Patchwork Universe

Jones · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 11:57 am Post subject:

"Rather longer than that, Mr Trubshawe," Jones' face set grimly for an instance before dispelling the tension with a smile in Violetta's direction. "And, now, twas not from Eng Land that I came."

"I've been inhabiting this place for near thirty years as I figure it. Long enough for my wife to have three children, two if whom now have children of their own. Time enough to build this pub, the farms outside it and the other amenieties my customers enjoy. Time enough to make trades and deals as well as friends and acquaintances across the quilt, time enough to see them vanish and or worse..."

Standing, he said. "And now I've passed some time with you, I must take my leave." He drained the last of his pint and added: "As you can see I've customers to serve and there's a gentleman present I should like a word with. A pleasure to meet you, Lady Violetta, gentlemen, thank you for the drink Mr Trubshawe. If there's anythign else you know where to find me."

And with that he stood up, heading for the windowseat party.

ooc note: Jones now leaves this thread and joins The Cutpurse's Quest subthread

Harlequin · Average Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 60 Location: Chimera

Harlequin hadn't been paying too much attention to the surrounding conversation; his attention had been on the wonderful food in front of him. A few phrases managed to filter through, however.

Banks of mist... prisoner... quilt...

"You mean this isn't Chimera?" he murmered quietly.

Trubshawe · Good Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 171 Location: The Zoo

Trubshawe mopped up the last juices of his supper with a thick slice of buttered bread.

"So, Kalyndis, what are we to make of the estimable Jones? Willing to badmouth our supposed gods, but equally willing to serve them drinks.
Willing to drop dire hints about people vanishing and worse, but unwilling to stay around long enough to explain how we might avoid such a grisly fate. Now, and this is only a theory of course, I think what we have here is a grade-A, dyed-in-the-wool collaborator. Adopts an ingratiating manner, plies people with free drinks, and then bang! Sells them out to the gods when they're least expecting a double-cross. And thirty years of comfortable country living with his family in return for services rendered. Now you may think my instincts wrong, or just that it's too early to say, but put it this way - " he drained his pint, "I don't think I'll be spending the night at this inn in a hurry."

John Angelis · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:13 pm Post subject:

"Perhaps a perhaps too many there. Leave a man to rot in prison for thirty years, and he can get so used to it that he can't cope if you let him out."

"His patch has existed for thirty years - yet mine, yours, Lady Violetta's going by her parent's reactions - all under a week. Must be a pretty turbulent place, this, if in such a small area - and I say small, since I've been able to walk to the edge - which I estimate can't contain many more than 40 patches, three new patches arrive inside a week, and yet the whole has existed for at least thirty years. And there may well be more than two new arrivals. In all the places I've gone, Jones appears to be the only one used to his condition. Either these 'gods' have recently and unusually expanded their collection, or you can expect patches to come and go like wildfire."

"That is, of course, if any of this is true. I've seen people pass through the fog banks as if they weren't there, and go to the places that they'd normally go to. Only we few seem to see or be affected by the fog. Rather solipsistic of us to conclude that our homes have been taken - rather, I think, cages have been put around them that contain us alone, but leave the rest of the world unharmed."

Kalyndis · Average Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 124 Location: Kerya

The sparks in Kalyndis's hair subsided as he suppressed his anger. The hope of learning something from Jones had helped him to calm down. But his head was buzzing with questions, and the half-formed answers he was coming up with were increasingly disturbing.

"By my own reckoning, it is three days since the surroundings of my home changed. Kao Sheng indicated that our domains have been taken unimaginably far away from their natural locations, and although I now regard him as a collaborator in this abduction, I do not think he tells lies outright. Rather, his tactics are obfuscation, misdirection and omission. This Jones would appear to be an accomplice lower in the hierarchy than Kao Sheng, judging by his speech."

He laid a hand on the table, fingers spread out.

"Appearances can, of course, be deceiving. Kao Sheng also indicated that not all the rulers of these domains are dragons, and that many of the inhabitants are escaped elves or feral humans who have spread unchecked without proper supervision. It dawns on me, rather belatedly, that even some of you might not be dragons at all. If so, I would ask you to identify yourselves."

Something glittered deep in his green eyes.

I know Violetta is, and Trubshawe more or less acts like one, but these others I don't know at all.

Harlequin · Average Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 60 Location: Chimera

Harlequin seemed to be momentarily unhinged. He was murmering under his breath, and swaying very slightly.

"I've seen a dragon-fly" he said, very quietly, which was probably for the better.

John Angelis · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:18 pm Post subject:

"Sorry, what do you mean by 'Dragon?' To my mind, dragon would mean a legendary creature, with wings, that breathed fire. I'm not one of them. Nor are you, by the looks of you. Dragons aren't real."

John was suddenly struck by a look of confusion and doubt.
"I've met dragons," he muttered.

Trubshawe · Good Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 171 Location: The Zoo

Trubshawe froze momentarily as this stream of apparent gibberish escaped from Kalyndis' lips. He liked the boy, had felt him to be someone he could work with, but what was this nonsense he was talking?

The Head Zookeeper was not by nature an imaginative man - witness his devout refusal to admit the idea of Gods into his philosophy - and the possibility that he could actually be sitting down at a dinner table with a dragon was not one that was likely to occur to him.

As such, his mind swiftly set to work on rearranging Kalyndis' words, massaging them into a more orderly shape, adding a nuance of meaning here, a new interpretation there, until a more satisfactory sense finally emerged. "Dragons" were clearly members of some sort of secret society. Kalyndis was a Dragon - Trubshawe had thought it odd that a person of such intelligence and strength of character should be employed in such a servile capacity; now it was clear that this was just a pose.

Whatever benefits there were to membership, though, it was clear that a member of one Dragon cell might not always recognise a member of another cell, or else Kalyndis would not have asked his question. So on the spur of the moment, Trubshawe decided that there could be no possible harm in being in on this intriguing development, rather than out.

"What he said," he chimed in, adopting a severe expression. "Identify yourselves!"

John Angelis · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:32 pm Post subject:

John looked again at Trubshawe. There was something awfully familiar about him, but what?

Ah, that was it. Different uniform, and rather more animated, but every inch of him screamed, or rather, nasally mumbled "guard".

Kalyndis · Average Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 124 Location: Kerya

Kalyndis stared at John blankly.

"What do you mean by 'legendary'?"

John Angelis · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 7:12 am Post subject:

"Well, what I mean is, where I'm from dragons aren't real. They're just stories, legends. So I don't know what you mean by asking me if I'm a dragon, because by my understanding of what a dragon is, there aren't any, not really. And you don't look much like one either."

Lady Violetta Kingsley · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 12:43 pm Post subject:

"My brother's a Dragoon. Does that count?" asked Lady Violetta, who had clearly decided that this conversation wasn't going to make sense any time soon, but felt some contribution was only polite at this point. "I suppose he won't be able to get back to visit any more, will he?"

Kalyndis · Average Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 124 Location: Kerya

Kalyndis replied to Johnny. "If dragons aren't 'real' where you come from, then why did you say you've met them?"

He turned to Violetta. "As for your brother, I don't know -- is 'dragoon' a variant pronunciation, or is it a different breed? I thought..."

While Kalyndis spoke, questions and answers were dancing around in his mind at tremendous speed; recent experiences were being re-evaluated, new hypotheses were forming. A startling supposition emerged, and he looked at Violetta with hurt astonishment.

"But... but you said you could fly!"

John Angelis · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 3:26 pm Post subject:

"Sorry if I'm being confusing. I'm not clear on it myself. My memory of my life before I arrived in this 'universe' is hazy and disjointed. I know things, like what's real, and what's not, and I know that where I'm from, there are no dragons. But before I came here, I visited many places, many worlds, and I think there were dragons in some of them. Or so I seem to remember."

"Lady Violetta here - she seems to be human enough; she might have said she can fly, but her parents say she says a lot of weird stuff. But anyway, even if she were able to fly in some way, wouldn't make her a dragon. Birds fly. Birds aren't dragons."

"But really, are you actually saying that you're a big flying thing that breathes fire? Because, you know, you don't look like one."

Lady Violetta Kingsley · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:23 pm Post subject:

Lady Violetta looked somewhat abashed. "Oh, I can fly, it's just that my parents don't believe I can. I've seen dragons off in the distance, but they fly away before I can talk to them, you see. I think they aren't very sociable creatures on the whole. Maybe they just don't want me to know where their hoarde is, or possibly they're scared of the cats.

"I'm afraid I'm not a dragon, Mr. Kalandys. It's probably a good thing too, because if I was, my parents wouldn't believe in me either, and I can't help but feel that that would have some rather unfortunate consequences.

"A dragoon is a cavalry soldier. My brother is a captain in the 6th Dragoon Guards. I thought when you said 'dragon' you might have meant some other regiment. Obviously women don't fight, so I couldn't be in the army, but I expect we'd be pretty good at it if we could. Mama doesn't like me saying things like that either, she says it's unlladylike, but I've read about the suffrage movement in the papers, and it sounds rather interesting. Apparently one has to wear trousers under one's skirt though, which sounds rather terribly unattractive, but if there's some kind of suffrage movement that doesn't require trousers, then I'm pretty sure I'd be behind it more or less all the way. Not that I'd want to be a soldier though. But I've read absolutely heaps of books and my brain hasn't exploded yet, so it can't be as dangerous as some people say it is, can it?"