[Axel seems in a good mood, maybe a bit less restless.]
Nice riddle. Riddles do two things, y'know. Some riddles are clever tricks of semantics and wordplay and tell you a lot about the complexity of the mind which created them. Other riddles tell you nothing of their creator, but reveal the mechanisms of the minds of anyone who answers them.
Knowing you? The second. Anyone who's been here longer than a week already knows how complex your mind is. And if a clever person feels the need to prove their cleverness, all they're really proving is that they don't know whether or not they're clever. Yeah?
Hmm... maybe so. [Joshua grins.] Then again, maybe it's just a game with which to while away an hour or two. Listening to you, one would think I had some sort of hidden agenda.
Your agenda is 'knowing.' [Axel returns the grin.] It's why you get along so well with Ark. Why you've withstood this place with more mental fortitude than many of the other villagers. The Reaper may have sapped your power, but you can still retain your knowledge and there's an ever-changing psychological landscape around you to learn.
[shrug] But hey, who knows? I mean, it's not like I know what I'm talking about.
I have to confess, I don't know what you're talking about, either. I have no power for the Reaper to sap, Axel -- I don't know where you got that idea.
[Axel laughs, apparently pleased by that answer, and then waves a hand.]
Right, right, my bad. 'Dustbunny'. Just a snarky kid with a mean intellect. It must have slipped my mind.
I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but I'll give it to you anyway, since you're bored and I can sympathize. The music is the woman's heartbeat. It stops. She dies.
Funny how things will do that sometimes, isn't it? Perhaps you should keep a better watch on your mind's contents. You never know when you might lose something you really needed, otherwise.
[He chuckles.] And thanks, I appreciate the donation -- and your very kind sympathy. What caused her heart to stop?
Keep too close a watch on your mind, and you might lose something even more important.
Mmm... let's see... I'd have to know the rhythm of the music to guess at that. Crescendo? She saw it coming. Something sudden, something she had time to fear. Decrescendo? She might not have even realized what was happening. Maybe she realized, and didn't have the will to care. When death came, it was not as a stranger.
And a full stop... well. She didn't even have time to realize that she was dead. The steady rhythm and the sudden stop - that's the music ghosts are borne of.
[....this is the contemplative, poetic side of Axel people don't get to see as often, because it's usually hidden behind the flames of his smartass-trickster persona.]
[Mark your calendar, Axel; you may have just actually surprised him. For a brief moment, if one's paying attention, there's a distant and peculiarly wistful edge to Joshua's expression, and while he may be looking in the crow's general direction, he appears to be seeing something else entirely.
The look's gone in an instant, however, and the mildly amused curiosity is back in its habitual place.]
Ghosts, hm?
[One corner of his mouth curls into a half-smile.]
How very dramatic -- I wouldn't have taken you for a poet, Axel. But what's the more important thing one might lose?
...Okay, Joshua's not sure he approves of this whole contemplative poetic honest Axel thing. >:| And on what is really, truly a totally unrelated note, he wishes it to be known that if he's turning his face away from the crow's eye, it's only because something out the window happened to catch his attention.
Are we clear on that?
Good.
After a brief pause, his voice stays casual as ever, however.]
Oh, yes, of course. You speak from experience, I suppose.
[Don't worry Joshua, I'm sure Axel will be back to petty theft, arson, and hanging monkeys from trees in no time. But this riddle strikes close to home to him, and he's giving Joshua a rare moment of seriousness as a result. He does break into a grin, a little amused and a little wistful.]
...of course. I used to live with a musician. He's dead now, as much as he was ever alive.
...what about you, shorty? You're always thinking. Caught in the circles of your own mind. Did you lose your music? Or were you always a ghost?
[After the slightly-too-long pause, however, he turns back to the crow's eye and grins, his tone growing light and flippant once again.]
Must the two always be mutually exclusive? For all you know, I might have been the Phantom of the Opera. [He laughs.] Somewhere on the edge of both worlds.
Nice riddle. Riddles do two things, y'know. Some riddles are clever tricks of semantics and wordplay and tell you a lot about the complexity of the mind which created them. Other riddles tell you nothing of their creator, but reveal the mechanisms of the minds of anyone who answers them.
Which is this, then...?
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[shrug] But hey, who knows? I mean, it's not like I know what I'm talking about.
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Right, right, my bad. 'Dustbunny'. Just a snarky kid with a mean intellect. It must have slipped my mind.
I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but I'll give it to you anyway, since you're bored and I can sympathize. The music is the woman's heartbeat. It stops. She dies.
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[He chuckles.] And thanks, I appreciate the donation -- and your very kind sympathy. What caused her heart to stop?
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Mmm... let's see... I'd have to know the rhythm of the music to guess at that. Crescendo? She saw it coming. Something sudden, something she had time to fear. Decrescendo? She might not have even realized what was happening. Maybe she realized, and didn't have the will to care. When death came, it was not as a stranger.
And a full stop... well. She didn't even have time to realize that she was dead. The steady rhythm and the sudden stop - that's the music ghosts are borne of.
[....this is the contemplative, poetic side of Axel people don't get to see as often, because it's usually hidden behind the flames of his smartass-trickster persona.]
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The look's gone in an instant, however, and the mildly amused curiosity is back in its habitual place.]
Ghosts, hm?
[One corner of his mouth curls into a half-smile.]
How very dramatic -- I wouldn't have taken you for a poet, Axel. But what's the more important thing one might lose?
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The music.
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...Okay, Joshua's not sure he approves of this whole contemplative poetic honest Axel thing. >:| And on what is really, truly a totally unrelated note, he wishes it to be known that if he's turning his face away from the crow's eye, it's only because something out the window happened to catch his attention.
Are we clear on that?
Good.
After a brief pause, his voice stays casual as ever, however.]
Oh, yes, of course. You speak from experience, I suppose.
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...of course. I used to live with a musician. He's dead now, as much as he was ever alive.
...what about you, shorty? You're always thinking. Caught in the circles of your own mind. Did you lose your music? Or were you always a ghost?
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Must the two always be mutually exclusive? For all you know, I might have been the Phantom of the Opera. [He laughs.] Somewhere on the edge of both worlds.
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...'edge of both worlds'. Right.
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