#earthrunes

"Well here's the original" She reaches into a pouch and hands it over. It's written on leather, the hide, no the SKIn of something

the other is a paper, vellum "And here's my translation"

He rubs the skin lightly between fingertips, trying to identify the source of the leather.

The translation is simply : What was gifted may be taken away, justice has little say. Dreams can be torn from their holders when Flesh and Spirit are one. A maelstrom of changes threatens. I will try to help rescue my rescuer. I am Awake in the Dreaming. Dangerous. Dangerous. Lunacy, too many moons. The Bastard at the Gate of the Hag . The Clock has struck the time at last. Strike back if you must but know the altar must have it's due. - Pereffluamus silvam/Driftwood?

The skin is hard to place, not as processed as Vellum, of course. Something far more raw..ripped from some beast, or person?

"You found this message in a vision?" Trying to clarify.

"No" she says "it found me. It broke through the barrier"

"Huh." Thoughtful.

"Can I keep this translation?"

"Or a copy?"

"Will it help my family if you do you think?"

Not bargaining, but a very human look of concern on her features

"I think so. We're going to do everything we can to keep you safe." Firm on that. Though for Symon, he may only extend the 'you' as far as Lilly in most cases.

Then, curiously, he reaches for the original. "Mind if I try something?" Fingers pausing and giving her the option to decline. 'A willow whisper.'

She slurps her gummi worm in like a lizard devouring a lesser creature, then says "Take what you need then." A nod and she leans against him "Do what you hafta"

Symon is almost sure this is.. or was, human flesh

Where others might balk at that, he is interested. Carefully examining it as best as he can, so that he can better identify the same substance in the future.

The treatment it was put through threw him off, was it boiled?

No, tanned, but the process seems hasty

"Primal is not my best subject." He warns, even as he starts up a bunk. He's in no hurry - Adam be damned, Bunni be forgotten - Lily is here and safe for now, so he takes his time, carefully translating the language that is on there as best as he can into Korean. He draws the symbols in the soft mud of the riverbank with a fingertip, and lets the lapping current muddy them away again.

/roll 3 4 + WP

(2!)

Symon wears himself out, but he knows he has at least two good questions in him

A a rule, notes WANT To share info with you

He grasps the skin carefully between his fingers, stretching it so that the words are clear, not muddled by cracks or folds.

"Who wrote you?" He whispers.

"Merinita's son, who only remembers himself as Pereffluamus silvam/Driftwood, an awakened one"

Well, at least the Merineta hint is new

and another question hovers ready to be asked

He says in Lily's ear, "I would ask it from who it was ripped... unless you have a better question."

She ponders "I want to ask about Adam but not sure it would know."

"So ask what you think is best" She seems to be quietly happy to defer to someone who has the answers, who knows what to do. It occurs to Symon that she doesn't have many adults to handle things when she's not with her family

He considers what he wants to know, and what Lily may need to know, and asks,

"What was the purpose of Merineta's son in writing these words?"

"To warn of dangers and changes coming and find a way to help or get help for the one you called Adam Thomas"

Lily gasps

He wraps a clammy, scrawny arm around her, and as promised, tells her all he knows.

She listens, really listens, then "do you think... do you think if I gave up being a sluagh, it could help Adam?"

He flicks a finger against her forehead, which stings! "Don't be daft. This is a problem of the dreaming. If you were mortal, you'd not be able to help, and you'd lose him again anyways, in another way."

"ow" she rubs her head "rude" but then ponders "But Nabuni is mortal.. things are higgely di piggildy?"

"Yeah." He admits she's right there. "But you're a sluagh, and we're the best at figuring out secrets. If you gave it up, you wouldn't be able to help at all."

"Or call in sluagh to help you. Adam didn't really make many friends."

"no, he didn't. He always came on too strong, but he meant well" Then she confesses "Symon? I like being a slugh more than anything. I like hiding in tight places knowing others can't find me but I can hear their every word. I like spider webs , and watching some entitled plump fly realizing it is about to die. I like poking gently at dead things with a stick to look over the patterns of the rot. I like tea and secrets and things done just so. I like basements, and attics so much better than ..." She makes a face "living rooms. I like playing hide while the moon plays seek. I like showing up and scaring my childling friends by catching them off guard, then telling them things, just enough, that they are impressed with how I know 'everything'. I love it so much I don't want it to go away, but ... if it does. if it does go away. I want you to know you've been like a second brother to me. Irksome and annoying, of course, that's part of it, but you ... you look after me. I know I'm safe when I see you rolling your eyes"

His cheeks go a mottled, unpleasant purple-green, like an embarrassed corpse.

"Well, then have a little faith in me, will you? I said nothing is going to happen to you. I wasn't talking out of my... fundament."

"Now, remember. We can't tell your parents yet. Mister Stubborn and Mrs. Impulsive will rush in and probably wreck any plan the Rivervaler's have to help Adam AND you all, and they're - we're - your best bet, really."

"That's the price of the intel, and keeping you informed."

"Parent management is HARD. " She opines "I wish they'd taken to being kithain as well as I"

"Well, they're not sluagh, so we can't expect as much of them." Drolly.

"True true... oh look... a snake is about to eat a happy cricket. Let's watch"

And watch they do, it's really QUITE fascinating

(End Scene)