pentamerone <% /!UseJournal %>
09/09/2007 13:56:00
[info]asfastasican
Onward - Sleeping Woods [open]
Gin awoke in a very uncomfortable position. Face down in the dirt with bits of plant matter poking him in very uncomfortable places to be poked. It took a moment to recall that he had dove into the undergrowth to hide from that thing who made bell sounds instead of speech. How long had he laid there waiting for the suddenly giant faery thing to go away? Gin wasn't able to rely on her footsteps to be certain she was gone, so he just waited. Each minute that passed, he had decided to wait a bit longer, just in case. Eventually, he had fallen asleep.

Trouble was, he had been small and in cookie form when he went into the brush and now, through sleep, he had calmed enough to return back to his normal human form. That meant that his legs were sticking out the back of the bush and he wasn't entirely sure how he was going to get out.

Some rustling and some fighting, followed by some grumbles of pain as he detached himself from the fauna's clutches. Finally free, but not without some minor scratches from battle with the brush, Gin stood and peeked around the wood carefully. His new shirt was almost in as bad of shape now as his old one and he was finding himself in need of food. Or at least some water. Either way, he wasn't going to find that here.

Home, he could find all those things at home. Except, where was home? Where in the woods was he? Curse his flight tactic of response to any situation, it always managed to get him lost. Gin looked left, he looked right. He turned around and looked behind himself. Nothing looked familiar. And he didn't know what direction the faery thing had gone either, so as to avoid bumping back into her.

After a few minutes of considerable though, Gin decided to go in the direction of where his feet had been pointed while laying down. He didn't know how long he had been laying, sticking partly out of the brush, but it was long enough to assume that if anyone had been in the area, they hadn't been behind him and therefore hadn't seen his legs. This made it the more promising direction to move in.

Onward.

Tags: schmendrick, gingerbread man

 
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From: [info]what_we_dream Date: 09/10/2007 21:37:21  

Just past those bushes, there had been a sleeping man. He had found a small area, just enough to curl himself into, and had covered himself with his ragged old cloak, and had slept.

It had been a good sleep. Deep and restorative. Until the sounds of struggle, of things rustling and grumbling with pain, woke the man, and he pushed himself to his knees, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

"What goes about?" he asked, in a soft voice. "Has the moon set so soon?"

He brushed the last of his dreams from his eyes and looked. And saw the man... who was not?

"Hello there," said Schmendrick.
From: [info]asfastasican Date: 09/10/2007 23:07:00  

Gin froze. He hadn't seen anyone, hadn't heard anyone. Of course, that never meant anything, especially not in these woods, but it was generally indicative that one was along. Apparently, this was not the case. “Uh...” The voice was male and it was speaking words. This stood to reason that it was not that faery-thing who had so suddenly gotten massive... as far as faeries went. The faery-thing had been very female... and made tinkling sounds instead of speech.

Looking around, he spotted a man where there had not been a man before. Had there? Maybe there had been and Gin had just overlooked him, which was entirely possible. Perhaps the ragged cloak the man had near him had blinded Gin to the fact that there had been someone underneath it.

The man could be magic... or not. Either way, did him no good to run away now. He'd already been spotted and besides, there was no immediate threat. Humans, and he looked human, didn't really pose any threat unless Gin was looking like a cookie. Which at the moment, he was not. “Um... hullo.”
From: [info]what_we_dream Date: 09/11/2007 09:33:57  

That was a little trick that had been woven into Schmendrick's cloak years ago. Once upon a time, it had been an invisibility cloak, but as the magic had worn away in time (much with the threads), it had settled into a bit of defensive camouflage that Schmendrick had found far more useful.

Looking the young man over, Schmendrick gave him a light but friendly grin. "Not many people journey this deep into the Sleeping Forest," he said, pulling himself up to his feet. "Might I ask how you came so far?"

He patted the pockets of his cloak. "Perhaps you could join me for some breakfast, if you are hungry?"
From: [info]asfastasican Date: 09/12/2007 23:34:10  

Breakfast would be good provided Gin wasn't the thing being served up for such a thing. Though, Gingerbread was something one tended to snack on after meals and not during, at least as far as he recalled, so there might be little harm in joining this stranger.

Maybe.

“I live in the forest.” He said plainly, not yet consenting or giving regards in response to the invitation to breakfast. “I've gotten a bit off my path, though. Chased by some winged lady who couldn't speak proper. She had gotten quite large and I'm fairly certain she meant me harm. Enchantment or something, no doubt.” Or something considerably worse.

The cloak seemed a useful thing. It blended in so well with the surroundings that if Gin had such a thing, he could hide quite easily in plain sight and have far less to worry about when it came to someone 'catching' him. While his eyes were plainly focused on the stranger, part of his attention was working out ideas of how he might come to get his hands on such a cloak. It would also be warm, Gin assumed, and therefore be useful bedding.

“Who are you?”
From: [info]what_we_dream Date: 09/14/2007 10:19:07  

"Do you?" the magician asked, smiling just a touch. "Unlikely place to find a human, but we do have the adaptability to crop up in some unlikely places." He listened with interest at the story of his pursuer. "Sounds like a fairy. Some are kindly, but the most are tricksters. Even if they don't mean to harm, they cause it for their amusement."

The young man was staring long at him, and Schmendrick wasn't sure why. He couldn't recall ever seeing the man before, but that was no reason why Schmendrick might not be recognized. His fame as a magician had far preceded him a long time ago.

"I am Schmendrick the Magician," he said, touching his hand to his head and giving it a flourish, as though tipping a hat with a bow. "Last of the Red Hot Swamis." From the various pockets within his cloak, Schmendrick drew forth an iron pan and a few eggs. He drew a circle in the dirt with his finger, and a small but suitable pit for a cooking fire settled into the ground. A snap of his fingers, and a hushed word, and there was a merry little fire growing in the pit.

"So. Breakfast?"
From: [info]asfastasican Date: 09/16/2007 20:05:05  

Gin's eyes grew wide. Magic, more magic. Was there not a single being he could come upon that was not magic in some way? Well, at least this magic being had brought his own breakfast (where was he storing all those things in that cloak?) and defiantly seemed to not be a threat. So far, anyway. Either way, he watched with a mixed sense of awe and fear at this magician's fire generation skills.

He didn't give his own name, as this Schmendrick didn't request it and really, that was information that he wasn't about to offer unless there was something to be gained from it. If the magician asked, then perhaps he'd tell him.

Cautiously, Gin took a seat across the fire from the man. “Yes, breakfast.” Free breakfast offered up was not something he was going to refuse. It saved him from having to work to forage or steal from others.
From: [info]what_we_dream Date: 09/17/2007 23:28:43  

"Excellent." With a fire and the pan, the rest was easy. Schmendrick had no plates, sadly, but he had bread and a knife and found a long flat stone that could be useful. Adding a bit of bacon to the pan where the eggs were cooking, Schmendrick cut some bread for each of them.

"How long have you lived here?" he asked the curious young man. "I've been through these woods often, but I do not remember seeing you before."

The eggs, and the strips of sizzling bacon, were placed on the bread, and Schmendrick passed one over to his guest.
From: [info]asfastasican Date: 09/20/2007 22:00:09  

“Since I left the home of my creator,” Gin said almost too quickly. It was odd to him, an extremely rare thing, to talk to any stranger about himself. There was some unspoken rule he had about not trusting anyone with privileged information. Personal data about himself, about Gin the Gingerbread Man, could be used to hurt him.

Protect oneself by never allowing himself to get close enough to anyone to get hurt. It seemed like a good theory, but perhaps the practice weighed on him a bit.

Besides, if talking to this man meant that Gin would find a way to obtain his cloak... or one similar, then that was all the better. So, the benefit outweighed any possible threat... right? “Couldn't tell you exactly how long, though. I don't keep track of those sorts of things.

“If I don't want to be found, I generally am not.” That was innocuous enough conversation, he supposed, silently marveling (and yet a bit unnerved and scared) of the wonders this Schmendrick had pulled from his cloak.
From: [info]what_we_dream Date: 09/21/2007 10:58:37  

Schmendrick tilted his head at those words, one eyebrow raising in curiosity. "Your creator?" he asked. He looked over the young man, letting in some of his thaumatic sight. It wasn't magic that surrounded the young man, it was something far more basic. He remembered that tingling sensation well. It was the same as the Lady Amalthea, when she had clung to herself before transforming back into the unicorn. It was love. If this young man had been created, as he said, it was through an act of love.

"What is your name?" he asked, taking a bite of his breakfast sandwich. This was one of the more interesting breakfast partners he'd had for some time.
From: [info]asfastasican Date: 09/24/2007 21:30:27  

Cautiously he had taken the offered sandwich. Even more cautious he was about tasting it. In fact, he had waited until his companion had taken his first bite and swallowed before being convinced enough that there was nothing harmful about the food offered. Kindness seemed to always come with expectations. In this case, it seemed that this Schmendrick was expecting a name.

Not that Gin thought it would hurt at all. “Gin,” he said after swallowing and giving enough of a pause for obvious consideration.

He was trying, for all intensive purposes, to remain calm. This man was giving no indication of a desire to cause him harm, and in fact doing much the opposite. So why was it that Gin was so certain that at some point, this friendliness was going to drastically change into malice? It hadn't always been that way, he just always assumed it was going to be that way.
From: [info]what_we_dream Date: 09/25/2007 10:39:49  

The man's nervousness was apparent. Schmendrick drew his eyes away, focusing on his breakfast and the act of eating it. Was he worried? Frightened?

Of what? Of whom? The man had tasted the food as though he expected poison.

Halfway through his sandwich, after some silence had passed between them, Schmendrick spoke. "Gin," he said, not looking up just yet. "I am a magician, but I have given my word to one whose opinion I value above all, that I shall only use my magic for good. As a man, I have no wish to ever harm an innocent person."

Now he looked up. "I shall not harm you. I give you my word. If that is your fear, I hope it is satisfied."
From: [info]asfastasican Date: 09/29/2007 17:21:34  

Fear was a strange thing, it was an emotion that one had very little control over. You could tell yourself to not fear something, that it posed little to no threat, and yet unless you believed it with every ounce of your being... was still present. While Schmendrick was making a genuine effort to calm Gin's fears, experience told him differently.

“That's very kind of you to say,” he said, eyes cautiously watching his breakfast companion. “Experience has taught me differently. Trust needs to be earned, especially here.” The woods was a dangerous place, all kinds of things lurked within. Some were dangerous, and some not so much. Gin didn't mean offense at all, but after being chased by so many, after having so many try to eat him, trust was a difficult thing to have.

It would come with time.
From: [info]what_we_dream Date: 10/16/2007 20:46:31  

Schmendrick nodded. That wasn't unreasonable. In fact, it was smart of him. Schmendrick knew himself, of course, and so knew that in the end holding off on an offer of friendship would only prolong valued assistance, but that was what he knew. Schmendrick had been Schmendrick long enough to know who and what Schmendrick was. And it had taken a long time for him to learn!

Now that he had twisted around his thoughts by thinking so convolutedly, Schmendrick tried to remember his point. Oh, right. He shouldn't think Gin would know him nearly so well as he knew himself. "Fair enough," he said. He ate a bit more of his breakfast, letting the pot clean itself and the fire die down.

"Do you have somewhere safe to stay?" he asked, rather suddenly. "I don't need to know where. Just if you have someplace." He seemed altogether too a nervous young man to be out on his own. Some place to house himself while his anxieties calmed would be good for him. Any anyone else who happened to be nearby, the magician suspected.
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