Love Letters [25 Lage - 10 Chirreb, 4385]
Jul. 26th, 2010 06:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sythyryMirrored from Sythyry.
[OOC: I'm out of town this week, but by the magic of Beetiger's Wordpress, I get to post things on schedule anyhow! I may respond as much as usual, or less, depending on RL computer accomodations. -bb]
A single leaf came from Oorah Thrassen, with many paragraphs written upon it in the tiniest of letters. Upon magnification, a full missive was revealed. I am impressed at Saza’s command of the small, and at the effort (presumably magical) zie took to inscribe a single leaf. I cannot do the same! Not yet, anyhow.
Dearest Sythyry,
There are minor technical developments in the case of Feralan and hCevian, which are some three parts discouraging and one part encouraging. The good news is that we should probably be able to provide each of the two with a working and separate soul. The bad news is, some parts of the soul will not be from the original of that person’s soul; they will be carved off of the other’s soul. There are many technical issues to work out, and choices to be made about precisely which part of the demon’s soul would be least troublesome for Feralan. And of course we might yet dredge up some better solution; research continues apace.
Less important to the sense of potential devastation to your poor client’s life, but, perhaps, close enough to your heart and mine is the matter of what passed between us on the last night of your last visit. It is no great matter to me, and you may make of it what you will. I have had a thousand lovers of a single night only, and, if that is all I have with you, you will not be numbered among the six that I wish I had not done, nor the sixty that whose memory gives me a twinge of shame. I gather that it is not the same with you, for you are more guarded with your intimacies than I am, and in particular not used to other Zi Ri. Or to our sometimes-casual, sometimes-intense expressions of physical pleasure and affection — even I am at a loss sometimes whether it’s an hour’s recreation, or the prelude to a lifetime of occasional devotion and love. At times the matter becomes clearer with conversation, and at times it does not…
In any case, you seemed to me to be more ‘rattled’ than ‘languid’ the morning when you left. I would unrattle you, coz, if I can. If you wish, we need never speak of this event again, to each other or anyone else; you may leave it as a single solitary unsuccessful experiment in cisaffection in a lifetime otherwise devoted to transaffection.
I must say, though, that I remember a blue-feathered face in a halo of arkenwood flames, smiling up at me, and I smile back at the memory of the face.
I do ask one favor of you: I would like to ask you to join with me again. I know that you might not appreciate the offer. So my favor is this: when you have decided whether or not I may ask again, please tell me which it is.
With a suitable cousinly love, not greatly different now than it was a hundred years ago or than it shall be in a hundred years,
I remain,
Your coz,
Sazandigraa
And that is very sweet of zir. I think.
Lacking Saza’s fine pen, and lacking zir experience and eloquence with love letters, I simply replied:
Dear coz, The report on Feralan is bad, of course, but not the worst that the situation could provide; I eagerly await more news, and hope for the best or at least the better. Of the other matter: I was rattled; I remain rattled; I shall be rattled for some time to come. I hold you blameless, and, indeed, delectable. Alas, I find that I am uncertain of my own essential nature just now, and spending many spare moments in theoretical contemplation thereof. You may ask, but I must apologize in advance if the very topic reduces me to a flutter of fainting fantods, or at least, I think I am likely to say “not this year”. If I come to any more definitive understanding thereof, you shall be the first to know. In the meanwhile, do keep it private.
With a great deal of confused affection,
your coz,
Sythyry
Oh, and by “I simply replied” I mean “I created a pocket universe with a pocket time-flow and spent nearly a day and a half thrashing around and biting my tail over whether I really wanted to leave open the possibility of having a cisaffectionate relationship beyond simply a cisaffectionate moment of weakness. But you knew that, I think.
Which got the answer:
Dearest Sythyry,
I detect a note of panic in your note. I shall not press the matter!
Which, after some other panic, compelled me to write:
The manners and customs of the cisaffectionate, I do not understand. Did you just break up with me?
Which was answered by:
Dearest Sythyry,
Not in the slightest! I merely employ our standard tactic in times of perplexity or distress — and I believe this is both, for you — of waiting a few decades to see if the problem goes away. If you resolve the matter to your own satisfaction, please let me know, and I shall be delighted to share a fireplace with you at any time our elsewise-complicated lives permit. This is not a wholly unfamiliar topic. My regular relationships all took between twenty and fifty years to settle down.
With considerable affection and considerable patience,
Sazandigraa
So any doom here is entirely my own fault.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 12:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 01:14 pm (UTC)It's amusing to me to see someone explicitly acting in position of 'older and wiser and calmer head about relationships'.
I also, dear Syth, detect more than a hint of 'wild rushing' about your various frantic stresses about things. Saza may well be finding it 'cute' in the same way you find Orren cute...
*smirk*
[OOC: Bard, I've caught up to the point where I started reading actively again, and I've not found any exposition about Saza before the first meeting outside of OT. Did I miss something?]
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 06:01 pm (UTC)It is interesting to note that a Zi Ri, or time mages, have a different way to squeeze lots of action into a little time too.
All that said, I'll have to chorus the others as well; Saza is rather sweet, and is clearly smitten, if sensible about it. And I must recommend that certain blue tails remain unbitten; there are better uses for both teeth and tails.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 03:07 pm (UTC)Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-26 04:55 pm (UTC)We had better similarly consider which parts of Feralan's soul would be least troublesome to hCevian, who is also an innocent victim of this mishap. It is inevitable that both will be changed by this experience; the soul-exchange is probably just a concrete manifestation of that. I've actually seen it before...um, it usually indicates an unanticipated but strong affinity between the two parties. In this case, for instance, Feralan might have had a yet-undiscovered potential to become a great Locador wizard, which without interference would have bloomed later in life, and when buried in pure fertilizer years early produced wildly inconvenient results.
As for the other topic: yes, among the long-lived or immortal, "wait a few decades to see if the problem goes away" is excellent advice for most problems that are not acutely urgent (and even a few that are).
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-26 05:44 pm (UTC)Of course, it might also be doomful! Feralan, the terrifying wizard, translocating sections of cities into bitterly empty space at the behest of his vengeful overlord hCevian the Locador demon!
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-26 06:04 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-26 06:34 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-26 07:19 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-27 12:24 am (UTC)Re: Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-27 12:40 am (UTC)I think this would be awesome. World Tree needs heroes to protect it from occasional incursions of outside hazards.
>>Of course, it might also be doomful! Feralan, the terrifying wizard, translocating sections of cities into bitterly empty space at the behest of his vengeful overlord hCevian the Locador demon!<<
Yeah, that would suck.
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2010-07-27 12:52 am (UTC)On the other hand (if I may quote one of my favorite musicals): "What, child? Specify. Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor and good fortune, like bad, can befall when least expected."
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-28 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-28 02:15 am (UTC)But I may well be reading my own approach to relationships into this.
My POV
Date: 2010-07-26 11:48 pm (UTC)Further, Saza is being pro-active about addressing a possible problem rather than a) ignoring it completely, and thus b) letting Syth stew in a welter of absence-of-data-spiral. With the addition of saying the possibilities that *Saza* sees as outcomes, which at least opens the dialog about clarifying any different points of view.
If I had to guess, I'd guess that Saza has not only been involved with traff folk, but possibly *been* the traff-zi-ri that needs to figure out what their identity is.
Regardless, Saza is showing zirself as completely aware of having taken Syth's virginity in this way, and is proving zirself, in my mind, to be Not A Jackass.
Re: My POV
Date: 2010-07-28 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 12:06 am (UTC)I'm pleased to hear there are fantods on the world-tree as well; they're really very cute. I've never seen one live, only stuffed and placed under a bell jar. The one I saw didn't have wings, so I was curious as to how they flutter.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-28 01:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-28 04:58 pm (UTC)why would one stuff a fantod and put it under a bell jar?
And would there be a pair of truly amazing gloves nearby, somehow making a bad hiding place for some love letters?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-30 12:36 am (UTC)I did not see the love letters; they were hidden, so that seemed the politest course.
So here I am, also reading over older posts...
Date: 2010-07-27 02:17 pm (UTC)(Do I have a relationship with Saza beyond ‘coz’? If so, what on wood is it? This is not a simple matter like my possible relationship with Arfaen, which will be irrelevant in a few decades. This is permanent. I am not used to that. It is intimidating.)
This, I think, is actually the sticking point in your ruminations, Syth. This is the first time you've had an *encounter* with someone who is not going to go away in $RELATIVELY_SHORT_TIME. You've engaged in an action that you can't outlive.
I'll note that Saza's statement:
If you wish, we need never speak of this event again, to each other or anyone else; you may leave it as a single solitary unsuccessful experiment in cisaffection in a lifetime otherwise devoted to transaffection.
Is effectively an offer of 'this can be as transient as any of your other encounters, if you wish it to be.'
Re: So here I am, also reading over older posts...
Date: 2010-07-27 02:19 pm (UTC)Stupid free-account-can't-edit-posts.
Not in Theoretical Thursday #1 part ANY, but in:
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