snowtop | 003. (v2) [video]

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003. (v2) [video]

[At first, there is no sound; there is only the image of Xanth's forearm. Lines of letters curl around his fingers, twist around his hand, and spiral onto his arm. The ink, jet black, is stark against his pale skin.]

Th-this-- it means I-I've been-- t-too quiet, right? I-It... it wants me to-- t-to say... s-something.

[It's been a while since he's checked in, made sure people knew he hadn't vanished, but there is nothing to say.

The feed remains set on Xanth's arm.]

I'm... o-okay. I'm s--still here.

A-Are... are you guys... o-okay, too?

[He heard that crack some days ago. No one has called for help on the journals, so no one was hurt in the expedition that came after, and no one had been hurt during the initial bang.

Or so he hopes.]

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[Claudia rushes to his room with her bagging artifact kit in tow. It wasn't so much as a kit, more of a neutralizing bag and her purple gloves, but still.

She slides up to his door, and gives the door a quick rapid knock. She waits bouncing on the balls of her feet.]

[When Xanth answers the door, Claudia will find that he does not have the perky, clean, short-haired appearance so aptly captured in his icons. Instead, his hair is down to his shoulders and clearly unwashed; dark circles rest below his eyes; and he looks just a little too thin.

But he offers her a smile all the same.]

H-- uh, hi. Y-You, um. You're here for the the-- the quill? A-And-- the books?

[Yeah his appearance isn't going to help convince her that words showing up on your arms is normal, and nothing to worry about. Her eyes grow wide at the sight of him. She tries to squash down her worry and put on a smile. Pretty unsuccessfully.]

Maybe you should sit down?

[She walks into his room. It's not hard to spot the books in the tiny room.]

Are those all of them?

[Xanth shakes his head.]

I--I'm okay.

[Then, he follows her gaze to the books that are now stacked on his bed. There are three stacks - two of them holding four books, one of them holding three. At the end sits his journal, the quill laying atop it.]

Y--yeah. That's... th-that's all.

[She really doesn't believe him, like at all. She raises an eyebrow at him but she'll let it go.

She picks up his journal and quill, and holds them both above the open bag.]

You might want to stand back.

[And Xanth does the exact opposite: he rushes forward and reaches for the journal in Claudia's hand.]

W-What, no, what-- w-what're you d--doing?

[She pulls the journal away and holds it at arms length behind her. It's got a hold of his mind or something.]

It's fine, I'm just going to neutralize it. The bag just sparks. OK? Everything it'll be fine.

[She really hope he believes her, and doesn't pull a Gollum on her.]

[MY PRECIOUSSSS

no.

Xanth's hand hangs in the air a moment longer before he pulls it back. He huffs a sigh.]

F-F--Fine. Sure.

[And he takes a step back. Please, for the love of all that's holy, don't break it.]

[She holds the journal and quill back over the bag. Checks to make sure he's not gonna rush her. She turns her face away and holds the bag as far away from herself as possible, as she drops them in. Nothing happens.]

Well that wasn't it.

[Xanth is quiet for a moment and chews on his lip. He's relieved that his journal and quill are not broken, or so it seems, but Claudia looks so confused.]

W-What-- what'd you th--think was going to-- to happen?

[She a little dejected. Damn she'd been hoping it was the journals. Creepy things just weren't right.]

It should've sparked.

Don't worry, that just means one of the other books is the artifact.

[She puts his journal back and picks up another book.

[This time, Xanth just lets her do her thing. He's not terribly attached to those books, so if they blow up, well, that's okay.]

Wh... w-what do you m-mean, a--artifact?

[She drops in the book and quill in. Again nothing. She dumps them out, and reaches for another book.]

An artifact is an object that got imbued with the essence of a person.

The last time this happened they belonged to Edgar Allen Poe. If you used his quill and wrote something from one of his stories it came to life. Still not a fan of the word pendulum, by the way. You read from his journal you ended up covered in words.

O-Oh.

[Well now it all makes sense; Xanth's arm is covered in letters. But this has happened to other people, he's sure of it...]

W-What if... none of th-these are-- the-- th-the artif--fact?

[She hadn't thought of that yet. A flash of worry appears on her face as she drops the next books in; again with no results. She squashes down her worry. It'll be fine.]

Ah, it's probably one of these. Don't worry.

[What would Myka do?]

If for some reason they're not it, not that they wouldn't be. Just if it isn't one of these we'll just have to look for more books.

...w-well we-- we can't-- we can't drop a-all the books i-in the library i-in that-- that little bag...

[Or, technically, they could! It would just take days upon days upon days.]

[Another book, still no reaction. She quickly dumps them out.]

We'll find it before we have to tear up the library.

[She doesn't sound confident. She puts in new book. Nothing.]

Can you read what any of the words say? It might tell us what book it's from.

[Xanth looks down at his arms. The letters slowly shift and swirl, soe recognizable but others entirely foreign. None of them, however, spell words.]

N--No. I-I don't know i-if they even a--are words. I-It's... it's more like s-somebody put-- put letters i-in a soup a-and then... p-poured it over m--my arm.

[She drops in another book, damn. That sounded wired. She manages to resist the urge to grab his arm.]

Mind if I look?

[She nods toward his arm.]

S--Sure.

[Xanth extends his arm for Claudia to examine as she pleases. The letters aren't exactly poured, as he described - they're instead in twining, spiraling lines. The letters may still shift, but they aren't progressing any further up his arm.]

[Claudia hesitantly grasps his arm and moves her face in closer to examine it. She runs her fingers over the words with her other hand. She studies the words, but can't make out anything. There is real concern in her voice.]

Do they hurt?

[Xanth feels the urge to pull his arm back, but he ignores it. It's nothing against Claudia, it's just... he feels a little like a specimen.

But then she actually sounds worried, and that feeling dissipates.]

N--No. Th-they don't... really f--feel like a-anything at-- at all. I-I... I can't even f-f-feel them... move.

[But he'd be more disturbed if he could.]

I guess that's good. I mean, that is good.

[She lets go of his arm.]

The guy I told you about. You could read every word on him. Those marks really hurt him. He was unconscious after an hour.

How long have you had these?

[OK maybe, just maybe she might be willing to admit this could be something different. Maybe.]

[Oh. Well. Xanth is especially glad it's looking like Claudia's wrong - that sounds extremely unpleasant.]

A-A... a while. Th-they showed up th-this-- this morning.

[For a while, he thought they were ink smudges. For a while longer, he couldn't muster up the effort to make an entry.]

B-But they-- they never h-hurt, even when they s-started a-- appearing...

You should be hurt.

[She says to herself. Realizing how that sounds, she quickly tries to recover.]

Uh, I'm happy you're not!

003. (v2) [video]

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[Commentlog] Would the words come off if they there rubbed? Or just with cold water?

[Commentlog] yes! once a post is made, the ink washes away with water :D

[Commentlog] Sorry school ate me :(

[Commentlog] aw no worries! welcome back \o/

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