Originally Posted by
C'nor
"The other you isn't trapped, no," Talia had replied, chuckling softly, and reaching out to gently lay a hand on Lacey's shoulder, from her place just behind, and somewhat above, seeing as she was on the couch, and the other girl the floor, her friend. "She can get out, if the conditions are right... And I will be sure to do so, then," she went on, smiling, plainly relieved that the sketch had met with approval.
---
Talia, so far as could be told, had no objection to 'Talie rabbit'; as a nickname, it was as good as any... And that Lacey had made the effort to give her one was something she was quite pleased about. So she simply smiled a bit more, hugging the tiny Hatter more tightly against herself for a moment.
"Thank you, Lace-sprite. I'm glad you like it now it's painted, too... "
---
"Shh. Just rest for now, mia sorella... You don't need to explain yourself, not to me, not when I'm the one who hurt you. We can talk once the pain fades," Talia murmured, reaching up with one hand to wipe away Acacia's tears, and, than done, gently stroke her hair. "If you still want to then, of course. For now, just know that you're safe, and I'll keep you that way, whether or not you can do so for yourself."
Talia's voice was less broken than that of her 'sister', but she still paused awkwardly in places, plainly quite upset that she'd managed to hurt Acacia so badly, and having a hard time talking around her tears, as well as some difficulty finding the right words to console her normally-impassive friend.
"It's hardly conceit to recognize you're lovely," Fear answers quietly, nodding, and grinning darkly. "Though I'd prefer to not go into such things here, given the ease of eavesdropping, and the fact that much of what this touches on I consider rather private.
And that might be the case. It depends on what sorts of magic items you're looking for... I certainly wouldn't call Erin's a 'mere' emporium, but he doesn't seem to have considered that you might have something other than weapons - of the enchanted sword variety, not wands and such - in mind, given that that is almost exclusively what they stock."
"A pleasure to meet you," he replies softly, lapsing into silence for a bit in turn, carefully considering the witch."Though I must confess to some curiosity as to what you mean by 'witch'... There was only one known as such in my world, and I rather suspect that you share relatively few traits with her."
"When I am like this, in this form. When I'm not, the other way. Which portion of myself is most prevalent in my mind, at least on that level, alters with my body. But if I had to choose, based solely on how I feel about them both, I suppose I would pick this one..."
"I stabbed myself while we were out, when I knew the nearest healer wasn't the one in Ostrim Tower. They left me there, with instructions to send me back in the morning, but I escaped first, since healing leaves the person who does it weakened.
After that, I headed back, and, with some assistance from one of the mages and his Bond-Mate, got the others free."
Sorrow, a tall Tiefling with pale hair, apparently some sort of mage, judging by the staff made of human bones on his back, and the robes, has finally come out of deadtime, so while Fade is in limbo, he's resumed his normal duties, and, judging by the fact that her glass is now filled, and he's the only one behind the bar, got Felandria her drink at some point during her speech.
His sister, Fear, who's wearing much-patched leather armor, and a pair of thin knives which are perhaps the length of her forearm, smiles at the half-elf from a nearby seat, laughing softly as she does.
"There's nothing near the Dancing Fox. That's sort of the point. But I might know a few good places in the cities. It depends on what you're looking for."
He seems to be half-starved, though apparently improving, and doesn't seem to be noticeably impaired by it.
His skin is a dark red, with faint paler bands in places; he also has mid-length straight horns covering his head, a thin tail, ending in a vicious barb, and yellow eyes. Otherwise, though, he seems fairly human, and would probably be reasonably good looking if he weren't so thin.
If she can tell such things, she may be aware that the staff is... odd... in some fashion, and connected to him.
Meanwhile, Fear would have pointed out that Erin's actually pretty much only does weapons and similar things, but Felandria headed off before she got a chance to, so instead she simply rolls her eyes and mutters something about impatience.
As the arrow flies past her, Fear begins to grow, armor and weapons reforming to fit her new size, crackling sparks running up and down the pair of long, straight, horns that sprout from her dark brown hair, forming a ball of lightning between them; she settles at several inches taller than Felandria, right around the time that Styx mentions it would be funny for the half-giant to throw some people around.
When Felandria arrives at her table - which, along with the chair, seems to have resized itself as well - the Tiefling shakes her head, smiling at her and the imp.
"No, I'm fine. Though in the future, your friend might want to make sure that the people he shoots at will staysmaller than you are..."
She sounds more amused than upset, and motions for Felandria to take a seat, if she wishes to.
She nods in acknowledgement of the imp's apology, reaching back to pull the arrow out of her chair, and passing it through the ball of lightning between her horns, then going to hand it to him.
"It's a nice change to be able to talk with people normally, yes... And I was born in the Nether - my world's Hell, basically, though as someone who belonged there, I found it quite pleasant -, then ended up dragged into Taelarys by House Ostrim.
Which is probably meaningless to you, admittedly..."
He shrugs, smiling at her, and waving to his brother, presumably so that Torment can take over if it should prove necessary.
"It bears my name, so I prefer to keep it around. And it can help with things like what happened earlier, which occur surprisingly often, too..."
---
"What do you want to know about? My birthplace? The mage-houses? Other aspects of it? Simply 'my world' is a rather broad category, especially as it could refer to two..."
"My family is... Unusual. If you like, I could introduce you to them? My brothers are here, and some of my sisters.
And House Ostrim didn't bring me here, I got here from where they pulled me," she clarifies, standing, and turning so that her back is to Felandria. "As for why..."
She pulls on a hidden catch, which causes the back of her armor's right shoulder to disconnect from the rest, and pulls it away from her back, revealing a diamond-shaped brand, glowing a dull red, and looks back at the half-giant.
"...Tieflings make good slaves."
Re: The CHALLENGE continues!
