Bamboo and Edelweiss

((hahaha I use a saline spray! I don't like staying on cold medicines for very long it messes with the headaches I tend to get a lot @_@ but yeah! I imagine Bamboo has a very modest room and nothing like Edelweiss' at aaallll xD))

Slowly flexing his fingers to get the blood flow back in them, Edelweiss carefully eyed the bottle, shaking it when the outside didn't offer up any more clues. Inside was a piece of paper and some sand that shifted with his movements of the vial. He held it up to the light, squinting when the sun shone through it, making it glitter the same way it had when it initially caught his eye.

Bamboo fell to the sand where he had laid out his robes before facing the waves. A bored eyebrow arched as he watched Bamboo finally relax, the fear finally leaving his muscles as he slumped forward. A breeze picked up, prickling at Edelweiss' fins and he suddenly remembered that Bamboo was drenched on the beach and half naked. Heat hit his cheeks, pushing the robes Bamboo had just straightened out back over the priest's legs. He was never one to care so much for modesty before, why does it matter now?

"Cover up if you're cold," He demanded, noticing the goosebumps on Bamboo's arms, he was staring again, he realized. Blinking away the image he irritably tossed the bottle into Bamboo's outstretched hand.

"Do you know how to open it? There's something inside." He announced, busying himself with twisting up at the wet hem of his tank top, getting the excess water out of it.

((and I had some ideas for the bottle if you wanna discuss or we can just go with it either way I don't care ))

(( yeah, they're not great to be on for long but yay, glad you have something that helps! And I'm curious to see what is in the bottle too, so completely up to you muhahahaha! I'm dying that Edelweiss is suddenly all about modesty, LMAO!))

"Aaaaah..." he let out a long sigh at the feeling of reassuring sand under him, leaning back on his arms as the sun began to warm him slowly. He looked at Edelweiss as he flung his robes over his legs, shrugging ever so slightly. " I wanted to wait until I was a bit more dry. I'd prefer not to have to explain why there are random wet spots on my robes... but come to think of it I'm already sitting on them do they'll be damp either way."

He let them stay draped over his legs, surreptitiously watching Edelweiss as he squeezed out the water from his tanktop. " You could lay it on the sun, it'd dry faster and you could wear it after..." He caught the bottle and tried to peer through it, thoughtful.

"People used to send messages in this, I think. Requests for rescue, treasure maps... old love letters." he smiled, then shook it slightly. " I think there's something else in it too though, hold on." He leaned forward and grabbed the dry hem of his robe to try and twist the cork off carefully, allowing his other hand to keep better hold on it.

((hahaha okay! ...and my poor, fragile boy xD ))

Edelweiss was mid-wring when he eyed Bamboo skeptically. If he took his tank off to dry that would leave him shirtless and feeling wildly inadequate to Bamboo. There he was sitting in the sun looking healthy and content to be on dry land and making congenial suggestions. Edelweiss narrowed his eyes at him, not wanting to admit to any sort of weakness he might have, in the end, he gave in. He tugged the shirt off, laying it on the rock next to his shoes and sat himself on a rock adjacent. If Bamboo was going to look at him he would have to turn around at least. Edelweiss took that as one small victory.

He peeked curiously over Bamboo's shoulder as he worked off the stopper. Craning his neck, he couldn't help but be nosy.

"A map would be... interesting." He uttered, hesitating on his words while trying not to sound too intrigued, "I wonder if it's old. Older than we are maybe. An old map of a continent that doesn't exist anymore..." He trailed off as Bamboo pulled out a curled piece of paper, Edelweiss wanted to desperately see what it was, but restrained himself from snatching it out of Bamboo's hands. He had one foot already off the rock, when something else fell out of the bottle. With a soft thud it landed in the sand.

"I've never heard of a bottle carrying messages at sea before but I've seen that." He said, eyeing the metal tube, "I mean, not personally seen it, but I've seen it. That's a cipher." He parroted the word he'd heard in the vision, sliding off of his rock to get a better look at it.

"That would be something. Hints of adventure..." he smiled ruefully, knowing well that becoming an acolyte was likely as rebellions and adventurous as he got. Then again, he had talked Edelweiss into climbing trees, trying coconuts and leaving the familiar behind for one morning. And Edelweiss had dragged him into the terrifying waves -and- brought him safely back to shore.

A thriller shiver ran through him and he tilted back his head to look at Edel, letting his braid dangle low. Even upside down the seer was beautiful, pale thin planes and bright colours. He let out a soft sigh, then remembered where they were.

"I recognize some of the symbols here." he pointed out as he focused on the paper again, unfurling it slowly and half tilting towards the seer so that he could better see. As he reclined on his elbows he traced a thin line over some of them. He looked down at the unfamiliar object on the sand, curious.

" A cipher. You mean like a code? Because I don't know that this makes that much sense..." he looked back at the paper, thoughtful. " I can't say that I ever saw anything remotely like it. I mean, I collect a lot of random things but this seems pretty unique."

So Edel had seen it. Had they been meant to come down to the beach and waves all along?

((aahh I love how much Bamboo admires him ; u ; ))

Edelweiss picked up the tube between thumb and forefinger, shaking off the excess sand before starting to toy with it. The cylinder had symbols all along its sides and rotating disks that lined up with a dart along one side. It certainly wasn't as shiny as the bottle, the cryptex being a burnished metal and didn't reflect the light well, but it was definitely an interesting treasure. As he was turning it over he realized he had used the name for the tube unconsciously.

"Cryptex." He muttered, and then added, almost wistful, "And this is called a cryptex." He blinked, trying to recall pictures that went with the words but it was from a vision that was more of a jumbled mess than something that was stark and clear. "I'm going to have to try to watch to this "thread" a bit better later maybe to better understand it. It could be like a code, I've never actually, physically seen it..."

Edelweiss' fins pricked up expectantly as Bamboo announced he knew some of the symbols.

"Really?" Edelweiss' tail started to fan out in excitement. He remained behind Bamboo, leaning over him slightly to look at the paper that was being shared.

"What parts can you read?" He squinted at the paper. He recognized symbols too but nothing in practice only images he had been shown through a third eye. It looked like another language more than actual pictures.

"There were some old books with translated scripture that those resemble back up in the temple." Edelweiss recalled as he reached over Bamboo's shoulder to touch the ink with one ruby finger, "Do they teach acolytes about that sort of stuff?"

Edelweiss was a bit taken aback by his general tone of interest. He was so used to ignoring the workings of the temple out of sheer spite that he never actually learned anything about others' duties despite his own. Now that there was something new in his life it was hard to tamp down his curiosity.

(( yah, he's completely smitten I think. PLus he thinks he's the coolest so... Also, YAY SPECTRUM!! Good for you Sam, rooting for you! I've always been too chicken, I'm so excited for you!!! ))

At Edelweiss' excitement Bamboo felt a flair of nerves, worried he'd dissappoint the Oracle.

"Well.." he sat up a little and turned to him so he could look at both with more ease. He put the paper down between them and distractedly unbound the wet braid, fingers playing idly as he untangled the long loose curls as he concentrated on the paper before them. "I'm not sure about the name, but I guess you'd need them together, that's why whoever sent them included them both. Not sure how your visions work, that kinda sounds like a ball of yarn you have to untangle..."

He sighed and bit his lower lip distractedly, then carefully splayed long fingers over the paper as he looked up at his friend.

"I'm very low on the totem pole, and I am not the best student." he admitted ruefully. "But you're right; we're taught scriptures from some of the old days, and there are various names for Water and the societies that have followed her. I'm better with some than others. This one..." he trailed off, frowning slightly. " I can tell the words here and there, but together the sentences don't make sense. I guess that's why you'd need the other part? OR maybe we need the book of scriptures too."

He drew up his knees, forgetting he was supposed to keep them covered.

"Like this one, says 'moon' in this combination, that one...um... 'specter' I guess? but again, the sentence itself doesn't." He paused. "I could check the archives, if you like? I mean, if I said the oracle requested them I doubt anyone would really question me much..."

((aaww I love it :') and yeeaahh I've been too chicken for the longest time too but I tend to stick to my new year's resolutions and this was included in this year xD))

"Yeah, they're sort of like a big web of possibilities and junctions, it's not easy to navigate if you don't know how," Edelweiss explained his visions distractedly, more focused on the paper than what he was saying, "A ball of yarn is an understatement..."

Bamboo covered half of the paper with his hand and looked up at Edelweiss that caused him to come back to earth. He crossed his arms over his chest looking more haughty and detached like his usual demeanor. He couldn't make out any of the erratic scrawl, it wasn't something oracles had to learn, it was something that was translated for them and Edelweiss started to regret not wanting to actually read the dead language for himself.

Edelweiss found himself staring at Bamboo when he recomposed himself. A flash of skin and he was already distracted, sheesh, what's come over him. Edelweiss frowned.

"I'll go with you to the archives," He declared decidedly, a small smirk crawling on to his lips, "This way no one will have any doubts about letting you read whatever book you want."

It had been ages since Edelweiss had left his rooms further than the pools of the temple to talk one on one with Water. This beach trip was pretty big for him in itself and the tedium of the day to day was getting to him. Just a small trip to look at scribbles in a book seemed exciting to him which really said something about how much he needed to get out more.

((This is the year!! ))

"Its amazing that you can do that, Edelweiss. You're... you're amazing." He shook his head as he tried to picture how confusing that would feel, dealing with that all the time. He had to be so incredibly brilliant to be able to weed through it all and not go crazy trying to untangle it.

At his declaration he grinned, feeling the blush creeping back up into his face.

"You'd really do that? Thank you. It would definitely make it much easier. They may not even tease me after. "Oh that would be a nice change. The other acolytes thought he was a bit simple for some reason. "They have a couple of reading rooms, so we could always take it to one of them and try and translate it all if you'd like. My room is too small and... ah... well, messy to really do much work there. But I could teach you what I know of the language too, if you wanted."

He looked at the paper intently. " We might want to get some parchment and transcribe it too, just in case. Have a copy, you know?"

Bamboo picked it up carefully and held it out to Edelweiss.
"Thank you for not laughing at my fear, elsewhere. And you know, for pushing us to get this thing. I think its likely the most exciting thing to ever happen to me." ha chuckled softly. "I mean, it could be someone's shopping list, I suppose, but I feels like... more, you know? An adventure."

He knew they would have to head back to the temple soon enough, but he wished he could bottle up that morning and remember it always.

"Um, thanks... I guess." Edelweiss was taken aback at being praised so openly. He shrank slightly into himself, rubbing at an arm. He could put up all the barriers and be as cold as he wanted but taking compliments, sincere compliments, were another thing entirely.

"I'm just doing what I've learned." He added coldly, ready to change the subject back to the mysterious paper.

He nodded slowly at Bamboo in compliance. If we wasn't going to through around his weight as oracle of the Temple of Water every once and a while now was as good an opportunity as ever to flex his power.

"I want to learn the language." He admitted. There wasn't a need to before, but there was now. Edelweiss took the paper from Bamboo when it was offered to him and put it back into the bottle to keep it safe along with the cryptex that gave a metallic clink as it hit the bottom of the bottle.

"I've seen a lot of fear since coming here," He admitted to Bamboo, "A lot of people will come with me with their worries, hoping to find different threads, but like you said, not everything is easy to untangle." He sighed. With gratitude like that it was hard to make fun of Bamboo now, even if he kind of wanted to. He waved a hand, letting the feeling go.

"Even if it's a shopping list, I still want to know what kind of fruit they need for breakfast, I hate the feeling of unknowing." He spat out the last word. An oracle not being able to gain extra insight? Absolutely unheard of. It gave Edelweiss an uneasy feeling and he wanted to tamp it down as fast as he could.

Edelweiss arched a single sharp, incredulous eyebrow, the knowledge Bamboo leaked finally reaching his ears.
"They tease you?" His temper suddenly flaring at the news. "Why would they do something like that?" He demanded, ready to start a fight if he needed to. He wasn't much in a brawl but he knew the right words to make them cut. The want to protect was a new feeling that he hadn't learned until now, either. Friendship is a strange thing indeed.

((PRECIOUS BABIES <3))

"Its more than that though. You choose to. You could have the ability all along and have refused to put it to use for the temple, for those that come to you. You chose to give that part of yourself and your peace of mind away to help others. Not everyone makes the same choice, even if the ability was there."

He grinned as the other took their treasure and put it away carefully, happy to be able to help.

"I can always teach you when not many people are around; that way you can learn it and none would be the wiser. Might be able to pinpoint if they are translating something wrong for you, so it can't hurt." Leaving his curls loose he began to shake sand out of his robes in preparation for putting them back on. "Fear it terrible but people can relate to it. Sometimes I wonder if Hope isn't worse."
He grinned, leaving his worries behind. "Ah, well, surely they wanted coconuts. Everyone should be able to enjoy them at least once..." He joked despite himself.

At Edelweiss's incredulous demand he frowned slightly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Its alright. People mock what they can't understand sometimes. I guess I'm hard to understand, or to relate to. Many came for the perks of serving the temple, others due to family obligations... and I guess they can't fathom why I'm here. I love Water and I am afraid of her, does that make sense?" He gave Edelweiss a small smile.

"I needed to know. I needed to see for myself, to figure out. But in the temple I ask too many questions, I suppose. I do my tasks as I am asked and don't complain, and I have no great escapades to tell about... except a foray into town on a pastry search. I guess I am a little slow and most of them are much more educated too, as I only started learning many of the basics when I arrived at the temple."

He shook the sand and tented up his knees, looking up over the water.

"It doesn't hurt my feeling anymore. They don't really know me, or anything about me... so why should I take their teasing to heart?" he shrugged with more certainty than he felt. "They are like waves pushing up against sand. Maybe one day they will stop, maybe they won't. Anyway, not worth focusing on that when we have a mystery to solve, right?"