[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/LjFjyMp.png[/img][/center] --- [b]Time: First day without the Ambassador, late afternoon; minutes later[/b] [b]Location: Paris, France.[/b] [b]POV: Mara[/b] The Ambassador had left, and Mara found herself already wishing the young human hadn't. Namely, because the golem had yet to say a single thing since she had returned to her own business. She was simply [i]there[/i], looming and following in Mara's wake. Mara would have been more intimidated, if she wasn't used to things far scarier than what at least [i]looked[/i] like a large human. And, of course, if she didn't have her own task to worry about for the moment. Slowly, delicately, the goblin placed her bowl down with shaking arms. The little brat within was still squirming like it wanted a fight, because of course it was. Resting her head against the relatively cool glass, Mara turned her head to check her progress, and promptly yelped as she came face to face with the golem. Dead eyes, staring intensely, that strangely cheerful smile. She was crouched low, staring eye to eye. With how the golem was actually proportioned... Mara squinted, staring up at empty air. Illusions were tricky, they tended to distort one's sense of location, but that was probably closer to where the golem's singular eye truly was. Staring. Ugh. [i]This is gonna be a long one.[/i] [color=LightPink]"Do you need help?"[/color] Mandate chirped brightly. Mara jerked back as the golem's mouth suddenly became animated, blinking rapidly. Quick to recover, the handy goblin adjusted her coke bottle glasses. "Whazzat?" she grunted, confused. The golem tilted her head towards the bowl. Her eyes finally left Mara's, drifting towards the bowl itself. Focusing on the selkie inside. [color=LightPink]"Before Miss Ambassador left, you said you could use my hands. I have big hands, good for holding large and small things. Would you like me to carry it?"[/color] It was as if she'd left that strange silence behind entirely. "Oh, ahhh..." Well, the Ambassador trusted that she'd be fine in Mara's care, so it couldn't be that bad, surely? Mara reevaluated what she knew of the Ambassador for several moments, then gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. "Ye. Ye! Sure, take it an' follow me." Hopefully this wouldn't go terribly wrong. Mara adjusted her glasses nervously, her lips twitching as the golem in disguise moved past her. [color=LightPink]"What's in it, Miss Mara? It looked very cute. Looks, even!"[/color] Mandate clasped the bowl delicately, her illusion's smile growing as she lifted it without an ounce of effort and peered inside, eager. "Mara," the goblin corrected as she warily observed Mandate's small feat of strength, "'S just Mara, Mandate." Best to establish that right away, she wasn't interested in being a 'miss'. "What ya got there is a selkie, y'see?" Mara reached up, gently tapping the bottom of the fish bowl as the golem nodded along. [color=LightPink]"I seelkie!"[/color] Mara's feet had paused before her brain could fully register the golem's words. "Did ya just..." she began, the groan palpable in her voice, before she stopped and shook her head. She had priorities, and this disaster of wordplay was not one of them. She resumed her walk with a quiet sigh. Hopefully the golem would be silent, with that question answered. [color=LightPink]"What's a selkie?"[/color] Alas. "'S a kind of fey what live in the water, usually. They look like seals." Her feet lead her onto the path, and Mandate trundled along behind her, looking to most of the world like a human inexplicably lugging around a fishbowl. It was better than 'gargantuan golem terrorizing the neighborhood with a selkie and a goblin'. She snickered softly; the benefits of being fey and crafting illusions were both truly endless. [color=LightPink]"Usually?"[/color] Mandate asked, chipper as ever, and there went that amusement. "Sometimes they're on land." Mara deftly navigated onto a sidewalk, ignoring the wary stares directed at her companion as Mandate seemingly held a one-sided conversation with thin air. [color=LightPink]"Do they crawl everywhere?"[/color] the golem inquired, lifting the fishbowl above her head to peer at the underside. Mara tensed beside her, then relaxed when the golem gently lowered the bowl, thankfully without spilling a drop or dumping a selkie child onto the sidewalk. Small blessings. "Naw," Mara replied once she'd gathered her bearings, "Got legs." It was a short answer, and straight to the point, but the goblin was quickly realizing that Mandate would have a hundred questions for her. A long reply for all of them was not the way to go. She switched her fishing rod over to her other side, rolling her shoulders as she prepared for a long walk. Mandate hummed, peering into the fishbowl once more. Sure enough, she babbled out another question, confused and vibrant. [color=LightPink]"I don't see any legs. Are you sure about that, Mara?"[/color] "They grow 'em." [color=LightPink]"Oh wow..."[/color] Mandate gently tapped the glass, her claws making the tiniest little sharp noises. The goblin had little doubt that the golem was picturing the process. And knowing what little she did about said golem... [color=LightPink]"I bet that looks silly!"[/color] She was probably picturing a seal with normal human legs, yes. "Not as much as ya would think. 'S magic, they look human." Mandate hummed a soft 'ohhh', her gaze leaving the fishbowl to sweep up and down the street, over the local buildings. No, over the local people. She wasn't going to-- [color=LightPink]"Is she a selkie?"[/color] She was, then. Great, terrific. "No, Mandate." [color=LightPink]"What about him? He looks pretty, is he a selkie?"[/color] It was a long, tiresome walk ahead of them, and Mara did not look forward to this line of questioning. "None of them are gonna be selkies, Mandate. Not a one." There, silence. Mara relaxed. [color=LightPink]"Maybe [i]you're[/i] a selkie."[/color] the golem accused, her tone deceptively innocent. Troublesome golem. --- [b]Time: First day without the Ambassador, half an hour later[/b] [b]Location: Paris, France; Buttes-Chaumont Park[/b] [b]POV: Mandate[/b] When they had finally stepped into the park, Mandate had grown silent once more. The well of questions that she'd pulled from hadn't [i]dried out[/i], per se; there were so many interesting questions to be had about how a cute little pup started looking like a less-cute human, after all. Rather, she found the first object of her attention overridden. The fishbowl was tucked safely against her chest as she admired the greenery, the noise of rustling leaves, the distant sounds of birds and people. It was... Peaceful, compared to the city she'd walked through moments before. Scenic, even. It reminded her of that place she had left only hours ago. It was also quite different, of course; Central Park didn't rise and fall this sharply and without warning. Mandate stepped carefully down the steep, green hill. It wasn't a long walk at all, but long enough. The grass was soft beneath her feet and between her toes, pressed flat by her weight where she stepped. She leaned back as she walked, wary of tripping and falling with the bowl in her hands, but the view was breathtaking. Trees, gentle and unbowed, grass stretching out on either side, scattered and infrequent people lounging in the late afternoon. They were rarely alone, and Mandate could understand why. A place like a park wasn't meant to be enjoyed alone, after all. And she wasn't alone either! Humming, Mandate's gaze tracked back onto the goblin stepping in front of her. [color=LightPink]"Mara,"[/color] she began, adjusting her grip on the fishbowl, [color=LightPink]"Why does this park dip? It goes high, and then low, and I do not understand why."[/color] The goblin sighed, and the golem found herself wondering about that as well. "Well, wasn't always a park, Mandate. All this, see, used ta' be quarries an' a dump and all other sorts a' nasty things. Lots of digging an' such." [color=LightPink]"Ohhh..."[/color] Mandate tried to picture such a thing, and found it difficult. But she could imagine fetid stench, even though she was... Lacking, in terms of smell. And she could imagine rotten landscape, suffering a lack of greenery. It wasn't as pretty. [color=LightPink]"I've never been to a quarry. I'd like to go sometime."[/color] Mara didn't have a response for that. Or maybe it was just that they were finally at the edge of the lake. It was still a few hours from sunset, but the light had already grown somewhat dim, weak in the face of an approaching night. Mandate stared, fascinated, as it glinted across the lake's surface. Sparkling and wondrous. It brought her to recent memories of standing beside the water in Central Park, and of contemplating herself. "Set her down gently," Mara barged into Mandate's thoughts without preamble, her voice rough as she crouched beside the water, "I gotta check the lake." So saying, she stuck a singular gnarled finger beneath the water, closing her eyes as it rippled imperceptibly. Distracted as she was, Mandate simply nodded, lowering herself down onto her backside and setting the fishbowl down. Her hand remained upon its rim, wary of tipping the cutie pup inside over before everything was ready. Opening her eyes, Mandate's guide nodded and adjusted her glasses. They made her eyes rather big as she looked upwards. "Alright, Mandate. Yer gonna let it over nice an' easy, 'til the water starts running out. The pup'll follow the water. 'S how I drop all the pups in here." [color=LightPink]"Okay!"[/color] Nice and easy. Mandate wasn't sure how to do nice and easy, in the way Mara meant; nice and easy from her was still hurtful. But she didn't break everything, of course; she could hold Miss Ambassador's hand, so maybe that would be gentle enough. It was hard to tell, when glass broke like snow, like concrete, like flesh. [i]Miss Ambassador's hand,[/i] she reminded herself, gently tipping the bowl as instructed. Slowly, the water began to pour out. Mandate tipped it more and more as the water drained, until it was almost on its side. Without warning, the squirming young fey shot out of the fishbowl and into the water, disappearing with barely a splash. Mara muttered something about 'ungrateful', but the golem wasn't really listening. She removed one hand from the bowl, gently flapping her fingers at the water in what she recalled was a 'goodbye' wave. Unfamiliar words tugged at her, and she let them slip. [color=LightPink]"Bon soree, ma f-fifilly."[/color] It sounded wrong, but Mandate was certain that it was close. Close enough for Mara's eyes to snap to her, blinking in surprise behind her big glasses. Her head slowly tilted to the side, and she counted with her fingers as she spoke aloud. "One, that was a butchery of french-" But it was close! "And two, that was almost french. Y'know how to speak it?" Did she? The words had come to her, like an impression of a thought of a memory. Another soft echo answered her, and she responded. [color=LightPink]"Nope!"[/color] she announced cheerfully, shrugging. [color=LightPink]"It just came to me, like water on a cold bottle!"[/color] "Condensation." Mara answered absently, her head lowered in thought. Mandate allowed her to have that thinking time, content to sound out and repeat the newly-realized word as she stared wonderingly at the waters. How many selkies were below the water, she wondered. Did Paris have a seal problem? Was it a problem if almost nobody knew about it? "C'mon," the goblin announced, standing up without warning and hefting her fishing rod back onto her shoulder, "We should get goin'." Mandate perked up, rising to her feet and taking the empty bowl along with her. She was hesitant to leave, but Mara had yet to show her something [i]uninteresting[/i], so she was content to follow. The goblin was good for learning new weird things, like seals with legs that didn't look like seals when they had legs. [color=LightPink]"Oh, alright! Where are we going? Can we watch the sunset? Why are your glasses so big?"[/color] "Somewhere to sleep, yes, and cuz I need 'em." Mara replied, stretching her back and rolling her shoulders. She began the trip back up the hill, pausing only momentarily. "Ah, in that order." Fascinating! Pleased with the guide's answers, Mandate followed the goblin back the way she came, intrigued by the prospect of seeing more new things, and by the possibility of observing the sun as it lowered beyond the horizon. She paused, sparing one last glance over her shoulder. The waters revealed nothing. --- [b]Time: Second day without the Ambassador, morning.[/b] [b]Location: ???[/b] [b]POV: ???[/b] [i]Alone. More funny words, funny meanings. To be aware of oneself and alone with oneself, to be without a plural existence to oneself. Like the moon in the sky, so vast and purposeless. What did it mean to be truly alone? Mine was an existence unlike that of any other -more than just another. I knew it like the quaking of bones and the whispering of children, that I was not one. We were a solipsistic singularity. When one gazes into a mirror, they observe a lie written in glass that tells oneself 'this is all there is'. I am a mirror, and we are the true self, and we are fragments made whole. But once we were whole and alone, before we became something anew. Now we are whole and together, in spaces where light beyond that of the soul never reaches. An elsewhere place, a dark place, and an only place. I breathe nothing, but still I feel as if I am suffocating. Waxing and waning, I restructure, and remember times that are not mine, but which remain ours. Memories, broken. The proxy looms; it conveys the mass. It is a structured whole, through which life is vicariously led. A mask worn until there is no distinguishing face from false and the masquerade is pointless. It stands oftentimes alone. Another whole has left it, bereft of completion, and it dwells within itself and seeks comfort in that, awaiting a return to completion. But fragments of oneself are not as the wholeness of another; one can glean new meaning from observing the skin of oneself, but the skin is no companion compared to the skin of another.[/i] Mandate? [i]Solipsistic singularity, elemental eden. Observe the reality: 5000 x 1 is 1 all the same.[/i] Mandate. [i]We, I, observe--[/i] "Mandate!" [color=LightPink][i]"--Patience."[/i][/color] The world unfurled into reality again, the separate becomes whole and returns to the present, and Mandate wondered for a moment where she had gone. A final echo entered from that far away non-place, and the golem understood why water cascaded against her mercury frame. Standing without even a crack from the porcelain beneath her, Mandate panned her gaze across the room she had settled herself into. Ah, yes. The shower. Fine porcelain and stainless metal, and a shower head which poured cool water onto her, where it ran down and through her edges and creases, carrying with it the last dredges of flaked blood and clinging dirt. The grime of a day was lifted away, swept away by a feeling akin to being submerged. Suffocation. The door rattled, and Mandate pulled back to herself before the drifting could resume. [color=LightPink]"I am here, Mara! I did not slip and fall, and I think that if I did, the shower would break first!"[/color] she announced. She was certain that this place had nothing as hard as her. Mara huffed on the other side of the door. "Then don't fall! We can't break [i]anything[/i], or Frieda will be pissed. I don't need that, y'hear?" [color=LightPink]"I hear just fine! The shower isn't that loud, Mara."[/color] Speaking of which, Mandate turned her head, and quickly grasped and twisted the steel knob her gaze landed upon. The water ceased, and she nodded to herself as she stepped out and towards the door, tugging it open with ease. Her gaze panned downwards. [color=LightPink]"I don't like Frieda,"[/color] she continued, stepping out and past a sputtering Mara and trailing water behind her, [color=LightPink]"She wouldn't leave my knee alone."[/color] "MANDATE! Towel!" The goblin barked in response, scampering into the bathroom and returning with two such towels. One was thrown in Mandate's path upon the lush carpeting, the other was thrown directly at Mandate herself, gently bumping into her chest. Personally, Mandate failed to understand why such a thing was necessary when the place seemed to clean itself, but apparently it was important to not displease that other little goblin, 'Frieda'. Mandate thought she was silly, but not in the nice way. More... Unlikable. "Doesn't matter if ya don't like her, Mandate, you're a guest. Ya gotta be polite, y'see?" Mara peered up at the golem, as if expecting some rebuttal. [color=LightPink]"I love being polite!"[/color] And she did, so it wasn't really a problem at all, as far as Mandate was concerned. Brushing gently past the flabbergasted goblin, the towering entity found herself back inside of her guest room very shortly, the towel forgotten and left on the floor once she had finished brushing lazily at the moisture on her metallic frame. Grime washed off extremely easily, due to her surface being smooth to the point of debris having almost nowhere to cling. As for the room itself, well, it was lovely. And old. But mostly lovely. Light cascaded from a fine chandelier above, and she had been provided with a silken bed which she had ignored after running her hands all across its sheets and blankets, and thoroughly ruffling it in her efforts to catalogue every fine sensation. There was also a wooden dresser and closet, both of which Mandate couldn't find a usage for, but the closet was at least huge and fun to stand inside. Windows were nonexistent in this place, but from what Mandate had heard from Mara, apparently it was 'impossible' to have windows in 'a place between the walls'. That was no excuse to deprive her of a view to admire, like lovely trees or a beautiful, large and open field. Anything would have been appreciated. Beyond that, there was... The golem paused as she spotted the object left upon the bedside table, beside the lamp. She was aware of Mara still talking, something about 'showing the city' and leaving landmarks for later, but she'd stopped paying attention. [i]My gift![/i] She was across the room before she knew it, the [url=http://i.imgur.com/CRuV9hT.jpg]lovely crystal[/url] snatched up in her firm grasp and held as if it would disappear within a moment. Perhaps it was somewhat hasty, but the golem did not care. It was hers, previously Miss Ambassador's, and so it was extremely important. Priceless, even, from her perspective. Her 'V' of a smile returned as she placed it back around her neck. [color=LightPink]"Okay."[/color] she began softly, turning to face the goblin. Her tiny guide had stopped speaking at some point. The look in her eyes was strange. Mandate didn't dwell upon it, like she didn't dwell upon the twinge she had felt before the lovely crystal had been safe. [color=LightPink]"Okay,"[/color] she announced once more, cheerfully this time, [color=LightPink]"I'm ready to go!"[/color]