The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:23 am

Time was hard to gauge in Golben. In parts the tree cover was so thick that you couldn't tell if it was day or night above. It was in one of these areas that Glenn would find the storyteller, weakened by the tiger children who had given no emotion from her story but rather sucked hers away instead. She was a more pale and thin version of herself, her walking stick clutched in her hand as she held tightly to one of the magic mirrors that had been placed here, desperately breathing in what she could of the strength that still lingered about it.
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Glenn » Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:30 am

So there they were, the exiled Governor and the fell Storyteller. Two forces brought down by their own actions and their own weaknesses. Their nature and their inability to overcome it. "Well then, how about this?" He tapped that cane erratically as he walked towards her. Whatever Catch had done before he left had brought some life back to him. He was weak, but at least looked human again, was filled out a little more. He looked as if he could use a month of good meals. He looked gaunt not unlike Giuseppe had when they made their last deal.

"Let's make a deal. You tell me your name, your real name, and I'll tell you a story." They had to start somewhere, after all, didn't they?
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:35 am

She released her death grip on the mirror and snorted, pulling herself up to her feet, her walking stick in her hand.

"My name is worth far more than any story you could tell me Glenn Burnie." She hissed out his name, as if to emphasize the power that could come with it.

She'd stand then, one hand on the mirror and her bright green eyes on Glenn as she considered his condition. They were a matched pair really, both starved though in different ways, though even Glenn's presence was refreshing. There were thoughts, feelings about the crimes that had been committed to him from the mind witch.

She breathed in slowly.

"Oh Glenn, you're hardly in any condition for bargains."
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Glenn » Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:43 am

"Your name isn't worth much at all." Oh, what the hell, why not? He started tapping the cane steadily as he walked towards her. Monsters were monsters. There wasn't much shades of grey here. It'd be a good smokescreen at least and he needed that given his state. "I'm not entirely sure what happened. It's a blur. I almost found you. I almost took over your story and made it my own. She'd hate me for casting that spell on her, but she would have forgiven me in the end. It was the least of many evils. That's the story of my life," He lifted the cane up towards her chin. It was iron as Catch said. he didn't touch it to her though.

Instead he shook his head. "You're trapped here and I am the only person to talk to. Your only salvation. If I don't listen to your stories, you die. If I don't tell you mine. You die. I'm in a wonderful position to bargain. This, this I can overcome. You know what? I don't think I want to hear you tell a story about me, but if you give me your name, I'll tell you a story at least."
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Mon Aug 05, 2013 4:07 am

"Ignorant child. You know nothing about names." Humans were so unaware of these things, tossing their own about as if they hadn't a care in the world.

She shook her head in frustration, as one might with a child, though she was very, very aware of that cane and raised her own walking stick up defensively, creating a barrier between she and him.

"You keep opening your mouth and nothing but your stupidity and ignorance comes out. Oh the people in your town say you are some great inquisitor and yet you know nothing about me, or my kind for that matter. I don't need to hear your stories to live, nor could you ever have taken one of my stories and made it your own as you so quaintly stated. For humans a story is just a story, a little bit of fancy. Nothing else. No, it's my powers that bring them to life. Dare I ask, how is your precious Mind Witch? Are things working out with her the way that you had hoped?"
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Glenn » Mon Aug 05, 2013 5:23 am

Ignorant child.

Didn't she see? She gave him strength. Catch had given him strength. This place gave him strength. There were things Glenn Burnie fed off of just as there were things she fed off of.

"A little bit of fancy?" He spun the walking stick with a trained motion. He had carried one of these for over a year after all. It was theatrical, but "You live amongst us. You hear our tales, the very heart and soul of everything we do, and that's what you think? That? And you call me ignorant? You're not a child. You're just another magical creature incapable of seeing what's in front of your face."

He planted the walking stick down upon the ground with a rather loud tink. He refused to lean upon it overmuch. "Stories inspire us. They help us remember our history, they help break the world down so we can understand who we are and why things matter. They are our way at grasping at truths larger than us. They're how we instruct our young and how we revere our elders. Stories are what separate us from animals and make us aspire to be gods.

"A boy, trapped in a life he did not choose, instructed to be something with no freedom and no future, can find just one book of tales and learn to imagine a greater world, to imagine something more, and it can alight hope in his heart. Stories can change his whole life, can give him a life when he had nothing at all before. A man can awaken, naked and lost, with no memories and no past, but with a desire to start anew. The stories he hears from those around him helps him decide not just upon a name and a direction, but upon morality. He learns from them. He sees them all laid out before him, and he picks and chooses to become the very best of any of us. Stories can advise and protect and comfort, tantalize and chastise and inspire.

"You're the fancy, you and your power, you with no creativity of your own, that just feeds upon our most holy possessions, our memories and our dreams and our hopes, our souls."

Her biting question at the end? Lost in the face of all of that. She might have to try again.
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Tue Aug 06, 2013 2:15 am

She watched as he twirled his walking stick and rambled on about the history of stories. She looked unimpressed, leaning her weight on her own walking stick as she considered him and his tirade.

"Are you finished?" She asked when he seemed to reach the end of the rant, straigtening up a little from where she had been leaning.

"You hardly need to lecture me on the history of stories. I'm not one of your little ducklings, and I've known hundreds of Glenn Burnies before you. You are not unique." She emphasized, gazing up at the tree cover.

"Now, if you aren't going to be doing anything useful I'll be on my way to find an exit to this God Forsaken place. Though I would rather like to meet it's maker, it would make for an excellent story." She said with a little glimmer in her eyes.
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Glenn » Tue Aug 06, 2013 2:34 am

"You've known hundreds of Glenn Burnies? I've known dozens of whoeveryouares, Ashfiends and Kylerryths and Faeryls and Sin'Vraals and Dreamwakers. Baies and Dhrinns and Channelers and Galacia Talins. Ultimately, they all suffer the same fate. Your fate. You see us as small and fleeting and never realize that's our strength, not our weakness, duckling." If she wouldn't give him a name, he'd take whatever he would from her. "You are hardly unique."

Saying all that had tired him a bit, enough that he didn't rush up now and try to thrash her with his cane. The lost weeks had taken a toll enough upon him to put any sort of physical approach in doubt. He remembered how strong and fast she was. At his best, he had a good chance against her. Right now, even with an equalizer, it would have been tricky and if he lost, she'd have a story for him, he was sure. Thus, there was no swift moves and no overly daring ones.

"I funded it. I came up with the idea for it. I chose the location. I chose the architect. And honestly, it's not too late for you to earn yourself a story. I don't care what Giuseppe told you about me. I'm sure it was just a taste for what I have to offer."
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:50 am

"Duckling?" She laughed heartily and shook her head. "I hardly know the names of the creatures you have just mentioned, but I assure they are not of me and mine. Pity I never got to know them better, though still your promises of stories don't entice me. I suppose because of Guiseppe you would think that they would. I have to admit while his efforts certainly benefited me, I don't need them for my survival, and I'm not some mindless hungry beast."

She'd move away then, her walking stick still gripped tightly in her hand, keeping him always within her vision as she edged down the path of where they were, exploring idly.

"I'm not much interested in your mind anyhow. You funded this project but it's a wicked mind that dreamt it. You consort with interesting people Glenn Burnie. A mind witch and a fiend for torture. Oh, do watch your step there, that one is poisonous to humans." She'd say, indicating to a plant rather close to Glenn's foot.

"I wonder if this was what you imagined when you decided to fund a labyrinth."
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Glenn » Tue Aug 06, 2013 8:12 am

Was she lying? It wasn't just what happened with Giuseppe, of which she actually told him more than he had gotten through most other means. It was her whole time here, everything she did, that she asked for stories as well as telling them. She said that she wasn't some mindless hungry beast and every bit of evidence said otherwise. He was weakened though, turned around, deprived in many ways. She wasn't providing him with the creature he was expecting to bounce off of.

"That they are. And these," His hand snatched down to a pick up a strange looking fungus not far away. "are gifts to Myrken from my Alessandra. You're sure you don't want to hear that one? It has knights, idiot drow, and iron collars that change one's behavior." He munched upon the fungus as if it was the most natural thing in the world. A moment later he just barely dodged walking into a mirror again. "Damn it." He'd followed her path too.

"My.. my mind was wicked for a time, Duckling." The name was said without affection, just matter-of-fact. If she'd not tell him he'd pick whatever he'd like. "Wicked isn't the right word. Everything had purpose. I just had no limits. i was everything I said they were. Everything I know you are."
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Wed Aug 07, 2013 6:30 am

"It's tempting, but I rather believe your price for the story would be too high. You ask my name for a story, I'm afraid that's a rather unfair trade. You'll have to think of a different fee if you're so desperate to tell it." Her eyes twinkled and she continued to walk, eyeing him up with his fungus.

"I wish you had the creativity to come up with a better name. Honestly, Duckling?" She listened, taking in little pieces and details about Glenn's wickedness. "And what is it exactly what you were? What you think I am?"
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Glenn » Wed Aug 07, 2013 7:30 am

Glenn sighed a little as they walked. She wasn't ravenous. He on the other hand, was human and weak despite what Catch had done. He would tire before she did and then he might have less of an ability to fight back if she did tell a story. If this was going to happen it'd be on his terms. "Three stories, duckling. Good ones, ones that will answer the question of what I am, or at least what I was and how I got to be there. You'll like them." He managed a smile, and it twinkled.

"And in return you tell me your name, but you can tell it in a story. It has to be an honest story though," one about her. She couldn't just make something up to ensnare him. "I've broken your magic in the telling before. I'm no fool. I'll know when you're trying something," but still, he was going to offer her the attempt to try. It was a battle of wits, but an obtuse one.
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:23 am

She sighed and looked back over at him and shook her head. "I said a different price, not a different purchase. I'm not interested in telling you my Name? Why would I? You might think it meaningless but you could do far more damage to me with it than even a hundred stories would do for me in benefit. Call me Storyteller if you must call me something."

She'd dig her walking stick into the ground then and lean on it slightly, looking Glenn over.

"You do realize I could help you don't you? A few good stories and I could paint our way out of here, I'd leave your ridiculous little town and you'd never have to hear from me again. That seems as good a compromise as any if you ask me. All you have to do is listen."
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Glenn » Thu Aug 08, 2013 5:03 am

Glenn shut his eyes as they walked. Something had sucked him of his vitality, had robbed him of a month which was far more valuable than his freedom. If he was aware, he could break free. If he wasn't, there was nothing he could do. This was endlessly worse. He barely had the strength to go on. If not for his own stubbornness, he might sit down now and wait for the end. Even worse, he might just give her what she wanted.

"I understand. I'm a reasonable man, duckling, I am. Pragmatic. I'm just not as pragmatic as some other people." His former bodyguard for one. "I'd rather keep you from getting free. You took our young, duckling. You brought this all down on our heads." They had caught her, far sooner than most Myrken threats got caught, but it was still too late and that was a knife in his side. "I'm not going to let you go victimize anyone else."

A different purchase? Fine. "Same terms, but no name. I want your story instead."
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Re: The Weeks After the Ball: Golben

Postby Dulcie » Thu Aug 08, 2013 5:14 am

"I didn't kill your young." She'd insist, taking a seat across from Glenn on a rather large looking boulder. "That was Fiona, and I didn't have any control over her. Really, if I could have put it off longer I would have. I owed her a favor. For my kind I suppose that's best compared to a compulsion. I had to tell it. Truly, I took no pleasure in the loss of your children. They are necessary for my survival and I was saddened to see them go."

At least now she'd finally been able to clear that up. She listened to his new terms and she considered the options of each. It was a long, uncomfortable silence as she evaluated each word of the deal as a barrister might a contract.

"It's a deal. There will be no mention of my name, and I will only share my story with you in the depth that is required for a sensical telling. My story will of course follow yours."
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