[OOC] Rising Winds and Shifting Sands

[Alfbie]

I thought your last post is very fascinating! Curdle is a very fascinating character, and I like how you revealed so much about him yet he is still such a mystery. Like Miria, I'm very curious about his relationship with his late master :)

I made up stuff about Sherahd--hope you don't mind.

[Nemaisare]

Make up aaaall the stuff! :D It's fun.

Heehee, whoo! Glad it's interesting you. Not nearly as attention grabbing as Miria and Tamal, had me on the edge of my seat, that did.

[Alfbie]

Bah. Curdle is a very unique character, one of the most original I've encountered in RP. Not every day someone's willing to RP an old dude and make it interesting. You have a talent for characterization :)

[Nemaisare]

I like playing older folks, so much more history and experience to play around with. I'm just happy you like him as much as you do. It makes me absolutely gleeful to have someone else thinking he's cool enough to write with. :P

Took me a little longer than I expected to get that post out, but I hope the wait is worth it at least a little bit. ;) I figured we'd give Miria a chance to see him a bit more obviously undone than he has been so far, to make up (in part) for him seeing her huge secret without her permission. :P

[Alfbie]

It was definitely worth the wait :)

Considering what all Miria has been through, something tells me that she ought to be more cruel and distrustful to Curdle as a reflection of the wrong done to her by a jinni. At the same time, it would have been more difficult to progress the story forward, and I think it says something about her character that she can show a kind gesture to Curdle when technically she should not. I'd like to think that she's capable of seeing Tamal's issues as his issues, not the issues of the jinn as a whole. Or at least that is my excuse for herbehavior :P What do you think? She she be more of an unforgiving jerk to Curdle just because he is a jinni? I hope I'm keeping enough mistrust there, at least; she is certainly not one who will greet every jinni with open arms, haha. She may not even trust the jinn enough to keep one as her servant and is only coming to terms with Curdle because she feels like she must in order to get rid of him.

[Nemaisare]

Hmmm, I think a lot of people would wonder if she hadn't yet learned her lesson, but you've sifted through some of her thoughts and feelings well enough that I can understand why she isn't instantly disbelieving him. I got the impression during our earlier posts that when she's surprised, her instinctive reaction is to be less approachable, but she's like a lot of people, hard on the outside, softer in the middle.

And being a merchant who deals directly with customers, she'd also have some experience reading people and dealing with trouble, so even if she might feel less confident in her abilities now, given as she's done it much of her life there's a good chance that she second guesses herself a lot more than she automatically pushes away. Most especially if she does attribute Tamal's actions solely (or mostly) with Tamal rather than jinn as a whole.

So, I rather like her quieter show of kindness while not being completely trusting more than I think I would if she just automatically went nope. It's a greater complexity to work with. And probably means she'll happily surprise Curdle many more times with her unpredictable (to him) reactions. :P

I love it when characters can work together but aren't immediately compatible and have to each navigate the other's pitfalls. It makes for great dynamic shifts in mood and atmosphere.

[Nemaisare]

Apologies for my posting delay! I was hoping to get something to you before Christmas happened, but I don't think my hope will be realized. :( The holiday rush should die down pretty quickly for me though, so I'll get something out soon afterwards.

EDIT: Or I'll just ignore everything I was gonna do and write a short bit of post instead. Thanks brain... I was just gonna jot down another note and whoops, there goes the evening. Ha! I should have known that would happen. lol

[Nemaisare]

Sorry about the post that isn't. I wasn't even planning on writing a post tonight, but apparently my brain is silly. *ahem* I wrote one version of Curdle's reaction that is perfectly genuine, but might be a more vulnerable reaction than he'd be willing to show. So, while I agree with it, I have to mull it over to see if there's any alternative I like better and the changes to the post would probably be significant enough that I thought it better to not have you stuck with a possibly wrong version in your head. Cuz that's just confusing.

I'll try to get it fixed by tomorrow. Sorry!

[Nemaisare]

Well, that was a lot of drama in my head. lol And you missed it all. Probably for the best. :P

Anywhoodle, I think I figured it out satisfactorily, and made sure to write down the other bits so I can use 'em later without forgetting what they were, haha! I'm smart, like that. Sometimes...

If my frantic rewriting has made anything awkward or confusing or nonsensical, do not hesitate to sigh resignedly and let me know in a very disappointed fashion. Or just, y'know, tell me... :P I shall fix it. But not before Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas! *runs away laughing maniacally*

[Alfbie]

I just got back from Xmas break at my parents' place. Their internet is dismal, so I essentially had no internet for about a week. As such, I missed all of the rewrite!

The post was beautiful. If I understand correctly, Curdle wants a Jinn-style funeral for his master because she wished to not have a traditional Renna one in which her ashes would be stowed underground. She wanted her ashes scattered to the wind, and Curdle wants this to happen in Sherahd. He is basically asking Miria if she could take the ashes to be scattered in the wind, as high as she could take them.

I hope I got all of that correctly!

In any case, Curdle's emotion is very raw here.

I will have my answer very, very soon. Just not tonight (Tuesday) as I am exhausted from a 9-hour drive and I'm still fighting a wretched flu. But sooooooon!

[Nemaisare]

Yay for missing the drama of Nem's indecision! lol But ewww, flu, go away sickness, you are not welcome! I hope it didn't make Christmas dismal.

Eeeee, I'm glad you liked it! And that Curdle's feelings are coming through. I didn't want to have him completely break down, cuz he's not keen on showing that much intentionally, but it's definitely harder to get emotions across when someone's trying to hold them in or hide them. So, yay! It worked!

And pretty much. Renna inters bodies though, no ashes, so Curdle's technically already ruined their traditions by burning Fiira's body, same with Sherahd. As for the rest, depending on how much Miria should know about jinn death rituals (or Sherahd's funerary traditions), that is the interpretation I was going for. A jinni wouldn't need to go to Sherahd to do it, but Curdle's confused from his poor performance thus far, and will be waffling between finishing things as soon as possible, and taking Fiira back to the home she missed so much. If Miria knows more details than ashes and wind scattering, if she's seen a jinn funeral before, then she might know there's some more magic involved and have a few questions for due procedure. But if she doesn't, that's perfect. :)

He's mostly just telling her he's already set trouble in motion and she may not want to be so generous. Also, kind of hoping for someone to tell him he's doing the right thing. Miria doesn't have to agree with his efforts though. It's too late to stop.

Hope you had a good sleep! And are feeling better!

[Nemaisare]

It occurs to me that I have not actively written out much about any funerary rites beyond my little pointform bit about Renna. And that this may cause you difficulty when deciding what all Miria knows or doesn't know. So, I will be trying to add info to the appropriate sections in the coming days. But, do feel free to throw out questions if you want to know more. I'm not keeping these facts from you for any plot specific reason. I'm just really bad at writing things down... *rolls eyes at self* And at not making things up on the fly. I need to stop that.

[Alfbie]

I think I am going to go with the angle that Miria doesn't know much about Jinn burial rituals. She may be more inclined to follow Curdle's request when she doesn't know what she's getting into, haha.

My apologies for not responding sooner. My biggest issue is how to write a response to this that isn't too short, especially with it being weeks since I last replied. My attempts at replying have resulted in a great deal of filler--I don't want to send you crap. I guess I'm having a bit of writer's block on this right now :p

So, what are your thoughts on a bit of a shorter post this time? This RP has been very, very robust, which is wonderful, but it makes me almost scared to write something sub-par, if that makes sense. However, the RP will never finish at this rate if I don't do *something*.

I have not forgotten about you or this RP. Apologies if you feel like I'm brushing you off *hugs*

[Nemaisare]

Haha, that works for me. Poor Miria. Curdle will look out for you, dear. Probably, maybe, I hope. When his head gets put back on straight.

And no worries on taking your time. Writing a good post can take a bit, especially if you're not sure of the direction you want to go in. I don't mind waiting at all. I also don't mind if posts wind through different lengths. Sometimes character thoughts and settings and moments call for lots of words and description, sometimes they don't. Provided I'm getting the details I need to move forward with Curdle's actions and learn a little more about Miria and her worldview along the way, I really don't care if the post length goes down or up or wanders all over the place.

You have not disappointed me yet, in any of your posts. Like ever. Even in plotting. Even just when you went eeeeee over Carol Berg. :P So, don't worry about sending me crap. You haven't, you aren't, you won't. :) I like your writing, I like Miria, and I enjoy this story. You would have to put actual effort into ruining it for me now. ;)

So, just write what and how you want to write the reply, no concerning yourself with filler (and whether or not it is or isn't) or length. It's all good to me. :D

[Alfbie]

And with that encouraging message, I responded! Woo!

[Nemaisare]

Eeheeheeheeeee, lovely!

[Nemaisare]

Blargle, apologies for my posting delays. I've been in a writing slump lately. But hoping to jump back in this week.

[Alfbie]

Aw, that's okay. I understand!

Anything I can help with? Brainstorming and the like?

[Nemaisare]

Nope, s'all good, I've got it half written, I'm just being slow. I actually had ideas soon as I read your post, I just didn't write them down, so they went bye bye and then I had to give up on trying to remember them. Because I'm silly like that. :P

[Nemaisare]

Well, that took me way longer than probably was necessary to get that written. Had it planned out, just needed to get the beginning part written. Sorry about that, but finally got it! Now to get a few facts written up properly, too. ...after I go to sleep... :D