‘Llunet - did you study at a school at home? I mean the Tyl? At the library there?’

One of the Roleplay Conversations from the December Break 2022

[10:42 PM]lou: Moss has very casually moved so she's near where Llunet is in the group as they're walking. In extremely Moss style she would probably take a while to actually say anything. After a few false starts -

‘Llunet - did you study at a school at home? I mean the Tyl? At the library there?’

[8:01 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet's would have been fiddling with one of the arms of crystal, probably awkwardly as they are not really heading along a path and there's brush to be navigated. But she would clock Moss's movement early, her gaze flicking toward her every so often. The distraction of conversation might seem to be a bit of a relief to her, but she also thinks the question over for a moment. "I studied there. Not in a public library, though. I thought your family lived outside the city, were you schooled inside?" (edited)

[10:42 PM]lou: Moss startles a little "Oh, no - I've only been in the library once. We weren't really allowed - I just know a little about it."

She looks aside and futzes with her knotted hair, trying to detangle one of the curls.

"I was wondering about what you studied? Were your family also scholars?"

[10:49 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet's brows draw together momentarily at the term 'allowed' being used and she tilts her head in question, even beneath the wide mouth of her hood. But perhaps seeing Moss' discomfort, she doesn't yet voice the question. Instead, a soft shrug of a shoulder, "Magic, mostly. Spells. Arcane writings. Relics, but rarely. I spent a lot of time training, rather less time studying." A pause. "My father is what you might call a scholar, I suppose."

[11:31 PM]lou: Moss looks a little surprised - Llunet has built a reputation for rarely volunteering information among the group.

"Mine as well," Moss offers with a shy smile, "What sort of a scholar is yours? Would I have heard of him?"

Almost immediately the question seems foolish - the sisterhood exist so separately from Tyllian nobles. There was little chance of her knowing, unless his antics were renowned enough to inspire gossip from the market folks in the rough, or he was one of the ring of three.

[11:39 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet's answer is immediate, succinct, "I doubt it." She seems to realise her tone fairly quickly though and flashes Moss a small, contrite smile. "He keeps to himself. But would you know people inside the city if you're not 'allowed' to go certain places? Was that a rule for everyone in your family or..?"

November 28, 2022

[12:26 AM]lou: "Ah, its a fairly new rule," Moss' blush returns, "just in the last 20 years or so. Sorrel says they used to go almost anywhere."

Her smile grows a little more relaxed - "Sorrel really didn't like rules like that, they were always sneaking off from the markets. So they'd tell me about strange folk they met, or reappear with some mad trinket from a travelling cart"

"The best one was the baby macaw chick - by the time I left it was about two feet tall, with wings the size of-"

Moss spreads her arms out to show how huge the parrot was. As her hands draw back in, she briefly makes contact with the dagger tucked in her belt and her grin drops.

[10:40 AM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet can't seem to help but smile at the enormity of the parrot, or perhaps Moss' grin is infectious. But she frowns again when the grin falls away, gaze briefly flicking to the dagger. Then to the ground to watch where she's treading. "So... Was the rule made so Sorrel could practice their sneaking? Or for you?"

[12:59 PM]lou: "Oh, no..." Moss' voice is getting quieter by the second, but Llunet can just make out words from the murmuring

"... rule was made because of my mother... Or, uh," Moss' eyes catch on Llunet's for a second, "Me."

Moss looks down and shakes her head, her tone pivoting to something much more businesslike. She flattens her palms over her increasingly tattered once-white skirt.

"Ugh, goddess, this isn't what I wanted to talk to you about. I, I was wondering if you knew any magical specialists who could research the knife? Without having to touch it."

[1:33 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet looks up toward Moss again, catching the glance her way, half her face hidden behind her hood. A hand draws away from the crystal she carries, and she reaches out to softly press a set of fingers to Moss' forearm. Then away again at the half-elf's shift in demeanour. She hums quietly to the question, then begins to nod. "I'm close to figuring out how to send messages over long distances. I'll need to make some purchases in Felderwin when we get there, but I'll see if I can contact my father in Bysaes Tyl. If he doesn't know, then I don't know who would."

[4:23 PM]lou: "Thank you, Llunet." Moss shifts the strap of her pack on her shoulder. She thinks guiltily about the sending stone buried in her bag. She has the terrible thought that Llunet may even know about it, sitting just in reach. It would be of little use to put Llunet in contact with the sisterhood, especially with how dead the line has been.

"I do hope to repay you for your kindness. If you think of anything - let me know?" Moss waves a hand and pulls some goodberries out of the ether, passing one to Wes, and offering one to Llunet.

[4:28 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet shakes her head in the same motion as she reaches for the berry, a smile quick to establish itself on her face. "It's no trouble. I wanted to ask him some things anyway. Besides, we're friends aren't we? Aren't friends supposed to help each other?" Still smiling she regards Moss for a moment, before holding up the berry to peer at it and maybe relieve Moss of her gaze. "And you've been quiet for the last few days, so something must be troubling you."

[4:59 PM]lou: A choked giggle breaks free from Moss, sharp around the edges. She pulls herself together - but her eyes look a little glazed and distant.

"Aye yeah," Moss' face is carefully neutral, "It's just more of the same stuff. We couldn't keep the kid safe. The knife is getting more... complicated?"

She pulls it out from her belt and tries to throw it, the way one of their more martial friends would. Aiming for a tree trunk, she misses terribly (I rolled a 3) and it disappears into the brush.

Moss looks tiredly after it, then at her empty hand in front of her. She holds still. There's a soft sound like air escaping a vacuum and the knife reappears in a puff of purple black smoke. She looks back up at Llunet.

"The knife says it has a plan to take down Mara."

[5:06 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: The flash of the blade tears Llunet's attention away from the berry. She does not comment on the throwing ability and pauses with Moss. The reappearance of the dagger in her hand makes Llunet's brows rise toward her hairline. Then she pops the berry in her mouth. Her fingers curl tightly around the crystal and she tilts her head to indicate they should continue walking so as not fall too far behind. "It talks to you?" she asks lightly. "Often?" (edited)

[8:04 PM]lou: "Oh, goddess - I thought I'd told you all-" She shoves the dagger back into her belt, and takes a second to drag her hands over her face, "I.. yeah, some. Not often."

She casts her mind back through the long nights watching for the ghoul, fighting the drowned dragonborn, clearing the remains of Moody, delicately avoiding Komani and Morrigan's eyes as they mourned Kenna. "Three times, I think. These last few weeks have been... long."

Llunet might note the dark circles under Moss' eyes that were not present when they met.

"But you understand why I want to find a specialist - I... can't bring it to my people if it's as dangerous as Mara said." Moss' voice is quiet but carries an entirely new level of determination, "I don't want to be a risk to people around me." (edited)

[8:53 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet sets her mouth in a line and is silent for a few moments, gaze hard on the 'path' her feet are taking. For a moment she frowns, and then her brows are smoothed and she looks thoughtful rather than concerned. "I can understand why you wouldn't want to take it back. I cannot understand why the dagger is offering you the opportunity to take down Mara, when it was she who gave it to you in the first place... What else has it said?" She looks across to Moss then and pauses. Maybe at being remembered as to what she looks like, the exhaustion. Llunet reaches out again, gently touching Moss' shoulder. "It's okay. We will figure it out. I don't think anyone here is going to let you be a risk, to yourself or others." (edited)

[10:57 AM]lou: Moss starts a little at the contact, but gives a soft smile.

"That means a lot - thank you." She quickly squeezes Llunet's hand with her own.

"We should catch up with the others - don't want to get lost down here." Moss pulls away a little, and starts moving a little faster. She glances back, "You know the old saying -"

[10:58 AM]lou: she switches to Elvish "I don't know if it can hear us"

[1:52 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet gives a small smile at the squeeze to her hand, but lets Moss go when she quickens her steps. She takes in a deep breath and her gaze falls to the dagger briefly as the half-elf pulls away. She picks up her pace too. "Ah," she lets out, knowing, nodding, as if she agrees with the sentiment of the 'saying'. Then, Llunet slips into Elvish herself, though her manner of speech might be almost formal, "Do you know whether the blade understands this tongue?"

[5:27 PM]lou: Sticking with Elvish, Moss tries to make the next sentence sound like the end of some trite saying. "It's never spoken it. I don't know. I hope not."

In a lighter, more conversational tone, continuing in Elvish "It might be offering to kill Mara because of her other plans? Maybe it heard us talking about how worried we were, or..." Moss swallows, "... maybe it can read me? Can tell that I'm afraid of her? I don't know... anything about artefacts like this"

[5:46 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet follows Moss' lead, both by step and in speech, keeping to Elvish as she does. "I know a little of sentient objects, but my reading of them was only in passing. They can be possessed by their original creator, or haunted by another spirit or simply.. awaken due to the magic that created them." She speaks to Moss, but it is almost as if she is musing aloud. "If you are able to converse with it, it is entirely possible that Mara spoke to it too. Perhaps it promised her things, ways to achieve her goals. Perhaps that is why she gave it to you. But perhaps the blade lied to her. Perhaps it has its own goal that is beyond both you and Mara, and it is using you both to achieve it... or Mara was no use to it." She hums in thought. "Why are you worried that it can 'read' you?" Her eyes cast to Moss again.

[6:13 PM]lou: "I don't like the idea that it has access to... everything. Maybe it knows everything I do," Moss kicks at a stone, aggravated, "if it does, it knows everything we've said so far. Where my family are. What we're trying to do here."

She winces as the stone hits a tiny plant growing from the edge of the path, hard. The stem snaps, and it falls limply to the side. Moss grabs the broken tip, and shoves in into her herb pouch, roughly.

"I didn't leave my sister's house so I could be monitored at all hours of the day. I really wanted to actually help something." The lilting elvish tones clash with her frustration.

Moss makes eye contact with Llunet and feels suddenly sheepish - in the way of a teen who's just realised how they sound to others.

[6:41 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: She is simply looking at Moss with curiosity, like she is trying to puzzle her out. There is no disdain to be seen. Llunet does look down at the stub of the stem as she passes by it, though. Her next question comes after a few moments of thoughtful silence, still in Elvish, "Something? Or something specific?"

[9:10 PM]lou: Moss looks a little surprised at the question. She feels an odd sensation in her throat, like laughter bubbling just under the surface. Llunet is looking for secrets, but Moss has very few of those left.

"I wanted to find Sage. I wanted to help make other contacts for my people. I wanted to be the one to find out how to heal the Savalir." That last one tastes ashen on her tongue. Maybe she has.

Eager to move away from the subject, she fishes for a question for Llunet. This is not the first time a conversation between them has left her feeling examined, and distressingly transparent.

"What about you- What made you leave Bysaes? What made you want to return?"

[10:13 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet lifts her hand from the crystal at Moss' look, as if she already knows where the surprised expression is taking the half-elf's train of thought, and she waves it off. "I mean to say," in Elvish still. "That if you tell this blade specifics, or if it can read what you want particularly, then it has all that it needs to try and talk you into doing what it wants. Investing in something emotionally, becoming attached--" She stops on the word. Appears to consider, or reconsider. The hand that was lifted, tugs her hood a little further over her head with a glance skyward. Then, as if she hadn't paused at all, "-- to a particular goal only means that such emotion might be used against you more easily. The dagger might use your investment to its advantage." She allows the hand to fall away, tucking back beneath her cloak. "You sound as if you want to be a hero for your family, perhaps that is why Mara chose you.." A hum. Then Llunet looks to Moss again, "I did not leave for such a noble cause as yours. Only I wanted to see the rest of the world, having been in Bysaes Tyl for long enough. I should like to return to visit the people I know there, but I intend to keep travelling."

November 30, 2022

[11:12 PM]lou: Llunet has struck something. Moss realises she's been holding her body tight, and tries to relax. If she can make herself care less... Or make the dagger think she doesn't care at least...

Well, it wouldn't solve everything, but she could actually gain some measure of control.

She loosens her fists and notices the imprint of nails left in her palms. Shaking out her hands, she turns back to Llunet.

"I'd like to return there too, but I can't imagine we will soon."

Moss continues, trying to practice a level of detachment, in a noticeably flatter tone, "I think your suggestions have merit. I can try to be less... attached."

Moss watches Llunet tug her hood up, as they get close to the group.

"I don't think anyone only leaves for the noble reasons," Moss offers, her dull tone softening, "I'm glad you left, anyway."

Moss moves off to offer the others some of the goodberries, and calls back to Llunet, reverting to common.

"Thank you for the talk - it's so nice to speak in the old tongue. Maybe we could make a habit of it?"

[10:50 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: "... Actually, if the dagger becomes too much of a problem, or if we find Kenna revived in a mountain range, perhaps it might be in our interest to travel that way just so that things can be looked at properly." Llunet shrugs a shoulder, offering a faint smile. "But perhaps I just miss home." Her arms weaving around the crystal she's been carrying and studying as they walk, she nods a little as Moss heads off to the others. And, in reply, in Common again, she offers back, "Whenever you like."