Under Pressure
Log Info
- Title: Under Pressure
- Emitter: Faranmidahn
- Characters: Faranmidahn, Cryosanthia, Seldan, Aya, Mikilos
- Place: A12: Memorial Gardens District
- Time: Sunday, October 04, 2020, 7:36 PM
- Summary: Faranmidahn is in the Memorial Gardens, looking at flowers when Cryosanthia arrives and interrupts her. The white sith is hyperactively cheerful, enough to unsettle the lucht and the sith's foundling. Faran attemps to get to the bottom of it, despite repeated assurances that nothing is wrong, everything is fine, everything is awesome. Cryo is having difficulty staying on the same thought. Seldan is nearby, observing, and is confused by both her behaviour and the baby kobold Cryo has. The pink foundling's address of her as "Ssassa" brings back all the terrible experiences with her first foundling, Menel. Cryo begs Faran to watch Lily as she needs to go swimming, deep swimming in the Tornmawr, and bounds off to do so, immediately encountering Seldan. At the same time, Aya arrives with a present for Lily, a chewtoy effigy of herself which the kobold immediately attempts to love to death by biting at the head. Cryo and Seldan converse awkwardly, Cryo leaps over to Aya and asks if she has any news. She doesn't. More hugs are given to Faran and Lily, who leave just at Mikilos arrives. Seldan and Aya leave. Mikilos confides he's had a visit from the Wee Queen, which was educational and draining. Primarily, of blood. Cryo confides that irrational fears have overtaken her, and she's barely holding it together. Afraid to break down in front of her foundling, she needs to swim, scream, something to snap out of it. A drink, a meal, a bath and a swim perhaps with Mikilos watching, and then bed is suggested and the two depart to do that.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=-<* A12: Memorial Gardens District *>-=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
Among the gardens, scents mingle: green, loam and subtle sweetness, wafting from the meticulously groomed grounds. The lawns are richly green, dense and close-cropped, bordered with polished pale marble stones the size of a human man's fist. The pathways are smoothly cobbled in muted tones that subtly echo and contrast with the surrounding greenery, shaded by the lush canopies of tall, straight trees whose branches arch over the walkways to form open, airy tunnels. Elegantly ornate, tall mana-lamps of wrought black iron keep the paths softly lit in the evenings; they are often situated near benches of matching material and style. It is peaceful, here. Somber. It is also curiously warm and green no matter the time of year; leaves do change color in fall but remain on the trees until spring comes again.
At the heart of the park where the paths converge are large marble pedestals supporting bronze or marble statuary, chiseled letters upon the heavy bases naming the subject of each piece. The previous sculpture celebrating the union of Alexandros with Myrddion has been removed from the center of the garden and replaced with a gorgeous statue of the Crown Princess Lianna Rena and a marble walkway that leads to the Monument of Heroes - a newly-raised edifice celebrating those who fought and died on behalf of others. Tribute is still given to the friendship between Myrddion and Alexandros in the form of the paired standards mounted above the entrance to the Monument of Heroes: one from each nation. The flagstaffs are crossed and held by a Myrrish Knight and an Old-Alexandros Miner.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Faranmidahn 3'3" 35 Lb Halfling Female Albino Lucht woman in black leather armor with a BIG spider Cryosanthia 6'9" 291 Lb Sith-Makar Female A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman. Seldan 5'11" 187 Lb Human Male Ginger-blonde human in armor wearing Eluna's symbol. Aya 4'7" 105 Lb Shadow Elf Female Mul'niessa. Braided hair. Simple clothing. Mikilos 6'8" 180 Lb Dawn Elf Male Tall male dawn elf, rosey blonde and handsome. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
It's quiet enough today, a bit chilly, one that finds Faran out by herself for the moment, clad in her normal Knightly accoutremants. She's moving from flower to tree to flower almost like a bee as she considers all the wonders collected here with a thoughtful, curious smile on her lips.
At first glance, everything is fine. She's a tall, rather muscular and athletic sith'makar woman with an energetic cadence to her step moving with purpose through the gardens. She has a round leather ball, which she is bouncing. Riding on a haversack behind her head is a small youngling, carnation-scaled to her white-scales, who is holding onto her horns.
It's the second glance that suggests something untoward. The sith's head darts from focal-point to focal-point, like a bird's, very frantic. The ball is being bounced too firmly, each impact with the ground is loud and her hands squeeze it when she catches it. The youngling riding the saddle has a tight grip on her horntips, and wide eyes.
When Lily spots Faran, she immediately scrambles down and darts through the flowers to clutch tightly around the Lucht's leg. She stares back at her mother.
"Oh Faran! Good to see you!" Cryo sounds cheerful. Very cheerful. Very. Cheerful.
Faranmidahn makes a little chirplike gasp of surprise as she is suddently clung to out of nowhere and she twists some to see who's on her. She blinks once, then smiles brightly, "Lily, hi!" When cryo's hail catches her attention, "Hello, Cryo, how are you?" She stoops over and picks up her crecheling(?), neice(?) and glances between the two. She arches a brow on her approach and, "Everything alright?"
"Yes! Everything's fine." Bounce. Bounce-Bounce. "Perfectly Fine." Cryo says again, with a smile that stretches a bit too much in showing off her teeth. Her eyes are wide, staring. Every time she catches the ball, her fingers dent into it from how tight she squeezes it. Bounce.
Lily is picked up, then holds tight to lucht, limpet tight. Her tradespeak comes fast, "Ssa, Ssassaa. Ssa!" followed by something in draconic so rushed it's intelligible.
Cryo's darting head looks away from Faran, then back at her, "Oh good, she's comfy. Could I..." the whitescale interrupts herself to dropkick the ball at a statue. It bounces off the angel wings and comes right back to her. She catches it again, hands straining, "... impose on you and Serrendine to watch Lily? I need... I need..." Bounce.
Faranmidahn feels the tension in Lily's grip, giving her a look of consideration, then Cryo earns one of open concern, "We can watch her." She steps closer, looking searchingly into her sister's eyes, "What's happened?"
"Nothing. Nothing's happened." The white sith says, staring back at Faran, and still twitching. She's always moving, fingers tapping, or toes, or her tail jerking from side to side. Her weight shifts, shifts back. She dropkicks the ball again, it flies off towards the memorial, bounces and lands in the flowers. She forgets about it.
"Everything is fine. It's getting cold but that doesn't bother me. It might bother Lily but I'm sure she won't freeze." She shows off the back of her left hand, "No mark! I'm not being watched. I'm not being over protective. I'm not involved in anything that will target her. She's not going to... it's not the Tower. No one is after her."
Cryo smiles and waves at Lily, crouching down, "It'll be a fun time away."
GAME: Faranmidahn casts Detect Poison. Caster Level: 7 DC: 14
"It's alright, sweetie, you're ok." Faran replies as she nuzzles her cheek against Lily's, "Shhhhh-shh-sh-shhhhhh..." She shifts her grip slightly and her fingers flex, flicking through several postures.
"For venom sought, beyond the pale, by will and art, I draw the veil" the Lucht murmurs softly, and her eyes take on a low green glow. <Halfling>
Faranmidahn frowns a bit and reaches out to gently touch Cryo's chest, "Honey... you're winding yourself up so tight, it's starting to worry her... please, talk to me."
Cryo's chest is solid. Touching her is like touching a statue, she's heavy and immobile. Unlike a statue, she has a heartbeat and it's racing. She leans forward, her scaled snout beside the lucht's ear. There is no warmth to her breath, it's cold. She's radiating an aura of it. She whispers, "I can't let her see me break. I have to go swimming. It's a feeling. There's nothing wrong. It's just a feeling."
She pulls back and noses at the pink youngling hanging onto the Lucht. Lily reaches out, just like Faran, putting her small pink hand on Cryo's chest. She says, "Ssassa, Run and Hide." <draconic> The little kobold's words are rather matter-of-fact, and the last thing she heard from her nest-mother. She recognizes the flight response in her foster-mother too, Cryo's attempts to clamp it down aren't working. She's betraying it on a lot of levels.
Faranmidahn closes her eyes and sighs through her nose at the Sith's words. When her peepers peel anew, they've returned to their normal rose glimmer and the Lucht nods, "I understand, sister. How long will you need?"
With the little pink kobold's words, the Knight nuzzles her again, "It's alright, Lily, Ssassa needs a short while for... Sssassa things. Want to go for a ride? I can do a thing that's really neat..!"
"A few hours? A day. A couple days!" Cryo shoots to her feet, landing back a few steps in a stance. She makes a flourish with her hand, "A few hours. I'll compose a sonnet Lily, no, a poem. Oh Lily, shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
The whitescale spins around, tail high, then low. "No, something wintery. Winter approacheth. Ssassa things. Yes, I have to go do Ssassa things."
Lily remains holding tightly to Faran, and staring at Cryo, finally nodding and peeping, "Yessss."
It is the word _Ssassa_ that gets the attention of another in the garden on this autumn evening. Lost in his own thoughts, Seldan had come here, to walk these pathways, and perhaps to clear his own mind. Certainly are his eyes downcast, the simple, sturdy blue traveler's cloak pulled over his shoulders against the chilly autumn night covering what would seem to be a form of his usual robe over shirt and trousers. Certainly are his steps idle and unthinking, his lips moving but unspeaking.
When he hears the name, it shatters whatever his own dilemma might have been like a crash of a mace through the thinnest glass, leaving it in ten thousand tiny pieces on the floor of his mind. Suddenly alert, his eyes snap up, and he watches the whitescale, a figure he has not seen in some time, and ... a baby kobold? He draws in a breath, hesitating.
Faranmidahn nods, giving the Kobold a gentle squeeze, "Oh, Lily, are you cold right now, honey?" she wonders, looking to her found-niece, "I have a spell I can use if you're uncomfortable." Hmmm, Mother should be still awake. Zephyr... isn't hungry, anymore. Good. She smiles warmly, a little disappointment hiding in her eyes, but she nods, "I was hoping to show you something, but.. it should wait until you're in a better place to enjoy it."
The approach of Sir Seldan isn't quite noted just yet, the disguise and low light being proof to her eyes.
Cryo, while she is not in another world, has a hyperactivity that is making her oblivious enough she might as well. "Oh, you should take some of her toys! Here's her scorpion. Here's her exploding butterfly ball." The white sith starts pulling things out of her haversack, then stops. She puts them back in, removes the pack.
"Here, just take this instead. It's full of all her things. And my things. I should put my armour in there. No, it'll be okay. And the football, no, it's not my football. I found it here I should leave it here."
Lily watches as Cryo fidgets back and forth with gear before finally holding out her pack.
Conflict rages in Seldan's ice-blue eyes as he watches the pair, adopting that stone-like impassivity of bearing and features without conscious thought. Pale as a ghost by the glow of lamplight, he remains where he is, not quite daring to speak, and not quite ready to turn away, the voices that war in his mind hiding behind that stone-like exterior.
Faranmidahn closes her eyes again and murmurs, "I'm ok, sweetie." perhaps to coax her own emotional state into proper line for her distant familiar. Her lace clad hand gently rubs over the pebbled scales of her sister's foundling and she reopens her eyes to reach out and accept the pack, "Thanks, Cryo. Mother tells me you've been to the Chapterhouse, so... I'll leave word with the gate to send for me when you come by, alright?"
The sense of being watched, eventually, does pierce the little Knight's focus and she turns, eyes widening a moment as they alight on the cloaked paladin.
"I will! I've been to the Chapterhouse, we helped garden." Cryo leaps into a crouch before Faran again, giving her a cold embrace that also includes Lily. She noses, rubbing her snout along the kobold's head. "Be good Little Fang, Obey your Clutch-Mother Faran." <draconic>
The small kobold brushes along the sith's jaw, her words high pitched with an undercurrent of concern. "Come back Ssassa." <draconic>
"This one will, this one will. I promise. I'll never leave you. Just a few hours." Cryo replies with utter conviction. <draconic>
Then, she's on her feet and leaping off to leave. In a direction that puts her right in front of Seldan beneath his lamplight. She sees him for the first time. She stops instantly, in shock, a call of surprise and fear issuing from her throat, rising in pitch. She grasps the end of the noise and turns it into words, "Iiiieiaaaaaaahhhhheldan Seldan. Peace on your nest!"
Likely not aiding with any conflicts, thought perhaps sign of being watched, a shadowy figure emerges from the dim between the lamps near the trio of females. It immediately heads for the kobold. It is a tiny figure, clad in black leather, with sturdy white yarn for hair. It may be wood beneath, possibly with smoked sinew beneath the leather wrapping.
The tiny figure is held between dark fingers as Aya 'lunges' it at Lily. If she is going to stalk and hunt the 'Ah-ah' properly, she should learn to expect the unexpected.
The call of surprise and fear leaves a very confused Seldan taking a step backwards in alarm, and the traditional sith-makar greeting that it becomes does little to ease the confusion. "A-and upon yours, shaman," he greets, diffidently. "I had not intended to interrupt." He nods to the youngling. "I see that you have enough to tend to, just now."
Gardening. That gets a snerk from the little Knight at first and a wry, "So I hear!" She strokes the Kobold child lightly once she's shrugged the pack up onto her shoulder for all the good that will do at her height.
With different gestures at play from her fingers, Faran chants, "Summer heat and winter tide, with nature's ire I do abide." to infuse little Lily with the protective abjuration the albino herself uses to ward off the elements. <halfling>
The sudden approach by the little doll prompts the Lucht to shrink back at first, tearing her attention from Seldan until more detail plays out and she eases down a little bit. Ahem, "Hello." she offers, tone uncertain.
Lily, like a cat with too much impudence and dexterity, climbs around the Lucht so she's draped over her shoulders after she spots Aya. The lunge is dodged. She reaches out little pink claw-hands towards the Mul'niessa, making squishing motions and calling "Ahh-aah!"
The dark one is defeated, in a just world.
"I, yes, yes. I, yes." Cryo stares back, and down at Seldan. She has almost a foot in height on him and pulled up rather short. Her pupils are widened, not a full dilation but enough to fill half her eyes. Unchanged from earlier. She is jittery, practically bouncing on her feet, and babbles, "I have to swim. Do you want to swim? Right, no, it's too cold. But you're immune, but you can't hold your breath. Except you swam with... The Tornmawr is lovely this year don't you think?"
Her neck coils down, all sinuous and covered in delicate white scales. It's cold near her, the sith's breath is chilled also. She makes a furtive glance back at the kobold youngling, then whispers, "I don't want anything bad near her. Are you being followed?"
Aya's mouth lifts at the corners, and the evaded 'Ahh-aah' is offered to Lily's claws as prize. It doesn't squeak nor explode into bubbles, as it isn't magic... though it may resist claws and teeth for a time? "For you, mighty hunter," she notes.
To the lucht, Aya's head dips in greeting and she offers, "Good eve. You seem to have your hands quite full.""
"No, shaman," Seldan answers with one of those very small half-smiles, that impassivity melting away, at least a little, into simple reserve. "I would not dare these walls, did I so suspect. I think him banished to his own realm." He shakes his head, though, to the mention of swimming. "Only with the aid of magic, and Mal is not here." The Myrrish lilt is still very much present, but filled with - conflict? Uncertainty? A strange thing for Seldan.
Faranmidahn , fidgets, grunts and squirms as she is suddenly clambored all over. Just as well Zephyr is with mother, she might have gotten squished in the excitement. She considers the Mul'iessa for a moment, reshuffling her thoughts and affords her a polite, "Pardon, I was startled." The appraisal of the situation warrants a wry, "Yes, ahh, that is so. Ah.. good evening."
She glances over to the interaction of Seldan and Cryosanthia, fairly confident that she Lily is reasonably safe at present, though the convergence is making her, personally, uneasy.
The icy sith is alert, hyper-alert, and picks up on small details. The melting of the paladin's impassiveness, the sound of reserve and uncertainty in his voice. What he actually said. The other cues she's trained herself to notice that give away softskin secrets the way the sith'makar body language does. All these data points collect and sort, but somewhere in the path through her head they all vaporize as her thought processes reach the analytical step of 'check on Lily' and throw them all out. "Ah, good, ah, AYA!"
Few things are as startling as the speed with which Cryosanthia can move when she wants to. Several hundred pounds of white lizard are gone in a flash and back in front of Faran, Lily, and Aya, where she is crouching again. "Peace, Aya, do you have news?" Her head can't stand still, she is looking around and all over again, mostly at Seldan.
Mikilos wanders, his path kinda straight, but drifting to one side or another, occasionally stopping or jogging to the side at various obsticals. This is what passes for normal for the wizard, though usually it's due to his attention being focused on a book. This day, no book, still no attention. Well, not much, he has managed to avoid running into anything.
Aya looks from the pale lucht and towards Seldan and - the now suddenly, rapidly incoming white sith. It seems that Aya is startled, herself, by he unexpected... charge(?). As Cryosanthia nears, she vanishes to reappear several strides away and to the side. It is only after that Aya better understands the reason for Cryosanthia's rapid return. Her posture relazes and her head shakes. "No, nothing certain, not yet. That is not to say there is not news to be found."
Seldan's gaze at the sudden change of direction swivels, lands on Aya, and considers her, but something is decided within the conflict that raged behind that impassivity. He looks from Faranmidahn, to Aya, and to Cryosanthia, and turns on his heel and leaves, neatly dodging a distracted Mikilos on the way.
Faranmidahn shrinks back a little more as Cryo surges into their personal space. At first, unsure if the action is meant defensively, is quickly allayed as Cryo simply asks for news and the little knight relaxes again. Zephyr probably thinks she's insane. She looks between the two women as Seldan- wait, where did he-? The Lucht looks about some more and catches sight of the senior mage and she calls a pleasant, "Good evening!" she she whispers to her pink scaled, slightly pokey stole, "Are you ok, sweetie?"
"Oh, okay." Cryosanthia stands up, towering over Faranmidahn and Lily. She reaches down to fluffle the Lucht's hair, and do a similar motion on the kobold's hairless head. There are potions to fix that. No, no, she will not be fixing that.
She laughs, belatedly, at the Mul'niessa's dissappearance and reappearance. "Oh! You thought I was attacking you. I wouldn't do that." She waves a hand dismissively, then her eyelids narrow, she peers intently, inhales strongly, "Should I have been attacking you? Ah. No. Ha, ha. Don't worry I'm simply happy with this Spring day. Fall! Fall day."
Lily nods her head, her small face close to the Lucht's. It makes her eyes all fuzzy and out of focus. She points at Aya, "Ah-ah" and makes her squishing motions, Cryo, "Ssassa" and finally Mikilos, whom she decides to label, "Bik."
Mikilos yawns. Excuse me, rather he -*YAWNS*-. A jaw popping, eye wattering, lose balance for a moment, BIG yawn. "Fall. Plus thirteen days. Comming up on fourteen." Mikilos takes a slow breath, blinks hard, and peers at the assored ladies a moment. "....good evening."
"You shouldn't," Aya confirms to Cryosanthia, though adds the caveat, "not that I'm aware. I expect that opinions vary." The popping sound and/or calendar comments draw her attention to Mikilos... though one eye somewhat remains upon the white sith.
Faranmidahn smiles and nuzzles the little Kobold. The hand ruffling her hair (so fluffy!) makes her eyes close for a bit and she grins up at Cryo. Her free hand gently curls over the white scaled hand, patpat, then a little squeeze. As the man arrives amidst their throng, she bows her head, "It is, thank you. I hope you're well?" and she looks to Aya anew, "And you."
Lily's attention returns to the leather and wood Ah-Ah doll that Aya was holding out, and she waves her hands at it, taking it. Like a good little hunter she goes for a killing bite to the neck. Or perhaps she wanted to chew on the head. It keeps her occupied while the adults talk.
And Cryo bounces around. The white sith has leaned a little too far into cheerful and hit chilling. She's got a grin that's a little too wide and stretching her lips, a lot of energy that keeps her shifting her weight from side to side, even occasionally slipping into a two or three-step dance and an attention span with problems.
"Mikilos! Peace! We need your Mage's Magic Mansion, in two or three days! Just to relax, if you could prepare that? Are you ok." She looks at Faran, "Girl's day, yes? Or was the day we do things together outside?" Bounce, bounce bounce, "I need to go swimming. Mikilos do you want to go swimming?"
Aya dips her head to Mikilos in acknowledgement before looking mostly to Faranmidahn. "I am as well as can be expected..." her eyes lift over the lucht's head to the energetic one. The one -not- chewing on something. "I'm more concerned of others at the moment..."
Mikilos mmmmms, frowning mildly, playing the words back in his head at normal speed so he can answer. "Not swimming, not just now. In need of a meal and a nap. Maybe a glass of wine. But mostly a meal and a nap." A bit atypical for a wizard elf who doesn't sleep or eat.
Faranmidahn hmmm's as Lily gnaws on the little doll with some curiosity. A brow arches to Aya, not sure how she'd feel if an effigy of her was suddenly a chew toy. A little shrug to readjust the strap of the pack over her shoulder. With Cryo suddenly making plans, she turns her attention that way just in time to get the request turned her way, "Ah! Um... yes! Yes, that'd be great!" a hopeful look to Master Mikilos, "If it's no trouble...?" Aya's concerns draw her focus and she ahems, "Oh, Cryo's just... excited, a good dip will help her settle down, nicely."
"Yes! Everything's fine." Cryo drops into a crouch in front of Aya again, attempting to put her hands on her shoulders. Staring at her, with eyes that are very full of pupil and not their customary slits. "Everything is fine. It's just fine."
She says it like she's commanding it to happen.
Lily makes a quiet noise that Faran would recognize, the comfort-sound, a vibration in her throat. It's pitched a lot higher, but still familliar.
Then Cryo is over by Mikilos, nodding at him. "Everything is Awesome. You're hungry, you want wine? We can go to the Fernwood and on the way over the bridge I can throw myself in the Tornmawr. Why are you hungry? Did you give your ring to Merek, he's not eating anymore either. Turning into an Outsider right before our eyes."
Her head whips around, "You still eat, right Aya?"
Mikilos gives another big yawn. "No, still have my ring. It just doesn't help with blood loss. Not directly anyway." The elf frowns mildly, peering at the White Scale. "...did you get into the coffee or something?"
Aya ahs at Faranmidahn's explanation. "I can understand the need for relaxation." Surely it has nothing to do with the gnawing youngling. Which, by the by, is far better gnawing on effigies than one's self. A brow arches at Cryo, after her head pans to the relocation. "Yes, I still eat..."
Faranmidahn nods, and steps closer to set a hand on Cryo's side, "Sweetie...? Deep breath, innnn and ouuuuut. You're gonna faint." she says softly. A glance to Aya then Mikilos, "I... missed some of this."
Cryo is trembling, easily felt under the touch. The hand on her side seems to still her a little bit. She's cold. The temperature drops around her. She forces a laugh.
"No of course not. Just happy. Happy, Happy. Happy Day." Cryo continues to grin at Mikilos, her lips straining. There's a crackle in her voice, on the last words.
She's gazing at Faran now, at Lily. "I'll be back soon. Soon as I go. Sooner back. I'll have a song. I'm coming back Lily. This one promises."
Lily gnaws harder, holds onto momma-lucht tightly, keeps making her calming noises.
Cryo waves, excessively, hopping up and down in front of Mikilos. "We should go eat. Talk. Eat Talk. Not here. You too." She holds a hand out towards Aya, clenching, uncleanching. A glance down to Faran, petting her hand. "I'll be ok."
She looks at Lily, "Little Fang, Ssassa is ok. Go with Faran. Back soon." <draconic>
Mikilos frowns for several moments, then shrugs, nodding. "Sure, eat and talk. Some thick brown bread, smear of salty butter, and stew. Hope they have stew, it's ben chill enough." The wizard sighs, and looks around vaugely. "you remember the Wee Queen? Met up last night. Still don't understand how such a little lass can drink so much blood."
With this distraction, Aya shadowsteps out of sight when no one is watching.
Faranmidahn leans in to gently kiss the Sith, "Go on, honey, we'll be at the Chapterhouse, I imagine it's getting pretty late for Lily." She spends a moment trying to get the Kobold properly in her arms and she gives a little bow to the others, "I should get back. Have a good night, everyone!" And with that, the little Lucht starts to make her way back home.
o O (Wee Queen? Who's that? Don't human children use 'wee' when they're talking about....?) O o the Lucht wonders. Something to distract her from worry over her sister's.... mania.
The hug is sudden, strong, and very cold. Not quite embracing a metal pole in winter, but getting there. Cryo wraps her arms around Mikilos, giving him a squeeze that is weaker than when she held him after he came back from the dead. Although, what possesses her to hug him when he's impaired isn't clear. Worry, perhaps. She warms up a tad, approaching frigid. "This one is sorry you had to go through that. Still do. Everything we paid."
She makes a noise, cut off quickly, a sigh that was rather too musical. She lets go, steps back, her cooling qualities diminishing. "They have stew."
"Bye Faran! Bye Lily! Yes! Sssassa sseess you. Yesss I do. Yes. Bye!" Cryo waves at the vanishing pair until they're out of sight. She keeps waving a while longer, then her arm drops to her side. She remains there, standing still, her excess energy apparantly gone. No motion. A noise starts up in her throat, a keening distress call. She pants and rapid breaths suppress it, for a little bit, then it starts again.
Mikilos grins and chuckles softly, returning the hug. Sure it's cold, but not overly so. "No no, the meet ups are fine. I knew what I was getting into... well, mostly. The Queen is a bit more shrewd that I'd guessed when first we met. But I honestly enjoy meeting up with her Court and observing them. I mean obviously they know I'm doing so, but that's fine."
The white sith watches Mikilos. She's still breathing heavily but the excess energy seems to have drained out of her even if her hands keep clenching and half-casting cantrips then stopping. She's listening, she's focused. "The wee Queen wasn't the worst of them, that's true. The whole court comes, they dance? Is it in your ballroom? I would say invite others, make it a truly magical party but that could go disastrously wrong."
Her breath catches, and she hugs herself, makes her distressed noise again. She looks away, looks back, her pupils are wider, "It feels like something bad is going to happen, Mikilos. I don't know if it's the cold coming, or... I'm getting dreams, bad dreams. I'm coming apart, feels like something sneaking up on me."
Mikilos mmms, almost the opposite. Drained, tired, sluggish, unfocused, drfiting a little, but still keeping track. "Likely not the -whole- Court, but quite a few. I think they like to stay hidden. I brought a rost boar, meat. They sang and told stories, flittered around. Not sure if dancing or just how they move." The wizard sighs, considering for a long moment. "...you've been though a lot. More than most people ever will be. You have every right to be stressed. Maybe it's just dreams, and you need a good bath before bed. Or maybe it's something more. If it is, we'll deal with it. We'll screw up, we'll miss things, we'll get bits wrong... but we'll deal with it, and in the end, save the city, the country, maybe the world, from whatever it is it needs saved from. Because that's what we do." The elf yawns again. "Tomarrow. Today, stew and a nap."
Cryo stares at Mikilos, and she listens. It's another of her still moments, difficult to tell what, if anything is going on inside her head. His rational words battle irrational fears; she's in the middle, trying to keep control. As she's observed before, her whole brain is lizard brain, and the lizard-y brain stem part of it, very lizard-y. Words will only go so far against feelings she can't understand or explain.
"Yes." The white sith says, her breathing going swift again, "Bath. Bed. Food. Deal with it. Save everything tomorrow. Stew, nap. Come, I'll make sure you get something good at the Fernwood. Then swim."
Mikilos grins and nods. "You swim, I'll watch. Weather has shifted a bit much for my tastes."
"Okay. Come this way." Cryo starts off down the path. She pauses for a moment, looking at a leather ball amongst the flowers, then shakes her head, "Leave that, it's bad."
She waves for Mikilos to follow, some level of energy restored as she wants to move, leave the sensations of creeping horror behind. If she's walking, it can't catch her, if she's running, even better. Subconscious logic for the parts she can't reach right now. "Tell me if I'm going to fast. Tell me a story, one of the ones they told, that sounds like a useful thing to know. Do you think they are their stories, or ones they stole from others?"
Non-stop talking, also seems to help.
