It feels good to
be home. I agree with you {{{Elkae}}}.
OT:
Veronica
wakes up, feeling as if her eyes have been rolled in
sand and then reinserted into the sockets. Sitting up on
the cot, she sees the novel sitting on the small table.
"One chapter a day," She makes a promise to herself.
"Until I finish it." She hoped there was not going to be
a quiz.
Walking into the DISCO, she yelled,
"GRIZZ!!! Where is that breakfast you promised?!!" Not
seeing him anywhere in the store, she decides to go say
good morning to
Seymour.
Elkae Dr. Elkae Knutsson, Dir., Dept. of
Stymied Peregrinations & Asinine Mischief, Inst. of Advanced
Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
Elkae links in and heads straight to
the DISCO. She catches Veronica on the way
out.
"Good morning, Veronica. I hope you had
a good time last night. Are you as groggy this morning
as I am?" Elkae punctuates the question with a tired
chuckle.
Unfortunately, Veronica ignores
Elkae's feelings and makes her
cry.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa ...
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa She thinks I'm insane! Proud Member ~~~~~~~~~ There's no
place like home (except the Institution) ~~~~~~~~~
Veronica stops in her tracks when she
hears Elkae's crying. "Hey, stop that. Take a walk with
me to see Seymour." She takes Elkae by the hand and
practically drags her to WHOOPS.
"Seymour!"
Veronica rushes in and picks up the cat. "Hi there, I
missed you." She buries her face in his fur and says,
"Who's a precious kitty?" She offers him to Elkae.
"Here, hold him. It will make you feel better." Elkae
eyes the cat suspiciously, not sure how Urudawg would
react to her being covered in cat
hair.
Speedy, Grassie, and Merlin explored the
halls of the Ni castle. There wasn't much decor in the
halls, but the rooms were quite interesting. Many of
them were bedrooms, holding around 30 beds in each room
("They must have some big army!" Speedy commented) Once
they came to a room where there were two musical
minstrels and some guy dressed up as a blue
brother:
"Excuse
me! Do you even have a right to even interrupt us while
we are practicing!" yelled one minstrel. "Indeed! If
we don't get this done by this evening, the king will
condemn us for sure!" said the other. "Cool it
brother," said the man with sunglasses. "Sorry, this
is not the bathroom," said Merlin as he closed the door.
"Weirdos," he muttered. "Right... hey let's check out
this door!" Grassie said as he began to open
it.
Co-Manager of Age & Country Hotel; Capable of
Undertaking Treacherous Explorations
Elkae Dr. Elkae Knutsson, Dir., Dept. of
Stymied Peregrinations & Asinine Mischief, Inst. of Advanced
Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
Oh, you sweet kitty!
Elkae is
a cat-person at heart. Seymour senses this instantly and
begins to purr. The slight smell of UruDawg on Elkae's
clothing doesn't seem to concern
him.
Seymour, does your chinny-chin-chin need
a rub? Oh, yes, I see it does.
Proud Member ~~~~~~~~~ There's no
place like home (except the Institution) ~~~~~~~~~
Professor T (Squirrel And
Nut Expert) has slept in. He wakes up,
stretches, and peers over the top of the open drawer.
Good heavens! It's nearly time for bed
again.
Boing! As Cordelia has some tidying
up to do in Elkae's relto, cocoa will be there tonight,
hopefully within the next half-hour. Boing! -
Zebedee links out again back to Elkae's
relto.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ER - the est place to
chill!
Mysti Sage Researcher/Adventurer for the
Institute for Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
posted
The group go to another door. This one,
however, has a giant padlock on it.
"There must
be some object of immense importance awaiting beyond
this this threshold!" exclaims Merlin.
The others
give him a look.
"Right, right, just a little
relapse..."
"How are we to get through here?"
asks Grassie.
"We will have to pick the lock,"
says Speedy.
"Why not just break it down?" asks
Grassie.
"Look at it! It is a veritable
fortress!" says Merlin. "We would need a battering ram
to get that thing down."
"True," says
Speedy.
"Hey, I can pick locks!" says
Merlin.(Really, an uncle gave me a booklet on it last
Christmas)
"Great!" says Grassie.
And
Merlin sets to work.
Merlin (just a nickname) in the Institution and Mysti in the
A&C Researcher/Adventurer for the
Institute for Advaced Explorations of Myst
Worlds Will help nearly any one who needs help
and do almost anything that needs doing. Mysti is
currently doing nothing in particular. Merlin is
currently adventuring in Negilahn.
[This message
was edited by MYSTeriousSage on Wed May 12 2004 at 06:08
AM.]
Kestryll links in by the fountain
looking like he's been swimming in the cavern's lake.
His hair is matted and bright orange. His clothes are
soggy and his expression is akin to something out of a
zombie movie. His eyes almost glow a bright
green.
He slowly squelches his way down to the
garden and meanders his way to the back. He stands
there, swaying slightly, then drops his pack. Slowly he
crouches down and opens it. After a moment of shuffling
things around, he pulls out a small box.
Turning
towards the back wall, he opens the box. He shudders
momentarily, then slowly extracts a small orange object
from the box. He drops the box into his pack and slowly
stands, cupping the tiny object in his hands. He sways
from side to side for a moment then stretches out his
hands, and lets the object fall. It drops into the water
and sinks straight to the bottom.
Kest stands
there for a moment longer, then suddenly jerks
spastically and snatches up his pack. Then he links
out.
The tiny object, no larger than a small
marble, finds a crack in the wall, and tumbles out with
the water of the hood's stream and into the cavern's
lake...
---------Meanwhile-----------
Immediately
after Kestryll linked out of the garden, he comes
bounding up from sub-level two of the DISCO carrying a
broom and trash bag. Whistling cheerfully, yet
tunelessly, he wanders up the aisles to the counter. He
pauses for a moment and notices something is
different.
Grizz and Veronica must be back...
And I was just beginning to get level two cleaned out.
Oh well!
Wonder if I
should leave a note to keep an eye out for that sludge I
cleaned up the other day from level one... Never
mind!
He puts the broom back and drags his
pack out from under a shelf. He sets it on the counter
and shoves the trash bag into it. Then he pulls out a
small mirror and checks his hair. He takes a moment to
carefully remove a lash from under his
eye.
Hate to ruin these baby-blues. Yes, Kest, I know
they're grey-blue...
He smirks and shoves the
mirror back into the pack, slips it on and links
out.
___________________________ Totally
Witless & Incoherent Thinker Owner: Kestryll Inc.
(Delivery, Catering and Liquid Spirits) Scourge of
Traffic Cones and part-time Bartender. If I can't do
it, you can!
The words that Elkae had written had
reached RW on the surface. He had read and reread her
thoughts as she reflected on the cavern and the
Institute several times.
The combination of
Elkae's words, real life, and the impact of particularly
heart wrenching news on the internet today had made
him...well, I guess the emotion would best be described
as home sickness. A strange sensation to have for an
often damp and darkened place under the earth and a
neighborhood now silent. A place from where a whole
civilization had seemingly vanished. RW wondered about
Elkae's words. Was it...an evil thought...to be grateful
to be one of the beneficiaries of the D'ni
fall?
To the Professor, Dr Boatingirl, Ronda and
others, this was a research institute. The Institute. To
RW, it had another name, Refuge. It was to this refuge,
this sancturary, RW had come back to this evening to
spend a short time before the demands of RL drew him
back.
Like Elkae had done, RW listened to the
soft sound of the falls and running water in the
background which was intermixed with the low hum of the
circulating fans that the DRC had left running. As RW
stood and looked out over the cavern lake and took in
the vision of the majestic cavern he became aware of a
new presence. A familiar one,
non-threatening. Looking down at the wonderous
redness of the lake, he addressed the presence behind
him.
"Hello Grandfather." Spoke RW.
"Hello Grandson." Answered Ancient Badger. With that
response, RW turned toward the Ancient One. The illusion
of the badger appearance had vanished and RW beheld the
Ancient One in his true form, his human form. In truth,
they were not related. The term Grandfather and Grandson
were simply addresses of respect, kinship, affinity,
understanding, acceptance and a deep seated emotional
bond toward the other and something not able to be put
into words.
Ancient One did not appear in human
form any less ancient then he did in the illusion of an
old badger. Kind of long in the tooth you might say. The
years etched deeply on his brown leathery face. His gray
hair flowing back. There was a frailness in his
appearence, but there was also unmistakable strength and
power as well. And more then that, a softness and
kindness radiating from him.
"Why do you do
that Grandfather? Let me see you in your true form, and
maintain the illusion of an old badger for the others?"
asked RW. Grandfather chuckled slighty, shrugged his
shoulders, and answered RW with a slight smile curling
the corners of his mouth, "Perhaps people see only
what they want to see. To busy to look beneath the skin
to the heart. Or, perhaps I am just an onery old
badger."
The two stood their, taking in the
cavern, for a long time, not speaking. These meetings
were never hurried, there was no rush. Everything in its
good time. Now was a time to quiet the heart. To reflect
and appreciate the unique oppurtunity the cavern, the
neigborhood, the Institute had offered. To consider and
be grateful for new friendships. To hope and pray for
those who were absent and in need or who had loved ones
in need. To hope for their returning soon.
Simultaneously, Ancient one and RW took in a
deep breath and let it out, very slowly, ending in a
deep sigh. They looked at each other with a slight smile
appearing on each of their faces, and then, each looked
back out across the cavern, at peace.
Grizz sat on a stool behind the counter
at the DISCO with his arms crossed, a thoughtful
expression on his face. He had no coffee cup near, no
Fig Newton in hand, and nothing to read or look at.
Truth be known, he was thinking about Yeesha's words to him. He could often be found
like this these days. He thought he understood, but
there were strange incinsistencies in Yeesha, as there
always seemed to be.
He also spared some quiet
thoughts for Veronica. She was growing and changing
right in front of his eyes. He wondered very much what
she was going to become or do once she had finished
reading the book Yeesha gave her. Much of his own
decision depended largely on what Veronica would want to
do or not do when she had finished.
He put his
head back against the wall and sighed, closing his
eyes.
_______________________________ Co-Owner
The DISCO in the Hood.
Professor T has spent the day catching
up with paperwork. There's not actually a lot to do, as
his hardworking PA has kept on top of it, but he likes
to make himself look busy. Whatever would he do without
Cordelia?
He looks up from his desk thoughtfully.
Whatever would he do without any of them? All his
friends, in one way or another, were associated with
this place. Even when the Institution seemed rather
empty, he could imagine them all there, sharing
something rather special.
Just as he'd imagined,
right at the beginning, walking across that desert. Then
breaking into a run in his excitement, his footsteps
crunching in the dry sand - treading the same path that
countless others would follow, alone, but sensing their
presence, their sense of wonder. He need never feel
alone in Uru - whatever life might throw at
him.
Experimental Program 1
est place to
chill!)
Take
your umbrella on a journey through 
Co-Manager of Age & Country Hotel; .gif)
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Yes, Kest, I know
they're grey-blue...
