Agarest: Broken Peace

[Chaosbahamut123]

Lykala stared at the open space awkwardly. "Uhm... I think I'll take the chair. And there's a change of plans. We're not going to see Thatchley. There's another mage that's closer. We'll see her in the morning."
He pulled his coat off and sat on the chair, settling beneath it and sighing with a small amount of comfort. "Night, Skadi."

The sun was still up slightly, which distracted him from actual sleep. Instead, he managed a comfortable sitting position and thought on their situation.

[GamerKale]

Skadi rolled over and glared at Lykala, her golden eyes piercing the faint lighting. "What? Are you afraid I'll try to strangle you in your sleep?" She sat up straighter, "Or are you afraid that you'll try something?" She laughed heartily, "I don't think you're dumb enough nor drunk enough for that, and I know for a fact that I don't have the looks to get that kind of reaction out of a sober man." She got up and pulled him by the wrist. "Come on, you'll get a better sleep in the bed than the chair won't you? If nothing else, you can't deny that."

[Chaosbahamut123]

Lykala shook his head. "I'm not tired," with a small shrug he adjusted his coat and looked at Skadi, "And what was that about you getting negative reactions in that respect?" The Syrium continued to sit for some time, but eventually he conceded. "Alright. Once we're travelling, though, I'm getting two sleeping rolls, okay?"
Hesitantly, he hung his coat and sat on the bed sheet. He bit his lip, sighed, shook his head and reluctantly pulled the cover back to lie down.

[GamerKale]

"Well I should hope so. Unlike this bed those are too small for two people to sleep in comfortably." She resumed her wall facing position. "It's the scars you know. That's what the 'although...' this afternoon was about. They draw negative attention. In a bar it usually adds to the sterling reputation I carry as a dark elf, so until they get drunk enough the guys just do their best not to piss me off too much. But of course I'm also a woman, so my appearance has probably started rumors of dark elves being brutal to their women. Of course, nobody ever gets the guts to ask about the scars." She took a deep breath and settled in to sleep.

[Chaosbahamut123]

Lykala eventually found a semblance of comfort at the edge of the bed, but as he lay watching his arm dangle off the side, a curious thought struck him. He sat up, and carefully, ever so carefully, placed a finger on Skadi's closest arm, brushing lightly against the scar. "What was it like?" he whispered, not entirely sure why his voice was so quiet; perhaps it was because he was scared she might pummel him for entering a personal bubble. Though, in all fairness, she had thrown her drunken self at him - bubbles took a while to reform. Vindicated, at least in some small part, the Syrium sat up fully.

[GamerKale]

"It bloody hurt." She spat out. She rolled over to face Lykala and her voice became fairly normal, although she still slurred a bit. "I had a hammer, not unlike the one I use now and a two handed sword. When I came across the bear I had been tracking something a bit dangerous. Backing down and running back home crossed my mind first and I started to move back. I guess the animal was in a bad mood though and it charged me. I, of course, swung the sword as hard as I could, given that I was not much more than a schoolgirl at the time all that did was piss it off." She grabbed Lykala's hand and ran his fingers over a scar on her left hand. "That blow robbed me of the sword." She placed his other hand on the scars on her right side. "It's second strike spun me around and it bit here." She moved the hand up to her shoulder. "I managed to tear myself away from it's jaws long enough to pull the hammer out, but then it bowled me over and tried to take a bite out of my throat." She moved his hand back to the first scar he had touched. "I put that between it's teeth and my throat. That's when the pain really started to kick in. As it tried to tear my arm off it simultaneously began mauling me." She took a moment to run his hands over several scars, primarily on her left arm and the right side of her torso. "Eventually it's tearing and gnashing got me free from it's maw. I made the mistake of trying to get back up, my arms were little more than useless at that point so I struck out with my legs. I must have had more strength in me than I thought because it stunned the bear for a moment, but it's big black frame didn't take long to recover and it came at me again. I tried to run away, but this time it went after my legs." She ran his hands over the scars on the backs of her legs. "I grabbed a tree and tried to pull myself away. Only to have it dig it's claws in up here." She rolled over and put his hands just above her scapulae. "It threw me into a tree, all I could do at that point was curl up into a ball while it tore at my arms until it got bored and went over to finish off it's meal. After it left I crawled off as best I could. I lost consciousness before sundown and woke up about a week later back in Elfville."

She sat up and looked Lykala in the eyes. The reenactment of the event did not seem to raise any emotions, although her eyes held a questioning look. "Would you like to know the stories of any others? I don't get to share them too often."

[Chaosbahamut123]

Lykala smiled gently, nodded. Her words had stirred something in him; empathy, maybe? He considered that for a moment and let his hand rest where she had left it. He edged a little closer, a question rolling off his loosened tongue before he could stop it. "Why were you hunting the bear? Practise?"
His free hand shifted to the space between them. Lykala was suddenly acutely aware of the complete lack of scars on his body; how little he had seen, in comparison! How little he knew of true pain, and terror, and fear - to touch death and drag yourself back from its embrace. Part of him envied Skadi's experience, for it made her tougher, stronger than he by a large margin.

[Haseo{Terror of Death}]

Jason had headed north using the sky as his guide. By the time, he had left the city it was past sundown. He decided to keep traveling into the night, “That Syrium won’t wait for me…” He closed his eyes and continued walking northward. He walked throughout the night, and stopped twice for food. He could hear the stillness of the night, and he hurried along, suspecting something to be in the forest. He could have sworn he smelled blood, but he ignored it for the time being. By the time the sun rose, he had entered the same small town that Lykala and Skadi were in, but he could not stand up anymore. He found a comfortable place to lie down, and fell asleep in the middle of the village’s street.

[GamerKale]

Skadi made no effort to remove Lykala's hand nor did she move to distance herself when he edged closer. "The bear? Oh, I didn't hunt the bear. I was chasing a wild boar, it just happened to run into a hungry bear while running from me. And then I ran into the bear too." A few more stories and plenty of scars later, seemingly told in no particular order, Skadi started yawning. "Alright, I think that's enough story time. If you want I can tell you some more tomorrow night." Skadi crawled back beneath the covers, resuming her previous position.

[Chaosbahamut123]

Nodding, Lykala turned and curled up with his back to Skadi. He'd seen her in a new light; past the violence and the carefree aggression, and now wondered if he had sorely misjudged her. Probably, he mused. He normally did. With a brief sigh and a yawn, he settled down for sleep with a lot more comfort than before.

Morning came and went, taunting Lykala's slowly waking mind like a cocky, sleep-stealing thief. He hadn't slept well in the slightest. His mind had been plagued by the strangest of dreams, and the worst of pains. The images still fresh in his mind, he checked his arms, his chest, his stomach; every inch within reach he examined. With a relieved sigh, he peeled himself out of the covers and examined his reflection in a small looking glass, that he found after some digging in the room. If it was possible to look any more pale than he already was, it had happened. His eyes seemed slightly sunken, darkened by nightmarish purple bags that seemed more akin to bruises. His hair was dishevelled and unmanageable, but in an attempt to disguise his ill complexion he left it down. He looked over to Skadi, still curled peacefull beneath the sheets, and nodded quietly. Retrieving his daggers and his coat, he made his way downstairs to find something to eat, double-checking each step for creaking before putting his full - albeit not massive - weight on it.

[GamerKale]

Skadi had awoken several times during the night and found Lykala had moved about, probably nightmares she figured, but she went back to sleep without disturbing him wanting to get back to her own dream. She herself dreamed of swimming, it was a lake she had known well when she was a child. When Lykala actually got up Skadi didn't move. She wasn't sure what his morning rituals were so she let him be. She waited a few minutes more after he left, she wasn't entirely certain that he had. She had to marvel, his ability move silently was superb.

She rolled out of bed, pulled on her top and boots, grabbed her armor, and relocked the door. Unlike Lykala she made no effort to move quietly down the stairs. "Would you kindly prepare a hot bath for me?" She requested of the inn keeper on her way out the door, paying no attention to Lykala. "Fine." He shouted after Skadi as the door swung shut. The leather worker raised an eyebrow at Skadi's presence, but once she had pulled out a few coins his disposition improved greatly.

[Chaosbahamut123]

Lykala waited for some time to move once more, settling his thoughts into a semblance of peace. Nightmares struck him infrequently, but fiercely. Never about the same thing, but none had ever conjured up such dread before. He pondered why, but came short of an answer. The desire to vent some of that dread caused his decision to visit the mage prematurely. It seemed obvious that he wouldn't have true peace of mind unless the mage told him at least something positive or hopeful. Flicking his hair away from his eyes and shoving his hands roughly into his pockets, he winced at the blast of spring heat and pushed his way through it, wondering where Skadi had wandered off to. She had stuck with him for the time being, so it was only fair that he offered her the chance to come along with him.

[GamerKale]

It would take some time for the leather worker to finish repairing her armor so she went back to the inn. "Morning Lykala. I'm sure you want to hurry, so I'll be quick." She waved as the inn keeper directed her to the room with the bath. Her clothes were the first to go in, with those clean and drying she took a quick bath herself. Coming out her clothes were still a little damp, but serviceable. She was still drying her hair on her way up to get the rest of her weapons from the room. "Alright, let's go. We'll be coming back here later, right? I'll pick my armor up then." She tossed the towel onto the counter and looked to Lykala expectantly.

[Chaosbahamut123]

Lykala nodded. "Once we have a goal, we can make preparations here and set off for wherever we're headed," he explained, smiling apologetically, "Sorry for rushing you. I just have a feeling about all this. I'd rather get it over and done with, y'know?"
The mage's residence wasn't far from the village. A path winding through the woods would guide them there. He winced as the sun caught his eyes off guard, and rubbed them fiercely. "Come on. Let's move."

[GamerKale]

"It's fine, I've had to get up and moving faster before. Getting a bath in at all is nice. Maybe you should get one when we get back." She stretched her arms out over her head to better absorb the sun's rays. She turned around to face Lykala. Walking backwards, "What happened to the dashing rogue look?" She gestured to his hair, "This is more like bedhead."

[Chaosbahamut123]

"Hmm? Oh," he averted Skadi's eyes briefly, masking them behind an unruly fringe, "I figured I could do with a change. Can't go upsetting your parents now, can I?" the attempt at teasing was both non-sensical and a feeble distraction, but Lykala thought it good. The yawn rising in his throat was shoved back down with some difficulty. "And that bath sounds nice, thanks," he agreed.
The path seemed too serpentine to lead in any clear direction, but Lykala put faith in the map for the moment. Getting disorientated would do him absolutely no good, and it certainly wouldn't help his mood. The trees sheltered him from the harsh sun, though his eyes had long since adjusted.

[GamerKale]

"Upset my parents? AHAHAHAHA HEHEHEHEHE HOHOHOHO!" Skadi couldn't stop laughing for a good minute. "Ah haha, that's a good one." She slapped Lykala on the back hard. "Their little girl that they used to get dolls for is running around with a sword killing people and monsters. If I came home with a Larva on my arm, a ring on my finger, and three children they wouldn't blink but twice and that would just be at the prospect of me settling down."

[Chaosbahamut123]

He grinned, buckling slightly when she slapped him. "Sounds like a lax family," he observed, sure to watch his footing now that the path had surrended its dirt and cobblestones to earth and lumpy tree roots. Nonetheless, his foot caught one and he stumbled heavily, grabbing an overhanging branch to stay upright. As much as he loved the outdoors, his co-ordination just didn't agree with him, even at the best of times. He stood quickly, conscious of how clumsy he must have looked, and dusted himself off. It was his hair that had obstructed his view, he deduced with a heavy sigh, and so he gave up on hiding and tied his hair back. "The dashing rogue returns," he mumbled, half-heartedly.

[GamerKale]

"More like the bumbling rogue, but it's definitely an improvement." Skadi pulled out a knife and began balancing it's tip on her index finger while they walked. "Countless merchenary and adventurers come to Gridamas. Why do you think that witch decided to speak to us? And give us a ridiculous quest to find the others she deigned to speak to, however many that is, and stop this darkness, whatever that is."

[Chaosbahamut123]

Lykala shrugged, his coat snagging on a nearby branch; he pulled it free before answering. "I have no idea. Maybe, however, this mage can give us the answers. Look!"
A break in the tree-line gave him the first glimpse into a small, verdant clearing. A solitary camp awaited them, flowery scents and dulcet humming filling his ears. Someone tended to a fire that crackled away, content in its existence, but the tender's back was turned, so he couldn't see in detail. He peered closer, before entering the encampment and calling to the person. "Excuse me?"
The humming stopped abruptly. "Who'sere?" replied the fire tender.