We drink to forget (Ashe) - Printable Version +- Court of the Fallen (https://cotf-rpg.com) +-- Forum: Out of Character (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=26) +--- Forum: Important (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=27) +---- Forum: Archives (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=38) +---- Thread: We drink to forget (Ashe) (/showthread.php?tid=198) |
|||||
We drink to forget (Ashe) - Kaladin - 11-27-2018 The night was almost completely silent, the only sound interrupting the stillness of the world was the crackling of a small campfire out in the woods. There was no snow or ice yet forming around the area yet the icy fingers of winters already had deemed it time to sink its claws into the land, saturating it with chilling winds. A mans breath puffed out in white clouds near the fire, forming into strange shapes as it danced up and away into the world. No other life seemed to stir around the man and his campfire. No hooting of owls, nor the chilling cries of wolves. No eyes peeked out from the bushes, enticed by the scent of cooking hare, fat dripping into greedy flames. It was as if a cone had erected itself around the lone stranger and his campfire and refused to allow anything else within it. This seemed to sit with the stranger just fine, the urge for human contact came far and few between for him these days and he found that he enjoyed the solitude much more then he did the hustle and bustle of a group of settlers trying to carve a small portion of this strange new place to call their own. Skin cracked and broke in a hiss and the man looked over at his evening meal, it would be ready shortly. He reached for a wine skin that sat at his side and he took a long hard swig from it. He had found wild grapes growing in the forests here, they were extremely bitter, poor quality for wine grapes, yet they fermented and got you drunk all the same. He grimaced as the alcohol ran down his throat, forcing the poor quality alcohol down into his stomach. Shifting himself into a kneeling position he sliced off a portion from one of the rabbits and skewered it onto the end of one of his daggers. Sitting back down he chewed on the gamy meat appreciatively while he enjoyed the nights silence. That enjoyment only seemed to last for a few moments unfortunately, for one moment he was sitting alone in those woods and then in the next he blinked and there sat a man across from him. Two children no older then 9 sat on the mans lap. The man was a mirror image of what the stranger would look like in 20 to 30 years from now. Same strong chin, same broad shoulders, same aristocratic posture. There were of course differences to be sure, the elder man's dark hair was flecked heavily with grey. Those stern eyes held two icy blue eyes, while the stranger only was given one, the other shone bright green like an emerald held up to a light. The stranger, while several decades younger, was also in the strictest sense of the word a cripple. His right arm had been taken from the elbow and in its place stood a magically forged one, steel twinkling in the firelight. Despite all of these differences one thing stood out to separate the two men the most. The stranger slouched, eyes downcast, a deep pain hidden within them. While alone he seemed to make himself as small as possible as if he was trying to avoid attention. Most likely to avoid these phantoms. The man sitting across from him was straight backed, nose tiled upwards with a disproving sneer splashed across his face. This was a man who was bred to be nobility, and the worst kind of it, The arrogant kind. I told you that you'd never amount to anything didn't I? I sent you off to that silly war of ours to die, so that you would be out my hair and no longer a drain on my coffers. Yet despite my wishes you managed to survive, even worse you thought that you would be good enough for the princess? Fucking some mongrel shapechanger was to be expected, you never did seem to have any sense of dignity. Still, to think that you could ever be with the princess is preposterous. Then to top it all off you went allowed to get the princess and my grandchildren killed. You had one job and that was to protect them with your life and you managed to screw that up as well. At the mention of children the two on the mans lap turned to look at the stranger. The boy had the same dark hair that the stranger had, same jaw line, though his was less defined due to his youth. The girl next to him already had a mane of fiery red hair, with freckles dotting across the bridge of her nose. Both turned to look at the stranger and where eyes should have been sat dark pits as if they had been burned away, black spiderwebs trailing away from the center across their faces. They sat their accusingly at the younger man, silently asking him why he hadn't been there to save them, to protect them like a father should. Utterly useless, couldn't even die properly the older man said again, staring disaprovingly at the stranger. "I'm sorry" he whispered, bringing up his knees to his chest as those phantom stares bore down into him, eating away at what little soul and sanity he had managed to keep. The snap of a tree branch sounded off like an explosion and the stranger was instantly on his feet, GodEater spinning quietly next to him as he searched the treeline for the noise. The phantoms disappeared as suddenly as they arrived, all that was left was the stranger, every muscle poised for an unseen attack. RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Ashetta - 12-02-2018
RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Kaladin - 12-04-2018 There certainly was something different about the large black wolf as it trotted into the ring of light offered by the fire. Multi-colored eyes trailed after the animal, with its collection of straps and satchels, and the stranger gripped the hilt of GodEater more firmly, with a simple flick of his wrist the ball and chain would shoot out at its target, a concussive blast emanating from it once it struck something solid. Yet before Kaladin could decide on whether or not to attack the strange beast it shifted, a sight Kaladin had been quite familiar with at one point in his life. What was once was black fur and dripping fangs became a petite but sturdy young woman, bright blue eyes always flashing dangerously at whomever they landed upon. The man took pause, he hadn't seen this particular face in a very long time, since before the entirety of his life had come to ruin. There was something different about the woman this time though. She had always had a dangerous aura around her, coiled up tight and ready to explode at the right moment. Still...there had also been a hint a childish mischief in her as well, she'd just as likely kill you as she would drink and sing rowdy sailor songs with you in a tavern. That personality quirk seemed to have evaporated from the woman now staring at him from across his campfire. She tossed a glass bottle between them and Kal eyed it suspiciously. Despite having gone through quite a bit with Ashe (Burning buildings and stone monstrosities to name a few) Kaladin had shared few words with the raven haired young woman. He certainly hadn't been aware that she was a shapechanger. They were acquaintances at best and he had heard rumors about her past. "Taste is irrelevant, im trying to get shit faced not have a tea party." he said gruffly as he knelt by the bottle and picked it up. He pulled the stopper out from it and sniffed at the contents. Not sure why I bother seeing if its poisoned, could care less if I die. He thought before throwing his head back and letting the dark liquid burn its way down his throat. He drained a third of it in one swallow and then tossed it back at the young woman's feet, warmth spreading in his belly as the liquor began to do its work. "Didn't think you had the misfortune of getting dragged into this fresh hell too." He hadn't seen Ashe the few times he had wondered near that pile of hovels the people here called a settlement, not that he had been looking for her in particular. "You always been a wolf?" he asked her bringing up her transformation a few moments earlier. RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Ashetta - 12-06-2018
RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Kaladin - 12-06-2018 Kal nodded at the young woman as she explained. He could understand not really wanting to be seen. For the most part he had kept to the outskirts of the settlement, avoiding interaction with the new settlers as they attempted to carve out civilization from yet another strange new world. The limited interactions he had had with others were unique circumstances, and ironically they all had been with women...it seemed that the hell spawn that called themselves deities in this land had a sense of humor. "Don't remember hearing about any approval forms being signed to make any new changers Ashe..." he shrugged his shoulders and carved off another strip of hare meat. "Good thing we're not in Northhaven anymore, I might have to arrest you otherwise." In truth he couldnt care less about what she did or didn't do with her body, he found it difficult to give a damn about himself much less anyone else. He noticed her eyeing the cooking meat over the fire and snorted. "Just cuz you bat those pretty blues at me doesn't mean I'm going to get up and serve you. This isn't a tavern and I'm not a serving wench, you hungry get up and grab it yourself." He ripped off a piece of the meat skewered in his knife and chewed silently, not caring if she went and grabbed the food or not. At her next question he gave a dark chuckle. "What's a matter? Don't like what you see?" The fact that she noticed a difference in him at all spoke to her attention to detail. "Could say the same thing about you? Usually there's more hellfire in those eyes of yours. What, someone kick your puppy?" He said sneering. Even as he snapped at her he felt guilty for it, Ashe wasn't at fault for the shit he'd gone through. No one here was and yet he couldn't help but try and push everyone away, for there safety and what was left of his sanity. RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Ashetta - 12-10-2018
RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Kaladin - 12-11-2018 A humorless chuckle escaped his lips at her challenge, he had seen Ashe fight during the assault of Northhaven. The small raven haired girl was no slouch, especially not with those magic powers of hers. Still, Kaladin was no slouch when it came to a fight either. He had been a soldier during the war, had killed men twice the size of the woman before him. Plus they didn't just make anyone a royal.... He could feel himself getting pulled away from where he sat before he had finished the thought. Physically he was still there, watching the dancing of the flames against the dark backdrop. Yet his eyes had suddenly gotten that look in them, wide eyed and glazed over. The man wasn't there anymore, not really anyway. He saw a long dining hall, table buckling under the trays and platters of food on its surface. Violet sat prim and perfect at one end. Three young children were sitting at the table with her and she was laughing with them, radiant smile and golden tresses bouncing as her chest heaved. Kaladin knew that these had all been her children and yet the young boy that sat across from the princess seemed to glow especially bright. Kaladin had spent very little time with his son and only when he was an infant yet he knew the dark haired boy giggling up as his mother made silly faces at them was his own. Kaladin attempted to join them, he ran down the length of the table yelling their names yet no matter how hard he ran, no matter the pain as he forced another breath full of air down his lungs, was he able to make it to them. It was as if the table grew in length to keep him away. When he couldn't run any faster he dropped to his knees, chest heaving. Every muscle in his legs were ablaze with pain yet no sooner had he stopped did he force himself back up to begin running again. When he fell the second time he did not get up, instead he dragged himself across the ground, inch by agonizing inch. He cried himself hoarse, attempting to somehow reach them and yet they were oblivious to his presence. When he could move no more the scene shifted. He was back on his feet, the pain and blood from a thousand cuts and scratches gone. He was looking out a window into a meadow. The sun was shinning brightly and he heard the songs of a hundred different birds, all unique yet somehow all in harmony with one another. Two figures danced in the meadow. The taller one dressed in a white dress, made of simple cotton, a crown a wildflowers gracing the wildfire of her hair. She was barefoot, and from her voice came the sweetest sound of them all, her song pure and light and full of hope. The smaller girl could have passed off as a twin, she wore a similar cotton dress and on her mane of red hair sat a smaller crown of flowers. Freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose. Cailain and Kala were all smiles as mother sang while daughter mimicked. Tears began to well in Kaladin's eyes as he banged against the glass that seemed to separate them. Yet it would not break, his remaining human hand becoming bloody and broken against the unyielding wall. It was only the voice of Ashe that brought him back to reality, at one moment his own blood was splattering against his face as he attempted to break through the glass, the next he was back in the dark forest, fire crackling and the girl with the one piercing blue eyes sat across from him, legs curled up in front of him in probably the most vulnerable position he had ever seen her in. He coughed in a poor attempt at hiding his momentary disassociation with reality. What was it that she had said? Something about an Assassin? It took a moment to process the information, he tried not to remember much anymore, it was too painful and so it took him awhile to match previous knowledge with the new information she had just given him. "I'm sorry, did you just say you were the fucking Assassin in Blue?" he asked with a derisive snort. Then, pieces started to fall into place. Reports on what the infamous killer of Northwind might have looked like, accounts on how they fought. Kaladin had always assumed it to be a man, his unintended bias manifesting. "Holy shit...you're the fucking Assassin in Blue. All this time, one of the most notorious murderers in all of Northwind's history was a pretty little dark haired commoner." Even the gruff persona Kal had adopted since his families deaths couldn't help but be a little impressed at the revelation. "Why bother telling me?" he asked, watching her stare into the flames. "And if you were the Assassin then you didn't just become her. So that still doesn't explain why you look like shit, slumming it out in the woods like me." RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Ashetta - 12-14-2018
RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Kaladin - 12-18-2018 He stoked the fire with a thick branch he had come across early, sparks flying as the coals were push around. "I was a soldier before I was assigned to guarding the Hawthornes. I was on the front lines in Northwind, news was scarce from the capital those years before I portal'd into the settlement." To be fair there hadn't really been any reliable news source out there where the fighting had been most fierce. Sure soldiers gossiped around the campfires like fishwives but Kal learned early on to take anything a soldier said with a grain of salt. The fact that he hadn't really been privvy to Ashe's betrayal of her former guild wasn't as surprising as she might think. "So.....sold out your entire guild for what? To play house with that husband of yours in Northhaven? Must have been quite the adjustment from slitting throats in the dark to delivering love letters to prattling nobles." On the one hand Kaladin could care less about her selling out the guild. He hadn't known any of their members besides Ashe and he was sure that the group had done plenty of harm while they were active. Yet at the same time the lack of loyalty struck a nerve in Kaladin, a nerve that wanted to chastise the woman. The two opposing thoughts caused his tone to come out in a strange half attempt at being stern with her, as if his mind told him to be mad at her yet his heart wasn't really in it. "It's all meaningless Ashe, every last fucking bit of it. But as they say, we're in a brand new world. Full of new opportunities and wonder." he waved his hands in mock excitement. "Now you could go back to being a messenger, or be a baker, or a whore....whatever you'd like to be." She redirected his question back at him and Kal shrugged, shrinking back into himself a bit. " I've come to realize I don't care much for being around people much anymore. It's much more agreeable for everyone if I made myself scarce as possible....and much safer as well." Of course he blamed himself for those deaths. Had he been stronger he could have killed the goddess that had snatched up and taken Violet away. Had he been smarter or faster he could have found a way to bring Cailain and Kala to this fucked up new world, hell he would have even brought that fucker Ryker with them if it mean't that one of the women he loved would have been alright. He would have moved the earth to get to watch his daughter grow up. "You ever see the people that you'd killed Ashe?" he said after awhile. "Back in the war I never saw them, never thought of the countless faceless soldiers I had gutted or dismembered on those battlefields. It was easy then, easy to tell myself that they didn't matter. They had chosen their side and I had chosen mine." his voice cracked for but the tiniest moment before he continued. "These new faces though, These faces won't go away. I see them when I sleep, I see them when I'm awake. When I eat, when I take a shit. I...I just can't seem to get them to leave me alone. I've watched them die countless times in countless different ways. Sightless eyes stare accusingly at me, their voices like nails raking against my brain. Asking me why I wasn't there, why I didn't protect them." As he spoke he began to visibly shake, hands balled into fists while blood began to trickle from his one remaining human palm. "Do you know what its like to stare at your dead children and try to explain to them why you killed them? Why there wasn't anything you could have done to save them? Knowing in the back of your mind that you aren't fucking talking to anyone?" Tears had finally begun to fall from Kaladin's cheeks. He didn't sob, his words came out crisp and clear for the most part, yet the tears flowed freely from his eyes. He walked over to where she had tossed the bottle and took another heavy swig before tossing it back to her. "Your turn" RE: We drink to forget (Ashe) - Ashetta - 12-28-2018
|