[Nexus] GLoG 81: Ghostbusters!

[Slii Arhem]

Maple Cabin

Julie is here for her little therapy session with Sophie after leaving Rowan Cabin in Eric's hands. Hopefully this will go well, because keeping up the front she has been lately is getting harder by the day, even when she isn't interacting with anyone but Eric.

"Sophie? You in there?" Julie knocks politely, shifting her purse up higher onto her shoulder.

[Morty]

[Maple Cabin]

Sophie opens the door, wearing a rather casual t-shirts and shorts. She's definetly enjoying the warm weather, having grown up in a rather warm country. As a result, she's in a fairly good mood.
Oh, hello Julie. Are you ready for our... special therapy?

[Slii Arhem]

Maple Cabin

Julie grins, "If you saying it like that, people will begin to talk about us, don't you think?" She does nod though, indicating that despite her teasing tone, she's ready to go to work at this.

"Can I come in, or are you going to let me stand out here for all the neighbors to gawk at?"

[Morty]

[Maple Cabin]

Sophie smiles as she moves aside to let Julie in.
Come in. With your two new bundles of joy, I think we're safe from this sort of gossip.

[Lost_Deep]

Entrance

"Harnel!"

Kate walks down the path toward GLoG. "Hey, how are... is that Cessie?"

Behold: someone who knows the Harnel and Cessie in this universe! What do you do?

[Slii Arhem]

[Maple Cabin]

Sophie smiles as she moves aside to let Julie in.
Come in. With your two new bundles of joy, I think we're safe from this sort of gossip.

Maple Cabin

"You'd be surprised what can cross some people's lips." Julie steps inside, reaching into her purse and pulling out the cheongsam she mentioned when they set this up. A pair of coins fall out and clink on the floor as she does so, and she bends over to pick them up.

"How is this going to work then? I'm trusting you with all the details." Which says a lot about Julie's state of mind here. Being able to trust Sophie with her state of mind is a big step for her.

[Morty]

[Maple Cabin]

Indeed, and it doesn't escape Sophie's attention. She finds it very promising, needless to say.
We're going to meditate together, holding the dress. Then you'll need to think about your addiction, but firmly replace it with your feelings for Eric and your daughters after a while. Meanwhile, I'll try to channel the power given to me by the Heralds to sort of infuse the dress with the act of love conquering the unnatural addiction... making it a talisman of sorts that you'll be able to draw on to quench your urge to do evil.

[Slii Arhem]

Maple Cabin

Julie thinks about it briefly, and then gives a slow nod, looking cautiously optimistic.

"That sounds simple enough that it would work. Meditation is a big part of being able to work with psionics without blowing a blood vessel someplace important, so I know at least the basics. Hopefully it will apply well enough here."

[The Alexandrian]

A Dark Night Under the Moon; Hopefully Not another version of 'Sweeney Todd' Starring Valaira

Marty whimpers. Being chopped up and put in a pot wasn't on his list of things to do in this lifetime. I....W-Who are y-you?! Ch-Chop me up in a p-pot? Or...a l-lake? What?! P-Please d-don't hurt m-me! Marty trembles in fear. The blood-covered warrior terrified Marty, who was already somewhat creeped out at the task he had set off to do. He stays away from the warrior, his dark vlue eyes showing fear. He didn't want to die! I'm...I'm g-getting Q-Quinn!

[Moonless Midnight -Murdering Marty Mangling Marty Maligning Marty Marty Mitigation]

"No!"

Valaira softly cries out to Marty, stomping an armored foot against the glistening grass upon the ground.

"Don't you dare alert Quinn that I've returned in the middle of the night like this. Please! It's hard enough to..."

No. She doesn't remember this man from before. Why should she tell him anything at all? In fact, why doesn't she turn this situation around on the meek little whelp?

"I was just minding my own business, sidling my way back on home after a long journey after cutting down the heathens who sacrificed people to treacherous gods and being kidnapped myself as one of the icons being revered and now you accuse me of being a threat only because I'm an avid swordswoman and am acting furtive so as to not disturb the peace and tranquility of the night and frighten the children as I did the last time I entered camp in this state?"

Valaira's hand gradually slides down her side to tip-top of her scabbard, unfasten it from its fixed location, and cast her sword in its scabbard lightly at the ground before Marty's feet as a sign of good-will.

"If I wanted to do you harm, wouldn't I have drawn that blade and cleaved off one of your body parts instead of tossing it within your reach?"

[Hattish Thing]

Under the Moon; Twas A Dark and Stormy Night!

Marty stares for a few seconds. Gods? Evil Stuffs? Blood?? Gah! This person was a fighter warrior thing! Marty was a docile man, at least when his friends aren't put in danger. (Or when he's had a bit much to drink.) He never liked warriors....just as bad as assassins in his mind, except they kill things in the open. He jumps about three feet when she throws the sword at his feet. "Y-You...You're lying! You've come t-to kill everyone! I know it! St-Stay b-back! F-For all I know y-you have another s-sword lying about! I....um....Go! Uh...no...um...Not...Oh! I p-politely ask y-you to l-leave the p-premises.

[The Alexandrian]

[Moonless Midnight - Liar, Liar!]

"Now you see here, I'm not lying you little nitwit! Look, I'm going to go to my cabin and rest whether you like it or not."

Valaira chides, having dispensed with courtesies and having had it up to here with Marty's vexing, irksome mannerisms! She waggles her finger accusatorily, turning the tides of war and converting from the defender to the attacker of this rhetorical battle.

"Do you think I came here tonight to be lambasted by the likes of you and your quarrelsome ilk? No. I'm a redeemee who just...who just lost someone...someone very *sniff* important to her."

Valaira sounds like she's close to tearing up and crying about her recent loss of her only friend in the whole wide world, Zero. Ah, Zero! Why did he have to go off and leave her here all alone? And where he went she does not know, nor could she follow, though that fact rends her heart, splitting it in two.

"And you have the gall too...too..."

No. She mustn't let him see the tears. He's a stranger, and a churlish one at that. She mustn't let him see her cry. She mustn't.

"It isn't even worth arguing with you over. *Sniff.* But you know what, Quinn won't be happy about you waking her up over nothing."

Valaira begins to approach where her sword and scabbard rests, snatch those two items up off of the ground, and hastily turn toward the Maple Cabin, staring at the ground as she shuffles along her un-merry way.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[A'walking through the woods]

Ithuriel had decided in the morning to go for a bit of a stroll through the woods surrounding GLoG.

And the trail she'd picked had led her to a rather pleasant little clearing. She'd decided to stop there for lunch, and as she'd sat there, had noticed a small deer sniffing around at the far side.

Munching slowly on a chunk of bread, Ithuriel is quite content for now to simply sit and watch the creature, a slight smile on her face...

[Slii Arhem]

A'walking Through the Woods

The deer may not be around much longer as, from the other side of the clearing, Mintbalm shuffles through. She doesn't exactly look morose, but the red circles around her eyes and slumped posture tell Ithuriel something is definitely wrong.

"Hi..." The cyan-haired pixie breathes out, lifting a hand in a short wave.

[Hattish Thing]

[Moonless Midnight - Liar, Liar!]

"Now you see here, I'm not lying you little nitwit! Look, I'm going to go to my cabin and rest whether you like it or not."

Valaira chides, having dispensed with courtesies and having had it up to here with Marty's vexing, irksome mannerisms! She waggles her finger accusatorily, turning the tides of war and converting from the defender to the attacker of this rhetorical battle.

"Do you think I came here tonight to be lambasted by the likes of you and your quarrelsome ilk? No. I'm a redeemee who just...who just lost someone...someone very *sniff* important to her."

Valaira sounds like she's close to tearing up and crying about her recent loss of her only friend in the whole wide world, Zero. Ah, Zero! Why did he have to go off and leave her here all alone? And where he went she does not know, nor could she follow, though that fact rends her heart, splitting it in two.

"And you have the gall too...too..."

No. She mustn't let him see the tears. He's a stranger, and a churlish one at that. She mustn't let him see her cry. She mustn't.

"It isn't even worth arguing with you over. *Sniff.* But you know what, Quinn won't be happy about you waking her up over nothing."

Valaira begins to approach where her sword and scabbard rests, snatch those two items up off of the ground, and hastily turn toward the Maple Cabin, staring at the ground as she shuffles along her un-merry way.

Marty has absolutely no clue what anything she just said meant! Which...happens a lot when you're Marty. He just gets confused easily."I'm n-no n-nitwit! I'm a M-Marty! What an astounding observation....Wait...y-you....lost s-someone...I'm s-sorry....I... A memory flashes into Marty's mind. He had been fooled before. By Sleet. He had been lied to in muc ha way as this. He believed Sleet, and lost many friends in that horrible experience. His soft, kind, and understanding tone is replaced by one of rather harsh accusation. Lies. You're just t-trying t-to fool me. No! I w-won't let y-you hurt anyone! I w-will stop y-you!...With what? He's not armed....that stick might effectively poke someone though...tremendous good that would do.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Clearing in the Woods]

The deer promptly runs off away through trees.

Ithuriel sighs, "Oh well...that was nice while it lasted..."

The angel stands up and stretches for a moment, packing up the last of her meal to eat later. Oh, yeah, right, Mintbalm. "Oh, uh, hi." Ithuriel slowly walks over to her, looking slight concerned. "You look a little- um...are you okay?"

[Slii Arhem]

Clearing in the Woods

Mintbalm puts on her best fake smile, but she's not fooling anyone, much less an angel. "Sure am! Everything's been great for me these past few weeks." The genie-garbed pixie settles herself down in the middle of the clearing, not seeming to care about the grass stains she must be getting on her floofy pants.

At the moment she looks as if that cheery smile is just about the only thing keeping her face together, and it doesn't even last all of ten seconds before she lets out a shuddering sigh and drops it completely.

"C-can I talk to you some? You gave me really great advice before and I just don't have anyone else to really talk to."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Clearing in the Woods]

Ah.

Yeah, something is clearly bothering the poor Pixie. Probably been crying. Not one to be bothered by grass stains even when she doesn't have something on her mind, Ithuriel sits down again beside Mintbalm. Sometimes it's the little things that make being an angel worthwhile...like being able to keep her robes perfectly white.

"Of course we can talk. I'm always happy to help when I can..."

[Slii Arhem]

Clearing in the Woods

Mintbalm sits there, mouth half open as she tries to think of a way to phrase this properly. There's no real good way to approach this topic is there?

I-... hm. Have you ever been in love?" Mintbalm may be forgetting, just a little bit, who she's talking to here, but it's a necessary question if she's going to explain what's happened, and where she's coming from.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Clearing in the Woods]

...now there's an odd question.

Not one the angel's ever been asked before, actually. "Um...sort of. For a while I was turned into a demon. I shared...some sort of connection...with another demon, but I wasn't really capable of love at the time. When I managed to undo the changes, I thought I loved him...but...I don't know. He didn't love me any more, anyway." When he'd left, the pain had been every bit as bad as the pain when she first died...

But unlike death, the pain when he left had never really gone away.

"I take it you love someone then? And...they don't love you back?"

[OrchestraHc]

Reelshka's forehead wrinkles in though and her ears fall back. Eventually, she shakes her ead. No, I can't say I have. But I take it she was the one to bind you with that contract.



Brinika's ears twitch and she tilts her head. She wonders what the big dragon could be asking about. She picks the thing she feels is the least obvious.
Um, Underside is a very big place underground. Lots of caves and tunnels. There's a big goblin colony there and I live in it.

The Dragonite nods his head. Lots of different creature live underground. Might be whole societies for all he knew. For all he cared. Caves were just places to stash your food and not get pecked at by seagulls. He'd take the sky or sea over the underground in a heartbeat.

"Dragonite Dra?"<Any caves around here?> The dragonite makes a both the cave symbol with his claws from earlier, and then the circles in the air sign for "around here" he used to ask if Brinika lived nearby.

[Slii Arhem]

Clearing in the Woods

Mintbalm nods slowly, another shudder crawling up her spine as she fights back a fresh wave of tears, "Loved... I loved someone, yeah. I can't let myself love her anymore though, because it would only make things worse. She was a friend, and still wants to be, but she can't like girls like I do." Which is the source of most of Mintbalm's woe, and the reason she can't bring herself to look at Kate anymore. Everytime she tries she only makes it halfway before breaking into tears.

"So you were turned into a demon for a while? That must have been awful." Mintbalm angles for a slight, momentary topic change before they start right in on her woes.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Clearing in the Woods]

Ithuriel sighs quietly, then reaches out to put an arm round Mintbalm to try and comfort her a little. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that. Well, this may take a while then, but I'm in no rush, so we can talk as we need to." The angel smiles softly at the pixie.

"Ah...when I was a demon... Well, being turned into a demon wasn't pleasant, no, but it...affected my mind too. So once I changed, felt great. I was like a completely different person, really. It was like an animal in my mind had been uncaged, and took control. I was violent, bestial...uncontrolled. I hunted creatures, I hunted people, my body, in particular my legs, were phenomenally strong, and my bones had twisted to give me a sort of partial exoskeleton as well. I could fall from great heights and land on my legs with no difficulty..."

The angel shudders slightly.

"I assume it was through the will of my god that I slowly realised what I was and what I had been, and eventually worked on finding a way to change back. But during that brief time while I was unaware of my old self, I enjoyed myself. I killed people. And I had a peculiar dislike of clothing. It was quite embarrassing afterwards, realising I'd walked around for months, completely nude..." Ithuriel laughs awkwardly.

[Slii Arhem]

Clearing in the Woods

Mintbalm winces at the story, "I... wow, that's really bad. Fey sometimes just come into existence when something needs to be represented, but often they're just ordinary people that are around fey stuff too much. I... can't really remember who or what I might've been before I became a pixie, although I seem to remember being able to remember it. It just kind of faded after a while, I guess." Mintbalm doesn't see the problem with being nude really, but everything else sounds like an absolute nightmare. Gently, the pixie tries to reach an arm out and grasp Ithuriel's hand for comfort.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do... I want to see her again, and she seems more than fine with that, but it hurts..."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Clearing in the Woods]

"Love hurts, yes..." Ithuriel sighs, "I wish I could tell you the pain goes away. In time it will lessen, but I imagine some part of you will always wonder. Sometimes I wonder if perhaps I'd have been happier if I'd stayed as a demon. A horrible thought, but changing back cost me what little I had. I know I made the right choice, but it hurt..."

The angel's wings twitch awkwardly.

"See why I don't think I'm much of an angel? Wondering whether I'd have been better off as a demon. But...we're not meant to be talking about my problems, sorry. I've never been in your sort of situation, so I don't know if I'm the best person to talk to...but...I suppose it at least good that you found out sooner rather than later that she wouldn't return your feelings?"

[The Alexandrian]

[Moonless Midnight - ...]

Dear me! How appalling it is that Marty doesn't have any jagged implements to ram through Valaira's spleen as things stand. Well, we can't have that can we? Luckily, it looks like the nearly bawling Valaira is about to offer just the solution to that predicament!

With a lightning-quick and all too practiced flick of her wrist, Valaira sends her sword tumbling out of its ornamented scabbard, hopefully landing before Marty's feet.

Her instants-from-leaking eyes and head turn about to meet and pierce the surface of Marty's own.

"Then stop me."

She then continues to mosey toward Zero's room, the one place in the world where her darling Zero's scent is strongest.

[Slii Arhem]

Clearing in the Woods

Mintbalm laughs bitterly, choking back a sob, "That's what she told me, that it was better I realized it now. But really, I always knew she'd never love me. I just... liked to pretend, that she might to make it a teensy bit easier." Mintbalm tactfully doesn't bring up whether or not Ithuriel should be an angel. She doesn't really know what would qualify as proper.

"But I still don't know what I should do. Will it ever be okay to see her again? I don't think I can just forget about her completely. I mean, I know I can, I forgot about myself after all, but I don't really want to." That's a massive understatement. Mintbalm would rather forget her entire life with the other pixies than lose her time with Kate. It's just hard to keep those thoughts fresh, especially when you're in the Land Between, without constant reinforcement.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Clearing in the Woods]

"Well you do have to stop pretending. False hope always makes you feel worse in the end. It...it won't be easy, but I don't think you should never see her again. I think you're going to have to learn to enjoy simply being her friend. Don't think about what you can't have, don't make it a negative thing. Focus on the fact that you are her friend, and the positives associated with that."

She's making it seem so simple, isn't she?

Ithuriel tries to pull Mintbalm into a hug.

"I doubt what I'm saying is what you want to hear. I appreciate that you won't be able to do as I suggest just like that, it's something you'll have to work towards."

[Slii Arhem]

Clearing in the Wood

Mintbalm nearly collapses into the hug, but keeps herself upright, "No, you're right. I just have to focus on being her friend. Really, that's all I was in the first place, it will just be... harder, I guess, without the fantasy." Mintbalm tries to drop her head against Ithuriel's shoulder, tears telling the tale that her words can't. It's going to be much harder than her she's letting on.

But it would be worth it, to not eventually forget Kate entirely.

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

Show

[Entrance]

"Reminds me when I was in the wilderness once." Cessie comments as she GloG in the distance. "We were with a people called the 'wolfen' in their camp. Two of my best friends got married there actually." She smiles faintly even if she didn't enjoy that event as much back then as she would have now.

Entrance

"Harnel!"

Kate walks down the path toward GLoG. "Hey, how are... is that Cessie?"

Behold: someone who knows the Harnel and Cessie in this universe! What do you do?

[Entrance]

"Wolfen get married? They don't just have alphas and betas?" Harnel asks.

And then Kate!

"Hello there. We've come to take a look around GLoG. That's allowed, yes?"

[Edge of Woods]

Flaming Hawt Sniper Rein is loitering there under the shade of trees, occasionally sipping from a flask.

[Shadowcaller]

[Entrance]

"Apparently they do, they chased around each other for a while. Not that was that involved it the wedding. Back then everything felt so strange, I was in a different part of the world surrounded by strangers and strange customs. I felt completely miserable." She sigh. "I feel quite guilty about it today." The mage shakes her head as Kate arrives.

She first smiles politely but raises an eyebrow as the other woman mentions her name. "Yes? Do I know you? You might have mistaken me for someone else, I just arrived here. In this world I mean." She wasn't sure how common planar travel was around here but from what Harnel had told her it seemed to be fairly common.