The Gale

The Gale

Postby Cauchemar » Thu Feb 21, 2013 1:12 pm

Her slipped feet carried her toward the place she was told was called the inquisitory. Silver curls bounced merrily with her steps, her dusty jade eyes watching the people pass by curious, as always, as to their purpose on this world. She was the very picture of a proper young lady. Sage colored gown, fluffed with petticoats, her dusty slippers dyed to match. Her platinum locks pulled back from her face with an ornately carved jade clip that matched her eyes almost perfectly.

He looked for her. She knew he looked for her. Somehow she believed he knew she would come. And so she waited, outside this building which was new to her, for this Governor. This Glenn Burnie. She had nothing to hide.
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Re: The Gale

Postby Glenn » Thu Feb 21, 2013 1:26 pm

It had been a whirlwind back and forth between the Inquisitory and the Meetinghouse, with a few stops in between at local taverns. The truth of the matter was that he had no real way of finding Nightingale, not in one afternoon, but he had time to burn while waiting for everyone to get their letters back to him. Moreover, Rhaena was more than a little busy with the onset of her trip to Razasan so even lunch was out of the question. In time, he would have found where she was staying, would have found clues to where she had been. He had a group of Inquisitors at his disposal after all.

He thought that might not have been necessary. As it turned out, it wasn't.

She was outside, he was informed. He could have invited her in, but he rather thought she'd prefer the open air. Birds did not like tight spaces after all. So it was that he joined her outside, dressed nobly for the cold weather, looking somewhere in his early twenties, youthful and active, boyish but ultimately average, save perhaps for the confident smile that was hard to forget.

"Do I whistle a specific way?" He asked upon shutting the door, making the obvious assumption. "A specific call to draw you out? Am I running the metaphor too far already? There was a deer I always regretted never getting to know when I was younger, when I was about your age." A dear what, she might ask. She'd not get a response. "I suppose I'll just have to settle, though. I'm Glenn Burnie." and yes, there was a sword at his side, but when wasn't there? He was a man always targeted. "Walk with me?"
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Re: The Gale

Postby Cauchemar » Thu Feb 21, 2013 1:42 pm

His attempts at levity are not lost on her, they in fact brought a smile and a soft laughter that was covered with a gloved hand.

"I am called Gale, but you already know that, don't you Glenn?"

Her smile is magical. Her eyes glitter with its genuine nature. She waits for him to offer his arm, as a gentleman should.

"I would be happy to walk with you. Where shall we go?"

If his arm was offered she would curl her own through it, her leather sheathed fingers gripping softly. She was a beautiful girl, if not unusual in appearance, her pale flesh and hair giving her and almost ghostly visage, save for those sparkling green eyes. She was young, perhaps sixteen, but well spoken and obviously well educated.

"You have questions, I am sure. I will answer what I can. I would ask you to promise not to hurt me, but you are not that sort of man, are you Glenn? You are too smart to end this so quickly."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Glenn » Thu Feb 21, 2013 1:52 pm

He was many things, but rarely a gentleman. For her, though, for this, he would make an exception. "I have such tedium today, Gale. Such tedium and such waiting for so many responses. Conflicting sides of a conflict where such quaint notions such as right and wrong don't apply in the least. Your emergence has allowed me an outlet, and for that, I'll thank you."

Her arm would end up on hers and there was something natural to this pairing for those that might see it. "We'll walk through the hustle of the market, I think. It'll reassure you. I try not to kill comely young women in front of quite so many witnesses, and more than that, I'll get to watch your reaction to the Myrken populace. If you start sneering with distaste I'll know you're a bad egg." She smiled. She laughed. He smiled as well, though there was no laughter.

"It's purely practical, you see. Curiosity is curiosity, but I have so many ways of learning answers. No, when I try to push people off buildings at the earlier convenience they tend to grow wings and fly away. You, on the other hand, would be ever so pretty as a songbird in a gilded cage."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Cauchemar » Thu Feb 21, 2013 2:11 pm

"Oh my, that does sound dreadfully dull. How do you manage to get through the day with such boring tasks? It is I who should be thanking you for your generous time, and your interest in me at all."

As they walked, as the people flowed around them, he would see her look at each individual face if she could. She was fascinated by the people. The amount of them, the variety of them. Her eyes were wide with wonder at the very nature of community.

"I assure you, I am no bad egg, such things are quite distasteful, you understand." She would lean her head on his arm for a time, simply watching. Ever the observer this girl.

"Curiosity is a dangerous thing, Glenn. One I sadly fall prey to on a regular basis, much to my mother's distaste. The world is full of so much. I do not understand how some people can be satisfied knowing only their own little corner of it. Such wonders to see and know and touch. Did you know that you are the first man I have ever spoken to other than my own father?" A curious truth. Then another small bout of laughter as he speaks of gilded cages.

"I think your wife might object to another pretty bird, Glenn. Regardless of your intentions. I do not flourish in captivity, you see. And you do want me to flourish, don't you, Glenn?"
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Re: The Gale

Postby Glenn » Thu Feb 21, 2013 2:25 pm

"My wife rather likes pretty things in cages these days," Burnie laughed now, finally, and there was a little twinkle in his eye for her. She well deserved it. She was the sort that could take a certain type of man in. Once upon a time that would have been him. Now, though, he's been hollowed out, and while there was a momentary spark now and again, that's all it could be.

"I could ask of plans and plots and schemes. Of dangers and horrors, but I hardly see the point of all that, not when there are much more interesting things to discuss. Why were you cloistered so, Gale? And truly, what would your poor, late father think if he knew you were here, arm and arm with me, walking through my city?"

There was one thing that she said that he simply couldn't deny, not given the way she said it. Hollowed out he may have been but there were certain truths he could not resist, certain impulses that drew him like a siren's song. "I do want you to flourish. Very much so. It's a shame that there are things I want more."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Cauchemar » Thu Feb 21, 2013 2:39 pm

She would laugh merrily about his wife, her young expression all too knowing and assumptive of that remark. His laughter is noted, and appreciated. It was not a sound she heard often enough.

"Then you are a lucky man to have her, Glenn. Most women are much more conflicted about such things."

He speaks of plots and plans and other nonsense which is really not important right now, and he seems to know this too. She could grow to like this man. He asks questions which are logical and that she can easily answer.

"It was just my mother and I growing up. Father was there from time to time but, as I am sure you know, he was a very busy man. Mother thought, still does think, that it is best for me to remain away from others. That they might wish to cause me harm, since I look so much like him. Your friend, Emory, for instance, she thought the worst of me, when all I wanted to do was talk."

"As for what my father would think of this? The two of us, walking through your city, arm in arm as we are? He would be furious. Father and I have some differences of opinion on how things should be done, you see."

He speaks words that begin as something glorious, but turn quickly and cause her to pause in her step. To hold close his arm as she looks up at him, with those wide jade eyes.

"What is it that you want more, Glenn? Maybe I can help."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Glenn » Thu Feb 21, 2013 2:59 pm

"Neither my wife nor myself are conflicted about much, Gale." There was some strange undertone there, but it likely wasn't what she thought. The smile was neither lewd nor salacious. Doting. Affectionate. Self-assured. "And there are no secrets between us. She knows every word you say." Was that a warning or a boast? His tense was carefully chosen to be present. She knows and he is never alone. "I am a very lucky man."

They move on quickly to questions that please her well enough, and he walks beside her, slowly, letting her soak in what she would. "Your mother must be remarkable. I doubt your father would have chosen anyone less. Tell me of her. She knows you are here? That seems unlikely considering that protectiveness." A little tsk at that. "Such an upbringing inflames curiosity but at a true cost to wisdom. Experience accounts for more than you can imagine." Then, almost as if providing a sacrificial offering, he gives forth. "I never knew my mother yet my upbringing was not all that different than what you have indicated, so I would know."

On to her father then, and he navigated these waters with the same ease he navigated Myrken's streets, a true cartographer of many walks. "Your father would have disapproved, you mean." It was kind enough, but firm as well. Past tense.

Finally, she looks at him with quite the spark of her own. Does he take the bait or does he lay out his own? His smile is never changing, warm, confident, youthful. "What else, Nightingale? I wish for a better Myrken." His voice softened if only a little, became somehow more tender. "I want nothing less than to transform reality," a calm confidence, an assured confidence, intense but not aggressive, "through belief."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Cauchemar » Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:23 pm

The way he speaks of his wife is not lost on her at all. The tense he uses, the cadence of his voice. She is with them, even now. This was good to know, but of no real concern to Gale. She was not telling secrets.

"My mother," She begins "is not at all pleased that i have come to Myrken proper. Less so that I am speaking to you, in particular. Father and I agree this is the proper course of action. My mother is...emotional. It runs on her side of the family. They are beautiful people, but not very strong, you see. As for my upbringing, it was what was best for me at the time. Do you know what they would have done to me if they had known I was here? Bromn? Emory? I would not be here speaking with you, that much is sure."

"My father disapproves. Of you. Of most of them. Lamai and Ariane Emory most of all. His hatred is not my own, which displeases him."

She looked at him as he spoke words that carried such weight, such meaning, that she would consider them in silence for a time. She would begin to move forward again, this time not studying the people, but thinking. Very clearly, very deeply, thinking. He uses her full name, as Father did when he wanted her to pay close attention. And so she did with Glenn as well. She would not give him a simple curt answer. It was thoughtful and curious.

"And what is it that you believe, Glenn? What is it that will transform this reality into what it is you wish it to be?"
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Re: The Gale

Postby Glenn » Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:46 pm

"Your mother knows you're speaking to me? A pretty clever girl, come to make her life in Myrken?" There's an almost flirtatious taunt in there somewhere. "Cloistered, taught her numbers and letters and great speeches, taught about human nature, good and ill, how to learn the mind of man or beast. Out in the wilderness of Myrken Wood to show them all, to find her legacy and her destiny." Yet somehow, his tone is endearing, playful in the most familiar of ways. "Is that it? Defying all those who would do you ill over sins that are not even truly yours. Such cheek." Punctuated with a wink as well. There was a type, and while she likely did not fit it at all, it pleased him to make it seem so in this manner, if only for a moment.

Her next words mean it could not be further prolonged. "He did disapprove, you mean. Which is terribly unfair. Renne I met. Your father? Hardly. Blaming me for what he saw to be my fencing teacher's sins is even more egregious and unfair than blaming you for your late father's, don't you think?"

"I believe in human potential, that all of us can be our very best, that we can strive for that, that we must, no matter the cost." His voice remained steady and no, he did not quite meet her eyes, looking off into the distance instead. "I believe that through action and purpose, we can be victimized no more." Then, finally, he'd look at her, clear, piercing eyes staring all the way to her soul. "I believe in nothing less than perfection."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Cauchemar » Thu Feb 21, 2013 4:08 pm

"When I left I explained to my mother what I would be doing here. One of those things was talking to you. You being the Governor, she did not think it was a good idea. Father thought otherwise. I thought otherwise. You see, Glenn, from everything I have heard, you are a very bright man. You have vision. A man with vision is not a brutal killer. A man with vision does not take the word of others at its face. You are talking to me because it benefits you to know me, before you decide to kill me, or imprison me, or run me off. These are the actions of a wise man, a thinker. And I trusted my feelings that this is the kind of man you would be. Now should a garrison of men come around that corner to arrest me, I will be sorely disappointed." She would laugh then and pat his arm, having complete faith that no such thing would happen.

"If I have a destiny, Glenn, I have yet to define it. My legacy however is written in blood and fire. Father worshiped a false God, and he knows this to be true. My father did not need a God." This comment is left as it stands, no long drawn out explanations. It simply was. I defy others because they need to be defied. I am not my father and he is not me. We are...close, but not the same. Wholesale slaughter is not in my wheelhouse. "

He speaks so of her Father, and it is difficult to maintain her smile, her adoration for the man, who clearly does not understand Thadius Dhrin. Then, no one really did. It was not his fault that he could not see the beauty and clarity of his mind.

"People will blame me, Glenn, it is human nature to do so. They will see my face and see only his. They will not know my heart, only his deeds, and I expect some will try to kill me. I am not afraid."

As she listens to his vision, the smile grows wide and bright once more. As he looked past her, she believed she was familiar with that moment, the vision of what will be. And as his eyes met hers once more, he would be greeted by that smile, and a gentle squeeze of his arm. "Perfection is the only thing worth striving for."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Glenn » Thu Feb 21, 2013 4:58 pm

"With all the monsters and horrors and terrors that we see here, were I your father, had I known of the Governor of this land, had I wanted to do the most damage possible, would I send an Ashfiend? Would I send a Baie? No, I think not. I would send you, Nightingale." His free hand made a small fist and he lightly boxed it against her cheek, not a brush but a push, the world's lightest punch. "And if we hadn't come of so tedious a night, it might have.." The smile became a grin. "Well, no, it wouldn't have worked. But it would have been quite the game. I would have shown you such things, sparrow. It's been a long time since I went up against a ghost. You would have come out of it like nothing this world's ever seen."

A little, lingering sigh as he went to pull her in close with that looped arm of hers. "Unfortunately, there isn't time. Shame you didn't come a year ago. Shame you led with the rings. Shame you're so terrible at calling him dead. War's coming, Gale. Inside and out. That's bigger than you. I can flip this, leverage you, gain something tangible and immediate. Despite that, you're a charming little thing, aren't you? I'm tempted to run you off despite the fact that's not most advantageous. I never wanted to be Governor. Unfortunately, I am, and that means I don't always get to play with my toys.

"Of course, you could give me something amazing right now. Something astonishing, something that will blow my mind and turn it all backwards and inside out. The rings, Sparrow? Dhrin died. They dissolved. Left a mark." He would still be holding her close, would move his forehead towards hers if she allowed it. "Tell me something amazing so that the game has to go on."
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Re: The Gale

Postby Cauchemar » Thu Feb 21, 2013 6:35 pm

It had all started off so nicely. A pleasant walk, good conversation. Compliments. Laughter. And now, well now, things had turned.

Her smile turns into what could only be called a pout. He speaks of things that could have been, what should have been if Father had let her come before. She is disappointed. In Father. In Glenn.

He called her a toy, and that meant something. It was not necessarily a bad thing, but it was telling. He spoke of war, he spoke of her father, and that this was bigger than she was. He did not know everything he thought he did.

"Oh Glenn, things were going so well. And you had to go and ruin it." There is a tap of a gloved finger to the tip of his nose with him leaned in so close. A slight shake of her head. "Tell me something amazing so that the game has to go on." "You must be patient, Glenn. As I have been. What fun is the game if you have all the answers at once? You think you know more than you really do. Information I might be happy to share with you, if you can be good. If you can be patient."

A chaste kiss to his forehead as she stood on tip toe, before she would move to remove her arm from his, and be on her way.
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Re: The Gale

Postby Glenn » Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:44 am

He did not know everything he thought he did.

Five years ago, Glenn Burnie stepped into the Broken Dagger. Five years ago, Glenn Burnie saw a man there, a man with silver-white hair, a man he knew but not well, a man that he had been told not to forsake. That man had just taken Myrken as his own to save it from the storm bearing down upon it. Two months earlier, young Glenn, a Glenn no older than Nightingale was now and in some ways so much younger, had decided to stop running, had decided to make his life here, to make his stand here, even if it was a final one. It was not until that day in the Broken Dagger, however, that the mapmaker finally gave up his cherished freedom, his false freedom, in order to have the power to better defend what had come to matter to him.

Two years later, in Underdark, Burnie was set free once again, free of morality, free of compassion, free of doubt and restraint.

And one year ago, bonds were placed upon him once more, the mantle of Governor. Since then, some of those earlier chains had started to tug. If only she had seen him upon his return from the darkness. What a smile he would have had for her then.

Now? Now his hands were tied. It didn't matter what he knew. It did not even matter what he believed. It mattered what necessities he had to live by in order to achieve his aims. That was something her father understood. What had she showed him? That when pressured, she would not immediately break.

He spoke after her, calmly. "In two days time, you will write me a letter. I will return a response with the messenger you send. In the meantime, know that you could have earned my protection, even for the smallest of things. You chose not to. Without real provocation I will not send my forces down your throat. If someone happens to see you with your mouth wide open, your face wearing a guilty expression, however, I cannot ensure your safety."

With that he'd turn, not waiting for a response or even a glance back.
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