|
Post by moralhazard on Apr 20, 2019 19:40:45 GMT
Thea smiled at Orin, and nodded in understanding. Yes; she was glad that it helped Orin to talk about it, and more than happy to listen.
Thea had only started to learn that herself very recently, that it could help to talk. In Urmlaspyr it had been easy not to talk – too easy, she understood now. It wasn’t something she really could say to Orin, but Citrine had been the first to break through a – a sort of barrier, for her. Before Citrine, Thea had never really spoken about much of the weight of her past, at least nothing that she remembered. She wouldn’t have said that she felt free about it now, but that breaking through – it had been like lancing a wound. Some deep pain had drained out, and now, Thea hoped, maybe she was healing, healing an injury that she hadn’t fully realized was there.
Or so Thea hoped.
Thea shivered, but didn’t interrupt, listened rapt and wide-eyed to Orin, her entire attention concentrated on the eladrin, the tea and snacks forgotten in front of her. No, she thought, this was worse than not remembering. Orin had the memories, they had felt whole and complete, and now she couldn’t trust them. Thea shivered again. What would that be like, if your mind had betrayed you?
“Has it changed, at all? Since seeing Rain again, since… reading the journals?” Thea showed no hint of surprise at the revelation that Orin had died, and from the way she spoke, at least she didn’t have any questions about the journals that Citrine kept. The deeper question she wanted to ask – do you believe Citrine? – remained unspoken under the surface. It wasn’t Thea’s place, no matter how badly she wanted to know; no matter how badly she wanted Orin to believe.
|
|
|
Post by Ossular on Apr 24, 2019 23:02:52 GMT
Orin would hold the tea cup, but wouldn't take a sip. The warmth in the tips of her fingers felt nice, something to focus on as she thought about what Thea had asked. There was just so much to churn and process through. It wasn't that she didn't want to answer the question at all- that wasn't it- but it was more of a she didn't know how to, at least in any way that would satisfy herself.
"I... don't know," the eladrin would close her eyes. "There's... very minute details that have pervaded through my memories. Like the number of shadows on the walls projected from a fireplace? Or when a group of people call out my name in my memories? There's always extra, but it's distorted. It's obscure and easy to miss if you weren't looking for them. Even now, they feel like I'm just... reaching for something." Orin would inhale, then exhale.
"I've been tricked before, though, so I'm just trying to be cautious with Citrine," Orin would set her teacup down on the table lightly. "I didn't tell her, but I was... tricked on the way here, to Waterdeep. There was an old friend that saved me- Darious- back in Triboar. He came back saved me from a Winter Wolf that was pursuing me, and I thought it was him that I was looking for. I had all of these memories, but... not all of them. It turns out that he had been sent to distract me, and I awoke to him casting a spell to modify my memories. Breaking the spell part-way lead to me discovering that I had done... some pretty bad things to him in the past, and-"
Orin would pause for a moment, eyes scattering around the table as she tried to ponder how to continue telling the story. Her fingers would come up, fidgeting through her hair like a wide comb before she continued. "He also had journals. He had proof- items, trinkets, so on. He had all these same things that Citrine does. So I just... I'm wary. I need to know if Citrine really is this person before this year is up," the eladrin would explain a bit. "Or else... I'll have to leave again. For good. It's part of the deal I made.
"Gods I'm an idiot," the eladrin would mutter through her breath before taking a nervous quick sip of her tea.
|
|
|
Post by moralhazard on Apr 25, 2019 1:57:39 GMT
Thea’s eyes widened. “Oh, Orin…” her hand fluttered for a moment; if Orin hadn’t pulled hers away to run through her hair, Thea might have squeezed it again. Instead, to resist the impulse, she pulled both hands back into her lap.
Thea shivered. “Oh, Orin, I’m sorry, I – I can’t imagine.” It wasn’t helpful; she knew that, but what could one say, really? Thea was quiet, thinking it over, carefully.
“No, not an idiot!” Thea’s eyes were wide; she’d spoken too loudly, and she quieted herself, leaning forward. “It sounds like you made a bad bargain, but – did you really have a choice?” Thea didn’t know much about who had cast the spell, but Orin seemed sensible to her; she really doubted the eladrin would have agreed to such absurd terms if she’d had any other option.
“And you have every right to be wary,” Thea told Orin. “That sounds – truly awful.” She shivered slightly.
“I can’t…” Thea was quiet for a moment, looking at Orin. “You don’t know me – well, you know me less than you know Rain,” Thea met Orin’s eyes. “And I only know what Rain has told me. But for what it’s worth, she told me about you – about your history together, about her journals – months before you came here. And Orin, I – I was with her when she saw you again, for the first time. If she was faking that, faking anything, then I…” Thea shook her head slightly. “Then I’ve never seen anyone in love in my entire life,” she said, softly and firmly.
Thea paused, clearing her throat. “I know words aren’t enough – can’t be enough. But… I would swear to you, on everything I hold dear, that what Rain feels for you is real. I do so swear.” She stopped there, holding Orin’s gaze with hers.
|
|
|
Post by Ossular on Apr 25, 2019 19:10:16 GMT
Orin's eyes snapped up to Thea as she rose her voice a bit more than the eladrin was expecting. She would scan over the genasi quickly before meeting her vision. The eladrin would bring her eyes down, her ears flattening with her eyes. She didn't answer verbally, but instead gave a light shake. No, she didn't really have a choice. Not if she wanted to be reunited with the person she was looking for.
The warlock would steel herself, looking up from the table back to Thea, who was talking to her. It was the least amount of courtesy she could provide, decades of training with the fey still ingrained within her subconscious actions and thoughts. She would watch Thea as she spoke of Citrine. The eladrin would purse her lips slightly, a little bit of red coming through her features. She thought back to when Citrine first approached her, when she didn't have the slightest clue as to who the aarokocra was.
Now, though, at least there was hope. A filtered, quiet hope that this time would be true, but hope nonetheless. Orin's summer eyes would rest on Thea, looking at her, through her, trying to look for any of the common signs of lying. Was there a twist of the eyes? A nervous swallow? Maybe an involuntary twitch? Nothing. As far as she could tell, Thea was telling the truth.
"I believe you," Orin would mutter, exhaling. "I just- I don't have much time, like I said. But," the eladrin would sit up a little bit, a sniff across her otherwise Elvish features, "I believe you. I'll talk to her... in a couple of days. I just- I needed time after the, uh, menagerie and everything that happened there." Orin felt that Thea wouldn't need to go into any kind of details. "I told her I'd go on another date. Give her another chance after everything. I don't know when that date is gonna happen, but the only reason she missed the date is because she was trying to be a good person," the eladrin would hum to herself, taking the moment to breathe.
|
|
|
Post by moralhazard on Apr 26, 2019 2:37:55 GMT
Thea sat, still and patient, letting Orin take as much time as she needed. She smiled, broadly, soft relief flooding through her, when Orin said she believed her. She nodded in understanding; the circus had been – rather a lot. Thea thought it was one of the stranger nights she’d ever had, and she understood that it seemed to have been even more intense for Orin, even if she wasn’t exactly sure what had passed between her and Arioch then.
Thea nodded. “It was – a very strange situation,” she agreed. “I know Rain wouldn’t have deliberately missed your date for the world. I don’t think she even knew that she had, at first. When she realized that she had been petrified it was – like she had been struck,” Thea shivered.
Looking over the eladrin, Thea decided, they needed a change of topic. “So!” Thea smiled at her. “You were in Triboar? That’s not too far from Waterdeep, is it? I haven’t been north from the city at all, but I’d love to see the Silver Marches some day. The war sounds like it was – terrible, but I’ve heard they’re rebuilding.” Sembia had had its own troubles in the last few years – what part of the world hadn’t? – but Thea had still heard some of the gossip coming from the Silver Marches, and their war against the orcs.
|
|
|
Post by Ossular on May 8, 2019 23:10:49 GMT
Orin's ears would perk up at the topic change at the same time her eyebrow did, but she would smile at the topic change, appreciating it as a welcome distraction from the thoughts of the menagerie and the line of thoughts about the general confusion that was her relation to Citrine at the moment. She would think back to Triboar for a moment, as if working her way backwards, but everythinig would click behind her eyes.
"Oh- uh- yes!" she would stammer, a bit of a smile at herself. "I came from Silverymoon- a quiet magical place, honestly- and Yartar." She'd skip over talking about Yartar at the moment, at least. "I passed through during Midsummer, so despite the rebuilding, it was quite the lively place. A lot of stories and such about Meilikki and all of the sieges and battles. They had even made their way to Silverymoon, the giants and orcs, but the stories of Bruenor uniting the dwarven strongholds and teaming up with the copper dragons? Can't go more than a couple of blocks without hearing some version of the story," Orin would smile.
"Midsummer, though? Even hungover, the Song of Dawn is impressive," she'd recall, "but I remember the Feast of Love in Silverymoon a bit more," the eladrin would sit a little more straight, busying herself with the more pleasant memories. "It was a giant dinner feast where you gather with all of those you love and appreciate, and you just spend the time focusing on the positives of your relations, from this life and the last, and the ones before that." The whole experience had been almost surreal, with some elves telling stories from several millennia prior as if it had been no more than a couple years at most. It was how she learned about the reincarnation cycle of the elvish races, their origins from the gods when physical forms didn't exist to what they were now, and their places in Faerun, Toril and the rest of the worlds.
"It was a night of love and forgiveness and communion. And wine- a lot of wine," Orin would chuckle a little bit, eyes darting back into focus. "Which was nice, as every city in the Silver Marches is still kind of recovering. Silverymoon. Yartar. Triboar. Even Red Larch, in a way, having been the route to Waterdeep."
|
|
|
Post by moralhazard on May 9, 2019 0:23:57 GMT
“Oh, how nice,” Thea smiled, nodding. “I’ve heard only good things about Silverymoon. Most of the merchants in Sembia trade mostly on the Sea of Fallen Stars, but many here trade up north. Perhaps I’ll go visit! I could always claim to be studying their glassblowing,” Thea giggled. Thea laughed at Orin’s recollection of a hungover Song of Dawn. Her tea, half-remembered, was growing cold. As if he sensed it, Mehmet swooped in out of nowhere, refreshing both glasses with hotter liquid and a pleasant smile. He was gone as unobstrusively as he’d appeared. The Feast of Love sounded – delightful. Thea kept her hands in her lap, her eyes shining softly as she listened. She sighed, happily. “Oh… that must be lovely,” Thea whispered. There was so much she wanted to see – so many places she wanted to go. Mentally, Thea added Silverymoon to a rapidly growing list. When had she stopped wanting to travel? When had she let her soul be fixed into glass and home? The air genasi felt the spirit of the wind moving in her, a faint gentle stirring deep within. She loved Waterdeep; it was an adventure in and of itself each and every day. Just looking around her was proof of that. But… the world was a large and lovely place. Someday, Thea promised herself, she would see all of it. Or, at least, as much as she could! “I’m sure,” Thea’s smile eased away at the mention of recovery. “Were there really – dragons, in the war?” Thea’s eyebrows lifted again. “We heard rumors, of course, but I thought… well, dragons don’t get involved in these things so often, do they?”
After a moment, though, Thea would attempt to do her best to move the conversation along. "I do love Waterdeep, but..." she smiled a little. "I have to admit to a bit of wanderlust lately," she grinned, almost sheepish. "What about you - is there anywhere in Faerun you'd like to see?"
|
|
|
Post by Ossular on May 15, 2019 20:56:58 GMT
Mehmet had come from next to nowhere, quietly refreshing both glasses of tea before vanishing into the aether of her peripheral visions once more. That was, on multiple levels, impressive. "You're right, they don't," the eladrin would agree, "but there were dragons involved," Orin would nod, lightly. "At least according to the stories I heard. Two white dragons that were allied with the orcs under... Hartusk, I think?" The name sounded right. "A flight of copper dragons, and Bruenor countered, with one of the white dragons being slain and the other retreating."
Their conversation would continue back and forth for some time. They spoke about the world and realm, Orin even recalling a little bit of her time in Golarian- the good parts of growing up in Port Peril in the Shackles, at least- as well as speaking of where she wanted to travel to. Places like Chult across the sea, an abandoned floating city named Hlaungdath that Amafreya had told her about. A place known as the Moonsea also interested her, a place in the north of Faerun that was littered with ruins of all kinds. It came up because of the Sea of Fallen Stars (another place she was interested in) was mentioned by Thea.
The closest place that she hadn't been just yet, though, was Luskan, to the north, ruled by five Pirate Lords. From what she had heard, it reminded her of her birthplace, and she wanted to check it out.
The two would go back and forth, with Orin not digging too deep into precise details, and Thea (assuming) did the same. It was at least a couple more refills of tea and a couple more sweets politely devoured before she even considered the time that had passed at the table. It had been a moment since she had an actual conversation.
It was pleasant. It was nice.
"I could walk you back- to your shop?" Orin would offer as they were wrapping up, having finished the last of the tea in her cup. Orin seemed... more relaxed, in a way, thanks to the distraction that not thinking about her overall situation had brought.
|
|
|
Post by moralhazard on May 15, 2019 21:07:25 GMT
Thea was fascinated to hear about Golarian; she was bright and eager to hear about Port Peril, the similarities and differences to Faerun astounding to her. She had spent plenty of time in the Dragon Reach and even visited the Vast, but she had never been up to the Moonsea. All the same, being from Sembia, she had heard plenty of tales of the region and its fabled ruins, and she was happy to tell Orin some of the stories she remembered from her childhood. Some, she would say, she thought were true; others were only stories to frighten small children. The problem, Thea would grin, was knowing which were which!
Thea found herself talking about the Sea of Fallen Stars, and all the cities she had visited along its vast and varied coastline. She hadn’t been everywhere along the city – that was the work of a lifetime, and she had only had a few years. Orin never asked why she had traveled so much, a small courtesy for which Thea was grateful. There was enough to chat about in talking about the world around them, without going any deeper into specifics for either.
Thea eventually finished her baklava, although the half-eaten almond stayed on her plate the entire time. The only other thing she would insist Orin try would be the hazelnuts; they were hard to find in Waterdeep, and the ones Mehmet served were softer and richer than any others she had found. They almost seemed to melt on one’s tongue.
Thea finished her tea about the same time Orin did, enjoying the last sips with a happy sigh. Thea seemed more relaxed as well; conversations like this weren’t so rare for her. There was nothing the genasi enjoyed more than talking to other people, learning about them and their experiences, and she did it at every opportunity she had. All the same, she was relieved that the conversation with Orin had gone well; it was important to her to be close with Citrine’s – er – Neach-Gaoil.
“I should get back,” Thea agreed, regretfully, with a quick glance at one of Mehmet’s handsome, unobstrusive clocks. She left a few coins on the table, tucked delicately behind the rim of her saucer, and rose with a smile at Orin. “This was lovely. I hope we can do it again, sometime?”
|
|
|
Post by Ossular on May 19, 2019 5:25:22 GMT
Orin would watch as Thea positioned a few coins on the table behind her saucer. Was that a thing in this realm or place? Would it be rude? She hadn't even thought of paying for the tea and treats, honestly, and now she felt kind of childish overall. Either way, the eladrin decided to leave a few of her own on hers. As Thea was rising, Orin's fingers would reach into a pocket, retrieve a few coined dragons and shift to the side. As she stepped back, though, Thea would stop her, a small fizzle of energy would waft between her fingers as she held the spell back with the proficiency of someone holding back a sneeze. The air genasi said that she had it covered.
Oh. Oh! It was- "Alright," Orin would nervously rub the back of her neck with one hand before the magic came out of her other, positioning the coins back in the pocket they had come from. "There's a slightly different economy here than in Golarian," Orin would explain. Where she was from, something like this would have been a couple dozen gold pieces, easily. Here? Not so much.
"But yes, I don't see why we couldn't," the eladrin would return the smile with one of her own, her golden eyes and dark lips curving upward as she responded to Thea. She would make sure she had all of her things, too, not wanting to leave anything behind because she was sure it would be a moment before she learned how to find this place on her own. There were alleys and roads near Thea's shop, but Orin still had a lot of memorizing to do before she could comfortably say she knew the entire city.
"I'll- um- make sure to let you know how the date goes," the eladrin would tell the air genasi once they had made their way outside, where the warlock was more comfortable speaking a little bit louder, not wanting to disturb anyone else. She was walking next to Thea, more following her lead from the side than leading the way, eyes still darting around, getting used to everything that was new. "Not that I think it'll go bad- just more that, well, it's Citrine. It'll be a story, I'm sure, and I'll have to share it with someone. If you wanted?" Orin would double-check. She wasn't fully familiar, but she was sure that she could lead the two of them back toward Thea's shop, at least, toward the Thond Glass Shop.
|
|
|
Post by moralhazard on May 19, 2019 5:38:19 GMT
Orin reached for a few coins of her own, and Thea shook her head, with a slight smile. “No need,” she said. “It’s on me.” Thea wasn’t exactly sure what Mehmet charged those who weren’t air genasi, but it had been something of a struggle to get him to accept any coins at all. Leaving them tucked beneath the saucer was the best way Thea had found so far of getting him to accept them.
It felt a little rude, but Thea called a good bye to Mehmet in Auran; to Orin it would sound like the wind rustling over rocks, replicated with uncanny accuracy by a throat that looked very human. A whisper of wind drifted back across the tea shop to her, and Thea smiled.
Thea made her way back down the alley out to the main road, walking alongside Orin back towards Thond Glass and Glazing. “Oh, please do!” Thea smiled at Orin. “Yes, I absolutely understand - I think Rain is really one of those people you can’t talk about to those who don’t know her. It’s just - rather a lot to explain, isn’t it?” Thea giggled.
“If I’m not here at the shop, I’m usually at the Greenglade tower,” Thea said, ruefully. “Please feel free to come any time, and if I’m not around either place will at least accept a message.”
They stopped at the door to the shop. Thea smiled at Orin. “It really was lovely,” she hesitated, just a moment, then reached out to take Orin’s hand, clasping it in both of her slender blue ones. “Good luck, Orin. I believe in you - I believe in you both.” Thea smiled at her, then turned and made her way inside the shop.
|
|
|
Post by Ossular on May 20, 2019 1:25:57 GMT
"My gods, it is, isn't it?" Orin would give a small giggle to Thea in return to the air genasi just as the two of them made it back to Thond's. It wasn't too bad to figure out where to go to get back to the Mehmet's Tea Shop if she ever had to, the eladrin decided mentally.
"Of course. Greenglade Tower." Another place she'd have to find on her mental checklist. Was that- No. Orin would just make a point to explore around Waterdeep when she had the opportunity. Thea taking her hand snapped her from her mild thoughts. The smile would be returned as Thea turned away.
"Thanks," the eladrin would stand there for a moment as the door to the shop closed, looking at her hand. This was a place of business, Orin figured. Best not to just hang out in the doorway. The smile softened as she looked both ways, then made her way south, back toward the High Road off of Slipstone Street.
(6142 for Orin; 4625 for Thea.)
|
|