Ouroboros Spine Gaze

Hoping for this to be a seer thread ;)

Cerne had out his obsidian orb. He had not yet gotten the chance to use it. He gazed into it now, settled atop a stone in the village. He thought of the journey home, and what they might meet. From within the ebony orb, he saw shapes dancing. Cerne leaned closer, burnished gold gaze fervent.

One of the visitors had a pretty stone.

Mojag had tried to track each of them, so when Cerne crossed his path earlier, he put himself in to the posture of a hunter (like the man had with the squirrel), and stalked after him. He wondered what the man was doing; the stone was bigger than most, and very smooth, and after a few minutes of watching him sit there with it Mojag felt compelled to emerge from hiding.

What is that? He questioned without fear, dropping his hunting stalk in favor of a more forthright stride, as he struck forth and crowded close to the man.

He was unaware of the little hunter stalking him, his gaze too entranced on what he could see within the orb. He thought he could define the shapes; Sakhmet and her children, romping about in play. It softened his heart, and he continued to watch, until suddenly he was met with a youth, questioning what he had.

Cerne blinked, and the shapes vanished. He sighed quietly, then looked to the boy. He smiled gently. "This is my scrying orb, young one. I look into it, and I see the future." He shuffled to the side, so the boy might look into it as Cerne queried, "Would you like to look in, and see what you see?"

Mojag opened his mouth to ask about the word scrying but was beaten to the punch by Cerne's answer, and when he was directed to look at the orb and perhaps see something in it, the boy was thrilled to pieces.

I wanna try! He proclaimed (despite already being given permission to do so); he wriggled closer and sat with the orb before his face, staring at it. His mouth hung open and slack for a few seconds before he began to frown, then stick his tongue out, and then jut out his lower jaw and make a noise like, bleeerrhh!

He was making faces at himself in the reflection.

When he finished he looked up at Cerne with his normal, level expression on his face again.

I think it's broken.

The boy treated it as a toy, and Cerne sighed quietly. He allowed the youth to pull his faces, then when told it was broken, Cerne chuckled. "That is not how you see. Watch, and listen." He moved back before the orb, watching it closely.

"You must peer within, look past the darkness, to see what dances in its depths." The Soothsayer focused. The shapes returned. He could see Sakhmet, and her children. They seemed to be playing.

"Do you see the matriarch of my village here? Come close, and really look — no games this time." Cerne motioned the boy forward.

No games? Wasn't this a game though? Mojag was confused but he settled quickly, obedient to the man's wishes. He looked from the orb to the man and back, trying to gauge what he was supposed to do next; he'd already stared in to the orb and seen himself in it - what else was there? Oh! Was this a game of make-believe? His confused look slipped away in favor of a smile, and his tail bat at the dirt.

Mojag focused on the orb again. This time he didn't make faces. The man hadn't made faces, so he'd try and emulate the serious expression he'd seen when he'd initially found him here. Do you see the matriarch of my village here? The man asked. Mojag did not want to disappoint him and after a beat to really study the orb, he nods, although he doesn't know what a matriarch is. The man had arrived with two adults and two children so maybe it was one of them?

I see... myself, he wanted to say, because that was the truth; but the truth rarely fit in to games like this. It wasn't wrong to lie if it was a game, so Mojag went on to say: A boy—two boys! And their anaa, but not their tataa, where is he? His brows furrowed with an obvious wrinkle. Mojag's expression became a little more dire. Did he go away?

The boy was trying — Cerne had to give him credit. He grinned lazily as he watched the boy look into the obsidian orb, but the grin quickly faded as the boy's expression darkened, and he asked a question. Cerne did not quite understand the word, but he was able to assume the meant some sort of male figure. A father, perhaps.

"Try to focus on this missing man, think of what he looks like, and you may see his course in the orb as well." His words were quiet, almost fervent, and he nodded encouragingly to the boy. He was doing well.

Focus on the man?

Mojag had not gotten a good look at Kigipigak when the man came to visit, and he was more interested in the sons anyway. But it was the man Cerne was interested in - so he did as he was told.

The boy was inventive.

The man... What had the visitor looked like? He knew the man had sons, and he was a hunter. The first face that came to mind wasn't a pale one, though. The man hunts. Everything is running away.

Mo was a little glassy-eyed as he imagined the scene: giant deer racing in blurs around a gray-brown wolf, while behind him stood a distant crescent moon.

I... I want the man to go the other way. He has lost the fun in the game, and is focused intently on the orb. Can you see him? The man is going.. he's going the wrong way! Then in a fit of frustration Mojag's paw snakes out and kicks the palantir stone, and it rolls a half-step.

A hunter, going the wrong way. Perhaps he moved into danger, which Mojag could sense. Cerne nodded, though he frowned as he, too, peered into the orb once more. The man within was not Kigipigak. To Cerne, it was himself — but he was not hunting, and he was not going the right way. No, something tugged him in a separate direction. Something unknown to him.

Then, the boy's paw struck out, and the black orb rolled. The vision was broken. Cerne shook his head to clear it, then put the orb back within his sack. "I did not see what you saw, but that does not mean it is not true, or possible." He offered the boy a gentle smile.

"I must be on my way. I hope you enjoyed the lesson." Gathering up the rest of his things, Cerne would leave the boy and the village behind, for a time.

Cerne out, ty for the thread <3

The man caught the orb and within moments, tucked it in to the leather sack where he kept it. He did not say anything about Mojag's outburst - not that the boy expected anything, he was rarely cautioned against action, and rarer still were any judgements by the adults. It felt like a suitable reaction to reach for the stone at the time, which Cerne reinforced by the lack of condemnation.

Instead he was gentle. He smiled, and in a way his voice sounded kind; as if he commended the boy for what he saw. He was dismissive quickly enough after that, and Mojag was too busy with his many emotions to notice as the magician made his polite departure.

He only nodded, and watched him go. Mojag had many questions - and when he could finally orient his mind in a way to allow for them, Cerne was already gone. He would seek out his mother then, and ask her for clarity.