Snippet #2262569

Even given his reasons for having entered a lucid dream, Zoen wasn’t beyond making the most of finally being in a place incomparably more dynamic than the quiet, near-deserted streets of Eludrest. The dream was still co-operating with his intentions – there was no shortage of individuals to whom he could speak. One more vivid than the other, guided by minds of dreamers and whatever laws stood behind dreaming beyond the control of dreamers, they had vastly different reactions and things to tell the blonde-haired man with the golden sash and he listened. The value of the rumors they shared… that was already another story. Most seemed to be far more focused on whatever preoccupied their own minds from places they’ve been to, to how outrageous the prices in the market were. Zoen tapped his chin in contemplation concerning the latter – what could determine one’s riches in a world of dreams?

As he asked more and more beings capable of speech, he gradually moved closer to the center of Tinker Tocker, somewhat melodious ticking surrounding him along with the less organized murmur of those presently in the city. Having been given food for thought and an opportunity to socialize with a varying degree of success, it was no less than an entire hour later, at least if an estimation based on his sense of time was to be believed, that Zoen stopped for a bit to weight the amount of new information he’d received… But no, he was quite certain that nothing new had been told to him and in terms of his investigation he was mostly where he had begun. Unfortunate, but not enough to discourage him. At least not yet.

He thought for a bit – perhaps it would pay to reconsider the wording of his questions? “Have you seen anything strange happen lately?” That was one of the questions he had tried asking. In response to it he would mostly receive answers far too different to make any useful information out of them. The world of dreams shifts and accommodates strange things by nature – a hundred different people would see a hundred different things, figuratively or literally. Alternatively he would occasionally ask if they had seen a certain Persona. To this question the answer was always the same short "No".

After the curious but inconclusive investigation Zoen paused somewhere in the city-center, observing the crowd from beneath the slightly glowing bangs. Unbeknownst to those around him and, in fact, to Zoen himself as he hadn’t bothered to look into a mirror, underneath the strands of hair in his eyes gradually shifted a golden pattern of lines forming an ornament not unlike a gilded kaleidoscope. Perhaps the pattern shifted following the rhythm of his thoughts, perhaps it was slowly synching with the ticking of the town’s cogs and gears.

Taking the opportunity granted by his pause, he leaned his back against one of the buildings overlooking the city center and reached out his hand, his fingers tracing lines in the air until they became tangible – he once again created a quartet of his golden strings, their ends unseen yet tethered somewhere as the strings were ajangle. He slid his fingers down the visible length of the strings and produced a musical sound akin to a mixture of a violin and a singing voice. The ticking resonating through the city was like a metronome as he began to play the strings, new musical notes escaping from under the caress of his hands. He had noticed this subtle change to his Pulse back when he had awoken in Eludrest for the first time after so long. But only now he took his time to explore its capabilities some more. There was no rush at the moment. Why not support the rampant thoughts with a soothing melody? Besides, who knows, perhaps the dream would work with him a bit more and bring to him someone who could tell him what he wanted to hear, much as the unexpected encounter with the King and his brave Warrior before. Thus he reasoned to himself with a half-smile as he played…