[Training] a hundred bad days made a hundred good stories

KIADA i wish that i could say, i am a light that never goes out. She shifts to her caracal form on the attack toward Weaver, tufted ears pinned as her paws tear up the floor to try and get near the woman. And when she succeeds in getting close, watching through feline eyes as Weaver dodges the attack and begins to stumble ever so slightly, another ball of flame aimed her way. And Kiada dives to avoid this as well, though her paws get tripped up on one another and she ends up tumbling away a small amount until she’s flat on the floor — tufted ears perked toward Weaver. Then, the feline shifts to woman, sitting cross legged with a small singe of her long dark hair making it uneven, but the grin she sends over to Weaver is unmistakeable as she pants to catch her breath. “So.” She begins in a breathy chime of laughter. “Where are we going for that drink?” She asks, a raise of her brow to that before she’s pulling herself up from the ground. but i flicker from time to time.

WEAVER

At least the fireball sends Kaida stumbling away, both women tripped up over their own feet. Weaver manages to find her footing again in time to spot the way those tufted ears perk toward her. It would be cute if it weren’t for those sharp teeth and claws, but soon enough there’s a girl instead of a cat on the ground. She really is a woman after Weaver’s own heart, just chilling on the floor for a minute like that’s a totally normal thing to do.

Weaver grins back, having enjoyed the fight. ”The Kraai, of course,” she says with no other explanation. ”Anything hurt you want healed? I can handle small cuts and bruises, at any rate.” Weaver takes a few steps forward to offer Kiada a hand if she wants it, before going to collect her weapons and cloak, strapping everything back on. ”Have you been to The Kraai yet?” she asks, beginning to make her way from the Academy and back through the Palace. She’d keep them inside as long as she could.

I was made to be wild, wicked, and free

KIADA i wish that i could say, i am a light that never goes out. She moves to stand, content with the work out and the way her muscles are limber enough now. She pulls the braid over her shoulder and peers at it before looking back to Weaver with a hum of a laugh. “Not unless you can regrow hair?” She chimes, a bright grin shot her way before she’s gathering her things and following Weaver as she guides them around. The mention of the Kraai has a slight flush appearing along her neck beneath the bruising there as she regards Weaver again. “I have, yeah. Stayed the night there a couple of days ago actually.” She offers, keeping her head toward the path they take, following the dips and turns before they have to brave the cold to get to the Kraai. It’s easy enough, having walked the palace enough times for her to have an idea of where they go, and so she can focus on the conversation instead. “Do you go there often?” She asks in reference to the Kraai, carefully keeping her distaste with the Korofian name to a minimum. but i flicker from time to time.

WEAVER

Weaver chuckles, shaking her head. ”No, but luckily that’ll grow back on its own.” She’d apologize, but it seems unnecessary. Kiada didn’t seem like the type to hold a grudge over a little burnt hair. No, she seemed like a woman who knows the value in some singed hair, some bruises, some scars. It was a good workout, and she can feel the fatigue settling in, her magic still tiring to use. Creating fire was the hardest, but it got easier the more she did it.

”And how did you find it for the evening?” she asks, rather curious to know if the rooms were up to snuff. The Palace is unusually busy, given all the refugees that have come to Halo, though she weaves her way through them easily enough as they talk. It doesn’t take long for them to reach the main doors, and soon they are back out in the freezing cold of Snowcloak. ”Yes, I do, though I own the place. First drink is on the house for you, in exchange for the hair I burned.” She gives Kiada a wink, not feeling the cold, but moving quickly since she assumes Kiada will not want to be out here long.

I was made to be wild, wicked, and free

KIADA i wish that i could say, i am a light that never goes out. At Weaver’s laughter, Kiada can’t help but to offer her own as well. It absolutely would, and she has no qualms about it – spending too much time keeping her hair braided back anyway it’s a wonder she doesn’t just chop it off. Regardless, the dark hair isn’t singed too terribly, and she follows along beside Weaver as they go to dive between people and routes taken to get to the outdoors. There’s a moment when she contemplates commenting on just how lovely it had been, before the flush to her neck continues and she shakes her head a bit with a quiet hum of a snort. “It was really nice, actually.” There, simple, keep it as good as that. At least until Weaver mentions that she owns the place, and her head tilts toward the woman as the cold hits her and she squints a bit against the chill. “Oh, you’re the owner?” She asks, head tilting toward her quite avian-like as a grin crosses her face. “I met… Korbin when I went there.” She offers before inclining her head toward the fiery woman, her grin forming a bit brighter. “And that sounds like quite the deal.” A light snicker leaves her with that, following the path they pave toward the Kraai now that she knows where they’re heading. but i flicker from time to time.

WEAVER

Weaver does the same, always braiding her hair and pulling it over the scar on her right side. She ought to just cut it off, be done with it, but she cannot quite bring herself to chop off her long, dark hair. Now the braid just feels like a part of her, but still, there are moments when she tugs it free, allowing fingers to roam through it. There are particular fingers that she is most interested in, and she cannot help but remember tugging the braid loose in the Palace kitchens. Funny, how pulling her hair out is like baring her soul.

There is a flush on Kiada’s neck. Maybe there are fingers Kiada is thinking of too, or maybe it’s just the lingering effects of the workout, or the cold as they step into the freezing temperatures of Halo. Regardless, it is not Weaver’s place to ask. Not yet, anyway. They are not that close. Besides, her answer is a pleasing one all the same, and Weaver is glad to hear the evening had been nice.

Weaver chuckles at Kiada’s response, giving her a playfully wicked grin. ”You sound so shocked,” she says, though it’s clear it pleases Weaver. Her laugh only increases at the mention of Korbin, and she shakes her head, turning down the street where the Kraai is. ”Then I ought to apologize for my brother, I suspect. He pours a decent drink, but with a very surly attitude. Besides, I make a better drink.” Weaver grins, pushing open the door to the Kraai and gesturing for Kiada to enter first.

I was made to be wild, wicked, and free

KIADA i wish that i could say, i am a light that never goes out. Weaver’s chuckle and following thought of Kiada sounding shocked, she shoots a grin back toward the other woman. “I’m surprised you, a Halo natural I’m assuming? – would put a Korofian name on something.” There’s a hum of a chuckle to that granted back toward her before the Harpy’s smile edges toward something having even more surprise beneath the surface. At the mention of Korbin, an apology? She shakes her head as she steps into the Kraai, finding it to be something familiar to her now and not quite complaining when it comes to getting in good with the owner. “He was pretty nice actually.” She offers, a chime of a sound leaving her lips with it as she follows Weaver wherever they choose to drink. “Helped me out with my guild, set me up with a pretty decent amount of drinks.” ’Other things too.’ She chews on her lip thoughtfully. “Has he… Always been deaf?” She asks, raising a brow toward Weaver. She hadn’t had the courage to ask Korbin whether or not it was true – but he spoke so well for someone that might have been deaf for quite some time. Perhaps it was a recent development? but i flicker from time to time.

WEAVER

Ah, the Korofian name. That catches a lot of people off guard, and it gives away Sunjata’s involvement pretty obviously. Not that she cares, necessarily, but maybe they ought to have been stealthier about it. ”Sunjata provides much of the booze, given that it’s hard to get here. The word means raven, which my family has an affinity for, but in Korofian as a nod to his help.” She has started to temper her answer slightly, finding that Sunjata’s involvement may be best downplayed.

Weaver takes off her cloak, tossing it on a hook behind the bar where it always goes. She makes her way behind the bar, gesturing for Kiada to grab a seat. It’s quiet, the day not truly started yet, so it seems easiest to chat here. Though she could slide them into a booth, it was easier to keep the alcohol flowing when it was at her fingertips. ”Wow, that is shocking. He has been less than nice to most everyone lately.” Well, he’d been less than nice to all the men in her life, which wasn’t entirely shocking, but it didn’t explain Jigano or even his behavior with her, so she knew it wasn’t just because they were the men in her life. ”Though you are pretty, and he can be a sucker for a pretty girl.” Sometimes he was almost as bad as she was.

At the mention of him being deaf, she shakes her head. ”No. Cursed at a shrine, which hasn’t really helped his mood.” Weaver grabs a few glasses, turning her attention back to Kiada. ”So what’ll it be? Give me your favorite flavors, and I will make you a cocktail better than anything you’ll get in the Grounds. We might have a Korofian name, but I still like to think I can do better than the VlamVloed.” Her grin is slightly wicked at that, and she waits for Kiada to answer.

I was made to be wild, wicked, and free

KIADA i wish that i could say, i am a light that never goes out. There’s a slight nod given to that, an amused smile crossing Kiada’s face. “I know Korofian. My father was Dorobian… A neighboring country to it.” She explains, though it doesn’t matter much in the end. Her father was gone, somewhere, and when it came down to it did it really matter the name of the place? It had its own decor, details, everything that made it… Not that Korofian in the end anyway. “Though I suppose the raven makes sense.” She recalls Korbin’s tattoo, the swift raven that spanned his shoulders and a bit up on his neck. Still, Kiada gladly takes a seat, gaze finding Weaver after a few moments with a soft smile clinging to her face. “Something like that.” She winks about the comment of him being a sucker for a pretty girl. She still manages to preen a bit under that assumption, unable to keep the flush from departing. “That explains why he spoke so well.” She retorts in terms of deafness, before shrugging her shoulders lightly. “I’m sure you remember from the wedding that I have quite the sweet tooth.” A smirk crosses her face with that. “Korbin brought me a bottle of something sweet… almost chocolatey? If you’ve anything to make like that?” She braces her arms on the counter, folding them and peers up at Weaver with a sharp grin. but i flicker from time to time.

WEAVER

Weaver nods slightly at the mention of a neighboring country. Apparently some of the different worlds out there were not so big. ”What was your home like?” she asks, wondering if Kiada had grown up there as well. She says only that her father was Dorobian, though nothing of herself, so Weaver waits to see what the girl might say.

Weaver tugs at the shoulder of her shirt, turning slightly to reveal the top of a raven wing. ”My mother’s companion was a raven. It seems to have stuck with us.” Korbin had become a raven, and Weaver simply carried them with her. Though as a soft smile spreads on Kiada’s face, and the next comment given with a wink, Weaver gives her a curious raise of the brow, something knowing and suspicious in that. ”Oh?” she says, half a question, though not prying.

A chuckle escapes her at the mention of a sweet tooth. ”As do I, but not when it comes to my booze. Still, I can oblige.” She goes to grab a few bottles. Chocolate liquor, some creme de cacao (the Palace chefs were easily bribed with the promise of free drinks), and the vodka she’d infused with peppermint.

She begins to pour, using a small triangular-like tool to measure. ”A good drink requires good booze. Whoever says you mix the crappy stuff is dead wrong. It should never be too sweet, even for us sweet tooth types, or then no one wants a second. And though it’s full of alcohol, it shouldn’t taste like drinking something straight, because again, no one would want a second.” She pours everything into a metal cup with ice, sticking another on top, and begins to shake. She grabs a glass,  stemmed with an inverted cone-like bow, pouring the drink through a strainer to leave behind the ice. She swirls a bit of liquid chocolate into the top, and slides it over to Kiada. ”And it should always look pretty.” Weaver chuckles, putting the bottles away and grabbing some for her own drink.

I was made to be wild, wicked, and free

KIADA i wish that i could say, i am a light that never goes out. The question almost kind of takes her off guard, recalling something about how Loren mentioned to keep the similarities of her home versus Halo to herself. And yet something about Weaver seems to strike her as a woman that wouldn’t care or kind if she did. So she smiles almost nostalgic at it. “Like Halo and Caido sort of. A place where people came from portals and the like. My father came through one. But I was born in a place called the Aurora Basin. It was a lot like Halo — lots of snow, hidden in the heart of the mountains.” She shrugs to that, gaze lifting to try and see how Weaver takes it. But the woman is showing off the raven tattoo that she has as well, and Kiada can’t help the amused smile from crossing her face at this, wanting to get a tattoo now that she’s seen so many with them… Perhaps later, she decides. Especially when the other woman offers an ‘oh?’ as Kiada recollects a small amount. It’s almost awkward to talk about, she realizes, reaching up to rub at her neck as she shrugs lightly. “Might have been a reason I stayed the night here.” She offers with a quiet laugh. She imagines Weaver can fill in the rest. Instead, Kiada braces her elbows on the bar and watches Weaver pull the bottles from the shelf and begin to work on mixing something up for her. “Mmm, I tend to find that the second drinks seem the best.” Maybe because usually by then she was a smidge buzzed and almost everything tasted better that way. But it’s sliding over toward her now and she takes it, appreciating how pretty it indeed was before taking a sip from it and sighing contently. “This is absolutely what I was looking for.” She grins, before settling to watch and see what Weaver makes for herself. but i flicker from time to time.

WEAVER

Why should it matter if some far off world was similar to Halo? They were not the same. That far off world was no threat. Honestly, the only thing that might make it matter is simply that Weaver might be more inclined to try and convince said person to move. Ha. Though Kiada seems pretty well established in the Grounds, and so Weaver wouldn’t even suggest that. ”Was it as cold as Halo?” she asks, curious if other people lived in impossibly freezing places. That’s about the only inclination that it matters to Weaver, makes her like Kiada a little bit more.

The way Kiada rubs her neck and responds leaves Weaver smiling all the more, clearly understanding. In fact, she looks positively delighted, which seems weird given that Kiada doesn’t know why. Oh, how much shit had he given her for her Outlander friends? For Loren? She is pleased to have something in her pocket to retaliate with, should it be useful. ”So was he why the rooms were nice?” Her smile is amused, and it’s clear Weaver does not care at all. She has long since lost the ability to be awkward about things. ”I do hope they were decent on their own, though if I have to pimp my brother out…” She shrugs, raising an eyebrow, though it’s clearly a joke.

Weaver chuckles at that. ”Ah, but see, I want the first to be equally good. Not too strong, not too weak. Everything your heart could possibly want in a glass.” Which was perhaps true. There was enjoyment to be found in a proper drink, something vastly different than just drinking for the sake of it. Weaver waits as Kiada tests out the drink, smiling at the response. ”I thought it might do.” Though she’s already grabbing bottles and glasses. She pours a bit of the spiced hard cider she’d come to prefer into a small glass and slides it over to Kiada. ”My own brew. Dry apple cider, cinnamon, nutmeg. Left to infuse in an old oak barrel,” she says, giving the woman a taste. She pours a larger amount into her glass, some whiskey, and a little bit of a sweet liquor. This she swirls around, instead of shaking as she did with the other drink, and then drops in a candied lemon peel. ”I would prefer fresh lemon, but it won’t survive an entire season here, so I candied everything so it’ll last longer. Cheers.” Weaver lifts her glass toward Kiada, tilting it in her direction but not clinking them together (martini glasses are very poor for such things), before bringing the glass to her lips for a sip.

I was made to be wild, wicked, and free

KIADA i wish that i could say, i am a light that never goes out. “Close, but not quite.” She offers by her faded memory. It wasn’t as dangerous as Halo was, that’s for sure. They had their share of wolves and intruders, however, but nothing quite like the absolute frigid temperatures that Halo had. “We had a lake that never froze and these hot springs that were divine.” There’s a nostalgic quirk to her lip with that, amusement lingering along her face that lightens it up. On the subject of Korbin, however, Kiada snorts and rolls her shoulders a bit before lifting her chin a bit higher. “Might be a part of it.” She winks, finding it easier to talk about with Weaver than initially, for whatever reason. Regardless, there’s a chime of laughter that leaves her at the mention, her head tilting a bit to the side as she considers it. “I had to be a bit blunt with him to get him to realize what I was trying to go for.” There’s a little half smirk to that and a shrug. “Though it might’ve helped if I could’ve talked to him.” She puffs out her lips a bit in a small sigh. “Is he Abandoned too, if you don’t mind me asking?” She asks suddenly, because he’d made no indication of an attuned shift, any recognition that he might have heard her through the bond, though he hadn’t used any magic either. It left her somewhat at a loss unless he was Accepted. In which case… It was what it was, she supposes. Still, she nods to Weaver as she sips from her drink and indulges, flashing a grin in the understanding of what Weaver was going for when it came to the drinks. And she watches as the cider is slid over toward her – pausing from her sweet delight to taste the tester given toward her. “Oooh this is wonderful too.” She muses, tasting it on her tongue, the cinnamon lingering and melding with her current drink well enough as well. And she watches as the woman pours her own drink, a candied lemon peel dropped into it. “Ah that makes sense.” She agrees, lifting her glass in an air toast as well before taking a sip from it and settling a bit more. “You’ve really outdone yourself with the options here, I have to say.” Kiada offers, flashing Weaver a brighter grin with that. but i flicker from time to time.

WEAVER

Weaver listens, nodding slightly. ”Mmm, hot springs do sound rather nice.” Not sure what they’d do with a lake that never froze, since the water would still be cold enough to kill them one way or another. Maybe they wouldn't have to melt so much ice for water, but there were harder things than melting some ice. ”Though I believe Hotaru plans to add them to her spa.” Which had gotten started at an awkward time right before Deepfrost, and it seems Hotaru herself did not plan to stick around for the frigid season.

Easier to talk about for whatever reason? Maybe it’s just easier to talk about because clearly Weaver doesn’t care. Her brother is free to do as he pleases (or who he pleases, so long as it’s not Loren, because that would be weird). Besides, why be awkward about a natural part of life? Weaver laughs as Kiada said she had to be blunt with him though. ”Oh, I wish that surprised me, but it doesn’t. He can be a bit of a fool in that way. I’m not sure talking would have helped you.” At the next question though, Weaver pauses, surprised Korbin hadn’t divulged that information. Maybe he didn’t realize he and Kiada were the same. ”No. My mother, older brother and I were the Abandoned in the family.” Even though she technically still is, she can’t say they all ‘are’, given that two of them are gone. ”Korbin is Attuned. Walked into his room one day and there was a raven instead of a boy.” Maybe she shouldn’t give her brother’s secrets away so carelessly, but it doesn’t feel like a secret. All of Halo knows what Korbin is, so she’d learn soon enough.

Weaver grins. ”You can just drink a glass of that cider. No mixing needed. Though I admit I like it with the whiskey to give it a little punch.” Not surprising, given how much Weaver can drink. She may not be a large girl, but she can still drink grown men under the table. Maybe that’s not a thing to be proud of, but she is. Weaver leans against the bar, elbows sphinx-like, the drink between her hands. The compliment clearly pleases her. ”That was the goal. The other tavern here serves booze that’s little better than piss, and I admit, I have longed for a proper drink in Halo all my life. Now there are many.”

I was made to be wild, wicked, and free