A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Thu Oct 18, 2012 1:54 am

A letter for the Governor, in a recognisable but hasty hand.

Governor Burnie

First of all, I must apologise for the condition of Maxwell, your researcher; he did not escape our meeting with Catch unscathed, and I have delivered him to the care of the Rememdium. Physically he seems hale, but he has yet to regain consciousness as I write from his bedside, and once this letter is dispatched I intend to return to my family.

Catch reacted extremely poorly to the facsimile, inflicting devastation upon the meeting site. In light of this I must recommend in the strongest possible terms that the original artifact be moved from its current location immediately to somewhere more secure or at least well-hidden. It is my belief that Catch coming into possession or even proximity of the artifact would result in catastrophic loss of life and damage to property, even more so if this occurred in a populated area.

I will be able to give a more full account of the meeting at your convenience.

Sincerely,

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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Glenn » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:09 am

Steps had been taken.

That was the initial concern and it was met. Devastation. Well, that's why one sent Cinnabar Calomel to do such a thing. He was pretty much undevastatable. To be fair, the bit with the statue was his idea. Glenn had just provided him, second hand, with the resources, the staff, and perhaps the continuing impetus. Really, though, the former governor was too deep into it now. This was not the sort of thing the silver-haired man left half done.

So steps had been taken, and once they were, a note was sent.

Cinnabar

Come and see me. We'll go over what happened and decide what to do next.

Glenn


Steps had been taken but they were always so many more to climb.
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Fri Oct 26, 2012 3:38 am

Calomel arrived at the Meetinghouse not long after that letter had been dispatched; he almost certainly set out immediately, a deduction confirmed by his informal garb, no time taken to change into something more respectable. Only the coat was new, and even that tended towards the hard-wearing style favoured by travellers and outdoorsmen rather than the more urbane cut favoured in town.

Despite his haste, though, his manner was calm and respectful as he was ushered into the Governor's presence, hat removed, hand offered in greeting.

"Glenn. I'm sorry about Maxwell." No doubt Burnie was remaining apprised of the young man's condition. It made sense, given the nature of his encounter with Catch. His next question betrayed his main concern, however much he might regret the harm inflicted on the scholar.

"Is it safe?"
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Glenn » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:32 pm

A smile and a handshake. Why offer anything less than a friend? The papers were stacked high. The Governor's style was decent, perhaps one social season behind in make and just right on color. Rhaena Olwak knew what was what, and in fact, DEFINED what was what in many ways, but Glenn was terribly stubborn about what he wore. Change was such a tricky thing.

"There have been some promising signs. And, well, we know a thing or two about having memories one should not." Ah, a bit more detail. "Rhaena and I do. It was our first date, as it was.I don't want to risk her unless all conventional means fail, but if they do, we owe it to Maxwell to do our best." Think no more of it unless you have another solution. Of course, speaking of that. "I don't want to risk you either, but if you wanted to be involved in such an expedition, I'd consider it. You have a unique presence that may be able to do more for him than I can." He raised his hands, dismissing the matter forward and prompting Cinnabar to sit. The comfy chair today.

Burnie sat as well and nodded. "It is extremely safe. If you wish to know where it is, I will tell you. If you think it is best that as few people as possible know where it is, that's fine as well." Trust without question, but with reasonable considerations. If it wasn't so clunky, it could be the motto of the Burnie reign.
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Sat Oct 27, 2012 12:30 am

Calomel's manner was subdued, his smile not as easy as it might have been. The news of Maxwell, of encouraging developments, went some way towards setting him at ease. The scholar had been his responsibility, and he had failed to entirely protect him.

"I'm glad to hear it. You've need of his skills hm?" While the researcher hadn't been particularly endowed with patience or temperance, he certainly knew a lot. And had no hesitation about advertising that fact. The talk of risk brought a certain wry twist to the former Governor smile, as if he'd not already been risked. That was a matter they'd need to discuss as well. He settled into the offered chair, still getting used to being on this side of the Governor's desk. An interesting shift of perspective.

"Your word is entirely sufficient; I'm sure you know what you're doing. And, as you say, the fewer people who know, the better." Himself included. Himself especially.

"Where would you like me to begin?"
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Glenn » Sat Oct 27, 2012 2:13 am

"This is Myrken, Cinnabar." Matter-of-fact, dismissive, perhaps, with that wave. "We have need of everyone's skills. Still, in Maxwell's particular case, what he saw may prove useful. Even if not, though, I have a responsibility to awaken him. As I said, Rhaena and I. Alastir Savoy never properly recovered from being assaulted by the Ashfiend's memories. I would not have that as the fate of a man in my employ." There was that drive, that determination, that stubbornness. He would simply not accept this.

As for the statue, just a nod. Any further talk there could lead to clues being supplied. Cinnabar had an analytical mind.

"Usually we start these things at the beginning," Burnie's smile was subdued. "But we're already in the middle, aren't we? As tempted as I am to discuss your most recent encounter, I would like your initial thoughts of Catch as well, so let's go back to when you first met him and go from there? We'll cover that, why you chose your next line of action, his reaction to the statue, your thoughts upon that, and what you think we ought to do next. Unless you think that misses anything important." A meeting agenda so laid out, the Governor would look to the former Governor to begin.
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:13 am

He could only nod in agreement at Glenn's determination to do what he could for Maxwell, another casualty of Myrken's... of Myrken.

Unspoken or not, Cinnabar could make some guesses as to the new location of the statue, based on what he would do; somewhere secure, somewhere away from the general population, somewhere hidden. The hills and mountains have mines, empty or abandoned warrens of old tunnels, for instance, where the statue might lie undiscovered in the dark for... well, forever. To bury it seemed equally feasible - hide it deep, beneath something solid that would be difficult to remove. Weight it with stones and drop it into the marshes of Ghreu Fenn to sink in the mire, as it had lain at the bottom of Silver Lake for untold years.

There were options.

The matter of Catch was a thornier one, complex and vague. The instruction to start with the first meeting had Calomel quiet for a time, gaze drifting above and to one side of the Governor's head. Composing his thoughts. Eventually his eyes returned to meet Glenn's,

"The meeting itself went fairly well - an introduction, building a connection, the discovery of some boundaries. My aim was to get his measure. To see how he acted, how he spoke, and hence how he thinks." The description of his goals was matter-of-fact, as if the process was almost routine to him. Observe, analyse, infer, understand.

"Some things came up, which you may not know, or which you may know but didn't mention before." Not so much an accusation as a recognition that the Governor shares only what he believes to be pertinent. Perhaps he'd not wished to taint Calomel's findings. Perhaps he'd simply not considered such details relevant.

"First, Catch's history. Bearing in mind that this is based on what Catch told me, and I've had to do a degree of interpretation." Which may, itself, involve assumptions that are flawed or just plain wrong. He settled back in his chair, fingers lacing loosely before him.

"By his account he is old. His earliest memories are from a long time ago, or far away, or both. He was born to a people who lived wild, wearing furs and dancing under the moon. Mothers and sisters and aunts - no mention made of fathers, brothers or uncles." Perhaps significant, perhaps not.

"They loved animals and the wild, could Become animals - he claims his mother had a wolf's head - but were different from the woman, Kacela. He was clear on that point. They wore their furs on the outside, not within." No effort made to hide his distaste for the wild woman, a flicker of still-smouldering anger at her mention.

"There was tension between those who lived wild and those who didn't. His mother was killed, her head crushed. He understands that others would crush his head also, if they thought they could."
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Glenn » Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:29 am

There were reasons not to put the statue in the hills. Or one reason, a particularly peculiar one named Jarod, but yes, Myrken was full of such amazingly diverse hiding places and Glenn Burnie knew so many of them.

Such a narrative, all things that were not in the notes that the Inquisitory had provided to Cinnabar, but the Governor did not seem surprised overmuch by the picture his friend was painting. So much of this could be pieced together by what image they DID have of Catch. The empty space was defined by what so directly surrounded it. "You had almost all of the information we knew directly, Cinnabar, and even the order in which we learned it. I think, in fact, all of that defined your questioning. By this point Catch was reluctant, perhaps understandably so, to provide the bits of information we were missing to my people and myself. That you came in so armed meant that you were able to bypass much of the initial searching and you came up with what you did. It seems matter of fact, even obvious, perhaps, but it is all useful in the greater scheme of things, and we did not possess, in any definitive way, more than you may think." Though much of it they could guess, but without knowing for certain, well, yes, that WOULD have shaded Calomel's actions and opinions.

So he would listen, jot some notes, nod now and again. Surely Cinnabar had been able to make connections of his own from what he had learned too. It was all one grand narrative they were forming collectively, all of Myrken, poking and prodding... no, more than that, telling the tale of Catch. "So, there were similarities between you and he, but far more differences." Then a smile, despite it all. "He's a creature of metaphor, Cinnabar, maddeningly so because everything he says has an undertone. Almost any of it could honestly be the truth."
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:51 am

The Governor had been quite thorough in providing information on Catch, certainly on his actions and interactions since arriving in Myrken Wood. Whether they'd known anything of his past, though, had been uncertain. Apparently they hadn't. He nodded slightly as Glenn spoke of Catch's increasing reticence.

"This would be after he attacked you, hm?" After Catch had tried to heal him, to scoop out whatever he believed to be lurking inside the Governor.

Oh, Ser Glenn is ever-so-f-f-f-full of maggots.

A small thought, a small memory, and one from which he moved on. Speaking clearly, carefully, with the cadence of a storyteller.

"Catch spoke also of a City, which he described as golden and bloody. He entered the city, or allowed himself to be caught. It might've been fated, or ordained, or what needed to be done. He went into the City, in any case, and they dressed him in chains of silver and gold. In the same breath he spoke of arriving at the City he told me he'd sung, or talked out of his head, and the sky had blackened and the moon fell. My suspicion is that he brought down some sort of cataclysm upon the City."

A pause, uncertainty as Cinnabar reviews his thoughts, his interpretations.

"He told me that men went into his head with glass knives," A fingertip traced the echo of Catch's terrible scar upon his own brow. "because they discerned some change within him, and wished to stop it; perhaps he began to pose a threat, perhaps he possessed a power they coveted and wished to wield for themselves. Either way they broke his body and his mind to gain his obedience, to make him into a tool or a weapon or a slave." His tone was carefully controlled, restrained, but his gaze was hard and angry.

"I'm not sure if this happened before or after he sang down the stars. My suspicion is that he was found again, after the cataclysm, by some who recognised the power he held; he seemed wistful for his time in the City itself but became dangerously lucid when describing the men with glass knives, and insisted that he would not abide such a thing happening to him again. He'll not be coerced through force."

Let Glenn take that as the warning it is.
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Glenn » Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:40 pm

Almost annoyance as this story continues. Burnie HAD heard bits and pieces of this. He had some of it in his notes, from him, from others around town, portions of the puzzle gathered up. This was a far clearer narrative, though. He could, in it, find elements that he had been unable to fit in or false connections he made, but it rang true somehow. "You are certain," he did add, however, "that all of this stems from one story, one initial incident, and not multiple ones?" Was that unfair? Perhaps a bit more explanation. "We knew he was ancient, but there was always a sense of repetition, of the initial ....tearing, sundering, but also that such incidents repeated themselves with Catch." The silver-haired man had indicated as much. "It is hard to separate them."

Ah, but now Cinnabar has reached a moral point, one he seemed to feel strongly about. "Cinnabar. Catch has been here with us for over two years. We have tried many paths with him, many options, many tactics. Some involved containment, but only after he hurt someone. None, however, none involved force." A slow exhale, a slow hesitation. "It is a lapse on my part, Cinnabar, a lapse. I have put people here at risk because I wish to find another solution. I tell myself that force would not work, that something more definitive would not be the solution, that it would make it worse, and it ... is vindicating to hear you say that, but.."

A shake of his head. "No matter, we'll get there later. For now, please continue."
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:02 am

"As far as his history is concerned before he came here, that's about as much as I've been able to put together." He ticked off the points on his fingers, one by one. "That he was a child of wild people; that his mother was killed; that he came to the City; that the City was destroyed by him, for whatever reason; that men opened his head with glass knives to tame him, and after that he was mad."

He had to think on Glenn's question carefully, once more reviewing what he'd been told, what he's inferred, what he'd had to piece together from the disjointed ramblings of a madman.

"I'm not certain that there wasn't more than one cataclysm, but my impression is that he only recalls the one City. He was welcome there, from what I gather, which seems odd if he was a harbinger of destruction. But people worship strange things, and for them to embrace a being who represents the end of all things would not be unprecedented." He shrugged at that, not exactly happy with the idea of Catch being capable of such devastation, but entirely able to believe it. "It may be that it has happened many times, in many cities, over a vast span of time. It may be that he anticipates - or fears - a repeat of the City's destruction. That he knows it's possible. I can't be certain."

Still so many unknowns, but at least this new information brought some degree of context.

"It's not a lapse, Glenn. Make no mistake, it may well have saved Myrken." Deadly serious in this, though his gaze grew distant for a time; considering what might have been, what might have been lost. A small shake of his head dismissed those thoughts, forcibly drawing his attention back to the room, to the Governor.

"Any unwelcome touch, any threat of punishment, of violence, risks massive retaliation. Maxwell learned this - he went at Catch with his fists; Catch's first reflex was to cower like a whipped dog, because that's what he'd learned to do. But then he fought back, and Maxwell could've quite easily died. So while he might be cowed and fearful in the first moments of any assault, he's quick to remember that he doesn't have to be."
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Glenn » Mon Oct 29, 2012 2:06 am

"Wild." Not a word Glenn Burnie was terribly fond of these days. "Were he just from a wild tribe, one that lived with nature, then none of this would have begun. That does an injustice to what he truly is, Cinnabar. We can't just simplify it that way. Either he and his people were magical in nature or whatever was done to him in that City unleashed that level of power. Or both of course." So no, seeing them as happy forest people, one with nature, well... it was a cognitive fallacy, and maybe even a dangerous one at that. "And of course, there is what was done to him afterwards."

It was particularly frustrating for the Governor for that sort of City was exactly the kind of thing he foresaw Myrken to one day be. It was as if a preemptive strike had been made against them in the form of Catch.

"It's still a lapse, Cinnabar. That it was also correct is a point but hardly the only one. I've allowed a few people to suffer because of Catch and while that's saved the rest, yes, it's also completely unacceptable. To allow this to continue is like something out of a story: We give one of our people every year to the monster so that it does not destroy us." A wave of his hand. "Make that that metaphor work. We need more permanent solutions." But that is why they were talking, no. "Ideally ones that see to the safety of everyone involved, including him." Burnie would frown slightly. It was not an optimistic look. "Please, continue."
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Mon Oct 29, 2012 5:34 am

"Not just a wild tribe. He said they Become animals." He gave the word the same emphasis he'd heard from the addled man. "They lived wild when they shouldn't have, and were hated for it. So it's likely they had some kind of... magical traditions or such. I'll admit my knowledge on the subject is thin. Perhaps he was born with his powers, perhaps he became imbued with them. Again, I don't know. Given that he was well-received in the City, my guess is that he already possessed some sort of power before he went there. Something notable."

Something worth worshipping.

"Have you seen his hands?" Well, almost certainly Glenn had, possibly from closer than he'd like. "I mean, have you looked at them? There are marks." He had to shift in his seat for a moment, retrieving from his coat pocket a book with an embossed cover, and from between its pages pulled a loose leaf of paper, neatly folded. "Faint and faded, but more than just random scars." The paper bore a sketched outline of a hand, the skin covered in a web of marks, geometric shapes and numerals; incomplete, drawn from memory of a brief but observant glance well-trained to pay attention to the Significant.

"I can't make any sense of them, but perhaps you have people who can."

Still. Continue, said the Governor, and Calomel spent a few moments more in thought, making sure there wasn't anything he'd left out. No reference made to the book, however.

"Being unable to prevent something is not the same as allowing it, Glenn. We do what we can, but we have limits; the important thing is to keep pushing against them." With each failure, something is learned. With each casualty, the chance to save another.

"As to his state now... I don't believe he's malevolent. I think he's dangerous, vastly so, but I don't believe it's intentional. He reacts to present threats, real and perceived. He reacts to things which remind him of past pain or fear. Sometimes he fails to understand that his actions cause harm, but that point is one of education - he heals fast, very fast, and very few physical hurts are likely to be permanent. He doesn't realise that it's not like that for people who aren't him.

"Other times he acts on beliefs which are... mistaken. Mad. They make sense to him, but are based on his own perceptions, in which metaphor and reality are blurred - interchangeable, in fact. If someone is hostile or unhappy he might believe them full of worms; thus, to make them happy and friendly again he reasons that the worms must be removed." A familiar scenario to the Governor, certainly, and chosen for exactly that reason.
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Glenn » Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:29 am

"Sufficed to say, he was hardly received in such a way here." Worth noting? Perhaps not. "Granted, as you heard, this all came out slowly. At first he seemed just a simple man stumbled into Myrken and he was treated very much as such. Things progressed from there."

His hands? Ah, that was a point worth mentioning. "This was likely buried in the notes, so I'm not surprised you didn't come across it. To be fair, I'm not even sure it was there. He always said, early on, not that his name was Catch, but that he WAS a Catch, a hitch in the works, that sort of thing, a snag, and as such I one day gave him a piece of paper and something to write with to see if he could write his true name. Sometimes the body remembers what the mind does not. What I ended up with were those symbols and circles. None of our resources here," which generally meant Aleksei and Niall, "could make much sense of them, and I was hesitant to send them off to a place with more experts for reasons you can well imagine."

Metaphor. That was the problem with Catch. He existed in such a state. "Often times, Cinnabar, it is not his own malevolence I worry about but those of others. Faeryl. Dhrin. The demoness Pantha. Jirai. There are many in Myrken who have already crossed paths with him and that would use him at first chance. We've tried isolating him but that never seems to work. We've tried installing the proper fear for such beings and that's backfired more often than not. If we had just Catch to worry about, things would be far easier, but we do not."

And then, ah, worms. Burnie would shrug slightly at that. "Negative experiences, I think. The bad things I've been through. He'd take them from me if he could. Could you blame him? He who is so ruled and haunted by his own dark memories?"
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Re: A Matter of Considerable Urgency.

Postby Cinnabar » Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:18 am

"A snag or a prize?" Two meanings to the word, two quite contradictory meanings. "Did he say where that title came from? Who first gave it to him?" Was it the same person who'd set those marks into his skin, taught him to write them? shapes and numbers.

Three and three is six. Six and three is nine. And the world dims slightly, the sky drawing in as if to listen.

"From all accounts he was worse when he first arrived. Barely coherent at all. When I've spoken with him recently he's been lucid, for the most part, though he has trouble articulating his thoughts at times. He's easily agitated, yes, which makes him volatile. His understanding of the world is... flawed, which can make his actions unpredictable to those who don't share it." Which would be almost everyone, from what Calomel knew. He'd done his best to understand, to see the world through the addled man's sometimes poetic descriptions, but his efforts had been far from successful.

"He's brittle, also. Vulnerable to shocks, and liable to overreact. Which is unsurprising, if we accept that at some point in the past he's been broken deliberately. He's riddled with cracks." Flaws and weak points dating back... however long it might have been. Years. Decades. Centuries, maybe.

"Frankly, I don't believe he can be controlled. Not through force, not through fear, not through manipulation. Fear and force he'll lash out against, violently. Manipulation - deceit, bribery, what-have-you - might work up to a point, but what makes him susceptible to your lures makes him equally open to those of others." Too dangerous by far. Deceit held its own risks in that it might be discovered; persuasion would likely become an increasingly tense tug-of-war between those involved, and with Catch at the centre.

"Fear won't work as a motivator; not only will he lash out against it, he's full up to here with it already." Fingers touched to his brow to indicate a vessel mere inches from brimming over. "The Wolf. The Fat Man. The other things inside his head. There's no room for anything else." Fear of the lash, of a master's anger, of causing offence or displeasure; other fears carved deep into his psyche.

"Most of all, though he fears being alone - which is why isolating him isn't just impractical, it's inhumane. He likes people. He likes their company and their kindness. He craves it." People. Fascinating, surprising, endearing, intriguing creatures. "He fears losing himself and singing the world to dust, because it means he'd be alone forever."
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