Sigil: City of Doors

((Please keep any knowledge OOC unless otherwise observed and known!))

Welcome, dear reader, to a sliver of a slice of a teeny-tiny insignificant corner of the multiverse.

What lies within is a partial record, accounting, and retelling of just a part of the life and times of one Lys.

This space reserved for future introductory material.

1. Unexpected

Lys watched the shadows that danced on the wall, darting back and forth in the flicker of flames coming from the hearth-and-fireplace. There was a soothing, almost hypnotic aspect to the ever-shifting interplay of shadow and light, accompanied by the distant-sounding soft crackle of the fire's fuel. Always moving, never standing still, never quite the same; like, but different. If fire could think, what would it think about, part of her wondered abstractly? Probably that she had better things to do, like prepare her spells, than mull above the sentience of a lick of flame.

"I surely made a fool of myself," Lys thought to herself as she turned to look towards the probably-slumbering form bundled up in the covers near where she had sat upright. "Rushing too fast and too far and you don't even have the slightest idea what you're doing or what you're getting yourself into, do you? Now it's likely as all to blow up in your face, and you'll have lost your chance, all because you surely weren't thinking with your head and couldn't wait and think through the possible consequences, the probable outcomes," an uncharacteristically vitriolic part of her chimed in to the mental tirade.

Lys made a sour face and sighed quietly to herself, looking to the embers crumbling in the fireplace. That wasn't really true. Most of it, anyway, she was pretty certain. Could have, would have, should have, but there was more to the life than that damnable Code and she'd gotten on pretty well without it, thank you very much.

And besides, she was here, here, and that pessimistic part of her mind couldn't quite account for that particular fact. Oh, well, some things in the multiverse were destined to be inexplicable, part of her figured. Like that Astral tree, which would probably be just as inscrutable, and still-standing, a thousand years from now. "I have got to start picking better research subjects," Lys mentally grumbled to herself.

It was time to start readying her spells for the day.

But then Lys looked over to her side, listened to the steady rise and fall of breathing that wasn't her own, and a smile came, abashed, perhaps, but a smile nonetheless.

And the worries and doubts evaporated, like water flashed to steam and wafted up, up, and away, unseen and out of mind. (Maybe to rain down, another day.)

"I really should start readying the spells," Lys thought again as she snuggled back in to the welcoming warmth of the covers. Just, maybe, a little bit later this particular todayÂ…

2. Strange Charms

Lys wandered through the winding, crisscrossing and not wholly sensibly arranged streets of the Cage, finally coming to sit at the lip of a fountain in the Lady's Ward. A faint grimace spread across her features as she rubbed absently at her side, where the healing magic had been hastily infused into still-tender skin not so long ago. "Probably should have minded my own business instead of seeing what was underfoot," Lys supposed to herself.

Well, nothing to do about that now; what was done was done. After all, not all ventures turned out like you would have hoped, as any student of the arcane struggling to master that last blessed part of shaping the flow of a particularly involved ward knew. At least the jink would defray the rent and research costs for a little while.

Lys tarried at her "thinking spot" for a little while longer, going over the events of the past few days while the hustle-and-bustle of the city passed her by. As she did, some residual of determination seemed to well up within; stubborn, perhaps, but intent. "Well, if I don't know what I'm doing, at least I can start finding out how much I really don't know," she decided at last as she stood. Making her way over towards and into the Hall of Records, she stopped to haggle with the keeper on the price-and-rates for browsing and then continued on to peruse the stacks.

Some hours of searching later, Lys finally plunked down a tome at a reading desk to begin reading in earnest. "Deadly Divine: The Dark on the Darker Deities and their Dread Demands".

3. Ups and Downs

After locking and emplacing her customary alarm ward about her conventional place-of-residence, Lys made her way to the Spirit as the day wound down. Climbing the stairs, she'd approached the designated suite, trying the spare key that Kiera had left her. The satisfying click of the locking mechanism on the door greeted her, and she stepped within, closing and locking the door soundly behind her. "Hello," she had called out, but more for habit than anything, as she knew the room was likely empty with the principal occupant out on patrol.

Though exhaustion clawed at her, after setting aside cloak and sandals, Lys's first order of business was to carefully inspect the room, and she did, walking throughout and familiarizing herself further with the space, the ins-and-outs, what was messy and what was tidied, where the necessities were, and on and on until she'd finally surrendered her exploration to a long, drawn-out yawn.

Stopping to pen a letter to leave at the dinner table near the entrance, Lys chewed on her lower lip before signing the missive and laying it to be found. She made her way to the bedroom and slipped off her robes, folding them in a neat pile along with her treasured spellbook, before fwumping down alone onto the bed, to wait for that sweet embrace of sleep's oblivion to take her.

And waited.

And waited.

Treachery of treacheries, now that she'd finally given in to that dragging weariness that had dogged her for the past several hours, all that she seemed to be able to do was to lay awake, restless, atop the bedspread. It was enough to almost make her want to scream in frustration at the unfairness that reigned supreme in the multiverse at that one instant.

The events of the day played over in her mind, words spoken, meanings imparted. What if it had been different? What would she have done? Something scared her, there, but she wasn't quite certain what part of it was the part that was frightening. And not so long before that critical momentÂ… well, Lys bit her lip, and tossed and turned some more. At least she knew who to blame for that part.

Gradually, but cursedly slowly, awareness slowly slipped away as time stretched on, replaced by that liminal divide between wakefulness and almost-sleep, the sort that made one wonder whether they'd really fallen asleep at all.

Lys sat at the dinner table, looking at her journal. It had been awhile since she had penned an entry; oh, there had been plenty of research logs since, but those were hardly the same.

After what seemed like an eternity, she picked up the pen and began to write:

"It's been a little while since I have written something here. Life has been bustling and there is never enough time to do everything that matters.

I suppose that I should write this one to Lin, though, wherever you are out in this pinwheeling multiverse. I hope you are safe and sound and having lots of fun. Knowing you, you probably are. Maybe one day I will be able to tell you all about what has happened and is happening. Till then, this will have to do.

You were always pushing me to do silly things, get out a bit more, and take a few chances here or there. Well, I did, and I like to think that you would be proud, and though I don't know where this one will go, I want to find out. Plenty of silly and fun and mischievous sorts of things along the way, but it's important, too, so I'm trying my best. Even if everyone has to walk their own path, sometimes you have to decide how much to do with someone else's journey and that is never easy. I hope that am doing the right thing, but there is only one way to go, forward. Lucky that it often has a lot of smiles and some blushes too along the way, and quite a bit of discovering new things.

It isn't always fun and games though, and I had a close call in the Hive the other day, too. A friend of mine is missing and I'm worried about her, and something she stood for is in danger, as well, and someone close to me is on an important quest. But I have the best possible help, so we'll make it through.

The research is still taking a lot of time, but that is just the way it is. There are so many amazing things out there just waiting to be discovered, so it would be a shame to not try.


I should get to sleep though. There's always more to do!"