Experience in Darker Matters

Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby Rance » Sat Feb 28, 2015 10:52 am

"If her actions required it," Gloria said from her chair, where she was suddenly so terribly small, "I'd never expect you to shatter her trust, Ailova. That she does trust you speaks multitudes for -- for her capacity to do so. We know she can, that -- that there are veils--" she knocked a knuckle against her temple, "--that keep her from extending that trust to anyone else. But if a time comes that we discover her to be completely irreparable?"

As if they're talking about an uneven bit of furniture, or a sword broken in the midst of battle--

"I would do the thing for us."

Sometimes it was very easy to play at being absent of heart, especially without mirror-glass around.

"But what it would be better to contemplate is -- is how we can effectively aid her. How we keep her from killing without killing her. That requires a finesse of which I'm ruefully incapable. I'll help where I can; I'll muster as much patience as I can possibly afford. But that's why I think this is the best place to be: if anyone is capable of precision, overthought, analysis, and solution, it's Glenn Burnie."

The world might have shattered apart in that moment, for what she offered to Glenn Burnie from across the room was the closest semblance of a concord or agreement they'd ever forged: the young woman smiled, inclined her head, all the physical evidence of her recognition of his prowess. No challenge, no debate. Gloria Wynsee had come to this place because she needed something; she'd brought Ailova because the brignad, too, needed; and Glenn, he'd agreed to meet because this cause -- a broken bird to be mended -- was something he too needed, even if he would never admit it.

"We're people first," she said to her brandy.
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Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby Glenn » Sat Feb 28, 2015 12:17 pm

The highwaywoman met him half way. Though neither she nor Gloria noticed it (the former having no reason to and the latter so focused on her own thoughts perhaps), he had given a very detailed description of what he thought the woman might be thinking. It wasn't entirely accurate, or at least not as fleshed out as what he proposed, but it was close enough to resonate with him. This was a talk not unfamiliar to him. This was a talk of urns and the profane.

He'd deal with her question first, no matter how tempting it might be to bask in Gloria's surprisingly positive, though not necessarily kind, words. "She's young, very young, but she's in the right place and the wrong place, all at once. You're new to Myrken, I take it." Though he'd been so out of the loop lately that it was hard to know, really. "This place calls to the broken and the lost and it opens it arms. It gives them hardship, but it also gives them hope. It gives them a reason to fight, acceptance on a small scale like they never might have imagined. Look at what's happened with her already. Look at Gloria, expressing such thought and such care for this child, more so, even in the deliberation on what she'll do than I imagine she's ever possessed. Here we are, in a room, three people questing for the possibilities that might ensure this child's well-being," and yes, there was a dark side to this talk as well but it didn't change that this entire discussion came from a point of caring. They cared about the girl and about the people she might hurt. "It's hard. She'll get to know what it feels like to be cared for and she'll get to know what it feels like to see the people who care hurt, to lose them. It inspires though, not just to care for others, but to care for yourself. I know it has for me. I hope it has for Gloria as well," though he truly didn't know that either, not any more, after all he knew had happened and all he knew he didn't know.

"She's young. Caring and patience are important, but so is responsibility. If she feels like she has a stake in her future and especially in that of other people, it may help. There's time though. Years, I would say, depending on what you haven't been telling me." He swallowed down another sip of brandy and looked to Gloria. "I tried to stop dangers before they became danger and more often than not, all I did was create the very problem I was trying to get ahead of in the first place. It's an option but rarely the best one. Hope for the best, try for the best, but prepare for the worst. Just don't anticipate it to the point of not trying."
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Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby highawaywoman » Sun Mar 01, 2015 3:50 pm

Ailova made to stand, the conversation had started to go in circles. Dark and wide sweeping circles that all pointed to the same conclusion. Phor was dark. Troubled. And mayhap so very tainted to her core that no one person would be able to reach the gutter-snipe.

"One o' ye speaks o' murrder. The other redemption." The highwaywoman drained her glass, setting it on the table and directly in front of Glenn Burnie.

"Ser, I mean nae disrespect. 'owever, I was keenly 'opin' that ye were goin' 'o tell me that ye were capable o' some magic that could wipe the gel's miond clean." Ailova canted her be-hatted head to the side, giving him a brief gold-toothed grin. "I dinnae think that will be a ready proposition comin' froom ye."

"And Gloria. Och, aye, the dolls. I ken what she dooes with 'em. The reenactments she plays out with characters that are real and havae 'o be destroyed repeatedly. The prooblem is Phor is killin' now. Aye, it just be cats. But we-I have only a short span o' time before she murders something more sizable than cats and rats." The highwaywoman felt more comfortable standing, especially when the man who sat there calmly would be bound to spin more circles with his words.

"Now, Ser. Yer words are fioner than me own. But, I gather yer best advice is to care and not interfere?" The bandit paused, sucking in a breath before going on, "Because, that is wot we 'ave been doin' and 'tis only gotten worse with time."
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Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby Rance » Mon Mar 02, 2015 2:37 am

There was an odd, uncharacteristically loud moment when Gloria interrupted Ailova--

...keenly 'opin' that ye were goin' 'o tell me that ye were capable o' some magic that could wipe the gel's miond clean.

"No."

The volume vanished. She shrunk into her seat.

"No," Gloria told Ailova. "He's not. We -- we don't do that here."

She no longer had her brandy in her hand; she'd abandoned it to the armrest, where her lone hand gripped like a vice into the upholstery, her fingernails scraping a symphony against the age-worn fabric. She looked at neither of them; no, for a moment, she was tangled somewhere in an old memory, bogged down by a thought that refused to shake itself from the surface of her mind. Indecisively, her hand retreated to her mouth, and she began to dig at the base of her fingernails with her teeth.

That denial had been her only intejection; Glenn would field Ailova's inquiry effectively enough--

Over her shoulder, with an almost childish longing, she looked at the door.
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Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby Glenn » Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:08 am

There were some in Myrken Wood that might give Ailova a medal there, for she had done a uniquely difficult task. With just a few words, she had quieted both Glenn Burnie and Gloria Wynsee. Oh, Gloria had tried to find the words, some words, any words, but she had petered off very, very quickly. Glenn was just silent, staring not at either woman but between them.

Finally, he would exhale and shake his head. "There's a girl's fate at stake. We'll take that as it was meant. You grinned. It was a joke." Short sentences out of Burnie were terribly outlandish things. "It's fine to care about life for the sake of life. It's admirable, even. If we changed her mind, it'd be as good as killing her. You wouldn't be helping her. You'd be helping yourself feel better and not deal with the consequences." More words started to creep forth. He was regaining some level of composure, no matter how tightly he was gripping his glass. "Don't joke about that. There aren't any easy answers. If they were, they wouldn't be worth it. It's hard because it's worth doing.

"Interfere. Interfere over and over again. Interfere by jumping down her throat. Take an interest. Show compassion. Show firmness. If she's your ward, then parent her. Punish her when she does ill. Reward her when she does well. I'm saying don't kill her until all other options are off the table. Most of all, have some faith in this place. Give her things she values more than dolls and she'll come to treasure them and here and those around her." She had risen and now he rose as well. "Stop looking for easy options. There's no cheating with a child's life. If you give a damn, then give a damn, and it'll cost you and you'll pay the price. It's better that you pay it now than she or someone else pay it later. I'll pay my share too," he held out his hands, then looked to Gloria, very much opening himself up for a punch from the highwaywoman if she so desired. "When can I meet the girl?"
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Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby highawaywoman » Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:37 am

The sarcastic comment was ill-received by the other two. Ailova didn't know what nerve she'd struck, but she could tell it was a raw one by the immediate silence and stony stares into the distance. In a feckin' town where magic and mortals lived alongside, it seemed only natural to the bandit that Gloria would take her to some magically gifted sod. Instead? Instead she got a load of philosophical rubbish that'd take her an hour to go over in her own mind - minus all them extra words, of course.

When their words finally came, Gloria's mumbled and short, but Glenn's were directed with a focus of one who was indeed familiar with the situation. Now the man seemed to come to the meat of their bloody matter.

"Stop looking for easy options. There's no cheating with a child's life. If you give a damn, then give a damn, and it'll cost you and you'll pay the price"

When Burnie stood and put his hands down, it struck Ailova that he half-expected a punch to the nose. However, instead of hitting or even cursing, Ailova executed a neat bow to Burnie first and then Gloria.

"I 'ad begun 'o think yer brains were full o' worms and yer mouth coated inae lacquer of shite. But. I was wroong. Yer jus' better 't turnin' words 'o the point o' the listener either payin' attention - or sayin' feck it." Ailova adjusted the neckcloth about her throat, fingers fumbling with the buttons on her frockcoat.

"And I am payin' attention. I even agree with ye. Blast me eyes. Ye wanna meet 'er? We stay at the Dagger. Gloria's good at finding us, if'n we're not available for callers." The highwaywoman flicked a glance at Gloria, one that spoke volumes. I do hope ye'll be callin'.

"We'll await yer visit. And." Ailova coughed, doffing the brim of her slouch hat first to Gloria, second to Burnie. "I do thank ye. Fer yer interest and tiome."

The brigand would make to leave. The brandy had turned her tongue thick in her mouth and she needed something stronger to keep the thirst at bay.
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Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby Rance » Mon Mar 02, 2015 5:00 am

We.

A word that weighed a thousand stones.

We.

Their conversation was done; the truth, the logic, had been sought and administered. Ailova prepared herself for the bitter cold of midday, doffed her hat, and made for the door to Glenn Burnie's manor. She stood, too, in deference to her friend. "I'll be along shortly," Gloria confirms, after managing to will a cooling, measured breath from her chest. She's a statue as she stands there, her skirts fallen still, her halved-arm slung protectively across her abdomen.

Old habits.

When Ailova leaves, Gloria remains only a moment to say to Glenn: "You'll bring your sword when you meet the child. Not that you'll require it, but on the off-chance that you might."

Silence. She finishes her brandy; she hasn't a taste for the drink, but courtesies should be observed.

"I'm glad," Gloria punctuates, "that you still see the goodness that can be done in this place, Glenn, or that can be done by people. She -- she needed to hear it from you--" and so did I. "I've become too comfortable being poisonous; if we'd followed my lead, we'd both be killers again. And Glenn?

"Care for yourself. Get out of this prison. Do something stupid once in awhile."

She departs.

Outside, in the middle of the muddy avenue, she peels the folded slip of parchment from her skirt-pocket.
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Re: Experience in Darker Matters

Postby Glenn » Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:20 am

Well, it was nice to hear that there weren't worms in his brain. It was also nice not to get punched for once, though he actually felt less righteous for being told he was right as opposed to feeling it at the end of harsh knuckles. Ailova bowed to him. He did not bow back, but at her thanks, he'd nod. She'd heard enough from him for a time and he didn't add anything further.

Then, of course, there was Gloria. "You knew everything I said. You've lived it." But he couldn't admonish her more than that. "Myrken tears you down. It builds you up. If you keep your eyes open to it, it's not so bad," and he forced a smile for her, that maddening and maddened twinkle back in his eyes once more. "Just the best thing ever and the worst. " Then he let her leave.

And upon leaving she read.

I had so much time, years and years, and I failed to s top him. I'm sorry.
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