tabularasa_rp | Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is? (Open)

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Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is? (Open)

Who: Parsee Mizuhashi

bridge_princess and You!
What: Parsee Builds a Clock and tries to keep time
Where: Near the Bridge to Nowhere and Parsee's Shrine
When: A pretty lady looked at me and said her diamond watch had stopped cold dead....
Content Warnings: None other than Parsee's usual surly behavior is expected. Will update if necessary

(OOC: Note - Because the flow of time is not stable or normal, any attempt to measure time is doomed to failure. She's experimenting with that fact here.)

1) Do I look like a Horologist?
Parsee was standing there with a pile of what was quite literally just trash in front of her. Among these were a piece of long bamboo that she was adding a weight to and using one half of a pair of scissors to cut to a wedge on the other side. It kind of looked to anyone who might be paying attention like she was getting a small miniature aqueduct of running water ready to come from the stream, though what the point of this entire exercise might be was probably not immediately apparent.

Unless you were from Japan. The bamboo piece was sort of telling there. She was trying to make one of those Deer chaser fountains some people used as water clocks of a sort.

2) It ain't pretty, but...
The Shishi Odoshi was complete. Ok, the truth was that it looked awful. The bamboo piece, even cleaned up, clearly had seen better days but there wasn't any fresh bamboo. The whole construction was made with pieces that were not really designed from it. Old half rotten wood and rusted metal culverts did the job of coaxing water from the creek into position, and it was just kind of ugly to look at. But as the water started to flow down, trickling at a steady pace over the tip of the bamboo, the whole process began to work.

The water that filled the bamboo gradually changed its center of gravity until it pivoted, dumped the water into a channel leading back to the river and then fell back into position with a 'tonk' sound that scared a nug chicken in the distance away with a sqwuack. She put her hands on her hips and nodded in satisfaction. Only... about an hour later, if it was an hour later, she was staring at the thing with a look of mounting consternation.

"That's... That's not right."

3) The Doctor is In
Frustrated with the whole affair but unwilling to get the water clock to stop working, Parsee sat down with a thump beside her shrine, cleaning the scissors she'd used to help slice the bamboo and putting them back together before setting them in the shrine where they'd been offered originally. She squatted down next to the shrine and rubbed her forehead, the irritation apparent in her features. It wasn't adding up, and she didn't like how it was adding up.

But sitting beside the shrine, ostensibly doing her 'job' of waiting for prayers that would never come or people crossing her bridge was soothing in a way, so that was what she was going to do. And hey, these people were crazy enough that she could believe they might actually come to her looking for advice. One or two had already, god help them all. So, yeah... she'd wait and see.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What's Merlin doing over in this part of the woods? Probably nothing, really, other than idly checking to see if there's anything new. He pauses though when he spots the little contraption.

"Ah, it's one of those things that go doink!"

"One of those... yes. Yes, it's one of those things that go doink." In that moment, she gave Merlin a look that said it all. 'I envy the simplistic way you are looking at the world right now.'

"It's a water clock. I'm trying to tell time here."

Donk.

He's mostly trolling, really, but it's not like he's about to admit to that. Especially not when getting a rise out of people doesn't actually do him any good right now.

"I see... And it functions?"

Donk.

"They don't usually do that if they don't work," she said, making a jabbing motion with her thumb and nodding once. "Haven't gotten a feel yet for how well you can tell time from it though." Something felt a tiny bit off.

"In that it doesn't move as regularly as it should, or you can't keep track of how much time has passed inbetween?"

He's noticed the temporal oddity of this place himself, yes.

Donk. Donk.

"The former." She grunted as she said that, glancing over her shoulder. The water clock had just sped up. "I know how to count. It's just not convenient to do it to keep time by counting personally. And I want to figure out why it isn't working right. The air not working right almost makes sense, but time?"

"It's hardly the only thing that doesn't work like it's supposed to. It seems no one here needs to eat or sleep, for example."

The latter of which--and thus the lack of dreams--continues to be a sore point for Merlin.

"Time isn't easily manipulated, and those who can usually can only do so within certain limits, but it's not impossible, either."

"That's the thing. I don't know that it IS being manipulated," she finally said, walking over to watch the pot boil, as it were. It was definitely stuttering and not working quite right. The passage of time was inconsistent and sometimes it just seemed to slow down.

"Wind doesn't work right. Shadows don't work right. It's like nothing here's finished and it's trying to figure out how to 'be.' If anything if time started working properly? That would be manipulation right now. Time's just being allowed to do whatever it wants every second."

Ah, apparently he wasn't clear enough. Does he want to explain himself? ... Not really, if we're being perfectly honest, but he frankly doesn't have anything else to do, especially when brooding alone simply isn't the same experience without Clairvoyance to keep tabs on things.

"Anything that can be altered, controlled, or manipulated isn't immutable. If a mere human mage is capable of affecting the flow of time even in a small way, then it's not strange that someone or something exists that can do more, but a question of how. You're right that in this case giving it a consistent flow would probably be controlling it, but is it possible to say what's 'normal' for time here any more than anything else?"

Look, just because he's a slacker who doesn't bother with any more effort on his part than strictly necessary most the time, doesn't mean he's lacking in understanding stuff like this. He is something like fifteen plus centuries old, after all, and was already a famous mage back in King Arthur's day.

"Whatever is going on in this world, things like the wind or time are only the effects, not the cause. Though of course it should be helpful to observe those effects to find any patterns that emerge that could shed light on that cause."

Uhhh. This face. This is the face of a creature trying to decipher what was said. For all that she was doing intelligent things, she was still a fairly simple woman with a limited education. She was just very very old, which had given her some experience by watching time pass and people do and say things.

However, she was able to latch onto that last statement and finally nod. "Yeah, more or less. I'm trying to pick out patterns. Make sense of it. Get it to behave itself without manipulating it. I'm not a time controller, but if I can figure out how it's working here... well, that's one step in understanding."

Well, there's certainly worse reactions Merlin could have gotten. He's not exactly known for his tact.

"I suspect it's broader patterns that will emerge at first. What things begin adhering to consistent rules first? When does that occur? Can we begin to predict the next change, or at least the timing of it?"

Big picture stuff. He's basically got no idea whatsoever what's going on here, so he has to start broad and then narrow it down from there.

Ok, that statement got more out of her. She nodded. "Yeah, if there's a pattern that shows up it'll be the broad strokes first. Things we can pin down. What's the thing that causes us to notice changes first?" By the time that this month was over, she'd have developed opinions because of the subject.

After all, hunger and breathing had been regular topics of inquiry and study. Why don't we need to eat? Why no air? And now there was air, like the world was listening... She hadn't picked up on that yet, but it was going to get more obvious.

"Exactly."

Which is why he's been taking the time to familiarize himself with as much of this place as possible. Not that he thinks he can somehow figure matters out based on that, but because having that knowledge provides a base to work from and compare against.

It's all quite tedious, really.

Definitely tedious as hell. And, where he was doing broad strokes to understand everything? She was monofocused on individual specific things with the intention of pinning them down more clearly. Different approach, same results for the moment.

"Yeah, so that's what I've been doing lately. Getting frustrated by a water clock. This place is an exercise in futility sometimes. Anyone even bothered to give it a name yet?"

He can't help it, a thousand years of observing the progress of humanity as a whole, and it's hard for him not to look at the big picture. Still, that will probably come in handy, as it gives him a much broader view than many. Much of a pain as it is to gather the information in the first place.

"Not that I've heard."

Of course, Merlin hasn't bothered trying to come up with names for most things, either.

"Well, they might want to get on that, before this place decides a name for itself. After seeing those stupid chicken things... you never know what it's going to do." She certainly wasn't holding out hope for this world having the good sense to pick a decent name after those.

"Ah, but do you have any suggestions?"

He doesn't, and while he's a hypocrite in plenty of ways, sure, in this he can't be bothered to bother other people to come up with something.

"I'm pretty sure there's someone better than the local bridge guard to tell everyone the name of the place. I'll let one of them get around to it. If we end up with a dumb name, I can deal with it." Hey, don't make her do all the work here!

"Well, then don't complain if others are a bit slow about it. Naming a world is quite the task, after all."

And one he's not interested in, either.

"Tch. Asking me to not complain's futile. I can aaaaalways complain about something." She snickered over at him, actually winking a little. "It's one of my less savory talents. Seeing the grass is always browner on my side of the fence."

That was definitely not how the saying went, even if it had the same sentiment.

"Ah, a consummate pessimist, I see."

It's not like it matters much to him, after all, but it might be entertaining to see others deal with it.

"I am the absolute master of the 'glass is half empty' technique in life, I assure you. It's a gift." She was actually finding that revelation a little amusing, honestly. It sort of entertained her in her own sick way to be the ardent pessimist.

"Someone's gotta be ready for the next crap to come."

"Well, then now I know who to come to should I be in need of such a sober outlook!"

Not that he can't think of all kinds of terrible possibilities himself, of course. He has been watching humanity for over fifteen centuries.

"Pretty sure you can manage being a gloomy gus on your own, but if you need advice or gossip on romance to boot, that's sort of what I do." Gossipy little bitch, this one. Amongst so many other things.

Merlin raises an eyebrow at that.

"Is there even any worthwhile gossip to be had here?"

Other than his own occasional attempts to get laid. He already knows about that.

2 (I couldn't resist!)

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