Sam truly believed that The Voice did not intend to hurt anyone, not with her portals or anything else; people got hurt, but it was always accidental, necessary, a side effect. While he still did not care for it, it seemed nothing came peacefully from the histories he had read...though he did not know if that was enough justification to stamp down the guilt very much present within him. Still, there was no intention to harm in him. He hoped to use the portals to connect worlds, to help people....and yes, to gain his Goddess's favour. Samuel
He took a step but then felt tired
He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child |
Trying My Best (OPEN)
|
||||||
Book maker/seller✓
Age: 35 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1 MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac
Change author: Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707 MP: 0
12-08-2019, 09:52 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,581 MP: 2900
12-09-2019, 07:34 PM
He was glad to hear that Sam wouldn't attack him or his fellow guildmembers, and for more reasons than just fear of their power - though he noticed that that came first on the list, fear more motivating than love for the bookmaker. He held in his sigh, watching the rain fall in gloomy counterpoint to the conversation they were having, wondering if Sam would still be his friend after this - after so many disagreements centered on the Voice. And another one now, Sam stating that their friendship was impossible, rejecting Jigano's attempts to find a way through the thorny passage the gods had grown around them. The bard looked back towards the bookmaker solemnly, hearing what Sam did not say; that a year ago his friendship and the guild would not have been reason enough to live for, even before the Voice came back into his life. Remi might have been enough... but Sam had no memories of that love, not firsthand. Not anymore, at least. "I'm glad that you don't feel the need to do that now," he said quietly. "Even though I'm... I don't know what to say, if you think it's impossible to be friends in spite of the gods." Damn, but that hurt, twisting into Jigano's gut like a sharp knife. "You're the only one who can make that decision for yourself, though. What's important enough to fight to keep, whether it be your friends or your goddess." He had made his, and had told Sam that he still considered them friends. He knew where his heart lay. He'd thought he known where Sam's was, but had that, too, been removed by the Voice when he wasn't looking?
Book maker/seller✓
Age: 35 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1 MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac
Change author: Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707 MP: 0
12-09-2019, 09:58 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,581 MP: 2900
12-10-2019, 02:58 AM
A shake of a white head as he glanced back at his friend, and a quirk of facile lips. "You said you wouldn't attack me or Amalia, Sam. I trust you on that, so why would we need to fight?" He already had the bookmaker's word on that, for the reasons he had just listed. "I care about you, too. It's why it hurts so much to see the Voice putting you in these impossible positions... to see her turning you against your friends," he admitted with a frustrated shake of his head. Frustration he quickly mastered as Sam joined him on his feet again so they could watch the storm beginning to slow, rain no longer drumming down so fiercely as the sky grew lighter with every passing minute. "I know you like us," Jigano said gently. "And I agree... of all those in it, you are the most well-suited to the research and the study, the chronicles and the calligraphy, illuminations and ordering of the books that form our guild's heart. You are welcome among us." And then he hesitated for a moment, because he knew his next words would not be welcome ones for Sam to hear. "But... your goddess is not. Not as long as she opposes the old gods and seeks to stir up strife and violence against their followers and creatures."
Book maker/seller✓
Age: 35 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1 MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac
Change author: Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707 MP: 0
12-10-2019, 09:16 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,581 MP: 2900
12-10-2019, 10:40 PM
Jigano stood watching Sam silently, a great sadness in his eyes. He had never said that was going to stop Sam from exploring the portals, or any other Ascended for that matter. He had said that his task was to 'to ensure that the portals weren't used for ill.' Specifically that if there were signs of an Ascended army gathering, or that another Voice-borne sickness emerged, that he would feel the need to step in. That Sam was so certain that harm would be spread by his actions that he knew they would have to come to blows revealed much of the Voice's plans for the world beyond the Hollowed Grounds. "I care for you, Sam. Deeply. But..." Jigano sighed and shook his head. "If you cannot see shades of grey in the world, if all you see is black and white... then you must do as you see fit." He would not trap Sam the way the Voice had, even if he could. He would try to sway his friend, to convince him to see things as the bard did, but he would not create a cage that required Sam to stay be his side or fade away and die if he chose differently. Neither, though, would he let Sam destroy a world when even the bookmaker knew he would be hurting others to pursue his goddess's aims. "If the old gods had blighted you, and our other friends, and then refused to help clean up their mess, forcing the Voice to step in and save us? If the old gods had directly taken a hand in murdering people who only wanted to defend their homes against those same gods' unwanted presence on their land? If the old gods had created monsters that walked the barrierlands every LongNight, killing anyone they could catch outside, and then refused to stop them? ...Then yes, Sam, you would be well within your rights to be worried about what I would do if I continued to follow such gods blindly." He sighed as the wind picked up in a playful gust, spattering them both with the rain that continued to fall. "But I would not be the man I am if I followed such beings after they did those things to the people I love." Was he fool for still wanting to remain friends with Sam after the Ascended had done those things? Probably. But his friend meant too much to him for the bard to just write Sam off due to the Voice's influence in his life. He owed the bookmaker too much, but if Sam was determined to make them enemies, Jigano wasn't sure how to stop him.
Book maker/seller✓
Age: 35 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1 MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac
Change author: Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707 MP: 0
12-11-2019, 10:12 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,581 MP: 2900 Sam had spent too much time looking away from the bard, avoiding his gaze and turning his own blue-green eyes down. Jigano had given up on meeting his friend's eyes and had turned his attention out the window again, missing the hurt and confusion that were not spoken aloud, not put into words or communicated beyond the frustration and certainty that they would have to come to blows over Sam's Voice-appointed task. "Yes... I suppose we do," Jigano agreed wearily and no less sadly for being unable to help his friend see the damage and pain that the Voice had already caused in such a short time. Havoc and chaos and murder most foul...none of it with good reason. None of it with any reason at all that Jigano could see, beyond impatience and selfishness in the very best case scenario... and malice aforethought in the worst. He sighed and followed Sam out into the rain, part of him appreciating the ambience of the storm and the grey skies, the heavens crying the tears that neither of them would let fall while the other watched. There was a certain poetry in it, even as thunder rumbled off to the east as the cloudburst rampaged on across the hollowed grounds, past them and heading towards the distant line of divine storms that would swallow it up. The earthen pillar was definitely the worse for wear, muddy and fragile from where the rain had lashed it and the lightning had seared through it, drawn by the fragments of metal in its heart that Jigano had used to try and construct the impromptu lightning rod. It was going to take a serious effort to avoid it collapsing and potentially burying the metal rod, and Jigano bit back his sigh as he laid a gentle hand against the base of the construct and began to gently, carefully, pull it back down towards them a few slow inches at a time as he worked to reinforce the weakened parts. "If you're planning to work against me, are you sure you should take my charity in this?" he asked quietly, wondering how Sam would justify that with his previous statement that the bookmaker would feel bad about lying to his friend when the Ascended seemed so certain that they would eventually fight.
Book maker/seller✓
Age: 35 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1 MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac
Change author: Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707 MP: 0
12-13-2019, 11:00 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,581 MP: 2900
12-15-2019, 06:04 PM
His lips tilted in a sad half-smile as he gave a small shake of his head, though his attention remained mostly on the pillar as it retreated from thirty feet down to twenty, the earth rolling and pushing back to where it had been taken from. "No, I won't hold it back from you, Sam. I did this for you, for my friend. But what you do with it after you have it will be up to you." Whether his conscience would urge him to throw it away, or whether his need to have his hands in working order again would encourage him to keep it, it would be his decision. What he followed with, though, had Jigano pausing to look over his shoulder, blue eyes searching Sam's face. "I would prefer that as well," he agreed gently. "If you were doing this for any reason other than aiding the Voice, I'd probably be right out there with you," he added, the ghost of a crooked smile almost creasing the corners of his eyes. Almost. "But as long as no harm comes from it, Sam, we won't be at odds. If your lady is as benevolent as you seem to think - despite all the evidence I've seen and experienced to the contrary so far - I don't think the gods will push us to action." He would be very hard to convince after the blight and the killings, admittedly, but for Sam and Rexanna... for them, he would at least try. He turned back to the pillar, working it down another five feet. The metal was still out of reach, but it was becoming easier and the work went faster as the thicker base of the earthen construct was sturdier and steadier in spite of the rain. Sam's offer had him pausing again in surprise, though only briefly before he hummed in thought. "I... might have something I would ask of you," he said slowly, thinking of his talk with Ludo. "Though I would understand if you don't want to, and it wouldn't change anything between us if you refused." It wasn't something he wanted to ask of his friend, in truth, and his voice was reluctant, but on the other hand... he would far rather gain it by free will of a friend than violence or deception of someone else.
Book maker/seller✓
Age: 35 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1 MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac
Change author: Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707 MP: 0
12-16-2019, 12:05 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,581 MP: 2900
12-18-2019, 06:20 PM
Perhaps Sam wouldn't see it since he wasn't looking at him, but Jigano nodded slowly in response to Sam's faith, hoping against hope that it wouldn't be betrayed (again At last it came into reach, and the bard looked back to see what his friend had devised to safely carry the sparking metal, still sizzling with the aftershocks of the lightning strike. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing, and the bard pulled the earth down a little further before stepping back to give Sam access to the bar, softening the soil around it as he did so. The offer of a favor, and it's acceptance, had him drawing in a slow breath as he gave a thoughtful nod. "I would like some Ascended fluid, please. It doesn't need to be a lot. But after what happened with Wessex in the Spire... I'm trying to devise a way to prevent someone from biting me without permission." His smile was mirthless as he tilted his head at Sam. "I trust you and Rex to never do it without asking, but Wessex... well. We've got history, she and I, and suffice to say the bite is an intimacy I would never willingly share with her. Or most others, in truth." Amun was also questionable, in his book, and Lucas had likely stolen Ludo's mask from Remi, resulting in the loss of the alchemist's memories. Nor was there any guarantee that other Outlander Ascended who came through would be upright citizens, any more than Outlanders of any other race. The Devil's Advocates were proof of that.
Book maker/seller✓
Age: 35 | Height: 5' 5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 10 - Strg: 28 - Dext: 25 - Endr: 27 - Luck: 25 - Int: 1 MIA - Regular - Ragdoll Cat
Played by: lancydulac
Change author: Posts: 3,135 | Total: 8,707 MP: 0
12-19-2019, 08:46 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,581 MP: 2900
12-20-2019, 03:03 AM
The bar passed into Sam's hands, and what was done was done. Jigano smiled sadly at the gratitude, giving his friend a small bow, taking solace in formality. This would help his friend regain the use of his fingers, yes... but in the future would those same fingers be used to hurt him or those he loved? To drive a dagger between the ribs of a portal guardian, or to spread sickness, all unknowing? He could only hope not, and trust that Sam would eventually grow up into the man he had glimpsed when they had first met. Sam's reservations were met with a grave nod. Jigano hadn't expected the bookmaker to be eager to part with his fluid, not after the threat to his life before LongNight, and he had meant what he said about not being upset if his friend refused. "The idea is that it won't hurt anyone who doesn't try to bite me against my will," he explained. "It will be used to fuse with a magic item that will create a magical armor, of a sort, that will only repel Ascended fangs. The fluid acts as a 'key' for the item so it can recognize what to guard against. The purpose is defensive only, I promise." There were other items that worked to hinder or hamper Ascended abilities... but he didn't have one of those. Even if Wessex had shown the need for one. But that was a thought for another time. | ||||||
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
|
Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)