ioduanlogs | what the water gives you

Entry tags:

what the water gives you

Characters: Trahearne, Leo, Kit, and possibly you!
Date: Through the second half of March
Location: The Dreaming Bridge and the beach
Situation: In which Trahearne gets cornered by Leo and also helps with the beach cleanup efforts. There's fewer open prompts this time, but I included a wildcard if you want to interact with him elsewhere.
Warnings/Rating: None yet

A. A TALK (for Leo)
Trahearne has his room to himself for the moment, sitting on his bed with a good handful of books, a notebook on his lap and a mug of the closest thing to a tea-like drink the cafeteria had to offer on the nightstand next to him. This time, he's changed his reading to general magic theory and writings about Dreamfolk and the planes, and he's taking notes on what he finds interesting or might need to cross-reference. Most of it is easily readable, but every now and then he takes five minutes to struggle to write a sentence in New Krytan instead, the lettering looking a little like basic calligraphy in the way the foreign letters are stylized.

He gives the door a confused look at hearing the knock, but doesn't take long to get to his feet and step over to open it. Trahearne's possibly more wilted than the last time Leo saw him, the edges of the leaves on his head curled inwards somewhat and looking brittle to the touch.

"Hello again, Leo. Are you here looking for someone?"

B. BEACH CLEANUP (for Kit & Open)
Being no stranger to dead creatures out of the ocean, the cleanup job at the beach rather appealed to him. It was a nice excuse to spend the day out in the sun, and the beaches here were nice enough that it felt more like a vacation than coming out to do heavy lifting. Perhaps Trahearne wasn't exactly suited for physical work, but he did have other tricks up his sleeve.

After being sent out onto the beach with their tools, Trahearne turned to the other members of his assigned team. "I have a spell that will make the going a little bit easier. Please, don't be alarmed by it." With that said, he summoned fourth a couple of flesh golems, two of his largest and most intimidating-looking minions.

... Which then proceeded to act entirely docile. While the flesh golems each had a single long talon instead of hands, they were still somewhat helpful in scooping up pieces of jellyfish on their own, perhaps moreso in pushing wheelbarrows. It distracted Trahearne somewhat to be mentally conducting their movements as he was working alongside them, but the work didn't require one's full attention in the first place.

C. WILDCARD
[If you want to run into Trahearne somewhere else, feel free to pick another location!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Benign or not, those creatures are damn unsettling, and when they appear, a short dwarf nearby spooks visibly and takes several steps back from them through the cool surf washing up onto the shore. "Ancestors--" he swears quietly under his breath.

Kit stays put for a moment to watch the monstrous-looking golems at their labour, then shifts his attention warily from them to Trahearne. The latter receives a scrutinizing sort of look; he didn't seem like a blood mage. He obviously wasn't human, for one thing.

"You, uh," he begins, taking a few cautious steps towards Trahearne, "you sure those things aren't going to turn feral and come after us?"

He wasn't the only one that was unnerved by the golems. Trahearne was getting a few strange looks from the rest of the people in their group as well, but he put on his best attempt at a pleasant smile to help placate them. He was hoping that their usefulness would end up outweighing how horrible they looked, and the golems certainly didn't have to come close to anyone as they worked.

Looking to Kit, Trahearne inclined his head in a nod. "I'm absolutely sure, because they're not capable of it. These golems are magical constructs, without any mind or will of their own. If I weren't controlling them, they simply wouldn't be moving at all."

To demonstrate, both flesh golems suddenly straightened up, looking over to the two as they both raised a claw and waved to them in unison. Perhaps it wasn't the least creepy way Trahearne could have shown off his control, but he was giving it his best shot.

A particularly vigorous wave hits him in the shins and makes him wobble a moment, before he regains his centre of gravity. Kit stares at the flesh golems as they wave at him. Uh... huh.

"So you," he begins, carefully pointing a finger at them. "..made them wave like that, just now."

"Yes, I did." Trahearne's mouth is starting to twitch a little, like he's keeping back a smile, but otherwise his expression is still politely sincere. "I could make them dance as well, but doing tricks aren't what I summoned them for." Already the golems were turning back to the jellyfish they'd been working on moving into a nearby wheelbarrow.

"Does that at all allay your fears? I know how alarming they look, but there's not much helping that." And honestly, Trahearne had gotten used to that sort of thing long ago. It's really only in these sorts of situations that he's reminded that most regular people would find his minions disgusting, and rightfully so.

For his part, Kit doesn't look particularly bothered by their appearance; it's the magic that continues to make him ill at ease, even though magic of any kind appears to be something that he now also has at his own disposal. He keeps eyeing the golems as they bend to the task of cleaning up the dead sea creatures from the beach, gives his head the minutest of shakes, then shifts his eyes to Trahearne again.

The guy himself is already pretty peculiar looking... but then again, Kit himself probably looks pretty strange to the locals. He grabs hold of a wheelbarrow and wheels it over to make the task less arduous.

"Fear's not really the right word," he says wryly, giving Trahearne a crooked smirk. He waves a hand as if to dismiss his initial reaction. "Don't worry about it. I didn't catch your name either--I'm Kit."

Trahearne follows along after him, shovel in hand. It honestly didn't cross his mind that he could sit back and let his minions do the work for him - it would still go faster with everyone pitching in, and really, he's handled much more disgusting things before than overly large jellyfish. Considering all the time he's spent in Orr, he's practically used to foul smells.

His eye is admittedly drawn to Kit, though not only for typical reasons. There was something about his stature that he's seen only once before... "My name is Trahearne. It's very nice to meet you." Those pleasantries aside, he managed to last for all of a moment before blurting out, "Are you a dwarf? I apologize but - I've never seen a living dwarf before. Or perhaps I should say I've never seen a fleshy one?"

"Good to meet you, Trahearne," Kit responds affably, flashing his strange new friend a lopsided grin, and sets to the task of shovelling another piece of dead sea creature into the wheelbarrow. The flesh golems are certainly weird, but truthfully they can't be any weirder than the stone golems of the Deep Roads. However those were forged--and he isn't precisely sure how--he expects he'd find being in their presence just as unsettling as the flesh ones. And besides, it's the next question that really snags his attention though.

"Are you a dwarf? I apologize but - I've never seen a living dwarf before. Or perhaps I should say I've never seen a fleshy one?"

He stops short, holding the shovel, and blinks back at Trahearne in startled surprise. "Uh, yeah," he says, then slowly dumps the rest of the dead jellyfish into the wheelbarrow. "I'm a dwarf, even though the rest of the stuffed up sods in Orzammar probably wouldn't agree. Why?" he adds, frowning. "There aren't any dwarves where you're from?"

Trahearne gives him a small, somewhat awkward smile at that reaction, briefly turning away to use the edge of his shovel to slice part of one of the jellyfish into more manageable chunks. Maybe those squishing sounds weren't entirely pleasant, but it made it easier to add to the pile in the wheelbarrow.

"There is only one dwarf that I know of. A rather cranky and irritable one, but I try not to take it personally. You see, some two hundred years ago, the dwarves of my world underwent a powerful magical rite that turned them all to stone. They did it so that they could fight against one of the champions of the Elder Dragon Primordus - the Great Destroyer was spoken of both in their religion and in prophecy, if I recall correctly. So many of them joined that battle that it's difficult to know how many of the dwarves might still be alive."

Dwarves and magical rites--never a combination that could have occurred in Thedas. Even the idea of it sketches clear incredulity onto Kit's face as Trahearne speaks, but the more he hears, the more his expression changes into something approaching melancholy.

"Damn," he swears quietly, and turns to shovel more of the dead sea creatures into the wheelbarrow. For a moment he doesn't say anything else, just working in silence. Then, grimacing, he says, "I didn't figure it out 'til I went topside--I mean, when I left Orzammar and the Deep Roads and went above ground--but dwarves aren't doing that great where I'm from, either. Trouble having kids. I guess it has something to do with the darkspawn, but," here he shrugs, though clearly not from complacency. "Regardless, give it a couple hundred years and I don't know if there will be any dwarves left in Thedas."

Out of all the other more personal tragedies he's endured, this one was the farthest from the forefront of his thoughts most of the time. Mulling it over now, though, it makes him a little heartsick.

"Oh thorns, I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to bring up such a depressing topic." Yet he had anyway, all because he liked telling stories too much. He had gotten used to it, in fact, with how often he spent talking to other Dreamfolk about what life on Tyria was like.

"Just because the dwarves of my world essentially died out, doesn't necessarily mean that it'll happen to your world. Where there's life, there's hope. It could very well be that there's a solution already within their reach." Trahearne couldn't really say any more on the topic. Sylvari couldn't even have children, leaving what little he knew about population pressure from small tidbits in history books.

He deposited another chunk of jellyfish into the wheelbarrow before asking, "Could you tell me what a 'darkspawn' is? That's a term I'm unfamiliar with."

At least Trahearne was easier to hunt down and had less of a grumpy temper than his vampire friend, Leo thought, though he wasn't so sure about the temper part. The guy did, in fact just attack someone by hearing they were undead. He hoped it didn't exactly show on his face, but Leo was never very good at concealing how he felt.

At least he had one of his other bibirus in his arms to hold as he tried to decide how to phrase his question. "Yeah I was looking for you. Because someone has to clean up Devin's mess and figure out what the hell went on."

Trahearne hadn't been expecting to hear that, and ended up frowning at Leo momentarily. "I thought what happened had been made obvious already." It was hard to deny that this topic made him a little tense. He had never stopped to consider that one of the undead might have friends, yet that was exactly what he'd been learning in the weeks since his botched attack on Devin.

"I can't say I understand why you feel the need, but... come in. I'd rather not discuss this in the hallway." With that, Trahearne turned to step back into his room, leaving the door open for him.

Well, even if Trahearne didn't feel the need, Leo did and that certainly showed in his determination. He did however take the offer to come inside, though he held onto Chain just a little closer. It felt odd; Leo LIKED Trahearne from the little they interacted and he had a bad feeling this might hurt their budding friendship.

But hell, he wasn't going to ruin his with Devin either. "Look, I know it will all sound pretty accusatory towards you, but the truth is I understand Mr. Devin's motivation and reasons a lot better than yours. I didn't really peg you the type of person to just up and attack someone."

Trahearne motioned Leo over to the small table and chairs that had been wedged into what free space was left in the shared room, though he himself opted to remain standing, not quite comfortable enough with this situation to try to relax.

"You understand him?" he asked in a flatter tone, crossing his arms over his chest. "What I don't understand myself is how his presence is even tolerated here. I know how undeath works, Leo, and I know it very well. Devin might resemble one of the living, but that's also how his kind blends in and preys on people. He told me that himself. Freeing him from his curse might not be pleasant, but it would be the greater mercy."

Edited 2018-03-22 05:04 (UTC)

"And I am pretty sure I know how Blood Br-I mean vampires work too," Leo shot back, his eyes scrunched tight. "And he's a lot different from the ones I normally encounter. For one, he's a giant dick, but he's never once actually physically tried to harm me. And I'm supposed to be his food, remember?"

At this point, Chain managed to slip out of his arms to light on the ground, sniffing around Trahearne's feet for anything tasty. "And by understanding, I mean he hates himsef. I hate myself. Of course he's not gonna defend himself against your accusations, even if its a matter of semantics."

Trahearne was briefly distracted by the bibiru sniffing at his bare feet, undoubtedly trying to decide between nibbling on his toes or the leaves that seemed to be sprouting from around his ankles. He couldn't pay attention to Chain for very long, though, not with what Leo said next.

His somber expression briefly looks pained. "Leo..." He raises a hand halfway before dropping his arms back to his side, looking away from him awkwardly. "I can't claim to know what's 'normal' about vampires. They already seem to be an aberration from the way undeath normally works. I haven't accused Devin of anything he didn't directly tell me himself." And that was the crux of it, really. What Devin told him had been uniquely horrifying, even for someone who had made a career of studying his own world's particular brand of undead beings.

"I have already pledged to not attack him again - against my better judgment. Will that at least satisfy you?"

Chain decided that the ankle leaves were good to nibble on, though Leo was too distracted by the conversation to see it. "Well, I don't know what you mean by undead! Like zombies or whatever, but even then it doesn't matter because A, he's not a zombie and B, I'm pretty sure he'd rather die than actually hurt someone like me. Physically. He likes to drive people away with his personality."

Well, he couldn't defend that part at least. That's just what it was like and it's something he hated as well. But still, not grounds for attacking someone. "But you didn't seem like the type of person would just up and attack someone for being a dick. I-guess a promise means something but I'm more concerned it happened in the first place!"

"There are many varieties of undead, Leo. They vary in intelligence and don't always have to be inhabiting a physical body." Trahearne was starting to frown a little, also no longer paying even a scant bit of attention to the bibiru trying to eat his leaves.

He gave Leo a level look, keeping his tone carefully even as he spoke up again. "I spent most of my life studying the undead, among other things. I wouldn't have become a necromancer without such a need to understand the workings of death. Later on, I directed an army against the Risen. I read the reports every time my troops died, every time a unit fell at the hands of undead that had been their friends and allies moments before."

Trahearne paused momentarily, sighing before adding, "My point is that I know what terrible things they're capable of. A type of undead creature that can easily move among the living, and feeds on them, is one of the most chilling thing I can imagine. And now you come to me saying that I shouldn't worry because he's found some reason to not want to hurt you?"

"Okay that absolutely sounds like zombies, and vampires and zombies are completely different forms of undead, but I'm pretty sure I don't know enough to argue semantics like that. ANYWAY, that's not the point. The point is that Devin isn't that."

Leo considered himself lucky that he hadn't encountered zombies as more than a 'Femt was messing around with things because he was bored' thing, but he knew about vampires. Even Devin's type of vampires. "Yeah he looks human to people who aren't me. Is he ever gonna take advantage of that? No. Hell, he avoids me half the time and I'm actively trying to be friends with him. He says he's capable of doing all those sorts of things because he hates vampires. But like I've physically grabbed him and he's done nothing? I don't know what more you need. Just because he CAN doesn't mean he WILL."

"You're asking me to put a lot of trust into a dangerous stranger," Trahearne pointed out, his jaw set stiffly. No, Devin's behavior towards him hadn't helped, but that wasn't nearly as much of a sticking point as the 'being undead' part. Even the most benign ghost was better off being freed from their imprisonment on the mortal plane.

Finally feeling a tug at the bottom of the legging-like coverings he wore, Trahearne looked down and saw the bibiru merrily munching away at his leaves. He briefly kneeled down to pick up the animal before rising back to his feet, holding Chain gently.

"If he's as careful as you claim he is, I'd rather see it for myself. All I have been told is that he's kinder than he acts, and I'm supposed to simply believe it, despite knowing what he's capable of?"

"Yeah well he likes to act like an asshole to drive people away because he thinks he's too dangerous for friends-CHAIN, NO!!" Leo was absolutely horrified to see that once again, his bibiru was attempting to eat the plant man like he was a giant cabbage.

"God, I'm sorry. I'm just not going to bring them around you anymore. Does that hurt at all?" Also he was sidetracked easily by being rude to a plant person. But what if Trahearne thought he did it on purpose?

Shaking his head, Trahearne gave Chain a few strokes over the forehead before offering her back to Leo. "No, it doesn't hurt, or else I might have noticed sooner. These leaves are like clothes, or armor. It'd be a little like if you had an animal eating your hair, I suppose." He could live with one slightly bared ankle until his leaves grew back in. At the very least, he had too many leaves to make it easy for a rabbit to go through it all.

"How Devin treats others is still entirely his own problem. I'm not as familiar with vampires, but there's no cure for being undead. If he's failed to come to terms with his condition, that's on his head and no one else's." Trahearne briefly pauses before adding, "You also shouldn't ignore anyone that claims to be dangerous. Chances are that it's true."

Leo sighed. This again. (Even if he was still grateful Trahearne didn't seem to be mad at his bibirus for grabbing him for a snack. There was that, at least.)

"I mean, if you wanna go with that logic, Mr. Klaus shouldn't let me around him. You shouldn't either. Hell, literally every single one of my coworkers could easily kill me without breaking a sweat. But I know they won't, and its the same with Devin. You don't even have to like...go near him again. But I'm just saying that he's not as bad of a person as you make him out to me," Leo shot back, stuffing his face in to the side of Chain's fur. She whacked him in his face with a wing.

Trahearne is quiet for a moment, his lips pressed together in distaste. It'd be difficult to argue the point, and he wasn't so sure that he wanted to. Having so many people you could trust in was an admirable trait, when it wasn't taken to extremes.

"I wasn't suggesting that you should become paranoid. I have... simply never seen a case where someone's force of will was strong enough to drive back that manner of curse." Perhaps he hadn't seen it in undead, but there's a thread of a similarity in his thoughts to something that's starting to nag at his mind. It's making Trahearne look even more uncomfortable than before.

"I don't know what else you want to hear from me. I'm sorry, Leo, but I can't simply take your word for it. That's not going to put my mind at ease."

"I'm just....sure he's not a bad person," Leo said in a rather small voice, muffled by the bibiru in front of his face. He didn't know how else to explain it, other than Trahearne seemed to think it worked differently than it actually did. He just felt like the bad guy now, and it clearly showed in his posture.

"Sorry. I'll stop bothering you then," He said, turning quickly to the door so he could get out quickly.

Thorns and brambles... this wasn't how he had intended this conversation to go, but Trahearne had also never been good with this kind of thing. It seemed he really was better suited to keeping to himself. After all, he seemed to be the outsider starting trouble here, even among other outsiders.

"I'm not intending on remaining troublesome. At least know that." He couldn't imagine what else he could possibly say to stop Leo from leaving like that, so Trahearne makes no move to stop or follow him after those words.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

what the water gives you

B!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

A. pouts at him

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject