Stone Man Pass

[Sareth]

Lillith's eyes went wide at the suggestion. Clearly, the suggestion and revulsion both sat poorly with her, but at the same time she recognized the fact that the needs of the living were more urgent than the needs of the dead. She fidgeted a bit, then glanced at Sister Rose for a moment. She apparently settled on something inside. "Kim," she said softly. "Would you mind helping me take the horses down to the water?" While the others give the body proper care, she pointedly did not say.

[Drannin]

Argus wandered off into the woods a ways with Drusia. "Sorry for disturbing you. This'll just take a moment."

Drusia nodded, and waited for Argus to continue. The mage hesitated. He and Drusia had sort of blown up at each other a while back, and he hated to let her know that Harker now regarded her with the same interest one would grant a rabid tiger... but she deserved to know that the familiar had it in for her.

"I just want to apologize for Harker's behavior of late. And what might be coming your way. I'm not talking about the perversion. That's pretty much par for the course with Harker. You learn to ignore it after a while." He sighed. "You remember that crazed half-elf from a while back? The one you had to... deal with... while we were there? I sort of understand where you were coming from, but Harker... doesn't. I understand he personally witnessed a particularly nasty incident were an elf, possibly the one who was zeroing in on Lillith, basically destroyed an entire village just to get at a single half elf." He grimaced at the thought. "Seeing you in action made him associate those two incidents, and... Drusia, Harker is basically terrified of you. He's covering it up with a very brusque attitude, but at heart he fears you."

The forest was silent for a moment as Drusia seemed to digest this. "Anyway, if he starts acting like more of a prick than normal, I thought you should know why."

[Graybeard]

Brad's eyes darted quickly from Lillith to Kim, back again. Sister Rose could see the internal conflict going on in his head, as clearly as if he'd had a balloon over his head advertising it, as in those silly little books she'd read as a girl. Follow his inamorata, or shun the girl who reminded him of what he'd lost? Love won. "I -- I'll help," he said. "Those are big, strong horses, and it would be terrible if they got away from two such --" He couldn't finish the sentence, so Rose finished it mentally for him: "delicate, fragile, beautiful creatures as you." He obviously doesn't understand that Lillith almost surely can do a better job of handling the horses than he can. But then again, maybe Kim can't, and he means well, so...

Besides, their departure, combined with Drusia's tete-a-tete with Argus, left her one on one with Maduin, which had its own advantages. "Okay, now that it's just the two of us, what's going on here? I understand exactly now why Kim has been so skittish; those are the people who put her village to the sword, and the torch, probably when she was just a girl. But I don't understand what's going on with you. Please level with me." Her voice softened. "I promise on my vows as a nun that whatever it is, it's safe with me. I'll never tell a soul."

[Porcelain Fish]

Maduin hesitated for a moment, but all he saw when he searched her gaze was simple sincerity, reflected as well in her body language. What could it hurt after all? And this wasn't a burden that he truly wanted to bear alone anyway.

Magic shrouded them in silence, and Maduin let his breath out slowly. "I'm the reason Thomas was here," he admitted quietly. His eyes dropped to his feet. "It's my fault he's dead. He came along to protect me." He was silent for a moment, weighing the rest. Then he shrugged half-heartedly. "The night before we left Lorenzel, I met John Wolf at the Gliding Fox. I lied to him, told him we were going to Centoriel. He told me to stay. He wanted to . . . take me himself. He wasn't pleased when I refused him. I . . . convinced him to let me go, not like the man last night - just long enough to get away. He was there when we left."

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose listened, the picture starting to form in her mind, but not coming into sharp focus. "So you think this -- John Wolf is stalking us? Or more precisely, stalking you? And is -- I don't want to say a 'jilted lover,' because there's very little love in what you're describing, but --" She couldn't find quite the right words for what she intended, but Maduin's face said enough, so she continued. "I still don't understand who the tall man and the dead woman were. Maybe you can help me sort that out..."

Rose realized that she'd shifted into her fact-finding, deep-recon, special-forces mindset for the moment. Surely there were facts to be found, but a different role was needed here. Time to resume being a nun. Her voice softened again, and she moved a notch closer to Maduin. "In any event, you mustn't blame yourself, because you surely have done nothing wrong. You certainly don't need to feel regret at fending off the advances of this Wolf. You are not his plaything, his toy. You are a man. And believe me, I know how much it hurts when someone you care about dies and you think you could have done something different that might have stopped it ... but sometimes you really couldn't have, not without something worse happening."

She looked back across the years, to that moment with Kenny on the disposal mission, wishing her words weren't so true.

[Drusia]

"I just want to apologize for Harker's behavior of late.... You remember that crazed half-elf from a while back? The one you had to... deal with... while we were there? I understand he personally witnessed a particularly nasty incident were an elf, possibly the one who was zeroing in on Lillith, basically destroyed an entire village just to get at a single half elf." He grimaced at the thought. "Seeing you in action made him associate those two incidents, and... Drusia, Harker is basically terrified of you. He's covering it up with a very brusque attitude, but at heart he fears you."
"Anyway, if he starts acting like more of a prick than normal, I thought you should know why."

I nod. "Actually, there's a good chance that the elf he saw, and the one we narrowly avoided are the same one. At least, I recall her doing what you describe to a village. It's actually an all too common technique among Rangers of a particular philosophy." The one where humans were a disease to be avoided or wiped out along with the Errants they spawned - the old guard of the religious nuts who started the damned war in the first place.

"As far as being terrified of me," I continue, "Well. He should be. I'm a killer. I'm a dangerous person - he'd be a fool not to be a little scared of me. Just like I'm respectfully scared of you and your combat magic." And, after what happened last night, of Maudin.

"I understand that he's lumped me in with other elves - combat magic specialist elves at that - and that has freaked him out somewhat," I continue. "That's why I've been making an effort to be nice to him. I guess I was hoping that, if he got to know me, then he might be able to be scared of me for me, rather than scared of me because other elves also happen to be scary." I smile crookedly at Argus.

"Well, that and... I've heard that some familiars come something called an 'adult mode'..." I add thoughtfully. "I wasn't sure if bringing that up earlier would have helped or hurt the problem. What do you think?"

[Drannin]

Argus groaned. "Harker is a House Mesuinu Special. That means he's on adult mode permanently. It manifests as extreme perversion in his case. Unless he consciously suppresses it. Which he never does." He sighed. "But if you want to get on his good side... give him an idea he can work with. An then be prepared to regret it."

Argus paused. "Giving him the same argument that you gave me would also work pretty well. Harker is highly intelligent, and fairly reasonable."

[Drusia]

"Harker is a House Mesuinu Special. That means he's on adult mode permanently. It manifests as extreme perversion in his case. Unless he consciously suppresses it. Which he never does." He sighed. "But if you want to get on his good side... give him an idea he can work with. An then be prepared to regret it." Argus paused. "Giving him the same argument that you gave me would also work pretty well. Harker is highly intelligent, and fairly reasonable."

I blink. I didn't realize I was arguing. Or reasoning. But, if that sort of approach will work, all the better.

"Do you think you might be able to mediate?" I ask. "I'd be perfectly willing to repeat myself for him, but I'm not sure I could get him alone long enough without him bolting." And I don't want to scare him more than I already have.

I pause, considering what else Argus just said.

"Also, what do you mean by an idea he can work with?" I ask, honestly curious. Is Argus talking about Harker's artistic side, his perverted side, or some other side I'm not yet privy to?

-- Drusia

[Drannin]

"I don't mind mediating," said Argus. He'd like there to be some sort of accord between the two, and for some reason, Drusia seemed to have taken a liking to Harker. "But as for giving him an idea, er..." Argus sighed wearily.

"Years ago, my family witnessed a gymnastics and acrobatics display in Tsuirakushiti." The memory caused a pang in his heart, but he forced it down. "Later that night, I commented to Harker, ah, that with that sort of flexibility... well, the bedroom might be a more exciting place, is all I mean." Argus coughed. "It was a joke. I meant it as a joke. Harker laughed too, but got this look in his eye..." Argus closed his eyes and groaned in a long-suffering way. "Suffice it to say, Harker did a series of extremely detailed wood carvings, involving myself and Cirella... in positions we were never capable of assuming. If you get my meaning."

He lowered his face into his hands. "Harker just smiled and thanked me for the inspiration. Cirella ran him out of the house for a week, and wouldn't talk to me, either. Although..." he trailed off.

"Although what?" Drusia prompted.

"Er... nothing," Argus said, turning away. "My point is, if you give Harker inspiration, he'll probably want to be your best friend... and you may wind up regretting giving him said inspiration." Argus really hoped Drusia couldn't see him blushing. The other side of that story was that while Cirella wasn't talking to him, she kept giving him thoughtful looks. When Harker was finally let back in the house, he didn't look any the worse for wear, as though someone had been making sure he was okay. And Cirella, well...

Damned if she hadn't gotten some inspiration of her own from the weave-damned familiar. Argus still remembered how sore he'd been. In a pleasant sort of way.

(OOC: Too much information?)

[Porcelain Fish]

[OOC: Nah. We're all adults here Drannin. The comic is probably R-Rated or close to it anyway. Sarine's exposition of human uses to elves comes to mind. /:OOC]

"Thank you," Maduin said as he met Rose's gaze, and meant it.

"The woman and the tall man . . . from what he said, it seems that they came with Thomas. The tall man was fleeing. He thought Thomas was wrong, that the attacker was there to protect us from them. Lillith would have been his hostage for when their attacker caught up to him." He shook his head. "I wouldn't have thought it possible to be afraid of someone when you can move like the wind, but Sister Rose, he was genuinely terrified."

Maduin shook his head again. "And I'm not truly certain that it was John, but who else would have followed us from Lorenzel . . . except . . ." His eyes widened. "I'm such a fool! Could that elf who was trailing Lillith have caught up to us so quickly? I thought we'd shaken her for certain. Sister, we could be in terrible danger! What if she comes back?!"