• Graded • An Accident Of Fate

[Faith Augustin]

13th Saun, 716

Songstamp: Click!
Rosemary: Suzanne Vega

She walked down the steps and into the square, the white marble shining in the Saun sun. It was a beautiful trial and Faith was here to buy something, although she wasn't quite sure what. There was a market of some kind going on and the women there were trying to press their wares on to those who were shopping. Try this, taste that they called. But she was focused because she was going to buy wool, she remembered now. She had to buy that to make a jumper.

So, at the stall where there was wool and paraphernalia for knitting and crochet, sewing and all sorts of other crafts. It was a wonderful sight to her with so much choice and she looked for a while, trying to determine what it was exactly that she would buy. Once she had made her purchases, the young slave decided that she had time and so she took the time to meander a little. Beautiful jewelry held no interest for her, she was fascinated though by the smells of the herbs and spices, the unusual ingredients for cooking, those held her interest for an age.

One of the women, an elderly woman with missing teeth came up to her and offered to tell her fortune, read her future in the palm of her hand and Faith held her hand out, happily. The woman looked at it and screeched, running away suddenly, darting through the statues, so many of which had lost body parts with age, running in fear and screaming "No Fate! No Fate! No Past!! No Future!! Aaaiiieeee"

How very odd.

But then, as she turned around she saw that there was a familiar face. Paladin. Standing there and he too had gathered the attention of one of the women (why were there no men here except him, she wondered) and this one was trying to sell him rosemary, pressing it on him and asking for money. Faith saw him and smiled, waving and walking towards him. She was wearing a pretty dress, her brand was showing and she had the slave collar and lead that he so despised. Nestled in the crook of her arm was a wickerwork basket and in there was deep green wool. She smiled at Paladin and spoke

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon" it had only been the trial before that they had met again, after all "It is good to see you. Do you remember me?"

[Kazmir Saelaris]

T

here was something wrong.

The stone man had seen it when he walked through the door. It was written on these alien streets like the blood had written a Century of history forgotten. This was not his place. He had been searching, digging with thick granite fingers through the blood soaked mud, but he could not find it. Instead there was a door. It had to be in there, that was the only way. He knew it. The Juggernaut opened the bone door and... he was here. There was not where he should be. This was not his place. There were no machines of war, no calls of violence, no bloody battling battered banners, and no fields. No fields of bodies twisted and mangled under the heavy feet of the Juggernaut.

Juggernaut had hit his head as he stumbled through the door, making a clattering to din he dull drone dumbing his ears. He did not tower, but stood shoulder to the statues. He saw the faces of the flesh carved woman, they were blank without ears, eyes, mouths or noses. They did not fear him. They did not run and cower and beg and plead. This was not his place. There was something wrong. The stone Juggernaut hazarded a steep step down the streets of the alien city, careful to avoid the twisted flesh carved statues that made their home here.

The fleshy statue held its hand out as he passed, its fingers waving the stone man to come closer.

“I am lost.” The Juggernaut asked as he approached, careful to avoid the groping fingers of the flesh thing.

“Rose marry?” the fleshy statue replied.

“I did not.”

“Marry Rose!”

“I cannot.”

“Mar Rosey?”

The Juggernaut did not answer. The statue had thought question his motives, of which he had none. He would have none of her games. Turning he saw another fleshy thing, her closer still than the one that now called slurs to his back.

“Rosemary?”

“I am lost.” The Juggernaut informed her.

The fleshy statue nodded with a sagely smile as she dropped her parsley of fragrant green things into the stones mans hands. “We are all lost without Rose Mary! Make finest stews inside big black pots, have some and beg for more!” the fleshy statue turned back to the small wooden frame of the stall as she opened a door in her hand. The fur of her white ears twitched in annoyance, “Are you cumin? There is more than enough to eat. Perhaps cyan offer you a rest a while?”

“I cannot. I am lost.” The stone man replied as the back of his neck grew hot under the sun. The stone man turned slowly, dust falling from his lips as his mouth separated to warn the flesh statue it was too close. But only feathers came out. Bringing his hand to his chest with a grinding 'clack', the Juggernaut coughed up more white raven feathers across the flesh statue. This statue was different. She had a face. He thought to inform her that she had a face, but decided she may not wish to know of her defect. It would be unwise to anger the flesh things in their place. Besides, she probably already knew. The final feather landed atop the feathers of the feather headed flesh statue with a face, monochrome spirals of blue white light like feathers balanced against the Juggernauts stones.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon. It is good to see you. Do you remember me?"

“I am lost.” The stone man said as it eyed this flesh statue. Why did it wear things? What was in its basket? It was soft, it looked not like stone or steel or mud or fire. The Juggernaut was uncertain it might be hygienic, but perhaps that is why she had a face? Glancing to his left and right, the stone man saw all the flesh statues wore soft things over them. The Juggernaut became keenly aware if its own nudity, uncertain if it was something to be frowned on. “I am lost, Feather Head. This is not my place.” The Juggernaut said as dust fell from his lips.

Dialogue Color Key
"Paladin." "Norn." ~Pala~

[Faith Augustin]

One of the statues was moving and talking and when she talked to Paladin, she realised that it was him that was a statue. She smiled up at him, her smile genuine and full of hope. The feathers coming out of his mouth bounced around like bubbles, and she giggled delightedly when a few of them popped like bubbles did, too. She wondered why he was stone, but really it wasn't surprising to her "Do you know you're stone?" she wondered, tilting her head to the side. "I think that might be because you're... well, stone. You might be strong, but you know that means that you can get utterly shattered very easily. she wondered whether that was something that bothered him. She thought it probably wouldn't, because he didn't think he could be shattered. But then he spoke and told her that he was lost.

"You are lost?" she queried and her face smiled up at him and shook her head "No, you're not lost, silly. This is my place." she waved her arms around and spun in a circle, as though in a dance. "Here we are. Isn't it a beautiful place? There is sea, which I have never seen, but it is there still. Isn't that strange? Have you ever seen the sea, Paladin?" she wondered and she frowned. "I would like to, some trial. But would you like a drink? You seem dry!" she giggled a little and nudged him. "It was a joke. Dry. Stone... you have dust falling from your lips" she sat at the small coffee table that was there (had it been there a second ago, no probably not... but who knew?) and motioned for him to do the same. It was a big chair - just right for him.

"Don't you like it here? It's me. All the way down deep inside. That's why everyone's a woman, see?" she said and they were of course."And it's always sunny, too. Would you like some coffee or a nice cold lemonade?" she asked, gesturing to a pewter jug on the table next to them "It's a magic jug" she explained "You tell it what you want, and that's the liquid that comes out. Isn't that clever?!"

[Kazmir Saelaris]

S

he called him stone. Juggernaut looked down at his thick hands and watched the snaking vines of serpentine lines intertwined with the fates his hands had wrought. They shifted like scales on desert sands, leaving long wakes on earthen grinding planes. 'I am stone...' Juggernaut thought. Snake lines carved from mountain tops and hew by artisan hands, in the lands of the Juggernaut's terracotta memory all men where as he. “So I am.” He mumbled. One did not often question one's own construction, as such facts were taken as a given. It was the way of things to be stone, at least in his place. Just as in this place it was the way of things to be flesh.

Juggernaut watched as the Feather Head spun like the moons spun about the heavens, her frail beauty bringing a twilight bright with the triple moons lit by the twin suns. It by her strength that stars could move.

Zilis rose and she called “Fool!” Rahkrii rose and she called “Innocent!” Telva rose and she called “Tyrant!” each a pretty glittering pearl hung above like dew drops on a blade of bent grass. Or blood on the edge of a blade of metal... But despite this the suns did not wane, the light of forgotten gods refused to extinguish. “Juggernaut!” One screamed. The other...

“...Paladin. I would like to, some trial. But would you like a drink? You seem dry!”

Though spider web cracks formed at the corners of his wide mouth, the Juggernaut did not laugh. The Juggernauts smile faded as he tried to sit at the request of the Feather Head. He dared not refuse her order. This was her place, or so she told him, and in this place she was God. Just as in his place The Juggernaut was. God of Stone, God of Fire, God of Mud, and God of War... And she? God of...? Feathers? Juggernaut did not like such soft things that burst like red hot bubbles, their acid found the cracks and sloughed the stone from him. But he did like their God, should she be... she did not fear him.

“I do.” The stone man answered. It was a pretty place this God chose. A frightful place. With ten thousand statues of flesh and the soft things they wore, it was as strange to he as a day without war. A calm place. Grinding granite bent and bowed as the stone man lowered himself, had he sat before? He could not remember how. For a long moment he struggled, looks of confusion and sheepishness grinding more dust from his face. At first he gripped the back of the big chair from behind and attempted to mount it as a horse. But horse's were not chairs, at least not this one. Then the Juggernaut walked around the horse and attempted to reason with it, but his dust fell on deaf ears. Then the Juggernaut decided, as not to look rude in the home of another God, to simply lean upon the throne. “I cannot.” he mumbled in shame.

Lifting the pewter decanter the Juggernaut wondered what was coffee, but decided not to ask. He knew of liquids, true, but did not know the ones she spoke. Fire, gravel, magma, blood... these were liquids. Lemons were solid. But lemons in need of aid were weak. Lemons should be strong.

“Gravel.” the Juggernaut said to the decanter. The decanter did not respond. “Fire?” His stone eyes looked to the Feather Head, uncertain of his error. “Blood?”

“That is wholly disgusting Paladin.” The decanter responded in annoyance.

“I am sorry?” The Juggernaut asked as he poured the belching jug into his palm. The snakes were red.

“I have seen.” The stone man responded to the Feather Head's question. “My place is by the sea. A white house atop a grassy hill by the sea. We were going to have children... But there are no children in the place of The Juggernaut. There is no beauty in place of The Juggernaut, for the Juggernaut is stone.” He nodded in agreement. “Why is your place so beautiful? Is it because you are God of Soft Things?” The Juggernaut set the pewter jug down upon the small table again, watching as it spat and sputtered red snakes from its mouth. The decanter did not like Juggernaut, Juggernaut thought. But its God seemed to, so in this Juggernaut was content.

[Faith Augustin]

The mouse which sat on the table next to them looked between the two of them and twitched its whiskers in deep thought. "Seems to me, stone-face, that it's that lack of flexibility that'll make you shatter" he had a deep voice, much deeper than one would consider appropriate for a mouse. But then, what was appropriate for a mouse? He watched Juggernaut and he adjusted his mouse-sized bow-tie as he did. Repositioning his top hat so that it was more solidly on his head, he chuckled and looked at Faith with a grin. "Gravel and blood? Got a bit of an opinion of himself that one. You Mr Dark and Broody, are you?" the mouse asked and he gave Juggernaut a wide, toothy grin. Did all mice have that many teeth? Certainly, he had his fair share and maybe a few more besides. Picking up his cane the mouse walked over to look at Juggernaut, studying him like a schoolchild might look at a specimen in a jar.

"You shouldn't be rude. I'm sorry about him" she said to Juggernaut "I ask him not to be rude, but he tells me that" and then, as she spoke, in the same moment and at the same time, with the same cadence, tone and rhythmn the mouse spoke too.

"Sometimes, slave girl, you should try being rude. It's good for the soul for the tongue to sting with truth"
"Sometimes, slave girl, you should try being rude. It's good for the soul for the tongue to sting with truth"

She looked at him, then, as he spoke and she frowned a deep frown. "There were going to be children? Oh, I love children. Or the idea of them" she looked out to the market and the mouse nodded "We have never really met any children. Or those we have, they were dead and we cared for them. But yes, she would like to meet children." And then Faith looked at Juggernaut in surprise.

"I am not god of soft things. I am not god of anything. What are you god of? Stone?"

"He is god of hurt and confusion. He's lost, inside. Broken maybe. That's why he's stone on the outside. Not to protect against blows, but to hide what is in there. To protect himself from you seeing him. Isn't that right, Stone Man. There's nothing in there is there? All hollow and your shell protects you from being found out"

"I'm sorry" she said again and she picked up the jug. "Truth" she said, softly and the jug giggled and then poured a clear crystal liquid into the two crystal goblets there. "Drink it and prove him wrong. That'll shut him up he hates that" she said with a grin, offering Juggernaut his.

[Kazmir Saelaris]

T

he Juggernaut had not seen the little mouse wearing soft things. It had been too small to notice. He had wished he had not heard the little mouse man as well, but Juggernaut was no so lucky. “It seems to me, little mouse, you should not speak on things you cannot understand.” The Juggernaut retorted as sulfuric smoke belched from his lips. “You are as small as is your view of the world, narrow and centered upon your gluttonous greeds.” Paladin thought to bat at the creature, but considered it best to let sleeping mice lie.

“Rudeness is a disease of cowards.” Juggernaut countered as magma filled is eyes. “Cowards and Fools and Tyrants unable to employ the most basic empathy for those who suffer. You are as weak as your words, little mouse.” Paladin stood from his lean against Baron, dust rising from his shoulder in a sheet of glittering reflection.

Juggernaut nodded his head slowly, his slow mouth opening to reply. But again he was cut off before given opportunity. He glowered as the little mouse made little lies in its sleeping. Proclamations of certainty in things he could not observe nor comprehend, delivered in Faith not so good. Did the little mouse seek to harm the Juggernaut? Did it only seek to injure and pain? If it was war the mouse wanted Juggernaut would give it war. Juggernaut knew only war. The mouse proved it. “You should not speak on what you cannot know.” Fire spat from his tongue as his thick hand brushed at the hostile decade of assaulters. Each armed with tiny soft bows and mouths of spears.

“Tyrant!” Telva screamed as she descended from above. She landed beside the Juggernaut, her eyes as blue as the ocean was shallow, her head sheathed in fiery white feathers.

Juggernaut looked at the Feather Head as she offered apologies. Maybe she was no God, as she said. She was not so strong to prevent the war the mouse waged. It did not matter. The mouse could never crack the stones of Juggernaut, for he was small and weak. “Truth...” the stone man echoed the jug, though did not laugh. Truth was all that mattered. Truth was a white feather, the only thing worth holding on the backs of black ravens.

Snatching at the goblet the Juggernaut quaffed the crystals in pure defiance of the black feathers. He did not feel the tips of his fingers brush the soft thing, nor did he notice the stones that fell from his hand. “Do you seek to injure me?” Paladin asked before he bit into the crystal goblet.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith frowned as the juggernaut spoke to the mouse. So angry. Why was he so very angry? Faith watched him and she shook her head, a frown furrowing her brow. "But you're being rude to him, too" she spoke in a soft tone, but firm. "You don't know him. You don't know his view of the world. Just because you're bigger than him and made of stone, don't pick on him." she was firm. Quiet, but firm "He is little. You defend the small and the weak. Sometimes they will not realise how much help they need. But if you are saving them, you can't attack them. That's wrong. That's wrong" it needed saying, and twice.

Cowards and Fools and Tyrants who lacked empathy? "He has been small and picked on by big men all his life. You want me to stand up against those who would have power over me, but deny it in him? No. No, it is not right. You are not right" she insisted and she looked at him with intense silver eyes "You speak on what you do not know as much as him. You do not see your flaws, but highlight his. That isn't right. Not if everyone is a person, even a mouse. Even a slave. Even me and even him."

She had wondered, for quite some time, about her relationship with Paladin and who he was. When he bit into the crystal goblet, it was not hard at all, but simply melted like ice, dripping down and leaving rainbows in its stead. "I think you are picking on him. He is small and you are big. He is weak and you are strong. I don't like that and I want you to apologise to him" she said with a firm expression

"Nah, he can blow it. I've met bigger and I've met wordier. I've met dumber and cleverer, too. He jus' wants to feel, Feather Head, that's all it is. It's all about him. Lets get out of here, he's all anger an' words." she looked down at the mouse and sighed, then he jumped and spun in the air and was gone, swirling his cane in the remnants of the glass.

"I don't understand" she sighed "He only came into being because I met a man who told me I could be more. Could be different. Could stand up to those who sought to beat me. He taught me that it is acceptable to be small and speak truth as you see it, even if you are wrong." looking at the juggernaut, she shook her head sadly and spoke again, but no sound came out.

And in the waking world, she sat up in bed.

► Show Spoiler

Thanks for the fun thread!

[Jade]

Well Earned Rewards

Faith

Story 5/5
Structure 5/5
Collaboration 5/5

Knowledge
Paladin: Easily Shattered
Paladin: Lives By the Sea
Paladin: Is He Broken Inside?
Psychology: Sometimes, It's Okay To Be Rude

Comments
This was seriously interesting to read. I love how easily your writing shifted when the sense of the dream became less and less. It was both goofy, humorous, but also very deep. I think this dream thread hit the nail on the head for what most dreams are actually like. There are hidden meanings in dreams that reflect our waking world situations. I think this was captured brilliantly. Great work!

Kazmir Saelaris

Story 5/5
Structure 4/5
Collaboration 5/5

Knowledge
Faith: Goddess of Soft Things
Faith: Hasn't Seen the Ocean
Faith: Defender of the Truth
Etiquette: Rudeness Is A Disease of Cowards

Comments
I deducted a point for structure as there were a few spelling mistakes in some of your posts. Other than that, I loved how senseless you wrote this dream to be. Dreams make sense to us, but when you try to tell someone about your dreams, sometimes it makes no sense at all. I think it makes sense because it shows and relates to a lot of what we're going through. There was a lot of deep meaning within the senselessness and some humor that made me chuckle a few times. Overall you did a great job!