Sigil: The City of Doors

A lazy evening needs a lazy tune.

As his strings continue to pick out the melody, his thoughts turn increasingly more frustrated. If his performance earlier in the day told him anything, it's that he's not cut out for dice rolling. It was by shear luck that his tour guide gig was a ruse to begin with. In the end he was paid for his silence and discretion rather than a job well done. 'Seriously what was he thinking? As it is he's only seen about half of Sigil! And that half was in passing to begin with!'

"So long and farewell, to my sweet Savoyne.
Barred now are gates, that I- once used to call home.
Multitudes stand watch paid on promise and- coin.
Cause my enchantress has deemed it fit, for me to- roam.
Yet, in my disgrace, I'd likely try and still- rejoin!
For such am I beholden, entirely- purloined.
Surely as hills crest and daylight dies, passing into- gloam!"




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Honeycomb Home, Hive Roll: 1d100 60

"What motivates your choice of repertoire, Cyprian?" Akh asked curiously only after he'd finished. She was sitting next to the window, making notes on a probably unrelated subject.

He blinked himself from his trance and stretched. "Oh I wasn't really thinking. Though I always liked that song, the melody is sweet and the imagery is lonesome." He yawns. "Taking notes huh?" He stands up and walks closer.

"Do you mean to say that your choice of songs is more subconscious than deliberate?" She glanced at him. "Yes. There is a matter that I have become involved in. I am collating the facts from various sources. Have you heard about the Kadyx murders?"

"I've heard a few people talk about them. But I've been so focused on where I've been that I've not spared a thought to where I am." He sits down adjacent to her so she can maintain her privacy if she so wishes. But it's close enough that his and her legs are touching. "To get tongues wagging in a city like this the murders must be either particularly gruesome, or the victims must be very high profile."

He studies her intently.

"Oh, are you acting as a consultant to the local constabulary?"

"They are very gruesome." She accepted his presence with resting her hand on his knee. "I try to contribute to resolving such cases out of very different motivations than the Mercykillers or the Harmonium. I just send them my findings."

Finding his presence welcome he scooches a little closer.

"Bringing them peace you mean? Speeding them off into true death?" He asks knowingly. "I didn't want to say it in front of the class earlier, but the way you talked about it. There's almost something romantic about the idea of being a dustman. Offering peace, sending souls on their way into oblivion, making way for new life." He laces his fingers with hers and lets it continue resting. "Though the idea of true death is... kind of lonely."

"I suppose almost anything can be romanticised. If I am guilty of it, it was unintended. Perhaps it sounded soulful because this is what I need be done for myself." She looked at him inently. "For those who remain, it is lonely. For those who enter True Death, it is beyond any solitude. You give up everything that ever constituted the self and let whatever building blocks that self once used to be reconfigured in whatever way the universe finds expression."

He sighs and lets a soft smile shine through, "Yes, no I... I get that. I just meant that it sounded nice, sounded..." he tilts his head to the side, "...like a beautiful, romantic notion. When you say it like that. It makes me want to write a ballad about it. Or perhaps a story." He said wistfully. "I'm the one romanticizing it."

He looks to her intently in turn. "You asked about my choice of repertoire earlier? That's my answer."

"I must be careful with how I come to inspire you, Cyprian. In your own sense of morality, do you think I am a good influence or a bad one?" She teased him gently. "And I am altogether curious how the philosophies of the Dead resonate with your own understanding of your place in the universe. I know you've answered similar questions for the sake of the initiates, but perhaps I deserve a more intimate introspection?"