Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 04:50 PM
Morgan hadn't, quite, been able to figure out where Maalech was staying. Maybe it was the beer in his system, maybe it was the man's lack of overwhelming presence and maybe on some level Morgan didn't trust the man to be alone in the morning.

As such, Maalech would wake up on and unfamiliar couch in an unfamiliar room connected by a few bits of magic (that Mal couldn't see) to the sunny Wreath islands.

And Morgan, in the meanwhile, would be preparing a meal for the small children who wailed in the next room.

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 04:54 PM
That was not a noise a man should wake up to.

Not at all. It was a sound that made his head ache and his gut pull itself together in a cramping motion that made him fight real hard just to keep from throwing up. That would be the final indignity.

What had happened? He had been drinking, and then...

Maalech squinted a bit against the light, rolling over on the bed, placing his sandaled feet on the floor. He was alive.

He just really regretted that at the moment.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 04:56 PM
Morgan looked up, offering the man a quick wave before disappearing for a few moments, popping his head around a corner and smiling some at the man when the children had calmed some, "Sorry 'bout the noise, Mal. Kids, right?"

A little chuckle then before disappearing and the sound of clattering flatware echoing out.

"Sleep okay?" asked the man as he poked his head out again.

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:00 PM
"I slept. I suspect that is well enough. I..." He tried to remember the last end of the evening, but failed to remember how he got here. "I passed out, did I not?"

He spoke more softly and hoarsely than before, leaning forward to bury his head in his hands for a moment, groaning.

"At least there is no woman here this time." He looked up again, looking around. "That is true, right?" He seemed somewhat worried.

The last time he had been this drunk had been... not good.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 05:03 PM
"Well, you curled up and started snoring, but..." The man chuckled a bit, setting a few dancing illusions for the kids and absently hoping that they wouldn't just start making their own sometime.

Momma was a crazy demigoddess and Daddy's a half-mage with oblivion living inside him.

Made for weird kids.

"Well, she's not here now. If she's as big as she says she is, I wouldn't put it past her to be here right now without us seeing." He shrugged some before blinking and smirking a bit.

"I don't know. She had some nice things to say once she got past the skin."

Though that--in and of itself--was pretty rough.

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:08 PM
"I was not speaking of her... I was speaking of what happened last time. At the wedding." He looked quite pained at the memory, or perhaps that was just his head. His tongue felt thick and noxious, and every hint of daylight sent a jolt of pain through him.

"She could be I assume. She only intersects partly with this plane. I could most likely not perceive her, so you would have little hope." At least hangover hadn't made him humble.

"So. Do not spare me. How much of a fool was I?"

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 05:11 PM
"Oh. Right." Morgan chuckled some, shrugging. "Same again that time, though. Nice things to say about you." He grinned a bit, pouring a glass of water for Maalech.

"And you were fine, Mal. A little maudlin, but that can hardly be helped." He smiled again, giving the glass to the man, "Drink up. I'll get you some food. Think you can hold anything down?"

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:14 PM
"I have no plans to throw up." He said the words with as much determination as he could muster, as if his will could still hold sway over his body.

"And I know that food will help. And water." He suddenly felt so very thirsty, parched even. And his mouth tasted like vomit.

"This is one thing I am not repeating any time soon." He got to his feet, looking slightly greyish underneath the new tan. "I do not know why you care for it."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 05:16 PM
"Do it enough times and..." He shrugged a bit, smirking, "But if it's not for you, it's not for you, y'know?" The man could only shrug and stretch a little, rubbing at his neck before he began to dig a few vegetables from a cooled box--ah, magic--and began setting about to heating them up.

"Need more water?" He smiled back at the man, keeping half an eye on the kids.

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:20 PM
"I can help myself. I might not have my Art, but I am -not- a cripple." But times like this really drove home how helpless he was. He had passed out, anything could have happened to him.

He poured himself a glass from the pitcher, rinsing his mouth throughly.

"To be fair, I enjoyed the experience, I just do not enjoy the helplessness of it. I fear I perhaps spoke too much."

He had that nagging feeling in his stomach that it might had been the case.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 05:24 PM
Morgan smiled a bit, chopping up the vegetables before tossing some meat onto the stove and a little water from the pitcher into a pot, "I'm not saying you are. Just thought I'd offer."

The man smiled a bit, watching the food come together slowly.

Something he'd found he really enjoyed over the years. Cooking. Making a meal.

He should have been a chef.

"Well, the helplessness is why we do it. That or that little bit of sustained oblivion that everyone gives you excuses for." He chuckled a bit there, looking back toward Maalech.

"Besides, you got pretty incoherent pretty fast. Anything you said was pretty garbled."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:29 PM
"I do not let alcohol affect me in general. I was used to dealing with all manner of poisons in a routine manner. Now... I can get drunk. And sick. Neither of which holds much appeal to me." He took a seat at the table instead, cataloging his symptoms from reflex.

Being aware of himself was the first step to become a good mage, and it had become ingrained in his habits.

"Helplessness. I assume there might be a thrill in that for some people. As in oblivion." He frowned for a moment, as if that made him remember something. Not that it was anything he could do something about now.

He was helpless.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 05:35 PM
"Well, there's where you went wrong." Morgan smiled some, pouring some rice into the pot, "The key is to get so damn pickled that it takes eight times what it should to get you even a little buzzed." Another smile some as he flipped the meat over.

"Well, there's helpless and there's helpless. Most people can help themselves enough to do what they need to. Even stumbling drunks. Hell, they get in a fight, they're usually the last one standing. And oblivion..."

The man shrugged, laughing a little, "Well, sometimes it's just easier to stop existing for a little. And suicide's usually just a little too far." And, as an aside that, judging from the man's tone was completely appropriate to the matter at hand, "You like any spices on your food, Mal? I admit, I don't really remember."

Not that Maalech came to dinner too often. And still.

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:40 PM
"Do what you usually does." Maalech did not particularly care one way or the other, he had never been a fussy eater. Of course before he could easily have changed the taste had he wished to, and now he was stuck with whatever was put into his mouth.

In a way it was liberating.

"I have to admit that I can see the point. Sometimes oblivion can be a blessing. It is just not a luxury I feel that I can afford. No matter how much I might wish for it."

Was that an admission that he had?

Perhaps. He had not realized how tired he had been until he had attempted this experiment. He had slept through the first three days on the island, only making brief excursions. And still he was not completely rid of the tiredness.

"I am most likely taking life too seriously."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 05:44 PM
At that last, Morgan began laughing, turning around to look at Maalech for a moment and shake his head, looking back to the meal in front of him, taking up the pot and pouring some of the excess water out into the air, Willing it to finish the journey to being steam he'd already put it on.

And began to mix some of the vegetables in, "Just a little. But, then, after a point, I guess you have to start getting serious or you die."

He shrugged at that, turning the meat again, sprinkling some spices atop it to give it a little flavour, "Not that fuckers like us don't deserve to die a few times over, eh?"

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:48 PM
He scratched his scar for a moment, drinking a bit more water. His head still hurt. He knew that was because of dehydration and lack of salts, but the knowledge did little to ease the discomfort.

"Many people who deserve to die, live. Many who deserve to live are dead. Perhaps I should be dead. But I am not. And I will not until I have brought an end to this somehow."

There was steel in his voice despite the hoarseness, but a moment later he groaned softly, pressing a hand against his eyes. "Though I have repeatedly been told it is a fool's quest."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 05:52 PM
"Well, hey, s'not like it's worth a whole mess to take up causes that aren't fool's quests. Hell, s'what the Order was supposed to be about." A smirk then, "Instead of a bunch of self-important windbags sitting in their towers and jerking off about how powerful and smart they are."

The man grimaced before shrugging and draining a bit of juices from the meat into the rice, mixing it in and scooping some out into a bowl and placing it in front of the man, "You're trying to make a difference. That's a good thing, I think."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 05:57 PM
Maalech looked at the food as if it might possibly contain worms or anything else to explain why his stomach was squirming so badly at the look of it. But it was food, it smelled good, and it made him so very, very nauseous.

He forced himself to take a very cautious bite, reminding himself that it was good for him.

"It is less that than revenge. You know that."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 06:00 PM
Morgan shrugged, spooning some food out for himself and taking a seat across from the man, pouring himself some more water, "I'm not someone to discourage revenge, Mal."

He gestured to the scar on the other man's face, "You know that."

But he'd got his revenge. That was done with now.

Or as close to it as he could imagine.

"My way makes you sound noble and maybe even tragic if it fucks up. Your way makes you sound like some asshole with an axe to grind." A little chuckle as he speared a bit of meat and popped it into his mouth, "One thing I learned from the sprog; it's all in how you present yourself."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 06:09 PM
"I am not interested in presenting myself any particular way." He cut a small piece of meat, chewing it slowly. "I am interested in results. People will have their own views about me regardless."

He had never been well liked, he would be a fool to try to start now.

"Even if I get to be noble and tragic, it would still be a failure. That would be the one thing that mattered."

No, not the only thing... he did care what some people thought of him. He just preferred not to think about it that way.

"And yes, I know that. Another moment of helplessness I did not much care for." And pain. He had screamed.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 25 2007, 06:13 PM
"Well, whatever you want to do, I guess." The man smiled, shovelling some of the rice into his mouth, "Still. Results are nice. Support isn't too bad, either." The man chuckled, running his hand over his head a bit.

"But on the upside, you have to admit; the blade--" He did his best to stop calling her 'Sidiah' if only to avoid waking her up, "--is a work of art. It even went one past you then. You have to admit, that's a Hell of an achievement."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 25 2007, 06:19 PM
"It worries me somewhat." He could admit that right now, here, at the table of a friend. He felt too tired to keep reassuring Morgan that everything was fine.

"It have become more powerful than I anticipated, I crafted it as a tool, nothing else. I was quite careful not making anything like what killed Indhra at the heart of the mountain. The taint was still present in the spearhead, it was the perfect catalyst but..." He paused, taking another small bite of food.

"This is her dance. Not mine. She willingly risks things I would not consider. Perhaps that's what infuriated me at the start, she held such trust in you."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 26 2007, 06:23 PM
"Well, it's... It's certainly more than it was." He paused for a moment, tilting his head a bit, "Ever figure out what those roving black... uh... things that you made it out of were?"

The ones he and everyone else had thought were what had taken his mind.

The ones he'd pulled a few others away from.

"She didn't trust me, Mal," he firmly believed this and it showed. "Trust would have guided me. Would have helped. I mean, sure, I did okay, but..."

He looked down at the scar on the heel of his palm for a moment before tilting his head and looking in on the kids and their quiet twins g-mes.

Seriously, they freaked him out sometimes.

"She did what you do. Got the info and shoved. Maybe that takes trust. Seems more like she was hammering me into shape. And you don't..." he chuckled a bit then, "You didn't trust YOUR last tool, did you?"

Posted by: Maalech Oct 26 2007, 06:29 PM
"True enough."

He was silent for a moment, following Morgan's gaze as it went to the children.

"I would say that I do not trust in anything but my own skills. But lately I have gambled far too much, I am bound to loose sooner or later. Perhaps I am wrong to hold faith in them as well. But doubts does not become a mage. It hampers them." He was not a mage now, perhaps that was the thing.

No, it was quite another. "I do not believe in prophecy. And yet here I am, putting my trust in a token given to me by a seer. It disturbs me." The rune he had kept. Friendship. What might save him in the end.

"I never did find out what they were, save that they were dangerous and vicious." There, another thing that disturbed him. He had formed the blade from something he did not completely understand.


Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 26 2007, 06:33 PM
"Dangerous and vicious," The man chuckled once, cracking his neck, "Sounds about right, huh?"

He was quiet for a little while before shovelling some food into his mouth, "In my experience, prophesy is a smart thing to plan around; and a smarter thing to have contingencies against."

He smirked some, looking over at the other man, "After all, you know it's coming that way," Morgan chewed his food thoughtfully for a time before watching him, "And, y'know, there's an old saying when it comes to things like this; greater than the sum of its parts. Maybe that's what you're doing. Assembling the right elements to make something... bigger."

Another shrug as he cut himself off some meat.

Posted by: Maalech Oct 26 2007, 06:36 PM
"That -is- what I am doing." Maalech shot Morgan a tired glare as if he was surprised the mage had not thought of that sooner. But he could not really muster any frustration right now, his head hurt too badly.

And watching Morgan eat made him nauseous, so he pushed away the plate with a faint grimace. We would NOT throw up.

"I am not fool enough to think I would be enough."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 26 2007, 06:40 PM
"Oh." Morgan shrugged some and shovelled a bit more food into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully before shrugging some, "Sorry, Mal. Always seems like you are."

He sighed some, leaning on the table, "Look, Mal, Archmage or not, your plans and shit are a little past where I am, right? Let us back here in remedial school have a chance to try and catch up, huh?" He shot the man a playful wink then before sighing some.

"I'm not going to let this all go to shit on you, Mal." He put down his knife then, looking across the table at the other man, "I'm not good at a lot of things, but I'm not gonna fuck this up. And you're smart enough that you aren't, either."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 26 2007, 06:44 PM
"I am here, am I not? I am entrusting you with many things, am I not? I leave it to you to decide whether that is smart or not." He looked rather pale there for a moment, swallowing hard to suppress the urge to purge the food he had just eaten.

"At the moment I am not feeling particularly sharp. I have the nagging feeling I did something abysmally unwise yesterday. Is that another after-effect of alcohol?" It was perhaps said jokingly, but he looked grim.

But then again he did that most of the time.

"And though I am loathe to admit it... you are better at many things than you allow yourself to be. Just like your son."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 26 2007, 06:47 PM
"Yeah. Here..." He poured the man another glass of water, "Not much, but it might help. One way or the other." Either calm the stomach or empty it.

"You're still filtering toxins. You'll be fine in a few more hours. Even better if we can get some food in your gut to stay down." He smiled a bit before shrugging, "I just do what I can, Mal. I don't want to be a hero or a god. I just want a good life for me and mine."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 26 2007, 06:53 PM
"Contrary to popular belief, so did I once upon a time." Well, he had also wanted to unlock the mysteries of the universe, but not with the near maniacal drive he had now. He accepted the water gratefully, drinking a bit of it, each gulp just increasing the nausea.

This was not good.

"Food... is not wise. That I know." He swallowed again, looking at the meal, still rather greyish under the new tan.

No... not wise at all.

To his credit he actually made it from the table before throwing up, though not to the door. It was an urge that was impossible to resist, his own body rebelling against the punishment he had put it through.

He leaned against the wall for a long time, saying nothing.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 26 2007, 06:57 PM
"Well, of course you did, Mal." The man smiled, pulling Maalech's plate from him and finishing his own, "I mean, really, who wants anything else?"

Well, the Tzarg, most likely. Among others. But they were assholes.

"So." He broke the silence, wiping his dish clean with a wet cloth, smiling to himself, "I have to say, I'm impressed. You're handling this whole 'vulnerability' thing better than I would have imagined you would."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 26 2007, 07:02 PM
"How am I supposed to handle it worse? I have got drunk. I have just thrown up. I have a hangover bad enough to make me contemplate more alcohol which I know is not the way to deal with it." He looked down at the vomit, trying to determine whether he wanted to throw up again, but he felt empty now.

Tired and empty.

"I assume you will disintegrate that mess?" He went back to the table, sinking down on the chair as if he would rather sink through the floor. Instead he took the glass again, rinsing his mouth.

But the taste would not go away

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 26 2007, 07:06 PM
Morgan looked down at the puddle for a minute before shrugging and digging out a small container of salt, sprinkling it in Maalech's glass, "This'll help a little. Try and gargle it a bit if you can."

He smiled some and gestured over the vomit, shunting it elsewhere. "Well, I wasn't sure if it'd be good manners or not." He smiled some then, "One of a few things I picked up from the riders; courtesy. Who'd've thought, eh?" He laughed a bit, patting the man on the back.

"Hey, you could have just curled up in a corner, surrounded yourself with walls and rocked back and forth 'till you were powerful again." He smiled some, "May not mean much, but I'm proud of you, Mal."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 26 2007, 07:11 PM
"This excursion would be of little use if I did that." The salt in the water did indeed help, and he lost the urge to throw up again, at least for the moment. Still, he would not eat. This had been profoundly humiliating enough as it was.

"And I have considered it." He fell silent for a moment, admitting that to Morgan. "When I first arrived here I did not sleep during the first night. I could not. I dared not. It is a throughly helpless feeling... though it has abated somewhat. Being blind is... worse than being without power."

He seemed certain of that, his eyes growing hard. "Far, far worse."

He was an information junkie at heart.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Oct 26 2007, 07:15 PM
"Well, yeah. No idea how to process it. How to focus or look at things..." Morgan shook his head slowly, "I don't envy you, Mal. Even us better-than-some dabblers love having it."

The idea of not being able to SEE, not being able to look under the skin and see how things moved was frightening.

"And now you'll know what it's like to feel that way. I think that's probably a good thing for all concerned. Again. Perspective, right?" He chuckled some, "I'm just glad you're keeping your head about you."

Posted by: Maalech Oct 26 2007, 07:46 PM
"Even if I did not, there is not much damage I can do, is there? I am rather helpless at the moment."

Helpless even to control his own body... the thought was frightening. He could get sick here, truly ill. or die."

Strangely enough that part bothered him less. He was no stranger to risk and death, what he did for a living carried many dangers with it. And whether he would die from a knife in the back in some alley, a strange disease or an arcane mishap or vengeful daemon mattered little. The result was the same.

It was what went before it that mattered.

"It is rather liberating in some ways. There is no need for control anymore, and things can be taken at face value. I do not think I have ever properly -looked- at the ocean like that before. Or felt the sand. It is... different."

He seemed quite intrigued by it all.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 04:59 PM
"Someone who knows how things work is always dangerous, Mal." The man shrugged, cracking his neck, "People don't know you know yet. And if they figure it out? Theories alone will eat up all your time. And a few words in the right way?"

The man smiled, cracking his neck, "Well, what sensations are you liking best so far, then?" A little chuckle then, "I'm guessing a good meal. At least that's what I always love at face value."

Well, that and a good woman. And fuck knew Mal didn'g et out much.

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 05:08 PM
"I have no intentions of being anything more than a humble weaver around here. There should be little cause for anyone to think different." He was quite certain that even on the off chance that someone that had met him saw him again, they would hardly think he was the same man. No magic.

It changed a person.

But at Morgan's last question he fell silent, pondering what had been asked. "Crowds. There is no pattern to them at first, the detail is downright maddening. But after a while you start to see new patterns emerging. Individuals all, and yet... the crowd is a beat of its own. It is amazing how clear that still is, even without my Art. To see what normal people see... or rather what they never realize what they see..." He shook his head, suppressing another wave of nausea. He was not certain he was entirely sober yet. "I am babbling. I lack terms for these things yet, everything is still being shaped."

But he added, with a faint hint of a smile. "And sand. Bare feet in hot sand. I had not realized I missed that."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 05:12 PM
"Humble. Right." Morgan smirked, leaning on the table some and taking a sip from his glass, "I can just see you scraping and being so depricating to your own talents."

Well, humble in manner, if not deed, anyway.

"Well, maybe you could be a social planner or something. Y'know, there's whole groups of people who just run tests with people. You could be a good human-nature gambler if you had a mind do."

And at that last, Morgan could only chuckle, "...y'ever want to go find the old city, Mal?"

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 05:20 PM
"I am still skilled at the loom, you know quite well that was not the manner of humility I spoke of." He gave Morgan a rather dry look, it was amazing how much his manner had loosened up after giving up his Art. Perhaps the shields there had guarded more than his body.

"And I said I liked watching them, I have no plans to actually interact with them." If anything he looked faintly horrified at the thought, or maybe that was just the hangover. Maalech was not that fond of people. Social skills had never been his greatest asset.

"I have wondered sometimes... but the past is best left to rest. Much time have passed, I doubt there would be anything left but stones and dust."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 05:28 PM
"...yeah. Stones and dust." How long had it even BEEN?

"I really loved her, Mal. And now there's... there's nothing left of her, is there?"

It was a hard realization. One he SHOULD have made earlier but it was... it's just not a thought one wants to have.

Not a thought he wanted to have.

"Why not interact with them?" He said after a few moments, "Hell, you might at least have some friends at work. And when you're back to demigodhood or whatever you call yourself..." The man shrugged, "You can watch out for 'em. Be a guardian angel of a sort. Connect."

Connections. Hardest thing to keep. After a while you had to wonder if it was even worth it to try.

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 05:34 PM
He was silent for a while, eyes distant and dark. "I am most likely not someone you should turn to for comfort, but yes, she is gone. But she had a good life and many grandchildren." He found himself searching for words, because he had spoken the truth. He really was not someone that went out of their way to comfort people.

The scathing truth was always simpler.

"I assume I will learn how to interact with them eventually. It is quite odd to be surrounded by so many people at all times. I was always one for solitude."

And now he could find little of it.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 05:39 PM
"I don't need..." Well, that was a lie. "I... I don't know, Mal. With all the bending and Causality-fucking I've been doing, it's... Sometimes it's just nice to have someone around who knows it wasn't a hallucination.

Some bizzarre, beautiful hallucination.

Grandkids?

"I know you were. S'why this was such a good idea." Morgan pushed a smile on then, "I mean, shit, if _I'm_ the guy you're hanging out with..." The man shook his head.

"Not that I don't like you, Mal. But I'm not the most together guy out there."

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 05:44 PM
"It is an effect of the Blade. You are not as securely anchored in reality anymore, I assume it must feel rather disconcerting." He poured himself some more water, now that the worst of the nausea seemed to have passed. "It was somewhat odd for me when I realized exactly who you were after all. And that we were yet not on chronologically similar paths."

He had believed he had been wrong, but the calculations and patterns added up. He trusted those more than the evidence of his own eyes.

"It was not a hallucination. Not any more than this." He ran a thumb across the scar underneath his eye.

But at the last his lips creased in a faint smirk. "Compared to some you are the epitome of normality."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 05:49 PM
"Oh." Morgan chuckled a bit, looking down at his hand, "Here and I thought it was just having three lives in my head all the time."

Three people he was. Three paths taken... and in the end, only this one made it through.

The man shrugged, "I pity those some, then." He held up his glass, "'Cause if it gets much worse..." The man shook his head and drained his glass.

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 05:53 PM
"I assume you do have three lives in your head at once. Sometimes I feel that way myself." The water was balm for his sore throat, and he could keep it down this time.

"Though for me there are two. Before and After." Two men. Two names.

Perhaps things would have been simpler had they died as they were supposed to.

"Do not be a fool. You are stronger than that, you will not let the blade get the best of you this time." But something had got caught in his mind again, that little nagging feeling there were something he should know. Some facts he should add up.

"Was I much of a fool yesterday?"

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 06:03 PM
"No. I won't."

It wasn't an intention, it was a statement of fact. He'd lived three lives and devoured his own madness to be the one who held her.

Dubious honour thought that was.

"And don't worry about yesterday, Mal. You got drunk. You slurred a bit." The man chuckled some, "You were just a weaver out for a drink with some friends."

"So..." he inclined his head some, "What was the big thing that made Before and After?"

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 06:15 PM
"I did not slur." He did manage to look quite annoyed there, as if denying his own foolishness made it go away.

But that was besides the point, it would not happen again. Ever.

"Them. They destroyed our lives, her city, her people. If we had been less skilled, if we had remained a moment too long I would not be sitting here. In a way it was the death of all of us. Our old lives."

And he did not overly enjoy the lives they had bartered in return.

"It makes me wonder at times, what was deemed such a great thereat that they would descend on the entire city." He had theories... but no facts.

No facts at all.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 06:20 PM
Morgan shivered a bit.

He'd seen them. That massive... mountain-thing in the sky. The flames that rained down. The burning. The fear.

The absolute, mind-numbing impotence against something so large.

He was quiet, a shiver running through him, "Maybe they can think forward." He was quiet then for a while, "I mean, what was so threatening about Seth. That one... he was... he wasn't this one. He wasn't powerful or frightening or anything."

Morgan was quiet then, "Maybe they saw something in the future and looked to a point that they needed something to happen in and made that something happen."

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 06:27 PM
"That is a possibility. However that knowledge must be imperfect then, because otherwise I would most likely not have been able to hide us from them." It was something that kept troubling him.

"She claims that the future can be foretold somewhat. With her cards. I... am not as certain. To a certain extent it can be predicted, if one knows the causes and the results that springs from there, one can assume similar causes might lead to similar results in the future. Perhaps that is what they do... predict possibilities."

He did a similar thing with his weavings, it was all probability. And after a long time you came to realize how things fitted together. That was in part why he was here now, to fill in missing gaps in his perceptions.


Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 06:36 PM
"I'm gonna sound really paranoid here, but..."

It had to be said.

"What if we aren't hiding? What if it's just playing the g-me more their way?"

Because if they could predict...

"Fuck that. This is too weird a course to go down."

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 06:39 PM
"I have considered that. But unfortunately there is only one way to test that theory, and I am not ready to take that risk yet. But it is a possibility, and yet... could we do differently?"

Perhaps Morgan could. He could not. He had passed the point of no return long ago.


Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 06:45 PM
"Well... no." The man sighed again, smirking at Maalech.

"Y'know, this whole living thing was SO much less complex when I was just some jackass and you were some guy in an ivory tower I'd only heard of."

He absently rubbed at his wrist before chuckling, "Oh, well. Choices we make, right?"

A small sigh as he rubbed at his neck, "So. What shop are you weaving for, then? I'd love to stop in and humiliate you in front of your coworkers sometime." A playful wink then, a grin parting his lips.

Had to laugh about something. He was getting too damn maudlin.

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 06:52 PM
"It is not simplicity, it is ignorance. Just because you do not see the problems does not mean they are not there." But Morgan knew that by now, and he chastised the man more from habit than anything else.

"Choices. We all make them."

He fells silent for a little then, his gaze going towards the sleeping children in the adjoining room. Was it a choice he regretted? Perhaps. But as he had said before, what could be otherwise do?

"Oh you should dare." He did seem rather put out at Morgan's suggestion, though it was hard to see whether he truly meant his annoyance or not. "It is a small shop down harbourside. I just wished for someplace to ground myself until I found a proper place to be."

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 06:57 PM
Morgan nodded some as acceptance of the criticism. It was a part of it now. Even back then. So far for Mal, so close for him.

Weird.

"Sounds nice. I'll have to take a look, see what you can do with your hands that doesn't involve anything living in me." A small chuckle then, running his fingers over the scar on the heel of his palm. It was a habit and... it was comforting to remember where it had come from.

Decades not knowing. Was there anything more maddening when you were reminded THAT you had a scar but not being able to remember where it had come from, what it had meant?

The paler man chuckled some, "Still say we should get you to a brothel. There's gotta be one on this island."

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 07:02 PM
"There are several. It is a port after all, they thrive on the sailors. I just can not understand why you are so focused on sex being the end of all things."

It filled him with a vague unease, paying for sex had never really sat well with him. Perhaps it was the fact that his mother had plied that trade, it was not something he could romanticize.

Posted by: Morgan deCiel Nov 5 2007, 07:05 PM
Morgan shrugged then, pausing and looking off into space for a moment, "Couldn't say. Guess it's how I got my head on straight all the time. Little time with someone who's there to conduct a simple transaction. You have fun, pay your money... everything's simple."

Of course, it then occurred to him that he WAS talking about Maalech's mom, after a fashion.

"But. I keep... I mean, I can see why it might not be such a big thing for you. What with the... marriage and all."

Posted by: Maalech Nov 5 2007, 07:42 PM
"Technically I am her consort. As far as I understand that means I am supposed to keep my fidelity, while she has less of an obligation." He said the words dryly, as if he had come to terms with that long ago.

Of course, being the man he was, it was fairly easy to remove any rivals for her affections.

"And even if that was not the case, I find precious few people that would interest me enough to pursue an interest in them."