat in the grass, completely intrigued as to what my present might be.
Title: A Story From Another Time Chapters: 1/? Characters: Elodin, Auri, Little bit of Kvothe Pairings: None thusfar. Spoilers: Upto and including The Wise Man’s Fear Summary: Kvothe could not be said to be the only one curious as to Elodin’s past. But he is the only one to hear it.
So here it…
It’s really depressing so go read it.
Depressing? How?
They're so doomed. It's all sunshine and butterflies now, but they're doomed~
Title: A Story From Another Time Chapters: 1/? Characters: Elodin, Auri, Little bit of Kvothe Pairings: None thusfar. Spoilers: Upto and including The Wise Man’s Fear Summary: Kvothe could not be said to be the only one curious as to Elodin’s past. But he is the only one to hear it.
So here it...
It's really depressing so go read it.
I was bored so I did a 40 min doodle thing of Young Elodin and Auri.
What are proportions I don't know either.
(OOC: Alternate Response to "A Story From Another Time")
(This was seriously going to be Auri's response to all that. Except I controlled myself. Kinda.)
A Story From Another Time
Surprised to be corrected so, the girl in took the smallest of breaths, held it, and let it back out as a quiet “Really?". The last part of it rose in the excited pitch of children who aren’t quite sure if an adult is lying or not. At the mention of legends, her eyes twinkled, brighter than all the stars in the sky combined. When she smiled back at me I felt honesty that simply doesn’t exist anymore.
When I began to climb up to the rooftops, my newfound friend hesitated for a brief moment. For a second, my stomach fell as I realized she might have suddenly had a second thought about recklessly running across the rooftops of the University at night, but when I looked down at her, I found that she was studying how I was climbing. Before I could process another thought, she was after me, grabbing at the same tiles I knew would hold, pressing her bare feet against the stone so they wouldn’t slip. Perhaps, if she cared about sympathy or artificing or chemistry, she could have been a brilliant student. The brilliant thing about her was she absolutely didn’t.
When I left her to wait, she sat down easily upon the dark tiles of the rooftop, her legs folded underneath of her, her hands at her sides. The trees above us cast wild shadows around her, running about her skin like dark faeries about their queen. All the while, she never spoke a single word, not even when I told her about the top of things. It seemed she knew, or was taking it in. I’m not sure which. She listened to my spiel about naming and for a second her eyes glinted with a feeling somewhere in the leagues between betrayal and amusement. (There is such an emotion, it’s cousin to contempt.) Shaking pale strands of moonlight around her face, her eyebrows furrowed in a way that already said “Listen, but…" before her tongue could form the words, she opened her mouth to tell me she didn’t want to hear it. But I managed to show her before she could dismiss my words as empty.
I’d never seen someone change so drastically in the blink of an eye before that second. The breath she’d planned on using to confront me turned into the slightest of gasps, and when that faded, it turned into the widest, most awe-struck smile I can remember. As the petals blew about her, her hair whipped around her face, forgotten. At one point it seemed like she was going to stand up, but then couldn’t quite remember where her feet were, and sat back down, cross-legged. Her fingers slowly rose together, extended with the palms up, and her bright eyes watched fascinated as the tiny specks weaved between them. When the wind was gone, she was completely wind-blown, and tons of tiny little parts of flowers had gotten stuck in her hair. Despite this, she jumped to her feet, running about, dancing mere inches away from falling to her death, the image of sheer happiness. She paused only to listen to me. And to my surprise, she spoke to me, her words tripping over themselves and their confidence. “It is…Beautiful I mean. Beyond beautiful."
She laughed, and fell back into a sitting position, from which she soon fell over into the petals, getting more stuck to her frame before sitting back up, too full of young energy to sit still. Only when she held my arm did she somber up again, the fae princess in her gone. “If I study naming, I will not break. I’m not made of the same brittle stuff as everyone else. Neither are you." It was that moment I realized that although we had just met, she considered us as friends.
“I can show you how beautiful it can be.” I told her, a part of my mind cautioning me against promising things I may not be able to deliver on. But at that moment, I felt more empowered than even the naming could give me. The way this girl looked at me, the way her eyes brightened as she allowed me to take her arm… it was …breath taking.
For the first time in a long time, my smile wasn’t faked. It was true and honest. “Auri.” I said suddenly, stopping in our stroll to turn and face her. “Your name…it doesn’t fit you. It’s too…heavy.” I tried to articulate things that I couldn’t explain.
“So if it’s alright with you, I’ll give you a new name. Auri.” I reached forward, hand poised to stroke some of her hair that still hadn’t settled down. I froze. I’d known this girl for less than two hours total and yet here I was, about to make an incredibly intimate and forward move. My smile moved from joyful to embarrassed and I pulled my hand back, stepping away slightly to look away.
“I think Auri suits you.” I said, “Not sure what it means, but that’s what I hear when I look at you.” I tried to flash her what I hoped was a sly grin. “Even if it’s just me that calls you that.”
Slowly, I led us back down to solid ground, pausing only to retrieve my boots. “I’ll put in a word with Master Aldor. He’ll take you into his naming class. But it’s a bit… different… when you think of lessons. You can’t learn naming from a book. You can’t learn naming. It’s something you just…do.” I spoke with a sigh, knowing how stupid it sounded. When I’d first heard that, I’d thought it was a load of horse shit. But by now I knew better. Even though it didn’t sound it, it was true.
Words failed her in that moment. Even simple syllables like "yes" were exhaled in breaths struggling to keep up with her lungs' demand for oxygen. If she's forgotten that promise since then, I wouldn't count it against her, but that night it was obvious she'd locked it on a scrap of paper in some chamber of her heart not prone to forgetting. Sanity, or the lack of it, should never be able to change moments under a moonless sky. As it were, she swallowed, embarrassed, and as she does in those rare moments you've trumped her in an argument, bit her bottom lip and struggled to settle her eyes on any one thing. When I named her, she blinked, and even though I would never think it possible, smiled even wider. She took in that I was going to brush her hair, and despite being the the wild girl trapped within the University, did nothing to stop me. However, when I backed away, she laughed lightly and all at once found her words again. "You're right- my name was too much. It's like an old book that's too heavy and too old so not even Master Lorren will touch it." Laughing at the thought of the master avoiding any sort of book, she went on as she stood up, plucking the petals out of her hair with casual, smooth gestures. "I've gotten a name from a namer" she half-sung, half-teased. "Auri, Auri, but none the tamer." She climbed down as effortlessly as she'd gone up, listening and talking all the way. At least thrice she thanked me for standing up for her going into naming, but that was part of the polite banter between any two students so you'll forgive me if I skip around that. The things she said about the study were much more interesting. "If you learn everything from a book, you're just remembering what somebody else already knows." she explained to me while reaching for a windowsill. "Naming is so beautiful because it's something intimate. It's between you and your subject, on the deepest level." The conviction of her words was infallible. When we reached the ground, she stretched, and excitedly confided in me: "I want to learn the names of the ground, the grass, the trees, every flower- the wind." She smiled on the last one, as she'd known what she'd seen. "I want every single star in the sky as my friend, so I'll never be lonely. I want to sing to the face on the moon. I want to know these things, so then I'll understand them. Then I'll love them." Awkwardly, she realized she was on a bit of a tangent and shut her mouth again. Her shyness melted away within a few seconds though, and the air was filled with another refrain of laughter.
"You understand."
"If she remembers, she hides it whenever we meet."
-Counting Crows "Anna Begins" (This is seriously my Auri muse right now and this plot is so sad I really can't.)
"If you can find someone like that, someone who you can hold and close your eye to the world with, then you’re lucky. Even if it only lasts for a minute or a day."
Kvothe, The Kingkiller Chronicles: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (via sonicedbyatimelord)
Tinker Tanner (by bluedanbob)
By Mark Haas. If you’re a fan of The Kingkiller Chronicles, you MUST listen to this. Brought me to tears.
Link to the others: https://www.youtube.com/user/markhaasmusic?feature=watch
Petals in the wind. To go with the roleplay between myself and clever-lettuce.
(brb crying really fast)
A Story From Another Time
Her answers came carefully, and even though my eyes didn’t hold her gaze I felt it on me, weighing me. Only after a moment, when it was evident I wasn’t about to dare to approach her with a lie, did she also look up towards the rafters, her smile sick.
"Sitting in a cage does not make a dog any more obedient. It just ensures someone will hand him food from time to time."
She made no mention that I’d admitted to what I’d come there for. Rather- she stared at the ceiling long and hard her lips slightly parted as if she was just on the brink of forming another word. If I hadn’t said something else, she might have sat like that for hours, trying to puzzle out all the meanings behind the old roof above our heads.
It was only a second after I’d started talking that she turned back to me, not quickly, but relaxed. She always had the beauty of being fully aware even while completely lost in thought- although it was quite maddening to even attempt to command her full attention.
At my offering, she laughed, which drew at least one curious onlooker. Her laughter wasn’t in contempt, however. Although she cut herself off, it was clear that she had either no knowledge of, or no respect for, any form of social normality. It was funny to her that I’d come to her with the intention of lying, and then immediately offered her a series of grandiose “truths". Even though it was obvious she didn’t trust me, the hunger for knowledge in her eyes gave away the fact she would agree. Without even answering, she stood, took my arm, and allowed me to lead her outside. It was awkwardly silent. Only once we were in the doorway did she stop, and whisper:
“Give me a second." It wasn’t a request, it was a demand. A demand. To an El’the. Anyone in another field of study might have been a bit angry then, but I found myself waiting. She jumped across the edge of the building and the outside world, as if planting one foot before the other would somehow corrupt her. Then, she took of her shoes, clearly intending to carry them the whole way. Satisfied of her freedom, she re-looped her free arm in mine and continued walking. Immediately, she relaxed. She listened much more earnestly now, although her eyes were trained upon the sky, searching for answers to questions half-formed. Only when I mentioned the courtyard did she look at me, her face half-shadowed in blue light and her hair whirling about her face. “I’ve never been on top of things." She allowed. Whether she meant that simply about the rooftops or doubly about her life I couldn’t say. Her eyes were downcast for a split second, as if she were remembering. When I mentioned the courtyard though, she looked at me once more, her face a playful sneer. “It’s not /finding/ if YOU already KNOW where it is." she countered. “But, I want to see it anyways."
“Well, you see you misunderstood me. The courtyard isn’t known, at least not to me. It’s simply rumour, a legend so to speak of the university. What I want to do, is find it.” I turned to look at her and felt a smile upon my lips.
Of the speculation regarding this woman, none had been clear just how interesting she could be. Scarcely ten minutes into our association, I found myself entranced by her. Following her example, I let go of her to remove my shoes. The boots were heavy and I didn’t relish the idea of carrying them for the night, so after a quick glance around, I placed them beside a chimney, ready for retrieval later.
“Well then,” I said, turning back to my ‘charge’ and retaking her arm. “Shall we?” And with that, I carefully led the way across the slippery surfaces.
It wasn’t my first time on the roof. Growing up in a small town as I had, children had to make their own fun. As none of the others relished the idea of spending time with the ‘weird’ child, I had a lot of time to myself. Half of which was spent in my father’s library, the rest exploring the top of things.
So while I was cautious, I was not inexperienced in rooftop strolls. In fact, I found them liberating. “I feel much less trapped when I’m on top of things.” I told the girl. “I feel more like I belong, and less like I am forced.” I turned to smile at the small woman. “On the top of things, like edges, it’s a brilliant place to see things, to know things.”
Now, you have to understand that I was young. So very young and so very inexperienced. Such as it was, it seemed like a brilliant idea to show off. I had a woman on my arm, it was a beautiful, cloudless night and there was the odd magic of new friendship in the air. And so it was, that I paused in my steps and sent my gaze roaming. Slowly letting go of the young woman, I patted her arm to signify that she should stay where she was as I stepped closer to the edge of the building.
The angle of the roof was perfect. I was atop Mews, and thus the sloping roof made my demonstration simple. “You want to study naming.” I said, my voice getting slightly louder, remembering the Ruh troupe I’d once seen perform. There was no way I had the skills to replicate theirs, but as young as I was, I thought it worth a try.
“There are a great many things one can do with names.” I closed my eyes, focusing on opening my mind, waking the slumbering section and carefully weaving it into my control. I was still relatively new to this, and it didn’t come easy but I wanted to show off to her.
This was probably the beginning of my downfall.
Upon opening my eyes, I could see. I could really see. Colours, details previously hidden, everything was much sharper yet softer at the same time. The wind blew past and I could feel it, deep in my soul, that it was there for my taking. I saw it. I watched it for a moment before I spoke softly, the ever-changing name falling from my lips before my mind could remember it.
There was a gust, a growing wind that curled around us before moving on. Then it was still for a brief moment. Upon it’s return, the wind carried with it several hundred pink petals and let them rain upon us.
I watched with distracted joy as the wind blew around my newfound friend, softly ruffling her hair into an almost halo around her. I was aware of the world dimming and sharpening, of the powers of the wind sifting through my grasp. And then the world was as it always was and the wind was forgotten to me.
“There is a great power in naming.” I repeated, “But it’s not what everyone thinks. It isn’t a weapon, it isn’t something to control in its entirety. It’s beautiful. It’s joyful. And it’s not to be misused.” I needed her to understand why the masters limited their students. “You have to be right in the mind. If you’re not…you’ll fracture.”
Stepping closer to the girl, I re-took her arm. Cold petals tickled my bare feet and I felt more at home than I had in a long time.
Surprised to be corrected so, the girl in took the smallest of breaths, held it, and let it back out as a quiet "Really?". The last part of it rose in the excited pitch of children who aren't quite sure if an adult is lying or not. At the mention of legends, her eyes twinkled, brighter than all the stars in the sky combined. When she smiled back at me I felt honesty that simply doesn't exist anymore.
When I began to climb up to the rooftops, my newfound friend hesitated for a brief moment. For a second, my stomach fell as I realized she might have suddenly had a second thought about recklessly running across the rooftops of the University at night, but when I looked down at her, I found that she was studying how I was climbing. Before I could process another thought, she was after me, grabbing at the same tiles I knew would hold, pressing her bare feet against the stone so they wouldn't slip. Perhaps, if she cared about sympathy or artificing or chemistry, she could have been a brilliant student. The brilliant thing about her was she absolutely didn't.
When I left her to wait, she sat down easily upon the dark tiles of the rooftop, her legs folded underneath of her, her hands at her sides. The trees above us cast wild shadows around her, running about her skin like dark faeries about their queen. All the while, she never spoke a single word, not even when I told her about the top of things. It seemed she knew, or was taking it in. I'm not sure which. She listened to my spiel about naming and for a second her eyes glinted with a feeling somewhere in the leagues between betrayal and amusement. (There is such an emotion, it's cousin to contempt.) Shaking pale strands of moonlight around her face, her eyebrows furrowed in a way that already said "Listen, but..." before her tongue could form the words, she opened her mouth to tell me she didn't want to hear it. But I managed to show her before she could dismiss my words as empty.
I'd never seen someone change so drastically in the blink of an eye before that second. The breath she'd planned on using to confront me turned into the slightest of gasps, and when that faded, it turned into the widest, most awe-struck smile I can remember. As the petals blew about her, her hair whipped around her face, forgotten. At one point it seemed like she was going to stand up, but then couldn't quite remember where her feet were, and sat back down, cross-legged. Her fingers slowly rose together, extended with the palms up, and her bright eyes watched fascinated as the tiny specks weaved between them. When the wind was gone, she was completely wind-blown, and tons of tiny little parts of flowers had gotten stuck in her hair. Despite this, she jumped to her feet, running about, dancing mere inches away from falling to her death, the image of sheer happiness. She paused only to listen to me. And to my surprise, she spoke to me, her words tripping over themselves and their confidence. "It is...Beautiful I mean. Beyond beautiful."
She laughed, and fell back into a sitting position, from which she soon fell over into the petals, getting more stuck to her frame before sitting back up, too full of young energy to sit still. Only when she held my arm did she somber up again, the fae princess in her gone. "If I study naming, I will not break. I'm not made of the same brittle stuff as everyone else. Neither are you." It was that moment I realized that although we had just met, she considered us as friends.
A Story From Another Time
Clouds gathered over the university hanging low and dark. Kvothe gave a nervous look upwards and swallowed. “Shouldn’t we go inside, Master?” He asked his companion, turning to face him. He was sat uncomfortably, holding his knees to his chest as if he was hiding his modesty.
Elodin himself was sitting normally, legs crossed and back straight, his own nudity seemingly forgotten. “Ah, but Kvothe, you haven’t understood the nature of the lesson yet.” He had to raise his voice over a sudden gust of wind. “Besides which, unless you can climb down the sheer face of a building, I’m afraid we’re stuck out here until someone comes to get us. The key is in my trouser pocket.”
He flashed Kvothe a grin and then pointed to where his trousers had been sitting. The space was empty and the Re’lar’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me!” He all but roared, anger obvious in his voice. “Of all the crazy, stupid idiotic things-“
“Shall I tell you a story, Kvothe?” Eldoin interrupted, his voice and manners unconcerned with his student’s outrage. “How about I tell you my story? You’re always so curious…”
Kvothe looked like he wanted to object, but then his curiosity got the better of him and he made himself a little more comfortable, sitting against the chimney of the Archives, ready to listen.
Kvothe was a student, he was Elodin’s R’lar, Arcanist in training, Kvothe the Bloodless, but above all else, he was Edema Ruh, the keepers of stories. And this story was one he wouldn’t pass up.
Upon seeing his student’s attention, Eldoin began to speak, his voice raising only as loud as it had to to be heard above the impending storm.
“As you know, I was a accepted as a student from a very young. At the tender age of fourteen I was accepted into the university, a member of the Arcane within my first term and I rose swiftly through the ranks. But that’s a story for another time. Now is the story of my last term. When I met your friend, the one you call Auri.”
—- —- —- —-
Firstly, it is wise to remember that some names escape even those who remember everything else. When she spoke her given name for the first time, there were so many distractions I scarcely heard the syllables that composed it, and not because she barely whispered over the ruckus of Mews. Even then, her small, knowing smiles were a mystery. In the University, the only thing that spreads quicker than flames in The Fishery are rumors, and those spread about her faster than the other scarce female students combined-
It was common belief that the girl had come from Atur, or possibly was some noble from Modeg, sent away for her (presumed) shyness. For awhile, there was a quiet yet steady stream of whispers that she was actually not entirely human. Those passed the lips of the few who had actually spoken with her, mesmerized by the way her hair slid across her cheeks whenever she inclined her head to listen.
It was said that for her entire first span at the University, she was hidden in one of many alcoves of tomes. If they were all full, she would recline against a shelf in the aisle, much to the chagrin of the scrivs. For days on end, she barricaded herself in those books- books that didn’t even make sense. Never once did a scriv fetch her a book that was actually her a lesson. She read stories. Poems. Books of endless facts. Once, another student who worked in tomes mentioned he caught her reading a book in a dead language, early in the morning. Sometimes, she walked across the grounds under the stars completely barefoot, not always dressed as she should be, her hair brushing against her shoulders. She wandered where no others could go, since her voice could make any apology sound sincere, even to the Masters. Laughing, she would dance across the ground with mud squishing between her toes and utterly destroying her clothes. It was those nights she spoke more than she should. Those were the nights of telling. However, since stories are linear, we’ll start when she told me her name. It was an average day in Mews a few spans into the term. The Masters had grown quite aggravated with the poor girl as she was far too clever for any of the starting classes. Clever- or perhaps asinine. Very early, she made it clear that the only field she cared to study was naming. She had no inclination of becoming an arcanist. She didn’t even seem to care whether or not she was admitted, really. The only thing she ever cared about was the fanatical truth, and outside of that, reality was unimportant. As the only El’the in Naming, it came to be to tell her to essentially bug off. No one wants to become a namer. It’s dangerous. Unsatisfying. A snooze-fest. At least, that’s what the Namers tell people. To anyone who knows a name, or has heard one, that is an absolute load of horse shit. So here I was- about to lie to her in Mews, when she looks towards me and quietly whispers: “Elodin, it is very rude to leave me sitting here when time is most precious currency." We had never met previously. Knowing this, she smiled for the first time, her eyes sparkling with mischief. It was evident that she had been spying on the masters, but when or how it was impossible to tell. Before I could respond, she leaned forward, and set her chin into her hand. It wasn’t pretentious, but rather predatory. Her eyes locked onto me without fear, and even though she knew exactly what I had to tell her, she tilted her head in that way you’ve seen and asked delicately, as if it was the most average of conversations: “Is there anything you need from me?"
Her voice washed over me and her eyes sparkled with mischief. She knew I was to lie to her, and she was daring me to do so.
I found I couldn’t. “Well. I’m supposed to tell you that naming is boring. That you’ll hate it and there’s no point in studying it." My eyes were drawn upward. “Don’t you feel trapped, living in a room like this?" It was off topic, but it was something that occurred to me. I didn’t want to talk to her in Mews. It felt like she belonged somewhere else, somewhere more open and free. “I know there’s no moon tonight, but shall we walk? I’ll tell you the truth behind the masters, why they say such things about a wondrous subject."
I offered my arm to her and led her into the grounds. Since the moon was away, the stars were particularly bright this night. So what was a seventeen year to do but take a beautiful young lady closer to the stars. “Shall we talk on top of things?" I asked her eventually, looking up and gesturing with my eyes to the roof. “I’ve heard there’s a courtyard that you can only get to from the roof. Shall we see if we can find it?"
Her answers came carefully, and even though my eyes didn't hold her gaze I felt it on me, weighing me. Only after a moment, when it was evident I wasn't about to dare to approach her with a lie, did she also look up towards the rafters, her smile sick.
"Sitting in a cage does not make a dog any more obedient. It just ensures someone will hand him food from time to time."
She made no mention that I'd admitted to what I'd come there for. Rather- she stared at the ceiling long and hard her lips slightly parted as if she was just on the brink of forming another word. If I hadn't said something else, she might have sat like that for hours, trying to puzzle out all the meanings behind the old roof above our heads.
It was only a second after I'd started talking that she turned back to me, not quickly, but relaxed. She always had the beauty of being fully aware even while completely lost in thought- although it was quite maddening to even attempt to command her full attention.
At my offering, she laughed, which drew at least one curious onlooker. Her laughter wasn't in contempt, however. Although she cut herself off, it was clear that she had either no knowledge of, or no respect for, any form of social normality. It was funny to her that I'd come to her with the intention of lying, and then immediately offered her a series of grandiose "truths". Even though it was obvious she didn't trust me, the hunger for knowledge in her eyes gave away the fact she would agree. Without even answering, she stood, took my arm, and allowed me to lead her outside. It was awkwardly silent. Only once we were in the doorway did she stop, and whisper:
"Give me a second." It wasn't a request, it was a demand. A demand. To an El'the. Anyone in another field of study might have been a bit angry then, but I found myself waiting. She jumped across the edge of the building and the outside world, as if planting one foot before the other would somehow corrupt her. Then, she took of her shoes, clearly intending to carry them the whole way. Satisfied of her freedom, she re-looped her free arm in mine and continued walking. Immediately, she relaxed. She listened much more earnestly now, although her eyes were trained upon the sky, searching for answers to questions half-formed. Only when I mentioned the courtyard did she look at me, her face half-shadowed in blue light and her hair whirling about her face. "I've never been on top of things." She allowed. Whether she meant that simply about the rooftops or doubly about her life I couldn't say. Her eyes were downcast for a split second, as if she were remembering. When I mentioned the courtyard though, she looked at me once more, her face a playful sneer. "It's not /finding/ if YOU already KNOW where it is." she countered. "But, I want to see it anyways."
