Where there's a whip

Log Info

• Title: Where there's a whip
• Emitter: Merek
• Characters: Merek, Elyanna, Ashes
• Place: Wilderness, far north of Alexandria, Mahuikaa's place
• Time: Friday, May 28, 2021, 10:44 PM
• Summary: Earlier, before Merek left Mahuikaa's cottage and returned to Alexandria where he was arrested, he found some time to speak to Elyanna. The half-hobgoblin is watching the mercenary camp. Not far from the pair, the ashen hobgoblin is watching them as well. Merek attempts to reassure Elyanna that nothing has changed after what was revealed by Ectra. Ashes, feels differently, the new knowledge has re-contextualized a lot of things for her. She ends up concluding that human think vastly differently than she does, or all three of them are lying to protect Elyanna's feelings. Being of a more brutish and monstrous heritage, Ashlee isn't about to compound their shattered friendship by lying. Elyanna will at least know where she stands. Merek attempts to reassure the women that they are on the right path, and Ashlee again states that assertations are not proof and doesn't even broach the topic of metaphysical accuracy between a Dream Seer's dreams and a Death Witch's fortune cards. Elyanna, for her part is mostly quiet. Then Merek prepares a meal which almost poisons them all.

The night's been tense since the group returned from the realms beyond. Elyanna's been largely keeping watch over the camp of disincentivised bounty hunters across the way.

Probably because of the tentacle whip's influence, the hobkin has been taciturn at best, flaring into brief outbursts of ire on occasion.

As before, the halfbreed maintains her watch with the whip writhing in her hands.

Merek takes a look about the place, while he wakes up to do his own checking up. He seems to be wearing his dark night attire, which is a half-adjusted robe with a top on it, in addition to the belt which he wears with a wand in it. He nods a bit to Elyanna when he comes upon her, taking his time to watch the woman. "You are doing well?" he asks, then he takes a look along to the bandits.

Ashes has laid to rest her feelings about Elyanna, and had the ones regarding Merek disenterred. The former did not go peacefully into their grave, being more buried alive, while the others, to continue the metaphore, have risen like some rotting undead to parade around.

All very disturbing to a Vardamaite, who prefer dead things to stay dead, and a lot of the troubles of life to join them.

She's around. She's not doing well, and doesn't make an effort to join things.

Elyanna starts slightly and whirls where she sits at the query, the lash going nuts for a beat or two, then, she lets her breath out slowly and turns to watch the others again, "Well enough, Seer... thank you."

Well enough that she absently starts throttling the squirming whips in her hands.

"How are you?" she asks, voice deep in thought.

Merek's arm is back on, which is a plus to him. The man takes the time to cross his arms while he takes a look to the whips, "I'm well enough," he offers. Is it possible to know what he's thinking? If he is a Seer, does he know what will take place in the week to come, and further than that, what he would be facing? He doesn't, perhaps the man does know that the future won't be easy. It's difficult to really tell.

Then he looks to Ashlee, "You are alright?" he asks, then he seems to think about it, "I need to travel for a little business after we meet here, it might take me a while though I will try and meet with you all afterward. The stars align and say there is much work to be done in the future. Saving Delilah... We did something important, I'm glad you all came with me. Back when... Everyone else seemed to want to go their own way." He nods. "Thank you. We still have a lot to do if we want to be free."

"No." Ashlee says, without elaborating. She's watching the mercenaries too. Her expression is blank, even more unreadable with her skull tattoo, but she's not happy they're here nor really over the reception emerging from the Grey Halls. It tainted an otherwise divine encounter, worse than meeting the snail.

She's liable to Hex any one of them looking at her funny, or even looking at her. Fortunately for the mercenaries she's too far away and too difficult to spot.

"Try not to reveal what we have found out. It will be more difficult if Veren realizes we're on her tail than if she's completely surprised."

Elyanna gives the whips a grim twist with a little growl, but she turns to look for the Mourner now that she's made aware of her presence. She is at this stage, uncertain where things are between them, but, "Hello."

There was a lot in the Grey Halls that put color to the pages of her book for when the lights go out, and refined some of the terms.

She sits forward and encircles her knees with her arms, "Agreed. We have come this far with you, Seer, but the road has plenty of bends ahead."

Merek looks up in thought to the skies while he seems to think about it, then he nods to Ashlee, "I don't know what to think. I know this was not the way any of us wanted this to be." The man walks to the flame while he leans forward to begin stoking it, then he takes a look to the cleric of Vardama, "I still care about you a lot," he notes, then to Elyanna. "And you. Nothing of what I saw in that place will change anything."

The man takes a drink from the flask of whiskey which he keeps with him, "I will do what I can to keep from saying a lot." He then watches the bandits, "We don't know what the future will bring. We don't know if we will still have a world, if all this will be... I don't know, I'll think on that while we look for that woman. I can't pretend to know what to say to both of you. I know you probably need time to yourself, though... You should probably try not to withdraw from the world." He does scratch upon that stubble of his cheek, "What's on your mind?"

Ashlee turns to stare at Merek while he talks, contemplating his words. Chippen seems disturbed, uncoiling from her throat then threading up through her hair to become a headband. "That part is done, Merek, you can't step twice in the stream and it be the same."

She's also unsure how to respond to the rest. She saw a lot of things in the Grey Halls that changed a lot of things. Her ideas of passion, for one. Love, or at least Lust, was one thing she was certain would not persist in death. Not so. That alone makes her question much of her own experiences. Her standard of beauty is another; she might be wrong. She's probably wrong. Even the squid-head seemed to be drooling over more than Delilah's brain. And there's bugs in the afterlife. And hot springs.

"I don't understand how nothing changes with all the new data points, but I've only died twice and you have four times, so perhaps that's it."

The red woman nods, shifting her jaw a touch before she gives the whip another irritable squeeze, "Knock. It. Off." <Infernal>

She turns, then to them and, "I am a monster, trying to follow a better way. You have more grasp of my meaning, now." she begins, still somewhere in her own head. She doesn't have anything to say on the world itself. She still wonders about Ashes's obsession with beauty of late, but there are bridges that are a little rickety to tread upon just yet.

Merek seems to be watching the place distantly in thought while he thinks. "Right, I didn't mean it that way," he notes, then he takes a look along to Ashlee, "Well, everything changes. Though new things that you learn, are things that were always there to learn. I can't explain it, there are things about this world which can be pretty difficult to understand generally."

Then to Elyanna, "You are not a monster. You need to realize and understand that. You were one, although you're not any longer. I could use magic to prove it, I would prefer I not though, because I don't need magic to know that. Take it from the person that's been to the Iron Hells. I've seen monsters, you are on the better of the path." The man seems to be pretty distant in his memories.

If what she saw didn't change things, it wouldn't have. Ashlee was aware Elyanna was struggling to overcome. She didn't know and now she does, and while her memories of her experiences with the Keeper are the same they twist in the light of the revelations. It's not the same. It's not unchanged. All three humans insist that it is. Are their brains different? Yes. Are they lying to protect the other hobgoblin's feelings? Maybe. The Mourner has no particular devotion to the truth but somehow feels hiding this would be an extra injury to the Keeper.

It's important to hobgoblins to know where they stand. It's important to them to know where the others stand. Faith and friendship may be broken but she can at least maintain trust and tell the truth about how she feels. Lying about it would be a betrayal. Perhaps then there would be nothing. It's something Ashlee is reluctant to risk, as much as she distances herself it is in her nature as a hobgoblin to be brutal, and that includes brutal honesty.

"I don't understand you Merek; I understand her more. She's a monster, so I am. Humans, I'm no sure anymore."

Someone got their hobgoblin in someone else's human.

It's let her upbringing come along in interesting ways, but left gaps and branches in others.

The former Keeper is more torn than she's been conditioned to admit, though the reassurances to either side of the equation help to an extent.

Still, she feels the need to answer a noncommital, "We will see."

Merek looks then to Ashlee, "Because something is true at one point, does not mean that things don't change." The man takes a look along the skies while he thinks about it a little, "Anyway. I... Don't know." The man finds a place to settle in while he watches the place, "I do know that you two are on the path that will be right for you. I wish that I was able to take on everything for everyone, I can't though. Some things you will need to find in your own way."

"Things have changed." Ashlee agrees. That's her point. Donna's early history with her sister was a revelation, not only in human relationships and intereaction but for her own understanding of self and perhaps how she appears to others. It was never much of a concern, being interested in going her own way and doing her own thing, but now there is a fuller picture to think about.

Her cards assert otherwise. The ashen Arvec feels her frustration increasing. It's too metaphysically complex for her to argue which is more accurate, his abilities as a Seer of Eluna or the cards of a Death Witch of Vardama. What is truth? What is proof? Saying so doesn't make it so. She finds herself echoing Elyanna, "We will see."

Once again finding herself as an influencer, Elyanna nods, then turns to give the other camp a wary lookover. Perhaps some stink eye. Then, back to her cohorts, "We each have things to carry." she notes a little sourly, then, with a downward glance, she ends up throttling the angst-twisting lash.

"A blanket may keep people warm, but pulled too taut and it will be left rent and useless."

Merek pulls up the scarf which he wears, while he takes a look about the place, then he nods to Ashlee and to Elyanna. "Well, we'll see," he offers. "Ya know, you probably should try to relax with the whip, you might want to put less emotion into it," the man notes, while he thinks about it, then he settles about next to the hobgoblin people while he thinks.

Merek pulls up the scarf which he wears, while he takes a look about the place, then he nods to Ashlee and to Elyanna. "Well, we'll see," he offers. "Ya know, you probably should try to relax with the whip, you might want to put less emotion into it," the man notes, while he thinks about it, then he settles about next to the hobgoblin people while he thinks about it.

"It is full." Ashlee says, familiar enough from having carried it without really understanding. Anyone who knows how it works hasn't explained it. "It's not safe to put it down."

It might attach itself to a cat, or dig into the ground and grow into a tree. Or vanish, when no one's looking. It's one of those things. How Elyanna gets through the night with it she hasn't inquired. Perhaps she doesn't sleep. That would explain a few more things.

"It's proof." At least. Proof of something. A sick and twisted mind, that spreads itself. Little hooked suckers that latch on and hold while they fill you full of poison.

Ashlee keeps staring at the other camp. They'll get their gnoll back, sometime. Cruelly, she hopes not soon.

Elyanna exhales slowly through her nose, then looks down at the whip, "I am trying to keep it from putting them into me." she corrects.

A certain level of self awareness probably helps, though she's been spending a lot of time alone. She really could use some real sleep, though.

"Ah, I understand you need to always keep that with you, still you... Well, I can teach you a way to meditate to control energies like that," Merek will note, while he nods a bit to Elyanna. Then to Ashlee, "If you need any enchantments by the way, I am willing to assist, if you think it will keep you awake or whatever you would like to do. Would you all like for me to cook? It's been a while, I would like to do it."

GAME: Merek rolls profession/cook: (1)+7: 8 (EPIC FAIL)

"I'm not sure those are the herbs you think those are." Ashlee says, somewhat ominously. Time will tell, and it will tell that she was right. Their stomachs back her up. Best to leave the cooking to Mahuikaa, who has some idea of what she planted around her cottage and why a plant that endures a fire might not be the best seasoning choice.

"I could use a malleable holy symbol, the kind that lets you choose the shapes. Maybe a brick that helps heal constructs." The Mourner says randomly, picking something off her 'nice to have' not 'need to have' list. She glances at the whip. Definitely on the 'do not want'.

Tightening her grip on the handle, Elyanna releases her grip on the tendrils before holding it to the side so it has nothing to grab onto as her empty hand rubs thumb and forefingers together. She doesn't seem to like the feel, and starts to rub her hand on the leather sheathing her leg.

"Something to eat..... would be nice..."

GAME: Merek rolls profession/cook: (1)+7: 8 (EPIC FAIL)
<OOC> Merek says, "Well"
<OOC> Merek says, "Uh"
<OOC> Ashes says, "ded"
<OOC> Ashes says, "we poisoned"
<OOC> Merek says, "We gotta retcon all events from this point on."
<OOC> Merek says, "Everyone is dead."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Merek killed us all"
<OOC> Ashes says, "then in Hand of Asumit, Merek Killed us all"
<OOC> Ashes says, "Merek Merek Merek"
<OOC> Ashes says, "ded ded ded"
<OOC> Merek is enjoying the downtime scene that fills in the blanks of what happened before Merek 'ran off'.
<OOC> Merek says, "Which helps me build context."