paradisa | 24 (forward dated slightly)

[In the early morning hours of Sunday, there are some smudged words appearing in the journals, written in blue ink and a sloppy hand. For once, he's heeding the possibility that most of the castle residents are likely still sleeping--and he's trying to be quiet.]

It's November 11.

I've been here for a year today.

[He pauses, considering how far he's come in that past year, contemplating what he does and doesn't want to list out for the whole castle to see. In the end, he settles on a very brief little written list, more for the benefit of his own memory than anything else.]

In November, I got here.
In December, I kissed Maya Fey and Geoffrey Chaucer, and I went to Paris.
January brought Miles.
In February, I gained my voice back again.
March saw some really amazing birthday gifts.
In April, Sunflower found me.
In May, I was a mermaid, a phoenix, and a father.
In June everything started to make a lot more sense.
July took away my closest friend in this place, and also gave me something more.
In August, I tried to lead artists.
In September, I met my daughter.
And in October, I broke my leg, lost my arm, became a pony, and existed in others' nightmares.

Let's see what you've got to throw at me for this next year, castle.

[And then, because it's been far too long coming, he scribbles in a filter.]

[ Maya Fey ]

Maya. I need to tell you something.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A lot happens here- true.

But there is so much time to spend freely.

[ She eyes the spirals in the margin, moving her pen a bit lower than his doodles and starting to sketch neat squares. Nothing special about them... ]

I wouldn't mind a little extra free time.

[He chuckles then, softly, but loud enough to be heard if she's paying attention.]

Last month was a wild ride.

[ No worries, she's paying attention. And that's when she cements that this is Phoenix. ]

It was.

I never want those nightmares to happen again.

[ She stops doodling after- really, she's thankful all of that is over... but might the castle have something even more degrading in store? ]

Me either. Except I didn't have my own nightmares.

Just went into others'.

[He draws a tic-tac-toe board and writes an X in the center.]

I only had mine, and went into one.

[ She stops, looking at the tic-tac-toe board in confusion.

There's a pause before she writes, underneath it, with an arrow: ]

What is that?

[He draws an arrow to it as well, and writes "tic-tac-toe" above it. Then:]

Ever played it?

No. How do you play?

[ She's totally not an AI and she's totally incognito, yup yup. ]

[Yeah, the list of people he could potentially be talking with has narrowed sufficiently, now, but even so, he's still not 100% sure it's her. There are probably plenty of elves or something here that wouldn't know tic-tac-toe, either.

He scribbles out a practice "game" with himself, adding notes between the moves. First, an O in the top right corner, diagonal from his X in the center, and he writes, "X versus O." He continues making moves until he has three X's in a row, and he draws a line through them. "Three in a row wins," he writes.]

[ She watches this intently, pretty sure she picked up on it by the end. Once he's done, she decides to write again. ]

Okay.

[ And she starts drawing a tic-tac-toe board next to it, trying to make the lines prim and proper, before hesitating and putting an 'O' in the top right corner. ]

[He grins and draws an X just underneath that O, then writes "your go" on the page nearby.]

[ Once he's done with his move, she puts an 'o' in the center. ]

Your turn.

[He blocks her diagonal line by placing an X in the lower corner. His goal is to teach her that there are stalemates in this game, too, but she may yet figure a way around him.]

[ She pauses, pressing the end of her pen against her lips, a little frustrated by the block.

And she tries, putting an 'o' in the lower right corner. ]

[He blocks that one, too, in the upper-left.

And writes "haHA!" on the page for good measure.]

[ Okay now this is just frustrating. She focuses intently on the tic-tac-toe board, noticing that he was almost done making a line- and so she quickly scribbled an 'o' down between those two 'x's on the top and bottom left. ]

[He draws an X in the remaining box on the bottom, waiting for her to take her turn and prove that tic-tac-toe is a deeply metaphorical game.

Or something profound like that.]

[ She draws in an 'o' at the last remaining spot, before quickly and messily adding: ]

This is ridiculous.

I was trying to prove a point!

[He draws an arrow to the tic-tac-toe mess and writes "how i pass time" nearby.]

Prove what point?

[ She raises an eyebrow at that- is that seriously how he passes time?- and writes under it: ]

Isn't there anything else you could do?

That it's hard to win tic-tac-toe.

[He answers her second question with an overly dramatic flourish.]

I could draw!

[ Huff. ]

It's a dumb game.

[ If only because she didn't win. /sob ]

And what do you draw?

Anything. Scenery, I guess, mostly.

Outside scenery? Do you draw outside a lot?

[ Hm, this is actually working somewhat in her favor. She's slowly trying to dredge up ideas for a present for him... ]

I do! Or at my window, if it's too cold or something.

What about inside?

You-... [ She stops herself before she writes "you humans", crossing it out. ]

This castle has interesting architecture.

Edited 2012-11-15 12:44 (UTC)

written

takethat - 2012-11-15 22:45 (UTC) - Expand

sawadeertoday - 2012-11-15 23:57 (UTC) - Expand

takethat - 2012-11-16 19:00 (UTC) - Expand

sawadeertoday - 2012-11-16 19:24 (UTC) - Expand

takethat - 2012-11-17 00:12 (UTC) - Expand

sawadeertoday - 2012-11-17 01:44 (UTC) - Expand

takethat - 2012-11-17 04:56 (UTC) - Expand

sawadeertoday - 2012-11-17 05:29 (UTC) - Expand

takethat - 2012-11-18 06:36 (UTC) - Expand

sawadeertoday - 2012-11-18 06:53 (UTC) - Expand