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Post by Drei on Nov 15, 2017 9:47:21 GMT -6
Drei's left palm shifted as he listened to the pale skinned female. Carefully digesting her implication initially while paying attention to her tone. Small tendrils of darkness extending as he began to try and probe at the nether composed spider's senses and reactions. The skittering shifting creature extended a single lengthy limb to bat the tendril away initially. The tendril was knocked back, but utilizing a small strain of energy to project it as a minor ruin tendril gave it enough palpable property to remain at which point it simply probed towards the spider once more. A second swipe of its leg sent it away once more. This gesture took little effort on his part so he didn't have to worry about being fairly tired still to maintain it. The shaman pivoted at his waist to gaze up towards she who looked like Althea, yet was not her. His eyes speaking what he dared not allow his face. A multitude of emotions still poorly restrained. Things he felt that had welled up simply from recalling prior experiences. Pain. Fear. Anger. Loss. Even a clawing anxiety that threatened to overwhelm him. All things suppressed long ago with no desire to see released.
Drei's smile might've been a bit sad at first when she broke off from her sentiment in favor of a more brutal honesty. Perhaps that was always the best path. If nothing else it meant everyone started on an even foot. Drei's palm closed as he halted the flow of magic to the tendril the spider had been busily swiping at. His palm crushing out the final wispy essence of shadows before the shaman looked down at the spider for a brief moment and halted the flow of magic to that as well. The creature itself vanishing in a sudden burst of shadow that scattered like darkened mists in the wind. With a grunt and some semblance of effort he managed to force himself to stand, bracing his palms to his knee's to assist. If he didn't feel like a wizened elder now he certainly would the next day most likely. he dusted off his robes while he stood and pivoted his head, examining her with further curiosity before speaking a terribly sad truth. His tone as reserved as ever."Do not be sorry, you are perhaps one of few with an excuse to know little of our kind, are you not? It would be similar I imagine in concept if I professed to know little of your kind, which I am sure would be an accurate statement. However, there are many of my kind who know little about my kind. All the sadder for that, I suppose. "
His arms retreated within his robe, as he tried to shift a bit. Head still tilted with golden hued gaze leveled towards her as ashen bangs messily clung to his forehead with him still absently trying to brush dirt from his robe at small spots here or there as he noticed them. Only now becoming aware of a few blood stains and older dried up blood encrusted spots that he'd have to try and wash later. His words shifted to a slightly more thoughtful tone as he took what she was saying and tried to expound upon the sentiment. "You aren't wrong however. People could make it better. I am sure there are both ordinary and extraordinary people who do various deeds to improve the lives of all they meet. Who simply try to help any and all, or even just believe in basic common decency. Sadly however, they are in the vast minority to those who would be cruel and terrible provided the chance. At-least, in my experience. "
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Post by Althea on Dec 6, 2017 8:06:59 GMT -6
It certainly seemed that Drei had more experience with what he said than he was particularly interested in sharing. She might not be human relations expert of the year all years, but it didn't take much to get some sense of what people were feeling when they wore their grief like a cloak. Wrapped in it. Almost - consumed by it. She didn't judge him. She couldn't. Ereshkigal didn't know much about what she was, now. Centuries or millennia trapped as a vengeful ghost with your soul ripped apart did a lot to reshape your perspective. But she knew, more than Althea hopefully ever would, how deep her hurt was. And while Althea's control allowed her to control herself to a degree. She also knew from residing within that Althea was simply hiding her own.
Nonetheless Ereshkigal smiled gently, almost kindly, at Drei's expression and his words. She had a bit more of a belief - perhaps childish romantic dreams - of the existence of souls than Althea ever would, and while she didn't know Drei particularly well now, she felt that he had a kind soul. She wanted to believe they were kindred in that regard, that the Ereshkigal of old had too been a kind and caring girl, but was she now? Was she anything, really, beyond a phantom of a past better left forgotten?
She felt like she should do - something - but this unfamiliar body was still strange and Ereshkigal couldn't remember if she had ever had a default gesture or pose to her name. She compromised with something Althea might, crossing her arms beneath her breasts, allowing Drei to speak as she composed herself and tried to consider what he had meant by what he said. And she - couldn't. As safe and protected and inexperienced as she had been, she couldn't truly speak to the good and evil of the world today, or even that of however many hundreds or thousands of years hence she had once lived. The petty cruelty and lack of understanding that she had been shielded from all her life - until its grisly end.
"I suppose... I may have the chance to experience some of that firsthand now," the spirit stated simply, calmly. Almost warmly in her minor bemusement. It felt as though she should be happier that now she could finally learn and experience all that she had dreamt of - just a few millennia and a dead race later. Sucked some of the fun out of it. "I once believed that there was some good in everyone. Now, I am not so sure. Though I would happily be proven wrong. You and Althea speak of a great many terrible things in this age, and she is ever pessimistic of how it will end. But I should like to think it can be beautiful nonetheless. If only we are willing to try."
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Post by Drei on Feb 9, 2018 14:54:33 GMT -6
It was strange. Despite being different entities. Different beings occupying different aspects and very different persona's, they had similarities. He listened to her intently. He didn't understand either as much as he would've liked. It was strange to look at where he had been just months ago, and where he was now. Actively engaged in conversation with someone he genuinely wished to understand. Such a foreign world. Drei had been sitting down for so long now in discomfort but he was faintly sure he could gingerly test his ability to support his full weight and still function. At-least it wouldn't be as terrible as being assailed with metal chains. An experience he'd have gone far too little time without having once more even if it was for the rest of his life. Palm fingers quietly combed through ashen hair as he grunted quietly and attempted to stand. Testing the healing prowess of the snowy haired woman before him. His amber hued gaze drifting to her as he grunted quietly in exertion before fully rising. A small grin even spreading to his features as he poked his finger at her with soft jest and mirth in his tone.
"You may be enough of an optimist for the two of us heh. Or..three?"
He paused and gazed downwards in thought before looking back to her. Dead center while he admitted that which his bitterness wished to reject. Quietly gesturing to himself afterwards as if to convey his point while pivoting his head and examining her curiously. "It's good though. You may not be sure, but perhaps that's what is needed. I speak of realism, and I know Althea and I have spoken a fair few times about the way the world could and should be. However that still relies on a modicum of hope or faith. Trust, as it would be. To embrace something as beautiful despite it's shortcomings I suppose would be to accept and embrace the beauty in its totality and not a single aspect. A fair point to make. For what it's worth, I think your presence is supremely beneficial. You bring another perspective. Another context. Sentiments previously untested. Ah. Also. Thank you for helping me heal from...a rather..horrific set of injuries. I can function, and that says something. "
He gestured towards the damaged wall and still somewhat resonant traces of elder magic. He blinked a few times and then chuckled before looking back at her. "I do believe you accomplished in a single feat what five of me could not, for the record."
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Post by Althea on May 1, 2018 13:34:29 GMT -6
Ereshkigal harrumphed at Drei's first observation, not particularly put off by it but roused to momentary mouthiness by the thought. "I'm pretty sure Althea is a fun vampire, if I wasn't relentlessly positive she'd just combust into a black hole of anti-fun. I think this is what they call community service."
...Did that sound meaner than it had in her head? The Arum spirit couldn't tell. She liked to think that she could imagine as many as six impossible things before breakfast sometimes, but this had been a very... taxing... day already to say the least, and being /real/ again after potentially centuries or millennia of near-nonexistence was already confusing enough, bordering on overwhelming if she thought about it too much.
Nonetheless - she was here. That meant something. It had to. Given the gift of flesh once more. By another. For another Her gaze drifted down to her - Althea's - hand, flexing it experimentally. Had she already done that? She couldn't remember. Maybe. It was fresh and new and interesting nonetheless. There was - too much she didn't understand. About this world, about its people, and about herself. What she had done today had been right, she thought, or at least Ereshkigal couldn't comprehend NOT having stepped in to make positive use of her abilities for once. But its consequences, its repercussions, that was something she certainly could not say much about with certainty. Althea's regimented mind forced her to attempt to consider them nonetheless, but she was not Althea any more than Althea was her, and borrowed body or not that did not give her the... traits.. the dour mage held.
Could she embrace something despite its shortcomings? Could she forgive that which had reduced her to this state?
Ereshkigal wasn't sure.
She didn't think so, though.
"...I would say I'm glad nobody got hurt, but, uh, that kinda feels hypocritical now," she settled for saying, a grinning mask of a face shared with Drei. She couldn't really find it in herself to give much of a crap about anything that happened to that Vadis monster and his minions. This was a victory, right? It didn't really feel like one though. She should be feeling mighty, unstoppable, joyous. Reunited with her friends. Instead the spirit mostly just felt listless. Like she wanted to punch someone. Or blow them up. Wouldn't really accomplish anything useful. Might not even make her feel better. She still kinda wanted to anyways. If there was much left around TO blow up she might even have done it. But after all that had happened to this place... it just felt disrespectful. Ereshkigal hadn't seen the mountain of corpses that the other three had, but she had enough access to Althea's memory to be aware of its existence, or at least Althea's disgust at recognizing it.
But hey, healing one guy totally made up for not being there to help the other five hundred, right?
"Sorry," she muttered, not quite looking Drei in the eye. "Not feeling like myself." Not that Ereshkigal was even sure who she was supposed to be at this point. That wasn't helping the mood much to be sure. She glanced back at where she thought the town center might have been... the former hill of horrors. "I just - wish we had gotten here earlier."
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Post by Drei on May 5, 2018 23:06:37 GMT -6
There was an abrupt snort that was half choked out of the ashen haired Shaman almost instantly following Ereshkigal's brief snark. An involuntary display of unhindered emotion that he couldn't hold back in time from the sheer abruptness of what happened. Althea was perhaps his closest friend, yet the knowledge of her general demeanor and the emotional differences between Ereshkigal and Althea. His hand latched to his face and his eyes briefly shifted in disbelief at his own outburst before he was able to find his composure and continue his adherence to a fairly lacking portrayal of calm. The pale Tactician quietly pivoted his head towards Ereshkigal. Examining her as she looked down at her hand. Eyes slowly glancing to it and then looking to the sky for a moment. Life was strange, wasn't it? He felt a slight shiver traverse his spine abruptly, as the brief lapse of delight shifted towards a more sour disposition that he was far more acclimated to masking then his poor restraint at the humor of sudden snark.
There was a part of him that still, any given moment, felt the burning hatred welling within for what happened prior. Every time he saw a body. Any body. He imagined it as them. Another that he couldn't help. Another that he couldn't manage to keep safe. The fire. The violence. Shouting. A persisting shift to violent tones that perpetually haunted the smaller corners of his mind. Yet, for all that. There were those he had saved. The boat. The Caravan. The town in Bern. His gaze cast towards the grinning visage of Ereshkigal and he tilted his head quietly. Now that. He had spent so much time pretending to be okay, that he was fairly good at discerning what was and wasn't a mask. Though growing up in a circus of performers also helped to some sizable degree. There was a slight grunt when he pivoted. His legs could support weight and his ribs didn't scream in agonizing protest when he inhaled. That at-least was a good sign.
He was quiet at first and acted on impulse, to some degree. He'd seen the direction she'd glanced in. That at-least, had given him what he imagined what was some wave length of thought. This entire day, had felt like a huge "Out of Comfort Zone" experience for him. Not that being assailed by heavy metal chains infused with electrical energy was something that would ever be in his comfort zone. His palm lightly rested upon Ereshkigal(Althea?)'s shoulder. His gaze towards hers, even if she wouldn't meet it. He was quiet for a moment. Composing himself a bit, out of respect for her at-least, not hiding the conflict and troubled expression as he quietly searched her own visage for a moment longer before speaking. At-least, for once, from the heart and less from processed rebuttals.
"I do too. There are...many places..I wish I'd been earlier. Many. For those that I lost...and those I can yet save though I try to keep moving forward."
He let his hand fall from her shoulder a moment later. Not quite sure if the brief contact had helped convey his attempt to comfort, or console her. A somewhat sheepish, if not even somewhat ashamed mixture dominating his half smile as he clapped a hand to the back of his neck and sighed quietly. Speaking again, with truths from the heart and less processed from the mind.
"I just figure I'll keep doing that until I make a difference or ugh..more realistically..die trying. Meeting people like You and Althea however, makes it alot more rewarding."
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Post by Althea on Aug 11, 2018 7:40:28 GMT -6
Ereshkigal only started a little when Drei placed his hand on her shoulder. Both because she hadn't expected it, and because anyone who had touched untowardly in her past life would have - well, daddy's little princess was more useful without knowing what was going on or being able to have friendships, after all. Not that there were many people brave or stupid enough to accost her in the first place. The trappings of power; a gilded cage from which there had been no escape.
...Well, it didn't matter now. And she didn't mind anyways. The spirit relaxed as best she could, easier said than done with the remnants of her rage earlier still pulsing through her - Althea's - body, but at least for the time being it seemed she had herself well enough under control. Or... Althea had her well enough under control. She didn't really know how it worked. Only that for the first time in what centuries, or perhaps millennia, she felt a little bit more like herself again. Like a person, and not a... thing, a spirit of vengeance clinging to hatred because it was the only thing strong enough to keep her whole.
"Thank you, Drei. You are a kind man. I am glad that you are Althea's friend. And I hope that we can be, as well." She crossed her arms under her breast, not quite looking at Drei because that wall was REALLY interesting to look at instead. Ok yeah that did sorta sound COMPLETELY pathetic but in fairness being a ceremonial priestess whose importance was entirely unrelated to what she had done or could do, and completely based on needing a figurehead for a religion that was more useful for keeping people in line than doing anything good, had left her a little shy on how to act like a normal person. Big fancy talk and seat of the moment rage blabbering, sure, everything in between, not so much.
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Post by Drei on Aug 12, 2018 21:36:02 GMT -6
Drei nodded silently for a moment, and let his arm slide from her shoulder and to his side. He couldn't help but smile a bit and chuckle at her compliment. His other free hand clasping the back of his neck as he glanced around silently. Looking to the sides and slowly shifting as he directed his gaze away for a moment, slightly retreating into the large lavender robes that draped over his figure. Ashen hair shifted as he lifted his hand then, slightly combing through his hair with a slight exhalation. Socialization was...exhausting. Or was he tired from the absurd murderous fight? Both? Both. He tilted his head as he blinked, looking to Ereshkigal again and shifting to his side in the same gesture. Thinking back for a moment, her compliment seemed to evoke in him thoughts of his every failing, in that single instance. It was only after a brief pause of shaking himself from the hellacious flood of failures that he realized he wasn't...exactly great at taking a compliment. It didn't mean he couldn't reciprocate though, and he did feel like he could atleast speak an honest truth now and again.
"I uh..hope I can live up to that title. I'm not used to being close to others anymore. Having friends is nice..I um.."
He found his head brushing the back of his neck again as he fumbled with his words a bit. Okay, so he wasn't able to maintain an emotionless facade all the time. Treating everything like a scientific expository was hard when he was speaking pure on feelings. Especially when he barely touched his feelings and more often than not repressed them with as much gusto as he could manage hoping they'd never surface again. His golden hued eyes darted to the ground before looking back up to her as he tried to finish his affirmation.
"I hope we can too. I'm..glad I've gotten to meet you. Not just Althea, but..um..you as well. "
Now at this crossroads he knew that if he had tried to smile it would've either looked gormless, or like an absolute fool. Notions that he felt more horror at than if he were to suddenly have to face the whip brandishing psychopath again. So instead he broke his fleeting attempt at eye contact and looked to the side. That lovely patch of wall that he'd been leaning on earlier. Ahh, yes. He could even see a "Drei" shaped imprint from when magically infused chains had crashed him chest first into the earthen floor. Wasn't it lovely, to see his lasting mark in nature's historical records? Still, it was easier to look there than to continue fumbling with his words.
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Post by Althea on Aug 13, 2018 1:03:19 GMT -6
"Well, hopefully the rest of the experience is better than um... this," she waved vaguely at the lovely mess of things that remained of the village. The whole 'portal to hell' vibe had been greatly reduced during her work, the consuming ocean of Nether now more of a patchwork portrait of puddles bubbling hither and thither, but it still didn't exactly look picturesque so to speak. Or uh, anything other than really ugly. BUT at least it wasn't on fire, or covered in dead people. And there were a few buildings left, which was better than none at all! Including one that Drei seemed to be finding very interesting. Ereshkigal wasn't entirely certain why but she'd have to ask him about it later, certainly it must be a good story!
"N-not that I would... know, I guess," she admitted, somewhat crestfallen, and then immediately decided to never talk about that again, ever, in the history of Elibe. "SO anyways uh we should prrrrobably get moving at some point. Or people are gonna show up and assume that we did this."
Pause.
"That we did... ALL of this, and not just the parts that I - look, the way I see it, Althea would do a better job at solving the problem than me anyways so by default it's basically her problem, not mine, I just have to not make it worse until she wakes up or gets back or however this works. I've never been a criminal on the lam from the law before! This is actually kinda exciting."
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Post by Drei on Sept 7, 2019 17:07:18 GMT -6
The young shaman blinked quietly. Looking to the building as his lips formed a silent o, and he articulated such a moment later. Not entirely dumbstruck, but clearly having not realized the scope of it all in the rush following the disastrous encounter. “Ah...that’s….really, really fair.” He shuffled quietly as he stood up straight. Grunting somewhat at the soreness in his body and quietly clapped his hands together as tendrils of dark magic wove between them. Reaffirming and stretching his mind in a manner, as if gently probing the waters to ensure that his body could still conjure the dark arts, and pull that eldritch magic to his fingertips still.
It responded with the ebb and flow that he knew with perfect familiarity. Drei’s fingers closed, halting the flow within magical conduits that traced his soul, and looked towards his new/old friend. Shuffling a bit within the large, heavy lavender robes draped over his body. Glancing for a brief moment to the ruined section of incomplete rubble that once was a house, before pointing to Ereshkigal quietly with a bit of a chuckle. Imagining what Althea might’ve said to such a retort and flashing the most value sense of a grin, feeling comfortable enough at-least to let his mask down a little bit. “Ahah, that’s true I imagine, but I bet she’d have some choice words for you! If I know Althea she’d...always have words ready. Heh.”
He cast his grin to the dirt road as he looked out ahead. Knowing that it was a path, at-least he wouldn’t have to worry about walking alone entirely. Fate seemed to enjoy him at-least that much.
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Post by Althea on Sept 10, 2019 1:38:58 GMT -6
Ereshkigal giggled. It came out unbidden; not unwanted but unexpected - a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. The strange moment of misplaced levity was a blessed welcome all its own. A reminder that... despite all that had happened, not everything was terrible. Yes, okay, she was technically dead, everyone she knew was dead for possibly hundreds or even thousands of years, she may have been betrayed by her own father and used as a blood sacrifice to create a book, and left to wander more-or-less literal hell for an unknown amount of time as a vengeful spirit, but... if she could still laugh, it wasn't all bad, right?
...The spirit piloting Althea's body wasn't really sure if that helped or not, but she did feel in an uncommonly good mood anyways, and she didn't have to understand it to appreciate it. Her emotions had always... swung rapidly, more so now it seemed. But what was life without some change, hm? She had never seen it as a problem before, at least not much; she could ill hate that part of herself now. And Drei seemed nice. Althea definitely liked him, so Ereshkigal was none too secretly glad she seemed to get along with him OK too. She had read all about friends. Always wanted one. And now she had two! Three, if Aura wanted to be friends too! So in some ways this was even better than when she was alive. Even if she was... super ghostly white now. Actually, she was pretty sure Althea looked more like a ghost than she ever had, even as an actual spirit. But she DID have pretty skin. So it all worked out. Mostly.
Drei, for his part, seemed to be in decent spirits as well. Ereshkigal was, once again none too secretly, glad for that. Her contributions to the conversation and mood had been ah, polarizing, in the back and forth magnet-ey kinda way. Was that the word? It had kinda seemed to go back and forth. Happy and sad and sad and happy. So she was glad he was back to happy. And making jokes about Althea already. Ammunition for later~ So despite her misgivings. Ereshkigal was happy to hop aboard the... wagon of... friendship, or whatever, and follow Drei as he got moving. Hoping that he, uh, knew where they were going, 'cuz she sure didn't, but she wasn't going to tell him that unless she had to.
Flashing a brilliant smile, infinitely more open and kind than anything that had crossed Althea's face in Drei's memory, and possibly in Althea's memory. A spring to her step and a beat of life in her heart. "I'm pretty sure she actually knows everything, she just pretends not to so the rest of us don't feel as dumb in comparison. So I bet she's gonna have all kinds of words. I'll just ignore them like most of the rest, though! And we'll, uh, try not to die to that Valdong guy, or whatever Aura said his name was. So..." She clasped her hands, looking eagerly at her companion with almost girlish innocence.
Can you make that spider thing dance?"
[End topic]
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