Two of a Kind

Log Info

• Title: Two of a Kind
  
• GM: Aftershock
• Characters: Fidget
  
• Location: Alexandria - Artificer's Market
  
• Summary: Fidget makes a very bad deal with the Fae

<<Previous: Reintroductions>>
<<Related: Memory of Thee>>

<OOC> Aftershock will start us off. This will take place immediately after Rune tells Fidget to leave well enough alone :D

Rune, Thoth, and the stranger disappear down the bank of the river. Leaving Fidget behind. As Fidget tries to come up with a means of observing the threesome without being noticed, or directly disobeying Rune's stated desires, a gentle hand falls upon her shoulder. As she turns to look at the source of the touch, she finds none other than the very stranger whom had just disappeared with Thoth and Rune. "You are a curious sort, are you not?"

Fidget jumps with the shock, and then her eyes flick between where the group (and this stranger) had just left, and where the stranger now was, "Yes!" she says excitedly, but with a hint of trepidation, "Which one of you is real?! Or did you teleport away?" she asks, glancing back at where Rune and Thoth had gone, in case they were just about to reappear looking for the stranger.

"Teleportation is not possible inside the limits of the city of Alexandria." The stranger states, almost as though reciting something by rote. "As for which is real... Does it matter?"

Crimson eyes stare down at Fidget. "You should learn a touch of caution and politeness. It is rude to cast magics on others without their permission... Ah, we were never introduced. May I have your name?" A small polite smile.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that. Silly rule. I'll probably remember it more when I figure out teleportation and it becomes an inconvenience for me." Fidget complains pre-emptively, "And of course it matters, wouldn't it matter to you if you weren't real? Unless, maybe neither of you is real. That would explain the aura."

"Yeah, Harkashan keeps telling me that too, but technically this time I didn't cast any magic on you, I cast magic on me, and looked at you, so I'm fine!" she proclaims, proudly having circumvented the restriction without technically breaking it.

Then, in reply to the question, the goblin says, "My name's Fidget, nice to-" Fidget freezes in the act of offering a hand to shake "...wait, are you one of those Fae? Are you going to steal my name?"

<OOC> Aftershock says, "Question: Is Fidget Fidget's real name? :D"
<OOC> Fidget says, "Yes, it is."

The individual takes Fidget's hand in spite of her sudden hesitation. For just a moment those crimson eyes seem like they glow. That polite little smile spreads across their features into something a little more full. "It is not truly stealing if it is freely given is it?"

GAME: Fidget rolls knowledge/nature: (3)+9: 12

Fidget grimaces, "I, uh, well... shit. Technically, you're right. But if we're dealing in technicalities, then you certainly can't be mad at me for casting magic on you if I didn't! What's your name, trickster?" the goblin asks, her handshake weak as her mind is reeling from her error, trying to think of what she'd read about Fae tricks, but she'd glazed over some of those texts, Fae are interesting but scholars writing about them sometimes really aren't.

The stranger keeps her hand, long enough for her to notice that their hand is oddly... cool. Not at all as warm as a hand should be. "Do you not think that you have more... pressing concerns than learning a name?" They ask without any real curiosity. "After all, names are intrinsically a part of us, giving yours away to someone else is... well. Something." Those hands fall away, and Fidget feels a distinct sense of... loss. A great sweeping pit in the middle of the chest where something once was and no longer is.

"I...I mean, yeah. It's a concern. But-" And the sense of something missing hits her, and she stumbles back a step, her concern growing towards a panic, "What did you do?" the goblin asks, some fear creeping into her otherwise implacable cheerfulness. "How does it work? And what do you want?"

"I only took what is now mine." The stranger says, so calmly. Not seeming at all out of sorts. "It is _magic_ dear. Though that last is an interesting question. What _do_ I want?" A slender finger touches a delicate chin and the stranger pretends to think before smiling down at her.

"I am willing to trade you, the use of the name you have given me, for service. That _is_ the usual trade after all. You will get the name you desire to use, and I will get someone to help me in my endeavors. It's a fair trade dear, and a far better thing than the wilting you will endure without one."

GAME: Fidget rolls sense motive: (5)+1: 6

"No way! Whatever you want me to do is definitely evil, and you're not even giving me back my name, just use of it. Neither of those is a good deal for me!" Fidget says, leaning on her (limited) mercantile experience since she's at a loss for a way to trick her way out of the situation. Try as she might, she can't get a read on this stranger's deal, so she bluffs, "I can just make a new name, no big deal! If it's magic, then I can undo whatever it is you did!"

GAME: Fidget rolls bluff: (2)+10: 12

The figure laughs a little, gently and not as meanly as they could have done. "You can not _make_ yourself a new name. You can try dear. Go on. I encourage you. Tell me this new name that you've made for yourself." They wait a moment encouragingly.

"I don't even need to, I know what my name is, it's-" the purple goblin's mouth opens and... nothing, the panic rises a little higher in those eyes, "Its-!" she forces out, but nothing. "Damn you! Fine, I can be-" 'Fashion', a name that one of the strange Makari had given her, flits through her mind but the word doesn't cross her lips. "Or I'll be-" another nickname she'd been given flashes in her mind, but she can't say it, her breathing quickens in unmasked panic, "Damned Fae!" She tries to override her fear with anger, she starts casting a spell, her magic can fix this.

Due to her loss of control, the spell is less subtle than she usually tries to be when Enchanting someone, her arcane words loud and a little wavering, and purple energies swirl around her as she starts, "I SUGGEST YOU-"

GAME: Fidget casts Suggestion. Caster Level: 6 DC: 18
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+14: (3)+14: 17

Seeing that she is casting a spell the person in front of her acts quickly, grasping her by one hand and clasping a hand over her lips. Crimson eyes narrow dangerously. The spell is completely skewed by her inability to complete it, but the stranger seems rather irritated that she'd try something like this. "Now. I could have stopped you another way, but I think this serves better. You _will not_ cast spells on me dear. I will not have it. I will _destroy_ your name before I give it back to you. I will rend you utterly without one."

Crimson eyes narrow at her. "Nod if you understand." The hands on her are strong, firm. Like iron bars holding her in place. "No more spells dear. Not one."

The goblin struggles, trying futilely to complete her spell against the obstruction, and the purple energy swirls erratically, and then gusts away like dust in a breeze, the goblin slumps visibly in her capture, some rage still burning away in her eyes and in her heart, but drowning in helplessness.

After a long pause, she nods, and when released, she takes a deep breath, and with the reserves of determination she has left, she says "I won't help you hurt my friends. I'll let this kill me first, and then you'll have nothing."

It's *mostly* true, but she's not entirely sure what she'd do if she didn't have any hope at all.

"You assume that I want you to do so." The stranger, having released her shakes their head and wiggles one finger back and forth. "Quite to the contrary. For now, I merely want you to _help_. Help Thoth. Help it regain its memories. Keep Thoth safe."

They look down at Fidget - who was Fidget and may again be Fidget. "Agree to serve me, or not. It is your choice." Those crimson eyes seem to be reading her every movement. Waiting for her to try something again.

"I-" the goblin pauses, uncertainly, and realizes word choice is probably very important with this foe. "Your service doesn't have..." she looks for the right words, the exhaustion of the moment making it difficult, "It doesn't have an end state. And you're implying that's not the only request. And you're not saying that you'll give me back what should be mine." She's trying to be really careful, against her nature, and it's *so* hard.

"I don't think I can agree to something so open ended. I offer you my service for a month, for that task alone, and-" she stumbles, unsure, "-and you give me my name back now."

Between everything weighing on her mind and her heart, and her frustration at her own stupid mistake, her attempts to barter here are an uphill struggle to regain some control.

There's a low chuckle at Fidget's attempt to regain some control of the situation. "You misunderstand our situation dear. I do not have to give you an option at all. I could take your name and leave you to wilt. Or use it to force you to obey me. I am being generous really." Those crimson eyes are horribly cold now, unpitying. "Or are you looking for a counter-offer? How about... one hundred years? Does your kind live that long dear? That is the usual amount of time that these little deals last."

There's a little glimmer of hope in the goblin's heart, this trickster said he didn't need to bargain, but she notices that he does bargain, because he needs something from her, so the stranger isn't being entirely honest about his disinterest. In a deal of such overwhelming unfairness, it's not much, but it's something to hold onto, to grasp with all her goblin strength.

"We don't, so that term wouldn't make any sense. Isn't the other traditional term a year and a day?" she proposes, internally shuddering at being bound to anyone's whims for even a single day.

The stranger considers this for a long moment. "Yes, it is." Another thoughtful moment. "Very well. I will accept you for one year and one day, but you must obey me implicitly dear. Or else I will take the name and you will wilt and that will be the end of it."

Those crimson eyes are certainly glowing now as a slender hand reaches out toward Fidget. "If you accept, you will bear my mark until the year and a day has passed."

The goblin's arm raises slightly then pauses, "You're trying to trick me again with your wording. I agree to, for one year and a day, obey you in helping Thoth, helping them regain their memories, and keeping them safe. In exchange you give me my name back, unless I break the deal before it's up." She thinks it's close enough she might be able to get the trickster to agree to it, despite the shrinking of some of the loopholes, it's still a lot - she barely knows Thoth, she doesn't know what 'helping Thoth' entails, or how this could turn out to hurt her or her friends.

She shakily raises her hand to offer the rephrased deal.

The stranger laughs at her words. "Allow me to be clear then. You will for one year and one day obey me. You will help Thoth regain their memories, and keep it safe to the best of your ability to do so. In exchange I will give you the name you gave me unless you disobey before that time." The hand is still there for the taking. It seems that this might be the best that Fidget is going to get.

"This is a really bad deal." The goblin says, "And one that if we're not careful, I'm going to break by accident, or on purpose, long before that time is up..." She sighs her outstretched hand wilting a little, and then raises it and grasps the Fae's hand.

"I accept, trickster."

As soon as their hands combine there's a feeling of... completeness in Fidget. Their name returned. It's followed by a dull ache on the back of Fidgets hand. A black mark taking form there. The symbol of their agreement. The stranger smiles at Fidget and waves. "We'll see one another soon dear."

There's nothing else as the person disappears into the crowd of people and is gone. Leaving Fidget alone to contemplate their decision.

Fidget wanders off to the side of the crowded street, and slumps against a wall, in abject shock at how much trouble she was certainly in, her breathing slows as the panic recedes into despair, and she takes a deep breath and lets her frustration out in a single syllable that can be heard over the crowd and the bustle, drawing stares from the passers by.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!<Goblin-Talk>"