Gogonji's fingers rested lightly on his forehead, splayed across its surface in such a manner that his middle finger brushed against the gem set in the middle of it. The stone was not one of the more familiar stones - such as emerald or peridot or even amber - but of moonstone. Used in the basis of many finer crafting tools, it should come as no surprise such a thing would be used to mark the next heir of the Gegenji line. In Eorzea, however, its polished glow brought to mind not only the moon, but also the god of knowledge - Thaliak. It was one of the few Eorzean deities that the Doman felt any sort of connection to, and he felt on the urge of mumbling some manner of halfhearted prayer up to the Scholar as he stared irritably at the parchment in front of him.
In the flicker of weak candlelight, strange and complex formulae were scattered across the paper's surface - the cast shadows transforming them into little creatures that seemed to dance and mock the Lalafell. Brooking no such insubordination from mere ink on parchment, Gogonji crumpled up the latest in a series of mathematical dead-ends, tossing it unceremoniously over his shoulder to join the rest that had taken up residents in and around the waste bin set there. He moved to grab a fresh sheet to begin anew but found himself hesitant, his spindly fingers retracting almost instinctively away from their goal. He had been at this for several bells now, and even this sun had been but one in a series of similar days spent pouring over geometries and equations. Each one ending the same - with all his failures left to become little more than added kindling to the fire that fought inexorably to warm his little cabin, tucked away amongst the icy cliffs of Coerthas.
And it seemed like this sun would be no different, as Gogonji pushed himself shakily from his desk - unconsciously making sure to avoid causing the grind of wood on wood as he did so. An lay slumbering in the bedroom, chased off to bed bells ago so that one of them at least would be able to face the morrow in a well-rested state, and the Doman felt himself unwilling to interrupt whatever dreams she may be having. Ever since the situation with Rosewater had come to a conclusion - with the Paladin returning to the aether consumed by his own rage and paranoia - the Plainsfolk woman had come to stay with Gogonji in his wintry safe-house. And, while he could not rightfully state that he disliked her presence here, it did mean there were several small things he found himself doing due to the addition of a second occupant. Well, third if one counted Ezra as a full occupant as well.
Some of the things weren't overly obstructive - keeping the place a little tidier, making two meals or cups of tea instead of just one, and ensuring the bed linens were fresh and clean. She oft helped with these, making these new additions to the daily events that much easier to take on. It was the other, lingering paranoia-based actions that he found a bit more worrisome. The slow migration of the more dangerous texts he had procured to the higher shelves, out of sight and mind, including a portfolio of his notes and diagrams for the Awakener and the Rousers. He had suffered treachery once before regarding those devices and, while he did not expect the same from An, hiding them away helped ease that illogical concern gnawing at the base of his mind. Not to mention putting an action to the thought of letting those suns become little more than fading memories.
His current project was also another thing Gogonji found himself being exceptionally cautious about. While An seemed oblivious to the lines upon lines of numbers and symbols scratched almost haphazardly upon the sheets of parchment, the Doman was nothing if not wary. Developing new magicks was a dangerous enough venture, even if it was a transliteration from one of the other schools of aetheric manipulation. Many of the books he had prised from the Great Gubal Library on the subject spoke at length of those who had misspoke or miscalculated by the smallest degree and suffered grave consequences because of it. And while Gogonji could rightfully say he had enough issues to deal with regarding the remaining fragments still swirling about in his mind, he also felt quite strongly that this was not something he wanted to drag his Plainsfolk cabin-mate into.
The past few moons had been just as hard on her - if not harder - than for the elder Gegenji brother. She had sacrificed much for him in his revenge-fueled quest against Garlemald, including taking the fall for him as he recovered from its less-than-stellar conclusion. From that, the insufferable Rosewater had managed to sink his claws into her - leading to her indentured servitude to the self-important Paladin. It had taken a lot of effort and manipulation to finally bring that matter to a close, and even now the two Lalafell were waiting patiently for any residual fallout to fade away into obscurity. The last thing either of them needed was another unnecessarily thrust into the spotlight - such as from a spell going horribly awry. This was a time for relaxation and reflection, as their little trip to the tea house and bath had neatly encompassed - though it wasn't without its own incidents.
And so Gogonji had spent much of his time studying and researching and crunching the numbers in the times An was away or asleep, to allow the Plainsfolk woman the time to recover. He had made several trips to the Runestone - some with An and some without - to quietly watch the combatants, seeking those who used the abilities he intended to replicate through Arcanima, but kept his reasonings for it purposefully vague. Unfortunately for him, those fighters that might've yielded useful data were either removed quickly by their opponents - perhaps due to their unwillingness to bring their full power to bear - or his potential observations were interrupted by outside distractions, such as with the Sultansworn-turned-Free Paladin Koporo Aporo (who, Gogonji noted, had been the source of a lot of recent irritation for both himself and An) or the obnoxiously verbose head of the pumpkin monopoly Gus Pumpkinweed. This left him with more irritations than substantial notes, his progress floundering in mathemagical limbo, and a general malaise he refused to admit to Annunu. And all through this, the fragment he had been seeking to rouse and ultimately aid him through all this - and the "cover" story he had been offering to his cabin-mate, since it was still technically a truthful statement - had remained stubbornly silent.
The Doman was not without his silver linings, however. The removal of Rosewater had been a monumental boon; with An's completion of her sentence and acquittal, the last remnants of Khamja's assaults were set to fade quietly into obscurity and allowing much more freedom for both of them. And while appropriate subjects for study had been few and far between at the Runestone, the upsurge in the use of Sharlayan Astrology had not escaped Gogonji's notice. He had been familiar enough with the Ishgardian version of it - even attempting some star readings on a fevered whim to ensure he had been prepared for everything come the four-pronged assault on the Garlean strongholds - but this style seemed to have many more... practical uses. Even now, he found himself calculating trajectory arcs and the degrees of aetheric deflection through simulation of gravitational lensing as seen in his last venture to Fesca's Wash.
Gogonji cricked his neck idly to chase away some lingering stiffness, and an errant thought came to him. Sharlayan Astrology seemed to draw its power from the stars, heavenly bodies affixed in the night sky, and used at least some degree of recognizable mathematics and scientific reasoning. Perhaps it could serve well as a manner of... practice... for him to attempt transliterating that into mathemagical formulae first. A bit of a deviation from repeatedly banging against his head against the aetheric wall he had been seeking to overcome for the past moon or so. Not to mention that it was another potential wellspring of knowledge and power to tap into even if he couldn't directly adapt it fully into the tenants of Arcanima - and one with no errant soul fragment attached to it to worry about.
It would be not unlike when he first stumbled across those texts on Arcanima back when he was but a youth, which set him upon his path for knowledge as he found what felt like the perfect use of his mathematical expertise. Just as it led him to the ancient civilization of Nym and ultimately the ancient mathemagical techniques of the Allagan summoners, perhaps this delve into Astrology could also open more doors to him. Not to mention that divining knowledge of future events through the positions of the stars, while a bit questionable in theory, could serve a great tactical benefit if accurate. After all, knowing what an opponent would be doing in the future is quite the asset.
A shadow of a grin curled at the edges of Gogonji's lips as he thought on it, his mustache twitching a little in bemusement as he hefted the waste bin towards the crackling fireplace. Such a distraction from his current stymied project might be just the thing he needed to escape from this mathemagical rut of his, and the Dunesfolk found himself rather eagerly considering how best to begin. Even as he tossed the crumpled balls of failure into the all-consuming flames, he mentally went over what texts he had on Astrology already from his brief dip into the practice and mused on what insights the Library could provide him. It as if the mere idea of all this was like a revitalizing cup of tea, leaving him focused and energized by all the myriad possibilities suddenly open to him. The Lalafell even had half a mind to whisk himself off to the Library right now and begin this new side-project of his immediately.
And yet, even as his mind was fired up and eager to go, Gogonji's body was just as quick to remind him of its own fatigue. The sun would be rising in a few bells and he hadn't had a lick of sleep since pulling something similar the previous night in another fruitless attempt to crack the mathemagical code he had set himself upon. Even as he set the now-empty waste bin down, the Doman noticed his hands were shaking - and not just from the excitement of a new source of potential knowledge. Resting heavily on his cane, the Lalafell was forced to admit that he was in no position to make the journey to the Library - his energy was too low to make the aetheric jump and he was certainly in no condition to make such a lengthy journey on foot in the dead of night. As much as he wanted to jump into this new venue of research and study, Gogonji had to admit that it would be best to approach it fresh after a good night's sleep.
Still, even as he made his way to join An beneath the warm covers, Gogonji couldn't help but snatch up the couple tomes he had on the Ishgardian style of Astrology. A little light reading on the matter before succumbing to slumber certainly couldn't hurt, and the refresher would be helpful for the following sun's itinerary. And so, as the the night crept towards dawn, the Lalafell appeased both body and mind in the soft sanctuary of his bed. He managed to make it halfway through the first of the two texts before sleep claimed him, and he fell back against his pillow with his glasses still on and the open book resting against the soft rise and fall of his chest. And so he dreamed; of stars and stratagems, of constellations and of knowledge yet to be obtained.
And in his sleep, next to An and with a new goal firmly set in mind, he shifted and murmured a noise that could possibly be considered some manner of contentment.
~